Buried Under Boxes

So currently this is what our place looks like. 🙂 So you’ll excuse my absence from the blogging world lately. Thanks for still reading the blog, commenting, and your patience!

We’ve been packing nonstop since we got home late on Monday night. We get our Budget truck tomorrow morning and then hitting the road on Saturday morning. (eek!) 

Moving is, of course, bittersweet. My mom moved to Cali this past July and my brother and his fiancé live here, and our friends are here. We will of course miss them, but plan on coming back to visit. It’s a quick flight and the prices are pretty good too.  So yes we are saying goodbye to California but not forever.

We are super excited about our new home in Seattle and the outdoor lifestyle it offers. There are so many adventures we already have planned! And luckily we already have some friends up there already. Moving is exhausting but so worth it.

Our cat, Tiger, found a new spot to hang out in our now empty closet.

Tell Us About It: Favorite Thing about Your State!

Today Mattie and I are hosting our second link up! We’re talking about our favorite things about our state. So please feel free to join us today or for our other link up dates. Here is the schedule of our upcoming topics:

So this one is a little tough for me. Because home for me means Chicago. But I don’t live there anymore. I’ve lived in California for the last 2 years. And yes I’m moving to Seattle next month but I’ll wait until I move there to call it ‘my state.’ Chicago and Southern California offer totally different things so I thought I’d pick a few of my favorites from both places.

Chicago

Millenium Park is a gorgeous city park that I highly recommend anyone who visits Chicago to go see. There is also a great outdoor amphitheater that has great musical events. This park is beautiful during the day and at night. It’s also a great view of the city.

The architecture in that city is so awesome. I went on an architecture tour in July and had a blast. It’s fun to hear the history behind the city. And Lake Michigan makes the skyline so much more picturesque.

Having lived on both the East and West Coast, I can say for sure that people from the Midwest are so nice, polite and welcoming. Not to say that people from either coast aren’t friendly. But people from Chicago are overly friendly and treat you like family. Having traveled a lot Dave and I have been told multiple times how polite we are, and how much we use (and maybe overuse) please and thank you. 🙂 I’d also say that people from the Midwest are very down to earth and easy to talk to.

California

Point Dume in Malibu is one of my favorite places in all of Southern California. When Dave and I lived in Santa Monica we used to take all of our visitors to this spot. It’s a quick hike and has such beautiful views of the ocean and the beach. We also almost always saw dolphins, whales, or seals here.

Yosemite National Park is a true California gem. There’s a reason Ansel Adams spent so much time there taking epic photographs. I can’t recommend visiting Yosemite enough. The hikes and views are really beautiful. I don’t know if I’m brave enough to hike Half Dome, maybe someday, but I’m not the biggest fan of heights so that might be a tough one. But I’ve been to Yosemite a few times since moving to California and I’ve loved it each time. ( I need to blog about it still!) 

I love that California offers so much hiking. We’ve hiked in Sequoia National Park, Malibu, Laguna Beach, Yosemite, and a few others. I love that you can just drive to the mountains in no time.

Please join in our link up by pressing the button. And you can add your link until the 7th if you aren’t ready today. Excited to read your posts and find some new blogs hopefully!

Travel Thursdays – Point Dume in Malibu, California

One of my absolute favorite parts of LA and living in Santa Monica was going to Point Dume in Malibu. It is SO breathtakingly gorgeous. We took all of our visitors here (and we had visitors almost every month.) We also liked to eat breakfast burritos from Lily’s in Malibu while looking out at the Pacific Ocean. It’s a great view of the beach, the ocean, and the mountains. I highly recommend a trip there for anyone going to LA or Malibu.

October 2014 when my parents came to visit the month we moved there. They flew and met us there since we drove.

Later in the month of October my best friend Melissa came to visit us.

We went home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, and come January, Dave’s brother came to visit us, and it was his first time in California! As you can see it wasn’t as pretty or sunny in this winter month.

And in July my half sister came to visit and we took her here and to Disneyland!

I could dig up more photos from other months with other visitors, (we took Dave’s parents in February, Nicole there in March, Erin and I took Faith in April)  but I think you get the idea. 🙂 Point Dume is where it’s at!

Travel Thursdays – Joshua Tree National Park

In April of 2014 Dave and I went to Joshua National Park to celebrate one of our best friend’s birthday with a camping weekend. This was our first time there and it did not disappoint. It was a little hot in April but it was so much fun. We hung out, ate great food, had birthday pie, talked about our childhoods around the fire, and went off roading.

Here we are saving a spot while our friends check out the other campsites.

We used the tarps to hide from the hot, hot sun.

Here’s a picture to show how far away we were from everything and everyone. We were surrounded by these huge boulders and the Joshua trees, so peaceful and awesome.

We of course climbed the boulders and took our Pinterest Inspired Feet Picture.

Off Roading

We love our friends, national parks, camping, and off roading, so it was a really great weekend, one for the books!

Music Mondays: California – Jamestown Revival

This song really resonates with me because of the lyrics. My favorite is the chorus when they sing,

“California
I don’t even know you
You’ve taken me away from home”

My boyfriend and I move from Chicago to LA last year for work. And we had to leave our family and friends behind and started a new life. It was a big move for us across country. A big risk but we did it!

Chicago will always be home for us. But we are currently loving California living. The weather, the beaches, the coast, Highway 1, palm trees, and the laid back attitudes. It’s hard to complain. (But there is the ever present traffic jams!)

Anyways our friend from home sent us this song and it really strikes a chord.

Food Fridays: Sea Salt Fish Grill in Santa Monica, CA

I’ve always loved fish tacos. One of my favorite places I’ve been to is at Duke’s in Washington state. And recently I went to Sea Salt Fish Grill in Santa Monica in California. It just recently opened last May. And let me tell you, it is delicious.

Here is the address and the phone number: 508 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica; 213-944-6631.

Check out their website and their menu. I ordered the classic fish tacos and it came with beans and rice.

My boyfriend got the salmon burger and the sauce was amazing! I wish it was on my tacos. It tasted really good dipping the fries in there. 

Palm Trees for Days

If You’re Going to San Francisco

Death Valley Wedding

Bridal Musing featured a unique wedding that took place in Death Valley in California. I like that they picked such a unique place as the setting that probably not a lot of weddings are held at. The pictures are awesome and the desert is a great backdrop.

Fern Canyon, California Redwoods