HIDDEN GEMS

One of the most amazing parts about living where I live is everything it has to offer. Sometimes it's easy to forget how lucky I am to be surrounded with beautiful weather, beaches, palm trees, and fresh salty air EVERYDAY, ALL the time. I mean, it only takes 15 minutes to grab an Acai bowl and be seaside. Now thats pretty awesome. I love it here. There is so much to explore, so many new heights to discover, and an endless amounts of secret little places with pretty painted walls. The people here are always so happy. Spreading positivity in the local So Cal way, we give out the coolest vibes - AND we practically get summer every single day, not many people can say that. I've always dreamed of living in the big city. Living in a red brick apartment building overlooking the busy streets filled with yellow taxis and bright lights, while spending my free time in overly-expensive coffee shops and playing the Ukelele in Washington Square Park. But as I've grown up, I've realized how much I've fallen in love with the smallest and biggest parts of living here. I don't think I could trade the glimmering coastal dream for anything. San Diego is my home. 

Living here has taught me new lessons everyday. Whether it be to never waste a moment of the sun and drive the coast whenever possible, or that it's socially acceptable and OKAY to wear flip flops everyday. But most importantly, this is my playground. My playground to journey amongst and to have fun in everything it has to offer. And there is SO MUCH!!! There are so many hidden gems to find just within my own backyard. I love falling in love with the culture here. I admire every aspect of the beauty found in every corner. Because around each corner, within each one we turn, there is the great unexpected. And the unexpected is so exciting. It holds new fascinations, hope, and the opportunity for our imagination to fly. I love taking the unexpected and viewing everything through that perspective. It puts you through a wild ride of last minute decisions and crazy moments that happen to turn into the best memories. My best friend and I decided to put on those glasses looking through the lens of the unexpected and found our new favorite hidden gem. Welcome to our little adventure. 

MEET MY BEST FRIEND.

1. YES I KNOW SHE'S HOT. Try being best friends and walking the school halls with her. You know in the disney movies when there's the super pretty princess with the ugly sidekick? Story of my life. 

(Ahem. Excuse me? Hi. It's the "best friend" here. I was scrolling through, reading through Maddy's adorable writing when I came across this ATROCIOUS LIE! Do not believe her when she says this. ^ Fattest lie I ever did hear. I mean look at her. Have I made my point? Yes? Okay. Now you may continue.)

2. HER NAME IS EMILY (But we like nicknames so she's my Em). And she's one of the most beautiful humans you'll ever meet on both the inside and out. She lights up the room just with her ever-glowing smile and loving personality. She's been there for me through it all and has never left my side once. I often wonder where I would be today without her. Fun Fact: She aspires to anything pink and a diet consisting of vanilla ice cream. 

SO HERE'S HOW IT WENT DOWN.

It was a nice and stunningly warm day here when Em and I decided that we wanted to get ourselves out of our normal routine and venture down into the other side town. Beforehand, we spent our lunches at school searching up everywhere we wanted to go and even drew up a fancy little map all labeled on our college-ruled binder paper. Like I said, very fancy. SO after a early morning cheer practice we jumped into my beetle and headed south blasting Ed Sheeran the entire way. Along the way, we OF COURSE experienced troubles. Panic attacks at the gas station and took a few wrong exits. Thanks google maps and thanks Em for distracting me with our entertainingly hilarious conversations about the male species. After our short road trip, we finally made it to our first spot. An ADORABLE white brick coffee shop on the corner of University Avenue named Communal Coffee. After the first corner, we turned to find elegant white painted bricks covered in succulents, greens, and flowers. We spent a good amount of time outside one of those walls capturing these moments without care and even setting up the camera on an electrical box attempting to get a picture with both of us in it. Yes, we failed and even got honked at a few times. When you walk in, it's instantly a flower and coffee shop lover's HEAVEN. Therefore, I DIED, and devoured an amazing iced vanilla rose latte while Em snuck around snapping the inside of the shop. This was the start to an already amazing day and we couldn't wait to see what was next. We ran back to my car and headed down the road to North Park. 

AHHH. WE SCREAMED. North Park turned into our new Disneyland. We had entered the heart of the art and culture district which kept us endlessly begging for more. It was love at first sight and our hearts were beating faster than the speed of the camera shuttering. We spotted the coolest, most authentic used book and record store so of course we had to check it out. And let me tell you, it was jaw dropping. Beautifully aged books with the scent of old paper pages dancing around the air so quietly and raw. We had our Belle in the huge library moment then hurried out to find a wall of PERFECTLY quirky arranged succulents in parallel to a wall colored in different shades of pink. Yet another corner putting us over the edge.

So there we stood in the blazing sun pretending we were shooting for Vogue magazine while strangers passed by giving us dirty looks (They were actually probably just jealous of our skilled poses- just kidding. But am I?). We then walked into the store which is named Pigment. We just kept going back to heaven considering how many times we DIED and came back to life again just from the overwhelming amount of cuteness in the store. Every inch covered in pastel pinks, greens, peaches, blues, whites and blacks. So many succulents and so many Type A sorts of things. Basically paper source mixed with urban outfitters on STEROIDS. And then we found it... we gave each other the biggest look with "JACKPOT" gleaming from our eyes. A little window lit corner with a wall of pink and orange design sided in more greenery. Corners are really our thing. We NO JOKE spent 15-20 minutes creating our own little photoshoot inside of the store. We pretended we were in another world, just the two of us, getting lost in time where it was all sunshine and colorful lights. UNTIL, people started making comments and we quickly woke up from the dream. Yes, honest to gosh, ladies made snarky comments regarding our well being. So we said they wish they could be us and ran out. 

Walking down the streets we noticed every detail and had puppy eyes over the remarkable architecture and adorable stores. North Park felt like our second home. Every single person had a purpose there. I notice everything and I noticed how people don't just visit an art town just to visit it. The people were there for a reason. Whether it be to get inspiration for their next masterpiece, or maybe even to write about it just like I am right now. We will never know but the underlying secret is majestic and the vibes were loved. Life is cool like that. 

We visited Em's favorite food stop for lunch, and this place was an experience just within itself. Lucha Libre. A magical Mexican food restaurant covered in pink and black disguised in all things wrestling native to the culture. We devoured the most AMAZING Queso Tacos and dumped too much green sauce on them. We aren't quite sure what the sauce is but that doesn't matter because we went to heaven and back again- that's what matters. 12/10. AS you can tell, I was very excited about my taco. I LOVE tacos- and they are even better when they are freshly made in the midst of North Park.

After our mouth watering Mexican food, we urged a sweet tooth. Sweet Tooth = Ice cream in the Maddy and Emily language. We ventured into Hammond's- a gourmet ice cream shop filled with paintings from local artists and clean white fixtures. They serve their ice cream in baby sized cones called "flights" - we ordered a flight of four and cheered to a rad day and some pretty rad ice cream. We then stuffed our faces with rose vanilla, brown sugar, raspberry, and mango vanilla flavored ice creams...(be jealous). There's nothing better than having a best friend that's always in the mood to eat your heart out with you. With ice cream melted all down our fingers, we looked across the street and spotted HOLY MATCHA! The CUTEST store decorated in captivating patterns covered in pops of pink and green. How genius is it to make a place consisting of only Matcha (green tea) products? We ran in with AWE and snuck as many pictures as we could until our soliciting was taken too far while fellow strangers continued to stare away. What can I say? The camera loves us...or...maybe we just love the camera (oops). 

The sun started to come to a rest as our hair was swarmed with warm wind and the light tropical breeze sweeping through. Golden hour had approached and our eyes and souls were enlightened. We chased the sun and danced through the streets effortlessly laughing and smiling with so much glow. So much happiness. It was magical. I wish I could feel the rush of overflowing magic and fantasy forever in the same way we did that day. Looking around at everything that was organically surrounding me, it made me realize how short life really is. Everything can just come to an end at any minute or second no matter how wonderful the prior seconds may have been. So who cares if we looked like crazies roaming around the avenues and roads. Who cares if our hair was messy and our makeup wasn't perfect. It didn't matter how many people gave us crazy looks, we were just having fun. Life's all about it.

With not much time to spare, we slowly made our way back to my car- stopping every few feet to capture even more glowing memories. We had LESS than an hour until the roller rink closed so we blasted Ed Sheeran once again and hopped on the freeway with even more excitement now. All these corners were adding up. Every single corner held so much mystery. And within the mysteries, we achieved everything we wanted. A true, loving clue to the unexpected. We turned around the corner of the building labeled SKATEWORLD and ran into the rink quickly being stopped by an old man at the entrance letting us in for practically FREE. WOAH. This trip was coming to a really great end already. We put on our skates and began to feel the world at a faster pace now. Struggling our way through, we raced in circles slowly getting the hang of it. Loop after loop, fall after fall, we were having the best time. And somehow, the best times go so quickly. Too quickly. One of the best parts was watching each other EPICALLY fail right when we finally got the hang of it. Also, all the little kids that were too good at it and practically professional while there were two TEENAGE girls holding hands trying to keep each other from falling. Basically it was just a bunch of little kids showing up two older girls the whole time, it was great. Gosh the humiliation was real. But real fun to say the least. TIP: Don't try to dance and skate while singing at the top of your lungs. It will end with you on the floor... and burns on your knees. But I mean - no pain no game right? It's safe to that Em and I most definitely developed the need for speed. 

Saying goodbye to a day like this was something we had dreaded from the beginning. But as the music and lights started to fade, and the sweat stained our foreheads, we knew it was time. The car ride back home was fairly quiet as we were sad it was over, and our reminiscing slowed down to a mumble. We finally made it back to our town- and before I knew it, Em was gone and I was back home. But the memory was still there. How cool is it to know that we have actual memories of that day saved and captured of the exact moment right here in digital, pixelated form. Memories are so special to me. They stay with you no matter what shape or form. They are just always there, even if you don't want them to be. I think one of the most important things we can take from our little trip is to always live in the moment. It's so easy to get caught up within the past and future thinking about what already happened or what's next. We need to stay present. We need to stay present because it's so easy to get lost within something that's already happened or hasn't even happened yet. Staying present gives you endless opportunities to make NOW the most memorable and glorifying now. Yet there is no reason to waste your time. Look around. There is SO much to see! SO much to do! So go find a new hidden gem. Go find something that will ignite a magic in you. Something that will educate you just from the way the people walk, and the way the building stands. Something that will put that little twinkle in your eye. We all deserve that. We all deserve something so great that we never would've expected. Just like Emily and I did. We turned some corners, went a little crazy, lived in the truest moments, and found some hidden gems. And I am so happy we did. We will never forget that day and will cherish the values we took from it forever. For now I see everything a bit sparklier and even more rare. Who knew just a gem could teach you so much and mean so much while making for the best adventure ever. Yolo.

To the moon & back, Maddy