Work at Its Finest

After the luggage fiasco (if you missed the story check it out here!) our Spain portion of the trip turned into a much more pleasant one.

Vacationing with work, especially when at a beach resort, means really just sitting by the pool and beach. Sounds awful, right? I find it a bit odd that they feel the need to trek to Europe to do the same thing we can do in Florida but it doesn't make for a nice change of scenery and you get to meet some fun Europeans.

Spanish kitty!

The rest of Spain consisted of pool lounging, sand-castle building and a trip to see some crazy yachts. We don't do sight-seeing in Spain, but we do eat in the nearby towns which meant going to Marbella, Puerto Banus and a cute little town called Benahavis.

 

pool lounging at it's finest

sand castle builder

 

funny enough I took the same picture last year, at the same restaurant.. this years was not as good

2013's version

a birthday present for me? you shouldn't have..

 

 

weird stuffed horse in Benahavis restaurant

Work did forget my birthday which sucked- a lot, not the best way to celebrate- that is for sure. They did make it up (after I had to remind them it was in fact my birthday) by taking me to a lovely traditional Spanish Paella restaurant where I think I had the best food of the entire trip. It certainly had the most delicious sangria I have ever tasted.

birthday date

birthday flowers and wine from the hotel- they remembered!

Spain was lovely- just as it was last year. We stayed at the sister resort of our place from last year (Marriott's apartments/hotel). The weather was perfection. I definitely would love to go back someday and see some of the local sites as well as other cities.

this was the "I don't want to get up! oh wait there is a camera- cheese!"

Now on to Paris!
 

Birthday Madness! + Giveaway

Well... it's here. The big 27. I officially feel old now that I've made the transition from mid-20s to late-20s. AHH. At around 8:30 ish this beautiful morning, 27 years ago, I decided to bless the world with my madness.

I've heard my birth story a few times, but I was about 2 weeks late- on Friday my mother went to the doctor and he told her that if I didn't show up by Monday then she was going to be induced. Determined to be a Leo (I'm right on the cusp) my strong-minded baby self decided to appear bright and early on Saturday morning. You're welcome world, I know, I'm awesome.

So Happy Birthday to Me! I'm getting myself a calorie-free day, the ability to fly, and maybe a new couch when I get back to the usa? Who knows- the possibilities are endless!

 I'm going to attempt to reflect on this past year- it's been overall a pretty good one..

1) I can feel my independence growing, and that I've pushed myself to learn who I think I am . I've always had strong feelings about women's rights and this year I felt like I actually talked about it more, made an effort to inform myself, educate others and love me for me.

2) For the first time I've actually set goals for myself, and ones that I feel I can actually keep. The Appalachian trail may still be a year and half away but I know that I will be doing it- the goal is set, and it will be completed.

3) Strength in my friends- for the first time in a while I have a solid group of friends that I know I can turn to, some of them I know will be friends for a lifetime, whether we eventually live in different states, countries, or still down the block. Is it weird to say I'm in love with all of them? They are all reading this and laughing now- but thanks for being awesome.

4) My emotions have changed so much- more so over the past few years and not just the past one and obviously it's because I'm getting older but I couldn't even express how grateful I am for it- I never cried about anything when I was younger and really almost all the way through college. Now though I am happy I can be okay to tear up at a commercial, sob over a book. I'm still not as great as expressing those emotions to other people, but I'm doing better. And I appreciate that I was able to change.

5) I appreciate the chances I've had to travel- not that I always get to see a ton when I travel with work, but I love the fact that I am still visiting foreign places, trying new cuisines and seeing different lifestyles. I look forward to traveling further, and just traveling in my own country this year.

Onward to another year- I think 27 is going to be even better than the last 26!

And on that note...summer is coming to an end (whomp whomp) so what better way to drown our sorrows than in $150 cash. sounds more than a little fantastic to me! I've joined up with Karli, from September Farm and all these other lovely ladies to bring you a nice treat to end the summer with..

 ...just check them out...aren't they dolls-faces?

get entered below. visit their super, fun blogs. thank me later.

soup of the day | beautiful things | p. s. my name is madeline | September FARM
east willow grove | elizabeth loves
harris heart to hearts | a life like mine
blue giraffes + concrete jungles | simply love | the farmer's wife | ribbon in the sky

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and I'm linking up with the regulars! with my new favorite song... seriously I've played it about a thousand times already..

Ain't No Party Like an S Club Party

Does anyone else remember that ah-mazing tv show from back in the day? Seriously- one of the best. Fun music, everyone was paired off perfectly, and they were foreign. Doesn't get any better...

Friday has finally arrived, which makes me smile. And the weather has cooled down a bit- even better! I'm running another race on Sunday- the Queens 10K, which will hopefully be better than the last weekends. If anything the food afterwards is supposed to be good, so perhaps that will make me run faster!!

I'm gearing up to change all the handles on my social media so keep a heads up if you start seeing Blue Giraffes on instagram, pinterest, or twitter. It's probably just silly old moi.

Anyways- as usual it's been a long week.. but here are 5 things I'm totes digging right now (a few of which I want for my birthday!! which is now only about 2 months away... hint, hint!)

1) This ridiculous amazing Harry Potter/Mean Girls combo shirt. Seriously - what could be better.. and thank you to Jules at If I had 100 Dollars for making me aware of it.

2) On the Harry Potter note.. these adorable Harry Potter cups- I may or may not have said something about them before. But they belong in my kitchen! and they have even more on the etsy site...

3) Fun quotes- not that I would actually put this one on my wall, but I am in the market for some prints for my living room..

 

(this one I would totally hang! )

4) My favorite YouTube videos- Kid Snippets. I took a break from them for a while but recently started watching them again, and they are seriously hilarious. Basically kids pretend to be in different scenarios and then adult actors take the kids dialouges and actually act them out while using the kids voices... a bit hard to explain but worth watching, and great for a laugh. This is one of my favorites. 

5) And of course my girl Jeanette from Peachy Keen Perfumes newest scent, Ocean Boulevard. Seriously I have been wearing it every day. Love love love it! Don't forget to enter the giveaway- you could have your own bottle! Check out my review and her business story here.

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Happy Friday!!

what else are weekends for?

Besides having lots of fun...

I had a pretty nice weekend- thankfully because the weather was helpful. Saturday morning I woke up nice and early to participate in the Oakley Mini 10K Race. Now last year, 2013, I was super into running. Mostly because I had the time to- I went for a run 4-5 days a week, started running races to motivate myself and over the course of the year completed two half-marathons, a 10-mile run, three 10Ks, two 4-mile runs, and two 5Ks. This qualified me for the marathon this year. But then I kind of stopped running... I started my new job, which has crazy hours, the winter was crazy, blah blah blah excuses. Push comes to shove now I'm now 20-weeks out from the NYC Marathon and I have to start running again. I signed up for a training course, registered for some races and broke out my running shoes to get this party started again!

I ran a few times last week to get back in the swing of things and then ran my race on Saturday... it was slow going, but I made it across the finish. Here's to many miles more!!

Before the Race

After the Race

After the race I went with a friend to a favorite place of mine, Joe Shanghai's, for delicious soup dumplings. Yum yum yum, they really are the best! Next time you are in NYC you have to stop by there.

Saturday night was super chill, my friend D and I stayed in and had wine/movie night (our second of the week, although this one was way less crazy). We watched Oz the Great and Powerful, G.B.F (my new favorite movie), and Struck by Lightning.

If you haven't heard of G.B.F- you need to go on to Netflixs now and watch it. one, it's freakin hilarious, and two it has a fantastic cast.  That's all I'm going to tell you. Now go and Enjoy!

Sunday morning brought the most interesting surprise. Besides being my 5th year anniversary of moving to NYC (so crazy!) and Father's Day,  while I was getting ready to go to brunch, my entry box buzzed. I wasn't expecting anyone so I ignored it. After it buzzed again, I went and asked who it was. "It's the mailman- I have a package for you" hmm- okay, I wasn't expecting a box but maybe one of my roommates was. Guy gets to the door and the box is for me, and it's from amazon. Now I did order some things but had them sent to work - but maybe I had made a mistake and they got sent to my home address instead? But then I opened the box and was treated to the sight of seasons 1-5 of the wonderful tv show "In Living Color". Yep. All 5. Um I didn't order this? I was freaking out a bit because I thought maybe someone had hacked the account. But no, not the case. 

After finally figuring out the number to call amazon, I get a customer service rep on the phone. The gentleman is very nice and helping me find out who sent me the box. "Ma'am - Gordan Samuel sent this to you". What? Who? I have no idea who this person is. Now I'm really going crazy- is someone stalking me? Sending me strange gifts? Can I send this back and have you refund the money to whoever this Gordon person is?

Then the rep asks me if I had ever heard of Teri Falco- and wait yes I have, that is my Aunt. 

So low and behold the gift is from my Aunt. After much giggles and laughs, and a great story for brunch, I am now a proud owner of all 5 seasons of this wonderful show!

Sunday afternoon was relaxing and involved calling all the wonderful fathers in my life and wishing them a fantabulous day! 

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and Happy Father's Day!