West Coast 30th Birthday Road Trip

Grace turned 30 this past November, and despite not being able to gather with friends due to Covid, we knew we wanted to do something special. Road trips have always been a big part of our relationship - we took a road trip all over California back in 2015 when we were newly dating, and in 2017 we drove all the way from LA to Alaska and back. So a very fun and indulgent road trip felt perfect to ring in a new decade. We actually left the dogs in LA (being well taken care of), just to make it feel a little more like a true vacation. We missed them but loved having the extra flexibility in our schedule (and being able to sleep in)!

Today I want to recap where we stayed and share a few fun pictures. I’ve shared some of these on social media already, but I’m also peppering in some photos from a disposable camera we got developed. I haven’t shared these anywhere else yet!

A little “Covid Caveat” - obviously travel is not carefree during a pandemic, and Covid precautions played a heavy role in the planning for this trip. I know that California has gone on various stages of lockdown in the past year, but interstate travel on the West Coast was not restricted on the dates when we traveled. Still, rest assured we wore masks at all times when around other people, cooked our meals at “home” in our Airbnbs or got Covid-safe takeout options, and generally had about the same or fewer interactions with others than we do here in LA. Also, all of the photos of us together were taken via a tripod and self timer (there was no one with us to take a picture). I would say overall we were extremely careful and conscientious on this trip. Just want to get that out there at the beginning of the post!

Without further intro, here’s the play-by-play of our road trip! If you are interested in a 7-10 day itinerary leaving from LA, I highly recommend our route.

Days 1-2: LA to Carmel Valley Ranch

The first day of our trip was November 7, the day the US Election results were finally called in favor of Joe Biden. As we drove through the streets of West Hollywood on our way out of town, cars honked excitedly, and it was just a great feeling to start off our trip! We drove about seven hours up to Carmel and checked into the beautiful Carmel Valley Ranch.

I’d been hearing about the Carmel Valley Ranch for several years, and it was lovely in person. I booked us one of the Hilltop Suites that comes with a beautiful patio/balcony with an outdoor bathtub overlooking the golf course. I’m actually not a huge golf course person, despite the fact that I was a member of my high school’s golf team. But it was a sublime view nonetheless, and we pretty much just enjoyed chilling in our room for the first night of the trip. The open-air bath was awesome, and we also turned on our fireplace and watched a few episodes of The Haunting of Bly Manor.

The next day, we went for a hike around the property before hitting the road to our next destination.

Days 2-4: Carmel to Trinidad, California

Never heard of a Trinidad in California? I think a lot of people haven’t! It is a seaside town near Eureka, in far northern California. I first heard about it a few years ago and had always wanted to visit. It did NOT disappoint - I think Grace and I both agree this was our favorite stop of the trip. I booked this Airbnb - which I cannot say enough good things about - and we stayed for two nights.

We arrived after dark the first night, and we picked up some extremely delicious pizza from Headies Pizza & Pour which was an approximate 2 minute drive from our Airbnb (the whole town is TINY in the best way).

We didn’t totally know what to expect out our windows since we arrived after dark (though I knew from the listing that it was pretty), so it’s an understatement to say we were blown away when we woke up to all of THIS:

It was truly a magical, divine, cinematic, kid-on-Christmas-morning experience staying in Trinidad. We spent a lot of our time just drinking in the view, but we also did a little bit of light hiking (Grace famously hates hiking) and exploring in the area.

The house itself was stunning, too.

I have such happy memories of going to the little grocery store in town, getting some local seafood and delicious fresh veggies, and hanging out at the house for happy hour and cooking dinner. Heaven!

We both love an Old Fashioned on occasions like this.

I’m holding myself back from posting about a dozen more pictures of Trinidad, because it is hands-down one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been. But onward!

Days 4-7: Trinidad to Lakeside, Oregon

As you can imagine, we really did not want to leave Trinidad, but we were also excited to visit Oregon. On the drive between Northern California and Southern Oregon, we stopped and saw some super pretty sights just on the side of the road. Including a giant redwood tree that you can drive through! A picture of us driving through it was actually our Christmas card this year.

This is the Tour-Thru Tree in Klamath, California. It cost $5 (cash only) to drive through, and when we were there, we were the only ones around for miles it seemed like (we put the money through a slot to go in). We set up our self timer and tripod to get a video of us driving through it, and I also took some fun disposable camera pics including this one of Grace.

These are natural land bridges in Brookings, Oregon. Just off the highway. So gorgeous!

This was roughly around Gold Beach, I think, although I don’t actually remember exactly where we were at this point. It was literally the side of the highway, which was so fun to just pull over!

My best friend lives in Oregon, but sadly we didn’t really figure out in advance how we could plan with Covid and everything (plus we weren’t going as far north as where she lives), so I didn’t see her on this trip :( But aside from the pain of being so-close-yet-so-far-away with my bestie, we such an amazing time in Oregon! We stayed for three nights at this Airbnb, which was sooo cozy and homey. And with an incredible view from the deck too!

Such a cute wine + espresso setup at our Airbnb!

This part of the trip was also over Grace’s *actual* 30th birthday (November 12 - little sneaky Scorpio), which is why I planned for us to have 4 days here. It was so nice to be able to really unpack, relax, rest, and enjoy the beautiful Oregon scenery. We honestly spent most of the time just sitting around, reading, and being cozy! That’s exactly what we both want out of a vacation. It really could not have been more restful.

Seemed fitting for a road trip through Oregon :)

Can you tell which photos were taken with a disposable camera? I think they add such a fun, nostalgic feel to our trip memories.

Celebrating Grace’s birthday!

We also got the BEST local oysters at Clausen Oysters, which was about 20 minutes from our Airbnb. There was a cute picnic area to sit outside, and we were the only people there.

Days 7-8: Lakeside to the Hummingbird Estate outside Ashland, Oregon

Once again, we were sad to leave such a wonderful destination, but on day 7 of the trip it was time to move on to a night of wine tasting at the Hummingbird Estate in south-central Oregon.

The Hummingbird Estate is a winery with a small bed & breakfast (7 rooms total) on site. We stayed in the Japanese Maple room, named for the stunning red-orange leaves right outside our windows!

We were just at the Hummingbird Estate for one night, but we got a chance to try out a bunch of their wines, and I seriously loved every single one!

It was the perfect, cozy, storybook vibes kind of place to enjoy some red wine and a good night’s sleep.

Days 8-9: Southern Oregon to San Francisco, California

Our last destination of the trip was San Francisco, California. The end of a good trip can be a little bit sad, so I wanted to counteract that by booking a really fun, splurge hotel. We stayed at the newly-opened Four Seasons at the Embarcadero in a Golden Gate view suite. It was truly fabulous! And the hotel’s Covid protocols were top-notch (temperature checks, welcome bags filled with masks, sanitizer, wipes, etc., completely contactless check in and room service).

Does it get any better than this?!

We spent our last night just enjoying the view, ordering delicious room service, and watching a movie. I lived in the Bay Area for years, so we have gotten to do all the fun San Francisco touristy things in the past and weren’t too sad to miss them on this trip.

The next morning, we got room service again for breakfast and then hit the road before it got too late (since we had about a 6 hour drive ahead of us).

After 9 days away, we were so happy to get home and see our dogs again! We got In-n-Out for our last meal of the trip and made it home safe and sound. We did quarantine for two weeks after we returned, though thankfully we had very minimal contact with anyone on the trip and felt super safe.

And that’s all! Hope you enjoyed this (long overdue) recap. I feel so lucky that we were able to visit these beautiful places, and I really hope to return to all of them eventually (especially Trinidad)!

Girls' Trip to Big Bear + Visiting a Wolf Sanctuary

A little over a month ago, some of my best friends and I took a weekend trip to Big Bear to celebrate our friend Michelle’s birthday. Looking back, this was sort of a “last hurrah” with friends before we entered our current era of social distancing, which we didn’t know at the time. I’m glad we didn’t, because the whole weekend felt so carefree, relaxing, and fun. It’s sweet looking back and remembering the quality time I got with friends right before having to be (physically) away from them for a long time.

Michelle planned this whole weekend for us and treated us to a stay in an adorable Airbnb cabin. It ended up being so cozy and perfect for our group of 4 people. Michelle is a major dog lover, and although no dogs came on the trip with us, part of the weekend’s activities included a visit to a wolf sanctuary where we met wolves and wolf-dog mixes. More on that later! First, here’s a recap of the weekend leading up to that point:

We left town on Friday evening, and Michelle had rented a huge SUV to drive all of us plus our stuff up to the mountains. It was a game-changer, since otherwise there’s no way 4 ladies and all of our bags and coolers etc. etc. could have fit in one of our small cars. On the way up, we stopped at a Mexican place in Rancho Cucamonga (en route to Big Bear) where I ordered the snack-within-a-drink pictured above. It was such a fun stop!

It was dark by the time we made it up to the cabin, and we were all thrilled to get cozy, enjoy some hot tub time, watch Michelle open her presents, and have a wine and movie night. Classic girls’ weekend stuff :)

A cozy twin room where my friend Tina and I slept!

I just LOVE the look of an A-frame cabin. Michelle picked a good one.

The next morning, Michelle made us her famous shakshuka egg bake for breakfast, which we all “wolfed” down (lol) before we got ready to go meet our new friends at the wolf sanctuary!

The wolf sanctuary (called Wolf Mountain) is … very hard to describe in words. I really don’t think I can do it, or the people who run it, justice, and it’s something you have to experience for yourself. Haha! It was a truly wild experience. I kind of felt like I was intruding on a human-wolf hybrid pack. But I learned a lot about the kinds of wolves (which are often mixed-breeds with dogs like German Shepherds) that end up an a sanctuary, and what it’s like to feed and take care of them.

During the first part of the tour, we got to walk around to see the different enclosures where they keep wolves, and Michelle brought some carrots to feed them.

I should back up and say that the sanctuary is very strict about what you can and can’t bring in to meet the wolves - i.e., no scarves, loose items in your pockets, or anything else they might be interested in (though carrots and raw meat are okay. We only brought the former). It kind of makes you wonder what the wolves would do if you didn’t follow those rules, but they seemed chill when we met them! After seeing some of the wolves in their enclosures, we got to meet a couple of them up close. They didn’t really explain why these wolves are okay to meet people, and others aren’t, but I assume it’s because of how acclimated they are to humans.

It was an unforgettable experience and something my friends and I still talk about.

Next, we drove back into town and were all hungry so we got a late lunch at Jasper’s, which was amazing. Think homestyle/southern cooking, huge portions, and very friendly small-town service. I miss eating in restaurants right about now :(

After lunch, we returned to the house and settled in for a super sweet evening of girl time.

Other than this little porch photoshoot we did, I don’t have a ton of photos from this night because we were just chilling out, drinking wine, doing Tarot readings, watching Love Island, playing Clue, and eating a delicious birthday cake.

I also made a cheese board for the group that I was pretty proud of.

And that’s all the photos I have! On Sunday, our last morning, we ate brunch at the Teddy Bear restaurant, which served one of the best tuna melts I’ve ever had. Also, I can’t believe I forgot to get a photo of it, but it actually snowed a LOT on our last morning! It was so fun and magical, although it did make getting back down the mountain a bit hairy. I was very thankful Michelle had rented a huge car with four-wheel drive.

I now cherish this weekend even more because I miss these friends dearly. We have pretty regular videochat happy hours, but of course it’s not the same. Until the time we can all be reunited, I’ll be reminiscing on this weekend and these photos. Thank you Michelle!

Eurotrip Recap #3: France

I’m finally onto the third and final recap from our Europe trip last year—France! The France leg of the trip was really the whole reason for us going, as we were attending some of our dear friends’ wedding in Provence. Knowing their wedding date, we planned the rest of the trip around it. Their wedding was so incredibly special and fun because it was basically like a long weekend of summer camp with their friends and family. They had their wedding at the Chateau La Tour Vaucros, located in Sorgues, in the region of Provence. The way the Chateau works is that you rent out the whole property for your wedding weekend, and then all or most of your guests can stay on site in the gorgeous accommodations, and you have your wedding rehearsal, pre-wedding festivities, getting ready, etc. all on site. It was a DREAM. The property has a bunch of different small castle-like accommodations that can sleep 20-30 each (from what I remember), two swimming pools, tennis courts, and just tons of space to relax.

To get there, we flew from Brussels to London, where we met up in the airport with two of our best friends who were also attending the wedding. We were so giddy once we saw them in the airport! We all hopped on a flight together to Marseille, in the South of France.

Everything was so incredibly stunning from the moment we landed. We then drove from Marseille to the wedding venue and got set up in our adorable, French country-style bedroom. I forgot to take any good pics of it sadly! Once we were settled, we joined the wedding party for welcome wine (made nearby) and caught up with many friends we hadn’t seen in awhile, including the bride and groom. I remember seeing this room with a long table (probably seating 25 people) absolutely FILLED with people toasting and celebrating this soon-to-be-married couple and just feeling so filled to the brim with joy and sense of community. It was so special!

Mirror pic at the Chateau with our friend Rachel who was staying in the room right beside ours!

When we’d arrived at the Chateau the night before, it was dark, so waking the next morning was stunning to see how beautiful the property was.

I forgot to snap a pic, but each morning we were at the Chateau a local bakery delivered piles of pastries and breads. We got croissants, baguettes, turnovers, madelines and more. I miss it so much.

After we had some breakfast on our first morning at the Chateau, my friends Natalie and Rachel and I headed to the French supermarket to get some provisions for the group. French supermarkets are AMAZING. We probably spent over an hour just browsing, sampling, and marveling at everything you could buy there. Since most of our main meals were covered by the wedding festivities, we focused on buying small provisions (and wine) for snacks and light lunches.

I also bought a big orchid to snip the flowers from for some hairstyles for the wedding weekend:

For the rehearsal dinner (a little sunburned!)

And for the wedding!

We made a big spread of food for the group when we got back from the supermarket.

I still dream about this food! France does produce, dairy and bread EXCEPTIONALLY well.

That afternoon was spent poolside, and it was so much fun hanging with our friends and getting to know some other wedding guests we hadn’t met before.

James, the groom, about to jump in!

That night was the rehearsal dinner, which was a food truck that came and made huge platters of paella. It was amazing! I didn’t take any photos though, other than this snap of the gorgeous vineyard lining the property.

The next day was WEDDING DAY! I always get so excited on my friends’ wedding days. The whole day feels electrically charged. Grace and I woke up and went outside to do some yoga on the lawn with one of our best friends Laura, who led us.

The wedding photographer was already on site starting in the morning, so he got these fun shots of us.

While we were waiting until it was time to start getting ready for the wedding, we relaxed in the sun, played games, and of course made another huge snack platter.

The whole day was so relaxing because it was all on site. Late afternoon, we decided to get dressed for the wedding, and then we strolled across the lawn to where the ceremony was being held. Our friend Laura officiated, and she did an incredible job. The ceremony was bilingual—French and English—and Laura nailed both!

With the newlyweds!! We love you, Camille and James!

Grace hanging with Laura’s precious son after the ceremony

A bunch of Grace’s high school friends. All except me and one other (Clayton, on the far right) are high school sweethearts. I will forever be grateful to this group for welcoming me so warmly. I feel like I’ve always known them!

The reception was SO MUCH FUN. The bride and groom are huge foodies, so there was so much amazing food. I wish I could remember it all. I know there were about ten different “stations” during cocktail hour, including cheese being freshly shaved off huge blocks, and there was a late-night meal of burgers and hot dogs (the reception went until 4am). There was also a sit-down dinner, which was so delicious, and everyone danced afterward. I wish I had photos of the desserts, but it was like every type of French sweet you can think of. Macarons, profiteroles, and on and on.

At the end of the night, it was so fun to just stumble back across the courtyard to our rooms. It was such a fun night that we’ll never forget.

We were very sad to leave the next day, but it was time. We were off to Paris, which made the most sense for us to fly home from. But we also wanted to try to make the most of our short stay there. We stayed at the Hotel Monge, which I very highly recommend both on location and on charm! It’s a stunning boutique hotel in the Latin Quarter. I researched a bunch of hotels, but Hotel Monge was I think ranked #2 or #3 in Paris on TripAdvisor, and I found a good rate so I ended up booking there and loved it.

The wallpaper is to die for.

For our one night in Paris, we started by walking to the Jardin du Luxembourg for our Paris photos (which I already recapped in the linked post). Grace and I have both been fortunate enough to visit Paris more than once in the past (though not together), so we were okay having our time there be so short. But we took in some pretty sights while walking around on the way to our photos.

After our photos, we walked the winding streets leading back to our hotel from the Jardin du Luxembourg, and stopped along the way at a delicious seafood place for a late dinner. After that, we searched for crepes, finally finding a stand still open. I got lemon and sugar (my fav always), and Grace got Nutella. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

We flew home to our little house and pets the next day, feeling very grateful! We nearly had to stay in Toronto overnight unexpectedly (where we had a layover) because of flight delays, but ended up on a flight on standby and got back to LA. The whole trip was so special and so much fun. Can’t wait for the next one!

If you haven’t read them yet, you can find my England recap here and my Belgium recap here.

Eurotrip Recap #2: Belgium

I’m finally back with part two of my Eurotrip recaps! I took a long break from writing these, but I was determined to get at least one more done before the end of the year . . . and here I am on December 31. Better late than never!

I’ll jump right in. After spending a few wonderful days in England with Grace’s best friends from childhood, we took an early morning Eurostar train ride to Brussels.

For those who don’t know, Grace grew up in Waterloo, Belgium, which is about twenty or thirty minutes outside of Brussels. Her family doesn’t live there anymore, but we’ve had opportunities to visit together over the years and it’s always so special for Grace to visit home!

We only had a couple of days in Belgium this trip, so we decided to spend one day hanging out in Waterloo, and one day going into Brussels by train to explore. Once we arrived on the Eurostar our first day, we took a local train to Waterloo and stopped off at the adorable Hotel Côté Vert. We have stayed there in the past and absolutely love it. It’s super charming and they have the best breakfast included with the rooms!

Let me tell you a little bit about Grace’s hometown. Its claim to fame is the Battle of Waterloo and, of course, the ABBA song. That said, it is TINY. Which we both love. You can walk anywhere you need to go, so we set out on foot to enjoy some of our favorite spots. #1 on Grace’s wish list was going back to her old school (where she went from third through twelfth grade), St. John’s International.

This is Grace outside the school.

I didn’t take any pictures inside, but it was so fun getting a tour around the new changes to the school, catching up with some of Grace’s old teachers, and hearing about what it’s like to go to school there. I know it probably sounds weird to enjoy going to visit a school where I didn’t attend, but St. John’s is pretty magical. It makes me wish our future children could go there, but I don’t see us moving to Belgium as of right now. I didn’t love my own high school, so I like to imagine I went to St. John’s with Grace and all her amazing friends, haha :) Fun fact, Grace was the student body president while she was there.

After St. John’s, we walked down to The Snug, which was the bar Grace and her friends would hang out at after school. The drinking age in Belgium is 16, so it was totally normal to go to a bar after classes ended for the day in high school. So strange to think about being from the US! The Snug is a tiny little pub and it’s so cute.

It was still kind of early for dinner after our beers at the snug, so we explored a bit more of the town, including stopping in the Carrefour just to walk around, which is an amazing Belgium supermarket I’ve been obsessed with whenever we visit Belgium.

We were so excited for dinner at our favorite place in Waterloo: Pizza Hut. Yes, I’m serious. Pizza Huts in Belgium (at least the one in Waterloo) are completely different from in the US—they have nice menus and signature cocktails and the most incredible pizza. We go there every time we are in Belgium, and it was Grace’s favorite place to go as a special treat growing up!

After dinner we decided to make one more stop at L’Amusoir, which is a really cute bar and restaurant right across the street from our hotel. It was apparently around when Grace was in high school, but they have fixed it up a lot since then.

The next day we got up to head into Brussels! I love Brussels because of (a) how delicious the food is; (b) how laid back and easy to navigate it is; and (c) how local it feels. Of all the European capital cities I’ve been to, Brussels is by far the least touristy. But I was excited to be a tourist for the day!

On the way to the train station, we decided to walk the long way and pass by Grace’s old street and her childhood home. I made her take a photo in front of it for memories.

It’s so fun for me to think of Grace growing up in this adorable Belgian neighborhood.

Onto Brussels.

As you might expect, pretty much all of our Brussels activities revolved around eating and drinking. We got waffles:

Ate moules frites (baked mussels + fries . . . one of my FAV meals) at Chez Leon:

And of course went by Delirium to try some different beers! I am not a beer person . . . other than in Belgium and local Oktoberfest events I don’t think I’ve ever once ordered a beer at a bar or restaurant. But with the world record for most types of beer (by a landslide), even I was so excited to go back to Delirium after my first visit a couple of years ago. There’s something for everyone, and it was one of Grace’s favorite places growing up.

Over 2,000 kinds of beer, including crazy stuff I had never heard of

It ended up raining a lot while we were in Brussels, so we decided to head back to Waterloo in the late afternoon and took at nap at our hotel. We were exhausted but eventually psyched ourselves up to get dressed and go get pita for dinner at Pitta El Grecco, which was a staple for Grace in high school.

Soooo good. Yes, we both love pineapple on savory foods—I know this is controversial for some people :)

We were so sad to leave Belgium the next day! But we were also very excited to move on to leg three of our adventure: FRANCE for the wedding of our dear friends! We hopped on a train to the airport to catch our connecting flight to London, and then on to Marseille.

But first, one last waffle in the airport!

Happy New Year, and thanks for reading HDWD this year! I promise not to let so much time go by before I finally recap the last leg of our trip.

The First "Gay Married Weekend"

A couple of weeks ago, Grace and I headed up to San Francisco for the weekend to see two of our dear friends, Tommy and Philip. They live in Austin, Texas, but had flown in for Philip’s birthday and invited us to join! It was such a special weekend that I’ll never forget.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might remember Tommy and Philip’s New Year’s Eve wedding in New Orleans last year! Tommy and Philip are some of our first “gay married friends”, and while that might sound silly or trivial, it really means so much to share a season of life with a wonderful couple like Tommy and Philip. It’s so funny because in some ways, Tommy and I are VERY alike (we both took the primary role in planning our respective weddings, we both are fascinated by random pieces of history like the sinking of luxury ship liners and the history of monarchies, and we both are self-admittedly needy toward our spouses sometimes, haha), and in other ways Philip and I are a lot alike. We are both more introverted, we’re both lawyers, and people rarely think we’re gay when first meeting us. The same goes for Grace and the two guys - she’s a lot like each of them in certain ways. I really feel like we could talk to Tommy and Philip for a week straight and not run out of things to talk about. We feel so lucky to know them!

San Francisco was the perfect late-September destination for it to really feel like Fall. The air was crisp when we got there, and we had the best time eating and drinking our way through the city. We stayed at the Stanford Court hotel in Nob Hill, which was cute. We really didn’t spend much time at the hotel, but it was nice, and I would stay there again. I LOVED staying in Nob Hill.

I used to live in the Bay Area (in Berkeley) during law school, so I know San Francisco well! It was really fun to go back and see new areas and try new places. Some highlights were:

The Clarion Alley Mural Project

Enjoying some high times in Mission Dolores Park

Dim sum in Chinatown at City View for breakfast the first morning

Checking out the Castro (the famous gay area of San Francisco): we went to Twin Peaks Tavern, Q bar, Hi Tops, and Beaux. Twin Peaks has a really cool history (it is maybe the oldest gay bar in the US - the title is disputed), Hi Tops had great food, and Beaux was a lot of fun to end the night. We didn’t love Q bar (I had actually been there before, years ago, and feel like it used to be more fun?). Also we went to Hot Cookie in the Castro for the BEST cookies. Omg!

Last but not least, the brunch we had at Chubby Noodle on the last morning before leaving was the yummiest brunch I can remember having in a long time. If you’re in SF, GO THERE!

Most of all, though, just spending time with this sweet couple who we can share the experience of being young, gay, and married with is so rare and cool. I titled this post “The First Gay Married Weekend” because I can’t wait to continue this tradition. Tommy and Philip always travel in style so I can’t wait to see where we go next!

Eurotrip Recap #1: England

Today I’m starting my three-part recap series of our Europe trip! We were lucky enough to spend some time at the end of summer traveling to three countries: England (where we have some dear friends), Belgium (where Grace is from), and France (where our friends were getting married).

Grace and I had been looking forward to this trip for what felt like forever. We planned it based on our friends’ wedding in the South of France the first weekend of September, so we left at the end of August and decided to travel around a bit before the wedding.

Grace grew up in Belgium, so most of her best friends still live in Europe. It’s hard being so far from her oldest friends, but it’s so fun visiting Europe and having some of our favorite people to stay with!

After an overnight flight from LAX (thank goodness for nonstops between LAX and London Heathrow), we landed in London around noon. Our plan was to stay awake the whole day until a normal time to go to bed on England time, so we could adjust to the time zone more easily, and I think it definitely worked!

We took the underground to Grace’s best friend Juli’s flat where she lives with her boyfriend Jens (who we are low key obsessed with, haha). Jens is from Norway.

Juli and Jens’s flat is adorable, full of exposed brick and city views. They live in Shad Thames which is a super cute neighborhood right by the London Bridge. We spent some time catching up with Juli once we arrived, and then Grace and Juli’s other best friend Laurane came over to meet us. Juli and Laurane were both bridesmaids in our wedding and we hadn’t seen them in about a year. We talked for hours and took a stroll by the London Bridge before dinner.

Grace with Juli and Laurane!

We then headed to dinner to meet up with Laurane and Juli’s boyfriends, Angus and the aforementioned Jens. Juli had made a reservation at the cutest and most delicious Peruvian place! It was called Adina, in the Shoreditch neighborhood which isn’t too far from Shad Thames. Grace and I had been up for over 24 hours at this point (we both can’t really sleep on planes) but we were at the point of just being deliriously happy to be in England, so we cheersed with everyone else with our Pisco sours and ate endless amounts of ceviche and other delicious Peruvian dishes.

Low quality photo, very high quality friend reunion and very high quality Pisco sours.

After dinner we walked across the street to a pub and had a couple more drinks while we kept catching up with our friends. At that point I was so delirious on no sleep that I don’t even remember what it was called or what drink(s) I got! I do remember they had very delicious popcorn that was free. Honestly, a highlight of the first day haha.

That night we slept 10 solid hours so I think our plan of staying up until the next night worked perfectly! We woke up and headed over to have brunch with Juli, Jens, Laurane, and Angus at a cute vegan place in Notting Hill falled Farmacy.

I didn’t take a picture of the food I got, but I had the vegan burger with fries (aka chips in England) and it was amazing!

I did snap a pic of my turmeric latte with black pepper on top. Very different but so good as well and from what I understand, very good for inflammation which I tend to get when I travel.

After brunch we ventured out to Portobello Road which is a fun shopping district in London. I LOVE the colorful houses there.

One of my favorite shops was an antique place selling old rugby balls, golf clubs, and other sporting accessories. It was so cool and the guy working there told us tons of fun British tidbits and history.

After Portobello Road we headed over to the lovely Kensington Gardens. I should mention that it probably seems like we’re skipping over a lot of the key sights in London like Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, etc. We did skip a lot of those famous places, but it’s because Grace and I have both been lucky enough to go to London several times before (including a trip together a few years ago). We really wanted to focus on spending time with friends on this trip and didn’t feel a strong desire to go back to some of the iconic London landmarks, fun as they are :)

On the tube!

And we stopped for an ice cream while walking through the park.

After Kensington it was about dinner time so we headed to get a pub dinner near the Globe Theater, where we had tickets for that night to see a Midsummer Night’s Dream!

Fish and chips was one of my food “musts” while we were in England and this did not disappoint!

Next we walked over to the Globe Theater and watched a Midsummer Night’s Dream! It was truly such a cool experience. I’m really glad Juli booked it for us ahead of time and thought of it. Spending a balmy night of our summer vacation, in London with amazing friends, watching a Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe Theater with a Pimm’s Cup in hand was a transcendental moment for me.

The next day was super sweet and a very different change of pace from our whirlwind day exploring London. One of Grace’s other best friends and bridesmaids, Laura, lives just outside London so we headed up there with Juli to visit her and her precious children. This is the one time my jet lag hit, because I fell asleep in the car on the way there. But I was refreshed by the time we got there :)

We spent such a special afternoon relaxing, eating the delicious lunch Laura cooked us, and playing outside with the kids!

Laura’s son LOVED taking photos on our phones, like this one, which was hilarious.

It was just the best day! And it wasn’t too sad of a goodbye since we knew we’d see them the next week in France for our mutual friends’ wedding (which Laura was actually officiating!).

The cutest mother-daughter pair ever

That night was, very sadly, our last night in London. We kept it relaxing since we had an early train ride to Belgium the next morning, and we stayed in and ordered delicious Indian takeaway (as they call it in England)! Indian food was one of my other must-haves while in England. We watched the new season of the Great British Bake Off and had such a nice last night hanging with Juli and Jens.

The next day we woke up and headed to the Eurostar to make our way to Belgium!

Writing this recap makes me so nostalgic for our time in England—it was just so sweet and filled with some of our favorite people. Stay tuned for my Belgium and France recaps coming soon!

First Wedding Anniversary Trip to Ojai

Ojai is our favorite little town in California. It seems like whenever I tell people that, they either TOTALLY get it and are in agreement, or are kind of confused. It’s a very small Southern California town, without the world fame of Palm Springs or the recreational activities of Big Bear/Lake Arrowhead, but it’s so very special. We plan to live there one day.

For now, we love spending our special weekends, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. We’ve stayed in pretty much all of the main hotels/resorts in town over the years, and this year for our anniversary we tried somewhere new - the Lavender Inn! It was adorable and we’d definitely stay again.

Today I want to recap our sweet first wedding anniversary getaway weekend in Ojai, and I hope show a little bit about why we love this town so much.

We left town on Friday afternoon with Willie in tow (Bean stayed at his favorite doggie “summer camp”) and made the quick two-hour drive up to Ojai. We checked into the Lavender Inn, where I’d booked the Provence Cottage. The Cottage is a separate building from the rest of the Inn, so we had our own little garden and yard for Willie, which was a huge selling point. The Inn is tiny—only about seven rooms total—and it’s a bed and breakfast, so we had a full breakfast every morning and wine, cheese, and board game night in the evenings. We loved it!

The steps up to our cute cottage

We had a cute little kitchenette too, which was nice for keeping champagne chilled and preparing Willie’s food. We loved that the Inn was dog friendly (not all the rooms are - so check if you are thinking of booking), and having our own cottage was so nice! It had the space and privacy of an Airbnb, but with the amenities of a bed and breakfast. A dream! Our little garden was so cute:

I think Willie really loved how lush the Inn was, and they were so sweet to him there. A dog named June Carter lives at the Inn, so of course Willie Nelson and June Carter had to meet!

Musical dog legends

Our first night in Ojai we decided to walk down the street from the Inn to a cute place called Hip Vegan. They had an outdoor patio so we could bring Willie, and the food was SO GOOD! Looking back at the photos of the food we got is making me hungry.

The people there were so friendly to us and to Willie too. Spoiler for the rest of this post, it’s a lot of relaxing, trying out local restaurants (the Inn was walking distance to everywhere in town), resting and reading in our garden, and just enjoying small town life. There’s no major secret to what’s fun to do in Ojai, we just really enjoy the pace of life, how friendly and welcoming everyone is, the mountain views, and the amazing restaurants.

This book was incredibly good in my opinion, by the way.

The next day we enjoyed the breakfast at the Inn, followed by strolling around town and checking out cute shops.

We absolutely loved Bart’s Books, an all-outdoor book store (yep!) that welcomed Willie in to browse with us.

Bart’s had a whole section just on Antarctica travel (somewhere I’ve always wanted to go), so I loved perusing and picked out a book about the white continent. Grace got a true crime book.

We had lunch at The Nest, a restaurant we’ve been to and loved before.

Probably some of the best fries I’ve ever had! And again we ate outside so Willie could be with us.

After spending some of the afternoon napping, relaxing, and doing more walking around town, we enjoyed the Inn’s happy hour with wine, cheese, and board games you can borrow. We played scrabble at a cute little “secret garden” corner of the Inn and it was so lovely.

After happy hour, we went back to our garden before going out to dinner and popped some anniversary champagne (served in the flutes we toasted with at our wedding), looked at our wedding album, and read our wedding vows.

The dress I’m wearing here is the dress I wore to my bridesmaids’ luncheon the day before our wedding! I love incorporating sentimental things like that on special dates.

For dinner, we walked to a place we’d never been called Ojai Rotie, which I had seen described as “upscale picnic food”. That piqued our interest, plus they had a dog-friendly patio for Willie. It was another incredible meal! Ojai restaurants really do not disappoint, in my experience.

We got a bunch of little bites like a cheese and bread board, deviled eggs, cucumber salad, labneh, and more. It was the perfect “snacky” meal after we’d already had two heavy meals that day.

The next day we headed home to LA! We ended our anniversary weekend with takeout from Tatsu Ramen (our favorite local ramen shop) and the defrosted top tier of our wedding cake, which ended up being perfectly preserved. Just writing this post is making me miss this incredible weekend. The whole weekend felt like what we love about Ojai - slow, sweet, familiar yet fresh, and delicious :)

I can’t wait to plan our next trip!

Our Paris Vacation Photos

I’m so excited to share our Paris vacation photos today! If you know me, you know I LOVE pictures. I have made it a goal to get professional photos taken of Grace and me every year of marriage (not necessarily to celebrate each year - just at some point during the year), and although that takes work, planning, and $, it’s so worth it to me! Last year on our honeymoon we had some photos taken on the beach in Kauai using a company called Flytographer (it’s like Airbnb for booking vacation photographers), and it worked out so well that I booked them again for our Europe vacation this year.

I am SO thrilled with how these photos turned out, but it’s funny because a lot about this shoot did not go as planned. For starters, I actually booked the shoot in Brussels, but sadly our photographer was injured and had to cancel the shoot the day before. I was bummed (and hoping she was okay), but Grace had the idea of trying to re-book during our time in Paris and Flytographer graciously gave me a credit (in addition to refunding me for the original shoot cost) that made it very inexpensive to do so. I also had originally planned a totally different outfit for the shoot, but I think my little striped dress turned out looking so Parisian! Everything ended up seeming so meant-to-be.

While I’m sure a shoot in Brussels would have been so much fun (and meaningful, since Grace is from Belgium), we LOVED our Paris photographer and clicked with him right away. I’m so happy it ended up working out like this, even though it was a bit stressful initially having to re-book our photoshoot in the middle of vacation. All in all, Flytographer was awesome about everything and I would continue using them in the future!

If anyone wants to try it, I have a $25 off Flytographer referral code for you! Use this: CODE9385

Now for some favorite shots from the gallery we received:

We took these photos in the Jardin du Luxembourg right around sunset, where we arranged to meet our photographer. We were staying at a cute hotel just a short walk away, so we strolled over and our photographer made us feel at ease right away. Neither of us are the best at just posing naturally for photos, but our photographer gave us a ton of direction and we were all laughing and having fun. An hour of taking photos FLEW by.

One of the great things about doing our pictures at the Jardin du Luxembourg is that there are so many different areas and backdrops. Our photographer also did an amazing job at making it look like we had the park virtually to ourselves, even though it was pretty crowded!

I love that we got a mix of more classic shots and also some cool, almost experimental images:

LOVE this one :)

Believe it or not, when we first arrived at the park it looked kind of overcast, but the prettiest evening sunshine came out once we started walking around. The sun sets so late in Paris!

Our photographer also snapped a couple of individual shots of us, which are nice to have. I used one as the photo for my updated About page!

At one point, a bunch of horses ran right behind us in the best photobomb ever, haha!

I just can’t get over how much I love these photos, and it makes me really inspired to keep making sure we get nice photos done every year. It can feel awkward and it’s something we have to budget for, but it makes me so happy and having special photos is really an heirloom.

There are even a few I’m leaving out here solely for space - I love every single image so much! Next up I absolutely have to get some of these in frames!

4th of July in a Vintage, Dog-Friendly RV!

Grace and I just got back from the sweetest Fourth of July getaway and I can’t wait to share about it! This past spring has been busy for us both, and we haven’t gone on as many little weekend trips and quick getaways as we usually like to. We have kind of a crazy month coming up in August too (in a good way), so we’ve both been thinking of July as our “month off” (even though we are both very much still working) and hoping to spend a lot of time this month relaxing and making fun summer memories.

To kick that off, I booked an AWESOME vintage RV in the desert as a surprise for Grace as a Fourth of July getaway! We booked through Hipcamp, and you can find the link to the RV here. If you’ve never used Hipcamp (similar to Airbnb but for camping/glamping), you can click here to use my referral code and get $10 off.

How cute is this place?!

The RV is totally off the grid in the desert, out in the Lucerne Valley. We’ve been to the Lucerne Valley several times and always enjoy the natural beauty of the high desert. Given that it’s July, I was very happy the RV had air conditioning! Everything is solar powered, and it worked like a charm. The temperature outside cooled down a lot at night, but even during the heat of the day the inside of the RV was crisp and cool—it’s such a small space that the AC cooled it off within minutes after we arrived and turned it on.

The interior of the RV is super cute, with an overall retro style and cute vintage touches.

Our getaway was just one night long, but it’s so good to the soul for both of us to get out of town every now and then. We loved looking at the stars (they’re SO bright way out in the desert), cooking our dinner on the grill and making s’mores with the fire pit, and being able to bring Willie, who loves adventure so much. We boarded Bean. Sadly, Bean has severe car sickness, and he’s never been on a car ride more than a few minutes long where he hasn’t thrown up. I also get nervous about predators like hawks out in the desert, since Bean is so small. Thankfully, he has a great boarding place near our house that he stays at when we go on road trips. But Willie loves coming with us on car rides SO much, it’s his favorite thing!

After we got there and got settled, Grace started up the grill and I chopped veggies to make homemade cole slaw! Perfect Fourth of July food :)

The beginnings of the best cole slaw in the world—mine (actually my mom’s, but in California, mine)

Thankful for my grill master.

We had an all-American feast of (vegetarian) hot dogs, cole slaw, and chips!

Funny enough, because it was the Fourth of July the grocery store was sold out of hotdog buns! So I had to use hamburger buns instead, which was fine :)

It was sooo pretty once the sun started setting, and we took some pictures.

Thank goodness for self-timer, or we would never get pictures on vacation!

Once it was dark, Grace made a fire and we roasted marshmallows for s’mores. I am actually not the biggest chocolate fan, so I usually just eat plain roasted marshmallows instead of making a traditional s’more. But to kick off summer, I had to eat at least one.

The stars were so gorgeous. It’s obviously hard to get a good picture of a starry sky on an iPhone, if not impossible. But the stars were so bright my phone actually managed to pick them up!

The city lights at the bottom of the picture are probably Apple Valley, CA, but I’m not sure since I’m not very good at directions and am not sure which way I was facing when I took this photo. While we were standing looking up at the stars, we also saw a shooting star! And both made wishes, but didn’t tell each other what the wishes were, out of superstition :) We also saw some Fourth of July fireworks in the distance!

It is so quiet out in the desert, and we both slept great. We woke up the next morning to head home, and took in some last rays of desert sunshine.

We loved all the cute, dog-friendly touches, like this doormat. This was our first time staying in an RV, which I have wanted to try for a long time. Seeing how spacious they are (this one also had a bathroom, which I forgot to take any pictures of) made me think I could totally live in one for weeks or even months while traveling. I think it’s so cool that people live in them long-term, too. I can see the appeal!

We had such a special, romantic trip (even though it was short), and I totally recommend renting the RV. It was adorable. Here’s the link to book again and my Hipcamp referral code again. Happy glamping!

New Year's Eve in New Orleans

Continuing my theme from last week of catching up on overdue blog posts—today I’m sharing all about our FABULOUS week in New Orleans! We spent the last week of 2018 in New Orleans, our first time visiting the city. The last night was New Year’s Eve, which also happened to be our dear friends’ wedding. And Grace officiated! Ever since the trip Grace and I keep saying to each other how it was one of our favorite trips we’ve ever taken together. New Orleans is magical, and attending such a meaningful marriage celebration—especially in our first few months as newlyweds—is something we’ll never forget.

We left for our trip 2 days after Christmas, and we were SO EXCITED!

All smiles on the airplane

We had booked a room at the Hotel Provincial, one of the hotels the grooms recommended staying at. We loved it and would totally stay there again! It’s right in the French Quarter, and beyond charming.

The cute view from our room.

Our hotel had courtyards and wrought iron furniture and charming southern touches galore.

It wasn’t the best weather for the pool, but it was pretty.

Hotel Provincial is on the National Register of Historic Places and is supposedly haunted. We weren’t bothered though—and where better to stay in a haunted hotel than New Orleans?! The location was also just so prime. The first night, we grabbed drinks to go (such a fun novelty) and strolled around to see the charming balconies in our neighborhood!

I loved seeing all the decorations still up for Christmas.

Our first meal was at Cafe Amelie. So good. I got a Penicillin (traditional New Orleans cocktail) and some kind of Cajun seafood pasta. We went to bed so happy and excited to explore the next day.

We woke up and strolled over to Cafe Du Monde for some coffee and beignets! There was a little line but it was well worth it.

Luckily, we beat the rain and made it into the cafe before the downpour . . . but then it REALLY rained. Our strolling and sightseeing plans were temporarily put off.

But right about the time when we were trying to decide what to do in the rain in New Orleans, the grooms (Tommy and Philip) texted us! We ended up going with them to get their marriage license and get Grace registered to be a marriage officiant in Louisiana. I don’t have any pics from that, but it is actually one of my favorite memories of the trip—just getting so giddy and anticipating that our friends were getting MARRIED so soon!

After dealing with the official business, we decided to stop for a late lunch at Coop’s. OMG. There, I had the best po boy of all time.

We continued strolling, sightseeing, tasting, and enjoying. Tommy and Philip showed us the gay corner of Bourbon Street, which was adorable.

About that time, we had to split off from the guys to go on a ghost tour we had booked! There are a ton of ghost tours offered in the city, and while obviously I have nothing to compare it to, I thought the company we used—French Quarter Phantoms—was awesome.

That’s us waiting for the tour to start with our two-for-one hurricanes that came with the price of the tickets. Amazing. We also stopped halfway through the tour to refill our drinks—doesn’t get much more NOLA than that :)

It was dark on the tour so I don’t have pictures, but we saw some really interesting historic places in the French Quarter. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, it’s a very cool historic tour. I’m also glad we did the tour one of our first nights in New Orleans, because the rest of the time we felt like we knew our way around the Quarter better and could use certain buildings (that we now knew to apparently be haunted) as points of reference.

I don’t have pictures from this, but after dinner we strolled out to an awesome, tiny Cuban restaurant and got some small bites. The place, which we loved, is called Manolito.

The next day, pre-wedding festivities began! We started the day with a jog along the Mississippi River, which was gorgeous.

Then for breakfast on the way home from our jog, we randomly stumbled on a hole in the wall where we found the most DELICIOUS breakfast plates! We both got the fried catfish breakfast plate which came with eggs, fried catfish, potatoes, and toast or English muffins. It is one of my favorite things we ate the whole trip! The place is called Johnny’s and it’s cash only. Go there if you are in NOLA!

After relaxing a bit and freshening up, we headed to the first wedding event of the week: Drag Brunch at the Country Club! It was such a fun welcome event for everyone invited to the wedding, and it was great to start to meet some of the other guests we didn’t know. The Queens were awesome and we felt so at home in a new state attending a fun drag show.

Grace getting ready to hand out some dollars.

The adorable porch of the Country Club.

We had some r&r time after brunch (turns out, drinking during the day and eating decadent Cajun food all the time really wears you out), and then for dinner we headed to the INCREDIBLE Cafe Sbisa. Cafe Sbisa gave me one of my favorite dates with Grace, the best and friendliest service, and *maybe* my favorite meal of the whole trip (but that’s a very difficult call to make).

The photo above is Cafe Sbisa’s courtbouillon, kind of a cousin of gumbo—but in my opinion, far superior. This one had a rich creole stew/soup base with rice in the middle, surrounded by lump crab meat, tiny bay shrimp, mussels, and catfish. I seriously DREAM about this meal. It was that good.

The next day: rehearsal day! We started off the morning with a visit to the gorgeous venue of the wedding, the Marigny Opera House.

It’s an old converted 1853 church, then an opera house, and now a venue and events space. Here’s Grace practicing her officiant role for the wedding!

After the morning rehearsal, we headed to Brennan’s for the sweetest rehearsal brunch. I LOVED the idea of a rehearsal brunch so much—almost made me wish we had gone that route (as opposed to a rehearsal dinner).

The grooms!!

One of the signature drinks, pictured above, was a New Orleans breakfast punch. It was a rum punch with a milk-based base, that honestly tasted like the most delicious cereal milk imaginable. Maybe that sounds gross to you, but trust me, it was amazing. A little cinnamon on top was the perfect touch.

After brunch, we strolled and explored.

And on our walk back to our hotel, we saw a dog who looks like Casper. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Casper was our first dog together, and I’ve never seen a dog who looked like him. This one was so sweet and I got pretty emotional meeting him. For reference, our two dogs (the New Orleans dog first):

We had some rest time in our room (becoming a theme), and then headed to the next wedding event: the welcome party! It was such a fun gathering in the home of Tommy and Philips’ friends who live in New Orleans. It was also another chance to sample more delicious New Orleans traditional food.

The cutest idea for napkins for a welcome party!

One corner of this GORGEOUS New Orleans home—Grace and I couldn’t get over it.

After the welcome party we left and Grace got a tattoo to commemorate our time in New Orleans. It’s a heart with a ghost in it. I feel like for many people getting a tattoo wouldn’t be such a casual thing, and I get that, but I also love Grace’s collection. That’s just Grace!

The next day we woke up and it was the last day of 2018, and WEDDING DAY! Oh my goodness, I could never begin to describe all of the wonderful things about this wedding. It was just BEYOND. But here are a few:

• Vows that took my breath away, and that Grace and I still talk about

• About 200 glasses of champagne all lined up with tiny escort cards with our names balanced on top—one of my favorite creative escort card displays I’ve seen

• An elegant tented dinner outside

• A second line (like a mini marching band for those who don’t know the term) where we danced around the entire neighborhood with a police escort after the ceremony

• An amazing dance party to ring in 2019

• The most fun live band

• Confetti showers at midnight

• A super fun (maybe TOO fun) after party in the French Quarter

And so, so much more. A few favorite snaps from the wedding:

As good as the food in New Orleans was, as colorful and inspiring as the city was, as sparkly and fun as having New Year’s Eve there was, none of it compares the joy of seeing our friends get married. And, a big part of that is that this was our first gay wedding as guests. Seeing how Tommy and Philip’s communities rally around them and how this was the event of the YEAR for so many people made me cry multiple times throughout the week. After we left, Grace and I commented how we felt like we’d been at summer camp and made a bunch of friends that we can’t wait to see again. It was just all so good. Tommy and Philip, thank you. We love you!