Family Vacation | LA, Cruise & Vegas

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The rest of my family finally visited me after moving to LA for almost a year! Of course our first stop was Disneyland!

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Samson #squad . . . plus Matt. 😅 #TBT

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Dinner at Blue Bayou2016-05-21 19.34.55

Slow-roasted Beef Strip Loin

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Royal Street Seafood Jambalaya

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World of Color Show at California Adventure

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The next day we were cruise bound, so of course I made Matt recreate my favorite movie!

 

Our first stop was Catalina Island

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And we trusted my dad to drive us around in a golf cart

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Gelato from Scoops Ice Cream

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Birthday dinner on the cruise!

SECOND STOP – MEXICO

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We basically ate a ton on the cruise. 😂

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And when we finally landed I took my family to my favorite brunch place BeaBea’s before we headed to Vegas!

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Shut it down at the buffet at Caesar’s Palace

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And finally got to try Mon Ami Gabi

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And that wraps up the family vacation!

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Coachella + Post Coachella Life

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It’s been super busy, so I am just convinced that this will only get updated when I manage to have a spare hour – but I do want to be consistent. (Plus I don’t want my food pics to go to waste!)

Experienced my first Coachella  & was reunited with my friends from college!

 

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Coachella sunset

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Alligator mac and cheese

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Shrimp po boy sandwich

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There were a ton more photos and thins we ate, but my phone managed to not capture everything =(

And after getting back, I started exploring LA a bit more!

Lunch at Simzy’s

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Sandwich from Mendocino Farms in Santa Monica

My first Shake Shack since New York via the West Hollywood location!

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Pesto gnocchi from Centanni Trattoria in Burbank

Hand dipped ice cream from Pop Bar in Anaheim

Eating through LAS/LAX

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After a few hours in Vegas, we apparently rewarded ourselves with a sushi burrito.

 

And we managed to make room for oxtail chili cheese fries from Bachi Burger.

And finally crossed off Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles from the bucket list.

And waited for Egg Slut again (still so good).

And ate some In N Out along the way

And shared one last meal with Lane at Bea Bea’s

And found come comfort food at Toro Sushi Poke House

Kristine visited so we got lobster rolls at Knuckle & Claw

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Bloody Mary from Brick + Mortar

Donuts from Sidecar

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Tom kha soup from The Rustic Spoon

Up next – Coachella and then I think I’m all caught up!!!

A Long Weekend in Hawaii!

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I was lucky enough to go back to Hawaii to not only pick up the rest of my stuff, but to also do some of my favorite things while I was there!

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First stop: Ono Seafood for their half miso and half spicy tuna poke bowl!

I won a free voucher for Grondin when I still lived there so we put it to good use!

We also got cocoa puffs from Liliha Bakery because why not?

We then had my favorite chicken and waffles from The Nook

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And then we did the Pillboxes Hike in Lanikai

And rewarded ourselves with my favorite shave ice from Uncle Clay’s House of Pure Aloha

Matt treated me to probably the best meal of my life with the 8 course Valentine’s Day dinner at Chef Mavro

And we somehow managed to go to brunch at Orchids the next day

It was seriously AMAZING.

And hung out in Waikiki for the rest of the day.

And for one last meal we ate at my favorite brunch spot Cinnamon’s and had crab cakes eggs benedict, guava chiffon pancakes, and shoyu pork loco moco.

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 And then it was back to LA 😢

January + February Adventures in California

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After knocking off continent 5/7, it was about time I stayed in LA.

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Tsukemen from Tsujita

Shave ice from Blockheads

Short rib and risotto from Games and Thrones

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Some crazy waffle fries order I got at first Friday at Abbot Kinney

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$2 ice cream sandwiches from Diddy Reise

Poke bowl from Poke Bar

My first and last time doing the potato chip hike in San Diego 😅

My favorite tacos from Oscar’s!

Up next, my long weekend in Hawaii (and one step closer to being caught up on this thing!)

Day 5 in South Africa -Getting Good Use Out of the Selfie Stick

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We booked a tour that would take us around the coast/areas that the red bus didn’t cover. Below is a view of the 12 Apostles in South Africa.

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And then we were taken to places where we could take more fun selfies & see more pretty ocean.2015-12-31 09.10.37.jpg

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On the way to the Cape of Good Hope there are a ton of baboons.

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It was a pretty foggy day.

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And then we went to Boulders Beach to see the penguins!

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And then we had lunch in Kalk Bay

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I’ve never had so much hake fish in my life

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We then went wine tasting afterward and visited Bo Kaap afterward!

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Didn’t take too many other photos afterward, but we ended our last night in Cape Town over looking the entire city and watching the fireworks on New Year’s Eve!

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And that finishes our trip and continent 5/7 to South Africa!

Day 4 in South Africa – Elephant Butt Selfies & Table Dancing During Dinner

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The safari was about 2 hours away, so we stopped at a rest stop – how fun are these Simba chips?!

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When you first arrive, you’re greeted with champagne & breakfast buffet (my kinda place ;))

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And there are peacocks walking around during breakfast

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Killing time before the safari

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Rhino!

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And then we stopped for another champagne break 😅

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The lions were not having it.

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And then we saw some zebras & giraffes!

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And then they fed us again afterward! Just in time as it started raining.

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We attempted to go to Table Mountain again, and I got a little grumpy so Matt got me an ice cream cone. He knows the perfect way to cheer me up.

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We had dinner at this really cool place called Stardust! We were able to snag last minute reservations and sat on scooters.

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The food was delicious and we had such a fun time seeing all the different musical numbers! Oh, and seeing everyone start dancing on tables towards the end of the night.

Day 2 in South Africa – Robben Island, Kirstenbosch, & the Rest of the Red Bus Tour

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The next day we woke up bright and early to head over to Robben Island2015-12-28 09.33.322015-12-28 09.51.272015-12-28 09.58.37-1

Once you’re there, you’re lead on a tour by one of the ex-politcal prisoners who spent time there.
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Nelson Mandela’s jail cell

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View from around the island

Matt somehow managed to deal with all the pictures I took.

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And because I like to jam pack our days with activities, I made us get on one of those hop on hop off tour buses.

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And we got off at Kirstenbosch since I really wanted to go on the tree canopy walkway

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I was really excited to finally walk on that bridge!

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And we toured the gardens as well!

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The bus was super nice to just sit down on and have them take you around the Cape Town area.

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And then we had a super delicious dinner at Kalfi’s Restaurant in Frranschoek. I had so much hake fish and shrimp when I was there. 😅

A Very Late Recap of Day 1 in Cape Town

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After a 19 hour flight from NYC, we finally arrived in Capetown, South Africa!

 

I was so excited to land in Cape Town I took these pictures that I didn’t know what I took pictures of on the taxi ride over.

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One of the menus at the food market at the waterfront

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The view from where we ate was really cool and we shared a kebab with a bunch of different meat on the stick (believe it or not there’s alligator and wild boar on there!)

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We also decided to ride that giant ferris wheel. And we put my selfie stick to good use.

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This was pretty much the view at 7pm!

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And I found my first elephant!

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 And we had this really epic dinner at Dash Restaurant

 

And that concludes day 1 in Cape Town!