LAST DAY IN PALM SPRINGS

Good afternoon everyone! Here with a final post on my Palm Springs trip. This day was a lazy one. We all woke up late - around 8am - instead of early like we normally do. While my step-mom and Kuyuki went into the lazy river one last time, my dad and I walked around the resort and took pictures. Brianna stayed in the hotel room watching the Hunchback of Notre Dame (Djali's the cutest!).

 Check-out time was 11am, so we packed our stuff, turned in our room keys, and set off on another trip to Whole Foods for breakfast. I'm really going to miss Whole Foods. We don't have one near Hemet. Afterwards, we jumped around many different stores on our way out of Palm Springs. First stop was the World Market. I have never been there before, so it was neat looking at all the food and products from around the world. We have a family friend that visits Gemany often and she always brings us back Kinder chocolates. We thought they were only in Germany but we found them at the World Market, which was pretty cool. Too bad they're not vegan. Those are so good...

We then went to Trader Joe's - another store we've never been to before because we do not have one by us. I didn't much care for it. It wasn't like Whole Foods or Sprouts. While I was there though I bought some of their Apple Fruit Bars. Afterwards, we went to Family Christian to look at bibles and other Christian books, then to Lappert's Ice Cream shop, and while driving to find a place for lunch, we spotted a Cancer Survivor's Park that we ended up stopping at to take pictures with the statues.

For lunch, we stopped at Native Foods Cafe for me an Kuyuki, which is a fully vegan restaurant, and Subway for everyone else. At Native Foods I got their Moroccan Earth Bowl and Kuyuki got their Bangkok Curry Bowl. Both are so delicious and I would buy them again, so I have no doubt that everything else is just as delicious. Check out their instagram to see how divine their food looks! After lunch, a man pops out his head from an Italian ice shop called Cactusberry and asked me and my sisters if we would like free samples. Of course we said yes, and there was two vegan options for Kuyuki and I to try: Tiger's Blood and Pineapple Delight. Both were so delicious I couldn't decide on what to get, but finally I decided on the Tiger's Blood, realizing on the way home I could have just gotten half and half.

After lunch, we finally headed home. It was a fun trip with definitely a lot of stops at Whole Foods! On another note, today is pretty exciting. My mother and Kuyuki are moving to Maryville, Tennessee, which is sad, but my other sister, Brianna, and I are staying with them until July 28! We're driving there, which will take about five days, plus we're bringing our cat and snake, so I must say it'll be an interesting road trip. Plenty of Tennessee posts to come!

Moroccan Earth Bowl

ARRIVAL IN PALM SPRINGS

First off, I am sorry for my absence. I haven't written in what seems like a lifetime! I have been so busy with school and everything else that I just never made the time to sit down and write a post. Now that school is FINALLY out (I literally cried - don't judge), I have been reading books and blogs, going to the beach, spending time with friends and family, and everything else that I really had no time for while school was in session. May was really busy with essays and finals and a trip to Oregon, but within all the craziness, I managed to sneak in a Palm Springs getaway with my family at the end of May.

For those of you who have been keeping up with my blog, you may recall that last year my family and I took a trip to San Diego for my father's work trip. This year, it was the same thing, but in Palm Springs. We stayed the weekend at the Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa which was really beautiful. It has everything you could want for your stay: shops, restaurants, spas, golf course, gym, and more. From outside our patio you could even see the lazy river and pool! Oh, and free wifi - gotta have that.

Less than a minute drive away from the hotel, there's even more restaurants, malls, and high-street fashion stores. We arrived at the hotel around 6pm and after driving around to see what our dinner options were, my family and I settled on Johnny Rocket's. I ordered a salad with spring greens and tomatoes, and instead of chicken I asked for mushrooms, and instead of dressing I used lemon. It was filling, but I literally fell in love with their mushrooms I just needed more. They're the best mushrooms I have ever had! Weird huh? So, after ordering two more sides of mushrooms to take back to the hotel, I decided these would probably taste good with an avocado. So we drive down the street, and to my amazement, we found a Whole Foods. My family and I have never been to Whole Foods before so we were excited as we have always wanted to go, and we totally loved it! I love going to new health food stores. After grabbing some avocado, we decided to buy some snacks. For me, I grabbed a That's It! Apple + Cherries Fruit Bar, as well as a Two Moms in the Raw Gojiberry Nut Bar. I have never had them before so I couldn't wait to try them, When we got back to the resort, I smashed my avocado, mixed it with my now-cold mushrooms, and dug in. By then, I was too stuffed and too tired to get into the hot tub with everyone else, so I listened to music on my mp3 player and fell asleep soon after that.