Last week I decided to go on a quick excursion to California. It was only a day trip, but I had so much fun! During my brief visit, I went to Downtown LA, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and West Hollywood. My friend, Margarita had never been to Southern California, so I felt as though it was my Californian duty take her. Plus I needed to scope out my favorite locations to determine my residence for next year. I totally thought I was going to choose Santa Monica, but Downtown LA won my heart in a landslide. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures as I was too excited to absorb my surroundings to do anything else. Fortunately, I am about an hour away, so I’ll be getting some photos this trip.

Downtown LA

We made our way to DT in the early afternoon. I was able to find parking in the Financial District and the meter still had time left! The cool thing about being in the Financial District on an early Saturday afternoon is that it’s super low key. In fact, I was able to people a wide-eyed tourist and just meander and take in all of the scenery. DT LA is like an urban jungle; forresty-green with concrete around it. We made our way to the Historic Core in which I saw some of the most beautiful architecture. I was enamored by the whole experience. It’s so weird because though I had never been in that part of LA before, I felt at home. All I wanted to do was get out my notebook and just write down my observations about the people around me. To sum it up, I felt inspired.  We stayed for a couple of hours, perusing the different districts and had a blast.

Santa Monica

My first year of college was spent in the Valley, so I was about 30 minutes from Santa Monica for the school year. Whenever I was feeling down or overwhelmed, I’d zip over to the pier just to get away and chill. That was 8 years ago (geez, 8 years?!) and til this day, I still pop over to Santa Monica as it’s my little getaway place. Going back last week, I still had the nostalgic memory of breathing in the ocean air and feeling at peace with the world. Plus I got a kick out of how much Margarita was enjoying Santa Monica. I make it my mission to show my Vegas friends why So Cal is better, drought and all. 😉

West Hollywood/Beverly Hills

I’ve always been a huge fan of being creepy and checking out the beautiful homes in Beverly Hills. For starters, all of the homes are structurally unique. From Tudors, to Colonials, and Mediterranean architecture, each offers something uniquely gorgeous. I’m honestly surprised that I didn’t crash my car as I was paying more attention to looking at the homes than driving (whoops). Since it was dusk, we briefly drove through West Hollywood, this time around it wasn’t as awesome as it was for me last year, but it was still a fun place to drive through.

All in all, I really enjoyed my visit (so much so that I’ll be in DT LA in the next hour). I know it’s probably a mind trick, but I really feel happier when I come back to Cali. I can’t really explain it, but it’s like I’m seeing in color. I am more expressive, funnier (in my humble opinion, lol), and just more myself. So 2016 will be the year that I call DT LA my home!