Tiki Oasis~ Friday- Debauchery at it's finest

Friday morning we woke up and immediately early in the morning the phones were ringing off the hook! There was a room party next door It was a Mimosa and Champagne party where As I was getting ready Gabe mingled on over there and started drinking some more. I tell yeah Room parties all day long.

We went down to the lobby to meet our friends for breakfast. We decided to go to this old waffle house  called The Waffle Spot and have breakfast. ( I had a ton of great photos from this day but like I said before I deleted them on accident)

 This was a costume that someone could actually put on.

 Even had some shirts for sale...The had this photos of a bunch a Bangers with faces and called it the Banger family..we were cracking jokes about it and I had a GREAT Banger family photo with Josh..so bummed it got deleted.

After breakfast we went to our rooms and filled up our tiki mugs and headed off to the Pool for some fun in the sun. Here is Drew ( our friend from Portland) Wearing Butterscotch...that is his terry cloth wrap..It's named Butterscotch LOL

 Off into the sun

 Erik Musak spinning some lounge by the pool

 It was a perfect day and cocktails were full all day

 There was a TON of people in the pool, sun bathing to exotic sounds.

 I like Josh's Magnum P.I. Tiki Mug hahahaha

 After awhile we went inside to check out the booths. Look at all these colorful dresses!! There was lots of good items for sale.

 So many guys in Cabana Wear                               

We then went to wander off to some of the room Parties...These were the free drinks that they were giving in our first room party... Ok I am gonna NOW explain the ROOM PARTIES
At Tiki Oasis they have an infamous ROOM CRAWL. The Host Hotel Books rooms only for those attending Tiki Oasis event. It is pricey but WORTH it to stay here but it sells out FAST! A lot of people on a Budget will stay at the Motel 6 right across the way or another nearby hotel.
Throughout the event certain people or sponsers will host these Room Parties and to advertise their party they post up flyers in the elevators with the room number and the time of the party and give their rooms cool names and let you know what bands they have playing in their rooms and decorate it. Every Hosted Room Party offers a plethera of free cocktails ( ofcourse we tip though and everyone should tip at least a buck a drink). You can go room crawling and go to one room have a drink watch the band then walk over to the next room have a drink then the next and next...It is like Trick o Treating for DRINKS! Sat night is the BEST room Crawl night!

 This room party was pretty festive. They had snack out, music, ring toss game. We hung out there and went back to mingle around some more by the pool as the Main stage was having performances.

 Soon as nightfall came it was off to the room crawls..

 and more drinks

 Out side to check out the bands

 These guys were everywhere

 The elevators were SO FULL!!

 Inside the elevator they had a bar set up INSIDE where they were giving everyone who took a ride on the elevator free SHOTS

 WOO HOO...We were having a blast in the elevator drinking! I think the people from the Purple Orchid Tiki Bar in El Segundo were making these free shots for everyone. They were like Tequila shots with Some sort of citrus and pepper..Too Spicy for me.

 They even had bands in the garden area

We saw my cousin and rick and their whole crew at one of the room parties so we took the elevator to their room

The Fellas and Dana! ..I was thinking this may be Sat night but it was for sure friday night...some of these pictures may be mixed up..I am trying to recollect my memories from this insane weekend.

 After watching A ton of bands we ended up in THEE SWANK BASTARDS room where they performed with their Stripper hula hooper. She is pretty good.

 Of course all the guys were wide eyed

I really like the swank Bastards

A little of the Swank Bastards Performace. I believe they play just about every year at Tiki O.

Gabe and I didn't go out to dinner with everyone else earlier in the evening so we were really hungry and went to get sushi at the sushi place inside the hotel..it was delicious.

It was really late at night but as you can hear on this video it did not slow the room parties down

Hear how loud it is..this is from ALL the room parties and Bands playing inside them and Dj's. It is even louder when you mix the music from the Main Stage going in the Pool courtyard area but this is like at 1am. The main stage showes usually end at 10.

Tiki Oasis ~South of The Boarder ~ Thursday

Well I am Finally posting up my big vacay pictures from Tiki Oasis 11 in San Diego. I have been lagging cause I got in this bummed out mode because I took SO many great pictures but accidentally deleted them all  Saturday evening. So All my Thursday and Friday and early Saturday shots...alll gone . I did it again sat night but I was able to take my photos to a camera shop and recover my Sat night shots..to the tune of 43.00 OUCH. Anyways I had some photos on my cell and stole some of my Friends photos to tell the story of my First Tiki Oasis of many more to come.

For those wondering what Tiki Oasis is..It is a annual event held every year in San Diego at the Crowne Plaza ( a Polynesian themed hotel) It is the Largest WEST Coast Festival of tiki and Exoctica...but even then so much more. It is a 4 day weekend full of vendors, music, dancing,  pool lounging, entertainment, art, symposiums and PARTIES. People from all over the US come to this event. I know cause I met people from EVERYWHERE. Everyone is so friendly and it is such a great VIBE ..I made a lot of new friends and I can kick myself for not making it to every single one of these...I will never miss one again! The only reason to why I missed the past few years is cause I had a baby and every year it falls on her bday.

Gabe and I say it is probably the greatest event we have ever been to EVER..it is like a Scooter Rally,Halloween ( except trick o treat for drinks) ,  Las Vegas on steriods..the is the party that never sleeps!

Gabe and I left early Thursday morning to head to beautiful San Diego. We checked into our hotel (which is closed for only this event) and every year it is a new theme..the theme for this one was South of the Boarder. ( I am looking forward to this years theme...SPY THEME!!)

The welcoming wagon in the Lobby. We got a really cool bag full of fun stuff too upon on arrival.

 Gabe and I got our wristbands and unpacked and made our first tiki drink OF MANY that weekend.

We walked down the pool area really quick to meet up with our friends from Portland Dana and Drew while we waited for our friends Josh and Vickie to arrive who was sharing a room with us.

 This tiki head is where they served drinks ..at night it had big glowing eyes and smoke coming out of its mouth.

 It was so gorgeous all weekend..perfect weather

 We hung out and mingled with a bunch of our friends that were there already soaking in the sun by the pool while dj's played lounge music.

 Tiki clothes with Sombreros..I bet this year it will be tiki drinks in Martini glasses and tuxes

 We needed to get our wristbands for the meet and greet at the Bali Hai Restaurant ( which is STUNNING) Just click the link and see for yourself..so a bunch of us walked to the Lobby where they were selling the wristbands for the Tijuana Taxi ( a shuttle that took us from the hotel to the restaurant for the event)

 Two Asses..hahahaha kidding Michael!!

 After we got our wristbands we went back to our room to get dressed for Dinner and the evening's events. Inside the elevators were all kinds of flyers with room numbers on them of all the room parties. ( THE ROOM PARTIES..I will explain Later) This was the funniest flyer I seen in the elevator

 We finally got to the restaurant..we all got LEI'D as soon as we stepped out and registered in at the restaurant. This is the Bali Hai guy..This picture tells a Great story just by looking at Vickies expression to Josh's antics. I had a GREAT photo of all the guys next to the Bali Hai but it was Deleted!!!

 Loryn and Dana..I was sitting next to Loryn..we all had ordered before we went in Mai Tais that had NO MIXER..it was a KILLER very very strong...it took me the whole night to drink it!

 There is the infamous Mai Tai's they make with no mixer.. We all ordered food..I got a fabulous Filet Mignon..it was Divine!

 Vickie and Gabe both got a cocktail that came with the Bali Hai mug to keep.
After dinner and watching the bands perform and mingling with more friends we got in line to take the shuttle back and we all wanted to go hang out in the hot tub but by the time we got back it was LATE so the hot tub was closed. Vickie and I were so tired that we stayed in the room and relaxed and went to bed fairly early.

 Gabe and Josh and Drew and the rest of the gang partied it up at some of the room parties that were happening.

I guess this was one of the LAST photos of the evening...hahahaha Look like they were up to some drunken Shenanigans! AS USUAL ........

The weekend Diary

Well My weekend was eventful to say the least. It started out with this cocktail pictured above with my gals Thelma and Toni. We hung out on Pine Ave in Downtown Long Beach . We started the night off at Sevilla and each ordered a Mojito with a aged rum..it was very tasty but for 12 dollars a pop and us ALL being on a budget we moved on to the pub Shannon's down the street.
Shannon's smelled like someone Puked all over the place..it smelled so unbelievably bad in there but we sat in the back and eventually the smell went away. We played some shuffleboard with some guy we met there and then since we all had a pretty good buzz going on decided to do karaoke...wherever we could find it...we found ourselves inside a club though dancing the night away. It was not My type of scene.. this club..it was very Jersey Shore Type with a bunch of fist pumping however I made the most of it and actually really did have a FUN time. What A work out.

Sat I woke up with a MASSIVE Headache from Hell but I was suppose to meet some friends for tea. I usually really love my tea times but there was a speaker there ..not too sure how to describe it but as like some sort of Pyramid Scheme and believe me I seen them ALL. For some people I am sure they need some sort of mentor or guidance to follow and this sort of thing would be perfect for them..me on the other hand..I can figure things out for myself by trial and error and have friends that support me and don't feel the need for something like this. It meant a lot to my friend though and it is something that she strongly believes in so I was there to show my support but it was really..let's say... NOT MY cup of tea.
I love ELISE'S TEA House and Plan on more teas to come but minus the life coaches and more of the friends catching up enjoying getting caught up.

Saturday night I made a wonderful 13 bean and barley soup and Gabe and I got cozy and watched some Soprano's from his box set I got him for Christmas and had some wine and dinner and just had a nice time alone.

Sunday I slept in and was woken up by Belgian waffles made fresh by my hubby. We ran some errands cause I want to start getting ready to re decorate Ava's room. After awhile my brother and his girlfriend came over and we had some cocktails and played board games all evening until about 11pm.

Anyways I would have blogged these days with photos but I recently JUST went to pick up my photos for my vacation in San Diego back in August at Tiki Oasis so for the next WEEK I will be blogging about Tiki Oasis. There is a TON of pictures. However the first days I will have to steal my friends photos cause I accidently deleted them all on Saturday at Tiki O which realllly sucks cause I had some wonderful shots. WAHH..anyway Stay tuned to some comedy and fun in my upcoming entries!!

Date night with Our City!

Sometimes a girl , a mother, a wife has got to make time for herself...AND even more important with really great girlfriends.

My GNO have been far and between these days and for 2012 it is time for a change!
TONIGHT!!
A couple girlfriends and I are gonna get all decked out and go out and paint the town red In Downtown Long Beach. We are going to pop in at all the cool little lounges and resturants and have a couple cocktails here and there. Maybe we will even get to see a live band or do a little dancing.

We don't really have any plan...we will be like the leaves and see where the wind takes us!

I LOVE you WINCO!!

So a couple months ago a WINCO Foods opened up in our neighborhood. First of all I never heard of WINCO and there was so much HOOPLA about it ever since a construction sign WINCO FOODS COMING SOON was advertised up.

The week before it opened we got a mailer of GRAND OPENING and we were BLOWN away by the prices..I mean 20.cents for Kraft Mac and Cheese, 75. cents for lunch meat ...and the prices STILL are really cheap. We wanted to go on opening day but the parking lots was completely filled, and there was a lines around the building just to get in. It was like Walmart on Black Friday so we got the hell outta there but Gabe went at like 7am the next morning and got a BUNCH of stuff.

So here is how I describe Winco..It is like Costco but with Cheaper prices for BULK food...cheaper than walmart...meets Sprouts or Whole Foods for the barrels of Bulk grains,pastas,nuts etc etc etc. The produce section is like a Farmers Market. I bought a HUGE bag of baby carrots for less then 2 bucks! A 10 lb bag of potatoes for 2.50. Cake mixes Brownie mixes 78. cents. Huge box of Cheese Nips for less than 2 bucks (Ralphs they are like almost 4 bucks a box) Big boxes of Life and Chex cereal for 2.58...I could go on and on...prices are amazing!!!

 Since I am kicking my New Year on better eating habits I bought a Lot from the BULK and Natural Foods section. I bought a lot of stuff to make my own soups to take to work such as Split Pea, 13 Bean, Tortellini's, Cous Cous, Powdered Stock for Beef and Barley soup. I also did buy some Chow  Mein Noodles to make Chow Mien Candy for the kids.
They have EVERYTHING you could imagine to purchase in bulk from trail mixes, candy,nuts,chips and crackers, dried fruits,pasta, beans, rice, seeds poppy,sunflower, sesame..., soup mixes, muffin and bread mixes, dog food and treats, rodent food, cat food, bird seed, flour,sugar, gum powder, coco powder, baking ingredients, special powders for protein shakes...I could go on and on....They have little recipe cards too on each item that you can take too.

 Like Coffee?? They have a HUGE selection of fresh coffee Beans you can ground

 Make yourself a container of fresh pressed peanut or Almond butter....

 Fan of Honey ..here are some fresh honey's  to choose from...

Looking for a spice ...just need a little for that special recipe...they have everything from cumin to cream of Tartar ...ALL FOR CHEAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!

Anyways I must have bought Like over 200.00 worth of groceries last night for a mere 90.00!!!  well 102.00 including taxes..

All I can say is THANK YOU WINCO for opening up in my neighborhood...I will never shop anywhere else!!!