My 1st Anniversary Trip! (picture heavy)

I was completely unsure of what to do for our anniversary. We went back and forth. Initially I wanted to do a week-long trip up the California coast. Thomas was not fond of this idea. Neither was he fond of the idea of going to Europe – for financial reasons.

I asked for help from the ever so trusty Facebook and Hearst Castle was suggested. I had been there years and years ago and the same was true for Thomas. It’s a 3 or so hour drive from our home so it was a good choice. We left on Saturday morning and headed directly to the Castle. (You can read about the Castle here). I had pre-purchased a tour ($25 for each, so not too cheap) and we waited around and did some gift shop shopping before watching a movie that told the history of the Castle. Finally we headed into the Castle in the afternoon.

A couple of miles up the coast from the castle is a place where Elephant Seals congregate. These things are HUGE! We enjoyed seeing those as well as little chipmunks that were climbing up another guys’ pant legs!

After that we drove back down the coast to Morro Bay. I had never been there, I hadn’t even heard of it.

It’s a quaint little town in the Central Coast, with incredible ocean views and a huge rock which used to be a volcano! We stayed at the Masterpiece Hotel only a few blocks from the beach/waterfront. The first night we had a nice room and they gave us a bottle of sparkling apple cider and card for our anniversary. The next day we asked if they had any of their Jacuzzi rooms available which I had read about online.

Because the lady working the front counter has a daughter who is planning a wedding she was in the giving mood for a couple on their first anniversary and for barely a little bit more she upgraded us to their suite. The room was GORGEOUS! Words can’t do it justice, so I’ll let the pictures do the job:

On Sunday we decided to walk down their waterfront and just figure out what to do. I really wanted to go kayaking and had been looking forward to it, but (un)fortunately SoCal has had a pretty cool Spring (does that mean our summer is going to be more of a scorcher than usual?) and it was windy so we decided to skip out on the kayaking. Instead we did a nice tour of the area by boat. Nice part? They served alcohol on the boat! Woo!

There was also a kite festival so we walked over to that and enjoyed some viewing of the event. We were impressed by the size of many of the kites.

We relaxed in the hotel before heading out to dinner at Window on the Water – a beautiful restaurant that was recommended to me by a friend as well as by amazing reviews. They gave us a nice window seat and we watched the sunset. The food was DELICIOUS!!

Monday was time to head back. We checked out of the hotel and headed down the coast. As we drove down we decided to take a side trip to Solvang – a little Danish town. I had been to it many times before with my family but this was the first time we went as a couple. Unfortunately Thomas had to be on his phone for most of the time for a work call, but it was still nice to walk around. We had lunch at a popular pizza place and enjoyed a tour by horse drawn carriage. We then finished it off with some delicious ice cream.

This is a classic picture of me... we have one from every time I've gone to Solvang.

On our way back to the freeway we stopped at an Ostrich Farm! I had never seen this before and am so happy that we spotted it! We got to go in for a few dollars and feed the ostriches and emus! They are strong peckers for their food! They had baby ones as well which I did go ahead and pet – they were super soft!

Catching Up on Me!

You may have noticed that I’ve sort of been on sabbatical the past little while.

I posted on Monday about the reason behind it (in part).

But let’s move past the drama and leave that in the workplace. Let’s talk about what has been going on since the last time we really spoke.

FITBIT/WALK: I’ve continued on my path of making sure I get my 10,000 steps in by using my FitBit. I absolutely love being able to track my activity. I’ve done as much as about 18k in a day and most days I make it to 10k. Because of physical limitations I’ve been not on my feet so much this week, but I should be back to normal soon.

My niece Mika also got a FitBit so we can push each other. She was doing really well for a bit but has slowed down (but she is 13, so, you know – a teenager) but I’m trying  to push her. She was beating me and I need the inspiration!  If you still aren’t my friend on there – I’d love to be FitBit Pals!

ANNIVERSARY: On April 26^th my husband and I celebrated our 1 Year Anniversary. We were able to take a day off and go on a short weekend getaway up the California Coast. If you follow me on Facebook you will have seen a ton of pictures. We went to Hearst Castle and lingered on the coast. We had both been before, but not for over 10-15 years. It’s a gorgeous place and the history is incredible. If you ever get the change I recommend it (even though it is a little pricey - $25 per tour and I think there are 2 or 3 in total). We also went to Morro Bay the next day and had a great time.  

I’ll write a post just on this because the weekend deserves its own attention.

MOTHER’s DAY: Thomas and I celebrated Mother’s Day the night before by taking our mommy’s to dinner at Flemmings. It was an interesting night. My mom doesn’t speak English and his doesn’t speak Spanish. My mom was not happy with the food – her meat with undercooked (she likes it well done). We complained and they took it back but when they brought it out again it was still red inside. One of the managers asked her how it was and when she said it was still red he said that if they cooked it more it would be burned. Umm. No. That’s only if you don’t know how to cook a steak well done.  We were able to talk to someone else, who spoke Spanish, who was able to remove the steak from her bill and give her a free dessert. Score for our bank account!

VOTE!: On May 19^th we had a small local election for school board. I have voted in every single election since I turned 18 and am happy to continue with that. Unfortunately the candidate I wanted didn’t win – but it’s the fact that I voted that counts.

May 21^st: On May 21^st it was a year since my sister passed away. I left work early and went to the cemetery with my parents and Jonathan (who was at their house at the time). It was a gorgeous day and it was nice to know that my sister is somewhere that is beautiful and that has such a great view.

NAILS: For the first time since before my wedding I went to get a mani/pedi with my mom. I had stopped going to save money because $27 every month seemed like a bit much. However I WAS paying $75/mo for a housekeeper, but her last month was December – so that’s a lot of money I’ve saved on that… and I’ve been doing it instead which means… I deserve this! It was nice to be pampered again. I decided on the pedicure at the last minute and that ended up being a good decision.

PICNIC: My niece has been planning Memorial Day picnic’s for the past 5 years (except last year since I was in Argentina on my Honeymoon at the time). This year we had it at a nice park in which she held it the first year as well.  And apparently I don’t learn my lessons. The first time we had it there in 2012 I was walking barefoot on the grass (what I always did when I was little) and stepped on a freaking bee. It stung me on my toe of my left foot. It got swollen and I got a nice little picture of it. Guess what happened this year!? Once again I stepped on a bee as I walked back from the ice cream truck (same thing as last time). This time it was smack in the middle of my right foot. The first day I was fine but the itching woke me up in the middle of the night. By Tuesday morning I could barely walk.  Luckily I brought back Caladryl from Argentina last year and that has helped, but again on Tuesday night I woke up twice with incredible itchiness! The area got more swollen and red through Wednesday but finally overnight into Thursday it finally started to get better.

I was walking on the side of my foot which now has left that painful. *sigh*

This is the reason why my steps have not been up to 10k this week.

So that is me for the past month or two!