My weekend flew by in a whirlwind. I can’t believe it’s Monday already. How did that happen?
I worked.
And I tackled household cleaning projects, did lots of laundry, ran some errands, went grocery shopping, did blog and computer work, cooked, did my fair share of dishes, and other similarly thrilling domestic chores.
I also bought our airfare to Aruba
We’re leaving in early December with open-ended return tickets.
Who knows if or when we’ll return to California.
(gotcha for a second)
We do have return tickets.
But the thought has crossed both Scott’s mind and my mind to just not return and live in our house there
And let the hustle and bustle of life here in California go on without us.
And drink mango watermelon juice from the Green Hut.
With this view, it’s tempting. Trust me.
But life, work, and duty calls back in San Diego.
And I do love San Diego and where I live, and honestly think I’d go a little batty and stir-crazy after a few months on the island
Or at the very least would miss Trader Joe’s terribly
I was able to get two of our tickets using frequent flyer miles accrued through my credit card miles and one ticket we paid for.
Airfare now through the holidays will just keep going up and up, and frequent flyer dates will get blacked out, so I’m glad I handled it now.
Because come December, we’ll be ready to be here
Handling travel plans
And noshing on Caramel Apple Bars were a few highlights of my weekend
Another highlight was they were ‘Gawked and ‘Tasted
And finally, the winner of the Case of Odwalla Bars Giveaway is:
“omg! This is Josh’s favorite flavor! He’d go nuts if we won! Pick us! 
I like mojo bars and homemade bars as well (I just typed bras haha). Hope you have a fantastic weekend”
Congrats, Erica (and Josh)!
Questions:
1. Best thing you ate or did over the weekend? Any special highlights?
2. How far in advance do you purchase airfare or book your travel?
We used to do spontaneous trips when it was just Scott and I. We’d go to Napa for the weekend, or Tahoe, or Vegas, or even farther away destinations, but we were flexible and able to travel very last-minute and take advantage of the internet travel deal sites and specials.
Sometimes leaving last minute works in your favor on price.
Sometimes, like with holiday-season travel, leaving last minute almost ensures that you will overpay.
Or that tickets on your preferred travel dates will be sold out. There are only so many seats and flights on those coveted flights a few days before and a few days after Christmas and the airlines know this and price things accordingly. Sigh. Or everyone else buys the tickets you want.
So with holiday travel, I book a 2-3 months out.
Going anywhere for the holidays this year that you know of already? For either Thanksgiving or Christmas?
If you’re just catching up on posts from the weekend, here were mine since Friday:
Have a great week!
Hahaha…it’s always tempting to stay on vacation forever, isn’t it? :-) But at least you’ll get a nice, long break in December!!!
My best weekend eats? Your dough balls! Chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal.
Toast with heaps of peanut butter and nutella is a close second. And chocolate almond butter.
I’ve been a major chocolate fein.
thanks for lmk you made and enjoyed them!
Ohh how exciting, do you go to aruba every Christmas? I have a very exciting trip planned to Denmark over Thanksgiving break for 10 days to visit a friend. I’m very excited to explore a new city!
denmark sounds pretty amazing! And yes, we go ever December.
Every time I see those Aruba pictures I start looking up airfare and places to stay there. They are truly amazing pictures, the water is just beautiful. Can’t afford a trip or to take off work yet, but we might be going to Florida in the dead of winter (in the philadelphia area that’s around february) and around that time i will be grateful for any temperature above 50.
Have fun and be safe!
thanks for the nice comment :)
Its always so much fun to look forward to a vacation once you have those tickets purchased :) Can’t wait to see all the gorgeous photos you’ll be taking this time!
Best thing I did over the weekend was bake! :)
thanks :)
I am so jealous of your aruba trips!! When I was in college I stayed in belize for a little bit, and I dreamt about living there and forgetting life back home…but I know I would miss certain things..and trader joes would be one of them for sure!! And those bars look amazing!!! So beautifully photographed too!!
How lucky that you’ll be there right when winter is hitting! As much as living on an island sounds amazing, I think I agree and I’d miss more civilized mainland life. My flight to Italy in January is not being handled by me, but I know it’s going to cost a fortune! I don’t fly much, but I have my heart set on a trip to Seattle sometime in the future for a super special mission :)
I am awful about planning my trips ahead of time. The dates I wanted to travel to see my family over the holidays are already blacked out. The best thing I ate over the weekend was a cookies and cream cupcake.
So fun! It sounds like you’re more than overdue for a vacation! I try to balance booking early, but holding out enough so that we don’t miss the good sales on tickets. It’s hard though, and airfare just keeps getting more and more expensive!
I bet December can’t come soon enough! Too bad I can’t meet up with you again on this visit!
I know, I was just looking at old pics of our meetup when I was drafting this post! :)
ah!!! I couldn’t be more excited. Thank you so much! And fabulous that you’re going back to Aruba- I know how thrilled you must be!
I had French fries twice on Saturday! Which is a splurge for me because I generally have FF once every couple of months. Lunch was from Chickfila and for dinner I baked some ff at home. Yum!
Sounds like you’ve got something to look forward to! I like to get tickets well in advance, but that never seems to happen. I look for deals until my eyes bleed!
Aruba looks just perfect! I like to plan holidays well in advance – we’ve already booked a long weekend in Washington DC in December and we know what our plans will be for next summer (California here we come!) but the logistics rely on a couple of other things happening for us to be able to firm up our plans.
I wish I was on the beach right now looking at your pictures!
Awesome!!! Can I sneak into your suitcase please???
wow the caramel apple bars –> yum!!
i seriously need to relocate. today nyc is dreary and gray. it looks so pretty over in Aruba. :)