Funny enough, I have to admit I've never seen an actual show in the Walt Disney Concert Hall — I've only been in the lobby or meandering outside it. And that's the thing — although I've heard the acoustics and performances are amazing and it's definitely on my list to experience one day — just from viewing it and walking around this amazing architectural structure is an experience in itself. 

There's some stairs that will lead you up through the seemingly-moving reflective plates. You can go around to the back to see a garden area and a beautiful mosaic flower piece, "A Rose for Lilly," — Frank Gehry's tribute to Lillian Disney — and that will lead you to some stairs with a leaved wall for more #instagrammoments haha. But actually. It was a cute setting to capture Whitney and Chris. 

But wait... there's more! 

READ MORE FOR PHOTOS AND OTHER PLACES NEARBY...

Olvera Street is a beautiful place. From the first time I visited here in middle school, I was absolutely enamored with the bright colors, and positive energy that could be felt wandering down the "street."

I've visited here for their Día de Los Muertos//Day of the Dead event as well as their Virgen de Guadalupe event in December. Other events/celebrations are listed here. Even to be here for no event at all still provides an inspired and fun experience. 

The mission of Olvera Street goes beyond the appearance of a Mexican Marketplace — it was created in 1930 "to preserve and present the customs and trades of early California." According to their website, many of the merchants on the street today are descended from the original vendors.

Not only all that, but it's right across the street from another historic part of Los Angeles that's still in operation and every day use: Union Station (opened in 1939) — making Olvera Street an easy destination/metro ride, and you can take a look inside this historic building. (One thing about Olvera Street is parking can be tricky to find, especially during an event. It's better to plan for a full day in downtown and just park somewhere for the entire day, then take the metro or walk to different spots.)

We were really fortunate this time around because The Avila Adobe, a house built in 1818 and is listed as the oldest standing residence in Los Angeles, was open! So we had the opportunity to go inside and walk around (usually it's closed whenever I've visited because I tend to go in the evening or at night).

Don't miss getting some churros and a picture with the burro. 

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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.

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...

Do you remember when disposable cameras were a thing? Film cameras used to be the only thing. Digital cameras, when they came out, were such a big deal... And now I've got a nice camera on my phone, and take 100 shots of one thing because I can. 

There's something really beautiful about film cameras though. That moment when you take a photo and you have no idea what it looks like. Or how it might develop. 

When I was in high school, I took a photography class where we only used film cameras. That was a cool experience just to know how to manipulate film and see the process of development. 

But digital is so convenient.

Because it's convenient, sometimes it feels not as special. More planned too. More perfected... but in a sad way.

I had this idea that when I went on my Route 66 road trip that I would only use disposable cameras and get the big surprise at the end of the trip of how the pictures turned out. 

Unfortunately, that's actually pretty expensive nowadays. So I kind of dropped that aspect of the trip. April knew about this little dream though, and bought me a disposable camera and gave it to me before my trip. 

I took it with me, only taking a few pictures here and there. I still had some left when I got to the farm. And then some left when April came to visit Nashville. And still had some even when I went home for the holidays. I used the very last pictures on the first day of the new year.

I finally got them developed here at a Walmart in Nashville that didn't give me the picture CD with it. So, while I will not trust Walmart with my disposable camera photos ever again, I was grateful to get these back. From a critical perspective, the coloring is imperfect, some of the shots are out of focus, or gritty, overexposed or underexposed. 

But what I love is they absolutely capture the moments. Just that snap second moment. I didn't have a chance to know if it'd be good or not. And, in the end, it doesn't really matter. Because memories aren't exactly judged that way. It just is.

READ MORE TO SEE ALL THE 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...