Celebrating Lower Car Insurance Rates

"Calories consumed on your birthday don't count... nor on vacation or after a break up or during your best friend's birthday....."




(Me hiding from calories)









I turned 25 this past Saturday. Weeks before, I was saddened by the fact that I would not be surrounded by close friends or family. Turns out, I was just being silly.

When it came to my birthday weekend I was surrounded by awesome friends and good times. No family was around, but the weekend's festivities by far made up for it.














The night before my birthday PJ and my friend Kevin took me to Greens, a vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco. It was very yummy indeed. I actually ended up eating PJ's meal because I liked his better and he was not really digging his at all.

For my birthday day PJ had originally planned a surprise activity for after I got off work. Unfortunately, it hinged on the weather being good, and the weather was not good. Despite this temporary set back, there was still a great night in store.














Instead of going go carting (the original plan), we ended up going to see the Oscar nominated shorts downtown. PJ has been raving about "The Danish Poet" since he first saw it, and so of course, I wanted to see it too. I am glad I did because it won for "Best Animated Short" at the Oscars.

Since I worked so late, we were not able to grab dinner before going to see the movie. But, as we arrived we found amazing, FREE, street parking, so the night was already off to an awesome start. After the movie going, we turned the corner and stepped into this little bar that was pretty much empty. And, while they did not have all the hard alcohol it took to make certain drinks I was craving, it had enough to keep me happy throughout the night.

I did not want the night to end, though I think everyone else I was with wanted it to end about two hours before it finally did. When we left the bar there was this neat little pizza place on our way back to the cars that was still open, so we stepped in and grabbed the bite to eat we missed out on before the movies.














So thank you to all you who came out and made my birthday. And thanks to all my dear friends from home that I could not celebrate with but called so they could take part if only for a little while.

Me jumping through the window I'm having so much fun













The friendly John Barleycorn bartender we (I) annoyed all night long with ridiculous drink requests like Appletini's and Buttery Nipples.













Patrik showing Amila where she is













Patrik and PJ making Alex out of focus by jumping in the picture













Patrik angry at me and PJ threatening me with a stick if we don't go home soon

Ski trippin

"You meet people who forget you. You forget people you meet. But, sometimes you meet people you can't forget, those are your friends."


























Bert was nice enough to watch over Nelly while PJ and I went and killed ourselves on the slopes of Tahoe. We had a wonderful weekend with PJ's brother and father.

It was an amazing weekend of stars, sun, sweat, and snow bunnies.

Like most of our road trips, we drove up during the hours of the night. So, we missed most of the beautiful scenery there was to see besides the stars. We arrived in the late hours of the night, or early hours of the morning, depending on how you look at it.

The next day beautiful weather awaited us. It was not beautiful skiing weather mind you, but beautiful weather. Girls were in tank tops and guys were in t shirts. And PJ and I were bundled up in all the winter gear we could gather and sweating our skies off.

The view from the top of the mountain of the lake was clear and beautiful. Unfortunately, our camera man (PJ's brother) forgot his batteries. So, we had to wait until the next day to snap some pretty pictures. Except this one snapped on a phone camera.
















Sunday, was not so pretty. We woke up to rain hitting our window and cold air freezing our feet. Lucky for us, at the top of the mountain, the rain was snow. Unlucky for us, not only did the altitude freeze the rain, it froze our faces. Through it all, the wind and snow stinging our faces, our legs crying out in pain while we fly down the slopes, we had a fun time.






























And, I only got lost twice. :)

Missing Texas

"Ive been sent to spread the message... God bless Texas!"
















I will be honest. I hated Texas when I moved there. It took me over a year to get to like it really. Of course, then I leave a year later. And while I love San Francisco, there are just somethings that I miss from Texas.

Wisconsin, Chicago, so far in San Francisco, I never found a better:

Dentist.
Jim Slater, DDS
I hate the dentist. When I was younger, one of them actually drilled the side of my mouth. Of course, it was because i hit his arm, but he told me to raise an arm if it hurt. I did and I hit his arm. The drill went from my tooth to my cheek. OUCH. So I went to a different dentist after that, actually a few. But, I never found one I liked until Texas.

That man was amazing with my mouth. When he drilled, there was no pain. Okay, a little pain because I don't get novicane, but very little pain. I miss my dentist :(

Hair Dresser.
Lauren at L'image
I had a hair dresser in highschool who was very good at doing updo's for formals, but besides that, I never found a place, even in Madison that I loved my hair cut and color every time. Until Texas. I actually felt like I was a cliche. I actually talked to my hairdresser about life, we gossiped, it was freaky. And, in the end. I always loved my hair. The one time I didnt, she re did it for free.

Seamstress.
Bridal Alterations by Linda.
I had to deal with a lot of weddings while down in Texas. Some, the dresses were not so nice looking, another one, a little too tight looking (I gained a few pounds in Texas). These were no challenges for this woman. She made all my dresses look AMAZING on me. Even, and especially dress that originally just looked ugly on me.

Vet.
Daryl Williams at Chastain Vets
Ohhhh how i miss that Vet. They were amazing with Nelly. They were sticking things up her and giving her shots and she was as calm as can be. I think she had a thing for her young male vet because she behaved like an angel.


And of course I miss my friends, and the DNA group and the DNA parties, and going to Jackasstors... but they closed because they knew we were leaving. And, a little part of me misses my job... my wallet.

God Bless Texas

The final post on Mexico

"Facing your fears is the best way to realize you were totally rational for having them"














We played, we drank, and we slept.

We had tons of fun in Mexico. Our last big adventure was PJ's idea. We went on a zip line canopy tour. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of this. I did not want to risk bringing my very expensive camera only to see it drop 500 feet below me while I was hanging by a thin cord. I had enough to be scared/worried about, like my body dropping that 500 feet.

Okay, the cords were not that thin. And, I did not come close to falling (or at least that is what i was told). But, the guy in front of me did drop his camera once. Lucky for him I caught it and brought it to him at the next tree stand. So, at least one of my fears was rational.

This tour was fun and exciting and the views were beautiful. But to be honest, I was scared out of my mind the entire time. I highly recommend it for people who like a bit of a thrill 500 ft about ground at very high speeds. PJ loved it. And, I am glad I went. I was definitely the fastest one there because i was so scared i would scrunch into the tightest little ball i could and be done before the cord had a chance to break.














If you want to check out all the pictures from our vacation (or most of them atleast)
My Puerto Vallarta Pictures

Taking it off road

"One tequila, two tequila, three tequila... floor"












The first big adventure we had was with our two friends Sumi and Aaron. We decided to go on a Tequila Doonbuggy tour. Now, as you can tell from the pictures PJ and I are not on a Doonbuggy. We ended up on an ATV after a heated battle with the guy running things, which was continued after the trip was over as well.

If there is one thing we learned, it is you get what you pay for. There were some tours we booked through our concierge that were a little more expensive, but they were higher quality and much more enjoyable. So, keep that in mind when traveling to Mexico and a time share agent tries to rope you in.

Anyway....

Here we are getting ready and looking bad to the bone.













Dont let me fool you. PJ drove the entire time, I am just posing.













This is how it really was.













Along the way we stopped at a beautiful pool area with a waterfall.













We decided to go cliff jumping... though the cliff wasnt that big.

























Then near the end, we went on a Tequila tour. We had to taste all the different tequila's... WITH NO LIME OR SALT!!! And, my God, was that stuff strong and awful tasting... until we reached the end. Then they gave us the good stuff that tasted nothing like tequila and was flavored like caramel, chocolate, and coffee... mmmmmmmmmm

























Oh and I forgot to mention, on the boat trip, the crew liked to call me brittney spears because how my hair looks... apparently I need to get some new highlights put in.

Adventures at Sea

"Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour... A three hour tour"














Our tour had more than five passengers and it was longer than three hours, so no fears, we did not get ship wrecked.

We set sail way too early in the morning to go whale watching and snorkeling. We chose to do a little sailboat vs the booze cruise our friends went on. While ours was a little more expensive, it was much more enjoyable.

The crew was amazingly helpful. They offered everyone anti sea sickness pills before we left the dock. I passed, thinking I wouldn't need it because I sail(ed) all the time. And, actually I was fine until I ventured under the deck to use the restrooms. Then I got some not so pleasant feelings.

They also made our drinks very strong and tasty. And, the minute PJ started thinking the drinks were not strong enough, they made them stronger. Though, at that point PJ and I definitely did not need it.

We saw whales, lots of beautiful fishys and lots of water. And, we had fun. PJ was actually amazed at how much fun he had whale watching. He thought it would be sooo lame, but he was the first to start jumping out of his seat when he saw a whale. As the drinks went on, he was jumping up more and more at whales the rest of us never saw, but he swears they were there.

Viva La Mexico!

"Everyone has seen photographs of Mexicans wearing those big sombreros. When you come to Mexico, the astonishing thing is, nobody wears these hats at all."

We went to Mexico in January. It was some fun times. PJ didnt really want to go to Mexico, but now all he wants to do is go back. I convinced him to go by spending Thanksgiving with all his friends in Oregon. I made it sound like I was doing him a huge favor by going... when really, I wanted to go. Shhh dont tell.

While in Mexico we did some stuff PJ wanted to do and stuff I wanted to do. I think all in all we both ended up enjoying eachother's ideas.

We stayed in a condo instead of a hotel to be closer to the downtown area and save a little money. I had my heart set on having a pool at the condo, so we got one with a pool. PJ swam in it once. I fell asleep by it once. And, it was never used again.

We drank every night














We walked around a lot














We made friends with the wooden statues at our friends' hotel













Our friends from Texas, Sumi and Aaron came too.
They gave it two thumbs up as well.
Though i dont think they had quite as cool of a time as we did.













We saw a very pretty church.

























And stayed in a very pretty condo.
This is our view!













Stay tuned for more fun adventures from Mexico.

Wayward blog

"when do you decide that a lost cause is that?"


My blog, like my life, has lost a little direction. It was started to update everyone on how life in Africa was treating me. I am not in Africa anymore. And, my life in San Francisco, while fun, is not as inspiring to write about.

So, what does one write about then?

Good Question... hopefully I will figure that out soon. But, until then you can read about mexico and admire our pictures.