Aloha 30

In celebration of my 30th year, my mom invited me to join her and Sam on their annual summer trip - this year, it just happened to be in Hawaii. 

Now if you know me, you know that Hawaii is my ultimate. I am a beach girl through and through. You give me a towel, a book and some sunscreen (and maybe a mimosa or two) and color me a happy (and tan) girl. There, of course, was slight hesitation on my part - I'd just gotten back from London and hadn't been to Iceland yet and my travel funds were quickly depleting (oh wait, that would mean I saved, I mean growing at a rapid pace) but it was HAWAII aka PARADISE. My mom was offering the present of a flight and a place to stay (!!!) so I just had one last question - can Lauren join? The minute she said of course, I was out bikini shopping.

We arrived in Kona (coolest airport ever, all open space) the morning of June 21 after a long (and cold!) flight over from Vegas. After a slight hiccup at the rental car place, we headed to Lava Java to fill ourselves with Kona Coffee (the best!) and croissant sandwiches. Off to the beach from there for Lauren and me which (no surprise) is where we spent the majority of our time. We've always been the best of beach buddies (hence the immediate request to bring her along) and for us, this was Nirvana.

That night, our very first night, we were welcomed with a Luau which I just ATE UP. Apparently, you give me a few Mai Tais and put a fire thrower in front of me and I am just giddy. The Kalua Pork was delicious and the hula girls were sooooo beautiful! A perfect start to our week in Hawaii.

On Monday, I went with my parents to Hawai'i's National Volcano Park where we saw an active volcano, devastation trail and a lava tube. I was surprised how much of Kona reminded me of Iceland - with all of the lava, they looked similar (although I much prefer Hawaii's weather to Iceland's!). The lava tube was my first underground cave so that was definitely the highlight for me. Sam, my biologist stepfather, was fascinated by the volcano though, so it was a good day trip for all.

Tuesday was our trip up to Waipio Valley where we rode horseback through the rain forest. Camel the Horse was my ride as we trekked through trails, water and took in the views. An absolutely amazing experience that I would highly recommend if visiting the Big Island. I even saw my first pink lotus (and dream treehouse!).

Wednesday, Lauren and I spent some time at the beach where we made friends with sea turtles before hustling back to the hotel to grab Sam before our Manta Ray Night Snorkel. Audrey (PY) had shared with me, when I told her about our plans to visit Hawaii, that the Manta Ray Dive was one of the most magical things she'd ever seen so this was top on my list of things to do and it did not disappoint. Even with a slight asthma attack in the beginning (I suppose I should have said that I'd had a snorkel mask on my face, once, six years ago, for about 15 minutes in Newport Beach while on vacation with my ex and his family rather than I've snorkeled!), it was up there with seeing the Northern Lights for me. We started with an evening snorkel to see all the coral reef and colorful fishies, we even swam above some dolphins! This snorkel lasted about an hour and I'm glad we did it so I could get the asthma attack out of the way before we got in the dark sea after the sun went down for the manta ray portion. We were on the (small) boat for about an hour between the dives - which wasn't ideal since it was cold and rocky but we learned a lot about the mantas and heard some really cheesy jokes. Come sundown, we got back in to our wetsuits (awful awful awful) and were back in the water. This time, there were about 80 other people in the water (it's the #1 night dive in the world and one of the top ten snorkel experiences). We saw five mantas that night with the largest being Koie, a 12-foot female weighing in at about 1200 lbs. It was such an incredible experience to be that close to sea life - I could have chest bumped with Koie at one point, she was that close to me. The photos below are from our actual dive because I'm the sucker that spends $52 immediately following the experience to get the video and photos I wasn't able to capture.

The rest of the trip was really spent lounging on the beach with Lauren (our secret beach and Hapuna were our favorites), taking in the GORGEOUS Kona sunsets, drinking Mai Tais (thanks, Don's!) and eating delicious meals with my family. One thing we were really surprised about was the lack of fresh fish to be found in Kona (apparently the poke is all the rage but I'm not a raw girl) - but one night, Pep went searching and found us some fresh Ono and per my request, put some parmesan crust on that bad boy and that, with a side of rice and some fresh green beans, was the best meal I had there. #homecookin

Come Friday, we did not want to pack our bags but come to find out, you can't stay in Paradise forever. Even though Lauren and I tried coming up with ideas while we were there - for the record, and more, I still think "Kinda Watchin' Your Kids, LLC" still has a ring to it.

Aloha!

Hello, 2010.

If you know me, you know that I take New Year's pretty freakin' seriously. Not nearly as seriously as June 7th but seriously enough that I had poor little Linzi freaking out on the drive back to her house NYE thinking we weren't going to make it in time. "I just cannot be in the car at midnight. I'll freak out without champagne."

Yeah, this is one of two days a year that I'll accept it if you call me high maintenance.

A few years ago, I decided that I liked being out of town to celebrate the New Year. Vegas is like the second destination for celebrating but as a local, it gets pretty overwhelming and you can't drive anywhere. So the past few years have been spent at cabins - Brianhead, Lauren's Mt. Charleston - so we kept with the theme this year and headed out to Denver (Pine, CO to be exact) to visit the Wicklers in their new house.
It was here that we toasted to 2010.

This photo just gets me every time because Lauren just happened to make another 2010 toast at the exact moment I was trying to capture the Wicklers' New Years kiss. Totally typical of us.


The trip was great. We spent the first day (NYE day) meeting Andy (cousin) and Michael (Linzi's brother) for lunch and then we headed to Bakers St. Pub for some mid-day beer and darts. By 7 p.m., the excitement of New Years had already gotten ahead of me and I was forced to drink water (HOW AWFUL!) to sober up before the big night. The evening consisted of a house party hosted by Linzi's family and then a champagne midnight toast (see Linzi, we totally made it back in time, everything is fine!) at the Wicklers followed by a few hours of Cranium and lots and lots of LOLs.

New Year's Day was spent RECOVERING with my good friends from JERSEY SHORE. I can't think of a better way to spend the first day of the year than watching The Situation and Pauly D fist pump and watching Snooki get punched out for the 15th time. That evening we headed to a Mexican restaurant for margaritas and dinner and then out to the Denver Botanic Gardens where for $1 you can purchase 3-D glasses that change all the lights into bells, snowflakes, snowmen, etc. This made for some GREAT photo ops.



Saturday brought something I never thought I would LIVE TO SEE THE DAY. You guys, this is a photo of Lauren and I on the way to the mountain to SNOWBOARD.

Say WHA?!? I know, I know. I was shocked too but what was NOT shocking was what a natural she is. After just two runs she's like "Sure, I'll go to the top." It took me like THREE years to get to that point and then she was riding her TOE EDGE. This girl just OWNS everything she puts her mind to. This is why she is AND MORE. But seriously, to be at Keystone with Andy, Linzi, Josh and Lauren...have I mentioned how awesome I think 2010 is?!?


Then it took us 5.5 hours to get back to the house from the mountain but we kept ourselves well entertained with a game or 65 of 'Would You Rather' (there is an app for that).

So far, so good. I'm totally feeling this whole TWENTY TEN thing. And with Lisa Marie arriving tonight for a Vegas weekend...it's just going to keep getting better.

Life's a Beach

Beginning last Wednesday, June 10...the above photo became my new home. Lobo, Double L and myself traveled down to Florida for the wedding of Miss Nicole Vier to Mr. Stevie Westlake. The best part about this blog is that it can be told mostly through pictures. Let's start with the travel day.

Travel Day: Lauren and I took a red eye out. Our flight left Vegas at 1 a.m., we then had a two-hour layover in Houston and finally arrived to Florida at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. This was to be cost efficient and to not have to lose any beach time if necessary. We were like zombies but at least my outfit was awesome.
Yeah, I am pretty much Posh Spice when I travel.

Day One: Still, this is technically Wednesday but since that photo already stole the show, I'm giving the rest of them a clean slate. We had lunch with Bookie (that would be the bride) and promptly changed into our swimsuits to hit the beach. This was not before we checked into our humble aboade. Now, you should know something about The Seahorse Cottages. First off, the biggest JACKASS in the world runs it. They consist of five broke-down-ass cabins that happen to sit right on the beach. This means that people will stay there no matter what. The guy puts absolutely no care into the place what-so-ever, he basically is just waiting for the Hiltons to come and offer him a pretty penny for his land so he can peace the f out. The only thing this douche bag, Kevin, has going for him (besides the prime beach location), is his handyman Johnny Steel Depp. THE NICEST GUY EVER. But, I digress, Bookie had gotten us a CRAZY deal to stay there since the whole wedding party was there for the whole week and we were bringing this guy more business than he had seen since the turn of the century. $392 for the week. On the beach. Sold. Wait, is that a cockroach? It's Ok...it's Florida...there are going to be bugs. Wait, are those fleas? Um...let's spray? This was how the first three days went of our trip. At night we would have to get SO WASTED just so we could pass out in the bed without thinking about all the creepy crawling things that were keeping us company. After staying in this place, we got a whole new meaning to "Don't let the bed bugs bite." So if you Googled "Seahorse Cottages" in Treasure Island, FL like I tried to do so many times before we booked the room, here is some advice....DO NOT STAY THERE. And if you must, request cabin 4 or 5. Now, some pretty pictures from Day One.

Day Two: Dr. Lindsay HotBuns arrives. Beach. Kill bugs. Beach. Eat. Sleep. Drink. Beach. Beautiful Sunset. Drink. John's Pass and Pizza. Go for a midnight dip in the ocean with the wedding party. Kill bugs. Drink. Sleep.

Day Three: Sleep until NOON. Eat. Beach. Kill bugs. Drink. Barbecue. Start regularly corresponding with SBC. Fall more in love with being 26. Drink. Kill bugs. Sleep. And don't worry about the photo below of me flipping off my BFF...I'm pretty sure she had just told me that Kevin, the jackass that owns the Seahorse Cottages was my boyfriend. Or I was just trying to get a good picture. Either way, it worked.

Day Four: WEDDING DAY. Now let me just tell you that I have known Stevie and Nicole for about eight years now. I have watched them be together and break-up and talk about how much they love each other and for awhile there, they just seemed to be star-crossed. But a few years ago, they threw caution to the wind, basically said F It and up and moved to Florida together. This was the first time I had seen her in two years and it was like it hadn't even been two weeks. Those are the best kinds of friends. And the best kind of wedding is the kind when you can TRULY see and feel the love between two people. When you are watching two friends exchange their vows, knowing how long they've waited to say those words to one another and you actually feel privileged to be there to witness history in the making. I know, cheesy but sometimes it is just necessary. Bookie did a beautiful job of putting this shindig together and you really couldn't beat the scenery. Plus Keith, the father of the bride, was mixing us up some deliciously strong beverages. The soldiers that we are, Lauren and I went out for drinks with Ann and Jake afterwards and pretended to watch the UFC fight. Oh, what is that? You want to see the photos from the wedding? Ok, but brace yourself. This one looks like it's straight out of Vanity Fair.

I know, I know....they are a sickeningly beautiful couple. But if it makes you feel any better, they deserve every piece of it. And yes, the cake was delicious.

Day 5: Recover. Pizza for breakfast! Rays game. Italian dinner. The only alcohol-free day of the trip. To bed early. But not before we stopped by THE DRUM CIRCLE. Apparently, every Sunday night from 6-10 p.m. a BUNCH of people get together and beat some drums. Now, when I heard of this earlier in the week, I thought 'hm, that could be cool.' I had NO idea what an actual...let me put it this way, it was LEGIT. With glow sticks. But I shouldn't have even mentioned that part because I don't want to take away from the authenticity of this drum circle. I wanted to pick up a tambourine so hard. Instead, I took photos.

Day 6 and 7: were spent ALL DAY ON THE BEACH. I was soooo relaxed that I didn't even pick up a camera. Oh and as a bonus, since we were on the Gulf side, the temperature of the water was approximately 84 degrees. Glorious. The only thing Lobo and I did do those days were hunt for seashells. It became a sickness, in fact but there will be some awesome art projects to come out of it.

This really was the ultimate vacation, I didn't drive a car or wear shoes for seven days. I don't even mind that I'll be dumping sand out of my belongings for the next six weeks. Special thanks to Bookie and Stevie for being great hosts, for Keith and Carol for bringing the laughs, for the fleas for not coming home with us and to my BFFs who made it a summer trip I'll never forget :)