Ever Since I Left The City

After spending 24 years of my life living in the Bay Area, I swear moving to Southern California has been one of the best decisions I have ever made for myself. Within the first couple of days since my move, I was able to meet the sweetest of friends and photographers, attend delicious food tastings, and visit the most picturesque of places. I know that I've been a bit out of the loop lately on my Snapchat/Instastories ever since this huge transition in my life, but that's why I've dedicated today's blog post to update you guys on everything I've been up to lately since my big move to Orange County!

Two Thursdays ago, I arrived in Orange County by hitting the road with a good friend (who's also an aspiring photographer!) at 6:00AM for a 6-hour drive. The drive actually went pretty smoothly and time passed by a lot faster than I would have imagined. On the way, we decided to make a quick pitstop for a fun photoshoot opportunity, which are also where these photos were taken! It was SUCH a hot day, but you already know that your average blogger will endure crazy temperatures and more to #doitfordagram, am I right? ;) Afterwards, we grabbed a bite at Wabisabi Teppan Steak House in Chino, which carried the most amazing and delicious tasting sushi rolls! I'll definitely be compiling another list of Southern California restaurants that I've visited and loved near the end of September - stay tuned for that future blog post, my hungry friends! Also, may I add that I wore this maxi dress by TheElephantPants for the ENTIRE car ride?! This is literally the comfiest maxi dress I have EVER worn and the fabric is very loose and breathable, perfect for Southern California's hot weather. You'll definitely be seeing me throw this teal baby on more in Orange County.

My Labor Day weekend definitely consisted of a LOT of driving, which sounds pretty average for your typical LA resident. And yep, what I've heard about SoCal is much too true. In order to meet up with a friend, the average drive is probably 60 minutes at a minimum. Since I'm already used to driving long distances (like when I visit my favorite macaron shop called Ketsourine Macarons in Daly City), this isn't big news to me, haha. The only difference is that there is probably always traffic in LA for whatever reason, so that's something that I'm going to have to get used to!

On top of visiting LACMA and Urth Caffe, I also had the honor of attending FoodwithKevin's social media events at Restauration and Salud Juice in Long Beach. At the event, I met a really kind food blogger called Nomsandbeyond and we ended up grabbing coffee at Portola Coffee Roasters this past weekend to get to know each other better! This weekend, we plan to go to Urth Caffe (yes, I am addicted to their latte art and lattes) and shoot around the Pasadena area! :) After coffee, I attended my VERY first food crawl from 1-7PM with Kevin and various local food bloggers! Honestly, I loved being surrounded by fun individuals who shared a huge passion for food photography. The three restaurants that we visited during our food crawl included Grits in Fullerton, ZOV in Anaheim, and Anepalco in Orange. All of them were over-the-top amazing and I am now backlogged with an endless amount of gorgeous food photos, haha! I'll be releasing a food crawl blog post later this week so stay tuned for that as well! Thank you Kevin for introducing me to both Southern California's most awesome foodies and restaurants :)

This week, I met up to shoot with Amy from @thecomelycloset at a gorgeous hidden gem and I cannot WAIT to show you guys the photos! Honestly, this place IS a hidden gem, as I've NEVER seen other bloggers shoot at this location on Instagram! Gasp. I guess this place will be our dirty little secret ;) On Wednesday, I plan to shoot a few more looks with Jonathan from @jrp360 and he is an AMAZING photographer! Check out my first shoot with him back in Downtown Disney here.

If you want to know what my average day looks like, I'm literally typing away on my keyboard or editing food/fashion photos on Lightroom. There is SO much work to do as an aspiring blogger and honestly, it feels like the work never ends. However, I rather work all day doing what I love than work a 9-5 shift doing what I hate - don't you agree? And by moving to Southern California, I feel one step closer towards my goal of becoming a full-time freelance lifestyle blogger and I won't let anybody discourage me from achieving my goals :) 

Thank you everybody for your kind words and support regarding my big move and I'm so excited for what's in store for the future! Don't forget to follow along on Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter (missmisschelle) for future adventures :)

[Outfit Details]
Dress: TheElephantPants
Necklace: Thought Blossoms
Shoes: De Blossom Collection
*Use discount code "misschelle" to save 35% off your entire De Blossom Collection purchase at checkout.

[Photography]
Wendy from @_photographtheworld

uch Love,