Wanderlust Wednesday

For you stalkers out there, I would like to talk about 2 cities where you can find me and hunt me down (with $1 Million, not a credit card bill, please). Why? Because I'm doing a Link - Up with Lauren (who's from OC! YAY) from Pink On the Cheek.

First, let me talk about the City where I live.

I live in Rancho Cucamonga, California. According to Google Map, it's about 40 miles east of Los Angeles.

via

I moved here 11 years ago from Jakarta, Indonesia, and have resided here ever since. I remember visiting RC back in 1995, there were a lot of empty lands, and some vineyards here and there. My mother grew up around RC back in the 70s (she went to the local Chaffey College, our local community college, where I actually graduated too) and she said it used to be so empty with vineyards all over the place. 

Anyways, this city has exploded in the past decade. It's considered as an elite area for the Inland Empire. Tons of new residential homes popped up in the past 5 - 7 years, and now we have our own outdoor mall called Victoria Gardens (for me, it's like our own Santa Monica's Promenade , which includes our own Cultural Building and Theater combined with the city's Library (we have 2 now). 

via

We have a lot of eateries here from Thai (Thai T, Thai Vegan, Green Mango), Vietnamese (Pho Ha!!!), lots of Mexican food (so many of them), Sushi/Japanese, Italian, American... name it... all the way to your typical big and famous food joint such as Cheesecake Factory, Lucille's BBQ, CPK, Yard House, PF Chang, Claim Jumpers, Johnny Rockets, TGIF, etc. Our main road would be Foothill Blvd, part of Route 66. Along Foothill you will have most of those food joints. 

Most likely you will find me at Victoria Gardens, 99 Ranch Market (I'm Asian. I love my Asian food), Fresh & Easy Market, Target, Ross, Michaels and Home Goods (my favorite store. I go here every paycheck day, along with Target. Hahaha...)

Cool thing about Rancho Cucamonga, we're in between Upland, Ontario (so close to the airport. Awesome and also the Ontario Mills Outlet Mall. They have Nordstroms Rack, Off 5th Ave AND Last Call Neimen Marcus!) and Fontana. Not too far from Claremont where they have awesome foodies there at the Village (if you're in the area, must visit the Village in Claremont!) which is nested by the infamous Claremont Colleges. Driving distance to some Indian Casinos (San Manuel and Morongo) and about 1 hour away from Cabazon, the infamous outlet mall in the dessert. 

North of RC is the mountains (which is my view from my street!), so we're not too far from Snowboarding (Mt. High, Snow Valley, Snow Summit, etc) and some cool lakes (Lake Gregory, Lake Arrowhead, Big Bear).

via

Overall, I love this City. It has everything that I need and I don't have to go far to get something. One thing is night life is not the greatest (mm hello we're in the Suburbs) but we do have a Dueling Piano Bar/Night Club called Rock the Keys which is pretty awesome. And of course, there are bars around town. But then again, I'm not a big club girl anyways. 

NOW... the second city that you can stalk me at is Newport Beach/Costa Mesa in Orange County.

via

First of all, hello, it's Orange County. The County of Orange. The land of Mickey Mouse and the home of the Angels and No Doubt (yes the band). This is the place where I want to live (boyfriend, marry me quick, please?).

Why Newport Beach/Costa Mesa? The community is fresh (in my opinion). It's the blend of old folks with young folks and folks with kids. Laguna Beach for me is too... Old Fashion? I don't know how to say it. Very Artsy. The community is old for me (I used to work in the ER at the hospital in Laguna Beach). It's a nice place to retire, in my opinion. But then, everybody has their own preference on what beach to live/visit. Huntington Beach for me is too... crowded. Newport is crowded too, but I think HB is very touristy for me. But it's still awesome.

The Pillow used to live in Costa Mesa (then he moved to Irvine for a brief period then back to Costa) so I got accustom to the city. He used to live off of Harbor Blvd where the whole street is filled with FOODIES! All the fast food joint, you name it, they have it... all along the street. 

Then there's The Lab and The Camp off of Bristol & Baker St. I recommend Taco Asylum, Umami Burger, Native Food, Habana, East Borough, Milk & Honey, Ecco, The Gypsy Den... Gah so many eateries. Not too far from there is my favorite Korean restaurant, Hashigo. Mmm their Kimchi Bokkeumbap is too die for. Also not too far from there is also Inca Grill for Peruvian. You can catch me at Hashigo or Inca Grill (and of course the Camp and the Lab)

Some cool pictures of the Camp: here.

Then of course, you can't forget South Coast Plaza off the 405. The infamous fancy mall where people from the Inland Empire would drive too to get their fancy on. 

via

I usually go across the street to Metro Pointe where they have Nordstrom Rack and Marshalls and Loehmann's. Haha. I'm a cheap ass.

So after Costa Mesa, the boyfriend decided to move to Newport Beach (oh you fancy huh). Good thing is that my love for Costa Mesa is not tarnished because it's only 5 minutes away (via car) from his current place. So I can still visit all of my favorite places without complaining about traffic. Hehe.

And boy do I love Newport Beach. His apartment now (aka my second home) is a jogging distance to Fashion Island. Literally, we jog there.

via

The view from his apartment is the Back Bay, which has a trail where people walk/jog/bike. Then where his unit stands, you can see the over view of the Pacific Ocean. 

the back bay 

pool side. if i took a standing up pic, you would see Pacific Ocean

gotta love Beach Weather

Then of course, the beach is only a drive away. We can actually bike (which is preferred) to Balboa Island and head to the beach. There, tons of foodies too. Mmmm... Love. 

The great thing about NB/CM is that we're between great cities. We're not far from Huntington Beach (hello, Slaters 50/50), Irvine (TONS of food, esp Asian food. If you're Asian in SoCal, you would know 85C Bakery in Irvine off of Jamboree & Alton; also the home of Irvine Spectrum), Santa Ana/Westminster (home of Vietnamese food), City of Orange (BRUXIE!!!!!!!) then of course Anaheim, the home of Disneyland. There are tons of Biking Trails/Route. 

Oh and of course, the Pacific Coast Highway passes through Newport. Can not forget the awesome Javier's Restaurant by Crystal Cove (it's one of Kobe Bryant's favorite restaurant. He lives nearby there. Boyfriend saw him there one time).

Gosh I can go on and on about this city. 

BUT WAIT! There's another city. New York City. For that, you can click here. Hahaha... I made an ode to New York City.

If only I can split my body into 3 and live at all 3 areas at the same time. Bomb.