Weekend Whereabouts

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. I'll start by saying my whereabouts were pretty minimal the past few days. It was a rainy weekend so it was perfect for catching up on some R&R since I have a few busy weekends of travel ahead.

I did venture out on Friday afternoon for some puppy playtime and a quick dinner.

After dinner we watched the movie Steve Jobs at home and had a quiet Friday night which was much needed!

 On Saturday I stayed local to get some errands done and rest up at home. I shopped around for some essentials for our Easter dinner party, did a ton of laundry, took some naps and spent lots of couch time with Lola watching TV.



Some inevitable online retail therapy happened on Saturday night since I had all the free time to browse. Maybe this is why I try to keep myself busy on weekends?

On Sunday, I went to Kohl's to pick up a dutch oven I had ordered to make the Guinness Beef Stew I posted about last week for my Friday Faves. It came out amazing by the way and I have to thank the lovely Andrea for helping me out with a few secret tips!

 Of course I ended up venturing over to the clothing department in Kohl's but not too much damage was done. I purchased these cute coral-colored shorts and navy crochet shorts for the Spring/Summer time weather and used a 30% off coupon.

 I'm so excited this is a short work week (we get Good Friday off) and I'm looking forward to our quick road trip adventure this coming weekend.


Joining the lovely Biana for her weekending linkup

Friday Faves

Happy Friday everyone!
Daylight savings really made this week feel like it was dragging so I'm pretty relieved the weekend is almost here.

Last night my coworker and I met up with a business partner visiting from New Jersey at Marlow's Tavern for some dinner. No green beer this year for St. Patrick's Day but lots of others greens in the form of a delicious Ahi Tuna Salad with avocado!

How about some faves for the week?

Favorite Find
How adorable are these pet name tags from Tags For Hope? You can customize it for the state you live in and add all of your pet's information as well as your phone number (where I blocked out below). I love this idea for a tiny pet ID tag to hang from their collar.

Favorite DYI Project

This is such a cute and easy DYI guide for making a key holder out of a picture frame. I already have a key + mail holder on my wall but I think this would be cute for beach/vacation homes or cottages.

Favorite Memories
Some of my favorite St. Patty's Day photos for a quick Flashback Friday.

Favorite Recipe
This Guinness Beef Stew recipe is on the menu for Sunday dinner and keeps up with the whole Irish theme I'm going with this month.

Favorite Funny:

Speaking of Jameson, did you happen to catch my Irish Mule recipe yesterday? Since the weekend is here, I figured why not share it again.

The ecard definitely describes me in previous years but, as I mentioned above, I celebrated or didn't at a business dinner but I have to say it was still fun even though it was work-related.

We also did a lunchtime celebration at work with some corn beef and pastrami sandwiches, beef stew and all the shamrock desserts possible.

Did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Linking up with Amanda for Friday Favorites

Happy St. Patty's Day

I don't have any big plans to celebrate St. Patrick's Day tonight because #Thursday. I do plan to wish my best friend (since we're 5 years old) a Happy Amazing Birthday because she deserves nothing but the best! She's my sister from another mister (and of course mother) but you know how that saying goes.

Since it's St. Patrick's day and everyone knows I love experimenting with new recipes, I thought I'd share a fun Irish cocktail recipe.

The Irish Mule

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. Irish whiskey

½ lime squeezed juice 

Ginger beer

Slice of lime for garnish (optional)

Copper Moscow Mule Mug

via

What To Do:

 Fill up your copper mug with plenty of ice

Squeeze in half a lime on top of the ice

Pour in the whiskey

Top off with ginger beer and stir 

Dash of bitters (optional)

Garnish with a slice of lime (optional)

Cheers!

Please drink responsibly today and always!

Summer Essentials

When I think of summer, I think of weekend days lounging by the pool and a few trips to the beach for some sun, sea and sand. Luckily I already have a few trips planned so I'm excited about that! With the weather almost being summer-like here, I have my favorite essentials ready to go.

Packed Beach Bag
I have a beach/pool bag that remains packed with some essentials all year round. Can I go to the pool or beach all year round? That would be a no. But why unpack everything when I can have my beach bag ready to grab and go for that one perfect weather day.

Here's what's in the bag:
* his and hers beach towels
* waterproof bluetooth speakers
*  SPF sunscreen
* SPF tanning oil spray
* Lip balm with SPF
* hand sanitizer
* small body spray
* small hair brush
* a fedora hat



Swim Suits & Cover-ups
Of course some good fitting swimsuits and cover-ups are needed and, from the name of my blog, you can probably tell I'm all about cute bikinis and just swim wear in general. PHAX Swimwear, a fashion focused swim/surf brand out of Colombia, contacted me about their brand hitting the shelves in the USA and asked if I would be interested in ordering some of their products. Of course I was interested!

I chose a beautiful jade-colored bikini to go with the Samburu cover-up from their Spring 2016 Ortulivo Beah Lookbook. I can tell that all of these pieces are great quality because of the super soft material. Their swim suits contain LYCRA fiber which helps the material to move and stay true to your shape to get that perfect fit.

PHAX is offering my readers a generous 30% discount at checkout with the coupon code: shopmartinisbikinis

 

What I really like about PHAX swim wear and clothing is that their product line is very fun and vibrant which is perfect for summer. Everything is also hand made (from cut to stitch to embroidery) so that's pretty impressive! I get nervous ordering swimwear and underwear online because you really need these things to fit perfectly for your body. Thankfully the sizes for the bikini top and bottom piece were perfect. The cover-up (pictured below in blue) I ordered a small but it runs more like a medium. The good thing is loose fitting cover-ups are comfortable so it doesn't need to be returned.

 

Sunglasses
I have a few pairs of sunglasses that I rotate depending on the outfit and occasion. My current favorite are these Michael Kors Aviators pictured below. They have purple mirror lenses which you can't really tell from the photo.



Hydration
Never leave home without some cold water or sparkling water bottles to stay hydrated and if you're looking for some spike in your refreshments, I'd definitely recommend Skinny Girl Cocktails. They are all light and refreshing but I happen to love the Mojito and  Cosmo cocktails.

Waterproof Flip Flops
I mean this goes without saying. Comfortable shoes in general are always needed throughout the year but when it comes to summer, cute flip flops are a must. My current lust are these beauties from Tory Burch which are also waterproof.

Activities & Fun
If you're heading to the beach or the pool some entertainment might be needed. This could be reading material or water/land activities and sports such as volleyball or racket ball. Whatever peaks your interest, make sure to pack it in your beach bag so you don't get bored.

What are your summer essentials?

The PHAX products were provided to me complimentary in return for my honest review of the products. All opinions stated above are honest and accurate based on my true experience.

Crabbie's Ginger Beer Cocktails

I've been on a serious Moscow Mule kick recently when we go out for dinner and drinks because they're so light and tasty. I decided to look up the recipe the other day and realized they're in fact super easy to make at home with just a few ingredients ~ ginger beer, lime and vodka.

I recently discovered Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer which comes in three different flavors ~ Spiced Orange, Scottish Raspberry and the Original Ginger Beer which all taste amazing. It's made with real ginger that's steeped for up to six weeks, then blended with exotic spices to create a unique and flavorful ginger beer. I immediately fell in love with these ginger beers because they're not too sweet and already contain 4.8% alcohol.

These are best served over ice with a slice of lime or lemon. I did a little sampling over the weekend and whipped up some seriously good cocktails with Crabbie's Ginger Beer to enjoy at home while we watched movies. They were so good I have to share!

Raspberry Dark & Stormy 

Ingredients:

1/2 oz dark rum
Crabbie's Raspberry Ginger Beer
Lime wedge

Glass full of ice

What To Do:

Combine the rum and ginger beer in a glass full of ice cubes, stir well and garnish with lime wedge.

Crabbie's Moscow Mule

Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz vodka
3/4 oz. lime juice

1/2 oz. simple syrup
3-4 mint leaves
Crabbie's Original Ginger Beer

What To Do:
Crush the mint leaves gently in the bottom of your glass. Add the lime juice, simple syrup, and vodka along with some ice cubes. Then add a splash or two of Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer depending on your preference or taste. 

These products were provided to me complimentary in return for my honest review of the products. All opinions stated above are honest and accurate based on my true experience.

Weekend Whereabouts

Well this weekend just seemed to zip by as they all tend to do. By the time Friday night came around I was pretty exhausted so we went for a quick bite at The Social House, which just recently opened. There was live music but it was extremely loud (like we could hardly even talk) and the salad I ordered was just okay. I'll give them another try but it wasn't the best date night idea.

When we got home we relaxed and watched The Night Before from RedBox. I didn't care for the movie so I zoned out half way through. I guess that means I don't recommend it, at least it didn't peak my interest.

On Saturday morning it was time to go pick up my new car at the Mazda dealership which of course is a long process and takes a couple hours but I'm in love with my new ride and all the new features cars have these days.

 On Saturday night it was time to get dolled up and head to Mango's Tropical Cafe to celebrate J's 37th birthday with dinner, drinks, and entertainment. While the atmosphere was fun with lots of different shows throughout the night, the service was horrendous (took 30 minutes to get a drink), the food was decent but they messed up a few people's orders including mine. The icing on the cake was when we had to pay $15 for valet parking but when it came time to leave, we waited almost 45 minutes for them to bring the car. I probably sound like a complaining shit between the events of Friday and Saturday night but I will always give my honest opinion here on my blog.

It was a fun night with friends but I will never return to Mango's again!

Sunday was all about getting organized - eggs benedict for a late breakfast since I slept in, three loads of laundry, all the blogging possible, dinner cooking in the crockpot, weekly food prep, and early to bed with hopes of not feeling too exhausted today because of the time change.

How was your weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.