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Posts Tagged ‘travel’

365great Day 60: the Getty

laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: 365great, architecture, art, beauty, garden, getty center, lawn, los angeles, museum, nature, ocean, tourist, travel, view

13 May 2013

Learn more about 365great here.

The Getty sits perched atop a hill, overlooking a gorgeous landscape. If you know what you’re, looking for, you can see everything from downtown LA and UCLA in one direction to the ocean in the other direction. But its beauty lies not only in its view – the museum and grounds are marvelous too. The Getty is LEED certified and beautifully designed. Skylights, white stones, water fountains, and cool wood paneling all add to the serene and bright atmosphere. You get to enjoy picturesque scenes inside and outside, no matter where you wander. There are rotating exhibits that change every few months, so each visit can be a fresh look at things. The garden and lawn area is an excellent place to hang out, relax, and soak in the sunny days. Whether you’re into art, history, architecture, gardening, views, or nature, there’s something there for you. It’s worth a visit no matter what your interests! A place that caters to such a range of tastes is pretty unique and very great.

Empty nest

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: airport, cats, driving, experiences, family, guests, nap, pictures, travel, visitors

12 May 2013

I got a brief feeling of empty nester syndrome today, as I dropped off our visitors at the airport. It was a whirlwind of taking out the luggage, trying not to get run over by traffic, and waving goodbye. In just a few seconds, I was back in the car and they were off into the airport. As I pulled away, I suddenly felt a little lonely. There were no more guests to drive around town, no more big meals, no more chatter. I’ve always lived a pretty quiet and solitary life, even when my parents were in the same house. This flurry of activity is a rare occurrence and it was rather fun to have a change of pace from my usual daily patterns.

I’m pretty pooped though, so I’m off to rest with my adorable kitty! Just look at her. 🙂

Living it up in LA

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: art, beach, beautiful, eating, experiences, family, food, garden, getty center, getty villa, museum, ocean, pictures, pier, relatives, santa monica, scenery, scenic, shopping, travel, view

11 May 2013

It’s been a busy two days for my relatives! They spent their first full day in LA out at Universal Studios, with a brief stop in the Hollywood area first, and a visit to Griffith Observatory afterwards. They took pictures of the Hollywood sign, walked around Hollywood & Highland, checked out the Chinese theater, looked at the star walk, and even stopped for some photos with some street walkers dressed as pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean. Then it was off to nearly 8 hours doing every possible thing at Universal Studios! The shows, the rides, the sights… and some of them they even got around to twice. Pretty impressive.

I picked them up at 6:30 yesterday after that full day of adventure and we wrapped up the night by swinging by Griffith Observatory to check out the view of LA and look at all the exhibits inside. They peered into a telescope looking at a giant telescope atop Mount Wilson, learned about tidal waves and seasons and moon phases, played with the giant periodic table, figured out the way the pendulum worked, and tested out their weights on various planets. Oh, and they took a ton of pictures along the way! The sun was setting as we arrived at the observatory, so they went crazy getting some great shots of the natural scenery. We didn’t get home until 9:30 and then it was time to eat up for dinner!

Today it was another full day, first going to the Getty, where we explored nearly all the exhibits (it was actually my first time entering anything other than the West building). Then of course we had to wander around the garden area, where there were a ton of great pictures to be taken and flowers to be admired. Three hours later, we were able to wrap up and get to Santa Monica, where we wandered around Santa Monica Place, Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica beach, and the Pier. There was a stop for lunch so we’d have the strength to continue going and we saw everything ranging from the shopping strip to the ocean and even paused to check out a trapeze lesson on the pier!

Before we knew it, it was late afternoon and we rushed off to the Getty Villa since you could park there for free if you go on the same day as visiting the Getty. They close at 5 though, so time was limited. Traffic on the PCH was awful and it took a good 45 minutes to get from Santa Monica to the Getty Villa! Insane. We made it just 10 minutes before closing and they almost didn’t let the car through, but I sweet talked them. 🙂 Once again it was a great time for lovely pictures, with some exploring of the grounds before they started to chase us out for the day. On the ride home, we made a pit stop to get some ingredients for dinner and then another to get the wine that they forgot the first time around. We were going to make our way to some outlets too, but they decided that they can figure that out when they’re in Vegas or on another leg of the trip.

They sure did check out a lot in these two days, and got a pretty good feel of things from the coast all the way inland. There’s of course plenty they missed out on, but I think they covered quite a bit of ground in just two days.

365great Day 45: Gogobot

laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: 365great, gogobot, reviews, travel, website

28 April 2013

Learn more about 365great here.

After an awesome day out the Gogobot way, I just had to make them today’s 365great. Not only are they an amazingly useful website where you can get travel advice and read user reviews, they are a vibrant community of fantastic folks. Plus, the company generously rewards those who contribute to the site, whether it’s with great events like the one today, or super cool swag throughout your interactions. It’s such a fun place to share your reviews of places and ask for suggestions to your travel questions. The people who contribute to Gogobot are so chill and just the kind of people you’d want to hang out with. What’s not to love? Everything they do is great!

Gogobot Spring Break Bus Party

laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: art walk, california science center, endeavour space shuttle, experiences, griffith observatory, la brewery, los angeles, pictures, travel, venice

28 April 2013

Been away all day! I had a grand old time at Gogobot West LA’s Spring Break Bus Party extravaganza. Check out what we did!

across the street from lemonade cafeteria in venice

We met up at 11 to start the day at Lemonade in Venice.

girl hugging giant teddy bear wearing gogobot tshirt

Gogobear always comes along for the fun!

We went inside right as they opened and took over the back room.

bag of gogobot goodies with leggings, snap-on wrist band, and friendship bracelet

We each got a little gift! The girls got leggings, those snap-on wristbands that everyone loved as a kid, and a friendship bracelet. The guys got fun ties and bowties.

Time to eat! We got a choice of about 20 different sides. I got the yummy soba on the right!

lemonade cafeteria meal with one side of soba noodles, one curry chicken entree, and a watermelon sage lemonade

It was a tough choice, but this is what I ended up with (though I made two friends and the three of us swapped dishes to try more variety.)

girl dressed in odd assortment of thrift shop style clothing

Time to gear up with the theme of thrift shop wear! The little gifts they gave us came in quite handy and I used all three.

After lunch, there was time to stroll around Venice and we came across this shaggy dog.

By 1:15, it was time to meet up for our bus tour! The tree we were waiting by had these fun fuzzy leaves.

Our ride, the Rastabus, has arrived! Let the party begin. 🙂

Tons of random fun weird costumes. Love it! Nearly ready to load the bus…

settling in to colorful rastabus for day tour

Bright, colorful, and pumping with music! Now this is a cool party bus!

two people wearing sunglasses with moustaches

I meet a new friend and he shares his crazy fun ‘stache glasses with me. 🙂

people sitting on stairs in front of california science center

We arrive at the California Science Center and people stare as oddly-dressed people come piling out of this festive bus.

collage of attempts at capturing a jumping shot on stairs of california science center

Whee, I have some fun with a jumping shot on the stairs before we head in!

california science center entrance with golden globes hanging from ceiling

What a pretty entrance to this place.

standing on escalator looking down towards bottom floor

This is my first time here! We all take the escalators up to the line to view the Endeavour.

posing in front of endeavour space shuttle at california science center

We go admire the Endeavour space shuttle, which only recently made its home here at the California Science Center.

tiles underneath the endeavour space shuttle

The bottom/back of the shuttle is composed of tons of little tiles.

goodyear blimp as seen from california science center

As we head out, the Good Year blimp makes an appearance.

holographic image of eye with earth as iris on wall of california science center

There’s a cool section of the wall that is holographic and the images “move” as you walk by.

gogobot pros waiting to board rastabus at california science center

Back to the Rastabus for our next adventure!

view of downtown los angeles from loft in la brewery district

Next stop, the LA Brewery Art Walk! We checked out a loft with a nice view of downtown LA (which, coincidentally, is where some of my friends live).

altervision 3d blacklight experience exhibit at la brewery art walk

I got caught up in conversations at the loft until it was nearly time to go, but managed to join two others in a quick visit to this Altervision 3D Blacklight Experience!

picture inside altervision 3d exhibit at la brewery art walk

I try to take a selfie inside but it’s hard to see! Now only is it dark, but I’ve got on 3D glasses and it’s disorienting.

neon butterflies inside altervision 3d experience at la brewery art walk

Just some of the amazing artwork inside. They had a bunch of cool rooms to explore!

chocolate soft serve ice cream one with crooked swirl

Before getting back on the bus, I am treated to a wonderfully lopsided ice cream cone.

guy hugging giant teddy bear at griffith observatory while sitting on fence

And our last stop, Griffith Observatory, where we chilled and enjoyed the scenery. Gogobear gets some love too.

After this, my phone died! We had some fun checking out the view, then headed back to our original meeting point and most people went their own ways. A few of us decided to meet up for dinner and spent some extra time together before parting ways. I got back just before 11 pm, after a very full day of activities! Good times. 🙂

On My Mind, episode 4

laelene Posted in on my mind，Tags: 1 second everyday, blogging, cats, digital shower, dmv, drivers license, eating, electronic shower, food, free stuff, friends, galileo thermometer, giveaways, hilton garden inn, hot tub, hotel, hydra recharge, iphone app, itunes, jacuzzi, nail polish, on my mind, products, shopping, snacks, subscriptions, travel, winning

23 April 2013

Ready for another round of On My Mind? Here goes!

~Ha! I was just thinking about how my blog posts used to be so much more insightful/thoughtful/interesting when I started to get the inspiration bug again and went crazy preparing some draft posts. Tons of goodness to come!

~Sooo I had said I didn’t want to buy any more nail polish until I used up one bottle. Just one! Which shouldn’t be that hard since I rarely buy nail polish anyway, but then I came across a BOGO deal and I couldn’t resist! BAH. I bought it and then promptly spilled one all over my carpet (which took out about a third of that bottle). Karma for going against my word? 🙁 I did manage to mostly get it out (and better than I had hoped at least!).

~That nail polish I got? Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri. I’d never tried it before, but that coupon for buy one, get one meant each bottle was $2. While I may not want to pay $4 for some nail polish, $2 was a deal I couldn’t resist. I know, I’m terrible. But you know what? I discovered an AMAZING brush! Like seriously, why don’t all (or at least more) nail polishes have brushes like this? It applies so well, I just love it. Plus, I really love that these nail polishes dry so quickly, since clumsy old me would usually mess up at least three nails before they managed to dry.

~And if you keep up with the blog, you will see that I’ve decided to exchange some of my old nail polishes for some Zoya ones! At least I’m not accumulating more, right? That’s ok, right?!

~My family went out and got a bunch of Garnier Fructis Hydra Recharge shampoos because of the current deal for them! Only $0.86 in CA if you bring your own reusable bag. Less in other states since our tax is a high 9%, ugh.

I cleaned the bulbs and put them in a vase.

~About two weeks ago, Missy (one of my cats) broke my Galileo thermometer when she knocked it over – RIP 🙁 – and I learned that the oil they use in it smells naaasty. It smelled like a gas station exploded on my carpet. I guess that’s the only material the bulbs will float in correctly. I cleaned and scrubbed and patted for an hour and the smell didn’t dissipate, so I had to move to another room to sleep. Took about a week of leaving the window open and spraying odor remover on it daily before I could move back. My carpet is forever scarred though – for some reason, it grew a bump that won’t go away.

It used to be a lot worse but it has since shrunk.

~Panda (the boyfriend) was in town earlier in the month and we got a pretty cool room at the Hilton Garden Inn LAX! I loooved the rocker, which was so smooth and made me feel lighter. Reminded me of the zero gravity chairs they have a Brookstone. The bathroom was rather sweet too, with a jacuzzi/hot tub (what’s the difference?) on one side and an electronically-controlled shower on the other. I got to set the shower water to exactly the temperature I wanted!

Here I am demonstrating the rocking chair…

awesome smooth leather rocking chair from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
~I had told my cousin about the 1 Second Everyday app, which she was interested in. I’ve been having a blast with it! I was sad, however, that I had redeemed an iTunes gift card for $50 and wasn’t able to split it into two $25 gift codes so she too could get some apps without paying. Then a few days later it dawned on me: gifting an app! I hadn’t thought of it because I never used it (and really wasn’t sure it was even a feature), but I checked and it’s so easy to do it! But by the time I told her, she had already bought the app. Womp, womp… next time!!

~I’ve been doing pretty well with the giveaways I’ve entered and won a couple more, yippee! You’ll see pictures of them after I get them. One in particular I wanted to point out – I actually won another 3-month Conscious Box subscription and this time I got to share an additional one with a friend! I mean, what is more thrilling than winning for you AND a friend of your choice? I picked a super awesome, super supportive friend and she was totally excited. Coincidentally, her birthday was right around then too! Happy birthday!

~I’m so glad I went through that long, long DMV line to get a new picture taken because I am SO much happier with my new picture! The original picture was from when I was in high school and it looks like I have a fake orange tan when in reality I just swam outdoors a lot for our high school team.

driver's license pictures side by side comparison

The old picture looks a lot more orange in person.

~I’m STILL waiting to get my first Goodie box and Graze box. Waaah! I’ve held myself back from buying snacks because they were supposed to replace my snack food shopping and THEY’RE STILL NOT HERE… -___- I, being hugely reliant on snacking to survive/thrive, feel so forlorn… BUT I should be getting my Goodie box today*! *fingers crossed* My Graze box was prepared on the 11th and if I don’t get it by tomorrow I’m going to contact customer service. Yes, you can call me Cookie Monster.

~And finally, I was SO off-the-walls (maybe too) happy to get an email from the Pink Panel letting me know I’m in their nail care testing group. I had just signed up and filled out the survey for the latest testing group and it was awesome to get that invitation!! I can’t wait – I remember seeing Julep in the survey URL so I’m pretty sure we get to test some Julep products. I’ve yet to try anything from them, but I’d totally love to. I’m turning into a nail polish/hand care fiend. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that we get a $75 Amazon gift card (code, probably) for participating. I’m getting my cats a fun feeding maze I learned about from an article on Squidoo with those funds!

*Yay the Goodie box arrived! Time to rip through it. 🙂

On My Mind, episode 2

laelene Posted in on my mind，Tags: animals, birds, books, dmv, experiences, free stuff, giveaways, harbor, hotel, influenster, learning, ocean, office supplies, on my mind, outdoors, reading, scenery, scenic, seals, shopping, social media, travel, videos, waterfront, winnings, working

06 April 2013

(In case On My Mind is not self-explanatory enough and you want to learn more, check out my post explaining what inspired it.)

~I won!!! I’ve been trying to win a bunch of things, but in particular is a 3-month subscription to Conscious Box, which tons of bloggers have been giving away. AND I ACTUALLY WON! I was just going through checking up on the giveaways that had expired to see if they announced winners and what did I find? My name! That is probably the most exciting thing in the world.

~Last week I went to the DMV because I wanted to renew my license and update the photo. Why can’t I just send in a picture like I can with a passport? I’m assuming it has to do with that special shade of blue they use for the background, which then begs the question… why that color??

~I tried to book an online appointment for the DMV but the earliest appointment was two weeks away! If I didn’t need to drive in the mean, I totally would have gone that route to save the time at the DMV. Unfortunately I didn’t have that luxury this time, so I was stuck standing in line. It took nearly 3 hours (and there were only like 15-20 people in line in front of me!). Luckily, I was smart and got a book to read before going. I was the only one.

~My mom and I went to Best Buy because she had some reward money she had to spend – all told, we spent $0.30 on a bunch of random pens for her and a cool whiteboard/blackboard for me! We didn’t know what else to buy with her $20 credit. And it took us over an hour to figure it out, lol. Granted, much of that hour was spent waiting for an associate to help me locate the board at another store. The one they had was missing the crayon box and what’s a board if you can’t write on it?

Ignore the cat paw. 😉

crayola dry erase board dual-sided black and white with set of dry erase crayons and wiping cloth

Comes with dry erase crayons!

~I’ve been reading a bunch of books like Buyology & The Zappos Experience – great source of learning and very useful lessons for my future business attempts. I’m trying to apply everything I learned to the Kickstarter I’m developing. I sure hope it’s successful!

~So when I went to get some of those books I’ve been reading, I discovered the cool new library self-checkout! My fancy little library has this system where you put the stack of books (up to like 7 or 8 at a time) on the counter and it can check them all out for you. No more scanning one by one! Nifty. I should also note they have a conveyor belt thing behind the wall when you return a book, complete with video so you can watch your book get dropped off into some bin at the end.

~Remember that Influenster campaign I mentioned last time? Well, yay I got in! Turns out it’s for an Aveeno product, which they’ll be sending to me shortly. 🙂

~This week I got to hang out at the Hotel Maya in Long Beach. It’s right on the water and I really enjoyed working in the cabanas and other similar areas. It’s great to have a fabulous view, a slight breeze, the warmth of the sun, and the option of shade all at once. If it weren’t for my reflective laptop screen, it’d be perfect for working all day.

outdoor couches at hotel maya in long beach

I spent most of the days here.

~Since I was at the waterfront, I spent a lot of time (sea) bird watching. Totally fun! There are the ones that bob around on the water and dive down for fish, disappearing for minutes at times. Then there are the fliers that dive down to the water from high above, making a nice splash. There are the little ones that flit about quickly and the larger ones that almost seem like they’re gliding in the air. In the morning, they were most active and by noon, many of them had settled in for a nap. By the afternoon, they started waking up again and as the sun set, I lost track of them.

~I also caught a glimpse of a seal! Actually, I think a pair of them. So cool!!! Next time I need to find a beach that they hang out at. I’d love to seal watch.

(Here you can hear how excited I am to see them, even though I didn’t get to see much.)

seals at Long Beach from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

365great Day 19: cupcake in a jar

laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: 365great, cupcakes, desserts, food, mason jar, portable, snacks, travel

02 April 2013

Learn more about 365great here.

Ok, so if you love cupcakes and you travel, what better than a portable cupcake? Cupcakes in jars are an excellent way to bring along a delicious treat without taking up that space. Plus, eating it is a whole lot less messy. Another great benefit is that one jar contains about two cupcakes so you get twice as much! Don’t be fooled by the small containers – these guys are denser so you get a lot more than it looks.

I brought these along for my flight and the lasted me two sessions. What a great way to bring along the flavors of one of my favorite cupcakeries (Bake You Happy). If you can’t eat them fast enough, just refrigerate them upon arrival and they’ll last a good two weeks or more. Tasty and convenient? That sure is great!