The second leg of our California vacation showed me just how diverse the California climate is. We left the moderate temperatures of Sonora to head to the central coast to visit a friend in Morro Bay. Weather reports said it would be overcast and chilly in the low 60's, so I dressed warmer for our destination.

I should have dressed for our drive. Much of it was through the San Andreas fault (we even passed the intersection of James Dean's fatal accident which Sean's friend said still sees accidents to this day) which was crazy hot. We'd enjoyed driving with the windows down until this point, and even with the AC cranked up, it literally felt like my pants would catch fire. We had to pull over at a rest stop for me to change into lighter clothes (and buy cold bottles of water as ours in the car had heated up).

Things rapidly cooled down as predicted once we hit the coast. These few days consisted of waterfront wildlife watching and beach combing. It was so fun to see otters and elephant seals and just relax before hitting the road again for our last long drive of the trip.

I decided to make some more specific requests for my third fix to spruce things up for the summer season. I asked my stylist for some cropped work pants and a white skirt and awaited what else might appear in box #3.

A quick recap for anyone not familiar with Stitch Fix: Take a quick style quiz, provide your sizes and preferences, and pay a $20 deposit. A stylist chooses and sends 5 items to you each fix and the $20 goes towards whatever you keep. The fixes should feel more personalized the longer you continue using SF and providing feedback.

Here's how this month looked:

This was simple and cute. It would have been a great basic accessory but the price is way higher than I spend on costume jewelry, and the bangle didn't even fit on my wrist. Returned.

That saggy butt? No thanks.

This was right up my alley with the olive green color and light stretchy fabric, but the fit was awful. Tight in the waist and calves but saggy and loose in the butt and thighs. Returned.

The top is sheer and has to be layered. I love the triangle detail on the front and keyhole on the back. I would have returned this because of the high price tag, but this was the only item I liked in the fix, and I didn't want my $20 to go to waste. Kept.

This looked frumpy at first sight and while it fit well, 1. it wasn't my style and 2. any neckline that requires a strapless bra from me is a no go. Returned.

Maybe I should have been more specific. I was hoping for a solid white skirt. The fit was fine and it was comfortable, but I didn't adore the print and I have plenty of similar LulaRoe Cassie skirts that only cost $35. Returned.

I'm disappointed to say this particular fix was a bust. I'm seeing a trend of my stylist meeting specific requests with items that don't quite fit the bill, so I think I will go back to more generic requests for the next fix to see if it improves. Also, the prices were way higher this time around than previous fixes with the lowest items being nearly $50. I hope this isn't a trend.

Who: My neighbor & I

What: An American in Paris, a new Broadway musical based on the 1951 Gene Kelly film

When: May 2018

Where: Hippodrome Theatre, Baltimore, MD

Why: Another neighbor of ours generously gave us his tickets.

Thoughts: I wasn't planning to see this show. I had the impression that it would be a dull, dance-heavy production.

I was mostly right. 

What I hadn't counted on was the awful attempt at a book. I adore classic shows and generally roll my eyes when people protest them claiming racism, sexism, etc. But in the case of American in Paris, I couldn't help but think #metoo as the female lead said no for the 24th time and the male lead still would not leave her alone. It rapidly escalated from meet cute territory to creeper territory.

Compound that fact with little to no character development (you literally could have killed off any character in this show and it wouldn't have mattered because you just don't care) and lots of dance only numbers, and, well...

It's no surprise this is the first time I've ever considered leaving a show at intermission.

In all fairness, the critics disagree with me. I'm sure lots of dance lovers disagree with me. The dancers were talented, the set design was beautiful...but the bottom line is that American in Paris wasn't for me. 

Good thing the tickets were free.

If you're so intrigued, have a listen to the cast album here. Or, you can read about all the shows I like more than American in Paris here.

Who else has seen the show? Do you agree or disagree with my thoughts? 

Let me know in the comments!

Thanks to a family wedding, Sean and I hopped on a plane earlier this month to visit a state I've long wished to: California. As I've never been, I insisted we make a vacation of it, and indeed we did!

Sean and I flew into Sacramento on a Thursday afternoon, picked up our rental car, and met up with the rest of our family at our Airbnb later that night. It was super affordable split 8 ways!

As the wedding wasn't until Saturday, we had Friday to ourselves. Sean and I made the two hour trek (oh, what a drive! Such windy roads I have never experienced on the east coast.) to Yosemite Valley where we met up with a friend of Sean's from college (long time readers may remember her from this post) who served as a private tour guide of sorts. This actually worked out perfectly because I injured my knee about two weeks before vacation and knew I shouldn't be hiking. Since she's more familiar with the park, she drove us around to all the major spots: Yosemite Falls, El Capitan, etc. where we hopped out to enjoy the view and snap some photos. 

My normal travel style is to wander and explore at my own pace, but this worked perfectly under the circumstances, and when we heard later that the rest of Sean's family only managed to see one or two areas of the valley on their own, we knew our day had definitely worked out for the best.

Have you been Yosemite Valley? Share your experience in the comments!

Who: My mom, brother, and I

What: The Lion King national tour

When: December 2017

Where: Hippodrome Theatre, Baltimore, MD

Why: Family fun, and I'd finally been convinced this show was worth seeing.

Thoughts: Full disclosure: I'm a Disney Princess kinda girl, and The Lion King was never among my favorite Disney films. I paid no mind to the Broadway show until a few friends caught on and insisted that the show was a completely different experience that was well worth my time. Thankfully, the tour was coming to Baltimore the very next season, so I made sure I was there. Most touring shows come to Baltimore for about a week. The Lion King was in town for THREE WEEKS and it was still incredibly challenging to get tickets. My family and I actually sat in two separate rows.

The bottom line is this: my friends were right. The Lion King is stunning and an experience all it's own. While most Disney theatrical productions are just the movie thrown on stage with a few extra songs, The Lion King is it's own piece of cultural art. The visuals, the score, and the overall tone really set the show apart from the film while still nodding back to the original source and keeping some fun moments for younger viewers. Really, "experience" is the best word to describe the show. It's just as much emotional journey as it is story, and I don't know that I've ever seen a show where the cast is as clearly happy and at home with a show as they are here - the ensemble contributes as much, if not more, than the principle roles in this extravagant production (holy costume changes!).

I'm so glad we had the chance to finally see this (better late than never; I know the show opened in 1997 and I'm 20 years late), and my family all loved it!