Christmas in the Caribbean

 

I meant to post this earlier this year when we actually spent Christmas in the Caribbean.

Birthday & Christmas Wishlist

It's that time of the year that I get to wish for all the things. I realize the trip to Charleston next weekend is actually my true birthday gift as K and I choose to travel for our birthdays to experience new places and create memories, which is priceless but still comes at a cost.

Home For The Holidays

The weekend was extremely low-key around here after returning from vacation so I'm diving right into my travel recaps this week sharing some highlights from our trip to Trinidad & Tobago.

Kicking Off The Holidays

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, I've started getting into the Christmas spirit with some gift shopping, several upcoming holiday parties with friends, and planning our Winter Wonderland company holiday party for about 200 people.

Christmas Vacation Scenes

Our house was beginning to look a lot like Christmas. K and I spent weeks decorating and organizing the house for the arrival of my parents and sister to spend our first Florida Christmas together until we got the news that my dad was in the hospital. So to make a long story short, only my sister made it to Florida. I was really upset at first but we made the best of it and decided to take a road trip to K's family on Christmas day.

 We celebrated early at home on Christmas Eve opening gifts with my mom via FaceTime and cooking a smaller version of Christmas dinner.


 
  
I wanted to get that out of the way before backing up a few days when my sister arrived in Orlando. We were all disappointed by the news but decided to make the best of it and planned a few extra things to keep us busy.

Last week Friday we visited the Pulse Nightclub memorial site and then went to see the Christmas lights at Wall Street downtown Orlando before heading to the Amway Center to watch the Magic vs Lakers game.

I'm happy to report the Orlando Magic won and my sister had a blast at the game!

On Christmas day, we made our way to Florida's west coast with my sister to spend Christmas with K's extended family.

My MIL absolutely spoiled us with gifts but most of all she spoiled me with 3 gorgeous Pandora charms to add to my small yet growing collection.

We stayed Christmas night at a hotel near the water and woke up to beautiful weather on Monday so we walked around the riverfront before grabbing lunch and making the road trip back home.

On Wednesday night we had tickets to go see Dancing With The Stars live at the new performing arts theater downtown. My cousins drove into town (to take my parents place) and we all went our for some dinner before the show.

 

We had amazing seats quite close up to the stage and they put on a fantastic show staring Laurie Hernandez the winner of Season 23 (also US women's Olympic gymnast).

It was pretty difficult snapping any quality photos with the fancy lighting and the movement of dancing but I'll share some more of the fun details next week.

To wrap up, it was a far from traditional Christmas this year but it all worked out. My Dad is doing much better and technology helped us stay connected with my mom all weekend long. 

Today we are on to another adventure.

Happy Friday and enjoy the weekend!

'Tis The Season Home Decor

Most of my holiday decorations are on the traditional side with lots of red, green and gold tones. This year I went against the grain and added some beach/coastal themed decor to my collection.

 Have you walked into Home Goods lately? At least the location in Florida is beached out so it's hard not to leave without some sparkly holiday goodies.

Titles are clickable

Coastal Holiday Wreath

I did find this gorgeous wreath at Kohl's and knew it was going home with me but I have some other holiday decor faves to share that aren't of the beach variety.

 

Reindeer Stocking Holder

"Be Merry" Gold Rim Stemless Wine Glass Set

Naughty & Nice Holiday Napkins

"Keep Calm & Drink Wine" Apron

Naughty/Nice Reversible Serving Board

Poinsettia Throw Pillow

Yankee Candle Frosted Cinnamon

Martha Stewart Gold Reindeer Collection

My Christmas tree is up and mostly all of my new and old decorations are set out but I have to admit I've been procrastinating with hanging the 100+ ornaments on our tree. The goal is to get it done before my family arrives for Christmas. LOL

How's your holiday decorating coming along?

Oh Christmas Tree

Just a day early but I'm here to wish each and every one of you a fabulous Christmas tomorrow. The holidays is about reconnecting with loved ones and showing your appreciation for their presence in your life. I appreciate the true friendships I've made through blogging and love those that have followed my life journey via my blog.

In the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to share some of my favorite tree ornaments. Since K and I started dating we have collected shot glasses from all the cities and countries we've visited but at this point our cabinet is bursting at the seams so we recently started buying ornaments from our travels instead. So here's our little collection plus some other sentimental ornaments.

New Orleans, LA

Disney - Orlando, FL

Savannah, GA

Las Vegas, NV

Busch Gardens - Tampa, FL

And of course a photo ornament from Lola's 1st Christmas.

We hope to continue growing our travel ornaments to remind us through the years of all the places we've vistied and experienced together.

Merry Christmas to all my beautiful friends out there! 

Five on Friday

Not only is it Friday but it's the last full work week for the year so that's pretty exciting! I'm also relieved my husband is finally returning home tonight after being gone for two weeks for his new job. It's been slightly stressful holding down the fort 100% solo. Other than that, I have some fun things to share from this week.

ONE:

Monday can actually be classified as a fave (for the first time ever) because I took the morning off to relax after all the birthday and holiday party celebrations over the weekend (here and here). I got into work after lunch to find the sweetest birthday card and Kohl's gift card from my team. 

My company also gifted every employee with a new Apple TVs for the holidays. Who knew a Monday could be that good? Just need to figure out how to work the thing.

TWO:

My birthday on Sunday was such a treat with the girls and I love all the goodies I raked in including a Rocksbox membership, Alex & Ani bangles, a 'happy birthday' stemless wine glass and this amazing Marc Jacobs Decadence perfume that K gave me.

THREE:

Some pretty holiday/NYE party dresses I stumbled about while browsing LuLu's website.

one  /  two  /  three

FOUR:
I've been enjoying my Christmas tree at night all lit up along with all the small decorations throughout the house and our outdoor lights. I'm excited for Christmas next week to say the least.

FIVE:
I'm thankful and loving all the Christmas cards I've received from blogger friends near and far. Thank you ladies! xoxo

Bonus Fave:

If you love testing and reviewing free products, I recommend signing up for Influenster. They send out free boxes of goodies depending on your interests and profile and I've gotten some great things to test such as makeup, cosmetics, protein bars and other nutrition products.

Joining Amanda for her Friday Favorites linkup. 

Christmas Weekend

What a fun-filled yet relaxing (at times) Christmas break away from work and spent with those that mean the most - family and friends. I feel refreshed to start this new week and I'm already looking forward to celebrating NYE this week.

I apologize in advance for overloading you with Lola photos.

On Christmas Eve, we drove 2 hours west to spend Christmas night with my in-laws and extended family. We did a white elephant gift exchange and K & I ended up with Busch Gardens park tickets to use in 2015. Pretty sweet!!

We also decided to open gifts the night before Christmas this year. Lola got a new bed and I got lots of gift cards, camera accessories, some Alex & Ani bangles, a pearl necklace from my Mother In Law and some other goodies.  

On Christmas day, we had a huge lunch with family and then went over to spend the night with some friends so Lola could meet and play with their Basset Hound, Snuff for the night. We drank lots of wine and played some cards.

On Friday, we headed back home and got our house ready for a Christmas party with friends. We played Cards Against Humanity which was hilarious and had some Eggnog and finger foods.

Saturday was a relaxing days at home. We went for dinner and drinks at Chili's and relaxed the rest of the night at home.

On Sunday, we did some shopping and then went for lunch with friends to watch football with Lola at a dog-friendly restaurant. Later in the evening we drove an hour to meet one of my best friends from Trinidad to have dinner with her family and 3 kids.

 
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas weekend!

Joining the lovely Biana for her weekending linkup.