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Southern California

Handlery Hotel San Diego: A Family-Owned Premier Hotel

January 19, 2015 / California, Restaurant Reviews, Travel

I received hotel accommodations in order to write this review. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own. We had such a wonderful experience staying at the Handlery Hotel San Diego this past weekend. An early call time for a Sunday cheer competition made it necessary for us to stay overnight in “America’s Finest City” the night before. We wanted to stay somewhere centrally located to be able to take advantage of some of the fun things San Diego has to offer. Handlery Hotel’s location was just that! Located in Hotel Circle, t’s literally a hop, skip & a jump away from Fashion Valley Mall, Mission Bay, and San Diego State University. Since it’s located just off of the 8 freeway, it was so easy to get places without taking too much driving time.

The lobby of Handlery Hotel is nice and bright thanks to the natural light from above!

We were greeted by friendly faces at the front desk, upon our arrival. They quickly checked us into our room, located right next to the pool. The room was just perfect for us and had 2 beds, a clean, updated bathroom, and a big, flat screen TV to watch while we enjoyed our cheese platter and cookie tray.

As you can see, Emily immediately claimed, and personalized, “her bed”!

A nice, clean bathroom is one of my own personal travel necessities!

This cheese platter was amazing! The cookies were delicious too!

I instantly fell in love with the Holcombe & Moore Aromatherapy toiletries that were in the bathroom. They smelled so good, with a scent that wasn’t too overpowering. I could swear the same scent was being released into the hallways of the hotel and I actually asked about it at the front desk. Whenever I’d walk in the hallway or enter the lobby there was a wonderful smell in the air.

How cute are the towels?

The Handlery Hotel has a large pool area, with both a pool and jacuzzi. They are heated for guests’ convenience. I got some really pretty pictures of the pool area because we arrived around dusk. What a pretty backdrop the sunset was and I felt like I was in paradise just looking at all of the palm trees.

We didn’t get to actually swim in the pool on this visit because we were so busy with our cheer competition but the weather was sure perfect for it! Next time we’re definitely going into the pool! Southern California Winter weather is definitely something to be thankful for!

A poolside fountain

The hotel has a few different fountains throughout. I know for me, the sound of water is so soothing. The fountain by the pool was really pretty, as was the one by the hotel’s entryway.

Emi made a wish in this fountain that’s located near the hotel’s entryway.

Postcards Restaurant is located adjacent to the hotel’s lobby and serves breakfast and dinner and has a full bar with a TV to watch sports. It also provides the food for in-room dining. We had to hurry out early to our cheer competition so they packed us up a container of goodies and I took some coffee to go.

Freshly baked blueberry and banana nut muffins and a mini croissant to go!

You can grab a complimentary daily paper in the hotel lobby!

Our stay at the Handlery Hotel San Diego definitely wasn’t long enough. Once cheer season is over, we fully intend on returning for a longer, more relaxing stay, when we enjoy the accommodations a little more and take advantage of that pool area, including the poolside drinks and dining at the Reef Lounge Poolside Bar & Grill.

Some of the other accommodations available at the hotel are:

Concierge staff
On-site parking
Complimentary wireless internet throughout the hotel
Business Center with computer, printer and complimentary boarding pass printing
Complimentary on-site fitness center
Same day laundry and dry cleaning service
Flexible meeting space
In-room dining
ATM
Express Checkout
Dog friendly

Thank you, Handlery Hotel! You had her at “cookie”!

I’d like to send a HUGE thank you to the staff at the Handlery Hotel San Diego! It’s a great family-owned hotel, offering such warm service. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and hope to be back very soon!

Visit Handlery Hotel San Diego on Facebook & Twitter.

Belo Blow Dry Bar in Laguna Beach! Do Something For Yourself!

September 28, 2014 / Beauty & Pampering, Lifestyle, Orange County

I don’t know about you, but for me, there are just times when I NEED someone else to do my hair for a special occasion or an event I’m attending. There’s just something a stylist does that I’m just not capable of doing with my hair. A few of my closest friends had recently visited a blow out bar together as a group to have their hair done before a wedding they were all in and it sounded like so much fun. A blow dry bar differs from a visit to your regular stylist in a way that allows you to achieve that “finished” look without the long term commitment you have with your own personal hair stylist. Let’s face it, we all know that cheating on your hairdresser is a BIG offense and this actually doesn’t count, so you don’t have to worry!

I was recently invited to Belo Blow Dry Bar in Laguna Beach to try out their services! It’s Laguna Beach’s first, and only, blow dry bar and is located in the heart of downtown at 302 Forest Avenue (upstairs at the corner of Forest Avenue and Beach Street)

Belo Blow Dry Bar is a dream come true for hair stylist and Laguna Beach resident Patricia Musselman, who is the owner of this fabulous new establishment. Orginally from Brazil, Musselman has a passion for two things: hair and traveling. Belo Blow Dry Bar combines the two in a glamorous black, white and gold setting. Musselman describes her most recent venture as:

“I’m a huge fan of blow dry bars myself and saw a need in Laguna for girls to get their hair styled locally. When the opportunity arose to take over a friend’s salon, I jumped at the chance and am having a blast with it,” said Patricia Musselman, owner of Belo Blow Dry Bar. “My goal with Belo is to create a warm and friendly environment where women can come have fun by themselves or with their friends, experiment with new styles, and get beautiful hair for work, beach parties or special events.”

You can spot Belo Blow Dry Bar from its logo’d front door and the adorable sidewalk chalkboard that sits out in front of the door. Just inside the front door is a staircase that takes you to the second floor. The decor inside is so beautiful and the staff is very welcoming.

Emi loved being able to order off of the “hairstyle menu”. It features 8 of the most popular current hairstyles, with a sketch and description of each one. If you don’t find one of those that you’d like, Belo also has iPads available for their clients to use, to search for hairstyles on Pinterest! The Belo stylists will work with you to create whatever hairstyle you envision.

Emi and I each had our own stylists that day. It was fun for me to sit back, relax and chat with my stylist, Angelik, about girl things. Emi loved the attention she was getting from her stylist, Tiara. She also loved her name! (I wonder why?)

I was seriously in love with the back of my hair when she showed it to me in the mirror!

We had such a fun morning at Belo Blow Dry Bar and were so happy with how both of our hairstyles turned out. I highly recommend calling to book an appointment of your own. Whether you have someplace special to be or just want to do something nice for yourself, you deserve to be pampered every now and then.

Call 949.4949714 to make an appointment today. You can also connect with them on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

S’mores, Slides & a Scavenger Hunt at The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay: A Review by Over the Top Kid

July 3, 2014 / California, Over the Top Kid, Travel, Uncategorized

This is a guest post by Over the Top Kid! ( Emily, age 9)

A few days ago, I had the chance to take a quick trip with my family down to San Diego. It’s a short drive and I was excited to stay at The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay because it’s right on the water.

When we were checking in, I relaxed by the lobby fireplace with some of my stuffed animal friends. In the lobby there was a coloring table and right next to it is where I picked up one of the Scavenger Hunt pages that they have for kids to do during their stay. If you answer all of the questions, you can win a prize!

On our first day there, it was too late to go on the waterslides but we did go and look at the pool. There were 3 different pools all in the same area and one had a small waterside, while another one had 2 big waterslides. I couldn’t wait to go on them the next day!

Next to the pool area there’s a restaurant called “Swim” and they sell S’mores Kits there that you can roast at one of the hotel’s 3 fire pits. (hint: That’s actually one of the answers to one of the Scavenger hunt questions)

Each kit comes with a bunch of marshmallows, 2 big Hershey’s chocolate bars, a bunch of packs of Honeymaid graham crackers and 4 wooden dowels that you roast your marshmallows on.

It was so fun to make the s’mores by the fire with my parents. We also got to watch the Sea World fireworks when we were out there because Sea World is really close by.

The next day, I think we were at the pool all day long. It’s kind of cool that they give the kids a refillable purple cup to use. I got to have as much lemonade as I wanted. The smaller waterslide was fun because you could ride it with 2 people. I liked the bigger waterslides the best though. It was fun to make my mom go on them too!

At 3:00 there were races by the pool for all of the kids. They actually have different activities for kids by the pool each day, even on the weekends!

I had a fun time staying at The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay! I hope I get to back there sometime soon!

Follow the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay on Facebook , Twitter, and Instagram.

It’s Time for Apple Picking in Julian!

September 29, 2013 / Travel

I absolutely LOVE this time of year! It’s the beginning of fall and, although we have such warm weather in Southern California, the apple orchards are open by the end of September and the apples are ready for picking!

(How adorable is this sign I found at Home Goods?)

This year we decided to visit the adorable town of Julian, since it’s just a hop, skip & a jump away! (Ok maybe it’s actually a couple hours away) The downtown area of Julian is adorable and has many little shops, restaurants and pie shops. You can also ride in a horse-drawn carriage down the main street. The farms and apple orchards are all pretty close to the downtown area, so you can either stop at them on your way into town or as you’re leaving. On this particular trip, we ate lunch at Julian Cafe & Bakery, before going apple picking. Not only was the food yummy, we also enjoyed drinking out of glass boot mugs! After lunch was when we wandered into the town pie shops and country stores.

Our favorite pie shop was Mom’s! We sat down inside to eat some warm pie a la mode and then we stopped at Mom’s again on the way out of town to take some pie home!

(They have more than one location!)

This year we visited The Julian Mining Company for apple picking.

We bought a bag to put our freshly picked apples in.

It was a bit tough to be there with a little perfectionist because Emi ONLY wanted to pick the perfect apples! Her selection process required a lot of patience on our part.

Luckily she was content after filling up one bag.