January Happenings

February crept on us quickly but I'm not complaining. Since I can't seem to blog as consistently as I'd like, I wanted to round up all things that happened in January.

Celebrations
We hosted a NYE party so technically that was the beginning of January. It was a blast ringing in 2019 with champagne, fireworks, and friends.

Birthday Brunch - Never Too Late to Celebrate

December is so busy, and while the girls tried to plan a birthday brunch for me then, K and I were heading to Charleston and then the holidays rang in so everyone was booked with family functions or traveling for the Holidays.

Neighborhood Pool Bash + Birthday Brunching

Before all the kids start school this week, our neighborhood organized a community pool party with a DJ, Food Truck, and Ice Cream Truck to all get together on Saturday.

Houston Weekend Highlights

  

I caught a last minute flight to Houston on Thursday to visit friends and they were amazing tour guides driving me around to see all the city has to offer. We packed so much in over the weekend but I got home around midnight last night so I'm doing a quick recap with one picture per day.

Weekend Adventures

It was an outdoorsy kind of weekend. Perfect for getting some color on my skin and wind in my hair.

Easter Weekend

We had a fun-filled long weekend spending time with family and friends in Sarasota.
 

Weekending: A Picture a Day

Keeping it short and sweet today since that's pretty much how the weekend was. Always too short right?

2017 Year Recap: May - August

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday on Monday and got to spend time with your loved ones. I shared Part One of my 2017 Adventures last week so here goes Part Two...

Weekend Flow

The weekend was a relaxing one. I was either sleeping, lounging at the pool, or working on some projects on my computer. I did venture out on Sunday for a few hours which was much needed!

Long Weekend Celebrations

 
What an action-packed weekend! Thankfully we have a short work week ahead. A friend from Boston was in town visiting over the long weekend so we definitely kept busy showing him a good time around Orlando. It's always fun playing tourist in your own city as he did the same for us when we went to visit him in Boston back in June.

Weekend Happenings

  
The weekend was a good mix of relaxing and fun with friends. That small time change for daylight savings gets me every time especially when you lose an hour of sleep so here's hoping this Monday goes by smoothly!

On Friday night we started planning some upcoming trips this year. Unfortunately we came to the realization that the big Europe trip we had hoped to pull together this summer is just not in the books and will have to wait until next year. We did decide on something more feasible and affordable.


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Playa del Carmen here we come! I've never been to Mexico so this is just as exciting with a lot less time off of work and little planning involved since we'll be staying at an all-inclusive resort.

Most of Saturday was spent lounging around watching TV and catching up on some blogging. In the evening we headed out to Universal Studios to catch the Mardi Gras parade with friends and enjoy some Cajun food for dinner.

We met up with the birthday girl and and our awesome neighbors also happened to be at the park so so we all went over to see the UB40 concert after the parade.

Such a fun night out with the birthday girl and friends!

The time change had me all kinds of confused on Sunday morning because we had brunch reservations but that time came earlier than expected.

Brunching at a beautiful lakeside restaurant was the extent of our fun on Sunday. The bottomless mimosas and Eggs Benedict were wonderful but the service was horrendous and had me all kinds of hangry after waiting 20 minutes for a "bottomless" drink and almost an hour for our food since the waiter "lost our ticket". Anyways, after fueling up on some brunch and having a couple pineapple mimosas the frustration subsided and I was good again.

Joining the lovely birthday girl Biana.

Lucky 33 Birthday Brunch

My birthday was on the 13th so K and I celebrated a little early with a trip to Islamorada in the Florida Keys last weekend.

This weekend Kate and my girlfriends organized a birthday brunch on Sunday which, of course is my favorite meal, and was nothing short of amazing from the food, the different flavored mimosas, the bloody mary bar and most importantly the company of all my friends!



Lola also got to join the fun since it was a dog friendly restaurant.

I'd say it was one of the best birthdays yet...... from relaxing in paradise with K in the Florida Keys to celebrating with my favorite girls and guys yesterday for brunch!

So much to be thankful for!

Joining the lovely Biana.

Weekend Whereabouts

Hey hey! Hope this Monday treats you well.

I had a pretty quiet weekend and only ventured out for some errands on Saturday and then brunch on Sunday with K so not many exciting things to share.

K was in Atlanta for a convention from Thursday to late Saturday night so I decided to have a quiet night at home on Friday after a stressful week. I arrived home to some pretty goodies in the mail from Phax Swimwear (sharing more details later this week). Lola also got lots of snuggle time with mom.

I rented The Intern movie on Friday but was too mentally exhausted to watch it until Saturday morning and I really loved the movie and whole story-line. Uplifting to say the least!

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After the movie, I went out to do some errands before heading home to clean and get the house organized. I had all intentions of going downtown to the Food & Wine Festival but decided against it and just stayed home to relax, blog and watch some TV. K returned home late Saturday night just before I was heading to sleep.

Sunday was "date day" with K so we headed downtown to Dexter's for some brunch with Lola in tote. I made sure to get most of the errands, cleaning and food prep done on Saturday so we could just spend time together on Sunday and relax.

After brunch we met up with some friends at 903 Mills Market so Lola and her best friend Louie could play while we caught up with friends.

It was a very relaxing weekend with some sunshine and fun mixed in there.

How was your weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Hosting Brunch at Home

It's no secret I'm a big fan of brunch food and luckily Orlando has some amazing brunch spots to chose from when we have a free Sunday. It's also a great time to reconnect with friends and end the weekend with some good food. I've never hosted brunch at home but I think 2016 is the year to finally make it happen. Here's some great brunch menu food and drink recipes that would make a great Sunday Brunch spread for entertaining guests.

Baked Eggs in Prosciutto filled Portobello Mushrooms

French Toast Sticks

Breakfast Pizza

Poppy Seed Pancakes

Ham & Cheese Spinach Puffs

Brussel Sprout Hash with Soft Poached Eggs

Petite Crust-less Quiche

Cantaloupe and Raspberry Yogurt Parfait

And some delicious drink ideas for Sunday brunch.

Cranberry Brunch Punch

The Ultimate Blood Mary

Mimosa Bar

And some strawberry infused water for rehydration.

Long Weekend Part 2: Birthday Celebrations

On Sunday was my birthday which meant it was time for some brunch with the girls. I was a little sad K was missing my birthday this year because of work but my girl friends more than made up for it. Kate planned a ladies brunch downtown at one of our favorite spots and we all had a blast catching up. I posted about the rest of my weekend yesterday here.

Kasa Restaurant & Bar has one of the best brunches in downtown Orlando which includes a full buffet, unlimited champagne and mimosas, and a make-your-own bloody mary bar. Their brunch menu is very eclectic and never disappoints so it was the perfect spot for celebrating my 32nd.

Post brunch selfie with the girls.

I got so spoiled with brunch, bubbles and lots of gifts from the girls but I'm loving my birthday goodies from Kate.

I also love all the birthday shout-outs and throwback tributes that I got from my girl friends on social media. That and the brunch with the ladies made for an amazing birthday this year!

K and I will be doing a late birthday celebration this weekend so I'm looking forward to that and him returning home from work travels.

Cheers to another year!