spring break photo diary

Playing: Hurricane-MisterWives
Reading: Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck (Amazing book!)

Instead of heading back home over spring break, I took a trip along the East Coast with a group of friends, stopping off at Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Unfortunately, I was sick for most of Washington D.C. and Baltimore. However, I really enjoyed Philadelphia. It wasn't my first time there as I've been there twice before, but I had just forgotten how beautiful Philadelphia can be. On the second day we were there, we visited the Philadelphia Art Museum and walked along the Schuylkill River Trail and wow, it was beyond stunning. The classical style of the Fairmount Water Works and museum buildings contrasted with the modern skyline is just a beautiful sight to see. Baltimore has a more subtle sense of beauty and wonderment than Philly has. Its landmarks and tourist spots aren't as well known and obvious in terms of importance to American history, but it was rare jewels like the American Visionary Art Museum that made me enjoy my time there. The AVAM felt like a collection of relics from my childhood, represented by glittering objects and animated folk art.

Picture: 1-DC War Memorial, 2-Fort McHenry, 3-AVAM, 4-Fairmount Water Works, 5-Honeygrow, 6-Meeting Kazuo Ishiguro at the Free Library, 7-Philadelphia City Hall

Japan Trip: Kyoto

Playing: She Lied to the FBI-Alkaline Trio
Reading: The Tale of Layla and Majnun by Nizami

It's been forever since I posted anything about my trip to Japan, so I apologize in advance for posting this so late. I still want to cover what I did in the countryside and in Tokyo yet I'm just covering Kyoto today. Tina and I started off our time in Kyoto around the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and the surrounding area. We particularly liked how tranquil the forest was and it was pleasant to walk around Arashiyama itself. (May we recommend Gyatei, which offers a wide range of traditional Japanese food, for lunch?)

While walking around the forest, we stumbled upon the Nonomiya Shrine, which was surprisingly nice. It had all sorts of colorful paper cranes decorating the area and seemed like a popular stop among tourists and locals alike. From what we could tell, there seemed to be a sort of beauty pageant that took place there or a Geisha dress up sort of deal? We couldn't tell from the scarce advertisements.

What made Kyoto so beautiful is its tranquil nature scenes and all of the picture perfect locations. The Togetsu Bridge, which crosses the Katsura River, offers especially peaceful views and if you walk along the banks of the Katsura River, you can easily find a place where you could rent boats to go about the river. If you're interested in an arduous hike, you can climb up the mountain right by the Togetsu Bridge to visit a monkey park.

Kyoto is known for being the home to a lot of Japan's cultural and artistic heritage. Consequently, Tina and I went out of our way to visit every shrine we walked past, which led us to visiting Yasaka Jinja. Yasaka Jinja itself was very beautiful and I highly recommend visiting it. It sprawls over a large chunk of land and has every aspect of a shrine you could want from beautiful paper lanterns to amazing pieces of architecture. At the time we were there (mid-July) there was even a street festival being set up on one of the side streets next to it.

The main reason we found ourselves at Yasaka Jinja was because Tina and I really wanted to go to the Gion Distrit, which is known for having quite a few Geishas walking around. While we were there, we did see a Geisha. However, she was not stopping for photos and walked briskly by. I loved the older style of the buildings in this district and all of the side streets. It was rather quaint. While you're there, I recommend stopping by Saryo TSUJIRI for matcha parfaits and wandering along the Kamo River.

One of our favorite shrines that we visited was the Fushimi-Inari Shrine, which is famous for its long rows of torii gates. We liked how this shrine was decorated and how it offered multiple paths to hike along and how all the paths lead us to another shrine. We also visited Kiyomizu-dera and Kinkaku-ji, which I both highly recommend if you have the time to visit them. However, I wanted to share a few shrines that are lesser known but still worth visiting in this post. We usually walked around the areas surrounding a lot of the shrines and I feel like those alleyways and rambling streets were one of the best things about Kyoto. They hid a plethora of cute cafes and shops to stop by.

PS While you're in Kyoto, you should also take advantage of the nama yatsuhashi selection. Nama yatsuhashi is a mochi based crepe-like dessert often stuffed with red bean of fruit preserves and Kyoto is famous for it!

Japan Trip: Osaka

Playing: The World is Ugly-My  Chemical Romance
Reading: Metamorphoses by Ovid

After our day trip in Kobe, Tina and I head off to Osaka for a three day visit. We of course did the touristy stuff like visiting Osaka Castle, which is probably Osaka's most famous attraction. The garden around it is pretty and is a nice area to walk around. If you're planning on going inside the castle, know that it's more of a museum than a castle. I expected it to still be a castle like the ones I've visited in Europe, where you can see each and every room, but that's not the case.

After Osaka Castle, we took a quick trip to Kyoto so that we could experience Gion Matsuri, one of Japan's most famous festivals. Tina and I even brought yukatas all the way from America to wear to it. Highly recommend Gion Matsuri, if you're ever in Kyoto during July. It's just a lot of fun to get a taste of Japanese festival foods (Bacon wrapped onigiri, scallion/mayo pancakes, and kara-age? Yes, please!), play all of the games, and watch everyone walk by in their beautiful yukatas. Disclaimer, Tina and I don't know the three girls in the middle of the photo. We just wanted to look like we were actual, Japanese teenagers.

The next day, Tina and I met up with a friend of ours, who moved back to Japan three years ago, named Marika. We met up with Marika at America-mura to go shopping and do a round of purikura. If you ever get the chance to do purikura, you must do it. Purikura is basically a Japanese photo booth that alters your appearance by smoothing out your skin, enlarging your eyes, lengthening your legs, etc. and it's so funny to see your photos afterwards.

Although Marika visits America-mura often, she told us it's kind of a sketchy area. Consequently, we gave up our dreams of finding cheap clothes there and walked over to Namba Parks, which is an architectural masterpiece of a shopping center. You must take a walk around the winding buildings, resembling Antelope Canyon. After you're done walking through Namba Parks, sneak into the tallest office building or hotel, go to the top floor and admire Namba Parks' twisting roads and patterns from above. You won't be disappointed.

Tina's and my favorite part about Osaka was Dotonbori at night time. Everything lights up and it looks like a stereotypical snapshot of Japanese life - crowded streets, bright lights and the whole deal. Not only that, but there are tons of great places to eat at and plenty of arcades to keep you busy all night long. If none of that interests you, at least get a photo with the famous Glico Man sign!

P.S. I'm officially living in New York now and I promise a post soon about what I've been up to. New York (and NYU) has spoiled me so far and I love all of the opportunities here.

Japan Trip: Kobe

Playing: The Weekend-Priory
Reading: After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Between Hiroshima and Osaka, Tina and I spent a day in Kobe with our friend, Alex. Kobe is obviously most famous for Kobe beef, but most of the places serving Kobe beef ranged around 3,000 - 4,000 yen. Since that was out of my spending range, I still visited the famous Steakland but opted for the Large Toast Steak Lunch. I know that meat is more expensive in Japan than it is in the states, but I still felt like it was pretty expensive for a few cubes of steak and to get filled up on rice/veggies.

Within walking distance of Steakland is Ikuta Shrine and Tokyu Hands, which are both great places to walk around whether you want to visit another shrine or go shopping. Ikuta Shrine itself was fairly small but it was worth walking around because of its proximity to Kobe's main tourist attractions and because of the small forest behind it, which houses a fortune teller and another shrine.

The main reason we went to Kobe was to take a look around Chinatown, which is also within walking distance of Ikuta Shrine and Steakland. Although Kobe's Chinatown was smaller than the other ones I've been to, I did like how clean it was. Unlike other Chinatowns, all of the food looked safe to eat and it did not reek of trash, which other Chinatowns often do. Tina and I were shocked at how large the portions were and how most meals were under 500 yen.

These pork buns from Roushouki in Chinatown were by far the best thing I ate during my trip. We waited in line for 30 minutes, figuring a long line meant good food. The long line theory worked. These buns were served right out of the steamer and were incredibly juicy. As soon as we finished off our first round of buns, we immediately got back in line and bought more.

Before boarding the train for Osaka, we visited Harborland, which you can walk to but I highly recommend taking the subway. Harborland is home to the Anpanman Museum and multiple shopping centers. It's a great place to walk around even though it's not exactly unique to Japan. If you can, try to go when it's dark out to see the ferris wheel and Kobe tower lit up. If you were to visit Kobe, I would recommend spending an afternoon there instead of a full day. Eat in Chinatown and explore the area before taking a look at Ikuta Shrine. Then head over to Harborland to look at the Anpanman Museum, shop a bit, watch the sunset, and eat dinner.

Japan Trip: Hiroshima and Miyajima

Playing: Cecilia and the Satellite-Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
Reading: The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan (Very odd.)

After our time in Fukuoka, we took a Shikansen to Hiroshima, where we spent three days. On our first day there, Tina and I visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Hiroshima Peace Park, which is what Hiroshima is probably best known for. The museum itself is historically important, I understand, but a lot of the content is rather disturbing because it deals with the effects of the atomic bomb and shows rather graphic photos (and artifacts) of the effects. If you're into history, go take a look, but I wouldn't advise it for children.

We ended up meeting up with our friend, Alex, at our hotel before heading off to Okonomi-mura. Okonomi-mura is a building dedicated to the popular fried cabbage pancake called okonomiyaki with stall after stall of okanomayaki restaurants. At all of the stalls, you sit at a counter, while your food is cooked in front of you. If you're there, you have to order the okanomayaki with noodles in it because Hiroshima is known for its noodle addition.We chose the specific booth we ate at because it was the only one offering okonomyaki made with udon.

The main reason why we stopped off at Hiroshima was so that we could take a day trip to Miyajima, an island popular with Japanese tourists for its shrines and wild deer. Although Miyajima is most famous for Itsukushima Shrine, I personally preferred Daisho-in Temple. The temple sprawled throughout Miyajima, up hillsides and over small streams. Pretty much everywhere I looked was picture perfect.

During high tide, the three of us took a rowboat out to look at the torii, the red arch, that made Itsukushima Shrine famous. The rowboat tour cost 800 yen and the tour is only offered in Japanese. Luckily, I had Tina and Alex there to translate for me. If you can't speak Japanese (or don't have a handy dandy translator), but still want to go out on the ocean to get near the arch, you can try renting a paddle board or wait until the tide is low enough for you to walk to it.

Other than the beautiful shrines and temples, Miyajima had excellent hiking trails and streams to run through. The three of us spent most of our day running up the mountain side and gallivanting through streams to the point where the three of us suffered sore muscles for the next day or so. We only stopped exploring when the sun started to go down out of fear of missing the last ferry back to the mainland. Miyajima also had deer roaming around the whole island, meaning you can go feed deer during your time there too.

PS Don't miss my Japan trip giveaway! Tons of cute beauty products and accessories could be yours. Only 3 days left!

Edit-The giveaway is now closed and Mindy Fan of Broken Eggshells won. I will be contacting you by email shortly.

Japan Trip: Okinawa

Playing: Ten Days Gone-Jack's Mannequin
Reading: Wherever Issue 1

Hello everyone! I just got back from Japan last night. During my month-long trip, I spent five days on the southernmost island of Japan, Okinawa. Admittedly, Tina and I didn't do a lot of research on Okinawa other than a castle or two plus the aquarium. We just assumed the beach would be easy to get to because that's what Okinawa is most famous for. However, it took us close to an hour to get to Bibi Beach from our hostel, which was two streets over from Kokusaidori. 

While we were there, we did try taco rice and Okinawan ramen multiple times, since Okinawa is famous for both. The taco rice was decent at most of the places, but you can easily make it yourself at home. Just make tacos and replace the shell with rice. The ramen there was pretty mild in terms of flavor other than the thick slabs of pork belly in it.

We had originally planned to do mostly beach activities, but as I mentioned before, it was too far away, so we ended up visiting a lot of other places like the Tsuboya pottery district. The pottery district is pretty much one long street that leaves you at the mouth of  Heiwa Dori. Although it was nice, it wasn't anything exceptional. I recommend wandering off the main street in an attempt to find the studios of those who actually make the ceramic gifts being sold along Tsuboya's main street. Tina and I were able to find one and the guys working there offered us seats so that we could stay and watch.

Shuri Castle was another super touristy attraction that we visited. It had an incredible view and at 700 yen, I can't complain about the price. Like most of Okinawa though, it didn't leave me speechless. For the most part, Okinawa felt like an extra hot Hawaii with Japanese influences at times.

Churaumi Aquarium was my favorite thing that I saw during our trip there. It had a large variety of sea life and a museum section dedicated to all sorts of preserved fish like megamouth sharks and oarfish. The aquarium is most famous for its whale shark tank, which is incredible and you should definitely go watch during feeding time, but I also really liked the park surrounding the aquarium, which had even more tanks along with dolphin shows. It took us around two hours to get there and cost 6,000 yen round trip on the bus system. It really bothered me that it took forever to get anywhere in Okinawa, since everything was spread out, and that it cost a minor fortune to get places.

High School Recap

Playing: Aviation High-Semi Precious Weapons
Reading: The Iraqi Friends We Abandoned by Kirk W. Johnson

Left to Right: Cliff, Joshua, me and Alex

So much has happened and so quickly too. Thought I'd catch you guys up on the last month of high school. I went to prom and chose to go short (again) with my dress because a) I fell in love with this Dolce and Gabbana dress over six months ago and b) long dresses aren't a standard in SoCal. I went with my friend, Alex, with a big group of people. Up above, you see what I title "Admiration" in which three of my best male friends simultaneously propose to me.

Left to Right: Clare, Linh, me and Simi

For the last week of school, the student government group hosted a bunch of senior only activities. Since it was my last week, I felt kind of nostalgic and decided to be more involved at school and showed up to our own color festival. Some person tossed a handful of blue powder at me, so I went around like an abnormally large smurf for most of the festival.

The day before graduation I hosted a bonfire with my friend, Simi. We spent the majority of our time playing an easier version of volleyball, roasting corn, and burying friends before the tide washed them away. We even tried the whole silhouette photo thing, which didn't work out as well as I had hoped for because you can still see what colors we're all wearing. However, I think the 90s girl group pose more than makes up for it. 

Left to Right: Tina, Clare, Simi, Linh and me

Lastly, I graduated two days ago. Graduation wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be. For the most part, I found it rather long and stretched out. The speeches were cliche and/or juvenile and no one knew when to toss the cap, so my whole row tossed it before graduation was over, causing us to hit several students in the head. Afterwards, we ran off to grad night, which is basically an after party held at school until five in the morning. That was pretty fun. I'm off to Japan this weekend, so  I don't know if I'll have access to a computer. I may update on this blog, but I'm not entirely sure yet. If you want to see how my Japan trip is going down though, follow me on Instagram @this_is_audrey. I'll be updating a lot there.

Pomona Photo Diary

Playing: Rollercoaster-Bleachers (THE BEST 80S THROWBACK YOU COULD ASK FOR)
Reading: Green Children of Woolpit Wikipedia Page

I know, I know. This is my third time seeing Hellogoodbye, but I'm still not over them. I saw them at the Glass House with Sarah again and Austin instead of Chad this time. The area around it is called the art district and it has a great vibe, filled with galleries, thrift stores, and concert halls. Strangers You Know, Wild Party, and Vacationer opened up for Hellogoodbye this time around. Wild Party was by far the best and the lead singer, Lincoln Kreifels, is totally my new BFFL. Lincoln handed me all three of the set lists for my friends and me, so I now have my first set list ever. After the show, we talked to him about Texas (his and Sarah's home state) and about his upcoming tour with my favorite musician, Andrew McMahon. Of course, we stayed late to talk to the hella good guys (Lame nickname, I know). Even though Forrest Kline left early for his wife's birthday, we still got to spend time with Augustine Rampolla (who is the sweetest), Andrew Richards (the sassiest), and Mike Garzon, who is always great because he was a good sport as Sarah complimented his face and he has the best shoes. Hellogoodbye round 4, anyone?

other plans

Playing: Doses and Mimosas-Cherub
Reading: Turandot by G.Adami and R. Simoni

Originally, I was supposed to go to Coachella to see the Drowners. However, my Coachella plans fell through pretty quickly. Consequently, when I heard they were going to be at the Observatory, I begged my parents to cut our New York trip short so that I could meet them. Lead singer Matthew Hitt is one of my favorite male models and I brought him a copy of my favorite novel, The Catcher in the Rye, which happens to be one of his favorite novels too. (Who knew? He even quoted it.) When guitarist Jack Ridley III heard I flew back from New York to see them and that I might be moving there, he told me I could hang out with the band, which is an offer I'm hoping is semi-serious.

In other news, it's been over a hundred degrees in SoCal for the past few days. Coupled with the fact that I'll be spending a month roaming Japan, I figured I needed a few skirts to flesh out my summer wardrobe. This white skirt from bar iii is really light and I like the curved seam going across the front. Since Macy's was having a crazy 25% off everything sale, I also got this Marc by Marc Jacobs backpack for college.

Left to Right: Sarah, me, Tina and Christine

Like I said before, it's been unbearably hot lately. Therefore, after our AP Gov test, I took off to Crystal Cove with Sarah, Tina, Christine, and Sophie. The AP Gov test only took up three class periods, but the attendance office excused us for tutorial, fourth period and lunch too, so we had almost two hours to go to the beach and celebrate the near end of our AP testing. Definitely a sporadic trip, but I guess that's what made it so great too. Other than Christine, we're all moving out of SoCal for college and it's kind of sad to know that we'll no longer be able to go to the beach whenever we feel like it. Seriously though, how much more stereotypically SoCal can this trip get and how are we gonna survive without this?

it's conceptual

Playing: Fake You Out-Twenty One Pilots
Reading: Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

After waking up painfully early to get in line for the Jason Wu for Target collaboration, I decided that I would not go through all that work again for another designer unless they were one of my favorites. Fortunately, I lucked out with the Peter Pilotto For Target collection. A lot of the people that hoard clothes to sell on eBay end up returning the garments if they aren't sold quickly enough, so I was able to find a large chunk of the collection in the sales section. I liked how graphic each of the pieces were and how the mesh sleeves on the cardigan made it feel more sporty.

I also splurged recently on this pair of Dior boots with a misplaced heel, when I was on the hunt for prom shoes. They were on insane markdown at Nordstrom Rack and I figured this was probably my only chance to get such a wonky pair of designer heels for a decent price. Since they're black boots, I feel like these heels are discreet enough to be worn often. However, between these boots and the tops up above, I feel like my wardrobe just became a tad more bold and conceptual (read as harder to wear) than before.

Talking about prom, I realized recently that I never shared photos of my prom from last June. Here's a photo of Lauren and me doing the classic-John-Paul-staring-into-the-distance-while-saluting-some-unknown pose with the John Paul. Lauren was John Paul's and my mommy in journalism last year and since we were a family, we decided to take a bunch of Kardashian family-esque photos to prove that we were more deserving of a reality show than the Kardashians. This is one of the few photos that came out truer to our identity as a family than the Kardashians. Also, that Diane von Furstenberg dress is still one of my favorites. Invite me to a formal event, so that I can wear it again.

crystal clear

Playing: Trouble-Coldplay
Reading: The Stranger by Albert Camus

A week or two ago, I celebrated Tina's and Hannah's birthdays at Crystal Cove. It's a really cute area and I used to spend a lot of time down there as a kid. There are two places to eat down there along with a bunch of summer homes from the 1960s and tide pools, which are always fun to explore. Afterwards, we went to Lemonade at Fashion Island for drinks and went shopping. Just by our wallets, purses, and drinks, I think you can tell a lot about our personal style. Hope you're all doing well!