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My Favorite Place in Orange County with sixthreezero Bike Co.

19 April 2018



Hey hey! With Earth Week going strong this week, taking time to participate in eco-friendly activities is definitely something that should be on everyone's to-do list.  From walking to work, to bike riding to turning lights off and using less water, there is so much you can do to contribute to this holiday.  In honor of Mother Nature, I partnered up with my friends at sixthreezero Bike Co. to talk all about my favorite place EVER to take an afternoon ride in.  If you haven't become familiar with sixthreezero, they are a premier beach bicycle brand based out of LA that specialize in comfort, style, customized bikes and my favorite, bikes with an easy assembly process.  Seriously though, these bikes come 80% built and if it wasn't for my adorable dad that loves to build things in seconds, I would've so done this myself.  Living near beach cities always required some kind of bike, especially a beach cruiser.  When I saw their colorful bikes, I nearly dropped to the floor over how ADORABLE they were.  Can you even use adorable and bike in the same sentence?  I'm sure sixthreezero wouldn't mind because their bikes are so gram-worthy!  Anyway, I got to take one of their cruisers down to my favorite place and purposefully wore a dress and sneakers to snap all the fun pictures in!  Can you blame a girl!?  Anyway, let's get into the nitty gritty!







When I was a little girl, I basically grew up on a little island in Newport Beach called Balboa Island.  This place is a tiny little area accessible via bridge or ferry and home to several tiny local shops and the cutest homes EVER.  My mom and aunt's worked on this island and lucky me, I got to hang out with them there whenever I wasn't in school.  My fondest memories of this island included a little cafe just across the street from the house my mom worked in, a black and white cat named Baba and my favorite cookies in the entire world sold within the island.  Let's start with Baba.  I've always been obsessed with animals and growing up, we didn't have an actual family pet.  So to me, Baba was my first pet even if the cat wasn't mine LOL.  I think I actually remember all the animals that belonged to the houses my mom worked in and basically I wasn't there to hang out with my mom, I was there for the animals haha.  Right across the street from the main house my mom worked in was a tiny little cafe that served the BEST breakfast.  Unfortunately this cafe was closed, but a new owner stepped in to open a brand new cafe!  The family that owned the old spot new me and even if I was just 7 years old, they would serve me breakfast and watch me walk right across the street where they knew my mom was.  I mean this island is super friendly you guys.  Anyway, picking up my breakfast from this place was always my favorite part of going to work with my mom!  Well, at least for the morning hours because after work was over, my treat was a hippo cookie from a spot called Dad's Cookies.  I've been eating these cookies since I could remember and are seriously my favorite in the entire world.  Dad's Cookies sits right on Main Street and thankfully, stays pretty busy! The fear of this shop going out of business always crosses my mind, but Balboa Island people are pretty loyal to their hippo cookies haha.


I definitely have tons of other fond memories of this place, but this little island 100% became the place of my dreams and the place I always look forward to visiting.  It's not far from my house to begin with, so I don't really need to miss it, you know?  Now as an adult, going back to this place involves either just myself and walking shoes or my beach cruiser.  The island only expands out to about three miles, yeah you read that right, so it makes for such an awesome stroll.  The neighborhood is colorful and as the seasons pass, I feel like it only gets even more amazing!  The residents travel via bike, walk or ride around golf carts, so it's really not abnormal to just blend in, you know?



Do you kind of understand why this place is my dream brain relaxer and place to take my bike through?  Beach cruisers are definitely a thing on this island and it's shocking if you're not asked about your bike or given a compliment about it haha.  Aside from that, just biking through the island to me is like taking a stroll down memory lane.  It's a huge part of my youth and a place I'm definitely going to bring future generations in my family to.


Anyway, thank you to sixthreezero Bikes Co. for allowing me to take one of their amazing bikes out with me!  With spring and summer here, it's time to get out.  We get so lost in work and life that we forget to live the little things and enjoy something so simple like a bike ride!  This has totally inspired me to explore more places with my little cruiser.  Should we start a new hashtag to follow along to on Instagram?  How about #xobikerides or #xobiketravels?  I'll figure out a new series, but in the meantime, there's a little video above featuring a few of my favorite Balboa Island stops for you guys to watch.  Also, don't forget to check out the bike featured in this post here and shop the rest of their inventory here!  Chat with you guys soon!

Xo,
Melissa Victoria

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