Let The Holidays Begin

Another warm and sunny weekend in Florida. We thought a cold front would be coming through but no such luck. The weekend was pretty relaxing and I only ventured out on Saturday to Kate's annual holiday party which was a blast. She really did it up with great food and drinks plus a photo booth and white elephant gift exchange which is always entertaining. So here's Saturday in photos...

The host and hostess.

I scored a pack of Cards Against Humanity from the white elephant gift exchange.

Festive Roxy

Lots of fun was had and I'm ready to take on more holiday parties ahead.

How was your weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Friday Favorites + $325 Nordstrom Giveaway

Can you believe Thanksgiving is already next week? My favorite time of year is about to kick off which means many busy weekends ahead until the end of the year. We have our first Holiday party to attend on Saturday night but otherwise it should be a fairly low key weekend.

ONE:
This week we had our annual potluck at work and there was over 20 dishes plus the dessert table was out of control. It was hard deciding what to chose! I made a delish broccoli salad (recipe coming soon) to add to the spread. I posted some potluck dish ideas yesterday if you didn't catch it.

TWO:
I was putting my wish list together for the Holidays and my birthday in December and stumbled upon this 2016 Blog Planner from Amazon. I know they have free printable ones but it would be ideal to have everything recorded in one book and you can always go back and see what you've done in previous weeks.

THREE:
On Wednesday I went out for a happy hour girl date at our favorite sushi spot downtown to celebrate JQs birthday. It was fun catching up and getting our sushi fix.

FOUR:

We received these Wellness Petite Treats from Chewy.com and they are probably my favorite treats to date. Turkey, pomegranate and ginger are a unique blend plus they're healthy and grain free which is important when choosing treats for Lola.

FIVE:

For the next week, I'm teaming up with Pamela from Sequins & Sea Breezes and 20 other fab bloggers to give away a $325 Nordstrom Gift Card right in time for the holidays! The more ways you enter, the more chances to win! The giveaway end on Friday, November 27th at midnight and the winner will be announced on Monday, November 30th. Good luck!

Hosted By:

Sequins & Sea Breezes

The Gorgeous Co-hosts:

Cheshire Kat Blog | B Loved Boston | Champagne & Suitcases | Going The Distance | Love & Bellinis

Green Fashionista | Kids & Cabernet | Pink & Fabulous | From Here To Eternity | Martinis & Bikinis

Pink Persistence | Miss in the Midwest | A Memory of Us | The Sequin Notebook | Birdie to Be

MakeupHER | Christina Lea Loves | The Wandering Weekenders | Medicine & Manicures | Meet @ The Barre

$325 Nordstrom Gift Card Giveaway

Joining my fellow Floridian blogger Amanda from Meet at the Barre for some Friday Faves.

Disney Blogger Fun

Good morning pretties! Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend.

Can I begin by saying how devastating the news on Friday was about the turn of events in Paris and the amount of people that suffered. I just can't believe these things keep happening. They definitely need lots of prayers right now. I had a drink in Epcot's France pavilion for them this weekend and said a prayer.

This weekend was the perfect mix of catching up on some sleep and having fun out and about with friends. K and I had a low key Friday night after a busy week. We went to Ale House for some dinner and a quick drink before spending the rest of the night relaxing at home.

Saturday was a fun filled day at Epcot for the International Food & Wine Festival.  I met up with Pamela and Kerri to explore some food and wine booths and we had a surprise visit from Kristen who also happened to be at Disney with her hubs. It was so fun running into her and meeting in real life. 

Sunday was all about relaxing and getting things organized for this week. 

How was your weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup. 

My Role Model

November has always been extra special because it's the month we've always celebrated my grandmother's birthday. I don't talk about my her often enough even though I think about her almost everyday and still follow her words of guidance. She was my role model and there's no doubt I am who I am today mainly because of her. She just understood me and we had this incredible bond I've never had with anyone else.

Even though she left us 5 years ago, I can't let November come and go without honoring and remembering my forever best friend and role model.

Some random memories and things Granny Helen taught me:

~ that ice cream is much better topped with chocolate chips, sprinkles, coconut flakes (basically any of her random baking ingredients).

~ how to give a good back massage or scratch while we watch movies during one of my many sleepovers.

~ how to be empathetic, loyal and loving and the importance of helping those in need.

~ how to host a "high tea" party. She hosted tea parties for her group of lady friends up until her last days. I would often help assist with odds and ends.

~ my love of accessories and dressing up every outfit with different earrings or necklaces is definitely because of her.

~ to have a sense of humor and be silly sometimes. You can see her trying to get the last drop of eggnog in the photo below just to make us laugh. 

My favorite memories of my Granny could go on forever but I'm not a mushy person so those things stay in my heart. The holidays will never be the same without her though. She made it special.

xoxo

Low Key Weekend

The weekend was fairly quiet so nothing crazy to write about. We are traveling later in the week for the 3rd wedding I'm a bridesmaid in for the year so most of the weekend was spent shopping for odds and ends (sunblock, swimsuits, gifts for the bride) and organizing what to pack.

One of the things I bought the bride-to-be was this Soft Cotton Bride Sleepwear Set for under $25. I put together a whole gift bag for her with lingerie, perfumes, sleepwear and other bridal things.

On Friday I went to happy hour with some coworkers and then just relaxed at home for the rest of the evening with K and Lola, which was much needed!

On Saturday, K and I headed out to do some shopping and then had some empanadas for lunch at a small Colombian restaurant close to home.

On Saturday night I went to a charity event for the Special Olympics of Florida which I've attended for the past 5 years. The event included live music, Black Jack table games (with funny money), silent auctions, and food tastings from some of the best local restaurants. It was fun walking from tent to tent trying different tapas and I also got black jack on one my hands so I won a gift card to a local sports restaurant. It was a really fun night out with K and some of my coworkers.

 

Sunday was spent relaxing, blogging, food prepping and packing for our trip. I also tried out this Triple Cream Brie with Wild Mushrooms from Trader Joe's which is amazing with pita chips! If you like mushrooms and brie cheese then I definitely recommend it.

How was your weekend? Linking up with the lovely Biana.

Weeked Happenings

Since I was under the weather last week, this weekend was the perfect break to feel healthy again.

On Friday evening we took Lola to a doggie event hosted by her trainer from when she was a puppy. We wanted to show our faces and let Lola socialize with some other dogs for a bit.

We then met up with some friends for an impromptu dinner at Maxine's on Shine downtown. We love this place because it's dog-friendly and serves an mean brunch with live music. The bruschetta we shared as an appetizer was amazing but our dinner entrees weren't anything to rave about. We still love the relaxed, eclectic atmosphere and the owner Maxine even stopped by our table to chat for a bit.

On Saturday I spent a couple hours at the hairdresser getting highlights done. As they say beauty is pain and upkeeping my blonde highlights is definitely the most painful part of my beauty routine but thankfully I love my hairdresser and we usually spend the whole time chatting and catching up.

 On Saturday evening K and I headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios to walk around and check out a couple shows. Our season passes are expiring in November so I'm trying to hit all the parks when we have a free day here and there.

We didn't go on any rides, just browsed several shops and saw the Muppet Vision 3D show. Finally we stopped off at the Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge for some martinis and a meat & cheese plate followed by dessert. Everything was excellent!

 Sunday was all about relaxing and get my usual house cleaning, laundry, cooking and blogging done. Perfectly productive with some lazy to feel refreshed for this new week. I also finished my last online photography class module on Sunday night so now I just need to sit the exam to hopefully get certified! I've been good about doing the classes but have had little time to practice so that's my next challenge.

How was your weekend?

Five on Friday

How did this week treat everyone? I'm sure you're thankful Friday is here as I am. I got hit with a 24-hour bug on Wednesday which sucked but thankfully I was able to work from home yesterday and keep quiet. I'm feeling much better already although not 100%. So lets just say I'm more than ready for the weekend to fully recover and relax. 

 A few other bloggers already pointed it out but Trader Joe's has outdone themselves this year with pumpkin any and everything you can think of. 

ONE:

I did fall victim to the pumpkin macarons from the frozen section because I've never tasted a macaron before and always see people raving about them. So I decided to treat my team (and myself of course) to some dessert and they were worth the calories! Very sweet though as I'm more of a savory person.  

TWO:
I also bought some of the cute mini pumpkins to decorate our dining room table for Fall. I just realized that I'll be in Barbados for Halloween this year so there's no need to carve a big pumpkin plus they don't last really long outdoors in the Florida heat.

THREE:

I celebrated my 5th work anniversary this week and received the sweetest card from one of my coworkers. You know who you are! She actually reminded me it was my anniversary since I forgot the actual date.

FOUR:

Work catered Chipotle for lunch on Wednesday since our team hit a major milestone with one of the services I'm responsible for marketing. Let's just say we've built the subscriber base to over 100,000 users in 3 years.

FIVE:

We also celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness Month at work with some Pink Ribbon Bagels from Panera for breakfast. 

Joining Amanda for her Friday Faves linkup. 

Have a wonderful weekend!