Travel - Pocketful of Joules

Out of Town… On Our Free Cruise!

Remember in the spring when we went on a cruise and had some issues? Well, as an “I’m sorry” to everyone who cruised, Carnival basically gave us a FREE cruise (50% back from the one we took in April and 50% off our next cruise).

So, we’re outta here!

This week we are cruising out of Florida with stops at San Juan, Grand Turk, St Thomas and Half Moon Cay. And of course, when I come back I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

In the meantime, here is some reading to hold you over and the full story of our last cruise:

Our Family Cruise, Part 1 {the drama}
Our Family Cruise, Part 2 {the fun}
Cruise Style: What to Wear on a Cruise

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Exploring Los Angeles

One of my favorite things is when I have a conference to go to in a new city. It’s such a great little nudge to get out of my traveling comfort zone and explore someplace new. I was thrilled when I found out that this year’s BlogHer conference (you can read all about it here) was in Los Angeles, California and found plenty of fun things to do while I was there.

The FIDM Museum & Galleries
I’m a huge fan of the show Crazy Ex Girlfriend and I follow the show’s star/creator Rachel Bloom on Instagram. Well, a couple days before my trip she posted that some of the show’s costumes were on display at FIDM for their Art of Television Costume Design exhibit running 8/2 – 10/15 (you can see her post here). I checked the distance on google maps, and it was only a short 10 minute walk from my hotel… so it was obviously meant to be!

The exhibit is totally free to check out and was full of amazing costumes! Here are just a few of my favorites:

You can see two of the Crazy Ex Girlfriend costumes in action in this video (there are some naughty words, so don’t turn it up at work):

After touring the exhibit, I walked out the back of the museum/school and found this pretty little park to hang out in for a while.

The Warner Brother’s Tour
I’m a huge Gilmore Girls fan, so I knew that I wanted to make time to get over to the Warner Brothers lot for their studio tour. The tour costs $62 and lasts about 3 hours, two of which are guided and the third is self-guided. Here are some of the stops we made while riding around on the golf cart.

Luke’s Diner:

Ms Patty’s Dance Studio:

Sookie’s House:

The Friend’s Stage:

The famous Friend’s Couch with Liz Hill (this is her pen name) who writes at Wonder Woman I’m Not:

In addition to riding a golf cart though the outdoor sets, there were two inside backlot tours. DC Universe: The Exhibit and The Harry Potter Exhibit. Here I am with one of Aragog’s children:

And checking out Harley Quinn’s cell from Suicide Squad:

Of course, I had to buy a souvenir before we left and ended up with this Luke’s Diner t-shirt.

The Santa Monica Pier & Surrounding Areas
Before I left LA I still have a few things on my list… to see the ocean, do a little shopping and eat a Sprinkles cupcake. All doable stuff! I took an Uber out to the Santa Monica Pier (with the chattiest Uber driver ever…) and holy guacamole was it crowded!

I did a little bit of souvenir shopping and picked myself up this t-shirt while I was on the pier. The beach was pretty crowded too, but I made sure to stick my feet in the sand before I walked on to explore the area. Look at those gorgeous mountains in the distance though!

From the Pier, I pretty much just walked down Grand Street all the way to Venice, stopping in any interesting looking store I found along the way. My absolute favorite find was Accents Jewelry Design, a little shop that showcased local jewelry artists. I could have spent my entire mortgage payment in the store, but ended up just buying a pretty little druzy necklace that I can’t wait to wear.

After hours of exploring, I returned to my hotel…only to realize that I still needed to go and check out a Sprinkles bakery. I threw my shoes back on and walked to one that was about 15 minutes away, getting there about 20 minutes before they closed. Out of the flavors they had available, three looked really good – Cuban coffee, red velvet, and vanilla. So, I ordered all three in the name of science. Or taste testing. Or, my sweet tooth.

To be completely honest, I don’t really see what all the hoopla is about. The cupcakes were fine, but nothing mind blowing. I actually disliked the Cuban coffee cupcake so much that after one bite it was discarded. The red velvet and the vanilla were good, just not amazingly great. If I had to choose a winner, it would be the vanilla… but only if paired with a bitter coffee to balance out the extreme sweetness. Eh, at least I checked them off my list.

Cupcakes aside, I had a really wonderful time in Los Angeles and I’m so glad I had to opportunity to visit. I especially loved the Warner Brothers Tour and highly recommend it if you are in the area!

BlogHer16: The Highlights Reel

Last year after BlogHer, I found that I was such a combination of burnt out and busting at the seams with knowledge that anything I tried to write up about the event ended up being 200 pages of long-windedness. Instead, I put together a little highlight reel of the year’s conference that seemed to work pretty well… so I’m going to do it again this year for BlogHer16.

Most of my BlogHer adventures will be included in this post, but I’m also planning to do a couple more that are more topic specific: Exploring LA (I’ll link to it here once I write it) and a BlogHer16 Swag & Giveaway (more upcoming linkyness).

So, let’s get into it. Be warned: there are A LOT of pictures!

What I Wore, What I Did & Who I Met:

Tuesday:

This is the Anthropologie maxi dress that I was super obsessed about before the conference. So, of course there was no way I was leaving it at home. This comfy dress got me to the airport, through a 5 ½ hour plane ride, to the hotel and to the FIDM museum to check out their new exhibit (more in the upcoming Exploring LA post). I met up with a new friend, Meadoe (Out on a Limb…in Running Shoes) for a bit and then grabbed some dinner at a nearby Smashburger.

Wednesday – Day

Yes, that is the Friends couch (could I BE any more awesome?!). I was told to wear comfortable shoes for the Warner Brother’s Tour, so I decided to go super casual for my visit. I had just picked this t-shirt up at Nordstrom Rack (it has 15% linen and wears so well) for $20. If you are looking for a ‘fancy’ t-shirt, I highly recommend this one by Melrose & Market. I also wore my favorite Kut from the Kloth boyfriend jeans (very similar to this pair of Catherine jeans I found on Amazon) and some red Toms. I had an awesome time with Liz Hill (this is her pen name) who writes at Wonder Woman I’m Not and will have a ton of pictures from our time there – including our visit to STARS HOLLOW – as soon as I can.

Here’s one where I look really attractive to give you an idea what’s to come…

Wednesday – Night

I stepped it up a notch for the opening keynote and expo on Wednesday night by throwing on a skirt. The top is just a regular old t-shirt from Loft like 5 years ago, tucked into a fun Anthropologie skirt from last year (or the year before). Both, of course, are long sold out. The shoes, however, are AWESOME (as told here) and currently on sale on Amazon. Pictured with me is my friend, Meredith, who writes at Plenty Woman. We met in person for the first time at the conference and I’m keeping her as a friend because she is so full of awesome.

After the expo event ended, I met up with another online-to-real-life friend, Jenna, who writes at Outrageously Wonderful and we went and got some dinner because I was so hungry from just appetizers that I could have punched a puppy.

Thursday

I saved my favorite brand-spanking-new skirt for my longest conference day! I ordered a Trunk from Trunk Club right before my trip, and this fabulous sparkly skirt was in there (it’s the Eliza J Metallic Jacquard skirt) I topped it with a black Danial Rainn blouse I’ve had for a couple years and a flat pair of sandals. The day started at a special Staples event where we were treated to breakfast and got to take a look at their upcoming line for back to school.

Celebrity Sightings: Gabrielle Reece and Lori Laughlin

From there, I went into a keynote with Sarah Michelle Geller, a couple learning sessions, had a book signed by Freddie Prinze Jr, a lunchtime special event with Lamps Plus, and the more learning sessions. I basically ran from one place to the next until about 3pm. That was when I met up with the other Voices of the Year honorees (did I mention I won a VOTY?) for a champagne toast with Aisha Tyler and a special reception.

After the event, I ran over to another special brand event with Go RVing, where I met Jennie Garth and finished out the night before retreating to my room for some quiet and room service!

Celebrity Sightings: Freddie Prinze Jr, Aisha Tyler, Jennie Garth

Friday

For my last full conference day, I totally matched the backdrop with my favorite floral skirt and a black t-shirt. The skirt is from my first Trunk Club (which you can read all about here if you’d like) and it looks like it is currently sold out. The shoes are from another Trunk and they are some of the most comfortable sandals I’ve worn, if you are looking for a good pair, try the UGG Mayse Wedges (limited sizes, but on sale at Nordstrom).

Today was my last day of the learning seminars, so that is pretty much what I did all day long and took a ton of notes until my hand cramped up. There was a really inspiring closing keynote with Matt McGorry, so I was pretty thrilled to get a picture with him. Now, if he only would have pulled out some of Bennett’s dance moves…

Celebrity Sightings: Tiny the dog from the movie “Pup Star” and Matt McGorry

And yes, I’m laughing at the picture of the dog celebrity. Matt should feel so proud to be in a section of ‘celebrities’ that includes a dog…

The day ended with a closing party at The Conga Room which was the kind of place that would be way too cool for me to go to normally. However, as always I danced my booty off until they kicked us out… Here is Meredith, me and Jenna on our way in:

Saturday

I had a day to explore before traveling back home, so I threw on a comfy ‘le weekend’ t-shirt and my leopard skirt and walked all over Los Angeles. Many more pictures coming as soon as I type up another post all about my exploring.

I met a bunch of super fun people at BlogHer this year and I have a feeling that my cheesy smile will be showing up in a lot of places over the next couple of weeks. To every fantastic blogger I met, I have a stack o’ business cards and I plan to start following up with everyone soon!

As always, I meant to keep this post short and it grew to a monster of over 1,000 words… but you guys should really expect this from me by now! Do you have any burning questions I haven’t answered? Which celebrity is your favorite?

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