01.28.2017: Blendz with the Bro

Vince and I decided to head up north for the night and hand with Kenny & Kelsea.  It was cold and snowy, but the roads were good (for the most part).  We decided to go out to dinner downtown at a cute little Italian place.  Afterwards we walked down the street to check out a new wine bar called Blendz.  The premise is that you can actually blend your own bottle of wine there.  Or you can pick from one if the ones that they blended.  They buy their grapes from different vineyards in AZ and a handful in CA.  They blend a few but don't bottle & sell them.  They store them in barrels and serve them at the wine bar.  Or you can create your own meritage of your own.

 

Its a cool and interesting concept!  We had a great time hanging out with the fam, drank some pretty good wine, and gained even more wine knowledge!  All pluses!

 

01.02.2017: 2017 Goals, Wants, Wishes

So, I've been obsessed with lists lately! Any reason to make a list for something and I am all in.  So, for the past few years, at random times thru the year, Vince and I make a list of wants & wishes to try to accomplish before the next year.  I think we initially started it as a New Year kinda thing, but noticed some of the lists I found later were thru the year, so not sure what happened.  Maybe we were just up wishing one night and decided to write it down.

I remember the first time we did this, we were sitting on the patio in the morning drinking coffee and daydreaming and wrote up this list of goals and wishes.  I think it started with a winning the lotto list of what we would do with our winnings...then turned into a realistic list of more normal stuff we needed to do (strangely buying an island wasn't on this list - guess that isn't "normal").  Anyways, apparently, somewhere I saved the list...then found it about 4 years later.  I remember clearly the moment we were sitting there writing it out and it was a great memory!

So, now I feel like I need to share my list - so, some of the things on there we accomplished, without even knowing or realizing we had "wished" for it....like, replace our coffee maker.  Apparently that was a big deal at the time!?  Something we never just DID, but thought about doing because we were consumed with day to day things. Other things on that same list like, remodel the kitchen, still haven't happened. Ahhh, baby steps! It was really nice to see the list years later and know that we crossed off many, many items on there (including the new coffee maker!)...and didn't even know it.  Funny though, as the years went on and as our lives changed, our wishes and wants still pretty much remained the same. 

So, here is a list for 2017....

1. Start working with a charity
2. Minimize our clutter and junk
3. Clean & purge the garage
4. Get new carpet in the bedrooms
5. Get a new bedroom set for our room
6. Redecorate Drakes room
7. Update the pics in all the picture frames
8. Organize the damn spice cabinet (Yes, this is a big one and needs to be on the list!!!)
9. Go on a BIG trip somewhere
10. Get in shape, lose 10, 15, 20 lbs...ok, .one can wish!!
11. Pay down our credit cards
12. Learn to speak Spanish
13. Scan old pics into the computer
14. Finish K&K wedding video that I started last year.
15. Get up to date with my blog!!!!

OK, so there's just a few things on my wish list for 2017.
I didn't ask Vince's input on this one. I'm sure his list will be a little different.  Maybe next year we will put some more thought into it together!  For now, here ya go.....

By the way...I love our coffee maker!  Glad we it got replaced! ;)

01.01.2017: First Sunset of the Year

Welp, there are no pictures of this post, because I didn't take any.  Our plan was to watch the last sunset of 2016 and get up to watch the first sunrise of 2017. We got up, but there was no (visible) sunrise.  It had POURED rain all night long and was still sprinkling this morning.  So, a sky of clouds meant no sunrise.  Oh well, we enjoyed our last morning in Mexico on our patio, watching the rain.  We ended up leaving really early to hope to beat the traffic back to the US. 

12.31.2016: The Last Sunset of 2016

We headed back to our rooms to get ready for dinner...and watch the sunset.  Vince and I sat out on the balcony and watched the last sunset of 2016. It was a perfectly clear day, and we had the most amazing view!! 

 

We went to dinner tonight at the Italian Restaurant - Citron, there at the resort.  Luckily, Vince called to get reservations for us - the last available ones of the night! The food here was, again, fabulous, and again, the service was horrible! Mostly it seemed as if everyone had no idea what they were doing.  But the food and the wine made up for it!

 

We were planning on a early start back home tomorrow so decided to all hit the sack early. Although I didn't make it until midnight, the highlight of the night for me was watching the incredible last sunset of 2016.  I decided this moment was much more important than any fireworks show!!

 

12.31.2016: Exploring Rocky Point

Vince and I woke up early this morning to go watch the sunrise on the beach.  It was a gorgeous morning and a perfect start to the last day of 2016. It was chilly out, but definitely not cold! We were in shorts and jackets and it was perfect.  The tide was WAY out from last night.  We actually got to see it go out last night, which was really cool.  It allowed us to walk along the beach and see some of the coral that is usually buried under the water.  I was surprised at the cleanliness of the beach, and the beautiful sand.  Most CA beaches are not this nice - nor were the ones in Riviera Maya!

 

After our walk on the beach, we headed into downtown for breakfast.  The Kaffee House was recommended by one of Vince's co-workers so we headed there.  We were warned about the wait - as it is a popular place - and small!  It was worth every second!!!!  The food was awesome!!  It was a tiny little homely looking place and had a variety of German influenced dishes, as well as Mexican.  So, so good.

 

After stuffing our faces, we headed down to the boardwalk area to walk around, do some shopping, and check out the famous fish markets.  If we were planning on cooking our meals in the condo, we would have definitely bought some fish! It all looked great!

 

We made a pit stop at one of the bars for a drink and to watch some of the Washington/Alabama game.  It was nice walking into a bar in Mexico that was full of Huskie fans!!  There were so many Americans down there- mostly from the west coast.

 

We headed back the resort mid-afternoon to lounge on the grass, have some more beers, and do some more relaxing!  There were ultralights that were flying bac & forth over the beach & it was fun to watch them too.  The weather was PERFECT today - could not have asked for a better last day of the year!!

 

 

 

 

 

12.30.2016: Heading South for the Winter

Ok, well not for the whole winter, but just a few days!  Everyone left the house, and we were there alone....so what do we do...go on vacation! :)

 

Brian & Thereisa joined us for a little roadtrip down to Puerto Penasco (aka Rocky Point), Mexico.  We had never been before, but know many people that go down all the time, so figured we would give it a shot.  We booked a gorgeous resort that is one of the newer ones there.  It was AMAZING!  Pretty much anything on the ocean is amazing to me though. 

 

All the rooms were condos.  Turns out, it is more of an owner based property.  They have some units for rent, but many were owned.  They were perfect little get-away condos.  We got a one bedroom with a full kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, pantry, dining room, living room, and patio. It was about a 1,000 sq feet, which was pretty amazing and perfect for us....and in the old days also about 30 Durbins!!  ;)

 

We got checked in & immediately hit the beach/pool bar! We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach drinking margaritas and watching the sunset.  It was perfect.  The beaches are beautiful!!  They are clean, no seaweed, the water was warm, the people were super friendly.  Can't believe we hadn't been down here before.

 

We decided to take advantage of the restaurants at the resort instead of venturing downtown tonight...so we ate at the Mexican restaurant there.  The food was incredible, but the service was super, super slow!!!  As in, I don't think any of the staff had ANY training.  They were nice, just very inexperienced!

 

We went back to our room to watch the UFC fights, some college football and just relax and take in the views!  Such a nice way to spend the rest of the evening. 

 

View from our room