Showing posts with label restaurants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label restaurants. Show all posts

March 19, 2014

Saving the Best for Last



Last week, my last spring break vacation ever, flew by me.  One second I was in California leaving for Cabo, and the next I was getting off the plane in Austin.  While I am sad that last week is now nothing but memories, I will cherish those memories for the rest of my life!

Where to begin...

Last Friday my friends and I made our way to San Diego, where we stayed at a gorgeous condo on Coronado Island. We started our vacation with a delicious meal (shocker) at Prepkitchen, and polished it off with acai bowls from Juice Kaboose.  For anyone who has not tried an acai bowl, go try one (or make one) NOW.  This set the tone for the rest of our weekend in California, as it revolved around trying fun new restaurants, exploring the city and cruising around on a gorgeous boat. After devouring meals at Hash House a go go, Point Loma Seafood, Herringbone and True Food Kitchen, I think it is safe to say we ate our way through San Diego, which was perfect for our spring break diet...right?



Monday morning we left for Cabo San Lucas. I have to say, I am not the most joyful and relaxing person to travel with.  If I am not anxious about getting on a plane, I am anxious about our reservations or the mere thought of traveling out of the country. As fate would have it, I had every reason to be so high strung.  We arrived at the hotel, along with 350 other college students, to find that our hotel was overbooked.  And not just overbooked, but they had the audacity to TRIPLE book each room. Perfect.

After dealing with this nonsense for hours, we finally found ourselves relocated up into the mountains at the stunning Montecristo Estates, which are a part of the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach.  All I have to say is WOW.  While the location was not on the beach as we had planned, we were each put up in our own private villa. Each villa was not only a two story, three bedroom, stunning home, but each villa also had it's own private pool and hot tub.  Needless to say, I was in heaven.  Maybe our little overbooking mishap wouldn't be so bad after all!


Our entire week was spent on the beach. The resort was able to transport us back and forth to our original hotel everyday so that we were with all of our other friends. Being a guest at Montecristo meant that we even had our own private section on the beach with tents, chairs and unlimited food and drinks at our service.  I had the best time seeing friends from different schools, walking up and down the beach, sipping margaritas as if they were water, jet skiing in the icy blue waters and laying out in the sun.


As I sit here on my couch in Austin, drinking my morning coffee, and cannot help but think back on the memories and express how lucky I am- how thankful I am.  So, cheers to my last spring break ever, and cheers to the many more amazing traveling experiences to come.

February 26, 2014

Successful Dad's Weekend? Check!



How to have a successful Dad's Weekend:

1. Go outside.

On Friday afternoon, after our lunch at Hopdoddy (of course), we hiked up Mount Bonnell and sat at the top overlooking the lake. Saturday morning we walked from the hotel to Jo's Coffee for lattes and a breakfast taco. This may have been my dad's first time trying coffee from a coffee shop other than Starbucks, as he was excited to tell me, "Wow, this is so much better than Starbucks." Yes, dad...most coffee places are.

2. Spend time together.

We spent most of the day and night on Friday just us two.  We spent a few hours on Mount Bonnell and all of dinner talking about business, family and life.

3. Try new restaurants. Lots of them.

I love when my parents come to Austin because I get to host them and show them MY city. In Austin, they are my guests, so I want to show them the best time and, of course, feed them the best food. Dad and I tried and loved La Condesa for dinner on Friday, Jo's for breakfast on Saturday (and Sunday), Easy Tiger for lunch and beers before the UT baseball game, and Parkside for dinner with my friends on Saturday (even though we had been here before). We had a successful food weekend. That's for sure.

4. Go downtown. Drink. Repeat.

Since my dad is more fun than I am, we went out both nights that he was here.  Friday night we went to our favorite place, Cedar Street, for a drink after dinner.  Saturday night we went with all of my friends and their dads to Pete's Dueling Piano Bar.  We had the best time all together, and may or may not have polished off a few rounds of shots.  From here, dad insisted on bar hopping until the bars closed, which is when we took a pedicab back to the hotel. Poor pedicab driver...


5. Go to a sporting event.

Saturday we spent our entire afternoon at the UT v. Stanford Baseball game. Not only were we sitting with friends, but the game was intense and the weather was absolutely perfect.


6. Be thankful.

I am so thankful for times like these.  In fact, I wanted to thank my dad with a little surprise at the hotel, which included a bottle of Hendrick's Gin, Jalepeno stuffed olives, and bags of salted nuts and pistachios. Just a little something to thank him for coming to Austin for the weekend! Much to my surprise, he beat me to the punch and gave me a stunning diamond "love" ring that I have been wanting for forever.  Never taking that thing off.