It's All About LIFE Life

Finally, it's really summer!- yes, I know I'm a bit late but here in Ventura, July marks the beginning of summer. May grey and June gloom have passed and finally, we should see some sun!
I've been a lazy blogger the past couple weeks, I've had one of those out of control months. I got a promotion (which is great but the cause of a couple of 60 hour work weeks so I had absolutely NO creative juices outside of work). Then I turned twenty five and went through a week long quarter century life crisis. AND I started school (over the summer was not one of my best decisions but I get to be in Santa Barbara every Saturday). 

 On my bday proving I can still be a kid

Birthday Fun with the Girls

I'm finally getting a grasp on it all just in time for my summer plans. For once, my horoscope was dead on - "Spotlight-grabbing venus ...blah, blah while I paraphrase the planet crap... you'll finally find balance between your cubicle life and life life. Now share with your friends." So, friends, let me share - here is my life life for the next month or so. 
July 13th - Surf Rodeo - This Saturday! I have a super hot friend (below) competing in the bikini cowgirl roundup! A day of music, surfer boys, girls in bikini's and the beach. Come support Brittani Cherry to see her embarrass the competition.

July 20th - Tequila and Taco Music Festival - No explanation needed!
July 21st - Pooch Parade Dog Walk & Pet Expo - Little Winnie will just have a ball! Pun intended.

July 26th -30th - Fifth Annual Girls Vegas Trip. Summer wouldn't be complete without it. I started thinking about previous trips and WOW, there are some memories I need to share. Watch for 'Ode to Vegas'. Our excuse this year is Julia's bachelorette party. I'm so excited to celebrate with her and even more excited for her and Steve to take the plunge! 

August 5th - Ventura County Fair. HUNTER HAYES. It's too bad he's only 21 because I would sure like a tall glass of him (well he's also only 5'6" so I guess I won't be having a tall glass of anything). Even though I'll be surrounded by screaming tweens, I still can't wait to see him perform! 

'Maturing' Probably Won't Be That Bad

This, my friends, will be a short post. My main point is to show that parents are awesome and that being "older" (I don't use the word 'old' as I recently turned 25) is no excuse to be boring. My parents went to the Oxnard Harbor gourmet food festival (food trucks) and they did it right. Instead of walking the five minute walk from the house to the festival, their culdesac club decided it would be best to take a limo. (One of the neighbors owns a car service, prom anyone?) Of course I decided to tag along. After a short joy ride and a couple bottles of wine, we arrived in style (two from our gang wearing white pants were now speckled with red wine). We chose Cousins Maine Lobster Truck. It was AMAZING - I tried the Maine Lobster Roll. Three ingredients - lobster tail, butter, bun. When that piece of heaven landed in my hands, it only lived outside by stomach for I'm guessing 12 seconds.

And this is Kathy telling the babes on the curb she needs to move the curb block off sign so the Biebs can park his limo. Needless to say they weren't impressed.

My Dream of Becoming a Tambourinist....

....was crushed Friday night.  If I was granted an easy ticket to fame and fortune, it would happen by becoming a tambourinist for a group like Destiny's Child, The Beach Boys, Creed, or Gotye. Think about it, while all the talented members play guitars, drums, and sing, I'll just stand on the side dancing, beating the tambourine, and looking cute (well trying). I've considered putting up a craigslist add to see if any up and coming bands need one but haven't gotten around to doing it yet. 

So back to Friday night - for weeks the roomies and I have been excited to go to Soho in Santa Barbara and see Tommy & the High Pilots play. I figured this is my big opportunity to show my skills. Let me also tell you, the drummer knows I'd like the gig but has failed to setup an audition.

Here's the guys playing, Tommy & the High Pilots are the four on the left. Lucky for me (or so I thought), they had guest musicians playing so I figured I would be included.

Here's me waiting (on the left) by the tambourine I thought I would be playing soon. I waited song after song but never was called on stage to play. By now I've gotten the hint, Tommy & the High Pilots isn't my ticket but it was an amazing soon and I hope to see them perform soon. On another note, if you know any up and coming bands, let them know I'm a 'seasoned' tambourine artist.

O ya, we stopped by Winco on our way home - I HIGHLY recommend going in the middle of the night. Call it a playground for adults who get pleasure from buying cheap snacks and house hold products for cheap without being bothered by those really annoying slow grocery cart shoppers. 

We came, We saw, We conquered

I've lived in Oxnard for 10 years and finally went to see what this Strawberry Festival was all about. Liz, Cherry (at the Strawberry festival, ironic I know), and I had strawberry beer, strawberry margaritas, strawberry nachos, and of course strawberries.

We have four lovely new glasses as pictured above... exactly what we need.. to add to our collection of glasses from weddings, ex boyfriends, birthdays, and our house warming party. Anyone need a set of glasses?

I didn't want to wait in the 20 minute line to take a picture next to the real strawberry festival sign so the one next to the security guard works, right?  

Strawberry margs and sittin on some strawberry festival hay.

What's your sleep number?

So this was a highlight. Liz and I saw this photo op and knew it was a must. We got in line and asked the cute couple behind us to take our picture. We put our faces in the strawberries and both noticed another family taking our picture. We started walking away from the cut outs and noticed a little girl had joined us! That family will have a very interesting photo from the festival. Liz and I were chugging beers and the little girl was as happy as can be.

Last but not least, a ten foot tall cowboy grabbed us by our hair - all his idea.

Friday Night Philosophisms

Friday night happy hour, or 'yappy hour', at the French Bulldog was the perfect pick. Great food, nice patio, heaters (a must for me) and of course delightful company. If you go for happy hour, try the specialty drink with muddled blueberries, vodka, and lemon lime soda (or replace with soda water if you don't like sweet drinks). We enjoyed appetizers, specialty drinks, and a round of 805, while learning some important Phil-osophisms. Sorry, mother, this is not PG material. Let me explain: Who is Phil? Phil is Elizabeth's coworker (If you don't know by now Liz is a BF and room mate). What are Philosophisms? 'Facts' Phil shared that may or may not be factual. 1. Parrot Bay (that coconut flavored rum we all drank prematurely) is a two for one deal. Not only can you get a (good?) buzz but you are also given diabetes. If you've ever drank Parrot Bay, it's extremely sweet and tastes like sun screen all at the same time. 2. There are guys (no, these are actually men) who think  girls can't get pregnant on top. Well, unless there's a salmon sperm that swims upstream, then your screwed (and pregnant). 3. VFW -  A new acronym to me. It stands for Very Fucking Wise. I don't know if I'll personally use this acronym in everyday language but very useful to know. You never want to be that person on Facebook using it in the wrong context (we all know those people). I did a little research of my own, and it actually stands for Veterans of Foreign War. Nice try Phil. 4. The last phism for now - Work Hard, Play Hard - we've all heard this right? Well Phil believes we should play hard while we work and I couldn't agree more. We could all use the extra smiles, excitement, and laughter throughout the day.  OK, I'll leave you with some topics to ponder until next Friday night, which is right around the corner! 

Elizabeth and I

Me, Phil (the mastermind), Cherry, and Andrea (Coworkers) 

Martin, Elizabeth, and I

This is 25.

I haven't seen This is 40 but I'm pretty sure the twins birthday weekend was a spin off. Our plan for Saturday was a mani / pedi / shopping day followed by a casual night at a couple of our favorite bars then a BBQ pool day Sunday. Let's just say our plan did not pan out. View the timeline below:

My face says it all - I'm not going to give the name of the salon for their sake but I was not a happy customer. First, my manicurist was upset that I didn't like the color I chose when she painted ONE toe (it was too light, I wanted something that popped), then she told me they didn't have shimmer silver nail polish which is impossible for a nail salon and topped it off with saying I should have done my toes the same color as my fingers because that was pretty. I wanted to kick her in the face (I would never actually do that) while my friends where happily laughing and conversing with their manicurists. Must be nice. Needless to say, I won't be a returning customer. 

Moving on to our night out:

It was fun for the 30 minutes it lasted. Natalie (on the left) and I decided we were done for the night, scarfed some Jimmy Slice pizza and caught a cab. And then we woke up Sunday, Natalie was on crutches, and that's where This is 25 came into play. Who wakes up with crutches on their 25th birthday?! I'm not going to expand on what happened between leaving the bar and waking up. But no I'm realizing, maybe this weekend was more like the Hangover.

Finally our pool / BBQ day with 20 of our closest friends (not really since it was 50 degrees outside, misty, and gloomy). The guests in attendance cancelled as the day went on and the fun didn't start until the late afternoon, inside, no BBQ, no sun, but obviously still in our swim suits. HAPPY QUARTER CENTURY Stephanie and Natalie, may this year only get better! 

UCSB Alumni Weekend

I was spoiled four years of my life while attending UCSB in BEAUTIFUL Santa Barbara, Ca. This past weekend 2010's third alumni weekend. I met up with two good ol' college buddies, Rebekah and Christine. 
In the spirit of college, I took some notes:

1. Gio's (left) - I completely underappreciated Gio's. I don't know of another place where playing flip cup at noon is the norm. Rebekah, Christine, and I tried to take it all in with a deer in head lights look, and said "Wow, this was us". Then we finished our two pitchers and joined the fun.




2. Men ages 50 plus - They love Rebekah. I've  witnessed bike crashes from men peering backwards at her.  It's very entertaining (sorry no pictures). But yes, it continued this weekend as usual.  













3. Freebirds (right) - I can still scarf down a Freebirds quesadilla. When I say quesadilla, I mean a tortilla with melted cheese, chicken, rice, beans, guac, peppers, BBQ sauce and pico. Let's use the term quesaritto. The left is my first experience and the right is hopefully the last (for the sake of my figure) this past weekend.

4. Joe's drinks. Strong as shit. In college, we hit Joe's first and had a couple stiff ones before going out. This past weekend, I ordered one and nursed it for half an hour before deciding to leave the rest behind and I am not one to ditch a drink. I just can't hang anymore...


5. Friends - Of course the good ol' college buddies made this weekend amazing!

         

Monday Night Sushi

Left to Right - Me, Eunice (owner), Elizabeth, and Natalie (excuse our appearance, it's Monday)

Out of respect, my first real post is about our beloved girls Monday night sushi. Since we've moved to our spot, Ozeki Sushi has been our go to restaurant, and more recently a Monday night tradition.

You're seriously weird if you love Mondays. Yes, you may have the most amazing job but no matter Monday can't be your favorite day. For us (my two roomies and I), after a short sleepless weekend, Monday hits us like a wrecking ball.


We muddle through our Monday routines - I try and make sense of numbers and data sets, Liz tries to catch up on emails and realizes that's an impossible feat, and Nat serves her one daytime waitress shift (she's an artist all other days so you can imagine why this day especially sucks).

We all have one objective on Mondays - just get to Ozeki  sushi. Take a look at our texts (this is one sequence of many on Monday). 

OK so I'm just going to skip ahead to when we FINALLY get there. Daniella, the best waitress ever, without asking brings us three large hot sakes. We settle into our chairs and realize Mondays are not so bad, and by the end of the first sake, we decide, Hey, I like Mondays.

Though Monday mornings are trying, I have one thing to look forward to: recapping our weekend over some sushi and hot sake.

Spree by the Sea - How It All Started

Spree: "A spell or sustained period of unrestrained activity of a particular kind." I'm not talking about a shopping spree, I'm talking about life. Well sometimes, yes, shopping but more often venturing to new places, meeting new faces, and trying to adjust to being an 'adult' EW!

So why did I start this blog? 

Well... I've been in sort of a lull the past couple of months, working the same job for two years and enjoying myself but not bettering myself. A few weekends ago, I went to Arizona to visit my family. My niece invited me to dinner with friends (no, not a tea party, she is my age - Father of the Bride status). She was meeting up with five talented bloggers, most of whom had never met each other before that night. This was my first experience in the blogging or blogger world (bear with me as I still don't fully understand). 

Anyway, I saw that all of these ladies were led to new opportunities through the blogging world and I started to think about writing my own. So, here it goes - Spree by the Sea - a commentary of my experiences in Southern Ca places to go and things to do.