Day Drinker

Bryan and I haven't gone anywhere or done anything since Hawaii and my soul starts to get a little twitchy when I haven't felt the freedom of the open road in too long. We decided that getting away for a night on the long Veteran's day holiday would be enough to save my sanity and get me through the next few months of work, school, family, holiday shopping and holiday events. We are hosting Christmas for the Vickers side of the family this year, so that's added stress. We've got to get the house in order and ready for a LOT of family members... which is terrifying. We are also having our first true Thanksgiving dinner with Bryan's cousins, which I am so excited about! But it's extra work for me to cook and stuff when I have so much going on. I needed a moment to decompress before things got crazy. 

We typically take a photo before we get on the road so I had to follow the tradition. We were in line waiting for a coffee from Java Heaven, which is much of my whole happiness in a cup. 

Shepherd was starting to get antsy in the car so we decided we needed to break up the trip a bit. We hit up the downtown area of Paso Robles, which is one of our favorite little spots! In the middle of the area is a huge, beautiful park with extremely tall trees! It was freezing and windy but that didn't stop my boy from loving the play time. 

Finally, in an attempt to escape the chill, we went into the public library that is right across from the park. Shepherd got his first band-aid on his hand and he was pretty weird-ed out about it. He had scraped his finger somehow in the car, poor guy. There were tons of puzzles, blocks and books to look at, so he was distracted from his owie in no time.

We weren't able to get an early check-in at the hotel for Shepherd nap. We ending up taking a scenic drive up to Lopez Lake and that whole area so Shepherd could get a few uninterrupted hours of sleep. On our way back, we figured we'd stop at the outlets and do a little shopping. By the time we got to the hotel it was dark but Pomeroy street and the pier were lit up and it sure was pretty. We walked over to Brad's Restaurant for dinner, took a stroll on the pier and then came back to the hotel to hang and put Shepherd down for bed. 

As usual, I woke up extremely early on Veteran's Day so I sat, people watched and listened to the waves. We were so close to the beach, it was the perfect alone time to reflect on my life and what the hell I'm doing. I didn't figure anything out but it sure was nice to have an uninterrupted moment to process. 

Once they woke and we had ourselves a continental breakfast, Bryan took Shepherd to the beach to play while I got ready. I joined them shortly before a huge wave caught Bryan off guard and completely soaked them. Bryan didn't have any other shoes or pants so we had to rinse and blow dry them as much as we could and then buy him some flip flops. Luckily, we had other pants for Shepherd (always prepared for a blowout) and we found some sandals in his diaper bag. Score!

I woke up in a weird mood and I just kept doing stupid things! For example, we got a late checkout from the hotel and as we were leaving, I realized I forgot my purse in one of the drawers. So, I go back up and figure I should go to the bathroom. I take off my jacket, use the restroom and wash my hands and grab my purse. I figured I'd just leave the key cause why not? I meet Bryan and Shepherd and we walk halfway to Pomeroy when I remember that I forgot my jacket in the hotel room. I had to walk back, wait in line to get a key at the front desk, go back up to the room and grab my jacket. I don't want to wear it because the sun is now shining brightly, I'm in a sweater and hot as balls from walking all that way. I look in the car to get another shirt and I realize I don't HAVE another shirt. I only have the sweater because we packed so light. The only shirt I have is a black wife-beater shirt and I don't know the technical name so DON'T JUDGE ME. I put that on under my jacket and leave the sweater thinking maybe it'll all balance out in the end.

As I'm walking, I'm boiling hot and I'm too fat to just wear the black shirt. I meet up with Bryan and Shepherd on Pomeroy and Bryan has shoes on his feet so that's good. I go straight into a shop to buy a t-shirt. I take off my sunglasses to try a bunch of them on, pick one that is something I'll wear again but is also cheap, I pay and leave. I get halfway to the restaurant when I realize I FORGOT MY GLASSES. At this point, I'm ready to rage all around Pismo, I'm so irritated with myself. Bryan goes to get us a table and I walk back to get my glasses. I finally join Bryan and when the waitress asks me what I'd like to drink (at 12:20pm) I say "A Lavaflow, please." 

You should have seen the look on Bryan's face. Sure, I rarely drink...but I do drink now and again. Something I NEVER do is drink during the day. Ever. 

But I didn't even care. I drank that Lavaflow and got a little tipsy and Bryan drove us home. 

All's well that end's well.