Hi friends! How was your weekend? Mine was a special one because my husband turned 30! Since I had surprised him with an early birthday trip to Mexico in June, his actual birthday was pretty low-key. A had signed up for a triathlon sprint in the beach town of Solana Beach with a friend of his, so his birthday morning started off with a very early alarm. The Solana Beach triathlon consists of a 1/4 mile Pacific Ocean swim + 9 mile bike ride + 3 mile run. The event benefitted the Challenged Athletes Foundation: Operation Rebound, which is a program for American military personnel, veterans and first responders with physical challenges. It was a pretty fitting cause for my former Marine to support! A has really gotten into cycling lately, and has been in serious beast ... [Read More]
birthdays
My Before 30 Bucket List
Hey, hey! What do Lucille Ball, Andy Warhol and I all have in common? All of us were born on this day! Today I turn 28. My little cousin was also born on this day, and I'm exactly 10 years older than her. I'll be going to my best friend's wedding rehearsal dinner in the evening. I'm not sure what other birthday celebrations are in store with my family and hubby, but I love celebrating birthdays! In thinking about turning one year older, last month I came up with a list of things I want to do before I turn 30, and I wanted to share it with you today. Some of the things are very doable (i.e. make vegan smores over my fire pit) and some are going to be a little, shall we say, tougher to execute (i.e. see big cats in the wild and be part of a flashmob), but they are all things that I ... [Read More]
Celebrating My Hubby’s Birthday
Today that handsome man of mine turns 27! Although I'm sure Adam would be fine with me not making a big deal of his birthday, me being me, I always make a huge fuss. After all, life is short and I happen to enjoy celebrating things as much as I can! Since Adam's birthday fell mid-week this year, I picked him up at his work for lunch today to make his day a little special. I packed us sandwiches and fruit, and we ventured to the park for a midday picnic. It was the perfect temperature outside and it felt nice to have a little breather together! We rarely ever see each other during the day during the week, and we agreed that we should try to do it more often. Afterwards, I swung by an awesome cupcake place in Campbell called Frost Cupcake Factory that I'd been to once with my friend ... [Read More]
A Letter to My Younger Self
Well, I'm officially part of the quarter century club. Today is my 25th birthday! I have to say, I'm pretty happy with where my life is at. I know that my life now is a result of all the decisions and choices I've made throughout the years, so although I wouldn't take things back, there definitely are things that I wish I knew when I was younger... say, 10 years younger. I started to consider the top life lessons that come to mind, ones I now truly understand and try to live by. With that being said, here is a letter to my 15 year old self: Nicole, There are times in life when people give you advice, whether it's solicited or not. Sometimes you listen and really consider what they're saying; sometimes you listen and ignore them; sometimes you simply don't pay attention at all. This is ... [Read More]
Baking a Giant Cookie at 7 in the Morning
That's right, this AM before I began working, I baked a cookie the size of a pizza. Why? Because today is my hubby's birthday! I blogged about celebrating his turning 26 a few days ago, but today is Adam's actual birthday. My, how far we've come since our first birthdays together... New York City, 2007: Since our birthdays are only 6 days apart (yep, mine is next week!), the first summer we were dating, we went skydiving together to celebrate both of 'em: It was so much fun, I'd do it again in a heartbeat! On the menu for tonight: Dinner: my spaghetti squash casserole + fresh bread Wine: A bottle of Mark West Pinor Noir (<-- pretty cool website!), which I actually broke out our wine chiller for to set it to the ideal temp. Their wine is near ... [Read More]