southern california – The Raw Raw Newsletter

December is by far one of my favorite months out of the year. The holiday decorations that go up a day after Thanksgiving, peppermint-flavored everything, and 2 hour long visits to Trader Joe’s to inspect their holiday inventory are some of my favorite things. Last weekend, I had a great time picking out a Christmas tree.

This year is the first Christmas that my boyfriend and I will have while living together. Unfortunately, he’s not much of a Christmas tree fan (just means more work for him). However, I enjoy the fresh smell of pine in the house that reminds me of Christmas and all the nostalgia that comes with it. In all reality, we celebrate our Christmas at each other’s parent’s homes, so we weren’t looking to go all out on a tree that we wouldn’t be sitting around on Christmas day.

After enjoying the afternoon at dog beach with Mew (my dog), we ended up going to a couple different tree lots to find a tree that wasn’t too big. I never thought i’d like a smaller tree but when I saw the little tree I wanted it was adorable and it could fit in the back seat of my car (menial work for the boyfriend thus far). We ended up going to Target to buy decorations and wrapping paper for gifts, etc. It was effortless to carry the tree up the stairs and it is the perfect size for the space it is in. It took me about 20 minutes to decorate the tree and it will by far be the easiest tree clean up I have ever had to endure!

If you haven’t gone to pick out your tree yet, don’t feel pressure to buy a big tree especially if you aren’t going to be hosting Christmas or don’t have the space for it. The smaller tree looks great and doesn’t cramp the space or our style.

Happy Holidays!

P.S. The scarf I am wearing in these photos in from Forever 21 and I am obsessed.

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Living in San Diego, you have it all: the mountains, the beaches, the lakes and the desert. If you live in Southern California and haven’t made it out to the desert yet, I highly recommend you do so. In the desert (Yucca Valley, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, etc.) you can find affordable, clean, and modern houses up on Air BnB, that will give you a real “desert” experience. For our anniversary my boyfriend and I decided to rent a beautiful house we saw on AirBnb that was tucked away in Flamingo Heights just outside of Yucca Valley. The house looked beautiful in the pictures, and once we arrived and ran through the house in ‘awe’ we realized that the pictures didn’t even do it justice.

The house was tucked away on a long dirt road with 180 degree views of the desert terrain. The neighbors were so far away that it didn’t feel like we had neighbors and we were all by our lonesome in the desert wild. The house didn’t get cell service, but we found it as a blessing that we didn’t have an option to be sucked into a vortex on social media and got to give each other our full and undivided attention which was very romantic. Overall, the two bedroom house had a very rustic feel with a jacuzzi, fancy indoor bathtub, a very large modern shower, and AC in every room (THANK GOD). Although we spent most of the time indoors enjoying the features of the house, the 108 degree heat didn’t feel as bad as we thought since it was extremely dry.

We spent the weekend appreciating each other without any disturbance from our phones, blasting the owner’s rock vinyl collection on the record player, cooking delicious food, and relaxing in bed. The environment the house provided allowed us to rid ourselves of the unimportant things, live in the moment and deeply appreciate each other. I will never forget this anniversary weekend and will definitely go back.

If you haven’t ventured out to the desert yet, I recommend doing a trip with friends or your significant others and finding an AirBnb that meets your requirements of a perfect getaway. Remember to bring your own water (desert water tastes awful), and if you are allergic to bees remember to bring your Epi Pen.

Please enjoy the pictures below.