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.

CLICK THROUGH TO SEE MORE PHOTOS & DETAILS...

When I came to visit Nashville almost three years ago — I had just finished college and was on my "spring break" in March — it snowed. In March. It wasn't a heavy snow by any means. It was just fluff that melted as soon as it hit the ground. But it was snow. 

And coming from Los Angeles where it was sunny, and spring was coming, I just thought that if some place still had snow, then it must snow even more in the winter time. I concluded that Nashville must have heavy snow in their winters. 

Then I moved here.

I told everyone that I wanted four seasons. That included real deal, shoveling snow seasons. I was so excited to finally have a white snowy winter. And everyone, I mean everyone that had lived here, told me that "in Nashville, it doesn't really snow. It just gets icy." 

What do you mean it doesn't snow?? I saw snow three years ago in March. 

"Well sometimes it's a light snow that melts as it hits the ground, but it's never really heavy snow. It doesn't stick."

Every time I had this conversation, I felt slightly bummed out. But in the back of my mind, I honestly just didn't believe them. Which is why I probably had the same conversation so many times.

My hope was further solidified though when Lizzie from the farm said that the persimmon seed revealed an intense snow will fall winter by showing a spoon shape (persimmon seeds can predict weather, didn't you know?). 

And then December came. Winter came. And it was sunny. Sometimes cold. But mostly mild and sunny.

My hopes started becoming less.

Coming back from Los Angeles and Utah, I still felt like there was a chance. And then hallelujah. It happened.

I was there with my roommate Annemarie when she got the phone call that school would be cancelled the next day. SNOW WAS COMING. 

READ MORE ABOUT WHAT WE DID AND SEE PHOTOS...

I visited Utah at the beginning of January, and I'm going back again to visit Matt and friends next week! #holla 

One of my favorite things we experienced when I was there were the Midway Ice Castles. 

About a year ago, I learned that Utah had these "ice castles" during the winter. Utah sounded like a good place to go on a four day trip, so Krystal and I went. We had a blast making a quick trip to Brighton, eating waffles in Provo, and visiting some of my favorite places in Salt Lake City, but there was virtually little, if any snow (which is why we drove up to Brighton to make some semblance of a snowman). It wasn't cold enough. Even at the end of January.

So we did a lot of fun things, but we did not get to see the ice castles.

Fast forward to this year when I went to Utah again. This time there was snow. LOTS OF IT. And I loved it, as expected. And I loved it even more that because it was snowy and cold, the castles would be open in time!

READ MORE ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE AND SEE PHOTOS...

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...

One thing I've been wanting to do more often in Tennessee is go hiking. There are hiking meetup groups, and specifically night hikes that I plan to do, but then it sort of gets lost throughout the day on my list of priorities. 

While April was here, my friend Matt suggested a little half-day trip to Cummins Falls State Park. He easily convinced me it was an ideal location to hike in from his beautiful photos of the waterfalls themselves and him behind the waterfall. Not only going to a waterfall but being able to go behind one? SOLD. 

READ MORE TO SEE PHOTOS, HIKE DETAILS, & DOUGHNUTS!...