Sanrio Extravaganza at the Santa Monica Barker Hanger

It's the Sanrio Small Gift event! This was the last leg of my California trip and it was pure magic. It's Sanrio's 50th anniversary and it was full on cute town at the Santa Monica Barker Hanger all throughout the month of November. Going to this was kind of a last minute decision before we headed back to LA. I appreciate Sanrio a lot but mostly the older characters from my childhood like Keroppi, My Melody and Tuxedo Sam.  There was so much to do like games, rides, and food but we chose to stand and wait in a semi long line to SHOP! The added bonus was the Sanrio art gallery. My friend Danielle purchased a print of the Gary Baseman painting above and it looks so good in person. 

And I just couldn't leave without getting a few things I obviously don't need.

Just a heads up if you live in Miami or NYC - the Sanrio Small Gift Pop-Up Shop tour is going to be making stops in these cities during the next two weeks! The pop-up shop won't have the gallery and crazy balloon heads but they will be selling all the merch seen above and more. I'll most likely be going to one of the NYC dates with friends!

BF & BF & BF

Black Friday

Brooklyn Flea 

Brunch (with) Friends

Black Friday didn't go too well for me online and offline, but I did manage to find a gem! I purchased these festive I Heart Ronson shorts from JC Penny. I love shorts and I have been wearing them over tights a lot lately. For $7, I think I did pretty damn well. I'm also kind of obsessed with the print.

Today I went to Fort Greene with my friends and we had brunch at The General Greene. We stuffed our faces with scrambled eggs, salad and carbs galore. Then we trekked over to the Brooklyn Flea Market to check out the goods. I left with this cute geometric necklace made by Loyalty and Blood. It's simple yet stylish and I can wear it with so many different outfits! 

Happy Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

This is my first time baking blondies so I whipped out my Baker's Edge Brownie Pan (a baking favorite for edge lovers) and gave it a whirl.  I used a Pumpkin Butterscotch Blondie recipe that's a semi-tweaked Martha Stewart recipe that originally didn't have butterscotch chips added. This recipe was posted on We Heart This and it looked not only delicious but simple enough for me!  I also love baking with pumpkin and it was time for me to try a new pumpkin recipe. I doubled the ingredients because I'm making two family stops today and I even had enough leftover for half a pan for me.  

I am off to take a long drive to Pennsylvania with blondies in tow.  I'm thankful for a lot, obviously, but to keep it relevant I am e-thankful for the blogging community and the awesome opportunities, fashion & beauty inspirations and people that I have encountered through it.  Time to eat! 

Cali Road Trip Part 7: Hangin' at Hearst Castle

After conquering some curvy (and somewhat scary) roads, we finally made it to San Simeon to make it to our last planned trip destination, Hearst Castle.  We stayed at Sea Breeze Inn for the night which was okay, except we got woken up by a screaming baby and an equally annoying dad trying to calm it down.  I'm a heavy sleeper normally and I was the first one up! By now I've experienced enough thin wall related annoyances for me to just try to deal with it.

Hearst Castle was rather beautiful and it was so warm out when we took our tour.  We took the basic first timer tour but there are 3 others that are available for future visits!  Loved both pools.  If you are cool with Hearst Castle employees, you are allowed to attend their Neptune pool parties every year which is pretty sweet!

After we were done with our tour, we headed over to Sebastian's Store, a delightful sandwich/soup/burger joint right next to Hearst Castle's main entrance. It was instantly cozy and welcoming.  Everyone that works here is so nice and you get a great amount of food for your money.  

Cali Road Trip Part 6: To The Jelly Belly Factory!

Before heading to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, we stopped at this place called Sunnyside Cafe in Albany which was along the way.  Proximity-wise, I know nothing about where I was or how close anything was.  We found this place on Yelp and it was super cute.  I feasted on this pancake friend:

Then it was time to get going to the Jelly Belly Factory.  I had tweeted after we left that it was life changing.  It kind of was.  It gave me Willy Wonka vibes (but nothing is as glamorous as the Willy Wonka factory) and I had so much fun. I came out of the factory an even bigger Jelly Belly fan. Leave it to me to be the ultimate consumer.  Photography wasn't allowed inside the factory, but you didn't miss much - just a lot of machines and containers holding jelly beans.  We got to test three different stages of jelly beans - the center, the center with flavor, and the finished product.  I tried a new flavor too - Sweet Potato! Interesting. 

Where do irregular jelly beans go? They are bagged into Belly Flops and then impulsive people like me buy them in bulk for friends back home. 

The obligatory souvenir photo.

Cali Road Trip Part 5: Visiting the Tanner Residence

It was a lovely, clear morning and we were on our way out of San Francisco and onto somewhere amazing (you'll find out in the next update, but you may already know if you follow me on Twitter).  I wasn't leaving San Francisco without visiting the Full House house. It is only shown for a few seconds in the opening credits but to me, it has quite the monumental status in SF.  The red door is gone as it was sold to a neighbor a while ago (I did my research!).  It was a pretty amazing site to see and yes, I am standing on someone else's property and I do not care. Full House was a huge favorite of mine growing up, TGIF style. Another pop culture dream come true!

During our last night at Hotel Diva, we were pretty tired so I stayed in my usual/favorite element - parked in front of my MacBook of course. We also picked up some spicy tofu ramen next door at Katana-Ya.  I would never slurp ramen in bed but when I'm on vacation I become RECKLESS!  Not really.