Having my family and friends pull me out of my shell last week to celebrate my birthday really forced me to step back and enjoy these awesome moments that were happening right before me. Often I get too wrapped up in daily life, work, gym, and the hustle and bustle of everything. Can you relate? Not that there is anything wrong with going going going…but sometimes it’s nice to hit the refresh button on your life. It forced me to take a deep breath and enjoy myself, my life, and the people closest to me. To be thankful for what I have. I think being in such a creative industry this is so critical to my well being. In order to keep getting inspired we have to live. 

Since I am such an amazing babysitter, I got this coupon from my nephews for my bday. I’m pretty stoked that it never expires 🙂

Tuesday was my actual birthday and Tommy took me out to eat at my favorite restaurant…I think he’s a keeper. Please excuse the quality of this photo because I took it with my phone. This is THE best place to eat in Sacramento and this is one of my favorite appetizers. Grilled artichoke with an amazing dipping sauce. I could eat it everyday.

After dinner I came home to cake and champagne from my roomate! Booyeah. It was an oreo ice cream cake and was oh so delicious. Thank you Donny and Luke!

Wednesday I was supposed to get lunch with a longtime friend of mine (pictured right) but instead we took the ferry over to San Francisco instead! These 3 are like family. I’ve known them forever and I had such a great day with them.

My grandfather (Papa) was on this ship… S.S. Jeramiah O’Brien…in World War Two. Here’s another little fun fact. They filmed the engine room scenes of Titanic on this ship.

We had to stop and get an Irish Coffee from The Buena Vista Cafe….A San Francisco Staple. I also enjoyed the blue on the building pictured to the right.

If you’re ever in North Beach aka Little Italy, you must check out Calzone’s Strawberry Mojito. They are amazing…and will creep on you because they are so good.

We also walked around Chinatown when the sun decided to come out.

Instead of having lunch with just Andrew, we got to roam the city. I’ve known this guy since the 4th grade.

Farewell SF..

On Friday, Tommy surprised me and took me to Santa Cruz. I had been talking about going there for awhile now and he listened! 🙂

This isn’t just your ordinary Merry-Go-Round, check out THIS VINE to see the game you get to play while you’re on the ride.

We met a few seals while we walked down the pier…

And we rode quite a few rides while we were there too.