All good things end.

Day 5 (of cruise):

On Thursday we cruised through the night and docked back in Miami on Friday morning. We got all of our over packed luggage; two rolling and two bags and a mini rolling bottle bag to be exact, said our goodbyes to all our new friends and got to our car and drove to Orlando.

Top left: Scott and I on formal night, although I forgot my belt at home for this dress making it wayyy to flowy, ah! Bottom left: waiting for the comedian in the theatre room. Top right: Scott and I with the Majesty of the Seas boat. Bottom right: Majesty of the Seas sign.

Day 8 (of vacation):

We were so pooped that once we were in Orlando we had a quickie dinner at Panda Express and caught up on all of our tv shows we missed and tried to catch up on sleep!

Saturday we decided we were not going to do the whole disney world thing because we were staying in the most amazing hotel that had awesome pools, slides, and a large lazy river... just what the doctor ordered! We were so tired from the cruise we had no energy to run around like children at the parks as planned so relaxing by the pool was perfect. After the pool we went to Premier Outlets, in SC we only have Tanger Outlets, but Premier is much better; they have VS outlets, Express, Kate Spade, Armani, Tory Burch etc etc. I LOVE Premier Outlets, and everytime I go to Orlando, Scott knows a full afternoon will be spent there because there are two Premier Outlets.

For dinner we went to this amazing place called TuTu Tango. If you are ever near one, it is a must! There are artist set up around the cafe painting, and local art is on the wall. They have an african tribal band walking around playing drums and the most amazing tapas food and drinks! Food, check. Live artist, check. Yummy drinks, check. Live music, check. All of my favorite things in one place! Go visit one, you'll thank me later!

Left: Cafe Tu Tu Tango artist painting away. Top right: the band- one drummer and two girls with moroccas dancing. Bottom right: Another artist painting. (sorry for the pics being so dark, they're on my phone and the cafe was dark!

Day 9 (of vacation):

Sunday was a travel day. We drove back home, walked in the door and crashed. I think Im still recovering!

Overall the cruise was sooo much fun! we won two of the three trivia games we played. All the shows were awesome, the comedy show was by far my favorite. The pool deck and drinks were great and I could have lived right there on that deck forever. The food was good, however not up to "Charleston" standards haha. Charleston has the most amazing food, EVER, so it still didnt compare but it was still really good. Coco Cay was definitly the highlight of the trip, it really was paradise and I would go back today. Since this was Scott's first cruise, he is now hooked and already planning a huge group trip in February! We are going to invite my family and his and then all of our friends, and of course anyone are family brings along too! Interested? hehe. Well I guess all good things must come to an end eventually... or until next February!

Key West.

Day 4 of Cruise:

Thursday we docked in Key West. The first thing I did was grab my phone and called my family and Kristi who was babysitting Bayla, because I don't have international roaming I had to turn off my phone for days... EEK! For me it's that "lost child in the mall feeling" I get panicky and feel like I'm forgetting something... who knew I relied on my phone so much for my sanity! haha. I apparently cant function without my Iphone!

Anyway, Key West was stifling hot and all the houses block the ocean breeze so we were sweltering! Key West has a lot of charm. We took a trolley tour and went sight seeing, had lunch at the original Margarittaville and did a little bit of shopping.

Top left: A cool and huge statue of a couple dancing. Bottom left: A light house that is no longer in commission. Top right: Scott and I at the southern most point of the US. Bottom Left: birds chillin' in Key West.

Left: A statue of Marilyn Monroe, love her. Top Right: a compass on the pier. Bottom right: banana trees and roosters were everywhere!

Top left: a cute boutique. Bottom left: mansions everywhere. Top right: the boutique had this sign hanging in the door that perfectly describes the flow of Key West. Bottom right: Hemmingways house.

Scott and Glenn were on a hunt for key lime pie (I don't care for key lime) but they found several places! Then we had cocktails at Hogsbreath, which is like and indoor outdoor "rough around the edges" type of bar.

Left: Scott makin' the moves on "grocery lady." Top right: Hogsbreath bar. Bottom right: A man started a very successful restaurant out the back of that truck, which is now still parked outside of his big restaurant.

Key West was fun, but we were all so zapped from the heat I went to the boat and had an hour nap before we had formal night dinner. Naps can solve anything I have decided. The formal dinner was nice, but the comedy show and winning trivia was the highlight of the evening. At trivia we won medals, so when people asked us how we won them I told them we had won the Royal Caribbean Olympics, so we get free drinks the rest of the trip... you should have seen their faces! haha. It was hysterical! Scott and I won two out of the three trivia games we played... smarties!

Top left: Key West toy factory. Bottom left: Capt Tony's Saloon. Capt Tony apparently decided he wasn't paying increasing rent in his old location so he told all the local patrons to pick up their glasses and tables etc and carry it across the street (while shots were being poured in the street) to their new location... where the party continued! Bottom right: The original Margaritaville.

More Cruisin' to come!

Oh, PARADISE...

Day 3 of cruise:
Wednesday we docked in Coco Cay, which is Royal Caribbeans private island. It was HEAVEN. They had chairs and hammocks, bars and water slides all to your disposal.

We went on the other side of the island called Barefoot Beach, which no one goes to because it was a bit of walk and we basically had the whole beach to ourselves. The water was so sparkly clear that we saw fish and several sting rays.
Top left: I found a star fish! Bottom left: Scott being silly at Barefoot Beach! Top right: the water is so clear I could see my pink toes! Bottom right: The Iconic Bahamas island logo.

Top left: kayak signs. Bottom left: The straw market for souvigners. Top right: our view above, so pretty! Bottom right: Scott and Glenn in the water, on the look out for sting rays! Scott and Glenn stayed in the water for about 5 hours. Despite my slathering Scott with sunscreen he got scorched, his poor nose was sooo blistered!
Top left: A Coco Loco mixed drink and my beach read. Bottom Left: The Bahamas flag. Top right: Scott and I leaving Coco Cay after a fun day.. sad to leave! Bottom right: kayakers!

This is simply paradise. I believe it's the most relaxing place on earth!

More cruisin' to come....

Cruisin' to Nassau

Day Two

On Tuesday we docked in Nassau, Bahamas. If you do decide to take a cruise and it's going to Nassau, DO AN EXCURSION, trust me!! We decided against the excursion and walked around the town... don't do it... it was dirty, and there were all really aggressive hecklers wanting you to buy their chachki crap. I must have told a dozen women I did not want my hair braided haha. Scott and I decided we would absolutely do an excursion next time.

Left: me in front of a colorful mural. Top left: the Hard Rock Cafe, Nassau style. Bottom Right: We walked around the town and saw the sights and shopped a bit in the straw market. Scott and I had a little too much fun in the "face in hole" costume! Scott stayed there for what seemed like 5 minutes haha.

We left Nassau early and boarded the boat to have the pool to ourselves. The pool at night with the lights are so pretty.

At dinner that night we met Glenn, from Rhode Island, who decided to travel by himself. Well most cruises aren't 1/3 of fifteen year old Argentian girls, so he was out of luck on meeting other solos. The only complaint we had about the cruise is it seemed that 300+ Argentenian girls (who were probably the same ones I was complaining about above in the outlet mall (read previous post: Miami meh)) were having their quincineria celebrations... and for every 50 girls there was ONE chaperone. So imagine 300 fifteen year old girls in a foreign country with only SIX adults. OH.MY.GOD. It was pandemonium. We would be in line and then 25+ would "cut in line" infront of us. Then when someone would tell them to get in the back of the line they had no idea what you were saying, or so they were acting. In short they were a ginormous pain in the ass. So we avoided them at all cost... they had a curfew so they werent around too much. Hallelujah! Anyway, was out of luck on meeting other solos and he and Scott hit it off, so we made a new friend who met up with us the following days.

Later that evening they annouced they were having a midnight buffet. We had eaten too much for dinner so we decided that we would go and see it because we had seen them taking awesome ice sculptures out that night. It was so neat, who knew food could be sculpted like that?

More cruisin' to come...

I'm on a boat...

Cruise Day One - Vacation Day 5

So now it's Monday, CRUISE DAY, and I couldn't be more excited! The first day is a "day at sea" where we get to explore the boat and go to the shows, and just enjoy being in the middle of the ocean on a gigantic boat, ha.

We boarded the ship at noon and our rooms weren't ready yet so they directed us to lunch in the buffet area. Well I suppose everyone had the same idea to get on the ship early because everyone was in the buffet areas! There's so much food it's ridiculous! They had different stations for each type of food: Asian, Italian, Southern, salads, carving station etc. Once we finally found a table and eaten lunch we went to our room and waited on our bags so we could find our bathing suits and go straight to the pool deck.

The pool was pretty crowded right when we got on the boat, but there was so much space we didn't mind!

Scott and I soaking in the rays as soon as we found our bathing suits, which couldn't have came soon enough!

The pool was so relaxing. I took a few pictures of the Miami skyline while we were still docked.

It was great to be able to relax and look out on the deck, while having a delicious drink with a little umbrella. I believe an umbrella drink and a good book on the sea is paradise. (BTW that book Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews is hilariously perfect for a good beach read).

Stay tuned for day two on the cruise...

Miami {meh}

On Sunday we drove to Miami to do a little shopping and to get ready to board the cruise the following day. We were only in Miami a short time, basically just to stay over night to board the boat the following day.

I have to say I don't know if we were in touristy type of areas everywhere we went, but Miami is not a favorite destination of mine. Scott took me to this amazingly huge outlet mall where they have every store you could think of, and there were soooo many rude foreigner tourist I wanted to leave immediately! If you know anything about me it's I LOVE shopping, not to mention outlet shopping! These people would just practically knock you right over and look at you like were the rude one. There were so many people it was like shopping on Black Friday or Christmas Eve, you could not even walk for all the people. It was hectic to say the least.

We had last minute errands to run before we got on the boat the next day, like getting travel size hair spray, buying Dramamine (seasick medicine), and all the things I forgot to pack. I kept thinking, OMG I'm going to be in the middle of the ocean on a huge boat with no cell phone access (I don't have international roaming), and what if I need (insert random need here)? So I over packed and over bought. So after the outlet and errands we wanted a quick, yet healthy dinner and ran into Tropical Pollo. It was so good, I wish we had one here! It's typically grilled chicken with salad, salsa, sour cream, cheese, black beans and yellow rice with a curry honey mustard dipping sauce. There's a place almost identical in Greenville called Tropical Chicken, he clearly ripped off the idea... maybe someone will do the same thing here!

While I wasn't a huge fan of Miami, I haven't written it off quite yet, maybe Ill go visit it one more time and hopefully have a better experience! Ill just have to stay away from the outlet malls!

Miami did have some interesting and cool murals around the downtown area though!

I LOVE this mural, the colors and the detail is so pretty. I wish I could've taken a better picture but Scott was driving and traffic was insane, so this is the best I could do!

This mural is a bit creepy!! This building with the creepy alien looking people is where we parked our car while we were gone on the cruise! Stay tuned for the cruise post next...

West Palm Beach.

VACATION COME BACK!! So we are back and as always vacation just went buy so fast! It seemed like a whirl wind tour de Florida and cruise.

Day ONE: Friday night we drove to Daytona and literally crashed late night in a hotel.

Day TWO: Saturday we started the trip and we went to see Scott's favorite band Dave Matthews Band in West Palm Beach. West Palm Beach is gorgeous! The houses are amazing and then right outside the houses are huge yachts docked. I wonder if they would let me just live on their yacht? haha. The architecture of the houses were so pretty with all the Spanish styled roofs and tiles, I loved it. We also took a stroll down Worth Avenue which is known as the East Coasts Rodeo Drive... so it was only window shopping, but still, a girl can dream! West Palm is accurately named because there are palm trees everywhere!

DMB concert was great but sooo hot, we were melting! I literally thought I was melting in the seat! Scott is what I call a crazy fan, I am a small fan, but it's safe to say he's obsessed. I've been to 3 concerts and he's been to 4 already this year! INSANE! While we were in West Palm Beach we also went to one of my favorite restaurants The Cheese Cake Factory! I ask myself daily why there is not one in Charleston, however my hips are grateful that there is not! I LOVE Cheesecake and the food there is amazing. West Palm is nice and I would absolutely visit there again!

More vacation posts to come... stay tuned...

News! Like the Black&White Print.

So the problem with having so many hobbies is they completely get in the way of blogging. Not that I have forgotten about the bloggy world, I've just been so stinkin' busy! However I have a lot of exciting news!

1. I'm buying a house! House hunting takes up about half of my nights. Between scouring the Internet hourly for new listings and going to visit the houses and all the areas, it's a lot of work! Thank God we have the most amazing real estate agent, he is so patient and thorough. I fired the first one we had, she was worthless, my sweet Bayla pup could show houses better. She kept pushing us to buy a house that she had listed that had NOTHING we wanted UGH. Take my advice, if you're looking for houses, make sure you have a good agent that you're comfortable with because the process is pain enough. Being a newbie to house hunting I have a million questions, and the process is so overwhelming... it is not at all like they show on HGTV House Hunters. House Hunters, while I love the show, is not accurate at all! I realize the Charleston housing market is more competitive than most markets but good lord, we have gone to see several houses that were just listed and they are contingent by that evening! Meaning, you don't even have time to think about the house overnight to make a decision before someone already snatches it up! I'm not an impulsive person, I mean ok sometimes those impulse purchases get the best of me while standing in the check out at Target, but this is a HOME we are talking about here! This decision needs at least a night to sleep on it, right? We did find a house we fell in love with... it was so cute and on the water and I had the whole darn thing decorated immaculately in my head (yes yes, even down to the Waverly curtain patterns). So we bid on it the morning bright and early. Then we waited, and waited, and waited.... and someone else got it (when we basically offered asking price). That day will be known as "Black Monday" because it was the first time I had gotten "broken up with" by a house. I had a found the perfect little place to call home, it would have been a great relationship, and it rejected me. Stupid house.
But it will not get me down! Ohhh no. Doesn't that just mean there's a better house out there waiting for us? We've looked at about 25 houses already, some decent and some real crappers... Im still holding out for the one that feels like home when I walk through the front door. And you better bet that Im going to decorate it so stinkin' cute and do bloggy tutorials on every aspect. Stay tuned.

2. This afternoon Scott and I will be making the trek to West Palm Beach, Florida. WhooWhoo! Im so excited. We are going to see Dave Mathews Band in West Palm this weekend and then travel to Miami the after the weekend to board a surprise cruise! I have been wanting to go on another cruise for a few years now. We had decided to do "Tour De Florida" and go to all the beaches for 9 days. However, Scott surprised me with a mini cruise and then mini "Tour De Florida," which is the best of both worlds! We will get to see West Palm, Miami, Orlando and Daytona then 5 days on a cruise to see Coco Cay, Nassau Bahamas, and Key West! Luckily I have packed my diva sunnin' hat and plenty of bathing suits, whoohoo! Pictures to come of course. But here's a teaser...

This is the Cruzan Amphitheatre where we will be seeing DMB. Isn't it gorgeous?! (ps. this is not an endorsement for Cruzan. Don't drink it, I don't sell it!)

Royal Caribbean Cruise! Im SOOOO excited! Bahamas here I come with a fruity umbrella drink! Whoop Whoop!

3. In June we went on a mini vacation to Clear Water, Florida and made a pit stop in Orlando to Universal Studios! OMG it's so much fun and the perfect place to act like a kid! I LOVED Hogwarts! If you follow my previous post (yes I know from months ago) you'll know I have become obsessed with the books. They did such an amazing job bringing the book and movies to life, they did not leave out a single aspect, it was amazing. I had butter beer, went into Zonkos, the wand shop etc etc. It really was the best amusement park I've been to. I had so much fun, it was a bit magical, (lame I know) but anything is magical if it makes you feel twelve again.

Top left: In the window of Zonkos they had the Puking Pastilles doll just like in the movie. Top right: Hogwarts Express. Bottom right: look how cool Hogwarts really looked!

Top left is the animal book from Hagrids class that moved and tried to bite haha. Top right and bottom left is inside Olivanders Wand Shop where the wand chooses one certain kid... very cool to see. Then of course Hogwarts is in the bottom right.
Top left: Butterbeer! Yum! It needed some dark rum... maybe Ill make it at home and post the recipe! (It started pouring right as we were leaving hence the hat). Top right; is the sorting hat. Bottom left: the Weasleys car that disappeared into the forest. Bottom right: Scott and I cheesin' infront of Hogwarts.

4. I've made several wedding gifts for friends (shout out to one of my besties Sarah and her beautiful wedding) and other craftys for my home. Tutorials to come.