1 week to lift off

I was born and raised in South Orange County, CA. My family vacationed in places like Hawaii, San Diego, and Mexico. I moved away for college to San Diego and haven't left.

Lets think about this: OC, Hawaii, SD, Mexico...what do all these places have in common?

Blazing hot sun and beaches stretching all around them.

I have lived my whole life in a perpetual state of summertime and it is my favorite luxury. We pay for the good weather in California.

I never want to trade it for anything...oh wait...I am.

Today I am in jean shorts, my trusty old rainbow sandals and a light blue cotton tee. And I'm still hot.

I am about to put my favorite go-to outfits and sandals into hibernation and trade in some rain boots, jeans and layers and layers of sweaters. Not to mention a chef's uniform.

Boots and layers I can pull off. Chefs coat and hat...that is going to be a new one.

I leave one week from today and am feeling more nervous but more excited every hour. The boxes are starting to fill up with things from our life here in the SD apartment and Taylor is a little confused.

What confuses me....every time I look at this:

uhhh....?? what??

Hi, I'm a Slacker

I am so aware of it. I'm sorry for my lack of posting. I'm sure it was just killing you ;)

I have been really busy getting ready for my departure to France. I am in my last 9 days in California and it is starting to really freak me out. Major.

I finally have an apartment in the city! It is the cutest little loft. Emphasis on the little part. Also, it happens to be on the 6th floor of a building with no elevator. It is the perfect way to compensate for the lack of a 24 hour fitness. I will at least be doing the European version of the stair master each day.

Mike and I have to start packing up our apartment (insert major sad face) and getting ready to face reality. We got sucked in hard into the Hunger Games. Read all three super fast and love them. You should pick them up soon! We are also having a fun little party this weekend to celebrate our new adventures. I will report back on the result of this. Might be one for the books.

For the past week or so while I have been MIA from the blog world. We have been enjoying some time just relaxing the three of us. Spending time with friends and eating at all our favorite Pacific Beach spots. Today we had some amazingness from Mad Dogs Cafe. Definitely our favorite breakfast spot. We had our standard walk on the beach afterwards. The beauty of San Diego never ceases to amaze me. It is such an incredible place.

My best friend Brittany and her boyfriend came down for a night out on the town and a relaxing Sunday today. They are such a fun couple and I loved having them down here!

I also got to relive all my favorite emotional songs from high school at the Dashboard Confessional concert with Megan. Yep, you read it right. Screaming Infidelities anyone??

Tay has had an incredible amount of running time at the beach (aka: Tay's happiest place on earth). Seeing this little speed demon run circles around other dogs and chasing down the birds like there is no tomorrow just makes me happy. She is a crazy little muffin.

Forgive me if I go into bloggers hibernation again this week. I leave on February 2nd and as soon as I get settled you can expect a buttload of fun pictures and probably some entertaining stories that will make you be thankful it is me and not you these things are happening to. Haha, okay, it will be great!

I hope you have all been living and loving your lives! :) I can't wait to catch up with everyone's blogs in 3...2..1... :)

Where the suns so hot

 I forgot to go home.

 

Mexico is my second home. I didn't get a lot of photos during this last trip like I normally do but really, how many times can you take the same photo?

My family and I had a great time relaxing on the beach, running through the lush greenery and mingling with friends. Not to mention eating loads of delicious food. 

Also I would like to report that I survived an almost but not really deadly attack from this alligator that has made its home in the lake behind our house. Almost crapped my pants. Long story.

Remember a while back I told you about this amazing chocolate dipped pound cake that they sell at the market down there? I finally got a photo of the goodness and yes I took a whole mess of it down over the week. We even had to drive the 45 minutes to get a second box full halfway through our trip. 

I still don't know quite how they do it yet but I will find out one day! Maybe I'll have to sneak in the back and hijack it. It would be worth it. 

We are back in California and mike and I are officially in the "unemployed" category for the next three weeks. It will be great spending time together before I leave to Paris and he drives to Colorado. 

Less than three weeks until it is here! There is a lot to do but I'm trying not to stress out too much and some days I don't even let myself think about it.

I hope you are all doing great! Has anyone read the Hunger Games yet?? I am in book three and loving it!

Also, anyone addicted to the temple run game on the iPhone? Please tell me I'm not alone!! 

Perfecto

This day is perfect here in Punta Mita, Mexico. It is undeniably gorgeous all year round but the weather right now, can't beat it.

We are at the end of our 12 day vacation, which is always bittersweet. I love it here but I also am missing Mike and Tay back home.

I wish you all could be here to soak in the beaming sun rays and breathe in this flowing, fresh air. Pictures just aren't doing it.

Just imagine waking up to little rays of sunshine peaking through your window shutters. You are a little bit tired, but you get up anyway because there is a lounge chair at the beach waiting to be napped on.

Come upstairs and decide to be a little productive since, hey you have noooo plans. Put on some running shoes and go walk 5 or 6 miles with your mom. It is really not even that bad because the greenery is so nice and distracting, the air feels good filling up your lungs and you know your little worker friend at the gate has some ice cold water for you (such a sweetheart!).

Get back, feeling straight up awesome because you worked out on vacation. Shower off, put on your uniform that you have worn everyday for almost two weeks - a bikini.

Stroll over to the beach, lay down, open a book, and don't move until 5 hours later you need to reach for a beer or watch the whales breeching in the ocean right in front of you.

After an exhausting day of tanning and reading, come back home, shower off. Sit at the table and write this blog post while you watch the palm trees sway slightly in the breeze. Appreciate the perfect temperature of the air that is flowing around you because the entire wall to the patio has disappeared and it is one large room and the little birds singing their songs.

There are some really amazing places on this earth but, reallyyyyy...man...you gotta come here! :)

Cast a Vote for EuroTrip!

I am less than a month away from the scary flight from LAX to Paris and am trying my best to keep the panic attacks to a minimum.

My mom has been trying to decide what places in Europe she wants to visit on the weekends while she is there for a month.

She has never been to Europe and says she doesn't know where she wants to go. If you were going to Europe for the first time where would you want to rush off to first??

Cast your vote in a comment or in the poll on the right side of my blog. I have narrowed it down to the four places she seems most interested in...

Germany

Italy

Belgium

Ireland

If you have another place that is a cannot-live-without-seeing-it type of place...shout it out already!!