The Royal Wedding


hello hello martinis and bikinis readers!! i am so excited to take over emily's blog today! i am lauren and i blog over at lot 48!! at my blog, you can find incredibly random things, from jobs i would hate and a 'you are beautiful' linkup to promote self love and healthy positive self image! you will not find recipes (well, rarely) DIY projects, fitness, or fashion posts.  not my jam.  i just like to have fun and write about things that will hopefully make you smile. 

with the anticipation of princess kate having her second baby, i wanted to talk tell you the story of me attending the royal wedding!! 

i was on a study abroad in london and a junior in college.  i was on the brink of turning 21 and had been in london for 3 days. the second (or first, i don't remember) day we were in london, we went to westminster abbey and there was a bunch of paparazzi because i guess there was a rehearsal going on for the wedding!! and we saw harry, but not the couple coming out of the abbey (or church?). 

we were all soooooo excited that we were in london for the wedding!! we could imagine anything better!! we felt so lucky that we picked 2011 to go on a study abroad! i felt like a dream had come true.  some girls decided to make the crazy decision to camp out all night long on the grounds of buckingham palace.  they wanted to see all the commotion in the morning and hopefully get a glimpse of kate.  but in order to get close enough to see her, they knew they had to go the night before.  i think there were 8 of them that went and sat on the gross across from the huge statue/fountain.  it was quite the adventure for them!!  they stayed up all night watching movies on their ipad and talking to drunk men and made a few friends, that we later hung out with in brighton beach.  

but i wanted my sleep!! so i opted to go across the street from our flat to kensington gardens to watch the wedding on huge screens with the rest of london.  


it was PACKED.  




haha i was so young!! i was a baby!! i miss london so much, even to this day.  i was very excited to be there, as you can see. 


it was a very surreal moment to watch the royal wedding, knowing that the wedding was happening in the double digits away from me, and that i was watching it with the brits.  it was amazing and so special.  it literally was a dream come true. 



i LOVE her wedding dress, don't you?  my wedding dress kind of looked like it.  i'm kind of obsessed with her.  my mom and my sisters are too.  and my grandma. the other day i was visiting my grandma and she said "i hope someone calls me when kate has her baby and tells me the sex." she was so concerned about it.  hahaha.  my mom's side of the family is extremely english.  my great grandmother was fully english, had tea at 4 pm every day, had the accent and my grandma and my mom were raised with english pride and english manners.  after living in london, i understood my mom so much better. :) 

what is a english wedding without hats?? it was a royal and very special occasion after all!!  as we walked to the park, we passed a car that had people in it that were clearly guests of the wedding.  they had the coolest hats i have ever seen.  


not everyone wore hats, but everyone was decked out in some way!! 


and some were even dressed as brides!! 

{i'm the one in the middle!!}

going to the royal wedding was one of the best experiences of my life.  i loved every second of my time in london and miss it every day.  i am aching to go back, and i am sure i will someday.  my husband lived there for 2 years, so it's calling both our names.  

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thanks for reading! xoxo

Busch Gardens Tampa

I did a quick recap of our trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa over the weekend and our experience at their Food & Wine Festival which was excellent! Today I wanted to share some more details about the park itself and some of the rides and attractions that stood out to me.

I didn't explore every single inch of the park but, being there for a full eight hours, I think we saw most of the main attractions and covered good ground.

The Rides:
The Cheetah Hunt and Skyride Cable Cars.
We really wanted to go on the Skyride to get a bird's eye view of the park but it was closed due to weather conditions (too windy). 


Falcon's Fury

The Phoenix

Congo River Rapids

Sheikra

The Animals:
We saw an elephant, large alligator, a gorilla, tortoises, flamingos and penguins.





Garden Sightings:
Beautiful garden displays all throughout the park. 


Live fountain statue singing in the garden at the Food & Wine Festival. 

Games:
There were several options for games and arcade games where you can win prizes such as the Flamingo Farm below.

Shows:
There were several shows to pick from and we decided on Iceploration which is a 30-minute ice skating show with professional skaters and acrobats. Flash photography was not allowed so I didn't capture the best photos with my iPhone. 

Food & Drinks:
We had lunch at Zambia Smokehouse which serves fast-food barbecue and it was fairly good.

Later in the evening and after several drinks at the Food & Wine Festival, we tried several small plates at the festival which were all excellent. 

Menu:
Pan-Seared Shrimp with Roasted Red Pepper Grits & Grilled Corn
Bacon-Wrapped Prawns
Deconstructed Duck Confit
Bacon Mac & Cheese

We had a great time exploring Busch Gardens and i was really impressed with all that they had to offer even though I'm not big into the scary rides but there's so much more to entertain people with all types of interests as I pointed out above. 

Cranberry Cream Cheese Rollups

** Before I get started, Kate and I both agree that hosting the Recipe Swap bi-weekly will be more manageable for both of our schedules so starting this week we will host the linkup every other Tuesday. We hope you will continue to join us in sharing your delicious recipes! **


This is a copycat recipe from Food.com that I stumbled upon on Pinterest and had to try for myself. It's also an easy finger food to whip together for parties or large groups of people.

Serving size: 40 pinwheels

Ingredients:
1 container low-fat cream cheese
1 (142 g) package dried cranberries
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped green onion
4 large sundried tomato flour tortillas

What To Do:
1. Combine the cream cheese, cranberries, feta cheese and green onion in small bowl and mix together well. 
2. Spread mixture evenly over each tortillas.
3. Fold the tortilla tightly and wrap in the plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about an hour. 
4. Use a sharp knife to cut in 10 slices.



Martinis & Bikinis

1. Follow Kate and myself via GFC and Bloglovin.

2. Link up your favorite recipes or food-related posts.

3. Grab our Recipe Swap button and link back to our blogs.

Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival

Hey lovelies! 

We meet again on this Monday morning and I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend.

On Saturday, we headed to Tampa for Busch Garden's Food & Wine Festival. It was a hot day in Florida but we lasted a solid eight hours. I have to say Busch Gardens definitely outdoes Disney when it comes to crazy/scary rides and I didn't go on one of them. Not one of the scary ones. (I plan to do a full recap of the park later this week). 


In a nutshell, I saw some beautiful animals such as this cute gorilla.


Went on the Congo River Rapids and got soaked!


Saw the Iceploration ice skating show.


Then ventured on to the Food & Wine Festival


Tried several small plates of amazing food...


And a beer flight with the husband...


While watching Daughtry in concert.


After the show K went on a couple scary rides while I relaxed my aching feet (old age is a bitch) and took photos. 


We checked into our hotel on Saturday night which turned out to be in the ghetto (I'm not even going to get started on that). Tampa is an interesting place....

On Sunday morning, we went to Ella's American Folk Art Cafe for some brunch/lunch which I was told was a must-do while in Tampa. The food and drinks were amazing and then we hit the road to head back home and call it a weekend. 



Another fun weekend for the books!

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup. 

Friday's Favorites

Happy Friday loves! So glad the weekend is here...

This week was fairly uneventful with my regular work routine. No afternoon happy hours or celebratory lunches/dinners but that's okay with me. Quiet and routine was nice for a change.


~ K and I started a 10-day herbal cleanse earlier this week. I've been interested in trying one but I didn't seek it out. K is friendly with a Rep from Advocare who somehow convinced him to buy us the cleanse kits. Ta da! Today is day 4 and I feel fine and it's really not hard to keep up with. Nothing crazy otherwise to report. I will let you know if it made any difference after 10 days. 

~ Buddha's quote "Be where you are. Otherwise, you will miss your life" sits on my desk at work with his smiling statue. It's something to think about especially with the distraction of technology and social media. Sometimes we must enjoy the moment instead. It's something I always need to remind myself especially as a blogger.

~ Afternoon walks with Lola around the neighborhood and apparently rest breaks too. 

~ Our low-carb dinner meal plan for the week was a success. My favorite is making a Mexican chicken fiesta salad, which reminds me of Chipotle's salad but with lighter ingredients (the sour cream and dressing). So good! 

Now on to some more favorites and joining the lovely Amanda for her weekly linkup.

Favorite Fashion Find:
Cute Maxi Dresses for the spring.


Favorite Recipe:
Jessica's Mahi Tacos with Chipotle Mayo look delish!


Favorite Fashion Quote: 
Wouldn't it be nice to have it all at the same time...


Finally, don't forget to enter our giveaway for a chance to win $200 big ones to Lululemon!



Have a fabulous weekend!