Exploring the West

Before I started my current job, I had never been to the West Coast. (I always joked the farthest West I'd gone was Iowa, and that it didn't really count!) Lucky for me, in the year and a half I've worked at my job, I've been sent out on two business trips to the West!

The first trip was great, but I only went out a day early to do some exploring in San Francisco and then was in Pleasanton attending meetings for the rest of the trip. The trip I just got back from a couple of weeks ago I was able to go to Seattle and Salt Lake City on business and then decided to have a fun weekend in San Diego with a friend!

It's definitely a toss up between Seattle and San Diego as to which was my favorite city. I loved Seattle because it was beautiful and walkable. I also got to spend a lot of time on boats during my trip thanks to my wonderful friend (and coworker). I was able to attend the Pink Boat Regatta on my last day in the city and it was incredible -- so much pink, boats, and love for breast cancer research!

I also spent a fair amount of time at Pike Market which was amazing and the food all over the city was unbelievable.

I loved San Diego because of the weather and the beach with mountains surrounding it! I also couldn't get over the cacti and succulents everywhere.

I also had the best tour guide around, who also knows all the great food spots. I definitely ate well the entire trip! Also, did you know that real tortillas are so much better than flour? I never knew!

I don't have many pictures from Salt Lake City, but it was also such an interesting place. I saw the Salt Lake City Temple for the LDS Church, drank a beer named the Polygamy Porter, and saw a indie film at a theater associated with Sundance. Everywhere I went in the valley, it was like the mountains followed us too. I want to go back someday to ski because I saw ski resort signs everywhere!

It was such a great trip and I feel so blessed that I was able to travel to three places that I've never been before to both work and play! Have you ever visited Seattle, Salt lake City or San Diego?

Top Moments of 2014

Last year was the biggest year of my life thus far -- there were so many life changes! I wanted to reflect on what I thought were the top moments of 2014 for me and ring on the New Year in hopes that 2015 could try to beat it!

1 || Graduating from Georgia Tech

An accomplishment, that at points, I never thought I would achieve. It was one of the most surreal moments of my life to walk across that stage and accept my diploma. 

2 || Living with Elizabeth and Working for Georgia Tech

The summer of 2014 was the best summer I've ever spent. I not only got to live with one of my best friends, but I also go to work for and with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about the times Elizabeth and I shared in that gorgeous apartment off of Ponce and the wonderful growth I experienced working at CAE.

3 || Moving to Pennsylvania and Starting a New Job

At the end of the summer, I packed up all my belongings and headed out on my new adventure! Starting a new job and moving 700+ miles all in one blow was a huge step for me, but one well worth it.

4 || Attending Biennial Conclave

Daniel and I got to attend our second Alpha Chi Sigma Biennial Conclave together. We met at the last Biennial and to be able to go back was so much fun.

5 || Adopting Opal

Daniel and I became fur-parents in November and it's been an interesting experience so far, but I wouldn't give up our little furball for anything. 

Going through pictures to put on this post made me realize just how much I loved the past year. I grew so much as a person and was able to experience so much life. I only hope that 2015 helps me continue my adventure of life.

Hope you had a Happy New Year!

A Day in the City

Daniel and I traveled to NYC on Saturday for a day trip. We had the chance to go because of our work offering bus tickets into the city for $25 round trip. I loved the city my previous two times visiting and knew I couldn't pass up a deal like that so I bought us tickets.

It was about a two hour drive into the city. It's still odd for me to think that I live that close! We got to the city around 11:30 and stayed until 7 pm. Besides the fact that it started raining around noon and didn't stop even when we left, we had a delightful day.

Our NYC day in a nutshell:

First we visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I don't have any pictures from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum out of respect because it just didn't feel right to publicize what I was witnessing in the museum. Hearing the voice recordings from that day and seeing artifacts from the buildings brought me to tears. The Memorial and Museum were so well done and so respectful. It really just made the attacks of that day seem so much more unreal.

On our way to and from the Memorial and Museum, we wandered around NYC on the streets and subways. We wound up at this little hole in the wall Falafel restaurant that Daniel found on google. It was so small it only had enough space to order! It was delicious though.

Christmas trees for sell NYC style -- on the side of the street!

We also got to see the famous tree in Rockefeller Center. It was raining so we didn't get a good picture together but the tree itself was breathtaking. Probably the only thing I've scene in NYC that the movies didn't lie about in size!

(Wizards of Waverly Place, anyone? Daniel didn't get it)

Radio City Music Hall and Time Square were both really packed areas and the umbrellas didn't help the chaos of people. We played a lot of umbrella wars.

Chrysler Building looking awesome against the rainy sky.

I wanted to find a pastry shop so badly. I had my heart set on Magnolia Bakery, but it was packed, so we googled some places and found Paris Baguette. It was delicious! Daniel and I ate the macarons (each for the first time!) on the bus ride home after having our delicious bento boxes.

Overall we had a wonderful wet day. At the end of it I was sufficiently soaked (you can just see the water on my face above!) but extremely happy. I hope we can find some way to make a trip back soon especially since it's so close!

Adopting Opal

If you know me, you know I am a total cat lover. I've grown up around them my whole life and always knew I would want a kitty of my own when I 'entered the real world'. So when I moved in with Daniel, one of my first questions was, "When can we get a cat?"

Fast forward a few months and Daniel decided to surprise me with changing his answer from 'we're not ready' to 'yes' (and without me even asking first!)

We thought that we would go visit the Humane Society to meet some kitties and see if any were right for us, but before we did that we knew we needed to get supplies. I decided to look at prices of things on Petsmart.com that weekend and found out that they were having a sale on a lot of cat stuff so we decided to go pick up supplies at the store.

When we showed up at Petsmart, a local rescue, called Kitty Colony, had set up in the back of the store with cats up for adoption. I asked Daniel if we could look because I saw one that had a beautifully colored coat. I went up and talked to the lady who helps run the rescue and found out the kitty's name was Opal. She asked me if I wanted to hold her and as soon as I did, I knew she was meant to be ours.

A week later, Daniel and I returned to Petsmart to take our precious Opal home with us. We are so happy we found her and she seems pretty happy to have found us as well. I have never heard a kitten purr so much! She also follows us around like our shadow--sometimes it's hard to walk because she's weaving in and out between our legs.

Today we came home from work after leaving her alone for 8 hours and I swear it was like her Christmas morning when we came home. We got so much affection from her.

Having a kitten to come home to makes me so happy. I love her so much already and I still feel like I barely know her. I'm so excited that we found Opal to have with us on our adventure.

 Name: Opal

Breed: Siamese Mix

Age: 6 months

The Sweetest Place on Earth

Over the weekend, Daniel and I took a trip to Hershey, PA to partake in all things roller coaster and chocolate related.

To everyone back in Georgia (or anywhere else) who might be confused about the roller coaster part, Hershey is home not only to chocolate but also to Hershey Park which is a theme park based on the sweet treats produced by the company. Daniel and I were able to snag some discounted tickets through his mom's work, so we drove the 45 minutes to Chocolate Town, U.S.A. and made a day of it. 

The roller coasters at the park were so much fun. It was nice to ride coasters that I've never been on before. Daniel had only been to Hershey Park once before and it was when he was in high school so the coasters were almost new to him as well. The nice thing about the discounted tickets was that it was for a day when the park was opened outside of regular hours, so we didn't have very many times where we had to wait to ride. In fact, we road 3 roller coasters within the first hour of being there, and on one of them we were the only ones on the ride/the first riders of the day!

I also tried my luck at a crane game to prove to Daniel that I have certain crane skills that allow me to win more often than not. I was able to prove myself and win a cute little kiss doll much to Daniel's surprise.

Of course, no trip to Hershey would be complete without some type of chocolate consumption. So we ordered the best they had to offer. Deep-fried candy!

 

I ordered the fried Kit Kat (pictured above) and Daniel ordered the fried Reese's. 

After riding nearly (we didn't ride the Super Dooper Looper) every roller coaster in the park, Daniel and I called it a day before the masses decided to exit at park closing. Since we still had some time left, we decided to check out some shops. I was also determined to find some of the oversized candy I had heard about. We wound up finding our way to Hershey's Chocolate World which is just outside the amusement park. There we went on the free Chocolate Tour and found huge amounts of oversized chocolates. There was also cool chocolates like macadamia nut kisses!

After such a great day, we ate in a restaurant in downtown Hershey called Chocolate Avenue Grill and got to drive down by the actual Hershey Factory. One of the coolest thing about downtown Hershey is that the lights are Hershey Kisses!

We had a wonderful day exploring such an iconic town. I can't wait to go back!

Thrifty Living

If you are in the blogging network, you have probably heard of The College Prepster. You've also probably loved her sense of fashion. 

I fell in love with her post from last Wednesday where she featured a beautiful striped beach shirt that she sported over Memorial Day Weekend.

From the College Prepster

I looked at the list price which was $180 and thought that the style would wind up being something I looked at but did not get a chance to wear.

Then I went thrifting at the thrift shop next door to my apartment building. I found the perfect subsitutte striped shirt in the men's section, and wound up leaving with it. It's a Penny Stock, "The Penny Worker" button up. It's made of super soft material and has little gems about it like an embroidered Abe Lincoln. I couldn't leave the store without it. 

I styled it with my favorite Lucky Brand shorts and a ribbed tank from Old Navy (similar). 

This was just my first thrifting experience, I can't wait to have more!

A Venture into Blogging

I've wanted to have a blog for a little bit now--since this past summer to be exact. Over the summer I got into the world of blogging through Feedly (great RSS feeder app!) and realized it's a beautiful world indeed. I love reading about people's ideas of fashion, food, and life.

I'm creating this blog to help me voice my opinion and to keep a place that allows me to collect my thoughts about things I find interesting in my life or in the world. One of my friends told me I'm always plugged into everything. I want to be able to share my "plugged-inness" with y'all.

I can't wait to start this simply unique adventure.

-Kelly