Four Facts Survey

Thanks Lauren for nominating me for the Four Fact Survey. It’s a fun little way to get to know other bloggers.

Four names that people call me other than my real name:

1. Jules
2. BF (Melissa, one of my best friends and I call each other BF)
3. woman (Vi, my other best friend and I call each other woman for some reason and it stuck)
4. Ju-Ju

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Nanny
2. Vietnamese Translator
3. Registration Coordinator
4. Retail at Wet Seal and Aeropostale (my first jobs!)

Four movies I’ve watched more than once:

1. Miss Congeniality
2. Home Alone
3. Mean Girls
4. My Best Friend’s Wedding

Four books I’d recommend: 

1. The Lost Girls
2. Wild
3. What Remains
4. Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me?

Four places I’ve lived:

1. Chicago
2. Washington DC
3. Santa Monica
4. Seattle

Four places I’ve visited:

1. Togo, Africa
2. Denali National Park, Alaska
3. Maroon Bells, Colorado
4. Vietnam

Four places I’d rather be right now:

1. At home in Chicago/Atlanta/California with our nearest and dearest
2. in the mountains hiking and camping
3. on the plane traveling to somewhere cool
4. reading in a cozy nook, drinking some tea

Four things I prefer not to eat:

1. sardines
2. anchovies
3. mayonnaise
4. tuna

Four of my favorite foods:

1. mangoes
2. berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)
3. biscuits
4. Mediterranean food

Four TV shows I watch:

1. The Mindy Project
2. The Bachelor
3. 2 Broke Girls
4. Master of None

Four things I’m looking forward to this year:

1. Spring/Summer in Seattle (hiking, camping, stand up paddle boarding, kayaking, island hopping etc)
2. Family and friends coming to visit us here
3. Wedding Festivities for my bestie Vi
4. Our friend’s wedding in Bend, Oregon

Four things I’m always saying:

1. That’s hilarious!
2. Where are you from?
3. Chicago (I get made fun of for my Chicagoan accent all.day.long)
4. I love you.

Four people I tag to answer these questions:

1. Katie
2. Mattie
3. Molly
4. Alexandra

Happy Tuesday everyone!

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!

Friday Favorites: Bachelorette, Hiking, & Vacations

Another week has gone by and we’re officially about to be in August! Having lived in California for the last 2 years, I am seriously missing the fall weather and change of seasons and getting to wear boots! But with our impending move to Seattle this fall, I’m getting really excited! We still have a few months but I’m eagerly anticipating it.

What fun things are you all up to this weekend? Can’t wait to catch up with you all in the link ups!Call me a sucker, but I love these two together. I hope they will make it and be one of the Bachelor franchise success stories. Look how happy they are. I love love and am rooting for these lovebirds.

And I love that Jimmy Kimmel made them promise to marry each other or at least be together a year or pay him $1,000. 🙂

On Tuesday of this week, I was featured on my friend Molly’s blog Colors of Life about my love of hiking. (Thanks again for asking me Molly!)

Here is one of my favorite photos from a hike Dave and I did last July in Zion in the Narrows. I’ll blog about that hike this upcoming Thursday.

One of my favorite weekends so far this year happened in mid July when we went back home to Chicago for an extended weekend. It involved ice cream, a wedding, a half marathon, an architecture boat tour with my parents and a BBQ with a few of our closest friends.

This week US Weekly posted an article with pictures of the cast of Full House and their instagrams. It’s getting me so excited for Fuller House next year on Netflix! Bring it on. It was such a staple growing up in my house and I’m excited so much of the original cast is coming back. I can’t wait to see how they do it!On Tuesday the team at Lauren Conrad came up with a list of their Top 10 Vacation Destinations. I am a lover of travel and am always interested to hear where other people enjoy going on their vacations. It makes me want to create a list of my own!

 

Friday has become the day of the link ups. Here are the wonderful women I’m linking up with each week:

 A Little Bit of Everything Blog, Grace and Love Blog, and Momfessionals

A.Liz Adventures, Carolina Charm, Hello! Happiness, and The Good Life Blog.

 The Farmer’s Wife, September Farm

Fitting It All in Blog

 Life in Leggings

Meet @ the Barre

Astleigh with the Pick

Running 4 Cupcakes

 

Chicago Trip Part 2

Yesterday I blogged about the first part of our trip and the half marathon. Today I’m wrapping up the Chicago trip.

Saturday- The main reason we came home this trip was for the wedding of my cousin Cindy which was on this Saturday. There were two ceremonies in the morning and afternoon, one was Lutheran and the other was a Hindu ceremony which was so elaborate and gorgeous.

We had some downtown in between the 10:30 ceremony and the 2:30 ceremony so Dave and I went to lunch in one of our favorite spots in LaGrange, Prasino’s. My friend from junior high happened to be in the neighborhood so she was able to stop by and we got to catch up. She’s one of my oldest friends (that I’ve know the longest, not age wise old, hah!) and I’m so glad we keep in touch. Last year when I moved to California she came to visit me in Santa Monica and we went on the Warner Bros Studio tour and it was awesome!

I got this Mediterranean platter and it was delicious and perfect finger foods.

Also in the downtown area, they have these new book donation boxes which I thought was so cute!

After lunch, we stopped by Dave’s parents and hung out with them for a little before going back to my house and picking up my dad and step mom to head to the reception, which was so pretty!

Here’s the 4 of us outside taking a quick pic. They are 3 of the most important people in my life, my dad, step mom and Dave. It was SO much fun to go to this wedding together. We all danced and ate the wedding cake (more great pre half marathon food choices) and made wonderful memories together.

Don’t let my dad’s sweet smile fool you, he dances like nobody’s watching and I so wish I had filmed it. He has always been a great dancer and it’s always fun to see him enjoying himself. Seeing him dance and do the twist, was worth it for me to buy the plane ticket home! Hah 🙂 I’m a big ole daddy’s girl. We’ve always been really close and I’m so thankful for our relationship.

The day was full of love, laughter, traditions, and dancing and I’m so happy we could be there to celebrate with the happy couple!

On the way home we stopped by the grocery store to buy bananas and wheat bread (my pre race fuel) and ran into our friend Ryan’s mom. That is one of the things I miss the most when I’m home. Running into people I’ve known for years and/or my friend’s parents.  It’s a sign of long friendships, which aren’t always easy to come by when you move a lot and are always trying to make new friends like Dave and I. In the last 3 years we’ve lived in Washington DC, Chicago, Santa Monica, and now Orange County, and we’re moving this fall to Seattle. (Gotta explore and do it now while we don’t have kids yet, or a mortgage to pay!)

I was in bed by about 11pm and gathered all my things for race day before sleeping.

Sunday- This day was one of my favorite days so far this year. It was jam packed with awesomeness and so much fun!

I talked about the half marathon yesterday, which started our morning, then afterwards my dad, step mom, and Dave and I went to eat at one of our favorite diners in the city, Eleven City Diner. We used to go here all the time in college and it’s always fun to go back.

I had the turkey slides with a side of my new medal 🙂

After brunch we took an Uber down to the Chicago River and got dropped off by the Chicago Theater. We walked down by the river walk which is so peaceful and pretty.

We took the Wendella Boat Tour which was so awesome. I learned a lot about the architecture of Chicago, stuff I’d never heard before. I’d highly recommend going on this or any architecture tour. It was beautiful and very informative and it was cheap, only $19 for a 45 minute tour, totally worth it!

I’ve lived in Chicago my whole life minus the last 3 years and I’m still always amazed and taken aback by this city’s beauty. The architecture is amazing, so pretty and there’s so much to do and there’s such history there.

Chicago was recently voted 2nd best skyline after Hong Kong by some magazine I can’t remember which, I want to say Forbes. But I can’t argue with that. I feel like a broken record but I’m telling you Chicago is a gorgeous, gorgeous city. But I will also tell you that as amazing as summers are, the winters can be brutal. But at least you get to fully experience all 4 seasons.

After the architecture tour, we stopped to grab some coffee and sat looking at this view.Then we walked down the famous Michigan Avenue where they have lots of upscale shopping, and went to the Water Tower Place, which is a mall, near the John Hancock building.

We also stopped in the actual Water Tower, which is one of the only buildings they survived the Great Chicago fire.

We took another Uber back to our car, my parents took off for home, and Dave and I went to Trader Joe’s to grab some food for Ryan’s BBQ later that night. Found this little guy near Eleven City Diner. I love graffiti/street art!

We drove to Melissa’s place and I showered and we car pooled over to Ryan’s. It was so nice of Ryan to host a little gathering for us and our friends. He went all out, made kabobs, fresh squeezed lemonade and cous cous. It was so nice to catch up and see our friends.

Being home is the best feeling and makes me oh so happy. What are your favorite Chicago hang outs?

My Trip Home to Chicago July 2015

One quick side note before today’s post, my friend, Molly from Colors of Life is featuring me today on her blog about Why I love hiking and you can too! Be sure to check it out here! Thanks again so much for asking me to be a part of your series girl!

Thursday the 16th of July, Dave and I took off for a few days back home in Chicago. Here’s a little recap of our time there.

The fact that we are able to fly thousands of miles in a few hours among the clouds is never lost on me. I’ve always loved flying.

Thursday- I got off work early Thursday and we finished packing and headed to LAX (the LA airport), grabbed a quick bite to eat at Boa Steakhouse which was really good. We split a burger and had some key lime pie. (Isn’t that what everyone eats before a half marathon?!)

I usually eat pretty healthy, but a girl has got to indulge every once in a while, am I right? And as you can see I’m currently in the middle of that Katie Couric book.

We flew in late to O’hare Airport at 9pm and came home to some rain. Living in California where there’s a drought, it’s so fun to see rain again! I miss the smell and freshness of it. My parents came to pick us up, we dropped off Dave at his parent’s house and I was hungry so my parents fed me. Nothing like a home cooked meal, no matter how old you are! 😉

Every time I’m at O’hare and walk through this hallway I think of Home Alone, what a great movie, definitely one of my favorites!

Friday-I ran errands with my dad all morning. He is currently in process of selling my childhood home that I grew up in and lived in for 20+ years, and it’s such a big production. There is so much work to get a house ready to sell. I don’t know how people do it all the time! Between the cleaning, packing, donating, and throwing stuff out, it’s exhausting! I’ll be really sad to see the house go, but it is getting to be too much work and upkeep for my dad and step mom. We checked out a storage unit, talked to the village about getting a house inspection, and met with our realtor.

We got home, ate lunch, and cleaned the rest of the afternoon until dinner time. Our basement has so many memories and stuff we need to pack up and that took a while. It’s fun to go through stuff, but it’s also crazy to think about the stuff we hold on to, but never use!

After an afternoon of cleaning, my dad and I ate dinner and then Dave and I headed downtown to the McCormick Place (a convention center) to pick up my race day bib.

For those of you who haven’t been to an expo, it’s a fun place to check out new running gear, try some samples, and grab any last min items you may need before the race.

My favorite thing that they offer at the expo is this little wristband that gives you an outline for how you should pace to stay on track for your goal finishing time. Because along the race path they have clocks to let you know your time and it’s awesome to see if you’re pacing correctly and to remind yourself to speed it up, or take your time.

From the expo, we went to a friend’s house who let us borrow a camera for the weekend, which is how we were able to have such awesome pics from the race! (Thanks Chris!) Then we met up with two of our best friends Ryan and Vi (the other half of Say Yes to Happy!) and her boyfriend Jacob. We walked to dinner from her place then went to Dairy Queen after.

It was a very full first day back and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Linking up today with Sweet Little Ones for:

 

Chicago Rock n Roll Half Marathon July 2015

Happy Monday friends! Over the weekend I decided to update the blog layout a little, what do you guys think? And secondly, thanks to one of Mattie’s post I decided to join BlogLovin’ it’s so genius to have all the blogs you read in one place. I’m so new to it, I’d love any tips you guys have. You can follow us here or by clicking on our bloglovin’ graphic on the sidebar.

Last week I went home to Chicago for a few days from Thursday July 16-Monday July 20th. Later this week I’ll do a full recap of the trip, but I thought I’d start with the half marathon I ran on Sunday with one of my best friends. This was our second time running the half marathon, last time we did it was July 2013. Since then we’ve also run a full marathon in Hawaii last December (something I still have to blog about!)

The race started at 6:30am but I woke up at 4am because my cousin Zack and running coach, told me to eat two pieces of toast and a banana 3 hours before the race to give my stomach time to digest. So I was up at the crack of dawn while it was still dark out. Dave drove over to my parent’s house at 5:15am and we took off for downtown. The streets were blocked off but we luckily found parking in a lot for $30 for all day.

For those of you who know Chicago, or are just curious, here is the route we took.We started walking over to Grant Park and met up with Melissa (one of my best friends who ran the half with me) and her boyfriend Nico. We all went to the bathroom before the race started and started walking over the starting line. I took a before picture with my dad and stepmom. I was born and raised in Illinois and we are Chicago Bears fans but my dad loves wearing jerseys and just happened to pick a Green Bay Packers jersey today, made me laugh. He said he felt some people giving him looks. 🙂

Like I said, I ran a half and a full marathon before, but this one was special to me because my parents came to support me and it meant a lot! Here we are around 6:30am waiting for the start line. It was already a little humid at this point. For those of you who don’t know, when you sign up, you predict your finish time and then they put your in corrals (like a cow) and you wait in the group to start. So the crazies who finish in an hour/hour and a half start way ahead of us normal folk. This time and in 2013, it took about a half hour to get to the actual starting line because it’s literally thousands of people running. 22,000 this year to be exact.

Another thing to notice is on our shoes, we have little red tags. That tracks our time when we hit certain check points and logs our final time.

My boyfriend Dave is a cinematographer/camera operator/director of photography who works on TV for major networks like Discovery, Animal Planet, and National Geographic, so it’s pretty awesome to have my own personal photographer for the race. 🙂 His pictures are always amazing but this one has got to be my favorite! I need to frame this one. I love the Chicago theater sign and this picture just makes me happy.

Most races I do I usually spot a few people dressed up, this guy was dressed as Elvis obviously, but the crazier thing to me is that he’s not wearing any shoes! That has gotta hurt.

I know I say it all the time, but come on, Chicago is gorgeous!

Our blurry action shot, check out those guns (not really!)

The first 7 miles we felt great. We were talking almost the entire time, which is new to me since I train by myself. It was so nice to catch up and take in the streets of Chicago. Made me miss home a lot more actually. But then it started to get hot and really humid. We really looked forward to the water stations. We had to stop and make a bathroom break, which took about 10 or 15 minutes! Which got added to our time. And of course a few feet ahead of us was a whole row of porta potties. (We waited in line for two.)

There was a section of the race where we overlapped and had to turn a corner. It was really fun and motivating to high five the other runners and encourage one another to finish strong. That’s always one of my favorite parts of the race day environment. How positive and supportive everyone is. 🙂 I keep telling myself one of these days I’m going to go to a half or a full marathon and just cheer on random strangers.

I also started to get stomach cramps toward the end like around mile 11, so we had to walk a little (which I didn’t do for the first half) anyways even though it got a little hot towards the end we were SO happy to be done and finished strong sprinting in. My favorite way to finish a race!

I also love the runner swag we get at the finish line. They had bananas, chocolate milk, beer, bagels, and popsicles!

Because I had my phone on me the entire time, I was able to text Dave and my parents my whereabouts so we had no trouble meeting up at the end of the race. And that’s also how Dave was able to catch us at so many different points throughout the race. We met up 4 different times, it was so motivating and uplifting to see him. 🙂

Here is our after picture with my shiny new medal and the Buckingham Fountain in full effect.

Melissa and I have been best friends for 10 years this August. We met our freshmen year in college and have been close ever since despite me moving to Washington DC and California. She’s been my running buddy through the 5k Color Run, the 2013 Chicago Rock n Roll Half Marathon, 2014 Honolulu Marathon, and now the 2015 Chicago Rock n Roll Half Marathon. We volunteered for the Chicago Marathon while we were in college years ago and ever since then wanted to finish a full marathon and now we have. It’s been an awesome journey running with her and whether we retire our running shoes or run again next year is still to be determined. 🙂

 

For all you fellow runners in the blogging world, you know what the high of running and finishing a major race feels like.

For people who want to run a half or a full or some distance in between for the first time, YOU CAN DO IT! Just stick to a training plan and be consistent. And I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have, leave me a comment

And for people who don’t like to run and think we are crazy, we probably are. 🙂

And for Monday I’m linking up with: Meghan @ Champagne + Suburbs, RunningnReading, Marvelous in My Monday and

 

Friday Favorites: Traveling & Being Home

I’m currently in Chicago until Monday night. Living it up with my family and friends for a few quick days. I’ll be back to commenting Tuesday, and I’ll have posts schedule during my absence. Anyway what fun things do you guys have planned for the weekend?

Here are my favorites from this week:I love the Bachelor franchise. I’ve been a fan for years and end up following past contestants on their blogs and social media. This week Jillian Harris posted about Life Before the Bachelor and what she’s learned being a public figure and being in the media. She also talks about cultivating your own personal brand, something all us bloggers can relate to. It’s a great read; love her!

On Tuesday I shared 3 of my current favorite travel bloggers: Kelley at Madeline in the City who chronicles life across the pond in London with her family, Courtney at Alkeks Abroad who has been living with her husband down under in Australia, and Abby from Abby’s Roads who has lived in Dubai and Australia with her husband.

One of my favorite things about reading other people’s blogs is getting to live vicariously through them and following along on their adventures abroad. I’d love to hear who your favorite travel bloggers are too!

Being home in Chicago, makes me oh so happy. I love, love, love, to travel, but Dorothy was so right when she said “There’s no place like home.” I mean just look at this city, it’s stunning.

The architecture is amazing. The lake is beautiful. People are friendly and so polite (hello Midwesterners) and the food is great. There’s so much to do. And it’s where most of my family and friends still live. It’s never enough time at home but I’ll take as much time as I can get. I hold this city and its people near and dear to my heart.

It makes me super sentimental being home and I couldn’t be happier. I’m going to thoroughly soak up and enjoy these few days home. One of these days I should do a post about my favorite Chicago spots and things to do. What are your favorite Chicago happenings?

Last year one of my favorite places we visited was Horse Shoe Bend in Arizona. It was more beautiful in person and pictures hardly do it justice. It was really cool to stand there and take it all in. I would love to go back there someday and spend some more time in the Grand Canyon. I’d love to hike the rim or part of it anyway. 🙂

Has anyone hiked in the Grand Canyon, did you love it?

Lastly I want to thank all of you readers lately, who have been so nice and friendly lately. I feel like I’ve finally found some really nice blogger friends and my own little cliche. It feels really good to feel like a part of the blogging community. It’s made blogging a lot more fulfilling and fun for me getting to know you guys better.

It’s so fun to get a peek into each other lives and encourage and support one another. Link ups have been a really awesome way to discover new blogs. So thank you all again for being so much fun to interact with and for the very kind words, it’s greatly appreciated.

Have a great weekend and I’ll see ya Monday!

Friday has become the day of the link ups. Here are the wonderful women I’m linking up with each week:

 A Little Bit of Everything Blog, Grace and Love Blog, and Momfessionals

A.Liz Adventures, Carolina Charm, Hello! Happiness, and The Good Life Blog.

 The Farmer’s Wife, September Farm

Fitting It All in Blog

 Life in Leggings

Style Elixir

Travel Thursdays: 2011 Road Trip

In the summer of 2011 my boyfriend and I went on a huge road trip from Chicago to San Francisco. Along the way we stopped in Kansas City to visit family, Colorado to visit family and friends, Utah, Las Vegas, California, and Arizona. It was a three week trip and it was incredible. It was so nice to be able to take time and not rush along the way.

One of my favorite parts of going on road trips is being able to visit with loved ones along the way. It’s such a nice opportunity to see where people live and to see beautiful landmarks and monuments all over the United States.

If you’re thinking about going on a road trip, just do it! You will not regret it. Plan it or don’t plan it and just wing it. Traveling is good for the soul and is so refreshing.

Arches National Park in Moab, Utah

Zion National Park in Utah 

Yosemite National Park in CaliforniaLas Vegas

Friday Favorites: City Love

Hello there Friday! How are you all doing? Are you as ready for the weekend as I am?

I am continuing to link up for Friday Favorites with the lovely ladies of A Little Big of Everything Blog, Grace and Love Blog, and Momfessionals. 

Today I’m showing some of my favorite city posters. Chicago is my hometown and will always be home for me. It makes me very nostalgic and sentimental every time I think about it. When my boyfriend I first moved to LA, my best friend bought us a Chicago poster with the famous landmarks and buildings.

New York is such a a large city and is so iconic. It’s in so many movies and tv shows. Having visited NYC for the first time last year, it really did live up to and exceed my expectations. It’s got a real energy there and is so fast paced.

San Fran’s Golden Gate Bridge is another famous landmark that I love. San Fran is such a great city and is so unique. The steep hills, Alcatraz, the hikes, the weather, etc. It’s all so great.

City Love by sayyestohappy featuring a chicago poster

TATTLY I Heart Sparkles temporary tattoo
$6.64 – selfridges.com

Red wall art
urbanoutfitters.com

Framing poster
lampsplus.com

New york city poster
lampsplus.com

Chicago poster
lampsplus.com

Stirring the Pot by Jenny McCarthy

Stirring the Pot by Jenny McCarthy is a fun, quick read. She is super open about her life and her success along with her failures.

She clearly knows how to write a book, because she is a New York Times Best Seller and has written 10 other books! This is my first book by her that I have read and I enjoyed it.

I used to watch her on Singled Out on MTV and have seen her a few times on the View.

I know she has said some controversial things in the media about vaccinations and Autism, but this book doesn’t address those topics, so don’t let that distract you from reading this one.

She is from Chicago, as am I, and Denis Richards whose book I also just read. Gotta support my Midwestern girls!

Jenny covers lots of topics like girls nights in, being divorced, being a single mom, making success happen for yourself, and reading way too many self help books.

You gotta love a girl who can laugh at herself. She’s super relatable, honest, and hilarious. My kind of girl and author.