sunny diego

Hello, friends!

So a LOT has happened in the last week for me! But let me just let this blog entry be a documentation of our fabulous trip to San Diego! I want to start by saying I LOVE traveling in April/May! Everywhere touristy is just so incredibly managable when it isn't during peak tourist season! Like Sea World and the Zoo --- we were able to do EVERYTHING we wanted because there weren't tourists packed in like sardines in either place! Plus, I'd way rather do the zoo during 65 degree weather instead of 80 degrees! But that's just me. 

Aaaanyyyhoooo. Here's our trip in a series of some of my favorite shots :)

On a stroll through Seaport Village, we found this beautiful rainbow splashed across the side of the building! So pretty! :)

Seaport Cafe on the Pier

Seaport Cafe has the biggest onion rings I've ever seen! Delicious! But made me sick after a while!

We happened to be there on April 12th - free Ben & Jerry's Scoop Day! Yum! I reeaalllyyy needed my lemonade sorbet at that moment!

Birds of Paradise grace every lawn in San Diego!

At Sea World! First stop --- feeding the dolphins! It was so fun!

Then off to the dolphin show! They're so awesome :)

Pretty stoked after the dolphin show. 

The Sea Lion Show --- doing the tango with a rose in his mouth! Haha. 

It's Jaws! Scary scary tunnel of sharks. 

I took a picture of our splash ride picture!

Time for Shamuuuuu!

Loved the Orca show!

These polar bears were super active! So cool!

Mr. Walrus showing us his food.

Awesome tree outside of our hotel!

Beer flights and tons of food during our anniversary dinner! Yum :) Love local microbrews!

Breakfast at The Mission: A conscientious eating place. 

I had a fabulous cheesy egg/tomato croissant with fruit salad! 

DIVINE! Oh and a bloody mary, duh.

Pacific Beach

Loving our beach day!

And notice my wrapped foot...my running injury from October really flared up on this trip. I had to wrap it every day!

Tyler being so cute and making a headrest out of sand. Like his new mirrored shades?

Loving our relaxing vacation time! Fun in the sun, water, and sand!

San Diego Zoo day!!! Pandas are my favorite animal of allllll time! They were active that day! Preparing to mate the male and female! This is the female. So beautiful!

The male waiting patiently next door for him to be able to spend time with his girl!

The female, antsy to see her man!

And then they closed the exhibit for the rest of the day to give the pandas privacy! We felt so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to see them!

Orangutans are so cool. 

Polar Bear all sprawled out eating carrots for a snack. Yes, carrots!

Elephant having a snack :)

Mama and baby giraffe! So cute. 

Visiting with the lemurs! Such funny little guys.

The koala exhibit was really cool! These guys were snoozing the day away.

Baby gorilla! So stinkin' cute!!!

Enjoying some soft-serve after our looooong day of walking! The San Diego Zoo is world class and huuuuge!

We loved our 4 day trip to San Diego! Saw so much, ate wonderful food, spent quality time together, and went to bed around 8pm every night! Much needed R&R after Tyler's hard work on his boards! 

Cheers to vacations!!!

out with the old --- in with the new {and sparkly!}

Howdy, y'all! {I like Texans, okay?}

Happy Friday to you! It was my Friday last night at work, too, and I don't have to go to work again to April 20th!!! Wahoooo! I have all of next week off {vacation days, babay!} so that Tyler and I can take a vacation and guess where we're headed?

Still don't know?

Yup! SAN DIEGO!!!

We are so excited :) I haven't been since I was 9 years old {and trying to be a movie star --- but that's a different story altogether} and Tyler has never been, so this should be rad! We have lots of plans! Zoo, Sea World, Pacific Beach {or P.B. as I have been instructed to call it}, Gas Lamp Quarter, Downtown, Balboa Park, Seaport Village, and Belmont Park! Phew. We are up in the air about Coronado Island and the Wild Animal Reserve. What do you think? What is a MUST see/do in San Diego?

Anyway, vacation details aside...I got new glasses! About a year and a half ago I got these {awww one of Gryffy baby's first puppy pictures!!!}:

And I adored them! Aaaaand I lost them. In Breck. Who knows where in Breck? Not me.

So, I replaced them with these!

Just picked them up yesterday and I love em! They are very me and I hope I don't lose them! {ummm just cleaned out my flex spending account getting them so I have NO money for another replacement!} Yay yay I'm excited :) I can finally see again! Plus I feel fancy because they're my first Coach product to own! Aaaand probably my last. So I'm gonna treasure 'em!

Lastly I wanted to share with you all the ingredient of the week at mi casa: ASPARAGUS! Yum!

We had it in a delicious Asparagus Frittata that the hubs so kindly made,

and then we had it again last night just baked with a little butter and balsamic vinegar! Mmmmm.

What have you been cooking with lately?

Happy weekend :)

Cheers!!!

new experiences: breckenridge!

Hey out there!

How is everyone's week starting off? I'm happy happy --- sitting in my sister's {BFF} squishy bed in Fort Collins right now. I spent the night playing Mad Gab with Tyler and my family and laughing til my cheeks and belly hurt! I love having that kind of fun with the family :) It does make me miss my brother a lot, though. He's that piece of the puzzle that's been missing during the fun times of the last two years. If you're just tuning in to my life, my 22-year-old brother is a Marine, currently stationed in Japan. I love him to pieces and am so proud of all the good he is doing over there!!! This laughter was much needed after a long day filled with car fixing appts, dentist appts, and the boredom that results when one is stranded without a car!

Well ANYHOO since I was so behind in telling you about all the adventures on...I only have a few more to tell you about until we're all up to speed!

Moving on to our trip to Breckenridge! 

So, when Tyler and I got married {April 26, 2009}, a family I used to babysit for gave us a weekend to use their fabulous condo in Breck as our wedding gift! Such an AWESOME gift! Although it did prove to be a tad bit difficult to find a good time for us to use it {seeing as how we finally used it almost 2 years later!}. But we finally used it March 21-23. We had free reign of a gorgeous 6-person ski-in-ski-out condo right on the 4-O'Clock Run! 

If you're new to my blog, you may not know that last October I ran my first half-marathon. An accomplishment of which I am very proud! But I also got a stress fracture in my foot during that run! Bummer. My foot as slowly but surely been on the mend, but it is still not 100% just yet. So, due to this dumb old injury, I didn't want to reinjure myself by hitting the slopes on my beloved snowboard. *sigh* At first it was quite depressing to be watching people board down the run out the back window ALL DAY LONG. But our {or rather, mine --- but Tyler didn't dare go without me! Good man.} inability to board meant that we had the chance to take advantage of the other fun things Breck has to offer! Usually we board --> party --> sleep : repeat. This trip, however, we went sledding, walked the entire town of Breck multiple times, did plenty of shopping, and went DOG SLEDDING!!! Highlight of the trip, can you tell? Here are pics from our fabulous trip :)

 On our way up the mountain, we decided to stop in Idaho Springs for some pizza from the original BeauJo's! I've had BeauJo's before {FoCo - duh!}, but never at the first location! And since it's on the list...well, then you know I had to do it!

Divine spicy chicken and artichoke pizza!

The first thing we did at the condo: spot Jenga in the pantry!

First night in Breck: we went to the Breckenridge Brewery & Pub for dinner and beer! {also on the list of Colorado to-dos}

Our taster tray of deliciousness. 

All the fab beers we tried. Seriously all so good.

After brewery tasting, we went for a night sledding session!

Love this guy. He steered us out of near disaster sled-crashing situations multiple times! 

Tuesday morning we went DOG SLEDDING! Yep. With a team of real sled doggies. 

 It's kind of hard to tell, but this is a picture of the dog sled team being steered by some of the people on the trip with us. We each got to take a turn steering the team through the turns in beautiful open mountain space! So exhilarating! I definitely recommend it!

And THIS is why I will never move from CO by choice. 

Loving the sun and this new experience! Which was - of course - a suggestion on my little {or big} ole trusty list! 

Happy happy happy day :)

New snowboots found shopping in Breck! My last pair I got 5 years ago and they weren't even waterproof. How does a CO girl manage that? With waterproofing shoe spray, of course! But --- UPGRADE for sure!

Playing with our food on sushi night out after shopping. 

So many yummies in our tummies. 

We came across a Fat Tire van on our way back to the condo in a snowstorm! It was like a beacon of light amidst the gray! Love love love you New Belgium! If you don't know about New Belgium, then get on the next plane to CO and I'll take you Fort Collins so you can tour the breweries there. 

After dinner we found this EPIC Sega Genesis game in the condo! My FAVORITE from when I was a kid! My brother and I used to play this soooo often!

So happy to be playing Sega {last known picture of my glasses...I lost them somehow last week. DAMMIT}

Yup. We beat the game. Record time, too!

Drinking celebratory Leinenkugels...

by the fireplace :)

So --- wonderful and super cheap Colorado vacation! We loved every minute :) And I checked 3 activities off of the list! Woohoo! Here's how happy I am about that:

Cheers

xo.