Showing posts with label Celebrations. Show all posts

Happy New Year!


Hope everyone has a great NYE night and I'm looking forward to making many more bloggy friendships in the new year!


Christmas Weekend

What a fun-filled yet relaxing (at times) Christmas break away from work and spent with those that mean the most - family and friends. I feel refreshed to start this new week and I'm already looking forward to celebrating NYE this week.

I apologize in advance for overloading you with Lola photos.

On Christmas Eve, we drove 2 hours west to spend Christmas night with my in-laws and extended family. We did a white elephant gift exchange and K & I ended up with Busch Gardens park tickets to use in 2015. Pretty sweet!!

We also decided to open gifts the night before Christmas this year. Lola got a new bed and I got lots of gift cards, camera accessories, some Alex & Ani bangles, a pearl necklace from my Mother In Law and some other goodies.  

On Christmas day, we had a huge lunch with family and then went over to spend the night with some friends so Lola could meet and play with their Basset Hound, Snuff for the night. We drank lots of wine and played some cards.

On Friday, we headed back home and got our house ready for a Christmas party with friends. We played Cards Against Humanity which was hilarious and had some Eggnog and finger foods.

Saturday was a relaxing days at home. We went for dinner and drinks at Chili's and relaxed the rest of the night at home.

On Sunday, we did some shopping and then went for lunch with friends to watch football with Lola at a dog-friendly restaurant. Later in the evening we drove an hour to meet one of my best friends from Trinidad to have dinner with her family and 3 kids.
 
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas weekend!

Joining the lovely Biana for her weekending linkup.

Christmas Time Weekending

We meet again here on a Monday but luckily it's a short work week. I had a fairly low-key weekend which was much needed. On Friday, we did a Secret Santa gift exchange at work and I was gifted some puppy treats, a dog photo frame tree ornament and a gift card for Alex and Ani.   
    
We spent Friday night at home with Lola and she loved her new puppy teething rings.

On Saturday, I relaxed with Lola all day while nursing a migraine. I made these beef bites from Trader Joe's which are a really good snack or appetizer to take to a party. 

On Saturday night we went to a friend's holiday housewarming party and had a great night out with friends.

On Sunday, I got to sleep in which felt great. Later in the day we took Lola on a little road trip to visit friends and their baby girl who is exactly the same age as Lola (born a day apart). 

I'm looking forward to spending Christmas this week with family and friends.

How was your weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

2014 Year in Review

Looking back at the year, I think 2014 treated me really well and I did lots of traveling and fun things with friends and family while also keeping up with my full-time job as well as Martinis & Bikinis. It wasn't always easy and I've had ups and downs but I try to focus on the positives.

January
I was sent to Vegas by my company for a work convention and stayed at MGM Grande.  Since it was my first time visiting Vegas, I took a few days off of work to tour the strip and K came along to join the fun. 

February
Kate and I started our Tuesday Recipe Swap linkup which has been fun keeping up with and trying out new recipes every week. Feel free to join us every Tuesday if you have a recipe or food related post you want to share.

March
 Celebrated St Patrick's day with friends...

Also traveled to San Francisco for another work conference which was amazing! I used my free time to do a bus tour and visit the Golden Gate Bridge. I love this city and just found out I will be going back next year for the same conference. Woo hoo!

April
Went to New Orleans for a bachelorette with a group of 8 ladies and partied up and down the streets. My NOLA bachelorette trip recap.

I also threw an Easter dinner party for friends at my house.

May
Spent Memorial weekend at St Pete beach for a beach front wedding and stayed a couple nights at the hotel with friends.
June
We traveled to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic for another wedding. Punta Cana is by far one of the most beautiful destinations I've visited to date.

Later in June, my work took us on a company beach vacation to St Pete beach.

July
Celebrated 4th July with friends at a pool party.

August
August was a fairly uneventful month. We made a few beach trips and I went to a baby shower and a gender reveal party for friends. We also lost our cat Skyh who was 12 years old. 

September
We visited Chicago with Kate and her hubby for K's birthday. We toured the city, went on a river boat cruise tour, ate some great meals, went to a baseball game at Wrigley Field and had an absolute blast! We all loved Chi town.

October
My parents came to visit for 2 weeks from Trinidad. We went for a beach weekend trip to Treasure Island on the west coast of Florida and stayed at a condo for a few days.

My best friend of almost 25 years came to visit me from Trinidad to go wedding shopping. We shopped til we dropped and had so much find spending QT together.

November
Our wrinkly baby joined our family and has been keeping us very busy. She made a 2 hour road trip with us to celebrate Thanksgiving and even got a little piece of turkey to try.


December
My work holiday party at Universal Studios and City Walk.

 

Celebrated my 31st birthday with K at Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

Witnessed the marriage of two good friends and had a blast at their wedding. 

2014 was my first full year in the 30's and WOW was it a fun year!

Looking forward to what 2015 has in store for me!

The Holidays Have Begun

The craziness that is the holidays is here and another great weekend for the books! I had my work holiday party on Friday night so we booked a hotel and had a little staycation for the night at Universal Studios since driving after several hours of free drinks is never a good idea. 


We had cocktail hour, buffet dinner and then the after party was at Universal's City Walk.

On Saturday morning, we checked out of the hotel and picked up our precious wrinkly bundle from her pet sitters.

Saturday night was a wash and we had planned to attend another holiday party but the couch and snuggles with Lola won.

On Sunday, we were feeling refreshed and decided to venture downtown for lunch and to watch football at a couple dog-friendly bars and restaurants. Lola had a blast meeting lots of people and other dogs and crashed hard when she got home giving me time to do some blogging and the usual Sunday cleaning, laundry etc.

Hope you had a great weekend!!

Joining Biana for Weekending and Leeann for Monday Morning Gossip.  

Puppy Shopping & Holiday Kickoff Party

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I'm so excited Thanksgiving is almost here. Definitely looking forward to some family time and a few days off of work. 

This weekend we started our search for a baby bulldog. We've had an empty nest since Skyh passed away and think it's time to adopt a new furbaby.

Friday night looked something like this. Well, it looked exactly like this. Chinese takeout, Redbox movies and homemade dirty martinis.

On Saturday, I used the pamper package gift certificate I won at a charity event a few weeks ago. I got a facial, mani & pedi and my hair styled. The package included a few more things but honestly I don't have enough patience to stay more than 4 hours in a spa so that was good enough for me. 

Saturday night, was our first Holiday party for the year with friends and it was a blast!




Sunday: we cooked up some brunch at home and continued our search for a new puppy. We finally found our furbaby and she'll be arriving this week from the breeder!!

 K also thought pineapple mimosas with blueberries were a good idea to celebrate.

How was your weekend?

Joining Biana for Weekending and Leeann for Monday Morning Gossip.  

Fun Holiday Potluck Dips

The holidays are coming up and I, for one, usually have a few potlucks to attend with friends & family and at work. I've been looking for some fun dip ideas from blogs I follow and via Pinterest and wanted to share some ideas I came across. 

White Cheddar and Cranberry Dip
via Little Broken
 

BBQ Chicken Dip

Cauliflower & White Bean Dip

Pimento Cheese Dip


7-Layer Mexican Dip

Avocado & Yogurt Dip

Texas Caviar

Pumpkin Dip

Do you have any go-to potluck dishes (not only dips) to share?