Cabo: Part 1

Oh Cabo, I miss you already.

Clint and I lucked out and got to spend Thanksgiving in Cabo San Lucas again this year. A friend of mine posted on facebook that she needed to rent out her timeshare at the Playa Grande Resort, so I swooped in and took it off her hands. I'm a good friend.

Our flight was early Friday morning, so we cabbed it to the airport while it was still dark and freezing out. 

purple luggage, pink laces

we are not morning people

After a long flight with a layover in San Diego, customs, and trying our hardest to avoid the tricky timeshare agents at the Cabo airport…we were in a shuttle heading to our hotel. We got to Playa Grande and were pleasantly surprised. We weren't quite sure what to expect, but the place was just perfect for us. It's located behind the marina on the Pacific Ocean side. The water is too rough to swim in on the Pacific side, so this made our beach nice and quiet. No vendors, no water taxis coming and going, just a nice relaxing place to watch the waves. Being so close to the marina made it easy for us to walk anywhere we needed to go, too.

We checked in (while being invited to a timeshare presentation at the same time), and made our way up to our room. We were in a studio which included a nice king size bed, tv, a little kitchenette with a full size fridge, huge bathroom, dining area, pull out couch, and a balcony with an amazing view.

so pretty

view from the front door

After getting settled in, we walked down the street to a little market to get some groceries for the week. Stuff for breakfast, chips and salsa, water, beer and tequila. When we got back, it was starting to get dark, but we walked around and did some exploring before calling it an early night.

front of the resort at night

The next morning, we decided to check out the timeshare presentation with a free breakfast buffet. Why not? Neither of us had never done one before, anywhere, and thought it might be interesting to hear and get some free stuff out of it.

Our guide, Javier, showed us around our resort first, then took us over to the new property next door that they are still in the process of building. They own a huge stretch of land along the beach, and are building a pretty incredible resort.

view from one of the suites at our resort, our room is
just off to the left in the red

great view of the city from the top floor

cool dome ceiling with a window at the top in our lobby

one of the pools at the new resort

construction

Pacific Ocean

Clint and our guide

Javier liked to point

breakfast time!

After being shown around a bit, we stopped at the new restaurant being built for a breakfast buffet. It was delicious, and I'm pretty sure Clint regrets not going back for thirds...he loves himself a good buffet!

We talked some more about timeshares, and Clint actually started to get interested when he realized he may be able to purchase it through his company to use for a work retreat each year. He could write it off, and get to go to Cabo every year. Sounds good to me!

We finished eating, and Javier showed us some of the newer rooms they have finished. The place was amazing. Everything so sparkly and new!

infinity pool looking like the ocean

master suite with sliding doors to open up to the ocean

view from master suite

hugest shower ever

construction on another pool

Finally, we made our way to the room they bring everyone to in order to talk business. They served us a constant stream of margaritas, and the pressure was on. Clint and I were having fun though (now into hour 4 of what was supposed to be 1.5). It was crazy to hear how this all works out, and they really started to make sense to me! Buying a timeshare might actually be practical if you plan to vacation every year, which we do. But in the end, it came down to principle. There was no way Clint (Mr. Research) was going to sign papers on a contract right then and there. He asked for even just a couple of days to think about it (we'd be there all week, not going anywhere), but the head honcho said no way and that the deal would be off the table as soon as we walked out. That made us mad (and pretty buzzed at this point), so we walked out. The head honcho's number 2 (Keith) chased after us to apologize for his boss, and said to still come back the next day and he'd see what he could do. We saw through the tactic though and asked how to get back to the shuttle. After winding ourselves down to the exit, we were greeted again by Keith (how'd he get there so quick?) so he could give us his cell phone number. They are relentless!

Tired and worn out, we sat down with a lady in order to get our free activity. While we signed up for horseback riding, she started in on trying to get us to visit her property by Medano Beach and do another timeshare presentation! That's Cabo for you, always trying to sell you on something.

Once we got back to our room, it was straight to the pool to try to salvage some sun. We sat at the swim up bar and ordered what became our signature drink of the week, Calima Specials (basically a frozen mudslide with coconut rum added). When the sun went down, we went back to the room to shower, then out to eat at the lobby bar for happy hour sushi.

We then took a taxi into town and found a bar that was showing the Pacquiáo fight to watch with the locals. The place was packed, so there was standing room only. After the fight, we walked down the street to Rips, an outdoor bar, where we made friends with some older couples who were wasted and telling us the secrets to marriage (love each other, and buy your wife presents...so insightful). Afterwards we went into Cabo Wabo for a bit to dance and have another drink, then it was back in a cab to head home.

The next morning was cloudy and gray, which made it easy to sleep in and be unproductive. I eventually made us breakfast (around 1pm), breakfast burriots with egg, ham, cheese, and salsa in a fresh homemade tortilla. Delicious.

cloudy in paradise

While Clint got some work done and emails sent, I read my Kindle...so I guess we were productive after all.

That night, we didn't want to ruin our streak of not leaving the hotel room, so we ordered a pizza from room service.

noms

To end the night we ate cartons of ice cream in bed while watching Breaking Bad. I love vacation.

Wrapping up Cookie Tuesdays

With the Chi O cookie exchange coming up this Sunday, yesterday was my last Cookie Tuesday. And since I missed one while in Cabo, I decided to do two different kinds and go out with a bang.

Week 4: PB&J Thumbprints

I love peanut butter cookies, so I was drawn to this recipe when I first saw it. They turned out delicious, and I even got to use my homemade raspberry jam from this summer. None of these ended up making it to work, sorry guys.

PB&J Thumbprints

Week 5 make-up: Coconut Cookies

I thought these turned out delicious, but I'm a huge fan of coconut. They're really dense, but still pretty chewy at the same time. They disappeared in under an hour at work, so assuming that's a sign that others liked them, too.

Coconut Cookies

Week 6: Eggnog Cookies

When these didn't turn out quite like the picture, I went over the recipe again and I think I may have forgotten an entire cup of flour…but I can't be sure. Either way, they were a huge hit at work and everyone wanted the recipe.

Eggnog Cookies

Now I have the hard decision on which to bring to the party. Quite a few turned out so well, I can't pick just one. Luckily I have Clint who will be happy to chime in!

Rachel's Baby Shower

A couple Sundays ago, Maureen and Jessica hosted the most adorable shower for Rachel and baby Raleigh. The theme was woodland creatures, and they did an amazing job with the food, decor, everything! They had prepared four different types of soup, and then carb loaded us with bread bowls and all sorts of crackers…delicious.

drinks

next to the owl are toadstools - string cheese with tomato
toppers…I mean, really? How cute!

For dessert, we had a bunch of different pies. I tried a new recipe, salted caramel pie with a graham cracker crust, and I think it was a hit!

pies sitting on tree slices with pine cone card holders,
so cute

adorable woodland creature clothes for Raleigh
doubling as decor

trail mix party favors

mommy to be

Zindt sisters

Jecca and Becca

playing with sweet baby Max

overwhelmed by babies

Erica, Weiner, and Max

After feasting, we sat down to play a game and open presents. The game was a word scramble of different children's books. Erica and Colleen (who knew she was so into kid's books?) tied for first and had only missed one!

more cute decor and presents!

concentrating

scoring

Little Raleigh sure got spoiled. Lots of fun gifts as well as a book from each of us to start his own little library.

her mom knit this blanket that she had started while
pregnant with Rachel and held onto all this time!

mmm, pancakes

me and Rachie Poo

Rachel and the hostesses

some of us who stuck around to get a group photo

isn't this the sweetest?

Congrats, Rachel, and can't wait for sweet baby Raleigh to arrive. You're gonna make an awesome mom!

Clue dinner party

This year, my friend Sarah wanted to celebrate her birthday by throwing a Clue themed dinner party at her place...I love her! There were 6 of us in attendance, and we were all assigned a character to come dressed as. I donned a red shirt, red lipstick, and all the sparkly jewels I could find to portray Miss Scarlet. Colleen was Mr. Green, Hilarie as Professor Plum, Mary as Colonel Mustard, Heather as Miss White, and the guest of honor as Mrs. Peacock.

who me?

Sarah, of course, out did herself preparing and setting up for the night. She had props for our characters (smoking pipe, feather duster) as well as all the murder weapons (revolver, knife, candlestick, rope, lead pipe, wrench). The dinner table was set using cards from the board game as our name cards, how cute?! There was an outline of the dead body on the floor (flipping us the bird), and even her pets Finley and Mia were dressed for the occasion.

basket of weapons

that dead body has a tiny head

Finley looking dapper

Mia not looking too pleased

After dinner, which was delicious - flatbread pizzas, salad, and pumpkin macaroni and cheese, we played a game of Clue. The game was much more fun than I remember from when I was little and tried to play by myself (only child problems...). It was also a lot more difficult. Heather was our big winner exposing that it was Professor Plum with the revolver! Hilarie and Sarah reenacted the horrific murder scene for us.

Hilarie killing the birthday girl

We finished the night off with cupcakes that Heather made (so good!), and watched the movie Clue (yes, there's a movie). It was such a fun night, thanks to Sarah for planning it all, and happy birthday!

happy birthday!

Bye-bye blonde

My run as a blonde has finally come to an end. The up-keep was becoming too much of a hassle (and expensive!), so I decided to go back to brunette…but on a budget.

Even having my extensions removed would have cost money, so I grabbed some needle nose pliers and did the job myself. I was surprised how easily they came out, and it only took me about an hour while I watched tv at the same time.

I felt bald afterwards. I'm not sure if the extensions really damaged my hair, or maybe I was just used to having so much thick hair for so long. Either way, I felt like I had no hair left, and I was sad to see my long luscious locks hit the trash.

pulled out a couple hundred of these little guys

before and after

The next step was to buy a box of hair dye (Nice and Easy's "dark brown"), and get rid of my roots. I've done this in the past, so it wasn't too difficult to do by myself…but I did end up with a few missed spots if you look closely. Overall, not too bad for a DIY new do!

ta da!