If you ever have a chance to take a giant, rainbow unicorn float to the beach, I highly suggest you DO IT. Christina bought this bad boy (who we affectionately named Dennis) for $25 at Costco this past winter and yesterday we brought him along with us to Port Aransas, our lifelong favorite beach/city to visit in the great state of Texas. After getting Dennis blown (up), we all hopped on and tried to stay on as my brother, Daniel, pulled us out into the waves. Although we had to karate chop the seaweed and swerve around the jellyfish (my sister, Annie, ended up getting stung on her back), it was still the most fun time ever! We felt like kids again!
Daniel ended up falling asleep on Dennis, so to wake him up I put some Fritos on his back so the seagulls could wake him up, ever so gently, as seagulls do. It. Was. Hilarious.
Best part of any Texas beach trip is going to Whataburger after to gorge on burgers, fries, and coffee flavored milkshakes while your sunburned butts stick to the plastic seats. Speaking of sunburns, this might be the worst one I’ve ever had… Here’s hoping I don’t spend my last couple of days in town in complete misery…
I was 12 when I had my first boyfriend. His name was Chris Cressy. We “dated” for three weeks before he ghosted me just one week after my 13th birthday. For some reason, one that will remain a mystery forever, Chris decided to make the next year of my life miserable. I mean, he had already ripped out my heart and stomped on it, so why not take my already shaky teenage self esteem and drag that through the gutter too?
Chris HATED my guts. He put gum in my hair when I made the mistake of sitting in front of him on the school bus. He called me “pig face” everyday because of my stupid little upturned nose. We had “loathe” as a vocabulary word in 8th grade English, and he made it clear to the whole class who he loathed.
What had I done to deserve this treatment? Nothing.
So what did I do to defend myself or retaliate to Chris’s incessant bullying? Also, nothing.
Even though my feelings were being constantly battered, I was nice to Chris. It was in December 2003 that he decided to cut it out and call off his verbal dogs. I was best friends with his sister and decided to give the entire family Christmas gifts, and when he saw that I gave him my own coveted NOFX tee shirt, he said something along the lines of “Sarah is just so nice. I think I’m going to be nice back.” It was a Christmas miracle!
I know that compared to others’ experiences, my middle school situation was really NBD. Nevertheless, it had a profound effect on my life. I learned that kindness, genuine kindness, cannot be beat. I learned that patience truly is as virtuous as they say. I learned that taking the high road can be a real pain in the ass, but it is absolutely necessary.
After we got over that blip, Chris and I became friends, and remain friends to this day, almost 15 years later! He’s actually a great person, he was just an asshole teenager. (HI, CHRIS! I told you I was gonna use your full name!)
The inspiration to write this stemmed from a collaboration I have with a company called Little Words Project. I love looking down at my wrist and seeing the reminder to simply “be kind,” because I know from personal experience just how important that is. I suppose if you’re reading this post and are looking for something to take away from it all, hear me now: Kindness will always win.
Two weeks ago, my husband and I took a vacation for the first time in what seems like a year. My husband turned 30 years old and wanted to spend his big day have a relaxing but thrilling time in California with his bestie. As much as we love our children, it can be hard to fully relax when you’re constantly keeping an eye on your kids. We were very blessed to have my in-laws come stay the week with the kids while we went away.
Making the decision to fly into LAX might have been a bad choice since we got to experience the LA traffic first hand but if we had not, we wouldn’t have stopped at Phillipe’s for some mouth-watering french-dip sandwiches and had the chance to explore Chinatown.
Holy Blue Cheese French Dip Batman!
After Chinatown, we took a drive to the Griffith Observatory. As we were headed up we saw a sign that said “Free Parking with $1 shuttle ride round trip”. DEAL! We parked and could not figure out where the bus pick up was. We saw a bus up the road so we walked up a crazy steep hill but found out it wasn’t the right shuttle. Then we hiked back down the hill and saw a bunch of charter buses an assumed “those must be it!”. No. Finally, we found someone to direct us and had to hike further down the hill to find the shuttle pick up and still waited for what seemed like 20 minutes but at least we were in the right spot. It felt like we were in the movie “Dude, Where’s My Car?” but instead call it “Dude, Where’s The Shuttle?”
Once we reached the top we saw some breathtaking views of Los Angeles and the famous “Hollywood” sign. I also learned some cool stuff about our Universe and got to check out a Tesla Coil in action! Hello, Lightning.
Later that evening, I had the opportunity of meeting up with a high school friend that I hadn’t seen in 10 years! We met up at a super cute bar called Harlowe in West Hollywood that was really chill. They made us some great appetizers that we completely devoured like wild animals. Hopefully, we didn’t leave a horrible impression.
Image from Cement Tile Shop.
Emilie and I
The next day was Brandon’s 30th birthday! His best friend took us to lunch on Laguna Beach and not only did we have some spectacular food but we had an amazing view!
Look at these guys! 18 years of friendship!
When I found out we would be making a trip to California, I made it a top requirement that we stop at this adorable little place called Creme & Sugar. I had recently found out about this place through social media when they released their Unicorn Hot Chocolate. Following the Hot Chocolate, was a Unicorn Milkshake and Unicorn Bark. This was all before the Unicorn Frappucino was ever thought into existence. I had hyped it up a ton and I think everyone was dreading to go, assuming this milkshake would be terrible and would end in a waste of time. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint!
Everyone ordered something off the menu and we were all highly satisfied with what we chose. Naturally, I chose the Unicorn Milkshake and Daves wife Cyntia ordered the S’mores Hot Chocolate. I would highly recommend coming here if you’re ever in the area.
Am I dreaming?
It made the Unicorn come out of me!
After getting a sugar fill, we “hit” up a batting cage to satisfy Brandon’s birthday wish. For being years since any of us had hit anything with a stick, we all did pretty well! To finish up the night, we met up with Brandon’s younger brother Caleb and his wife Alissah for a fancy shmancy dinner. So far, Southern California had exceeded my expectations, I would have been satisfied after 2 days but we had a few more adventures to accomplish before heading back home.
When you meet a new person, and you really want to get to know him/her, what are the questions you ask? “What’s your favorite color?” is a common inquisition, typically asked by kids age 5-12. Also, what does a person’s favorite anything say about them? Not much! Favorite things are too fleeting to determine whether or not you’re talking to a sociopath.
I love when strangers or acquaintances ask “what’s your sign” and when they hear the answer, give a knowing “ahhhhh” with a look that says “no wonder you’re such a bitch!!!” (this happens a lot on The Real Housewives). Sure, yes, maybe astrology has its points… But Joel and I are both, technically, Sagittarius and we don’t exactly fit under that umbrella together. Let’s dig deeper…
…. but first….
I did this blog photoshoot and it, very obviously, has nothing to do with what I’m talking about, it’s just part of my blogging brand: talking about stuff with pictures of me, in case you forgot how stylish and adorable I am (you did?! how could you?!). Plus, if you’re anything like me, you need visual aids to push you through and break up all the talking. I digress…
My new favorite question to ask: What’s your Myers Briggs test score?
I first took the MB back in Psychology 101 and I remember being disappointed at the results because I got an E instead of an I, meaning I was more extroverted than introverted. I’M NOT AN EXTROVERT, I’M SHY AS HELL!!!! Having taken the same test 4 years later and yielding the exact same results, I’ve happily accepted my fate as an ENFP-T, it makes a lot of sense and it explains the busy body questions I love asking strangers and my interest in other people’s personality types. This is my personality profile, if you care to read more.
Last week, after I took the test again, I asked some other people to take it too and spent most of Wednesday night reading their results and saying to myself “yep! this makes perfect sense!” I especially loved reading about my husband’s personality type, because it’s just so Joel, in a nutshell.
Do yourself a favor and take the personality test that I linked above (IT’S FREE!). I’m genuinely interested in reading into these and would love to know what you get! Where my other Campaigners at?!
Dress/ Free People, Purse/Kate Spade, Sunglasses/ZeroUV, Weird posture & expression/ C/O my ENFP personality type
IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! I could write a post telling you all about how awesome I am but in reality, I am just incredibly thankful for my life, my family, and my friends. You all mean the world to me! Life is too short to whine about the things that don’t go well so focus your energy on what makes you happy!
These 3 people give me purpose and a reason to wake up everyday. Love them all!
I had to treat myself in someway, right? I spent half a day in the salon yesterday changing my hair to this beautiful, dimensional pink! I love it!
I finally splurged a little and treated myself to some sparkly birthday nails too. Working with hair color most days, I struggle with keeping pretty nails since they’re continuously stained and ugly. I can’t stop staring at these babies!
Tomorrow morning, my husband and I fly out to Los Angeles to celebrate our birthdays since he will be turning 30 on Thursday! Looking forward to some sunshine and waves.
Thanks again for all the birthday love! 27 was a crazy year but rewarding and beautiful at the same time. Love you all!
WE *JUST ABOUT* DID IT! WE *JUST ABOUT* MADE IT TO OUR FIRST WEDDING ANNIVERSARY (actual date is the 14th), as if anyone ever doubted they’d find us here, ha! It feels like it was just yesterday that we officially became The Blumers in the eyes of both God and the state of Pennsylvania…
It’s pretty funny how quickly we embraced the life of being a boring, old married couple after our honeymoon. Sure we’ve travelled to some cool places since last May (like Toronto and NYC), hosted parties, and explored our city; but our life together as major homebodies is my favorite thing. We spent the first 2.5 years of our relationship mostly separated (I was living in Texas, Joel in PA) as well as the 9 months leading up to our wedding (I was working/living in Ohio), so sorry not sorry that we spend most of our time cuddling on the couch while we binge watch Breaking Bad and The Office on rotation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Hence the “theme” of our first anniversary photo shoot…
A Few Good Mundane Memories:
the two days after the wedding madness, right before leaving for our honeymoon, when we got to just chill with our families and remaining friends in town.
the day we got our a/c fixed after what felt like a lifetime of being too sweaty to so much as hug.
adopting our kittens, who are basically our placeholder children for the next five years.
decorating for our first Christmas as a married couple and realizing how much our kittens love to ruin/eat most Christmas decor.
dancing our asses off to our wedding playlist in our living room while cleaning up after a party.
when we were on our way home late one Friday night and Joel pulled the car over so I could roll down the window and make eye contact with a raccoon in our neighborhood.
Joel growing his first beard.
After a year, I still get as giddy as a school girl when I hear Joel call me his wife…. He gets bonus points when he says it with a Borat accent.
Do you feel more confident when you make the time and effort to do your make-up, fix your hair, and dress up? I know I do, but getting there can be a major struggle. All I think about is how comfortable my yoga pants and oversized t-shirt is. And as long as I don’t run into anyone I know, I’m in the clear. Unfortunately, that never works out.
Anytime I decide to stay in my slums, I always without a doubt run into someone I wasn’t expecting. Not only that but anytime I don’t clean up, I don’t feel good. All I want to do is lay in bed and watch Netflix or just sleep. I’ve realized it’s not healthy for me so I’ve decided to put more effort into my everyday routine.
Go Dodgers, am I right?
Looking Good, Christina
After applying a hefty amount of dry shampoo and scraping out the rest of my “Full Coverage” foundation to cover up my hormonal breakouts, I’m finally looking and feeling better. When I feel more confident in myself, I have more energy to get out of the house and be productive. Even though it sounds like more work, it’s really not—once you’re done, you get things done.
Dry Shampoo: Monat The Champ. Lips: Lipsense- 1 coat Purple Reign, 2 Coats Party Pink, Matte GlossI’ve been obsessed with my pink frameless mirrored sunnies!
So take on the challenge. Put in the extra effort, and look GOOD! Don’t do it for anyone other than yourself. You Go Girl!
