Birthday Weekend

Not my birthday sillies, AJ's! But man, what a weekend. On Friday I put on my amazing yearly Paint & Sip event for our students here. Last year we painted trees with watercolors. This year we painted teacups with tempera paint.

As soon as work was done I had to run out and run home to pack for camping this weekend for AJ's birthday in Idyllwild. AJ and I were driving up with his BFF Chris, and the dogs, Anana and Chris' husky Odin. Khaleesi was not happy when they all came bounding in my front door, and I got this picture of her showdown with Odin. Chris said it almost looked like Odin was looking in the mirror and finding out he was actually a cat haha!

Camping was fun times! We didn't DO much, but there was lots of beer, campfire stories and jokes and riddles and beer pong and cards and playing with the dogs. Anana was SO CUTE and would always sit outside of our circle and just stay on guard. Once during the day, I took a nap on the ground, and she sat in front of me guarding me in my sleep and would growl at anyone coming by. SO CUTE!!

Never far away when meat is present

We also thought about how trippy it was that we were there to celebrate AJ's 30th and our campsite spots were #29 and #30... his transition!

We came home on Sunday evening. AJ and I unloaded his truck, took showers, laid down and watched Daria, took a power nap, then ate and went and saw Deadpool at 10pm. The movie finished at 11:58 which was perfect because we got to countdown the minutes to midnight and wish him a happy 30th birthday! Then we got shakes on the way home mmmmm.

Since Monday was a weird half-holiday, i.e., some people have it off and some don't, I thought it would be pretty sweet - like a free day off with things open and clear, but it wasn't. We slept in a lot and relaxed and did home facials to clear our pores after the camping (my idea, ha!)

After that we went off to eat, but we kept missing the breakfast cutoff everywhere we went. SAD. We ate the Mission Inn Restaurant for the lunch buffet and it was deeeeeelish. Plus it was borderline classy and quite nice. We had to drop my car off in San Bernardino (annoying) but afterwards we went mini golfing at Castle Park which was SO FUN and ended up buying winter passes for unlimited golfing and rides through the end of March - ha! I was actually killing AJ in mini golf but ended up really coming apart on the last 2 holes and he beat me by a few strokes. Whateverrrrr. Castle Park even has a wild peacock there which was just beautiful.

Oh and I made him take pictures in the picture booth there, it was so hot and sweaty and the camera was at a horrible angle, it was again not our finest, but it was hilarioussssss

At home after that we played with Anana, had some wine, and I gave AJ his birthday presents - it was a whole pack of travel gifts included a passport holder, a personalized luggage tag with a picture of Anana on it, a carry-on cocktail kit with all the fixin's for an old-fashioned on the flight, and travel books for Copenhagen and Iceland. We also got a great surprise when AJ's friends, a couple that we had been trying to convince to come to Iceland with us, gave AJ a copy of their flight tickets for his birthday, announcing that they would be joining us! So we are more stoked than ever - and the trip is coming up so fast!

We finished the day with dinner at The Salted Pig, which AJ just loved. Plus, shoutout to our awesome waiter who took note of the fact that it was AJ's birthday and gave him star treatment, including birthday ice cream on the house - AJ chose maple bacon and yes I probably ate more than half of it and yes it was totally worth it!

Before AJ left I checked my Instagram and imagine my surpreeeeese to see that his bday picture I posted had 29 likes! I told AJ - I hope you get 1 more like so that you have 30 likes on your 30th birthday! He said "Did you like it yet?" and I said "Nopeeee" and liked it and then said "Okay, I hope no one else likes it so you have 30 likes on your 30th birthday!"

And now we can all turn our attention back to me and my upcoming birthday LOLOLOLOL jk. Sort of.

Reminding Myself I'm Still 29

The weather has been beautiful lately. It's warm and slightly breezy, not hot or uncomfortable... just perfect. I try to concentrate on that fact and not that it's these temperatures in early February.

I thought last year was going to be The Year of Weddings and this year was going to calm, cool, and collected with a European vacation for Shanni's wedding.

As it turns out, this year is an extension of 2015 and is an even more impacted whirlwind than last year. Within the first half of this year (aka all before July) I will have:

-Gone camping in Idyllwild
-Been to Vegas Baby
-Visited Iceland
-Celebrated Shannon & Luke's wedding in England
-Revisited France
-Visited Denmark
-Attended a wedding in Canada
-Married off and celebrated Jayna & Sapps in North Carolina

Believe me, I am excited for all of this, but sheeeeeeeeeet that credit card ain't gunna pay itself off! The second half of my summer will be very uneventful I'm sure... Just trying to make up for all the fun I had in the first half. And there's another wedding to attend in October, but that one's local. Please no one get married in 2017. I need a break. Can I host a birthday party for my 30th and have a money dance??

America the Beautiful

I am so impressed with our government! My passport expired Februay 6 this year (it's been 10 years since I renewed it because I was going to live in France! Aaaaah!) and standard passport processing times are six weeks. I was waiting until after Christmas so that I would have the funds to renew, and finally shipped it off the last week of January, and it was received at the processing center in Philadelphia on Saturday, January 30.

Counting from then, six weeks took me to Saturday, March 12, which for some reason still made me a little nervous for our planned Saturday, April 30 departure, but AJ looked up those passport centers you can renew at in person if it's an emergency just in case.

Last night on Monday, February 8, I had an express mailing envelope in my mailbox, which was weird because I wasn't expecting anything. It was from the US Government. My heart dropped - they probably require more stuff, or I didn't pay the right fee. But maybe it's something else... as I'm opening it I feel my passport inside and think "shoot, they even sent my old passport back to me."

Imagine my SURPREESE to find a brand new, beautifully updated and valid until 2026 passport! That was barely a week of processing!!!! I was so happy, it made me feel very patriotic lolololol! Our government processes passports faster than yours! Now can our government give us maternity leave and equal pay for women and rights for all?? LOLOLOLOL.

In other news, the Super Bowl was fun. We were at AJ's friend's house. It was my cheat day, and I made myself sick on hot cheetos, pizza, sea salt brownies, thumbprint cookies we brought from Trader Joe's, and beer from playing flip cup. Anja and her boyfriend Hannes came down from LA as well, and Anja reminded me of when she spent Super Bowl with me and my then-boyfriend at his house in Santa Barbara in 2008-- eight years ago!!!

Good ol' faithful San Diego Chargers shirt

#drunkies

AJ won $100 on a years-old bet with a friend that Peyton Manning would win another Super Bowl before he retired, AND he won $125 out of one of the betting pools - I was so jealous!! I asked him to buy me a Starbucks with his winnings and he said "Maybe" LOLOLOLOL.

Bridal Shower & Beer Olympics

I had a lot of stress last week due to this past weekend's array of activities, but it ended up being quite pleasant and fun.

Shannon's Bridal Shower was a success except for the fact that she knows Luke way too well and got hardly any questions wrong on that game! Otherwise it was nice to have Shannon and so much family together in the same place for the first time in a long time! And the homemade flower crowns my mom put together turned out better than I had expected!

I was really stressed out at the end of the night though, because I had the Beer Olympics the next morning and had to get up early, and to be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to a day of day drinking #oldlady.

Anja, AJ and I got a hotel that night, and didn't fall asleep until about 1am. Then we get woken up at about 5:30am, because AJ's dog Anana had gotten out, so AJ had to leave to pick her up. Best part? The police had her and when he went to get her, she was sitting in the back of the police car!! He didn't get a picture because they let her out as soon as he showed up. That dog has a record now!!

So, the Beer Olympics. It's a long story, but one of AJ's friends acts as a referee at this annual event in Canyon Lake and asked us if we wanted to put together a team. Each team of six requires 3 girls and 3 guys. The teams are divided into Eastern and Western Conferences, top teams in each make it to the playoffs for a final overall champion. The 3 events are volleyball, cornhole, and flip cup, and you must have a beer in your hand AT ALL TIMES ALL DAY LONG. Except for volleyball. If a ref catches you without a beer in your hand, or an empty beer, you are required to chug a beer on the spot. When we were asked to join the team, I was like ehhhh... I don't think so... but AJ was ALL ABOUT IT and talked me into it. Plus, this is the end of my 20s. May as well go out strong.

Our team name was Malty Python and the Holy Ale, so we found medieval costumes, coconuts and goblets, and were, by far, the most ridiculous team there. Everyone else just had team shirts, haha, but we enjoyed it.

We were decent at volleyball, SUCKED at cornhole, which was weird considering how much we play it when we get together... but these regulation lengths were crazy! and AMAZING at flip cup. We were undefeated at that.

We actually made it to the playoffs, advanced to semi-finals, and were beaten on a best 2 out of 3 on each of the events, coming down to the 3rd event (cornhole) BUT that team was undefeated all day and we gave them their one defeat when we were matched up with them at flip cup.

At first I was sad we had made playoffs, because I was ready to just stop the madness, but once we got going, that competitive spirit came out and then I just wanted to WIN. And then we lost lololol. We didn't play for 3rd place, but I'll assume that's what we would have gotten!

Here is a great slo-mo video of Chris and Jon practicing flip cup in their own little 2-cup tournament hahahaha and don't mind Nykole walking right through them in the middle of it.

The way home was long, not only because it was Canyon Lake to Orange County, but there was major traffic, we were all starting to get massive headaches, and then for some reason, a huge scientific debate on the existence of mermaids came up and you had drunk people arguing. This probably won't be entertaining to anyone, but it's a great memory for me and I love listening to this ridiculousness. It's probably worth noting that Chris' mom is a scientist with a PhD and so he's very educated and well-versed in this stuff, and Jon just likes to piss him off. Those are the two voices you hear, and Jon is the one asking if a person with 3 eyes exists hahahaha.

AJ and I were staying with Jon and Nykole, and it took forever to drop everyone off, then we went to the grocery store to buy stuff to make for dinner, and then finally went back to their place. I was so miserable, I fell asleep on the couch and when they woke me up to eat, I said hell no. Food sounded gross. Later, I woke up and AJ had a bowl of ice cream, so I just kept opening my mouth and making him feed me ice cream until the bowl was gone and then I fell back asleep.

In the morning, the 4 of us went to breakfast and then we all went and got pedicures! AJ had had one before, but it was Jon's first time, and not only were they loving it, they each got the most expensive package and callous removal and everything hahahahaha. It was a nice way to spend the shitty rainy day, then we went back to their place and watched the Pro Bowl.

AJ helped me pick out the color! Tiffany Blue!

Oh and also, I considered January a trial run. February starts my new year. So... Happy New Year everyone! I'm back on the healthy-eating, working-out, positivity-vibe bandwagon.

1 Year 1 Week 1 Day

I hate to brag, but I just can't help but feel so warm and fuzzy inside with my new Tiffany's ring and AJ deserves some credit! He wasn't able to get my anniversary present earlier, so we made time for him to take me out to get it. He took  me to South Coast Plaza and we wandered around forever before he led me into Tiffany's. He had the saleswoman pull out the two different rings that he had narrowed it down to to let me decide. He said I could look around and pick out any one I wanted if I liked something else better, but I wanted to take one of the ones that he had in mind for me.

I almost cried, because it was just so cute and so sweet and it was Tiffany's (lolololol) and I felt like Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama when she gets taken to Tiffany's and told to pick out her engagement ring, only not an engagement ring and we were the dollar store version hahahaha but hey, still Tiffany's.

Because I am still obsessed with my Atlas collection ring 

(You can even relive the first time it entered my life here) I chose the Sterling silver ring from the newest Tiffany T collection that I thought would complement the Atlas ring really well!

It was the cutest, sweetest, most romantic gesture and evening! This is how I've been sending AJ pictures of myself ever since too:

While we were waiting for the saleswoman to find the correct size and polish it up, we went wandering around the store and found ourselves in the diamond section. We leaned over a case and I said aloud to AJ "Hmmm, I don't know. Do you think they have anything... bigger?" lolololol I crack myself up.