We all know that Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer. I love fall, but I’m just not ready to let go of summer. Fortunately, we still have a few weeks of hot weather (today will be close to the 90s) so we can transition into pleasantly cool and crisp autumn days.
I had a good summer. Like, really good. I did a lot of traveling and exploring that I didn’t really share in-depth with you all (sorry about that!). Summer just went by so quickly that I don’t think I even took long enough to process everything that has happened, so I thought I would take a moment to highlight some of the best parts of the season.
At the end of May, around Memorial Day (the unofficial start of summer, ha!) I hopped on a plane to the other side of the world to explore the beautiful city of Amsterdam. I only shared part of the trip on here because I couldn’t find the time to share every detail I wanted but I was truly taken aback by Amsterdam’s beauty. The architecture is breathtaking, from all the old churches, tall houses to the brick roads and small bridges, and there is so much to learn about their rich history at The Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum and Rembrandt’s house. All I can say is, I would love to go back. And if you have an opportunity to visit Amsterdam, I hope you take it!
From Amsterdam, I got on a plane again to Asia, where I spent a lot of time in India. India is a place you must see for yourself. India has a rich culture, and there are many different subcultures throughout the country. I got to explore much of South India, where I spent time in the “Silicon Valley” of India, called Bengaluru (or Bangalore), Kozhikode (or Calicut), and Kanyakumari. Each place is COMPLETELY different than the other. I got to vacation at a high-end resort, see a world-famous sunset, and indulge in South Indian Cuisine. Plus, I got to drink a whole lot of filter coffee, one of my favorite drinks there.
For 4th of July weekend, a couple of friends and I decided to get away for the weekend and hit up Los Angeles. We browsed through a few nice vintage stores, walked through some boutiques in Abbot Kinney, and spent lots of time in beautiful Santa Monica doing some shopping. It was all about shopping and good eats for us! Our time in LA was short, but sweet. We couldn’t fit in everything we wanted to do within 48 hours, but we made the most of our time there (we only slept for 2 hours our 2nd night there!).
A few weeks later, I made my way to the Renegade Craft Fair that was happening in Fort Mason in the city. Of course, parking was a mess, but we browsed through so many different booths full of handmade goods and art. I always wanted to go but somehow, every year it fell on a weekend that never worked for me. I find craft fairs like this so inspiring, and I love supporting small businesses. I didn’t buy much, but I was happy to finally get to go!
My birthday happens to be in the beginning of August, so my friends and I went to Sunday Brunch at Foreign Cinema. For those not familiar with the restaurant, it is one of San Francisco’s top-rated brunch spots. How popular is it? Let’s just say we got there 20 minute before it opened and there was already a huge crowd waiting about to trample over others for some brunch. Yeah. I started my day with a bloody mary and some type of fancy poached eggs I don’t even remember the name of. We then grabbed some coffee from Ritual Coffee Roasters on Valencia St. and made our way to Haight-Ashbury where we did some shopping (and people-watching).
A couple of days later, I saw the Queen since she came to visit. By Queen, I mean Queen Bey. Beyoncé and Jay Z made a stop in San Francisco for their On The Run Tour. The show was so lively and although I could barely see Beyoncé from where I was sitting, the show was still amazing.
And a couple of days after that, I went to my first (I know, first!) music festival, Outside Lands. I saw a lot of great performances and ate some good food from some of the Bay Area’s most well-known restaurants, like Homeroom. It was nice to go to a huge festival at home, instead of say traveling all the way to Coachella. Some of the acts I saw included Death Cab for Cutie, Capital Cities, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and Kanye West.
Needless to say, I was pretty tired after that weekend.
I had a life-changing brunch the next weekend after that, where we were celebrating a friend’s birthday. In addition to having peach mimosas (soooo good!), I treated myself to Nutella-Stuffed French Toast. It was heavenly, to say the least. The Nutella would just pour out as I cut into the toast. I never thought Nutella could complement french toast so well. And yeah, you bet I will be trying to recreate the french toast.
And now we are here, at Labor Day weekend, where I decided to kick back and enjoy some time at home!
Hope you all are having great Labor Day weekends and can also say you had amazing summers! Just so you know, you may still see some bits of summer around here until the weather *actually* starts to get colder.
