My Favorite South Bay Area Coffee Shops

If you know me or even just follow me on Instagram, you know that I take my coffee pretty seriously and am always on the hunt for a cool coffee shop to check out. I've been to a lot of coffee shops both local and along the way on my travels. Now it's time for me to share some of the wisdom I have gained through my coffee testing trials and fill you in on what the best coffee shops in the South Bay Area are (AKA San Jose/Santa Clara). I couldn't narrow it down to just what the best coffee shops in the entire Bay Area are because, quite frankly, I don't think I've tried enough of them. I know, shocking, right? But I haven't given the coffee shops in Oakland or Berkeley their fair shot at winning me over, so I didn't feel right about narrowing it down that much. I guess I know what my future coffee goal is!

Anyway, if you live in the Bay Area or somehow find yourself here, these are the coffee shops in the South Bay I think you should check out!

The Busy Bee Update // 2

I have been on summer break now for 4 weeks and I am just now sitting down to finally write a blog post. I know you are probably wondering what in the world could now be keeping me from blogging now that school has ended. Well, let me just start by saying this: life has been quite the wonderful whirlwind!

Let's see...what have I been up to?
I went out of town for two weeks with my dad and took a road trip from Illinois to California.
The day after I finished school, I headed out to Illinois to help my dad and his siblings clean out their 92-year-old aunt's house since she unfortunately passed away in April. I had not been to my dad's hometown in 6 years, so it was nice to visit again and see some extended family. While I was there, we were very busy trying to sort through my aunt's belongings and clear the house out so it could be put up for sale. It was really bittersweet being at her house, but it was good closure and I really enjoyed getting to know her more simply through all of the things she had. She and her late husband built that house and had lived there since the 1950s, so as you could imagine, there were tons of things buried in there. I found many vintage treasures and am happy to have those momentos to remind me of her.

During the second week of my trip, my dad and I drove from Illinois back to California. I had never done a road trip like that, so I was very excited for this adventure with my dad! We left Illinois on Sunday and ended in San Diego late Thursday night. We took our time getting home and stopped along the way in Missouri, New Mexico, Arizona, the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas. I will definitely be posting more about that very soon, but it was such a fun trip!

I started a summer internship!
Two days after I got home to the Bay Area, I started an internship at a company called RingCentral. I am working in the marketing department (no, nothing design related) and have really been loving it so far! I just finished my second week and it has been a fun new experience. I have made lots of friends with the other interns from various departments and I am enjoying the team I work on. I am still nannying in the afternoons though, so between the two jobs I am working 50 hours per week. It has been really great and fulfilling, but I am definitely tired at the end of the day!

I'm figuring out where I will be moving to in the next month or so.
Along with all these fun things going on, I also have to deal with the not so fun task of figuring out where I am going to be moving to. So far I haven't found any great options, so it has been a little disappointing. I am not sure what I am going to do yet, but I know everything will work out one way or another!

I've been enjoying my weekends and evenings completely free of homework!
Aside from everything else, I have been simply enjoying my evenings and weekends that have left me free to relax, go places, and just hang out worry-free! It is so nice not to have any school assignments hanging over my head! I have been hanging out with friends more and have lots of things lined up on my summer bucket list. I am definitely soaking up every moment of this freedom before school starts back up again in August!

I am currently at Blue Bottle Coffee in Palo Alto with Dai and we are having a lovely summer day out and about! We are sitting outside at this public workspace and it is so nice! I wanted to use this relaxing time to quickly write a post to check-in and update you all on what's been up with me. I haven't abandoned this blog, I promise, and look forward to finally writing all these posts I have drafted in my head :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Fall Adventure to the Pumpkin Patch

If you recall, one of my goals for this fall was to take a little trip to a pumpkin patch! For a while, I wasn't sure if it was going to happen since most of the pumpkin patches in my area are clustered together in an inconvenient place, which creates tons of traffic and makes it really difficult to want to spend an hour and a half on a windy road to get to them. But, I was determined to make it happen, so I looked for a place in a completely opposite area and we decided to go for it!
The place we went to was called Uesugi Farms and it was definitely much more than just a pumpkin patch! They had many different food vendors, a petting zoo, a train, a hayride, canon-like guns that shot small pumpkins, and marigold fields. The marigolds were my favorite part! They were so pretty and added nicely to the fall feeling :)
Of course, we also loved the pumpkins! They had many different types and sizes to choose from, which made it fun to walk around and look at them all. We ended up just picking up some small ones to use as decorations around the house!
I suppose you could say that I love pumpkins... ;) I told Dai that we needed to take photos with the pumpkins because that was simply what you did at pumpkin patches! Luckily he was mostly a good sport about it :)
We couldn't get over how gross looking these pumpkins were! They look like they have warts or something all over them! Needless to say, we did not buy any of that kind haha.
It had been a few years since we visited a pumpkin patch, so I was really happy that we made the effort to squeeze this little adventure in this year! I really enjoyed this place, but hopefully we can make it a tradition to try different patches every year. We shall see!

Did you go to a pumpkin patch this year? What fall traditions do you have?

Summer Fruit Picking

Dai and I have talked about going fruit picking for the past couple summers, but never made it until this past weekend. We weren't really sure what kinds of fruit we wanted to pick, though there are a few areas around the Bay Area that are known for allowing you to pick your own fruit. We called around and it seemed that cherries didn't do so hot this year due to the drought, so we were left with peaches and strawberries. So bright and (somewhat) early on Saturday morning, we hopped in the car and drove about an hour or so east towards the country.
We first stopped at a place that mostly specialized in peaches to pick. It was great because we were even able to bring Marly along! I think he really liked it, even though it was hotter out than he prefers. He did not like the peaches, which was actually pretty surprising to me! That dog loves fruits and veggies.
Wandering through the rows and rows of peaches was fun, and we quickly learned what to look or feel for when selecting a peach. We tried a few of the peaches to try to get the hang of it and most of them were delicious. Like really the best peaches I've ever had.

We later stopped at a little strawberry patch just down the road to pick a few for ourselves. We didn't spend too long there since many of the strawberries had already been picked over, and because we were just over the heat! Marly was a trooper, but being black in the heat doesn't work so well in his favor. Still, we did get some strawberries to take home (exactly $1's worth haha) and they were pretty great. After we had our fill of fruit for the day, we stopped at a local tamale restaurant for some lunch and then headed home with the AC on full blast to take an afternoon nap before going out to the movies that evening. Because obviously, every awesome Saturday needs a nap involved.

Have you ever been fruit picking? Any tips you can share for our next time?

Guest Post // I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Welcome, friends! While I am off in Japan, I have collected a lovely team of bloggers to share a variety of guest posts about travel, fashion, and everything in between! I will be back from my adventuring soon, but in the mean time please enjoy these wonderful ladies :)

Today we have Danica of Love, Danica making her debut here on the blog. I recently met Danica through a comment she left on a post, and we have hit it off ever since! I am so happy to call her one of my blogging friends and hope to even meet her one day here in the Bay Area, a place we both love.

the writer of this lovely blog happens to live in the bay area so i thought it would be fitting to write about how close san francisco is to both of our hearts. thank you jess for giving me the opportunity to guest post...it's all about the bay area baby!

as a kid my parents would take me on a road trip to san francisco every year around spring break. they say children are like sponges and boy did i soak up all that city had to offer at the tender age of five. there is no wonder there are tons of songs written about this city, after all....doesn't everyone leave their heart in san francisco? my first trolley ride, being inspired by the diversity, music and food. being enthralled by the history of alcatraz, trying ghirardelli chocolate covered cherries, experiencing joy while approaching homeless people on my own with my half eaten sandwich, being scared by the infamous "bush man". i have countless memories of san francisco just visiting as a kid but i'm even more overjoyed now that my husband and i are making our own memories there.  my husband's family is originally from the bay area and although he grow up in hong kong (long story) he was born in concord, a little city surrounding san francisco. the fact that we both have so much history there makes it even more special. now my little family of two carries the same tradition and we make sure make the drive there every year and reunite our souls with the beautiful city by the bay. our lives are pretty settled here in southern california at the moment but hope to move there someday. you never know! here are just a few of our favorite things to do/places to see in our favorite city...

                                                               ^^bike riding through the palace of fine arts.^^

                               ^^our all time favorite place to visit. creepy. beautiful and historic. our cup of tea!^^

                                   ^^grabbing some food and enjoying the music and street performers at pier 39.^^

                                                           ^^we love you san francisco...see you in september!^^

Danica

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Never Too Latte...for Merry Christmas!

On Christmas Eve Day, my boyfriend, Dai, planned a nice little Christmas date for us! He took me to the cutest place called Never Too Latte and arranged for us to have high tea. We opted for lattes instead of tea and got to pick all of the goodies to go with it! 

He got a red velvet mocha and I stuck with a vanilla latte.

Everything tasted wonderful! This tower of goodies is made for two, but there was so much! The staff was so friendly and accommodating and the pastry chef is a genius. We became fast friends with her. She even makes her own salted caramel and gave me an entire spoon full to eat by itself. I was in heaven! This girl loves anything salted caramel.

I will definitely be going back, hopefully with my sister, the coffee connoisseur!

At any rate, Merry Christmas! Things here were wonderful, full of family and friends, good food, and presents. Another year, gone! Where does the time go?