Cabo Wabo

I went to get my nails done yesterday and my manicurist informed me that I go on vacation more than any of her other clients put together. I informed her that we travel so much so that my workaholic husband's head doesn't explode. I'm just along for the ride.

Last week Bryan and I headed south of the border to Cabo San Lucas with our friends from Arizona, Herbie and Kristen. The day we left also happened to be our 4 year wedding anniversary, so we went out and had a nice dinner the night before and exchanged gifts. I've decided we are the most in sync couple in the world because we both bought each other iPods. I got the fabulous iPod Touch and I got him the video Nano so he can take it running yet also watch videos on the plane (which I pre-loaded onto it before giving it to him so as not to have to deal with "are we there yet?" whining on the plane. 4 years of marriage has taught me a few things.)

We stayed at the Riu Santa Fe hotel, which is an all-inclusive resort right on the beach.

The hotel was really beautiful and the building we were in was the closest one to the beach. The pool area was huge with 2 swim up bars and an infinity pool looking out to the ocean. This is where we spent the bulk of our trip since it was 95 degrees with at least 60% humidity. Two words: hot and sticky!

The day after we got there, we woke up to a stormy looking sky that was releasing little drops of water here and there. Since it was a little cooler than when we had arrived, we decided to take advantage of the clouds and go downtown for some shopping and local culture (but mostly shopping). One of Bryan's favorite things to do is haggle for a cheaper price so he was in hog heaven on the streets of downtown Cabo. He got an excellent deal on a beautiful metallic fish for our backyard fence and helped Herbie and Kristen pick up a bunch of stuff for good prices as well. All that negotiating really made us work up an appetite so we stopped for lunch at one of the restaurants downtown. Of course, what would lunch be without shots??

Shopping was fun but it was starting to get really hot, so we took the bus back to our hotel and got in the pool for a little while before dinner. There were several restaurants at the hotel for us to choose from: a buffet, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, and a steakhouse. After our shopping extravaganza, we had reservations for the Japanese restaurant. Let's just say it's a good thing we didn't have to pay for our meals there. Who would have guessed that Japanese food in Mexico might not be so hot? Hmm. The food at the Japanese place was so bad, we all decided to give up and go next door to the buffet instead. We're nothing if not resourceful.

We all got so hot and sticky on our way to breakfast the third day we immediately decided the day would be spent in the pool. And since we were at it, why not take advantage of the pool bar? Can you spot Kristen, Herbie, and Me at the bottom of the picture? We had such a great time with the two of them. We don't get to see them very often, so we had lots to catch up on as we downed our Bahama Mamas. Below is a picture of what happens to your husband when he's been drinking margaritas in the hot sun all day.

That night we had dinner at the steakhouse. It was so unbelievably hot that we were worried our waiter was going to drip sweat all over our food. Sitting next to us was that guy. You know the type: drunk, obnoxious, and LOUD. He was yammering on and on about how horrible the soup was and how he couldn't even believe they would dare to serve it. Guess what buddy? The food is FREE! If you don't like it, go eat at one of the other 4 FREE restaurants they offer. Personally, I thought the soup was quite good. Maybe his tasted bad because someone had spit in it due to him being such an asshole.

After dinner we all went to bed. That's right, we're party animals.

Our last day of the trip was again spent in the pool. It was too hot to do anything else, except of course for the beachside massages Kristen and I got. It's never too hot for that. The waves that day were absolutely amazing, some of the biggest waves I've ever seen. We really enjoyed sitting at the edge of the infinity pool watching them crash on the beach. We even got brave enough to walk down and put our toes in. Actually, Bryan and Herbie were brave enough to get in for a minute, until they got pummeled by one of the huge waves and decided they had had enough adventure for one day.

On our last night, we had dinner at the Mexican restaurant at the hotel. Surprise, surprise...the Mexican restaurant had the best food of all! Shocking, I know. The restaurant was right on one of the pools and was really beautiful. We lucked out with an amazing sunset that night too. When we got back to our room, our maid had made the cutest towel animals for us. I had to take a picture. Who knew I was so easily entertained?

Leaving a trip is always hard for us, but this time we had something to look forward to when we got home...new kitchen countertops! Bryan's friend has a business doing granite and tile work so we got him to redo our kitchen while we were gone. It certainly softened the blow of leaving vacation to come home to this beautiful sight!!

Now we just have to find something to keep ourselves busy until our trip to Cancun in September!

Favorite Week 7

Wow. This dance from last night might be one of my all time favorites. I said it before and I'll say it again... Mia Michaels is an evil genius! Admittedly, Twitch does not really do a whole lot of dancing but Katee is amazing and the choreography is just awesome with the music. Total fun!

Favorite Dance(s) Week 6

So, week 5 of So You Think You Can Dance did not impress me much. I was really struggling to find a favorite so I just decided to skip it altogether. They were on thin ice with me...if they didn't deliver this week, I might be forced to stop watching! (honestly, an idle threat. I'll probably still be watching when my unborn children are in high school. But the show doesn't know that.)

I had two favorites this week, which I suppose somewhat makes up for last week. The first was the Rumba by Courtney and Joshua. They mixed up the partners this week and I really like these two together.

It amazes me that Joshua is a HIP HOP DANCER! He is so masculine and smooth in this routine. Also, I want Courtney to teach me how to do that thing where he brings her leg up by her ear.

My second favorite routine was the Pas De Duex by Will and Katee. There was a teeny tiny mistake where Katee didn't quite make a turn under Will's arm, but the rest of the routine makes up for it, in my opinion. The jumps, turns, and leg extensions are fantastic and the trick at the end is amazing!


Cut to me researching dance classes in my area.

Next up...my trip to Cabo!

Twenty Six Miles Accross the Sea

Every year I am lucky enough to get to go to Catalina with my best friend, Amy, and her whole family. I have been going for 4th of July week for about 13 years and the the trip is essentially made up of eating, shopping, and reading magazines. It's absolute heaven.

On the left is Amy, and in the middle is my friend Alex. The three of us went to high school together and were on the dance/flag team (however, if you ask any one of us, we will insist we were on the Dance Team because we are sick of people commenting, "but you're not fat"). This is a picture of us eating dinner at Coyote Joes, one of two restaurants we alternate between for dinner. That's right...we are all about variety.

Our favorite place to hang out on the island is C.C. Gallaghers. We get coffee, sometimes bring our own food (what? They charge, like, 10 dollars for a bagel), and sit on the patio in the beautiful weather and read magazines. Sometimes Amy has a little too much coffee. I think she's on her third cup of coffee in this picture. We're going to be staging an intervention next week.
Our other favorite restaurant is Antonio's, which I can safely say has the best chili cheese fries on the planet. On this particular day, we decided to eat outside on the patio. This seemed like a good idea until I actually started to hear my skin sizzle. That umbrella in the background? Providing sweet, sweet shade to the table behind us. Notice the napkins on Amy's shoulders and glasses and on Alex's shoulder? McGuyver's got nothing on our efforts to avoid skin cancer.

This year, Amy's grandma invited all of us to go up to Catalina's airport for dinner one night. The view on the drive up was really beautiful, you could see the whole bay and the entire town of Avalon. On the way up we saw a buffalo chillin' in the brush. Buffalo were brought over for a movie several years ago and left behind to roam the island. I named this one Bruno.











While we were plowing our way through a tower of magazines, someone noticed that when the reader held the magazine in a certain position, the back cover lined up perfectly to look like her body. We all decided to try it out for the camera, with some pretty awesome results. Here is Becky looking smoking hot!! After our third night in a row of eating ice cream sundaes after dinner, we all decided to walk around town holding this magazine out in front of our bodies for the rest of the trip.

Every year, on the afternoon of the 4th, there is a parade through the center of town. The USC marching band comes over to play in the parade and the locals decorate their golf carts with every piece of patriotic paraphernalia they can get their hands on. When it gets dark, the drumline performs while the crowd waits for the fireworks to start. The fireworks are set off from the end of the pier and always end with a fantastic finale. Of course, we often watch the finale in a blur as we run to be first in line at Olaf's for ice cream sundaes (yes, again. What? I'm on vacation). Here is a photo of the whole group that is part of the yearly Catalina tradition.

What's the worst part about Catalina? LEAVING! Catalina holds such wonderful memories for me and it is always so relaxing to be there. I had such a wonderful time with my friends and surrogate family that I had to practically drag myself onto the boat to go home. One thing that eased the pain? Getting a pole dance from this 3 year old.




Is it time to go back yet???

Favorite Dance(s) Week 4

Since I was in Catalina last week and had limited internet access, I wasn't able to post my favorite dance from So You Think You Can Dance. I don't know if anyone reading this actually cares about my weekly favorites, but it's fun for me to be able to watch them again and see who I have liked throughout the competition, so I'm gonna keep doing it. :)

This week I actually had 2 favorite dances. The first was Twitch and Kherrington dancing to Dreaming With a Broken Heart. Mia Michaels choreographed this routine and I have to say, I think Mia Michaels is crazy and can be a downright b**ch, but she is a pretty amazing choreographer.


It seems that so far, all my favorite dances have been somewhat lyrically dramatic. I guess I just feel like the dancers can connect more to what they're doing when the routine is choreographed to an emotional song.

My second favorite dance was Will and Jessica dancing to Alone. This routine was choreographed by Mandy Moore (not the singer). I had not been digging Mandy this season, but this routine is HOT!! I still don't really care that much for Jessica, but I think Will is amazing (not to mention gorgeous!) and this routine was SO much fun to watch! The dancers use Jessica's shirt as a prop and when the music builds, these two are S.E.X.Y.


Tune in (wink wink) to see who my favorites are next and I will also be posting soon about my week in Catalina.