Local Discoveries – The Who, What, Where #DiscoverTorrance

by with No Comment adventurecommunityentertainmentleisurelifestylereviewsshoppingtravelwellness

Shopping, adventures, and foods oh my!

As you saw from my last article, I visited the neighboring city of Torrance last month and I’m so happy to share my discoveries with you. Where we shopped, our explorations, local eats … all the things! We stayed at the Best Western Plus Avita Suites and they provide a complimentary breakfast buffet so we only had to find lunches and dinners … and saucy sips … oh and desserts šŸ˜‰ There’s so many options and I got so many of your recommendations from Instagram, thank goodness discovertorrance.com exists which helped me narrow down all my choices! Pssst and thank YOU for your recs <3

So day one was all about settling into our suite and enjoying dinner at our hotel, so the next morning after we enjoyed the buffet we visited the Farmer’s Market for some lunch and local goods.

It was such a beautiful day in Torrance that it was easy to walk around for three hours before I decided I wanted a mid-day pick me up. We headed to the best boba in town… 7 leaves cafe

That would be my macarons and cafe over there chillin’ next to the Moana tree haha. Sooo good, please go there and get the Taro milk tea boba! The Depot was high on your recommendation list as it was on the discovertorrance.com site so that’s exactly what we did for dinner and let me tell ya… I’m a martini kinda lady and their martini’s cannot be matched! So perfectly paired with a filet and mashed potatoes dinner. Umm and that would be pistachio butter you see next to that fresh baked bread *drool*

P.S. that’s the Chef! Of course I asked to take a photo with him, it was one of the best meals evaaaar! And what better way to wrap up day one than a night cap?! We walked over to a neighboring hotel bar and enjoyed one more saucy sip… can you guess what I got? And of course- a bar pretzel is the best choice duh.

Perfection ah. With time in the books I was already fully enjoying my time in this city. Day two began the same as the previous morning but we switched up routine by having some Hawaiian lunch for the first time. I learned that Hawaiian food and Chamorro food (it me!) are very similar! Think spam and rice haha This was The Loft in Torrance and they did not disappoint.

Musubi and Hawaiian fried chicken for the win! Since I’m the type of person who plots my next food venture WHILE still having the current meal (ha!) I decided we’d go to Brio for dinner AND dessert and enjoy some home made donuts… they had me at donuts let’s be real.

We wrapped up the day by finishing our holiday shopping at Del Amo Fashion Center, which by the way is just a hop and a skip away from our hotel… winning! It was such a perk considering I shopped ’til I dropped.

Why yes, I did purchase this camo cropped pull-over *hail hands* I ended up completing all of my holiday shopping AND shopped for myself so… treat yo self. Day two was a smashing success and when I tell you I slept like a baby, trust.

Before leaving on our final day in Torrance, I ran one last time at our hotel gym, enjoyed a homemade waffle and took time with every bite, and just had to make one last stop before checking out of my staycation dream. Enter Strand Brewing for some FUNS!


Ending my staycation in Torrance could not have been any more fun than enjoying a flight of local beers, playing some games, and sports!

I had the best time and feel so lucky to have partnered with such a welcoming and hospitable community to showcase some of the best places in Torrance to eat, visit, explore, and shop <3 I hope you get a chance to visit our new home away from home and I’ll link you to all the places that helped make our stay so memorable and easy to navigate!

Have you added ‘more adventure’ to your New Year goals yet? Let’s do this!Ā 

https://discovertorrance.com/stay/

https://discovertorrance.com/hotels/best-western-avita-suites/

www.discovertorrance.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discovering Torrance – Best Western Plus Avita Suites- Cheers to venturing more in 2020!

by with No Comment adventurefitnessfoodholidayholidaysleisurelifestylemom lifereviewsself care sundaytips and trickstravelwellness

Itā€™s a new decade darlings, can you believe it?! Welcome to 2020ā€¦ weā€™re in it and weā€™re also just coming off of a two week break where we didnā€™t know what day it was, what time it was, and if we were ever going to change out of footed pjā€™s. So now that weā€™re back into the full swing of things I want to share a few of my personal goals with you. I think itā€™s so wonderful when we can get real with each other and spark creativity in one another. I read a great quote the other day that had so many meanings to me, ā€œone year closes so another can openā€.Ā 

So good right? So one of my goals this year is to travel more, to hit reset on my mind and my heart when I need it, and to not feel guilty about it. Even if itā€™s just jumping in my car and visiting a neighboring city, Iā€™ve got to do it in the name of adventure. I was inspired to take more time to explore my own city when Discover Torrance reached out to me for a staycation. ā€˜Ummm yes pleaseā€™, is what I think I responded with.Ā 

The idea of a staycation always encourages me to relax without worrying about taking a flight out or being too far away from family and financial responsibilities. So I packed my bags and headed to the Best Western Plus Avita Suites in Torrance. Sweet Suites, it’s an award-winning-all-suite boutique hotel and was so close to everything I wanted to do during my stay I couldnā€™t wait to get there. So with my itinerary in hand I checked into my suite and found it very difficult to peel myself from the cozy bed to hit the town on our night one haha.Ā 

My next article will share in detail all of my recommendations for where to go, what to do, things to eat, best desserts to find, and local favorites in Torrance. Today I want to share my experience at this beautiful hotel and share that you can book with them here!Ā 

I wouldnā€™t usually describe lobbies as inviting and beautiful but let me tell you, this lobby was inviting, comfortable, and beautiful. I actually blurted out at the front desk, ā€œhow pretty is this?! I have to take some photos before I check inā€.Ā 

It was bright and festive, the staff was so welcomingā€¦ and so was this cushy bed! Every room is a suite so they each have a seating area, office area, and kitchenette. Hereā€™s a fun walk through…more like dance through of my room! Imagine Mariah Careyā€™s voice singing as I dance you about the suite.

Once I settled in and unpackedā€¦ P.S. am I the only one who get SO excited about hotels that I have to unpack all of my belongings before doing anything else? AKA I hang my clothes in the closet, utilize the robe, put my keys in the safe, and place all of my toiletries out ha! Iā€™m saving the rest of my excitement to share all of the things we did, the foods we ate, the drinks we drank, the desserts we hunted, ALL the things that we took in during our time in Torrance.

For today you get to hear me dish all about these digs and the hospitality and generosity we were shown while on our staycation at the Best Western Plus Avita Suites in Torrance. Can we just talk about how much joy complimentary breakfasts bring us all? Haha talk about breakfast, this was a full blown buffet with options like home-made waffles, a yogurt and bagel station, fresh fruit, and every cereal and topping you can imagine.Ā 

I indulged and had a little bit of everything Cafe Avita had to offer, hereā€™s a peek above. After all that yummy food I had to get some cardio in and build energy for the dayā€™s events to eat our way through the town! Itā€™s so nice when the place youā€™re staying at has a gym, it encourages you to stick with your goals, and it completely helps that they have weights and not just a standard treadmill…yayy options!Ā 

It was truly so relaxing to stay at this destination for two nights and made coming back after a fun filled day of adventures and foodie times just all the more spectacular. I do hope you get a chance to visit our home away from home, Torrance which is just a town over from us. The staff, the amenities, the views, the food, all of it ā€¦ Iā€™m so grateful to have been able to relax for a few days before heading back to reality of the grind and hustle.Ā 

This was just before the holidays and could not have come at a more necessary time. Please scroll back through and enjoy the images, I hope you loved my dancing walk through of our suite, and come back on Monday for my complete guide to Torrance <3

Staycationsā€¦ you ever been on one? What is a destination close to home that youā€™ve been dreaming of visiting? I hope Los Angeles is on your list and I hope you check out Torrance and where I stayed while youā€™re here!Ā 

I’m including links for you here because that’s love haha xxĀ 
https://discovertorrance.com/stay/
https://discovertorrance.com/hotels/best-western-avita-suites/

 

 

 

Screenshot 2019-05-28 21.23.30

Palm Springs – Camping At The Ace Hotel

by with No Comment travel

You know, the thing I loved most about camping as a child was that my siblings and I had no curfew. We were allowed to stay up as late as we wanted to, we didn’t have to take showers before bed, and we were allowed to indulge in as many smores as we wanted! Of course, when you’re camping, 8pm feels like 3am, so going to sleep when the sun went down was easy … well played parentals. Well played.

I recently took a work trip to Palm Springs and we stayed at the Ace Hotel, a hotel I’d only visited once before, for breakfast. You instantly get these vibes of chic vintage meets boho camping. There were these sort of vinyl curtains that you tie together at night and a wall of this huge mosquito netting that separated my room from the sitting area. But think chic mosquito netting, not like regular weird mosquito netting. Can you imagine it yet or are you just picturing weird netting?

So with staple midcentury modern pieces sprinkled throughout, and a very specific decor unique to the desert, I wanted to share what my suite looked like and some things that made the stay memorable for me.

When I walked into the suite there was music coming from the record player (a record player, hello cutie!) and a welcoming treat was left by the entrance. I loved most the personal touches of this camping theme (it may not even be a camping theme they were going for but that’s what it felt like to me) like a walking stick and a survival guide should you decide to explore around using your walking stick. Even the doors leading to my outdoor patio were being cute with a sign that read, “keep your heart unlocked, but know these doors lock automatically”.

I’d assumed there would be a full length mirror for selfies in my room when I packed for the trip … ps anyone else think of these things when packing? No? Just me? Mkay thanks. However, no full length mirror could be found so I got thrifty and created my own tripod so that I could get my OOTD’s for the week, in this rustic setting. See below for the kind of images my shoe box situation took of me.

If I’m being honest, the pool is nothing to write home about but the fact that you can make smores on your patio, stay up past your bedtime, and shower at your leisure are totally worth writing about.

So when’s the last time you went camping? Have you been to Palm Springs before? Are there other properties I should check out? Joe and I have our anniversary coming up and we’re really trying to plan a trip again this year!Ā 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*photo cred: the hotel front photo of the Ace is from The Great Outdoors by Dawna RobertsonĀ  <3

STAYCATION – TRAVEL MORE!

by with No Comment adventurefamilyinspirationleisuretravelwellness

When most people think of vacations they conjure up far away islands, flights to new places, and luggage for a week long adventure. I’ll be the first to tell you that vacationsĀ are incredible and necessary these days to unplug, reset, and reconnect with the people you love. But it doesn’t always mean that you have to hop on a flight to be able to enjoy a lil R&R, staycations are the new vacation y’all!

A little getaway that’s far enough away from home to feel like a vacation yet close enough to home that you don’t have to fuss over big plans. For us, our staycation took us close to the beach one day and pool side the next. With Joe working away from home, my head stuck in a planner navigating the five weddings we have this summer (our own included), and Corrine busy with school, work, and an internship . . . we were ready to get outta dodge.

I don’t think you shouldĀ ever feel guilty for wanting to escape your life for a moment. The reality is that we’re all cranking away at work, at life, and working at life! So take some time to get away and refill your well, even if that means you simply drive to another town to try out that new lunch spot, or hike an unfamiliar trail to picnic at the top. Whatever relaxation looks like to you, trust me it looks a lotĀ like paradise! Routine is never fun, switch it up buttercup!

We happily enjoyed our little paradise away from home for the weekend, soaked up the sun poolside and then sticking our toes in the sand beachside. So of course I have to share some of my absolute must haveĀ for any daycation getaway-vacation: my sandals, my bikini cover up, my TIU sea salt spray, and of course SPF for my face, lips, and body <3

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter than you know we also packed some champs, champagne gummies, and a ton of snacks for this staycation of ours! See the running theme here? #champs The delicious and colorful cocktails with cranberry and fig goodness was courtesy one of our favorites,Ā Figenza! We added in some lemon wedges, a splash of bubbly, sparkling water and called it a day(cation) … see what I did there šŸ˜‰ best.time.ever.

Do you go on staycation adventures? Where would you love to vacation next and when is a staycation far enough from home that you consider it a vacation?Ā