San Francisco

Hello! I know it has been awhile since my last post, but sometimes life just happens and you roll along with it.  Last week was the official start date of my internship-to-job transition and I am loving it so far, but it has kept me very busy!! Everyday after work, I go to work at the restaurant at night, let's just say that last week I worked over 50 hours within 5 days so when an opportunity came up last minute to go with my husband and our friends to the Bay area, I decided it was needed.  The boys were asked to lead worship and teach at a church in Mill Valley and they brought the ladies along.  It was so much fun combined with so much beauty!! Mill Valley is a gorgeous place where it feels like you are a million miles away from a big city even though it is a 10 minute drive to SF.  We met some great people, got to explore the city and the best part....it was a little teaser for this weekend when my husband and I will be going back for our original planned SF vacation weekend!! Here is to hoping another work week of double jobs flys by! Cheers!

Palm Springs Getaway

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Hello there! It's been quite awhile, for a few reasons... First off, I have some good news to share (as eluded to by the end of this post here).  My internship which I have been at since mid-July has turned into a job!!! I am so excited to be learning and working towards another career since teaching in CA right now is nearly impossible to achieve (particularly in LA). So I have been busy with that, working at the restaurant still and typical life duties of husband and home.  

On to the post at hand, this weekend I got to have a much needed getaway to Palm Springs for a dear friend's bachelorette party!! We stayed at the Riviera Resort which is a super cute hotel built in the late fifties and recently renovated with fun sixties pop-art style in mind.  It was soooo nice to chat and lounge in the pool without a care, go out for a fun girly dinner and then dance our hearts out to tunes like "Call Me Maybe."  Sunday was spent in the pool again and I even got to enjoy some reading. The trip home was equally as fun as I love driving on the 10 and seeing the windmills and of course, stopping by the Cabazon Dinosaurs.  Childhood nostalgia can always bring a big smile to my face. It was the perfect weekend away to refresh me for this week ahead!

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New York

New York City is probably one of the craziest yet most exciting places I have been to.  We took a Bolt bus from Boston to New York on Tuesday.  It was only a 4 hour bus ride and dropped us off right at Penn Station.  Immediately, I embarrassed myself (so typical) by trying to go through a turnstile with my luggage...yes, as you can imagine, I got stuck.  So embarrassing! Eventually the security let us through the handicapped gate after laughing at me for what seemed like forever. It was raining in Brooklyn where we stayed on Tuesday/Wednesday, but we still walked at least 5-6 miles around and saw the Brewery and went around Dumbo (probably one of my favorite spots as you are by the water and get an incredible view of the city). 

Late Wednesday, we went to the city to meet our good friends who let us stay with them the entire time (thanks N and Yanessa!!!) and the adventure truly began.  Every day we explored and saw beautiful neighborhoods, historic and touristy sights, took long walks, subway rides, ate delicious food and drinks and ended the night cracking up to SNL skits.  We got to have a picnic in central park with live music, champagne, baguette, cheeses and watching the fireflies.  All in all, it was such a good time. 

{Wall Street}

{My favorite treat: a Orchid Cream Vanilla
and Pear snowball with ice cream from
Imperial Woodpecker in the West Village}

{Rooftop drinks with friends at The Met and the Prada exhibit}
(I wasn't allowed to take photos so I was sneaky with my phone=bad quality)

{St. Patrick's Cathedral}

{Grand Central Station}

{Walked the High Line-my favorite thing I did}

We ended our adventure with the Jazz Age Lawn Party.  More tomorrow on that!

Boston

Hello there! We got back from our 9 day vacation last night and could not believe how much fun we had! As I had mentioned in a previous post, this was the longest vacation either of us had been on, let alone together as a couple (our mini-moon was only 5 days total) and we could have stayed another 9 days.  I fell in love with the east coast with it's history, natural beauty, public transportation and the fact that we got perfect weather! We left late Saturday night on a Red Eye to Boston and of course did not sleep at all, so Boston is a bit fuzzy to me--I'm glad I took pictures to reflect.  Our sister and brother-in-law showed us around the town in a food and history inspired tour which included eating and drinking our way along The Freedom Trail.  =)

Tomorrow I will share our photos from our favorite city we have been to...NEW YORK!

Bittersweet Symphony: Reflections of an Emotional Weekend

"Cuz it/s a bittersweet symphony this life..."  This song has been playing through my head all weekend.  First off, my husband and I had such a good time just relaxing and enjoying each other down by the beach.  We got some long-overdue R&R, ate way too much, had a few drinks, went swimming, to the beach and walked without a destination.  We ended up leaving on Thursday night to see our families first and stay the night with them.  Friday we drove to the Aquarium of the Pacific and had such a fun time.  We then walked around the harbor, had HH food and drinks, walked more and went to out hotel in Newport.  Saturday we had some pool time before I had to get ready for my friend's funeral.  It was so weird as I had never been to a funeral for a friend yet in my lifetime.  It was beautifully done and was more of a celebration of her life starting with a photo montage, her closest friends and family talking about her and ending with the gospel being preached and 'Amazing Grace' being sung as her casket was carried out.  While it was so good to see friends I hadn't seen in years, it was bittersweet.  I had to leave before the burial and dinner to rejoin my husband for our dinner.  We had a great time at dinner despite a few setbacks and when he fell asleep that night, I could not for a few hours.  I did a lot of thinking and praying and came to the realization that this is life.  Death, celebrations, tears, joy, sadness, fear, love, loss....I experienced all these emotions within one intense day, but it was so bittersweet.  We are all here for only a brief moment and death is guaranteed to everyone.  This was a beautiful wake-up call. On Mother's Day, my mother-in-law also had to be rushed to the ER and as we prayed for her and waited to see her test results--again that song just kept playing in my head.  On our anniversary, my husband was feeling the crazy-intense emotions as I did the day before, but thankfully, she is in good health and hopefully the pain will be figured out soon.  (I know I just got much more personal than usual, but moments like these, you just need to share).  Anyways, as I start this week of battling a cold and my own thoughts at times, I know everything will be all right and as a reminder, Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve.