Awesome time on our anniversary!!

              
                 SO we just got back from a two night stay at Harrahs Southern California Resort in Valley Center. We have been to Vegas like 4 times the past year and decided we were kinda over that whole scene and the long drive. This is only 30 minutes away if that and we had more fun here then we have at Vegas! The crowd is better. Older crowd. Calmer. 

Checking in

                 We got there around 4 and checked in. Check in was at 4 so it was perfect timing. The line wasn't very long and as soon as we got into the building it felt like we were at some nice resort far away from home. Very clean. Very quiet. After checking in we went up to our room which was in their Dive Tower. Which has been redone :) We overlooked the pool. She asked if we wanted a pool view and we jumped on it. We actually thought that the dive tower automatically came with a pool view.

The view from our room:

The Buffet

               The first night we ate at the buffet. Now on a side note I will say that our lifestyle of eating fruits and veggies went out the window during this trip. Only because we ended up having two things to celebrate which I will get into the other one later. ;) Anyways back to the buffet! It was quite pricey. 25$ a person. But once we got in we saw why! It had everything you could ever want in a buffet. Better then the Vegas ones. Usually I am disappointed with the buffets a lot of the time only because they make it look big then when you actually get down to it its just split in half and its the same on either side. This wasn't! It had everything you could ever ask for. Even a full salad bar and fruit bar. Crab legs up the wazoo! Sushi and shrimp too. Each section was divided by the type of food. Mexican, Italian, Asian, etc. So here come some of the food pictures. I didnt take a picture of my main dish only because I felt so bad that I was eating Prime Rib.... Yes they had prime rib there too.

Also the room had a shower and separate tub and the tub was huge!! The first night we grabbed a bottle of wine and had a glass while chillin in the nice hot bath!

Casino

              So now comes the Casino. While I am not a big gambler, my hubby loves to gamble. That first night we pretty much lost everything trying to find the right machine. Hubby loves wheel of fortune. And of course they only had one machine and there was always someone on it. We finally got on it but it was 1.25 a spin so it took our money like it was nothing. The next morning however we were able to find the right machine. The guy next to us put 20 bucks in and won 300 bucks. And at 30 cents a spin and it played all lines we were good to go for a long time on 20 bucks since it would actually give back. So all in all we liked the casino.

The pool

                Ok so here comes my favorite part!!! The poool!!! After the renovation at the hotel people have been raving about the pool. So if you know anything about me, as long as there is a pool I am happy :) There is actually 3 different pools. All 21+. The lazy river is awesome! Only down fall is since they keep the kids in this section it can be not so lazy. But since we went during the week there was hardly any and the ones that were there we very respectful. The tubes are provided. They have 2 waterfalls, 2 rapids, 1 cave, and some fountains in the lazy river. And the water in all the pools was so refreshing. Not warm but not cold. The two pools we stayed at were the one with the swim up bar (of course!) and the one behind it that had a waterfall which was actually a hot tub but the water was just a tiny bit on the warm side so it felt more like pool. To the right of us there was another adult pool and we didn't even go over to cause we got there at like 1pm and there was no one there so we were able to get a little couch thing right by the bar pool. Now if you know me well enough you know I am not a huge drinker and on occasion I will have a glass of wine or a cocktail. But here I had about 3 different drinks which for me, was a lot. I had a Mai Tai of course! A margarita on the rocks, and a creation they made up they called gods blood. Which was sierra mist, blood orange mixer, and a shot of some alcohol which I don't remember. The bartenders were awesome. They got a great tip from me. Bobby was awesome! Shout out to you! Ok pictures of the pool! 

So I wanted to thank the awesome people from Vista for lending my hubby a cigar cause he totally forgot about his Cubans from the Bahamas. They were super nice!

                 Everyone we met was super nice and welcoming. Even the staff was super nice. And like I said the bartenders were awesome! And of course gave us all the free waters we wanted :) 

                 All this relaxing and drinking was making us hungry. All we had that morning was my chai latte and his coffee and a little danish from Starbucks. (of course they had a Starbucks there) Attached to the pool was a little Mexican restaurant called Ritas Cantina that we got some tacos from and hubby had a burrito. Very good! You can also order from the bar which we found out after going into Rita's but its right there, so no biggy.

Room Service

                 That night we were so tired from all the relaxing we did. lol jk. But we did stay all day at the pool. So I think the sun took it out of us. We had planned on eating at Fiore. The nice steakhouse there but by the time we got up to the room we were spent. So...room service it was! And it was good!!! I was surprised at the portions. I ordered a quesadilla...I know...horrible... the cheese... ick. Then hubby ordered steak and eggs. A side order of fries (bare with me) and a chocolate fudge cake! (I know we were sooo bad!!) The cake was ridiculous in size!! So we ate everything but the cake. We were so full that we couldn't even touch it. So we brought it home. The next morning we just checked out on the tv in our room after playing some more slots at the casino.

The Cafe

                 Our final morning we ate breakfast at The Cafe. Just small little restaurant they have there that was decently priced. We were able to eat for 24 bucks. :) Nothing too great to talk about. It was kinda like a Ihop.


                  Well thats pretty much our vacation in a nutshell. Highly recommend this resort to everyone in the Southern California area for a quick getaway. It was nice meeting all the locals. People from Vista, Oceanside, and even some from Redondo beach.

Thanks for reading!!!

Anniversary Tomorrow!

SO tomorrow is our 4 year anniversary! We are excited about that since tomorrow afternoon we will be going to Harrah's Southern California for a nice relaxing 2 night stay during the week. 

Hubby loves to gamble so we will probably be doing a little bit but not much and having a nice dinner. Thursday we will be laying pool side with a drink in our hand here:

I will definitely blog about it and let you know how everything went. So I might be M.I.A the next couple days besides my facebook and instagram. You can follow me there.

Instagram: CassIS300
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IS300Babe

The who knows the rest of the time what we will do. Hit up the buffet, Who knows! :) I will still try and eat as healthy as possible. I am anxious to see what kinda of healthy options they have there. It seems like the place is huge so I think they would have something. But ya never know. :) Keep ya posted!

Kayaking Lake Hodges

Today we went kayaking in Lake Hodges for a quick outing. It was 7 bucks to launch. It was actually quite nice. 

 Where we launched:

We paddled over to a little shore and it was like our own little private beach. It was peaceful and quiet and the water felt so good just to walk around in. Its nice just to take some time to do nothing. I feel like we spend so much time spinning our wheels running around that we never take time to just stop and relax and enjoy the simple things. It made us forget about our hectic week and just be there in the moment with each other and talk.

This was our little beach we hung out on for a bit.

Hacienda De Vega

SO last night my mom heard of this place through a co worker called Hacienda De Vega. Its a Mexican restaurant. We had heard the environment there was awesome so we gave it a try. (Plus I heard they had mango margaritas) We got to what used to be an old original adobe house with a courtyard with a beautiful fountain and an old well.

Then you walk through the house and out the back and the entire restaurant is outside with this beautiful pond and waterfall. I of course ordered the mango margarita which was good but it could have used more of a mango taste but it was still good!

Then comes the food. They have Veggie options!!! I was so excited! I got the veggie burrito. Which was sooo good! With a side salad with cilantro dressing which was to die for! If you happen to live in San Diego county you have to try this restaurant in Escondido. Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture of the burrito cause I wasn't planing on writing a post on it but after I decided I had to. :)

Forks over Knives!

So I said I was going to do a post about forks over knives. I am very passionate about health and eating right. I am also against all the crap the industry feeds us. Everything is mass produced and it seems like there is chemicals in everything now. But why would they want us to get healthy? They are making more money from unhealthy overweight people then ever.

Anyways, You need to watch this documentary! Like it says above. It could save a life. And the doctors in this documentary already have. If you want to watch it, its only a few bucks on Youtube. It will change the way you look at food. In the documentary it shows all the research into how food effects cancer and how we are pretty much able to turn it on and off by the foods we eat. Bottom line, you eat crap then you feel like crap and get sick. Eat healthy you feel healthy and you are healthy. The diet is a plant based diet.

Before I watched this I already believed that your diet and food could cure disease. This just solidifies it for me. When you poison your body with all the crap they want you to eat, it never has a chance to fight/cure disease since its so busy fighting off all the crap and chemicals we eat everyday. 

My current job situation requires me to take 3 months off every two years. (Yeah it sucks) But in that time I learned a lot about myself and my health! I took the time to eat nothing but fruit and veggies during the day and went hiking a few times a week. I had more time to do things I loved and what I was passionate about. Health! I had never felt better. I had so much more energy. I wanted to go out and live a full life. Experience everything. Before this I suffered from Anxiety/Depression. Badly. I had none of that anymore. It was all gone. All because of my diet. After I went back to work I noticed I started having anxiety again. But only because I didnt have as much time to prepare all the healthy foods I did when I was home. And my diet started going down the drain. Then I watched this and it was just the motivation i needed to get back on the train of healthy eating and living.

Seems like common sense right? Well you would think. But with the way society is now, they want whats fast and easy. Fast food. We are to busy trying to fit everything into one day they we forget about our health. Which should be top priority. So we can be there for our children and our children's children. I am not a doctor by any means. But it just makes sense. People just need to wake up and take care of themselves.

Anyways I could go on and on about whats in the documentary but I don't want to give it all away. Its to good. You need to watch it.

5 stars from me!!!

Meat and dairy bad! :)

Chai Latte Update!

             So I made the Chai Latte this morning! Its was sooo yummy! The only thing is I think I am going to add more chai next time to my glass. But it was yummy! My new go to on my morning drink. Plus it has been so dang hot and humid here and iced drink in the morning is perfect! I will take a picture of it tomorrow morning since I forgot this morning. It was so yummy I forgot!

Happy drinking!

Here are some photos from me making it this morning :)

Chai Iced Latte

So I don't know why but I have this strange obsession with making fancy coffees recently. I get more joy out of making them myself then paying triple the price and waiting a long line of people trying to get their fix.

Another obsession is chai! I love it! I try to stay away from caffeine in general (all my coffees are decaf) due to anxiety issues I have but that's a whole nother ball game. But chai is the one thing that i love to drink with caffeine. And the past couple days I have been having a craving for it. But of course we didn't have any of the stuff to make it so I set out last weekend to buy some goodies. I try to keep it as healthy as possible. The only think I was missing was the chai tea bags. And maybe a flavored sweetener.

SO I went to the store and grabbed some chai tea bags. All depends on which one you prefer. I chose Tazo. I also found a sweetener/syrup in vanilla and sugar free. And I already had the coconut milk.

So I went ahead and found a recipe online. I only made a small portion to try it out tomorrow morning before work. I boiled about a cup of water and added about 3 teabags once I took it off the stove top. That might sound like a lot but we want it to be strong once we add all the other ingredients. Then I put that away in the fridge in a cup with a lid for tomorrow morning. All I have to do is add the sweetener and milk in the morning and I am good to go. Not sure how its going to turn out but I will let you know tomorrow! :) I will take a pretty picture to :)

Iced Coffee

Todays coffee had to be iced since its been so hot out. And I am not one to get along with heat. All I did was brew my normal coffee from my keurig and poured it into a jar over ice and then added the rest with milk and added some chocolate syrup to taste. I didnt want mine to sweet so I just added a little bit :) Enjoy!

Cappuccino Cooler from Blendtec

 So I was craving an iced chai latte from Starbucks this morning and hubby hates Starbucks. He thinks its overpriced sugar in a cup. lol So I set out to make my own iced coffee drink in my new Blendtec :) Yep that's right I got a new Blendtec and I love it!!! So here was the end result!

Yummm! It uses agave nectar instead of your sugar sweetener. Below is the recipe:

1/2 cup of milk
1 1/2 cups of double strength coffee
7 Tbls Agave Nectar
4 cups of ice

Add ingredients in order into your blender and hit the Sauce button if you have the blendtec. Otherwise just blend till your liking. :)

I added chocolate syrup to the inside of the cup to make it look pretty. Then pour into cup. Emjoy!

Stay-cation for our anniversary :)

     So in a couple weeks me and hubby will be going to Harrahs Southern California for our anniversary. We will be staying two nights. I have never been there but I guess they have an amazing pool. And seeing that we have been to Vegas quite a bit I am kinda over it. So this is a great compromise since its only like 20 minutes away :) I will be doing a review of our stay and maybe some video. Who knows. We will see if I remember to bring the camera. :)

Looking forward to this:

Our Bahamas Cruise!

So it has been a while since I have posted on my blog. Life is crazy sometimes. In Feb we went on a Royal Caribbean Cruise to the Bahamas! It was amazing. We flew from San Diego to Orlando FL and then took a shuttle to Port Canaveral. (Seeing the Disney buses made me want to go back to Disney World!) Once there we stayed at a local hotel. for 2 nights and then we were off on our 4 night cruise! The itinerary was Port Canaveral to Coco Cay, Bahamas then off to Nassau, Bahamas where we would also take a ferry to Blue Lagoon island to swim with the dolphins :) (A dream of mine) So i was stoked to say the least. Anyways here are some pictures and photos of the trip and also some videos! It was my husband, my mom, my brother and me :)