As you can probably tell, I haven’t published a new blog post in over a week–oh my! I know, it’s the longest I’ve gone without a post since starting this journey but it was for a good reason. My momma came all the way from Indiana to visit me and, even though I had this big and elaborate plan to have posts go live every few days, I couldn’t bring myself to do any work while she was here. With the exception of some scheduled tweets and a gram post once a day, I took a complete backseat to my blog for the first time in 7 months to spend as much time as I could with her.
Aside from having an empty dirty laundry basket for the first time in forever, I have home-cooked meal leftovers to last me a week, consisting of chuck roast and deviled egg salad. I have fresh tangerines and bananas in the fruit basket that normally sits empty because apparently I’m not eating my fair share of fruits and veggies. I have a house smelling like lilac blossom from the new “I ︎♥ MOM” Bath & Body Works candle she brought me and, best of all, I feel warmer, happier, and inspired from the new memories we made together.
Here’s a Week and a Half with my Mom:
The Jelly Belly Factory
I don’t live too far from the Jelly Belly Factory and, while I’m not the biggest fan of jelly beans (I like maybe 2 flavors of the 50 flavors), I thought it’d be something cool for us to do. What I didn’t expect was how much fun this place actually was!
The best thing about my mom is that the simplest things make her happy, as long as she’s spending time with me. With the free tour, we spent a couple of hours wandering the halls and watching through the windows as the Jelly Belly workers were stuffing Easter bunnies full of jelly beans. Our mouths watered from the potency of the Very Cherry scent that floated around us in the air and our Jelly Belly hats made for the perfect accessory for snaps as we ate our complimentary jelly beans. After the tour, we visited the candy shop downstairs where we indulged in orange-cream fudge samples, milk chocolate covered oreos and monstrous apples doused in caramel.
Fun fact: Did you know it takes 7-21 days to make one jelly bean? And enough jelly beans were eaten last year alone to circle the globe 5 times!
My Birthday in San Fran
Everyone always leaves it up to the birthday girl to decide how she wants to spend her day and I had one wish: to spend it outside. For the first time in my life, I had a summery birthday with 75 degree weather! So, naturally, I wanted to take advantage of that sunshine.
I started my birthday morning off with a dozen of sprinkled and glazed donuts from The Donut Wheel down the street, where I inhaled about a week’s worth of calories by 9 am.
Along with the donut-bingeing, I sipped on coffee while I opened my presents, complete with some moolah and a hat and glove set from my hubs, hinting at our next trip to a winter wonderland. After getting around, we headed off towards San Fran. Saturday afternoon traffic heading to the city is ridiculously awful so we ended up spending a couple of hours in the car. When we finally got there, we went to a dive bar called Lucky’s to check out a benefit for a local animal shelter, watched college hipsters play SpikeBall in their pj’s while drinking beers in Mission Dolores Park and heard the cling-clang of the trolleys whizzing by us as they cabled themselves up those iconic San Fran hills.
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Bodega Bay
Nestled on the Sonoma coast about 70 miles northwest of San Fran is a small coastal town with a population of just over 1000. Beings it’s located off of the famous Pacific Highway 1, Bodega Bay is a popular tourist spot where visitors can snag fresh clam chowder and whale watch from the cliffs of the Bodega Head.
On our little visit to Bodega Bay, we drove around the coastline that hugs the sea, stopping at the marina to view the tiny fishing and crab boats and walked on the golden-sand beaches to smell the salty sea air. Unfortunately, a cold front had just moved in on this day with winds that could blow the car door off the hinges so, we didn’t spend too much time exploring but I’m looking forward to going back in the summer to enjoy this little slice of paradise.
What the Camera Didn’t Capture
While I was happy to take my mom along with me to explore some of the beauty of California, the best memories we made while she was here were those that weren’t captured in photos.
One of the days, we drove through winding vineyards to a casino where we, aside from gambling losses, used the free credits from our slot play to buy coffee and an obscene amount of lotions in the gift shop. We giggled at each other as we played the Beanboozled Jelly Belly game where I tended to get the rotten milk and dead fish jelly beans over the coconut and peach ones. We went shopping together where she patiently waited outside of the dressing room while I tried on an unnecessary amount of clothes–Mom’s are the best. We drove through the Sonoma mountains and down Carneros Highway in Napa, showcasing the mansionesque-wineries on the hillsides. We drank an obscene amount of tea, played Rummy and Skip-Bo, watched too many Planet Earth episodes and, best of all, made memories together that we’ll remember for a long time.
I’m so incredibly grateful for my mom and everything she does for me and having her here was an absolute dream!
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Sounds like you had an amazing time with your mum Charli! All your pictures look amazing. Hope you had a lovely birthday as well <3
amerzwithlove.com
Amita! You’re always so sweet, thanks so much. I had such an incredible time with my mom here, wish she never had to go home. Thanks for your comment! ❤️