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!

2016 Year Recap: Part 2

Life got very busy in May and June because we were in the midst of selling our house and purchasing a new home. Things went pretty smoothly with purchasing but we had a bit of a nightmare selling since three buyers went under contract and then for one reason or another backed out so it took about 3 months to sell. But there were tons of fun moments tied into the angst of selling our home.

If you missed it, here's my 2016 Year Recap: Part One.

May

I got lots of bestie time on the weekends while she was in town visiting. We most often went to Cocoa Beach but we also tried new things like Yoga in the Park one weekend and walked around the huge Farmer's Market Downtown Orlando.

I spent a lot of time browsing for home furniture and decor for the new home although we were waiting for our house to sell before making these purchases. I shared some of my favorite decor in this Home Edition post.

K and I traveled to Colorado at the end of May and I did a quick recap of our long weekend trip exploring Denver.

I apparently shared quite a few Fashion & Style inspired posts in the month of May.

Crochet Dress Under $50

Satin Sleepwear

Scalloped Style

Lace Looks

I talked about my US Cities Loves and Lusts and got to cross quite a few lusts of the list including Denver, Nashville, and The Florida Keys. We have a trip booked for Boston early next year and I'm working on crossing the final city lust off my list which is Charleston.

June

I got around to sharing all the details of our Denver trip which was such a fun city to explore.

The bestie and I did a girls weekend getaway to Cocoa Beach with Lola in tow. It was the perfect vacation refresher before starting a new job.

We moved into our new house and I started the new job right around the same time so things were busy settling into both new environments.

I attended Kate's Gender Reveal Party and wore pink because I "knew" it was a girl! Funny enough more people at the party wore blue.

The Pulse Nightclub shootings happened here in Orlando in June which rocked our city in a bad way but it was heartwarming to see our community come together to support the victims and the LGBT community. I talked about my love for the city I live in ~ The City Beautiful.

I shared the recipe for one of my favorite Italian dishes - Chicken Marsala - but slow-cooker style. It was my first attempt at making it in a crockpot but it came out so much better than when I tried the traditional recipe as a novice.

July

We traveled to Jamaica for my cousin's wedding and I did a quick recap of our time spent there with my family.

Clearly my fashion posts slowed down but I talk about some of my Faux Fashion favorites.

I shared a recipe for Festive Rice Krispies Treats which I decorated in pink and blue for Kate's gender reveal party. I also made these for 4th of July in red, white & blue so you can really make them work for any "festive" occasion with the topping colors.

August

I got around to sharing the full details of our family vacation in July to Montego Bay.

I shared some of my favorite Girlfriend Getaway Destinations along with some cute gift ideas for the Fashion Forward Ladies in your life.

I attended my first Blogger Tasting Tour and got to try different dishes and drinks from 3 amazing local restaurants I had never eaten at before.

The event was hosted by Order Up Orlando which is a food delivery app for your phone and they really did a spectacular job with picking the restaurants and getting some food bloggers together to do the tour.

I capped off the month with a weekend trip to Canada to spend time with my family and attend our Family Reunion in Toronto.

Looking back, I clearly kept super busy but got to celebrate so many fun occasions and fulfill my passion for travel.

Cruising on The Majesty of the Seas

My company took us on a 3-night Royal Caribbean cruise a couple weeks ago and it's taken me some time to get a recap of the trip rounded up but here it is today!

The Majesty of the Seas ship leaves out of the port near Orlando so I've gone on this cruise a couple of times before but this time it was all my new coworkers.



Friday
We boarded the ship on in the afternoon and got settled into our cabins. My roommate/coworker and I had an outside-view cabin which means one round window allowing you to see out. Very basic as it comes but definitely a step up from the interior cabins with no windows or sunlight so you have no idea what time of day it is.

Leaving the port in Florida on Friday evening we caught a beautiful sunset and set sail south for the Bahamas.

Saturday
Cruising into Nassau, you get a beautiful view of the island and the huge Atlantis Resort in the background. While a few of us were on the deck watching the views, the CEO of my company offered to take a photo of me and I commented that "he was way too close to my face with the camera" but he snapped it anyway and one doesn't complain to the CEO. So there's that.

We had an excursion booked to go jet packing in Nassau on Saturday but the company cancelled that morning so we Plan B was to explore the island in groups depending what you wanted to see/do.

The events of this day were definitely the highlight of my trip!

We walked around downtown Nassau by the port area and did some local shopping. After a couple hours we took a taxi and headed over to the Fish Fry restaurant strip on Bay Street where you can get some of the best local food from a variety of different small restaurants/vendors.





- We listened to local music at a cute waterfront restaurant
- We tried some local beers and cocktails
- We had some conch and crab cakes which were amazing
- We walked on the beach and got some selfies of our group
- My boss asked the Jerk Lady to marry him (her food was amazing off the grill)
- The rest of us offered to take her back in our suitcases
- We tried the world famous Sky Juice
- We chatted with the locals and enjoyed the scenery

 Although most of us split up during the day to explore our different interests, we met up every night for dinner to regroup and eat together. The dinners are the best meal on the ship so you don't want to skip it plus our CEO requested that we all attend.
 


Sunday
The cruise ship docked at Coco Cay which is the private island owned by Royal Caribbean. It's a beautiful small island but I've been there a few times before so I opted to stay on the ship and relax/be productive. That's my favorite thing to do on Sundays plus I needed some "me time" after all the different activities and chaos that comes with large groups.

 
I grabbed a frozen cocktail and lounged on the upper deck of the ship overlooking the ocean and did some blogging/work.
 
 




In the evening we gathered again for our last dinner and shared our highlights of the trip. Other than the fun-filled day in Nassau on Saturday, the nightly dinners together was a close second favorite.

Monday
Monday morning comes quickly and it's a "get the hell off the ship at 7am shuffle" (not by choice but by schedule) and then to stand in line behind 200 people to get through the different security checkpoints. I should have thought to grab a coffee to get through this debacle.



All in all, it was a wonderful trip filled with so many fun and funny memories with my team and all the coworkers since we're a small company to begin with.

My #1 Tip:
For a short cruise like this: The night before you leave, be packed up and prepared because you need to be ready to go first thing in the morning, and in my case, have some time to get caffeinated enough to drive an hour straight into the office to start the work day.

Here's a recap of my trip to Nassau back in 2013 where I explored different parts of the island (and had a much better tan back then lol!)

Islamorada Weekend Vacay

I've been dreaming of going to the Florida Keys for a few years now and K decided to make it happen for my birthday this year. The last time I visited Key West was over 10 years ago for spring break so another trip was well overdue. We found a gorgeous resort on Islamorada which is a slightly easier drive as opposed to driving two more hours to get to Key West.

We left Orlando just after lunch but hitting Miami traffic added an extra hour onto our trip so we finally arrived around 7pm just in time to grab some dinner and have a drink at the Tiki Bar on the resort property.
 

Our hotel on the beach was gorgeous with so many amenities, water-sports, and a few restaurants to chose from. I woke up on Saturday morning to this gorgeous view perfect for sipping on some coffee before getting our day started.

Saturday was a bit overcast so we drove around and explored the island. We found a huge art market and bought some local art for our house and for gifts, we ate some of the best seafood and drank (too many) frozen drinks.

The frozen Key Lime Daiquiris were to die for!

Sunday was a beautiful day despite the weather forecast not being favorable, it turned out to be a sunny and gorgeous day. We had brunch at a cute local spot on the bayside of Islamorada. Multiple friends recommended this spot and it didn't disappoint. I had the shrimp and grits with a pineapple mimosa but the scenery was just the best.

We spent the rest of Sunday relaxing on the beach at our resort and of course enjoying another Key Lime Daiquiri.







We're making the drive back home today and my heart is so happy for finally making it down to the Keys to enjoy a little tropical getaway with my hubby. Couldn't ask for a better birthday gift!


Joining the lovely Biana.