Third Time’s A Charm?

They say third time’s a charm. We’ll see. 

This is my third attempt at a blog…

The first was about my four-month Asia adventure. And although some posts were delayed and I played some catching-up on the recaps, it was a pretty successful public diary that I could share with my family and friends around the world.

Then came the attempt to blog about my first year in Vegas. That started strong and died when everything got so busy. 

And now for this. I had been thinking about starting this blog for awhile now, but after a trip home {LA} last weekend, I knew it was now or never.

Here’s some background:

I’m an LA-girl, born-and-raised. Most people either love or hate Los Angeles; I’m one of the few who love it. Yes, it has its flaws, just like every city, but it’s home and will always be.

During my senior year of college, I was in Vegas at least once a month, sometimes twice. I loved coming here because it was a chance to escape reality and have a weekend with fun & interesting stories. I loved it so much that I always joked about living here one day. Then it actually happened.

I moved to Las Vegas a little over a year ago for the opportunity to follow my dreams of planning a festival. I started as an intern and am now the Brand Storyteller focused on communications while still getting to work on other aspects of the festival that I enjoy just as much as sharing its story.

I honestly didn’t know how long I’d be in Vegas when I first moved, and I still don’t know. 

When I made the decision, my very caring and loving boyfriend decided he would move to Sin City too. He had just moved back to Philly a few months prior but wanted to be in the same city to support me and our relationship. Since then, the joke has become that I moved us here, but he would keep us here. As a very talented mixologist/bartender with a focus on craft cocktails, he has found his perfect city and I’m so proud of everything he has done and accomplished over the past year. 

Soon after the first year of the festival was over, I realized that I needed to start making Vegas home. I was so focused on work as soon as I moved, that I didn’t have time to develop friendships out of my workplace, build a routine and get situated. It was a rough reality to face, but I slowly began to take steps in the right direction. It’s still a work in progress just like everything else in life. And though it’s not always easy to put yourself out of your comfort zone to meet new people and try new things/ make the time to develop friendships instead of curl up on the couch with a blanket and reality tv/ wake-up in the morning to go to the gym and attend yoga regularly, I need to do it in order to make the most of my time here, whether it’s for one more year or ten more years. 

Now for where this blog comes in.

This is my attempt to publicly journal about my journey through this change in life and the ups and downs that come with it. It is also a chance to highlight some of my favorite things {music, recipes, quotes,} document my life as a Vegas local, blog about new places/things and share what it’s like to plan a festival/ develop a brand. 

This is the story of an LA-girl in Vegas: thoughts, adventures & everything in between. 

Third Time’s A Charm?

They say third time’s a charm. We’ll see. 

This is my third attempt at a blog…

The first was about my four-month Asia adventure. And although some posts were delayed and I played some catching-up on the recaps, it was a pretty successful public diary that I could share with my family and friends around the world.

Then came the attempt to blog about my first year in Vegas. That started strong and died when everything got so busy. 

And now for this. I had been thinking about starting this blog for awhile now, but after a trip home {LA} last weekend, I knew it was now or never.

Here’s some background:

I’m an LA-girl, born-and-raised. Most people either love or hate Los Angeles; I’m one of the few who love it. Yes, it has its flaws, just like every city, but it’s home and will always be.

During my senior year of college, I was in Vegas at least once a month, sometimes twice. I loved coming here because it was a chance to escape reality and have a weekend with fun & interesting stories. I loved it so much that I always joked about living here one day. Then it actually happened.

I moved to Las Vegas a little over a year ago for the opportunity to follow my dreams of planning a festival. I started as an intern and am now the Brand Storyteller focused on communications while still getting to work on other aspects of the festival that I enjoy just as much as sharing its story.

I honestly didn’t know how long I’d be in Vegas when I first moved, and I still don’t know. 

 

When I made the decision, my very caring and loving boyfriend decided he would move to Sin City too. He had just moved back to Philly a few months prior but wanted to be in the same city to support me and our relationship. Since then, the joke has become that I moved us here, but he would keep us here. As a very talented mixologist/bartender with a focus on craft cocktails, he has found his perfect city and I’m so proud of everything he has done and accomplished over the past year. 

Soon after the first year of the festival was over, I realized that I needed to start making Vegas home. I was so focused on work as soon as I moved, that I didn’t have time to develop friendships out of my workplace, build a routine and get situated. It was a rough reality to face, but I slowly began to take steps in the right direction. It’s still a work in progress just like everything else in life. And though it’s not always easy to put yourself out of your comfort zone to meet new people and try new things/ make the time to develop friendships instead of curl up on the couch with a blanket and reality tv/ wake-up in the morning to go to the gym and attend yoga regularly, I need to do it in order to make the most of my time here, whether it’s for one more year or ten more years. 

Now for where this blog comes in.

This is my attempt to publicly journal about my journey through this change in life and the ups and downs that come with it. It is also a chance to highlight some of my favorite things {music, recipes, quotes,} document my life as a Vegas local, blog about new places/things and share what it’s like to plan a festival/ develop a brand. 

This is the story of an LA-girl in Vegas: thoughts, adventures & everything in between. 

Time to Catch-Up: A 3-Week Recap

Sometimes I fail at blogging, and this is one of those times. To make up for missing three weekends worth of blogging, here’s a recap of everything that has happened.

March 8 – 10: We Came. We Raved. We Loved.

I bought tickets to Swedish House Mafia’s Masquerade Motel almost six months before it actually happened. When the night finally came, it was so surreal. I have been waiting years to see them and getting to finally do so on their last tour was amazing! To make it even better, I got to go with my brother, cousins and the best rave crew a girl could ask for:

There was a video of all of us singing and dancing, but I can’t find it anymore 😦

It was such an awesome night and a good weekend at home, but it was nice to come back to Vegas. LA officially makes me feel claustrophobic…

March 15 – 17

I spent last week cleaning to get ready for boy. Who knew a little apartment could take so long to clean?! I did take a lot of breaks though…

I went to Back of the House Brawl, a chef battle started by a friend. It’s basically like Chopped, but instead of kitchens, the chefs have to cook in food trucks that are still doing business during their challenge. Here are articles on Eater Vegas about #BOHBRAWL: http://vegas.eater.com/tags/boh-brawl. They usually happen twice a month and are a lot of fun. If you are ever in Vegas for one, you should definitely check it out.

I also went to get my nails done by my official go-to person, Elaine of Elaine’s Nails. It took a lot of Yelp searching to find someone I thought would be good, and after going to her with my mom during my first week here, I knew I would become a regular. She has great reviews on Yelp, which I completely agree with, and her new 24-hour salon is scheduled to open in a few weeks.

This Week: He’s Here!!!

Boy is here and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve already put him through a lot in the last week – I had computer issues, lost my phone (note to everyone, if the person who finds and steals your phone turns off WiFi and phone internet service, it is no longer traceable which means “Find My Phone” won’t work) and put the wrong ingredients in the waffle mix, but he continues to calm me down, support me and most importantly, love me. We’ve had a fun week and got to do a lot of exploring and cooking over the past few days.

On Friday night, we walked to The Palms. The fact that we can walk 1.5 miles and be at a popular hotel, resort and casino is still hard to comprehend… On the way there, we stopped by Money Plays, a dive bar and local gem that we’re going to become regulars at. They show Lakers games, have great selection of drinks at good prices and even have a variety show on some nights. Plus it as a sister restaurant that is supposed to have really good Mexican food, which is always a win when you’re an LA-native and crave authentic tacos on the regular.

I was forced to go to the gym the next morning, but the reward was acai bowls, which we finally managed to perfect!

The trick is frozen fruit. I realized that thanks to the Epicurean Mom’s blog post that I found on Pinterest. We of course altered it a little by using Acai juice instead of apple, frozen berries instead of just strawberries and topping it off with more fruit and granola (from Sprouts.) I’ve had acai bowls made with spinach and kale in the base and can’t wait to try different combinations since we’ve finally got the consistency and taste down!

The rest of Saturday was filled with March Madness. I made brackets for the first time this year, one based on colors and another based on colors, mascots and school names (what else did you expect?) I’m glad a lot of the unexpected teams are winning, but am sad that Albany didn’t see I had them going pretty far…

I also got to spend time with some college friends who were in town. Another note to self: always find back routes to hotel parking lots… I forgot it was spring break for a lot of schools which means Vegas is packed with people trying to soak up the sun and get their drink on. Minus the 20 minutes it took me to find parking, getting to see some of my Chapman favorites was definitely a highlight of the weekend. It’s so nice to see everyone happy, following their passions and living life to the fullest.

Sunday Funday: Red Rock, Brunch and Boca Park

Sunday Fundays are even better when you have someone to spend them with.

We started the festivities really early with a trip to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area; a 13-mile scenic loop guides you to trailheads, picnic areas and spots to explore. We explored the first location today:

Never would I have guessed such a beautiful, scenic and peaceful place existed just 15 minutes away from The Strip! I look forward to getting to know the area better as well as to doing more sun salutations on rocks facing the sun (OM.)

Like I mentioned earlier, I messed-up a waffle recipe by adding baking soda instead of baking powder, so there’s no recipe or pictures to share of that one, but I can tell you that scrambled eggs with blue cheese and siracha is something you should definitely try!

Our afternoon adventure was going to Boca Park, my favorite shopping center in the area. I’ve been trying to find a bookstore in this city for weeks, and that Barnes & Noble is the only one I know of! I bought a Paulo Coelho book and hope to get as much from it as I have from his other books. (I’ll blog a book review as soon as I’m done with it.)

We ended our very productive day with burgers and roasted potatoes (baked red potatoes cut into bite-size pieces seasoned with olive oil, thyme and creole seasoning.) I also baked a batch of Magic Muffins, but since I haven’t tasted them yet, I’ll blog about them tomorrow.

Okay, it’s officially way past my bedtime… I know, I’m old…

xoxo

An Awesome Care Package from Home

After a very up-and-down emotional week, the best thing was coming back from work on a Friday night to a giant box in front of my door. I knew my parents had sent me some tea and stuff for my apartment, but it was way more than I ever expected – a whole tea set from Teavana with three of my favorite teas and all the stuff missing from my kitchen, plus the newest Vogue, candles and of course dried mangoes. 

I lived forty minutes away from home when I was in college and have always complained that I never got care packages while my brother gets stuff all the time ( these are always “brat” moments since my brother is in Arizona without a car and I could drive home to drop off my laundry and pick-up everything I needed myself,) so it was really nice for them to have done sent me some of my favorite things and things I needed. It makes it more special knowing that they took the time to hand-pick each tea flavor and missing house items to package and send to me.

This move has been a lot to handle emotionally, but I am very thankful for my supportive and loving parents and other loved ones who remind me to take it one day at a time and enjoy the present experience instead of worrying about all the future’s “what ifs.”