Category Archives: Lifestyle

Foodie Adventures

Foodie Adventures |Thoughts&Daisies One of my favorite things to do is go on food adventures. My uncle loves to take me and my brother to the places he has found. This time our food theme was Mexican, but we wanted seafood and my uncle said he knew just the place.

One of my favorite things to do is go on food adventures. My uncle loves to take me and my brother to the places he has found. This time our food theme was Mexican, but we wanted seafood and my uncle said he knew just the place. So we headed out to San Diego to visit the Tj Oyster Bar.

My uncle ordered a half plate of oysters which I did not partake in but my brother loves. There are very few things I don’t like and slimy oysters are one of them.

Instead, I ate tacos.

Foodie Adventures |Thoughts&Daisies One of my favorite things to do is go on food adventures.

I ordered an octopus taco and a smoked tuna with cheese. Surprisingly adding the cheese made the tuna even better, though I shouldn’t be surprised because I am a cheese connoisseur and will add extra cheese to everything I can.

The octopus was delicious too and it is one of my favorite types of seafood so there was really nothing that could go wrong with this meal for me.

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After lunch, we headed out to get some dessert and sticking with our theme walked down the street to Holy Paleta. Now this place is cool. They have water based and milk based paletas that you can add toppings too. From anything from yogurt and fruit to cereal and chocolate.

Foodie Adventures |Thoughts&Daisies One of my favorite things to do is go on food adventures.

I ended up getting an Horchata paleta dipped in white chocolate topped with cinnamon toast crunch cereal. It was amazing. The white chocolate went incredibly well with the horchata and the crunch from the cereal brought it all together. Now I really want to go back and try some of their other flavors.

I have to say our food adventure day was a success and be sure to check out my uncles food instagram @follow.my.fork to get some restaurant recommendations.

What is your favorite type of taco?

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Adventures in Golfing

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5am. A time of still darkness, ignoring the world and continued sleep.

5am is too early to be a functioning human being, except for 2 very specific reasons: 1 is going to Disneyland and 2 it is Christmas. Other than that there is never really a good reason to be up at 5am… unless I am being forced to get up.

This fourth of July turned out to be one of those forced 5am days.

Read about my adventures last year on the Fourth >here<

My grandparent’s community has a golf course and my brother was adamant that we should go golfing. I had never been actual golfing but I thought “sure, why not.”

1st mistake.

My brother is very particular with times and I should have known that his idea of the perfect golf time was the 6am tee time.

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So there we were at the golf course getting our cart by 6:10am, the sun not yet having come above the clouds, and I was missing my bed.

It took us just about 2 hours to play 9 holes and overall it was pretty successful. Because we both are extremely mediocre golfers instead of writing down the number of strokes it took us we kept track of the number of balls we lost. 12 for my brother and only 1 for me. Though I was sad when I lost my ball because I had been doing so good. Thanks for nothing duck pond for stealing my ball.

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Hole 2 and 3 were probably my best holes because everything went downhill after that when real golfers caught up to us and we couldn’t golf fast enough.

Meaning the rest of our game was a combination of speed golfing and chucking our balls as far down the green as we could because we were not hitting well. At all.

Something I have learned about myself is that I do NOT do good under pressure. By the 7th hole, I could hit nothing. The ball was there in front of me and I was swinging into the air. It would take me like 15x to actually hit the ball and it went like 9 feet. Meanwhile, my brother could only get better and it made for an interesting time of sprinting down the green to avoid the golfers behind us getting mad.

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Not to mention all of the added “water obstacles” (sprinklers) that were on because of how early it was. Though I will say it was fun to run through the sprinklers and over the hills, especially when I started singing and performing “Bet on It” for my brother from High School Musical. Since what would even be the point of being on a golf course if I didn’t recreate Troy Bolton’s choreography.

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All in all golfing was a lot of fun though I do not think we could have done the full 18 holes and I really want the entire course to myself so I can attempt to golf correctly. The plan is to go again sometime but I do think the next stop should be the driving range to actually learn how to hit the ball…

How did you spend your Fourth of July?

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5 Fun Things to do in SoCal

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Southern California has something for everyone. You just have to go looking. Some of my favorite things to do cost little to no money. As I’ve gotten older I have spent a lot more time exploring SoCal, particularly San Diego over my summers and have been slowly creating a list of my favorites.

5 Fun Things to do in SoCal |Thoughts & Daisies Today I am going to share 5 fun things to do, roughly in order from cheapest to most expensive.

Today I am going to share 5 fun things to do, roughly in order from cheapest to most expensive.

The Beach

Obviously, the beach is a perfect choice for this list. Southern California has numerous beautiful beaches. I tend to stick to beaches in San Diego because it is closer to me than heading towards beaches in the LA Area. The beach is a perfect place to entertain a large group of people and especially great for broke college kids.

Grab some friends, pack some food and you can spend the entire day at the beach without spending a penny. You can get a tan, jump in the ocean and have a great time with your friends. If you want to stay late don’t forget to bring a sweatshirt because the winds coming off the ocean can cool the temperatures extremely fast as the sun goes down.

La Jolla Cove

The La Jolla Cove may just be my favorite place. La Jolla is beautiful and the cove is perfect for all day fun. The cove has a beach that includes lifeguards from 9am to sunset, showers, and bathrooms, and is incredibly popular for families because of the lower level wave breaks.

During low tide, the waves pull back to reveal a ton of tide pools to explore. The cove also has a variety of water sports available such as swimming, snorkeling, and kayaking.

Not to mention the La Jolla Cove is home to the La Jolla Sea Lions. You can usually find them sunbathing on the giant rocks near the Children’s Pool or hanging out in the sea. They are fun to watch and are something you should check out if you go.

Seaport Village

Seaport Village is a great place to walk around. A waterfront shopping and dining complex in downtown San Diego. It is also home to a historic carousel, the cost is 3$ a rider.

While it does cost to park, there is validation or you could always park farther away and walk, which is something I have done before. It is a great way to get out of the house and explore some cute shops and eat.

Balboa Park

Balboa Park is beautiful. Not only is a great place to walk around and take photos but there is so much to do. While there are museums and gardens that cost money, there is still plenty of free options.

Attachment-1-2 One of the most beautiful spots in Balboa is the Botanical Building and Lily Pond. The garden is filled with more than 2,000 exotic plants, some with very fun names, like Fluffy. The Zoro garden is also a great spot for seeing butterflies. Balboa has 16 other gardens and aside from the Japanese friendship garden, are all free.

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The park is also home to the San Diego Zoo, a bit pricey but if you have a chance, incredibly worth it. The zoo is filled with hills so be sure to wear some comfy shoes.

Balboa Park has a ton of museums to choose from. The Timken Museum of Art is always free. A shortstop but lovely. Note: it is closed on Mondays. Other non-museums include the Natural History Museum, Museum of Man, Fleet Science Center, and Mingei International Museum.

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Not to mention the Old Globe modeled after Shakespeare’s Old Globe in London is here. In 1984 the Globe won the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. It annually produces 15 mainstage productions.

There is also the Spreckels Organ Pavilion that has free live concerts every Sunday at 2pm. It was donated to the park in 1915 and has 5,000 pipes some over 32 feet tall.

These are only some of the cool aspects of the park. It is easy to spend an entire day here with cool events happening all the time so be sure to check on their site for daily events before going.

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Disneyland

Of course, I have to include Disneyland on this list. It wouldn’t be a SoCal to do list without it. This is the most expensive item on this list but if you can it is for sure worth it to visit the Happiest Place on Earth. You can always buy a hopper ticket to visit both Disneyland and California Adventure if you are only planning on a single park I will always recommend Disneyland over California Adventure. Not only is Disneyland the OG it is filled with more rides and personally I think it is way more fun.

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My favorite things to do include getting Dole Whip and going on Star Tours. If you want to go during Christmastime be sure to check out my post about it >here<

What places do you enjoy in the Southern California area?

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One Year of Blogging Lessons and Goals

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I really can not believe that Thoughts and Daisies is officially ONE! It feels like hardly any time has passed since I first started blogging. A lot has happened in this crazy whirlwind of a year. I have learned a lot but I still have a long way to go to get this little blog to where I see it being in my head. And that is okay.

Year one was a learning curve and messy but now I at least have a clearer path. In one year I have written over 60 blog posts, filled a 130 page Google doc with over 40,000 words, and learned how to embed photos into my posts. Let me tell you that last one took me way too long to figure out, but now I have it MASTERED… sort of.

Related: Meaning Behind my Blog Name

With 365 days of blogging a lot is learned and I have come up with 7 lessons, I have learned over the course of the year, as well as 5 goals to launch me into the next year.

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Lessons

1. Don’t fall into the comparison trap.

This can be really hard. When everywhere you look it seems that someone is living this perfect life it can be hard to not compare yourself to them. Better clothes, prettier photos, more followers, the list goes on. But constantly comparing yourself is not going to help grow your own content. Everything is not always what it seems, ESPECIALLY in the media world and once we continue to remember this it is easier to not put yourself down when you don’t think what you are doing measures up.

2. Numbers are not everything
I have to remind myself about this a lot. My blog reach is nowhere near what I would like but I am growing and I have to remind myself that it doesn’t happen overnight. Whether someone else has 1,000 or 100,000 more followers or likes than me does not belittle what I have been creating. It just means I may have to work a little harder. Which brings me to lesson 3.

3. It takes work

And a lot of it. Not that I ever thought blogging was some super easy task that would take little to no effort from me, but I constantly surprise myself at how long I do spend creating my content.

There are days when I still tell myself that I can just knock out a post or even two in half an hour only to find myself working on the same post for nearly 3.

Blogging is more than just writing and slapping something up but takes a lot of editing and photo creating and even some coding and some days can be extremely tiring. But when I know I have put everything I can into a post I have this incredible feeling of accomplishment once it actually goes up.

Let me know if you would like a post about my blog behind the scenes.

4. SEO is important but confusing

I see it everywhere. SEO this. SEO that. Make sure you are utilizing SEO.

I can’t tell you how many articles I have read about the need for managing your SEO. And I am still thoroughly confused. This is something I am really planning to look into over the summer now that I have time in my day.

5. Pinterest is your friend

Pinterest has helped me gain a bit more traction on my blog. Especially when I pin content that I know I would be pinning if I saw. Millions of people scroll through Pinterest every day and it is one of the best ways to help navigate viewers to your blog.

Many a blogger has discussed the magic that is Pinterest and I hope to continue my growth with it.

6. Create for yourself first

A big thing I have learned is it is more important to blog about content that I actually care about than to try and write for everyone else.

I can tell a big difference in my posts that I was writing what I thought people would want to read and posts that I wrote because I wanted to write them. Your blog will never grow, much less last if everything you are writing isn’t something you enjoy or are passionate about.

7. HAVE FUN

Piggybacking off number 6, on top of creating content you love you need to be having fun. If you aren’t having fun while blogging what is the point.

I haven’t written a year’s worth of blog posts because I felt obligated to do it. If I didn’t have fun blogging I wouldn’t be writing this post, and I especially wouldn’t have gotten through my 30 Day Challenge last month.

If blogging isn’t fun for you to take a step back and evaluate why. Once you start to blog with the intention of making it fun you will see how free you begin to feel with your posts.

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Goals

–Work on my photography

When I look at some of my old photos from my first posts to now I think there is a major change but I am competitive with myself and I know that I can make my photos even better. I am just not sure how yet. I see all these people creating gorgeous photos by themselves and I am looking at them for tips and inspiration. I also need to get one of those Bluetooth remotes so I don’t have to constantly run back and hit the button on my phone.

-Learn SEO

As I mentioned before SEO is important and I am still pretty lost. This is the year I understand all of the functions that come along with SEO. I am coming for you SEO you have been warned.

-Utilize Pinterest to its full potential

There was a point in time my Pinterest game was beginning to go strong and I have started to slack on it lately. I plan to spend this next year creating better pinnable images and working on getting them out into the Pinterest universe and having its full potential shine through. Fingers crossed.

-Go out of my comfort zone

I am not at all good at this. I see all these other pinners doing what I imagine in my head I could do for my blog but I am a chicken when it comes to it. So this year I would like to be more outgoing in things like my blogging outreach, my Instagramming skills, and possibly even utilizing the Instastories for things like… speaking… I know wow. As Instagram stories is a feature that pretty much scares the living daylights out of me. I say as though I am not pursuing my degree in acting. I can be on stage in front of hundreds of people but am too scared to use the Instastories feature for it’s intended use. Go figure.

-Get a logo

I have wanted a logo for my blog since the beginning but have not gotten around to it. I am not exactly sure how to go about this so any suggestions for how and ideas for cute logos are appreciated and encouraged.

Well here is to my one-year blogiversary and hopefully to many more. Cheers!

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April Favorites

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The end of April is here. I am amazed at how fast 30 days flew by. When I started this challenge I wasn’t sure how I would do it, but here we are Day 30. For the end of the month, I’ve decided it would only be fitting to discuss my April Favorites.

The Dragon Prince: A Netflix Original

“Two human princes forge an unlikely bond with the elfin assassin sent to kill them, embarking on an epic quest to bring peace to their warring lands.”

I am late to the party on this one. It premiered last fall and I have heard a lot of good things from some of my friends. I finally got around to watching it and I will say I am pleasantly surprised. The storyline is complex and interesting and I’ve enjoyed it so far. I have yet to watch the second season but I will have it finished by the end of the week most likely.

It has a shared creator with Avatar the Last Airbender, as well as a voice actor, Jack De Sena who played Sokka, now playing the main character Callum.

Burt’s Bees Mascara

I have used Burt’s Bees products for a while and when they came out with their mascara I was excited. It is one of my favorite products. Made with 100% natural ingredients it is gentle and nourishing on my lashes. They make my lashes look great for everyday wear, and by adding a few extra coats also perfect for making a more dramatic look.

Sold at Walgreens and now Ulta.

Honey Citrus Mint Tea from Starbucks

As I write this I am sipping a Honey Citrus Mint Tea. Made with a tea bag of Jade Citrus Mint and a Peach Tranquility it is delicious! It also smells amazing. Perfect to comfort a sore throat or just for a warm pick me up. This has been my go-to drink as of late. It makes me feel cozy inside. Highly recommend

Sara Bareilles: Amidst the Chaos

Amidst the Chaos came out at the beginning of the month and has been one of the albums on repeat during my study sessions throughout this month. My favorite songs on the album are Orpheus and Poetry by Deadman. Quickly followed by A Safe Place to Land feat. John Legend.

What have been some of your favorites this month??

And with that, the 30 Day Challenge comes to an end. Thank you for following along! Be sure to subscribe to my blog to get all of the insider’s newsletters and to be notified of new blog posts.