40!

Hey everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and enjoying your weekend so far. I thought it would be fun to share what I did for my birthday last year (this was back in September) because it was pretty special as it was my 40th birthday. I entered a new decade and had one of my favorite adventures since moving out west. 

I decided a few months before my birthday that I wanted to take a trip for the weekend and make it a little bit special. My first inclination was to take a trip up to Sedona and enjoy the beauty up there, but it was still pretty hot so I looked elsewhere. I decided that I would take the 6 hour drive to San Diego instead. It would be my first time in California, a beautiful beach area and the weather would be a dream (in theory 😅). 

I told my brother about my plan as we were chatting one day and he was so excited for me because he loves San Diego. He said that he would love to bring my sister in law and my niece and join me for my long weekend and I was so excited! Shortly after that they booked their trip and we had a plan to meet up in San Diego to celebrate my 40th birthday.

I drove down on a Wednesday afternoon and met them at the AirBNB. I arrived first and went outside to help them with their bags once they arrived shortly after. I walked outside and looked in the car and saw that my mom had also booked a flight to surprise me!! I was so happy to see her and completely shocked that they were able to pull off that surprise. It was such a sweet start to a fun weekend.

The first two days of the trip the weather wasn't as idyllic as I thought it would be but it still worked out ok. On Thursday we went up to Oceanside beach to walk around and hang out by the pier for a bit before seeing a family friend in the area for dinner. 

There was going to be a surfing competition there that weekend so there was a bunch of surfers in the water getting ready for the competition and it was so fun to watch. Little known fact about me: I have ALWAYS wanted to learn how to surf and be a surfer girl. This is a bucket list item for me so to be able to watch some surfers is always a good time for me.

After we stopped at the beach we had a really lovely time at my brother's friend's stunning house. They prepared the most DELICIOUS meal for us and they ensured that I had plenty of vegan food to choose from. There was a beautiful fresh salad with an amazing homemade meyer lemon dressing and a quinoa and black bean dish that was bright and fresh and light. It was so nice of them to be mindful of me and my diet and it was a perfect way to spend our day.

The next day was my 40th birthday! I walked downstairs and was greeted by this hilarious sign that my family brought. It was absolutely perfect and I was so happy that my family was able to join me.

My mom and brother were also sneaky and went out and found a bakery that made vegan and gluten free treats and absolutely spoiled me! There are donuts, scones and a coffee cake type item. The ones that I tried were absolutely delicious. .

All they could find was a 7 candle which I also thought was absolutely hilarious.

We moved our plans around a bit because it was raining that day. I really wanted to see La Jolla Cove but the weather was not ideal so we ended up going downtown for the day and had a great brunch and just walked around, saw the military ships and did some shopping. It was really fun and the next day we were going to have better weather so I was fine changing up our plans to accommodate the weather.

As you can see, the next day we had that amazing, perfect San Diego weather I had heard about. We started off the day at Sunset Cliffs before heading over to La Jolla Cove.

I could not have asked for a better day. The water and blue sky was all I needed.

After Sunset Cliffs we headed over to La Jolla Cove. The views were stunning and we got to see the sweet seals lounging on the rocks.

These views are just incredible.

Cool views from every angle!

My brother and I decided to head down into the cave and got this cool view. As I've mentioned many times, I'm a sucker for a good cave. This was minimally impressive but still a fun experience and I'm glad that we did it. 

After we spent some time at the cliffs and cove, we had a nice lunch and went to the beach again for a few minutes. Then we decided to head back to the AirBNB and relax and get ready to leave the next day. I'm sorry for not taking more pics of my delicious vegan food from the restaurants that we went to but it just wasn't on my mind at the time. I can assure you that San Diego is a really great place for vegans. We never had an issue finding a place where everyone could find something.

The next day I left early for my 6 hour drive home and my family caught their flight later that day. I am so incredibly grateful to them for meeting me out there and for making my 40th birthday trip even more special. I hope you enjoyed seeing how I spent my birthday last year and I'll see you in my next post! 💜