Coastal Ramblings

Lately, we’ve been excruciatingly busy, but that hasn’t stopped us from hittin’ the road. Our first trip of the year took us to San Francisco, a 5.5-hour car ride away from LA. We cruised along the Pacific coast, Highway 1, ripping around turns, curves, and cliffs. At one point I was confused if we were actually on the autobahn filming the next mini cooper commercial.

The sole purpose for our trip was to partake in the final Miami Ad School experience: a portfolio review. It was awesome having our “team table” and walking potential employers through the world of AdverBarbie.

Our trip to San Fran was also privileged enough to coincide with the first day of Chinese New Year! Paper firework remnants were strewn about the sidewalks. We engorged in a feast at some random Chinese restaurant with a name I can’t even try pronounce. More or less, it was an excellent place to bring in the New Year (again).

By the time we even had a chance to soak in the San Fran culture, we were on the road, blasting back to LA. It was a quick but neat trip, and we definitely accomplished what we needed to. When we return, I think a trip to Napa Valley will be on the menu. It was so agonizingly close, I could almost smell the vineyards from my hotel balcony. Next time, my friends, next time.

Tripping on Roads.

Where have we been and what have we been doing? Per usual, we’ve been traveling. This time however, we kept our adventures stateside. After driving a combined 5, 181 miles, we finished off the World Tour with a cross-country road trip.

Picture this, Alicia behind the wheel of a massive 18 foot Budget Rental truck, coasting along good old Route 66, headed out to the West. Tourist traps and junk food included, we made it in under 5 days and 4 nights. Pretty poetic isn’t it? The entire trip went exactly to plan (for once)! I guess were getting good at this whole traveling thing.

Question to all the readers, if you just returned from traveling the world for 15 months straight, would you be up to this challenge? Would you really want to pick it up, and make another trans-continental move? To top it off, what about landing a job in the most competitive industry in the nation? Either we are crazy or we’re hell-bent on experiencing life at lightening speed. Must be a bit of both.

To digitally live out your fantasy of a cross country road trip, see pics below.

This ain’t no disco...

Guess what? WE DID IT. Who would have thought that after the whole world tour, we would end up docking in SoCal via cruise ship, then taking the 'Surf Liner' train all the way up to Santa barbara- our final destination...for now.

But its true, we are now officially for HIRE, so just take this link right back to our portfolio (www.adverbarbie.com) and look at the awesomeness (hehe).

At the moment we are checked in at Hope Ranch. No...its not a rehab center...it’s Alicia’s parents new place in Santa Barbara! It’s a mind-blowing view of mountains, oceans, and a plethora of organic vegetarian fare. How are we ever gonna leave? Life has been ridiculously good to us. Thank you EVERYONE who has made this possible. We love y’all forever :)

Our first week or so was spent driving to-and fro to LA, hittin’ up some ad agencies, letting our presence be known. Everyone we’ve met with has been more than welcoming, and I gotta feeling, that we are going to land our first gig very shortly. LA is definitely the place we want to be, and I cannot express how badly we want to start the job and get that first apartment!!!!! Signing that 1 year lease is going to be the golden moment we’ve been waiting for!

Hawaiian Bliss

At first, the best part of Hawaii was getting to Hawaii. It wasn’t until I was on top of a volcano, looking down into a crater, that I fully realized how amazing this island was. Not only did it look picture perfect, but we couldn’t get over how awesome the volcano steam smelled. It smelled like 20 different herbs were cooking below the earth’s crust. We jokingly called it “earth curry.”

In total we visited 4 islands; Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai. Each having their own characteristics and vibe, it was like each represented a different element; earth, wind, water, and fire. Waterfalls, cliff jumping, beach strolling, all in a days hard work. Also, those Hawaiian macadamia nuts are like crack...couldn’t get me enough of those little morsels. We are so happy we moved to California, because now Hawaii is just a 4 hour plane ride away!

As we left the islands, the ship got shockingly close to a place where the lava was pouring into the water. It was one of the coolest things we have ever seen in our lives! Live flowing lava is sooooo beguiling and graceful, we were in a trance-like state while staring at this natural spectacle. Everyone needs to see something like that at least once in their life.