Realizing You Really Are Grown Up.

Just a little over a month ago, at the tail end of my week vacation, I went to one of my childhood friends’ wedding. I’ve known this kid since I was probably around 8 and our mom’s also happen to be BEST friends,  so when I first heard that he was engaged it took me by surprise. I remember my mom was floored when I told her, after I saw it posted on Facebook, just because of the fact that it probably hit her as well that we’re all really adults now.

One year later, it was time for his wedding — which was very lovely actually. The bride and groom both looked just so happy and in love and ready to start a new life together which made me happy because that’s the feeling I was to see radiating from the bride and groom at any wedding I happen to go to.

It was also nice to attend one of my friends’ wedding because my boyfriend was finally able to see a Hispanic wedding in action. Now, just to clear things up, Hispanic wedding aren’t completely different from your average, normal, everyday American wedding but there are some variations. For example, the couple had this big Mariachi band during the ceremony/mass/what-have-you that would play, and luckily, my boyfriend was blown away by it; he’s now a little on board for a mariachi band at our potential wedding.

At the reception, later that evening, it was time for the dollar dance — you know, where everyone goes up with money and pins it on either the bride or groom (one of the aforementioned customs) — and I didn’t have any cash on me, and neither did my mom or sister, but out of left field here comes the groom’s mom to hand us money so we could go dance with him. And so I stood in line, waited my turn and I told him, “I guess this means we’re all grown-ups now, huh?”  He said, “I know, huh?”

As always, my mother wasn’t standing too far away with a camera enabled phone to snap this picture (since she’s a bit technically challenged and couldn’t figure my camera out).

After the dollar dance, came the tossing of the garter and bouquet. Here was another cultural variation because they men and woman (during their respective turns) run around through the tables/crowd while music plays in a snake — everybody hold hands and runs to get tired and dizzy and eager to catch the bouquet. I was commanded to be the one to catch it by the groom’s sister, which I was all for, but as soon as this girl — which it was very evident that she wanted it — I knew it was a lost cause. After that it was all dancing, cupcakes and candy galore.

Later that evening, of course, the “When are you getting married?” and the “I hear you’re next.” train started going through the wedding but, more on that later….

Pardon the Interruption…

…but a whole month late I’m finally posting about something very monumental and important in my yearly life. Last May, on the 25th, my boyfriend and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary. It wracks my brain to think about how when we first got together he was still 20 and I was 19 and now we’re almost 25 and 23, respectively.

On that note, its been an amazing four years that have really flown by. Considering that this is my first serious relationship, I’m still surprised with how long it’s lasted, but in a good way. In those 4 years we’ve gone from being long-distance to living under-the-same-roof which has been quite the ride. Can’t wait to see what the future will bring for us.

He really is an amazing man and my best friend and I couldn’t be happier to be able to call him my greatest love.

Cruisin’ 2012, Part II

To pick up where I left off on the previous post…

On our 3rd day the ship docked in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, and this was intended to be the shopping day since there’s pretty much nothing else to do in this stop but go shopping. First things first, however, boyfriend and I had to hit up every picture stop they had on our way out:

The boys all went off to go see the big famous blow hole and the girls all went shopping. I did get some great deals and haggled some of the vendors down a bit on their prices. I was almost quite scared, in a sense, to speak any Spanish because I didn’t want to get bombarded with people trying to sell me all kinds of things. I did, on occasion speak in Spanish with those that I was serious about buying things from. 

I think boyfriends’ and my favourite part of the day was the drinking. We made a stop at the World Famous Papas and Beers for drinks. The margaritas there were delicious but very sugary, but it was nice to stop in and check out the place. We even got a picture out of it.

After spending $28 on 4 margaritas we found this place about a block or two down that was having 2 for $6 margaritas and $1 tacos. Boyfriend and I just had to stop in after that sort of deal. We were so glad we did! the margaritas in this bar were the BEST that we’ve had…EVER! They were so delicious mainly for the fact that they were made from scratch. Upon having our first sip of them, we questioned our decision to ever go into Papas & Beers because those were definitely made from a mix while these had fresh lime juice that we even go to see them squeeze fresh:

Not to forget the food, the tacos here were very delicious. I had one of each (chicken, carne asada and fish) and the fish was fried fresh. Seriously it was the best tacos ever. The bartender was even nice enough to give us his recipe for margaritas and even told us what kind of triple sec/syrup to use! 

As you can see in the background, the place is decked out in one dollar bills that people decorated and were taped to the wall. Being the ever adventurous couple that we are (ha!), boyfriend and I decided that we HAD to leave one for the wall as well. The bartender, once again, kindly let us even go behind the bar so we could have a picture with our dollar bill that will forever be taped onto their wall in Ensenada (well, so long as their establishment is open)

For our last day on the cruise was the ever fun filled “day at sea”. We spent most of the day just walking around, exploring, and even played a nice game of ‘Settlers of Catan‘ with boyfriends’ brother and his wife. All in all it was nice to be back on land an nice to have a whole week off.

Cruisin’ 2012, Part I

Just over a month ago, I got to go on my FIRST cruise!

Not only was it exciting because I’d never been on one, but it was kind of nice because I didn’t have to worry about the cost of it. I mean, I kind of felt bad in a sense because my boyfriends’ dad was COMPLETELY picking up the tab, but I was very grateful because he was being so very generous with everyone.

Anyways, at the time, I’d been balancing two jobs, so I was WAY ready for a WHOLE week off. This cruise has, thus far, been the trip of a lifetime. It was to be a five-day 3 stop trip, so I was super excited.

The cruise departed from Long Beach, CA, my home town so I was HOME. The first stop after it departed from Long Beach was Catalina Island on which I made it a goal to go para-sailing while there. I’d never been, and once I saw that the cruise offered it as an “excursion” I wanted to go. My boyfriend, being the person that he is, wasn’t completely on board because he doesn’t like not having control of things, took a little longer to convince. As soon as I told him that we could save $30 a pop AND get pictures,by purchasing the excursion on the island instead of through the ship, he was almost completely on board. Boy, am I glad that he finally agreed to go with me. Not only, was it tandem para-sailing that this company offered (so we could go together), but the pictures that they took were of some high quality. Here’s one of my favorite pictures of the experience:

Boyfriends’ face says it all

After boyfriend and I got back from para-sailing, the whole clan decided to go on a golf cart tour of the island, which was lots of fun. I’d never seen most of the island, so it was cool to go through places and see a lot of its natural beauty. I got some great pictures of the view as well.

Our cruise ship on the left.

That night was also Captain’s Dinner night which basically means everyone has to get all fancied up for dinner which is what we all did. The dinner was delectable that night and it was nice to get dressed up for  a change, since I very rarely break out the dress and heels combo. We even did formal portraits with one of the many photographers they had stationed throughout the ship that night. 

This pose was our idea; Originally intended to be funny but everyone thinks its “cute.”

 We ended the night with watching a comedy show and heading back to our room where we literally passed out for the night.

Vacation 2012

Here are some life epiphanies I had while on vacation last week:

• Why hadn’t I tried daiquiris before?
• I must go on another cruise. SOON!
• Stopping on the long drive up/down the 5 for more than 30 minutes is not ideal.
• Para-sailing should be done every 2 years or so.
• Old Fashioned’s are not my drink of choice.
• Risotto is amazing (and I will have it at every Italian restaurant I go to)
• Coors Light will always taste like beer pong.
• Never spend that much money on a quarters machine AGAIN.
• Sea sickness is not an issue.
• Star Wars references are ALWAYS acceptable. 

$10 Wasted.

Last night, my boyfriend and I went out for dinner and a movie just because we thought it’d be nice to do since I had a rare day off from both of my jobs. After hitting up this amazing Mexican place Casa Ramos we headed off to the theatre that’s located across the street.

We were set on watching Men in Black 3 but once the girl at the register rang us up and we saw that it was $27 dollars we realized that the showing was for 3D. So, we quickly said “eff that” and asked to The Dictator instead. What a dumb piece of crap that movie was. It had a few moments of hilarity. And when I say few I really mean a 2-3. I love Sacha Baron Cohen, when he’s funny. I thought Bruno was even funnier than this movie. Point of the story is, if I’m falling asleep at the movies you know the film isn’t any good, and I love going to the movie theater. Oh well, there’s $10 and an hour and a half of my life I’ll never get back.

 Here’s the trailer for those of you who don’t know what movie I’m talking about.