joshua tree, i love you.

J O S H U A    T R E E    F O R E V E R (!!!)

I love Joshua Tree. This place is legit pure magic and I am all about the vibe, all dayyyy. Pete and I went to JT for the first time last year when we went on our Cali trip, you can check out that post here.

We knew we wanted to go back to Joshua Tree, especially since it's just so close to so many other great places! We couldn't imagine not making the trip back to see such an incredibly cool place. So, we did just that! This time we just stayed in a cute air b&b for two nights. 

It was very cold in JT this time around, and sadly it was amidst the government shut downs, although while we were in the park everything still looked so amazing and beautiful. Hoping things are all sorted and back to normal now.

I'll be honest, there's not that much to do in Joshua Tree, I mean in addition to the fact that it's the coolest place ever inside the actual park. In that case you could get lost forever inside the park, because it is truly pure magic.

My favourite thing to do is go there for the sunset. Pete and I legit chased the sunset this time (lol) we were actually running around to find  the best spot to see the sunset and take some awesome pics. It's safe to say we found it! It was literally frigid cold there but so worth experiencing something so damn beautiful.

Other favourites while in Joshua Tree:

pie for the people: A very delicious pizza place! Even though you basically always have to wait an hour and twenty minutes to eat it, I do feel like it's worth it.

country kitchen: We really wanted to go here last year but the wait was always so long. This is a teeny tiny diner with the nicest people and most delicious (greasy breakfast) I'm gonna go ahead and say it, the hashbrowns changed my life.

shop the mesa: My new favourite store. When you walk into a store and the owner offers you a mimosa for while you shop, you know it's gonna be a good time. This store is so beautiful, so bright and curated with amazing things. I got some really cute stuff like pom-poms + palo santo.

yucca bowl: When Pete found out there was a old school bowling alley with a mid-week special I was 110% on board. I love bowling! Omg we had so much fun here, the people there were so nice and it was like going back in time. $1.25 per game on Tuesday's - best $$$ we spent all trip!

hoof + the horn: Loveee this shop, and loved it last year too. A really amazing mix of clothes, decor, pins, jewels, candles, blankets and beyond. I got some palo santo perfume, pins, and Pete and I got the most beautiful navaho blanket for our house (it was only $50 and is legit beautiful.

joshua tree rock shop: Bless Pete's soul for putting up with my recent love of gems and crystals (lol) I wandered around the rock shop and was really thinking about the special gems I wanted from JT because it's a place that channels a lot of good energy. There were SO many options but I got three gems that are super special now!

moon wind trading co: This is a newer shop in JT, and is kinda in the middle of nowhere but I love that about it. Beautiful curation of goodies, especially the jewellery. Honestly, I just loved looking at everything because it was quite dreamy.

joshua tree coffee co: We loveeee coffee, so much that we did was like 15-20 minutes for our road trip coffees from JT Coffee Co. Worth it though because they were damn good! And everyone was so nice, I love nice people.

giant rock meeting room + coffee house: What an amazing spot! New to Joshua Tree, this is a beautiful spot right next to Moon Wind Trading Co. The staff were so nice (nice people everywhere) and the coffee was so so good. We sat by the window and the sun was shining so bright as we enjoyed some really damn good coffees.

I think everyone needs to experience the beauty of Joshua Tree at some point in their lives. I feel super thankful we got to go there two years in a row! JT, do you love me? Yes.

we're goin' back to cali + travelling back to a place you love

Hi all, Jules here! It's been a hot minute but I'm still here with a whole lotta love to give to you. Life is good, and I am so incredibly happy that fall is finally here. Looking forward to cosy, chill nights and home and for life to slow down a bit.

I am soooooo beyond excited to say that Pete and I booked our next trip! Omg. I've been totally dreaming of our next adventure since it's been close to a year since we went on a big trip. Pete and I really loved going away after Christmas last year. It was actually our first time going away during that time and it was actually perfect.

I get the week + a bit between Christmas and new years off of work, and it seemed like the perfect reason to get away for a while! I especially really loved it because, well I am not too sure if you knew this but - I really really really love Christmas (lol). And well, I kinda get really sad after it's all over. Having our Cali trip to look forward to really brightened my spirits and gave me something to look forward to once Christmas was over.

We la la la loved California (like, so much!) and had an incredible trip. We went to Venice Beach, San Diego, Joshua Tree + Silver Lake (L.A) - when chatting about where we'd go this year, we talked about how much we loved Cali, so much that we'd be down to go back and re-visit the places we really loved! And you know what is super underrated? Travelling back to a place you LOVE! Sooo, we did it! We booked our flights and our next adventure starts December 28th!

We're adding Palm Springs + probably a few other places to the list this time around. I am so so excited and thought it would be fun to share some of my favourite photos I took the last time we were in California.

Have you ever loved a place so much that you've decided to go back?

colourful L.A.

h e l l o   m o n d a y! ( &   a p r i l )

This is one of my final California blog posts, and today I am sharing some colourful snaps from our time in L.A.! We stayed in Silver Lake, which is a super hip, cool and fun area! Out Air B&B was amaaaazing and so very cool. It had such an awesome vibe so it was fun to hang there and listen to tunes, have a few drinks and just chill. Our hosts were beyond lovely.

We knew L.A. would be wonderful and filled with cool little spots, sunshine and celebrities! So many people had told us how key it is to have a car when exploring this city, and that could definitely not be more true! I've never been to a city that was more spread out than L.A. and it actually made me appreciate Toronto even more!

Our days were spent walking around in the (perfect) sunshine, checking out coffee shops, cool stores, restaurants and so many beautiful, bright colours! One of my favourite parts of Cali in general was all the inspirational quotes everywhere and all of the bright colours.

We spent most of our time exploring Silver Lake, Echo Park and West Hollywood. Oh, annnnnd I finally got to cross off a big dream of mine! A bus tour! lolz. I always try to get Pete to do one of these when we travel, and he finally caved this time. We did a hop on hop off tour of Hollywood and it! was! so! fun!

We saw a lot of cool shit while we were in L.A. and here are just a few snaps of what we saw! Surprisingly, this is the spot I took the least amount of photos!

Check out my other Cali posts if you'd like:

 // shop pigment // i fell in love with joshua tree 

// 5 things to do in venice beach // i fell in love with a coffee + flower shop

Here are some sweet places we went to in Los Angeles!:

Yolk

Alfred Coffee

Sawyer

Dinette

Mohawk Bend

Ostrich Farm

Shout Out & About

Paul Smith Pink Wall

Dinosaur Coffee

In & Out Burger

The Black Cat

Micheltorena Stairs

i fell in love with a shop called pigment, in san diego!

oh hello there + it's the weekend! yay!

We're having a very chill weekend over here and I cannot express how much this is needed right now. It's been a really crazy, emotionally draining few weeks but all is okay and as always, I am channelling all my positive vibes.

Also, I should note that I feel like I've got so many blog posts ideas in my mind and am really excited that I am actually making them happen. One of my goals for 2018 was to really get blogging more and producing fun, creative, positive content that I hope you'll share.

I've got a few more posts coming up about our California trip (seriously LOVE Cali so much) and today I am sharing photo's from the most beautiful, magical store I've ever been to in my life (oh! em!gee!) As soon as we decided we were going to San Diego (we had previously booked Ojai but didn't end up going because of all the fires), I found out about Shop Pigment and it's safe to say that it did NOT disappoint!

I spent well over an hour in this shop, snapping pics, and exploring through every little perfectly curated corner. I tried not to go totally overboard, but bought some cute as can be items. Looking back now, I wished I went all out because I didn't end up finding a place that I loved this much in downtown L.A!

Pigment is filled with stationery, home decor, gifts, jewellery, party supplies, kids stuff and plants + planters. I loved seeing goodies from Bando and my gal Sarah from Daisy Natives. I'm literally (california) dreaming about going back there someday. 

Find Shop Pigment on social for inspiration:

// @shoppigment on twitter

// @shoppigment on pinterest

// @shoppigment on instagram

& here are the other Cali posts I've shared so far!:

// I fell in love with Joshua Tree

// Five things to do in Venice Beach

// I fell in love with a Coffee & Flower Shop in San Diego