This morning Scott, his mom, and I went on a two and a half hour hike up and down Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The whole day has left pretty tired and ready to turn in early.
More to come tomorrow.
-Chels xox0
Pizza, coffee, hikes, and bike rides.
03.15.10What have I been up to lately? Well let me tell you!
Sunday marked the arrival of Liberty of London in Target stores so that morning I felt a trip to Target was a must. I decided to start at the Target at Tempe Marketplace, and after a failing miserably (they have only had the clothing on the shelves, everything else was sitting in boxes next to their corresponding shelves) I treated myself to a trip to Ulta (no luck either), and lunch at Paradise Bakery with my grandmother (veggie sandwich and tomato soup=best lunch combo ever!).
After running a few other errands I decided it would be best if I checked out the other Target that is located even closer to my house as well, just to see if by some chance they would have all of their LOL merchandise out. Well, needless to say boy was I in luck! I’m pretty sure they had every piece of the LOL merchandise at this Target and I wanted it all. However, I only ended up with two pieces which I am very happy about.
I bought:
Cute floral print journals!
&
This beautiful bag! My grandma actually bought me this, she said it was a birthday present (my birthday isn’t until May, but she loves buying random presents).
The rest of the afternoon/evening with spent with Scott. We went to Michael’s, Joanne’s, and Target. We also decided to try out a new local pizza spot for dinner. We got a veggie pizza (hand tossed and made right after we ordered it) and a very large salad. We were both very happy campers by the end of the meal and plan on going back.
(Yucky Blackberry pictures)
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Today Scott had to work in the morning, so I spent most of the morning and early afternoon reading, painting my nails, and cleaning. After Scott got off of work we went to Hillside Spot Cafe for iced americanos (they use Cartel coffee beans!), and then went on a hike on South Mountain.
For Katrina so she can see the Mint Candy Apple color by Essie on actual nails!
After the coffee and hike, Scott and I’s good friend Amanda came over and we all went on a wonderful bike ride.
Once we were back at the house Scott also decided that today was the day he needed to throw on a pair of rollerblades and do the moon walk and twirl around:
For dinner we all went over to Amanda’s house and her stepdad made us a lovely meal! We even got to play fetch her dog Taz and see him jump higher than I’ve ever seen any dog jump.
Now I’m here, writing this all to you. I hope you enjoyed reading this. Today was a very fun day and I’m looking forward to Scott and I’s morning hike on Camelback Mountain tomorrow. Pictures plus a story to come later tomorrow about our adventure.
Time for reading.
-Chels xox
PS I’m looking for Spring themed songs for an upcoming article/list for my college’s newspaper. Suggestions anyone? Thank you!
Destination: Avenue Coffee
03.14.10Yesterday I drove up to Tucson, Arizona with my mom. Tucson is about a two hour drive from Phoenix, and although I didn’t having much time to drive around on my own and explore (we went there on business) I did get to stop into the lovely Avenue Coffee that I’ve heard so much about.
Pecan trees on the way to Tucson (my grandpa’s favorite when he was alive).
Looking out to Campbell Avenue.
If you live in the Valley of the Sun and have ever gone to either location of Cartel Coffee Lab you would feel right at home at Avenue Coffee.
Look, even the menus are similar to that of Cartel’s!
I had heard that their espresso was exceptional, so naturally I felt inclined to try a large non-fat latte.
(This foam shot is for you Katrina!)
My mom is a big chai tea latte fan so she got a large iced chai and let me tell you, this may have been the best chai I’ve ever tasted. The flavor was just so natural and not overwhelmingly sweet. I would highly suggested either drink to anyone that has the chance to stop in their one day.
I’ll be back later today with more of an update on my life.
-Chels xoxo
Spring Break suggested reading list!
03.14.10I thought it would be fun to put together a little Spring Break 2010 reading list for all you out there who have/will have a little extra time these next few weeks and feel like picking up a wonderful book would be the best way to spend your time (isn’t it always the best decision though?).
My recommendations are:
1. The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath
2. The Time Traveler’s Wife- Audrey Niffenegger
3.Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist-Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
(Cute little book that the movie was based on)
4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower-Stephen Chbosky
(High School favorite)
5. Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen
6. Great Expectaions-Charles Dickens
(Just because the cover is oh so pretty)
7. Go Ask Alice-Anonymous
(Technically a short story, but it’s one of my favorites)
(Short story as well, but a fabulous one nonetheless)
10. Howl-Allen Ginsberg
(Technically a poem, although the length might make you think otherwise)
Enjoy!
(This cute drawing by Nan Lawson made me think of Scott and I so, so much)
Friday, thanks for delivering.
03.13.10One of my goals for this Spring Break is to blog every day, so here is an update on what I did this afternoon/evening.
After Scott got off of work this around 2 p.m. we headed down to La Grande Orange Grocery in Phoenix. This grocery/restaurant/pizzeria/bakery/coffee shop/cute gifts store is seriously a true gem and I am so glad that we finally went (we’ve been talking about going there for months now).
We spent a little time looking around the store, and eventually ordered some lunch for Scott and a few snacks for me.
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(Astrology notebook? Oh yeah!)
Scott got a huge turkey sandwich, fresh fruit, and an amazing green chile macaroni and cheese.
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My latte was so good, and the large size was a must.
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Tonight Scott and I went and saw the movie Remember Me. Being a Pattinson fan (yes, I’ll admit it) I really wanted to see this movie, plus the storyline just seemed like something I’d be interested in. Well, without giving anything away, the movie was good and had it’s rough parts, but was overall worth going to see.
Tomorrow I am not quite sure what the plan is for the day (hoping to do a little shopping), but I will for sure let you know.
Time for The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Goodnight!
Hey Friday, I like you.
03.12.10
It’s officially Spring Break!
03.12.10 And the stressed is over, or at least for 10 days! Today I had my last two mid-terms and boy am I relieved. This morning I might have possibly taken the hardest test I’ve ever taken. Darn you intro to Pr! It’s safe to say that my English Lit. mid-term was not any walk in the park as well. Today I realized that I have no problem identifying short stories, and poetry by 18th, 19th, and 20th century female writers, but when it comes to 18th, and 19th feminist prose, I feel like I’m up the creek without a paddle (seriously, they all sound the same).
After both of my exams were over I walked the few blocks to Cartel Coffee Lab and picked up some more coffee (grounded for my glass french press) and said hello to my new friend Tyson (Twitter meets real life!).
Once I was back in Tukee Scott and I worked on a few odds and ends and made dinner together. One of objectives for this Spring Break was to made lemonade, so I decided that tonight was the night and yanked sixteen or so lemons from the tree in Scott’s backyard.
The lemonade turned out pretty well and I plan on making more during break.
Tomorrow Scott has one more mid-term before he is officially on break so tonight he spent a little time studying while I looked at blogs at the beautiful RVA update. I’m pretty sure my favorite piece of the update is Allister Ann’s photo prints:
(via RVA)
We almost spent time listening to the Broom album by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. I definitely think that it’s my favorite piece of vinyl in our growing collection.
Have I mentioned that Scott’s been doing a lot of drawing/painting lately. Here are a few things he’s made lately:
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Oh I wonder who this could be…
Tomorrow I have big plans for cleaning my car, reading, going to see Remember Me, and baking cupcakes.
Goodnight!
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-Chels xoxo
Studying, bike rides, and cupcakes!
03.11.10 Where have I been? Well, yet again school has taken over my life (holy mid-terms!) and I’ve been busy studying for three exams this week. I have been able to take a few breaks to have a little fun though and I have to say that today was the best yet this week.
After I got out of school this afternoon (one mid-term down, one to go) Scott and I went on a little bike ride around the neighborhood.
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Later on in the evening we had plans to go to a free preview screening of the movie Remember Me, but after realizing that it was showing at a theater +/- 25 minutes away from us we opted to go to Sprinkles (a cute cupcake store originally from Beverly Hills, California) and Anthropologie.
We were hoping to be one of the 25 people that whisper the secret Sprinkles word of the day to receive a free cupcake, but alas 25 people had already said the magical word for the day so we bought five cute cupcakes (one for myself, Scott, and my mother, father and grandmother).
We got ginger lemon, peanut butter chocolate, pumpkin, chocolate marshmallow, and coconut (not pictured).
I tried both the ginger lemon and the coconut and both were AMAZING and I can’t wait to go back for more. If you’re ever in an area that has a Sprinkles I would definitely suggest trying a cupcake (or two, or three) from there.
Goodnight!
-Chels xoxo
Art walks, MO, and study dates.
03.08.10This weekend was fun and it went by so fast!
Friday Scott and I went to lunch with his mom for her birthday. We let her pick where to go and she picked Liberty Market, so we picked her up and headed down to Gilbert. Each one of us got a different entree, so we all sampled each other’s a bit. I got the Farmer (a grilled veggie sandwich) with a side of sweet potato salad, Scott got a pizza with veggies and sausage, and Scott’s mom got turkey sandwich and a side of caprese salad (didn’t try either, oops!). Scott and I also insisted that his mom try a cordita (a Liberty Market speciality drink that is basically a mini latte with rock sugar in it), and then she also ordered a mocha to try it out. Both were very good!
A little later into the evening Scott and I drove down to Tempe to pick up Gina so we could go to First Fridays in downtown Phoenix together. We all were pretty hungry, and after driving around for awhile decided to just park near the Lola coffee downtown location, where Scott got a yummy americano, and walked down to the art walk. We also decided to put down our name at Carly’s restaurant in hopes that if we went and looked around by the time we were done our table would be ready. We visited a few of the regular galleries including the newly renovated Modified Arts (new and improved? not too sure). By the time we were done our table actually was ready and we walked in to an overcrowded restaurant/bar filled with people basically hovering over other people. The seating situation was absolutely not pleasurable, but the food was really good. Gina and I had a vegan wrap, and Scott got a Tuscan panini. After dinner the night was basically over for all of us so we headed back to Tempe and went our separate ways for the night.
Love you Gina!
We’re always on the grey scale together.
Saturday I had to work a little bit in the morning/afternoon for my parents, and then I headed back to Tempe to go see Manchester Orchestra with Scott. Two weeks ago I scored free tickets to the show so we just had to go, plus we love MO. Overall the show was wonderful. The opening acts were all entertaining, and we also ran into a few of Scott’s high school friends/old band friends who are now in bands such as The Maine, This Providence, and Raining & Ok. Did I mention yet how lovely Manchester was? I had actually never seen a picture of the band, so I was surprised when this burley man came out and started singing. Not what I expected at all, but fun because he kind of seemed like a big teddy bear. Anyone else see that in the singer of MO?
Today I spent time enjoying the rain, and drinking an iced americano and doing homework at Coffee Bean. Scott and I also went shopping around at Target and I ended up with a really cute floral top (just in time for spring!).
Ok, time for homework and the lovely sounds of St. Vincent.
-Chels xoxo
Johnny Cupcakes/blog meet up!
03.05.10Thursday night, oh how you were so nice to me!
I just wanted to write a little blurb to say that tonight Scott and I attended the Johnny Cupcakes lecture at ASU. While standing in line to enter the lecture hall I spotted the lovely Danielle Hampton and her hubby Hank. I have to say, I was a little nervous to say hello but Scott and I asked someone if they could save our spot in line (which we actually never went back to) and we went over and said hi and gave hugs and handshakes. It was so great to finally meet Danielle and Hank after reading Danielle’s blog for over a year! It seriously made me so happy about how easy conversation came, and I really believe that it was due to already feeling that we knew one another (thank you blogs, flickr, and twitter!).
Ok, more on Johnny Cupcakes tomorrow.
Night!
