but we will stay: The Trip to Portland: San Diego to Los Angeles

So as not to overwhelm with pictures and stories I will be documenting my trip (that I completed last night) day by day on here. I started last Thursday, all happy (and sad) and a little out of sorts. Isn't that normal when you're playing tetris with your things trying to fit them all in your car? I sure think so!

The cute home I lived at for 3 months

I started out the day playing tetris like previously mentioned, then headed north to say goodbye at the office and get lunch with the sis, Miss T (I'm going to call her Misty from now on haha!)

yum yum rico's

Oh Rico's is so delicious. One last bean & cheese with sour cream, guac and french fries burrito (yes I know, not vegan, I'll get to that plan in the next week or so) before heading to Grandma and Grandpa's to say goodbye.

What many Southern Californians refer to as the Dolly Parton

Made my first stop at the Irvine spectrum to cross #11 off of the 25 before 25 list! I was the only one on the ferris wheel until my time was up, then a girl and her dad got on which was oh so cute and a little more normal than a lone soldier with a camera (or 5).

View from above

Ready for adventure!

They put me in the C cart, meant to be!

Then I walked around more, took some pictures of the Merry Go Round, hit up Urban Outfitter and ALMOST splurged on a Holga 120 because they had the color film for it but restrained myself like a really responsible girl and moved my show along. I did break down and buy Artful Blogger and one cheap journal from Barnes and Noble while I was there (oh yeah and Nylon). I've already started using the journal and a new goal of mine is to one fine fine day be featured in artful blogger! Forget dream big, dream HUGE!

Round and Round

I then found myself a late lunch at the amazingly delicious Veggie Grill. Oh so wonderful and scrumptious. Their chicken sandwich is sooooo good and I knew there was no way of not getting one before I left Southern California. I know Portland has so many great veggie and vegan eateries but I had to support one down south before I left.

yes please

not wanting to get caught taking my own picture

Then I said goodbye to the Spectrum and headed straight into 3 1/2 hours of traffic to go somewhere that should have taken me 2 hours. But that's L.A. for you. Guess I couldn't leave without experiencing that.

that one thing at the front

traffic made it so i could take some pictures

blurry hollywood

I finally made it to Synthony's, bum numb to the max and we went to get some chinese veggie food. She had some fake chicken but since I had my fill for the day I just went with veggies and tofu. It wasn't bad, no Portland, but still good.

late dinner

Lastly we hit up Target and I saw the cover of this book and almost bought it. One because the design, I swear that has Jessica Hische written all over it (or it should) and two because I've been meaning to read Great Expectations for a long time now. I resisted because I needed a pillow and bananas more than another book in my car. I have it in my "someday" list though.