Birthday Celebrations & Beautiful Weekend

We've been having a small taste of Fall weather in Florida lately but this weekend was our first sweater and boots kind of weather. It was cold in the night but beautiful during the day and a perfect weekend to explore St. Augustine once again.

On Saturday morning K and I made the two hour drive north to celebrate a good friend's birthday. We checked into our hotel and gasped at the beautiful ocean view from our balcony before heading out to meet up with the birthday girl and the gang.



We walked around the cute downtown area which was bustling since the Light Up! Night Ceremony was happening that night. We finally settled at St. Augustine's famous restaurant, Columbia, for some dinner which is one our favorite restaurants in town.


 

For the Light Up! ceremony that night, St. Augustine turned on over 3 million white lights decorating the historic downtown to kick off the holidays. It was beautiful and this came as a pleasant surprise to us since we were unaware of this annual event.

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After an amazing dinner and some hilarious table banter, we went to Scarlett O'Hara's for a drink to cap off the night.

On Sunday, K and I were up and about early so we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and explore. We walked around the riverfront and checked out several local shops downtown while waiting for another favorite restaurant to open so we could grab some lunch before heading home.

 

Joining the lovely Biana.

Another Relaxing One

As much as I love traveling and keeping busy, I definitely appreciate the relaxing weekends in between and that's exactly what my past couple weekends have been looking like. K and I usually go out for dinner on Friday nights but I was so tired after getting home from work, the only sensible option was to order Chinese food and watch the Olympics Opening Ceremonies at home. I actually know two guys who made it to the Olympics this year (both siblings of longtime friends I know from Trinidad) so I'm looking forward to following their progress.

On Saturday morning lots of relaxing happened before heading to a friend's baby's 1st birthday party for a few hours. It was very cute watching him dig into his smash cake and make a mess (which is never fun for the parents to clean up).

After the party we met up with some friends for dinner at The Chef's Table & Tasting Room which is a new-to-us restaurant and a serious hidden gem.

The four of us shared several small plates (like the Creole shrimp & grits and the fig & prosciutto flatbread in the photo below). Everything we tried was amazing and I'm already wanting to go back even though it's not very close to home! Catching up with friends along with fun cocktails and live music made it a great Saturday night.

Sunday was all about relaxing, getting stuff organized around the house, and grilling out for dinner. Oh and giving Lola all the attention she requires.

The good news is I feel super rested and ready to tackle this week!

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

The Good-to-be-Home Weekend

Wow, I can't believe it's August already! This year has been zipping by but I guess time flies when you're having fun although we really need to slow down the clock for getting older!

I had a pretty low key weekend which was perfect after returning home from our family vacation in Jamaica last week. Other than catching up on some sleep, my days were spent unpacking, doing tons of laundry, and getting things organized around the house.

We ventured out on Saturday night to celebrate my good friend's birthday at Tapa Toro for dinner, which is a new Spanish Tapas restaurant right below the Orlando Eye. The food was delicious and the company was even better. We stayed out for a few hours to celebrate the birthday girl and then called it a night. 

On Sunday K and I made spent the morning relaxing at home and giving Lola all the attention. We missed her while on vacation.

We went out to grab some groceries and lunch and can I just say my new favorite guilty pleasure are Brie Bites. I may have to try making a baked version of these at home since I'm a huge fan of brie cheese.

That's all I have for today! I hope this week treats you well...I'm praying the heat in Florida eases up for us soon since it's been unbearably sauna-like hot. The weather was much more comfortable in Jamaica!


Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Weekend Whereabouts

Well this weekend just seemed to zip by as they all tend to do. By the time Friday night came around I was pretty exhausted so we went for a quick bite at The Social House, which just recently opened. There was live music but it was extremely loud (like we could hardly even talk) and the salad I ordered was just okay. I'll give them another try but it wasn't the best date night idea.

When we got home we relaxed and watched The Night Before from RedBox. I didn't care for the movie so I zoned out half way through. I guess that means I don't recommend it, at least it didn't peak my interest.

On Saturday morning it was time to go pick up my new car at the Mazda dealership which of course is a long process and takes a couple hours but I'm in love with my new ride and all the new features cars have these days.

 On Saturday night it was time to get dolled up and head to Mango's Tropical Cafe to celebrate J's 37th birthday with dinner, drinks, and entertainment. While the atmosphere was fun with lots of different shows throughout the night, the service was horrendous (took 30 minutes to get a drink), the food was decent but they messed up a few people's orders including mine. The icing on the cake was when we had to pay $15 for valet parking but when it came time to leave, we waited almost 45 minutes for them to bring the car. I probably sound like a complaining shit between the events of Friday and Saturday night but I will always give my honest opinion here on my blog.

It was a fun night with friends but I will never return to Mango's again!

Sunday was all about getting organized - eggs benedict for a late breakfast since I slept in, three loads of laundry, all the blogging possible, dinner cooking in the crockpot, weekly food prep, and early to bed with hopes of not feeling too exhausted today because of the time change.

How was your weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Weekend Whereabouts

How is it Monday already? The weekends are just never long enough. This weekend was full of celebrations and time spent with friends.

On Friday after work I met up with K and Lola downtown for happy hour and then dinner at Dexter's on the outside patio.

On Saturday I did a bunch of errands before heading to Sea Dog Brewing Co. for an early dinner and blogger date with Meg from Borrowed Heaven and Kate. Meg was in town visiting from Charleston with her husband and we had a nice time chatting over some drinks and dinner.

 

After dinner Kate and I headed downtown to celebrate a good friend's "F*ck Cancer" party since she's finally free of cancer after a year long battle. We are so happy she can live her life normally again because she really is the most sweetest and genuine girl that deserves a healthy life.

On Sunday we went out to celebrate the 1st birthday of little Landyn at their lakefront house. It's ridiculous that it was almost 80 degrees during "winter" in Florida but I'll take that over snow and frigid temps.

 

 

I loved spending time with friends, babies and fur babies this weekend.

 
Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Weekend Whereabouts

I can't believe it's already February. The whole month of January just zipped by, didn't it?

We had a fun Friday night out to celebrate a friend's birthday at Cafe Tu Tu Tango which has amazing tapas and sangria. It's an artsy restaurant that features local artwork on the walls along with belly-dancers, magicians, and artists painting right in front of you. Definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Orlando.

After dinner we went to Tin Roof for a couple drinks and some live music and got this gem of a picture with the birthday guy.

It was a fun night out catching up with Kate and the girls.

On Saturday, K and I went car shopping browsing because I'm almost due for a new car and I think I found the one I want. We still have a few more dealerships to check out but the Mazda CX-5 seems to be the best fit for me so far.

After hours of car dealerships, we met up with some friends downtown to celebrate another birthday with some drinks and then eventually dinner before settling at home for a quiet night. I was in bed by 9:30 pm. Talk about being old.

Sunday was all about Lola snuggles, food prepping for the week, and blogging. I made two different types of quiches for breakfast this week and a pot roast in the crockpot for dinner.

How was your weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.