Mental Escapes/ Physical Escapes

So Life has been tick tocking on by over the last couple of weeks...I've found myself facing a few mental and nervous break downs. There are a few reasons in particular why things have been especially stressful and trying as of recent; but its better to be vague. I'm going through one of those premature mid-life crises that people in their early, mid and most likely late 20's go through. Its that thinking that keeps you up at odd hours, turning on Nick at Nite to turn off your brain.

Don't worry!! I'll put you right to sleep...

The sort of thoughts like What am I going to do with my life? When will I get my shit together? Am I worthless human being? Does anybody love me? You know that normal stuff (maybe I don't have normal self-esteem). With that said I've gone from drinking nyquil in excess to shut the world out and just sort of deciding to carry on and deal with my personal bullshit. 


There's a lot of metaphors I could use...its like I've been in a whirlwind, riding a roller coaster, yada yada yada. But the most appropriate metaphor for this blog post would be to say that I've been thrown off the horse but got back on and kept riding...


Recently the boyfriend and I went on a lovely, somewhat romantic and mostly relaxing coastal weekend adventure outside the city. We went further up North on the coast to Mendocino, CA...never heard of it? Its basically just a little dot of a small town along the Pacific Coast of California. Its beautiful surely but it could really be any other Oceanside small town USA. This random destination was chosen through an appealing deal on Livingsocial.com escapes, I'm not trying to be a psychotic, QVC like sales lady/spokesperson but there's some truly amazing shit you can get your hands on. Check it out: Living Social Adventures. Its more like I'm the crazy coupon lady of the 21st Century. I'm obsessed with groupon.com, livingsocial.com, gilt.com...basically anything that provides me with life's luxuries at 50% off. Instead of sitting up with a cup of tea clipping away into the odd hours of the night, stuffing coupons for generic brand jello and cat food into a personalized binder in an attempt to save a grand total of $50 a year (God bless the moms across America that have the time and patience to do so). Instead I have these brilliantly put together websites send amazing deals to my e-mail inbox daily (at this point I pretty much use the Internet for nothing else) and flash my phone to cash in, because I'm fucking hip, cool and with it/ I feel like I should be getting paid for the way I thanklessly advertise these companies. I would love to work for any of the previously mentioned businesses but its highly likely they require a College degree and some basic understanding of technology (of which I have very little). So instead I'll just tell everyone I know about their fantastic deals and gain nothing but the pride of having someone appreciate a kind hearted suggestion. 


So anyways...I got this deal off of livingsocial.com, my newest online obsession. It was for a one night stay at a Bed and Breakfast called the Inn at Schoolhouse Creek in Mendocino. It came along with a gift certificate to have a Spa service in their Yurt. If you're not familiar with what a Yurt is you're not alone, apparently its a cylinder like tented structure and that's what they use to do facials and massage. Its some super hippie shit, just like the hot tub and sauna where clothing was optional. For us swimwear was an option we chose (publicly at least, we do have some modesty).  Unfortunately I never took them up on the offer for the spa service at the yurt either. But because the livingsocial deal was only for a one night stay we had to find accommodations for our first night up in Mendocino and that is how we ended up staying at the Seabird Lodge (one of two hotels in Mendocino with a pool. The boyfriend insisted upon it and I obliged even though I have very little expectations of small town hotel pools...I'm an adult. If you would have asked me my interest/ expectation level 15 years ago it would have been vastly different. Fun noodles and chlorine drying out your eyes anyone?! Hell yeah!). 


So our adventure began on a drizzly Saturday morning. We started the road trip off with a bang by making a stop at the Taco Bell/ KFC in the Marina where I was complimented on my rain boots by an admiring meth  head . I also got to enjoy a nice home style biscuit as the boyfriend downed 4 different versions of synthetic meat tacos. After our stop we continued on our way with me kicked back in the passenger seat [ I choose to be a professional passenger. I make great conversation, can be an excellent DJ but am generally horrible with assisting in directions unless its simply reading a print out of a google map. I'm a professional passenger because I can't legally drive. No its not for any dramatic reason...I just have never made it past the permit level. Never bothered and have been content with public transportation and bumming rides for the last 23 years.] So off we went just the boyfriend, Maryjane and I. It was a lovely scenic ride which I thoroughly enjoyed while reading my zines and zoning out. It was on this ride that we made a pit stop at a super understocked town store with a creepy sales clerk and an even more creepy deli that apparently offered catering services (no thanks).  The store literally had about 3 boxes of wheat thins, some dusty cans of soup and a rack of generic candy. 

This is sort of what the store looked like. Maybe not quite as nice.

We eventually made it to our destination the quiet, recession hit town of Mendocino. We checked in at the motel with Chipper Chip. Like San Francisco Mendocino is uber pet friendly. The "lobby" if you can call it that was covered in calendars and posters of kittens and puppies; some in costumes, some au natural. Amongst the mayhem of animal art was Disney art (are you surprised?).

Precious and Pervy.

Awkward and adorable.

Our bedroom was a normal motel room that vaguely reminded me of the movie Joy Ride...please don't act as though you forgot this film starring the beautiful Paul Walker, Special face Leelee Sobeski and unmentionable Steve Zahn?? If that didn't ring a bell maybe this will "Candy Cane...Caaaaandy Caaaane" (this is said in a deep, creepy trucker voice). Anyways you can insert any description of your choice that has to do with a creepy motel room where you could potentially get tied up and tortured. 

Highlight of all of these actors careers.
I guess with the exception of Paul...
He did star in the Too Fast Too Furious
Trilogy.

The journey to Mendocino exhausted us so much that we had to take a 4+ hour nap, which we didn't feel too bad about because it was a rainy day. We woke up and went to the local Brewery's restaurant for some eats. In an extremely small town I'm always surprised to see minorities which sounds racist but it's usually because I assume the majority of the town is racist and that's why people of color wouldn't live there. I'm a judgemental liberal I know...but you become that way when you get odd stares holding hands with your significant other of another color and think hmmm it's 2011 aren't we over that yet? So we had a super hyper happy young Asian man as our server. His cheerfulness sort of made up for the lack of service that the restaurant otherwise provided. The meal ended up being pretty good and the BF got crunk off a huge pitcher (that he had to himself) of the local brew. We thought it would be a good idea to top off the meal with a desert and chose a mud cake which ended up literally tasting like dirt...dirt with vanilla ice cream. We want back to the motel mildly satisfied and watched Catfish. I had no expectations of what this movie was going to be like nor did I believe it was a real documentary which apparently it is (still questionable). I won't give away the story in case anyone reading this has yet to see it and still wants to. But I will say it will either thoroughly creep you out or make you depressed or do both simultaneously.