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!

Magical Oregon Weekend

After work on Friday I headed down south to Portland, Oregon. The traffic was fucking terrible and the 3 hour drive took 4.5 hours but it was totally worth it. I met Marissa at her apartment in Kenton (N. Portland) and we shared some Rosé, meat, cheese, hummus and crackers before putting on lipstick (and a heavy, winter coat for Marissa because August? lol) and heading out to sip Moscow Mules at a cute bar with a patio on Mississippi. After that there were raviolis, fries and vodka sodas at another bar patio down the street. We hopped in an Uber from there and headed to Dig A Pony to drop it low and take snapchat selfies while waiting in line for the bathroom (as one does, duh).

^^Rebeka and Marissa running wild on the streets of Portland^^

^^HEY GIRL^^

When we were done sharing a beer with a stranger on the dance floor we ran out of Dig A Pony and into a random bar where we saw one of Marissa's ex-flings who  many summers ago asked me "Where abouts you be lurkin to, girl?" #winner. We hid from him in a photo booth and then emerged long enough to shout "HI!" at him and literally run out of the bar, down the street and into my first ever strip club!!

^^Photo Booth Goodness^^

I've always been a bit weary of strip clubs (is it degrading to the women? are they there against their will? do they hate it? are there a ton of pervs there?) but Sassy's totally changed my mind. It was so magical. It was like a really fun, packed-full-of-hipsters bar with badass, beautiful, real, talented ladies dancing around naked/mostly naked. I wanted to literally throw all my money at them.

Side note: can we talk about how I was definitely the least cool person in all of Portland? THERE ARE SO MANY COOL PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE! I don't know where they all came from, but my self esteem is glad they're not in Seattle. Lolz.

Then, as we were leaving the strip club, Marissa wanted to take a picture of a sign on the door and she accidentally left her flash on and the bartender came over and literally screamed at us "NO PICTURES" (no joke, screamed) and we RAN out of Sassy's and down the street and called an Uber that we made drop us off at a 24-hour donut shop where we bougth donuts from a literal child and walked the rest of the way home and I face swapped a pic of Marissa with Spock and it was so so good. And then Marissa made us frozen pizza which we ate before passing the F out at approximately 3:45am. In case you're keeping track, that's: meat, cheese, hummus, crackers, raviolis, fries, donuts and pizza. Fat kids so hard.

^^Best Face Swap^^

Saturday morning we grabbed coffee and went for a walk in Marissa's neighborhood before grabbing some things, some snacks and heading down to the Willamette River for a mini-beach/river day. I ate a Reuben on the beach (logical) and we played on our phones behind a stump and waded out in the water and I sunburned the back of my legs like the ginger soul I am. It was great.

^^A Reuben is a totes approps thing to eat at the beach, duh^^

^^River chilling/back of leg sun burning^^

 

 ^^Hey Gurl^^

^^Only Marissa wears flannel to the beach^^

^^River River River Riverrrr^^

^^LOOK AT MEEEE^^

^^Beach selfie^^

After the beach we headed to Salt and Straw on Alberta (my first time!!) for a long line and eventually ice cream. It was worth the wait. I got the carrot cake batter that had cream cheese frosting chunks, OMG you guys, so good. Eventually we made our way back to Marissa's apartment where I showered, squeezed her goodbye and then drove to Hood River.

^^Waiting in line at Salt and Straw for ice cream^^

When I got to Hood River I headed to Beth's house (because Beth moved back to Hood River, eeeeeeeeeee! yay!) to get ready for the pFriem 4th Birthday Party event at the waterfront park. We ended up meeting Beth's sister Emily at the party and ran into more friends there. We had beers, listened to music and took pictures in the really cute photo booth. It was a blast!

 ^^Sun setting and all the festivities and Beth's face at the pFriem bday party^^

 ^^Beth, me and Emily at the pFriem party^^

 

^^Photo Booth Magic^^

After the party I was a little drunk and got a SUPER delicious quesadilla from a street cart before meeting up with everyone again at the Pub. We eventually headed for Double Mountain and then I met Brian to chill and drink some pink wine.

My liver hates me.

The next morning there was breakfast at the Hood River Inn (coffee, water and mimosas included which is my favorite thing at breakfast) before I headed back over to Washington see my parents and Fluffy Face for a bit. Fluffy was begging for a biscuit for like 20 minutes so eventually we finally gave him one and he went to town. We are bad pet owners for giving him human food, but also, it was hilarious.

^^Fluffy and his biscuit^^

When I got back to Oregon a few hours later I grabbed coffee at Doppio with Gaby. We gossiped and discussed our V EXCITING upcoming trip before hugging goodbye so she could go on a boat with some friends. I then grabbed a pork belly banh mi and a beer for lunch on a patio with Josh and Sarah where I third-wheeled really hard and peer pressured Josh into coming to my birthday party in Mexicooo (successfully, I think?). It was a really eventful 1/2 of a day. I spent the 2nd 1/2 of the day driving back to Seattle (6 hours I'll never get back, UGH, thanks traffic) and then slept for a million hours that night.

Thanks again for filtering all that alcohol, liver, you're the best. And thanks again friends, strippers, alcohol and the state of Oregon for the great-ass time.

xo

^^I am impressed with the amount of photo booth pics I took this weekend, high five Oregon Rebeka, killing it^^

Baker City visit

Over Memorial Day weekend I headed east for the weekend to see my Bethfriend in Baker City, Oregon. The drive should have only taken about 5.5hours but took more like 6.5hours when everything was said and done because of a car accident on i90 going over the pass. Bummer!

^^The view right out of Baker City from i84. Beth told me they call those mountains the little Alps^^

Beth's parents were also in Baker for the weekend, so when I got to town her mom handed me a tequila shot and then we all loaded up and headed to Beth's aunt's camp site for a family BBQ. After the BBQ, Beth and I changed, put on lipstick and headed out to Barley Brown's Brewery (where Beth works) to watch some live music and drink some beer. We met Beth's friend Carly there, shouted at each other over the music, and eventually we headed to the VFW for some video poker, karaoke, $2 beers and a koozy for me to remember the trip by! When it was time to go home Beth called us a cab and we had to stand outside for approximately 5-10 minutes and HOLY COW Baker city gets hot in the day and then cold as fuck at night. It was like it was the dead of winter in June. How is that even possible?! I was dying. Beth thought I was a baby. Whatever, Beth!

^^Beth's dad took this very red-eyed picture of us before we headed out to Barley's^^

 ^^Music up on a stage at Barley's, genius!^^

 ^^Beth, me and Carly with our $2 beers and our VFW koozies^^

^^Carly killing at it karaoke on the most beautiful karaoke stage everrr^^

Sunday morning we all woke up early and then Beth, her parents, her brother Neil and I headed out to breakfast at the Lone Pine Café. We sat outside and ordered Mimosas which were fresh squeezed and it was all really great. But then, mid way through my delicious meal (I had a fancy BLT that was really good and really overstuffed) I decided to pull out some pickled onion and tomato make my sandwich more manageable and when I pulled out the tomato a LIVE SPIDER CAME OUT WITH IT. It was covered in sauce and it was the weirdest thing ever. We all just stared at each other and then Beth picked it up and threw it off the table and I didn't know what to do because A LIVE SPIDER WAS IN MY SANDWICH. WAS IT THE ONLY ONE? DID I EAT ITS FAMILY? AM I GROWING SPIDERS INSIDE MY STOMACH AS WE SPEAK?! Of course that happened to me.

After breakfast we headed to Beth's grandpa's house (where she lived when she first moved there) so we could meet. I am obsessed with that man. He is the sweetest ever and he of course invited me back to Baker City to stay with him whenever I want because we're now besties.

When our breakfast settled Beth and I met back up with Carly for a hike up Indian Rock Trail with Carly's Frenchie, Herbert, and Beth's Boston Terrier, Baxter. The dogs were not the hugest fans of the hike, but did pretty well overall. And at the end of the hike there was an awesome view which we thoroughly enjoyed (in large part thanks to Carly's forethought in bringing a delicious IPA for us to share) until Beth found a tick on her and then we basically ran back down the hill.

^^Hiking up, up, up through the awesome wildflowers^^

^^Babes + Dogs^^ 

 ^^view from the top^^

 ^^Beth enjoying the view just minutes before she would find a tick on her, EW^^

Beth drove us to the trail head and after a quick stop at the lake we were driving home, Herbert in my lap in the front seat, AC blasting on him trying to get him to cool off when I felt something behind my ear. I instinctively brushed it and immediately knew what was happening. I brushed again harder and a tick fell into my chest. I freaked out, told Beth to stop immediately, jumped out of the car, Carly jumped out with me, I freak out more, the tick was on the inside of my shirt, I pulled my shirt down, Carly tried to brush the tick off, it didn't work, and eventually, after she's seen basically all of my boobs Carly picks the tick up off of me and throws it on the ground. We breathed a collective sigh of relief. I owe her my life forever for saving me from the tick and potential lime disease and just general EW-ness. Thank you Carly!!

After the hike we went home to do full body tick checks and then headed back to Barley Brown's for more, very necessary beers.

That evening Beth and I had a delicious dinner at the old timey Haines Steak House with her parents before calling it an early night.

It took me a million hours to get home the next day despite being on the road at 8:30am thanks to another crash on i90 over the pass. I'm never again heading east on i90 on a 3 day weekend, but the trip was great overall and it was so fun to see where my Bethfriend has been living and to drink some delicious Barley Brown's beer!! 

Taco Libre Truck Showdown Weekend 2016

A few weeks ago my Beth-Friend saw on Facebook that there was something called the Taco Libre  Truck Showdown happening in Seattle on May 1st. She decided she wanted to go and booked a ticket up to see me. I picked her up on Friday and we kicked off the weekend with an Indian food feast at Taste of India followed by beers and word games on the erotic photo hunt machine at Ed's Kort Haus. I did a good job SnapChatting but a terrible job saving any photos of that night. Is it too late now to say sorry?

Saturday morning (after I had slept about 100 hours, sorry Beth!) we grabbed some coffees from Starbucks where I ended up getting the worst text from Gaby re: her boyfriend. I instructed her to come to Seattle immediately. After crisis intervention concluded we headed to Beth's friend Jamie's house so Jamie and I could meet and Beth and Jamie could catch up. Jamie's house was on the way to the Seattle Premium Outlets so we headed there next to use the 30% off coupon my friend who works for Nike corporate had mailed me. Beth and I both ended up leaving with a bunch of new workout gear (+ bonus throwback slides for me). After the outlets we met Jamie at the Latona Pub for lunch and day beers (duh, is there anything better than day beers when it's sunny out and your Beth friend is in town?!) while we waited for Gaby to get to Seattle.

Dustin met us back at my apartment and shortly after Gabby arrived. I parallel parked her pink nugget for her, gave her approximately 2 minutes to get ready, we all took a necessary shot of Patron, then I forced everyone into an Uber to dinner so we could introduce Beth to our friend Rob and also get Gaby drunk (again, necessary). At the end of the night Beth, Gaby, Dustin and I had a 4-way sleepover in my 400 square foot apartment. Seems legit, right?

^^#creepin on Beth and Rob walking from dinner to the bar^^

The next morning there was more coffee, Dustin headed home, and then Gaby, Beth and I went to brunch at a place near my house that ended up being delicious.

 ^^Gaby and I brunching^^

^^Feelings^^ 

We basically begged Gaby to stay but she had to get home and take care of some shit, so we said goodbye and Beth and I got ready for the taco truck festival.

It was an awesome day for an outdoor food festival (read: sunny and warm) complete with a beer and margarita garden. We ended up having Native American inspired fry bread tacos from Off The Rez, drinking margaritas and hanging out. Jamie and her husband met us, and so did Adam, Ambur, Brittan, Natalie and Rob!

^^Natalie, me, Jamie and Beth at the beer/marg garden^^

^^The most stunning car paint job I've ever seen. Meow!^^

When we decided it was too crowded at the festival, we went across the street to a bar with a patio to share a pitcher of beer and give Beth and Rob some more time to get to know each other ;) I'd say it went pretty well. My fingers are crossed.

^^Me, Caroline, Beth, Brittan and Rob at the George and Dragon^^

After everyone else left Beth and I eventually found another restaurant with a patio, made our way to Fred Meyer, rented a movie from the RedBox and went back to my place to chill out for the rest of the evening. I had to take Beth to the airport SO early in the morning on Monday and because of Viadoom it took a million hours to get to work after that. I was exhausted but it was totes worth it for a super fun, sunshiny, Bethfriend Seattle weekend.

Dear Beth, can you please start dating Rob and move up here already?! Kthxbyeee!