Pre-Vacation Guarantees

A few things are bound to happen right before you go on vacation.

First, you'll have the busiest week ever at work. The universe will decide to restore balance and will make up for all the weeks where you had nothing to do (and nowhere to go) by cramming all of the time-consuming work into the four day work week you originally hoped would be super chill.

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You'll inevitably have an extremely busy week outside of work, too. Leaving you with the choice between packing and going to bed at a decent hour. Or showering and going to bed. Coffee will be the only thing getting you through the day. And the candy from vacation Bible school. That's breakfast.

People at work and drivers on the road will sense that you're days away from hopping on a plane to a tropical paradise. Their jealousy will overflow and you'll be forced to handle passive aggression and idiot driving decisions. It'll totes throw off your day, so you'll definitely escape to the Starbucks where everyone knows your face (and is learning your name) for a #sadnessfrapp. You'll proceed to stroll around the expensive downtown antique stores that carry furniture that literally looks like they 3D printed it off Pinterest.

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But no amount of blerg will distract you from the fact that in less than 48 hours you'll be out of the country for the first time in three years. And the fact that you're gonna get so damn tan.

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Be back July 7th!
♥ A

Miserable, Magical Monday

I had every intention of posting last Monday, but got caught spending a day waiting for my passport to process. A recap is below.

1. I am a huge fan of Lauren Conrad. I watched every single episode of Laguna Beach (including the awful third season with the dull cast) and The Hills. I even watched most of The City, but that was mostly because Kelly Cutrone is a BAMF and someone I wish I could be. Naturally, I read Lauren's blog/website. She uploaded a video tutorial for her curled hair and the whole time I watched I couldn't help but think Aw, I miss watching her on TV. Lauren always was my favorite person on the shows.

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We could so be friends.

2. Before moving to Davis (and doubling my commute time), I was a tad worried about how I'd handle having to wake up earlier. At that point I was completely struggling to get out bed before 7am and I knew that if I wanted to do yoga or have a semi-relaxing morning I'd need to be waking up around 6am once we moved. Luckily, I had trouble sleeping the day before the move (plus the next two days after) and I woke up between 5:30 and 6am. Since then I've unintentionally trained myself to expect an alarm around 6am and I've had no trouble waking up. It's been nice because I've had the freedom to sit and write, read, wash my hair or do yoga in the morning. Most days it's yoga, but a week ago I got up to put my contacts in and then got right back in bed and read for a while.

3. Speaking of yoga, I recently read a Greatist article about being bad at yoga. It was a pretty good, eye-opening and definitely relatable piece. I, for one, know that I cannot do gorgeous forward fold or downward dog pose. Anything that requires my stubby, unyielding hamstrings to stay straight while the rest of me relaxes is out of the question. I've been mildly keeping up with a home practice and can maybe get almost straight legs after an hour of yoga. But I rarely have time for more than 20 minutes of yoga, so I've kind of resigned myself to enjoy the lack of cracking that yoga gives me versus achieving a decent asana.

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4. One thing I haven't quite mastered is the early bed time. I spent a solid chunk of time trying to figure out if I'm a morning person or night owl and the freaking test I took said I was neither! How am I supposed to plan my daily routines without this pertinent information about myself, Real Simple?! Anyway, it's not like I've got the discipline to actually go to bed at the same time each night. Brandon's for sure a night owl and I try to hang out with him as much as possible (because he's the coolest person I know), so I've caught myself in a cycle of late bedtimes and early risings. I won't complain as long as he keeps lulling me to sleep with bass renditions of Disney songs.

5. I spent last Wednesday night at my cousin Rachel's house. She was back in California for a short visit and I jumped at the chance to hang out with her and Lily in person. We ate a delicious dinner and sipped some yummy, almost champagne-like wine while laughing our way through stories from when we were kids. We even pulled out the sleeper couch and all slept in the living room together! It was a good night surrounded by girls/family I don't get to see too often. You better believe leaving for work Thursday morning was difficult. All I wanted to do was keep chatting and hanging out. I guess I'll just have to plan a trip to Boston or something, ha!

6. Brandon and I went to see X-Men: Days of Future Past on Saturday. We spent all morning lounging; me going over vacation bible school (VBS) lines and him playing video games. After our late breakfast I was done lounging. I declared I was bored, but of course had no alternative activity to offer (I can be such a brat). Brandon suggested we go see a movie. Sure enough, X-Men was playing in 20 minutes. I really enjoyed the movie, though Brandon did let me in on a storyline inconsistency he noticed. We walked and talked as we searched for the Cultivé frozen yogurt downtown. Both of us are still familiarizing ourselves with downtown (we literally walked in circles our first weekend here), but luckily we found the place quickly. It was nice to get outdoors and stretch my legs out. Sitting at a desk all day is honestly wreaking havoc on my body. I don't know how we all just put up with it.

7. Last but not least: the reason I missed last week's post. I went to get my passport processed in San Francisco on Monday. I thought for sure I'd go to my appointment, head to work and still have time to come up with something witty enough to post. I was wrong. My procrastinating ways got the best of me. I was told by my super helpful passport processor that express mail was still cutting it too short and that I might want to pick up my passport at the end of the day. First of all, I had no idea it only took a day to process! So there I was, alone in San Francisco, taking a day off work that I didn't want to take, with no car. I took BART in for old time's sake which left me at the mercy of my feet and the amount of cash on my BART ticket. I walked sooo much last week. I killed a bit of time in a Blue Bottle but had to eventually call Brandon because my extroverted tendencies were going nuts (I hadn't said a word out loud in hours). Honestly, it's the least amount of fun I've ever had in the city. I guess I've gotta go back to make up for it, right?

A

Wanderworm

Have you ever heard of an ear worm? You know, those songs that are so catchy they involuntarily play over and over again in your head?

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I'm experiencing the wanderlust version of that.

My sister and I leave for Costa Rica in less than a week and the thing dominating my thoughts is the trip. The reservations are made and our itinerary is set, now I just want to be there breathing that wonderful thick air!

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The week leading up to this trip will be bananas. Because our flight is at like one in the morning on the 27th, we'll head out to the airport basically as soon as Vacation Bible School (VBS) ends on Thursday night.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that we're launching this adventure on the tail end of an exhausting -- but super fun and incredibly rewarding -- week of jumping around pretending we're children exploring God's weird but awesome creation in the jungle? I don't know how I'll manage this year's VBS. It's the first time ever that I'll be working full time and heading straight from the office to the church to change into costume. I may go all week without a decent dinner!

Anyway, since I inexcusably missed last week's Miserable, Magical Monday, I figured I would give you a quick peek of what the plans are! It just might be the thing to get me to go from paralyzed excitement to packing and preparing.

FYI: the Google doc I created for this trip is titled Pinedas Take Costa Rica, because I thought it was so cool.

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ARENAL

We'll head out to the Volcan Arenal (that actually looks like what you picture a volcano looking like as a child) as soon as we land in Costa Rica. While we're there, Drea and I will take a dip in some hot springs, enjoy dinner at a soda and of course take a hike around the volcano. There's also a waterfall I'm eager to go back to about 20 minutes out of town. I might actually be adventurous this time and swim in the water!

MONTEVERDE

Sadly, we're practically passing through Monteverde. We'll stay at this awesome-looking hostel I found on airbnb. Seriously, that website is so cool. Although  I kind of wish I knew of more to do in the rainforest, we are doing a zip line course and a canopy bridge tour. I for one am praying that we get non-foggy weather on the day of our tours. My only other experience zip lining (in Monteverde) included lots and lots of fog. At one point I seriously felt like I was moving through empty space since all I could see anywhere around me was gray clouds. It was cool, but I'm itching to see the tree tops and wildlife. Also, this time I'll be prepared with my dad's waterproof camera so I won't be shy about snapping photos of my view. After lunch the plan is to explore a forest trail before heading out toward the beach!

MANUEL ANTONIO

The major attraction of Manuel Antonio is the national park, so that's where we'll start. We'll be up nice and early (hopefully) to increase our chances of seeing some wildlife and literally spend the rest of the day lounging on the beach. Before dark we'll head out for dinner and then watch the sunset on the public stretch of beach. The next day is basically wide open. We want to get in on this spice tour I read about on TripAdvisor and tracked down with my interweb skillz, but I haven't had any luck getting a reply from the people who run the farm. Andrea and I might just show up and use our curly-haired, mistaken-for-twins charm to do the tour without a reservation. Honestly, who could say no to this?

PUERTO VIEJO

Puerto Viejo is the only place I spent more than one weekend in (I spent two separate weekends there) when I studied abroad. I loved the relaxed vibes and riding a janky rented beach cruiser uphill in the pouring rain (I'll have to tell that story sometime). Despite spending more time there than other places, I completely missed out on the various rescue centers. I'm not making that mistake again, so Andrea and I are definitely visiting the Jaguar Rescue Center and might even make the drive to the Sloth Rescue Center. We're both animal lovers at heart so I'm seizing this chance to get my naturalist fix. I liked the souvenir shopping in PV and since this is the last stop of our trip before heading to the capital, I see no harm in beginning the stockpile of souvenirs.

SAN JOSE

I couldn't be my sister's tour guide without taking her to the capital city. neither one of us are interested in eating our way around the country, but we'll probably pick up a lunch at either the Mercado Central or Pollo Campero, a childhood favorite from the small amount of time we spent in El Salvador. We'll squeeze in some souvenir shopping at the Mercado Artisenal and grab coffee at the Teatro Nacional, which, fun fact, is a replica of the Opera House in Paris. I also have to take her to get either some Pops ice cream or a Trit (another ice cream treat) because they were central to my Costa Rican dessert experience. The plans for dinner are up in the air; I'd like to swing by Zapote and see my host mom and old stomping grounds, but I don't know if I'll be competent enough to drive the tricky and scary streets of San Jose. Either way, we're planning on staying with a family friend who lives a bit outside of the city.

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SARCHI or CARTAGO

The last destination on the list is a simple day trip to either the rural cultural area of Sarchi, where they famously paint the oxcarts all kinds of gorgeous colors and patterns, or the Cartago ruins, another thing that was maybe half an hour's bus ride away from me the entire time I lived in CR but never went to see. After a few hours we'll head out to the airport to check in for our flight home. 

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Since it's Drea's first time in the country and since I only got to spend a tiny amount of time in these places, we're sticking to the beaten path this go around. Maybe in the future we'll snob up and spend the whole trip getting to know one place. But for this time around, I think a taste of everything Costa Rica has to offer suits us better than one giant meal.

♥ A

Miserable, Magical Monday

Today's MMM comes a little later than normal, but this weekend felt weirdly busy and my week was plagued with writer's block. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

1. As you all know, Saturday was the seventh. It also happened to be me and Brandon's first weekend in our new place. Since I'm more sentimental than that chick from Mean Girls who just wants to bake a cake with her feelings and since Brandon is a sweet dude, we made a day of strolling around in the downtown heat before retreating back to our apartment for some watermelon and House of Cards watching. Originally, we headed back to our place so we could take a dip in the pool, but then House of Cards happened. Before we knew it, it was nine! Which was when we decided we should probably have dinner.

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2. My mom gifted me this really cute potted aster daisy plant back in February (I think). I tried to keep it alive, but having never cared for a potted flower plant before, it died on me. Not surprising! Still, I kept the plant in all its brown crumbly shame and eventually looked up if you could revive a dead plant on the internet. Turns out you totally can, my plant was just beyond saving. I've been wanting a plant for a while but new home furnishings, including a house plant or soil, just aren't in the budget (have I mentioned how much I hate budgets? They're awful) right now. But I also didn't want to toss a perfectly good pot of soil because, remember, I'm super sentimental. Then it hit me. Brandon and I had an insane amount of daisy seed packets leftover from the wedding! So I hurriedly broke apart the dry soil and wet it until it actually looked like dirt and not clay. I then shallowly planted the daisy seeds from the wedding. The best part: I had teensy weensy sprouts in a week! I was over the moon. The sprouts luckily survived the move and are growing slowly but surely. I'm making sure to give them lots of light because I read daisies need it. Are any of you good gardeners? I'm pretty much flying blind here.

3. My minimal success with my flowers has me wanting to plant all the things! Ha. I think I'll try my hand at fresh herbs next. Trader Joe's totally has a potted basil plant for $2.99. Is this real life? I have dried basil that came with my spice rack and I love it like I love pesto. I can only imagine how good homemade pesto made from the freshest homegrown basil would taste! Mmm!!

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4. So there's this website called Naturally Curly and it has A TON of information about the different kinds of curly hair and other hair properties. I could seriously spend hours doing what I call curly hair research. I've read a lot and now am trying to learn how to properly apply. I'm also pretty sure my hair is a genetic disaster. It's super thick, coarse and dryer than even normal curly hair (which is naturally dryer than straighter hair). So to keep it moisturized I'm supposed to use heavy products, but I'm also really sensitive to protein/product buildup, so I should really use heavy products. In short, my hair's a ghastly mess. (Kudos to anyone who caught the Mary Poppins reference!)

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5. A few weeks ago I went to check out the French classic, Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry at Solano, my old community college. I figured that since I was already there and it had been ages since I'd walked through the old 700 building, where I fell in love with French, it was about time for me to see if the room had changed in the years since I'd studied French.

I miss this room!

FYI: I sat in the second seat in the second row from the right.

It hadn't changed at all! Madame's left-handed cursive was still visible on the white board despite the fact that it had been erased. It brought back some really cool, fun memories to stand in the doorway like a creep, hoping no one would see me and ask me what I was doing. I even walked past Madame's office to see if she was around (she wasn't). It was probably for the best. I get weird stage fright when it comes time to speak French with native/native level speakers. Either way, I'm glad I stopped by. It was nice to quietly enjoy my memories from five years ago.

6. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the fact that my glasses are broken. Nothing irreparable, but enough that I can't wear them in place of my contacts anymore. I completely slacked on purchasing vision insurance for myself this year which has left me in a pickle. I need new glasses but need a new prescription before I can get them. Add to the mix me running out of fresh contacts about a month and a half ago. Yes, friends. This is my reality. I'm wearing contacts that should have been tossed a month ago and have no glasses to relieve my poor eyes. Just last week I noticed that my contacts were tearing. Tearing! At that point I knew there was no more stalling. So I called Costco up and set up an appointment. The older I get (WOW that made me feel way older than I am), the more scared I get of the doctor. Any doctor. But it'll feel so nice to see clearly and to not have torn plastic on my eyelids.

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7. Remember how my sister and I are going to Costa Rica this month? Yeah, as in 17 days?! That's insane. What's more insane is the fact that both of us need to get our passports. I'm pretty sure she just needs to renew hers, but not me. I changed my name when I got married so although I totally have a valid passport, the name on it is wrong. Anyway, I'll be expediting my process (I don't really have a choice haha) and get to make a tiny trip into San Francisco in a week. I'm planning on taking BART to save gas and parking money and I have to admit, I'm excited about it. BART isn't exactly the classiest form of public transit but it's familiar and easy. It reminds me of the time I got to go to Bring Your Child To Work Day with my mom, who has been riding BART to work for something like 15 years. Yes, every time I get on BART I think of that memory. But I'm also weirdly romantic about public transit (I'm pretty sure I romanticize the absolute strangest things). I might even score some Blue Bottle while I'm out there. That will make everything completely worth it!

Thanks for reading!
♥ A

The Move

Brandon and I moved last weekend. It was definitely an exciting experience for me since this was the first legitimate time he and I moved somewhere together.

See, I'd moved to San Diego and back three times before we got married. After graduation, I scoured for apartments we could probably afford (he was working part time and I was barely about to start working a temp job). We found one that wasn't in the most glamorous part of town but that fit our maybe-budget and Brandon moved in last July. His parents, some friends and I helped him move in. He lived there alone until September, when I rapidly shoved my things wherever I could. It was not fabulous.

To tell the truth, that apartment didn't feel like home. Something about not living there from the get-go made it feel like the place wasn't fully mine even after the wedding. Just to be clear, Brandon never once did anything to make me feel like that apartment wasn't mine, I'm just an odd bird who thinks about those kind of things. So you can imagine my delight at getting to be so invested in the packing and organization and directing and all the other hustle and bustle that comes with moving.

Until it came to actually packing. That is seriously the worst.

Anyway, I promised you all the story. So here it is.

FRIDAY

Brandon had his parents (who had just come back from a vacation in Hawaii), his boss/friend and our friend come over to load up the trailer. I left work early, presumably to have time to finish packing, and came home to my kitchen and bedroom practically empty. All I had to pack away were my clothes hanging in my closet. And I used that Pinterest hack of just putting it all in trash bags, so that took almost no time. It was really trippy to see the place I'd lived in for eight months so empty.

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Brandon and I had also been trying to get our nightmare Jetta sold and towed away for about a week. Friday was the day they were supposed to come pick it up. The pick up was supposed ot happen sometime between 8 am and noon, but by 4:30pm, we'd still heard nothing about a pick up. Of course, half an hour later, we got a call from the tow truck. Right as we were sitting down for a greasy delicious pizza dinner. Luckily, the towing guys were friendly enough and waited for us. Before I knew it, the demon car was gone.

We had some friends over to enjoy one last night in the apartment later on. We sat on the floor and caught up on our weeks and weekend, like always. One of my buds is graduating in two weeks with a freaking math degree! As someone who has known this guy since high school, it's been pretty cool to see his knowledge deepen and his ability to crush my math spirits grow.

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SATURDAY

Cleaning day. I woke up around 6am and could not fall back asleep. But I was not about to start cleaning at 6am. That's just too much. So I did about an hour of yoga because it had been days since I'd had any time to think about something other than cleaning and packing and schedules. Plus in my brain, moving is always supposed to be a big dramatic, exciting but sad moment in your life like it is on TV. You have good times but then you move on. I don't know. I like to linger in those moments when life feels a little like a movie.

I cleaned that apartment basically by myself in something like five hours while the guys moved the last of the boxes. Who knows if we'll get the deposit back (I'm praying we do, we need it) but either way, I left that place in great condition.

weirdly empty

Ready for that moment when things go horribly wrong for me? It's coming.

Things you need to know:

• I was solely responsible for watching my (parents') dogs while the family was at a cabin for the weekend

Saturday evening, Brandon and I headed out to Vacaville to celebrate an old (debate) teammate's birthday...after having some grilled tri-tip, chicken, corn and fruit salad as an extremely overdue lunch/early dinner. Of course I knew the food would be delicious at Josh's house, so summoned my rarely used hobbit tendencies and prepared for second dinner. Josh's family eats clean and local. His mom was completely into what is now-trendy food (seasonal, local, organic, natural) wayyy before us commoners had any clue that kale existed. Seriously! I tried kale for the first time at Josh's house. His mom had made some kale chips and I tried one to be polite. A year ago I didn't really like kale all that much, but something tells me I would feel super cool eating them now (pathetic, I know). Anyway, after the delicious dinner I got to try the national Australian dessert, pavlova (I forgot to mention, Josh's mom is Australian). It's a meringue "crust" covered in whipped cream and strawberries. I guess usually there's passion fruit drizzled over it, but Josh's mom said that the passion fruit at the market (or farm or wherever she sources her food) was overpriced. I don't know what passion fruit tastes like, anyway, so I didn't miss it. But good grief that pavlova was so good. Even picky-eater-Brandon devoured it!

Not the one we ate, but close!
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After lots of laughter and fabulous TV/movie/superhero conversation, it was time for Brandon and I to call it a night and go let my pups in from the backyard of my parent's house. I had had such a great day thus far and I was pretty excited to catch up on Game of Thrones since I was two weeks behind.

We got to my parents' house...and I couldn't find the house key.

I'd let Brandon borrow it the day before so he could wait for the Jetta to get picked up. He'd given it back to me and I'd been successful of keeping track of the lose key for a day and a half. I even had it when we left the house. I double checked my pocket. It was there.

Except now it wasn't. And my parents hadn't left a spare with anyone. Mine is was an unofficial spare since I just kept my house key even after moving out. We were stuck. I called Josh to ask him to do a quick sweep of the ground for the key. Nothing. I even hopped the fence into the backyard to see if I could break in to the house. I couldn't. So we headed back to Brandon's parents' house to do our own sweep. Also nothing. The couch was lifted and we walked around outside with flashlights (it was after 10pm by this point), but all we found were two black widows.

I felt so embarrassed and stupid. I had ONE JOB and completely failed at it. Luckily, Brandon's old room is now the guest room and my parents were totally cool about the whole thing. They would be back the next morning, anyway. So really, the only people I harmed were my poor pups. It still makes me sad to think about it.

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SUNDAY

Brandon and I were lucky enough to have several friends help us unload the trailer after church. It literally took less than an hour to get everything we own into the new place. My moms and sister even helped unpack the kitchen! It was a humongous help and seriously the least stressful move I've ever experienced. I'd even say a little anti-climactic after the previous night's escapades.

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MONDAY

I took the day off work to get a solid chunk of unpacking and organizing done. Brandon and I also spontaneously decided to host some friends for a post-dinner game night, which is probably the only reason we actually opened boxes and put things away. Without the pressure, we might still be living out of suitcases! We went to dinner at a place called Jack's Urban Eats, which is legit less than five minutes from our apartment and pretty good. I had chicken fingers because I was dying for some old school chicken fingers like the ones I used to order at Lyons on free kid meal Tuesday with my mom. They did not disappoint. Though next time, I'll make sure to try something I can't also get at Denny's. After some Yogurtland, we all came back to the new place and played a solid, awesome game of Cards Against Humanity. It was a pretty good unofficial housewarming thing.

It's been two days of commuting from Davis to Cordelia and so far I'm loving it. The traffic isn't half bad, but I do miss being able to go home over my lunch break. But hey, whatever. I'll take a quiet apartment where I haven't heard a siren yet to the constant traffic and sirens that would wake me up at the old place.


♥ A

Miserable, Magical Monday

EVERYONE! This is the first Miserable, Magical Monday from the new apartment in Davis. Random grins keep creeping up on my face. I'm really, really excited about this new place. It feels like we've hit the restart button. Here's to a truly miserable, magical Monday.

1. I am really bad at checking the mail. Funny enough, so is Brandon. I know it stems from being spoiled by growing up in a house, where mail is basically brought to you. In a complex, though, I actually have to think about going to the mailbox because it's basically on the other side of the grounds, closer to the office. It's out of the way, but I still can't seem to use that as an adequate excuse for only checking my mail about once a month. Anyway, Brandon and I did grab the mail on Wednesday and I had some fun mail waiting for me!! My best friend Barbara had sent my some gifts she'd picked up for me (and forgotten...womp) before she visited! I don't get presents very often since my brithday is only about two months away from Christmas so I was obviously excited about them. PLUS! She totally bought me a journal I'd been fawning over at World Market just last Monday! As in, I didn't know it existed until Monday and she'd already bought and sent it up to me. What a great friend.

The journal I half-begged Brandon to buy for me last week.

Me seriously modeling the Eiffel Tower earrings.

My pretty, new necklace.

2. Along the lines of things I received in the mail, I got my sister Andrea and honorary sister/birthday twin Holly's graduation announcements on Wednesday as well! I started getting a little misty eyed reading their announcements. The accomplishment that is finishing your undergrad isn't lost on me. I can't wait to watch them walk across that stage. I could cry just think about how proud I am of those women!

3. Now that June is here I really have to start thinking about the various special occasions I'll be attending...as well as what I'll be wearing to these occasions. Really, I'm going to use this as an excuse to go shopping. I'm itching for a reason to go one of Buffalo Exchange's Bay Area stores. Maybe I'll even check out some of the more local thrift stores to see what I can find. I need something to wear to a commencement and to two different weddings.

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4. Brandon and I finally got rid of the (nightmare vehicle from hell) Jetta on Saturday, which meant that we finally had the money to purchase my flight for a trip to Costa Rica with my sister. Like I mentioned earlier, she's graduating college this month and her graduation present wish was to go to Costa Rica. She and I are both passionate about conservation and nature so Costa Rica is an excellent fit. It also doesn't hurt that I spent three months living there during my study abroad. Sadly, I didn't take advantage of the nature scene nearly as much as the bar/discoteca scene while I was there, and I missed out on some awesome adventures. Not to mention I'm terribly shy, so I basically planned my weekend around what everyone else I knew was doing. This time will be different. My sister is an excellent travel buddy and she's open to seeing a lot of the nature and random cultural sites that I didn't even bother with when I lived there.

I think what I'm most excited about is the chance to share an international experience with someone I love. I went to Paris without a friend (though I did bond with everyone on the trip) and studied abroad without so much as a rando from my university (but still managed to make a very, very good friend out of it all). So when I came back after having been challenged and fundamentally changed, a usual side effect of international travel, showing my family a slideshow of my photos felt stupid and inadequate. That and lots of people find it boring to listen to you talk about the time you wrestled through a tough situation and how that photo is meaningful to you because that's where you had a major breakthrough, blah, blah, blah. That's what my journal was and is for. Anyway, now I'm just excited for Andrea to know what the country looks like in person and what it smells like when it rains and what the food tastes like and, ultimately, for her to see a living snapshot of a place I lived in. For some reason I think she'll love it just as much as I did. We're even staying in a few of the same hostels I stayed in almost three years ago! I can't wait.

5. Speaking of traveling, I'm going to brag about myself for a little bit. I am a fantastic travel agent. Ask anyone in my family! I find the best deals on flights and hotels and car rentals (except for that one time in Hawaii, but that was my first car rental ever). Andrea and I will be spending less than $200 total on lodging for over a week of travel. Granted, we're staying in hostels, but they're not run-down, crummy ones. We're also taking advantage of the fact that we have a family friend who lives right outside of San Jose (Costa Rica's capital). Honestly, if the internet wasn't a widely accessible thing and if it was still a legit career move, I would totally consider becoming a travel agent. I would offer it all: the cheapest flight without compromising travel schedule, a place to stay within your price range that will actually semi-impress you, and an itinerary to fit your vacation style. I'd book me.

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6. I've been meaning to write about my love for iPhone group messages. I'm the kind of person who despises reply-all perpetrators in email but looooves group messaging. I have two ongoing group conversations right now. One with my sister and friends Holly and Barbara, and another with my cousins Rachel and Lily. I love both of them. I don't get to see any of these girls too often because of distance and busy schedules, so it's nice to be able to keep my friendships. Honestly, these girls are my closest friends, which feels so silly to say because they're all far way. I guess three years of a long distance romantic relationship prepared me for six long distance friendships, ha! The best part about these group messages is we talk almost every single day, not tom mention I get to share my outfits with them. I really feel closer to these women than anyone else I have in my vicinity.

What all long distance feels like lol
PS: 'scuse le francais.

7. I'd prompted myself to write about Starbucks' new espresso frappucino because it's delicious and the greatest frapp to come out out Starbucks' brain in years, but instead I'll end today's MMM with a promise to tell you all about our moving escapade. Naturally, things that wouldn't have gone wrong for anyone else went wrong for me. You're all lucky I'm a sharer. Anyway, now I have to finish unpacking my apartment. Yay!

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♥ A