Showing posts with label Florida Life. Show all posts

Weekend Sunshine


We spent the weekend in sunny Bradenton, FL visiting family and exploring the cute downtown area. When we got into town on Saturday, our first stop was at Caddy's on the water for lunch in the Tiki bar area. The weather was perfect!

Friday Faves


Yes it is "Friday the 13th" but I've never bought into all the superstition, maybe because I'm biased. My birthday is December 13th and, when it falls on a Friday, I think of it as good luck day.
 
It's all about turning lemons into lemonade, or even better, a margarita!

Life Lately - Fall Edition


Fall is officially here although there's no sign of it in Florida. I did get a little taste of it in New York City last weekend with all the pretty Fall foliage in Central Park.

August 2017 Recap

What's New With You

Current Updates

If you've been watching the news, you probably already know that Hurricane Irma is heading her way to Florida. We are as prepared as can be with food, water, and other supplies but you just never know how strong it will be.

Weekend Whereabouts - Florida Living


Hope everyone enjoyed the lil weekend break. It's never long enough, I know, but I feel rested and ready for the shortish week ahead. I'll be jet setting on Friday to celebrate our wedding anniversary!

Sweet Weekend Sunshine


I hope everyone had a great weekend! The weather was beautiful here with lots of sunshine so I'm hoping it sticks around for as long as possible.

On Saturday we made our way over to Florida's west coast to visit friends and family for a well overdue trip and to celebrate a few different occasions. The first stop was to visit baby Cam and catch up with some good friends.





The weather was perfect for a pool party and getting some sunshine.



Catching up with some of my favorite girls and getting to hold baby Cam was so good for the soul.

After the pool we headed over to Siesta Key Village, one of my favorite beach towns on earth. Siesta Key beach has to be one of the prettiest in Florida, although we didn't get to enjoy it on this trip.


We met up with some friends to celebrate a birthday and enjoy some delicious seafood for dinner. Whenever we're in the Village, Daiquiri Deck is always a must stop for some refreshing frozen cocktails especially after a day in the sun.




We spent the rest of Saturday evening at my in-laws house catching up with them and finally getting a good night of sleep.

We had a relaxing Sunday morning drinking coffee and lounging around at my in-laws house. We then all went out for lunch along with my SIL and her husband to celebrate my precious MIL's birthday at one of our favorite restaurants in Sarasota.



After lunch we made the drive back home to get all the usual Sunday things done before the start of the work week. As I mentioned before, it was a well overdue trip to K's hometown and I'm glad we got to see and spend some time with family and friends.


Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Weekend Happenings

 
We made it back to Universal Studios this weekend to catch the Mardi Gras parade which is going on for the next few weeks.

I spent most of Saturday morning doing online courses to become Google AdWords certified for my job.

After hours of "work", it was time to have some fun for the weekend. We started off at Islands of Adventure to go on a few rides and then went over to the French Quarter patio at Universal Studios.






Universal really does a great job at recreating Mardi Gras with the street parade and countless strands of beads being thrown into the crowd. Check back tomorrow (Fat Tuesday) for more details and pictures of the parade.



On Sunday morning I spent another 4 hours doing some AdWords courses and passed the final Assessment. The last step to becoming certified is doing a 2 hour test so I'm saving that for next weekend.


The rest of Sunday was spent:
 ~ Having homemade Eggs Benedict topped with salmon for brunch
~ An hour long massage in the afternoon for my back pain
~ Scoring my favorite girl scout cookies
~ Painting my nails with Essie's "Watermelon" for the toes and 'Lady Like" for the fingers.


Joining Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Weekend: Purple Hair Don't Care


The weekend was exactly what I wanted with lots of relaxing, some pampering, shopping the President's Day sales, and dinner with friends.


I mentioned last week that I went to Tampa on Thursday night for a work conference which was at a beautiful resort on the water.  My coworker and I grabbed a bite to eat and caught a beautiful sunset before the conference kicked off. I didn't get home until super late so I was too exhausted to do anything on Friday night.

On Saturday I had a hairdresser appointment to get my highlights touched up and added in some purple/lavender streaks to change things up a bit. I love how it turned out!


I got roped into the President's Day sales at Target and Kohl's and picked up a few goodies for myself!


Tassel Drop Earrings  /  Gold Layered Choker Necklace


"I Don't Do Mornings" Graphic Sweater

We had dinner reservations on Saturday night with our neighbor friends at a new tapas-style restaurant. The food was amazing and we really enjoyed their company. My neighbor guy especially is hilarious so I was laughing for most of the night with his funny comments and jokes.





 

Sunday was all about relaxing and being productive. I finished off a work project, got my blogging on, and did the usual food prep, laundry, and other adulting stuff one is required to do.

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Lucky Friday The 13th

I've always considered Friday the 13th a lucky day because I was born on the 13th so, in a sense, I wanted to reverse superstition and turn it into a good day. I've had many birthdays fall on a Friday.... which you have to admit is better than a Monday!

Today I feel lucky that I have no major plans or obligations for this weekend so I can focus on getting organized around the house and with my blog schedule. I have so many fun yet unfinished blog posts that need to get published already.


Here's some random happenings from this week...

I met up with Kate and Baby Fashionista on Tuesday for lunch to catch up and also so I could spend some time with Serena who is such a smiley doll and the cutest lunch date!


On Wednesday I shared the details of the Dancing With The Stars Live show we went to over the holidays and was a fantastic production.


I started reading The Couple Next Door this week and I've reached to the part where the plot thickens. The beginning was mind boggling but now it has me in such suspense so I can't wait to continue reading/listening via audiobook.



Yesterday evening I met up my girl friend at our favorite sushi spot that we've been going to for years. It's kind of a tradition for us but now we both have busy schedules so it doesn't happen as often.

 A relaxing weekend ahead means lots of snuggles with Lola, who photo-bombed quite a few photos while working on my "home tour project" (coming to you next week).



Enjoy the weekend and I hope today is a lucky day for you!

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!

Ringing in 2017


Since my parents had to cancel their trip to visit us for Christmas and New Years (details here), we decided to throw a last minute party at our house for NYE. Mostly everyone we knew already had plans or were out of town but luckily some of our neighbors were in for the celebration and we did a little house hopping to another neighbor's house to set off fireworks at midnight.




It was a very Christmas-themed NYE party because we bought so much food and drinks to celebrate with my parents but instead went out of town on Christmas Day to spend it with K's family.





Nothing goes to waste around here so we cooked turkey and some sides for dinner but we did have the NYE essentials ~ champagne and fireworks to ring in the new year.








We ate and had some eggnog and drinks and then headed over to our neighbor's house to pop the champagne and light off fireworks at midnight.



With my sister in town and lots on our agenda for the whole week, this was the perfect way to ring in 2017 with new friends in the neighborhood.