Cake, Cocktails, and a Criminally Good Time

Nikki, Jordan, Brittney, Me, & Cyndi

I want this blog to be transparent, raw, real, and me. Social media is often misleading because it almost never depicts the bad moments, and in my opinion, if you don't include them, you're doing the public a disservice. I have a great life, but not every moment of it is flawless. I had friends coming in town to celebrate my birthday weekend in my new city, and unfortunately, the weekend threw me curve ball after curve ball, and I'll dish some of the details in this post. BUT what I want to highlight is how I had the best time regardless because living in the present moment and surrounding yourself with people who remind you to breathe and who make you feel grounded are keys to a happier life. I have anxiety (who doesn't these days, am I right?). Sometimes, I go a few weeks and forget I have it, but this weekend started with dreams of delayed flights which became a reality, impending bad weather, stress to make sure I'd taken care of everything in advance, and a few disappointments.

One of my best friend's birthday is the day after mine, May 13th. Hi, Darryl! We've been friends for a decade now, and we've celebrated our birthdays together every year since we met. We are also both crawfish lovers. I reached out to him in probably early March with the idea to do a crawfish boil here in San Antonio. He's always on board to have a great time with me and immediately said yes and that he'd come to San Antonio from Lafayette. We'd been talking about it forever, and it turned into an event. On Thursday, he tested positive for Covid-19 and was no longer able to come, bummer! Of course, the second he found out, he turned around to quarantine. My weekend wasn't the same without my birthday buddy, but being the genuine, kind soul that he is, his wish was for my friends and me to have an awesome time regardless. I couldn't blog about my weekend without giving this rad dude a huge shout-out! I can't wait until we can make up for lost time. My first cousin Lauren, who also happens to be Darryl's girlfriend, was also supposed to come ended up not making it either after being exposed to Covid.

Darryl and me in Yellowstone National Park (May 2019).

Jordan's been one of my besties since I was ten years old. Almost 20 years of friendship, wow! She stepped out of her comfort zone to come and see me by herself from Pensacola, and I am so proud and appreciative of this beautiful, talented, creative lady for being my friend through every up and down of my lifetime. Her first flight here was delayed, which put her missing her connecting flight in Houston. At first, they told her there was no way she'd be getting to San Antonio that day, and our spirits were sinking. After some research, patience, and a lot of crossing our fingers, they put her on a different flight itinerary, and I got to see her! We went to Yard House for a late dinner, and the next morning, we hit up The Pearl for a coffee from Local Coffee, pastries from Larder, and a quick stroll through my favorite independent bookstore out here, The Twig. Then, we went to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens to see the Frida Kahlo Oasis Exhibit that's running from May 8, 2021 through November 2, 2021. I hadn't gotten a chance to go to the botanical gardens myself yet, so it was cool to experience that for the first time with her. The exhibit did an excellent job of displaying the plants and vegetation Frida had in her own garden and gave us a glimpse of what her blue house, Casa Azul, might have looked like. We checked out some other areas of the gardens as well. Jordan was taken with the birds and was able to identify some of them from a bird app she uses - I was so impressed. The gardens were peaceful, vast, quite beautiful, and definitely worth a visit. The gardens are located at 555 Funston Pl, San Antonio, TX 78209, and tickets to get into the botanical gardens are $15 for adults, $13 for military or students, $12 for children aged 3 to 13, and free for children under the age of 3.

Vanilla Iced Latte from Local Coffee & Blueberry Vanilla Almond Muffin from Larder.

Nikki & Brandon made it to town next. Nikki & I have gotten so close over the last two years, and I am forever thankful to have someone in my life who is always down to celebrate every accomplishment in our lives, no matter how small. She is always a blast and is one of the most talented hair and make up artists that I know. She and I got close over our love of spontaneous friend dates, our passion for good food and cocktails, and our endless desire to travel and check out hot spots in different cities. Brandon is her other half, and I love him just as much. He's kind, generous, and easy going. Alex and I went to their vow renewal in Phoenix, Arizona back in April - blog post coming soon!

Cyndi & Brittney made it to San Antonio last (but still early enough in the day to enjoy a long weekend)! Cyndi and I have known each other since we were 10 years old, and while we weren't close in high school or college, we reconnected in our adult lives when we worked at the same law firm together for years. We talked every day all day, hung out multiple times a week, and have truly been there for each other through so many different highs and lows.

Brittney came up to me in the hallway to start up a conversation my Sophomore year of college (out of character for her), and I definitely remember thinking, "Why is this person talking to me? I just want to go to class and go home." But who knew that one conversation would turn into another lasting friendship that I am so thankful for!? Brittney has always been the one to remind me that I deserve the world and that I wasn't being treated the way that I should be, whether I wanted to hear it or not. She recently started an Etsy shop for polymer clay earrings (Trinkets & Trumpets), and I am slowly going bankrupt because her pieces are just so cute!

Now that I've introduced all of my people that traveled to my new city to celebrate my birthday and our friendships, let me tell you about what we did over the weekend! First, Jordan made us custom weekend itineraries and koozies because we are e x t r a, and I love it. I had to include a picture of these because I was just so happy with how they came out. (Why are all of my friends so creative and talented though?)

We all met up at Elsewhere Garden Bar & Kitchen, which is one of the hottest outdoor bars in San Antonio on the River Walk. I was highly impressed that they've recently added QR codes to their tables where you can order and pay for your drinks right from your phone, and they will bring them out to you. We used to go to Elsewhere frequently but had stopped because the popularity of the bar led to long lines, long wait times for drinks, and unavailability of tables. We're definitely adding this spot back into our rotation of frequented places.

Above Photo Cred: Brittney

Elsewhere's Patio

Next, we walked down to The Pearl to go to Sternewirth Tavern & Club Room, which is one of my favorite places and is the infamous Hotel Emma's bar. We also did a little bit of a photo shoot around The Pearl before heading back to the apartment to get ready for dinner. This was often referred to as "The Best Day!" Everyone was so amped to be in San Antonio and away from home. For me, I was just happy to be showing my friends around my city that I have truly fallen in love with.

Sternewirth

The Three Emmas is a refreshing gin-based cocktail that I order at least once every time I end up at Sternewirth!

The night was spent at Toro Kitchen + Bar and Cellar Mixology. I've been to Toro two other times aside from this night and loved it. I was highly disappointed with our time there. The staffing shortage is a real problem in San Antonio right now, and there were only 3 servers that we saw the entire night for a packed restaurant. There was a live band in the restaurant, and the servers are still required to wear masks, so it was incredibly difficult to hear them. Jordan and Brittney's potatoes were too spicy to even eat, Nikki & Brandon ordered two tapas that weren't ever brought to the table until they asked about them 30 minutes later, and Cyndi asked for an off-menu cocktail that tasted like straight liquor. The mussels were tasteless, the steak was too chewy, and you almost had to order more than one drink at a time if you ever wanted to get a cocktail brought out to you. I totally support them being open and busy despite all of the challenges the pandemic has brought upon restaurants, but they could have done more, like lowering the volume in the restaurant or turning patrons away to take some of the heat off the servers they did have, to make for a better dining experience. I will give them another try one day, but we were all unimpressed.

We had a much better time at Cellar Mixology! We had a table reservation and did bottle service, which we would normally never splurge on, but we were celebrating. Cellar Mixology is a speak-easy concept through a secret door in Toro and down a stairwell. It's a neat space with neon signs, amazing cocktails, rock star bartenders, and a fun crowd. Our server's name was Vanessa, and we all felt like BFFs with her by the end of the night. She took wonderful care of us and made sure we were having the best time. The DJ was incredible that night. Nikki told him we were celebrating my 21st birthday (actually 29th), and we expected one shout-out. He remembered all of the celebrations taking place that night and would call people out over the mic countless times; it was so much fun. It did get a little too crowded for some of us towards the end of the night since we are still in a pandemic, but overall, it was a great time.

Toro & Cellar are located at 1142 E Commerce St., San Antonio, Texas 78205 in St. Paul's Square.

Cellar Mixology

Saturday, we went to The Farmer's Market at the Pearl. I wanted an empanada from one of the food tents! Then, we did a crawfish boil for my friends from San Antonio. Darryl is the one that knows how to boil it, and we were counting on having a pro with us. Luckily, Alex had been to enough crawfish boils, and Brandon had helped out at quite a few. We were able to pull it off, and I think everyone really enjoyed it. Huge shout-out to both of them for all of their hard work!! It was pouring most of the day, so we improvised and did the boil on the 4th floor of our apartment's parking garage, which ended up being the perfect place. I was busy making sure everyone was having a good time, making crawfish dip, and giving a few lessons on how to peel the crawfish, so we didn't get many pictures unfortunately.

Saturday night was spent at The Moon's Daughters, which is the rooftop bar and restaurant at a new luxury hotel downtown called The Thompson. We frequent this place and always have a fun time. The food is delicious, the cocktails are refreshing, and the view is just incredible. I already can't wait to go back. Their reservations open 13 days in advance, and I highly recommend making one. My favorite thing I've had to eat there is the Greek Lamb Burger, but everything I've tried has been yummy.

Shout-out to Brandon for these stunning black & white photos.

I cannot write about this weekend without giving Alex the biggest props. He went to the store for us a few times when we thought of more things we needed, picked up and dropped off Jordan from the airport with me, continued to be my calm during every stressful moment, and just made sure I was having fun and everything was taken care of. After a year and a half together, I sometimes still can't believe he's mine.

Sunday morning, we went to Supper for brunch, and as always, it was delicious. Supper is the restaurant at Hotel Emma, and we ironically generally end up there for brunch instead of, well, supper. We've had dinner there one time and loved it. Jordan was the last to leave, and we took her down to the touristy area of San Antonio since she'd never been before just to walk around and see the iconic bridges over the San Antonio River and the colorful umbrellas that line the River Walk. We stopped by one of my favorite parts of the River Walk right by Bier Garten River Walk (pictured below). In conclusion, despite the stressful moments that arose, the weekend was a huge success, and I can't wait to see all of my wonderful friends again soon!