Learnings This Weekend

Okay, okay I'm back! 

Things have been a little busy in my world with work, meetings, playing and well.... summer.

The highlight of last week was taking the work day off on Monday and getting some awesome girl time with Marisa, a sweet girl I met through blogging who was my first "blind blate". We had coffee, got pedicures and talked about the serious importance of "mental health days". From there I only blogged last week for confessions and focused my energy toward work things.

I can't promise perfection but I can say I'll be better.

Here's some of the fun things I learned this weekend (which is really just a fun way of saying recap, right?)

:: Weekends are way better when I'm cat sitting this handsome guy

:: I can't eat my raspberries as quickly as they are coming in! I need a partner in crime!

:: The start of Orange is the New Black Season 2 is lackluster..... but you already knew that.
:: Sunday date with mom is awesome, but chocolate made it much better!

:: Bears are the best zoo animals, especially when one comes home with you.

:: But really, cat sitting is the best. Come back any time, Shady!

Are you linking up with Katie today?

The Best Confession You'll See All Day

Since we all had so much fun last week with my swollen face voting - I thought I'd give you something else to vote on today for my Wednesday confessions.

The most important confession you'll see all day:

I couldn't wait for a rest stop to do my duty on the drive back from Central Oregon.

So..... which edit of the incident was best?

#1 When Nature Calls:

#2 Pffffffft KerPlop:

Thanks for your vote! Link up with Kathy if you know what's good for you!

Things I Learned While Hiking

Sometimes you have to get away for the weekend to experience some nature.

After work on Friday I packed up my best hiking gear and headed on a road trip to Bend, OR with a friend for a sweet dose of nature. I'm a pretty outdoorsy lady but don't often make it a point to remove myself from cell reception and breathe the mountain air.

Here's the quick and dirty on what I learned while hiking in Bend this weekend.

:: Don't go chasing waterfalls

:: When there's poop on the ground, it came from an animal.

:: When there's poop and toilet paper on the ground, it likely came from a human.

:: The road less traveled has some of the best views around.

:: There's still snow on the mountain in June.

:: Man-made bridges are less fun to cross a river than by fallen trees...but safer.

:: "Holy moses" is the way to describe the gut wrenching feeling when you look down off a cliff.

:: Bacon wrapped jalapeños are the way to recover from a 4 hour hike. 

:: We came, we saw, we walked back down the mountain.

Oh, and this lake view didn't suck either!

Are you linking up with Katie today?

Friday Favorites

Happy happy Friday!

Since I didn’t post any favorites last week you get a 14 day double whammy of both vacation favorites and being back in the normal routine things. 

First, can we applaud the fact that I posted every day this week and didn’t make up any excuses about how busy I am at work?

Second, Jessi stop talking about your vacation please after today’s post? 

Amanda knows how to do a link up right! Get in there!

:: Surprising my brother and meeting his girlfriend for the first time was pretty awesome.

:: Meeting them in paradise was the cherry on top!

:: I was shocked and awed by an email from my managers on vacation notifying me of the biggest raise I’ve ever received. I doubt that happens to many people who are sitting underneath a palm tree! 

:: This guy is my favorite father!

:: Coming home to PDX Carpet made me happy

:: Coming home to a new dress, new wedges and summer raspberries made me even happier!

And finally, my favorite throwback song I heard while on vacation!

Who else is linking up with Amanda's Friday Favorites?

Look-Alike Contest

So I mentioned on Monday that my face swelled up on vacation, remember?

There were several things going on all at once that I was unable to diagnose what exactly had happened. 

I ate some almonds Wednesday that made my throat scratchy. I had some shrimp Wednesday and I’ve never been allergic before - but my mom is. I woke up to a red-hot ear in the middle of the night and I had a sunburn on my entire face from zero use of sunscreen my first day of vacation in the pool. 

All I knew is that I woke up Thursday morning with fluid underneath my eyes and zero desire to put my contacts in or really do anything all day except sit inside and play on my laptop. 

I didn’t leave the condo once that day and here’s why:

Ahh! Scary isn’t she?

This was the worst that it got, and it didn’t help that right above that was my peeling flaky forehead that I took care of with a wet washcloth. 

While that was the worst, I found some doppelgängers of the other stages I went through and need your help to vote on which is the better side-by-side. 

Was I better as option A: Sid the Sloth from Ice Age?

Or better as option B: This Derp-face Sloth from the Goonies?

Please say Sid!! 

Friday morning we noticed some puncture marks on my ear which all point to a bug (spider?) bite and explains the heat I felt on my ear in the middle of the night. It’s all cleared up now and I’m happy I didn’t have anyone to impress on vacation. Not even a mother could love that face (although mine tried to).

Yay for embarrassing internet photos! 

Island Confessions

Guys I’m almost done bragging talking about my vacation, I promise. There’s just so much to cover and in so many different ways that you’ll have to put up with me through the end of the week before you’re in the clear. 

Tomorrow is a fun one so you’ll want to come back for that! You get to see my gross swollen face from what we assume was a bug bite. I’m still anticipating the bug’s eggs to hatch in my brain but that’s another post for another day. 

It truly pained me last week to skip out on confessions. It’s such a soul-cleansing experience and I won’t be missing another for the foreseeable future. 

Let’s confess!

:: I don’t have any family friendly poolside playlists in my spotify library so I stayed up late one night putting one together. Then we never used it - but it’s still good.

:: Shark week decided to show up on vacation and I was surprised to find remedy at the local mini mart. From now on I’m always vacationing prepared because the I’m-only-buying-tampons-so-what interaction was awkward for me.

:: I purposefully ignored work emails that could have been answered with a simple reply from my iPhone, just to support the fact that I was “off” and on island time.

:: I started reading Game of Thrones before finishing my other book at home. This makes for 9 books that I have actively open and “reading”. I just can’t finish a book that I've started.

:: I didn’t pack tweezers with me and the humidity caused my eyebrows to sprout a little scattered unibrow. I couldn’t take it, so I used my fancy new mini razor and swiped those punks away. Please don’t grow back thicker and darker, unibrow hairs. 

:: I peeled my skin peels in public. I’m a disgusting human being. 

:: I couldn’t stay away and I read some blogs on vacation. There was no method to my madness so if I read and didn’t comment I’m sorry. Will you still love me?

:: Coming in to work Monday was a struggle. I doodled palm trees on my notepad in a meeting and was caught doing it. 

Sigh, can I go back to paradise?

Linking up with kick-ass Kathy

Guest Post: Redefining My Motivation

Today on my fitness blog we're talking about redefining my motivation now that I'm back from my tropical bikini-wearing vacation.

Just click my face (or bicep) below to find me!

Then tomorrow is hump day!!

Things I Learned in Belize

I was all kinds of excited to come into work today with a tan glow that my co-workers would envy. However, like all people who don’t apply enough sunscreen, my sun-kissed skin quickly adapted to the Portland climate and graciously began to shed and peel and all those other sexy things that happen to burnt skin. 

Literally, it’s like a crime scene in my sheets and I can’t wear black all week because it’ll look like dandruff everywhere. 

No, that’s not confetti. That’s dead skin. Thanks for asking. 

I feel like I forgot to write after taking a week off, so let’s get back in the swing of things with an easy version of Things I Learned this weekend with miss Katie. 

+ Taking a Friday night red-eye is my jam - duh because we all know I covet my Friday night naps.

+ There is a direct correlation between happiness and palm trees. More trees, more happy. 

+ Brother genuinely enjoyed having us there to surprise him.

+ Having a girlfriend looks good on my brother. It was the first family trip with no sibling quarrels.

+ Less is more when it comes to drinking poolside rum and vodka. 

+ Eating paleo does not soak up the rum and vodka I mentioned above. Fried bread does. 

+ It’s hard taking selfies on a family vacation.

+ It’s harder taking selfies when your face swells up for no obvious reason.

+ Googling “Swollen Face Belize” is not a good idea for the hypochondriac in me. I’m on bug-infestation watch for the next two weeks now because of it. 

+ You can win $1,000 from picking which square a chicken is going to poop on.

+ My mom is very animated after drinking 3 beers and winning aforementioned $1,000 from a chicken pooping on her square.

I’ve read over and over how you guys hate vacation recaps (and book reviews) so I’ll spare you the “mark as read”. 

If you do want to read some of the backstory I spied my mom typing up her Monday recap on our flight back into the states! 

I came, I saw, I snorkeled, I regulated (my Karaoke song).

And now I’m peeling.….. and maybe dreaming of my next tropical adventure. 

Are you linking up with Katie today?

Sneaky Tropical Vacation

I've been keeping an awesome secret for the past few months on my blog!

Since the spring my parents and I have had plane tickets booked to Belize for a family vacation with my brother and his girlfriend. My brother knew about the vacation, but he didn't know that his family would be crashing the party on what he thought was just time in paradise with his lady.

Now now, don't worry - they are still going to get another week of alone time after we head back home. It's just pretty awesome to pull off nearly the greatest heist in history and land in paradise with palm trees.

It was almost impossible to not post a million photos of the journey thus far, but you can bet I won't hold back on any more! 

This girl is going to be taking pool selfies all week, hopefully not drinking as much as I did on day 1!

Hopefully you don't get sick of me!

Photo Favorites Friday

As I type this on Thursday night, my Bloglovin' queue has 168 unread blogs and there's 38 unread emails in my personal inbox. 

I feel really bad about it and it's my promise that I'm going to read all the meaningful things you guys have written about while I'm snuggled up with a blanket or outside getting some sun this weekend.

But that's not what we're talking about here today - we are sharing favorites!! I don't feel too wordy today so we're going to share the shares in photos! You're welcome and Happy Friday!

:: Beer in a mason jar from a work party

:: My favorite time of year, the raspberries in my backyard!

:: After Monday's shaving snafu - this was purchased at Target. Hello car shaves!

:: While I went into target for a razor, I found these babies and I'm in love.

:: #GoVoxBox Blue Diamond Almonds were a tasty treat. My love for almonds that are more than almonds continues to grow. 

And that's that! Enjoy your weekend!

Link up with Amanda's Friday Favorites!