This past week I kicked off 2017 with a trip to London! We landed at Heathrow around noon on New Year’s Eve, and after a short nap and some fish and chips, we were ready to celebrate NYE on the Thames River. We ended our boat ride just in front of the London Eye to watch the most incredible fireworks show and ring in 2017. We spent the rest of our trip mastering the tube, walking a million miles, crossing all the main tourist spots off our list, and eating everything in sight. I will be posting more in-depth this week about some of my favorite spots we visited in London, especially restaurants. In the meantime, here are some of the places we enjoyed visiting on our trip.

The Trinity Pub: Our first stop in London was this cute little pub near where we were staying. I had a classic fish and chips, which was delicious, and Alex had a blu cheeseburger, which disappeared rather quickly.

Wasabi Sushi & Bento: We woke up starving on New Year’s Day and decided to give sushi a chance. This is a popular chain in London with a fresh market setup, offering a variety of Japanese dishes.

Shakespeare Globe Theatre: We did not have time to watch a show, but we enjoyed walking around the grounds on our way to the Tate Modern.

The Tate Modern Museum of Art: We ended up spending most of the day in the museum, enjoying all 8 floors of collections and the viewing level. Admission is free to the museum, but you can purchase tickets to their special exhibits. If you do not want to spend the whole day at the Tate, I recommend checking out the 10th-floor viewing level for the most incredible view of London, as well as floors 2, 3, and 4 on the boiler house side. On these floors, you can view multiple pieces from artists such as Picasso, Monet, Dali, Pollock, Warhol, and Rothko that you cannot view anywhere else.

Big Ben: We did not have time to tour Big Ben, but we had an incredible view across the Thames near the London Eye, and as we crossed the Westminster Bridge.

Westminster Abbey: The line to tour Westminster Abbey was down the street before noon, I recommend purchasing tickets in advance. Since we did not purchase tickets in advance, we were not able to go inside.

Buckingham Palace: The palace was not open for tours while we were there, but we did stop by to see the changing of the guards. You can check online to see which days they will be changing guards, but it always happens at 11:30 AM and you must walk to the palace in order to get close enough for a good view.

Churchill War Rooms: This was one of my favorite things we did in London. The war rooms are just across the street from St. Jame’s Park and around the corner from Westminster Abbey. The line moved quickly (we only waited about 30 minutes) and we were able to get discounted tickets without student IDs. We ended up spending about 2 hours in the war rooms, but in-between the viewable parts of the WWII bunker, is a museum all about Winston Churchill. It is a very fascinating museum and I recommend going through and reading everything.

Leicester Arms: We took a walk through Piccadilly Circus and stopped at this side street pub for some lunch. We sat in the upstairs dining room and both enjoyed another delicious fish and chips.

London Eye: We rode the London Eye in the evening and enjoyed seeing the view in lights. We purchased our tickets the morning of online and paid the extra $10 for fast track. Personally, the fast track was 100% worth it, we walked up at our designated time and skipped the hour-long line.

Churchill Arms: We were on a hunt to watch the Westham v. Manchester United game, and thought The Churchill Arms Pub would be a good place to watch. We later found out that it is not very popular to watch a soccer match at a pub (go figure) we ended up eating dinner at their famous Thai restaurant attached to the pub. I had Pad Thai and ordered it as spicy as it would come and still had to add chili so do not be afraid of anything being too spicy.

Harrods: We spent close to the whole day eating, shopping, and exploring the many floors of Harrods. We enjoyed high tea at The Georgian restaurant on the fourth floor. I will be sharing more about our tea in a separate post later on.

Piccadilly Circus

Pizza Pilgrims: Alex gave me a book about the best places to eat pizza around the world, and there is where we found Pizza Pilgrims. I will be sharing more about the delicious pizza in a later post.

The London Film Museum: We made an unexpected detour to see the Bond in Motion exhibit at The London Film Museum. My brother loves all James Bond movies, especially the cars in the movies, and told us about the exhibit. If you like James Bond or rare cars, this exhibit is right up your alley.

Abbey Road: It would not be a trip to England without seeing something Beatles related, so we road the tube north a bit to St. John’s Wood Station. While you cannot go inside Abbey Road Studios, there is a gift shop/small museum open to the public and a wall for fans to leave notes.

The Wellington: We stopped here for one last “English” meal. Alex had fish and chips and I had a mushroom and beef pie. While I was missing Tex-Mex in London, I enjoyed all the pub food.

St. Paul’s Cathedral: We did not purchase tickets in advance, so we were not able to go inside St. Paul’s. However, we enjoyed the architecture and sculpture on the exterior of the cathedral. Be sure to check hours before visiting the cathedral and know that you are not allowed to take pictures inside the cathedral.

Millennium Bridge: Between St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern is the Millennium Bridge stretching across the River Thames. It is defiantly worth walking across, even in the cold rain, because the view down the river is incredible.

Sketch: Since Alex kept me accountable for my fantasy football team at work, I told him that I would treat him to dinner with my winnings. I picked out sketch because I had to see the gallery room for myself. The atmosphere was wonderful and we enjoyed everything we ordered. I will be sharing more about Sketch in a later post.

xoxo

Millennium Bridge.
The London Eye.Big Ben.Big Ben.Buckingham Palace.Westminster Abbey.Westminster Abbey.St. Paul’s Cathedral. Millennium Bridge.
Piccadilly Circus.Piccadilly Circus.
Big Ben.

Need more London recommendations? Check out my posts here:

London Travel Guide

The Georgian at Harrods

Pizza Pilgrim

Mondrian London

This weekend I was in Austin, Texas for a good friend’s bachelorette party. We ate at some of the cutest places including Forthright on San Jacinto, and my new favorite, Juliet Ristorante on Barton Springs. The staff at Juliet Ristorante was able to easily accommodate our larger party with reservations and our service was wonderful. Not only did our waiter give great food and wine recommendations, he also offered to take our photo outside against their white brick and ivory wall (they turned out adorable!). Half of the table split a bottle of Tempranillo (2010) Izadi Reserva, Rioja, and the other half of the table split a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc (2015) Brancott Letter Series, Marlborough, Australia. My favorite of the two was the Tempranillo. For an appetizer, our table shared an olive oil tasting that included olive oil from Australia, Chile, and South Africa. I preferred the Pendolino olive oil from Australia, but they were all wonderful and paired well with the bread provided. For dinner I decided to go with a pasta entree called Capellini e Funghi which was angel hair pasta with a mushroom cream sauce, roasted garlic, spinach, and rosemary. This dish paired well with the Tempranillo wine and was very filling. I couldn’t finish it all after having bread with my appetizer! This dish does include a heavy amount of roasted garlic, so next time I might ask for less garlic on my dish. Juliet Ristorante does have more intimate tables that are perfect for a date night, or larger tables in the back room for events like a bachelorette party or family get-togethers. It also has an adorable patio surrounded by greenery and thinking lights for group celebrations. Check out the full menu for Juliet Ristorante here, and be sure to check them out on your next trip to Austin! xoxo

Top: Urban Outfitters // Leggings: LuLu Lemon // Shoes: Nike // Bralette: Calvin Klein // Sunnies: Karen Walker

Tank: Chloe & Katie // Jeans: Gap // Shoes: Marc Fisher // Sunnies: Karen Walker 

This past weekend I made a quick (24 hour) trip to visit my cousin in Austin. Any Texan knows that no road trip would be complete without a stop at Buc-ee’s, so I had to pick up some beef jerky to hold me over until dinner. I met some friends downtown for dinner at La Condesa, and y’all, I have tired a million mexican restaurants, but this is one of the best! We started off with the guacamole sampler, which had a traditional guacamole, chipotle purée & toasted almond guacamole, strawberry guacamole, and jumbo lump crab guacamole (my favorite of the four). They also served four seasonal salsas, all of which were full of flavor and were very spicy. For my main course I ordered the Vida de Cameròn ceviche, which had poached shrimp, salsa vida, avocado, cherry tomato, cilantro, and smoked pasilla. The ceviche was so fresh and a great lighter option after eating my weight in guacamole. Make sure you have chips left on the table because you will want some to go with your ceviche. I split a side of Elotes (Mexican street corn) with a friend and it was absolutely worth the extra $6. We honestly should have ordered our own sides.

I went to bed happily full on tortilla chips, and looking forward to my next meal, brunch. My cousin took me to Moonshine Grill for their Sunday brunch buffet, which was basically any brunch food you can imagine! I enjoyed everything from jalapeño sausage and deviled eggs, to cinnamon rolls and apple turnovers. I might have gone through the line for seconds or thirds (don’t judge), so plan on having a full meal if you go for brunch. Before I left town, I had to stop at Jo’s Coffee on South Congress for my all time favorite Belgium Bomber (aka the best iced coffee you will ever have).

I am wearing this tank by Chloe & Katie that is currently only $22 during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale (through August 8th). I am wearing a size small, and it fits great under the arms and across the chest. The length is a little shorter than most shirts, but since my torso is not very long the length does not bother me. I am also wearing my favorite pair of ripped skinny jeans from Gap (run large, so order a size smaller) and my Marc Fisher flatforms (fit true to size). Shop the complete look below! xoxo

Images via Alex Phillips.

Last week I went on a Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Breeze. This was my first time out of the country, so of course I had to get this adorable GiGi New York passport case for my new (and awful) passport photo. We started our trip in Galveston, followed by two whole days at sea. Our first stop was Montego Bay, Jamaica (pictured wearing this adorable blush cover-up from Anthropologie). We spent our day in a cabana enjoying the perfectly blue water of Jamaica and fresh fruits. After Jamaica we stopped in Grand Cayman, where I spent the day sitting in the middle of the ocean on a sandbar playing with stingrays. If you ever visit Grand Cayman, I highly recommend visiting stingray city, don’t worry you will not get stung by them! Our last stop on the cruise before heading back to Galveston, was Cozumel, Mexico (pictured wearing this pom pom cover-up from ASOS and these denim cut offs from Nordstrom). Cozumel was beautiful but we were in a very tourist heavy part of town and spent most of the day buying souvenirs for the our friends and family. While on the cruise, I was constantly applying sunscreen to avoid getting burned and I feel in love with the Neutrogena Clear Face sunscreen. Banana Boat Tanning Oil has always been a favorite but I used Neutrogena Dry-Touch when I was laying out. It is so important to protect your skin from the harsh sun, especially here in Texas. Don’t forget to stock up on great sunscreen before Memorial Day weekend! xoxo

Images via Alex Phillips.

This past weekend I made a quick trip to Downtown Los Angeles with my friend, colleague, and fellow blogger, Mel of My Everyday Lifestyle, for Create & Cultivate. There were two tracks at the conference and we took different tracks in order to hear all of the speakers. I was able to listen to speakers such as Clare Vivier, Alexandra Amodio of beGlammed, Mara Ferreira of M Loves M, Taylor Sterling of Glitter Guide, Christine Andrew of Hello Fashion, Jessica Alba, and my favorite, Rachel Zoe.

We started our morning off with a delicious breakfast from Patina Restaurant Group that included mini blueberry pancakes, chi parfait, avocado toast, and of course Alfred coffee. My first two sessions were The Future of Fashion: Trends, Tech, & Bridging Online & Off and Fresh Faced: An Unfiltered Look at the Business of Beauty. A few things I took away from these sessions included:

 “Walk forward with blinders on and keep your eyes on a goal. Do not focus on the competition…. Even if a post doesn’t turn into dollars, it is building your brand.” –Clare Vivier

“Always say yes, you’re never too good for anything… there is always something you can learn from it.” –Nikki DeRoest

“If it’s inside you, you should do it. Work hard. Oprah was not built in a day.” –Sarah Gibson Tuttle 

“Have real friendships with other women instead of focusing on comparing yourselves.” –Sarah Gibson Tuttle

“Snapchat and real time content is the future of social media.” –Evelina Cartasova

“Suck it up and don’t compare yourself to other people… don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle, understand where you are.” –Evelina Cartasova

We enjoyed salads from Sweetgreen for lunch, then I attended Video Pros: Harnessing the Power of Digital Platforms to Build Your Brand and Blog Powerhouses: The #BossLadies Slaying the Content Game. I took away some great advice that pertained more specifically to blogging, that included:

“If you don’t have a passion for it, don’t do it. You will end up spreading yourself too thin.” –Chriselle Lim

“Being on time is the most important thing. Brands talk about influencers just as much as influencers talk about brands.” –Christine Andrew

“Be yourself. Do not try to be another blogger. You will just be second best.” –Andy Torres

The day ended with our bomb keynote speakers, Jessica Alba and Rachel Zoe. Jessica was in conversation with Katherine Power and Hillary Kerr of Clique Media Group, and Rachel was in conversation with her friend and jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer. Some of my favorite quotes from Jessica Alba included:

“One thing I undervalued in starting a company was the importance of trusting your gut, they don’t teach you that in business school.”

“I don’t identify a problem and bone out, I identify a problem and get in the nitty gritty… I am very involved in all aspects of the company from IT, UX to creative and marketing.”

“Being an actress is like being rejected by the hottest guy in school everyday.”

“Mentor those people in your life and open those doors to help them along the way… It’s absolutely important for women to support each other.”

And my favorite quotes from Rachel Zoe included:

“I want to help motivate women at a very young age, to help them accomplish anything.”

“It is all about being honest, kind, and forthcoming, both internally and externally.”

“I don’t think you can be good at something if you don’t just love it. You need both patience and passion to succeed.”

“If you just hire really talented people you can just let them be and not have to micromanage.”

“Don’t micromanage, but you need to watch people because you can get hurt, just trust your gut.”

“Taking the high road is really hard, but it is always better. You have to believe that good people win in the end.”

“Social media has become how we speak to each other, it is essential to business. I don’t think you can have a business right now without some sort of social presence.”

If you ever have a chance to attend Create & Cultivate, it is well worth it! They will be announcing their next city on May 16th. xoxo