Art & Beer

Before I went to Cabo San Lucas for my vacation this last winter I had only ever gone to the not so nice places of Mexico. Tijuana and Ensenada.I wasn't expecting Cabo to be anything like those places, but I figured there would definitely be some similarities that the entirety of Mexico shared. One being awful roads. When I went to Mexico as a kid, we went with our church and built houses for a week. Each day we treked from where we were staying to the place that we were building at. The roads had everyone's toilet matter running down the side of it, and the roads were full of potholes and lacking actual concrete or blacktop.

When we left the airport in Cabo in search of our car that was being stored across the street, the roads appeared to be fairly well maintained. I thought for sure this wouldn't continue, it was merely a trick to play on people and that once they left the nearby area it would be back to dirt roads full of pot holes the size of a small child. As we pulled out of the car lot and towards our digs I kept waiting for that drop-when the good road ran out and the other road started. Except it never came. All that ever crossed beneath our car's tires was fairly new blacktop.

As we continued to cruise on down to our residence for the next week we passed by a place that sat right on the side of this nicely paved highway. I fell in lust with this place the moment I stepped in side, and in love with it the moment I took my first sip of bloody mary. I had no idea that a place like this existed in the middle of nowhere, on the side of the road. When we went in, the owner told us that it has taken him seventeen years to get everything built and created for this art gallery/bar that sits in the desert. I would have been fine spending most of my vacation here.

My Very First Stitch Fix

Right before I left for vacation I scheduled a Stitch Fix to arrive. It would be the first one I've ever done. I've heard of this service many a time, and even search through Instagram using #StitchFix to see what others have received on a somewhat regular basis. When it was finally time to get my Stitch Fix box, I was so excited. I came home from work, saw it sitting at my front door and had to do my best not to squeal out loud in excitment. It felt like Christmas morning as a child; you know you've got gifts coming your way, but you don't know what exactly or how awesome they will be because it's a surprise. I ripped into that bad boy and started pulling out the articles of clothing. Here's what I was sent:

I was satisfied with everything that came in the box, with the exception of the pink top. It was just too large and boring in the front. Because I really liked all the pieces, I started to dissect each item in order to determine what to keep and what to give back. The fact that you only have three days to decide what to keep makes it that much harder.

Starting from the top picture:
Racer back Tank: I'm kind of weird when it comes to racer backs. I don't ever have to right bra for them. I also didn't know if I would be able to wear something over this tank (which living in Seattle, you almost always have to wear a jacket or sweater over your shirt) because of the cut. That along with the $40 price tag meant I sent this piece back.

Pink Shirt: As stated earlier; this shirt was too big on me. The back was really cute, but how often would I be able to wear it just by itself? Plus, the color wasn't my fave. This one got sent back too.

 Blue Shirt: I immediately fell in love with this shirt. I had pinned a similar top to a pinterest board and knew right off the bat how I would wear this. It was a little too big on me, but I still loved it..until I saw the $80 price tag. I have a real issue with spending big bucks (read: anything over $30) on a shirt. If it was jeans-no big deal, you wear those every day so it's worth it. Not a shirt though. This one was reluctantly sent back.

Sheer Top: When I saw the picture of this top on the style card, I wasn't that impressed. Until I put it on. I knew I would be keeping this item because it was so cute and could be worn throughout the year.

Maxi Dress: I told my stylist that I would love it if she would include something I could wear while in Mexico. She thought this would fit the bill. I liked the dress, but it was a little too short (typical tall probs), clingy, and $98. Womp Womp. This one was sent back too.

Overall I really enjoyed my first Stitch Fix box. I will most definitely be getting another shipment soon. The fact that you don't have to shop for yourself and you're exposed to new designers and styles is a huge bonus. I don't see myself being a regular Stitch Fixer, but I think this service is great when you need a spice up in your wardrobe.

Vacation Recap: The Digs

Hola!

It's been a hot minute since I've posted a blog entry, but I'm coming back at you with a post containing lots of jealousy inducing photos. I recently took a much needed week long vacation to Mexico. It was everything I needed in a vacation: sun, warmth, boozy drinks, hammocks, massages, sailing, guacamole, and yoga (to name a few!). Today I am showing you a little bit of where I laid my head down every night (Spoiler: it was like falling into a cloud every night I got into bed).

Have you ever heard of Grouper?

 I first heard about Grouper a couple months after KC and I broke up. One of my girlfriends told me the premise and that when I was ready to start dating again, she suggested we try it. Here's the low down on it:

            Grouper is defined as a social club that sets up drinks between two groups of friends. One girl rounds up two of her girlfriends to go meet with three guys who are all friends. You are assigned a concierge person who takes care of all the details for you. The concierge chooses the three guys you go out with, where you get your drinks at, and even covers the first round of drinks. They take one girl from the group and reviews their Facebook profile/interests, and the short survey the girl took. Once this is looked at, she is matched up with one of the guys in the group. This is to hopefully have at least one successful match between the group of six. Each person pays $22 to go on the Grouper. You're not told any of the names of the people participating or what they look like or even where you're having the date! The concierge person sends you the time and place of where it's going down the night before. You show up at that time, tell them the name that the reservation is under (usually under the female's name who was matched in the group).

I participated in my first Grouper a few weeks ago. Going into it I wasn't sure what to expect. I'd heard success stories and horror stories. I was just keeping my expectations low, and only wishing to at least have a decent time. It's not realistic to think that you'll meet the love of your life on this thing, but I guess it's possible. With that being said, I was totally ok with not connecting romantically with any of these guys. I just didn't want to deal with Dbags or guys who couldn't converse. My only hope for the experience was that these guys would be funny and could engage in some good conversation. When our concierge lady emailed us the details the day before, I immediately received a text from one of my girlfriends. "The place that were supposed to go to has been closed since December..I'm going to email the concierge back" I then responded with "How did she make the reservation then if the place has been closed. This seems kind of shady" my other friend then piped in with "We are not going there. That place looks like where they would find my dead, murdered body". Luckily we got it all straightened out and our concierge lady said she would get us our new location by the next afternoon (just mere hours before the date!). We also told her which neighborhoods we would like it to be in since we weren't a fan of the fact that she was trying to send us to SoDo in the first place.

The next afternoon we received the updated location. Terra Plata up on Capitol Hill. I had never been to this place, and trying new restaurants is one of my favorite things to do, so I was looking forward to having the date there. Myself and one of the other girls carpooled up to Terra Plata together because we didn't want to end up going into it alone! Our other friend had to meet us up there due to some work function that she was at until right before the date time. As we walked into the restaurant and gave the host our name, he pointed to a table centrally located in the building. The long, wooden table he pointed to was half full, the male half of the grouper date. My friend and I made our way over and introduced ourselves. The three guys appeared at face value as normal. So far so good. It would only be determined as the time went on if they were as normal as they appeared. Our other friend arrived minutes later, we all ordered our drinks, and the date officially was off the ground. For the next couple hours there was conversation between me and the guy sitting across from me which would then shift to a conversation with the guy sitting next to me. At times we would all have a conversation as a group. I laughed quite a bit during our date and I realized this while it was occurring. Which in turn to me meant that it had been a successful first date back in to this crazy dating world. There might have not been some instant love connection with any of these guys, but they were all productive, decent members of society-who could make me laugh.

I would do Grouper again, but I think the one thing I would change is: the places where the dates take place need to have round tables! I didn't even get the chance to talk to one of the guys on the date because he was all the way at the other end of the table from me. I wasn't completely bothered by that though because he was short and had the same name as my ex boyfriend. I think it was meant to be that way. Ha!


**I was in no way compensated for my views or opinions on Grouper. I am merely sharing my experiences to help those out there that may want to know about such a dating service.**

  

Sunday, Currently.

Today has been a mixed bag O activities. The day started off way earlier than I would have liked, but it was all in the name of work. I was being paid overtime so it wasn't all that bad. After a few hours at the office, I headed back home to relax. Most of my day was spent laying on the couch watching a never ending marathon of Property Virgins on HGTV. I did, however, manage to complete a few things by peeling myself off the couch (ok, I completed some things while on the couch too).

• Made that delicious soup pictured above. It's called Slow Cooker Chicken Fajita Soup. I found it over on Six Sisters Stuff Blog, threw everything in the crock pot around three this afternoon, and impatiently waited over the slow cooker for the last thirty minutes of cooking time. Talk about YUM! It turned out really well and was extremely easy. My favorite kind of slow cooker recipes are the kind where you don't have to do any precooking before placing it in the slow cooker.
• Caught up on all my shows. Parenthood, Parks & Rec, and Girls. I have to say: I think Girls is starting to get good again. I've been so disinterested in this season yet the last few episodes are better than the first few. As far as Parenthood goes..AHH! I feel like everything going on in that show is part of my real life. Joel and Julia's marital struggles KILL me. I hate it so much that Joel has his own apartment now, and that he's basically thrown in the towel. After watching this weeks episode and seeing the preview for next weeks, I'm hopeful that they could be mending their relationship in the near future. I miss the old Joel from the first few seasons. If I could find a man like him, I'd marry him yesterday.
• I took a nap. My sleep schedule has been SO jacked for the last week. I worked long hours at work this week. Up early and home late. This is how old and sad I am: on Friday I got home from work around six. I laid down on my couch and fell asleep. Next thing I know it's eleven pm! I was up for a half an hour and then went back to bed til eight the next morning. Of course I stayed up late last night and had to be up early this morning. Here's hoping I can get my sleep schedule corrected this week. 

I'm about thirty minutes away from hoping into my bed and cracking open the Kindle so it's time to wind this down. Have a great week, y'all!