A Visit to the Past? Why, Yes, It Is

I'll freely admit this is a repost of last year's Spring Break. Only because I have not gotten to our insanely wonderful Spring Break trip this year. Enjoy! And if you're anywhere near Pismo Beach in California, you won't regret visiting Sycamore Springs.

For a rundown of the whole trip and links to other activities from our vacation, go here.

Our first day in Pismo Beach we hit up the natural mineral springs hot tubs in Avila Beach at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort. Brando had the brilliant idea of splurging on massages beforehand. Generally they have you use the hot tubs beforehand, but because we were headed to dinner afterwards and Brando wanted to make sure we could rinse the massage off, he insisted we use them afterwards. Fortunately, Ashley (oh I hope that's her name!) at Sycamore Mineral Springs was kind enough to make sure we would have one afterwards as she knew they were not booked at all for the Friday afternoon.

We arrived for our massages and entered the cute little gift shop area,

and then through a walkway to our massage area. We were met in the lobby by Ashley and sent back to change in the lush bathrooms.

Once changed into our robes we headed to our beautiful private couples massage room.

I love the details adorning the door handles.

The entire grounds surrounding the massage room were stunning.

Inside the rooms you could hear the birds tweeting outside.The ceilings were open at one time when the rooms were private jacuzzi rooms and now have gorgeous wood covering them giving them an open airy feeling. The black curtain appears to be used to separate the two massage tables.After our fantastic massages (wish I could remember the names of the masseuses),

we headed straight up to our private outdoor natural mineral springs jacuzzi. The walk itself was lush green, and gorgeous. When we got to our stairs that had the sign directing us to our hot tub,

I absolutely LOVEd that we had a private little walkway to our very own hot tub.

The views of the other hot tubs through the trees was beautiful.

Once we got to our own little place (as you can see, I couldn't be bothered to stop walking to take the picture, thus the blur of action)

we were relieved to see no one could be looking down on us from above.

Brando hopped in right away.

An hour or so of soaking,

taking fun photos,

and taking in the beauty surrounding us, we leisurely headed back to the main shop area to walk around.

We had seen a purple tree orchard and a sign for a labyrinth on the way in, so now was the perfect time to check it out before the sun set.

The labyrinth was mesmerizing.

Yes, I attempted to walk it, but gave up after the first 5 minutes as were on our way to dinner to see my childhood best friend. The purple tree orchard was my priority any way, with it's gorgeous blossoms and volcanic mountains in the background.

Stunning. I love how relaxed my smile looked and felt after the massages and soak.

Sunday Fun Day

Yesterday, Brando and I attended the Austin Monthly Bridal Bash with my girlfriend and her fiancee.

Side note: How hot is my husband? He's prepping for surgery for his sinuses and has been taking Prednisone to prep (an awful drug along with 90% of drugs in my opinion, but him being able to smell again for the first time in eight years has balanced out my worries) which has completely cleared up his sinuses and has even made his face look different - less swollen and puffed up.

I was sort of expecting a Tribeza type bridal event like Brando and I are used to and were so inspired by, but I'm sad to say it was nothing like it. The tickets were a lot less expensive, and that must make the difference. Unfortunately, I'm not even sure they pulled it off well for the price of the tickets. There were three aisles and the center aisle had a strange inward triangular setup that left some of the booths crowded in the center facing each other with barely enough room to walk in between. There was a lot of bumping into each other at the end of our time there and I am glad we came early before there were so many people in such a crowded space. There were a few booths at the end that were completely uncrowded, which I thought was strange to have them there when the space could've been used to make a more free flowing area for all the booths. Then, there was a gentleman's lounge that perhaps could have been better utilized for more booth space as well to allow more space to walk around. As it is, the gentlemen's lounge was almost unnecessary as there were enough cupcakes and other treats as you walked around to keep most gentlemen happy.

Any way, this wasn't meant to be a review of it, but that's how it went down. We had a blast, any way, til' we had a beer just before we left and our stomachs hurt from the over-carbonation of the Miller Lite. We knew it was the beer and not the freshest yummiest gummy bears ever, because my girlfriend was the only one who didn't drink though she ate the gummy bears as did I and her stomach was fine.

Later in the evening, after I laid out at home for a few hours (love Austin weather!), Brando and I went on a date to the Cheesecake Factory. The evening was perfect to sit outside underneath the gas heaters. Brando had already eaten at home, so I ordered a few fun appetizers, fried zucchini, my favorite, and an oh so delicious gorgonzola, pear, and arugula flatbread.

I also ordered hot tea which felt so quaint with the honey, lemon, and basket of bread next to it.

We enjoyed the quiet patio until it slowly filled up at Austin's normal dinner time - 7pm. Since we already ate, we were happily on our way by the time it got too crowded.

Love the Paris cafe feel and lighting of this photo

A gratuitous photo of Brando and I at the bridal event and I'm off for the day!

What a Weekend

Brando likes to surprise me with new places to hike as he knows how much I love hiking *and* new places. It's the perfect thing to make my weekend a wonderful weekend and he knows it.

But you will have to wait to hear and see the rest of it, because today I am over here at sweet Lisa's at Momma's Me Time as a guest poster talking about Brando's and my love of travels and how very, very fabulous it has been for our marriage. My very first guest post! Eek! A little nervous, but super excited. Try not to get distracted by Lisa's gorgeous long hair and adorable little boy. Oh, who am I kidding, get distracted and spend a few hours getting lost in her site like I did.

Happy New Year and a (belated) Merry Christmas!

One of the highlights of 2011 and one of my favorite Christmas presents for Christmas was meeting Ashley, one of my favorite bloggers. The minute we decided we were heading to Phoenix to visit my Grandma, I knew I would be emailing her to see if she was in town. Turns out she was for two of the days I would be there. We ended up driving to her town, just twenty minutes away from my Grandma's town, to see the Glendale Glitters Christmas Lights. We met her at her house where she greeted us with her sweet barking puppies and "puppy chow" (link to another blogger I've met and love in real life who happens to share a fondness for puppy chow with Shawners and Ashley ;)!) - a yummy chex mix Trav made that I brought home to Shawners who gobbled it up and has been begging for it ever since.

Ashley and I had both already admitted via email that we are shy people until you really get to know us. But I already felt like I knew her via our blogs. She's just one of those people that is easy to know. She also knows me a little more intimately than some bloggers might because she's seen a few more of my personal struggles. So I was crossing fingers we would hit it off as I have with a few of the other bloggers I've met and become lifelong friends with. I had nothing to worry about, because it instantly felt we had known each other for ages. We hugged the instant we met and chatted incessantly from the moment we saw each other. Had our limited schedules not been around, we would have chatted half the night away.

She was so excited about asking Brando about some of his photography tips for her new camera, and Trav was easy to talk to while they talked camera. Actually, Trav was also interested in the camera tips. I had to keep myself from getting distracted, because for some reason when Brando goes to a certain point with talking about camera stuff my head gets all in a muddle and I can't quite follow him anymore. It's almost like I need a notepad so I can take notes to keep up. Regardless, in between photog talks, we snuck some cute, fun pictures and chatted about similar things we are dealing with such as not feeling pretty or cute in photos lately and feeling like we used to be and not knowing what happened! What is with that?! Of course, she is gorgeous in all her photos and so I am crossing my fingers the same is the case with me, but I am so glad to know there is someone out there that feels the same way.

She was off to Indiana to plan her wedding with her family the next day, and I back to my Grandma's where I had an... interesting weekend that I'm not even close to being prepared to write about. I am so excited for her, and am so, SO glad I took the opportunity to meet her! As I told her, I've learned from past experiences, if you pass up the opportunity to meet bloggers when you can that perfect opportunity may not ever come again. Something I didn't say, but have noticed, is that the blog friendship may dwindle, because if that person was an in real life friend you definitely would NOT pass up the opportunity to see them. This hasn't held true for in-town blog friends, but for out of town friends, it seems to have. And I just realized I have not kept up out-of-town blog friendships with a few people who I go nearby and visit sometimes. Little do they know I have SO many people to see, I rarely see everybody. I haven't seen Justinbustin's godmother in five years!! And she lives in my hometown. I need to remedy that!

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year

from both of us to all of you and your loved ones!

Here's to an aMAzing 2012!

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your tables be filled with bounties of food,

may you appreciate the beauty of the world God has created,

and may you be surrounded with the ones you love this and every Thanksgiving.

 
This year we are celebrating at my nephew's and new niece's bed and breakfast that they run in the hill country. So many changes this year, mostly me turning 30 and going thru a couple rough relationship patches with friends and realizing people aren't all they're cracked up to be, have me looking at this year a bit different. A bit more somberly, sadly. As I saw the other day, "At some point you have to realize that some people can stay in your heart, but not in your life."

On the upside, I have not ever been more satisfied and fulfilled with my family and my amazing husband, and the truly amazing friends that I have realized are true friends. While the boys are growing up, I'm ready to have another. I'm ready to start a new life somewhere, once again. Not in a runaway fashion this time. As a new adventure.

Have a beautiful Thanksgiving! I am grateful for each and every one of you in my life!

Abandoned Buildings

One of Brando's and my favorite past times is going on photo shoot adventures. I get to play model, and he gets to play with his camera in new places. This particular time, it was at an abandoned building here in Austin that's about to be turned into an art gallery. I love the spookiness of an abandoned place and all the different textures to play around with. I was a little antsy playing model while he was trying to make art, until I got to pick the shoot locations about halfway through. I love picking the locations while he makes it pretty.

 If I look a little pissed in this first batch, it's because I was. We got Justinbustin a haircut, and, oh, what an adventure that is trying to get a preteen's hair cut who does not want to. Fortunately, at the end of the day, I had to thank Brando and tell him how proud I am of him for his maturity and wisdom in dealing with my crankiness because he stayed continually levelheaded. And, fortunately, after about here the crankiness started to subside. Especially when we got back to pick up the boys and Justinbustin gave me a hug. Whew.

 And, finally, my turn to pick the spots. I love depth, texture, a rustic feel, and nature, as you can see...

Earrings ~ Forever 21, Necklace ~ Gift from my MIL,

Bracelet ~ First anniversary gift from Brando from Dell Williams in Santa Cruz, 

Plaid Shirt ~ Macy's, Tank ~ American Eagle,

Skirt ~ Hot Topic, Tights ~ Claire's, Socks ~ Brando's, Boots ~ Mia from DSW