OUR FAMILY HIKE

Hi guys! hope your all good! this past Saturday Zoe, Cody, and I had a full family day, which we badly needed to take a whole day just to have fun! we decided on a family hike starting with going to eat Cuban pastries for breakfast, in the cutest town of Monrovia.

Zoe's dad side of the family is Cuban, and boy does she love her Cuban food. what she's devouring is a ham croquette while Cody watches hoping crumbs some fall out of her hand.

We went hiking in Eaton Canyon literally 5 minutes down the street of where we live. it's amazing having such beauty right behind your back yard to explore! 

I am in love with nature, it's like a real life art canvas full of beautiful colors, lines, intricacy's and delicious smells. first spotted the wild daises.

I spotted this male deer way far on the other side of the mountain. we could not see his details but my trusty camera was able to zoom in and capture him. we later saw that he had antlers and saw that he was indeed a male deer. so beautiful!

Their are warning signs of poison oak and rattle snakes. we thought this might have been the oak, not sure if it was. do any of you know if it is? 

How beautiful is this tree trunk?!

The snow was melting and the stream has started for the summer.

Zoe trying to cross over with Cody. poor Cody fell in, brrr the water is freezing!

How amazing is this path way? excuse my ooh's and ahh's but i am so blown away by all this natural beauty. this place would be perfect for an editorial photo-shoot. 

Their are several water falls in the area! again amazing this is 5 minutes from the city!

This picture reminds me of a post card picture and a painting.

There are several fallen tree trunks every where. i told Zoe i was waiting for a hobbit or a fairy to pop out.

Getting deeper within the Canyon, going towards the waterfall.

You do not want to fall in here!

Cody was having so much fun!

I love my Zoe...

She wanted me to take a picture of her conquering the mountain. haha she's one silly girl.

Lots of wild cactus every where.

We did not end up going all the way to the waterfall because unfortunately  falling rock fell on a girl. she was up high where more experienced hikers should only be. so it was swamped with medical team and they had to air lift her out of the canyon. we did not want to take any risk so we turned back and called it a day.

We went to go get chocolate dipped soft serve afterwards. i look like a crazy woman eating mine!

We got home and i made home made garlic buffalo wings and pizza from scratch...yummy! and watched Shutter Island all cozy on the couch. great way to finish the night.

Cody was pooped as well! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year from Zoe, Cody and I! 

NEW MEMBER IN OUR FAMILY!

Happy New Years eve all! i'm sure like many of you the end of the year is a reflection on how the year went. this year was a roller coaster ride for Zoe and I, with many new changes and many new blessings. i am very excited for the new goals and a new year to look forward to. and most of all i'm thankful to Jesus for all that i have!

so with that said one of our many blessings is our new family member in our home Cody!

He was our only Christmas present this year and we adopted him a few weeks before Christmas. he is a Jack Russel Terrier mix with Chihuahua. he has stolen both our hearts and has been Zoe's long awaited wish since she was 5!

With our new home, the fact that Zoe is older, countless prayers, and my flexible new schedule we were in a better position in adopting him. the best part about it was that our land lord does not allow dogs; but Zoe wrote him the most "melt your heart" letter on the top 3 reasons why he should consider letting her be able to have a dog. a few hours later a letter from him arrived, and what do you know; he said she convinced him and wished her a very merry Christmas!

So our prayers came true and Zoe (and I) got our dog! he has brought countless joy to our home. we love him so!

Wishing you all many blessings and a VERY Happy New Year!

WEEKEND IN PICTURES: LITTLE TOKYO

On Saturday Zoe and I hung out with our friend Stephanie in Little Tokyo in L.A.. it ended up being a beautiful day with great weather which made the outing better. 


I have to say one of the best things about L.A. is that there is a variety of cool neighborhoods to go explore in; and Little Tokyo is definitely on my top favorites!

It was nice to get some much needed girlfriend hang time for the both of us. Zoe, Stephanie and I could not be bigger weirdos together. yeah, we are full of silly!


It's pretty neat when my friends are also Zoe's friends I can't be blessed with a better array of girls like this in our lives! it's sooo great to go have fun time with them.


Stephanie is also an amazing voice teacher and is Zoe's voice teacher. Zoe soon will have some great pipes, although she had some pretty good ones to begin with. so if any of you are in need of a good voice teacher in L.A. let me know, I highly recommend her!




i love this picture it's so funny and telling at the same time, i am so petite next to this beautiful 6"1 woman. i look like a little girl next to her, she can crush me!




silliness. 




Pop Killer is a cool shop full of kitschy items, oddities, vintage and local designers.




Our masked super hero Stephanie wearing a beanie from Pop Killer.




I'm sure the decor is nothing like Japan, but it's very pretty and full of great treasure seeking shops.



We were on the hunt for cute kawaii stickers, which we all love; your never to old for kawaii stickers! we also found new panda snack flavors, "double chocolate" mmm. and cappuccino sticks! we heart Japanese snacks, they are the best!






I love all the cuteness around. i wanted to take pictures inside some of the shops but sometimes the shop owners get a little crazy paranoid with the picture taking. next time i'll have to just take the risk getting yelled at. 




Of course there has to be a Sanrio shop! the items here "seemed" better priced here then in the malls. f.y.i. if you live here or are in town.






Like i said, cuteness even on food machines!



We stepped into what was "makeup heaven" to me. Steph was telling me how great these NYX Cosmetics products are. they are professional quality at a fraction of department store brands price. she knew of no other place around that carried it but here. before she would have to order it on-line. 



i am not a big makeup person but when i saw all the amazing colors and different types of makeup you can play around with at BARGAIN prices, i was  officially sold on having some fun with it now! 



Look at all the pretty eye shadow colors, sigh*. can't wait to come back and buy some. 



I ended up getting a rose color lipstick for $3. it went on smooth and matte, great for $3 in my opinion!

We had so much fun!


XoXo