[Roadtrippin’] The Road to Red Rocks

July 16, 2014July 16, 2014Leave a comment

As the Super Moon rose through swaying palm trees, I perched on the love-seat in our kitchen – breathing in new opportunities and breathing out dissuaded anxieties with every beat of my heart. Silence ebbed and flowed through the room, engulfing it one minute – then a cackling laughter would chase it away. My mind raced in circles as my fingers traced a path on the top of my phone. There are exactly 1,000 miles from my doorstep to Red Rocks Amphitheater out in Morrison, Colorado; 1,000 miles between my bedroom and my first music festival outside of California. And it couldn’t come at a better time. For the majority of this calendar year, I’ve been at a mental and emotional crossroads; I’ve been made incredibly aware of my aptitudes as well as my downfalls, and through hard work and dedication – I’ve built an incredibly succinct vision of what I’d like to do with my life. Between my craft (writing) and my crafts (and arts), I need a jumping point to get me to the next level and attending the 16th anniversary of Global Dance is just that.

Zion National Park, Utah

For all the festivals franchises I’ve been to – HARD Presents, Insomniac Events, Go Ventures – I’m still a novice as far as the Global Dance events are concerned; and to cover the event on top of it? If there was a word that summarized – honored, thrilled, anxious, flabbergasted, stressed – the whole kit and kaboodle.

What’s more, is that my best friend – boyfriend – Danny – my partner in crime – photographer – whatever you want to call him, he’s coming with me and we’re making a huge road trip of the event. Last weekend we celebrated one year of loving each other and what better way to celebrate than gallivanting through Zion and Red Rocks! Back when I was in college, I spent a little bit of time in Breckenridge – but that was during the winter and under starkly different conditions! Instead of flying in between two monstrously large blizzards, we’ll be driving from LA through St.George, Utah where we’ll be able to rest our bones for a bit before we bounce to Zion National Park! I’ve heard so many fantastic things about it but to be able to see it physically with my own eyes, I can’t properly express how monumental this is for me – for us, really.

Then – it’s off to Morrison for Global Dance! Thanks to some quick thinking and good luck with Air BnB – I found an exceptionally fantastic place within close proximity – and for only $40 it’s a certifiable steal (Like, seriously – if you’re ever going to Red Rocks let me know and I’ll give you this guy’s information!) For all the research I’d done on GDE, I don’t know how it escaped me that there’d be more than one stage (I mean, duh; how many festivals are just one stage anymore….) – but I was truly hoping that with Red Rocks as a backdrop that it would more or less work out that way. Anyhow, now I have to navigate through time conflicts and hold DJ death matches in my head to plot the best plan of attack.

This is the reason I’m so willing to put up with my normal 8-5; this is why I’m so dedicated to working day in and day out on my craft. It’s big moments like these that pave the way for monumental events to happen – and I’m so excited to share my journeys! Now, before I get back to being a glorified excel monkey – let me leave you with some of my favorite songs from the GDE: Red Rocks arsenal – enjoy!

[Oh, Snap] Cruising the PCH

September 4, 2013September 26, 2013Leave a comment

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

On the way back from San Francisco, we had two options for our drive: take the 5 and suffer through the dusty drabness that defines the middle of our state, or cruise down the Pacific Coast Highway and enjoy ourselves. Well, after doing the later I can firmly say that as in all of life – it should be about the journey and not the destination; and journey we did! Not even exaggerating, we stopped at every third turnout to catch a view of the stunning California Coast! Now, I grew up in the Bay Area, came down for college in the Central Coast and cruised on down to LA when I was done but never have I ever taken the 1 down the coast. Well, after yesterday I can check that off the proverbial bucket list and I have the pictures to prove it! We roamed the beach, found beautiful foliage and gorgeous coastal views; it really was like a dream come true…

Mailboxes in Big Sur

[Roadtrippin’] It’s a California State of Mind

October 19, 2012January 13, 2014Leave a comment

For the past few weeks I’ve had little angel on my shoulder, coercing me to get the fuck out of my overheated Los Angeles bubble and venture up north for an extended weekend of good food, great meals and family time. But, whenever I was close to jumping in my car and cruising back home, the devil on the other side would start with the litany of excuses: I hate driving on the 5 – That’s too long to leave my cats alone for– gas prices are cray cray – etc, etc. The fact of the matter is those are all very valid reasons for not wanting to hit the road – but at the end of the

day, they all start to sound like the same excuse, ‘I don’t want to.‘ It’s been a long past few months and there was a lot of apprehension about being isolated, and in the middle of nowhere, for an extended amount of time – but I’ve also come to terms with the fact that I over-saturate my life with connections. My phone may as well be tethered to my side as a Siamese twin because I swear I’m always on it – Tweeting, texting, Instagram-ing and Facebooking; may as well just call me a walking, talking social media slut – I’ll take it.

I also, finally, took some my own advice: get out of my head and into my heart.

Being a creature of logic and reason is fine and dandy; but, emotions can’t be quantified, feelings can’t be measured and you can’t organize anxieties.

With this freshly pressed game plan in mind, I turned to packing up my troubles, both literally and physically. Piling clothes, jewelry, hair products and my work laptop in an over-sized duffel bag, I synced my iPod and kissed my cats goodbye. The drive can last anywhere from 6 and 9 hours, so I had a lot of music to load in to get me through it. For the first time, I wasn’t planning outfits or huge escapades – I was going to be comfortable and at home with the people I love. Yes, the 5 is awful and gas prices aren’t going down – but the idea that the people I love are only a tank of gas away is so comforting.

When I hit the road, I double checked my route and turned my phone off for a while; I was on auto-pilot, my car was on cruise control and it was just the two of us and the highway. I’ve had my new car since April and the furthest we’ve gone together is Ojai – this was our first big adventure and I had way too much fun. There’s a feeling that I get from being in the open road, windows down and music up; my mind opens up, my stream of consciousness is deep and introspective and I almost get this runners high. Maybe it’s a drivers high. Either way, that drive cleared out my mental cobwebs and reset my system. Around 10 pm I cruised into the city and it was bustling with lights and noise, roaring with personality as it always does.

San Francisco at Night

5 Roadtrip Essentials:

Map I know I’m captain obvious but you should probably know where you’re going – just in case your phone dies, your partner in crime slash navigator passes out or you’re just horrible with directions.
Music Make sure your playlist is twice as long as your total drive – if you’re like me, you probably have musical ADD and change a song halfway through…which means your playlist doesn’t last as long as you think it does. Plan ahead and your head will thank you later; besides, how many times can you really listen to Levels*?
Good Vibes If you’re no fun, your drive isn’t going to be fun! Besides, if you can’t have fun by yourself rocking out with an air guitar and singing lead vocals at the tippity top of your lungs – why would anyone else want to?
Comfort Grub There’s nothing worse than hitting the road, getting super hungry and not being able to find a damn thing you want to eat or drink – well, save yourself the problem and do a little store run before you head out or save some money and make sandwiches at home. Make sure you have something delish to wash it all down, and a few extra bottles of water – and you’ll have a happy heart, and stomach, the entire drive.
Car Charger Phone navigation applications, especially Verizon’s – and I speak from experience, do a pretty good job of draining your phones battery. Being lost in the middle of nowhere with no phone is kind of horrible, so do yourself a favor and make sure you have a working phone charger.

[Oh, Snap!] You Stay Classy, San Diego

September 3, 2012January 13, 2014Leave a comment

Ron Burgundy on the origin of ‘San Diego‘

Don’t let the non-blonde hair or fact I can’t surf fool you, I’m a California girl true and true. I was born and raised in the Silicon Valley of Northern California, found myself in Santa Barbara for college while I completed my Bachelors of Science and moved to Los Angeles shortly after I got my degree. When I was in middle school and high school I was on a club basketball team that traveled around California, and it granted me the opportunity to visit and explore many sides of the great, Golden State. And to boot, my family loves to travel. Combine those two facts, and that’s a lot of location scouting. Within California alone, I’ve been to: Napa, Sonoma, Walnut Creek, Petaluma, Vallejo, San Francisco, Monterey, Carmel, Los Angeles, San Diego…the list could go on and on; but that’s not the point. Each time I visited a new place, I would try and envision myself living there – and to this day, the more and more I consider San Diego, the more I’d like to give it a chance to woo me over.

The Gaslamp District at Night
Taken with my HTC Rezound; snazzed up in Instagram using the XPro 2 Filter.

The other weekend, one of my friends suggested a girls trip down to San Diego for a few days – and the offer couldn’t have come at a better time. Los Angeles, that magical city of sunshine and traffic, can grow tiresome if you don’t get the energy to leave every once in a while.

There’s a saying – ‘You never know what you‘ve got until it’s gone.’ – and in a way, that’s how I feel about my city of angels.

LA is wonderful for nightlife and experiencing different types of culture; from art walks to club experiences, and from warehouse parties to flea markets – LA is a mecca of different cultures that clash and meld all over the city. But San Diego is equally diverse and spread out over a larger area of land; the air is so breathable – and the views are so stunning.

The Glass Door, San Diego
Taken with my HTC Rezound; stitched together with Diptic.

To be honest – we had thought long and hard about what sorts of shenanigans we wanted to get into in San Diego. There were discussions of going to the San Diego Wildlife Park or the Zoo for their Nighttime Zoo: China Celebration, and potentially going out and dancing at Voyeur and Fluxx, two of San Diego’s best night clubs. But, instead – we had a nice girls weekend in the apartment; venturing out only for nourishment and exercise.

For brunch(/lunch) we consulted Yelp and Metrowize; there were so many great options that it was hard to narrow our sights on just one. What caught our attention – this article about the Booziest Brunches in San Diego. I’m a sucker for a kickass Bloody Mary, and let me tell you – this place does it right! They not only garnish the thing with bacon but they also use bacon infused vodka; genius!