Vacation Photos: Monterey and Carmel

For the MLK holiday, we went on a long weekend trip to Carmel and Monterey. It's only an hour and half from San Francisco, but has a completely different vibe so it really felt like a vacation. We arrived early on Saturday, checked into our hotel in Monterey, and headed straight to the beach in Carmel.

Unlike the Bay Area beaches, the beaches in Carmel are white and sandy, and even though it was the middle of January, it was warm enough to lay out on the beach in a swimsuit. The waves were particularly good that weekend (it was the same weekend as the Mavericks Invitational in Half Moon Bay) so Lucas got some quality surf time in.

On Sunday, we took the historic 17-Mile Drive, which runs from Pacific Grove to Pebble Beach. That stretch of coastline is beyond scenic - it's gorgeous! I definitely recommend doing the drive right before sunset so you can stop at one of the lookout points and watch the sun go down over the Pacific.

Monday morning, we went on a whale watching trip. I geek out over animals, so I jumped at the chance to see sea lions, otters, and whales up close. I've also been completely jealous of Kristina since she went whale watching in Vancouver in elementary school, so I was finally able to see my 10-year-old dream realized. We were fortunate enough to see a killer whale, several pods of grey whales, and dolphins. Lucas was definitely a good sport and pretended to be as into it as I was. :)

Other highlights of the trip include: cheese tasting, antique shopping, and getting cheap couples massages.

Here were a few of our favorite things to do in Monterey and Carmel:

Breakfast:
Katy's Place - This place has to-die-for breakfast - French toast, waffles, and pancakes galore!

Lunch:
Village Corner - Such a cute little place in downtown Carmel with an outdoor patio to people watch. :)

Dinner:
Casanova - It's a converted house, so it's a cozy little restaurant with amazing French & Italian cuisine. It has an amazing wine cellar too, so make sure to ask to peek inside.

Shopping:
Cannery Row Antique Mall - There are tons of antique vendors with fairly reasonable prices.
The Cheese Shop - This place is an amazing, non-pretentious cheese shop. You can go in and sample any kind of cheese you can think of and they won't make fun of you if you ask ridiculous questions.
Carmel Plaza - What can I say? They have J.Crew, Anthropologie, and Kate Spade, so I was sold. We may or may not have gone three times. I'll never tell. :)

What I'm Listening To...

Here is an upbeat song to get you through your Tuesday. I think it's technically about the Jonestown mass suicide, but it makes me happy nonetheless. :)

Lena Dunham Interview

Have you tuned into Alec Baldwin's podcast, Here's the Thing? He interviews fascinating people like Judd Apatow and Billy Joel. I came across it today and proceeded to listen to about 10 interviews in a row. His interview with Lena Dunham, the creator and star of Girls, is great. Highly recommend listening to it!

Tahoe Trip 2013

This past weekend, my company took its third annual ski/snowboard trip to Lake Tahoe. Wildfire is unique in that we all really love each other (truly!), so we were all psyched to go on the company trip. On Friday afternoon, we left early and departed for Tahoe on chartered buses. Each bus had a theme and I was on the "Party Animal" bus (please refer to the masks, y'all).

After a whopping EIGHT hour bus ride (just so you know, it should be a 3 1/2 hour bus ride but we hit two accidents, had to stop to put chains on our tires, etc. etc. etc.), we arrived and had dinner at a local restaurant in Tahoe. After that, our buses attempted to drop us off at our condos, but one of the buses got stuck in the snow (because the aforementioned chains came off of the tires...) and some folks didn't get back to their condos until 3 am - yikes!
Regardless of the disaster that was Friday night, we woke up to fresh snow on the ground and we were ready to go. The temperatures were an icy -8 degrees on Saturday, but the conditions were perfect otherwise. We spent the entire day on the slopes, and my dear friend Tara and I mustered up the courage to ski down one black diamond at the end of the day.

After our ski day, we engaged in some much needed après-ski activities: hot tubbing, eating, and drinking. We had a huge banquet followed by an after party in the ski village. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love Wildfire. It's hands down the best company with the best people. Already anticipating Tahoe 2014! XOXO

Pup Marketing Campaign

This is too cute not to share.  This morning, Refinery 29 posted about Where I Was From, a Brooklyn-based online store, and this genius marketing campaign where they dressed up an adorable pup in their clothes and accessories. His little face is so sweet, it breaks my heart...such a nice break from too-skinny models. Bravo!