home again

we had a wonderful family vacation to seagrove beach. sb has been our go-to-destination for the past 15 years or so. it is such a wonderful area and the beaches are beautiful. all of the little beach towns are fairly close together, so it is really easy to town-hop for shopping, beaching, eating, etc. on our way down there, we heard the weekly forecast and it looked very very dim. rain. every day. for the next week. but somebody else had different plans in store for us... it rained ONE morning. that's it. the rest of the time was sweet, sweet sunshine.

on the one morning that it did rain, mom and i went out for a walk and got caught in the downpour on the way back. we finally got back to the condo and looked like we had entered the most intense wet t-shirt contest ever. we felt pretty hardcore.

highlights:

1. reading beachside. finished twilight and started the fountainhead. talk about opposites :) i've been telling myself i'll read the fountainhead for some time now. and despite the fact that i was semi-intimidated by it, so far i really like it. i'm about 250 pages in and going strong.

2. "the blue giraffe". a fabulous art and jewelry shop in neighboring watercolor, fl, which singlehandedly inspired me to PAINT PAINT PAINT!! by far my most favorite shop in that area. www.thebluegiraffeon30a.com if you're interested.

3. angelina's pizza. this little pizza place stole our hearts on our very first trip to seagrove. they make the best pizzas around, and have such a cozy atmosphere. nothing fancy, just good food. we ate there twice this time :) on our first night... and our last.

4. man vs ocean. on our last day, the ocean waves were especially sizable. nothing compared to hawaii or anything, but big enough to toss you around and knock the girls loose from the swimsuit top... at one point, our entire family was out there, trying to bodysurf the waves and/or just survive getting hit by one. SO MUCH FUN. and then... we spotted another family riding the waves nearby... a family of s t i n g r a y s. so we "calmly" made our way back to our safe, comfy towels and continued our sun-soaking regimen.

5. quote of the trip. "i had no idea i was so cool!" -dad

so here i am. back in memphis. happy to see my cat, zoe, but wishing i was still on the beach. one thing i have to comfort me is a LOT of reading choices that i collected today. of course i still have the fountainhead, which i plan on diving into after this post. at borders this afternoon, i bought 2 magazines, metropolis and vogue. architecture & design and fashion. fabulous!! i picked up the memphis flyer at lunch with the fam at the bagel company, and i have a new women's health that rachel so graciously housed for me while i was out of town. my goal is to stay motivated for a bikini body even though my beach vacations are over for this year. i am also going to make an effort to actually READ the magazines i get, instead of flipping through and only looking at the pictures. there's interesting stuff to be learned and i intend on doing so.

it is good to be home. there's something comforting about your own house, your own spaces, that even vacations can't compete with. yet without the existence of both, each would lose its meaning. i am so thankful for a wonderful family to share that vacation with, and a wonderful place to come home to.

another vacation!! so soon!!

so on friday, i'm leaving work early to head south with the fam... seagrove beach, here we come!! this has been our beach vacation spot for many years now, and we thought it was about time to revisit and reconnect. we'll be spending friday night in birmingham and then driving the rest of the way on saturday morning. we'll be there for ONE WHOLE WEEK!!! YAY!!!! here are just a few of the things i am looking forward to:

pool-side afternoons

shell gazing

walks along the beach

swimming in the gulf

the red bar

fried shrimp and hush puppies

nuestras vacaciones perfectas

just wanted to provide y'all with a couple of stories and photos of our mexican vacation.

first and foremost, i will let you know

that we escaped without the H1N1 flu strain.

(do not call it swine flu... read this)

after starting our trip with a 2-hour flight delay, we finally made it to cancun international airport, jumped in a shuttle and headed to our hotel. pepe, our driver, let us know that if we wanted to stop at a store and get some beers to drink on the way that would be ok. good to know. we had out first encounter with mexican speedbumps, which are literally in the middle of the highway and will tear the shit out of your car. traffic slows down to about 5 mph to avoid total vehicular destruction.

our resort was perfect for us. comfortable and beautiful. with unlimited drinks.

one day we took a long walk...

another day we went snorkeling and to playa del carmen...

and on the last day we went to tulum.

we almost couldn't come home because sean didn't have his tourist card that we had filled out on our arrival (and which they DIDN'T tell us you had to have to leave the country). he basically paid a security guard "under the table" to expedite the process of getting a new one filled out in time to make our flight. the security guard sneakily got the paperwork stamped and signed, pushed us to the front of the line, and then sean paid him $30 USD in the men's bathroom. muchos gracias senor :)

ultimately, it was a absolute perfect vacation. mexico is beautiful and the people are so friendly. i think americans have a certain view of mexico (myself included) that is not really accurate. i hope to go back again someday, stay longer, and see more!!

home again

it's been a while since we've talked. sorry about that :) life post-mexico has been a whirlwind- engagement parties, family visits, cookouts, birthday parties, and wedding showers.

E V E R Y . S I N G L E . N I G H T.

regardless, of the hectic week we've been having, it's been absolutely wonderful. sean and i are living a "normal" life together!! if only for the week....

sean and i had a fabulous time in mexico, and escaped without swine flu!! i will dedicate another post to mexico soon.

early saturday morning, sean leaves for chattanooga and 2 months of intense surgical rotations. while i am going to miss him tremendously and i wish i could be there to support him and lend a helping hand when he needs it, i am also aware of the fact that it is a blessing for me to not have to witness the hell he's going to be put through. i just get to listen to the awesome stories.

there's your brief update on life in memphis. stay tuned for the details.

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN

TWWWWOOOO WEEEEEEKS

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

go buy this NOW

i just finished the best workout dvd ever.

Women's Health: The Wedding Workout

(side note: the back of this dvd said that it can also

be used for other "special occasions" such as a high school

reunion or beach vacation. so there. i SWEAR i'm

not a wannabe bride. i just wannabe hot for mexico.)

i have MANY dvd workouts. and a problem i have always had with each is the inability to customize the workout. so you can guess what this one does :) THAT'S RIGHT!! EEEK! here's how it works: you have 2 initial options: pre-built workouts or custom workouts.

with the custom workout, you can create your own program from 11-12 minute segments of cardio, upper body, lower body, and abs & core. you can arrange them in any order you want, repeating each as many times as you want. there's also a 4 minute warm-up and 3 minute cool-down that you should put at each end of your workout.

the pre-built workouts are split into two options: the strapless dress workout (emphasis on upper body) and the short/hiphugging dress workout (emphasis on lower body). the beauty of this is that each "workout" gives you a weekly plan with the segments i mentioned before split up between each day of the week. for instance, on monday you do cardio and upper body, and on tuesday you do abs & core. each day is something different. and while the segments are the same, the order they come in keeps your body guessing.

the cardio is the only thing that i feel is "lacking", but you can easily substitute running or another dvd cardio workout for that. but if you're just looking for a quick cardio session to move around a little, this is perfect.

target, $7.99 SERIOUSLY WORTH IT.

moving on.

i had another fun experience today- i went to the public library to renew my library card and checkout a book on nashville for my weekend trip! i also got a 2009 book on mexico for some more tips for riviera maya. and i think the favorite book that i got is a monograph of the sculptor, Richard Serra.

this is Joe. we saw it in st. louis at the pulitzer museum and it was amazing. such a dynamic and engaging sculpture. i perused the art and architecture section of the library today and almost gave up on finding anything i was interested in when i saw SERRA on the thick white spine of this book. i immediately grabbed it and went to checkout. i'm looking forward to some time with my library books and learning more about nashville, mexico, and richard serra. and i'm excited about renewing the library's presence in my life. it's been too long and i spend too much money at bookstores. $1 for a library card and i can have all the books i want for free. seems like a good idea to me.

eternally on hold

this is hardly how i saw myself spending this lovely, snow, sunday afternoon. i have been on hold with expedia for THIRTY FREAKIN' MINUTES.

sean and i recently had a semi-serious breakdown in communication- it was no one person's fault more than the other, but it caused some serious damage to our mexico plans. you see, i was under the impression that we had 2 weeks post-boards to work with in finding a suitable trip. so i found one. as it turns out, we only have one week to travel, and i managed to find a great deal during the week we couldn't travel. and i didn't communicate the travel dates well enough to sean. thank god we realized the mistake this early on. and bought the travel insurance. we get credit for the flight portion and refunded for the hotel portion. but in order to redeem my flight credit upon booking a new trip, i am forced to call expedia, not book online.

FOURTY MINUTES.

i think i found a great deal... even better than the one before. so now i will continue to hold in hopes that this will all work out beautifully and we will be in sunny mexico one week sooner than originally anticipated. i hope.

work it out!!

so our mexico trip is in about 8 weeks, and i need to get going on this "bikini body" situation. god bless google, because i stumbled across a wonderful library of workout videos, catered to specific purposes- like getting a bikini body. cha-ching!

Workout Videos from Fitness Magazine

and i am looking forward to buying that bathing suit i've been eyeing for six months.

HOLA RIVIERA MAYA!!

i booked our spring getaway this morning!!! aaaaahhhhhhhh i am sooo excited i can't even describe it. april 26 cannot come soon enough. we've got a non-stop flight, all-inclusive resort package, and a GREAT price. i don't know how much it would cost to do an excursion trip to some mayan ruins, but that would be sweeeet. i now have time to do some research and figure out what all there is to do around the resort. that is, assuming that we could peel ourselves off the white sandy beach long enough to do something else. doubtful.

it is also a priority to figure out how financially likely it will be that i can participate in THIS:

PLEEEEEEEASE.

possibilities!!

SO. in addition to whatever trip sean and i take this spring, there is a very real possibility that i may be going to california to see my family! yay! this is my mom's brother and his family.  they've lived in california my entire life, so we really don't see much of them. they have 4 kids, the youngest of which is still six years older than me. 

they live in palo alto, just outside of san francisco. i swear that palo alto is my perfect place. perfect weather, perfect scenery, PERFECT EVERYTHING. without being repulsively perfect. aside from trips into san fran to see my cousins and do tourist things, we usually spend lots of time in p.a. eating, visiting, looking at my aunt's artwork and walking around stanford university.

side note: stanford is MY university. i am a huge fan of anything they do, mostly because it is such a beautiful place. i wish wish wish i had gone there for college. but 1. they don't have an architecture program, and 2. i'm poor.

recently, my uncle and family built a house in carmel-by-the-sea, ca. we had been to their previous vacation home there, and around that time they were putting together plans for building a new one. i'm not sure if we would go down there or not - i guess it all depends on the amount of time we have. but i sure hope we do. it, too, is A-mazing.

side trips from carmel include:

monterey bay (fantastic aquarium with the cutest little sea otters EVER!!!

and big sur. quite possibly one of the most beautiful coasts in the U.S.

and after all of this build-up, i REALLY hope i can go. i think i have the vacation time, so it really depends on flight prices. yesterday, i found a rt ticket for $250. and that's not bad, but if i can get something better, i'm in for sure. 

i have done this trip countless times, and it's amazing how it never gets old. 

i'll send you a postcard :) hopefully.

frustration is setting in...

sean and i have decided on a low-key, sun-filled, beach-themed vacation in april! yay! sounds wonderful right?? well... i'm searching everything i can think of and i cannot believe the kinds of prices i am finding. 

ARE THESE PEOPLE NOT AWARE THAT WE ARE IN A RECESSION!? 

at least offer me some sort of discount, other than "7th night free". seriously. if i could afford to stay for 6 nights, then i HIGHLY doubt i need discounts to stay for another night. 

maybe i've been too ambitious. maybe i've set the bar too high. but is it too much to ask that i find a nice little place for two, that merely serves our simple need for sand and serenity??? yeah, i didn't think so either.