long beach, i love you

L O N G    B E A C H   L O V I N'

So, Long Beach was one of the new spots Pete and I added to our California trip this year. Pete had done some research and chosen to add LB to our list, and to be honest he's never wrong (when it comes to trip planning I mean, haha!)

LB is definitely a cool Cali spot, I get the feeling it's about to blow up in the next few years as more and more amazing spots keep popping up. 

It's got a beautiful beach and waterfront, with those cool scooter things that seem to be everywhere in California right now (we didn't end up renting one, mostly because I feel like I would have knocked my front teeth out! lol) We walked and walked and felt the sunshine on our faces. It wasn't super hot when we were there, but it was perfect walk around + explore kinda weather.

In classic Pete fashion, we stayed in the coolest (cutest) place ever. A really sweet Air B+B that was perfectly curated with cool, vintage, awesomeness, oh and very hygge (see photo of fireplace below!)

Out Air B&B hosts also owned an adorable little cafe called Wide Eyes Open Palms. We went there for coffee and breakfast and sat outside in the sun which was magical.

We did a lot of walking, wandering, shopping and exploring. Literally one of my favourite things in the world is discovering new towns, cities and amazing spots.

We walked along Main Street which is where a lot of the really amazing shops are! It's a lovely street with lots of hidden gems. The two photos below were taken at an absolutely unreal spot called The Hangout (which is a massive old warehouse looking storefront with tons of amazing, unique vendors) and in the back is this incredible, beautiful garden oasis called The Golden Garden // Also, can I talk about how heart breaking it is that we can't bring plants and flowers back to Canada?

After walking along Main Street for a while and checking out every last square inch of the fun, we stumbled across my DREAM STORE, like when I saw it I actually gasped. It's called Wild Child Party and basically if I could open my own party shop it would essentially look exactly like this! Tons of my favourite brands, party decor, stationery, greeting cards, ribbons, balloons + confetti. 

My favourite coffee shop that we visited in Long Beach was Commodity Coffee. What a gem! Delicious coffee and quite possibly the most amazing breakfast sandwich I've ever eaten (still drooling thinking about it) I obviiiii had to get a souvenir from there, which was the adorable cup pictured below with my fresh blooms inside.

Other things we did in Long Beach that are worth noting; 

buying lotsss of beautiful crystals for my ever-growing collection from Recircle Home, enjoying happy hour and a delicious meal at Beachwood Brewing, watching Pete drool of Port LBC Shop, enjoyed a very delicious coffee (and aw'd over the adorable AF decor) at Do Good Coffee + Donuts, bought the cutest pair of earrings ever from Native Sol, and tried my best not to literally buy everything at California Drifters which is one of the most beautiful shops I've ever seen.

Ate quite possibly the best nachos we've ever had (get the chorizo ones!) at Lola's, played a few games of shuffle board and then took the best photobooth photos at Blind Donkey, met with and heard all about the story behind Butterscotch (so f*ckin' cool),  had the most magical, hygge patio/wine chill night at Art Dy Vin (an adorable little wine bar), bought one v cool (sparkly) ring from Make Collectives

Ate delicious food and drink yummy drinks at Padre, dreamed of buying beautiful vintage pieces from 6th + Detroit, had theeee best smoothies ever from Salud Juice, and bought more cute jewels from Anneise Shop

All in all, Long Beach is damn cool and you should go there! Really loved it ♥