California Dreamin'

For as long as I could remember, traveling to Los Angeles, California has always been a dream of mine. The vibe, tall palm trees, weather and style has always lured me towards visiting the west coast. It took me awhile but I finally made my way to the other side of the country. Many of you know there is usually a reason or theme behind my trips. For this trip, I simply wanted to celebrate my new role (more on this soon) and catch vibes. That I did. Let’s get into it!

Where I Stayed & Day one

My lovely friend Nialah and her boyfriend David were kind enough to host me at their Downtown LA loft. I felt right at home and was very much so comfortable. David picked me up from the airport and I was greeted with the biggest welcome basket filled with beauty goodies and a tasty breakfast sandwich.

After we finished breakfast, I noticed that I was extremely jet lagged so I took a nap while Nialah finished up work. For the evening we headed off to The Grove and went into different shops before meeting back up with David at their favorite taco spot Guisados. The tacos were absolutely delicious. After dinner we came back to their apartment and by 10:30 PST I was sleeping like a baby.

Day Two

On Friday, October 15th I woke up relatively early about 6 am PST but this was because my body was still on east coast time for sure. I got up for good around 7:30 and headed outside to read my book. My mom ended up calling me and she asked what I had planned for the day and I said “I’m not too sure but I know I’m going to see Issa Rae some how some way”. I then got a text from Nialah asking if I wanted to take a ride to Beverly Hills and who could say no to that? En route to Beverly Hills, I saw a waitlist open for Insecure watch parties, and I scored a ticket! Nialah dropped me off at the location (after another Guisados run) and I was so excited I could barely contain myself. At the watch party, I grabbed my complimentary bag of popcorn, drink and sour patch watermelons and got ready for the show. I even struck up conversation with a lady sitting next to me (hey Renee!), in comes Issa Rae. Whew! What a moment, I felt so full in that space.

After watching 4 episodes of season 2 of Insecure I went ahead and left the theater and grabbed an Uber back to Nialah’s. When I got back to their apartment Nialah picked up a sweet surprise (Randy’s Donuts) and we all decided that we were hungry again … you guessed it we all went back to Guisados.

Day Three

I’m pretty sure my last day, was my favorite from the entire trip. Nialah and I got up and hit the ground running at around 8am and headed to Inglewood. We stopped at Hilltop, a coffee and kitchen shop designed for creators and an all around inclusive space. Issa Rae also join Hilltop as a partner. So of course I had to stop by anddd buy a T-Shirt.

When we left Hilltop, we drove around the corner to the infamous apartment complex, Insecure show stable - The Dunes. It was our first time so we were so excited. After the photo-op we hopped back into the car and headed to Malibu for brunch at Duke’s.

The ride into Malibu was so scenic I got lost in watching the coastline. PCH is so fun to ride on, when we arrived at Duke’s I had the beach breakfast and we ordered some coconut shrimp to share. During brunch we saw dolphins and a fleet of birds appear just as I was telling Nialah that she would soar in her next endeavor. After brunch, we went on an adventure up the mountains and I was very happy when we made it back down lol.

On our way back into LA we stopped through the Hollywood Hills and invited ourselves into a Very Niajah open house. I often dream of my own forever home and walking around this space just felt right. After touring the beautiful estate, Nialah and I went back to her place before linking up with Victoria and Kristin!

Once we were all together, we picked up a quick dinner and we hung out at Victoria’s downtown trendy hotel. Before I knew it - Nialah, David and I were heading back to their loft and in just a short few hours after I was back on the plane heading to the EWR.

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In all, I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the west coast and I absolutely cannot wait to go back!