April was a crazy month for birthdays! I have several friends and family members who were born in April, and we all took part in our fair share of birthday festivities. I turned 22 on April 25th, and my sweet friends and family were so creative and generous when it came to celebrating!
Day of birth with Mama and big brother!
My birthday was on a Saturday, so I was able to go home and celebrate with my parents and my brother. We have a tradition in our house of decorating the dining room table for the birthday person, so it was fun to wake up to the birthday hat/ sign/ balloons and gifts. Birthdays are lots of fun at our house! My mom always buys a Princess cake for my birthday, and this year was no different... except she forgot to take it out of the fridge and I was already back at school by the time she remembered. Too funny!
That Saturday also happened to be the Saturday that one of my best friends was celebrating her daughter's1st birthday. I was so happy to spend time with my friends from home and to celebrate Paityn's 1st!
Leigh and I at Paityn's party
After the party I picked up my roommate in Berkeley and we headed back to school. We met up with Annie for dinner at Hula's Island Grill, a Hawaiian bar and restaurant in downtown Santa Cruz. I had shrimp tacos which were delicious and then they surprised me with a piece of macadamia nut ice cream cake. Linnea and I shared it (poor Annie is allergic to nuts), and we both loved it.
At Hula's (I promise, I'll get a camera at some point!)
We headed back to our apartment afterwards for some champagne, flourless chocolate cake and movie watching. Miss Congeniality is one of my favorite movies, and it was totally appropriate because the perfect date is"...April 25th because it's not too hot and not too cold. All you need is a light jacket!" :)
Pure chocolate heaven. Thank you Linnea!
The following weekend we went out to Rosie's Irish Pub, also downtown, to celebrate with some of our other friends who were out of town the weekend before. We had some tasty appetizers before Annie's boyfriend, Christian, insisted that we take a spin on this crazy bike cab. It was hilarious and we were all dying of laughter when we got off. We felt bad for the poor guy who had to lug us around, but he insisted that it was no big deal because apparently he used to ride it around the hills of San Francisco. Impressive!
I don't think you can tell, but this thing had bubbles streaming out the back.
I am so grateful to have such loving and generous people in my life. I don't know about you but... I'm feeling twenty twoooo! Couldn't end without the obligatory TSwift reference!
After the intensity of last quarter, this one feels like an extended vacation. School has been much more manageable and I am truly enjoying my last few weeks in Santa Cruz. Graduation is exactly one month from today!
As a part of my Winter Quarter finals week delusions, I spontaneously decided to buy round trip tickets to Las Vegas. I finished my thesis, completed my last GE and was more than ready for a break! I wanted to get the cheapest tickets, which just happened to be for the week after spring break, but luckily it fit around my class schedule.
My saint of a father drove me to the airport at 4am (thanks Dad!) and I arrived in Las Vegas bright and early. I love going to Vegas because I have quite a few friends who live there, so I am always able to stay with them instead of paying for hotels. I get to spend time with people I love and save money: win win!
We did some pretty touristy things including a visit to The Linq, a couple trips to The Strip and of course we ate lots of fantastic food.
View of the Linq during the day!
We also went to Fat Tuesday's, because what Vegas trip is complete without it?!
Don't worry, this was shared between several people
Drinks with friends!
We also got to visit the restaurant where our friend works at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. They had some delicious food, and these awesome drinks. There were actual flecks of gold and silver in them!
Drinks at Mozen.
The Mandarin Oriental is seriously impressive.
Philly cheese"steak" made with mushrooms at Skinny Fats
Sushi (pardon the dark iPhone photos)
I had my first all-you-can-eat sushi experience which I was a tad nervous about since I'm not a huge fish/ seafood fan. The amount of sushi some of my friends can put down is impressive. Luckily my experience was more about trying new things, and it wound up being delicious!
Elated!
Last but not least, we had to do the obligatory gambling excursion. I am not big on gambling and I'm a firm believer in the $5 limit. I've never had much luck with gambling, but this time I got lucky. I put $1 in a quarter slot and I was so shocked when the machine started dinging that I thought I broke it... But no! My friend took a Snap of my first "big win" :)
Shifting Gears
After returning from Vegas, I went and picked up my favorite pups, Tujague and Cricket so they could come spend the week with me in Santa Cruz while their owners were on a work trip. We had a great time exploring the trails and visiting the dog beach. Cricket was such a ham! He kept swimming out and trying to fit multiple tennis balls in his mouth. He could only figure out how to make it work with two at a time. Tujague, who's 11 now, had a good time wandering around too, but he's not much of a runner these days. He's much more content to lay by my feet while I work.
