the past few weeks have been exceptionally crazy with planning for all of my upcoming travels.  this is by far my favorite time of year, if i could just keep up with everything!  i’m currently exploring claremont, california, which may be my new favorite small town (full of trees and Ph.D.s as one local described last night), and i can’t wait to share a few thoughts in more detail next week.  for now, here are a few of my favorite adventures from the past couple of weeks.  happy friday!

you can’t go wrong with the view of the griffith observatory and hollywood sign from the oversized armchair at the cottages of silverlake

• staying at the cottages in silverlake, los angeles – a longer post will be needed to do this place justice (stay tuned), but suffice it to say that this is one of my happiest of places.  the owners are always so accommodating, and the view alone makes me curl up in that oversized arm chair and do nothing but read and ponder.

deep ellum brewing co.’s dallas blonde.

• exploring dallas’ craft beer scene – following d magazine’s beer issue, i am even more psyched than before to try new local beers.  my favorites so far have been deep ellum’s dallas blonde and peticolas‘ golden opportunity, which my husband and i used to fill up a growler at the new lakewood growler in lakewood, dallas.  this bar/growler stop also lets you bring in food from nearby restaurants to make an evening of things.  will definitely be returning. often.
  

  such a jaunty poster in dallas county health’s foreign immunization office!

• shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots…everybody – yep.  travel immunization time!  a quick jaunt to dallas county health department proved to be a) helpful and b) memorable.  and how cute is their bulletin board on international travel?  it made my four shots (only slightly) more bearable (did i mention i am afraid of needles?)! this safari better be flipping fantastic

seaver house at pomona college, one of the claremont colleges. lovely amongst the lush trees.

• discovering claremont – ok, in all seriousness, this town is amazing.  tree-lined and covered streets filled with vibrant flowers and a cute little family eating a picnic in front of city hall that is in the center of the town’s village, which is filled with delightful boutiques and restaurants (and a perfect bar for watching game 1 of the world cup), all abutting the beautiful claremont colleges.  i want to move here and then convince all of my friends to move here, and we shall each own a perfect craftsman and subscribe to american bungalow.

what adventures have you been uo to recently?  i’d love for you to share in a guest post, as well!