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!

2016 Year Recap: Part 3

September

K and Lola share the same birthday on the 5th so we showered Lola with some doggie treats and then shortly after traveled to Nashville to celebrate K's birthday on Labor Day weekend.

We had such a blast exploring "Music City". I've never been a huge fan of country music but on Broadway Street you really hear some great talent which made me become an immediate fan.

The girls and I planned out Kate's baby shower and we decided on the perfect theme based around her love for travel (which we both have in common).



I shared all the cute details of her travel-themed baby shower which was probably the cutest baby shower I've attended to date! Not being biased or anything.



I traveled to Bradenton to go to my SIL's bachelorette party and it was so much fun. We did an Oktoberfest Craft Beer Tour through Sarasota and it was so surprised by all the local breweries we visited and that I never knew existed.

October

Many relaxing weekends were had compared to the months prior. Our Bahamas cruise was planned for early October but Hurricane Matthew swept in and the cruise got cancelled.

We started decorating our home and I shared some furniture and decor style I picked out for our home.

I shared some delicious recipes for Fall along with some cute swimsuits with coverage (in anticipation for our company cruise) and fun tips for hosting brunch at home.

We attended my SIL's wedding which was beautiful and had amazing food!

 
I got to meet Kate's baby fashionista and loved every moment of snuggle time with her.

November

We hosted a housewarming party for friends.

I talked about starting a series called "Never a Dull Moment" and shared our Family Vacation Edition which came with many mishaps and misfortunes sprinkled into all the fun.

We drove up to St. Augustine to celebrate a good friend's birthday and enjoyed exploring Florida's oldest city and all the good food and history it has to offer.

December

Our company cruise to the Bahamas got rescheduled for early December so I shared the details of that trip and cruising on the Majesty of The Seas ship and exploring Nassau.

We started decorating for the holidays and I also shared some girl friend gift ideas.

My birthday is in December so K planned a weekend getaway to Islamorada in the Florida Keys which was an amazing little vacation.

The following weekend Kate and the girls planned a birthday brunch to celebrate my 33rd.

My job threw a company luncheon to kick off the holidays and gifted everyone with Citizen watches which was a huge surprise.

We celebrated Christmas with family in Florida and this was the holiday card we sent out to family and friends this year.

Wrapping the year up and looking back, I'd say 2016 treated me very well and I'm looking forward to new adventures in 2017!

Read my previous 2016 Year Recaps:

Part One  /  Part Two

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.