Ocean Warriors

So of all the things we did on vacation, I was most excited to go ocean kayaking.
I think it's safe to say it was the thing my mom was least excited about.
More than once she said, "Now, if we run out of time and can't go kayaking, that's ok."
No mom, that is not ok. That is the ADVENTURE part of the trip. And there always has to be an adventure part.
Friday morning was cold and overcast. We were a little nervous about freezing to death on our kayaks. We called ahead, wondering what to wear. The nice lady on the phone said she would give us wetsuits this morning because it was so cold. Much better than the swimsuits and sweatshirts we considered wearing.
A shuttle picked us up right across from our hotel and drove us down. The shop was total chaos, but luckily, there were a lot of different types of tours, so only 14 of those 100 people were in our group. My mom and I got in our wetsuits, and we headed down to the beach. (Just a side note, my mom and I weigh within 2 pounds of each other. She just lost some weight to get to this point, or she would never have let me take these pictures. It is fun to have someone else's body be so exactly the same as mine. Fascinating, actually.)

We watched 2 of the 3 kayaks ahead of us flip right over in the surf getting in the ocean. And then it was our turn. And we actually did great. It was so fun going over the big wave. And it was crazy feeling like we were in the middle of the ocean. I had never been so far out and the big swells under us were just crazy.
And then a little tiny swell flipped us over. For no apparent reason. Our tour guide held our kayak while we jumped back in. The rest of the tour was really calm and fun. We went in a little cave, saw some cool orange fish, and paddled next to sea lions. Our tour guides were really fun, and they made the whole thing.
We were warned that going back in might be the toughest part, but we did great for the first two waves. And then a huge wave knocked us out of the boat and threw our paddles from us. And then we got hammered by a few more waves. And we both agreed that was the funnest part. We couldn't stop laughing even as we were coughing up salt water. We looked like drowned rats, but we still felt like rockstars. I mean, if you can kayak in the ocean, what CAN'T you do?

La Jolla calls....

As nice as the condo and Imperial Beach was, I kept having flashbacks of Spring Break 2009 and La Jolla was calling. The beach there is beautiful and the place just screams vacation. And, well, this girl needed a vacation. We cleaned up the condo (really, my mom did most of that. I really can't take that credit. That's one of the many pluses of taking a mom on vacation), locked it up, and drove 20 minutes to La Jolla. First stop...the temple.
The San Diego temple is simply one of the most gorgeous ever. That's just the way it is. It is getting cleaned right now, so some of the windows are taped up, but my mom and I did a session there, and it was just beautiful. We also did family names for two sisters, which made it even better.


Next, Burger Lounge. We went there last year also, and, basically, they are the best hamburgers in the world. And they didn't disappoint.

And then. We went to our hotel. Now, finding a hotel in San Diego requires a lot of searching. There are gaslamp district hotels, which are cool, but mostly if you want to go clubbing. There are beautiful resort hotels, but they are miles away from La Jolla and everything else. So finding the perfect hotel in La Jolla can be rough. We stayed at La Valencia. It was built in 1926, it's in the middle of La Jolla, it's kinda fancy, and it looks out directly over the ocean. We decided that if two nights were free for vacation, one $300 night was okay. Especially if the hotel upgraded us to the $500 room, which they did. The view was incredible. The bed was incredible. And the whirlpool tub was incredible. Whoo-hoo!!

The Mormon Battalion, The Island, and, of course, cupcakes.

The rest of Thursday was spent doing random things, trusting the GPS and yelp to get us everywhere we needed to go, and hoping we didn't die while I learned to merge California-style. (Truth be told, it's kind of an adrenalin-rush, but I really don't mind driving there at all. )
We first went to the Mormon Battalion visitors center in Old Town. In 1847, the US Army asked for 500 volunteers to go west for the army for the war with Mexico. Brigham Young prophesied that if they were faithful, they would never have to fight, but that it would be a great way financially to get their families out west. It turned out just like that. It was a rough rough march, but they learned irrigation techniques, brick-laying techniques, and provided a great trail out west. The visitors' center has just been re-done and is really cute. The little movies were so fun, and the little sister missionaries were cute, too.


Next stop was Coronado Island. I'm sure there are things we missed here. It was quaint, but mostly we just drove across the bridge (very cool) and went and ate. Brigantine got great yelp reviews, but it was really just another "ok" restaurant on this trip. It was during this meal that I wondered if I've had too much great food in my life because I wasn't so awesomely impressed. Our service was great. Our Spinach Brig salads were perfection, and I even had two oysters, just for the novelty. They were great, too. My mom had blackened sea bass and I had mahi mahi, both of which were just ok.

So then. We got cupcakes.
The GPS led us through the San Diego jungle until we dropped in downtown to BabyCakes. Really, I was full, but you just can't ignore a store called BabyCakes. I ordered the pistachio and the signature babycake. I think I got a strawberry, which was not good. But the signature one, which was chocolate with cheesecake on the bottom with cream cheese frosting was stinkin' AMAZING. I ate half that night and the other half for breakfast. :-)

Shades of Blue

NO I'M NOT ENGAGED. (And no John and I aren't dating, either. I just realized what putting a tiffany's box might do to the hearts of my dear readers.) The real story is....I haven't written too much about my clinicals (which is really kind of sad). I have been working with a great NP who does only gynecology and she is absolutely fabulous. Really, I couldn't have asked for a better experience. She has taught me so much, and the preceptors who help us out at ASU do not get paid. Last week was our last day together, and to thank her, I put together the coolest gift basket I have maybe ever (and I really really can't believe I didn't take a picture). It included a massage at a great spa, some earrings, some cute little juice glasses with her initials on them, some other little random things, and a gift certificate to Tiffany's. All her jewelry is from there, and even though the gift certificate really could only buy half of anything, it was so fun to buy a little blue box from there. It felt so so fun.
When I gave it to her, she thanked me, and then handed me the keys to her condo in San Diego. I was in shock. That was not what I had expected. But...it was appreciated. There are so many cool places to stay in San Diego, and I knew so little about the town, that I hadn't even booked our hotels yet. So this was awesome.
We rented us a cute little red Nissan Sentra, I got a smoothie (carbs reserved for vacation), and we headed out.

We didn't get in until about 9pm, but we slept like rocks. The condo was very beachy and very blue (she loves dolphins and all that stuff). The master bathroom felt so so gloriously spacious, and the bed was wonderful. We slept with the windows open every night while the ocean breeze (about 40 degrees cooler than AZ) made everything perfect.




The condo was on Imperial Beach, which is about 3 seconds from Mexico, which is crazy. The beach was nice, and we had a great lunch of halibut tacos on the pier. I managed to get a little sunburn in about an hour and a half....proof that I need to get outside more often!

Mom Comes to Town.....VACATION!!!

Tuesday night (the 10th), my mom came into town. A few months ago, we decided to take a vacation together during this school break. I was feeling like I never take vacations since school is in, and she decided she would love to come hang out, so it was on. San Diego here we come!!

My mom loves sushi, so that first night before we left we went to Sushi Roku, after getting their groupon, at the W hotel. We brought John with us, since we were going to abandon him here for the next few days. Sushi Roku was fun. The ambience was great, the eggplant miso was delicious, and the yellowtail appetizer was fabulous, but the sushi itself was actually pretty lame.

If I didn't even bother taking a picture, you know it wasn't all that. We did, however, take pictures of ourselves.

My mom and I also went to Scottsdale Fashion Square in search of some great shoes. Sometimes it takes someone visiting from out of town to realize what you have in your own backyard. Like, "the best Banana Republic store in the world."

WHAT???

Guess what!!?! I'm blogging! Which can only mean one thing...the semester is over!! One more to go until I am officially a nurse practitioner. Whoo-hoo!

On to more important things:

Like my car battery. Because, midnight though it might be, I promised Jessica I would blog tonight. Promised.

So. On Wednesday, my car wouldn't start to take me to work. Nothing. Nada. Nothing. Not a thing. My car gave absolutely no response to the necessity of taking me to work. The roommates and I tried to jump it. It started to click, but that was it. No Altima driving that day.

Vanie (roommate) took me to work, and I got a ride home the next, confused about why on earth my battery would be dead.

When I woke up on Thursday, Vanie and I tried again, letting her truck run for about 5 solid minutes before attempting to jump my car. Again. No dice. The battery was gone.

Now, I am not one to save receipts. I have been known to hand them back to cashiers to throw away simply so they won't accumulate in my car. But for some reason I held on to this one. Deep in my glove box was a receipt from May 2005, faded and barely legible, from AutoZone. For this car battery. With a SEVEN year warranty. Oh I was so happy.

So I threw the battery in Vanie's truck and away we drove to AutoZone. When I brought my battery in and set it on the counter and announced that my battery only lasted 5 years, the guy at the counter said, "Um, WHAT?"

This echoed Vanie's response when I had told her that I thought my battery was 5 years old. "um, WHAT? Batteries don't last that long. They last 1 year out here. Maybe MAYBE 3. They do not last 5 years."

Well, MY cool little DuraLast lasted 5 years. All this being impressed kind of took away the anger I had about it dying in the first place.

The little worker guy was shocked. "What kind of car do you drive?"

"A '99 Altima."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, dude, an altima. It's amazing."

I got $15 for my used battery (apparently it's only a full warranty for the first 2 years). And, also, since I had my receipt I got the 2005 price for the battery which was $49.99 instead of $79.99.

Which means I paid $35.00 for my brand new battery. Of which I will never buy a different brand.

Nor will I ever throw away my receipt.

Later on, Vanie watched in awe as I installed my new battery with my little pink pliers.

Ahhh....the things that make me happy.