Monday Memories Ep. 04 | London Times Part 2

A little more of our little London times. It's been a while since the last Monday Memories, but I was really busy moving and all of that. So, please forgive me. (GG, I'm looking at you!)

Nandos! Of course we had to go to Nandos. More than once. A couple times. Haha. After eating there, we finally understood how magical it really is there.

This was one of the first museums we went to. It was one of the very first excursions we took in London after St. Paul's Cathedral. Gabby says it was the orphanage museum, or maybe even the 1st orphanage in London. I do remember it was sad when we were walking around in there, learning about all the kids and seeing their clothes and school books, and things like that.

In Greenwich at the Prime Meridian! This was actually pretty cool to stand on and to visit. LOL nerdy I know. But Greenwich wasn't that far away from where we were staying. Plus I think some of Thor was filmed in Greenwich, so that was cool actually recognizing it in the movie.

Another little gem of our class (I think in front of St. Paul's, but I could be wrong.)

Andddd we went to Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, the Queen did not come and say hi.

This was when we relaxed on the grass at Kensington Gardens. I remember that Kirsten and I really really really wanted ice cream that day. So we stopped at an ice cream stand in the park, but the worker was scooping the ice cream soooo slowly. By the time she finished, we lost the group. So we had to sprint through the park looking for them. But the park was HUGE hahaha. Luckily we did end up finding them again by the Peter Pan statue.

One of our many strolls down South Bank and the Thames back to our little flat. We were so lucky to live where we did because there were so many things down the road, plus it was right across from the tube and bus stations.

That's enough for now. Part 3 will be coming soon!

The SLO Life | Locally Made Ice Cream

We finally found Von's here in SLO! 

It's honestly not that far away, but between all the closer grocery stores we've seen and been to, we just never made the trip to Von's until a couple days ago. Walking in there and shopping in there honestly just made me feel like I was at home. I love Von's and it's probably always going to be my favorite store, so being in there felt so familiar and comfortable. 

But the best part wasn't even that we found the Von's. The best part is all the delicious local ice creams they sell there! We couldn't resist and bought a few (or 4) but we really had the HARDEST time even picking which ones to get. We went for a few different local brands, including the one made right at Cal Poly (which was delicious by the way). I'm definitely going to be buying more of these little guys in the future. Because we all know I love ice cream. A LOT.

Dream Diary #31 | Kurtis's New House

I've been sleeping more these past couple of days--like more than I would normally sleep. I hope it's just because I'm tired and not because I'm getting sick or anything.

Anyways, the dream. I was a babysitter/nanny for some little girl. I don't remember her name or what she looked like, but I know I was taking care of her haha. I had to bring her with me everywhere, including school. Then we were doing this project at school (but it seemed like high school?) where we all had to bring in pictures to compile into a class book. I got a lotttt of pictures from Aunt Cherie, of pretty much everyone in my family and all of the kids growing up, so my pictures basically took up 90% of the book. Whoops. But the teacher loved it and she gave me some prize or something, so I left class early to get get lunch. And it literally was like a high school where everyone was sitting outside eating food and hanging out. I was walking down this ramp to go and eat, but I stopped. I don't know why I stopped but I stopped and was just sitting there. A girl from my class came by and we were talking, but she was late to go to work.

Then the dream jumped to Kurtis's house, except it was really Brian's house in real life. For some reason, Kurtis owned it in the dream. WEIRD. But I guess Kurtis remodeled the house so that the front door was actually around the back. It was really confusing. But once I walked inside, our whole family was there having a party. Maybe it was Kurtis's housewarming party? Who knows. But he probably finally did get the master room there. Sorry Brian, I think you got kicked out.

Friday Favorite | Pinkberry & Nordstrom

So since I've moved to SLO, there's a couple things I really wish were here that weren't (besides family and friends of course.) But there's no Nordstrom here, and there's no Pinkberry here! I mean there's obviously a bunch of other clothing stores (but no real mall) and a bunch of frozen yogurt places. They're just not Nordstrom or Pinkberry. So this Friday Favorite is dedicated to these favorites of mine that I won't get to go to for a while (unless I drive pretty farrrrr to get to them).

Also, I'm sooo happy it's Friday! My first week of classes if officially done, so today I got to sleep in a little more--does 8:30am count as sleeping in?? Oh well, it does to me! 

Happy Friday!

Dream Diary #30 | Mint 'n Chip & Cheep

Last night's dream was really cute. It took place in a mall. Like the same mall I've dreamt about before, like this time possibly, but in that dream we didn't actually get into the mall. I know I've seen last night's dream mall before in another dream, I just can't remember if I wrote about it or not.

Anyways, the mall was really cool because the people shopping there were all the people from the TV show Doug. Remember Doug Funny, anyone?? I used to love that show haha. But all the characters were there, plus other random people that just looked like those characters (except not in cartoon form of course). 

And then, Kaia and I really really wanted ice cream, so we found this little ice cream shop. I ordered something, and then Kaia said she wanted 

"mint 'n chip and cheep!"

LOL it was the cutest thing, because I guess she could kinda read the sign but not really.

So we got our mint 'n chip and cheep ice cream and it was delicious.

The SLO Life | First Week Highlights

It has officially been a week and a day since I moved to SLO! Seriously, that week flew by so fast.

SLO is definitely different from San Diego, but also really similar too, so the transition hasn't been too bad. This is definitely a really cute town.

Besides having Trader Joe's super close to me and going to the Farmers' Market, here are some other highlights from my first week here:

Going to my first football game at SLO!

Seeing the infamous Bubblegum Alley (which was gross)

Baking & eating cookies in my Fundamentals of Food class

And of course, seeing the turkeys everywhere!

SLO is fun, ladies and gentlemen. Especially with the turkeys around. Also the goats, but I don't have a picture of them. And the food class/lab will be a ton of fun, especially since we get to cook something every week AND EAT IT. YESSSS.

Time To Pass OUT

My first official day as a grad student today! AND I AM THOROUGHLY EXHAUSTED. 

I guess it'll take me a while to get back into the routine of having school, but I hope I get used to this fast. It could also be the fact that my Tuesdays and Thursdays go from 7:40am until 7:30pm. Like just about 12 hours. And I don't take naps either or drink coffee, but maybe now is a good time to start learning how. Especially once I start doing research and all that good stuff, I think I'll definitely need it.

Too tired to write more, so that's all for now. Oh, but I did see 2 turkeys today on my way to class. That was kinda weird, but also cool to see at 7:30 am. SLO is a zoo.

My Little Bed

Little peek into my room part 2! 

The bed. The best part of the room. 

I already love my bed to begin with--it's soft and comfy (thank you memory foam mattress pad!). Plus I got an amazing comforter that's super warm and cozy. It's reversible too--light blue and white on one side, yellow and white on the other! It's magical. And it even came with 2 little decorative pillows to go along with my 2 big sleeping pillows. Because everybody knows that I loooove tons of pillows on my bed. It's literally not possible for me to have too many pillows. It's hard to see the colors in this dim lighting, but I had to dim the lights to show off the little string lights I got from Target! I finally found a way to put them up on the wall today. Definitely romantic now hahaha. Just kidding. But it definitely makes my room feel more like home and more like me. It's perfect and my room is slowly starting to come together bit by bit.

Dream Diary #29 | Prison And A Feast

So last night in my dream, I was a prisoner or something. 

I got captured and I was being imprisoned in this dirt village type of prison. It was odd, like all the cells were made of mud and sticks. The prison made its money through an import/export business, and I guess all of the imports were vegetables. Then Boston got angry at the prison for not acknowledging them as one of their importers (I think they imported lettuce or something). The prison only acknowledged Denmark as their sole importer. Weird.

And even though the prison was getting so many vegetables, I was still starved for 20 days there. Well, I guess prisoners don't really get to eat that much. But they only let me eat rotting fish and weird things like that, so I didn't eat any of it. So there I was 20 days later, when they suddenly released me...and threw me a goodbye party??? They made me a HUGE FEAST with all sorts of different food, but I was crying so hard that I couldn't even eat. Either I was crying because I was so happy I was being released or crying because I couldn't eat because my stomach couldn't handle it. I'm not really sure which one it was. Maybe a bit of both.
But I was so happy to see fresh fish, tons of fresh vegetables, fruits, breads...I don't think I had ever felt so happy seeing food in my life (even though this was just in a dream).

Dream Diary #28 | Concerts & Ramen Noodles

So the past few days, I've had trouble remembering what I dreamt about. I know I had dreams, but I would just forget what they were about the moment I woke up. 

I guess to make up for that, my brain gave me the biggest and most random dream ever. The dream was actually pretty cool and flashed between different parts back and forth. I was at this concert thing where Sara Bareilles, Maroon 5, and J.Lo (J.Lo??) were performing, plus a bunch of other people. It was awesome because the venue was really intimate like a House of Blues, and I had a great seat up close. Yes, I didn't even have to stand, woohooo! 

But like, in between each performer, I had to run next door where it was a kitchen area and cook. I was a part of this cooking class (maybe it'll be like the class I'm taking this quarter!) and we were all being tested Iron Chef/Chopped-style. Luckily it was all in pairs or else I would have been petrified. For one of the courses, I had to work with scallops and baby octopus. I think my partner had to do something with meat. Anyways, we wanted to bread and fry the seafood as an appetizer. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to use ramen noodles as bread crumbs. This would have been pretty cool EXCEPT I was really dumb and cooked the noodles on accident instead.
So they were definitely not crunchy anymore and would definitely not work as bread crumbs. I don't think that course went over well. And then someone showed up with an envelop for me, with a bill to pay inside. Okay, thanks??

Luckily, the dream jumped back to the concert and watching all the performances. Sydney somehow showed up and was sitting next to me. Probably because she was talking to me yesterday about the iHeartRadio festival. Sorry Sydney, but 13 year olds probably shouldn't go to those things. Anyways, when Sydney sat down next to me, these random girls came up and got mad because Syd was apparently in "their spot." But Syd wouldn't move so the girls had to go sit somewhere else. And then I woke up.

The SLO Life | Early Morning Farmers' Market

We got some goodies at the Farmers' Market today! Our first trip to the market in SLO. There were so many fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers, spreads and salsas. I got some figs (I love figs now!) and of course strawberries. Amanda got some fresh guacamole at the salsa stand (so many salsas to choose from!) and I got some spiced vegetable and chick pea stew? I think that's what it was called. Whatever it was, the sample was delicious. And then we saw all these cute little succulents that were colored into some amazing shades. Amanda bought a bright red one for our living room and it's so adorable. 

I like the Farmers' Market. I really like how they give you samples of everything. And I'm definitely going to go a lottttt. 

My Little Desk

A peek of my room so far! 

So I'm still organizing and getting it all together the way I like, but I think I'm finally finished with my desk. The little white and blue bucket was only $1 at Target--I LOVE THE DOLLAR SECTION. I put my car keys and my room keys in there so I won't forget where I put them. I made good use of the boxes I got from in the IKEA post for holding all my school supplies. And yeah, there really are a ton of them. I used the box lid to hold my sticky notes (I also picked up some really cute owl notes) and the jar holds a few bars of chocolate for emergencies. My allergy medicine found a special little spot there too because my allergies were absolutely rampant the first day here. 

And of course the elephant. That little guy is so cute and red and makes me so happy seeing him on my desk. He kinda just moves around all over the desk, depending on where I need to put my stuff. He's basically a nomad elephant. I got the white crate from Target, so I put all my books and folders (plus Seventeen Magazine haha) in there. I'm still working on figuring out how to put things on my wall so I can hang up the string lights and other wall decorations. So for now, all that's really done is my desk. And my bed. But I didn't take pictures of that yet haha.

Hooray For Enchiladas

One of my roomies made some enchiladas tonight! And here I was scared that SLO wouldn't have any good Mexican food. But this was really good, especially since I've been craving enchiladas for a while now. Even though she swears that she made these the shortcut way and they're not as good as the long way, they were still delicious.
Plus she also made some orange rice, and everybody knows I LOVE RICE! Thank you for the enchiladas Maggie :) Between this and the yummy chicken alfredo that Amanda made yesterday, plus the sauce I'll make tomorrow, we're going to have tons of leftovers to eat haha.

Dream Diary #27 | TV Sitcom

The dream I had last night was weird. It was a third person dream, and it played out like a sitcom. Really cool, but also weird.

So there was a guy and a girl and they both were looking for each other. It was funny because they both kept running to different places, and each new location was a new set where someone had to label what it was. So when they ran to a new place, there would be a pause so the camera could zoom in on the name of the set. They were literally running in circles because the sets were all positioned as a big circle with the camera in the middle of it. Kind of like in That 70's Show when they all sit in the circle in the basement and the camera swings from face to face. Just like that. I think the guy and the girl did end up finding each other though, so that's good.

I know at some point I was in the dream as myself, but I really don't remember when it was anymore because some sprinklers went off outside and woke me up. Also, around 5 am this morning, my phone fell off my bed and made a really loud noise (I hope it didn't wake anyone else up). But I had to basically crawl around under my bed to find it. I was too lazy to turn on the light haha. 

The New and The Familiar

It's official! I'm a graduate student at Cal Poly SLO. I even got the sweater and lanyard to prove it hahaha. I almost got the green version of the sweater, but I didn't want to be like Kevin. Plus, there's a sneak peak of my bed under the sweater. Once I get all my things and room organized more, I can post pictures of it. 

Today was suuuch a busy day--I am sooo tired.  It just makes me feel old when I get tired really early nowadays. But SLO is just about the cutest little town in life. Downtown is adorable and has so many shops and cute little restaurants. Literally ever since I found out SLO doesn't have a Nordstrom, I was pretty much expecting there to be nowhere to shop here. But walking around, there were tons of stores like Urban Outfitters and Sephora. There's also a Papyrus, so I can finally go get nice quality cards (it's on the the top of my to-do list!) The only negative really is the parking. Like it's legit downtown parking with meters and no real parking lots. I really have to learn to be a better parallel parker. And why can't parking just be free?!?! We also drove a lot around other parts of town today and found the Home Goods store, Target, Trader Joe's, World Market, Panda Express...I will be really happy here. I already know it. Yay for some of my favorite familiar things.

I Woke Up Like...With A Bloody Nose

First night in SLO, check. Surprisingly, I slept really well last night and feel super rested this morning. The only thing is...I woke up with a bloody nose. It was really weird, like it completely just dripped all over my hand when I out of bed. Gross. Maybe it was too hot last night. Maybe it's the climate change. Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't happen again. I honestly can't remember the last time I had a bloody nose. It must have been years ago. 

Anyways, I also said goodbye to my parents this morning. They stayed in a really nice hotel last night and ate really delicious seafood at Pismo Beach apparently, and now they're going home. Don't cry Mom, I'll be back home for my birthday next month. 

Goodbye San Diego, Hello San Luis Obispo!

I'm taking a little break from unpacking right now. After the worst traffic ever this morning, I have finally made it to SLO, my new home for the next 2+ years. Literally the longest drive ever, but I like where it ended :)

So far, I love the weather. It's pretty level with San Diego, but we'll see what winter's going to be like haha. I love how much nature there is. I love how nice everyone is. I love my bed, it's actually super soft with the mattress pad and the comforter on it. I love my pillows--they're blue and bright yellow so they make me happy. 

But of course, I hate unpacking. So I guess the faster I get everything unpacked, the faster I can relax.

Dream Diary #26 | Dream-ception

I dreamt that I was sleeping in my dream. And that I was dreaming while I was sleeping. So basically, it was like a dream within a dream? Dream-ception!

I don't really remember what I dreamt while I was sleeping in the dream. I know that I thought it was already Tuesday in my dream so I had to do all my last minute packing preparations (OMG, moving tomorrow!) Also, I do remember that I woke up in my dream just a little bit before I woke up in real life. And that was really confusing because it gave me déjà vu.

Then I woke up for real and made a smoothie.

5 Seconds of Summer & One Direction Concert

SOOO MANY FEELS. The concert was amazing. Literally I've been waiting forever to see 5 Seconds of Summer, and Chelsea has been waiting forever to see One Direction (and 5SOS)! 

We went early to hangout at the Picnic In The Park pre-show. I really wanted to see Christina Grimmie perform, and she was AMAZING of course. Also, I almost won tickets to watch 5SOS and 1D the next day from the 102.7 suite, but didn't :( I was sooo close too. Also, we got MAJOR MAJOR ALLERGIES from all the grass blowing in the air. That would have been so worth going through if we won the extra tickets. We also met this poor mom from Oregon who had noooo idea what her daughters were getting her into. I mean, her daughters thought Pasadena was next to Sacramento when they bought the tickets.... Uhhhhh you're just off by 5-6 hours. But nice try!

And then it was time for the show. IT WAS AMAZING. I am sooooo glad that we went to it. It was a really fun way to celebrate before I leave this Tuesday. But really though, could little girls scream a little less loudly and high pitched please???? I swear I almost blew an eardrum from the girl sitting behind us. Even though we were deaf and unable to breathe from all our allergies, it was a fun day and I was so sad when it was over. Well, more sad when 5SOS was finished with their set. I wish they could have just played for like 3 hours straight. Also, dudeeee One Direction even has fireworks at their shows now?! And not just like a few measly ones. They had fireworks during multiple songs, as well as a bunch at the end of the show. Just how rich are you guys now?! It was pretty cool, but we're not at Disneyland you know.