Author: Elena

Life: Honeymoon Day 4 (Part 1)

Eiffel Tower, Europe, Honeymoon, London, Paris, Planning, Travels, Vacation

After a good nights sleep we decided to have breakfast in the hotel and I was excited since I was finally able to try some crumpets.  So, what did I think of the crumpets?  They are pretty much the same thing as an english muffin so I liked them.

We had to check out early because we had train tickets to Paris but before we headed out we walked around our neighborhood for a bit.  We enjoyed walking around and looking at all the beautiful buildings.  We ended up getting a tad lost since a lot of the streets don’t really go straight but stop and start at odd parts of the street.

After we were done walking around we went to catch the Underground where we transferred to St. Pancras International Station.  As it turns out the Underground is very easy to use especially with the Oyster card we purchased when we first got to London.  One thing we noticed on the underground was that its pretty quiet since most people on board are reading.  Going on and off the underground was easy with the amount of luggage we took.

I wish we would have had more time to walk around the neighborhood where the station was located at because it looked really nice outside.  If you guys didn’t know by now London is hosting the 2012 Olympics and throughout the city you can see signs of it.  The station itself is full of shops and restaurants.  There is also a place where you can check in your luggage if you don’t want to be lugging it around with you while you wait for your train.

Before leaving on our trip I booked our trip from London to Paris on the Eurostar.  The cost of the tickets were very expensive but since we booked early we saved some money on them.  The trip from London to Paris was about two hours and fifteen minutes and I used this site to help me find good seats for the train.  The trip was great except for the popping I felt in my ears every time we went into a tunnel.

Once we got to Paris things got interesting since we don’t speak French.  I read in several forums that you need to beware of pickpockets and we did just that.  We were bombarded with people trying to get us to sign things, give them money, or buy things from them.  The first thing we had to do was to find change to use the bathrooms since they are not free.  Once we used the bathrooms we purchased a day pass for the Metro and we were on our way.

As soon as we got out of the Metro we saw the Eiffel Tower and we knew we were in Paris. We walked a little and we realized that we were going the wrong way.  While we were standing around trying to figure out where we were supposed to go a charming little old lady approached us and gave us directions.  We found our way to our hotel where we quickly rushed to set our things down and go to visit the Eiffel Tower.  The hotel we stayed at while in Paris was the Hotel du Cadran. When we walked into our room it smelled like sweet strawberries.  We loved our little boutique hotel.

Our hotel was located about 10 minutes walking distance from the Eiffel Tower.  We stayed in the 7th arrondissement in Paris and it was simply lovely.

We couldn’t believe how big and amazing the Eiffel Tower is.  I lost count of how many photos I took of the Eiffel Tower but this one is the first of many to come.

…To be continued…

Day 1,  Day 2, Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 3 (Pt. 2), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6,  Day 7,  Day 8,  Day 9, Day 10,
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Life: Honeymoon Day 3 (Part 2)

Europe, Life, London, Planning, Travels, Vacation, Wedding dress, Wicked
As I was saying here we walked around for a long time because we were wasting time until it was our turn to see the the State Rooms in Buckingham Palace.  You guys should know by now why I would be interested in visiting Buckingham Palace and if you don’t let me just say for the “dress” of course.

We wanted to go into Parliament but we ended not getting tickets so we skipped it and went into Jewel Tower instead.

Jewel Tower wasn’t all that it was cracked out to be but the entry fee was cheap so why not. 
From Jewel Tower we walked over to St. Margaret’s Church. 
The inside of the church was beautiful but since you’re not supposed to take photos in there I couldn’t take many photos.  However, I did manage to get a photo of where the Speaker seats at.  If you guys didn’t know by now I majored in Political Science so this was totally up my alley. 
We really wanted to go into Westminster Abbey but we ran out of time so we decided to save it for our next trip to London.  
After some more walking we realized we hadn’t eaten anything all day so we headed out to look for some fish and chips.   Eating fish and chips was one of the must things to do.
What better place to enjoy some take away fish and chips than at St. James’s Park while we did some people watching.  I love that they have lawn chairs in the park for people to rent. 
I would love to be able to post photos from what we saw inside the State Rooms but photography is prohibited inside Buckingham Palace.   Everything inside was exquisite and breathtaking.  However, the reason we went inside the State Rooms was to see the famous wedding dress.  I had to see it in person since I was one of those crazy people that watched the live broadcast on t.v.  I seriously couldn’t believe how beautiful Kate Middleton’s wedding dress was. The dress itself was worth the money we paid for the entrance.  
{Source} 
We headed back to the hotel to rest for a bit before going out to our next stop.  We had always wanted to see Wicked but we hadn’t gotten around to it Los Angeles.  When I found out it was playing at the Apollo Victoria Theater in London I jumped on the chance.  I got fairly inexpensive tickets but I have to say the seats were amazing.  The theater was lovely and the locals were simply charming.  I can’t wait to see it again in the Pantages theater in Los Angeles. 
…To be continued…
Day 1,  Day 2, Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10,
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Life: Honeymoon Day 3 (Part 1)

Europe, Honeymoon, Life, London, Travels, Vacation

On day 3 we woke up unbelieving we were in London.   We quickly headed out for breakfast before doing some sightseeing.

We walked around the city for a bit before heading out to Buckingham Palace. 

We wanted to see the Changing of the guards but so did everyone else.

There were many police officers doing crowd control. Can you see all the tourist in the background?

We enjoyed the the Coldsteam Guards Band march by us. 

We also enjoyed the drawings of some local children who were learning about their country. 

We ended seeing very little of the actual changing of the guards ceremony but we did enjoy the band and we saw the guards at the Guards Museum.

Across the street from the Guards Museum is St. James’s Park.  It’s a beautiful park where you can spend a day just laying out watching the clouds pass by.

We strolled hand in hand throughout the park. It was magical! 
After our stroll in the park we walked around some more.
We walked until we saw the London Eye and the Thames River.
We saw the Clock Tower and Big Ben.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day since the weather was amazing and the locals were charming. 
…To be continued…
Day 1,  Day 2,  Day 3 (Pt. 2), Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10,
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Life: Honeymoon Day 2

Europe, Honeymoon, Life, London, Planning, Travels, Vacation
As I was saying yesterday we left  LAX to Heathrow without knowing what to expect.  The 10 + hour flight was brutal even with all the great entertainment on board.  The longest flight we had previously been on was going from LAX to Florida when we went to Walt Disney World.  Our trip was worth the time we spent in flight and if I had to I would do it all over again.  I think you get the point by now the flight was very long. I don’t know if it was the anxiety or the excitement but as soon as we flew over London we forgot about it. 

As soon as we got off the plane and I began to hear people speak in a British accent I was beyond excited well at least I was until we hit the U.K. border custom’s line. 
Fast forward to about an hour later…

As soon as I saw this sign I had to take out my phone and snap a photo. We couldn’t believe we were in London.  Shortly after that we had to figure out how to use the famous Underground which as it turns out is really simple to use.

The easiest way to use the Underground was to purchase an Oyster card.  We initially put about £30 in each of our cards and were told that we could receive a refund at the end of our trip. We took a quick look at the map they gave us at the counter and we went on our way to our first hotel. 

My first impression of the locals was that they were all in a hurry to get somewhere and they were not very friendly.  We ended up getting lost on our way to our hotel after getting out of Victoria Station and as we preceded to ask several individuals for directions we realized that we were not in a very friendly city or at least that’s what it seemed like at the moment.   We finally found our way to our hotel where we decided that we were not going to rest until nightfall in an attempt to avoid being jet lagged.

We stayed at the Premier Inn Victoria a very lovely hotel in a great location.  We were in walking distance from Buckingham Palace, the Victoria Station and a lot of cool shops.

The room was lovely but the bed was just not super comfy. However, we didn’t mind too much since the room was really clean and quiet.  We didn’t expect rooms in Europe to be big at least not in American standards we knew better than that but this room was a decent size.

So, where was the first place we decided to eat at?  You guessed it McDonald’s and Subway which by the way we rarely do when we’re here in the States.  After a quick bite we headed out to explore our neighborhood.

We ended up heading out to Buckingham Palace and this was about the time that I realized I had forgotten my tripod. It was a big oops especially since the only reason why I bought it was for our trip.

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Life: Honeymoon Day 1

Honeymoon, London, Paris, Planning, Vacation

On my last honeymoon post I was telling you about some of the planning that I did before our trip which you can read about here. The day we left on our honeymoon the hubby decided to work from home while I finished getting our stuff ready for the trip.  As he was hard at work I packed and unpacked our luggage until I got it just right or at least that’s what I thought.  I decided long before our trip that I wanted to travel light I mean I seriously didn’t want to be lugging around things from one country to the next, who would do such a thing? We purchased a luggage set a long time ago which included one carryon bag but that type of carryon was not what I had in mind.  I wanted something that I could throw on my back and go if need be.  I wanted something bigger than a backpack but lighter than a simple carryon.  I went to several stores before I settled on the ones I purchased.  Once gain my frugality came to play as I was looking for the luggage.  I knew I had to buy two and I didn’t want to spend much so I set out to places like Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, Ross, and even Target.  I saw different types of luggage but not the ones I envisioned us carrying throughout Europe.  The day before we left I finally found something that looked promising and I bought it.  I ended up buying our luggage at Burlington Coat Factory and although it was not as dreamy as I hoped it would be it did the job.  I ended up paying about $30 for each one.

I know they look a tad childish but I least they could be spotted out in a sea of luggage.  The two key elements when buying these were that they could be rolled and they could also be used as backbacks and these fit the bill. These look a tad full but keep in mind that I took this photo when we got back from our trip.  I also bought cute labels from Target to put our address and name just in case they got lost. When it was time to pack I used this list as a template of the things we would need.  I made some adjustments to the list to fit our lifestyle.  One IMPORTANT thing that I didn’t take into consideration when we booked our flight was the weight limit for our carryon luggage.  It turns out that although our carryon was the right measurements it did not meet the weight requirement that Virgin Atlantic has.  There goes my idea of not checking in our luggage but at least we didn’t have to lug a big bag around.  One of the best purchases I made before our trip was buying these Brita bottles because as it turns out drinking fountains are nonexistent in Europe.  Another great tip that I found on several forums was the use of a money belt which we didn’t go anywhere without.  I purchased ours at Marshall’s for less than $10 each and it was an investment that gave us great peace of mind especially after seeing all the “Beware of pickpockets” signs everywhere.  Besides our “carryon” bags we also took a small messenger bag where we kept important things like medication, our 3-1-1 bags, and our folder with all our reservations.  In my purse I took my camera, my money belt (I put it on once we were past security at the airport), and my 4 SD cards (I took a lot of cards since we didn’t take a computer to offload the photos into).  
Once I quadrupled checked all our paperwork which included the countless reservations I had made and I checked that we had copies of our passports deep inside our luggage we were on our merry way. Before we left home we checked in online and filled out all the necessary paperwork that was required of us and I went so far as to register with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to cover all our basis while we were away.  To prepare to go through the security scan I made sure to pack our belts in the luggage, I wore a sports bra, and I told my hubby to take everything out of his pockets and put it in the messenger bag before we went through the line.  Once we went through security and were waiting for our flight we realized that we had gotten to the airport too early.  We left four hours ahead of our scheduled flight because we didn’t know what to expect. Next time around we’re planning on leaving two hours before our international flight is scheduled to leave.  We bought a few snacks for the plane and we waited for our flight to leave.  Once we were on the plane I was glad that I had used SeatGuru to pick our seats.  
Our flight left right on time at 9:15pm local time and was set to arrive at Heathrow at 3:50pm local time.  Overall we had a good flight with the exception of the cranky lady sitting behind me that kept hitting the back of my seat .  I do have to admit though if I could do it again I would have gotten a layover somewhere in the middle of our flight since we felt that 10+ hours is much too long to be on an airplane. 

We both thought that Virgin Atlantic was a great choice for our first time flying overseas.  All I have to say is that the food was good, the staff was friendly, the entertainment was great, and the goodie bag they gave us was a plus. 
…To be continued…
Day 2, Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 3 (Pt. 2),  Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10,
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Life: Let the season of giving begin

christmas, giving back, Life

If you didn’t know by now my favorite holiday is Christmas, a time of the year when people open up their hearts become selfless and make dreams come true.  What can I say sometimes Santa needs a little help. Anyways, as I was sitting watching my local news I found out about the LAUSD Homeless Education’s sponsor a family program.  According to their website, “There are currently over 16,000 identified homeless students in the Los Angeles Unified School District — up 3,000 from last year.” They need individuals and families to open up their hearts and sponsor a family.  The cost incurred by the sponsor ranges from approximately $130 to $280 depending on the size of the family that one decides to sponsor.  If the cost is too much for you to handle then you might want to get your friends and family involved.  If you’re interested in starting out this holiday season in the right foot please register here.  The hubby and I choose an organization each year to sponsor and this year we have decided on this cause.  As the season progresses I will share with you more worthwhile causes.

If you do not live near Los Angeles then you might want to contact your local school district and find out if there are similar programs in your area.

Please note I’m not affiliated with this organization or with anyone that works there. 

Update:
I requested a family yesterday and I’ll keep you posted on how long it actually takes and what it entails. I’m so excited to go shopping for them.

Update:
I finally received my packet with the information on the family and the directions. We’re sponsoring a single mom and her 5 year old daughter. I so excited and I can’t wait to go shopping.

Update:
I delivered the goods on December 5th and I really hope our little family has a fantastic Christmas.  Merry Christmas to everyone please don’t forget what the true meaning of this holiday season is.

Update:
We received a thank you card from the mom and it brought tears to our eyes. I can’t wait to get involved this year again.

Life: Pre-honeymoon planning

Honeymoon, Life, London, Paris, Planning, Vacation

I previously mentioned here that the hubby and I were planning on going to Europe for our honeymoon.  Now that we’re back  I would like to share with all of you the highlights of our trip.  Let me begin by saying that neither one of us had ever been to Europe and we had no idea what to expect.  I began the planning process six months before our trip.  I read countless of forums, books, and reviews pertaining to anything that might make me a savvy traveler.

Here’s a little about what I learned:

Flight
I first began planning our trip by booking our flight and I used Kayak and ITA software to look for them.  Once I saw a flight I liked I went to the individual sites and compared their fees to the others.  After doing a few comparisons we decided to fly with Virgin Atlantic.  I read several articles like this one that said that Tuesdays were the best day to purchase tickets.  I bought them a few months before we left because I wanted to make sure we got decent seats since we were flying economy. I used SeatGuru to compare the different seats on the airplane which came in handy on the way over there. Overall I was pleased with our flight with Virgin with the exception of their carryon requirements which you can find here. We decided to fly from Los Angeles International Airport to Heathrow Airport in London on a 10 hour nonstop flight.

Hotels
When I was looking up which hotels to stay at I used sites like Trip Advisor, Fodor’s, Frommer’s, Condé Nast Traveler, and the New York Times Travel to aid me in the process.  I read an insane amount of reviews and tried really hard to see past the “fake” ones.  I focused on the value a hotel gave us versus how much it was going to cost us.  I mean you have to know by now that I’m a tad frugal nonetheless I did not rule out staying at either 4 or 5 star hotels.

Once I had the two major things out of the way I focused on our itinerary and I began to plan out the fun things. I will recap our honeymoon in the next few weeks and along the way I will include details on how how we got from London to Paris, how much luggage we took and how we dealt with the different currency.

Update:

Before any planning began I made sure that we had passports  and that we didn’t  didn’t need any visas to the places we were traveling to.  Since I changed my name when we got married I need to make sure it was up to date.  I ordered my new passport with plenty of time especially since we hadn’t set the dates for our vacation.  I decided to take my passport photos at AAA* and I summited it at the United States Postal Service.  Make sure that you send in all the information correctly because it will save you time and money. Visit here for more information and passport applications.

*You might want to order an extra set of passport photos just in case you lose your passport or if it gets stolen when your on your trip. 

Good luck and happy travels!

Here are the recaps of our trip:

Day 1, Day 2,  Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 3 (Pt. 2), Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9,

Life: Day Zero Project

101 in 10001, Day Zero Project, Dreams, Goals, Life

Earlier this year I saw a blog entry that Joy from How Joyful posted that really caught my attention and I decided to look further into it,  the Day Zero Project.  The project can be described as a realistic bucket list or a set of goals that one wants to achieve in a 3 year span.  I few years ago I decided to write a bucket list in one of my journals and have slowly been crossing things off but now I have decided that I want to join the Day Zero Project. I want to make more of my goals into a reality and I believe that this project will help.  This year has gone by so fast and there are so many things that I want to do and I feel that if I set a realistic timeline for them I will complete them.  So here goes nothing or perhaps everything…


If you want to learn more about the project go here.
For more inspiration go here, here, and here.


Here’s my list:


For Others
1. Give blood at least twice a year. (0/6)
2. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.
3. Make Crème brûlée for my best friend.
4. Volunteer at Rescue Mission at least 6 times a year every year. (0/18)
5. Bake a cake to give to someone on a special occasion. (0/8)
6. Volunteer once a month for a year at a non-profit organization. (0/12)
7. Donate to a worthwhile charity twice a year every year. (0/6)
8. Donate my wedding dress. 
9. Donate things we don’t use or need around the apartment. 
10. Recycle everything we possibly can in our apartment by installing recycling bins.

For Myself
11. Get an awesome job that I love.
12. Try kobe beef.
13. No social networks except blogging for an entire month. (0/30)
14. Get a facial every year. (I’ve never had one.) (0/3)
15. Learn French.
16. Get a massage every year. (0/3)
17. Not watch t.v. for an entire month. (0/30)
18. Learn mandarin.
19. Wear a two piece bathing suit at the beach.
20. Learn Italian.

For Health
21. Average at least 3 days a week at the gym for 6 months straight. (0/6)
22. Eat at home for 30 days straight. (0/30)
23. Sleep 8 hours a day for a month. (0/30)
24. Run Disney half marathon. 
25. Run Las Vegas half marathon.
26. Run the Los Angeles marathon.
27. Go walking with the hubby everyday for a month. (0/30)
28. Give up fried food for 6 months. (0/6)
29. Give up sweets (except fruit) for 3 months. (0/3)
30. Lose 50 pounds. (0/30)
31. Give up dairy for an entire month. (0/30)

Family, Friends, and Love
32. Get pregnant? (hm maybe).
33. Enter a sandcastle competition with family and friends.
34. Visit my parents once a month for a year. (0/12)
35. Work on genealogy tree for our family. 
36. Transfer all old family movies into DVD’s.
37. Have game night at our apartment once a month for a year. (0/12)
38. Have dinner with my cousins and my best friend once a month for year. (0/12)
39. Have a cookie swap party at our apartment. 
40. Teach my little godson how to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch. 

Learn Creative Blog
41. Learn Photoshop.
42. Learn HTML.
43. Learn XHTML.
44. Learn Java.
45. Learn Excel.
46. Learn all the function in my DSLR.
47. Enter a photo competition.
48. Enter a baking competition.
49. Complete the 365 photo challenge.
50. Make our wedding photo album.
51. Re-decorate all rooms in apartment. (0/5)
52. Learn how to use all the features on my mac.
53. Blog at least once a week for 52 weeks. (0/52)
54. Make/bake colorful macarons.
55. Bake 20 recipes from the cookbook my aunt sent me from Mexico. (0/20)
56. Make a photo book for every year the hubby and I have been dating. (0/10)
57. Learn CPR.
58. Make/grow an indoor herb garden.
59. Carve a cool pumpkin for Halloween. 
60. Learn how to make tamales.
61. Organize all our photos. 
62. Redo the chair I found in the alley. 
63. Re paint our dresser drawer. 
64. Bake a cake and decorate with fondant.
65. Bake a cake and decorate it with royal icing. 

Entertainment and Travel
66. Visit the Eiffel Tower in Paris. 
67. Visit family in Kansas with mom.
68. Visit the Grand Canyon.
69. Visit Jalisco, Mexico.
70. Visit New York, NY.
71. Go camping to Yosemite.
72. Visit Guatemala with the hubby.
73. Go to Sequoia park with the hubby.
74. Go to Vegas with my parents, the hubby, and my in-laws. 
75. Go to the International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
76. Go on vacation with a group of friends. 
77. Go on a cruise with the hubby.
78. Visit Chihuahua, Mexico.
79. Visit another continent besides North America and Europe.
80. Go kayaking with the hubby. 
81. Go snowboard.
82. Go snorkeling.
83. Build a snowman. 
84. Go horseback riding. 
85. Go to a film festival.
86. Buy another lens for my camera.
87. Go to Monterrey Aquarium.
88. Go hiking in Point Lobos. 
89. Visit Big Sur.
90. Go paintball fighting with the hubby and friends. 
91. Visit my cousin at his architecture school. 
92. Visit Yellowstone. 

Business and Money
93. Open an Etsy Shop.
94. Save up for closing cost for a house.
95. Set up my own photography website.
96. Write out our living will.
97. Sell a cake.
98. Sell a photograph. 
99. Get sponsors for my blog. 
100. Get my own domain name. 
101. Write code for my own website. 

BONUS – Donate five dollars for every goal that I have not accomplished at the end of 1,001 days

Thanks Joy Kelley for inspiring me to do my list! 

Sweets: Red Velvet Gooey Butter Cookies

Baking, Cookies, Recipes, Red Velvet Cookies, Sweets

About a month ago I had a red velvet cake box sitting in the pantry but I wasn't really craving cake or cupcakes.  After doing a quick google search I found this recipe from the lovely Paula Deen and since I had everything on hand away I went.

Instead of using chocolate cake mix like Paula did I used the red velvet cake mix I had at hand.   Let me just tell you that my co-workers and neighbors loved them and keep requesting them.

More loveliness here »