I took a day trip on Sunday!

Bright and early Sunday morning, we caught an early flight from SF to LA.   The flight’s a little over an hour, so not too difficult for a day trip (though usually makes way more sense to go down for longer given the airport time and plane flight costs.)  Driving takes 8 hours, in case you were curious.

I really wanted to see my great-Aunt and Uncle who are in their late-80s and some friends who I haven’t seen in way too long.  It was a last-minute-ish trip, but worked out really well.

The alarm went off at 5:30 (yikes, early for a wknd).  I showered, dressed, and ate a quick breakfast.  Almond Butter on Toast with a banana.  I was surprisingly really hungry for that early in the morning.

And then left by 6:30 to make our 8am flight.  We parked in one of the long-term parking lots and the airport was so empty luckily (Sunday morning of a long-weekend, so we missed the rush).

I needed coffee as soon as we got to the airport.  I was fading fast.

Virgin America’s in a new terminal that has really, really good restaurants….basically, a bunch of the really good SF restaurants all opened spots there.

I got my coffee at the Kara’s Cupcakes kiosk that shared its spot with a Napa olive-oil-jam-fresh-baked-goods-etc shop.  Everything looked so good!  Unfortunately, I wasn’t hungry.

My hair thing was weirdly wrapped around my finger all day….not sure what was up with that!

And then about an hour and a half later, we were in LA!

Rental car pick-up, quick drive to Venice beach, and a little while later…..it was 11:30 and time to meet my Aunt and Uncle for brunch.  We went to Rose Cafe,  a really cute cafe with a huge shaded patio area.  My breakfast was early, so I was def hungry for lunch by then.  I got a chicken pesto sandwich that was great, but way too filling (could only eat half).

Jared got the french toast to the right (yum!) and you can see my Uncle’s oatmeal in the back (topped with a ton of strawberries and fresh granola!).   It was nice to see my great-Aunt and Uncle.  They can’t come up to SF anymore (too far, too hard for them- they’re in their mid/late 80s) and I don’t get down to LA often enough. Always fun to hear all their stories.

Afterwards, we were trying to meet up with one of my friends, but he ended up in a golf game that went longer than expected so the timing didn’t work out.  Instead, we enjoyed the LA sunshine (was cold in SF fri and sat last week) and walked along the beach.

Jared got a softie cone with sprinkles. The ice cream was too pretty not to photograph (and I held it while he paid, so couldn’t resist). What’s up with that hair thing on my thumb all day, ha!

BTW- Jared was a trooper– on Saturday, he had a double-brick for his ironman training.  His training has really stepped up in the past couple weeks and is going to be even more intense.  A double-brick means that he started at 7:30am and biked i forgot how many miles, let’s say 25 (so about an hour and a half), then they ran for 40 minutes, then they biked another 25 miles, then ran for another 40 minutes.  With all the transition time, etc, it’s really exhausting.  So it was awesome that he was still able to get up early and have such a busy day on Sunday.

We sat on the beach for a couple hours.  I read, napped, and played in the water.  It was heaven!  We don’t have beaches like this in SF and I so wish we did!

I bought a Pineapple-Coconut Juice from Starbucks to drink.  It’s the new Evolution Brand that I feel like “everyone” is talking about lately.  Have you tried it?  It’s pure fruit, no sugars or anything added.  I thought it was pretty good.  I don’t often buy juice, but the next time I’m in the mood for it, I’d probably buy it again.

I also bought TWO water bottles because I was so dehydrated all day.

Around 4, we met Jared’s friend at the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. We walked a while before eating an early dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

The promenade always has street performers (a lot of musicians, break dancers, this weird clown, etc) and is really lively. It was extra crowded on Sunday.  I shopped a little while the boys talked (didn’t buy anything) before we went in to dinner.

The restaurant was really dark inside so I didn’t bother taking photos, but I got a salad with chicken, avocado, corn, carrots, etc and ate one of Jared’s tostada appetizer.  It was all good and gets an 8 out of 10 for bar/Mexican food (I think this place is better known for it’s margaritas than entrees, so I was surprised….just sayin’)

And then before I knew it, we were back at the airport ready to fly home.  I randomly ran into a guy I went on a trip to Israel with like 4 years ago and hadn’t seen since then (love when that happens! and he recognized me first).

Virgin has direct TV and I watched Men in Black II for the entire flight home.

And then finally, we were home around 11.  It was a long day, but a good one.

Monday wasn’t too shabby at all either!  I’ll post it on Wednesday for WIAW, but it included a run, more shopping (good sales!), a really good lunch with friends at an outdoor restaurant on the water, and just mellow summer stuff.  I’m still not ready to go back to work after my nice long week off, but I do feel more relaxed and in a much better place than I was before my week off.  Staycation success.

Hope you had a terrific 3-day weekend!

– Are you usually hungry before an early flight? (I know a bunch of people who say they can’t eat…but I’m always hungry before)
– Have you taken any one-day trips via plane lately?
– Do you call your Aunts and Uncles “Aunt/Uncle” or just by their first name?
– Did you do anything summery this weekend? Any beach time?
– Have you tried the Evolution juices?

Hola, Happy Monday.  Good weekend, everyone?

Tahoe was really nice.  It snowed all last week, but it was in the 60s all weekend– meaning skiing in t-shirts (or many with no shirts!) and a tan.  Also meant 13 people in a 3 bdrm cabin and crowded slopes (ran into a handful of people I knew- love that!)

Instead of telling you what we did, thought I’d just show you.  I didn’t take too many pics, but enough for some highlights.

Left Friday after work.  Stopped in a small town for the most random Texas bbq.  It was totally random…..and really fun.

Best bbq was an overstatment, but this was the vibe of the place, lol

Yes, I went to a bbq place and didn't get any meat.....sorry to disappoint. This sounded better to me (and it was awesome)

Luckily, I was eating with two meat-eating guys

Bathroom pic.  Full length mirror, couldn’t resist.

Saturday morning SKIIING

Awwww, prettiness

Lunch in the lodge.  Notice the 6 glasses of water in the background.  Yes, I drank them all!

Few more hours of skiing and then Post Skiing Beers.  Ahhhhh, yes please!

Breakfast Sunday morning in the cabin.  Always an event when 13 people are there.

These got eaten in less than 12 hours

Rules for breakfast: Sit where ever you can find space. Drink as much coffee as possible. Laugh.

More skiiiiiiing.

Lunch #2.  Healthy food, I was impressed.  It’s a vegie/tofu/chicken stirfry.

Post-ski Fro yo, of course.  I only ate a little because it actually wasn’t very good.

Left the resort at 5pm, went back to the cabin to shower and eat a quick dinner, started home around 6:30.  Busy day!

Long drive meant we had to stop for ice cream at the halfway point, of course.

Would you believe it was my FIRST Dairy Queen experience?  Oreo blizzard.  Not impressed, unfortunately.  One bit.  Not very good.  Sorry to offend anyone who loves it there

And then back home at 10:30…….and asleep by 11!

Come on weather, SNOW MORE so we can go skiing again!

Do you like Blizzards or Dairy Queen Ice Cream?
AND I know people in NY do Hamptons houses, Michigan gets leases at the Lake, Boston at Cape Cod, and SF does Tahoe ski cabins……What do they do in your area?   

Holy almond moly.  Have you tried Katie’s almond milk ice cream yet?  That girl is seriously a genius.

This is the simplest, low-calorie way to eat delicious ice cream!

As you can probably guess from the poorly-lit photos, I made it last night.

bad lighting in my kitchen at night

All you do is: put a cup of almond milk mixed with a little vanilla, sugar, and salt in an ice cube tray.  Let it freeze and when you’re ready to eat, just blend it all in the blender.

I had to add a little water and cold almond milk to my blender because I just have a “normal” one, not a fancy Vitamix or Magic Bullet.  But not to worry, normal blenders work just fine.

The result is a filling, ice cream-ish dessert that’s not too sweet and tastes great.  Only negative is, it melts quickly, as you can probably see….so not the best for photo-taking.

Try it this weekend!

Happy Friday!  These still make me smile

Happy New Year and welcome to my healthy living blog!   We’ll see how the blog evolves, but I’m planning to post 5 days/week and share food, nutrition facts, exercise, and just general fun life adventures.  Thanks for reading (and please comment, that’s my favorite part of blogging!)

2012 has started off pretty darn well.  Love having New Years Eve and Day on the weekend, makes it into a really fun, long holiday.

2012 starts with a bang! Midnight fireworks from a roofdeck

Jan 1 started with brunch outside while trying to watch football.  It was sunny and warm in SF all day, which almost NEVER happens!

First things, first.  Coffee.  Need Coffee NOW.

My first blog photo of myself, hungover, tired, and needing a hair cut, so please don’t judge

Plus food, greasy please.  Here was brunch.  Eggs, potatoes and other stuff. Semi-tasty, nothing special.

Then we pretended to be tourists and walked around Pier 39.  There are usually hundreds of sea lions over here but they have weirdly disappeared.

Luckily, the ice cream shop hasn’t disappeared.  Can’t start the year without a giant scoop of Espresso Chip ice cream.  Oh, YUM.

 Not so giant as J’s though.  That guy knows how to pick flavors- these two flavors were def a winner.

Back to watch another football game.  1/3 of a beer.

And then dinner at home.  Tried to balance my holiday-eating with some greens.  Salad with tofu and nutritional yeast (have you tried it? I was so weary before and now it’s my newest obsession) and an apple.

And then sadly, the sun set and “vacation” was over.  Back to work tomorrow!

SO- Did you read the CNN article about New Years traditions in other countries?  In South America, everyone chooses their underwear color based on their hopes for the new year (aka, red for passion, blue for health, green for money, etc), in Denmark people throw old dishes at their friends’ houses (I feel like that might get you arrested in the US?) and in the former Soviet Union, everyone eats a ton of candy to ensure a sweet year (Ummm, I am adopting this tradition).  Yesterday, instead of running down the street throwing dishes on a sugar high wearing red, green, and blue underwear, I just ate, drank and watched football. Shoot.

Have you ever spent NYE in another country?  Do you have any unique New Years traditions?