I turned 30!

On November 14th I turned the big 3-0!! Because 30 is the last, big, milestone birthday I'll be having for a while (10 years?) I decided to go big. I forced 5 friends to go to Sayulita, Mexico (my favorite place)  with me for an entire week to ring in my new decade.

My birthday was on a Monday, but Sunday night at midnight we rang in my birthday with beers by our private pool and swimming and some super cute 3 and 0 sparklers Beth brought from home and the happy birthday song, of course!

Monday morning we made breakfast at the house (beans, rice, peppers & onions with runny eggs and Cotija and avocados on top and fried plantains on the side with coffee, yum!) and all ate together at our outdoor table. It was kind of cloudy that day but still really warm and I wanted to go to Secret Beach (AKA Playa Los Muertos) which is basically my favorite place that exists and I wanted to swim in the ocean and since it was my birthday everyone was on board with whatever I wanted to do which was the best. So, we grabbed some beers and towels and books walked to Secret Beach to spend a few hours playing in the waves, climbing rocks, reading books and buying more beers for 15 pesos from the pop-up beach bar.

^^Walking to the beach on my birthday^^

 ^^Me on my 30th birthday on a rock at Playa Los Muertos, Sayulita, Mexico^^

 ^^Pt. 2^^

^^Beth getting surprised by a giant wave^^

 ^^Josh in the ocean at secret beach^^

^^Holaaaaa! I'm on top of the world!^^

When Beth and I were swimming in the ocean at Secret Beach we kept seeing all these little bubbles in the water and we got totally freaked out. Turns out they were schools of little fish swimming up to us and then jumping out of the water to feed/try and eat us (obviously). It was borderline terrifying but also the funniest thing ever. We floated in the waves and laughed for like an hour and it was the best. It was exactly what I wanted to be doing on my 30th birthday.

When we started to get hungry the girls minus Katie (Me, Beth, Emily and Kylee) walked into town to The Real Fish Taco to get octopus tacos, margaritas and guacamole for lunch at my request.

^^Birthday Octopus Tacos, marg and guac^^

After lunch we went back to the house to hang out for a little while and then eventually shower and get ready for the evening. Before heading down to watch the sunset from the beach, all the ladies took a shot of tequila and Josh took a picture of our shot of tequila (thx Josh!!).

^^corralejo shots for the ladies on my bday^^

We rented a big, beautiful house for my birthday complete with a private pool(!!) which was so amazing. It was a block and a half from the beach too, which was great. Every evening while we were there we would grab beers from the fridge, walk down to the beach and watch the amazing sunsets. On the night of my birthday (which was also the night of the Super Moon!!) we walked down to watch the sunset and saw a crowd of people. We obviously walked over to investigate and we found that a nest of baby sea turtles had just hatched and were making their way to the ocean! BABY SEA TURTS AND I SHARED A BIRTHDAY BECUASE OF THE SUPERMOON AND IT WAS THE MOST MAGICAL THING! And because of the crowd of people surrounding them, none of them were eaten by birds and they all made it to the ocean and I feel like I have a v special connection with them. XO baby turts!

 ^^I was SO EXCITED to see the baby sea turtles^^

 ^^Go baby turts, go!^^

^^Look at how presh they are!^^

After all the baby sea turts made it to the ocean we settled in on a blanket to watch the sun set. Because it had been cloudy all day the sunset was gorgeous!

 ^^Transport me back here, please?^^

 ^^Sayulita birthday sunset^^

 ^^beach babe selfie (terrible)^^

 ^^Best friend, me, best friend in law^^

^^The Chicas!^^

After the beach there was more tequila and a speaker phone call to my parents (thanks for giving birth to me, but Katie has just poured me another shot of tequila, so I have to go, LOVEYOUBYE!!) and another tequila shot for the chicas!! And then there were street tacos that cost like $3 total for all 6 of us and were sooooo delicious (shot out to Kylee for taking us there) and more shots and this CRAZY "shot" that my "friends" got for me that was on fire and poured over a bunch of glasses that cascaded down into a bowl and the bartender threw this sand stuff at it which made it spark and the fire go crazy while everyone in Mexico sang happy birthday to me with the lights out in this random bar, and then I drank the shot through a straw and it was giant and hot and sooo strong and then I was drunk.

 ^^Shot #2 for the chicas^^

^^Birthday selfie with Beth^^

After we finished our amazing tacos and I finished my bowl of warm fire water we went to the swing bar to sit on swings and drink more (WHY?) and be warm outside in the middle of the night in November, because Mexico!! It was so good! Kylee also walked down the street and got us churros from the churro stand to share which was perfect. Fresh churros! Birthday goals, you guys!

^^Swing Bar^^ 

^^chicas on a swing^^ 

When we decided to move on from the swing bar, we said goodnight to Josh and Katie who were a little drunk and tired. Beth, Emily, Kylee and I then went to Don Pedros which was hosting a salsa night. Don Pedros was right on the beach which was great and when we got tired of watching the salsa dancing and taking a million terrible selfies we walked onto the sand and finished our beers next to the ocean.

^^Super sober, obvi^^

At that point we were all fairly sloshed and tired so we started walking home. Beth and I spotted a taco stand, so knowing it would help our hangovers the next day, we grabbed tacos to eat back at the house. Then, about 10 steps later, we drop the tacos on the street. Again, super sober. So we go back, get more tacos, eat them sitting on the ground on the side of the road, walk home, chug water, probably drunk text anyone who will pay attention to us since we finally have internet and pass the fuck out.

^^Street tacos on the street, which puts my birthday taco tally up to 3X!!^^

Miraculously my hangover the next day wasn't even terrible. Mexico, you so good to me! xo

It was everything I'd hoped and dreamed for my 30th birthday and I'm so thankful to all of the people who flew to a different country to celebrate with me for a whole week. Friend goals, birthday goals, and motherfucking life goals... am I right?!

Cheers to 30 years, babes!

San Diego Trip 2016

This past week I took Fri-yay! off work and hopped on a plane to San Diego for the weekend. I've been desperately needing some sunshine and Gaby was down there for a work conference and wanted to stay a few extra days, so win-win! I was even able to get on an earlier flight (thanks Alaska! and was able to enjoy 5 extra hours of sunshine on Friday!). Upon arriving I dropped my bags in our room and then headed straight down to the pool to drink a margarita in a lounge chair (while waiting for Gaby to be done with work). It was the most magical.

^^Just off the plane, SO EXCITED IT'S SUNNY OUT (and borderline too warm for the flannel I'm sporting)!^^

^^First stop: margarita by the pool (still in flannel, no time to change, must get into sunshine)^^

^^Drink with Gaby before dinner^^

When Gaby was done with the trade show we headed out for a drink with a few of her coworkers, and then followed that up with some Mexican food at Don Chido (at my insistence -- you can't go to Southern California and not eat Mexican food, am I right?). We ended dinner with a round of Patron shots (you're welcome 50something year old male coworkers!) and then most of her coworkers headed to the airport. Three of us who were left met another coworker at Bang Bang for a bowl of alcohol and two trips to the Ryan Gosling themed bathroom for Gaby and I (which was very silly and ridiculous but also maybe one of my favorite parts of the trip)!!!

^^THE bathroom, in all of its glory^^

^^We took ALL the pictures^^

 

^^No shame^^ 

^^IDK why my face is so serious, but this made me LOL^^

After Bang Bang we bar hopped around the Gaslamp Quarter. We went to the Altitude Bar (on a misunderstood tip from a friend, but the view was awesome anyway) and at one point asked an Uber Driver to take us to his favorite bar in the area. We slept until like 10:30am the next day. Killing it.

Saturday, after transferring hotels and grabbing some iced coffee, we headed to the beach! It was so warm and sunny and generally magical outside. We grabbed a beer (for me) and a Bloody Mary (for Gaby) and shared some nachos for lunch. We purchased ridiculous Spring Break tank tops which were on sale, Gaby stepped on and got stung by a bee on the beach, and we found her some new flip flops since hers were killing her (not a good day for her feet, but a good day overall because it was SO NICE OUT, IN FEBRUARY!). We walked along the boardwalk for a long time and ultimately grabbed one more beer at a beachfront bar before heading back to the hotel to switch to a clean room (switch = get upgraded to a suite complete with a complementary bottle of delicious wine b/c of some pube looking hairs and general dirt (ew), score! Seriously though, the service at and the location of the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter Hotel was amazing, we would totally stay there again.

^^Mission Beach boardwalk area^^

 ^^The beach, SO GOOD^^

^^Gaby on the beach, pre bee sting^^

^^Beach bar beer. When in Rome!^^

After relaxing in our room for a few minutes and discovering there was no hot tub at our hotel (only a pool) we started to get hungry and so we ventured across the street to Fleming's for some Sweet Chili Calamari, which as Gaby explained beforehand, was amazing. We then made our way to a nearby Sushi place for a light dinner. Later that night we went to the Whiskey House and then got some hummus at a Greek place, then we somehow were persuaded via text message to go to this V TERRIBLE club by Gaby's coworker. Guys, it was the worst. We walk up and there is this crazy long line, we go to the VIP guy and tell him our friend has a table and he's like I can't find his name, who is he with? And we're like, we don't know. He lives here, we don't, also it's really NBD b/c this place sounds REALLY loud and terrible and we're wearing jeans and flip flops so like, we'll definitely go elsewhere b/c not our scene and we don't want to try and persuade you to let us in, like, at all. And the bouncer was like, ummm well you can just go in through this VIP door, it's whatever. So we walk into this packed, terrible, dark, crowded night club playing house music and the DJ kept shouting "I'M A GRAMMY AWARD WINNING ARTIST" #no. We found Gaby's coworker, had part of one drink, and got the fuck out of that disaster in favor of bed.

^^Gaby blissing out in our suite's bedroom^^

^^READY TO GOOOOO^^

Sunday we rented a car and drove to LA to eat Thai Food at Gaby's most favorite Thai place in Hollywood and fly out of LAX. First though, we ate In-N-Out Burger for late breakfast in San Diego (Cheeseburger, Animal Fries & Iced Tea for me!) and we got Coffee Bean (I loveeee Coffee Beannnnn) along the way. We also listened to a lot of Tove Lo on our very sunny drive, so I was pretty content, albeit tired on Sunday. We also stopped by The Grove after Thai Food, which was so fancy, before returning our rental car and barely making it out of town that evening.

 ^^The only burger I'll eat. Period. It was OMGSOGOODICANTEVEN^^

^^Thai Food FTW^^

^^All up in LA^^

I'm convinced after Disneyland last February and San Diego this February, I need to go to SoCal every February in order to survive rainy Seattle winters. I'm already plotting my trip back to San Diego next year! I feel like I have so much left to explore still!

Alsooooooo here are some things about San Diego I did/liked/still want to do/want to tell you about/whatever: (1) all the people there are SO beautiful; (2) they're also all the nicest ever (what do you have to be mad about when it's sunny and beautiful all the time, right? Right. They get it.); (3) I still need to eat Carne Asada Fries(!!); (4) the manager of the Hilton gave us his card and told us if we ever want to come back he'll hook it up; (5) Ryan Gosling Bathroom!!!; (6) palm trees; (7) WARM SUNSHINE IN FEBRUARY?!?! You guys, c'mon. The best!; (8) if you have nasty back hair take care of it or you'll never have a shot w/ Gaby and we'll definitely make fun of you ALL WEEKEND AND FOREVER; and (9) I loveeeee Girls' Trips with Gaby so much. #takemeback

Ocean Shores Trip 2015

^^Natalie, Ambur, Erin, Brittan and I super excited to be at the beach!^^

Friday after work, Dustin and I drove to Ocean Shores, WA, to meet our friends (Ambur, Adam, Rob, Brittan, Natalie, Erin, Pat and Paul) for the weekend. We rented a huge house on the beach that sleeps like 37 people (overkill? maybe.), it was magical.

We immediately headed to the beach on Friday when we got to town because it was sunny and warm and beautiful. The beach was magical minus the fact that millions of these blue jellyfish had washed up on the beach and were now decomposing on the sand… Once you got used to them, though, it wasn’t too bad.

^^Ambur, Erin, Brittan, Natalie and I^^

Friday night we had a fiesta complete with margaritas and tacos and games and decorations and hats and an end of the night bonfire with birthday cake.

 
^^Pile on Rob’s truck!^^

  
^^There we go, practically a music video shoot^^

Saturday morning I made biscuits & gravy with cheesy scrambled eggs for everyone. The girls then complained about wanting OJ for long enough that Rob went out and got us some (thanks Rob!!). He could have also agreed to go to the store for OJ so he didn’t have to listen to our conversation about getting #reckedthroughyourrectum. No joke. Apparently “booty bumping” is a real life thing (that none of us do/have ever done) but is super funny to joke about when you’re hungover. We spent the rest of the day in the warm sunshine at the beach drinking screwdrivers and beers. We did yoga in the sand and practiced handstands and Brittan and I made up a really awesome dance-type routine that we totally nailed. #skillz

While we were at the beach Natalie and I found a live crab overturned in the low tide. When we realized he was still alive we named him Jesus the Crab, took pictures with him, and then set him free in knee deep water. He immediately swam away when I put him back in the water! Hooray for Jesus the Crab!

^^Jesus the Crab. Isn’t he cute?!^^
 ^^Fake acro yoga^^ 

Late Saturday afternoon there was a lot of napping, eating tortilla chips dipped in leftover sausage gravy and leftover birthday cake and leftover tacos. We watched Step Brothers, and then people started partying again. I didn’t make it up very late or party very hard (am I getting old?!?!), but there was definitely a few who lasted until like 5am taking shots of beer and then slapping each other (I don’t understand either?! But the Snapchats were hillarious). Ha!

Sunday there was waffles and eggs for breakfast and clean up time and then Dustin and I headed back to Seattle where we ate seafood for late lunch (because we failed at that activity while we were at the beach) and did chores and watched The Interview and called it an early night.

Now, I leave you with the funniest picture from the whole weekend:

^^Senor Brittan and Senorita Dustin^^

The End!

Ocean Shores trip

Last weekend Dustin and I decided to take an impromptu over night trip to Ocean Shores, Wa. THE BEACH! Neither of us had ever been before, but Friday afternoon after seeing the weather forecast for the weekend we decided to make it happen. There is just something about the ocean that makes my heart happy. We always went to the beach on vacation as a kid, so the nostalgia of it all might be part of it. I think another part of it is the calming consistency and sound of the big, crashing waves, and feeling the sand beneath your feet, it's all just so good. I love the ocean.

 

 

We left Saturday morning and made the 2.5 hour drive from Seattle, stopping in Aberdeen along the way at the Star Wars store #notmyidea! Ha. When we got to Ocean Shores our first stop was at the beach, where we ate the lunch I packed, picnic style, before heading out to adventure. While enjoying our lunch, we saw that you could ride horses on the beach which sounded fun in theory, but after looking at the horses and seeing how sad they were, I just couldn't do it. So we settled on mopeds instead. Best decision ever!

Riding mopeds on the beach is so fun. I would highly recommend it. While I was initially disappointed when I saw cars all over the beach, being able to ride mopeds on it may have made up for the disappointment.

After riding mopeds it was time to check into our hotel. While checking in I ran into a coworker I sometimes share office space with at Microsoft. Small world!

After we got settled into our hotel it was time to find a snack. We headed to Sharkey's for some seafood and drinks. We ended up getting a little crazy and taking Patron shots at dinner. When on vacation, I suppose. So fun!

^^The biggest fried clams ever^^

After dinner we headed down to the beach for the (kind of nonexistent with all the clouds) sunset where I found the most perfect sand dollar. It totally made my night.

 

We ended up playing bananagrams (I won) and taking advantage of our vouchers for two free beers at the hotel bar when it got dark. Afterward we went swimming since I do that now!! (well I swam, Dustin hot tubbed). And then called it a night.

 

The next morning we got coffee and breakfast and took it down to the beach for one last picnic before leaving. We also took a walk along the water and I found so many more perfect sand dollars. I was the richest girl at the sea and it made me overwhelmingly happy. I can't quite explain it.

 

When we got back to Seattle it was still beautiful outside. We decided to take advantage of the extra sunny daylight (I heart daylight savings time) and take our cars to the car wash (it's such a hassle keeping your cars clean when you live in the city and rent apartments and drive a million hours a week in traffic to work, isn't it?). The corolla got so much love on Sunday! It was sparkling inside and out. Afterward we stopped by Chuck's 85th St. Hop Shop so we could sit outside and enjoy a Double Mountain beer and some po' boys from Jemil's Big Easy food truck.

 

 

It was an unhealthy, but totally amazing end to a fabulous weekend.