Continuing from part one is part two of our California trip. After Rocio and Gabe left, I didn't have a lot planned. We had places we wanted to visit, but not like a set schedule or anything. Even though we had a few more things on our to-do list, this was the the most relaxing part of the trip. We literally did..whatever we wanted to. Relax.. go on an adventure.. pool day.. it was whatever we woke up and felt like doing! That is what a vacation is supposed to be after all.
Sunday: Gizmo's, Vanderpump Dogs, The Grove & Toy Story 4
On Sunday morning, I decided to explore Los Angeles a bit more. I went downtown to explore and somewhere I really wanted to go was Gizmo's Cereal Bar. I saw it on an Instagram account and I knew I would love this place. It's not ridiculously overpriced, even though yeah I paid $10 for cereal, but you get to choose as many flavors as you want with as many toppings as you want and because it's California they had so many milk options. I ate cereal and watched cartoons just like I used to as kids. Super cute. I also visited the last place on the Vanderpump tour.. Vanderpump Dogs. It was beyond adorable in there and I wanted to take home all the dogs. Another thing on the list was to go to The Grove and walk around. It's always so pretty there and I ended the night eating a cheeseboard for dinner and watching Toy Story 4 (12/10 must see).
Something I love to do is just walk around and see where the day takes us. We decided to go to Universal City Walk and well.. walk around. We had time to kill before heading to Santa Monica Pier for a photoshoot that I had set up. When we got to Santa Monica Pier we played arcade games and watched as a movie was being filmed with drones. It was a very "LA" experience. Then I had booked one of my favorite YouTubers, Shelby Church (celebrity siting #3), to take some photos for my blog. All of the awesome pictures you've been seeing lately? All Shelby. She started her own website, Shuttr.com, where you can hire freelance photographers and videographers for an affordable prices in major cities. I highly, highly suggest using Shuttr and if you can book Shelby. She was wonderful to work with an I'm obsessed with the photos she took. You can view the blog post with all of these photos by clicking here, Shelby's Instagram by clicking here and Shuttr's Instagram by clicking here.
Cropped Sweater | Jeans | Sandals | David Yurman Dupe Bracelet | Hoop Earrings | Star Choker Necklace | Belt
Tuesday: Grandpa's Restaurant, Shopping, Huntington Beach, Visiting My Cousin & Balboa Island
After we checked out of the AirBnB, I headed to Southern California. We had plans to stay with my cousin, Michael, for a few days in Irvine and then to Anaheim. While we were waiting for my cousin to get off work we went to Huntington Beach. Now, Huntington Beach has a special place in my heart because it's actually where my dad is from. My grandpa and his siblings owned a restaurant called Sam's Seafood and then it turned into Don the Beach Comber and no sadly it's been closed down. However, the location has been classified as a landmark, so even though it's not a running restaurant right now, I hope whoever buys it next makes it something really great. It was still such a proud-Katsaris moment to be there. I've always seen pictures and heard stories, but it was really special to just be there in person. Overall, a great start to my morning. After we visited we just went shopping and had lunch before hitting the beach. We laid out and got our tan on before heading to Irvine to meet up with my cousin Michael. Let me start by saying my cousin's apartment is freaking awesome!! We loved his apartment complex and referred to it as the ultimate bachelor pad š. That night Michael took us to Balboa Island which was sooo cool. I don't even know how to explain it. It was like Nantucket meets west coast. All of the houses were very cottage-esque and everyone was riding around on bikes or on their boats. Then we took a ferry to the island and had dinner, sight seeing on the island and ended the night at an old school candy shop. Such a great night.
Wednesday: San Diego Zoo, Rooftop Hot Tub & Dinner
Something I wanted to do was visit San Diego Zoo so we made it happen. We took a day trip to San Diego and experienced the zoo that everyone is always talking about. It was really cool and I'm glad we went. Not to mention how much we laughed, I don't even remember half the things that were said, but I remember laughing a lot. We also had lunch at this restaurant that Omar's brother recommended, they had "exotic meat" on the menu.. Omar says it was good so I believe him! Then we headed back to Irvine. My cousin ordered sushi and we went to the rooftop hot tub which had a glass wall and overlooked the streets. Then we ate dinner by one of the fire pits. An actual and ideal California night.
Thursday: Pool Day
One of the most relaxing days we had was hanging out at my cousin's apartment. His apartment has two pools, a hot tub, two gyms, a golf simulator, grills and roof top fire pits. Hanging out there was so relaxing and one of my favorite parts of the trip. Then of course seeing my cousin and hanging out with him was an added bonus! This is all we did on Thursday before checking into our hotel in Anaheim. Super chill day.
Friday: Downtown Disney District, Shopping & Dave and Busters
Another day with no plans so we decided to explore. We went to Downtown Disney District (California version of Disney Springs) to get a feel of how the Disney parks are set up. Spoil alert–it's very different from Orlando. We found that Orlando overall was much more organized, more enthusiastic employees and overall a better park experience. Not that Disneyland was bad by any means, we had a great time, but Orlando is definitely better. The one thing that Disneyland had that Disney World doesn't have is the multiple fast passes you can get. You can get as many fast passes as you want in a day in Anaheim where as in Orlando you can only get 3 per park, per day. So, just something to note when planning your trips. Anyways, we walked around Downtown Disney District, did some shopping and grabbed some food. Then we decided to go to the outlet mall close by and go to Dave & Busters. If you've been to D&B you know how much fun it is. I played tons of games and won tickets to claim prizes but it was literally like a piece of candy and those crappy little toys you get, but still such a good time.
Saturday: Laguna Beach & Cookout
Beach day!! Michael took us to Laguna Beach for the day and this was another highlight from the trip and here's why... first we went to the grocery store to get some snacks before going to the actual beach. While we were in the grocery store my boyfriend comes up to me and says, "That's Tony." "Who?" I said and he replied, "Tony, from '13 Reasons Why,' he's over there with the chihuahua." So, I not-so-nonchalantly walked down the aisle pretending to look for something, saw the chihuahua and when I looked up, Christian Navarro (celebrity siting #4) was looking right at me. So what do I do? I turned right back around pretending like I lost š. I know, so smooth. But it was him and that was the coolest celebrity siting we would see on this trip. After I completely embarrassed myself we went to the beach, haha. My cousin showed us how crowded the beach gets, but it's because no one knew there's a whole other half to the beach. We had to walk through a gated community and even though it's gated, it's not private property so we were able to walk down this street and to a public entrance of the beach, which wasn't crowded at all. The beach was beautiful and the heat to water temperature was perfect. We'd lay out in the sun for a bit, then just in the ocean, then back to tanning then back to the ocean. We decided to end the day with a cookout at my cousin's house with us and his friend. As us Balabon's (mother's side of the family) do we bought way too much food for four people, but we made some bomb food. Then we ended the night with Funfetti cake (even though Omar is a hater š) it was like the perfect dessert to that day.
Sunday: LAFC Soccer Game
Something else we all wanted to do was go to a LAFC Soccer Game. We met up with friends Megan and Josh and we decided to grab some last minute tickets using one of those apps where you can get pretty cheap tickets. The tickets we bought were around $80 each, which wasn't bad considering when we asked the people at will-call how much tickets were she said $200. So as we walked into the arena we kept being directed higher and higher. We knew we bought cheap tickets, but we were confused as to why the ushers kept sending us to a new section. That was until we came to an usher who was blocking a velvet rope and when we showed him our tickets he let us by. Still confused at this moment until we found our seats I realized we were in a club seating. The seats were right on the glass and we were right above the lower-level crowd. We could see the entire field and when the boys went to get us drinks they came back with beers and food with smiles on their faces going, "This was all free!!!" We also were sitting right next to LAFC Players, we just didn't know it because we're fake friends, but that takes us to celebrity siting #5. We scored club seats for the game on a last minute ticket app and these were the $200 tickets that will-call was telling us about... how awesome!
Calvin Klein Body Suit | Shorts | Shoes | Scrunchies | Double Star Necklace | Hoop Earrings | Ring | Glasses
Stay tuned for part 3 of this series coming soon!
xoxo, Michele
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