I take NBC CALIFORNIA LIVE on an exclusive LA food tour to 3 of my favorite comfort food spots! I hit up Flatpoint Barbecue out of chef Danny Gordon’s backyard for some of the best BBQ in the world, Howlin’ Rays for my favorite sandwich in LA, and Angel’s Tijuana Tacos for an authentic Mexican street food experience!
Believe it or not being an LA native, I have never been to Catalina until recently. I got invited by the Catalina Island Company to visit and I was so excited because I have always wanted to go. I took the Catalina Express out of Long Beach on a 65 minute boat ride to the island. You can choose date and departure times and book online here. General seating is $36.76 each way and approx $52 each way for the Commodore Lounge, the Catalina Express “first class”. Parking at the downtown Long Beach port is $19 a day in the lot if you leave your car there. I had round trip tickets in the Commodore Lounge which is located on the upper deck of the boat. They gave out complimentary Famous Amos Cookies and a beverage of your choice (if you haven’t already noticed I like to mention the little details, especially when it has to do with food 🙂 ) The ride wasn’t bumpy or rocky, it was actually pretty relaxing. After 65 minutes …
There are million reasons why you go to Disneyland, it really is the happiest place on earth. Or maybe I’m just a child trapped in a woman’s body, I don’t know. I swear I am just happier there. I don’t think its the same for everyone though, my dad hates Disneyland. Like swore he’ll never go back the last time my mom dragged him there for two days spending the night at Disneyland resort with the family. I don’t think he’s been back since, and this was probably fifteen years ago lol. Every time we had family visitors from Israel, of course they wanted to go to Disneyland, and my dad, trying to be the good host and a good sport that he was, would suck it up one last time (he hoped), always describing waiting in hour long lines to go on a less than 2-minute ride was “torture”. Well, I can’t say the same for myself. I love bringing people there from out of town- I get to relive my childhood all over …
My first Hangout Fest in Gulf Shores Alabama. I got invited to attend, and I had never been to the festival, nor had I ever been to Alabama! I had heard about it through one of my friends, and I knew it was a music festival on the beach. I decided to go with my sister and we had a lot of fun. It’s definitely different than Coachella, or any other music festival I’ve been to. It’s a lot smaller, and right on the sand on a beach in Gulf Shores. I felt like most people who attended were either from Alabama or the surrounding states in the South and mid west, but there were some people I met from the West Coast. You fly into the Pensacola airport in Florida, which is the closest international airport to Gulf Shores. We took a Lyft from the airport in Pensacola to Gulf Shores which was around $70. Here are a few things to know when going to HangOut Festival: Fly into Pensacola airport. Pensacola is a …
Lilia is known to be one of the best restaurants in New York. It’s known for amazing Italian food and hard to get a reservation. I recently went and ordered a bunch of dishes off the menu to make sure I tried enough to make a fair judgement on the place, and I left feeling unimpressed. I had high expectations and it definitely didn’t live up to the hype in my humble opinion. Although nothing was bad, nothing was out of this world or mind blowing. I think it’s worth to visit if you have the chance but don’t have the highest expectations because I feel like you’ll leave a little disappointed. Anytime something is super hyped, I feel like it’s always a let down. See the dishes I ordered below. * My favorite dishes were the Squash Filled Ravioli, with Hazelnuts, Parmigiano & Sage, and the Crispy Shrimp with Parsley Aioli. Also the garlic ciabatta bread as an appetizer was delicious!
In the beginning of this year I wrote my Hawaii travel guide on the islands of Oahu, Maui and Kauai. I recently just went back on a girls trip with my mom and sister to celebrate my sister’s birthday. We only visited Oahu this time but wanted to write out my favorite moments and adventures from the trip! I love Oahu. I feel it is the most well-rounded of the islands- it has the city culture of Waikiki while still possessing the beauty of Hawaii’s nature and beautiful beaches. My mom really wanted to stay at The Kahala Hotel & Resort in Honolulu because we vacationed there as a family when I was little with my grandparents, and she felt the need to go back years later and experience it again with my sister and I. The Kahala Hotel & Resort is probably considered one of the nicest, if not the nicest resort on the island. It’s in a quiet part of the island and the resort feels remote and removed from all the action of …
Escaped to the desert for a little getaway this past weekend at La Quinta Resort & Club. I was invited by the resort for a weekend escape in partnership with L’Space Swim, to relax and hang out by the pool. I never “relax” on trips so it actually felt like the first time I did in years which was nice. I brought a friend with me and we spent our days relaxing by the pool, had a private meditation session and enjoyed the beautiful spa. Traveling all the time takes a toll on me, so having a few day retreat like this once in a while is much needed for my health lol. I love Palm Springs. My grandparents had a house there so growing up it would be the place where we would have family getaways a few times a year on special occasions. Palm Springs is kind of nostalgic to me. I remember the warm nights spent with my family, spending hours by the pool, going out to dinners and making breakfast all together …
This past weekend I went to Vegas to the Life Is Beautiful Festival with two of my good girl friends. We had so much fun at the festival. I liked it because it was way more chill compared to Coachella and other music festivals I’ve been to. It didn’t feel as packed and crowded, it just felt smaller and a little more intimate which I liked. It was in downtown Las Vegas so definitely had a different vibe than any other festival. Flume was by far my favorite. He was incredible to see in an outdoor setting. I also loved seeing Chromeo and Major Lazor. We went out to XS after the festival at night for David Guetta and DipLo. I cut together a 60 second snippet of our weekend that we all just filmed from our iPhones. Below are some pics from the festival.
Whenever I go on a long trip, I usually start off in New York to break up the flight time. I spend a few days there, get a few meetings and work in, visit my sister who lives there, and then head somewhere from the East Coast. This was the trip before I headed to Italy, Greece and Croatia in August. I stayed at The Time Hotel in Manhattan for a few days, and headed to Italy from there. I ate at a really bomb place in Brooklyn called Emily which is known for their burger and pizzas. I will do a separate blog post on it 🙂 I also visited Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center for an amazing view of Manhattan. ($32 general admission to go to the top) I am going on another long trip in a few weeks to Europe, and will be back in NYC again- I love it there. Below are a few pictures from my trip in August. HANGING WITH MY SISTER HANGING OUT AT THE TIME …