A BIRTHDAY TO REMEMBER.

it all started after i saw emma. autumn de wilde’s adaptation of emma had me swooning over pastels, manners and 19th century pin curls. after leaving the theater, i decided (while walking to the parking lot) that i was going to celebrate my birthday like a jane austen heroine… i was going to have an emma themed picnic in the park! there was to be tea, socializing and croquet! i was deep into planning this picnic (i bought the croquet set) when COVID-19 took over. as the precautions for this virus became essential, my birthday picnic would have to wait. so i put a pin in my pinterest board and began social distancing.

my vision…

this was going to be a birthday that i’d never forget. it would be the birthday i celebrated without my twin, the birthday where everyone had to stay 6 feet apart and the birthday where i couldn’t get toilet paper… so to make the most of my quarantined birthday, i asked some friends if they wanted to join me for a virtual tea party on my birthday. the plan was to get dressed up (to go nowhere), drink tea and socialize (virtually).

last sunday, i woke up to a picnic in my living room that my sister and brother-in-law had put together for my birthday. yes, i cried. they had stayed up all night baking and staging an emma themed picnic. the conroys had gifted me with a fortnum & mason picnic hamper filled with all the goodies to make for a proper picnic and tea party. my heart nearly exploded. i can’t begin to explain how grateful i am to everyone who made this birthday one that i would never forget, despite everything.

“it is such a happiness when good people get together- and they always do.”

Miss Bates
Emma, Volume 2, Chapter 3

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A BIRTHDAY ROAD TRIP

tis true, my twin and i turned 26 last weekend and to celebrate we took a quick road trip to monetery. to make the most of our weekend, we headed up to san luis obispo on friday after work. it was a tough task but we made it. we stayed the night in slo so we could get an early start the next day, a reservation at the copper cafe was a good reason to set an alarm on the weekend.

this place was a DREAM. i’m already trying to plan another trip to slo so i could stay at the madonna inn and be surrounded by pink at all times of the day. *i hated pink as a kid and i think i’m making up for it now…*

*cody making fun of the fact that i ordered three drinks with my breakfast* yes, i bought one of those goblets from the store and will be drinking all of my liquids out of it forever.

did i mention these two joined us for the trip?? dang i love them. (best roommates ever)

post breakfast we went to see bubblegum alley- where you can surround yourself with other people’s spit and bad breath by choice! no, we did not contribute to the wall…

we continued our drive up north by stopping in morro bay to try and see some otters. SPOILER ALERT: we didn’t see any otters but we did see a corgi so we consider that a win.

after our corgi sighting, we continued on to cayucos for some cookies and stumbled upon a vintage store where i almost took home this jacket…some serious thought went into deciding against this jacket. i toss and turn at night wondering if i made the right decision.

and so the road trip continues to big sur! this was a long stretch for us; it took a few hours to get to the next stop… a lot of snacks and some terrible views were consumed within those hours (see below).

so we didn’t get the obligatory bixby bridge picture… as we approached the crowded bridge it was a pretty unanimous decision “DON’T STOP! KEEP GOING! WE’RE ALMOST THERE!” we were so close (yet so far) to monterey and as much as we wanted this road trip to be about the journey, we really wanted to just stop driving. in hindsight, we could have used another day (or two) to really explore but you live and you learn right?! once we got to monterey, we dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed straight to dinner to drink and eat our weight in pasta – WE DESERVED IT.

before embarking on our journey back home, we wanted to see the beautiful 17-mile drive. i know what you’re thinking…”before you drive the 6 hours back home, you’re going to drive 17 miles to see beaches?!” the answer is yes, and like i said, “you live and you learn.” i loved our not so little road trip up the coast and spending time with my loved ones in a car for hours on end. would do it again in a heartbeat.

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our weekend on film below. xx