How I Celebrated My Birthday

A couple weeks ago the Mister planned my birthday festivities and, let me tell you, he did good...

We woke up in the morning, had some pb&j's for breakfast, and then headed out the door. I wasn't exactly sure where we were going but I noticed he was driving south of OC. Then he started to slow down as we were approaching Laguna Beach. If you haven't been, the drive down PCH to get there is so beautiful, I love it!


When we finally arrived at our destination, it turned out the Mister planned a bike riding trip for us. I haven't gone biking in so long (maybe last summer?) so it felt like it's been a while, a long while. But they say you just gotta get back on and your body will remember right?

And so, after a slight struggle, we started to cruise along the pacific coast. Even the cloudy weather wasn't going to rain on our parade! What's great about bike riding is that you can pretty much stop at any time, park & lock your bikes, walk down to the beach, and just chill while enjoying the view. Now that is what I call living the good SoCal life!
ATK tip: you can rent the bikes for 2 hours or more. We chose 2 hours and it was plenty of time.

Halfway through the day, we stopped by the Royal Hawaiian tiki bar (we love tiki bars!) for a small snack and tropical libations. We ordered the coconut shrimp, Royal blue hawaiian, and lapu lapu cocktails. It was a nice midday pitstop to rest a bit and do some people watching through the windows. This dish also inspired us to make it the following weekend and, you know what? It came out pretty bomb! Let me know below if you want the recipe.

Followed that with a mini cake from B Candy in Corona del Mar. This sweet shop is filled with so many goodies from candy to cakes to cookies and ice cream. You name it, they got it. The mini cupcakes (especially the cinnamon toast crunch flavor) are my faves! We ended up picking the sea salt caramel oasis mini cake because it reminded us of our beach day.

Later on when the night started to kick in, we changed and got ready for dinner. There's been a local spot that we bookmarked for a while now and the Mister just-so-happened to surprise me with reservations at Olea in Newport Beach. The ambiance was dim and romantic.

And the dishes? DELICIOUS. I got Olea's fish special of the day and he got the beef stroganoff (trust me: it tasted a lot better than how it looks). Mmm I'm salivating just thinking about it again!


The cocktails at Olea were also good too. Sorry, can't remember the names of them right now but I'm sure we'll be back again for more drinks soon. Definitely a hotspot to add to your list of local places to try!

How do you like to celebrate your birthdays?

I grew up embracing birthdays and now it's become a month-long celebration of gatherings with friends and family. I love all the intimate dinners and catching up with everyone. It's definitely one of my favorite times of the year. Thanks for reading and sending you hugs!

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