Labor Day Weekend + TBB Asks

Happy Labor Day everyone! We've been in Austin, TX since Friday exploring the food and music scene along with a historical tour on Saturday. Hope you all enjoy the holiday today.

My Cousin's Whimsical Winery Wedding

image via

Do bloggers still do Wedding Wednesdays linkups? If so, I'm joining you today sharing the gorgeous details of my cousin's whimsical wedding at Holland Marsh Wineries in New Market, Canada.

She's Such a Unicorn

It was a fairly quiet and much needed relaxing weekend. The extent of my fun was at unicorn-themed 1st birthday party on Saturday, where I played musical chairs for the first time in about 25 years. Oh to be a kid again!

The birthday girl looked adorable in your unicorn getup and was a good sport with all the attention directed her way. She happens to be my favorite neighborhood baby because she's so easygoing and cute all around.

Favorite Bridal Shower Gift Ideas

When it comes to Bridal showers, I usually buy something from their wedding registry and then put together a nice basket of fun goodies for the bride. This time around I chose gifts that are sentimental and/or useful on her wedding day and on their honeymoon.

A Beautfiul Suprise Bridal Shower

On Saturday we celebrated my beautiful neighbor, Ashley, the bride-to-be. The "bride tribe" asked if I would drive her blindfolded to the venue for her bridal shower, which I agreed but felt bad to have her blindfolded for the 20 minute drive. Ashley was a good sport and stayed blindfolded for the entire drive and then walking into the venue. It was actually quite funny.

Blogger Etiquette: How to Grow Your Blog Organically

I've been thinking about this for a while and, since starting Martinis & Bikinis in 2012, it's given me a lot of time to interact with a variety of different Bloggers with similar or not-so similar interests.

Another Laptop Bites The Dust

I stand by the quality of Apple products but I can't vouch for my clumsiness. Within an 8 year period, I'm on to my third MacBook after two "deaths" due to liquid damage. I'm so mad at myself but, as a blogger, I really needed to purchase a new computer asap and suck up the expense. Ramen noodles on the menu for the next few months!!

I've spent this week setting up my new Rose Gold Macbook that I will keep away from all liquids for the rest of my life!!

This explains my intermittent absence for the past few days so I hope to be back in the swing of things next week.

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.

Exploring Niagara Falls

K and I flew into Buffalo, NY last week Thursday as our plan was to drive to Niagara Falls to see the American side and then cross the border to see the Canadian side of the falls. The rental car company upgraded our car to a brand new Jeep Wrangler because it had Ontario plates so they wanted to get it back over to Canada.

TBB Asks - Party Edition

Joining The Blended blog ladies today (a little late) for their August Summer Edition of TBB Asks.

1. Favorite Birthday Party as a Child?

I have vague memories of all my parties as a kid but one of my favorites pictures is from my 2nd birthday when I had golden curls and, of course, since I'm a December baby, the cake had Christmas colors.

Weekend: Neighborly Love

Since returning home from Canada on Monday night after many delays, it's been a bit of a struggle getting back into the swing of things especially since K left Tuesday morning for the whole week for work.

Hello From Canada

Yesterday was a little adventure for K and I. We flew into Buffalo, NY and rented a car to cross the border over to Canada for a weekend of family fun.

My Worst Pillow

K loves to fall victim to new "breakthrough" products advertised on TV.  Specifically the ones where you have to call now to get some sort of urgent deal, not products from good old faithful Target or Home Depot.

Have you seen the ads for MyPillow on TV? Advertised as "the most comfortable pillow you'll ever own". K immediately wanted one and told his Mom that's what he wanted for Christmas 2 years ago, especially since it was a BOGO deal so I would get one too.

Worst pillow ever and for $80 each!

Even with the BOGO "deal" making it $40 each, these are terrible quality pillows. I know everyone wants amazing sleep so the advertisement draws you in thinking "yes, this is the answer". Nope it isn't. I used the pillow for one night and told K they were all his. I think he realizes now they really aren't anything special.      

My favorite pillows are from Kohl's for under $15 and they are heavenly to sleep on!

The Big One® Microfiber Pillow

As we're on this topic, K saw an Ad on TV for the World's Softest Pajamas and decided this would be a perfect Christmas gift that same year. For "only $80" he ordered this PJ set from Pajama Gram.

They are comfortable but by no means worth the price and are just as comfortable as PJ's I own from Target and Victoria's Secret. Also what's up with the cowlick neck?

I guess the ad's content appealed to men wanting to gift their significant other/family member PJs made out of "fabric that's as soft to the touch as a baby bunny and as luxurious against the skin as the finest cashmere...She'll love you for it." Nope, not worth the price!

That's all for today...

Water Sports and Sunshine

I'm looking like a lobster today but it was worth all the fun we had yesterday boating and wake boarding/wake surfing with friends. I shared some videos on SnapChat (emilyalisonb).

5 Recent Purchases - For Me

TGIF! It's been a while since I've managed to post on a Friday.

Other than all the random household and pet items I purchase from Amazon, I really haven't done much shopping for myself in the last few months.

Dresses From the Past

I've had this post sitting in my drafts since July of last year. It somehow slipped through the cracks and I forgot about it. Anyways, as much as I'm a jeans and cute top kind of girl, I love dresses for certain occasions. Since it's been a year from when this post was drafted, I've added a few more dresses to the list.

Weekending - Mid July

Rest, relaxation, some shopping and fun with friends pretty much sums up the weekend.

Back To The Basics

This is not a comparison review just an FYI that I've moved back to the Blogger commenting platform. I think both Disqus and Blogger have equally good features but I wasn't happy about losing all my comments since I started Martinis & Bikinis in 2012.

4th of July + Weekend Vibes

With the 4th of July falling on a Wednesday this year, going back to work on Thursday felt like Monday 2.0 but the saving grace was that Friday was just a day away.