6 Year Reunion in Puerto Rico

Playlist for this post and for our vacation:

     -"Happy" by Pharrell
     -"Best Day of My Life" by American Authors
     -"Everything is Awesome" by Tegan & Sara featuring The Lonely Island (aka, the Lego Movie song).
...and keep it on repeat....seriously. Also, use the pet name "baby" or "puppy" for everyone.

This is Mego. I haven't seen Mego in six year. What's a better way to catch up than to vacation together?

Happy Birthday weekend to me! A few months ago, I decided I just wanted to get away for my birthday for a low key weekend. I decided that it would be more fun if I had people come with me. I invited my lil sister, and then inspiration struck....invite Mego! I adore Mego, because she is one of my life inspirations. I joke around saying that I can't do anything until she does it first. I already know we travel well together, because we've done it before, 12 years ago when we went to England and Paris together. We know that when someone gets grumpy, you must buy them a candy bar to calm them down. Easy peasy. We met up at the San Juan airport and went over to our hotel to make plans and chillax.

Can I just say, I normally don't stay at fancy hotels when I travel, so this trip was on another level of classy for me. Saryah joked that this is her first "adult" vacation, because adults always go places with no plans but to relax. Those were our exact plans. This was a "No Rules" vacation.

We went out to eat the first night at a restaurant down the road, where we ordered three dishes to share. We would eat part of the plate, and then rotate the plates throughout the dinner. #genius We each took turns giving a summary of the past six years of our lives, because, like I said, we haven't seen each other in a while, and it's hard to find time to catch up sometimes. It was pretty funny when we had those "omg. I can't believe you did that!" moments, as we reacted to events that happened years ago. The waiter gave us free crème brûlée during our meal. We also created a list of all the countries we travelled to over the past 6 years. Over the past six years, we've visited a combined number of 26. There was only one country that we've all been to in the past six years....the motherland, where it all began, the UK!

First of all, shout out to Tattly, which has really cool temporary tattoos! Secondly, Friday was a really lazy day. When I say lazy, I mean, brilliantly lazy. We woke up late, to the maid knocking on our door for room service. We went to breakfast across the street at Denny's. Then, we went to lay on the beach and swim for the next few hours. I read, Megan watch the Canada hockey game, and Saryah just laid there. We went back to shower and get out of the sun in the afternoon. We decided it would probably be a good idea to go look around San Juan instead of only looking at the beach all day. We took a taxi out to Old San Juan, and checked out the Fort. Our taxi driver pointed out the capitol building for us, and recommended a good place to eat. Sadly, with my bad memory, about five minutes later, I couldn't remember what he said. It was so windy at the fort, but the view was gorgeous. The whole place was beautiful. We walked around, and I loved to stone streets and colorful buildings. It was a beautiful mixture of Latino and Caribbean culture without the need of a passport or changing currency.  I would definitely recommend it to people. We went to Barrachina for dinner, where they claim they invented the Piña Colada. With a claim like that, how could we not have a taste. Truth: I normally don't like Piña Coladas, but this one was wonderful. I had two. The dinner was GREAT! We had a great time, and they gave us a free slice of tres leches cake as they sang Happy Birthday to me. Mego was having a fun time making sure everyone knew it was my birthday. We went back to the hotel to book a tour to Culebras Island to go snorkelling, but we found out the tour was cancelled due to weather. Bah humbug. We went back to our room to discuss. Instead, we decided we should rent a car, drive to the ferry in the morning, book a room at a swanky resort, and be completely spontaneous tomorrow. Done.

Saturday morning, we got a rental, and drove down to Fajardo. Mego hopped out of the car to just get us tickets so we could then go to lunch, but she called, told us to park the car because the ferry was ready about to leave! We went...and the ferry broke down. They said it would be up and running within an hour...and it finally left about 3 hours later. Woohoo #carribeanspirit We got to the Resort on Vieques, cortesy of Mego's hotel points, and it was so swanky. I felt like white trash at a cotillion ball. We loved it anyway. We went straight to the beach to enjoy the sun!

After a few hours in the sun, we went exploring. When I say "we", I mean, Mego went exploring, while Saryah and I followed. On this exploration, Megan found a coconut, which entertained her for the next 12 hours as she attempted to open the coconut with random tools found in a hotel room. Room service said they did not have any machetes available. The highlight of the night was discovering the black pebble pool, with LED lights at the bottom. With all the stars in the sky it felt magical, only to be enhanced by listening to "Across the Universe" while relaxing in the starry water.

Sunday Fun Day! Mego and I went on an adventure to find the church building and get ferry tickets. Ferry tickets are only sold one hour before the ferry leaves, and we were quite panic-y that we wouldn't get a ticket. We were told, that you can go and just get them anyways if you are confident enough. False. They guy was quite rude. We then went to church, where we were given a corner and couldn't find it anywhere. After about 20 minutes of wandering, we followed a couple in a nice dress and a suit to find the church. #stalkeralert We met a couple from Tennessee who decided to move to Vieques a few months ago. What I really wanted to ask was, what are you doing on the island? I was pretty sure that was rude, so I stayed silent.

We eventually made it back to the hotel and decided to risk missing the ferry to stay later at the resort. We laid on the beach. Worried when Mego disappeared. Mego came back after exploring more of the beach. Ate lots of yummy coconut. And took silly photos.

After six years, things haven't changed much.

There was a little vacation romance...that lasted about 5 minutes.

Needless to say, we made it onto the ferry without a problem. While waitin in line, I started chatting with this really cute Brazilian. It was in Spanish, so Mego and Saryah thought it was something nice we were talking about, but I'm pretty sure they were talking about when him and I laughed over me hoping I don't get sea sick on the ferry ride back. #whatyouseeiswhatyouget #classylassy The romance ended, when he went to the bottom deck, and I went to the top. I didn't even think of telling him I was planning on going to the top until Mego and Saryah reprimanded me for being so bad at flirting.
We finally made it back to San Juan and had a late night dinner at Denny's. It was a great way to end a whirlwind vacation.

Monday, Saryah and I slept in, while Megan woke up to soak in as much sun-time as possible. I joined later and had a pizza and piña colada brought out to my chair. Mego and I talked for a while, as Saryah stayed in a shaded hammock far away from us. It was sad to say goodbye, but I'm pretty sure, we'll travel again together in the future to make more epic memories.

NOLA

So life in Sedalia is pretty quiet. I wake up at 7. Leave for work at 7:50/7:55ish and get to work 5 minutes later. Work is nice because I really like the people I work with and my project is super interesting and keeping me busy. A busy Natasha is a happy Natasha. Fact. Also, I've started wearing red lipstick. Like Taylor Swift red. well, it's lip gloss, but still good.

Quick recap of last week: Lindsay and I went shopping at Lee's Summit last friday (9/15), where due to our lack of luggage, we used it as an excuse to buy new things. i invested in some new flats. YAY SHOES! Then we went to a bonfire at a YSA girl's house and played volleyball (where we weren't the worst players) and ate hot dogs roasted over a bonfire. Nice! Our luggage finally came in on Monday (9/17) so im very happy to have all my clothes with me. clothes. and my love-of-my-life-boots. LOVE THEM! I want to wear them all the time. My new exercise shoes came in the mail too. Still haven't used them...but now i have them should i decided to hit up the gym.

This past weekend (Sept 21-23) I was able to fly down to New Orleans. NOLA. The Cresent City. The Big Easy. The City That Care Forgot. Nawlins. Can I make a correction first off? It's not New Orleens, with the hard "e". It's pronounced New Orlans, with the soft "a". It's the south. Love it. Let's start with that Friday.

Friday (9/21) Lindsay and I met with Kim to go over some Kanban questions we had. Lindsay was on a roll as lunch time came around. I could tell Kim was getting a little hungrr, so I suggested that we pause the meeting for lunch. Lindsay responded that she wasn't hungry. lol. but we stopped anyways and Kim invited us to lunch. Lindsay and I bring out lunch, but Kim said to leave it so we could eat some BBQ. Can I just say, the place we went had very bland pulled pork. All the flavor was in the sauce. #depressing but super filling. I wasn't hungry the rest of the day.

taking pics with statues :)

So I left work early to drive the 2 hours to the airport. Note to self: Never live more than an hour away from an airport. Back to the story. When I got to the airport I realized that my NOOK battery was dead. Bah humbug! I just bought a book specifically for the flight. I plugged in my phone, connected in the internet and proceeded to download the NOOK app onto my phone. It took FOREVER. So I was able to get the book on my phone and read it on the way down to New Orleans. So the flight was nice, and I took the airport shuttle to the Marriott on Canal Street. Swanky. Thank you corporate America. (as an explination, my dad is in New Orleans on a business trip and i flew down for the weekend with his frequent flyer miles. win!) I got up to the room and guess what was waiting for me? My blanket, water filter, and winter coat! Best Dad EVER! We were chatting and at one point my dad said, "oh I got you an Apple." "An APPLE?" I responded, thinking of the iTouch Saryah got last week. Then I looked on the bed and saw he had 2 little red apples he got as a snack. Not the kind of apple to get that excited about. Haha.

I woke up from Dad moving around around 7am. Not the time I'm used to waking up at on a weekend, but he was teasing how i've been sleeping the day away, so I got up and found a place online for us to have breakfast, The Old Coffee Pot Resturant. it was adorable! And our waitress was so full of southern love. So happy. We wandered through the French Quarter and made our way to the St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square. We meandered along the Mississippi River (that's right, I just did the whole childhood-spelling-chant as I typed the word Mississippi) We did the cemetary tour of St. Louis Cemetary #1, and our tour guide was super cool. He even explained the different types of houses found in the French Quarter, along with what Romeo Spikes are. Cool. As the day was progressing the hotter it was getting. After the tour, we went to have one of the original muffalettas. There was a lunchtime line. I know I love telling people I'm half British, but I forget that people can actually tell my dad is foreign. He was talking to someone in line and they ask, "where are yall from?" Dad responded, "Texas!" and they guy says, "no really. where are you from" I heard that and thought, 'dude, he just told you he was from texas. why do you think he's lying? we're from texas!' My dad told him where he's originally from and then i realized, 'oh yeah! my dad has an accent! duh!' I just forget because i dont really hear it. We then went by the oldest building in New Orleans, the Ursuline Convent, before heading back to our hotel for a break. It was just getting too hot and I was DYING!

House in Musicians Corner with Katrina marking still

So Dad took a nap and i relaxed for a bit. We then made it out for dinner at...get this...Huck Finn's Cafe. Say what??? I know, right? But it was funny because we happened to go in right during a football game with tons of fans. Too funny. I got my crawfish etouffee that i'd been craving. (and i sneakily robbed him on his credit card to pay for the meal. hahaha) Then we walked around the French Quarter for the rest of the night. We got to hear the jazz along Frenchman Street and see the nighttime vendors along there. We also got to a park with lots of statues of jazz musicians. It was nice. It was past nightfall when we got back to the hotel and spent the rest of the night watching Ratatouee on ABC Family.  Seriously, coolest dad EVER.

Above Ground Cemeteries are all the rage 

So Sunday morning we got up bright and early to go to Cafe Du Monde for the beignets because Saryah would kill us if we didn't. (Saryah loves NOLA) We then headed back for our city tour. We saw everything. We saw the 9th Ward, where there is still Hurricane Katrina damage. The house that Brangelina own in the French Quarter. the cool LDS church on St. Charles Ave (that wasn't mentioned on the tour, but i totally saw it!) and the Musicians Street. It was a really good tour. Then we went to have our last meal together. I had my first taste of alligator! It was tasty. A little too spicy for Dad. We walked the streets a little longer, and saw the French Market, before I needed to get back to the hotel for the shuttle pickup.  It was funny because as we were walking back to the hotel, Dad said we should turn on the street after Royal. I said, "nah, that's Bourbon Street" and he said, "yeah, that's not really my kind of street". lol. mine either. we aren't really into the party scene :) Our goodbye...of course...was a silly one. Then I got onto the shuttle where we were stuck in standstill traffic for over half an hour due to the LA Saints game just getting out. But i still had plenty of time to get to the airport. There was a magical Blue Bell ice cream place in the airport, which i had never seen before. I slept on the plane ride home, arrived, picked up my beautiful Jeep Liberty, and drove the two hour ride back to Sedalia. The best part when when I was feeling tired and Katy Perry's 'Wide Awake'...the irony made me laugh.

It just made me think of a conversation I was having with Jay over Labor Day weekend. I just kinda paused and said, "it's kind of ridiculous how cool we all are." My family is AWESOME. I haven't had a vacation with my Dad since, I think junior high, when we did Spring Break back home in England. He is so funny. Good ole British humor. THE BEST DAD EVER! But then again, my parents are awesome. And vacationing with them is fun too. I may tag along on their possible trip next year back to visit family and friends in the UK because they are too cool for school. Who knows? #stalkeralert

Can I just say that I shop way to much at Wal-Mart? No seriously. It's ridiculous. but Wal-Mart has everything I need in one stop. On Monday (9/24), Lindsay and I spend 1.5 hours at Wal-Mart after work. It's where the rule, "if it has glitter, it's not manly" was created.

Also, I got my steel toed sneakers for work and they are soooo comfy. I wear them most of the day because it's easier than changing in and out of them whenever i want to go to the factory floor. and they keep my feet so warm because my side of the office feels like an ice box. literally. i have a jacket on all day just because it's so cold.

Futhermore. I love my NOOK. The only bad thing is...it's too easy to get new books. i buy a lot of books now. especially since there is no good library here. i am a fan of libraries. for rizzle....i miss the Tempe Public Library. That library had every book you could ever want! It was a bookworm's dream come true.

And I love that me and my little sister are in the States at the same time again (which hasn't happened since early January) so we can talk on the phone all the time :) She's the funniest person i know. for example click here. And once again....im considering joining Twitter.