Last weekend was spent at Shasta Lake with my family, cousins and my brothers' friend, Casey. Shasta Lake was absolutely peaceful; however, with the serious drought affecting California, the lake levels were lower than what they used to be. Despite that, we still had a lot of fun!

Our first night on the lake was spent trying to find a decent place to dock. We first docked by a shallow area, and we ended up moving the boat to a better location. When that was done, we had dinner with a lovely sunset in the background.

The following day involved fishing and spending time on the boat's slide! The slide was intimidating at first, but it was a blast. Plus, the water was very inviting.

My cousin and I spent a bit of time exploring the bit of land our boat was docked on. As beautiful as Shasta was, it was a bit of a downer knowing that the drought has really affected California.

Our night life in Shasta consisted of a bonfire and (several) failed attempts in making smores.

This year's summer trip was a blast. Shasta Lake was a beautiful place. The clouds seemed to fit in perfectly with the mountains and the water. Shasta, I will definitely miss you.

Oh beautiful Shasta

My best friend, Ella, and I began this silly tradition of meeting up to have monthly brunches at places we've never been to. For the month of August, we decided to try out KTCHN / PICNIK.

The place was unique - they were two different restaurants that worked together. KTCHN served breakfast, while PICNIK was more of a burger/beer joint. And to top it off, there was a huge dining area in between the two places.

As much as I love breakfast food, I ended up grabbing a sandwich from PICNIK while Ella settled for some apple fritters from KTCHN.

I absolutely love mushrooms so I was really excited about this sandwich. There was no meat to it and they placed a ridiculously huge mushroom in the middle of the sandwich - so good. The fries, however, were too salty and I didn't even finish a fry. Such a waste.

Overall, the place was really unique but ordering was a bit confusing. Plus, the service was a bit slow and it wasn't even busy.

Ktchn / Picnik

Countdown to my Lake Shasta trip: one week. Should I be trying to lose weight? The answer is yes. I actually did start a low-to-no carb diet but that's all over now since I had a lot of rice pilaf for dinner on Wednesday evening.

Speaking of rice pilaf, my mom had a coupon to eat at the Shrimp House and we headed there for dinner. I've lived in this town for quite some time now, and I never knew about this place! The place looks small from the outside, but the inside was spacious. The walls were painted blue and decorated with sea animals, obviously. The other guests seemed really laid-back, a lost as if the place was located next to the beach. In addition, the servers were really friendly.

We started off with the calamari, popcorn shrimp and clam chowder for appetizers. The calamari and popcorn shrimp came in these little adorable baskets. The clam chowder was a bit of a miss for me - it was good, but it seemed a bit bland at some point.

For our entrees, we had the grilled seafood sampler. It came with fish, shrimp and scallops. Grilled beats fried any day, to be honest. Their scallops tasted amazing, especially after you added fresh lemon juice to it.

Overall, the place was good. For a seafood restaurant that isn't located in a coastal city, it was delicious. I'm definitely dining at this place again!

Shrimp House

Tuesday is my favorite day out of the week. Why? Tuesdays are the days I get to see my boyfriend! Today, we did something out of the usual and ended up on the driving range. I've been golfing since I was twelve and my boyfriend has only gone several times, so I was his personal coach for today. It was an absolute blast despite being really hot out.

After we finished up at the driving range, we headed to Red Robin (one of our usual spots) to grab lunch. I absolutely love Red Robin's chicken wrap - it's so good. Plus, they just opened their 500th store somewhere across the United States, so we ended up getting $5 off the check.

When that was over, we saw Guardians of the Galaxy. I didn't really expect much from that movie, but it turned out surprisingly good. It was funny and action-packed. Plus, it made me more excited for the second installment of the Avengers!

I had such a good day that I thought I'd write about it! That and I neglected this blog for the entire month of July. Oh well.

Under the Sun

Yesterday was spent at the paintball field over at Paintball USA, located in Oxnard. It's been nearly a decade since I last went for a round of paintball but this outdoor activity is still as fun as it used to be! We played a bunch of rounds and ended up recruiting four kids we met on the field. It was really fun and probably the closest thing I've ever experience to being in an action-packed movie.

After we went paint balling, we drove a bit through Oxnard and ended up grabbing lunch at HB Seafood Market & Restaurant, located on their Fisherman's Wharf.

Their food was amazing - but then again, seafood always hits the spot. Their fried scallops dipped in tartar sauce were pretty mouthwatering as well. (Side note: it would've been a lot better if the people manning the place were just a bit friendlier).

When we left the place, we missed our exit for the 101, so we cruised down the Pacific Coast Highway. We made a quick stop by Thornhill Broome Beach and just enjoyed the peaceful scenery the beach had to offer.