Kelocity.com

A runner with an appetite for adventure!

Hollywood Honeymoon October 29, 2013

My sister (and new brother, Chris) honeymooned in California after their wedding. They had an AMAZING time up in Napa and Sonoma. Their pictures were so fun and they had such a great time up there. Then they continued their California adventure down in LA and San Diego. One night, we got a babysitter and went with them to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. It was SO fun.

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We dined at Saddle Ranch beforehand and ended our meal with their infamous cotton candy.
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We stayed out at Universal until 2am! (I haven’t seen that time on the clock in about 14 months. HAHA ) I was all nervous about the time, thinking Adele would be up at 6:30a (she was sleeping in our closet so Mikaela and Chris could sleep in her room– don’t worry, it’s a big closet). But she decided to sleep in til 9:30am!! WHATT?? We were so excited, we decided to reward her for her amazing sleeping talents by visiting Hollywood & Highland.
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I feel like Hollywood gets stranger and stranger every time we visit, but it was fun.
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And of course, we had to make a visit to the Hollywood sign. Mikaela wore her veil! Love it!!!
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Yep. Jumping with babies. Totally safe.
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And a jump with dad too:
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After all the jumping, we needed some fuel… in the form of Sprinkles Ice Cream! <— I only link to important things on my blog.
1235113_10152010860708804_893607500_nCan you see Chris’s cone? That’s what he ordered. That’s smaller than a sample bite! Are you kidding? Clearly he doesn’t know what he’s missing!

I have no pictures of what I ordered, but let me paint that delicious picture for you…. Red Velvet ice cream sandwiched between two CUPCAKE tops (Red Velvet and Vanilla)!! Are you kidding me?! A cupcake ice cream sandwich! It was as amazing as it sounds, I promise. It kind of looked like this:
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The only thing that would have made this better was if there was ICING on the cupcake tops…. Cupcakes are vehicles for icing… if anything, Sprinkles should know this. Oh well.

No one shared with Adele, so she got bored and fell asleep. Usually it’s “Snooze, you Lose”… but in this case, it’s “Lose, you snooze”.
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The original plan was to say Bon Voyage to the newlyweds as they took the Amtrak train down to San Diego for the last few days of their trip… but before they were slated to leave, we found out the train was shutdown due to track construction and they were offering a bus as an alternative… that didn’t sound remotely romantic to me, so we volunteered to drive them down to SD in our awesome minivan. Minivan>Bus.

I brought a map and looked for a beach to pull off into so Chris could touch the Pacific ocean for the first time. We randomly picked one in San Clemente and pulled into a parking lot. And wouldn’t you know… that was the EXACT location of the train track construction!!! Out of the miles and miles of track, we stumbled upon the road block. It was quite ironic.
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To get to the water, we had to hike down a hill, traverse along a cliff, climb over a ledge, cross the train tracks, and jump down a sand dune…. and Irving did all of that holding a carseat with a sleeping baby in it. #DadOfTheYear
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It was worth it for the amazing sunset we caught while we were there. We got some great shots. Here’s some of my favorites!
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We had a great time hanging out with the honeymooners for a few extra hours. We topped off our exciting day with dinner in Old Town, San Diego before dropping them off at their hotel. We were so excited to be part of their honeymoon adventure. Hope you guys come back and visit soon!! XOXO

 

Adele Meets Shamu April 22, 2013

Filed under: Baby,California,Friends,Nature,San Diego — Kelocity @ 9:50 pm
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Irving and I woke up early and drove down to SeaWorld for the day on Sunday! My friend Courtney was in San Diego and since it’s only two hours from LA, we thought SeaWorld would be the perfect opportunity to catch up and do something fun!
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We started our day by going up the Sky Tower (a ride that takes you 328 feet up above the park)!  We could see all the tanks below with the dolphins and whales swimming around.
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Adele loved it, obviously.
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Then we headed over to ride the roller coaster! Daddy and Adele chickened out, but Courtney and I rode the Manta and LOVED it! I giggled and screamed the whole time, it was awesome!
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We brought our new umbrella stroller and I think Adele liked it. What a life, right?
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Ok, Adele. Where should we go next?
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Yea? You want to see the dolphins? Ok, let’s do it!
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IMG_1720Look, mama! Fishies!

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All around the park are individual aquariums, so we checked out the Sea Turtle exhibit next. These guys are awesome!
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It was nice to be able to go from inside to outside so we never got too hot.
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I think her favorite part of the entire day was watching the roller coaster go by. haha Maybe because it’s so big and loud, but she was pretty mesmerized by it.
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Adele was excited to hang out with Courtney so Irving and I could check out the Shark exhibit together. haha It was like a 3 minute date! haha We even held hands when we walked through. Awe.
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And then it was time! Shamu Time!!
IMG_1785(Mom, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a killer whale, have I?) So awesome!

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Hey, buddy!
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Then it was time to see Shamu in action!
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Adele took a 10 minute nap ALL day, so she was pretty zonked by this point, but she still paid attention and watched, even from up high!
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After the show, we walked around for a bit hoping Adele would fall asleep (spoiler alert: she didn’t), but we got to look at the Penguins and the Beluga whales! So awesome.
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What a great, great day. Adele was amazing and we all had a blast. It was nice to remember that San Diego is really in our backyard.
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Then, to keep it interesting, we headed to Old Town in San Diego for some amazing authentic Mexican Food. Yes! I almost don’t want to tell you about it because we like to keep it our little secret. (*cough*cough* Casa Guadalajara *cough*cough*) We ordered way too much food and left stuffed to the gills. We also ordered Adele food from the kids menu for the first time! Quasadilla with rice & beans with a side of fruit. She had plenty of leftovers, but she enjoyed it. Suffice it to say, she slept in the car for the entire two hours it took to get home. (and then another 12 hours straight after that!) Yea, she was tired.

I think Courtney needs to visit us more often!
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Just Like That It’s Over. August 8, 2011

Filed under: Blogging,Celebs,San Diego — Kelocity @ 7:54 am
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I love these funny pictures from the BlogHer sponsor booths. Some of them are so funny. 

This one especially. HAHA.
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Anyways, the closing keynote was on the power of women in media. The panel was Carol Jenkins, Fatemeh Fakhraie and Ricki Lake!
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Right after, Ricki bought drinks at the bar for anyone who wanted to go! I didn’t grab one, but they looked delicious.
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After having dinner at the pool, it was Party Time!!! We went to two, but the one everyone was talking about was the Cheeseburgher Party… sponsored by McDonalds. I will just come right out and say that I do not eat Micky D’s. I haven’t had a burger from there in a good 11 years or so.
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They actually did have burgers and fries on platters at the party… but I did not partake.IMG_6935

I stuck with my H2O instead.
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And with that, BlogHer was officially over. What a great experience.

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We had breakfast in Little Italy the next morning (and boy was it nice to sleep in!)

Cream Cheese and Pesto bagel? So good!
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And then we headed back to LA. It took us about three hours to get home (oh, the traffic!!!) I’m finally unpacked and organized again.
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And I love this card. It is just TOO perfect, isn’t it?
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BlogHer is Delicious August 7, 2011

Filed under: Blogging,Food,San Diego — Kelocity @ 8:29 pm
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I can’t decide if BlogHer weekend felt like 10 days or 10 minutes. It’s crazy how many people I met and how much I learned in such a short amount of time. Overall, it was really great and I’m excited to try out some new things I learned.

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Now that I’m safely back home, I can tell you where we stayed for the weekend! The La Pensione Hotel in Little Italy is one of our favorites. We stay there every time we go to San Diego since the rates are low and the location is great. IMG_6878

It’s right in the heart of Little Italy and just a block away from the Trolley.

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They recently updated the rooms too, so it’s got a European Chic look now. I love the grey + silver color scheme they have now!
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Our room had been renovated, but there were others that were completely redone from the bottom up. We asked to take a peek and they were gorgeous. Next time we’re staying in one of these!
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Sigh. I just love nice hotels. Especially the ones that are cute, off the beaten path, and really feel like home. (Not that my home has an awesome bathroom like this, but you know what I mean).
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So back to the conference, after I had breakfast with Bob, I headed over to the Daisy Cottage Cheese Refuel & Recharge suite. I was invited to have a snack, talk about nutrition and get a spa treatment. Sign me up!
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Just a tid-bit from what I learned, Daisy Cottage Cheese only has three ingredients: Cultured skim milk, cream and salt. That’s it. It was a perfect mid-day snack! Thanks for the invite, ladies!
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I also did a paraffin hand treatment before I left too. Have you ever done that? You literally submerge your hands into piping hot wax and let it harden, then it peels off! So cool! That was definitely a first for me!

After that, I popped back into some sessions to learn some more! First up was Til Blog Do Us Part. I initially thought it was about how blogging affects relationships and marriages. I think blogging is definitely a delicate subject that your spouse and family really should be on board with. I’m lucky that I do have the support of my husband and family (love you!) However, the session mostly talked about blogging about divorce, remarriage and mixed families. Though it didn’t really apply to me, it was still interesting to hear the panel, specifically the man below, who co-writes a blog with his ex-wife about raising their children.
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I snuck out of that one a few minutes early to catch the end of Blog Design and I was sad to have missed the beginning of it. It really sounded like an awesome session about what makes blogs look good from font to sidebars to headers. (Kelocity needs a header, don’t you think? Working on it!)

Then lunch! As I was in line to make my plate, I did a double take and saw the beautiful Kelle from Enjoying the Small Things. I read about 200 blogs a day, and if there was ONE blog that I could recommend, it would be this one. She and her family will melt your heart, you MUST go over there right now and look. Seriously go! I was totally star struck when I saw her. And little Nella was just TOO CUTE!
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I’ll be back soon with the last of the BlogHer Recaps! I’m off to watch Meet Joe Black with my husband! They shot the movie at the same place where my friend had her wedding two weeks ago, so now we’re dying to see it in the film!

 

BlogHer 101: I’m Exhausted! August 6, 2011

Filed under: Blogging,San Diego — Kelocity @ 11:19 am
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Man, when my alarm went off yesterday, I honestly didn’t know where I was. I was supposed to do the BlogHer 5K, but I felt like I was hit by a bus. I just need one solid night of 9 hours of sleep to catch up I think. Can’t get those hours back once they’re gone!
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But I was pretty excited for a day full of learning and networking. I was already feeling more confident than I did the day before, and if that’s all I get out of this conference, I consider that a win.

I am not staying in the host hotel, but I always get excited when local public transportation is involved. Nerd alert. I LOVE subway maps and navigating through new towns.
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San Diego’s trolley reminds me of Boston. So fun to ride!
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I found some friends and grabbed breakfast in the pavilion. I can’t believe how big this convention center is!
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I attended the “Newbie Breakfast” to hear a little bit about what to expect and meet some other new bloggers. The conference is organized by three amazing ladies Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone. They are very smart women who are passionate about blogging and I was so proud to be part of the community that ties us all together.
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Their keynote highlighted some of the accomplishments the blogging community has made in the past few years. More women now rank blogs above corporate websites and social media when it comes to getting advice and information. I am inspired!
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Next up was “Blogger Speed Dating”. We got into large circles and had 90 seconds to introduce yourself and pitch your blog to someone before moving on to the next. I LOVED this. I started out a little shy with an unpolished pitch, but by the end, I found that I was able to really pinpoint what my blog was really about. “Kelocity.com is a blog about running, travel and life in Los Angeles”.

And I also met a bunch of other amazing bloggers that I’m sure will populate my Google Reader soon! I’ll share some link love later in the week.
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I was also happy to meet up with an old friend, Jessica who runs The Rose Run website in honor of her mom.
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The first thing I did was attend a “Geek Bar” session. These were great sessions because only 4-5 people were in there at a time, so you can really get your questioned answered. I learned about “Internet Sleuthing” and how to track down mean commenters, hate emailers and stalkers. Thankfully I haven’t had to deal with any of this, and I hope I never will, but it’s great to have the tools incase you do. So don’t try anything mean, I will find you! Kidding. Kind of.

After that, I took a stroll around some of the sponsor suites. Lots of fun things to explore. Like this giant sculpture made out of Twizzlers.
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The Hallmark Suite

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And Hot Wheels (this track sticks on the wall!) If I was a 12 year old boy, I would want this in my room. Such a cool idea!
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Then it was S’Mores time!
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Make your own? Don’t mind if I do! I LOVE s’mores!
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My marshmallow caught on fire and the lady was like “ahh, blow it out”! And I said, Oh, let me take a picture first! Priorities, right! And besides, isn’t burning it the fun part?
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The Convention Center is RIGHT on the water, but it’s a shame I didn’t really get outside much this weekend! Hopefully that will change on Sunday!
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I hit up the expo one more time to pick up a few more things. Including a Tempur-pedic Travel Pillow! Score!!
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HAHA And I just had to share this picture. FeBreeze was there and they actually hired a guy to pose as a teenager in a messy room. But regardless of the “mess”, it smelled amazing!
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It felt like I just ate breakfast, but apparently that was hours ago and lunch was served! It was fun to catch up with friends again while we ate.
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The hilarious Amanda from ConfessionsOfAFatGirl! I missed her!
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In the middle of lunch, there was a Flash Mob!!!!!! OMG I was so excited. Seeing a live flash mob seriously was on my bucket list!!! They did a great job dancing to Lady Gaga!!
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I attended a Photography session about what makes a great photo. We looked at lots of eye candy and talked about what a photo should do. And the bottom line was that photos should connect people, places, emotions, etc. It just has to connect to something.
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What makes a good photo itself?
-Light (try not to use flash)
-Color
-Composition
-Subject Matter
-That Connection

I’ve been using my small point-and-shoot camera this weekend, but honestly, I need to get used to carrying my DSLR around. I need to start experimenting more, stretching my eye a little more and learning to perfect my images. I think I might start adding a “Photo-A-Day” concept to my blog and seeing where it goes. Another BlogHer breakthrough for me! I’m pumped!

When I walked out of the session I happened across some snacks! Hooray for fruit! Yum!! I am impressed with the hospitality of BlogHer so far.
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There are so many sessions to choose from, but the next one really stood out for me. It was about Perfecting Product Reviews. As a relatively new blogger, this was something I was really interested in learning about. It’s no secret that bloggers sometimes get the opportunity to receive free product in exchange for a blog post. But you also don’t want to compromise your readers or “sell out” in the process.

The session was led by Momspark.net, mommyniri.com and thedivinemissmommy.com.
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I tried to soak in as much as I could, and by the end of the day, I was beat! I called it a day and headed back to our hotel.
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It’s crazy that my husband has been here all weekend, but I’ve barely seen him yet! We turned right around and headed to dinner with our friends Jen and Angel. I used to live next door to them while I was growing  up and it was fun to see them again to catch up! Jen used to tutor me in math when I was in school!
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We ate at a FABULOUS restaurant called Bankers Hill. The atmosphere was great and the food was amazing.
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The wall behind us was a ‘living wall’. All of those plants are real and thriving. So cool!
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Ok… let’s review why I need to use a better camera….

No flash:
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With flash:
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Both photos are atrocious. Sigh. You’ll just have to trust me that it was amazing. (Crispy Eggplant with Burrata cheese and artichokes).

I’m back at the conference today so I’ll be back later!

 

 
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