How I stay sane

Being an ICU Nurse I firmly believe in taking "mental health" days. When I was in nursing school, a good friend of mine used to call it that. I gladly adopted the term and have happily used it for my benefit since. I will admit there were a few (really only like 2 times) where I declared it a mental health day and ditched school and/or work that day. Seriously though, everyone can use a "mental health day" now and then.

When I choose to set aside a day for myself I will sometimes get a massage or a pedicure. I'll rent a few movies that I love and settle in for the night with a glass of wine and some good food after cleaning my house (I can't help it, I'm a total Type-A who thinks cleaning is therapeutic). Sometimes, I'll drive through the redwoods and head over to a beautiful beach along highway one for the day. I'll take some pictures and collect some seashells. Actually, that deserves a post in and of itself; it's really that pretty.

Anyways, I recently spent the day with my best friends and we drove up highway 1 to Muir Beach. It was gorgeous and so much fun; I thought I'd share some of the pictures I took. Definitely my idea of a mental health day :)

This little pup was named Fritz ( I think). He was super friendly and cute and not shy at all about jumping onto our blankets and attempting to steal our food. I tried to get a good picture of him but he was all over the place so it was hard to catch him in focus. I love dogs, but sadly am allergic to them so I don't get puppy love that often.

I love taking pictures of shoes. Especially ones on the beach right before the water engulfs them. :)

All I have to say is that Norcal definitely has the prettiest beaches (sorry socal folks, but we win).

One of my favorite couples..."The Marrieds" as we all call them. They got stuck with this cause they are the only married couple in our close group of friends. We all joke about having a curse of singleness on the rest of us. Seriously though, there is probably a good chance that they'll stay one of the few married couples in our group considering the relationship status (or lack thereof) of the rest of our group. Lucky them! haha, I heart you both.




This is Fred-the-crab. He's named Fred because I name every crab I see "Fred." Don't ask me why. Isn't he cute?


After we had a little picnic on the beach, we decided to hike up a short, but steep path we saw on the side of the hills. On the way down, I decided to collect some of the wildflowers along the path to make a bouquet. I love that my "vase" is a starbucks cup that was recently filled with a skinny cinnamon dolce latte. yummm

I love everything about the terrain of norcal beaches and I especially love the little houses along them. If only they weren't millions of dollars to own...

It was windy that day and luckily our friend Ryan brought two of his kites along. We were a big hit with the kids on the beach that day. :)

The boys trying to set up the kite. haha, I was so amused at how confused they looked the entire time.

This is the beginning of the trail we hiked and my friends sitting at the top. As I was taking this picture, my friend Tim was sarcastically
commenting about the fact that I was leaning towards the ground to get this shot and trying to be artistic...he thought I couldn't hear them.

"Hey, I heard that Tim!" was my response.

I just love the color of the water.

Kelly, me and Helena, two of my very best girlfriends.

I really wanted to build a sandcastle but it never happened. That's alright, I just snagged pictures of someone else's instead. :)

The fog that rolls over the hills from Half Moon Bay. I've seen it thousands of times and every sunset, it is there without fail, and it never ceases to take my breath away.


And last but not least, one of my favorite pictures from the day. The view we saw from the top of our hike.

Hopefully this inspires all of you to go take a mental health day for yourself! :)