Easter Weekend Recap

It’s been a pretty amazing, sun-soaked weekend full of lots of fun activities, none having to do with writing. So jam packed in fact that I thought it would be better to show you in a recap of photos!

Best Easter Weekend…

Top row, left to right: my new fave party dress plus my trusty Sanuk Ibiza Native’s, our private section of Swami’s, M & Linds in their matching Hello Kitty fedoras. Middle row, left to right: impromptu happy hour w/my girls, beach walk in my happy Billabong Gypsy pants, post beach Mexican Coke         Bottom row, left to right: beach walk #15, bright blue swamis sky, backyard bliss.

While California 70.3 was happening in Oceanside I had my own PR of first full submersion into the ocean. March 31 marked in the record books! A little brisk (think natural ice bath for the legs), but totally worth it. Clearest water, dolphins jumping, sigh…

Happy girl, happy pants, happy place…

A little secret know only to a select few, is that our little, often bustling beach goes ultra quiet on Easter Sunday. I got up, went to yoga w/my gf, Kerri. Then after a nice, long phone catch up with my parents, M and I threw on our beach duds and ran down to the beach thinking we would secure a decent spot before the masses came. Well, we pretty much had the pick of the beach. The water was so clear and that dreamy light green to dark blue. The surf was small, but even on Sundays, Swamis is pretty crowded. Not today. When we got there, we counted maybe 10 peeps out in the water plus our resident paddler, Michael. Heaven. While everyone else was at brunch, we took a long walk, a quick dip and chit chatted about how lucky we are. A good, solid Sunday.

Now it’s time to grill up some chicken tacos with a special tequila, lime, crushed red pepper marinade we improvised on. Will let you know how it turns out. Then a little sunset viewing to round out the day…Happy happy Easter/Passover!!!♥

Pinspiration Wednesday!

Here are the latest and greatest visuals from my Happy Place pinterest page. A visual delight of beauty, cute sayings and one goofy dog. Happy Happy Hump Day!!!♥♥♥

Butterfly Beauty

Possibly the best hammock ever…insert nap here please

Mmmm, yes yes yes

Food for thought ala Marilyn

I want in that boat, or to float right next to it…

Flamingos!

Stairway to Heaven, how could it not be?

Just lil ‘ole me, being serenaded, no big thing…

Keep your diamonds, I’ll take these treasures…

Words to live by!

What a face!!!

Also words to live by…

The Importance of Touch

The other day, I overdid it. After working long days, I was so excited to hit my Saturday morning yoga class, then take a beach walk on Saturday and then a hike on Sunday. Saturday, I stretched out my legs, enjoyed the detoxing twists and backbends and felt the delicious tightness of sunburned shoulders (yes, terrible I know!). Sunday, I lathered up, put on my hat (like a good girl this time) and hiked the amazing Torrey Pines climb.

Torrey Pines Beauty

My hiking buddy, Becs!

All in all, pretty relaxing forms of exercise. But for some reason my back rebelled and decided to tweak on Sunday night. Possibly out of sympathy for my hiking partner, Bec, since her back has been tight. Who knows, but after an agonizing 8 hours sitting at my desk on Monday, I knew it was time for some good, deep tissue, therapeutic massage! So I called my one of my favorite places in the world, Bergamot Spa and begged for an appointment with Amanda, arguably some of the best hands in the business!

The massage huts at Bergamot

Bergamot is right in Leucadia and if you drive to quickly down Vulcan, you’ll speed right by it. It’s like walking into a fairytale. One minute you are on a gravel driveway and the next, you step over the entrance and are transported through the rabbit hole into a little oasis with Balinese huts paired with desert palms, a lily pond and Moroccan lanterns. It’s very low key and the prices are really reasonable for the love and care you get. Amanda gave me the best massage I’d had in a long time. And it’s amazing how vibrant and energized I feel! We all workout out and strive to keep in shape, we log long hours at hour jobs and we forget how necessary it is to give your body healing recovery.

Love Love Love Yourself!

It’s funny that when you are at your busiest, most stressed or when finances tighten, that body care is typically the first thing to go. We cut back on something like a massage saying it’s a luxury. But our bodies are the most important things we’ve got so when times get a little rough, it’s the thing we need most! How ironic and I’m the guiltiest culprit. My girlfriend, Renee, told me about the six second hug. You should hug everyone for a minimum of six seconds to get the positive effects of the endorphins coursing through the body. Being a huge hugger, I figured I was probably already doing this. Nope! Turns out the average hug is about 2-3 seconds. So I enlisted M about 2 months ago and now we hold it for at least 6. What’s amazing is that you do feel the difference and it feels amazing. Who among us doesn’t have time to hug someone for six seconds? Try it, you’ll be amazed!

Now that’s a hug! Extra credit for kisses…

It makes me sad that so many people go without daily human physical contact. We know the world in general has become disconnected. We look to Instagram, Facebook, TV etc for our virtual relationships and the physical face time takes a back seat. More and more yoga teachers shy away from hands on adjustments. And that is really too bad because we need it, we crave it and a lot of us don’t realize how little touch we give/receive on a daily basis!

I went to my niece’s 4 year old birthday on Sunday and those kids know how to party. Hugs, hand holding, kisses, cuddling up on the tire swing. No one worried about what they looked like or who was kissing who. It was good, clean affection, laughter and fun.

My niece, Morrigan, Can Tell You How Important Hugs Are!

If you can, book a massage! Can’t afford it? I totally get it. But how many lattes could you cut out to save up $100? It can be done! Still can’t afford it, okay. Hugs are free, even six second ones. At the very least, try to cram in 1-2 of those a day. It’ll make a difference, I promise!!!