Tay Explores

Three Dunes Challenge, Indiana Dunes National Park, IN

In the spirit of fall, I decided to share with you a hike I went on last October. It was the first time I went hiking after moving to Chicago. A friend who lives in Indiana told me her husband had gone to a hike nearby in Indiana Dunes National Park and asked if I was interested in checking it out with her. I was obviously interesting in checking it out because hiking is one thing I miss a lot here in the flatness of Chicago (as I’ve stated a few times already..so I apologize for my repetitiveness). We honestly got so lucky the day we chose to go because the weather was amazing! It was in the 60s with the sun shining high and bright as opposed to all the rain we’ve been getting lately. When we got there we didn’t know if we should only go up one sand dune or do…

Frederick, Maryland

Another city that I went to over the summer was Frederick, Maryland. While living in Maryland I had gone here only a handful of times to visit friends at their homes but never knew it was such a poppin’ town! I always thought it was farmland for some reason (mostly because one of the friends I visited actually lived on a farm). I guess when you are young you see the world in a different way. That same friend told me Frederick downtown is becoming a very popular place so I thought okay, let’s check it out with my new adult eyes! I parked next to Baker Park which is what we walked around in first before heading into downtown. The park was really cute and at this angle had a European look to it. After strolling around in the park and working up an appetite, it was time to…

An Evening in Annapolis, MD

Another city I had the opportunity to visit this summer was Annapolis which is the capital of the state of Maryland. I lived in Silver Spring, MD for 9 years and I never made it out here before! So I decided it was about time that I went since I visit my siblings in the east coast all the time anyway. It is such a cute town and fun to walk around in. Our goal was to go inside the State House first thing but we didn’t make it in time to do that which is okay because I can always go back another time (hopefully). This building is actually the oldest state capitol that’s been in continuous use dating back to 1772! How cool is that?! We walked around this area and then wandered off to Main St. which was pretty lively at the time (even though it may…

New York City in 2 Days – Part 2

*This post contains affiliate links. Clicking on them will not cost you anything* Since we did so much the day before, it was so hard to wake up on day 2! But knowing that we had a day ahead of more fun, we managed to get up and start the day at 9 AM! ANSEL DOMINIQUE BAKERY – CRONUT We got ready and went straight to Ansel Dominique Bakery in SoHo to find ourselves the much talked about cronut. Since we got there at 10, I thought we wouldn’t have made it in time to get one because they only make a certain amount each day and once they are out, they are out. We got lucky because we managed to get two, one for each of us to try! We excitedly bought them and headed out to their back patio which was so cute! I loved the neutral color choices…

New York City in 2 days! – Part 1

*This post contains affiliate links. Clicking on them will not cost you anything* As summer is coming to an end, I believe it’s time to share all that I’ve been up to these past few weeks! It all started when a friend of mine from the UK called me up and asked if I’d be free to show her around while she was visiting here for a wedding that we both were going to attend. And so since I am always ready for adventures, I said yes! The big thing on her list of places to see was New York City which ended up working out nicely because it was a 3 hour drive to NYC from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where we both would be. Between the wedding festivities and sight seeing, we only had two days for NYC, so I knew it would be hard to fit everything in. But somehow, we…

Snapchat Story Series – Road Trip Silver Spring, MD to Glen Ellyn, IL

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well and have been having an eventful summer! I sure have been which is why I’m a bit behind on my blog posts! However, I just got back from exploring around the east coast so it’s time to get back on track. While you wait around for me to catch up and get organized, here is a little video of my road trip from Silver Spring, MD back to my house in Glen Ellyn, IL. What you saw in this video is: Fun things in Pittsburgh, PA Random farmers market Cute places in Vermilion, OH Lake Erie Beautiful skies! What have you been up to this summer?

Dearborn, Michigan

Our final stop on this reunion weekend was Dearborn. My friend had been talking about an amazing place to get kababs from and it only seem fit that we go! So this place is located in a butcher shop. It’s called Dearborn Meat Market. Basically, they sell meat in the front and then in the back there is a small room in which they BBQ kababs! So you know you’re getting fresh ingredients! Being amateurs, we ordered like 2 or 3 orders. But apparently that’s not enough, even for three people. I don’t remember how many orders we got, but here is a picture of all the kababs! And of course, there is also hummus and tabouleh! Yea…it was pretty great. And even though we left feeling satisfied, we couldn’t leave Michigan without having custard because apparently it’s a thing there. And so, we went to The Custard Hut. Okay,…

Detroit, Michigan

Continuing with my incredible friend’s reunion weekend, our next trip was into Detroit! As you will continue to scroll down, you will see that we started off our Detroit tour by eating. Well, we walked around first to work up an appetite. We started at Eastern Market which is a huge place full of food, restaurants, art and culture. There are so may different areas here. And since it was spring time, there were flowers everywhere. We were also on a mission to find a jasmine plant for my friend who had been trying to find it for ages. She settled on an herb plant instead (because jasmine was no where to be found, even in all the flowers!) After walking around for a bit we ran into some food trucks. So, of course we had to stop! We split into two lines. Two of us went into the beignet line and…

Snapchat Stories Series – NYC Day 1

Hello everyone! I have been a little MIA but that’s because I have been super busy. There have been weddings and other religious events that I’ve been a part of so I haven’t had much time to plan my blog posts. However, I have not stopped exploring. I took a friend around NYC and DC just this last week and I saved my personal snap stories from those days. I decided to upload the videos of those stories in hopes that some of you may enjoy them. I will have actual detailed blog posts of those days coming up in the near future! Some of the places you saw in the video: Brooklyn Bridge Halaal Hot Dog 9/11 Memorial Wall Street Trinity Church Chelsea Market Sephora Empire State Building Time Square

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Do you guys have friends that you’ve been friends with most of your life? The kind of friends that no matter how long you’ve been apart or how long you haven’t spoken to, you still pick up right where you left off? I know I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again, I am so fortunate and blessed to have many of these kinds of friends. The reason why I’m talking about friends and friendship is because recently, I had the opportunity to hang out with three such friends. All four of us grew up together in Maryland and we hadn’t been in the same place together in a really long time. I moved away to California, and eventually,two of them got married and also moved away to different states. So, in April, we decided we needed to change our lack of hanging out and have a mini reunion! This…

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