Need a weekend get away from LA? Craving some amazing and pretty basic hikes? Want to go to the cutest tequila bar with delicious Mexican food? You need to go to Ojai right now. I went about a month ago, and have been missing this adorable little town more than words.

There is something incredible about weekend getaways. They are just enough to escape reality and day to day life, but leave you with this incredible feeling of gratitude and serenity upon your return.

With my upcoming trip to Europe in just over two months, I sit here with excitement for that two week trip, but still crave more and more of theses getaways that are just a drive away.

From hiking, to brunching, to shopping, this weekend had it all, and was ended with a beautiful waterfall. Thanks, Rach for being my travel buddy!

LL1 - Circle of Life

I titled this post LL meaning life lessons. I couldn't really think of a better title, but I also have a feeling there will be several more of these posts in the future, so bare with me!

I have a lot of feelings so this is going to be all over the place and more of a I need to get all this off of my mind so that I can sleep well rather than a what can you take away from this blog post/how can I directly help you better your tomorrow through my mistakes/life. Does that make sense? I hope so.

People say you are the five people you associate the most with. I am both okay and not okay with that. Sometimes you can't choose. I also hang out with my cat and I'm assuming he doesn't count. Regardless, energy is a thing and if you don't believe in that so be it but I do so that's kind of where this first part is headed. Last night my close friend from Texas and I had dinner with two other friends from high school. She is literally the happiest, nicest, bubbliest person I know and I wouldn't have it any other way. This morning, I went into work overly positive and bubbly. Like people normally call me sunshine and positive Pauly but today they said my bubbliness (I don't think that is a word) and positivity was sky rocketing. Bad thing? I didn't think so. Some people just don't like positivity though, and you can't change that. But you can change your attitude, and that all goes back to who you hang out with. Right? Did I just make a full circle? Wow that was less ranty than I thought, but regardless, you can't make everyone happy. You can make yourself happy for now, and that is what you need to work with. Your happiness today may be
different than tomorrow or next month, but you just need to be willing and open to that change.

Like today, I got a text from a family member who I've had previous family drama with and on a normal day I would've seen it and been like okay NOW what... But instead I decided to be open and we ended up having a great talk over text and the phone. Making two people happy. What. A. Concept!

But then, I came home and made someone else not so happy. Circle of life ladies and gentleman. Simba knew what he was doing while Timon and Pumba were out eating bugs and wondering about his future, Simba understood.

Lessons learned:

• everything happens for a reason
• if it is meant to be, it will be, in some way, shape, form or something
• believe in timing
• keep smiling, beautiful, it is going to work itself out
• no problem is worth the amount of stress you are putting on your body

Incredible Routines and Weekend Snapshots

Happy Monday! Or Sunday, I haven't decided when I'm going to post this, but happy day!
This weekend has been kind of all over the place, which is surprising because I had no plans and now here I am looking back on my weekend thinking about all the stuff I did.

Thursday and Friday I worked like 12 hour days each day which was exhausting. Like, if you work 12 hour days multiple days in a row, kudos to you because I don't know how you do it. I am used to working 10-6 Monday-Friday and with that I have a routine, which is not something I like to break. Once I got this schedule, it took me about two months to figure out my morning and evening routine, and after these two days of being off schedule is it weird that I am going back to my normal schedule tomorrow.

On the weekdays, I wake up around 5:30 and go to the gym.

I know, just like everyone else, I go to the gym in the morning. But if I don't go in the morning 1) I don't go at all because I am too tired to go after work 2) it truly makes my day 110% better 3) it really isn't that crowded. After I gym, I come home and shower and plan my outfit unless it is already planned. 

I know, I plan my outfits, I plan everything, I have to otherwise I go insane and I double book and it's bad.

Then I decide what to have for breakfast. Sometimes after the gym I go to Starbucks and get an Iced Coffee, other times I will just make it at home. All depends on the day and my mood.

Once I get ready, I grab my lunch and had out the door to go sit in morning traffic. I know. Welcome to LA. For lunch, I normally meal prep so I can just grab it out of the fridge and head to work.

But, that is enough of my morning schedule! Here are some snapshots form my weekend!

Friday motivation!

A little behind the scenes from work on Friday!

Saturday lunch date

Sunday morning inspiration

Yummy yummy salmon salad for lunch Sunday

Meal Prep!

What's your daily routine? Do you need to have a routine?

Closing Time

Closing time
Open all the doors and let you out into the world...

It's crazy how much can change in a day. And if that much can change in a day, it's even crazier to process and truly realize how much changes in a week, in a month, and in a year.

I can full heartedly say that I am a completely different person than I was a year ago, a month ago, a week ago, and yes, a day ago.

Closing time
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here...

This last week was a bumpy one; the best way I could accurately describe it is a weather backlash from the most beautiful bright sunshiny day to a rainstorm.

I have never experienced a bad Wednesday and I usually see hump day as just a little bump in the week followed by a push to Friday. Last week, not so much.


Closing time
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from.

Proof of how much you can change in a day:
Yesterday, I wrote what you just read above. Today, I am in a much better place. I went hiking yesterday and took the longest shower after, feeling so amazing and incredible.... after. In the moment, I wasn't truly enjoying nature, but going back through the photos after I showered, as I was on my couch, watching "House of Cards," I was happy that I had gone on a 3 mile hike to see a waterfall (pictured above.)

But for now, I am still growing. I feel like life is a carnival, and some times it is a slow boat ride and other times it is a crazy roller coaster with harsh turns and flips. But hey, that's just life!

Miley Cyrus is Just Peachy | What is Perfection?

Perfection does not exist. I know. Heart breaking. But, we all know it is true, and we all should have listened to Miley Cyrus when she told us that "everybody makes mistakes, and everybody has those days" because you know what? She has never been so right. (Though I also related to some of her other songs. Now I miss Miley Cyrus.)

It is hard for me to admit that perfection doesn't exist. I am far from a perfectionist, but I also hate making mistakes. Or, I used to. Now I am getting better at loving mistakes, but they aren't really mistakes if you learn from them; rather they are life lessons. I love life lessons. What I don't like is not making people happy.

I am going to use Miley Cyrus again because that will hopefully make this post somewhat more relatable and more light hearted than me just venting about my awful shitty terrible unfortunate mistake life lesson that was today.

When Miley Cyrus was Hannah Montana, she couldn't tell her best friend her other life. She was making millions of fans happy. Getting them up out of their seat to dance, cry at the emotions behind the lyrics, and go all crazy fan girl when they saw that long blonde hair and white leather jacket. Yeah, you know exactly what outfit I am talking about. Regardless, she bailed on her friend at the concert to make her fans happy, ran back out to make her fans happy, and was unable to be in both places at once.

Yes, she ultimately told her friend, Lily? Emily Osmet's character the truth and then they were best friends and happy again, but that isn't how life is always going to work. Miley Cyrus was happy being both Hannah Montana and Miley because she made that choice to keep the two lives separate. She willingly made the choice that that would be how she ran her personal and "work" life, and they would be separate and she would be happy. Her happiness is what then created the happiness in her fans, and the happiness in her friendships.

But, you can't be focusing on other people's happy when you yourself aren't happy, because that is just a dangerous cycle you will be loopholed in, resulting the damaging relationships and friendships. And that really doesn't make anyone happy.

Life lesson today is this: Perfection is not real because everyone's idea of happiness is different. You can think that you just made the best apple pie in the world, and you can win every single apple pie award in the world, and there were still be people out there who don't like apple pie.

Be your own happy. Learn from mistakes. Be your own version of perfection.

How do you do that? Treat every day like it is your birthday, and let the negativity go. You need to cry it out? That helps me! Need to go run a few miles? That doesn't work for me, but exercise makes endorphins, and happy people don't kill their husbands (according to Elle Woods). Find your happy spot, find that moment, that one second in time where you are truly happy and genuinely not phased by the rest of the world and negativity and other people's standards, and go to that when you are stressing over not reaching perfection, because 9 times out of 10, you are already meeting your definition of perfection, and are just beating yourself up over someone else's definition.