Smorgasburg LA!

Last Sunday I decided to take a trip to a place here in LA that I’ve been wanting to visit for some time called Smorgasburg!

If you are like what in the world is that, let me explain. Smorgasburg is held every Sunday in downtown LA from 10 am to 4 pm. A bunch of local shopping, food, and drink vendors set up tents to sell their amazing food or awesome merchandise.

Attending Smorgasburg is also a great date idea! It’s lowkey, fun, and you get to try out new food and drinks.

I found out about Smorgasburg on Instagram when I saw numerous pictures showing delicious looking desserts and drinks and I knew I had to visit. I love all things shrimp so I knew I had to stop by the Shrimp Daddy booth to get a meal and I’m so happy I did.

The meal left me speechless. Take a look at it below:

I ordered a pineapple boat which is grilled shrimp, mac salad, rice with curry paste, and pineapple chunks served in half a pineapple. The plating is beautiful and it tastes delicious. I definitely reccomend trying it out if you attend Smorgasburg.

To finish off my meal I got a yummy, mango ice cream cone from Wanderlust creamery. I give it a 10/10!

I decided to wear a dressy casual look to the event. I paired a black and white polka dot, crop top from H&M with skinny jeans from Topshop, and black heels from Nordstrom Rack.

I also rocked a sporty fannypack from FashionNova. What do you think of my #LOTD #OOTD? Let me know in the comments below. Also tell me if you’ve visited Smorgasburg and have a fave food spot or plan to go, I want to go again!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

One year LA Anniversary!

Just four days ago was my 1 year anniversary of moving to LA. It’s crazy to think that I’ve already been living here for a full year. It really flew by! This post is going to be a timeline of a few of my favorite LA moments over this past year. Enjoy!

Moving to LA – 10/22/17

Visiting Echo Park – 10/31/17

Visiting The Grove – 11/3/17

First birthday in LA – 11/18/17

First holiday season in LA – 12/8/17

New year, new look – 1/1/18

First rainy day in LA – 1/8/18

Visiting Griffith Observatory – 1/16/18

Visiting the Love Wall in Beverly Hills – 2/8/18

First Valentine’s Day in LA/Visiting the Natural History Museum – 2/14/18

Attending my first wedding – 4/21/18

Celebrating my 6 year Anniversary – 4/25/18

Visiting Santa Monica – 5/4/18

Visiting La Brea Tar Pits – 6/6/18

Attending Janelle Monae concert – 6/28/18

Visiting Manhattan Beach – 7/10/18

Visiting Little Tokyo – 7/24/18

Visiting the Beverly Hills Sign – 8/9/18

Hiking to the Secret Swing in Elysian Park – 8/23/18

Visiting Universal Citywalk – 9/27/18

The adventure continues – 10/2618

Hope you enjoyed traveling through time with me and I look forward to bringing you all on many more journeys! Have a lovely weekend!

Secret Swing at Elysian Park

Happy Monday beautiful people. I hope your September is off to a great start!

Today I want to take you to a land far far away…well not really far away but moreso up in the air. I recently visited a hiking trail in Elysian Park in LA to try to find a secret swing and to my surprise I found it!

It’s called the Secret Swing because it is up a secluded hill and not many people know about it unless you did some research like I did. I really wanted to visit the swing because the view is amazing.

To visit the swing I wore a simple black maxi dress paired with floral vans. Shawn and I rode a Lyft to the bottom of the hiking trail and from there its just about a 5-7 min hike up to the swing.

I wouldn’t reccomend swinging too hard on the swing because it is very high up and there is no fence to protect you from falling. Gently sitting on it like I did will still make for a great shot.

If you are in LA and want to do an easy hike I definitely reccomend visitng Elysian Park and the Secret Swing.

Do you like the view? Would yoy be scared to sit on the swing? What do you think of my outfit? Let me know in the comments below and have a great week!

Relaxing on Manhattan Beach

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

The perks of now living in Los Angeles is that beaches are literally miles away. I visited Santa Monica pier a few months ago, you can read that blog post here and recently I decided to visit Manhattan Beach.

Manhattan Beach is fun, family friendly, and also has a pier like Santa Monica beach.

The waves were crashing, kids were giggling and playing games on the sand, and the weather was perfect, not too sunny and not too chilly.

I wore this Misguided one piece bathing suit to the beach for the first time and I loved it. It’s flattering and just the right amount of sexy.

The suit has a low-cut, V neck and it has thin straps for a little side boob action and a scoop back. The lips on the suit gave it an edgy, flirty touch.

I actually can’t swim so learning how to swim can be my excuse for going to the beach often 🙂

There’s so many beaches in California, I can’t wait to visit them all. What’s one of your favorites in LA or California?

Let me know in the comments below and tell me what you think of this Misguided one piece bathing suit! Enjoy your weekend lovelies.

Visiting the Love Wall in Beverly Hills

Valentine’s Day is almost here so I recently went to Beverly Hills to get a pic in front of the super artistic and gorgeous Love Wall.

The wall makes for a perfect backdrop for a Valentine’s themed post. To visit the wall, I wore a cropped Topshop sweater paired with highwaist jeans from ASOS. I completed the outfit with sparkly TOMS.

I love that there is so much street art scattered all throughout LA. I hope to share some more pics in front of creative street drawings in the future!

Sometimes holidays make people feel lonely and sad because they either don’t have anyone to celebrate with, the holiday brings up bad memories, or a multitude of other reasons.

I’m here to tell you about a little mantra that helps me get through rough times that I learned from a Youtuber and that is Positive Mental Attitude.

Repeat that a few times and it will help you get into a better and happier mindset. So if you are alone on Valentine’s Day or in a long distance relationship remember to stay strong and focus on the positives in your life currently. Have a good day!

 

How to plan an amazing trip!

I am excited to announce that tomorrow my boyfriend and I will be leaving for a 5 day vacation! I will reveal the place within the next few blog posts, with pictures of course!

Planning a vacation can be time consuming and stressful, no matter how long or short the trip…but it doesn’t have to be! Take a look at the tips below to learn how to plan an amazing, stress free, and fun vacation.

#1 Decide where you want to go
This is obviously one of the main hurdles you have to leap over when planning your trip. Deciding whether you want to go abroad or stay closer to home will help you pick the perfect location.

#2 Research the place you picked
Don’t just choose a place because your friends think the hotels are nice. You have to do your own research and decide if the place suits your needs and wants for your time away from home.

#3 Book your trip
This is where it gets exciting! After you decide on your place and research it to make sure you really want to travel there, it is time to purchase your flight and hotel. I personally prefer purchasing the flight and hotel together in a package through an airlines site, but booking both parts separately works as well!

#4 Think about what to pack & make a list

Of course you don’t have to pack the minute after you booked your trip, but within the week of your trip you definitely should start brainstorming what you plan on bringing with you. A list will help you make sure that you have all of your essentials.

#5 Think of activities to do
You don’t to get to your vacation spot and have no idea what to do. Your entire trip doesn’t have to be planned out, but having three big activities you would definitely like to do while you are away is a great start.

#6 Start packing
Read over your list and grab your suitcase because its finally time to start packing! Make sure to not over stuff your bags and suitcases and bring one or two extra items that you didn’t have on your list just in case but no more than that!

#7 Head to the airport for your flight
The day has come to finally board your plane. Make sure you arrive to the airport an hour before you flight to get through security, check in, and be standing by your gate when it’s time for your flight to leave.

#8 Enjoy your vacation
This tip is self explanatory…have fun!

Hope these tips helped you if you are struggling with planning a vacation currently or if you plan on going on vacation in the near future!

Also, can you guess where we are going on vacation?? Hint: it’s a tropical location..I know it’s so many tropical places to choose from, but I am sure someone will guess correctly!

Leave a comment below saying what you think about my list and with you guess of where my vacation is!

Talk to you all when I get back home,
Love Tati ❤

Holiday Recap – Fourth of July *

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Fourth of July weekend.

I got to take a mini vacation and spend my holiday in Atlantic City, New Jersey with my boyfriend and his mom.

It was such a great time and a relaxing experience. We got to walk the boardwalk and do a little shopping.

I purchased an African Dashiki which will be shown in a post soon! I also got to eat at Rainforest Cafe for the first time which was really pretty and fun.

We walked on the beach for a bit and visited the numerous casinos scattered across Atlantic City. I didn’t gamble, but it was pretty cool to see how the different casinos were set up.

One of my favorite parts was going to the Atlantic City aquarium where I got to feed stingrays. It was a little scary to think about, but feeding them was pretty simple and cute to see.

We also saw The Legend of Tarzan in the IMAX theatre and that movie is a must see 🙂

Overall, it was a nice mini vacation and I wish I could’ve stayed longer. I hope you enjoy the rest of your week.

Stay positive and Happy Hump Day!! ❤

Make Your Own #RelationshipGoals

Everyone has seen pictures on social media of couples hiking, riding bikes, working out together, hugging and kissing each other, and the list can go on and on. Most of the time those pictures have the caption “#relationshipgoals.”

A lot of individuals and couples strive to meet these relationship goals they see across social media. I say, make you own #relationship goals!

Each relationship is different. What works for one couple may not work for your relationship. You have to find what interests you and your significant other and just do it!

Maybe traveling isn’t your favorite activity to do, but maybe you are very creative and artsy. Instead of trying to travel the globe because you saw that was someone on Facebook’s relationship goal, why not have a cute and cozy arts and craft night at home with your partner.

Relationship goals don’t have to be huge, elaborate, and/or expensive. A walk in the park, a nice night indoors making cookies, or even a Netflix movie marathon can be a relationship goal you set.

The only relationship goals that should be standard across the board is finding someone who can make you happy, treat you fairly, and love you unconditionally.

Now I’m not saying that you can’t have the same relationship goals as other couples. I know I do, but majority of the goals should be based on your own likes and interests.

You should be able to have fun in your relationship and be able to communicate with one another about any and everything.

You may not know how to create your own #relationshipgoals. These simple steps to help you out:

1) Make a list of traits/activities that are important to you or fun to do when in a relationship
2) Make sure your goals are reachable
3) Ask your significant other to help you set goals for your relationship
4) Don’t set too many goals, so you won’t get overwhelmed
5) Celebrate when you meet your goals!

What are some of your #relationshipgoals? Know that your goals can change over time and that’s not a bad thing!

A Look Back at my Time in Seoul

Its crazy to think that this time last year I was just returning home from my month-long trip to Seoul, South Korea. This was my first time on a plane and my first time leaving the country. As you can guess, there was a mixture of fear and excitement during the whole way there.

I’m obsessed with the Asian culture so I’m truly happy that my first experience abroad was to an Asian location.  My first plane ride was 13 hours long. I was actually more excited about riding in a plane than nervous, which was a good thing.

After that plane ride I had a 2 hr layover in Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, which was super exciting because Tokyo is #1 on my travel bucket list. I could only stay at the airport though, but it just felt great to be in Japan.

I took a lot of pictures of the items I saw in the shops in Tokyo such as the Yukata pictured above and various food and souvenirs.My next plane ride was from Tokyo to Incheon Airport in Seoul.

I stayed in Incheon Airport overnight because the actual program didn’t start until the next day, July 1st. The next morning all I could think about was the people I would meet, food I would try, and the awesome time I would have during my stay in this amazing and beautiful new country.

My Resident Assistant (RA), Kevin, picked me and a few other students up from the airport and we all rode a bus to Seoul Women’s University (SWU) where we would all stay for the next month. Students from all over the world came to SWU for this program in Korea titled Bahrom International Program or BIP for short. Joey Yoo was the person in charge of the BIP and he did a great job at running it!

Everyone lived in dorms with Korean girls who attended SWU. My room number was 505! I made great friends with my room RA Kevin and the 6 Korean students who were my roommates, as well. A picture of my room is shown on the right! ^-^

So many awesome events were prepared for us during this adventure. All of us had to attend classes on topics such as Korean dance, costume, food, language, and film.

In the classes we got to learn a Korean dance and how to dance with a fan. We also watched a classic Korean film.  I tried on a traditional Korean costume called a Hanbok, which was super pretty (pictured ….) and we learned how to bow while wearing the Hanboks (pictured on the left).

In one class we made traditional Korean food and got to taste it.Speaking of food…I love Korean snacks and desserts! I got addicted to these delicious cookies called Couque Dasse and a shaved ice dessert called Bingsu (pictured on the right).

When we weren’t in class we got to visit numerous places and landmarks throughout South Korea such as the border between North and South Korea, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Gyeongju, and Icheon Pottery Village. We also went on a cruise of the Han River and saw a NANTA Performance!

All of the dorm rooms participated in a talent show for $15,000 Won, Korean money. There were fun competitive games we played for snack prizes. We also got to learn how to play traditional Korean instruments!

One of my many favorite parts of this trip was called Homestay. As the name suggests, the students from other countries got the chance to spend one entire day and one night at the home of one of the Korean students. It was an amazing day because I got to visit an optical illusion museum and watched Korean dramas at my Homestay buddy’s house. It was great to see how another culture eats and lives on a daily basis.

Of course this post doesn’t describe everything I did on the trip because that would take foreverrr, but it does give a wonderful overview of my time there. And sadly, after 4 amazing weeks in Seoul, I had to go back home. There was a really emotional closing ceremony that everyone attended where we had to say goodbye to all of the SWU girls we met and the RA’s and the other staff.  To the left is my RA Kevin and the ladies of 505 being silly on one of our last days together 🙂

There was never a dull moment during this trip and I truly feel blessed to have been able to attend BIP and live on SWU’s campus! This was a trip of a lifetime and I definitely plan on going back some day.

Until next time Seoul, Ahn Nyeong Hee Ga Se Yo (goodbye in Korean)!!! ❤