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    • Jun 13, 2021

things I love: part 21

It's been a minute, but I'm happy to be back sharing some things I am loving right now!! Hope you enjoy.


First of all, they donate 10% of revenue to protecting marine life, which I love. Second, sand doesn't stick to these towels!!! They're light, and super easy to bring with you. I love my big Mexican blankets I usually tote to the beach, but it's way hard to get the sand out of those and I usually end up with a mini beach in my closet after I bring those to the beach. I recently bought a blanket from Sand Cloud and have used it on damp sand in Cayucos, CA + didn't get wet and was easily able to shake out the sand and throw it in my bag after. The true test will be once I bring it home to Ocean Beach where to me, the stickiest sand exists. Try one out and let me know how you like it! If you're hoping to share the blanket with someone else, go for the XL.


These are just so cute and created by some wonderful local artists that recently relocated out of our neighborhood. Perfect gift for the poppy lover in your life :)


This brand is amazing for putting together an affordable, thoughtful and great gift box to mail to a friend or family member. It's a female-founded company, which of course I love. But the best thing is that they're donating 20% of sales from their Pride box to The Trevor Project and 10% of sales from items with a rainbow icon when you build your own in June. We've raised money for The Trevor Project before through my donation based yoga classes and I am a huge fan of their work, as they provide crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth. Happy Pride ❤️


    • May 23, 2021

things I love: maui

Another "things I love" travel edition this time around! I'm highlighting some of my favorite things we did in Maui this visit. In the future, we definitely plan to make the trip to Hana, but this time opted out of the ride that sounded winding and rough. If you DO make it, please do let me know how it goes! :)


This is my boyfriend's favorite photographer and we got to stop by and explore his gallery on Front Street. He is an incredibly talented photographer and his work was amazing to see. If you ask someone working to show you a photograph in the lighting room, they'll display how different lighting changes the way the photograph renders. I really enjoyed it and would definitely say it's worth stopping by!


I was weary of this place because it seemed strange due to the name, but the drip coffee was great. The woman working was wonderful, and on my last day when she said "see you tomorrow" it equally delighted me that she recognized me and broke my heart that I wouldn't be back to see her the next day! It took a minute to get served, because she works solo, but the wait was worthwhile and like... what are you doing rushing through your morning coffee experience on vacation in Hawaii anyway? I also tried the iced vanilla latte drink which was delicious, but sweeter than I usually go for in the morning, especially next to an açaí bowl, which brings me to...


So this is actually a grocery store, that sometimes has a farmer's market, but always has an amazing smoothie and açaí bowl counter. They also offer incredible banana bread! I went just about every day for an açaí bowl (so. good.) and walked across the street to Honokoawi Beach Park to enjoy it by the water with my coffee from Bad Ass Coffee. It was a great way to start the day.


We came straight here after we landed and had amazing fish and chips for lunch, along with great beer from Maui Brewing! It's a solid stop every time we go.


We had multiple people, including our amazing kayak tour guide Carlos who I basically would trust/did trust with my life, recommend this place for the best poke. It's affordable and incredible and it's an unassuming counter in a grocery store. We were told there was a crispy onion version, which the Foodland we went to didn't have unfortunately, that we had to try - so it seems we'll just have to go back! The move is to pick some up with some coconut water and enjoy it on the beach. Or if you're us, you already spent a bunch of hours at the beach and needed a quick sun break to enjoy lunch. I'd definitely recommend it! Get a bowl and you'll see for yourself!


We did our kayak tour the morning after our first night in Hawaii and it was perfect. We were wiped after our first day and traveling, so we were able to turn in early making our 6am wake up call for the kayaking tour less painful than it would usually be. Even better, getting out in the water early meant calmer water with less wind. I would definitely get up early to do this again. We saw amazing turtles, coral, urchins, fish and had an incredible time hopping in and out of the kayaks to snorkel. Our guide, as mentioned above, was named Carlos and he was fantastic and you could tell he clearly loved his job, which is always infectious.


Carlos also tipped us off to Makena State Park aka "Big Beach" - it was absolutely stunning. There were turtles, and beautiful clear water, and I would highly recommend it!

We went on an awesome horseback ride at this incredible ranch along the coast one afternoon. If you are up for that kind of thing, I'd definitely recommend it. It was so cool to see the horses' personalities and explore in a different way than you would on foot/in a car. The guides were awesome and the horses were so well trained, I felt super safe.


I am rarely the person to order meat when I'm out to eat, and I especially am the last person I'd peg for ordering duck, but I was told that this spot has the best crispy duck, so I ordered the crispy duck quesadilla for lunch (light on the duck, please) and it was really good. That, plus the happy hour (hello lilikoi margaritas!) we happened time perfectly, was great post-horseback riding fuel in Paia.


An awesome beach to swim at in Ka'anapali where you can jump off of a cliff (that you have to swim to and climb up). I did it once last time, and that was good for me, but hey - if you're into that sort of thing, go for it! The water is great here, so is the beach, and it's right adjacent to many hotels, restaurants and a mall.



It was great to spend time with my boyfriend's family in Maui, especially after a year of no traveling like this. We soaked up a lot of sun, savored the warm ocean and nights, and ate as much seafood as possible. I look forward to the next trip back!

    • May 2, 2021

things I love: north lake tahoe

My sweet boyfriend surprised me with a weekend getaway to North Lake Tahoe this past weekend for my birthday and it was wonderful. For this week's things I love, I'm highlighting my favorite things we did (and one thing we didn't do, but plan to in the future!) in North Lake Tahoe in hopes that it's of use to you for future trips to that big, beautiful blue lake. Most of my trips to Tahoe have been to the southern part of the lake, so it was awesome to explore somewhere new!


I love a good brewery, and I especially love a good brewery that serves food after a long hike (see the next thing). Alibi has a few locations, and we got to see two because we accidentally went to the brewpub that wasn't serving food, and again - we needed food after the long hike desperately (again, see below), so we drove another couple of minutes down the road. Alibi has delicious beer, including one that uses honey from the hives they harvest from that are located on their brewery roof and another that's a plumcot (plum + apricot) berlinerweisse. So good! We sat outside which was great, and loved the folks who worked there as well. We will be back!


I'm not going to pretend that this was easy. No amount of yoga could prepare me for this hike, as holy altitude, you climb about 1,800 feet on this hike, and you're already starting at a decently high elevation (around 5,000 feet above sea level). I felt this, quick. We had a tough time once we got close to the lake, because we lost the trail slightly, but we got there and it was awesome to make our way to an alpine lake that had no one else around. It was beautiful - we spotted a hawk that dove down and snatched a fish out of the water and flew away, which for someone like me, was remarkable. A high majority of the hike had beautiful views of Lake Tahoe which is of course, always welcome. The hike is a lot of uphill, and then the way back is mostly downhill, so be warned on that front. We had to walk through some snow at various parts (we did the hike May 1st), but it kept it interesting! I'd recommend it if you're looking for a challenge, with a sweet reward where you turn around to make it back home. Get there in the morning so you have plenty of time in case you get lost like we did (we added a mile on accident... so this 6 mile hike was more like 7), plus parking is limited. Most importantly, bring plenty of water and BRING SNACKS. I was super grateful for the refuel at the turnaround point.


My boyfriend took me to dinner here for my birthday and it was beautiful! The views were awesome, and the food (I got a fish special) was good. You just can't beat this view, with a glass of wine and loved ones. If you're looking to get crazy, they have a vast variety of cocktails, including frozen rum drinks. It's a fun lakeside spot.


We didn't get to kayak this time around because it was windy and the water was too choppy. I'm not trying to fall into 49 degree water, you know? However! We did drive past Sand Harbor, which looked like a turquoise water dream of a cove to kayak or SUP in. The lot fills quick, as it's a popular spot, but it certainly seems like somewhere we'd arrive early to enjoy.


This is where we stayed, and I'd definitely recommend it! They actually had kayaks for use (no charge), cozy rooms, and it's right next to the lake with a deck overlooking it, plenty of chairs, a heated pool, hot tub and grills. It was wonderful.


Happy Travels!


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