The title says it all: I got engaged while in Belize! I know that this is going to be old news for everyone at this point, but can't leave it out of my trusty bloggity blog.
This is my first day back at work after our trip and on top of the whirlwind of getting home really late last night and just coming back into reality today, work was insane while I was away: out office got painted so things are everywhere, one my staff members had her last day while I was away so I have all of her projects, tons of documents everywhere waiting for me, and over 500 emails to wade through - so it's busy and I can only really tell the basics for now:
AJ and I had an amazing trip. We saw the entire country of Belize, from the south end beaches, to the inland jungles near Guatemala, to the northern islands and cayes in the Caribbean. We rented a Jeep Wrangler for some of the time, took cabs and boats for other parts. We stayed in fancy resorts and po-dunk hostels. We saw Mayan ruins and the second largest barrier reef in the world. We didn't suffer from any mishaps, misfortunes, or food poisoning (thank you Jeebus!) and each coincidentally sustained minor toe injuries at the same time so we were always on the same page lulz.
AJ proposed to me on our second full day in Belize, at night, on a dock under strung lights. I was completely surprised, knew nothing about my ring but am truly truly in LOVE with it!
Day on the beach, hours before being proposed to!
AJ proposed at night on the dock under the lights
Couldn't stop taking pictures of my ring everywhere
First "real" picture wearing my ring!
Our proposal spot in the morning
The view from the dock
"Thousand-foot falls" largest waterfall in Central America
Rio on Pools, natural waterslides on granite
Looking out our hostel room
Rio on Pools
From the top of the Mayan temple
West side of the Xunantunich Mayan temple
View from the Ambergris resort pool
Lounging
Notice the bird in flight?
Paddleboarding, my new favorite activity
On the way to snorkle Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley
Nighttime on Ambergris Caye
A welcome note at home from our neighbors!
I guess I don't feel entirely back to reality since I can hardly believed that I am actually engaged - still feels so surreal! Til later...
It's pretty hard for Vegas to not be fun, and I'm usually with a gender-mixed which doesn't matter much, but there's really nothing quite like an all-girls trip due to all the perks and freebies!
Somehow, my closest coworkers and I (a sisterhood bonded by the nature of working in this department) pulled off a weekend in Vegas together. It was a new experience for me too because it was a more off-the-strip experience, which I never really had! We stayed in a hotel off of the strip and did a night out in the old downtown on Fremont Street, which was so much fun and such an experience!
Well, I'll back up. We all took Friday off, congregated in the morning for morning shots and carpooling, and drove out to Vegas together, getting there in the early evening. We passed those painted rock things on the way in although we didn't stop for a picture with them or anything...
We did that night on Fremont and even though we tried a few different places, we were all very happy with our first choice at a place called Inspire with a rooftop dance floor. It actually ended up raining and it was still warm so everyone just kept dancing in the rain and it was fantastic and fun!
We had one thing on our mind for Saturday: FIND A POOL. We didn't really care about pool parties or anything, but we did find a perfect situation for the pool at the Linq and we ended up having THE best time ever! It was probably my favorite memory from the trip!
Also, while we found 4 perfectly great lounge chairs all together, near the pool and under a mister, it was really taken to the next level when the bartender upgraded us to a poolside bed just for the hell of it!
One of our big Costco purchases was a huge
box of a variety of flaming hot chips, which
we refused to go to the pool without, and
all I wanted in life. It was a great day
After the pool we ate, went back and took power naps, and then got ready to untz the night away. Since no one had ever been to Marquee at the Cosmopolitan, and it was one of the newer ones on the block, we decided to start there. We were getting right in until we found out that one girl's license was expired and they needed more proof of her date of birth. That's how we ended up in our clubbing dresses in the FedEx office of the Cosmopolitan printing out documents.
We had a grand old time, I also liked the outdoor space of Marquee, but in the end we decided we were mostly down for walking the strip and finding something less clubby that was just playing some good ol' classic top 40 music. That's how we ended up in Double Barrel
Not a bad time! We also hit up Taco Bell Cantina (that was definitely an experience) before going back to the hotel to feast on our food, chug water, and get to bed. We hit the road the next day around 10ish and I didn't get home until almost 5. Sheesh! We did stop for bathroom breaks, ice cream and lunch, but still.
It was such a great trip with such a fun group that is pretty spread out and we were all so excited and surprised that we were able to pull it all off! Oh, and shout out to Charles, our favorite Lyft driver ever!
When I got home I unpacked, took a shower, put a face mask on, went to the living room, put on The Office and immediately fell asleep. After a restful power nap, AJ and I watched the newest Game of Thrones episode. Sooooo sick!
I also just came back from a lunchtime yoga class here at UC Irvine and feeling super zen and rested... Namaste!
AJ and I planned an LA day, and by that I mean I told him to set aside Saturday so that we could go to LA and do a bunch of things I've wanted to do. The main thing that prompted it was that I wanted to go to the Brickyard Pub in North Hollywood to get Yuengling beer, apparently they're the only place that sells it in LA (and entirely west of the Mississippi as far as I can tell) but turns out they don't even sell it anymore! So crushing... but at least we found out before we drove up there!
We dropped Anana off with his mom and then headed up to visit The Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles. Downtown Los Angeles was nasty. Every corner smelled like urine and there were tons of dogs. I still don't understand why people like Los Angeles but whatever I guess.
The Last Bookstore was a little underwhelming, but still pretty cool to see. I had seen some of it from friends' pictures before and really wanted to visit, but aside from the few cool displays, it was still just a bookstore with a few cool flares, and it did have an art gallery upstairs which was neat too.
We went to a nearby bar afterwards for beer and to watch some of the Barcelona/Madrid soccer game being shown and made friends with our Colombian bartender. Then, we headed to West Hollywood for sushi before we went to a Groundlings show. It was so much fun! I haven't been to the Groundlings in too long, although the show we went to was mostly scripted and not much improv, so I was a little sad about that, but it was still fun.
After that, we did a drive by of the LACMA and did a little walk around and a quick photo shoot before heading back.
We had to stop by AJ's mom's to pick up Anana, but in the end we just crashed at her place cause why not? In the morning, AJ's mom was on the ground playing with dog Pippa, which made Anana jealous, so Anana kept fighting for her attention and trying to hold her hand hahaha so sweet! Even though it was because she was jealous...
Originally we had planned to go that evening to a friends' house to watch Game of Thrones but we ended up being too tired from it all to do that, so I took a picture of us watching Game of Thrones to text to our friends so we could feel like we were all doing it together!
And I finally took a video of Anana eating mini carrots, one of her favorite snacks. I love watching her eat and hearing her little crunches!
Okay, off to a lunchtime yoga class in the park at work now...
