Weekend Adventures: Staycation
This past weekend my boyfriend surprised me with a staycation for my birthday!
We stayed in a dope hotel called Hotel Indigo. I guess it's the new and poppin' thing in downtown El Paso cuz there was stuff happening constantly. When we first got there to check in there was a couple doing a wedding photo shoot in the lobby. The hotel has great visual features so I'm not surprised they wanted to take photos there. But there was literally an entire wedding party and 3-4 photographers jammed in the lobby along with people trying to check in with their luggage. Kinda cray. The lady at the front desk also told us that there was a DJ performing that night in the hotel until like 1:00 am and asked if we'd like to stay on the quieter side... a.k.a. she asked us if we'd like to sleep that night. Obviously, we did.
After we checked in we decided to go hang out near the rooftop pool area. The pool was beautiful and had modern vibe with a pretty awesome view of the city. We both brought our swimsuits but it was kind of packed and I'm pretty self conscious about being mostly naked in front of a bunch of people so we passed on that. They had a nice sitting area next to the pool though so we were still able to enjoy the environment. While we were hanging out by the pool we saw another photoshoot happening. This time it was a guy modeling for a fashion/editorial thing. We had a couple of overpriced drinks and then got ready to go to dinner.
We had dinner at an awesome vegan friendly (duh) restaurant called Eloise. Funny story: we'd actually been there before but I kinda blocked the experience out of my memory. In summary we went on a double date there a couple of years ago. It was the night before my graduation and I don't know if I was nervous about graduating or was sick from the Taco Bell (I know) we ate the night before buuuuut I got super sick and threw up on the way there. Like we had to pull the car over so I could projectile vomit on the side of the road. The dude who was driving didn't want to drive us all the way back to Las Cruces so I just laid in the booth while everyone else ate and drank. It was technically the other couples' anniversary night, so I understand that they still wanted to celebrate but I mean, come on.
This time around was a lot better for obvious reasons. We split vegan nachos as an appetizer which were literally the best thing I've had in a while. The vegan cheese was super creamy and it came with a two-bean 'sausage' and a bunch of fresh and pickled veggies. Most legit nachos I've ever had. For my main dish I got argentine empanadas which were also delicious. They were stuffed with veggie "ground beef" and came with fresh pico de gallo and a chile/soy sauce dip. My boyfriend got some noodles with seitan which was the first time we had both tried it. He loved it, but I prefer tofu as my meat substitute.
After that we saw a movie at the Alamo Draft House that just opened up in El Paso. We had been to one in Austin last summer and enjoyed it so I was excited to be going again! We saw Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates and it was hilarious. For real, constant LOLing. The only critique I have of the movie (not that anyone asked, ha) is that I felt some parts were excessively feminist. Don't get me wrong, I identify as a feminist and I am all for spreading the message of equality but in this case it seemed to patronize the movement. One example (not a spoiler) is when Aubrey's character says something like "This is 2016, women can do shit now." It was in response to something that wasn't sexist, so thats my first issue with it. It makes it seem like an overreaction which a lot of women already get accused of on a regular basis. Secondly, I think it's possible to express feminist views without shoving it down your throat and being like THIS IS FEMINISM! HERE IT IS IN THIS MAIN STREAM MOVIE! ITS A THING NOW OKAY! There's a way to stay cool and collected while empowering women. I understand that are situations when you need to not be calm, but I also think it's important to show that certain situations can be approached with a level head and avoid the stereotype of women (or people who support women) being "over emotional." This isn't the first time I've noticed it in main stream films, either. In Neighbors 2 there was kind of the same thing happening. It was about a sorority and had a lot of references to the importance of female friendship. And while I couldn't agree more with that, there were a lot of lines in the movie that sounded like the one in Mike & Dave's. My boyfriend pointed out that the Neighbors 2 was probably written by mostly white men so they don't really know how women actually approach feminism. It's not an excuse, but it part of a larger explanation. I'm a firm believer in the saying that "actions speak louder than words." How about instead of talking about feminism and equality in movies (that sometimes end up sounding like they're mocking the movement) how about you pay the actresses the same as actors, create movies that actually star women (not star alongside males), and hire more colored, trans, and queer women? Like stop talking about it and just do it. (Nike!)
Anyway, rant over. Movie was good, Alamo Draft House is fun. We spent the rest of the evening chilling at the hotel and having drinks.
The next day we tried to go to a place that offers vegan and gluten free pizzas, but they opened reeeeeally late. The hours on their door and online said they opened at noon but when people tried to go in it was locked and some dude just poked his head out and said "we're opening later today" and shut the door again. Like, okay great thanks dude! Luckily here was a Chipotle practically right next door so we just had that instead. It was a bummer though because westarved ourselves waited until noon so we could eat there, and then we didn't. Oh well. The rest of the day was spent shopping (mostly by me). I splurged at Sephora and a little at H&M. What's a birthday weekend without some overspending?!
My bank account is hurting but I'm telling myself it's okay (haaaalp). I had a blast celebrating my birthday!
I didn't think of it as a staycation at first. It wasn't until I told my mom about my weekend that she called it that and I still don't really understand how she knows what that is. I'm proud of her tho. I guess we didn't technically "stay" in town, but we drove to El Paso which is only 45 minutes away.
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| Cute, que no?! |
We stayed in a dope hotel called Hotel Indigo. I guess it's the new and poppin' thing in downtown El Paso cuz there was stuff happening constantly. When we first got there to check in there was a couple doing a wedding photo shoot in the lobby. The hotel has great visual features so I'm not surprised they wanted to take photos there. But there was literally an entire wedding party and 3-4 photographers jammed in the lobby along with people trying to check in with their luggage. Kinda cray. The lady at the front desk also told us that there was a DJ performing that night in the hotel until like 1:00 am and asked if we'd like to stay on the quieter side... a.k.a. she asked us if we'd like to sleep that night. Obviously, we did.
After we checked in we decided to go hang out near the rooftop pool area. The pool was beautiful and had modern vibe with a pretty awesome view of the city. We both brought our swimsuits but it was kind of packed and I'm pretty self conscious about being mostly naked in front of a bunch of people so we passed on that. They had a nice sitting area next to the pool though so we were still able to enjoy the environment. While we were hanging out by the pool we saw another photoshoot happening. This time it was a guy modeling for a fashion/editorial thing. We had a couple of overpriced drinks and then got ready to go to dinner.
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| "Rooftop" pool (technically on the 5th floor but still bomb). |
We had dinner at an awesome vegan friendly (duh) restaurant called Eloise. Funny story: we'd actually been there before but I kinda blocked the experience out of my memory. In summary we went on a double date there a couple of years ago. It was the night before my graduation and I don't know if I was nervous about graduating or was sick from the Taco Bell (I know) we ate the night before buuuuut I got super sick and threw up on the way there. Like we had to pull the car over so I could projectile vomit on the side of the road. The dude who was driving didn't want to drive us all the way back to Las Cruces so I just laid in the booth while everyone else ate and drank. It was technically the other couples' anniversary night, so I understand that they still wanted to celebrate but I mean, come on.
This time around was a lot better for obvious reasons. We split vegan nachos as an appetizer which were literally the best thing I've had in a while. The vegan cheese was super creamy and it came with a two-bean 'sausage' and a bunch of fresh and pickled veggies. Most legit nachos I've ever had. For my main dish I got argentine empanadas which were also delicious. They were stuffed with veggie "ground beef" and came with fresh pico de gallo and a chile/soy sauce dip. My boyfriend got some noodles with seitan which was the first time we had both tried it. He loved it, but I prefer tofu as my meat substitute.
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| This hotel had succulents everywhere and I was so pumped! |
After that we saw a movie at the Alamo Draft House that just opened up in El Paso. We had been to one in Austin last summer and enjoyed it so I was excited to be going again! We saw Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates and it was hilarious. For real, constant LOLing. The only critique I have of the movie (not that anyone asked, ha) is that I felt some parts were excessively feminist. Don't get me wrong, I identify as a feminist and I am all for spreading the message of equality but in this case it seemed to patronize the movement. One example (not a spoiler) is when Aubrey's character says something like "This is 2016, women can do shit now." It was in response to something that wasn't sexist, so thats my first issue with it. It makes it seem like an overreaction which a lot of women already get accused of on a regular basis. Secondly, I think it's possible to express feminist views without shoving it down your throat and being like THIS IS FEMINISM! HERE IT IS IN THIS MAIN STREAM MOVIE! ITS A THING NOW OKAY! There's a way to stay cool and collected while empowering women. I understand that are situations when you need to not be calm, but I also think it's important to show that certain situations can be approached with a level head and avoid the stereotype of women (or people who support women) being "over emotional." This isn't the first time I've noticed it in main stream films, either. In Neighbors 2 there was kind of the same thing happening. It was about a sorority and had a lot of references to the importance of female friendship. And while I couldn't agree more with that, there were a lot of lines in the movie that sounded like the one in Mike & Dave's. My boyfriend pointed out that the Neighbors 2 was probably written by mostly white men so they don't really know how women actually approach feminism. It's not an excuse, but it part of a larger explanation. I'm a firm believer in the saying that "actions speak louder than words." How about instead of talking about feminism and equality in movies (that sometimes end up sounding like they're mocking the movement) how about you pay the actresses the same as actors, create movies that actually star women (not star alongside males), and hire more colored, trans, and queer women? Like stop talking about it and just do it. (Nike!)
Anyway, rant over. Movie was good, Alamo Draft House is fun. We spent the rest of the evening chilling at the hotel and having drinks.
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| Awkward selfie in bathroom. |
The next day we tried to go to a place that offers vegan and gluten free pizzas, but they opened reeeeeally late. The hours on their door and online said they opened at noon but when people tried to go in it was locked and some dude just poked his head out and said "we're opening later today" and shut the door again. Like, okay great thanks dude! Luckily here was a Chipotle practically right next door so we just had that instead. It was a bummer though because we
My bank account is hurting but I'm telling myself it's okay (haaaalp). I had a blast celebrating my birthday!
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