Posted on by katiekimiko

Another Five Hour Flight

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August 15

Another Day. Another Adventure.

Spontaneous trips are what I live for. My girl Cait texted me saying that we’re going to Washington D.C. and whatever Cait says, go’s. I packed a bag and headed to Las Vegas where we would then board a plane the next day and take off for a five- hour flight. I made sure to download lots and lots of podcasts (This American Life being my go to as well as Ted Talks and On She Goes). Since Cait and I are avid travelers, we know exactly what to pack: ear phones, portable charger, snacks (and lots of them), sweater, a good book, notebook and pen, wallet, mints, toothbrush, tooth paste, and face wash. Also, for you spontaneous people, download the app “Hotels Tonight” for great prices on nice hotel rooms. This has saved us many times! I’ll stop boring you with travel tips and make a separate post about that in the future if you’re interested.

We arrived and then took an Uber to our hotel. After checking in, we ate some snacks for dinner and watched whatever movies we could find on our hotel television. The next morning we woke up, got ready, and headed into the city for a long and eventful day. We Ubered to the White House where we started our long walk and five minutes in, it started to rain. We ended up buying some cheap umbrellas and running to find some shelter and food. To be honest, we had no clue where we were going or what to see, so we grabbed a map and headed to where the most people where and the places with large stars next to them. We ended up in front of the Washington Memorial where I had flash backs to the recent Spider-Man movie and replayed the scene in my head. After asking random people to take photos of us jumping around in the rain, we picked up our heavy and tired feet and made our way to Lincoln. I have been dreaming of seeing his memorial and standing under the feet of this historical leader. I made sure to move everyone away from me and take a solo picture with Abe.

Cait and I began walking to the next place with a large star where we decided it was time to get an Uber back to our hotel and grab some dinner before seeing a National’s game. We ate dinner, put on our red-and-white gear, and began our five minute walk to the stadium. I have a new found addiction of going to baseball games. The lights, the loud crowd, the games in-between innings, and the vegan hot dogs.

I am always sad to leave. I love adventuring in new cities and there is always more I wish I could’ve done and more people I wish I met. But this trip was spontaneous and thrilling. Being in such a different city, a historical city, is something I suggest everyone do. We packed our bags, got on our very early flight, and headed back to Vegas. See you soon Washington. I’ll be back soon!

Posted on by katiekimiko

San Francisco

San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco

August 15

My dad and I have made a tradition of going to San Francisco for a few days every summer. We stay with my dad’s childhood friend George and his beautiful girlfriend Nancy (Yes, that is their jaw dropping victorian purple home as pictured above). We set out for the drive around 10 am to avoid any traffic and make sure to always stop in Casa De Fruta to pick up some yummies and stretch our legs. Back in the car and an hour later we reached our destination. We were greeted with open arms and wide smiles. One of my favorite parts about visiting George and Nancy is sitting in their garden, eating some snacks, and catching up on life. Since I only get to see them once a year due to my busy schedule and the fact that I live eight hours away, we have plenty to talk about. Dinner that night consisted of pasta for the vegan (myself) and clam linguini for the adults. We all had a long day and decided to head to bed for an eventful day to follow.

Game day! Luckily I got to sleep in, I am the best at sleeping in, and slowly got ready. We enjoyed fruit for breakfast as well as an avocado english muffin. Soon George’s friend David arrived and we headed out to the bus stop in our Giant’s gear. We then took the BART over to the stadium where our tickets were scanned and we headed to the bleachers to find our seats. What a beautiful day for a game! It was sunny, however, there was a cool breeze to keep your body at the perfect temperature. After a couple innings, I remembered I hadn’t eaten lunch yet and began my journey to find a vegan hot dog. After a couple laps, I finally found it! I returned to my seat to enjoy the rest of the game with my dad, George, and David. It was the last inning and everyone was on their feet. Then a roar of applause and cheers occurred as the Giants took the win!

Since it was a perfect day to be outside, we went for a stroll instead of taking the BART and enjoyed the fact that we could be present in the moment. Once we all agreed that our feet were barking, we hopped on the train and headed back to the house where I made salad and everyone else had some local pizza. After a long discussion over dinner about the fact that I had never seen Casablanca, George found the movie on OnDemand and insisted that we watch it. Life changing. I could write paragraphs on how this movie exceeded my expectations or we can watch it together (this gives me an excuse to watch it again) and then discuss how much our minds were blown.

It’s always so bittersweet packing my bags and saying my goodbye, actually, see you later. I do enjoy sleeping in my own bed and being at home, but I think I enjoy being on the road, traveling, meeting new people, and catching up with old friends even more. George and Nancy are planning on visiting OUR house next in a couple weeks and enjoying long days by the pool. I can’t wait 🙂

Thank you to George and Nancy for opening up your beautiful home to me and my dad as well as feeding us and making sure we felt loved!!!

Posted on by katiekimiko

OC Fair

OC Fair
OC Fair
OC Fair

08/15

Fair day! While I was in the Orange Country area last weekend, I decided to cross another activity off my summer bucket list. We arrived around noon where we parked and entered the fair grounds. We had no plan and no clue where to even start. We walked around looking at all the greasy food and colorful fair rides until we ended up going in a large tent. The tent was filled with booths and our eyes locked on the free samples. The three of us watched a man create beautiful art using fruit and vegetables (in the center photo above, you can see a flower hair clip he made me)! We tried some organic food, kombucha, and some dipping olive oil which were all delicious. We then continued on and found a small barn where they held animals of all sorts. One section was full of different kinds of bunnies, big, small, long, short, etc. In another section of the barn was a mini horse, goats, sheep, and more that you could pet and feed.

By this time we were starving and made our way to get some food where we ended up getting Mexican food since it looked the healthiest and cheapest. I got the closest thing to a burrito bowl you could get without meat, cheese, or our cream while the boys split a plate of nachos. Three hours had passed and we all decided that we were too broke to drop a lot of money on rides and headed out. It was an active, fun day at the fair with great company!

Posted on by katiekimiko · 1 Comment

Recognizing the Problem & Learning to Love Yourself More

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me

08/15

Do you ever look at photos of yourself sitting down or turned to the side and says, “Can’t post this one. I have rolls.” Well, we all have rolls! You may look at those photos and think you’re fat but I’m here to tell you that you are beautiful and loved. Stop looking at your body and only pointing our what you think are your flaws.

I have a challenge for you. Try saying three things you hate about yourself. Okay now think of three things you love about yourself… You came up with three things you dislike about yourself in a matter of seconds huh? And you had a harder time coming up with one, let alone three things you admire about yourself. This. Is. A. Problem. 

It should be the other way around. You need to focus on loving yourself inside and out. You are so unique and perfectly made. Your personality shines bright and you deserve to appreciate yourself as much as your friends and family love you. By working on this, you are allowing yourself to become happier and be more comfortable in your body.

Final Notes: When you hear someone, whether that be a friend or family member, say something negative about their appearance or personality, tell them, “Since you said something negative about yourself, you have to now say something you like about yourself.” I bet they will try to get out of it or come up with the excuse that they have nothing nice to say, but see, that is a huge problem. Remind them that you truly care about them and that they too should work on self-love.

Posted on by katiekimiko · 2 Comments

Shh Don’t Tell My Mom

08/14

SKYDIVING!!!

Yes. After years of telling myself I would voluntarily jump out of a plane, I finally did it. I will explain this whole journey to you here since I have lived to tell the tale.

So I have always wanted to check skydiving off my bucket list, but like anyone, I was terrified of actually doing it. At the beginning of summer I posted a photo on my Instagram story with a caption saying, “Does anyone want to go skydiving this summer?!” No replies, as expected. However, the next day my friend Marissa replied with a, “HECK YEAH!” And that’s how this whole adventure began. We texted back and forth about dates that would work followed by lots and lots of online research about the most scenic and safest skydiving facilities. I had narrowed it down to three options near Los Angeles where we ended up picking the cheapest and safest. Skydive Elsinore is the name and skydiving is the game. Once we had finally decided on a day where we were both free, we booked our appointment time, making sure to buy the package with videos and pictures included.

The day before our scheduled skydiving appointment, I drove down to Los Angeles where I stayed with Marissa for the night only talking about how crazy we are and what we were about to do. The next morning we woke up early to eat breakfast and head out (be sure to wear comfy clothes and closed toed shoes!). The drive to skydiving was an adventure in itself as Marissa got a speeding ticket and we drove through some bipolar weather. You can watch Marissa’s youtube video for more information on that at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTpwuRugXUo

We arrived to Skydive Elsinore where we watched a video discussing the fact that we could get seriously injured and die, which we already knew. Then we signed our life away and waited to jump out of a plane. While waiting, we talked about how excited and nervous we were, questioning what we were even doing and justifying it with, “But the photos are going to be sick!” (Which they totally were).

It was finally time. We were fitted in our harnesses and began walking/running to the plane out of fear and adrenaline. We were loaded onto the plane along with our camera men, other random friends, and a skydiving team (Yeah those people that do tricks in the air and formations). The ride up was beautiful and terrifying. Once we were at the right altitude, the first to jump was the skydiving team, followed by random friends we made, Marissa, then myself. The chills were going through my body and my muscles started to tighten up. My teeth were chattering as I started to question my decision. But it was too late. We were already at the edge of the plane about to jump! 1… 2… And we were flying. This feeling, of jumping out of a moving plane, is indescribable. I want to say it’s similar to going on a free fall ride at the amusement park, but it’s even more thrilling and life changing. You are literally flipping out of a plane! Your head is rushing and you’re trying not to blink and miss enjoying the moment. Before you know it, the parachute is deployed and you’re gliding over the town.

I tried to keep calm as my blood was rushing and my heart was full of joy. My instructor even let me hold onto the handles and steer us in circles, to the left, and then to the right so I could get a full 360 view. We were in the air for what seemed like an eternity and then began our decent towards the ground. I never wanted to come down. But that’s not how that works haha. We came down fast, lifted our legs at a 90 degree angle, and let our butts drag across the grass coming to a complete stop. I had just went skydiving and loved every single part of it (well I did get pelted with rain for a minute but that’s besides the point).

I am now addicted to this feeling and can’t wait to go back again! Thank you Marissa for being adventurous with me and pushing me out of my comfort zone. Thank you to Skydive Elsinore for a wonderful experience that I will hopefully repeat again soon! Check them out and be sure to go there for the best skydiving ride of your life (http://www.skydiveelsinore.com/tandem-skydive/)

 

Skydiving!
Skydiving!
Skydiving!
Skydiving!
Posted on by katiekimiko

Being Out of Shape is OK

Buchanan High School
Buchanan High School

08/14

So yesterday I had coffee around 3pm. If you know me you understand what that means. For those who don’t know me, I hardly have coffee unless I really need it because it makes me incredibly hyper. So having coffee at 3pm means it didn’t kick in until about 4 and it peaked around 5. However, since I haven’t had coffee in months, this cup really hit me hard. Around 7pm, I was jumping off the walls! I had the great idea of getting my energy out by running stadiums (which I haven’t done in years). I’ve attempted to run and stay in shape this summer, but that did not prepare me for the 100 degree heat and lots and lots of stairs. After my first round and 10 minutes of pain, I sat and drank my water, completely exhausted already. But I told myself to go on and do it again. And again. And again. And then three more times. Six circles of stadiums went by and I decided to jog a lap, do two laps where I sprinted on the straight 100 meters and lightly run the curves, then finished up with one last jog around the track. My legs were weak and my body covered in sweat but I was proud of my performance and my will to push through the pain (the music definitely helped). The sun was setting around this time so I went on a little mile cool down where I saw pink skies and enjoyed the moment. Lots of ideas and memories were swirling in my head and I decided to lay on the grass (which is a horrible idea when you’re sweaty because you get all itchy after but side note), breathe, and smell the fresh air.

Moral of this story, you don’t have to be in shape to get a good workout in. Try to enjoy your run and focus on treating yourself to some exercise. This is a perfect time to think, get all of your stress out, and enjoy some fresh air. Then after, you can reward yourself with a treat 😉

Posted on by katiekimiko

Summer Yummies

08/14

Summer calls for making my own delicious vegan meals as well as exploring new places to eat! Here are some very yummy snacks and meals I have had this summer ranging from coffee shops, to ballpark veggie dogs, and my own creations! If you have a question about how to prepare any of these meals or where I bought them, just shoot me an email 🙂

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Posted on by katiekimiko

Traveling is good for your soul

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I always want to travel. Being on the road, visiting friends, meeting new people, seeing the earth, and experiencing life is what I crave. I live out my suitcase and snack a lot, but I wouldn’t change that for the world. Over the past couple months, I have been in the car over 50 hours and flown in several different planes. Every time I return home, I long to get back on the road and adventure more.

Posted on by katiekimiko

Styles For Less

I had recently bought this top at Styles For Less due to the cute print, style, and low cost. I posted a few photos on Instagram where Styles For Less actually reached out to me and asked if they could also post this photo. With the use of tags and hashtags, you can be featured. People think it’s all about how many followers you have, but in reality, if you take a good photo in a product and make sure to tag them, they will reach out to you for YOUR photo. So tag away!

Click on the link or the photo to see my picture on Styles For Less Instagram!(https://www.instagram.com/stylesforless/)

 

Photographer: Ross Arve // Edit by me

 

Styles For Less
Styles For Less
Posted on by katiekimiko

Habitual Threads

I want to talk to you about an amazing brand with an wonderful mission.

Haley Vera founded this jewelry line that is now based in Philadelphia. “The first necklace was created as a gift, inspired by a walk through the local hardware store.” This was how the whole idea started. In September of 2016, habitualthreads.com was launched where the first collection of jewlrey was available for purchase online. My favorite part about purchasing jewelry from this company is that $5 of your purchase goes back to a non-profit organization where you can pick from five basic needs that are failed to be met by people in the area and around the world: food, water, shelter, family and mental health.

She has three main hopes for Habitual Threads : “to share her product and profit with others, to connect people to causes – inspiring awareness, introspection and action, ultimately serving as a catalyst for customers to live with outward focus, and finally, to free individuals from their need through care provided by the partnering causes.”

Overall, HT is an inspiring company with beautiful products where proceeds go back to help those in need. Be sure to go get your jewelry at http://www.habitualthreads.com/ourstory/

Habitual Threads
Habitual Threads