Sunset over Dallas

This sunset over Dallas is just BEAUTIFUL!!!  Thought I would share here :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEE!!!!

It's my birthday and I can shout it from the roof if I want to!

In the brilliant words of T Swifty....

"32"

It feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters
And make fun of our exes, uh uh, uh uh.
It feels like a perfect night for breakfast at midnight
To fall in love with strangers, uh uh, uh uh.

Yeah,
We're happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time
It's miserable and magical.
Oh, yeah
Tonight's the night when we forget about the deadlines
It's time

Uh oh!
I don't know about you
But I'm feeling 32
Everything will be alright
If you keep me next to you
You don't know about me
But I'll bet you want to
Everything will be alright
If we just keep dancing like we're
32, ooh-ooh
32, ooh-ooh

All the Cool Kids are Doing It

So I took this little Facebook survey to see what states you've been to...while 26 states is not bad, its definitely not great!  And to be fair, some of these states are just because I've been to the airport (hey, that counts!) or have driven through the state at some point of my life! I've got friends/family in at least 3 of the states I haven't been to, so this is unacceptable!  Now that I'm on the West Coast, I'm looking forward to doing some exploring out west!

How many states have you been to? Are you looking to travel any time soon?

Reasons to live in London

I met up with a sorority sister whom I haven't seen since college last week, whose name is Dawn. But I always feel so funny calling her that, because she's always been "Peanut" to me.  No really, she went by Peanut in college.  I feel its a time to call her by her grown up name, but I also feel like a farce using it! But anyways, I met her up at my fav brunch place, Butler and Chef. Are you tired of me talking about that place yet?!  I bring everyone here who is out of town.  Its just too good to pass up!

Anyways, I was telling her how much I miss living in London and HOW AMAZING IT IS.  Then I came across this article, and it was too convenient not to share!

(source)

Here is a short list of those that I totally agreed with!

4. When you understand the tube map you'll realise how painfully simple it is

7. No matter what you want to do with your career, you can do it in London

14. There are 4500 pubs & bars

20. It's one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world

22. Your commute will take you past some of the most famous landmarks in the world

32. Once you know you way around there is no greater feeling than a tourist asking you for directions and you actually knowing the answer

54. Getting angry at tourists who are getting in your way is weirdly liberating

75. People back home will think you're really tough for living in London

97. In the summer it's always hotter in London than anywhere else in the country

AAAAHHHHHH TAKE ME BACK PLEASE!!!!!!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

AAAHHH I finally got a Christmas tree!  I've wanted to get my own for the past few years, but never made it happen.  I couldn't afford it the first year on my own and then my apartment was too small/crowded the past 3 years but FINALLY this year was the one!!!  On Thanksgiving, I saw what looked like it could be a Christmas Tree lot on the Embarcadero.  I forced the BF to come with me to hunt down the perfect Christmas tree.

SO MANY CHOICES!!!!  All so adorable. 

Ahhh the perils of being city dwellers....walking home your Christmas Tree.

It looks a little sad. It was right near the bathroom. It looks tiny, but its about 5 foot tall.  I had no decorations with me here in SF, so I had to walk to Target to pick up some decorations.  Luckily, they were having a buy 2 get one free sale on all Christmas things!  And spend $50 and get a $10 gift card.  I quickly learned I have no freaking clue on how many things to purchase. I bought 3 boxes of lights and 3 big containers of ornaments (15 pieces each).  I knew I had too much, but I just wasn't sure!

Got home and decorated our tree, I used all 3 boxes of lights and only ended up using one container of gold ornaments. Ooops, totally too many!!

BUT our tree looks adorable now! We moved it over to be in front of our window.  It's the little things in life, but it makes me so happy!!

It's beginning to look like Christmas...

Did you get a Christmas Tree this year? How do you decorate it?

Betsy's in Town!

Ahhh I just love it when friends are in town!  Betsy is now my 5th out of town visitor!  Granted, most of these were in town because of business, but I'll take what I can get :)

• Haileigh, a friend from my London programme
• Amanda, a sorority sister who was at AU when I advised there
• Hannah (and Megan) visited in July
• Molly came too 
• And you can't forget my (real) sister Brandy

Betsy is a sorority sister whom I met when I lived in D.C. She has since moved to NYC and I've moved to San Francisco.  Betsy got a new job as a campus recruiter and was in town for a college fair.

Betsy is an amazing friend, its always like no time has passed and we picked up right where we left off! Granted it was a few weekends back but I wish it was this past weekend!

OF COURSE we headed to 21st Amendment for a few watermelon beers. Thankfully they were still in season!  I haven't been back in a few weeks, I don't know if they are still on tap or not.  But I did take back my duchess status at the bar!  Thank you Yelp!

Check out that SWEET SWEET mullet this lady is rocking!

We got lunch at the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen. It was good, I just don't know if it was good enough to go back.

Oh and the BF was in town for the weekend too! We hung out most of the weekend with his friends who were in town so I didn't feel bad for having Betsy in on the action. She truthfully saved me from the xx hormones!  Yes, that is my jcrew vest to be funny.

San Diego Times Two

Ah I can't believe I haven't written about my second trip to San Diego.  I went the first time back in August while the BF was he was stopped over there during his deployment.  Well, he had to stop again, so I went ahead and scheduled another trip down south! We stayed at the Andaz hotel in downtown San Diego and it was a great hotel in an even better location! They had a great rooftop pool and bar that had great views of the area.

It was so sunny and warm! Well, until the Saturday and then it rained and it turned cold, but the weather changed and it was warm again!

It was fleet week that week too!

The BFs ship was open to the public and I took the opportunity to come aboard. 

The had a fun little sign of the route the ship (boat?) took on the last deployment. I can't believe how far north they went...the arctic circle!

The helm (Is that what its called?)

Each of the flags means something but I have no idea what they mean. 

The have a helicopter landing pad too

The woman the boat was named after

And this....this my friends is the bf's room. I guess they decorate it for morale purposes. Behind that door 6 smelly men live in 1 room and share 1 teeny tiny bathroom .

Look how dirty the boat is!

We took a day trip to  Ocean Beach 

The weather was amazing but slightly chilly.  We went to a few bars and did a little shopping while we were there on Saturday.

We had a Sunday Funday and hit up a few bars.  We started at Barley Mash, then hit up the Blind Burro and then Wet Willies!  A whirlwind but a great time!

 

On Monday I had a little jaunt downtown by myself and saw a few of the sites.

The Gaslamp quater

Their tram/train system

Lion spotting!  Hard Rock Cafe had a brass lion outside.

All in all a wonderful time. I do miss those days when I traveled to other countries during my vacations, but seeing places in the U.S. that I haven't seen before is pretty cool too.

Smitten Ice Cream

While I was in Hayes Valley, I found the COOLEST ice cream shop! In one of the reused shipping containers, was Smitten.  It's made to order so each one is unique! Their menu changes daily and they use FRESH ingredients!  The day I visited there was vanilla, TCHO chocolate, fresh mint chip, creme franche and root beer floats!

I chose the fresh mint and had a TCHO chocolate topping. 

So many yummy choices!

I was waiting patiently for my ice cream. Each one is made by liquid nitrogen!

AAAAHHHH it was SO good! I could taste the fresh mint in every bite! I would maybe next time not get the chocolate topping, but it was magical!

Raleigh with the Besties

(Me, Erika, Nikki and Melissa)

Man, I’m exhausted! I just flew back from Raleigh on Tuesday. I was in Dallas previously as well for work from Sunday to Friday and then took a late afternoon flight to Raleigh to meet up with my BESTIES FOR LIFE!!!! I was so excited and I couldn’t wait for my work week to be DONE so I could be reunited with Nikki, Melissa and Erika :)

Nikki texted me back in early fall to let me know that John Butler Trio was coming to Raleigh and she wished I still lived in D.C. so that I could drive down for the weekend to finally see our favorite band. Well, I looked at the calendar and realized that I’d be half way to North Carolina and in Texas that previous week! So I excitedly texted her back that I may be able to swing it to take a personal trip after my work trip!  The stars aligned and I was able to make it work!

Melissa and Erika were next to tell! I was afraid that since Melissa was pregnant she wouldn’t feel like driving down and seeing a show (especially considering we would be drinking and she would not). But she proved me wrong and they both agreed to drive down that weekend. I was SO excited that I’d be able to see my besties!  Life in San Francisco was getting a bit sad since I have a total of one really good friend in San Francisco.  I needed something to look forward to!  

I suffered through my work week and then took off to head to Raleigh! I didn’t land until 9pm, and I was afraid Melissa (being pregnant) and Nikki (being the mom of twin 16-month olds) would be too exhausted. Thankfully they were not and we hung out catching up on Friday evening over a couple of bottles of wine (well, the 3 of us did while Melissa longingly watched us).  It’s such a weird concept to me to have 2 extra bedrooms for my friends to stay at (since I have a tiny 1 bedroom apartment), but I guess that’s what suburbia affords you….space. What a novel concept, but one I do not enjoy the thought of.

Anyways, so we woke up Saturday and had some bloody mary’s (and a tomato juice for Melissa) and hung out for the day. We headed to T. Mac Sports Grill to get lunch and have a few more cocktails and appetizers and then went home to get ready.  It’s quite weird that I left San Francisco and it was in the mid 70s and it was around the lower 40s when I arrived in Raleigh…brrr I have quickly gotten used to warmer weather.  Downtown was freezing, but we headed there anyways. We stopped at Busy Bee Cafe for dinner. They had an amazing cocktail list and I chose the Queen Bee. WOW! That was so yummy!  It had gin, St. Germaine elderflower, pineapple, sour and champagne. It would have been sickly sweet if I had had more than 1. We wrapped up there and headed to the venue.

I guess the original venue was under some construction so we got booted to another venue. However, this one was like an actual concert hall (with chairs) instead of a big open space so it was a bit weird.  We headed up stairs to sit but when JBT came on, we realized the acoustics upstairs totally sucked! So instead, we went downstairs amongst the crowds and it was MUCH better!

We rocked out for the show. But somehow we got stuck next to an older drunk cowboy who kept wanting to talk to us WHILE THE BAND WAS PLAYING. WTF?!?!  We played nice and took a selfie and then promptly set out to ignore us. We had such a good time watching the band! It was the first time I’ve seen them but Nikki and Melissa saw them at Bonnaroo one year.

Video of the band!

Hope this turned out

We headed home after the show and we headed to bed. Melissa and Erika headed home the next day and I stayed until Tuesday.

In the mean time, I got to hang out with the twins!  I can't believe they used to be this TINY:

And now they are 16 months and are SO BIG!

This is Sadie.

Summer is on the left.

I tried taking a selfie with them but I failed....oh well!

I had such a great time seeing my besties!  It was well worth the exhaustion and checked baggage to make it all work!