Month: July 2016

Soul Cafe is a breakfast place located at 7615 E Pinnacle Peak Rd # 1, Scottsdale, AZ 85255.

For Arizona’s Breakfast Week, Soul Cafe created a special breakfast menu starring the best selling Steak Oscar.

While the dish was delicious, the eggs were a little runny for my taste, and the steak (which I ordered medium rare) seemed overcooked. In addition, the combination of crab cakes and steak is kind of iffy. Crab cakes and steak are excellent by themselves, especially when made correctly, but together? Maybe I’m just not big on meat overload.

Overall, still pretty scrumptious for a breakfast meal out, however. AND it was only $1o per entree. For crab cakes and steak, I’d say that’s a pretty good price.

Karsen got the nutella bread pudding (obviously- it’s the only sweet entrée on the menu). Apparently, the ice cream accompaniment was a little to savory for his taste (but to be fair, it was jalepeño bacon ice cream).

Personally though, I think my dish was better. 😉

Over and out,

-A

🙂 🙂 🙂

Congratulations to HRC, the first woman nominated for a major presidential party!

Photo courtesy of nbc news (@nbcnews)

As a girl born in the 21st century, some might say that I we don’t quite understand what all the previous generations of women have done for us. And to some extent, that’s true. Every day I wake up in the morning, and I don’t think about WHY or HOW I get to go to school, or vote when I’m 18, or even get a job in the future. Nobody THINKS about these things, but they happened. Because generations of women worked for these rights.

And regardless of whether or not you support Hillary (I know I’ve certainly had my reservations about her [come on guys, don’t judge. Just because I’m young doesn’t mean I don’t read CNN and Politico and BBC and NPR and all the other news outlets. I have political opinions, too. ;)]), on July 28, 2016, HRC broke a glass ceiling that shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

-A

P.S. The balloon drop wasn’t a complete failure this time!
P.P.S. Don’t tell anyone, but Obama’s speech brought me to tears. As did the fact that a woman was nominated for the highest seat in the nation.
P.P.P.S. You know what else will make me cry? If Trump becomes president….:(

Hey. Since you couldn’t make it, we compiled a few pics from the iPhone for you. While they aren’t as high quality as the fancy Nikon, they’ll do for now. Enjoy!

Love,

-A

And a special thanks to my roommate JBJJ, for putting up with me (even though I locked her in the room). 🙂

Hey ya’ll! Sorry I have’t updated in a few weeks. I’ve been on safari in Africa. Anyways, here are my July Favorites.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH:

“ALL WE HAVE TO DECIDE IS WHAT TO DO WITH THE TIME THAT IS GIVEN TO US” -GANDALF, THE LORD OF THE RINGS BY JRR TOLKIEN

BOOK OF THE MONTH: THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING BY ERIKA JOHANSEN

The Queen of the Tearling is a fantasy novel featuring reluctant Queen Kelsea, who battles demons in her own head as well as the assassins determined to overthrow her. As a young woman with little to no governing experience, Kelsea struggles to be a good queen to her people by overcoming her mother’s mistakes and battling the evil Red Queen. Typically, I avoid recommending YA books (especially to an adult audience), but this one stood out from the traditional Hunger Games/Divergent stereotype.

MUSIC:

ONE: COLD WATER BY MAJOR LAZER (FEAT. JUSTIN BIEBER AND MØ)
TWO: WILD BY TROYE SIVAN (FT. ALESSIA CARA)
THROWBACK THREE: NIGHT CHANGES BY ONE DIRECTION (obvs in honor of the #OneDirectionIsOverParty)

MUSICAL ARTIST: BANKS

Banks recently came out with a single (“F*** with Myself”) that I listen to on replay. It’s not your typical alternative, but it’s good.

BEST ACTOR/ACTRESS: LUCY HALE

Lucy Hale is an American actress who has starred on shows like “Pretty Little Liars” and “Privileged”. She’s this month’s actress because PLL is currently going into its seventh season, and it’s all the rage. Both Lucy and Aria (her character) have a unique sense of style that gains them the truckload of fangirls they so richly deserve.

MOST ANTICIPATED TV SHOW: TEEN WOLF (SIGH)

Unfortunately, people are excited about Teen Wolf. (I can’t imagine why- but apparently Colton Haynes- who plays Roy Harper in “Arrow’ is back on).

APP: POKÉMON GO

Another unfortunate one that I feel like I don’t really have to get into (it’s been all over the news- come on, people). Currently, Pokémon Go is number one on the free apps list on the Apple store and is breaking all kinds of records. Various celebrities have expressed their love for the game as well, including Demi Lovato and Chrissy Teigen. Not too mention the other reasons it’s been in the news… but I’m not gonna get into that.

Cheers,

-A

Apologies for the lack of good writing. I’m currently amazingly jetlagged. 😉

Ahi Poke is an up-and-coming new restaurant located at 2805 N Scottsdale Rd.

When I came back (for the second or third time) to the restaurant for a pit-stop in Scottsdale, the place was so full I couldn’t believe it was the same place I went to earlier. Clearly, this healthy, delicious eating style is becoming more and more popular with the locals.

Each table has a station with different types of tuna, octopus, and other types of fish. There’s also a station with salad, rice, and other bases to start up the ahi poke. The other station has a variety of sauces (spicy and not) and toppings such as seaweed and ginger.

And the end result was this:

Beautiful eh? I got a salad base and spicy dressing along with spicy tuna and other fish. And of course, I got all the toppings (including wasabi).

To go with the wonderful meal, I got a delicious mango-based drink to satisfy my thirst (read: to deal with wasabi feels).

Ahipoki Bowl is definitely one of my favorite new restaurants. Healthy, delicious, and not too filling.

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 1/2

Boba every day! Tis the life. 😉

Overall, the boba itself wasn’t TERRIBLE, and the milk tea was pretty good as well.

So,

🙂 🙂 🙂 1/2

So, I tried. I uploaded all the pictures from Iceland three times. All in different ways. To say the least, it was a struggle.

But somehow, destiny was not on my side and the server refused to download any of the pictures. ALL. THREE. TIMES.

So, since the whole point of the post was to reminisce (with pictures), and I can no longer do that, there will no longer be an Iceland post.

Apologies. Please know that I tried my best to make it happen.

SORRY SORRY SORRY.

Out,

-A

As promised, the first of my monthly favorites.

MUSIC:

ONE: HEAVEN| TROYE SIVAN
TWO: HEATHENS| TWENTY ONE PILOTS
THROWBACK THREE: WANNABE|SPICE GIRLS

QUOTE OF THE MONTH :
A sign for the museum YBCA

APP OF THE MONTH: SLITHER.IO
Slither.io, a game that’s quickly climbing its way up the most popular apps list, features a snake-like animal that grows throughout the game. The ultimate goal of the game is to grow the longest snake by eating the most “food”, which comes in the form of different colored circles.

YOUTUBER SPOTLIGHT: ZOELLA

Zoella, or Zoe Sugg, is a YouTuber and beauty vlogger with almost 10 million subscribers. Her channel consists primarily of hauls, beauty tutorials, and fashion updates.

STORE/STYLE: UNIQLO
Earlier this week, I went to the UNIQLO next to the SFMOMA (obviously to see their new art).

And I bought two new artsy t-shirts that I thought were blog-worthy.

The first is a dinosaur t-shirt based on the the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat…
And this is a wonderful picture of me half-dead yesterday morning wearing that t-shirt. (Why I’m smiling, I don’t know).

The second is a black and white Warhol that I thought can literally match any of my outfits.

BEST BOBA: BOTTLE ZUP (yes, it’s even better than TPUMPS)

I got the Thai Milk Tea with Boba… and it came in a glass bottle. Fancy, much? And the greatest thing is that it’s the same price as regular boba.

Is it possible to deal out more than 5 smiley faces? 😉