LITTLE TOKYO! I've only been to Japan once on a layover from Thailand. We had about twelve hours so we took a subway into Narita and saw just a glimpse of Japan. And I'd say Little Tokyo is a little less than the equivalent of that. It's a very small glimpse into some Japanese shops, cuisine, clothes, and history. 

READ MORE ABOUT THE PLACES TO EXPLORE IN LITTLE TOKYO...

This is an absolute priority place for people visiting Los Angeles for the first time. 

Griffith Observatory sits high in Griffith Park area, giving a beautiful overview of the city. During the day time, during the sunset, during the night — there is never NOT a good time to check this place out. You can even hike to it if you're feeling adventurous. And honestly, that might not be a bad idea since parking can be hit or miss depending on the night. (I feel like this place has become more well-known and popular so the last two times I've been, parking has been a headache to find because it's so limited. Hiking would be preferred.)

Not only do they have telescopes to observe and look through, but exhibits are inside to educate about the solar system, and the Earth we reside on. 

Access to the observatory is free. But make sure to plan ahead and get there early enough to reserve a seat for one of the featured shows in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium. This beautiful dome screen makes you feel like you're part of the environment it projects. I highly recommend "Centered in the Universe." I've seen it at least three times and I'm still in awe each time. The universe is just SO BIG. And I love how this video tells the different stories of it. The only bummer about the videos are they don't sell advance tickets — first come first serve — and they only have one planetarium, so the show viewings are at certain times. Make sure to check the times before you go.

On-going events can be found on their event calendar (such as star-gazing nights). Usually whenever I've been, there's always something going on. 

And be careful about traffic and other events going on — especially around December. The first time I attempted to visit Griffith Observatory was when I was writing a story about it in my high school newspaper. Around December there's the DWP Holiday Light Festival in Griffith Park. I was unaware. And after choosing an exit of a long line of cars and then turning the wrong way off the freeway, my companions and I ended up on a 3-4 hour long excursion and never got to the park. It was awful. But eventually, some nights later, I found it and loved it. 

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When choosing to go find the abandoned Griffith Park Zoo in Griffith Park, I was under the impression that it would be some kind of strenuous hike. It was not. 

In fact, the hardest part of the whole thing was going the wrong direction for a bit after parking our car, when we should have just headed straight for the open park to the right, where there also happened to be a Shakespeare performance happening. 

As we were wandering up the right path, Whitney noticed the cages to our left. They were literally just right there. There's even picnic tables where the animals once roamed/stood (because there's not a ton of room for roaming). No extreme trail or even really any hiking at all. You just walk up the path and you can see all the old cages. You can go inside the cages if you want. Some areas are gated off. But there's easy openings in the fence if you really have the desire. I can imagine this would be a creepy place to be at night. 

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Growing up, I had never heard that much about Los Feliz. It wasn't until five years ago when I came across this article in LA Magazine that showcased the area and some of the hipster places to check out, that I was determined to pay more attention to it. Usually I'll try to grab something to eat in this area before going to Griffith Observatory or Griffith Park, which it neighbors,

But it's a good go-to stop on the way to Griffith Park and Observatory to get some food and explore some shops. 

READ MORE FOR A SHOPPING + EATING RECOMMENDATION...

Having explored a lot of places in Santa Monica, I had only recently heard about Bergamot Station when I decided to check it out with Whit and Chris. 

I didn't know exactly what to expect. For some reason I thought it was part of a train featuring an art gallery/store (probably because Wikipedia says the site was previously a train station from 1875 to 1953). But turns out it was way different than that.

READ MORE ABOUT BERGAMOT STATION AND SEE PHOTOS...

The Original Farmers Market and The Grove are inseparable to me. I don't know why you would go to one without exploring the other since they seem to be almost apart of each other. 

READ MORE ABOUT THE GROVE AND THE ORIGINAL FARMERS MARKET...

PHOTOGRAPHY. So I love photography. In the way that you can tell a story with images. And the ability to capture moments in different times and places. I realized after I took my photography class that every photograph is really a perspective of the person that took that photograph. I think we forget that sometimes. 

Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City does an amazing job of showcasing select photographers and showing how photography is important in different ways. How each of these photographers contributes and their personal perspective and method of photography.

READ MORE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION...

So I've been wanting to go to a drive-in movie essentially since I've gotten a car. And not for the not-watching-the-movie-Grease-lightning-factor — I really want to just pull up to a large screen and watch a movie under the stars. Does that sound cheesy? 

Either way, there's not that many drive-in movie options in Los Angeles. This article mentions some (and maybe when I'm back in Los Angeles this summer I can check it out for myself), but for the most part I've found that they're at the top of parking garages or something urban. Which could be cool, although not exactly my 50's vision. 

Anyhow, a drive-in was not in the cards at this time, so we opted for the next coolest thing — blankets and grass and food and lawn chairs in a Los Angeles park to watch "The Karate Kid" under the non-existent starry sky. 

The event was put together by Eat|See|Hear and located at a park in Beverly Hills with the kind of streets that have five different signs telling you when not to park — that was a little confusing. 

Overall, the event was really fun. They had food trucks, some fun interactive things such as getting a caricature drawn (although Whit and I waited in line for that for about 30 minutes and then were told they didn't have time for one or two more), and the vibe was really relaxed and friendly.  

They also had the director, John G. Avildsen, there to talk about the creation of the film, which was a really neat addition. #onlyinLA

I forgot how great of a film "The Karate Kid" is, and seeing it in that environment and having the director speak added more depth and interest to the film. 

I essentially learned that Mr. Miyagi knows best. Remember to wax on, wax off. 

READ MORE TO SEE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AND A LITTLE BACKGROUND ABOUT WHIT & I

Over the coming days, I'll be highlighting some of my favorite places in Los Angeles that I had the opportunity to visit before I left LA last summer with Whitney, and her boyfriend Chris. We had fully packed days, and itineraries. So that'll be shared as well. 

For starters though...Remember that one time I posted about April and I painting spheres? And how you could too? Well, if not, you can see it (maybe for a reminder) here. My fanny pack has a little pink paint on it even to this day as a reminder. 

In summary though, we essentially had a day where we volunteered to paint these giant blown-up spheres through Portraits of Hope — an organization "aimed at enriching the lives of children and adults — many who may be coping with adversity or serious illness — through their participation in creative, educational, high-profile, one-of-a-kind projects." And by one-of-a-kind, they're referring to colorful city art installations all over the country. 

Well, kind of unfortunately, the opportunity to paint them has passed, and also the opportunity to see the installation has passed. BUT I do want to remember how cool it was when I finally saw the spheres in all their glory, floating at MacArthur Park. And that there were at least three of them that April and I carefully painted. 

READ ON TO SEE PHOTOS & FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SPHERES...

Unlike the beach areas where I grew up — Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo Beach — the best beaches, like Thousand Steps Beach or Shaws Cove, in Laguna Beach are hidden and not seen until you actually park your car and go discover them. 

One of the last things I did before I left Los Angeles was go to Thousand Steps Beach with Brittney and Krystal to find the "secret pools" I had kept hearing about. And also to see this beach.

READ ON TO FIND OUT HOW TO FIND THE POOLS...

It was 4:45am and it we had about 15 minutes to get ready to go. 

Brittney and I had stayed up until 1am talking and laughing. She had flown into Los Angeles just the night before, and instead of going back to my house, I surprised her with a Motel 6 in an area she had never been to. Because what are friends for except to surprise them with sketchy motels in the dark?

It wasn't the motel that was the final destination though. As we drove through the dark morning, she still didn't realize that we were in Temecula, known for it's many vineyards as well as hot air balloon rides.

Even when I parked in the pitch black, all we could see was a house in the distance with it's lights on.

I wish I could have recorded the moment she walked into that house. Still bewildered, it wasn't until she saw one of the t-shirts they were selling with a hot air balloon on it that she realized what was happening.

And then she smiled super big and looked at me like, "Are we actually going on a hot air balloon ride right now?" 

That moment was worth everything. And I was happy to say yes, yes we were.

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Back in the good old days... 

haha JUST KIDDING. They're still young and fresh in my mind. Before my friend Kana (birthday shout-out to her! Happy Birthday!!) moved to Japan, we went on a four day road trip up the coast of California and back.

This state is "SO BIG" as Kana would say time and again (and she's right!) that we decided it was a good time to really explore it.

To plan the trip, we primarily used a website/app called "Roadtrippers," and it was extremely helpful and made it so much easier to find great, quirky, and fun places to go to! 

Read more to see the entire trip! 

Hi! Hello! Hola! (According to DuoLingo, I am currently 12% fluent in Spanish so I'm trying to use it as much as possible.) Happy New Year! Oh wait, what? January is almost passed? How?! Well, in my timing that's ok. It only took me three weeks into the year to complete my new year's resolutions. I'd say I'm just right on track to complete all my January goals by starting the last week of January.

Well, it's been a crazy couple months. I guess it's been that long since I last wrote. But in good ways. I have so much content to share, but lots of things I'm focusing on right now. So in due time. 

I'm currently back in Tennessee. Watching some ladybugs crawling on my window screen. (I thought ladybugs were lucky (my Nana told me so anyways) until they became creepy by showing up in mass amounts in the fall. Since winter came, I find less in my room, but they appear to not go into complete hibernation and I'll still find them crawling on my wall.)

Oh, and I'm sick again. I've been sick once each month since I moved to Tennessee. I could go to a doctor or something, but I'm guessing they would tell me that I need to eat less of the bad sugar (chocolate) and eat more fruit and take more Vitamin C. All of which I know, and have now started instituting. Because sick days are not fun when you're not being paid for them, and I've got new year's resolutions to accomplish!

As for life sharing moments: first off, over Christmas and New Year's, I was in Los Angeles. It went by so so quickly. Every day was filled with people, animals, and making things happen. Like finishing all my Christmas shopping and wrapping on Christmas Eve. (Notice a pattern here? New Year's resolution numero uno: prepare in high advance.) That was a little stressful. 

And turning 25. I am now a quarter of a century old. That's all I would like to say about officially confronting I am now in my mid-twenties. I have to say, It's been good to me so far though.

Click through to view a little photo diary of my two weeks back at home...

By the time we went through the art exhibits in Chinatown, we were really really hungry. Eugene left us and we hopped in our cars again to make one final downtown trek: Pershing Square. And more specifically, Perch & Mrs. Fish.

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Piñatas + Polka Dots + Silly String might be my new favorite combination now.

READ MORE TO SEE IT ALL COME TOGETHER...

Behold: The Grammy Museum! This was an unexpectedly informational and interactive museum with so much about various music legends. 

READ MORE FOR PICTURES & INFO

From The Original Los Angeles Flower Market we drove over to Chinatown (which is about two miles — we could have technically walked except we both parked in limited hour parking). 

I love going to Chinatown simply because of the lanterns strung through the main plaza areas. And all the fun Chinese mementos you can buy.

We met up with our other friend Eugene at the Golden Dragon Seafood Restaurant for dim sum. I was really grateful Eugene knew how to speak Chinese because I have only had dim sum once before and it gets really confusing if you don't know what you're doing. They come around with carts of different food, so you kind of need to know what you're looking for beforehand, or at least be able to communicate pretty well. 

That aside, dim sum is the best thing to do in Chinatown if you ever have the opportunity to go. Everything is so good! Except for the chicken legs. That wasn't my favorite.

Eugene is really familiar with Chinatown and was telling us some of the history about it like this area is technically the "new" Chinatown. The old one was just about a mile away. He also told us how there's a strong artist community that resides there now because it's a relatively cheap place to live. We had the opportunity to experience first hand some of this community when later at night there was actually an art show.

We also got to see a sort of pre-show when we were walking around the plaza area. A group of people were taking "Jerry McGuire" VHS tapes and stacking them up. We asked them what they were doing, and in preparation for this art show, they were taking this collection of VHS's and making a sort of shrine. 

Before going to our next destination, I was SO EXCITED when Eugene suggested an ice cream place called Scoops Ice Cream. They have daily flavors that they list on their Twitter — I went with Root Beer. It was an amazing break from the heat and equally lovely flavor.

Near the end of the day, April, Eugene and I came back to Chinatown to experience the art show in action, including the completed shrine. And also just to get back to our cars since that's where we parked for the day.

CLICK THROUGH TO SEE ALL THE PHOTOS...

My friend April is coming to Nashville in less than NINE HOURS. And I couldn't be more excited. I can actually hardly believe it. We both love to explore, and have had so many adventures in Los Angeles, that I'm so looking forward to discovering Nashville and parts of Tennessee with her! 

In celebration, I'm posting a series of spots we scouted on a serious adventure day back in Los Angeles with her and another friend Eugene.

So began one of the most full and fun days before I left L.A. 

First stop: The Original Los Angeles Flower Market. Located in the Los Angeles Flower District. 

READ MORE TO SEE FLOWERS & TIPS