Tag Archives: vacation

My 2024 Goals (or Things Already Might Need To Change A Bit)

Posted on January 3, 2024 | Comments Off on My 2024 Goals (or Things Already Might Need To Change A Bit)

Happy 2024! I hope everyone had an amazing New Year’s and the year has gotten off to a good start already. I had a pretty chill and low-key New Year’s (except for one thing) and that’s exactly how I like to do things. Before I went out to celebrate with friends, I set aside some time to work on my goals for 2024 and I came up with 4 that I really want to focus on for this year. But I might have to make a few modifications already.

My first goal for 2024 shouldn’t surprise anyone who has seen my goals over the past few years. I want to do at least 200 workouts this year. This is the same number I have had as my goal for a few years, and I don’t expect that I will ever change this since 4 workouts a week at Orangetheory feels right to me. I know I’ve had random weeks when I’ve done 5 workouts in a week, but I can’t imagine doing that regularly. I hope that I will do a few more than 200 this year, but this number allows me to have some missed classes if I get sick or something else prevents me from getting to a workout. But as long as I get to at least 200 workouts in 2024, I’ll be happy.

My second goal for 2024 might need to be changed. The original goal I had for myself was to find a way to save money so I could finally go on a vacation. I still want to see if I can accomplish this goal this year because it’s been a very long time since I’ve had a vacation. I think my trip to Catalina was my last vacation, which was awesome, but I’d love to get away from LA for a fun trip this year if possible. But on New Year’s Eve, my car was hit by a firework and has some pretty decent damage on the door. My car is drivable and the lock and door work, but it will need to be fixed. And I know that any work I do on my car will be pretty expensive. I’m going to work on getting some estimates soon and I’m going to look into whether I want to go through my insurance or not (going through insurance might end up being more expensive if my premiums go up after making a claim). But the amount that I was hoping to have for a vacation may have to go into fixing my car instead and a vacation might have to wait another year. I’ll just have to see how expensive the repair will be.

My next goal is a continuation of one from last year. I want to go as full force as possible with my acting career this year. I am starting the new year in a good place with a lot of things happening for my acting career. I have a new agent, I’m getting new headshots, I’ve re-edited my reel, and I’ve worked on updating my online casting pages. There are other things I haven’t had a chance to do or look into just yet, but I’ve made a lot of progress in the last month that will help to support things moving forward this year. I know that getting auditions and booking jobs aren’t fully in my control, but I’m doing whatever I can to make sure I’m ready for opportunities and I hope that I see some new progress in my career over the next 12 months.

My final goal for 2024 is another one that I feel like I’ve kind of done in the past, but it’s still important. I want to find the time to enjoy life. It’s so easy for me to wake up early, go to my workout, work my day job, make dinner, go to bed, and repeat. Week to week my schedule is pretty consistent, which isn’t a bad thing, but it also makes time go by without me realizing it at times. I want to enjoy my life as much as possible because that is the point of life. I do make plans with friends when I can, but I need to be more active in reaching out to friends and scheduling things. I have some days that are really difficult for me to do things after work, but that’s not every day. So I should take advantage of the evenings when I do have more flexibility and do things that aren’t just sitting at home and doing nothing.

I know these goals aren’t anything crazy or extreme, but I think they are good goals for me to focus on so that I can make the most of 2024. I still will have my monthly challenges that will push me to do more than just these goals throughout the year. But I think these main 4 goals are things that will really benefit my life in the long run. And I hope in a year, I will be reflecting on these goals and proud of what I have been able to do.

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Default ThumbnailMy 2016 Goals (or I’ve Got Some Big Ideas This Year) Default ThumbnailMy 2023 Goals (or Some New Goals and Some Repeats) Default Thumbnail2020 Goals (New Year, Not All New Goals) Default ThumbnailMy 2021 Goals (or Preparing For A Year With Lots Of Unknowns) Default ThumbnailMy 2017 Goals (or I Know This Year Will Be Amazing!) Default ThumbnailWhat I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals)

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Saving

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Finally Having A Trip Planned (or It’s Been A Long Time Since I’ve Been Away From LA)

Posted on September 23, 2022 | Comments Off on Finally Having A Trip Planned (or It’s Been A Long Time Since I’ve Been Away From LA)

I know I’ve written about this before, but I haven’t really gone too far from LA for almost 3 years now. Since November 2019, I have not been further from my home than Santa Barbara. And I do know that doing day trips up there does count as being away from home, but it’s not really the same. It’s a 90-minute drive to get up there and I haven’t been gone for more than a day trip. The last time I was further was when I went to Thanksgiving in Sacramento.

I know that a lot of people didn’t travel anywhere in 2020 due to the pandemic. But since then, so many people have traveled. Some people have gone to places they can drive to but they were there for a weekend. Others have flown out of state or out of the country and have gone on a real vacation. I was due for a vacation before the pandemic. Now I feel like I am very overdue for a trip and getting to explore a new place.

It will probably still be a while before I plan a trip somewhere I haven’t been before. I have ideas of places I’d like to go, but I am still a bit anxious about traveling. I know that if I do get sick, I might not be too sick because I have been vaccinated and gotten the newest booster, but it still makes me nervous. I also don’t love the idea of being on a crowded plane with a lot of other people.

I might not have a big trip planned just yet, but I will be on a plane in about a month and a half. My family is continuing our new tradition of doing Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving because it is less expensive to travel then and it’s usually easier to find places to stay. Last year, we did this in Santa Barbara and I was just up there for the day and drove home after dinner. I originally was going to stay longer, but it is easier just to sleep at my own place when I know I’d be driving home early the next morning. But this year, our early Thanksgiving will be up in Portland so I’ll be flying up there for a weekend in November!

I haven’t been to Portland in a long time. I’ve been up there to visit friends who used to live up there and I’ve been there to be with family. But it’s been a very long time since my last trip up there. We have been trying to do Thanksgiving in Portland a few times, but it just didn’t work out before either because of travel issues or the pandemic. Even though I’ll only be there for about 48 hours, it will be nice to get away from home and see my family. And at least I’ll be hanging out with my family longer than I did last year when I was in Santa Barbara for less than a day.

I am still anxious about getting on a plane, both for my normal reason of not liking to fly and because of being around so many other people in a tiny space. I know that masks aren’t required on planes anymore, but I will be wearing one for sure on my flights. When I was looking at flights, I picked ones that were non-stop, so I only have to be on one plane and I don’t have to worry about making a connection. So that should help make my anxiety a little bit less. But I know I’ll still be very nervous flying and I’m just hoping that it’s not too overwhelming like some panic attacks have been for me in the past.

I still want to do a lot more traveling. It’s something that I have said so many times that I want to prioritize again in my life. I usually don’t have the time or money, but I feel like there are ways I could work around it. Some of the things I want to do aren’t that cheap, but I could find alternative trips that I could take. I’m still working on figuring out the perfect budgeting system, and I know I’m spending less and making more than I did before so I probably could afford a trip soon. Maybe this short weekend away to Portland in November will help kick off getting things together so I can go on a trip. But even if it doesn’t, I’m glad I have a little trip planned so I can have a break from my day-to-day life and have some fun away from where I spend pretty much all my time.

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Posted in Family, Travel

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Feeling The Need To Travel Again (or I Really Haven’t Left LA In A While)

Posted on August 24, 2022 | Comments Off on Feeling The Need To Travel Again (or I Really Haven’t Left LA In A While)

Growing up, I used to travel pretty regularly. We would go to Tahoe in the winter for a week or two and then again in the summer. My parents usually planned a big summer trip for us each year as well. Sometimes we did a driving trip where we went to a bunch of states and national parks. Sometimes it was a trip out of the country on a big adventure. And a few times a year, we would go down to San Diego to see my grandparents. I didn’t travel as much once I was in high school, since missing school was harder. So I didn’t always go to Tahoe the entire time my family was there, but I still had big family trips each summer.

Once I moved to LA, I didn’t do as much travel since I was occupied with college. I did go back to the Bay Area or to Tahoe sometimes. And I did little random road trips to Palm Dessert, San Diego, or Las Vegas. And after I was done with college, I cut back on traveling even more. I have done a few random trips here and there, but outside of traveling to be with family, I didn’t always travel every year.

And I’m aware that I’m coming from a place of privilege and most people don’t have opportunities to travel. Either they can’t miss work or they don’t have the extra money to spend, so if they go on a trip, it’s either something they have saved up for a long time or done locally or inexpensively. And for a lot of my adult life, unless my family was helping me with paying for a trip, that was the same situation for me. But even if I was just getting out of LA to see family, I usually went somewhere every year or every other year.

But since Thanksgiving 2019, the furthest I’ve been from LA has been Santa Barbara. That’s about a 90-minute drive each way, so it’s not super close but also not really that far either. I wasn’t going to travel during the pandemic, although I did think about driving to be with my parents in Tahoe (I wasn’t going to fly). But it made more sense for me to stay in LA since during 2020 there was so much uncertainty with work and I didn’t want to have to rush back home for some reason. And I wasn’t going to travel somewhere else since I was basically trying to avoid other people. I know that things are better now, but I just haven’t had the chance to travel.

But I’m feeling more and more of an urge to plan a trip. I don’t have anywhere to go or anyone to travel with, but I just want to have some sort of an adventure that isn’t in my bubble here. I am still worried about Covid and other things, but as I’ve watched more and more of my friends and family go on really great vacations, I’d like to have one too. And I think I’m in such a routine or rut that I could use something that would break me out of it. I know exactly what I’ll be doing every day and it’s pretty much the same pattern every week. I could use some variety, and having a vacation would totally change things up.

I don’t exactly have the money saved for a big trip, but I am doing better financially than I have before. My expenses are similar to what they were before, but I’m making more money than I was even earlier this year. I don’t have vacation days or paid time off right now, but because of some changes with the main job I have, I know that there will be a policy for that soon. Once I know what the PTO policy is like and how many days I might have already (I don’t know if we will all start at 0 or if they will count them back to when we all started working), then maybe I will start seeing if I can find a friend to travel with. I still don’t think I’d like to travel alone, even though I know a lot of my friends have done that for the first time recently and loved it. But I would rather have someone to go on adventures with so I don’t feel isolated while traveling.

I have no idea when I’ll be able to get out of LA for a trip that I plan. I know that as of right now, I will be headed up to Oregon in November to do an early Thanksgiving with family, so at least that will be something. But I want to plan something that is more about exploring the world and hopefully getting to see a place I have never been to before.

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Missing A Trip (or I Know There Will Be More Chances In The Future)

Posted on March 11, 2022 | Comments Off on Missing A Trip (or I Know There Will Be More Chances In The Future)

This weekend, I was supposed to go on a trip. This was going to be my first trip in quite a long time. I don’t get to travel that often to begin with, but for the past 2 years, the furthest I’ve been from LA has been Santa Barbara. And this was a trip that I had been looking forward to for a while.

I’ve written about the Movie Club I started at the beginning of the pandemic with a Facebook group that I’m in and how a small group of us have gotten very close. Even though I have been chatting and texting with this group for about 2 years, we have never met in person. And this weekend, we planned a trip to finally get to meet each other.

One person in the group is housesitting at a farm where there is enough room for all of us to go there. And I was so excited for this trip and really was doing my best to try to find any way to be there. But the biggest issue for me was trying to make it there. Everyone in the group except me is on the east coast. And this weekend was going to be on the east coast of Canada. I wasn’t as worried about getting into Canada even with the different travel protocols. But getting to the east coast quickly looked impossible.

The first setback I hit was finding flights I could take. I know that getting on a plane is not the safest thing to do, but I wanted to make it as safe as I could. So I was only looking at flights that wouldn’t require a stop or a layover. Those turned out to be pretty limited. And when I opened my search to ones that did have stops, so many had stops in cities I didn’t want a layover in (mostly due to weather) or they had extremely long layovers. If I was going away just for a weekend, I didn’t want to spend 10 hours traveling when I could do it in 5. I looked at flights into other airports that would be cheaper, but then that still made my travel day extra long because I would be flying for 5 hours and then driving for 2 or 3.

As much as I could tolerate the idea of traveling for so long just for a weekend to finally meet my friends, the thing that stopped me was looking at ticket prices. Even the cheapest options were going to be close to $1000 for me. That’s a lot of money for a weekend and I have had a lot of expenses lately that made me hesitate to spend that much on another thing. I was checking flights every day for over a month, but I finally had to admit defeat and tell the group that there is no way for me to make it this weekend.

Everyone understood, especially since I was the one who was traveling the furthest. And I know they wish I could be there but it just isn’t possible. There is one other person from the group who won’t be able to make it due to a work conflict, and while I’m glad we have each other to talk to about how sad we are that we are missing out, I wish there was a way that all of us could be there.

I’m trying to not be too down on myself about this all because there just wasn’t a good way to make it happen. And the group is already planning a trip to come to LA, so that will obviously be easier for me to plan out. But it’s tough when this is something I have been looking forward to for a while. I’m trying to make the best of this weekend at home when I was thinking I’d be away and I’m already working on planning what we will do when the group comes to LA. Even though I am missing this first group trip, I know it’s only the first of many and I will have so many other opportunities in the future to travel with them.

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Travel

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The First Half Of Thanksgiving (or My Pre-Thanksgiving Activities)

Posted on November 29, 2019 | Comments Off on The First Half Of Thanksgiving (or My Pre-Thanksgiving Activities)

My Thanksgiving trip felt like it was split into 2. What I did before Thanksgiving Day and what happened on Thanksgiving Day and after. So I figured I should split my posts into 2 as well. And this is the first part of my Thanksgiving trip.

As I previously mentioned, I was anxious about flying for Thanksgiving for several reasons. This has been an issue for me for most of my life, and I just have to work through it whenever I travel. I guess it is a good thing that I don’t travel that often. And while most of my fears I wrote about weren’t an issue, my flight for my trip wasn’t the easiest.

It was a totally full flight, which wasn’t as horrible as I thought it would be. I wasn’t too squished in my seat, and I think the new seats that Southwest did help. Even though the seats are probably smaller, the armrests are up a bit higher so that makes it more comfortable for me. I do fit in the seats either way, but it’s nice to feel better about it.

The flight itself was one of the bumpiest I’ve been on. It was pretty horrible. The turbulence was constant and there were so many stomach-dropping moments. I really wished that I had some panic meds with me because that would have been the time to take them. But I just tried to focus on breathing and I listened to podcasts during the flight instead of reading so I could zone out a bit more. And we did land safely, which is what is important.

And all that stressful travel was worth it because I go to see my family’s dog again for the first time in a year!

The day before Thanksgiving was mainly family time with my immediate family. I had to work that morning and my cousin and her kids came over to the hotel to say hi to me and my parents. My brother and sister-in-law were driving up to us that day, so that afternoon was just my parents and me.

A few days earlier, we were trying to figure out what to do that afternoon because it was supposed to be pouring rain. My mom saw that “Stomp” was playing at a theater very close to the hotel so she got the 3 of us tickets. My parents have seen the show twice and I technically have seen it before (but I was 4 or 5 so I don’t remember it), so we were all very excited to check it out!

My mom got us great seats and we were close enough to see everything but far enough that we weren’t able to see the entire stage at once.

And the show was really awesome! The performers were so talented and what they were able to do was fun to watch. And they were all able to show personality with their characters even though they never spoke a single word. There were a few moments that were Thanksgiving themed, but those might be always in the show. But I liked those touches and everyone in the audience was enjoying it.

After the show, we headed back to the hotel where my brother and sister-in-law were waiting. Their drive wasn’t too bad, so they got to us with plenty of time to spare before we went out to dinner. We hung out in our hotel room and caught up plus we did our Hanukkah presents. I gave my brother and sister-in-law a candle that is supposed to smell like San Francisco (where they lived before) and I got my parents these really cute wooden tiles painted to look like Scrabble tiles that spell out SNOW. I know the gifts weren’t as good as the custom pet portraits, but they were still good.

After presents, the 5 of us headed out to dinner. We went out for Chinese food and it was a nice and casual meal. And even though it wasn’t that late, after dinner we were all pretty tired so we headed back to our hotel rooms to get some sleep before a big day the next day.

Even though the start of my trip got off to a rocky start (literally), I’m glad the first half of Thanksgiving was what I hoped for. I got to hang out with my family, go do some fun things, and enjoy a little break from my everyday life.

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

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Part 2 Of Catalina (or Outdoor Adventuring)

Posted on March 8, 2019 | 1 comment

The second (and last) full day we had in Catalina was another day of exploring the island. The original plan was to take a jeep tour that was going to take us around the island and we were hopefully going to see some of the wildlife that lives there. We also were going to get to the airport and the isthmus. Even though it wasn’t a private tour, since we filled one jeep it was going to be just us on the tour.

But because of all the rain that they have been getting recently, we had been warned that the tour might not go exactly as planned. First, some of the roads have been closed due to the mud. They were hoping some might reopen by the time we got there, but there was a chance that we wouldn’t be able to make it out to the isthmus. Also, we might not see any animals on the tour. Normally, they hang out by the water reservoirs because that is the main source of water for them. But the rain made the entire island an opportunity for them to find water, so they might not be in their normal hangouts. Even with those possible issues with the tour, we were all excited to get to drive around and see what we could.

We started with going up the hill on the side of the island that we were staying on. When we got to the top, we had an amazing view of Avalon.

When we got down, we drove through Avalon to get toward the other side of the island. The beginning of that side was sections of the hillside that we saw in our tour the day before. But when we were on that tour we saw a road and the guide told us that it was a restricted area. But we had access to get up there and we continued up the hillside to get toward the airport.

Even though the rain was restricting some of what we could do on this tour, it did make the entire island look really green and lush. We all were saying how much this felt like we were in Hawaii.

We got to another hilltop where we could see toward the airport and where we were heading. And it was so clear out as well so the mainland was in view.

We got to the airport which is at the top of a hill and we were informed there that the road to get to the isthmus was not going to open that day. They were just so overwhelmed by the rain and the mud was more than the roads could handle. We already had a plan to stop at the airport and it gave us a good chance to warm up. It was already cold out, but being in an open air jeep made us even colder.

One thing that I was hoping to get to do on this trip was to recreate a photo that I have from my 16th birthday. My friends and I posed on a bench while on that trip and it’s one of the few photos I have from my birthday. It’s one of my favorite photos and I was hoping to find the same bench. But it was on the side of the island that we couldn’t get to, so I had to use a bench at the airport and do the best I could without the exact same bench (and missing my friends).

Since we couldn’t go as far on the tour as we expected, we were back at our rental house mid-day. We had the entire afternoon before we were going to get dinner and because the sun was finally out we went on a glass bottom boat to see the fish.

We were hoping the sun would be out so we could do the boat because when it’s cloudy you can’t see as much. The boat was pretty empty with just 2 other small groups besides us. It was nice not to be packed in there and it was a relaxing boat ride as we got out to where the protected area where most the fish would be.

The driver of the boat fed the fish and then the boat went over the area where he threw the food. Whenever he did that, the windows below us were filled with fish. It was so fun to see it and we definitely saw a lot of fish while we were out there.

The driver also told us once before he threw the food so we could watch outside the boat for all the fish jumping around. I tried my best to capture that in a photo, but it doesn’t do it justice. As soon as the food was in the water, it was really a feeding frenzy!

We were out in the protected area for about 30 minutes before the ride back to the dock. I spent some of the time watching the windows to see if we could see anything fun. But I also kept kneeling up on the seat to look at the view outside because it really was just so gorgeous outside and we all have had so much rain lately.

That evening we relaxed at the house and went out to dinner. And the next morning, we had another morning of sun while we got packed up and ready to head back to the boat back to the mainland.

We knew that it was supposed to start raining again that day, but we were hoping to not have to deal with it too much. And the timing of the rain was almost perfect because it started just as we boarded the boat to go home.

The drive back to LA was easy since it was the middle of the day between morning and afternoon rush hour. Everyone else had a much longer drive home than I did and they did encounter some rain and crazy storms. But I think we all agreed that it was so much better to have the storm happen then than when we were trying to enjoy our vacation.

I love this tradition of our trips when my dad and brother do their skiing adventure. They will probably go on another trip next year so hopefully we will do one as well. It’s one of the few trips I do each year since I can’t really afford to travel. We did talk about a few ideas of where we could travel to next year. We’ve got some that would be very extravagant, but maybe we could do it. Since my mom pays for me to travel with her on these weekends, I know that it’s up to her where we are going to go. But wherever we go next year, I know it will be another amazing trip that I will have the best memories from!

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The First Half Of Our Catalina Adventure (or Exploring And Touring)

Posted on March 7, 2019 | 2 comments

Earlier this week, I spent a few days in Catalina with my mom, aunt, and sister-in-law. Having a trip this time of year is becoming a tradition because we do the trip when my dad and brother go on a big skiing adventure. My mom figures since they get to have a fun trip we get to have one as well. This year, they went heliskiing in Canada and my mom and I decided we wanted to go to Catalina Island.

My mom grew up going to Catalina all the time. My grandparents had a boat and they would said from LA to Catalina and spend weekends there. My parents took me and my brother there when we were little, but I don’t remember that trip at all. The last time we were there was for my sweet 16 party. My mom and grandma took me and 3 friends to Catalina for a weekend. It was the best trip and I loved it. It’s crazy to think that was almost 20 years ago and I hadn’t been back since. It’s not that far to go since there is a boat that takes you there from Long Beach. The boat is only about 45 minutes from me and the boat ride is only an hour. But for some reason I just hadn’t been back and I was so excited to get to be there again!

We took the boat over to the island after I was done with work. It had been raining on and off and we were worried that it would be raining our entire trip as well. It was raining on the boat, but fortunately when we got to Catalina it was cloudy but dry. We rented a house right in front of the water next to the main street of Avalon (the main town of the island). Our view was amazing and we loved people watching since it was right next to the boat dock where everyone was arriving and leaving.

The day we arrived, we didn’t have too much planned. We got to the house and unpacked and then walked to the grocery store to get things for the few days we were going to be there. They used to not have a regular grocery store on the island so it was a big deal when they got a Vons, We weren’t sure what to expect, but it was just like grocery stores on the mainland so we were able to get everything we needed for breakfast and snacks. We went out for a casual dinner and relaxed at the house before going to bed. It was the perfect first day of our trip.

The next day we had two different tours scheduled. The first tour was a tour of Avalon and it was a van tour. We were driven around and got to learn a lot of history about the island and the different aspects of life there. We also got to see some incredible views of the town from up in the hills.

The one stop that the tour had was at the country club which is famous because the island used to be the training location for the Chicago Cubs and the country club had their locker room and clubhouse. It was a really cute place and even though it started to rain while we were there it was still so nice out!

The tour was about an hour long and it was the perfect introduction to the island. Next we had a backstage tour of the Casino, which is probably the most famous building on the island. It is not a gambling casino nor has it ever been. But instead it is a theater and ballroom. In the past, famous bands would come and perform there. The ballroom is used for various events now and the theater shows movies there daily. I don’t think I had ever seen the inside of the Casino before, so I was so excited to go on the tour.

We had a really great tour guide and he knew so much about the Casino and the island in general. He was full of lots of information, but to be honest I was in awe with how gorgeous the inside was that I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have.

Our first stop was the theater on the first floor. Everything in the entire building is original from almost 100 years ago with the exception of the carpet (which was replaced with the same pattern as the original). And even though the theater isn’t new, it was one of the most spectacular theaters I’ve ever seen.

There are murals all around depicting the history of the island. And the murals were even more incredible when the lights were dimmed and the artwork was lit up.

We watched a little movie about the history of the island, and then we had the opportunity to go up on the stage. I love seeing the view from the stage since that means so much to me. And standing on that stage and getting the view of everything was so special and I was so happy we got to do it.

Next we walked around the various backstage areas of the theater. We got to see different dressing rooms and green rooms before going into the projection room. They had the current projector set up (since they screen movies every day), but they also had the different old projectors that they used to use. I love learning about the history of filmmaking and this was exactly what I enjoy learning about.

The last stop on the Casino tour was the ballroom. It is on the top of the building and it has almost 360 degree views from the windows.

They recently had their Oscar party there, so there were some tables and chairs around the room. But it was close to empty so we had the chance to walk around and explore. I loved seeing the views of the island from the huge windows.

We also got to walk around the balcony outside of the ballroom. Not only did we have the view of the town, but when we walked around to the other side it was so clear out that we could see the mainland!

It’s tiny and not super easy to see in my photo, but trust me we could see it. Considering the rain that we had earlier in the day, we were so lucky that it had cleared up enough that we could see that far out.

Of course, we also had the take advantage of the view and get a group photo because I knew that we probably wouldn’t do another one that trip.

After walking around outside, the tour of the Casino was over. It was a really informative and full tour and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is visiting Catalina and wants to learn a lot about the island history as well as Hollywood history.

The rest of that day was nice and relaxing. We walked around a bit more and we had a nice dinner that evening. It was so much fun getting to spend that time with family that I don’t always get to see and there was no pressure to get a lot done or to rush around. It was the perfect first full day of our vacation.

Tomorrow’s post will be about the rest of the trip, but I think you all can tell from this post how much fun I had the entire time!

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A Day In Joshua Tree (or The End Of My Trip To Palm Springs)

Posted on March 2, 2018 | 1 comment

My trip to Palm Springs was 4 days (although the first day was really just getting there in the evening and having dinner) and for the first 3 days we were pretty much just in Palm Springs. But for the last day, my mom really wanted us to go to Joshua Tree and I’m always happy to follow her plans and was excited to end my trip on a fun adventure.

According to my mom, I was at Joshua Tree when I was 7 and when I was 10 but I really don’t remember those trips (and my mom had limited memories and stories from those trips). So in some way, this felt like the first time that I was there. It was about 45 minutes to drive there and after stopping at the visitor center to get a parking pass we were on our way to our first stop.

We wanted to go to a lookout point to see a nice view of the area. And it happened to rain the night before so it was so clear out!

And it was freezing out! It was about 38 degrees outside and while it felt nice in the sun, whenever the wind kicked up it was pretty cold! But my mom and I still took an opportunity to take a photo together since I realized we didn’t have any photos together yet on the trip.

When we were in the car to drive to our next stop, I realized that the photo of my mom and I reminded me of another photo of us. So I found that photo in the cloud and put them together.

The top photo was from when my mom and I were in Paris in January 2005 to celebrate my college graduation. It’s so crazy to think that the top photo is 13 years older than the bottom photo! And I don’t think that we look 13 years older either.

Our next stop was to do a hike around Skull Rock. The hike was about 2 miles and it started at a campground. We were walking to the hike and we already were seeing amazing views of the Joshua Trees all over.

Once we were off the paved road and onto the sand/dirt trail, I’ll admit the hike got tough for me. There was a lot of going up and down which is tough on my hips. But being on an unstable ground was even worse and I was hurting a lot. I tried to limit how many breaks I took but fortunately my mom and her friend were understanding and they didn’t mind stopping when I needed to. But even when we were stopped, we always had something amazing to look at.

We noticed a rainstorm and some ominous looking clouds while we were hiking, but they never reached us. So having those clouds just made the view look even better!

When we got back to the car, we drove to a picnic area to have a quick snack before heading to our final stop in Joshua Tree. My mom was so excited to see the Cholla Garden and once we were there I was so impressed by it!

It was crazy to see these fuzzy looking cacti all over when we didn’t really see them that many other places. They do look like they are teddy bears and would be soft to touch. I’m guessing a lot of people have tried to touch them because there was a first aid kit in the parking lot of the garden in case someone got stuck. I was just careful since there wasn’t that much separation from the cacti and the path we walked on. And there were little broken off pieces very close to the trail and I don’t think my shoes would have protected me much if I accidentally stepped on one.

After that stop, we got back into the car and did the drive back to Palm Springs to go back to the rental house. We had a little time to rest before we all headed out to downtown Palm Springs for dinner. It was getting colder out, but the place we went to had a heated patio so we were able to eat outside and enjoy the people watching on the main street of the downtown area.

After dinner, I quickly got my stuff packed up so I could head home. Originally I wasn’t going to head back until the next day, but I realized that I could avoid traffic (and not miss another day of work) if I went home that night. I think my mom preferred to know I wasn’t going to deal with traffic, plus she still had her friend with her so I didn’t feel like I was ditching her. I said goodbye and thanks to my mom and headed back to LA.

I’m so glad that my mom invites me to travel with her. I really couldn’t afford it without her right now and she really is one of my best travel buddies. We are already talking about a potential trip for next year (we are thinking maybe a spa vacation) so I’m getting excited to start the planning for that!

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A Weekend With My Mom (or An Adventure In Palm Springs)

Posted on February 28, 2018 | 3 comments

I don’t get to take vacations that often. And when I do, more often than not they are for me to go somewhere to Thanksgiving or San Diego for my grandma (now I’ll be visiting her in Northern CA when I get a chance). While those are vacations, they don’t necessarily feel like one because they are usually for a family event or to help with family in some way. I also don’t really have the money to go on vacation, so when I get the chance to take one I jump at it!

My dad and brother were going on a ski trip together and my mom asked me if I wanted to go on a trip with her (she invited my sister-in-law but she ended up having to stay home). Of course I said yes! I’m not sure if everyone is the same, but I love traveling with my mom. Part of this is because she pays for the trip (which allows me to go), but she really is a great travel companion. We have similar taste in traveling and she’s great at planning. And for this trip, she wanted us to go to Palm Springs.

I had been to Palm Springs when I was a kid, but I don’t remember that trip. And the last time I was in Palm Springs was when I was a college freshman and we were actually outside of Palm Springs. So I was happy to get to go back since it’s not that far from LA and I haven’t been in forever.

I drove down after work and a workout on Saturday. I didn’t really think about other people going out-of-town in the afternoon, but I dealt with more traffic than expected. And by the time I got to Palm Springs, it was already dark so I couldn’t see too much. My mom had gotten there a few hours earlier and once I arrived we did a quick run to the grocery store for some stuff for the week and we  spent the night relaxing at the house. Even though I didn’t go outside, I was already loving the house and the pool looked amazing in the dark!

The next morning when I woke up, the pool looked just as amazing in the daytime.

But we had no time to be lazy by the pool in the morning because we had plans to go to The Living Desert. The Living Desert is a zoo and garden that is all about the animals and plants of the deserts in North America and Africa. I had never been there before and I love going to zoos so I was excited to check it out. And fortunately, it was colder than normal in Palm Springs so we weren’t too hot while we walked around. And since it wasn’t too hot, the animals were out too. The giraffes were enjoying their breakfast when we got to their area.

And the warthogs were all spooning together in the sun (although one was spooning the wrong way).

And we were able to be at the cheetahs when they were doing their run demonstration and feeding.

We did a lot of walking around and we managed to cover the entire place. It’s a nice sized zoo that has a lot of offer. But it’s not too big that you can’t see everything in a day, especially on a day that isn’t unbearably hot like we had.

After The Living Desert, my mom and I headed back to the vacation house so we could relax by the pool and be lazy. The rental house also had a small putting area and I discovered that I totally suck at that! I haven’t played mini-golf in forever so I guess I couldn’t expect to be good at it.

The next day, my mom and I started the day with a walk around the neighborhood. We were checking out all the mid-century modern houses and how gorgeous the view of the mountains was.

Then my mom and I headed to the airport because one of my mom’s friends was flying in. My mom was going to be in Palm Springs for a week and I wasn’t going to be there for the last half. So my mom invited a friend to join her for the second half of the trip and we had a little bit of an overlay.

After the airport, we headed to the Palm Springs tram. It had been cold near where we were staying, but we knew it was going to be much colder at the top of the tram. So we bundled up and got on the tram headed up the mountain. I had been on the tram when I was little, but since I didn’t remember that I was excited to check this out. And since the last time I was on the tram (or my mom was on the tram), they had changed up the tram cars and now they are round and rotate while you are going up. So you will get to see all around as you are going up and can enjoy all the views.

Because there hasn’t been a lot of rain or snow, there wasn’t much snow on the top of the mountain. But it did smell like snow (or Tahoe) to me and it was freezing cold! While I was in the sun I felt fine, but in the shade or when the wind kicked up I was wishing I had gloves or hand heat warmers with me.

I didn’t end up doing the hike around (it was a very steep incline and my hips were a bit sore), so I just sat in the sun while my mom and her friend went on a mile and a half adventure that they enjoyed. But I was happy sitting in the sun and just looking at the view.

When they returned, we checked out the various movies and displays inside the mountain top building and then took one more look at the view before heading back down.

And we got to enjoy another lazy afternoon/evening at the rental house which was perfectly fine with me. I love going on adventures on vacation but also having time to relax too. And we did just that.

There’s still one more day of my Palm Springs vacation, but since that was a trip outside of Palm Springs that will come later!

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San Diego Day (or Some More Family Time)

Posted on May 3, 2017 | 1 comment

When I thought I was having surgery, the plan was to recover in LA with my parents for about a week and then head to San Diego to recover for almost another week. We wanted to make sure that I had enough time with help from my parents before they left (and obviously if I needed help longer we would have figured something out). Once the surgery was cancelled, my parents’ trip stayed the same but I didn’t go with them to San Diego right away. I decided to work so I didn’t have to use up the hours I had banked from work and then just went to San Diego for the day.

I’m pretty used to going to San Diego just for the day. It’s a bit of a drive, but not too unbearable. Plus, this was going to be a great opportunity for me to take my new car on a longer drive for the first time. The drive down was pretty easy (although I’ve figured out some new things that I want to see about getting for my car) and I was at my parents’ rental house right when they wanted me to get there.

As soon as I arrived, my dad and I went to get my grandma from her place. It’s much easier for her to get into my car than my mom’s since mine is lower to the ground. Plus that gave me extra time with my grandma. When we got her in my car and started to drive to the rental house, she realized that she left her sunglasses in her walker which was in my trunk. Fortunately, I have some random sunglasses in my car for just this occasion. I handed a pair to my grandma and I think she looked pretty amazing in the red sunglasses I had!

Once we got back to the rental house, most of the time we spent as a family was watching old home movies. My mom has turned most of our home movies into DVDs and it’s pretty fun to watch them. A lot of them are from family vacations and I’m glad that we have the videos since I was a teenager and don’t remember the trips as well as I’d like to. But I do still remember some of the really random moments from the trips like when we were in the amazon 17 years ago and I caught a piranha.

I posted that photo online and some of my friends commented that I look the same, but I think I look much older now. Or maybe I just looked really old when I was 16/17!

And as usual when I go down to San Diego to be with my family, my mom cooked an amazing dinner for us. There was a nice little outdoor eating area at the rental house and it was perfect weather for all of us to sit outside and enjoy a relaxing and delicious dinner.

And I know that my grandma really appreciates me coming to visit, even if it is only for a few hours. She seemed so happy with us all being together and I know that she had a great time. I thought maybe seeing some of the home movies would make her sad because my grandpa is in them, but that didn’t bother her. She didn’t remember everything that we did for each trip, but when there was stuff she did remember she seemed to light up and have funny stories to share about that part of the trip.

I didn’t get to spent too much time in San Diego because I had to be back in LA at a reasonable hour. I ended up spending about 5 hours there (and the total drive time round trip was about 4 hours), but it was totally worth it. I don’t get to see my grandma that often and I know I need to see her more. If I hadn’t gone to San Diego this time, I don’t know when I would have seen her again. Maybe at Thanksgiving but the last time I saw her was Thanksgiving and I would hate for an entire year to pass without a visit.

I know I need to make more of an effort to go to San Diego to see my grandma. It’s not that bad of a trip and just going out to lunch or dinner with her seems to make a huge difference in her day. I just need to work out when I can get down there again before Thanksgiving!

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