Beach 2015!

We spent last week in Carlsbad, CA with my entire extended Collins family!

It was a BLAST. 

Poor JP had to study like 5 hours a day for the bar while we were there but even he said it was more fun studying in CA than studying at home haha. 

The weather was perfect, the beach was amazing, and I think my family is hilarious so I was pretty much laughing non-stop the entire week!

We got to paddle board, boogie board, get Coldstone Ice Cream 5/7 days, play spike ball, go to food markets, etc etc. 

It was a DREAM. And my first time to Carlsbad. I'm obsessed!

^^^ Obviously had to have matching shirts. I'm pretty sure I wore mine every. single. day. 

^^^ Having some serious beach convo's

^^^ Dad, Sister, Brother, Me!

^^^ If you can get past how strangely red my face is, this tower was pretty freaking awesome!

^^^ Girl cousin pyramid!

^^^ All-cousin pyramid!

^^^ That amazing polka dot swimsuit I'm wearing came from this etsy shop! 

Her suits are my FAVORITE!

^^^ ummmm. yeah. this was unfiltered. Need I say more?

My extremely talented cousin Sophie made a short video from the week's adventures and it seriously captures how much fun we had all week perfectly!  You can watch it below (click the HD button!) or also by clicking HERE :)

Collins in CA from Sophie Collins on Vimeo.

The Best Part About Grad School:

So this post is like 4 months late but it needs to be documented so here we go:

MED SCHOOL & LAW SCHOOL PROM!!

Seriously, they are the BEST. 

Okay so they're not officially called "prom" (mine was "UUSOM Semi-Formal" and JP's is called the "Barrister's Ball") but let's be honest, it's basically prom for grown-ups and they are awesome!

We've gone to JP's law school prom every year so obviously we had to go to the final year (see the post from the first year we attended here!) and it didn't disappoint! They serve dinner, give out awards, have a photographer, and a DJ! It was a blast. 

<<<<<>>>>

I was put on the prom committee for my med school (of course I was, I think it's because I wrote about my love of throwing parties in my personal statement of my application...) so I got to help plan it and it was awesome! The theme was "out of this world" (so think like space/aliens/etc.)

We had food, a photographer, a DJ and people danced all. night. long. It was incredible! 

And JP definitely won a fantastic-husband-award that night because he came to the party for a couple hours even though he was taking a part of his law school bar exam the next morning! 

Law school prom:

 ^^^ we're on the far left!

Med school prom:

^^^ presenting the future doctors of America! #classof2018

^^^ med-school besties! we call ourselves #medicallyblonde

^^^ yeah... for some reason the photographer took a lot of pictures of me dancing.... I think it's because of how awkward I usually look! haha

^^^ prom planning committee!

^^^ this picture kills me every time hahah

JP Graduated!

We now have a lawyer in the house!!

Well, basically. 

He just has to pass the bar at the end of July and then bam! Full fledged lawyer husband. 

I am so so proud of JP and how hard he worked these past 3 years. He handled the stress and pressure of law school amazingly well, navigated through externships and foreign study programs and even working in a firm part-time for the last 2 years, AND made lifelong friends along the way!

He's looking forward to being a criminal defense attorney and finally having an income after 7 years of college/grad school haha (no more student loans for him woohoo! Unfortunately I can't say the same for me... #debt)

Here's to you JP! You're my favorite person in the whole world and you're going to absolutely kill it as a lawyer!

^^^ I honestly have no idea what's going on here

^^^ they both thought they were really funny

^^^ JP found a selfie stick and it was the greatest day of his life hahaha

^^^ my parents, me, and JP!

^^^ class of 2015!

^^^ nieces! this is my most favorite picture EVER. 

A quick pit stop and then onto San Sebastian, Spain!

After our time in Villefranche was up, we started looping back around the country to our final destination - San Sebastian, Spain. 

However it's like an 8 hour drive so we decided to split it up!

We stopped for lunch in Aix-en-Provence (we ate lunch at the most delicious burger place! I think Europe has just recently discovered the magic of hamburgers because almost every single city we went to had a gourmet burger restaurant that was like the highest rated restaurant in the city! But anyways...)

we might have also accidentally stolen the shop owners keys.... but we have full intentions to mail them back to them! #JPsfault

Then that night we pulled into Carcassonne and stayed at the cutest bed and breakfast in the world! It was run by a husband and wife who had retired from Paris where he used to be a pastry chef! 

Needless to say, it was an amazing little place and there was also a real life castle in the town so that was pretty incredible to explore too!

(except getting to the correct town with our bed and breakfast was not the easiest thing we've ever done... turns out there are lots of tiny french towns and google maps likes to think that walking paths are actual roads so... we got into a tight situation more than once, literally haha) 

After a fantastic nights sleep we got up and continued to San Sebastian!

Which is seriously the hidden gem of Europe. You should probably google pictures of it right now because my pictures are not going to do it justice. 

It's like Newport beach meets Barcelona meets Paris. And then cooler than that. 

There are white sandy beaches, waves that you can surf, cobble stone streets with hundred year old buildings, it's considered to have the best food in Europe and it's nestled between 2 mountains so the views are like whoa!

Seriously we were blown away with how incredible of a place it was and are already planning how we're going to get back there!

Carcassonnne:

^^^ JP just going in for a hug and kiss goodbye hahah

^^^ the cutest B&B!

San Sebastian!

^^^ JP was sooo happy about this meal haha you won't meet anyone who likes meat more than him!

^^^ I wish this did the view justice! 

But this brings us to the end of our European road trip! It was honestly the trip of a lifetime and we feel super lucky that we were able to go and that our BFF's were able to go with us! 

Next Stop: Cassis by the Sea

When planning our trip, we nailed down like 60% of it, then left the rest to be flexible so we could drive as much as we wanted, stop when we felt like it, and make decisions on the fly. 

Barcelona was amazing, but since it was a bit chilly and a little rainy when we were there, after our 3 days there were up we decided to chase the sun and drove to Cassis in the south of France. 
It's the most darling little seaside town, complete with a harbor, boardwalk, hidden beaches, and massive sheer cliffs. 

We spent one day wandering its streets and popping in and out of the little shops along the water, then the next day we embarked on a "little hike" to the aforementioned hidden beaches. 

Turns out we didn't exactly know what we were getting ourselves into haha --  it was a massive 2+ hour hike in (it didn't help that we accidentally took a wrong turn and took the most scenic -- longest -- route either haha) and we were definitely in sandals when everyone else was in hiking boots and even had those fancy hiking sticks. 

But honestly, the views we got, whoa. 
We were hiking along the ridge of a sheer cliff that dropped hundreds of feet into the turquoise blue water of the Mediterranean sea. It was almost unbelievable. The pictures don't do it justice but we tried to capture it anyways haha. 

Oh and then I got shhh'd on the hidden beach by a French woman, because apparently [imagine your best french accent] 
"We are at a beach! Not a party!" 
(my voice carries! It's not entirely my fault)