San Francisco

San Francisco is a city that steals my heart again and again with each visit. The city immediately pulls you in with it's beautiful bay views, charming row homes and great restaurants. Although this past visit was for work, I tried to get out to explore as much as possible and this time around, I took the less touristy route.

Day 1:
When I first came to San Francisco in 2012, I saw Alcatraz, Height & Ashbury, rode the cable cars and wandered Fisherman's wharf. While I highly recommend doing all those things, I also had a chance to see places outside the city during my recent visit, starting with Sausalito and Marin County. Sausalito is right across the Golden Gate Bridge and is known for it's community of houseboats. There are great places to eat that are right on the water and offer breathtaking views of the city. Boats drift by you and the cool breeze from the bay gives you a break from the summer sun. After wandering around Sausalito, we drove a coastal road that offered up close views of the Golden Gate Bridge.  

Day 2:

One night while I was in San Fran we did head into the city for dinner and to show one of the coworkers I was with Lombard Street (the crookedest street) and walk around Fisherman's Wharf. Last time I only walked down Lombard street, so having the opportunity to drive down it was so fun.. and a little scary. We then headed to Pier 23 Cafe for dinner. I heard about this cafe after it was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and I just had to check it out for myself. After dinner we walked along the bay to see the seals and stop at Ghiaradelli Square. I highly recommend you stop here if you are in San Fran and get the original sundae with hot fudge.. soooo good!

Day 3:
I've been dying to head to Sonoma Valley or Napa but unfortunately, the 45 minute drive wasn't feasible during my short stay in San Fran. However, after some research we found that a small town not far from the city, called Livermore, is home to around 60 different wineries and vineyards. My coworker and I headed up there for lunch and few wine tastings and I suggest if you are like myself and want to explore the Northern California wine selection, just head to Livermore. Not all serve food so make sure you check out their website (here) so you know which ones to head to during lunch time.

I cannot wait to head back to the West Coast and specifically San Francisco. There are still many places on my bucket list to check out in this amazing city.

Chi-Town

Chicago is such an amazing city. So full of life and character. In just a short weekend, my friends and I were able to see so much of the sights and were lucky enough to attend a wedding that's reception took place inside the Chicago Bears stadium. It was magical.

I highly recommend the architectural boat tour as something to do when in Chicago. It allows you to see parts of the city you wouldn't necessarily be able to see on foot if you only have a few days to explore. Also, be sure to go the Signature Room on the 96th floor of the John Hancock building (and go into the girls bathroom). Great views of the city. I wish we had time to go to the lookout ledge at the Willis tower but the wait was an hour and a half and we were on a tight schedule to see the city.

Leave any comments on more places to visit or things to do in Chicago! I will definitely be making my way back there at some point.

Terrain at Styers

Now that Spring is officially here and the weather has finally caught up with calendar, it's time to bring some life into the indoors.. with plants! And what better to place to go to get some inspiration and the most adorable plants and accessories than Terrain at Styers. I ended up leaving with a few succulents planted in pots also purchased from Terrain.

Record Store Day!

Happy National Record Store Day!

There are few things that bring more peace and calmness to my day than listening to a vinyl record spin. The not-so-perfect sound and the act of flipping the record over to play the next side is tranquilizing. I love the feeling of stumbling upon an old record that was filed away in some bin that at one point was in the hands of someone else or listening to my mom's old albums from when she was my age. It's a way to connect two people or even two generations.

On Saturday, for record store day, I headed out in the city of Philadelphia and visited some record stores that were holding events or sales to honor the day. First stop was Repo Records on South Street. The line out the door proved just how much records are making a come back these days. I sifted through countless crates filled with old and new albums, discounted and full price. I ended up purchasing the Jack White album, Lazaretto, an album that I love oh so much. If you've never gave it a listen, I highly recommend you do.

After Repo Records, I headed to Northern Liberties to grab some food and drinks with friends. We went to Johnny Brenda's who was also partaking in record store day. They had vinyls spinning and Dogfish Head specials. Between the weather and the music, it was a perfect Saturday.  

Who else celebrated Record Store day?

Things for a perfect Sunday night

Yoga book, candle, fresh flowers and a cup of tea in this adorable mug from Urban Outfitters (with a little spot to put your tea bag).

Travel Gallery

As you may have read in one of my earlier posts, in February I was fortunate enough to take a 10 day vacation to Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It was also my first trip being able to use the amazing Nikon D3300 camera my boyfriend gave to me for Christmas. I took a photography class in preparation for the trip (and because I had never used a DSLR camera before) and was excited to put my learning's to use. When we returned from the trip, I went straight to a local camera shop to have some of my favorite pictures from the trip developed. There were so many I wanted to display but I wasn't sure how to go about it. My friend Alyssa recently wrote a blog post (found here) for a how-to travel gallery wall and I decided that was a perfect use of the photos and a way to spice up an empty space on the wall. 

First, I chose a variety of frames from Homegoods (different colors, sizes and styles) and printed out pictures from the trip according to the size frames I bought. I was able to buy seven frames for only $50 dollars! The map shown in the pictures below is from Urban Outfitters and I thought it was a perfect piece to add to the pictures of trips around the world and it gave the wall some extra flare. When you purchase the map from Urban Outfitters it's just a piece of thick paper so I went to AC Moore and bought the wood fencing seen behind it, painted it white, and attached the map with some gold tacks (it turned out awesome!). 

Next, I measured the size of the wall above my dresser and I recreated the same size space on my floor. I laid the frames out how I wanted them on the ground first, this way, I knew how much space to put between each frame and it took the stress out of trying to figure out what I was doing after hammering nails into my wall. We used Finish nails to hang the frames. 

I love the way it turned out. Now I just need to plan some more adventurers so my boyfriend and I can continue to add and expand the travel wall! (suggestions more than welcomed!)

Pura Vida!

Pura Vida, a characteristic Costa Rican phrase, literally means Pure Life with connotations that suggest translations such as "full of life" and "this is living". The words convey the state of happiness, peace and tranquility.

When that uncontrollable urge to travel began to make it's way to the surface back in October, I knew I wanted my next adventure to be off the beaten path, something different and wondrous. Central America, more specifically Nicaragua and Costa Rica, seemed like the perfect choice.

So for 10 days, I had the pleasure of exploring a few areas of these unique and magical countries and experiencing this carefree and simple way of living. The people and the small towns they occupy have this life about them and it doesn't matter where you're from, you get sucked into this laid back vibe. It makes you never want to leave. I highly suggest everyone adding the next few places I describe to their bucket list.

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

One of my best friends has been exploring the world for the past few years and I could not be more envious. She traveled to Central America about a year or so ago and suggested San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua as a stop on our 10 day trek. The town, filled with colorful storefronts and cheap, delicious street food, has a steady influx of young international travelers which makes it quite lively.

To be honest, when my boyfriend and I first got off the plane in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, we were a bit skeptical. It was late at night and due to the lack of street lights, we were a bit out of our comfort zone in our hard-to-see, new surroundings. It was a two hour drive from the airport to San Juan Del Sur and the hotel we were staying at, Hotel Maracuya, and exhaustion had completely taken over by the time we arrived so we went straight to bed. When we awoke, we looked out from our balcony at this amazing view. Rolling hills, the pacific ocean and this small town we would be calling home for the next four days. Bustling streets filled with local merchants opening their doors, international travelers making their surf plans for the day and local restaurants filling up with a breakfast crowd.

For four days we ate the local food, visited the various surf beaches (Playa Hermosa and Playa Maderas) and enjoyed ice cold tonas while watching the sunset. We participated in the well known 'Sunday Funday' event we heard so much about before heading to Nicaragua. Simply put, it's a pool bar crawl hosted by one of the hostels in town and kids (ages ranging from 18-30) from all over the world drink, swim and get to know each other. Everyone we met was as nice as could be and my boyfriend and I loved hearing their traveling stories. Most were on a 6 month backpacking trip. One day we also took a taxi to Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America and then a ferry to Ometepe, the island in the middle. It wasn't the most fun ferry, being as I was hungover from 'Sunday Funday' but it was great to see a different part of Nicaragua since we were only there a short period of time.

Finally.. we crossed the border into Costa Rica. It was a chaotic scene, but we survived.

Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Ever since I visited Puerto Rico in 2008, Costa Rica has always been on my list of places to visit so it only made sense that from Nicaragua we would venture down into this beautiful country. San Juan Del Sur is only about an hour drive to the Costa Rican border. However, I didn't want to just stay in one spot in Costa Rica. The whole country is comparable in size to the state of West Virginia, so moving from place to place would only take a few hours of travel. We decided on two different beach towns, one in the North Pacific Region and the other Central/South Pacific, and then two towns in the rain forest (considered the Central Valley).

First stop.. Tamarindo.

Tamarindo was the beach town located in the North Pacific Region. The sunsets here are magical. Just when you thought the sun had sunk beneath the horizon and the show was over, the most magical colors began to fill the sky. I've never seen so many shades of blue and orange mix together so seamlessly. 

It was a small town, with beach shops located all along the the main strip. My favorite part of Tamarindo was how everyone stopped to celebrate the sun going down. Restaurants on the beach had happy hour specials, and it felt like the whole town gathered for this one hour time period to watch the day come to end. The one day my boyfriend and I tried out surfing. We rented a board from a local shop and I have to admit, it was pretty intimidating getting out there with so many seasoned surfer vets taking on the waves. But when you're in a place known for surfing, you have to give it a try.

La Fortuna, Costa Rica

& Monteverde, Costa Rica

After a 4 hour shuttle ride from Tamarindo, we made it to the Central Valley. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was exactly what you picture when you think of Costa Rica. Luscious greens and rolling hills. It was beautiful. I had trouble putting my camera down. 

Our hostel room in La Fortuna was basically at the foot of Arenal Volcano, the main attraction in this area of Costa Rica. Later in the day, we were able to hike a small portion of the volcano with the help of a tour guide. I'll have to admit, it was a bit scary being so close to a volcano that last erupted in 1995. Following the volcano tour, we headed to resort close to the volcano which housed 25 hot springs, ranging in temperatures from 95 degrees F to 116 degrees. It was a relaxing way to end a 2 hour hike. 

The next morning, we took a 'taxi boat taxi' (which was a shuttle from our hostel, a boat across Lake Arenal, and a shuttle to our next hostel) to Monteverde. Unfortunatly, this was the only day it rained during our 10 day trip and we had plans to zip line later in the afternoon. But the zip lining went on rain or shine! 

I was so scared for zip lining and I can't say enough now, how happy I am that I did it. Despite the rain and the winds (which made it very cold) it was such an adrenaline rush and I was able to witness some of the best views of Costa Rica. Some of the zip lines were about 400 ft high and over 1000 feet long, above this basin and through rolling green hills. If you have never been zip lining before, I highly recommend holding out and doing it here for your first time. You will never forget the experience. My boyfriend, being the daredevil he is, also decided to bungee jump. If you look through the pictures below and you see the one with the rainbow in it, that tiny tiny tiny red spec is the cable car he jumped out of. That's also the cables for zip lining so you can get a sense of high up they were. 

We didn't really have a chance to explore Monteverde more, which I am pretty bumped about. It was about five oclock when we finished up zip lining and so cold outside that when we got back to the hotel we ate and called it a night. And the next morning we were off again to our last location of the trip.. 

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Our last stop, womp womp. I loved this beach town. If I had to chose between Tamarindo and Manuel Antonio I would pick the latter. Manuel Antonio also has a huge national park, which makes it more luscious beaches and things to do. 

After our two days of adventuring in the Central Valley, we took these next two days to relax. On our last day we signed up for Sunset Sail tour last minute and I'm sure glad we did. For 80 dollars, the sunset sail included all you could drink (yes, alcoholic drinks), dinner, and snorkeling. The staff was extremely friendly and everyone on the boat was just there to have fun and converse with others. The boat went around for about 2 hours before anchoring so we could snorkel and use the slide that was attached to the boat. We then took off again only to anchor a little bit later to take in the sunset.

Overall, it was a perfect 10 days. A great mix of adventure and relaxation. And like I said before, the laid back vibe and the kindness of everyone we met along the way, really made the places we visited that much better.

Now onto planning the next adventure!