Negligent Mother of my Blog, Guilty as Charged.

I admit that I have put the blog on the back burner but it’s all for good reasons so don’t get too upset!  Wedding planning and going through transitioning to a new job has been the focus, and I have a couple of things to say about both of them before diving back into normalcy!

Hard Truth About the Beginning Stages of Wedding Planning
Anytime someone tells you that “wedding planning is fun!” then you have a pretty good guess on how they aligned with it…they are either not paying for it at all (or very little), they have been thinking about it since they were 12, or they are a crafty do-it-yourself freak.  While I’m extremely excited to marry a man that I respect and am in love with (and best friends with!) , it turns out that my “type A” personality has not boded well for wedding planning thus far.  Spreadsheets comparing photographers and their qualitative and quantitative aspects and similar other charts with reception halls, caterers, DJ’s and other services to ensure that we are not “getting taken” are being updated bi weekly, which I’m not sure is good for my health.

In a nutshell, I have a problem with purchasing things that aren’t “on sale” and have no return policy, and the wedding industry is a freaking rip off, no matter how you spin it.  To say that it has been confusing and misleading at times is an understatement!

New Job, Lower Carbon Footprint
Exciting news…I don’t have a 2 hour commute anymore!  While I’m extremely sad about leaving many of the people that I have had the opportunity to work with over the course of the last 3 1/2 years, I am very excited about the people and the opportunities to come at my new job that will put me near downtown Minneapolis.  I’ve always wanted to be a be a little hipster that works downtown so it looks like I got my wish!  I’m sure that there will be some great blog posts about downtown to come post Thanksgiving and I couldn’t be more pumped about it!

In closing, here’s to never going a month without not writing a post ever again!

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My Gardening Skills = Rookie Status

Upon my visit home this summer, it was deemed official that I am a gardening ROOKIE. See here for photographic evidence of my lack of gardening skills and the awesomeness of my parent’s gardening skills:

Sneek Peek of my Mom's Garden

Yup, grapes in Wisconsin....

How great do these peas look, honestly?

Pretty sure I don't have broccoli. While I used to have cucumbers, those fell to the blade unfortunately.

Fresh raspberries, check!

All and all, the whole thing just kicks my garden all over the place!

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Quick Book Update: “Pillars of the Earth” is My Life

I know that I raved about this author last time I reviewed “Fall of Giants” but I just can’t get over how much I am LOVING Ken Follett’s “Pillars of the Earth”.  I’m about 24 hours into the audio book (out of probably 38 hours) and it won’t be soon until I’m sucked in so bad that I’m at the “point of NOvel return”.

Everyone that is a reader has been there…you know…when you start with coming to work with weary and tired eyes from staying up too early reading.  Then you start missing dinner with friends, next goes the work functions, and finally…events like family reunions and weddings.  You disassociate yourself with society and only care about what ends up happening to your characters!

For example, I went on vacation last summer over Labor Day with my friend Amber up to their beautiful cabin on the lake with her whole family and a few others.  Turns out it was a BAD weekend for me to pick up “A Thousand Splendid Suns” since there I’m pretty sure that her family now thinks that I’m a deaf-mute since I spent the whole weekend hiding in corners with a face in my book.

For those of you that know me, I have NEVER been accused of being antisocial or not wanting to be part of the conversation…usually it’s the opposite and I find myself in situations where have to ask myself if I’ve breathed in the last two minutes.  Needless to say, “silence”was a very strange place for me.

But back to the book; “Pillars of the Earth” is full of complex characters with intertwining lives and relationships with a story line set in 12th Century England.  Might not sound like something that you would be interested but you’re dead wrong.  It’s riveting.

Can’t wait to see what happens next and the review will most likely be shortly after Labor Day at the rate that I’m going!

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August’s Bountiful Harvest!

While I thought that I had failed miserably, luckily I was able to save the crops!  Thank goodness because I’m not sure if we would be able to make it through the winter without the crops that I labored over this summer (ha ha).  

Check out some of the garden box pics post Miracle-Gro.  Turns out that the brand claims are true; they can make miracles happen.

Look at those cute little tomatoes!

Bushels of basil!

Stalks of spinach! That grew WAY differently than I had expected.

Check out THIS harvest! Talk about a high yielding crop! (insert sarcasm here)

But one little guy didn't make it...I forgot to tell the BF that I had planted some cucumbers outside of the garden box and it lost the battle between "cucumber versus lawnmower". The powder is bug repellent so don't get any crazy ideas people...

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Capella Pedregal: Cabo San Lucas

Hopefully some of you were able to check out a few of my photos from our vacation, but in the case that you didn’t… I decided to put together a little collage for you and for anyone else that might be interested in the resort (in general) and finds me via a search engine!

Feel free to ask questions about our experience by commenting below –

A Little Bit More on Where We Were

We were fortunate enough to stay Capella Pedregal in Cabo San Lucas.  The  experience of initially arriving at the hotel is something that I’ll never forget and was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.  When you arrive onto the site you are greeted by the front gate, which is a site in itself:

Since the resort lies on the other side of a mountain, a tunnel was bore through that.  So, you drive through this each time you enter the resort.  The cold and dark feeling of going through this tunnel plays with your senses….and makes what lies at the end of this tunnel even THAT much more amazing.

And here is why I’ve had a countdown on my computer for for over 120 days….because of what lies at the end of this tunnel, Capella Pedregal Resort.

Then there is the utter perfection that is maintained in every detail the resort does…

Service

The resort mine-as-well be called Capella “Service for a King” Pedregal.  While I’ve never stayed at a 5 star resort…there is just nothing else that compares to the level of service that we received throughout the week!  It’s almost as though the staff had telekinesis and would ask me about things before I even could ask for something.

I had towels tucked behind my head when I would pull out my book, I would have one sip left in my drink and another one would already be ordered, if we brought beer down to the pool it would magically be on ice one minute later, there were always fresh towels.  Not enough chairs for 7 people?  Let me track them down for you!

If you want phenomenal service on your vacation…this is your place.

Couple of Tips:

*When you order food or drinks your resort fee (tip) and the tax is already on there…29% onto all of your purchases

* Every time that you go into downtown Cabo to explore you are taken to the end of the driveway in the ultra-luxe golf carts by some of the hotel employees.  You still need to walk into town but they will take you as far as the gate

*There are two pools, the pool on the left you can bring alchohol to.  But the pool on the right has a beautiful swim up bar and BYOB is not permitted at that pool

*When we were there in March you are not permitted to swim in the ocean and it can be very dangerous.  Luckily the ample amount of infinity pools don’t even make it tempting!

*There is a Sam’s Club and a Costco in Cabo but is is quite a drive from the resort so I would suggest only making one trip and making it worth it

*On Sunday there are NO liquor sales in the liquor stores.  Liquor was still available at Sam’s Club and Costco though (limited variety).

*There are no vendors at this portion of the beach which makes going down to the beach near the Marina a relatively stressful trip (comparatively speaking)

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