Sassy Kat Visits La Jolla: Part 2

 

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Does anyone remember when we were in La Jolla? Well, already 10 weeks have passed since we were there! Crazy, I know! I still wanted to recap some of our time there, so I can remember it in the future! (I have a terrible memory….this may be the only chance I’ll have of any hint of memories of the trip.) When we last left off, my sweet mom (fondly known on the blog as Sassy Kat), was in town visiting us to enjoy La Jolla and take a trip to Disneyland. We also spent a day shopping around La Jolla, but one of the best days was when we went to the aquarium! Louis and I visited there a few weeks before my mom came, and I wanted to head back because I knew she would love it!
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Sassy Kat loved looking at the relaxing, beautiful exhibits full of the sea creatures! 2

We even had a sweet little sting ray smile at us. 🙂3

I couldn’t get over how vibrantly colored the exhibits, fish, and underwater plants were! It made me wish I could scuba dive to see them on a grander scale in the ocean as nature intended. 4 5

Let’s take a moment to admire how beautiful my mom is. She was totally rocking the Cali style!6

Aside from her looks, she’s got a great personality. 😉 Sassy Kat is definitely a kid at heart! We were laughing our way through the aquarium, and I’m sure everyone there thought we were crazy!7

We wandered outside to the balcony where you could touch starfish and sea cucumbers in the tide pool exhibits. We mostly enjoyed the beautiful weather, the breath-taking views, and being together.8

Seriously, when I told you before that everyone probably thought we were crazy? I wasn’t kidding. We both share the philosophy that life is too short to worry about being embarrassed at the cost of having fun.9

We enjoyed one last sweeping view from the aquarium and decided it was time to head down to the water to enjoy some lunch.10

When I looked up our restaurant, it was only a mile or so from the aquarium. In Texas, that probably would have meant a straight, flat shot. However, I forgot we were in California. A 30-minute walk up, down, and all around mountains hills, we finally reached our destination! Guess we were burning calories for the food we were about to enjoy?  11

We couldn’t complain though, because the view on our walk was absolutely stunning, as usual.12

Not to mention, I was with my amazing mom, and that’s ALWAYS a fun time!13

 

We finally arrived at Caroline’s Seaside Cafe. If you’re ever in La Jolla, I definitely recommend checking it out! Our sandwiches were delicious, and they had a great assortment of soups, salads, and fresh, yummy dishes. The view was spectacular as well!  14 14a 14b

If anyone’s curious, my nail polish is “Easy Going” by Sinful Colors. It was a gift from Sassy Kat. 🙂15

After our yummy lunch, we wandered down closer to the water. I understand why Californians want to be outside all the time! The sound of the ocean, the cool breeze, the sun shining down…it was all so relaxing. We spent some time sitting on a bench and just enjoying the environment and each other’s company.16 17 20

Did I mention this is part of a college campus? There were students sitting all over the place studying textbooks and writing papers on their laptops. Um, can you imagine walking out of your dorm and being feet from the ocean? I loved going to Texas A&M, but I can’t deny La Jolla is definitely a little bit more beautiful than good ole’ College Station. 21 22

We were pooped after our long walk all around La Jolla, so we headed back to the hotel to rest up until dinner. Once Louis got off work, we all went to Torrey Pines golf course to pick up some souvenirs for my dad. He’s an amazing golfer (like got a full scholarship to play in college and grew up on a golf course amazing), so we knew he’d love some items from the famous course. I only wish he could have visited with my mom, so he could have played! I’m sure he would have dominated all the holes! While we were there, some super important putting championship was going on (how obvious is it I know nothing about golf?), and we were just talking and laughing away right by the players before we realized how quiet everyone else was. Oops. Very typical. Just living life and half the time totally unaware of what else is going on around us! Hopefully my mom and I didn’t embarrass Louis too much. As you can see below, the course was absolutely beautiful!  23

From Torrey Pines, we headed to downtown La Jolla for some more souvenir shopping. We happened to catch it right at sunset, and, as usual, it was breathtaking. We spent about 30 minutes just admiring the beautiful sunset, snapping pictures, and marveling at how stunning it was. I tried to capture some of the sunset below…my pictures really can’t do it justice though.25 26 27 28I couldn’t have imagined a better trip for my mom to make out to La Jolla to visit us. The entire time we just laughed and had a blast being together. It was great to have her bring a piece of home out to California during our long trip. I’m so thankful we’ll always have these memories!

Siggy Autumn

 

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Sassy Kat Visits La Jolla!

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About a month ago (already a month!?!), my wonderful mother, Sassy Kat, came to visit us in La Jolla! I was so excited to see her and spend time showing her around where Louis and I have been living this summer.  She flew in on a Saturday, and Louis and I were so excited to greet her at the airport!

IMG_2260Louis obviously helped me make made the “welcome” sign as my artistic skills are those of a 4-year old (and that’s being generous). As soon as my mom landed, we all hopped in the car and headed down to the La Jolla Cove for dinner and a beautiful view of the ocean! First, we grabbed dinner at The Prospect Bar & Grill, where Louis and I have dined before.

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We had a great time catching up and enjoying dinner until the live music for the night showed up and played so loud we could barely think! Once the music started up, we finished eating and decided to walk along the cove to see the seals and waves. Of course, we wanted to snap some shots in front of the water, which led to this series of pictures.

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We are constantly laughing when we’re together 🙂

IMG_2291I was SO happy she was finally in La Jolla! I promise Louis was there, too. Need proof?

IMG_2292Am I blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people or what? We enjoyed the (cloudy 🙁 ) sunset down on the shore cliffs after we climbed under a fence to get closer to the water. Such rebels, I know.IMG_2464

We got a couple to take this after we awkwardly laughed and talked for about 15 minutes behind them while they were probably trying to enjoy a romantic sunset. Oops. Also, how cute is Sassy Kat in her scarf? Such a Cali girl.

We headed home after that though to hit the hay early because we had BIG plans for Sunday. ALL DAY at DISNEYLAND! Don’t worry…that’s going to get its own post entirely. 🙂

Stay tuned to read all about our VIP day at Disney!

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La Jolla Life: Part 2

LaJollaLifeAs we begin Week 3 of our La Jolla adventure, I figured I would add another update. We are still really enjoying our time here, and trying to explore as much as our schedule allows.

Last weekend we attended a picnic at a park that far outshone any park I’ve ever seen!

PicnicIt had volleyball courts, playgrounds, kites, bubbles, and spray on tattoos! I was cooler than Louis and decided to get a paw print tat on my wrist. It felt very Lion King-esque to me. Is that a thing? I’m making that a thing.

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In addition to the games they had delicious catered food…no PB&Js, Lays, or ants at this picnic. Cali is too fancy for that apparently. We had a great time enjoying the weather, playing bingo, and admiring the fact that we needed to wear sweatshirts outside in June. A very foreign concept for us Texans! After a few hours of picnic fun, our hunger returned, and we decided to hit up a well known California landmark…In-n-Out!

innout1Apparently there are several not-so-secret “secret” ways you can order your burgers like animal-style, 3×3, etc. However, Louis and I are pretty boring when it comes to our burgers, so we just went simple.

innout2The burgers were pretty yummy. They reminded us of Sonic burgers. The fries were pretty meh though…not sure what all the hoopla is about! Oh well, at least we can say we tried it!

Speaking of food, our hotel conveniently offers free dinners Monday through Wednesday evenings as well as free breakfast every morning. Tuesday is usually “homestyle” food, and Wednesdays are always BBQ night! However, Monday is almost always “Chips & Salad.” The first time I saw that on the community calendar, I assumed they must mean taco salad or something more exaggerated. I was wrong.

chipsandsaladY’all, this is seriously what they have for “dinner” every Monday night. Thankfully, we’re within walking distance of several yummy restaurants. Typically our Monday nights end up looking more like this:

chipotleYes, Chipotle is just as delicious in California as it is everywhere else. Yum.

No, eating isn’t all we do in La Jolla! We also enjoy the beautiful scenery. Even driving around here I am constantly in awe of the landscaping, terrain, and random ocean views that spring up. The other day we were lucky enough to enjoy the sunset down at La Jolla Shores. First, we took a stroll down Ocean Lane. How cute is this?

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Even though the streets are painfully steep, they make up for it with cute street names and adorable views.

oceanlane2Once we finally made it down to the shore, we were not disappointed. I’ll let the pictures do the talking here…

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Aside from animating the first two pictures, I haven’t edited any of these pictures! That beauty is all God! I can’t believe this view is only a mile and a half away from us here! So stunning!

This is only a sliver of our La Jolla Life so far, but I’ll update again soon!

CoralSiggy

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La Jolla Life: Part 1

lajollalifeLouis and I have the awesome opportunity to spend some time in La Jolla, California this summer! We have been here almost a week now, so I figured I would share what our La Jolla Life is like so far!

We flew in Sunday morning on Southwest. My parents were sweet enough to drive up to San Antonio on Saturday to celebrate Father’s Day early, and they drove us to the airport on Sunday morning. They’re so great! Our flight was smooth and relatively quick. Louis let me have the window seat, so I got to see the terrain change and enjoy the clouds!

IMG_1779When we arrived we immediately walked outside to cross the airport and get our rental car. When we walked outside, I honestly couldn’t tell we had left the air conditioning. It was so cool and breezy, it took us at least a minute or two before we realized the walkway didn’t have windows and this was our first taste of beautiful Cali weather! Coming from a Texas summer, that was quite a welcome change! I was in charge of watching our suitcases as well as our fellow traveler’s, so I had to stand outside alone with 7 suitcases while we waited for our rental car. I felt like everyone thought I was such a diva. (I mean 5 of the 7 suitcases WERE ours, so I guess if 1 of the 10 pairs of shoes I brought fits…)

Our first La Jolla stop was our hotel, and since our rooms weren’t ready, we headed straight for Downtown La Jolla! We grabbed burgers at Prospect Bar & Grill, which offered us a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean.

prospect bar and grillI immediately noticed an immediate attitude shift here. In Texas people will wait twice as long to sit inside a restaurant instead of outside on the patio. The exact opposite is true here! Multiple people came and left when they realized the patio was full! The one downside to our meal was the fact that our table was two inches from the speakers and the live “musicians.” Despite our temporary deafness, the burgers were delicious and the view and weather were unbeatable. After our yummy lunch, we ventured down to Scripps Park to walk along the ocean! My phone was dead, so Louis happily snapped some pictures for me!

la jolla shoresIn every direction we saw the beautiful Pacific Ocean and felt the amazing ocean breeze on our skin! There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and it was so great to people and dog (…saw lots of chihuahuas! Shout out to my little bro, Sparky!) watch while we walked along the shore.

We were finally able to check into our rooms, and on the drive back to the hotel I saw some familiar faces…

beatlesAll of the traffic control boxes around La Jolla are covered in beautiful graffiti ranging from cityscapes, to ocean scenery, to THE BEATLES! The traffic control box closest to our hotel has a different Beatle on each side along with lyrics from “Across the Universe.” I took this as a sign that we were in for a great summer as a huge Beatles fan. 🙂

After dropping off our luggage at the hotel and grabbing some necessities at Costco, we headed to see Man of Steel. There is a large shopping center across the street from our hotel that has 3 grocery stores, numerous restaurants, and 2 movie theaters. One of those theaters is a recently renovated AMC Cinema that has leather recliners in all of its theaters. Unfortunately, we went to the other theater. I’m pretty sure it was built in 1935. The projectionist came out before the movie started and introduced herself if that gives you any clue to the technological state of the theater. Also, we were the youngest people there by at least 45 years. Check this place out…

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la jolla village theatreThose seats! I couldn’t feel from my waist down 15 minutes into the 2 and a half hour movie. Despite all of our first world suffering though, the movie was pretty good! After grabbing a few more “non-bulk” groceries at Ralph’s (California’s Kroger), we headed back to the hotel to shower and crash. Even though it was early-ish in Cali, we were still on Texas time!

We’re almost a week into our summer California adventure, and I can’t wait to see what adventures and memories await!

I’ll try to keep everyone posted!

CoralSiggy

 

 

 

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