Mr. H's Birthday Weekend [Part 1]

I have been quite absent lately, I know.  Forgive me for not posting in so long.  But now I have some photos to share with you guys from Mr. H's birthday weekend, which we spent in Santa Cruz and Monterey.

I got to leave work early on Friday because we celebrated a late Administrative Professional's (Secretary's) Day.  We all went out for a nice fancy lunch at Il Forno and I got a little smashed too early in the day (oops!).  I ended up going home and taking a nap with my husband who was already sleeping, since day time is his night time.  It was nice to be able to sleep next to him for a change.  We woke up and caught happy hour at Elephant Bar.  I was still feeling really sick from all the booze earlier, so I didn't drink anything there.  After that we went to Glass Turtle (a bar) to meet up with some friends.  I decided to be bold and take a shot because I wanted to celebrate with Mr. H.  It was a bad idea.  I barely made it to the bathroom before getting sick again. Once all the old liquor was out of my system, I did ok and was able to stomach a couple shots and dance a little bit.  We left the Turtle, went to the casino, and stayed there until around 3:00 a.m.  On the way home we decided we'd wake up early in the morning and head out to Santa Cruz, and then go to Monterey on Sunday.  We always enjoy our spontaneous trips together, so we said "fuck it, let's go."

The only photo I have from Friday. :(

We got up after about 4-5 hours of sleep, did a horrible job of packing, and then headed out for the day.  We were both starving, so we stopped in South Sac for some lunch.

Mr. H glued to his phone, as usual.

Lunch at Huong Lan.

Next stop, Santa Cruz!  :)  Mr. H's cousin had rented a home right next to the beach, so we stopped by there to hang out with them and be beach bums for a while.  The weather was wonderful and we daydreamed about owning our own summer beach house when we are older.  We ate sandwiches and chocolates, collected seashells, soaked in the sun, and enjoyed feeling much younger than we actually are.  Mr. H and his cousin even built a sweet sandcastle.  It was a damn near perfect day.

Don't judge me!  I was not bikini-ready this weekend! :(

My husband does not like smiling.  Hahaha.

After hours on the beach, and after almost everyone else had left, we headed back to the house to say goodbye.  We made the 20 minute drive to Watsonville, where one of our friends live and where we would stay for the night.  Once we got there and got situated, we headed back to Santa Cruz to check out the Boardwalk while we waited for another friend to get off work.  Almost everything was closed or about to close, so we found a pizza place/bar and stayed there for dinner.  It was a good choice because the pizza was delicious and Facebook offered a 10% discount if you check-in!  Sweeeet! 

Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

Crazy drunk husband.

I'll do Part 2 later this week.  Uploading all these photos from my phones is somewhat of a hassle.  Haha.  I can only do so many before I get burnt out.  I also need to catch up on all my blog-reading, which I'm sure is going to take a decent chunk of time since I haven't been on here for almost two weeks.  

It is getting warmer and warmer each day here in Sacramento, and I can feel summer is fast approaching.  Summer is ridiculous here where I live and I am not ready for it yet.  Spring is almost non-existent, so I have to enjoy it while it lasts.

A Little Time With My Valentine (Part 3)

So, last post I ended after breakfast on our second day in the city for our Valentine's trip.  After we ate breakfast, we went to H&M to do a little shopping since it was only a couple blocks from the restaurant.  I bought two skirts and a dress.  Mr. H got a suit jacket that he has been needing.  We are not bargain shoppers (although I wish we were), so I won't shame myself by giving away our total amount spent.  Hahaha.

My purchases from H&M.

After our little shopping excursion, we headed down to the wharf.  We wanted to walk around and wait until we got hungry again so we could share a crab, but we were both so full that the walking didn't help much.  I did get an ice cream though and we sat on the pier and watched boats and sea lions and enjoyed each other's company.  The weather was so wonderful throughout our whole trip.  Nothing like salty ocean air!  I bought three bath bombs from Laline (they have a shop on the pier) and got a free hand cream with my purchase.  I won't get into costs for that purchase either, but the bath bombs are great!  After that we headed over to the Ferry Building, which is filled with lots of little shops and places to eat.  We were both full but when we walked by a sign with a special-of-the-day that read swordfish pesto sandwich, we just had to get one.  And it was damn well worth being uncomfortably full for the next hour!  I love swordfish, and I love pesto even more.  It was Mr. H's first time trying swordfish and he liked it a lot.  Probably in my top five favorite fish.  Yum!

After that we decided to go check out the Sutra Baths ruins since neither of us had ever been there before.  It is a beautiful little spot.  We have both been to the city too many times to count, so I was surprised that we'd missed this little gem.  We wandered around the beach for a while before we realized we weren't in the right place.  There was a little spot, however, overlooking the ocean that we did stumble upon that was really pretty (photo to the left is said spot, not the ruins).  Locals were up there with their dogs, so we sat and enjoyed the ocean air for a while before heading back down to search for the Sutra Baths.

Awkward mouth.

So we walked back down to where we parked and decided to go in the opposite direction.  We spotted some other people heading down a little hill, so we followed them.  Once we were at the top of the hill, we looked down, and ta-da, we found it!

We hiked down to that little cave that you can see in the photo above.  It's a really cool little spot.  You can walk around on what I'm assuming used to be the foundation of the bath house.  It is a beautiful view and very romantic if you're into being romantic with your significant other (which we are not!  haha).  After checking out the cave, we went up and around the cliff above the cave to find a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was super windy, but surprisingly not foggy, so we sat up there and hung out for a while before heading home.  We were both already exhausted from waking up early, so hiking didn't help much, but it was worth it.  It was a perfect, relaxing last stop for our Valentine's vacation.

I'll share some more photos of our trip once I find the camera cable (which is still hiding from me).

Happy Monday?  Yeah, didn't think so.