aesthetic

cafe maji •ᴥ•

1 Comment
Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset

Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset

This quaint cafe called Cafe Maji is located on Duarte St. in Arcadia~ It’s more of a small dessert place to visit than if you’ve got a real appetite. The drinks range from $3-$4, with the waffles and sandwiches ranging from $6-9. The drinks pictured are: the Strawberry Lemonade and the White Peach black tea and the waffle is simply called the Strawberry waffle. Each drink also comes with a free cream puff!

It’s generally very quiet at Cafe Maji as it is located on the upper level of a gym building. It’s certainly not uncommon to see a bunch of older Asian women practicing dance/ballet in the adjoining room, but it’s still very quiet and a peaceful place to study or hang out. It’s super aesthetic and the workers are very courteous and polite.

It’s honestly not something I’d recommend you take the trip for, but if you’re in the area (say… the Huntington Library *wink wink*) definitely pay it a visit!

the Huntington Library

1 Comment
Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset
Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset
Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset

This beautiful place is called the Huntington Library located in San Marino county (very close to Arcadia). The Huntington Library is comprised of many different gardens, each with a distinct feel. This particular garden, the Japanese garden just so happened to be my favorite so that’s where most of my pictures were taken. The entire area is so beautiful it honestly might be my future wedding location… not even kidding.

General admission is $23 on weekdays and $25 on weekends, with a student ID, weekday admission is $19 and weekends is $21 SO BRING AN ID. If you go on the first Thursday of every month and get tickets in advance, you can go for free!

I highly recommend visiting this place if you just wanna have a cute, quiet, relaxing day. Honestly, words can’t describe it’s beauty and the positive, relaxing vibe you get from this place. You just have to experience it yourself! You can also bring food into the garden so you can save money and enjoy a quaint picnic.

Rooftop brunch in a greenhouse? Down.

3 Comments
Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset
There’s a wall located on the side of the Hotel for all those mural type Instagrammers!
Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset
Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset

Last weekend in the midst of prepping for finals week, being sick, and finally having a day off from work, I had the opportunity to finally visit the Commissary at the Line Hotel for brunch. I had looked into rooftop brunches in the past before–someday hoping to attain that perfect Saturday brunch with mimosa in hand picture… but I guess that’ll have to wait until I’m 21. The Line Hotel is located in the heart of LA’s Koreatown on Wilshire Blvd. It’s a popular place for today’s trendy Asian fashion bloggers (EllenVLora, Flamcis, Dumbfoundead, etc.) to socialize at night with other fellow ~trendy asians~.

Continue reading →

the last bookstore

1 Comment
Processed with VSCOcam with p5 preset
Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset
Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset
Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset

There are so many things to say about this place. For one, it’s every easily-aesthetically-pleased persons dream. From the moment you walk in, there’s just a different air about this place that kind of takes you aback. It was bustling full of people but it never got so obnoxiously loud you were shooting glares at others. There was just a lot of appreciation amongst the masses for this particular bookstore.

The last bookstore has cases and cases and aisles and aisles of every kind of book you’re looking for… or not looking for, you’d be surprised. It’s not only a bookstore; upstairs there are art galleries, and while they are only open certain times during the week/day, you can take a quick look at what each artist is working on or has created.

Honestly, I can’t even put it into words. It’s just something you have to experience yourself! Trust me, you’ll thank me later.

The only downside is that parking is a beeeeeeeeeeeetch. It is downtown LA, so what can you expect? The Last Bookstore is located on the corner of Spring St., where they normally get a lot of traffic anyway, so opt to park in a lot nearby or you can attempt meter parking! Emilie and I parked in a lot a few blocks away for about $6 for the whole night which wasn’t too bad. The only sketchy thing was the walk back because it was dark and we were just two dainty girls speed walking through the streets of downtown LA. It was sketch, but we’re alive and we made it. Ahhhhh, that’s the beauty of living in LA, isn’t it? Hehe.

So there were three twins– wait what?

1 Comment
Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset
Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset

Another ice cream post, because frankly, you can never have enough ice cream. I had never really heard about Three Twins Ice Cream before, but Diane and I had made plans to hang out… but with no secure destination in mind. With my handy-dandy friend, Yelp, we found this place. Located on Main Street in Santa Monica, Three Twins is smack dab in the middle of the block, but no worries there was lots of street parking when we went (but we went in the middle of the day, mind you).

Three Twins is famous for their Lemon Cookie ice cream and I was super excited to try it but they were unfortunately out. We both settled on a raspberry sorbet… which says a lot because you’ll never find me getting a sorbet. I got my scoop in a funfetti cone (literally like those funfetti cupcakes we all used to make in middle school) and it was actually so good. I do plan on returning sometime soon to try the Lemon Cookie though!

For those aesthetic/mural Instagrammers, this super cool Buddha mural is located directly across the street on the side of an acupuncture/massage parlor. The mural is literally in the midst of a parking lot, so you may get a few weird looks– but if it’s for the ‘gram, who cares?! After you’ve snapped your pics, take a stroll down Main St., it’s super chill and you’ll rub elbows with a few scurrying businessman, but for the most part, it’s another quick ice cream run~

konnichiwa ≧◡≦

Leave a comment
Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset
Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset

Little Tokyo, located in downtown LA, has become one of my favorite places to bring friends when we’re in the mood for some bomb green tea ice cream and freshly made mochi. While I mostly go for the green tea ice cream and mochi, there’s a bunch of other attractions here. There’s great ramen, the Japanese American National Museum, and a cool thrift shop located on the back side of Little Tokyo.

Little Tokyo is literally one block of all things Japanese. It’s not as big as Chinatown or Koreatown but I think the quaint plaza is just enough. The Japanese American National Museum is super interesting and you can even get in free on every third Thursday of each month. Outside, there’s this super cool, mirrored Rubix cube– great for some not-so-basic mirror selfies. My friend loves going to Mr. Ramen but I have yet to try it myself!

Not to mention, they have those amazingly delicious green tea Kit Kats, so why not?!

There is now a parking structure to park in, rather than parking in those $8 flat rate lots even though you’ll be in Little Tokyo for a max of 2 hours. You can always try to find parking on the street, but it’s often pretty busy and you don’t want to worry about your meter running out. The ice cream shop and other restaurants in the Little Tokyo plaza will validate your parking structure ticket for you too, so no worries!

It’s definitely a fun little adventure away from the typical Urth Caffe or Americana/the Grove outing~