Sail Away With Me

 One day in Maui I we visited this adorable little quaint town. I think every single shopping center or beachy town in Maui has Hawaiian shaved ice, so therefore I just had to get one. I ordered a cherry and it was so good. The sun was just blazing the day we had one so it felt so refreshing! Another thing I love about Hawaii is everyone says Aloha! Something I'm definitely going to miss when I get back home!!

I absolutely in love with all the flowers here. Hibiscus flowers are everywhere in every color. I've seen pink, red, yellow and even orange. Ah they are my favorite to look at and they smell good.  Almost every corner of this beautiful island, my mind keeps going crazy with all the potential photo shoot locations! If only I could of packed my entire closet ha-ha! Thankfully I brought enough cute clothes I haven't featured on my blog, so stay tuned! :)

Outfit Details:
Shirt / Macy's
Shorts / American Eagle
Sandals / Roxy
Bag / Roxy
Anchor Necklace / Forever 21
Bracelets / Local Shops

barefoot in the sand

Hawaii has been so enjoyable! My vacation with my grandparents and my friend Alex has been unforgettable. Everything about Hawaii is so different than California. For one, its so green and there are so many old beautiful trees all over the island. Second the people in Hawaii are more relaxed and less tense like us Californians. Hang Loose is definitely the moto they live by. We found this out by stopping at a information center we had seen on the main street for days now, and we thought it would be nice to find out some directions or nice beaches to check out. So once we finally made our way to the information center, the man there told us that it use to be an information center about five years ago!! There were still signs up everywhere, and even road signs, but no that was five years ago! Crazy how chilled back those Hawaiians really are! So believe me, they fully live up to their moto...hang loose.

  

Outfit Details :
Shirt / American Eagle
Board Shorts / Roxy
Peach Shorts / American Eagle
Purse / Roxy
Sunglasses / Forever 21

Aloha

Hawaii is absolutely beautiful! I am just falling in love with it more and more everyday. It has been so much fun being able to explore the island a little bit, and just relax at the beach. I am very afraid of the ocean, and my biggest fear is seaweed. So I hardly ever go in the water anymore because I just can't handle it. However, that is not the case here in Maui! The water is so clear you can look down and see your whole body, and everything around you. The water is definitely much warmer than California beaches, so it feels so refreshing. The whole time I was able to just float and relax. For the first time in a very long time I loved the ocean and didn't want to get out! It felt nice to be reminded what that felt like, considering it is very rare back in California. 

One day I tried snorkeling but i didn't feel comfortable about having to swim far out, and to really see the fish and other creatures it was all near big rocks, which i didn't like.  The beach we went to was called "Napili Bay Beach", also know as the turtle beach. Thankfully we were able to find some turtles in the water, and one of them actually put his head out of the water, and then swam on top a wave! It was really neat. Sadly taking pictures was not an option because of the water. So later after that, there was this lady in the ocean where I was swimming, and she kept calling out "turtle, watch out turtle coming". So I looked to my right and it wasn't there, then I quickly looked to my left, and there the turtle was, swimming underneath my legs! It was the most incredible experience, but also terrifying because I've never been that close to a sea creature before. I was literally three feet away from it. Ahh it was so amazing, and those turtles are absolutely gorgeous! It definitely was the highlight of my day!!  

One morning for breakfast we ate at this little restaurant that over looked the ocean! (see photo above). It was so much fun being able to eat there and enjoy the view. The restaurant has been there for over twenty years now, and the building is a circular shape so every sit in the house has a beautiful view of the water. The restaurant is called the Gazebo and it's literally under a gazebo, which makes it feel like your eating outside! The whole experience was so neat and I loved every minute of it. :)  

Airplane / Traveling Essentials + Tips!

Two weeks ago I found out that I am going to Hawaii!!! I can't believe it, and I'm super excited. I have always wanted to go to Hawaii. I'm going with my grandparents and my friend Alex. It's going to be a great trip and I can't wait until I set my feet in that Hawaiian sand. We are going to be staying in a resort on the beach which is so amazing. The island we are staying at is Maui. I've heard it's so beautiful, so I can hardly wait. My grandparents have been a few times and love it there, so I'm excited to check it all out. Funny thing is, I actually left for this trip today, so I posted this airplane / travel post yesterday, while I was getting ready for my flight. The plane took off at 7 a.m. in the morning which meant I had to leave my home at like 5 a.m. so of course I needed to get up even earlier to get things ready! So long story short, I was up extremely early yesterday ha-ha.

While Alex and I began planning for this trip, I had so many notes all over my room of everything I wanted to bring and reminders of what items to pack for the flight. So many old memories came back to mind when I went to Virginia last year in April, so I felt more repaired this time when it came to packing and what specific carry on essentials I needed for Hawaii. The airport and plane experience was already under my belt so I felt a lot more confident about the whole thing. This time around I definitely had more a routine and system that worked from Virginia, so I thought I would share a few tips and tricks when packing for any trip!

 

 

 I love to bring my own snacks on the plane because 1. you never know how expensive things can get and 2. not every airport has a lot of options or even big food courts, so it's better to be safe than sorry. I'll usually pack fruit like strawberries, banana, apples...quest bars which are like protein bars that can be supplemented for a whole meal, and pretzels or chips are all great quick and easy snacks you can grab out and not worry about it making a mess. With the tight and fast schedule when traveling, finger food snacks are the only way to go.



 Magazines and books are definitely an essential I cannot go without. It makes the time fly. Plus you never know if the plane will have Wi-Fi (every plane I've been on, you have to pay for it) so it's nice to have a back-up plan that you know won't fail. Also these are great to have on the entire trip too, not just for the plane ride. But you certainly need to charge up the electronics because they just might come in handy.


 This is probably the most important out of all. Dress comfy. This is huge for me because I want to feel so comfortable when having to sit during a long flight. Airplane seats are comfy but they can feel uncomfortable after a few hours so when you wear over sized and easy "flowy" outfits it makes a huge difference. So go casual and wear something plain. When going through security it just makes life so much easier when you don't wear jewelry, belt, shoes that are hard to take off and put back on, a heavy jacket, and any hair accessories with metal. All of these items you will have to take off, so when you can avoid wearing it the better off you'll be and the faster you can hurry off to your flight.

 Yes skip those lines when you can! The last thing you want to happen is when your already running late and there's a long line. So instead skip this process by printing out your paper work when you have a chance to, at home.

 So this is kind of hard to do, but it helps so much. For one, you can skip the lines of checking in your big suit case, and two you don't have to worry about your luggage getting lost. Believe me that's no fun, I know because it happened to me when I went to Virginia!


 Oh yes, don't forget about your airplane backpack essential's!! This is another awesome way to store fun items to make time fly, while your on the plane but also you can pack even more things and they don't have to go in your carry-on or suit case! I think this is the most important part when it comes to traveling so here are some of my essential's that I love to have right beside me at all times!
- gum so your ears don't pop
- headphones, great when you want to listen to music or watch a movie
-a good book or magazine
- snacks
- notebook and a pen because I love to write or brain storm for my blog posts
- sunglasses (not inside the plane but I keep them in my backpack)
- camera only because I love taking photos of the clouds :)
- phone/I-pod of course!
- hair tie, bobby pins, maybe a headband if you need/want to fix your hair!
-a pillow for your head (sometimes I do this, not always cause it's just one more item to carry; personal preference)
- oversize comfy sweater incase it gets cold


p.s. the winner of the giveaway is Courtney Dyson!! Congrats, and I will be emailing you soon.