Happy Valentine’s Day!! I hope you all have a chance to spend today with the ones you love and if you can’t do that in-person, give those people a call or send a card and let them know that you’re thinking about them.
I just wanted to say real quick that we hit 15,000 views on Monday this past week and that was just insane to me. Thank you for being here and reading my writing. 🙂 I hope you’re enjoying the posts. If there’s something you want me to write about, let me know!!
Anyway, Valentine’s Day. In my opinion, the holiday has become a day about chocolate and flowers. Wow. I was grocery shopping for my upcoming week at school and that just really hit me. Maybe I don’t see how special the holiday can be because I don’t have a significant other but I realized just how commercialized the holiday is yesterday. Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Flowers and lots of them. Giant teddy bears. Rows upon rows of poorly made stuffed animals holding hearts with corny little sayings. Cards with cheesy but sentimental words. To be fair though, I do really enjoy sending out cards. I feel like there’s something special about receiving actual mail. 🙂
I always help my mom do something for my dad and help my dad do something for my mom but I really didn’t think about how much this holiday revolves around material goods. A lot of holidays do. This might be a bit late considering that today is Valentine’s Day, but if you get a chance to do something more than just buy a bouquet of roses or a box of Godiva chocolate today, I say go for it. I know that appreciation and affection can be shown in so many different ways, but I feel like we can all do something to make it a bit more special.
With that said, I hope you have a great rest of your Valentine’s Day and stay happy and healthy this upcoming week. Love you all!
I’m sitting on a plane writing this and it most definitely won’t be uploaded until late tonight. Oopsies! I just had a wonderful weekend in California. I went to visit one of my really good friends from school. Her and her family live in Sacramento and were wonderful in letting me stay at their house for the time I was there. Just a heads up, this is going to be a long post, so get comfortable!
I arrived late Thursday night and was welcomed by cooler temperatures (in comparison to the oven that Colorado has been lately). On Friday, my friend showed me around Sacramento and we went to Old Town as well as Downtown Sacramento. Old Town was super cute and there was this fun candy store we went into. They had the most taffy I’ve EVER seen in my life. As a recommendation, I ask you all to never never never try chicken and waffles taffy. It’s gross. That’s all I have to say about that.
When we went to Downtown Sacramento, my friend and I stopped at this really pretty place for lunch called The Bank after walking around for a bit. We went to Pressed Juicery prior to lunch and both got rose lemonade and a watermelon pomegranate juice. Healthy and yummy juice options there for sure! I just wish we had one in Colorado. 🙁 I’m pretty sure they’re expanding out of California, but not quite yet…
The best way I can describe The Bank: its an old bank turned into an upscale cafeteria with really good food options. They had burgers, Mexican food, pizza, poke bowls, a bakery, and a bar. The burgers at Station 8 (that was the name of the little restaurant) were what my friend and I got. So yummy too by the way! I got the Bank burger and it came with mushroom gravy and sour cream on it in addition to many of the tradition things you find on a burger. The fries were good too, but too much for one person. If you stop by The Bank, I would recommend splitting the fries with another person.
After lunch, we walked around Downtown a bit more and then my friend took me to the Starbucks Reserve, which is basically a fancy Starbucks. There are only a couple of them in the country, I think. That was pretty cool and then I got a very yummy drink from them and a couple cup to keep (I’m a dork). I got the nitro dirty chai. 10/10 would recommend!
We finished out Friday watching movies: Primal Fear and A Few Good Men and then went to bed because the next day was going to be a long day. We were going to San Francisco!
The next day started around 6:15 in the morning and we went to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast on the way. At this moment, I remember thinking, “Thank goodness Colorado time isn’t too different from California time!” Waking up that early wasn’t too bad. I think the drive was around two hours. After finding parking, we went to Union Square and went to this one mall that had a Nordstrom with like eight different floors. There was practically an entire floor dedicated to shoes! It was crazy. At that mall, we walked around Nordstrom for a while and then stopped by American Eagle and Lululemon. I was very excited to go to the Lululemon. 🙂
After some shopping, our next stop was the Museum of Ice Cream. Wow was that a fun place to go. If you’re ever in San Francisco, PLEASE go. The amount of ice cream you receive and the fun you have is worth the price. You do need to get tickets in advance though, just a heads up.
You enter the museum by going through the “pink portal” which is just a pink tube slide. After that, my friend and I were greeted by a person in a jumpsuit with otter pops. We created ice cream names for ourselves (I was Ana Banana haha) and then moved onto the next room. The next room was a cute little diner where we got s’mores ice cream. The cone was dipped in chocolate and the ice cream was dusted with graham crackers. It fully tasted like a s’more! Room after room, we got more ice cream and got to take so many cute pictures. There was a lot of fun stuff to do in each room too!
Like in one, we got to make bracelets, there was one where we got to play with fun mirrors, there was one with those giant frosted animal cookies you could sit on, there was another with cute unicorns you could take pictures with, and there was another room where you could write words on a wall with magnetic letters. There was also a room with a pool filled with sprinkles that had a slide and diving board. That room was pretty cute too. We got ice cream sandwiches made of chocolate chip cookies and pink vanilla ice cream at the sprinkles pool.
Overall, the Museum of Ice Cream was a super fun, super interactive, and super cute place to visit. If you ever plan to make a trip to California, take your family to San Francisco and this place in particular and be prepared for A LOT of ice cream.
After our ice cream adventure, my friend and I walked around Union Square a bit more and spent an hour inside Tiffany’s. No, we didn’t buy anything, but the gentleman assisting us allowed us both to try on a few pieces which was really fun. 🙂 Maybe someday I’ll be able to afford some of that jewelry.
Our day in San Francisco was still not over! We went to Pier 39, where I got to see Alcatraz from a distance, ate a bunch of mini doughnuts covered in cinnamon and sugar, went on a carousel, and navigated my way through a mirror maze. After our fun at Pier 39, we headed to a small beach where my friend and I took some more pictures and I truly got to see the Golden Gate Bridge.
By now, dinner was rolling around and so we hopped back in the car and took a short drive over to Ghirardelli Square. There, we had dinner at the San Francisco Brewing Company (great pizza and virgin drinks there by the way!), and then went to get some chocolate. I would have ordered a milkshake or some ice cream but I was all ice-creamed-out from my adventures earlier in the day.
After dinner and some more shopping, we began the journey back to Sacramento which began with a stop at a viewpoint of the Golden Gate Bridge. Oh my goodness was it cold and windy, but the view of the bridge and San Francisco as the sun set was spectacular. Lots of good pictures from there! Then it was another two hour drive back to my friend’s house. I crashed that night, that’s for sure. The next day was going to be much more relaxed, THANK GOODNESS.
On Sunday, my friend and I went to see the new Lion King movie which I am proud to say that I really enjoyed. Disney did a fabulous job sticking to the plot of the original movie (which they’ve struggled with in their remakes, in my opinion). That made the movie a lot more enjoyable to me. After the movie, my friend and I stopped for lunch at In-N-Out because what trip to California would be complete without it?
This was my first time ever going to In-N-Out and I was pleasantly surprised by the simplicity of the menu and of course, the tastiness of the food. That was a good burger. Does it beat BurgerFi? In my opinion, no. But it was still a very yummy meal. After lunch, we went back to her house and just relaxed until it was time for me to head to the airport for my trip back to Denver and here we are in the present time. 🙂
To my friend, if you ever read this, thank you so much for showing me Sacramento, San Francisco, and just California in general! I had a blast with you and your family. And thank you to your family for allowing me to stay at your home and have fun with you all for a weekend! California is a fun state to visit and explore and I look forward to visiting it many more times to come. Have a good week everyone!
So Valentine’s Day is here once again! If you’ve been on the hunt for a good Valentine’s Day gift or a sweet, fun, or romantic way to spend Valentine’s Day, look no further. Here are a couple of ways to spend Valentine’s Day.
Chocolate- Chocolate is always a favorite, and personally it is my favorite. There’s a variety of sweet types to get and chocolate is always a sweet way to show your love and appreciation for the sweet ones in your life.
Jewelry- For the special girl in your life, you could get her a nice piece of jewelry. Whether it’s earrings, a delicate bracelet, or a lovely necklace, jewelry is always a safe and fun option. Personally, Alex and Ani bracelets make a great gift and there are so many options to truly fit your special someone’s personality and likes.
Some lotion, perfume, and a candle- This gift idea can get a little repetitive but it tends to be a great idea. Something with a vanilla, flowery, or citrus scent is always a great idea for something fresh and clean smelling. Honestly though, get creative with these types of gifts. There are plenty of wonderful and yummy options for smells out there!
A handmade Valentine- While a nice card can really mean a lot, I feel that cards have lost their value. A lot of people read it and then either throw it away or put it with their pile of cards from other holidays to collect dust and clutter. Something I’ve found to be really fun is making hearts for people I love. I put their name on it and then deck it out with glitter, stickers, and cute little messages. This way, the “card”, so to speak, feels more personal and it’s something that a person may feel more inclined to hold onto.
Dinner- And back at it with another classic. Taking time to spend an evening out with a loved one at a favorite restaurant is always a lovely gesture. You get to enjoy each other’s company and hopefully some good food.
While I may have only listed five options for Valentine’s Day, you could really do a lot with this holiday. And remember, even though a gift can be really nice, it’s more important to show your loved ones you care through your actions and how you treat them. I wish you all the happiest of Valentine’s Days and happy chocolate eating!
Valentine’s Day is just two days away. It feels like it just comes and goes every year. Being in high school, it’s funny to see people on Valentine’s Day. There’s the couples that have been together for a while and go on cute dates and get each other something sweet. There’s also the couples that go wayyyyy overboard and get each other the big teddy bears for Costco and the most cheesy gifts possible. That just screams “EWW!” to me. There’s also the other people in school who become the saddest people you’ve ever met. They complain and whine about how lonely they are and how sad their life is. First off, you’re only in high school and second, you’ll get over it. You have friends and family for a reason. Valentine’s Day is only once a year and there’s 355 other days for you to do as you wish and find someone to fill that hole in your heart.
If I’m being honest here, Valentine’s Day is one of my least favorite holidays if not my least favorite. It’s just so commercialized and used as a way to draw people to buy chocolate, flowers, cheesy cards, and other heart-shaped and romantic goodies for loved ones. I won’t deny that showing loved ones your love is a wonderful thing. I think it’s great that people want to do something special for their significant others and family. But shouldn’t that be every day? You don’t have to go out and buy a big bouquet of red roses for your loved ones every day, but you should do something every day to show your love.
People make such a big deal out of Valentine’s Day and I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a boyfriend and have never been in that kind of relationship. I’ve always enjoyed picking out cute, heartfelt cards for my grandparents, aunt and uncle, sister, and parents and bringing a beautiful bunch of flowers to my mom but as the holiday has come and gone, I just don’t see the point of it anymore.
We don’t need a designated day to show our love to family, friends, and significant others, in my opinion. Every day should be Valentine’s Day in its own unique way.
Despite what I think, the holiday still goes on and the cheap chocolates are coming. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. 🙂
