Category Archives: Travel

Spa Time (or A Relaxing Day With My Mom And Sister-In-Law)

Posted on March 5, 2015 | 1 comment

While a majority of my weekend getaway trip was dedicated to wine tasting, we did save Sunday to be a very relaxing day.

When we were planning this trip, the original idea was to go away to a spa retreat sort of place. But we couldn’t find the right type of place for us, so we scrapped that idea. Then, when we decided on wine tasting, we agreed that we would still add a spa element to the trip. The hotel we stayed at had a really great spa, so it worked out perfectly!

Krystle booked a wrap and a massage and my mom and I each booked a massage and facial. All of our spa packages also included lunch!

The spa was located in the building between the building where my room was and the building where Krystle’s room was (all the hotel rooms were in buildings that had 4 rooms each).

Since the spa was only steps away from my room, I decided to not worry about dressing nice and created a “spa outfit” out of workout pants and a hoodie.

After having some breakfast, we headed to the spa to enjoy our midday relaxation.

When we got to the spa and checked in, we headed into the locker room to change into robes and wait for our names to be called for our treatments. The way it all lined up, we all had our first treatments at 11am and our second treatments at noon.

My first treatment was my massage. While I love getting a massage, because my skin is so sensitive it can hurt quite a bit (and leave me super bruised). I always tell the person who is giving me a massage to use super light pressure, but more often than not they don’t do that. And because I’m trying to be polite, I don’t always speak up.

But this time, the technician listened to me and it was wonderful! It was super relaxing and it felt like time flew by! It was also an aromatherapy massage and I was allowed to pick what scents I would like. I didn’t really know what to pick, so it was suggested to have it be lavender and peppermint. That combination smelled like chocolate and it was fabulous!

After my massage, I headed back to the waiting room where I met up with my mom and Krystle again. My mom loved her facial and Krystle loved her wrap. Then it was time for the two of them to each get their massage and for me to get my facial.

Facials are something that I do indulge in a bit more often. With my skin, it’s important for me to stay on top of taking care of it. So I try to get a facial at least once a year (and it doesn’t hurt that I found a fabulous place that only charges $40 for a facial!).

It was a relatively standard facial. Cleansing, exfoliation, mask, extraction, facial massage, and moisturizer. But while the mask was on my face, I also got paraffin wax for my hands (they are still super soft now!). And my skin looked amazing afterward!

When we were all done and changed back into our clothes, we went to a table outside the spa next to the pool and ordered our spa lunch. We all ordered the same thing (lemonade and a turkey wrap) and had a nice relaxing lunch.

After lunch, my mom wanted to go walk around town and do some shopping but Krystle and I wanted to hang out at the pool. So we split up and were going to meet up again before going to dinner.

It’s hard to believe that this is winter in Sonoma (although we did have the crazy hailstorm the day before).

I did enjoy the hot tub, but mainly I enjoyed laying out in the sun being lazy.

After some sun time (and when my skin was starting to turn a little pink despite the SPF 50 I had on), I headed back to my room to shower and dress for dinner.

Our dinner that night was at the steakhouse at the hotel. It was perfect and totally worth not having a steak right after the cleanse ended. It was a delicious steak and while my mom and Krystle enjoyed some red wine, I enjoyed some sparkling wine.

Seriously, this trip was the perfect trip! I may have had some travel delays (5 hours of delays over my 2 flights), but once we were in Sonoma pretty much everything on the trip went off without any issues. Thank you Mom for the trip and I’m so excited to see where we go for our next girls’ getaway!

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Posted in Beauty, Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged mom, Napa, Sonoma, spa, trip, vacation

Wine, Wine, Wine, Wine, and Champagne (or Part Of My Weekend In Napa)

Posted on March 4, 2015 | 3 comments

This past weekend was a fun weekend getaway for me! I went to Napa/Sonoma with my mom and sister-in-law! This trip had been in the works for a while now, and I had been looking forward to it for a long time. Even though I grew up in Northern California, I moved to LA when I was 18 and never went to Napa before. But my mom likes to go there and my brother and sister-in-law go up there at least once a month. So I was in good hands and trusted them to plan an awesome weekend.

I got into SFO very late on Friday, and the three of us headed up to Sonoma where we were staying. Since it was dark out, I didn’t really see too much, but I was very excited to see what was in store for me the next day.

On Saturday, we had a fun full day planned. Also, my best friend Kate was able to drive up and join us for the day! Once Kate got to the hotel, we got into the car and headed to our first appointment of the day: Arrowood.

I had no idea what was going to happen at the tasting, but my sister-in-law had set up a private room for a wine and cheese pairing. Plus, we had an incredible view!

Once we got inside the tasting room, we were given a menu of all the wines, cheeses, and condiments that we would be enjoying.

I’m typically a champagne or white wine drinker, but my sister-in-law really wants me to start liking reds. So I tried everything that was given to me (although I still don’t really like reds yet).

The whites were really good. And the cheeses really did make a difference in how each wine tasted. I had never really done a formal wine tasting before so this was a very cool experience. And I’m glad that my sister-in-law made an appointment for us for a private tasting because the lobby where non-appointment guests had tastes was very crowded and loud.

I didn’t end up purchasing any wine from Arrowood, but Kate and my mom got some.

After that tasting, we went to Benziger where they had a tour of their grounds as well as tastings. We didn’t have an appointment, but a tour was starting right after we got there, so the timing was perfect!

This tour started out by driving around some of the vineyards and the guide explaining on how they made the wine. They do everything on site, and while the grapes weren’t currently growing, it was all beautiful.

After driving around the grounds, we got to go inside one of the caves where they store the barrels of wine.

This was so cool! We learned about the barrel process and how long they have everything aging in the cave.

After touring the caves, we got to taste some of the wines. Again, I liked the white ones but the reds weren’t my favorite.

After those two tastings, we headed into town to have a nice lunch between our tastings. We were in a bit of a rush, but we all ordered things that were able to be made quickly. I had a mushroom truffle flatbread (I figured that would soak up some of my before lunchtime wine).

As we were leaving lunch, the sky started to look funny. And as soon as we were in the car a hailstorm started! It wasn’t too crazy at first, but then the hail got bigger and bigger and the storm didn’t seem to be letting up!

Our last wine stop for the day was Gundlach Bundschu. At this winery we had set up a cave tour and tasting inside the cave. It was still raining when we arrived, but we rushed into the cave to start the tour and tasting.

We learned a bit of history about the winery and then we tasted some of the wines that had already been bottled. But after that, we got to taste some of the wines in the barrels that were still aging!

I probably learned more about wine that day than I have in my entire life! And I think that everyone agrees and also had an amazing time! And I bought a bottle of white wine from that vineyard (my mom will be driving down my way in April so she’s bringing me my wine since I couldn’t put it in my carry on).

After all those tastings, we went out for a fun Italian dinner. Then Kate had to head back home(sadly she couldn’t join us for the entire weekend).

The next day wasn’t a wine tasting day (more on Sunday in tomorrow’s post!), but Monday was another wine day!

On Monday, we had 2 tastings set up. The first was at Duckhorn, where my brother and sister-in-law are members (so they get free tastings!).

It was a bit cold out, but they had heaters on the patio, so we enjoyed a nice tasting outside. And we got a lot of tastings!

There are only 5 of our 7 tastings in that picture! Again, I didn’t love the reds (I gave my tastings to Krystle) but I really enjoyed the white wine! I really liked the tasting at Duckhorn because we got a card for each wine that had some information like the mixture of grapes, aging time, and flavor profiles on it. I might not have loved the tastes of all the wines, but I loved learning more about them!

Then we went to our final wine tasting, and the one that I had been looking forward to the most! We went to Schramsberg for sparkling wine tasting!

This tasting and tour included a cave tour and tasting by candlelight inside the cave! We had been inside a few caves already that weekend, so I thought I knew what to expect. But this cave was so incredible with all the sparkling wine bottles stacked from the ground to the top of the cave!

And since this was on a weekday, the cave was busy with people working there. We saw them take bottles out of the cave to be cleaned and ready for the next steps in the bottling process. But the coolest thing we saw was the drumming of the bottles (I never knew that was a thing before).

We also learned how they get the yeast (which makes the bubbles) out of the bottles without losing the bottles. And that was also in a section of the cave that was floor to ceiling bottles.

Finally, it was time to taste! And the area for the tasting was so beautiful!

Holy moly that sparkling wine was good! I loved all 3 bottles that we tried. 2 of them cost more than $100 (more than I can afford), but we did try a rose that was a much more reasonable price. So I ended up buying a bottle of that. And my mom ended up joining their wine club so I got to take advantage of her new discount.

That was such a perfect note to end the wine tasting weekend on! I had such an amazing time and we’ve already decided that we will be making wine tasting weekends an annual occurrence!

And I haven’t shared what we did on Saturday yet. That will come tomorrow, and that day was amazing as well!

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Posted in Family, Food, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged family, Napa, Sonoma, wine

San Diego Day (or Hanging Out With Family On My Day Off)

Posted on February 18, 2015 | 1 comment

I always have Mondays off from my main day job (I work Tuesday-Saturday). I usually just spend the day getting stuff done around my house or running errands. They tend to be pretty lazy days (except for my workout).

But this past Monday my mom was down in San Diego visiting with my grandparents. Her cousin Karen (who I haven’t seen in over 20 years) was also down in San Diego. So I rearranged my day so I could spend a couple of hours in San Diego with everyone.

After an early workout and showering and dressing, I was on the road by 10:30am. The drive went much better than it has in the past. I was down at my grandparents’ place in 2 hours and arrived a few seconds after my mom and cousin Karen got there from their hotel as well.

Most of the day was spent in my grandparents’ condo just catching up. I hadn’t seen my grandparents’ since Thanksgiving so it was awesome to get to see them again. And my mom was at the tail end of a multi-state trip so she was filling me in on everything that she did. And of course, getting to talk with cousin Karen a lot.

We all went out for Mexican food for dinner. I knew we’d be going out to dinner, so I had planned my meals accordingly and saved a lot of calories for the meal. I also had done some research on good vegetarian options at Mexican restaurants (I still haven’t brought meat back into my diet yet).

I ended up getting Huevos Rancheros. It’s somewhat close to what I would make as a rice bowl at home, just with some eggs. Now that I’m being careful with what I’m eating, I’m realizing how difficult it can be to eat out. I had no control over oil, salt, or any other extras that were added into my meal. So I had to try to guess the nutrition levels of my meal as best as I could. But since I was careful with my breakfast and lunch, I think it was ok to splurge a little on my dinner. And I didn’t have any chips or partake in the pitcher of margaritas that the table got.

After dinner, we all headed back to my grandparents’ place and I got my car so I could head home again. I ended up being in San Diego for just under 7 hours, so that’s a pretty good visit.

The drive home was easy again and I was home in time to get some stuff done in preparation for my work week.

I’m so glad that the timing of things worked out so well for me to have a family day on Monday. My family has always been important to me, but I’ve realized lately that I need to put in a better effort to see my family. Time goes by quickly and I can easily go a few months without going to San Diego to see my grandparents and that’s not good. I might be going down to see them again in 2 months when my parents (and dog) are down there. But I’m still trying to work out the timing for that.

I know that it doesn’t seem like I did a lot on my day trip to San Diego, but just being around my family is such a great way for me to recharge and get ready to kick some butt again in my life.

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Posted in Family, Food, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged family, grandparents, San Diego, visit

What I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals)

Posted on January 1, 2015 | 5 comments

Now that I’ve reflected back on my 2014 goals and how well I accomplished them, I really thought hard about what I want my 2015 goals to be. I think I’ve got a good list going for this year and I’m excited to see how well I get them done over the next year.

My first goal is workout related. I want to get 175 workouts done in 2015. That’s pretty much 3-4 workouts every week of the year. I’m not allowing myself workout vacation time (even though my dad did suggest it). I’m sure a majority of the 175 workouts will be at Orangetheory. I have every intention of going at least 3 times a week (and trying to add in a 4th day every other week). But I’m also going to include any 5Ks that I chose to do this year as well as other fitness classes (SoulCycle and maybe trying yoga again). I will also consider including hiking, but I don’t think I’ll have a lot of hiking days except when I get to Tahoe in the summer.

My next goal is a food goal. I want to have home cooked dinners at least 4 times a week. Since I started bulk cooking, I’ve been eating something home cooked most weeknights. I usually prepare food for 4 nights and then on weekends I’m out. And many times on Tuesdays or Thursdays (when I don’t workout after my day job) I don’t necessarily eat dinner. I’ll have a big late breakfast (since my shift doesn’t start until 10am) and then have another bigger meal around 4 or 5pm. Both of those meals are home cooked, but I don’t know if it counts as dinner. So I’m saying home cooked dinners 4 nights a week. If I do more than that, all the better for me.

Next is a day job goal. I want to be down to 2 main day jobs (not counting babysitting or running the film festival). Right now, I have 1 main day job and 6 sporadic jobs. I don’t make enough each week (to the point that I’m still collecting unemployment to make up for the fact that I don’t make enough to not be eligible anymore) and this needs to end. I’m enjoying my box office from home job and if I made enough doing that job I’d be so happy. But I don’t think that will be a reality even with the raise we are supposed to get this year. And while I love being able to make some extra money babysitting, I don’t see that as something that will make enough to make up for what I’m lacking. So I need to find one more steady day job that has regular hours to help me make enough to pay all my bills comfortably. There is a chance to make the film festival another main day job, but there is no guarantee with that.

And I’ve made this a goal in the past, but I really want to get into an improv class this year. I think that now that I feel secure with my day job and have a steady schedule with it, I will be able to pick out a class time that will work for me. I’m working on saving up the money for the class right now.

Again, another repeat goal from last year, but I’d like to travel again this year. I have a trip to Napa planned in 2 months and I’m really looking forward to that. And there is a possibility of another New York trip in the fall this year. I don’t know if I’ll have any other trips (besides visiting my parents or grandparents) but 2 trips in one year sounds wonderful to me!

And my final goal which is a goal every year is to keep blogging. Not just on here, but on other sites as well. I freelance on two blogs and I’ve written a few guest posts on other sites. I had no idea when I started this blog how important and therapeutic writing would become for me. It’s an amazing journal of the past few years of my life and I love going back and reading some of my old posts to remind me how far I’ve come. And I can’t wait to track 2015 the same way.

So those are my main goals for 2015. And in a year, I’ll let you all know how I did with them.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Travel, Weight Loss, Work

Tagged 2015, 5K, acting, blogging, bulk cooking, goals, job, Orangetheory, resolutions, travel

Reflecting Back On 2014 (or How I Did With My Goals)

Posted on December 31, 2014 | 1 comment

I can’t believe that 2014 is ending! It really seems like it was just a month or two ago that I was posting my goals for this year.

I just want to take some time and reflect on my year and the goals that I had set out for myself.

I really felt like 2014 was a rebuilding year for me and my family. While 2013 did have some great moments, there were also a lot of sad and stressful ones. I think of 2013 as the year that Ross and Krystle got married, that my mom was diagnosed with cancer, and my family lost two dogs. While we did technically adopt Tucker right before New Year’s Eve last year, I think of 2014 as the year he joined our family.

In 2014, so many positives happened for my family. Adopting Tucker was a big one, but the biggest was my mom being declared cancer-free. Knowing that she is ok (even though we all knew that she would be in the beginning) really has taken so much stress out of my life. I know that there are still some stressful times ahead with making sure that she stays cancer-free (and now I have annual mammograms to worry about too), but knowing that it’s all good right now just makes me so happy.

This was also a rebuilding year for me as far as my health goes. I have finally connected with a workout in a way that I had hoped for. And very recently I’ve been getting my food in a better place too. This isn’t to say that I don’t have days where I seriously struggle, but I’m taking more and more steps in the right direction.

So let’s take a look back at my goals from last year and see how I did with them.

My first goal was to continue to do 5Ks. I did 3 this year. And while that is much less than the year prior, I’m ok with that. I don’t love doing 5Ks as much as I want to, but the few races that I did do are ones that I look forward to a lot. I also got a new PR which I am very excited about!

My next goal was to make spin a regular habit. This did not happen. I stopped going to SoulCycle a while ago because I have replaced it with Orangetheory. I’m planning on going back next year every so often to spin, but I really wanted to focus on Orangetheory during the second half of this year. But since I did make exercise a regular habit, I’m declaring this goal as a partial success.

Next on my list was to track my food/exercise better. I’m still using MyFitnessPal to track my food every day. I’m much happier tracking it when I’m making smart choices. And as far as tracking my exercise, I think I’m doing pretty great at that too. It makes it easy to track my exercise in MyFitnessPal when Orangetheory tells me exactly how many calories I’m burning in each workout.

The next goal I had set was to get into an improv class. I failed to do this goal. I had every intention of getting started at UCB this year. I even purchased the book that all students are required to read. But I think the lack of stability with my job got to me. When I thought I knew when a class would fit into my schedule I would lose my job and everything changed. I’m feeling pretty stable with my current day job, but I’m still looking for something else to help me make enough each month. Once that stability is set, I think I can look into class again.

Next was pay down my debt and not add more. While I did pay down some of the debt, it was impossible to not add more this year. With some expenses having to be put on a credit card, there was no way to not add to it. But when I did have those expenses, I tried to pay off exactly what I spent by the time the bill came around.

Then I had the goal of going on another vacation. While I did go to visit my parents, those don’t seem to feel like vacations to me. They seem like getting to have family time. That’s probably because I’m either visiting them at the house I grew up in or I’m at their place in Tahoe. But I did get to go on a fabulous trip to New York with my sister-in-law this past spring. That trip was amazing and we are planning to try to go to New York again in the coming year.

My final goal for 2014 was to continue blogging. While some days are tough to come up with a topic to write about, I have maintained posting a new post Monday-Friday every week of this year. That’s a lot of posts!

All in all, even though I didn’t complete all of my goals, I think that I did a great job in trying to do them all. I’ll post my goals for 2015 tomorrow.

I hope that you all have an amazing New Year’s Eve tonight! If you chose to drink, please don’t drive. Take a taxi/Uber/Lyft to get home. Or you can call AAA for a Tipsy Tow.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Family, Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff, Travel, Weight Loss, Work

Tagged 5K, blogging, breast cancer, cancer, debt, goals, New Years, Orangetheory, recap, resolutions, vacation

A Family-Filled Thanksgiving (or 4 Generations In One Place)

Posted on December 3, 2014 | 1 comment

Thanksgiving Day was a family day pretty much from start to finish. The day began with my dad, brother, aunt, and I going to Orangetheory for our workout. It turns out that while we were working out, my mom took Tucker for a walk to Orangetheory and watched us sweat our butts off. None of us saw her or the dog because we were so focused on the workout, but we did see them walking back up the hill as we were coming home (Tucker was tired of the hill so he jumped in the car to catch a ride up).

My mom did a lot of prep work for Thanksgiving in the days and weeks leading up to it, so on the day it wasn’t as much prep time needed as cooking time. The turkey got into the oven quickly and then Tucker discovered the best place to take a nap in the entire house.

While the turkey and various sides were cooking in the oven, a bunch of us decided to take advantage of the gorgeous day we were having in San Diego.

I enjoyed lots of reading time in the shade with my dad while my cousin’s kids hung out in the pool.

After some time in the sunshine, we headed inside for appetizers. We had a couple of different things out, included the feta dip I made. My mom thinks that I did a better job that she does, and while I don’t agree with that I’m happy that everyone enjoyed the dip!

We enjoyed eating some chips and dips and spending time catching up with one another while dinner was finishing up.

I love this photo of my grandma and my cousin’s daughter Annabelle.

We had another incredible sunset that evening and I got a nice family photo of my parents, my brother, and I in the backyard of the rental house.

Before we knew it, the turkey was done and it looked amazing!

My cousin Adam was in charge of carving it because he always does a great job. And while he was carving it, Tucker realized that being next to the turkey was the place to be. And while he was hoping for some scraps to fall, I realized that Dante did the exact same thing at the last Thanksgiving I got to spend with him.

I think the turkey looked like something out of a magazine after Adam carved it.

All the food was set out in the kitchen for us to take and we got started on making our plates.

The rental house had a large enough dining room that we could all sit in the same room together. We pushed 2 tables together to create one long table and it was perfect.

The food was delicious and getting to spend time like that with my family was perfect.

After dinner, we all went into the living room to take a family photo. We were missing my cousin John and my sister-in-law, but to have this many members of my family together in one place is rare and we had to get a picture.

That’s 4 generations of the Fry family in that photo. I love how even Tucker is smiling!

After the family photo, my cousin Stephie, her husband Clay, and I went out to go see the new Hunger Games movie. This has become a tradition for the 3 of us to do and it’s something that I look forward to a lot. When we got to the theater, we had a while to wait before the movie. But there was some Christmas stuff up already so Stephie and I decided to do a little photo shoot.

When we got into the theater, the set up was similar to the theater I saw “The Theory Of Everything” in. They didn’t have waiters to bring you food or drinks, but we all got recliners!

The recliners might have been a bad thing for my cousin, though. She kept falling asleep in the beginning of the movie. But she went out and got some popcorn and that perked her up right away!

We all loved the movie and we have next year’s movie to look forward to.

Overall, this might have been the best Thanksgiving ever. There was no craziness and all the food was amazing. And I got to pretty much spend the entire day with my whole family. We all agreed that this year was pretty perfect. And we are looking at getting the same rental house for next year since it fit our family so well.

I know that I’m so lucky that I get the chance like this to be with my extended family and that we are all so close to one another. We don’t get to see each other too often so we try to take advantage of the time we have together each year at Thanksgiving.

I hope that all of you got to spend your Thanksgiving exactly the way you wanted to.

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged family, movies, Orangetheory, San Diego, Thanksgiving

First Half Of Thanksgiving (or Hanukkah Gifts And Birthdays)

Posted on December 2, 2014 | Comments Off

Thanksgiving this year was held in San Diego. That’s where my grandparents live, and it’s easier for the rest of us to travel to them than for them to travel to another location. I only had Thanksgiving Day off from my box office job, but I had shortened hours the day before and after. So I figured I could work from the house that my mom rented for us and spend a couple of days with my family.

I started my drive right after my work shift ended on Tuesday. It should have been just before rush hour started, but the traffic was horrible the second I got onto the freeway.

What should have been a 2 hour drive ended up being over 4 hours (I have a history of that drive taking a long time). But I was better for me to be stuck in traffic but making progress than to be sitting at home waiting for the traffic to die down.

When I got to the rental house, my parents were there along with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle (my aunt, uncle, and cousin were also staying at the rental house with us). My brother arrived shortly after (he flew in to San Diego but my sister-in-law had to stay in San Francisco and work). We spent some time catching up as a family and then my aunt and uncle drove my grandparents back to their place.

While it was just my parents and my brother, I decided that it was the perfect time to give them the Hanukkah presents I brought with me. My brother got a gift that was from me, my parents, and my sister-in-law and my dad got a gift that was from me, my mom, my brother, and my sister-in-law. They both got awesome (and pricey) gifts so they were group gifts.

For my dad, we all chipped in and got him a custom chair and foot rest that is made from old skis. It’s being made right now and hopefully my dad will get it sometime this month. It’s going to be for Tahoe, and my mom had to do some spy work and measuring to make sure it would fit there. But it will and I can’t wait until it’s delivered so my dad can enjoy it!

And for my brother, we all chipped in and got him a GoPro. He loves to do videos while he is snowboarding and he usually makes my dad film him. But this way, he can do the videos himself. And from the look on his face when he opened the gift, I think he loves it.

As for my mom, I got her a gift certificate for Shutterfly. She’s going to be getting a new iPhone soon and she likes to make custom photo cases. I would have loved to have made a case for her, but I don’t know what phone she is getting. So this way, when she upgrades her phone, she can make the case that she wants.

After presents, we sat around and relaxed. I was trying to hang out with Tucker, but clearly he was missing my brother more than me and I was getting ignored.

I don’t mind too much. Ross gets to see Tucker pretty often where as I have only seen him a handful of times.

The next day was a relaxing family day. My cousin Adam arrived in San Diego and all of us spent most of the day hanging around the house and enjoying the view.

I had to work in the morning, but I set up my laptop and phone in the kitchen so I could still be a part of the conversation. Fortunately, it was a very quiet day at work. We also made a quick trip to the dog park for Tucker to burn off some of his energy.

That evening had such a wonderful sunset and we were spoiled with an amazing view.

And once the sun was down, it was time for us to head out to dinner. We celebrate my grandma’s birthday on the evening before Thanksgiving. We went to an Italian restaurant that we go to as a family often as they have a private room that is the perfect size for us.

At the restaurant, my other aunt and my cousin and her family were there. It was great to see my cousin, her husband, and her 3 kids again. I hadn’t seen them since last year and all of her kids are so much bigger! I got to sit next to her son, Dalton, at dinner. And he kept me pretty entertained with all of his stories and craziness.

And of course, there was cake for my grandma.

After dinner, we headed back to the rental house so we could get some sleep to be ready for Thanksgiving the next day. I can’t wait to share with you tomorrow how Thanksgiving went. It really has become one of my favorite family memories ever.

Comments Off on First Half Of Thanksgiving (or Hanukkah Gifts And Birthdays)

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged birthday, grandparents, Hanukkah, presents, San Diego, Thanksgiving

Working Out In A New Location (or Thanksgiving Calorie Burns)

Posted on December 1, 2014 | Comments Off

This past week of workouts were dedicated to preparing for and recovering from Thanksgiving (recap of my holiday to come soon!).

Monday was a usual workout for me at Orangetheory. I was at my usual class, and while it was tough, it’s wasn’t too horrible. The Monday Challenge was how many burpees you can do in a minute. I am not a fan of burpees at all. But I really wanted to make it to the double digits for the challenge. Some how, even though I was exhausted from the workout, I was able to do 11. Not good enough to be on the leaderboard, but definitely good enough for me.

I didn’t have a workout on Wednesday because I left for my Thanksgiving adventure on Tuesday after work. But I did have a Thanksgiving morning workout.

My dad and I had previously talked about doing a 5K on Thanksgiving morning, but that seemed to be too early in the morning and not as fun to do. But when I found out that not only is my Orangetheory membership good for any location in the country but there was a Orangetheory less than a mile from the house we were renting in San Diego, we knew what our Thanksgiving morning would be.

My Aunt Cindy wanted to check out the workout as well. And somehow my dad and I convinced my brother that he had to come with us too (peer/family pressure at its best).

So on Thanksgiving morning, the 4 of us drove to the La Jolla Orangetheory (we would have walked, but the rental house was on the top of a giant hill and we didn’t want to have to walk up it after the workout).

The setup inside was a little different, but still somewhat familiar to me. My dad knew what he was in for since he has been to a class before. My aunt and brother seemed a little overwhelmed with it all.

Once the class before ours was done, we headed inside to claim our treadmills. My aunt and brother got a quick lesson on the different pieces of workout equipment and then we were ready to start.

This workout was a 3G one, which means that there were 3 groups of people working out instead of the usual 2. And we rotated around the room a lot. There were 9 rotations total, each rotation lasting about 6 minutes. I was able to follow along with it all pretty easily, but my aunt and brother were a little lost (our coach was tough to hear and it was a bit confusing which group he was instructing). But I was happy to help them know what was next in the workout.

My dad kicked butt (as expected) and so did my aunt. My brother did a great job, even though he did confess to me on the rowing machines that he threw up a little. But after the workout, the proof of everyone’s hard work was on the screens.

My brother had a perfect pyramid for his workout, which is what the goal is for everyone. My chart wasn’t so good, but I realized once the workout had started that I had forgotten to share an important piece of information with the La Jolla location. I have a low heart rate and my heart rate monitor had to be recalibrated to show that. I forgot to share that with the La Jolla location so my heart rate monitor was set for the higher heart rate. So according to their screen, I never made it into the orange zone, but knowing what I usually have, I know I did.

And of course, we had to get a post-workout photo as a group with our coach.

It felt great to burn some calories before indulging in all the yummy Thanksgiving foods. My dad and brother have agreed with me that this will be our new Thanksgiving tradition. I think my aunt will join us too, and maybe we can convince a few more family members to come next year.

My last workout of the week was back in LA on Saturday. It was a run/row workout (which are my favorites since I don’t love the treadmill) and my butt was totally kicked in class. My coach on Saturday was Brendon, who owns the LA location, and he really is great at pushing you to new limits. I was dripping with sweat when I was done, but it was worth it. This workout was the first one where I had a perfect pyramid on the graph, and Brendon even called me out for having a perfect workout!

So far in the challenge for new shoes, I’ve done most of the tasks. I still need to bring 3 guests in before the 17th (anyone down for a free workout?) and I’ve done 6 out of the 15 workouts needed. I’ll be doing 4 more this week so I’ll be close to the free shoes after this week!

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Posted in Family, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged Orangetheory, San Diego, Thanksgiving, workout

Pre-Thanksgiving Pampering (or Trying To Get Everything Done)

Posted on November 21, 2014 | Comments Off

Thanksgiving is pretty much here already. That’s insane! I’ll be heading to San Diego this year to join my family, and before I go I have so much stuff to get done!

I have some of my usual craziness, but for some reason this upcoming weekend is one of the most packed weekends of the year for me. And besides getting things packed before I drive, I have some food and crafts to finish up (I’ll post about those during Thanksgiving week).

But yesterday after work, I realized that if I wanted to get any of the beauty things done that I wanted to do, it was my last chance before I drive down.

So as soon as work was done for me at 3pm, I hopped in my car and drove to Brentwood where the Benefit store is that I get my eyebrows done at. Fortunately, you make appointments online so I knew that I would get in when I needed to.

Getting my brows done pretty much feels like maintenance to me. I’ve been getting them done since I was 14. And when I don’t get them done, I have a pretty bad unibrow. But at least at Benefit they try to make it fun. They always do a little makeup for you before you leave and while you are waiting there is a ton of makeup to look at and play with.

I actually needed to purchase a few things, and I found that they had a holiday gift pack that was cheaper than the 2 things I needed. So I got what I needed plus a little extra (some of which I will be giving to my mom).

After my brows were done, I got back into my car and drove about 20 blocks to the nail salon. I had also made an appointment for my pedicure (I don’t like doing walk ins anymore because you never know if they can get you in or not). I hadn’t had a pedicure since before my birthday and the blister on my foot is healing very nicely. So I figured I was due and wanted cute toes for Thanksgiving (although I’ve realized since that all the shoes I will be packing are closed toe).

When it’s wintertime and I get a pedicure, I try to go for some out there colors. I’ve done yellow and various neons before, but this time I found a really cute icy blue that seemed perfect for winter.

Now that I feel beautiful and girly again (it’s funny how getting your eyebrows done and a pedicure can make you feel like you got a total makeover), I’m superficially ready for Thanksgiving. This weekend will be some shopping trips and getting things prepared for my drive as soon as I’m done with work on Tuesday.

The countdown to the major family event of the year is on!

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Posted in Beauty, Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged beauty, Benefit, eyebrow, makeup, pedicure, waxing

San Diego Weekend (or Spending Time At A Hobbit House)

Posted on September 9, 2014 | Comments Off

This past weekend my grandparents celebrated their 67th anniversary. My parents were going to be in San Diego with them and they invited my sister-in-law and I to come down too (my brother is currently working in Africa so he couldn’t make it).

Everyone else got there on Friday, but I had to work on Saturday morning. So I headed down after my short shift on Saturday morning (fortunately, my drive was much less crazy than my last trip to San Diego). I got down there around 2pm and headed to my grandparents’ place first.

We all visited there for a little bit and then we headed to the dog park nearby so Tucker could get some playtime. I didn’t take any pictures there because I was more concerned about not getting knocked over by the dogs there (there were a lot and they were all running around like crazy). It was very hot but we were able to find some shade so we all sat there and watched all the dogs having fun (my grandparents really seemed to enjoy the dog park too).

Next, we headed to the rental house my parents got for the weekend. My mom warned me ahead of time that it was a little bizarre, but that doesn’t even begin to describe it.

We all referred to it as the hobbit house. Each section of the house was its own pod/hut. When you walked in the front gate, to the left of you was the pod that had the master bedroom and bathroom. To the right was the pod that had the living room, kitchen, and second bathroom. Through the backyard and up some outdoor stairs was the second bedroom where Krystle and I slept. Yes, that meant for us to use the bathroom to get ready for bed, we had to leave our room, walk outside and down some stairs, through the patio area and then into the house.

It was seriously weird, but I was only staying there for one night so it wasn’t a big deal.

That evening, my mom and dad made a steak dinner for all of us (which included my grandparents and my aunt). We just had a relaxing dinner and caught up on each other’s lives.

Then we moved over to the outdoor patio was and my dad build a fire in the outdoor fireplace.

A little while later, my aunt took my grandparents back to their place and my parents, Krystle, and I all decided it was time to go to bed. Krystle and I chatted a bit at night discussing our next New York trip and how weird this house was.

Overall, it was a great afternoon and evening in San Diego and I was excited to spend the next day with my grandparents as that was their actual anniversary.

Comments Off on San Diego Weekend (or Spending Time At A Hobbit House)

Posted in Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged anniversary, dinner, rental, San Diego

Category Archives: Travel

Spa Time (or A Relaxing Day With My Mom And Sister-In-Law)

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Wine, Wine, Wine, Wine, and Champagne (or Part Of My Weekend In Napa)

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San Diego Day (or Hanging Out With Family On My Day Off)

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What I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals)

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Reflecting Back On 2014 (or How I Did With My Goals)

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A Family-Filled Thanksgiving (or 4 Generations In One Place)

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First Half Of Thanksgiving (or Hanukkah Gifts And Birthdays)

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Working Out In A New Location (or Thanksgiving Calorie Burns)

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Pre-Thanksgiving Pampering (or Trying To Get Everything Done)

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San Diego Weekend (or Spending Time At A Hobbit House)

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