A Girls' Trip to La Jolla | pinchofyum.com

To love ourselves and support each other in the process of becoming real is perhaps the greatest single act of daring greatly. – Brené Brown

The process of becoming real. Yes. Hello. That.

Nothing like starting off an otherwise standard, fun, and surfacey vacation post with deep thoughts, right? Like we do.

In addition to having some fun trip pictures for you today and bragging up on my amazing group of girlfriends, I also feel like we have some stuff to talk about that we just haven’t talked about because it’s hard to talk about this on the internet. So here goes. Staring this in the face in three, two…

A Girls' Trip to La Jolla | pinchofyum.com

Let me tell you about us. These are 3 of my most precious friends.

We’ve been friends for a long time (since college – and how did college become a long time ago?) and in the last few years, we’ve leaned in to this tradition of doing yearly girls’ getaway trips together. See also: Aspen and Scottsdale.

We are four people who love snacking, eating, ice cream-ing, and seal watching on the beach. We are four people who think it’s equally as awesome of an idea to order delivery pizza to our hotel room so we can stay in our pajamas and lay on the bed laughing as it is to go out for a night on the town. We are four people who have, or will soon have, little babies at home (squeee!). We are obsessive animal lovers who will stop people on the street so we can pet their dogs. We share the same faith. Our hearts and minds hold each others’ stories from the last ten years, the ones that bring laughter, eye rolls, and tears. We are practically a part of each other, in that weirdly awesome sisterhood-of-the-traveling-pants way.

And then, there’s this tricky piece of the puzzle: we are four people who voted differently in the 2016 election.

It would be maybe even a little funny if it wasn’t so serious and hard and fresh, especially being that we took this trip approximately 24 hours after the election ended. How can this even happen? That friends don’t see eye-to-eye on what feels like such a big major deal? But it does.

A Girls' Trip to La Jolla | pinchofyum.com

And I have a purpose for bringing it up.

First purpose: Well, okay, if we set the election aside for a hot second, my first true purpose is that I want you to know that we had a great time in La Jolla, and I want you to know that if you should choose to go there with your significant other or your squad (WHICH YOU TOTALLY SHOULD – start looking at flights, dear one), you will have a blast and a half. It was theeee most perfect place for a quick little getaway. I’m including a list at the end of this post with all the great places we went and what we’d recommend for an itenerary. Study and follow. This place is Relaxation Station.

Second purpose: I want you to know that beyond vacation pictures, when we get down to the real life stuff of the world right now, you and I? and our friends and family? We’re in this together. You’re not the only one feeling frustration or hurt in your relationships as a result of this 2016 election. We are feeling it, too. There’s just no easy way through it.

A Girls' Trip to La Jolla | pinchofyum.com

We had just one Election Conversation during the whole trip, and that one conversation? Not awesome. It was hard. Vulnerable. Shaky. Very un-fun. We didn’t suddenly agree on everything, and we had actively work to listen to each other without reacting first.

But we DID try to ask questions and really listen to the answers, to seek to really understand the other side, to learn from each other, and we DID end the conversation with misty eyes and tight hugs, saying firmly: I don’t agree with you, and I still love you.

And that conversation – it was important for us to have. Because to be fully loved, you have to be fully known. You have to let yourself be seen and you have to try to see others. Like, REALLY, actually, through-and-through see them.

Even though we don’t agree on everything, there are things we can learn from each other. It’s hard, but it’s also to our advantage as a friend group to have a variety of opinions represented from our closest people.

Remember that quote? The process of becoming real? We’re working on it, our little squad.

And I think we’re getting there.
A Girls' Trip to La Jolla | pinchofyum.com

A Girls' Trip to La Jolla | pinchofyum.com

Our Best of La Jolla List:

La Valencia Hotel
TheMed Restaurant (lovely views)
Sugar and Scribe (brunch – and I want to live here)
Dr. Juice (get the watermelon or strawberry lemonade)
George’s at the Cove (best views for lunch – fish tacos are yummy)
The Cottage (brunch)
Bobboi Gelato (get the pistachio)
Scripps Park (seal watching)
Beaming Cafe (gorgeous, healthy, organic, ridiculously expensive, and SO very California)
La Jolla Shores Hotel (GREAT location right on the beach)
The Shores Restaurant (amazing happy hour)
Piatti Restaurant (loved their outdoor seating)
Brick and Bell Cafe
Shorehouse Kitchen (brunch)

Big hugs to you all as you plan trips, carry on with regular life, and continue to show unconditional love to your people in these unusually divided days.

♡