Cali State Fair 2015

One of my all time favorite things to do in the Summer is to head out to the California State Fair, which is held every July here in Sacramento. I missed out on it last year, which made attending this year that much more exciting! It was me and my honey's first time going to the fair together, and of course we had a blast!

The very first thing we did was head to the exhibition buildings to check out the art! Admiring the works from artists all over Cali is my favorite part about the fair! This year was no different! There were so many amazing pieces + inspiration to be seen, here are a few of my favorites....!

After checking out the art we walked the grounds taking it all in. I seriously feel like a kid when I'm at the fair, just ask my honey...! I was pullin him around, so excited to see everything! Definitely an amazing + memorable day at the fair! 

Until next time, Cheers!

<3 Noonie 

Moody CA Skies

A few weekends ago the weather was super odd + I had written this post about it, but hadn't had the chance to post it for your viewing pleasure until now.

Enjoy! 

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The past couple of days the weather has been really weird. I'm talkin' odd shades of reds, oranges + purples in the skies + thunder + lightning storms out of no where. Kinda gloomy + grey, although I have been enjoying the cooler weather a bit. I got to bust out a long sleeve shirt this morning, which was a nice change. On days like today I really just want to stay curled up in bed, passing the day with movies, such as The Goonies. There's just something about gloomy weather that makes me want to watch it. 

Anyways wanted to share this clip I captured of the lightning storm...

Until next time friends...Cheers!!!

<3 Noonie

Reunited + It Feels So Good!

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I can't even believe I'm about to type the followings words...Nelli is back in Cali Cali! (You may have already heard if you caught this post of Nelli's) I'm so freaking happy she's back to the Golden state! + not only is she back, but she's also only 2 hours away! :) It's been 5 years since we've lived in the same state, so our ability to have adventures wasn't a reality, that is until now. I have yet to get a chance to visit her just yet, but I'm so looking forward to adventures with my co blogger + partner in crime! I have a feeling BSOM is about to have the heat turned up on it since we'll be able to collab more in person! 

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After hearing the news of Nelli's homecoming to Cali, you might be wondering are we going to be changing the name of our blog since we are no longer Bicoastal?! + the simple answer is NO WAY! We love the name of our blog so no, it's not going to be changing! :) Can't wait to see what new ventures await BSOM! 

Thank you for taking this ride with Nelli + I!! 

Until next time friends...Cheers!!

<3 Noonie 

Whirlwind Weekend!

If you've been following the blog you may have noticed that my birthday was 2 weeks ago. For a gift one of my favorite people flew me out to San Francisco for the weekend including wine tasting, World Cup, one one hell-of-a-time!

Below are a few photos to commemorate the trip!

Cheers

-Nelli

Jackie-O Style

For the Love of Old Buildings

If you're a regular here on BSOM you'd know that I LOVE antiques from antique makeup to old photos. (If you haven't checked out my previous posts about antiques you can find them here + here + here) There's just something so mesmerizing to me about these old items which is what drives me to collect them. I often think about who owned the item before, what they were like + how lived it's all just so fascinating to me. What really gets me about old photos is that the people in these photos probably never thought that 100s of years from their lifetime would their photo be hanging in a strangers house, which is just so intriguing to me. 

I'm not only fascinated by antiques but also old buildings/areas of town. There's just so much history that can be seen in these old places it blows my mind to think about how many people have come + gone over the years. Sacramento has a ton of old areas/buildings that are still intact, the most well known area being Old Sacramento. Old Sac is cool to wander around but the areas that really intrigue me are the run down, sometimes boarded up buildings. I know these places aren't always going to be around, as it's only a matter of time before someone tears them down/remodels these old areas/buildings which is why I've decided I'd really like to preserve these places by way of photograph. Which is exactly what I've already begun to do! Snapped the above photo a few weeks back of this old building that sits along some railroad tracks. My guess would be it's an old train station because of where it's located. But I just loved the eeriness of this building especially how it looked at night. 

Plan of Action: Gather a list of all of the older parts of town + get my camera ready! :) 

Can't wait to share more shots with ya! :) 

Until next time friends...Cheers!! 

<3 Noonie

Road Trippin' to |LA, CA|

Saying bye to Sac for the weekend!

A really good friend of mine called me about a week ago and asked me if I wanted to go on a road trip with her down to the LA area...of course I said YES! I haven't gone on a long road trip for a couple of years, and my gf and I hadn't gone on a road trip together for quite some time too, so it was definitely an easy YES! Although LA is only about a 6 hour drive away from Sacramento I hadn't been down to LA in almost 10 years, so I was totally stoked! I was even more excited because our little trip would be the perfect opportunity for me to go abandon some art!! If you're not sure what I'm talkin' about I wrote about Art Abandonment here!

Cutest little town!

We headed out early Saturday morning and got to Venice Beach, CA around noon or so. I had never been to Venice Beach prior, but I instantly fell in love with this beach town! 

|Canals of Venice, CA| The houses were so cute + everyone 
had their own little boats to float along the canal in

As we did get there in the middle of the day, it was packed! There was so much to see + do it was honestly a little overwhelming, but a good time nonetheless! 

|Venice Beach| 
View from the Pier

Surfers + Paddle boarders galore!

There was a huge art scene which instantly made me fall in love with Venice Beach even more!

Street art seems to be engrained in the Venice Beach culture

Art on the beach

Artists in action!

I LOVED how even the trees have become a canvas!

Enjoying their craft!

Pretty spot on remake of the classic Starry Night

My friend and I ended up getting bike rentals and rode along the beach, catching all the sights as we rode by. It was seriously the best ride bike of my life. I mean you just can't beat a bike ride along a beautiful beach, that's hard to top, at least in my book.

Ridin' along

Doin' their thang!

 There was a street fair going on that day with tons of vendors selling pieces of art, and other mostly homemade items.

The street fair was one of my favorite things 
we experienced while at Venice Beach

The beach was packed full of people soaking up the sun, playing volleyball, there was even a skate park right on the beach that was packed full of people of all ages showing off their skills.

Beach life

Of course we also saw the infamous Venice Beach Gym, which can be found right on the beach, quite the sight. It really was an experience riding our bikes along the beach as we really did get to see much more than what we might've seen if we had to walk the entire time. After Venice Beach we headed to the hotel to get ready for our next venture, dinner!

One of many patios of the hotel

The hotel we stayed at was the biggest hotel I've ever stayed in (other than in Reno but those were casinos too). We had a good ol' time exploring the hotel for a little while during which I did abandoned my very first few pieces!  

Someone was in for a surprise at the hotel we stayed in. 
A couple of shots of where I abandoned a few pieces in the hotel.

Spring Fever- Acrylic piece, one of the ones I abandoned at the hotel. 
(See above)

Purple Haze- Acrylic piece, another one I abandoned at the hotel. 
(See above)

After getting all dolled up we headed to a Thai restaurant for din din. I'd only eaten Thai food once before, and I loved it! We started out with a couple of cocktails + Spring Rolls, followed by Chicken Curry, Pad Thai, and Garlic Shrimp, for dessert we had Coconut Ice cream. Every single dish was delicious and the restaurant was too cute!

Dinner is served!

By the time we had our fill, we were both pretty beat as it had been a long day! So to bed we went, although I can't say that either of us got much sleep. I experienced a lot of firsts that day, and the night was no different. The couple next door must have been on their Honeymoon or something if you know what I'm sayin'. First time I've ever heard strangers goin' at. But as Forrest would say "That's all I have to say about that." LOL. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep that night, between all the noises coming from next door + the sound of our television blasting. Fun times!

|Manhattan Beach, CA|

The first thing on our agenda that Sunday morning was to grab some coffee and head to Manhattan Beach which wasn't too far from the hotel. This was another first time visit for me to this particular beach. It was really nice, definitely not as packed as Manhattan, lots of families and such. 

Enjoying the beauty that is Manhattan Beach

My gf and I ended up  doing some painting while we soaked up some rays with an ocean view right in front of us, talk about Heaven. 

My ideal day!

After getting a little burnt we thought we better head out, as we were running out of time. Before we headed out I abandoned another piece of my art in the women's bathroom at the beach!

My art abandoned!

View of Stinson Beach- Watercolor <Abandoned>

|Beverly Hills, CA|

After our fun at the beach we headed to Beverly Hills to go grab some empanadas from Nonna's Empanadas, my friend goes there every time she's in LA, and after trying them I understand why! Sure I've had an empanada before from Taco Bell (if that counts), but Nonna's Empanadas were no comparison! There were a variety of different empanadas to choose from, from sweet to savory (I had personally never tried a savory type empanada but it was delicious! As were the sweet ones!). 

Nonna's Empanadas! These were so delicious! 
Think I'm going to have to try to make some of my own!

We got about a dozen empanadas: 5 Cheese, Tomato, Beef, Ham, Carne Asada, Macaroni + Cheese, Apple, Guava, and Cheesecake. There were a ton of other different flavors though, and if you get the chance I highly suggest you go check this place out! We enjoyed a couple of our empanadas, and hit the road again this time heading to Hollywood.

Rodeo Drive

I had been to Hollywood before, but like I said it had been sometime ago so it was cool to drive around and see all the sights we could with the time we had. We drove down Rodeo Drive and saw all the fancy stores, then we went exploring a little bit through some neighborhoods to go check out the enormous houses! 

Ballin' in Beverly Hills, CA

By this time we almost had to hit the road back to Sac, but decided to make one more stop, Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles. Roscoe's is a very popular restaurant in LA, and as we were limited on time we ordered our chicken and waffles to go and hit the road back home.

The trip home went by even quicker than the trip to LA did which was nice. I ended up abandoning one more piece in Santa Nella before we got back.

Italian Sunset- Watercolor <Abandoned>

We were both exhausted by the end of the trip and ready to get home to our own beds. Definitely was a fun filled weekend and I'm so grateful that my friend and I got to get out of town and just go relax and de-stress, which we both definitely needed.

Until next time friends...Cheers!

P.S. Summer is coming up + I want to know...
Do you have any road trips planned? Where ya goin'?
No road trips planned? What's your dream road trip look like?
Comment below! <3