Category: Adventure

THINGS TO DO IN SEATTLE DURING SPRING

Hi Friends!

As you all know, I went to Seattle for Easter weekend and I absolutely loved it! I love it so much that I wanted to write a blog post about things to do, to see and eat during Spring in three days!

So if you haven’t been to Seattle and you’d like to go sometime soon, here’s a list of the most memorable places I went to that I think will make you fall in love with Seattle and some tips and tricks that can help make your trip smoother.

  1. See the Tulip Festival in Roozengaarde. For more in depth info, please see my recent blog post about the Tulip Festival for tips what to do and bring. When we went, it unfortunately rained; however, it was still completely gorgeous and magical.
  2. Fly to Paine Field Airport in Everrett, Washington to save some money. It’s only 30 mins away from Seattle and it’s a quaint and small airport filled with less people.
  3. If you fly to Tacoma International Airport in Seattle and you’re going to stay in downtown Seattle, you don’t have to rent a car. You just take the Light Link Rail and Lyft all around downtown.
  4. Pike Place Market – A MUST SEE! This has about fifty percent of all the yummy food I tried all weekend. Which ones? See below. P.S. They’re all AH-MAZING!
  • The Original Starbucks – 1912 Pike Pl, Seattle, WA 98101
  • Piroshky Piroshky – they have delicious pastries (there’s always a line)
  • Pike Clam Chowder – it’s ADDICTING!
  • Rachel’s Ginger Beer – love love love! 
  • Matt’s In The Market – one of the best seafood places!
  • Beecher’s Handmade Cheese – OBSESSED! And you get to see them make cheese!
  • The Gum Wall – You have to go!

       

5. Stay at Kimpton Palladian Hotel. I love how close they are to Pike Place. It’s a 10 min walk as they’re only a couple of blocks away. I also love their interior and the service is spectacular!

6. Spend the afternoon in Volunteer Park. They have a gorgeous Green House!

  1. Check out Pioneer Square and it’s cute stores and restaurants.
  2. Try the Fried oysters and Dungenees Crab at Taylor Shellfish Oyster at Pioneer Square. 
  3. Get happy hour at Girin Korean Ssam Bar – also at Pioneer Square. Try their original korean beer – it is sooo good! It looks like rice milk and you drink it from a bowl but it’s actually really good. The restaurant looks super fancy on the inside and the service is amazing!
  4. Go bar hopping at Capitol Hill. My fave is the Unicorn Bar. It’s like a Disneyland for adults and they have super cute and instagrammable drinks! So colorful.
  5. Then sober up at Big Mario’s New York Pizza just around the corner. This pizza was amazing! It was delicious, light and crispy! Perfect way to end the night!
  6. Hang out with the cool cats at NEKO: A Cat Cafe. This cafe is so cute and cozy that Eddie and I actually want to build our own cat cafe in LA. It’s definitely on top of my favorite things to do in Seattle. I had so much fun playing with the cats while having coffee + dessert.
  7. Get brunch or din din at Matt’s in the Market. It’s on the second floor in front of the Pike Place Market sign. BEST SEAFOOD with a delicate touch! 
  8. Grab some ice cream at Molly Moon’s Ice Cream! Hands down the best ice cream i’ve ever had! Please get the honey lavender drizzled with lemon custard. It’s heaven in your mouth!
  9. Try the Seattle Dog in the Park. I cant believe I’m saying this but it’s actually better than the LA dog. It has some kind of cream cheese and veggies that makes it mouthwatering!
  10. Visit the Chihuly Garden and Glass – if there’s one thing you HAVE TO DO in Seattle, it’s this! I fell in love with this place and the artist Chihuly. The amount of work and dedication and creativity that was put into all his masterpieces were just so out of this world!! 
  11. Go see the cherry blossoms at the University of Washington and visit the Suzzallo Library. There’s also super cool thrift stores around the area that are worth seeing! Unfortunately, with the amount of time I had left, I only got to go Crossroads Trading and boy, did I get a lot of treasures!
  12. Grab a late night drink at Jarr Bar! It’s the best little bar in Seattle.I love that the place is so small and intimate and they have the yummiest late night snacks!
  13. See the Fremont Troll! LOL. If you want to be extra touristy and into Pop Culture – this troll was in Once Upon a Time and I had to go see it!

Hope you enjoyed this things to see/do/eat list and fall in love with Seattle as much as I did!

XO,

Joy

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Hotel Z – Stay Pineapple

Hi Friends,

It feels like it’s been years since I last wrote a blog post… as life has been crazy and I had to take a break on blogging… the past month, a few things have changed and I finally caught my breath and I feel like I actually have a chance to get back to it! *squeals from excitement* Last week, Eddie and I went to San Diego and stayed at Hotel Z – Stay Pineapple and we absolutely loved it! It’s soo cute and it’s literally in the heart of Gaslamp! They also offer free shuttles anywhere in Downtown San Diego, Balboa Park and Little Italy.

They also have bikes that you can rent! We strolled all the way down Balboa Park and visited the cute little Spanish Village.

Each room is designed with pineapple – everything!

Even their bathrooms!

But one of my ultimate faves is the afternoon delights!!! They serve little pineapple cupcakes in their lobby around 3 pm with pineapple infused water!

Do you ever see yourself staying in one of the Pineapple Hotels? I definitely would love to come back at this sweet hotel! They are also pet friendly 🙂

Till our next adventure,

Joy

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Fallin In Love With Big Bear

Last weekend, my boyfriend and I stayed at Cabins4Less and we woke up to snow falling! Growing up in California, I’ve never experienced snow falling so you can probably see how excited I was that I got to dance around with my glitter tutu in the snow. After eating breakfast, we headed to the Alpine Slide Magic Mountain and went tubing! It was sooo fun and probably one of my favorite things that we did in Big Bear.

We then headed to their cute little town village – Big Bear Lake Village. It was filled with cute little shops and restaurants and everything is so close to each other.

For the rest of the night, we decided to to dine in and stay warm with our fire place. The next morning, we attempted to hike the Castle Rock Trail and casually failed. We ended up just having a snow ball fight and finding sliding down the hills.

We had so much fun our Big Bear Weekend Trip that we cannot wait to go to the next one hopefully this year’s winter again later this year or next year. We also loved staying in our cute little cabin and we will probably stay here again.

I could not believe that Big Bear is only 2 hours away from my house! This will definitely one of my winter get aways. Do you have any travel plans any time soon? or even mini road trips?

Xo,

Joy

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3 REASONS WHY FALL IS THE BEST TIME TO VISIT MAMMOTH LAKES

1. It’s off season = not the busiest time of the year since summer just ended and winter is about to come; therefore, less crowds, less people. Yeyyy! With fewer visitors, accommodations and Airbnb is actually cheaper.

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2. The BEST weather EVER! I was able to do the whole 3 mile walk around Convict Lake wearing Reebok’s Pure Move Bra and North Face Windbreaker. The average temperature ranged between 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. But it wasn’t really until the sun was setting did I need my windbreaker as it got a little bit more chilly.

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What I love about my Reebok’s Pure Move Bra is how it’s natural shape literally feels like it’s molded for your body with free-cut edges that allow you to move freely-from the gym to a hike to a brunch with friends. The fabric almost feels like your second skin. I also love how modest this bra looks that I didn’t feel self conscious walking around without a top covering me.

***I was gifted this product, but all views are my own and I was wearing a size M Bra.***

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3. MAJESTIC VIEWS AND FALL HEAVEN!!! – I mean where else can you find this view? Like how is this even real? I honestly lost it and just fell in love. As I walk around Convict Lake, I cant help but marvel at the sight of golden Aspen leaves everywhere. It almost looks like real gold when the sun hits the leaves. And seeing all of the trees together with different colors was truly a stunning sight to see!

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I hope you find your way to squeeze in some time to go to Mammoth Lakes soon before winter starts. It’s a lot more amazing in person, I promise! Happy Fall!

 

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Metanoia

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metanoia (n.) the journey of changing one’s mind, self or way of life

These photos were taken approximately three months ago in Alabama Hills, where we celebrated one of my best friend’s birthday. Funny how life happens and change, as I grew up, I realized it becomes less important to have a ton of friends, and more important to have real ones.

Not So Fun Fact About Me: I moved around schools growing up – so I was always the new girl that everybody judged at the beginning and by the time I felt like I found my group of friends, it’s time to move again. Because of this, I learned how to adapt to my surroundings very quickly —although I still had a difficult time finding my real friends. Growing up, I’ve always felt like I was “too much” for most people or “too good” and I had a hard time feeling at home or finding my tribe.

For years, I’ve prayed and hoped to find some weirdos that like adventures, taking pictures, brunching, being silly and creative, laughing, being on the go, who aren’t afraid to get real with you and bring you back to ground and reality as I’m often day dreaming somewhere up in the clouds in la la land. I’m glad to say that I finally found them after twenty six years— they were worth every wait. I realized what true friendship was once I met people who would always love me with my imperfect self, confused self, and my wrong self.

And because of them, i’ve learned more about myself than I ever did before. Recently, a good friend of mine made me realize that I like to run away and not deal with relationship/personal issues because it scares me to face them; so often times, I mask my problems with work, other activities until it ends up blowing in my face. I’ve also learned that we are often attracted to the same kind of people for a reason — are they filling in a void? and if so, what is that void and why? However, as I look back for the past three months, I actually feel wiser and stronger that somewhere along the line I feel like a different person. I’m no longer afraid to tackle things that I normally would prefer not to deal with. Often times, I still need a bit of a push but I am thankful to have found the courage through my experiences and the mistakes I’ve made from the past.

What do you think about this dress that I made for this shoot? Also, as January is ending have you thought about all the things you’ve learned from last year already? They say that January is the trial month! Sadly, you only have a few days left. 😉

XOXO,

Joy

 

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Pure Gold

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One of my favorite classes that I took at FIDM is draping. Most of the time when I create, I get inspired by the how the fabric feels, the colors, the texture and how it flows. Little did I know that this class would be so helpful now that I’m always running around doing photo shoots. When I havent gotten a chance to make an outfit, I tend to bring fabrics with me and end up just wrapping it around myself to make a dress.

For Labor Day Weekend, I went on a mini road trip with my friends to Arizona and Utah. One of the stops that we did was to see the Antelope Canyon. We signed up ahead of time to see it through  Chief Tsosie’s Upper Antelope Canyon Tour We had so much fun as the tour guides took us to the location as we rode a mini jeep. They helped us take the best pictures where you can see the light pass through the canyons. This has been on my bucket list and I was so excited to be able to see the canyons in real life. It was pure magic.
I will be doing more adventure blogs soon.
What do you guys think about these kind of posts?
XOXO,
Joy

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Unconditional Love

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I know I’m a little late on my blog posts lately (sorry, it has been a crazy busy week) as I wanted to talk about one of girls’s favorite topics to talk about: love! ;P Have you ever been loved unconditionally by someone? The kind of love that loves you still when things get ugly, when you have stuff in your teeth, when you fight and cry but you know you’re going to be okay the next day, when you can fully trust the other person knowing there’s no malice in their heart and all they want is the best for you despite of your differences? It wasn’t until my late twenties that I realized (other than God who created this whole universe and my parents who treat me like a princess and the rest of my family who can’t really get rid of me, hehe) that my greatest relationships (so far) are my best friends.

When I truly thought about the things that I was looking for what an ideal relationship should consists of — there were some things that I knew were non negotiable such as: commitment, loyalty, trust, kindness, respect, honesty, the ability to be completely myself with another person and have lots of fun. With that said I also realized that one of the most important part is for me to be with people who will show love unconditionally and willingly —and accept that I will love them that way in return —and who aren’t afraid to stick around for the hard parts, who aren’t scared to talk about each other’s flaws, or plan a future with me or who will pick up the phone at 3 am because I’m having a nervous breakdown and I don’t think I can finish my school project that’s due at 8:30 in the morning.

Sometimes I’ve asked myself: isn’t our greatest relationship supposed to involve romance? Isn’t suppose to end in marriage like what the society expects out of us? But looking back on my life, my friends have been my constants – who have an unconditional love for me for years. Even when I’ve hit my lowest points, they’re the ones who have helped me come back up. The ones who never gave up on me and believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. The ones who’ve talked me out (and never stopped) #insertrollingeyesemoji of dating the guys who they think aren’t good enough for me. The ones that know when I deserve more when I clearly don’t see it and the ones who see the strength in me when I feel like nothing but a broken mess. They don’t worry about a “commitment” to our friendship – it just flows. They don’t look at my bad sides and make me feel bad for it – for the most part, we point them out to each other and discuss how can we be better as a person? They aren’t nice to me just to get something out of me; they’re nice to me because they care about me. They push and aspire me to be my best self because we are each other’s cheerleaders —without forcing each other to be someone we’re not. Last but not the least, I don’t have to compete for their attention or convince them to see my worth because they already know it. In all honestly, I’m lead to believe that your best friends are probably one of the strongest loves you’ll ever have because nobody is forcing them to love you, other than the fact that they already know too much about you! 😉

For this blog post I am actually wearing Secretly A Mermaid‘s newest set. Follow us on Instagram: @shopsecretlyamermaid My bestie and I started our own Etsy shop late last year in order to share our love for mermaids, dressing up and fashion. Speaking of unconditional love, I can say that our friendship is one of the primary examples of the existing greatest relationships that I have. Sometimes it feels like work because we actually work together even if we’re fighting… but in the end I still think it’s worth it because we love each other unconditionally and we are working towards a common goal and we don’t lose sight of that.

My hope is that if you haven’t found someone who loves you for all the beautiful, amazing mess that you are — is that you never give up. Hang on tight and spend time with the ones that already do. <3

XOXO,

Joy

 

 

 

 

 

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Twenty Seven

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As I turn twenty seven tomorrow, a part of me normally gets emotional on my birthday – because I’m turning another year older. I usually reflect what everything I’ve learned, my goals and my aspirations in life. However, lately I’m actually feeling a bit more calm as I realized that maybe growing older isn’t so much of a bad thing. I’ve had a few realizations the past few months that I’d like to share and maybe growing older actually means knowing yourself more, knowing your worth, knowing what you want and knowing your happiness.

“If you want it, go for it. Take a risk. Don’t always play safe or you’ll die trying. If you always do something you are a little not ready to do, that’s when and how you grow. When there’s the moment of uncertainty on accomplishing things and you push through — that moment is when you’ll have a breakthrough.”

Someone once told me that most people are scared than brave and that statement makes me sad. I wish more people could be brave and take more chances. I wish there were more authentic people who wants the best for you and everyone around them but lately I realized that world we live in — everyone is mostly here to fend for themselves and I’m sure there’s many valid reasons behind this and how they even got there; even I, myself am learning to find out why but my hope is to never be the person who only lives for themselves.

A few months before I turned 27, I realized that:

  1. You will need to start taking of yourself more (physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually) — you don’t have a 21 year old body anymore. You can no longer party 3 nights in a row. You will need to work out 3 to 4 times a week — I sure need to start doing that soon. Your family and friends can only be there for you so much, you need to start taking care of yourself and ask yourself what’s destroying your inner peace?
  2. You will lose people/things in your life that are not meant to be with you forever (friends, lovers, relationships, jobs) — the past few years, I realized that losing people or things in general is inevitable, some are meant to be in your life for a few months, years even but that doesn’t mean that’s the end of you. Often times, we tend to seek validation from people or things that we hold value in our lives. This has happened to me before and my only hope is for everyone to know their selves first and love their selves enough to no longer need anyone for any kind of validation. Sometimes you also lose people or things just simply because they no longer fit in the kind of life you see your life heading and that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a bad thing. It just means another door has closed so another one can open for the right people in your lives.
  3. You start doing whats’s right for you — anyone else in their early to mid twenties felt stuck in the wrong relationship, job, career, toxic friendships? The good news is this happens less as you get older, by 27, you start to realize the only person looking out for you is you & those you can fully trust and has the best interest in your life. However, you still have to make the choice for yourself. Your best friend can only tell you a million times to drop that f***boy who doesn’t do you any good, but you’d still have to make the decision for yourself. When you realize that, you start to prioritize yourself and your own interests over others. As you get older, you start to realize what’s right for you.. what you’re looking for.. your goals and do all these things tie into your life?
  4. You can start all over again — this ties into the point above. Feeling stuck? You hate the choices you’ve made the past few years? You can still pick up a new hobby, a new career and kick ass in it. You can drop everything off and travel for a year and pick up where you left off.
  5. You no longer FOMO — you don’t have the fear of missing out any longer. You don’t go partying at the club till 2 AM anymore, or go to the latest raves just because your circle of friends are going. In fact, you start scrolling down your social media early saturday morning and say “I’m so glad I wasn’t there… there’s so many people.” You will enjoy your privacy a lot and alone time. You will start appreciating the simple things in life… and that you no longer have to try hard to fit in.. because you no longer care & you’re content with who you are.
  6. You’re more intentional and confident — with your actions, friendships, decisions, relationships, careers. I don’t go around trying hard to make new friends, just so i can gain more friends in my life. I know by now who I can depend on at my worst and laugh with at my best and I absolutely love them for it. You don’t look at yourself anymore feeling inferior of other people’s success. You are generally happy for your friends that are engaged, married, traveling another world, popped another baby and know that you will get there in your own time. You are also more intentional with your actions. You’ve learned that not everyone needs a reaction. (this was a really hard lesson for me to learn, personally) You learn how to pick your battles. Not everyone deserves your time, your worth and your energy.
  7. You also know by now that kindness is key & what love means… everyone is struggling and just trying to make it as much as you are… so you now choose to be kind even when you’re hurting… You’ve fallen in love and got your heartbroken maybe once, twice or many times by now. Yet, despite of all the pain and fear, you heal and will fall in love again. You will take a risk again. You will choose to love again because  you’ve managed to make it through your first heartbreak (& from what I’ve heard –that’s the hardest) & only because you know that love is always worth it, especially when it’s rare and authentic. But just because you’re giving love a chance once again – it doesn’t mean that you will be as foolish as before. You’re stronger, wiser and lastly, you’ve learned the meaning of self-love the past few years to know the difference between what’s worth it, what’s a waste of time and when to start walking away… You know yourself enough to know what you can bring down on the table and offer and what you can and cannot compromise in.

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Ultralight Flight

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long return.”

– Leonardo Da Vinci

A few days ago my brother called me to let me know that I will be receiving my birthday surprise this thanksgiving weekend since I’m hardly home & to make sure I am dressed comfortably. Of course, since then, I wouldn’t stop asking him what the heck are we going to do? I’m sure it was some kind of event since he knows that I appreciate experiences so much more over materialistic things. As we approach to our destination yesterday, I swore I’ve been there before since it’s the similar location where I’ve gone skydiving last year. Just in case you didn’t know this about me yet, I have a serious fear of heights and for some reason just because I’ve gone sky diving (which I would love to do it again), I still don’t think I’ve lost my fear of falling and heights.

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Without further ado, here’s a little video about this thrilling experience!

 

I was very surprised with myself that I didn’t get too scared or freaked out— like how I normally do. I was probably afraid for the first ten seconds of ascending to the sky but as soon as we start flying, all of my fears were gone. I automatically just felt at rest and at peace with the world, with the sky, mesmerized and admiring everything around me, above me and below me. If you have a fear of heights or a complete adrenaline junky or someone who loves speed like me, this would be a perfect outlet for you to face your fears, do something new or another thing to check off your bucket list & fly through the clouds. Check out Sky Rider Ultra Lights in Camarillo and ask for Mike. He is probably on of the funniest guys I’ve ever met. Enjoy the ride!

XOXO,

Joy

 

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Facing Fears

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Have you ever heard of Acrophobia? It is an extreme fear of heights. I’ve always had it since I can remember. Growing up, I never wanted to ride the ferris wheel or roller coasters with loops. On a random Tuesday morning, one of my friends invited me to go to Sky Space LA. It holds the tallest open-air observation deck in California and has a slide made out of glass where you can glide through the view from the 70th to the 69th floor of the U.S. Bank Tower. If you didn’t have a fear of heights, I’m sure you will be jumping with joy and will think this is so fun. Except I do but given the fact that I have gone skydiving before, I thought to myself this should be easy and I can do this so I went for it anyways.

Until I actually got there and seeing the view made my heart beat faster, feel nauseated, my hands sweat and felt like I was about fall for no reason or the glass was going to break… Here’s a video of me having a meltdown before I actually did it..

A few tips for people who actually want to try this…

  1. Just go with the flow and have fun.
  2. Do not have a mental break down.
  3. Do not try to stop yourself from sliding through the glass because you won’t only flip and land weird; you will also hurt your elbow and scratch yourself (at least I did).

Before you head to the 70th floor, you will go through the 54th floor where you will find cool exhibits to see/experience. One of my favorites was the Silhouette Wall, where pixels were created to reflect images based on body movements.

There’s also a really pretty wall that you can’t miss before you exit.

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Of course, we had to take a picture!

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What are your biggest fears? Have you ever tried facing them? I honestly thought after skydiving, I would be able to overcome my fear of heights and falling. I feel like the fear is still there and I’m not sure if it will ever go away but I definitely feel like I am more open to trying new things now… So I encourage you to face your fears. It gets easier. It may not look like it from the video but there’s a part of you inside that will be proud of yourself for doing things you never thought you could do before! 😉

XOXO,

Joy

 

 

 

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