Ultimate Coffee Date: August 2019

Welcome to the Ultimate Coffee Date! I actually missed my first ever coffee date last month (whatwhatttt)! You know my blogging’s been kinda sparse lately, but I’m back and hopefully here to stay!

This post is likely gonna sound somewhat disjointed because I wrote it at different times. (You’ve been warned!)

Ultimate Coffee Date: August 2019

If we were having coffee/tea today, I’d…tell you that I went almost a month without even touching my laptop. (I’ve been on my road trip (still on it until at least a month from now) and am currently in Colorado!)

In an effort to hopefully keep up with all the travel posts I’m gonna be writing up as a result of this road trip, I now have both Travel Tuesday + Travel Thursday for the time being. Since I can’t cook for at least another 1.5 months, my blog will likely mainly be about travel for the time being! If you have any questions regarding my road trip, let me know! :]

If we were having coffee/tea today, I’d…tell you that I did a quick weekend detour back to California for my friend (Florence)’s bachelorette party in Carmel (aka one of my favorite places on the planet).

I guess when the phrase “bachelorette party” is used, people tend to assume that all kinds of drunken debauchery will happen. What we actually did was rent out an Airbnb, become impromptu sous chefs/kitchen slaves where we helped my best friend create a ginormous feast.

We went on a walking food tour the next day (I’ll write an actual post on that sometime!), explored downtown Carmel, and had dinner at one of my newest favorite restaurants, Cultura! (If you’re sitting outside and it’s cold, they’ll bring you blankets! And of course the food was absolutely amazing, as was the service!)

One of Carmel’s secret passageways!

On Sunday, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium! 6 years + 1 day ago, we went there in search of the mola mola (sunfish, aka ocean’s derpiest animal). Sadly, we were told he wasn’t on exhibit because he’d forgotten how to eat (…) and was being re-taught in another tank. That one has since been returned to the ocean via trampoline (he got too ginormous), and now they have two!

Please excuse the graininess. It was so hard to get a picture of them. :'(

…and we also did an escape room (my first one)!

If we were having coffee/tea today, I’d…tell you that although I’ve really been enjoying this trip, I’ve definitely felt the need/urge to treasure life and loved ones more. There was a shooting at the annual garlic festival last weekend in Gilroy, California.

My brother had called me the day before asking if I’d wanted to go, but I wasn’t going to be back until late Sunday evening, so I told him I wouldn’t be able to. My brother and his girlfriend did end up going…and they left 11 minutes before the shooter opened fire.

11 minutes.

I could have lost them both this weekend if they’d stayed for one more song by the stage.

The shooter was posting about a white supremacist book shortly before the attack. I try to keep this blog non-political, but this hit a little too close to home. I wish the current president would stop encouraging racist (and while we’re at it, misogynistic views), or at the very very least, admit that white nationalism is an actual problem.

But as that is unlikely to ever happen, I sincerely hope we will see (positive) change next year, for the greater good of us all.

See past ultimate coffee dates here!

(Link-up with Coco @ Got 2 Run 4 Me & Deborah @ Confessions of a Mother Runner!)

• Have you ever taken a blog break? How long was it for and how did it feel? Mine was entirely unintentional and I’ve really missed blogging, but it was nice to unplug for a while too.
• What’s been on your mind lately?

(For updates in real-ish time with my road trip, follow me on instagram or facebook! For not-so-real-time, I have a road trip tag on my blog that you can follow!)