Friday Favorites

With Monday being a work holiday, this week seemed to just fly by which is always a great feeling! After the busyness of the holidays, I'm welcoming a fairly relaxing weekend which is perfect since the weather forecast isn't looking good!

 
On Fridays I usually post about some favorites from the week. Today I wanted to change it up and share favorites that are relevant to the theme of my blog (all listed in my navigation bar above).

Martinis & Bikinis is a Lifestyle Blog so I talk about a hodge podge of things which inherently means these are the things I love and enjoy doing.

Orlando Living

I talk about my weekend whereabouts and all the things I love about my city including my favorite sushi restaurants, happy hour hot spots...and other fun things to do.

Travel
I have a huge passion for traveling so this comes in 2 parts...

Travel Planning
The only trip I have signed and sealed for 2017 is Boston in the Spring and I'm super excited about planning out the details of that trip!

I'm sure there will be other travel adventures throughout the year once we figure out our work schedules.

 via

Travel Recaps
A recent one was our company Cruise to the Bahamas last month and how much fun we had exploring Nassau.

That's me learning how to use a selfie stick. Still don't own one.

Style & Fashion

I'm a shopper at heart but I like to find the best deals and stock up when things are on sale. I mainly share fashion and beauty products that are very affordable, not that $3000 purse that nobody can afford. 

Recipes

I love cooking and sharing new recipes. Sundays are usually when I have time to try a new recipe and share the details on the blog. My recipe posts have slowed down recently but I do plan to share some healthy new recipes for 2017 such as this Jalapeno & Swiss Stuffed Chicken dish.

My Life: Family & Friends

With all of the fun things aside, I don't share too much details of my family life to keep a level of privacy from the internet creepers.

What I can tell you is....

- K and I have parents that are still married (40+ years)

- We both have one sibling - both sisters

- Our extended family is huge on both sides & very close knit

- We have no kids but Lola is the love of our life (and a handful enough)

- We have a great group of friends in Orlando 

- Both of our best friends are from childhood days

Happy (almost) weekend and I hope the weather treats you better wherever you are!

Ringing in 2017

Since my parents had to cancel their trip to visit us for Christmas and New Years (details here), we decided to throw a last minute party at our house for NYE. Mostly everyone we knew already had plans or were out of town but luckily some of our neighbors were in for the celebration and we did a little house hopping to another neighbor's house to set off fireworks at midnight.

It was a very Christmas-themed NYE party because we bought so much food and drinks to celebrate with my parents but instead went out of town on Christmas Day to spend it with K's family.





Nothing goes to waste around here so we cooked turkey and some sides for dinner but we did have the NYE essentials ~ champagne and fireworks to ring in the new year.

We ate and had some eggnog and drinks and then headed over to our neighbor's house to pop the champagne and light off fireworks at midnight.

With my sister in town and lots on our agenda for the whole week, this was the perfect way to ring in 2017 with new friends in the neighborhood.

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!

SIL's Wedding Weekend

Another fun weekend for the books spent with family and awesome weather on Florida's west coast.

On Friday afternoon we drove two hours for my sister-in-law's wedding weekend. By the time we checked into the hotel and got settled it was already 7pm so we walked to the nearby marina and settled for some seafood dinner at Pier 22 riverfront restaurant.

After dinner we met up with my SIL and her wedding party at their favorite pub where they went to hang out after the rehearsal dinner.

On Saturday morning, we got properly caffeinated and relaxed at the hotel before getting dressed and dolled up for the wedding that afternoon.

 

The ceremony was short and sweet at their childhood church and then the reception was at a cute banquet hall for an amazing dinner, live music, and lots of mingling with family and the kids. The wedding ended fairly early and I opted out of the after-party for the sake of getting some rest.

Sunday was a gorgeous day which made it very hard to want to leave. We checked out of the hotel and decided to enjoy the weather by walking around the marina and getting some lunch at Riverhouse Reef & Grill before hitting the road.

 Beautiful weekends like that make me wish I lived closer to the water. I hope your weekend was just as fulfilling!


Joining the lovely Biana for some Weekending fun.