Little Sweet Eats - Hello Kitty Grand Cafe

I got to preview the amazing Hello Kitty Grand Cafe a few weeks ago and I'm still dreaming about how perfectly kawaii this place it! My adorable friend Jaycee (@MagicallyKawaii) invited me so I felt so lucky to see it right before it opened. The Hello Kitty Grand Cafe is the first cafe of it’s kind in the US. There are two parts to the cafe; the front room features cookies, donuts, seasonal goodies and handmade hot and iced drinks as well as merchandise. It's so freaking cute with adorable Hello Kitty artwork, a little chef Hello Kitty you can take a pic with and an adorable "Hot Donuts" sign. Literally everything is Instagrammable. The second part of the cafe is The Bow Room! The Bow Room is a secret (maybe not so secret now) room right behind the front cafe that served afternoon tea during the day and becomes a Hello Kitty bar at night! The Brow Room is reservations only so I would start booking your tea stat because it is something else! It is very reminiscent of the London pink teahouse destination, Sketch London, but I think The Bow Room is definitely cuter! The details are amazing; from the cute Hello Kitty plates you get served on, the one of a kind Hello Kitty shaped tea sets and even the butter imprinted with Hello Kitty's cute silhouette. Take a look at all the adorable photos I took below to get a sneak peek of all the cuteness of the cafe. Below are some deets and let me know if you go!

Hello Kitty Grand Cafe is located at:

Irvine Spectrum Center

Near the Giant Wheel Court

860 Irvine Center Drive

Irvine, CA 92618

Hello Kitty Grand Cafe Hours:

Afternoon Tea Hours:

Wednesday thru Friday - 11am to 4pm

Saturday and Sunday - 10am to 4 pm

Cocktail Service Hours:

Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday - 5pm to 9pm

Friday and Saturday - 5pm to 11pm

And here is the Hello Kitty Grand Cafe Reservations Link

New Things, New Beginnings, Lots of Thoughts

Well, for some reason I let my GoDaddy / jetpack / wordpress site go unrenewed and I lost my old blog! Thankfully I was able to save some old posts sans photos so those are living in my drafts at the moment and sometime soon I plan on putting them back up, but for now, I've been thinking about a lot of new ideas / habits I want to get into. I want to start blogging again, not like the occasional blog that's very planned and edited, but I want a space to put down my thoughts, like what blogs used to be. An online journal almost, a la Doogie Howser at the end of each episode (this reference might date me, but thank goodness for good genes and good skin;). Just a place to talk. A place to think about my day. This idea makes me happy.

I think as we near the end of the year I start to get nostalgic, and filled with anxiety about time passing by so fast. I look back where I was 10 years ago and I wonder where the time has gone and how different I was back then. A snapshot of me 10 years ago - It was 2008, I was traveling a lot for work. I don't even remember where I was because I don't think the email I used back then exists anymore so I can't look back on old correspondence! I wasn't the colorful wearing, Disneyland going (I had a pass but had no time to go), friend making social person I am today. Most of my time was spent working 24/7, traveling for work, wearing black, never sleeping, stressed out, spending money, and never home. I was afraid so afraid of making mistakes that I was very hard on myself and always afraid of what my bosses thought or what other people thought of my work ethic. I didn't make my relationship a priority. I had no time for friends or family. Coworkers were my family. I didn't take care of myself besides spending all the money I made cause I could. I was soooo different from who I am now. I don't look back on that time in a negative way at all. I was absolutely blessed to have an amazing job where I got to travel the world and eat amazing food and be in places where most people weren't even allowed to go but I knew I had to find a balance because I was burning candles at both ends.

I really have no idea where this blog post is taking me hahah because I really just came on here to talk about my day =) Anyway, I guess I'm just in a deep self reflection mood and I just want all my thoughts to flow. My crazy mind flows every which way so I'm just gonna let it. I guess I'll go back to what I came here for - Today I started a new job that I'll be at till mid January and here's some stuff I posted on social media:

See this photo on my Instagram

A snapshot from my first day on the new job!

Thanks for following along with my babbling and letting me ramble and not make sense. I look forward to doing this more often! =)

Little Sweet Eats – Bites & Bashes Cafe

We’ve been living in the South Bay (Torrance, Lomita, Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan Beaches) for about a month now, woohoo and we absolutely have been loving all our weekends! Yesterday we drove by the cutest cafe while dropping @Mobythesuperschnauzer off at his new groomers. As soon as I saw the cute, colorful sign outside of Bites & Bashes Cafe and it’s promises of coffee it was enough for me to make my husband hit the brakes haha!

When I walked in and saw signs of lavender and Fruity Pebble lattes, some cute neon and a pink espresso machine I knew it was a good decision! I met the owner Crystal Coser who I also found out is an Associate Editor of my local foodie site, Eater LA, which I read daily, no joke (how else do you think I found out about all the new food places to eat?! Haha). She was absolutely lovely and She gave me the low down on her new place that just opened this week (I got good timing!). A lot of the ingredients for the cafe are from her family farm and she even let me smell the lavender she just picked for the lavender lattes! We got a coconut chocolate cookie, a peanut butter cookie, a caramel latte and I had to try that Fruity Pebbles latte! She even gave us a little sample of the chocolate chip cookie and the vanilla bean cheesecake. The lattes were soooo good! The caramel had the perfect amount of caramel and the fruity pebbles latte was not too sweet which I loved and it definitely had that hint of fruity pebbles infused milk. The cookies were delicious and I’m actually still dreaming about that chocolate coconut macadamia but one! The vanilla bean cheesecake was so light and you could see all the flecks of vanilla bean in it.

The decor inside is so bright and colorful and lovely! I especially loved the gold chairs, pretty blue tiling around the counter and the #letsparty neon. I can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the menu and I’m so glad this place just opened near me. It’s kismet!

Bites & Bashes Cafe is located at:

25600 Narbonne Avenue
Lomita, CA, 90717
United States
and here are their hours!:
Monday: 7:30 am to 9:00 pm
Tuesday: 7:30 am to 9:00 pm
Wednesday: 7:30 am to 9:00 pm
Thursday: 7:30 am to 9:00 pm
Friday: 7:30 am to 9:00 pm
Saturday: 7:30 am to 9:00 pm
Sunday brunch to follow

Fairytale Woodland Vibes with ModCloth

This month I am sooooooooo excited to be apart of the ModCloth #Modclothsquad! I’m such a huge fan of ModCloth since way, way back when I found they were one of the only online retailers that made super cute, vintage inspired clothes in my size! For so long as a plus size curvy girl I longed for the days where I could express myself and my sweet vintage style in clothes that fit me! I was tired of wearing the matronly, oddly fitting women’s plus size clothes that I found at the mall. I still remember my first ModCloth dress – It was super cute A line dress with fairytale like embroidery near the collar and I loved it so much and it fit so perfectly. I’ll have to find a pic of it!

When I found out I’d be on the ModCloth squad this month I was over the moon! As soon as they said go I looked at all the new and adorable dresses they had and I couldn’t get my mind off of the Pleasant Temperament dress! The pretty little mushrooms on the dress reminded me of that cute fairytale ModCloth dress I got many years ago and inspiration struck me – let’s do a Woodland Fairytale theme! It didn’t take long to pull this inspired look together! It’s like it all fell into place, from top to bottom.

It started with the dress and then I saw the bag!! The Fairytale Fab Snow White Danielle Nicole bag! I mean it had my favorite princess on it and she was wearing yellow and red and the dress has hints of yellow and red in it. Then I knew I wanted a cute cropped cardigan and the Dream of the Crop Cardigan in honey was perfect because I think everyone should have a marigold colored cardigan. Then it was time for shoes and the Garden Tour De Force flats in Buttercup were perfect!! The laser cut flower and scallop detailing on them screamed fairy tale!

Last but not least, the earrings!! I mean for such a magical outfit I had to have magical accessories and the Mystical Twist Threader earrings with the sparkly unicorns were everything! This is one of my most favorite outfits I’ve ever worn and it makes me feel 100% me! Sweet with a little bit of magic!

Thanks so much ModCloth for having me on your squad! It’s a Fairytale dream come true!!!

Also, if you want to shop this look everything is linked below!!!

Dress: Pleasant Temperament Cotton A-Line Dress
Cardigan: Dream of the Crop Cardigan in Honey
Shoes: Garden Tour De Force in Buttercup
Bag: Fairytale Fab Bag
Earrings: Mystical Twist Threader Earrings

*Links contain affiliate links!

The Happy Place!

My Dreamy Girl Gang was invited to The Happy Place (aka the OTHER Happiest Place on Earth) last week and it was so, so, so much fun! This place was literally made for us and for anyone who loves to smile! Check out some of my favorite moments below!

The colors in this room just make me want to dance!

I want to take this giant paper flower wall home with me!

The Rubbery Ducky room was one of my favorites but it took me a while to get out of the tub haha. Luckily no one, besides my husband, was around to see my less than graceful exit haha.

This super bloom room was one of the most magical and one of my most favorites!

Here I am, up in the corner of this colorful club! ( 😉 a little inside joke I have with my girls!)

Me and Amina just being so happy!

Any day there is confetti on the floor is a good day! Thank you Happy Place!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Halloween at Disneyland

Halloweentime is one of my favorite times at Disneyland! It's not exactly October yet, but Disneyland has been rolling out some of the Halloween amazingness this month as Halloweentime is now in full swing! Here's some pics from my last few visits. I plan on doing a more indepth look at the delicious Halloweentime treats so look out for that post next month! In the meantime let's get Spoopy!

Always a happy sight! It reminds me that all the Holidays are just around the corner! I love this time of year.

I love it when they deck out Main Street with all the pumpkin touches!

Even the fire department gets into the spirit!

Definitely had to get my first Disney-fied Starbucks Pumpkin Spice latte here on Main Street.

The Halloween treats are always so cute! You can find them at the Candy Palace in Disneyland, Trolley Treats in Disney California Adventure and Marceline's in Downtown Disney.

Me and my @DreamyGirlGang at DCA when the Halloween transformation was just kicking into gear.

The Cozy Cone Motel’s cones got a cute and spooky makeover!

Love these Halloweentime movie poster spoofs! Especially the Hocus Spokus (Hocus Pocus) one!

You can find some special Halloweentime treats at the Cozy Cones like a special Halloween popcorn mix and Pumpkin Spice Churros! Yum!

Love this Spoopy Carsland billboard.

Even the cars are getting into costume. I want to take this spider roadster home with me.

This Dia De Los Muertos car is so pretty!

Well that's all for now! Next time I'm going to explore as many Disney Halloweentime food options as my appetite can allow! See ya then!