Join me on my journey.

Here it is Tuesday morning and I am still reeling from the crazy wonderful things that came together this past weekend. What started as an amazing opportunity to finally work with a photographer who I met online a year ago through the rising tide society, quickly turned into a productive, inspirational, healing, exciting and uniting weekend. Think that is an exaggeration? I promise you it is not.

I want to include more photos from our brand shoot in the Anza Borrego Desert, but that will get its own post as soon as I have the final images from the photographers. I can tell you it was epic, and this talented team made magic happen miles away from anything. The above necklace photo is from the sneak peak photos Alex sent me, and I am excited to see the rest. The day was long, the Vegas team met up at 7:30 am, drove 6 hours out to meet our LA team at 2 pm, and hair and makeup started. We shot up until we lost the light, and after a million hugs and goodbyes, we packed into our cars again for the ride home. Dreading a second 6-hour drive after such a long day, the Vegas girls decided a beach weekend was in order, so we headed to the coast in San Diego.

There were so many decisions and last minute changes that meant we ended up in Encinitas, a town none of us had ever been to. But, we found a cute little cottage that was walking distance to the beach, had room for three, and allowed dogs. I am so glad we found the place we did, because it put us just in the right place for the weekend. We got up early on Friday and walked around the town. Cute shops, too many good coffee shop options, and gorgeous overgrown california beach gardens gave us plenty to look at. Day one we stopped for coffee at Iron Smith Coffee Roasters, and met the friendliest man working there who gave us the run down on the town and where we should visit before the weekend was over. The winner here, was the Ginger Tumeric Latte that Kati picked up, and she went back every day to make sure she got her fill of this yummy drink.

We grabbed breakfast/lunch at Lofty Coffee right on the corner of A street and PCH. The ancient grain bowl with arugula, tomatoes, plant based sausage and cilantro lime dressing was a hit! So much goodness in one bowl. This was another meal that was repeated throughout the trip I have to say.

 I need to say a big thank you to this lovely woman pictured below, Makenna. She and I recently met on another shoot of mine (you might remember her from the Desert X road trip we took last month), but I have so much admiration for who she is. In addition to the modelling work she has done for me lately, she can be found on one of her YouTube channels she runs with her and her husband. If you haven’t looked into her channel, please do. She is so funny and honest and has a wonderful outlook on life. Watching how hard she works on the videos for her channel is inspiring. She has a few vlogs up from the weekend, you should totally check them out here.

Thanks to her support and outgoing nature, we met a lovely woman at the cutest boutique in town, Moonshadow. You guys all know me and know I am not pushy when it comes to selling my work, especially to a busy shop on a Friday. But in a very natural way, Makenna introduced the woman working there to my jewelry.

It turns out Moonshadow is a natural fit with my work, and I am thrilled to say that they are now carrying my jewelry. I had the pleasure of spending a ton of time with Kati (pictured below) and the owner Kelley while in town. The boutique carries some of the most unique and special gifts and clothing, all styled and merchandised in a way that makes you want to hunt through each and every display to see what goodies may be tucked away in there.

In addition to the shop picking up some of my designs (and they got some good ones), Kati selected the angel aura sacred triangle pendant from the photoshoot. It looks so good on her, and matches her unicorn personality perfectly. 

Our final day in Encinitas was bittersweet. We had breakfast at all our favorite spots, which meant three different spots for our coffee. Yup, we made a stop for Kati’s tumeric latte, picked up the best coffee ever and the iced Moroccan spice from Better Buzz coffee, and the ancient grain bowl from Lofty Coffee. 

Having packed up the car, we headed to Moonshadow to say goodbye to Kati. While there, we met the lovely local artist behind Tidbits of Love. Sharon makes beautiful sentiment cards to hand to strangers to remind them of the beauty in this world. On our first day, all three of us bought a set to bring back to Vegas with us. When we met the artist and told her about our purchase, she invited us to see the farm she works from. Our last stop in Encinitas was this beautiful organic farm where she has built her studio. We ate strawberries straight from the sunny vines, and got a peak into her lovely world. Makenna was able to capture this beautiful visit in her vlog, check it out!

With our hearts full, we left Encinitas knowing we would be back. So many things happened to tie all this together, I couldn’t possibly include it all. If you want to see some of the behind the scenes and stories that made up our adventure, check out Makenna’s vlog for all the fun.

On the way out, we made a quick stop in downtown Temecula. The smile on Kati’s face completely sums up the way we all felt leaving California: Inspired, happy, fulfilled, and just a little sad to go.