A scenic coastal trip to cap off my 40th birthday

It’s been scorching hot my entire “birthday week” and I’m loving every bit of it. When we first moved from Canada to sunny California in the middle of a famous snowy winter back in 2014, I had my first hot birthday ever (come May month). But every year thereafter, we had almost a cold-front where it was chilly and/or rainy. WELL. Not this year my friends! Mother Nature knew I was sick of being stuck around the house, came up with some 33+ degree temps and off we went exploring in the Mazda CX9 I had loaned for the week.

We didn’t drive it much, because with this whole quarantine and sheltering-in-place, and rules from the county I live in, we were supposed to stick to just around our neighbourhoods. We’ve been in this situation since March 10. Two days after my Mom left to head out of California and back home to Canada.

I had to take it out for a longer drive, though. Especially on my 40th birthday. So off we went to have a scenic drive down the coast and went to the Santa Cruz area. I love the ocean, being from Newfoundland and all, but it’s such a different feeling seeing the Pacific Ocean, the warm weather, the cool surfers trying to catch a few waves. It was a simple, yet so perfect day.

Even bebs loved watching the surfers too. It was a nice little treat and something out of the ordinary instead of being cooped up.

I’m pretty easy to please, just drive me to the ocean, come home and eat some grub and I’m grand. I ended up making us all a homemade pizza. Although, incredibly tasty I may add, I would have much rather had a feed of McDonald’s. Pizza was a nice close second though.

After our feed of homemade pizza and some DQ ice cream cake, we went for our nightly quarantine tradition, a walk around the neighbourhood. A great way to end my birthday.

Bebs is wearing:
Jan & Jul sun hat
Cotton-On Kids zip-up
Of One Sea tee
Zara shorts (from last years)
Bobux Roam sandals (new!)

I’m wearing: 
prAna pullover (a bday present from hubs!)
Athleta shorts (old, bought them when I first moved here in 2014)
Nike sneaks (also old)

Thanks for the loan for the week, Mazda! You know I have a soft-spot for Mazda’s in my heart…still drive my first and only car I’ve ever bought (lol) – which is a Mazda. But this was a much better upgrade for my ‘big day’. #DriveMazda

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Alfie’s Adventures in the birthday convertible

Well folks, Alfie had one fantastic birthday, let me tell you that much. And a huge thanks goes out to Mazda USA for providing us with a birthday convertible for our sweet pup. Yes – I pitched it, solely for the purpose of Alfie’s use.

You want to know why? Because that’s the only thing that will make him smile this huge, these days. Almost two weeks ago we received the worst news that Alfie (who has lymphoma and is terminally ill) only had days left. So far, he’s going strong and is our little fighter. We’re hoping he becomes a miracle puppa. So far I think we’ve gotten everything down pat with regards to his medications, when to walk him (when his belly is all squeaky, or if he gets suddenly aggravated and barky), and feed him small frequent meals a day (which is 5….lol). He’s lost quite a bit of weight, but that’s due to the cancer, unfortunately. I’ve been updating everyone on his status on Instagram stories as much as possible, and people thoroughly enjoy seeing his little face, and rooting him on. So much love for this little fella!

His 8th birthday was on October 23, and we followed suit, similar to my birthday back in May. We didn’t get the car until the 24th so on that weekend, we drove down in the “California Convertible” as I like to label it (the Mazda MX5) and had a beach day in Santa Cruz, all catered to him. It was perfect. Brought his snacks, his meds and all hahahaha.

When we came back at sunset, we watched the airplanes come in, back in San Jose, and it was the perfect ol’ day. Couldn’t have asked for a better day at all.

This is my first time actually driving the MX5 myself, since the other two times I was in it, they were standard transmissions, and I didn’t want to take a chance learning on a review car, haha. So, I was peppin’ around all week with Alfie in tow, roof down constantly – even if it was a bit chilly. COuldn’t wipe that smile off Alfie’s face, which in turn made my entire week so much better.

Each day is a different story with our sweet pup, but luckily this past week he’s been “himself” with how well things are going.

Lymphoma isn’t curable, but it is treatable. At this point, Alfie’s lymphoma has taken over his little intestines, and is growing. We can only hope that we’re making his last while with us, the best he’s ever had.

Thank you again Mazda for being so understanding, caring, and best of all making my little Alfie smile.

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Alfie’s Adventures

AlfieHeaderGosh! Time just flies by when I’m not blogging. I need to get a system down pat again where I set aside a day or two to write and pump out some blog post ideas and photograph the things I want to share with you in advance. Otherwise, it’s complete radio silence around these parts for days on end! Oops.

And for good reason this time. If you follow me on Instagram then you already know what happened. But, the past two weeks I’ve been preoccupied with taking care of our little puppa-friend, as everyone knows and loves: our little Alfie. A little under two weeks ago, Alfie and I had the scare of our lives when he was attacked and mauled by a neighbours pitbull. Counting his lucky stars, he wasn’t killed (and could have been easily! Many small dogs get mauled and killed instantly this way). While it was happening, all I could do was scream and watch it happen, only by the end of it I clicked-in and my instinct told me to try and yank Alfie’s harness + leash as hard as I could to fly him up into my arms. It was terrifying, and the visuals and Alfie’s little screams still haunt me. I rushed him to the vet 20 minutes after the incident happened and he required sedation and a lot of stitches across his entire belly and a drain to help the gross stuff come out. I don’t want to get into any details about how the other person is dealing with the whole situation, but my husband and I — we’re working on it. It’s stressful. That’s all I’ll say.

GOOD NEWS. He is doing well, amazingly well to be honest. He has surprised us all and bounced back within the week of the incident.

A few days after, I had the Mazda CX-3 dropped off to me for the week. I asked Mazda if I could review the same car that I own, but a newer version (Mazda 3 hatch) for my birthday week—but unfortunately it wasn’t available. So I reviewed the snazzy little bug-like car: CX-3! It’s taller than the hatch, but wider and stumpier (shorter lengthwise) which was surprising. But super fun to drive around in. I think my next car is going to definitely have a white leather interior. There’s something a lot more luxurious about white leather, than black cloth (what I have) or black leather (typical, right?). And those red accents against the white leather? Hoooowee. The panelling on the CX-3 is significantly more different than my 9 year old Mazda 3 hatch. I’m loving the upgrades! I do have to say, I do not like the center console and where the drink holders are. It’s impractical, and the straws hit off the center console. Plus, there was nowhere to “hide” stuff (I suppose you could stuff things into the glove compartment, but I like having options. Like again: center console). But I guess those are minor details.

As my Dad would’ve said, it’s a slick lookin’ car!

Alfie in CX3Of course, as per usual rules are rules and Alfie must always be my first passenger as he’s the little Captain in Command. I was so excited to see Alfie smiling when we were driving around— just like old times.

Alfie required a t-shirt on his body, and a cone on his little noggin’ as we didn’t want him at his stitches. But how cute is he, popping his head up at this little Snapchat video I posted? What surprised me, is that Alfie is really digging the tee-shirt I picked up for him for $1.50 at Daiso. He gets huffy when I take the tee off him to clean his cut!

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2016 Mazda CX3My husband and I toured around in the CX-3 scoping out new-to-us areas, and just after sunset we went up on one of the mountains in the South Bay, and what a view of the area.

ZoomZoomIt was incredibly stunning and it’s something you have to trust when I say, you have to see it for yourself since photos wouldn’t do it justice. Also, I didn’t take any photos while we were up there (all you’d see were street lights and darkness haha!).

RonaldMcDonaldOh, how was my birthday? Excellent, considering I met Ronald McDonald and had my photo taken with him, haha. Mister and I were invited to a Mother’s Day event (dog Moms totally count too!)

White Shellac nailsI also ended up getting my nails done. White shellac is back. I was so excited to see Mr R. McDonald I started wiggling. Hence the awkward stance. Hey, I’m a kid at heart.

Bday surprisesI also got spoiled with a nice surprise on my doorstep from a pal of mine. One of the last days with the CX-3 I decided to drive up to the Livermore Outlets to do a bit of birthday shopping for myself. Tip! If you’re from out of state/country: bring your license/passport and you can go to concierge and get a free discount booklet to use at the stores.

PradaI did a sneaky little purchase at Prada — because who has time to pay full price? Not this bargain hunter!

converseI think I’ve jumped on the converse kicks wagon. The regular lace-ups look like clown shoes on me, but the slip-on’s somehow make my 8.5 foot look smaller, and rightfully so since they run a little big. I tried on an 8 and I still have room. I didn’t buy them, but eventually I may consider it.

How has your week been? 

pallet in cx3

MazdaCX3Thanks to Mazda for loaning me the CX-3 for the week, for a little birthday gallivanting! :) 

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