The Postcard Inn Beach Resort

We traveled to Islamorada in the Florida Keys for my birthday in December and K couldn't have chosen a more beautiful to resort to stay at. Having said that, we spent most of our time relaxing on the beach and enjoying the resort's amenities, onsite restaurants and the tiki bar where we were introduced to frozen Key Lime Daiquiris which were to die for!

The Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina

I'll let the pictures do the talking from here.

 

It was such a relaxing vacation celebrating my birthday at a beautiful resort and I loved having an oceanfront room and balcony to enjoy coffee in the morning and cocktails in the evening.

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.