Tag: Adventures

Adventures

Back in B’more

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Had a little time to myself so I decided to head to the east coast and have some much-needed time with great friends. ❤

Last year, I visited Baltimore for the first time and I fell in love with it. It may have been the fact that the whole weekend I was surrounded by some of my favorite people and that the weather was amazing, but I quickly made a note to return sometime soon.

◊ Nando’s
Naturally, the first thing I have to write about is going back to Nando’s. If you have read any of my posts about London, you will know that I absolutely love this restaurant. I cannot tell you what is so good about it, but everyone that I have taken has loved it too. Weirdly, there are several locations throughout the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) area, so of course I take advantage of this. It does taste different than the U.K. Nando’s–notably their garlic bread–but that will never stop me.
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◊ Faidley’s Seafood
My mission this time in Baltimore was to get some crab. I had to take a screen grab from a video, but Faidley’s Seafood is a market well-known for their lump crab cakes. It is located within the historic Lexington Market and you cannot miss it because the word “crab” is written everywhere. I opted for the lump crab cake sandwich and while I initially enjoyed it, I think they used mayonnaise in the crab to bind it or on the bread which is one of my most hated tastes. It is also fairly expensive at around $16, but it is filling and good for lunch. Unfortunately, I will not be having that again, but maybe I will just get crab legs next time.
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◊ Mosaic District
After Jane finished classes on Friday, we set out on a short road trip to Reston, Virginia to see our middle/high school friend, Megan. When we got there, it was around dinner time so Megan drove us to the Mosaic District which is a cute shopping and residential area outside of Reston. We stopped for ramen at JINYA Ramen Bar, but the wait was an hour long, so what did I suggest while we wait? Ice cream, of course.
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We went to 520 Ice Cream and Tea Mosaic which is a rolled ice cream shop. I have never heard of rolled ice cream before, but from what I could see, they basically put the liquid ice cream onto a (presumably) freezing surface that hardens it enough that the ice cream can be rolled into spirals. It reminded me of tamales when he picked up the ice cream rolls with tongs. You can add toppings to be mixed in or just put it on the top at the end at no additional cost. I thought it was delicious and as luck would have it, the second we finished it, we got the notification that our table was ready at JINYA.
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Adventures

Sweet Dreams

by Alexa1 Comment on Sweet Dreams

Or a beautiful nightmare? The Sweet Tooth Hotel was definitely a dream.
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A common frenzy that I never took advantage of in L.A. was the amount of pop-ups and cool installations that took place. I honestly cannot say why other than not knowing about them, but also just not seeking them out because I assumed they cost a lot of money. In hindsight, however, I wish I did go to more since they are so fun and unique. Lucky for me, I guess Dallas is catching onto the trend because for the full month of June, they are hosting a cute pop-up called The Sweet Tooth Hotel. It can easily be confused with or compared to the extremely popular pop-up, Museum of Ice Cream. which branches to N.Y.C., L.A., San Francisco, and Miami. But this exhibition does not have any correlation. Naturally, I had to go and I took my friend, Naomi, with me!


In the exhibition, there are four rooms curated by different artists. The “hotel” is adorned with life-sized candy, an overdose of pink, and of course neon signs on neon signs–all the great, adorable things that make for endless Instagram opportunities. How it works is you buy a ticket online (obviously) and you are given the option of a $20 general admission ticket or a $40 keyholder admission ticket; general admission just means you get to enter the exhibit at a certain time and touch and see everything whereas the keyholder admission ticket also has three boxes that you get to unlock in some of the rooms, two of which holding items you get to keep. I opted for the general admission ticket because, well, I didn’t want to drop $40.
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The exhibition is timed, unfortunately. It is a small space so obviously there is a safety hazard around that as well as likely a “novelty experience” appeal. You get a full hour to explore and the concierge rings a bell at the 25-, 15-, and two-minute mark before closing. Since we chose the earliest time available at 9:00 a.m., the group ended up being very small at around 12 people. We could all freely move about the space and have ample time to explore each part while getting an exorbitant amount of photos. My favorite part was that everyone was so mindful of each other, repeatedly saying, “Oh my gosh, let me get out of the way of your picture!” We all were truly like kids in a candy store.

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Adventures

Birthday in The Bay

by AlexaLeave a Comment on Birthday in The Bay

I spent my birthday in my all-time favorite U.S. city: San Francisco!

It was a quick turnaround, but well worth the trip. I arrived late Wednesday night (or technically Thursday morning) and spent most of Thursday relaxing by myself until my best friend, Cynthia, arrived just in time for a late dinner and drinks. Then Friday was all about hitting the ground running!

◊ Palace of the Fine Arts
My mother told me about this random place near Golden Gate Park from her co-worker called The Palace of Fine Arts Theatre. The Palace of Fine Arts Theatre was originally built for the Panama-Pacific Exhibition in 1915, but now serves as a venue for large events. I don’t know how I never knew about this gorgeous place, but I am glad we made our way over. After our photoshoot, we spent a couple of hours just sitting and enjoying the beautiful 70-degree weather. It could not have been a better way to start the day!
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Adventures

Back Across the Pond

by Alexa5 Comments on Back Across the Pond

‘Twas a cold and blustery week, but one I wouldn’t trade for the world.

Last week, I had the absolute privilege (and I do mean privilege) of going back to my third home, the place that started this whole thing: London! I went with my friend, Ilse, who is no stranger to my blog posts. We arrived last Monday and unfortunately had to head back home on Friday, but we made the most of it.

I would like to apologize in advance for the photos that I have (or lack thereof) as they are mostly coming from Snapchat/Instagram. Something we did not anticipate was how windy it happened to be last week, especially after London received a full seven days of sunshine and 80-degree-weather the week prior. Just my luck, right? Between the wind and the random sprinkles, my camera had to spend a lot time tucked away. Nonetheless, we still pushed through and this is what we got up to!

◊ Westminster: Zone 1 (Circle, District, and Jubilee lines)
On Monday night, after an unsuccessful shopping trip on Oxford Street, we jumped over to Covent Garden to explore and get Nando’s (of course)! We continued in the Westminster borough on Tuesday still fully jet lagged, but on a mission. For those who do not know, Big Ben is currently under construction and will be for the next four years. 😦 You can still experience the magic from House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey though! We then took a 15-minute walk over to Buckingham Palace where a woman mistakenly took us for British women (yay!) and strolled through Green Park before heading over to Soho.
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