Posts Tagged ‘Vacation’
Sunbathing Beauty Pics and Deets
Hello blog lovelies – I’m alive. Somehow I let nearly two months slip by since I’ve updated. Whoopsie! So many exciting things happening on my end, I decided to ride the wave a little bit to keep stress levels down. So now it’s time for me to circle back around to my small, (very loved) blog community. I have a couple specific updates I want to share with you soon, but first – my vacations!
If you remember, I had two vacations planned to celebrate my 30th birthday this year (lucky gal, I tell yah)! Here’s a few pics and deets:
Hawaii
I convinced my fam damily to book a trip with me in January to one of my favorite places – Maui! The best advice I can give you for planning a trip to Maui – rent a condo in downtown Kihei from VRBO.com and hit up the Costco right outside the airport to stock your condo with healthy, inexpensive meals. My mom was a rock star and made guacamole, ceviche, crab salads, breakfast scrambles, shish kabobs on the barbecue – the whole shebang. It helped us save money for other more exciting ventures (like stand-up paddle boarding!) and kept the healthy eating in check.
My sis and I explored tons of Maui beaches for snorkeling and sunbathing, the family hit up happy hours (our fav was at Mulligan’s on the Blue), we went to the Old Laihaina Luau (supposedly best on island – it rocked) and my personal favorite, we hiked down to the Olivine Pools (as described in the the Maui Blue Book
The Olivine Pools were a relatively 20-minute rookie hike down a somewhat rocky cliff to pools naturally created by lava formations at the edge of the ocean in Northeast Maui. The waves crash up against the pools while you sit in them – a bit crazy and scary cause the ocean is pretty fierce, but the edges of the rock formations keep you safe! The pools have Olivine crusted in them, making them a bit sparkly, the water is shallow and warm, and there’s only a few people down there. It was stunning!
This was my mom, dad and lil’ sistor’s first time to the Aloha State, so it felt special to share with them one of my “happy places”!
Dirty 30 Caribbean Cruise
You guys – if you want to laugh your bunsies off and have one of the more epic vacations of your life, book an all-girls vacation and pack lots of theme nights! I have a really special group of 10 high school girl friends (including myself cause duh I’m totes BFFs with myself), and we all decided to coordinate a cruise together since we all turned 30 this year. It was the first time we’d all been together like this, without significant others, since high school! It ended up being one of the best weeks of my life, and I have so many special memories with the girls I’ve known for 15 years! I feel like I reconnected with each of them in special ways, and I couldn’t feel more grateful.
Obvs because I’m a “Theme Party Whore,” my favorite part of the trip was all our theme nights! A group of nine girls already catches attention, our custom Dirty 30 2012 hats began our cruise boat celebrity-dom, and our theme nights sealed the deal. By the end of the trip, everyone knew the Dirty 30 nine! We packed for a neon night, all white party, nautical attire, and a fancy pants dress up dinner. This was the first time most of us had been on a cruise. We went on Carnival Cruise’s “Destiny” boat in the Caribbean with a stop in Grand Cayman (just like America) and Jamaica (awesome, wish I had more time).
All in all, I wasn’t a huge fan of the cruise format. If you like to explore when you travel, then cruising is not for you! It felt too much like herding cattle without any time to really explore when you docked. Plus we were crammed onto a boat with a milz amount of people, and half of us got the legitimate Neuro Virus afterward (or had reverse seasickness for three days)! My advice if you do really want to do a cruise – stick with a well-reviewed, fancier company. I wouldn’t really recommend Carnival. Although our cruise was only $275, the food was salty and the pools were mediocre (I won’t even get into the other clientele on the boat).
Next time (since we decided we’re doing this every time we hit a big ZERO birthday), we’re going to just rent a house and stay together on land! This will be *one* good reason to turn 40. Egads, that number feels frightening.
And that, my friends, are my trips for the year (until Greece in September 2012!)
Currently Feeling: Back pain – gah! Will it never escape me. I need to get my buns back into the yoga studio regularly.
Currently Anticipating: My BFF Kristen landing in SF this weekend! Another girls weekend with her – we’re going to hit up Chef Hubert Keller’s (from Top Chef Masters) restaurant, Fluer de Lys and finally watch The Hunger Games! (Have you seen it? What did’ja think?)
Currently Loving: My sis is getting into the outfit posts, like I’ve been telling her to do! She’s cute and talented – check out her blog: Everything with Bows, Ribbon & Lace.
Off to Bali to wear flowers in my hair while doing Chaturanga Dandasana
My blog lovelies, I’m finally leaving for my (almost three week) yoga retreat in Bali, Indonesia. I’ve been planning this trip since last November, so I can’t believe it’s actually here!
This trip is led by one of my favorite yoga teachers from Seattle, Jennifer Isaacson. I was in her class in November 2010 when she announced she’d be hosting this yoga retreat to Bali the next year, and I immediately knew I wanted to save to go. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect – I was upset over a botched trip with a friend to Thailand and not hitting my goal of traveling outside the country in 2010 because of said botched trip, and it was that night I stepped in Jennifer’s class and heard her announcement. It was a calling, I believe. That’s the hippie, yoga, fate side of me talking. 
I wouldn’t normally sign up for a “tour,” led by someone else, but the itinerary for this trip blew my mind and solidified my desire to go. Because Jennifer has relationships with locals in Bali (from her past trips), we’re going to enjoy a truly one-of-a-kind experience with local art, music, a purification ceremony, traditional Balinese massage, visits to a traditional Balinese healer, a Balinese cooking class, and more. You can read our itinerary here. Furthermore, I’m a “Type A” personality that has to research and plan everything myself, so it’s actually been really stress-free to sit back and let everyone else figure out the details for me.
I’m most excited about staying in the Lotus beach front bungalows on Candisdasa Beach (it looks absolutely breathtaking) and relaxing, while still challenging my body, in two daily yoga classes with one of my favorite teachers. I hope to come back relaxed, healthy and in even better shape.
Pictures and details coming upon my return. Until then, see you September 17th!
Currently Feeling: So nervous to travel for 24 hours to get to Bali! Just need to get over that mental hump.
Currently Anticipating: The minute I step foot off that plane and on Balinese soil.
Currently Reading: A choice of about 20 books I downloaded on my Kindle for this trip (excessive, much)? I hope to get through at least two or three and will report back to you on my fav! Tata.
You will always return
I read somewhere that local legend says “Napa” translates to “you will always return,” which is true! Since my trip with my parents, I’ve been to Napa Valley three times. I’m totally in love – with dozens of beautiful estate wineries, world-acclaimed restaurants, HOT sun and cute little towns only an hour away from San Francisco Bay, it’s my new happy place (although Maui is still at the very tiptop).
I thought I’d share two short posts about Napa Valley – first THE WINE (of course) and second THE FOOD (cause it’s seriously drool worthy).
The first day my parents and I were in Napa, we rented bikes at the popular Napa Valley Bike Tours in Yountville. We had a bit of a bummer experience, but I would still recommend using the bike rental place. Just don’t start your bike tour at 2:30 p.m., make sure you check what wineries are open or closed, and bike straight up and back on Highway 29 instead of using their bike loop maps. Despite the pitfalls we ran into, biking through Napa was so pretty and warm! I totally experienced one of those “life is grande” moments while peddling under the trees on a quiet side road with birds singing and views of vineyards.
The second day, we drove all the way up to Calistoga then worked our way back (a highly recommended approach). There are literally dozens of beautiful wineries to stop at along the highway that links Napa (the city) to Calistoga. It’s hard to make it to all of them, and hitting three to five in one day is a FULL day, so expect to visit Napa over and over if you want to visit all the wineries.
We went to Sterling Vineyards, which has a gondola you have to ride to the top to wine taste. It was really fun and something you won’t find at any other winery!
We also visited Chateau Montelena, the winery that put Napa Valley wines on the map when their 1976 Chardonnay won a blind taste test in Paris. This winery was my all-time favorite! They had a splurge-worthy Cab that was $135 a bottle, but was hands-down the best wine I’ve ever tasted. My parents picked up a bottle to save until their 30th anniversary in four years. I’m already marking that date on my calendar with a big red star so I can just happen to be home when they pop that bottle.
We also made a stop off at Castello di Amorosa – a huge castle winery, which was my dad’s fav. I’ve been told Sterling and Castello are “tourist traps,” but still think everyone should visit them once!
Let me know when/if you make plans to visit Napa, and I’ll share all my favs with you. By this time next year, I should be an expert! 
Currently Feeling: That usual pre-vacation stress. Why is it so difficult to get ready for vacation?
Currently Anticipating: My first Girls Dinner (San Francisco edition) on Wednesday!
Currently Loving: My new homemade popsicles – post on them coming soon!
Houseguests
Last night my parents left San Francisco after staying with me for five days. We had one-bedroom-apartment campouts which included an air mattress on the floor of my living room and testing my hot water heater’s shower limits. Good news is everyone was able to sleep somewhat comfortably and keep clean, so it was at least one step up from outdoor camping.
Their vacation, and my staycation, was a combo of staying really busy with fun, San Francisco local treats (not rice) and making time for naps, peppered with a few adult beverages and many delicious meals. I have some fun pictures and stories to share from our time together, which I’ll be doing over the next week or so in a couple different posts.
Despite all the plans I packed into their five-day stay (including our first time in Napa!), it was really great to just be around my parents, doing regular stuff. We took neighborhood walks, grilled at my house, fixed a few things on my car, and talked a lot about everything going on in each of our worlds. My parents are so great; I really miss being able to share regular dinners and day trips with them in Seattle. But I look forward to us exploring SF together a couple times a year, and I’m working on convincing them to move to Napa wine country! Sneaky, sneaky…
Currently Feeling: So sad about Ben’s proposal on The Bachelorette finale. Man, that was brutal! I JUST caught the finale – what did you think?!
Currently Anticipating: A pirate pub crawl tomorrow for a friend’s birthday, and a barbecue birthday scavenger hunt in Sonoma on Sunday!
Currently Loving: Tamales! I’m obsessed now!
Getting Mauied
Friday I received an e-mail digest I subscribe to for last-minute travel deals, and one-way tickets from Seattle to Maui came up for $300 – a deal I just couldn’t refuse. So this girl is heading to Hawaii for the first time ever in February! Fifty-six day countdown began today baby!
Destination360 Beaches in Hawaii
Traveling to a tropical vacation in Seattle’s tail-end of the rainy, cold season – February and March – is a tradition I like to keep year after year. I’ve been to Miami, and Mexico four times, and now I’m off to the Aloha State.
I’m most excited about reading on the beach for seven days, hiking to volcanos, snorkeling with turtles and swimming with dolphins, which just so happens to be an item I’ll be able to cross off my bucket list soon.
And no trip is complete without some cocktails and amazing dinners on the beach! Hello pineapples, sushi and Mai Tais!
I’ll be traveling with one of my long-time friends, Haley, whom I met when I worked at a salon in Bellingham during college. Although she’s seven years older than me, we were instantly friends. She’s always been the big sister I’ve never had. It’s exciting because we’ve never had the opportunity to vacation together!
I’ve been put in charge of the planning – dinners, excursions, room, board and the whole shebang, so give me your recommendations if you’ve been to Maui and have them!
Currently Feeling: Like today was a total success – Pilates at lunch, booked the spot for my super fun themed birthday part I have coming up, made a healthy dinner of squash and salmon, then starting making handmade soaps for Christmas gifts!
Currently Anticipating: A week full of Holiday parties – I have four! Yowza.
Currently Reading: Room by Emma Donoghue. So intense.
Stay kizzity cation
Last week, I took my very first staycation – a “vacation” where I just stick around (stay home, if you will) and do nothing.
Not really my style.
It’d been nearly two years since I’ve visited with my biological father and his side of the family (grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins). Since my weekends are consumed with events, birthdays, cabins, mini trips and being a selfish 28-year-old, single woman, I needed to take time off work to actually visit family.
One would think I would have all the time in the world to get to blogging with a whole week just hanging around – but noooo. I was stuck in my own personal hell. See, my family lives in a tiny town in Washington State, population 2,000, and I stayed at my grandparents’ house. They don’t own a computer or have Internet, nor does my phone get service there. Talk about testing my inner being. I’m all for unplugging in the name of lying on a sand beach, or meditating in India. I’m not in love with it if all you’re doing is lying around in the rain, eating and watching TV. It’s like I have restless body syndrome.
However, I did manage to survive three days there – thanks to the company. I don’t think I talk much here about my dad’s side of the family, or my roots with them. I’m lucky enough to have an amazing grandma and grandpa, both with Southern accents, a knackering for sweet tea and buttery, homemade cooking and hearts as big as Jupiter. I miss them daily. (And I gain 10 pounds every time I go there thanks to buttery biscuits, fried eggs, grits and bacon for breakfast, homemade cornbread with every dinner meal and a big bowl of peach cobbler for dessert after that!)
I wrapped up my staycation in the only way I know how to exist – busy, busy, busy. From one end of the spectrum to the other this past week, I tell ya.
I took a bacon cooking and wine workshop, which was AMAZING. (Separate post coming on that), celebrated the third anniversary of Girl Power Hour with a long-awaited and lots-of-time-spent-planning birthday bash (separate post coming on that too). And wrapped it all up with a long weekend at my second favorite Seattle festival next to Summer Solstice Parade – Fremont Oktoberfest! Tiny beers unite! I even signed up to volunteer this year and spent Sunday in a custom-made beer barrel on wheels, pouring beer for Deschutes Brewery (whose hometown is Bend, Oregon). Huzzah!
And now back to our irregularly scheduled programming…
Currently Feeling: Stuffy, coughy and tired. The fall cold has caught me! Dammit.
Currently Anticipating: A Mai Tai making competition tomorrow with my GPH girls, hosted by Seattle Met; Girls Who Dine Out October at Spinasse on Thursday, then an entire cabin weekend at Leavenworth Oktoberfest!
Currently Reading: “One Day” by David Nicholls. The ladies at the book store told me it’s the greatest love story and everyone can’t put it down!
Miami yeah, yeah…South Beach, bringing the heat
Party in the city where the heat is on.
All night on the beach til the break of dawn
Welcome to Miami (Bienvenido a Miami)
Whew buddy. Want to have a good time – take a vacation to South Beach.
Last Sunday, after a few glasses of wine to calm my flying nerves and some sleeping pills (Michael Jackson told me it was a good combo,) I flew to Miami with three of my best friends for an impromptu vacation. A month ago, I was out with said friends, one of whom was flying to Miami for a work trip. He didn’t want to go alone, three of us thought it sounded like a good time, so we bought tickets and planned to cram out entourage into one room for four days (platonic cuddling acceptable). Nothing like a beach vacation in April to make the rainy Seattle spring a little more bearable. I packed enough skimpy party dresses, bathing suits and sandals to last three weeks, threw in a couple beach books, kissed Stella goodbye, (she’s my stand-in boyfriend) and flew off with my partners in crime.
We stayed at the infamous Foutainebleau hotel (five stars for decor, two stars for food and service), and embarked on what has been one of the most epically fun vacations I’ve had in a long time. If we weren’t laughing, drinking BLs on the beach, mixing cocktails for the hot tub, or eating sushi (if you want one of the best meals of your life, go to Sushi Samba), then we were shaking our booties at some of the swankiest clubs in Miami and having 5am dance parties in our hotel room. I’ve got some incriminating video and photos that will only stay between the four of us.
It’s not the money, the place, the weather or the clothes; it’s friendships and laughter that make life worth living – I will giggle about this trip for many years. Tell me I’m flying to Saudi Arabia with these guys, and I’ll pack my Kaftan in a red hot minute. (Thank you Pirate Eye, Squirrel Trickster and The Proposition. You know you who are. Cabana Jeanna loves you long time).
Oh, by the way, did I mention we partied at a bar with Snookie, The Situation and the entire Jersey Shore cast?
True story.
What’s the most epic vacation you’ve ever been on?
Currently Feeling: Ready to start the work week! I cleaned like a mad woman, and made dinner from scratch and chili for lunch. All while having my own dance party. What, what!
Currently Anticipating: Good friends and a glass of wine tomorrow at Union for Seattle Restaurant Week.
Currently Loving: Brussels sprouts. With olive oil, and salt and pepper. Can’t get enough. Tell me a great brussels sprout recipe if you have one!
PROST!
Another October, another fall, another Oktoberfest, HOLLA! For those of you who’ve been a long-time reader, you know I’m a HUGE fan of Oktoberfest. We’re lucky enough here in Washington to have TWO of the top 10 celebrations in the nation. One of them in Fremont each year, which is where I ran my first 5K race, and the other one in Leavenworth, which I attended last weekend with the BF and some college friends. I’ve written about my past Oktoberfest’s in Leavenworth here and here, but I thought I’d share it in a new way this year – through WHRRL! You know you love it.
Currently Feeling: A little under the weather, but thankfully I’m kicking this cold rather quickly. I have an immune system of steal!
Currently Anticipating: My little sister’s 21st birthday this weekend! Oh my gosh! I seriously can’t believe she’s going to be 21.
Currently Reading: Rattled, a memoir by Christine Coppa. Freaks the shiz out of me, I tell yah.
I’m stuck somewhere in Meximerica
Hola! I’m back and currently still trying to stop saying, Gracias to everyone. Since that’s the extent of the Spanish I know besides Me casa es su casa (My house is your house), which isn’t really appropriate to be throwing around in Mexico, I got really excited to say Gracias when it was appropriate (and sometimes when it wasn’t). So now I’m embarrassingly still saying Gracias to everyone, everywhere. And you can only imagine what people are thinking when I’m clearly a non-Mexican, light-skinned, fair-haired female that is paying for my bottle of wine at Metropolitan Market and saying, “GRACIAS!” It garners a some funny looks, not gonna lie.
I guess that’s just one tiny part of the “coming down” from vacation.
You know what else is part of “coming down” from vacation?
Realizing that lying poolside every day, stuffing your face with fried shrimp tacos, nachos and anything with refried beans and cheese while doub-fisting a daiquiri and Corona is a whole hell of a lot more fun than counting calories and gyming it every day.
Oh, and sitting at your desk, reading through your emails and feeling so headachy, stressed and sick to your stomach that you think, yet again, “Hey. I don’t think I dig this whole Corporate America schtick.”
So far in these 20s of mine, I’ve been pretty career driven – just striving for the next level, working, working, working, volunteering, volunteering and volunteering. And now I want to just kinda of throw my hands up in the air and say, “I just don’t give a f****ck.” Cause what’s money and success if you don’t love getting up and going to work every day? So, I sent my resume off to a resort and spa in Puerto Vallarta yesterday for an Internet marketing and social media job that I found posted. Am I crazy? Maybe. It was kinda a whim, and I guess if it makes the 9-5 culture shock wear off a bit, it’ll all be okay.
So yeah, vacation – making us all hate realty since 1805. Actually that probably deserves a B.C. in front of it.
On the short, because I said I’d spare you too much of a recap, my vacation was SUPER fabulous. I’ve never actually been on a trip with a boyfriend before, and hot damn do they make great travel partners. We couldn’t have been more two Mexican peas in a pod. Or would that be Mexican beans in a corn tortilla? Mexican tequila in a margarita?
If I had to pinpoint a few of my absolute favorite moments, they’d be: sitting for hours at a local bar, listening to pretty much the best damn cover band I’ve ever heard play every Seattle-era grunge rock songs you’d want to hear, including kick-ass cover of Pearl Jam (which I usually think is blasphemous); waking up every morning to the sound of the waves, and falling asleep again at night to them; reading by the pool on the sweetest lounge chairs EVER that had attached sun shades on the top that you could pull down to shade your eyes; taking 30-minute long hot showers every day in our shower the size of a walk-in closet – I forgot what it’s like to not have to rush out of the shower every day; zip-lining through the trees (350 feet high and 1,650 feet long!) and finally, all the exploring and eating we did through downtown Puerto Vallarta.
So, GRACIAS to ALL of you who kept my spot here warm while I was gone by guest blogging, and HOLA to the new readers who signed up from my guest bloggers’ sites. Here are a few pics of my trip:
Currently Feeling: Like every week should be two days of work and two days off. Who the hell created the five-day work week?
Currently Anticipating: Finding a fancy new apartment!
Currently Loving: The weather warming up a bit! I love spring and summer!
Hasta la vista, baybay!
Okay friends, as some of you know, I’m off to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a week to celebrate a Dolphin Sister’s wedding. I’m super excited to be on the beach next week, lying horizontally with a book and a drink. I might do a little horizontal lying in my room too. And a little horizontal stuff with my BF. That might be the extent of my trip, so I’ll spare you the recap post when I get back unless there’s a funny story worth telling. (I’m also reading the review copy of the giveaway book I previously mentioned while lying poolside all week, so stay tuned for that).
But, in the meantime, I worked hard to line-up some guest bloggers to fill my space here until I return. I’m super excited with the posts that have been written for this week. To those I approached or those who volunteered, I asked that their guest blog fall into one of three general categories:
- Drunken Debauchery
- Embarrassing Mishaps
- Dating, Relationships & Sex
One blogger responded with, “Sticking to your core pillars. Clever,” when I sent over the requested topics. Precisely. These are probably what I would consider to be my core blog pillars, so I thought it’d be best for my readers if the posts fit. Here’s what is scheduled for the up-coming week:
Lily Speak: A “Dating, Relationships & Sex” post that brings us back to the very first person who made you feel all butterfly-o-rific. Le sigh.
Flipflops in the Rain: An affair in “Drunken Debauchery” stories throughout Seattle. A woman after my own heart!
Don’t Call Me Kathleen: The trifecta with a post that encompasses drunken debauchery, embarrassing mishaps AND sex. Don’t miss this one.
Word is Born: Paolo needs to defend his honor, and nest, against invaders! Another “Dating, Relationships & Sex” post that is going to need your advice, so help a brother out when the time comes!
And of course a Mexico-related “Bacon! Bacon! Bacon! (Saturdays for Breakfast)” post – Yo Quero Bacon! where I will be going on a personal quest in Mexico for a special bacon product.
Have a great week without me, Interwebs! I might die from withdrawal during my week without you, not gonna lie.
Currently Feeling: Relieved to have all the roommate drama and switch taken care of before vacation.
Currently Anticipating: A week on the beach! Like DUH!
Currently Nervous About: Dying in a fiery plane crash. Or being stranded on an island ala Lost after we crash. Although, if that happens, please let a Jack-look-alike be around. Hot damn!
