Desert Trip: An Epic Music Festival for All Generations

Desert Trip

Desert Trip

“Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, tomorrow I’ll miss you.” Paul McCartney

It has been a challenge for me to collect all of my thoughts and emotions that get tangled together over our incredible experience at Desert Trip. Nostalgic emotions emerged that bring back memories of high school, no responsibilities and the joys of being a teenager, sprinkled with rock and roll.

Desert Trip

Since our kids were little Craig would say, “Who is the greatest band in the world?” The correct answer was always: “The Rolling Stones”. Music and concerts have always been a huge part of our lives, so when we learned the news that Desert Trip was created and coming soon, we knew that the experience of seeing these iconic classic rock bands from our youth was something we needed to share with our grown children.

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Unparalleled Beauty at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa

Grand Hyatt Kauai & Spa

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Just a few thoughts about my passion for the Hawaiian Islands before I tell you about our AMAZING experience at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa

Just last year I declared right here on the blog that the island of Maui was my favorite of all the Hawaiian Islands, however I would like to amend this statement. After our recent trip to the island of Kauai, I feel that deciding which island in this tropical paradise is best… is impossible. Each island offers it own “special sauce” that makes you feel like you are the most import guest in the world. One can’t choose between extraordinary and extraordinary!

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Where to go this Fall ~ 7 Great Destinations to Enjoy!

where to go this fall

Where to go this fall to enjoy the best of what this colorful season has to offer ~

Summer has ended and we are headed to Fall, my very favorite season! Funny thing is that I live in Southern California where the temps are hovering around 90 degrees! How can I think about cool, sweater weather, drinking hot cocoa, eating warm apple pie and enjoying walks through the autumn leaves?

I can find these desirable images in my imagination, or I can plan a fall getaway! Where can we go? Many of my friends who live on the East Coast will chuckle when I write about how I long for the cooler weather, because I don’t really experience any type of super cold weather in Pasadena. I think I wear a coat maybe once or twice all season at home.

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Saturday Morning: News on the web

news on the web

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It has been quite a while since I had a chance to share a few articles that Craig and I have found interesting. I thoroughly enjoy reading a round up of links from the week by other bloggers. I find that no two lists are ever the same and I have never seen even one article the same as mine or anyone else. It illustrates the point of just how valuable this curated content really is! If you don’t share it, no one will find it!

My friend Kim shares links that she loves and I follow Modern Mrs Darcy and she always offers information that I am unfamiliar with and frankly probably would never have discovered. Love technology!

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No Social Media on Vacation – Is it possible?

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No Social Media on Vacation – Is this a problem?

If I don’t post any photos on Facebook or Instagram of my wonderful tropical vacation while we are there, did it really happen? Ha! Of course it did!

How often do you just put away the phone and abstain from checking Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, ESPN, CNN or other news apps? For an hour? How about a day? What about a week?

I can guarantee that if you are a social media participant on a regular basis, walking away for a week would be a challenge. For those of you who just check periodically, this post is probably not going to speak to you.

 

No Social Media on Vacation ~

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Craig and I left for Kauai yesterday and I decided NOT to use social media for the entire time we are here. I will answer texts if the kids or our parents need us, but otherwise, no.

This decision does pose a fairly important problem for me as a travel blogger/writer. Being active on social media is part of my job, but we all need a vacation from our jobs sometime don’t we? Most of the destinations we visit are cities which require daily touring and activities. They are not the kind of places you would want to just sit. Too many things to see and do, so it is simple to share on social media while it’s happening!

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A Postcard Perfect Trip to Chicago

trip to Chicago, me and the bean

trip to Chicago

A Beautiful Trip to Chicago ~

This amazing city has EVERYTHING! Chicago has a rich history, spectacular architecture, incredible museums, wonderful restaurants, lots of places to walk, a beautiful skyline, shopping… wow the shopping! If you are a sports fan, they have several great sports teams and many top notch colleges nearby as well.

trip to Chicago- shopping the Miracle Mile
Shopping The Miracle Mile on Michigan Ave

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A Hollywood Food Adventure: The Taste

LA Taste

LA Taste

The Los Angeles Times annual food and wine festival is uniquely Los Angeles. Perfectly named The Taste, it is our third time attending and we loved it just as much as the first two experiences. We chose to attend the day and evening events on Saturday, but The Taste LA actually began Friday evening with the Opening Party, two events on Saturday and two on Sunday. In the past we had purchased a pass for the weekend, but our schedule wouldn’t allow it this year.

LA Taste

Our kids joined us (finally) and they only had so much time to give and wanted to relax at home with us as well. Lucky us, I will take a visit from them whenever they want and wherever they want!

LA Taste

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Happiness in the Empty Nest (The nest is full this weekend!)

happiness in the empty nest

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Happiness in the Empty Nest

Just for Labor Day weekend, our nest will be full! Oh happy day, our kids are coming home for the weekend and I am over the moon. How lucky are we that our busy, adult children want to come home to visit, hang out and attend an event with us.

Partly because there was a free airline ticket, partly because there will be free delicious food and free handcrafted cocktails and partly because they really do love us and want to come home!

Can I get a woo hoo? So often Craig and I attend a really fun event which usually involves very special food and drink and we say to each other, “I really wish Alex and Nick were here to experience this with us.”

The Taste

We said this a couple of times when we attended The Taste, a culinary extravaganza on the backlot (which is super cool) at Paramount Studios. Craig and I have attended this Los Angeles Times event twice in the past four years and missed last year.

We thoroughly loved the experience so much and the kids were able to arrange their schedules to come down to LA and join us this year. Yay!

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