six months

Half a year. Half a dozen months. Six months.  

Good things come in half a dozen like donuts which we did celebrate with.

(Side note: Rose Donut Shop is right down the street, open 24hrs, and cheap which makes it dangerously good for our lactose intolerance selves.)

The past six months married to Samuel have been wonderful. We have experienced so many changes since we started our life together. Of course there always are ups and downs, but through them we have learned so much about each other. Noteworthy events of these six months include:

+ honeymoon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

+ one year meet-a-versary

+ graduating from dental hygiene school

- saying goodbye to the scoot 

+ passing all my board exams

+ moving to San Diego 

- saying goodbye to friends and family

+ renting our first apartment

+ starting law school

I can't wait for many more months with this great husband of mine. I'm so content by my favorite human's side. Happy 6 month anniversary Sammy! 

|| Erin

hello zoo

Say hello to the newest San Diego Zoo members!! I'm not bragging or anything; we just take pride in our good investments. Our dual membership was $119 for an unlimited year's entry to the zoo and safari park! Even just going twice pays for itself! Now you know where we will be spending most of our weekends. I've already been to the zoo twice in a span of five days...Making the most of it? Guilty.

Our first zoo visit was with our friends Maddy and Alex. They live in San Diego and have zoo memberships as well. Only two words can describe them: "zoo veterans!" They know everything and anything about the zoo and it's animals. Every dirty detail (Ex: we were here when so and so gave birth!) and every animal's name. (Ex: Cookie the Honey-badger). They were the perfect people to introduce us to the zoo and we had so much fun with them.

 

 

My second zoo excursion was sans Samuel. My cute cousin Isabella turned 5 so we celebrated at the zoo. Just Izzy and I. We have spent loads of time together this summer so it was fun to change things up for our playdate. She is the craziest, loudest and silliest five year old I have ever known so our zoo trip was not one to forget. And I'm pretty sure everyone at the zoo thought she was my child so there's that.

Also I'm quite certain that she had more fun playing on the animal statues and picking flowers than walking around to see the real animals. We stopped at every single statue and she insisted that I take a picture. (Don't worry I'll keep those pictures to a minimum). But her faces as she tried to mimic the animals are priceless. 

  

  

Along the way we treated our tired feet to a ride on the skyline and a foot massage. That foot massage  was the best 25 cents I have ever spent. She was in heaven!

 

We love our zoo membership because we can come and go whenever we please. And because the zoo is exhausting and that's the cold hard truth. 

|| Erin

a love note

Love notes are the greatest and long lost love notes are even better. Today I found a list of texts I had saved from when Samuel and I were dating. It was so fun re-reading them and living through those memories all over again. Samuel is my favorite human. Only he can make the words "responsible" and "rad" work in the same sentence. 

"I like you more and more everyday! You are so funny and pretty and amazing and so responsible and way rad. 
But yeah, I really like you." -Samuel

|| Erin

downtown on a budget

Downtown San Diego has a lot to offer. Our very first adventure in San Diego started there and we keep finding reasons to go back. On our broke college student/unemployed budget we're all about being frugal. It can be hard when Sea World is in your backyard and tickets are $84! (Um tempting but Free Willy can wait). But we love finding cheap activities or anything FREE. Here's what we've been doing on a budget.

1. The USS Midway Museum
Of course Samuel would choose this as our very first weekend outing in San Diego. He loves airplanes and helicopters so what's better than a naval aviation museum? (I sure can think of a few things) It was kind of pricey but Samuel knows how to find a deal. San Diego residents get in for $10 instead of the regularly priced $20 adult ticket.

        

2. Museum of Contemporary Art
Every third Thursday of the month there is FREE entry from 5-7pm which is perfect for our law school schedule. It made for a fun little date night in the city and an opportunity to try out a new restaurant.

3. Balboa Park

Ok I never realized how huge this park is. It includes the San Diego Zoo, 15 museums, performing arts venues and numerous gardens. It is amazing and the architecture is so cool. We stumbled upon it one night and decided we had to come back in the daytime.

Sure one day we'll go to Sea World, the Zoo, Disneyland and to all those pricey things nearby but for now we're loving our adventures on a budget.

|| Erin

the beginnings of california

This weekend was rough. A midterm, paper, another midterm, no sleep and the wretched heat. We were all sorts of grumpy. After listening to Elder Richard G. Scott's talk from Conference, we decided to start this week off right with a Monday adventure aka Family Home Evening. From our apartment window you can see an old settlement building on a hill. Perfect adventure destination and perfect Monday night history lesson.

                                    

Named after Father Junipero Serra, the Junipero Serra Museum commemorates the first European settlement in California and is recognized as the site where California began. Super neat right? and only 5 minutes from our apartment. 

         

We're really good at taking pictures...We were going to ask a lady to take our picture but she was too busy taking pictures of her dog. "Hi, can you take a picture of us and we'll take a picture of you and your dog?" Ya I don't think so.

Next stop on the adventure: somewhere to watch the sunset. The most beautiful and perfect way to end any day is at Ocean Beach on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. It houses the most beautiful sunsets. You can walk the pier, watch the surfers and gaze at the sun as it slips below the horizon. We're definitely going back there again and again. 

All in all, it was a successful Monday adventure after our grumpy weekend. Thanks Father Junipero for letting us explore and for helping start California.  

|| Erin