My 27th Birthday in Quarantine
Hello, hi how the heck are ya?? Did you miss me? Just humor me and pretend you did okay?!
For those of you who may not know, my blog has been down now for a little over a month. After chatting with my best, Katie, while I was home in Sacramento for Quarantine, I decided to switch platforms from Wordpress to Wix. It's something I had been thinking about for a while since I'd been hearing amazing things about Wix and how easy it was to use and I wanted to take my blog to the next level anyway so after hearing her talking about using Wix for her own website, I decided it was time to take the plunge.
And plunge I did.
Little did I know that this little "switcheroo" would mean me re-uploading every single blog post I've ever written, one by one, photos and everything. Are you jealous yet?
Anyway, here we are, new blog, new post, new ME really. I'm super happy with how it all turned out and I can't wait to keep learning all about this new platform. Any Wix tips you may have, please send my way!
Which brings us to now, STILL in the good 'ole Q. While we've made baby steps away from total lockdown and into early phases of reopening, I'm still considering this new life Quarantine.
When this all started back in March, in Los Angeles at least, I will tell you that I thought there was NO WAY my birthday was going to be affected. I mean, my birthday's in June, surely this whole pandemic thing had to be resolved by then, RIGHT???
HAH! We all know the ending to this tragedy so I'll spare you the gory details and get to the good stuff, my Quarantine Birthday in Joshua Tree (and Lake Tahoe).
I absolutely ADORE spending my birthday traveling to a new and exciting place. Last year it was Palm Springs, the year before Paris. It's quickly become a tradition to escape to some desirable location on my big day especially since it falls during a time in the year in which everyone is beginning their summer travel. Not that I ever need an excuse to travel, let's be real.
You should also, maybe, potentially know by now I. LOVE. MY. BIRTHDAY.
Knowing that travel options were, ahem, *limited* this year, I was honestly a little disappointed as the days, weeks, and then months on the calendar kept flying by and my birthday rapidly approached. What was I going to do!?
I should also mention that I'm tremendously lucky that my better half knows how important birthdays are to me and wasn't going to let a worldwide pandemic keep us from celebrating my special day. And celebrate we did!
The day of my actual birthday, we packed up the car and grabbed a takeout sushi dinner to enjoy in our neighborhood park before hitting the road to our surprise destination.
While the beloved Palm Springs pinwheels were a dead giveaway for the direction we were going in, we weren't going toward the pinwheels so then I was a little confused having never been that way before.
It didn't help that the sun had gone down and we were experiencing desert darkness as we drove through the night toward our mystery destination.
After a few hours we successfully made it to our destination and the first thing that I noticed, aside from this AirBnb being SO far off the beaten path I thought for sure I was going to be abducted, was the giant bubble dome in the massive "backyard" of our desert oasis. Just like the one we stayed at in Finn Lough in Northern Ireland!
I couldn't WAIT to wake up in the morning and take in all the beauty of this incredible desert home and bubble dome shrouded in a never-ending blanket of stars. What an absolute dream.
The main home on the property was equally stunning. It had an industrial, desert vibe with pops of color synonymous with summertime in the desert. Cement floors throughout and floor to ceiling windows in the living room were just a couple of the unique touches in this off the grid home. Btw I'm speaking literally when I say "off the grid."
We woke up Thursday morning ready for a day of absolutely NOTHING. Honestly, that was the beauty of this birthday in particular. Most birthdays I want to be on the go the entire time, soaking up every last minute of my special day. This birthday however was more about enjoying the small escape that we could have and recognizing that there wasn't much we could do beyond relax.
And trust me it was an ESCAPE. Did I mention it was out in the middle of nowhere?
But in all seriousness, we started the morning with a workout, some fresh fruit for breakfast and then changed into our swimsuits and sat on the porch soaking in the sun (it was legit 98 at 11am) with a good book And guess what? That was IT.
Throw in a lunch break and that was the schedule for the day. It was magical.
As a human being, I'm really REALLY bad at slowing down but sometimes I know that that's exactly what my body needs and this was one of those moments. I craved the escape, the adventure that I love and usually get by way of traveling but have yet to truly appreciate in 2020.
While it was by no means how I anticipated bringing in my 27th year of life, I'm so grateful that I was still able to celebrate and enjoy my special day away from the stressors of living in a worldwide pandemic.
We spent the last night at our AirBnb in the BUBBLE DOME! Just like how I felt in Ireland last year, I was lowkey kind of terrified sleeping in the bubble. There's this vulnerability that's so overwhelming knowing that there's just a giant plastic bubble keeping you from the outside world, whatever that may be. Not to mention the fact that we were really, really out there. I mean out there. Which could either be a good thing or a bad thing if you really think about it?...
At the same time, it was so peaceful and serene gazing up at the desert night sky, so clear, so picturesque with nothing between us and that beautiful galaxy above but this giant bubble dome.
I will say that we did not figure out the air conditioning situation in the bubble and in total honesty we probably slept a max of four hours because it was so insanely hot. Like actually we were convinced that there was a heating pad on the bed because it was that warm and felt like heat was actively being produced. Nevertheless it was a once (okay twice) in a lifetime experience and one I'm so grateful to have had.
No, this wasn't the way I envisioned spending my 27th Birthday. I had dreams of being in Italy, Spain, Morocco, any one of these exotic locations on my travel bucket list that I thought would be crossed off this summer. While they're still on my list, I did get the opportunity to check off another bucket list destination, just one closer to home.
My first trip to Joshua Tree was more than I could have ever dreamed it to be. Being a late spring baby, the sun is one of my absolute favorite things and just being in its presence brings me so much joy and that's exactly what my birthday weekend brought me...Joy.
After two days in Joshua Tree we drove to Lake Tahoe area to meet up with my best friend Katie and her husband, Max. We drove about 9+ hours to get there and it dropped 40+ degrees outside but it was so worth it to spend the last couple days of my birthday week in beautiful Lake Tahoe.
I can honestly say I've never seen it so blue...
For those of you interested in learning more about our Joshua Tree Oasis here's the listing to the property.
Please DM me @almostfabme with any questions you may have and I can't wait to hear all about your stay!