This morning, my alarm woke me up bright and early. I quietly snuck out of the house (because, if you’re Indian, you understand that my mom would have handcuffed me to the closet door before she let me go hiking in the sun) and drove down PCH to Bolsa Chica Reserve in Huntington Beach. I had plans to meet Lino for a quick hike and breakfast before he had to head into work.

Lino was my co-counselor (two different years!) for UniCamp and, though we don’t get to talk often, he is one of my favorite people from UCLA. He’s currently a PA at the County Hospital in LA and it’s been over a YEAR since I’ve seen his face.

It was an amazing time to walk around the reserve. I was able to see fish poppin’ out of the water and birds trying to swoop down and eat them. Beautiful stuff, my friends. There were a ton of photographers with their fancy tripods trying to capture these moments

….and me with my iPhone.

Amateur photography but it was such a gorgeous morning.

After our hike, we met up with Andrew for breakfast. Andrew is another UniCamp friend (you can just assume that 90% of my friends are friends from camp). 

The three of us were all involved in the WALL program – where we took high-school kids on a 4-day, 3-night, 26-mile hike to the tallest peak in southern California. These are amazing and inspiring people to work with and I feel so blessed to call them my friends.

Andrew is also a fellow educator and can 100% relate when I talk about all the teaching frustrations (but also those special moments that keep us going!!) that I’ve felt this year.

We went to Cafe Cup – recommended by the Yelp app (BY THE WAY, has anyone used Monacle on the Yelp app?! MY MIND IS BLOWN).

They are known for their cinnamon rolls. Which are surprisingly really good – coming from a girl who isn’t a big fan.

I got the protein scramble with a pancake on the side. AMAZING. Although the pancake could definitely step it up – I don’t think anything can beat the pancake I had at Stacks.

It was so great to see them and catch up after so long!

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Later in the evening, I also got to go see Chethan – who was supposed to write this blog post but he’s scared of being rejected. (Side story about Chethan – I used to bully him when we were 2 years old. Not much has changed). 

We went to Sky High in Costa Mesa and it was SUPER.

I used to have a big trampoline when I was younger so it was fun being in a room FULL of them. Although, since it’s been a while and I’m a lot less fearless, I can’t do all the cool tricks and the fun flips like I used to.

There was a HUGE pit that we could jump into. It was really smelly.

We were also the oldest people there – by 8-10 years. No big deal.

We lasted about a half hour (not joking. That place is a workout!) and then went to dinner at Thasos Greek Island Grille near South Coast Plaza.

I ordered my standard Greek Salad with Chicken.

He opted for something more adventurous:

But I think the thing I liked most about the place was the ambience – the decorations were so well done. 

Now I’m back home and about to go spend some QT with the family. Can’t believe I leave in 2 days!

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Let’s Chat! 

Do you rely on Yelp or some other fancy app for restaurant recommendations?

Pancakes or cinnamon rolls?