San Antonio

If I had to come up with a few, short phrases to describe San Antonio, Texas I would say: beautiful architecture, good eats, questionable people, and torturous heat. It was HOT!!! And not just because it was over 100 degrees...because it was over 100 degrees and had high levels of humidity on top of it. As my mother and I walked around to various stores I kept seeing this catch phrase that said, "You can go to Hell. I am going to Texas." I think they are one in the same...

Case and point:
This is my self-portrait after our first night there. Notice my flourescent purple face, complete with beads of sweat. I thought I would die almost everyday. But it was worth it. San Antonio truly is a magical city, full of history and charm. I just probably won't visit again in the summer.

The first night there we visited this little Spanish square where they had everything latino: clothing, food, etc. It was here that I made my first friend...
...and fell in love with dead people! Sounds crazy, I know. But everywhere I went I was bombarded by skulls. Little Spanish dancers with dead faces, little Mariachi Band members with dead faces, and my personal favorite, brides and grooms that looked like death. For some reason, it was comical to me. Yes, I get that they are just celebrating Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had to take a picture of the hanging banners just so you can see how much these skulls lined the streets:
Another fun site visited was the world famous River Walk. It was breathtaking. Just a simple little river lined with shops and restaurants. But I think the thing that captured my eye the most were the bridges everywhere. No bridge was like another and I loved each and every one.And, of course, I LOVED the architecture of all the buildings. The town of San Antonio is very historic, and the people are very much intent on keeping the history alive. There were so many cool buildings. Here are just a few of my favorite architectural details:There were so many other fun details to be seen too. From trees coming out of the building walls, to tree roots that look like little gophers, there was so much to take in. And I enjoyed it all (when I wasn't dying of heat stroke).Another spot visited was the Alamo. I am sure it is a great place, but I could not enjoy it because the heat was unbearable on our way over there. I think my mom had heat exhaustion and I was dripping like a faucet. Not fun at all. It was pretty though, and atleast we got a picture for posterity. And the fact that the picture was taken by a super cute Australian was even better!On the way to the airport, we made a stop at Lulu's Bakery & Cafe to buy one of their famous 3 1/2 lb cinnamon rolls. The restaurant had been featured on Man vs Food and my brother made us promise we would stop there. I wish I would have taken a picture of the sweet roll. It was gigantic. Probably bigger than my head, no joke. It was pretty awesome carrying it on the plane with me. In fact, it was heavy and I would claim that it weighed more than 3 1/2 lbs. Once I got home the cinnamon roll went in the freezer, and hasn't been touched since. I will let you know if it's any good when the family decides to try it.

All in all, it was a great trip and I am so glad that my parents took me there to celebrate. It truly is a beautiful city. Just deathly hot. But it would figure, I got home to AZ and we had a heat wave...temperatures of 120 degrees.

{hooray for dry heat}

my BIG day

When my parents first suggested we go to San Antonio, or more importantly Sea World, for my birthday, I will admit I wasn't sold on the idea. Sea World is not something you associate single 30 year olds with. Sure, plenty of 30 year olds were there with their children...but that is not me. Obvi. But when all was said and done, I can't think of a more exciting place to spend my big day. Thanks mom & dad!

I had my dad take this picture of me outside the park. I thought it was awesome because all the parents were taking pictures of their kids in front of the whales. I was just a little bit older than those kids. Embarrassing? Sure. But I really didn't care. I was just excited to be there and wanted to document all that I could.Once inside the park, we saw some great shows:

(please don't kill me for posting this pic...it's just too good not to share)

went on some crazy, wet rides:

visited some friendly animals:

took some interesting pictures:

and ate a ton of food:

side note: the above picture is of a cute killer whale shaped bowl containing sugar cookies. My dad bought an unlimted food pass at the park and would just get food for my mom and I during the day (shh...don't tell). When I first saw the whale bowl I fell in love. Before the day was through, I had a complete set of 4 whale souvenir bowls. What a great birthday present! Thanks Dad!

At the end of the day we were all tuckered out. The heat and humidity turned us into human faucets, dripping sweat on a regular basis. Thank heavens for water rides to cool us down! It was a great day. I got some fun stuff and had so much fun celebrating with my parents and some of my other relatives {aka the whales}.

{Happy Birthday to me}

a FRIENDly celebration

The Saturday before my birthday I had made plans to hang out with my mom, go to lunch, get a pedicure...you know, the girly things that we normally do each year to celebrate. I remember talking to my mom a few days before that saying, "I can't believe you are taking me to lunch and to get pedicures when we are going to San Antonio and Sea World for my actual birthday. But, you know, I won't deny your gifts." She just smiled.

I had no clue what really awaited me.

I arrived at my mother's house around 11am, just in time for lunch at Crackers, my favorite restaurant. Of course the door was locked when I arrived, so I knocked and patiently waited for her to answer. When the door opened, I saw this really cute black and white striped dress. I thought it was strange that my mother would wear a dress and my second thought was that she looked different. Then my eyes traveled upward and I saw a face that did not belong to my mother either. It took a minute to register, but when it did my heart skipped a beat. Standing in front of me was my best friend from Utah...Amy {Toe-Toggle-Tarian Triple T Richins Seamons} Piller!!!It was the birthday surprise to end all birthday surprises, and definitely the best thing I could have ever hoped for. I am so lucky to have such great friends!

The first thing my mom said after the initial surprise wore off was, "Did you really think I was going to take you to lunch and to get pedicures when we are going to San Antonio tomorrow?" Why yes mom, yes I did. She is such a crafty little deceiver...

So off I went, with my Amy, to eat lunch at my favorite little spot. The food was good, the company was better, and the dessert was joyful:After lunch we headed to get pedicures. I have been going through a dark purple phase and couldn't find myself getting excited about any other colors. Amy soon decided that she would get a bright orange and I immediately felt like I should be spontaneous and different as well. After all, it is summer...and dark purple is depressing. So she convinced me to try a very bright blue (it was mostly because we miss high school and wanted to sport our old school colors...kind of). It is bright. And lovely. And I am so glad I made the decision.Not really a fan of the polka dot flowers up the side of the toe (I miss the days of actual artsy flowers on my toes), but LOVE the color and loved spending time with my friend.

After some relaxation we met {some of} my AZ friends for dinner at Gecko Grill. I am so glad that Amy and her husband decided to join us because it was fun spending more time with them.Once our bellies were full and my wallet was full of Rod Works gift cards, we headed out for the evening festivities. My friends took me to this amazing place in Tempe called The Big Bang.
It is this amazing dueling piano bar where you make all sorts of song requests and listen to good music. Highly recommended. I LOVED IT!!! My first request: The Backstreet Boys.And, of course, my friends requested that I get embarrassed for my birthday, so I got called up on stage with some twins celebrating their 40th birthday. We got to smile for everyone, did a little leg kicking, and then showed off our hokey pokey skills. Right arm, left arm, boobies, head and booty. That's right, I had to shake my behind for everyone. I figured everyone was drunk anyway, so why not have some fun with it. My signature dance move, "The Alayna" made an appearance. It was slightly embarrassing, but my friends loved it...which made me happy. I had such a great night!

The marrieds:

The singles:Thanks friends for such a wonderful day! I say it all the time, but I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have such amazing friends that go above and beyond to make me feel special.

{I definitely felt it}

the dread

Warning: deep thoughts ahead.

I can't believe I am putting this out there. But I have to. You see, last week I turned 30. Yikes! That is a number I have been dreading for quite a while. It scares me. And honestly, about a week ago, this is how I felt:(thank you Matt & Natalie for such an awesome and well-fitting birthday present)

Everyone else I know that has turned 30 recently seems to care less about this and/or embraces this new age. But me...not so much. And this is why: (thank you mother for the spotting the greatest shirt ever and theme of my life)

All of my 30 year old friends are married, with children. So age means nothing to them. For me, I feel like a failure for being 30 and not being married. No, I am not going to cry about it and I don't think this makes me an undesirable person. It's just a fact. And it's difficult for my little mind to grasp. I NEVER thought I would be 30 and unwed. I NEVER thought I would have to make goals every year to get asked out on dates. I know I am a great catch. I know I am a great person and would make a great wife and mother. I guess the boys just don't see it.

So, I had a little tearful heart-to-heart with my Branch President the other day. And he assured me that the Lord has a plan for me. As long as I am faithful and doing the things that I need to do, everything will work out like it is supposed to. Yes, I KNOW this is true. But mostly, it's just hard to keep that faith.

A few days later, I sat in my friends room while she made me a profile on LDSSingles.com. At the time I was humiliated. In my heart, resorting to online dating meant I was a failure. That I couldn't get a man any other way. But I let her do this for me (and then I secretly logged on a few days later and checked out some things).

Then the strangest thing happened: my birthday. I actually turned 30. And I felt strangely different. I felt relieved. I realized that I was so caught up in this number that I wasn't living my life. I had the GREATEST birthday celebration...with my parents...at Sea World. And it was the best thing I could have hoped for. A switch turned on. And things have been so different since then.

I am happy now. I am not upset that I am not married. I am trusting that the Lord will bless me when it's my time. And...I am getting flirts from guys online! I am embracing life, I am embracing my age and I am enjoying the little moments. I am actually putting my yearly theme to practice:

Today is a gift, that is why it's called the present.

Yep, I'm old. And yes, there are days I will still struggle with this. But I have no doubt that things are looking up. I have no doubt that everything will work out like it is supposed to.

{come what may...and love it}

just in case you wondered...

Today is National Pink Day!!!

{celebrate it}

*Birthday details coming soon...

a little of this...

Last week the friends and I celebrated Daja's 21st birthday. Ahh...to be 21 again! We met some friends at the ever delicious Red Robin where our waitress brought out this awesome balloon headpiece for Daja to wear while we all embarrassed her through song.
After we were all nice and bloated, we decided to take a little swim in my community pool.Haha. I joke, I joke. That was just when we were playing our new favorite pool game: Dead Kids. It's a lot of fun...you should try it.

After swimming we headed back to my place for a little present opening (actually, this took place before swimming. Technicalities). I got Daja a man for her birthday, wearing a specialty made "I LOVE DAJA" shirt:And then, of course, we had cake. My first ever attempt at making an ice cream cake (two chocolate cakes with mint ice cream in the middle, frosted in whipped cream). I think it turned out pretty cute:The cake itself was a little disappointing. Everyone was a little anxious to get the cake cut that the 10 minute unthawing time was ignored...resulting in frozen cake (which is really dry when consumed). I had another piece of the cake a few days later and let the cake unthaw. It was much better. Just in case anyone ever plans on making a cake like this in the future...

Now, fast forward to yesterday. Sparing details, I had the world's worst day at work. I loathed every minute of it and was extra cranky. That 5:00 whistle could not blow quick enough. I was so relieved when it was time to leave because I got in my car and headed straight to Rod Works Arizona!! The second I saw the sign on the store, my heart leaped in my chest and I automatically felt better. I drooled all the way through the store...and actually broke down and bought something. Shame on me, I know. But it is too hard to resist.

After my happy moment in Rod Works I headed to the park for Family Home Evening. We had a BBQ followed by our annual jello fight. Can I just tell you that there is something extremely therapeutic about throwing jello at people? It is such a great experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone! We were sticky messes after the fight:And even after washing off my face, I got home and realized I still had jello in my ears:
Yummy! Hold yourselves back boys, hold yourselves back!

Next event to look forward to? My birthday vacation celebration in San Antonio, TX!

{Woohoo}

my new man

My dear Blogger friends, I have to apologize because I have been holding out on you. I have recently taken interest in a certain someone and decided it would be best to wait to introduce you until things were a little more settled. Now that things are progressing nicely, I am so excited to tell you all about him and to show you a pic or two.

BUT...before showing his sweet, sweet face, I will give you a little background of how things got started.

In all actuality, I believe we probably met several years ago, like when I was a young child...maybe 13ish. I saw him (or someone like him) in a Smith's grocery store in Utah. I am pretty sure some feelings of happiness were felt at that time, but I was too young to know what it really was.

Fast forward to my present life in Arizona. More importantly, 24 hours ago. This guy walks into my office with a friend in tow. When I see the friend, my heartbeat rapidly increases, I feel a little flushed, I know this is THAT guy I saw all those years ago. This is the man for me.

Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is my man:His name is Felipe and he's a dreamboat, right?! I mean, what is not to love about this guy? He has a goatee...and that is really all that matters. Besides the goatee, I think my other favorite feature of his is the fire hydrant attached to his backside.

A true thug.

I feel so invigorated now that my secret is out. How 'bout you? But in all seriousness, I about wet myself when my co-worker walked in with a handful of Li'l Hommies. I really do remember seeing them in a vending machine at a Smith's grocery store and going crazy buying them because I thought there were so funny. Now all these years later I am so excited to see that they still exist and are still as hommie-licious as they were then. Good times, good memories.

On another note, I found this at the store the other day when shopping for a friend's birthday present:Sweet Talkin' Ken...the ultimate boyfriend. Have you seen this?! It is this super sexy (in the Mattel World) new Ken doll that is dressed in super sexy clothes, sporting a t-shirt that says all these "love" phrases. Apparently you can record sayings for Ken to say back to you (in a manly Ken voice), and he may even have a few of his own things that he says as well. I think it is hilarious! And, I secretly want one for my birthday.

{I joke, I joke}