I just got back from a week in Costa Rica. As soon as I flew in all I could think about was how much I wanted to move back. Of course now that I'm back in the USA I just love it here too. I especially love flying through Atlanta because it's like the epitome of southern culture (to me). Everyone yelling "Welcome to Atlanta!" and talking loudly about some crazy drama on their cell phone. Everyone calls each other "sir" and "ma'am" and the accents are great. I get to Atlanta (and I've never even lived in Atlanta!) and I'm like "these are my people!" but in CR I'm like "this is my home!" I'll never be able to be in both countries at the same time. *sigh*
Anyways. CR was a lot of fun. The first night I went out with my old coworkers. We wanted to meet up at our favorite Tapas place but when we show up it's closed... FOR A MONTH. Only Spaniards, am I right?
Instead we went to a nearby bar that was okay, but the food sucked. Still, I had a great time with my friends.
Christmas is mostly celebrated on the 24th so I knew my SO's family was going to have a big party. But one of my good friends was also having a party. We decided to go to the friend's house first then to the family's house. We had so much fun at my friend's house! She made vodka cranberry cocktails and I had waaayyyy too many. Then I decided it was a great time to teach everyone how to "Hit the Quan" which they hadn't heard of before, because vodka always gives you good ideas.
After that we had to leave to go to the family's house which I was dreading. My brother-in-law died this April because of cancer, just five months after being diagnosed. My sister-in-law (SO's sister) is having a really difficult time. My in-laws usually have a really big, crazy party for Christmas and they wanted the same thing this year. But it just wasn't working. My SIL came over and she gave me this really long hug and it made me start to cry. She then went and sat at a laptop for about 45 minutes working on music or something. She is trying really hard to keep herself distracted so she doesn't have to think about her husband. Then there was an estranged uncle there who used to fight with my father-in-law, and they both were about to kill each other (literally, no exaggeration), so it was the first time that he's even been around in the past 10 years or so. A cousin's boyfriend was there who cheated on her and knocked up another girl, so he had to leave early to go spend Christmas with his kid. Another cousin was there who failed 9th grade. And the rest of the family is trying to force a party that's just NOT.GOING.TO.HAPPEN. I drank a lot more liquor because the whole situation was so damn awkward.
We eventually left around 2am and in some sort of miracle I didn't throw up because I had wayyyyy too much to drink.
After that awkward awfulness things got better. My SO and I went the next day with his close friend to see the new Star Wars movie. My overall opinion: meh. But we saw it in IMAX 3D so it was pretty impressive. After that we went to another of my SO's friend's house to visit them and their new baby! He was so fatty and cute! They also have FIVE rescue dogs that gave me awful aleriges that lasted for the next couple days.
The next day my SO and I were off to the beach!!! We stayed at a pretty nice place and it had an awesome giant porch. Us southerners are into porch sittin. We hung out the first night with my good friend who was our neighbor when we lived in San Jose. She moved out to the beach and became a family photographer. She also found a husband! I brought down her engagement ring for her (cheaper to buy in the US and mail is just not reliable to CR). Her husband is OK, but he was so picky with food. He sent stuff back at every restaurant we went to. I mean, c'mon.
Our friend took us to a really nice, secluded beach. At this time of the year the beaches are PACKED so she took us to a secret beach and there was no one there. And it was BEAUTIFUL. She also took some pictures of my SO and I. I only have one that she put on Instagram so far, but I hope she'll send me some more! Here's a shitty screenshot and some other pictures from the beach!
That night our other couple friends came and we hung out with them for the rest of the time. The next day we went to the popular beach and hung out most of the day. My friend also took some cool sparkler pictures of us that night. These are the pictures I wanted my wedding party photographer to do but none of them turned out. I think they look so cool!
The next day we were back in San Jose and we went out to dinner with my SO and his sister. It was really nice and I had wayyyy too much wine. Then I had about 3 hours of sleep and woke up for my plane ride home. Since my SO booked the tickets and he's all medallion status or whatever I get to fly "sky priority" and let me tell you, I never want to go back to economy again! My checked bags came out first at every airport, I get to line up first, you get free alcoholic drinks on the plane, you get free wifi with movies, and you get all that extra legroom in the seats. Loved it! They wouldn't let me in the lounge unfortunately...
Now I'm back home and alone for NYE. I'm thinking about going to a party by myself, but I'd hate to pay $20+ to get in a party and then I don't even have any fun. I'll think about it.
Happy New Year everyone!!!
but apart from that I'm glad you had a good time.