OUCH

Yesterday was a bit of a doozie! I had a dentist appointment planned to get a cavity filled in the afternoon. Since working hard at getting over my needle phobia, I've gotten substantially better with the whole dental work procedures. I did, however, bail out on getting my wisdom teeth taken out like I was requested a few months back. Nope. Couldn't freaking do it. So i called back and let them know. My dentist told me to come in anyway and get the cavity filled.

Off I go. My morning started out all smiles, I've been living off a dual Christmas/Mexico high the last little while and I was determined not to let a little cavity fill take that grin away. When I got there though, the dentist and assistant were shocked to see my four lovely wisdom teeth still sitting in my mouth. After a good cry in explaining why they were still there they told me that They couldn't fix my other molar without taking the tooth out. They assured me that my wisdom tooth was tiny and not impacted or in a troublesome spot and they could yank it out easy peasy. 

I don't know what caused me to agree to it but I did. 

Nicole, if you're reading this skip the next paragraph ;)

After fixing one cavity they then make sure all my freezing is still good and then go to work. It hurt like fuck. I could feel them yanking on it and I heard my fucking tooth crack in the vice as they yanked it out. My dentist assistant then tells me its over but oh no, it's not! My tooth is still hanging by a thread or attached to my gum or some shit.I can feel the weight of it hanging in my mouth and at this point all I can taste is blood. Easy peasy? LIARS! After more wrestling it's finally out and I spend the next 15 minutes sitting there while they change out bloody gauze while they wait for the hole to clot. The next couple hours sucked. After picking up zoey from Daycare I had to throw my car into park before I even leave the lot and almost barf because I've probably swallowed too much blood at this point. Once I get home I spend the next couple hours alternatively gagging at my bloody gauze and wallowing in post dental misery. 

Today isn't terrible. It still sucks but I managed to have soup today. I don't know how Corey managed all four at once but this one is simply brutal!

So, to combat the pain, here's a few more pictures my mom sent me from Mexico!

MEXICO

Hola amigos! Como estas?

Guess who is back from Mexico! Holy crap I had a blast. Funny to think it’s over now when it seems like just yesterday we were counting down from the high 200’s in anticipation of our vacation. It was my family, my brother’s girlfriend, Crystal and my boyfriend, Corey who all went.

We left early Saturday the 6^th. Walking through Vancouver airport is always a treat. That place is huge and filled with crazy art (mostly haida art cause apparently that’s the sole style of art we have here, regardless of how cool it is lol)

They even had a big aquarium tank filled with local fish off our coast which was really neat to see. We zipped through security after we got out boarding passes and eagerly waited at our gate as we watched the place load and take off.

Finally we jumped on our plane. (I got a window seat beside Corey!) and we were off.

It’s a 5 hour and 20 minute flight to Puerto Vallarta and it was clear and beautiful for much of the trip. Corey and I spotted crazy wind farms, winding rivers and the Grand Canyon! I was blown away. It’s amazing seeing it in person and from thousands of feet up no less!

I love watching the ground zoom by and inspect all the various landscapes when I fly. On our seat screens we had a live map that showed what area we were flying over which was pretty cool.

One half of our room

We landed in the Mexican airport and we could feel the heat already. Goodbye frozen homeland. Hellooooo heat!

We took a shuttle to the hotel and boy it was even more stunning than the pictures. The lobby was huge and reached out into a really cool sitting area in front of an infinity pool that looked over the resorts many pools and restaurants and the ocean!

We checked in, found our rooms and explored! Our room was ocean view, huge with a giant bed, Jacuzzi tub and walk in shower. They cleaned our rooms every day and put the most delicious chocolate on our bed. Soooooo good! We had a bubble bath one night. Oh my I have to get one of those tubs. It was glorious and sitting there reading was so nice.

The first night we just ate and drank until bedtime seeing as our flight got in at about 9 pm their time.

Sunday

We explored the resort. It’s spit into two hotels/sides. We stayed at the Now Amber. Which is the family friendly side. The other side is called Now Secrets which is an adult only side. We had access to both sides which was nice. We took full advantage of all the pools there (I loved the swim up bars!) and we laid in chairs on the beach under palm canopies.

Merchants roam the beaches and try to sell you tons of stuff but the good thing was that as soon as you said ‘No, gracias” they walked away. They didn’t push you once you said no which I am quite thankful for.

All around the resort these huge birds called frigates fly around. They are massive and black (males have a red pouch under their chin) and look like pterodactyls when they fly. SO many of them! And they never seemed to land on anything, just soar endlessly above the resort. There were also cool little black birds that made every noise under the sun and stole food at every chance they had when something was discarded.

So, when you book at this resort, everything and I mean EVERYTHING is included. All the food you can eat and all the drinks you can pour down your throat. I took FULL advantage of that fact.

There was an all day buffet hat changed themes every night. (Seafood, Asian, bbq etc) and it contained such a huge variety of food that it was impossible to try it all. In addition to the buffet there were poolside grills (Four of them!) and sitdown restaurants that included French cuisine, Italian, surf and turf, Japanese tepanaki , authentic Mexican, a café, and about 6 or 7 different bars throughout the resort. It was amazing! You could walk up at any time and ask for a drink, pretty much anything you could think of, and get it handed to you. No many exchanging hands. Glorious.

I don’t drink often but in Mexico, I had a drink in my hand at all hours of the day.

Monday

The 8^th was my moms 50^th birthday, the whole reason why we came to mexico. On her bucket list she said she has always wanted to do Ziplining. I was very surprised that my mom wanted to do that kind of thing, let along suggest it. We all piled onto a shuttle after breakfast and went on a very bumpy ride through old Puerto Vallarta. We saw tons of stay dogs just chilling as we drove through the city, then through a riverside village then up to the Sierra Madre mountains covered in rainforest jungle foliage. The ziplines criss cross the Nayarit river.

We suited up in harnessed and made out way to the first zipline. They called it the test line to see if you could manage the rest of them. They all had hilarious names on signs posted at the take off platforms.  But I was terrified. I love being high up but I have a tremendous fear of falling. So throwing myself across jungle canyons was not something I was really confident doing.

My dad and mom went then it was my turn. As the dude pushed me off the platform I scrunched my eyes shut  and hung on for dear life. I landed safe and sound at the other end after I peeked open my eyes. I made it! I was still a little shaky but I watched the rest of the group come in before we stepped over to the second line. This one was just a wee bit longer and had the name “Second Chance”. Oh lord.

I did better on this one and had my eyes open for most of the ride.

Once we looked over to the third line I saw the sign. “No Going Back Now”. That meant that once you went down this line you couldn’t walk back up to the restaurant/ entry. You would have to go all the way down the mountains to the final line.

The rest of them were AMAZING! I was still horrified at my feet leaving the safety of the platform but as soon as the canyon opened up beneath me I would holler at the top of my lungs and pretend I was flying. It was amazing! Along the way they pointed out all kinds of lizards, butterflies, turkey vultures that circled Corey as he flew down the ziplines. It was fantastic! It was really neat to see all the different flora and fauna they have out there. They pointed out these scary looking thorned trees that are the most toxic tree in Mexico. The sap can cause 2nd degree burns and eating the fruit can cause diarrhea for 8 days and blindness for two weeks! Needless to say we stayed away from those.
Towards the end we got offered the chance to go down upside down with one of the guides. I was a no go for that but my dad, Crystal and Jason all did. Brave fuckers. The highest line was 704 feet off the ground. The longest was 650 meters long and the fastest we went was about 55k across the canopy. It was wild! Corey thought it was going to be faster and wasn't terrible impressed with the experience but I loved it to bits. I guess that's what it's like when you work on top on high buildings every day.

We finally got to the last line where they dunk you in the river. It was really neat and after everyone landed we met up with a heard of donkeys. Corey and I were the first ones to jump up on one and we went up this crazy zigzag path that led straight back up to the starting point. AWESOME!

We also had massages almost every day. Twenty five bucks for one hour of bliss. It was heavenly. We hit up Healing Hands spa pretty much every day except one but we made up for it by going twice in one day the next time lol!

We had dinner at the Japanese restaurant and made friends with two couple from either end of the UK. It was pretty neat! There were people from all over the world at the resort. It was so cool to see and to talk to everyone each time we hopped in the elevator.

Tuesday

Another relaxing day. Corey and I woke up and as we got ready to start our day we watched StarWars hahah. They had a ton of channels but we rarely watched anything. There's too much to do in Mexico! Though each time our room was cleaned the maids would turn on a chanel called Ashes and Snow and it was really, really, REALLY weird. Like sensual dancing in the water with elephants and laying naked in sand dunes with Cheetahs. We had no clue what to think of that. BUT IT WAS ALWAYS ON. In sepia tone. wtf.

Corey and I drank and swam in the pools. It was wonderfully warm and it was so nice just to relax and chill on the beach. I was on the hunt for sapphire fire opal earrings but everything I found was too pricy. (I’m cheap lol) There were horseback rides on the beach but we decided against it cause the poor animals looked so worn out.

Then we swam in the ocean! It was so warm and playing in the waves as they crashed on the beach was so much fun but then we got stung by jellyfish which sucked but we thankfully didn’t have more than a burning sensation where they touched us.

I then proceeded to shock myself on my hairdryer after I got out of the shower later that day because I’m dumb and somehow managed to touch the prong as I plugged it in. Durrr.  Corey and I walked our little part of the beach and hunted for sea glass. Off in the distance I could see three stay dogs hanging out on the sand. I really wanted to see them but I didn’t know if they were friendly or not. One little black puppy that was probably the happiest thing in existence was digging holes, frolicking in the ocean and running around as joyful as could be. He spotted me and ran right up, tail wagging and planted his butt right on the sand beside me. He let me pet him all over and looked so happy to be getting some love. Poor thing had ribs showing and his waist I could probably fit my hands around. His face looked like a sharpie mixed with lab. He was adorable and I pretty much cried cause I felt so bad for the puppy. He followed us for a bit before we managed to sneak away. I continued to look for him the next couple days but we never saw him again.

Corey and I stayed up late and sat out in the lounge after eating way too much gloriously tasty food, and watched the sunset. I tried a number of new drinks that day, almost all delicious!

Wednesday

DOLPHINS woo! I have been swimming with dolphins before but I loved it so much that I did it again. We all took a cab ride down to the waterpark/aquarium. Did I mention that the driving in mexico is scary as all hell? People be crazy!!!!

We got to the place safely and in the parking lot we saw a horse just standing in one of the parking stalls all by himself! He wasn’t tied off or anything. It was hilarious to see. Just waiting for his owner to come get him.

We got to swim with two dolphins this time A male and female. Angel and Scarlett. Petting them in an amazing experience. They are the coolest feeling animals ever. Because I had the experience I got to do some of the rides first. They got me to swim out to the other end of the pool and hold out my hands. I grabbed their dorsal fins and they shot me right back across the pool! It was wild!

We had a waterfight with angel then both of them showed us some of the crazy noises they can make which is pretty cool. The foot push was what I was really looking forward to.

I laid out on my stomach and the dolphins would each push a foot and lift you right out of the water! Holy crap that was cool! I loved every bit and we got kisses as the end too.

Next up we met a HUGE sea lion named Pepe. We got to pet him (which was really neat! They are furry!) and he gave us kisses and showed us his smile.

The whole experience was amazing and I loved every second of it.

Us kids took a separate cab back because they didn’t have the shuttle vans to fit all 6 of us in. As soon as everyone was in the car the guy zoomed off before we even had seatbelts on. Turns out there was no middle seatbelt and poor crystal had to hang on for dear life as this cab driver raced through the bumpy streets and zigzagged between cars. He also had his e-brake on the entire time. Yikes. Haha. We made it back to the resort alive though!

Thursday

Corey and I walked down to the Malecon which is a shopping district. We were told by a little old lady that comes to our resort once a year for the past few years that it’s only a twenty minute walk down the beach. So off Corey and I went. It took us about 45 minutes becase we collected so much sea glass, shells and cool rocks that we stopped every few feet to inspect the ground. I loved it! We also saw a dead puffed up puffer fish which was really cool.

We got to the Malecon and I impressed myself with remembering a bunch of stuff I learned in Spanish 10 and 11. It was a really neat place filled with some really cool stuff but once I got down to actually buying things, I left empty handed. Everything was either really cheap looking or too expensive. I still hadn’t bought a single thing since we landed in Mexico which was a bit disappointing.

We left and on the way back we collected more seaglass and shells and saw a whole bunch of huge yellow headed pelicans.

Friday

Our last full day in Mexico!

We woke up early and went to the marina with the whole family and took a boat ride to the hidden beach. It was really neat and we had to swim through a cave to get to it! That was wild. We all threw on flippers and jumped off the boat and one at a time we swam under this tiny little archway. The waves would sometimes block it off completely so we had to time it so we could swim right through. Once inside we took off our flippers and walked along the hidden beach. White sand and birds all above us. It was CRAZY! We all swam back to the boat and headed off to the second island where we snorkeled. Right below us huge and colorful fish swam! It was so cool! On the way back we saw humpback whales! I totally missed one breaching but I saw a few of them come up to breath and one male do a pectoral fin slap. So, so amazing.

And guess what! I made it to this day without getting sunburnt! WOOOO! I got a little burnt on my back when we swam in the ocean but not terrible. So proud of myself!
 (These photos here aren't mine. We didn't take the camera here)

Saturday

Last day in Mexico. We all had breakfast together and got everything packed. We had what felt like ten pounds of sea glass, shells and rocks packed away in our bags. Poor maids that came to our room every day to make it sparkling clean for us must have thought we were insane for filling up one of our sinks with beach shit hahah.

We said goodbye to our parents (lucky butts are staying till Wednesday) and cabbed to the airport. Our flight home was really cool. I got another window seat! We flew over oceans and islands and watched the sun set twice! (We flew towards the west partway through!) once night fell we saw stars and near Flagstaff Arizona we flew past a lightning storm! We watched it on the horizon and could see lighting pop up above and below the clouds. It was amazing to see!

Once the lights of Vancouver could be seen we breathed a sigh of relief! Home! <3

Corey and I dropped of Jason and Crystal then raced to go get Zoey. We were so lucky to have Nicole watch her while we were away. It felt so good knowing she was happy with her auntie. Thanks lady xoxox

So all in all I can’t wait to do this Vacation thing again. We even spoke about doing another vacation to the Dominican resort in a few years. Bad ass! Now I have to work off all the food I ate!

All the Things!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. It has been a busy couple weeks!

Not this past weekend but the weekend before, Nicole and I went down to Seattle to do some shopping! It was a well needed mini vacation and I loved it to bits. I've driven partially down to Seattle before but this was my first time driving the whole way. We got slightly turned around once or twice making stops at outlets but we made it! After Ihop breakfast, we checked out a number of stores and strolled around the Seattle premium outlets and found a bunch of cool deals. I was so excited to show her Hot Topic due to her new adoration of BBC's Sherlock. Just like with my obsession for David Tennant and Doctor Who, it overloaded Nicole with all the crazy show related stuff you can buy. We both left with way too many things. (We aren't THAT obsessed, are we?)

We checked into our hotel and did yet more shopping in the adjacent malls. Because we started our day so early in the morning we found that we had hours to motor through the city. We scoped the area around our hotel and found a barns and noble. Joy! We spent quite a long time in there and each came out with a few treasures. I bought two books to read while on vacation.

We found a tiny fancy little shopping center and spotted an Italian restaurant and decided that this place would be perfect for dinner later. We returned to the hotel and ended up watching Mulan to kill some time and went back down to the restaurant and ate a very early dinner while we people watched. We loaded up with candy and goodies (I got Nicole hooked on my favorite, Almond Roca) Afterward we had a very stiff drink at Olivers Bar. We took about a billion goofy photos and probably the WORST photo of me in the entire world.
Here is a sketch rendition to save your eyes from the real thing:

The next morning we packed up and went down to pike place market. It wasn't as busy as it usually was. and because we got up so early most things weren't open yet. We still enjoyed it anyway.

I also got to put in my earrings that I bought a while ago. It creeped me out at first, putting them in but I think I have the hang of it now.  I love the little paw print ones I got. I also have a really cute set that I bought that come with wooden hearts, owls, elephants and an assortment of other things. Plus my tardis earrings that I hope to wear soon!

The rest of last week was busy with mad dash Christmas shopping, getting together with friends and trying to get things organized for......MEXICO!

5 days! can you believe it? 4 if you don't include today. Holy crap I am so excited. We're gonna be ditching the gross weather and go sit in the sun for a week. I am so pumped.


WOO!