La Petite Chic

Our Florida Adventure - Part Two

Orlando

Our primary reason for visiting Orlando was to go to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival.  We absolutely love going there, but haven't had the chance to go since we got married. There are unique and delicious food and drink tastings available in each country at the World Pavilion for just a few dollars each  and we enjoy just walking around and sampling here and there. They also have food demonstrations and seminars which are fun to stop into to beat the Florida heat!

Entrance to the Festival

 

Olive oil demonstration in Italy

Spirits tasting from Ireland (they had moonshine!)

The Wedding in Naples

Oh, my goodness, the whole wedding weekend was so gorgeous and romantic and most importantly, FUN!! They had a minor, okay, major, wind issue on the actual day of the wedding which threatened to blow over their chuppah and tangle all the ladies hair, but it's those unexpected things that makes a wedding memorable, isn't it?

On the beach at sundown during the rehearsal dinner
(Ignore the shiny forehead!)

Love this photo...they are always making each other laugh!

The new Mr. and Mrs
(Doesn't Amanda look gorgeous? I loved her hair and gown!)

Beautiful centerpiece and sand art

A candy bar in whimsical beach buckets!

Me with my cousin (the groom), Mike, and a groomsman
(Did I ever tell you all that he gave me a black eye when I was 6? Funny story!)

Lovely handmade favors of little shells with a pearl

I barely left the dance floor and managed to get Jon out for a few songs too!

Miniature desserts!
(Yes, that's mini creme brulee!)

My beautiful new cousin-in-law!

And last, but not least, the cake!  So pretty...and yummy!

Our Florida vacation went by so quickly, but it was well worth the over 1,300 miles of driving around the state!  Le sigh...until our next vacation!

Our Florida Adventure - Part One

In typical fashion, we packed as much as possible into our Florida anniversarymoon/road trip/wedding weekend. We are crazy and fully embrace that, but we also know that we might not be taking any vacations quite like that once a kiddo comes around so we wanted to make the most of it.

The Departure

The week actually started out on a sour note when we learned that we were bumped from our flight to Ft. Lauderdale...the flight we booked nine months ago and checked in 1½ hours early for! To say that I was pissed off would be a major understatement. However, Air Tran (yes, I'm naming names) quickly rectified the situation by offering Jon and I each two free round trip tickets to any of their destinations in the US and Caribbean. Umm, hello, 2010 cruise leaving out of Puerto Rico! Also, hello, Texas girls whom I've been wanting to visit since forever ago! 

They were able to book us on a flight into Ft. Myers leaving a ½ hour later which was not a bad compromise to make except for the fact that they overbooked that flight too and guess who got bumped again? Yes, that would be us. Then they offered us another round trip ticket, plus an upgrade to Business Class (free alcoholic beverages!) on the next flight to Ft. Lauderdale which was four hours later. We got to Florida a bit later than expected, but hey, I'll take three round trip tickets (each!). 

Key West

As you might have guessed from my tweets, I spent most of our time here drinking margaritas. When in Rome and all, you know?  I really love that town, though.  Gorgeous sunsets, friendly people and a clothing optional bar!  Yes, you read that right.  On our first night in town, Jon and I stopped into a bar called The Bull.  It has three levels, including the top level which is on the rooftop.  It was a beautiful night so we decided to head up to the third floor.  When I rounded the corner to walk into the doorway, I noticed a bare-assed naked man standing at the bar. Saggy butt, gray hair...not the sight I was expecting to see.

I turned to tug on Jon's shirt as I whispered to him, "Jon!  There's a naked man at the bar!". I never got a response from him because he was staring in complete shock at the dance floor where there was a nude dance party going on! Insane. The bouncer saw our gaping mouths so he laughed and told us it was clothing optional.  Oh, and the name of that bar?  The Garden of Eden. Appropriate, yes?

My parents joined us in Key West our last night there and we made it a point to take them there, though we didn't mention it was clothing optional. That was a hoot!  My mom had quite the same reaction I did, but my dad was pretty calm about it.  He just sat down at the bar (next to a naked man!) and ordered a drink. So hilarious!

We did a booze cruise one day (Danger Charters, thanks for the recommendation, Jess!) and had a wonderful time snorkeling, kayaking and, yes, drinking, in the beautiful and extremely warm water. We didn't see any sharks or other scary marine life, but we saw a lot of really cool birds.  Another day, Jon humored me and took me to Ernest Hemingway's house where we just about passed out from the heat, but I'm so glad we saw it. I'm a nerd for stuff like that. We also met another young couple while watching the sunset from Mallory Square one night and had a fun-filled and crazy night bar-hopping with them. We always manage to make friends while on vacation!

On that same night, we ended up in a bar where they had an old man playing guitar who could sing and play just about anything. I had him play our song, "Can't Help Falling in Love", and enjoyed a romantic slow dance with Jon.  I did a lot of dancing that night.  An old man grabbed me to dance as soon as we walked into the place, but he was totally harmless and I ended up dancing with him to several more songs throughout the night. There was a big group from Maryland in the same bar and they kept sending us shots. Miraculously, neither of us had a hangover the next morning! 

I think the thing I loved most about Key West is that everyone you meet is laid-back and happy and just there to have a good time.  It's my kind of town.  Also, amazingly enough, Jon and I both met people from our relatively small hometowns while there.  It's such a small, beautiful world!

Me in front of the Hemingway House

Kayaking

Delicious conch fritters

And Key Lime oysters

Beautiful (albeit, sweaty) sunset

 My margarita (and Jon's dirty banana) at the original Margaritaville

The Mile Marker (blurred camera from the humidity!)

Perfection
 
 

And one more sunset for good measure!

Coming next, my recap of Orlando and my cousin's wedding! 

Already Missing the Sun

I'm back from sunny Florida with lots of photos and stories to share, but of course I haven't actually downloaded any pictures from the camera yet. Hopefully I'll get around to that tonight, but until then you can check out my latest post over at Style Lush on how to make your very own homemade chicken stock. This is the perfect time of year to do so, no? Mmmm, just think of all the delicious things you can make with it!

Also, I have a random question for you all.  Do I have any DC, Maryland and/or Northern Virginia readers?  If so, please be so kind as to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail to let me know that you're local (to me).  You don't have to tell me where exactly...I just have something up my sleeve. :)

The Memory Keeper

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I'm a saver.  I save every little thing that has even the slightest bit of sentimental value, and seeing as how I'm extremely sentimental, that a lot of little things.  Thankfully, those little things are mostly paper items because, (surprise, surprise), they have meaningful words on them.

I have letters from pen pals dating all the way back to elementary school, including those written by a soldier from Mississippi that I corresponded with during Operation Desert Storm.

I have a reply from Dear Abby when my sixth grade self wrote to her complaining about my horribly mean Social Sudies teacher.  (She really was quite awful.  Back me up here, Claire!)

I have the elegant invitation from my Junior Ring Dance at Richmond and assorted Save-the-Dates from cherished friends.

There are ticket stubs from wine festivals and plane tickets from all our travels and colorful post-it love notes that Jon has left around the house for me.

Of course, as opposites tend to attract, Jon saves nothing.  He enjoys making fun of me for being attached to inanimate objects, but to that I say, "Honey, be thankful it all fits into shoeboxes!"

And sometimes, not very often, but sometimes, the fact that I'm such a saver works out in his favor.  I ripped the coupons below off the paper menus from the Montego Bay Margaritaville on the way home from our honeymoon.  That's right, the honeymoon we took three years ago.  I've held onto them the entire time, waiting patiently for our next visit to a Margaritaville for my favorite alcoholic beverage.

Turns out, we'll be stopping by the original Margaritaville at some point during our trip to Key West (T minus two days!) and we'll definitely be redeeming them for our two free margaritas.  I'd say that's a very happy ending for my treasured keepsake and Jon's thrifty wallet!

There's No Place Like Home

I love vacation, I really do.  But my goodness, it sure is sweet to sleep in your own bed after a week of sleeping in a strange one.  There's nothing like your own sheets and your own pillows, even if you are waking up at 5:30 AM rather than the 8:30 AM you've grown accustomed to after a week of staying up late (is it sad that midnight is considered late for me now?). 

I also love coming back to a home cooked meal when all you've eaten are restaurant meals for seven days straight.  When I was a little girl and on my family beach vacations, I used to loathe that we only ate out a few times and would make most of our meals instead to save money.  How embarrassing for a 12 year old, right?  The horror!  Lunch meat or PB&J sandwiches for lunch and a big pot of spaghetti or fried chicken and potato salad for dinner was the norm.  It was good and cheap and necessary for us to do so in able to afford that week at the beach.  And oh, how my parents were right on!  Eating out gets old very fast.

Don't get me wrong though, the week off was so lovely.  We don't get to see Jon's family very often since they're all in Pennsylvania so it's always nice to spend a relaxing time with them.  We had perfect weather the whole week which is rare for us, the bringers of rain wherever we go!  We played a lot of putt putt (mini golf) and I'm happy to say that my game has improved tremendously since last year.  Either that or they're making the courses easier. 

We came home to our wiggly little Lola Bean who was thrilled to see her Mama and Dad and we've been happily snuggling and sharing bacon ever since.  So did I have a nice vacation?  Yes, quite!  But am I happy to be home?  Oh, most definitely! 

Honfest 2009

Finally!!  The photos I've been promising from Honfest way back in June.  My parents were born and raised in Baltimore and I was born and raised in Baltimore until I was three so I would say that's enough to make me an honorary hon!  I absolutely adore this festival.

A hon sitting patiently for her beehive.

Two lovely hons hamming it up for my camera.

 

There were a few guy hons too!

 

This crabcake won the record for the world's largest crabcake.  After the record was won, they sold pieces of it to the crowd.  I love my crabcakes, but you couldn't have paid me to eat that thing!

 

Even the little ones get dressed up!  (Funny true story: My mom used to put pink foam curlers in our wet hair before bedtime when my sister and I were little girls.  To keep the curlers from falling out, she would stick a pair of our clean underwear on our heads!  We used to giggle so hard over that.)

 

Those were some serious beehives!

 

Yes, that is a dog with a beehive and no, Lola would never allow such a thing on her head.  You can't deny the cuteness though!

 

I think she likes it.  Look at that smile!

Jimmy Buffett Summerzcool Tour - Camden, NJ Edition

What. An. Awesome. Time.  Every year it gets better and better, probably because each year we improve our tailgate and get more creative.  This time we brought a pop-up tent and thank god we did because it rained almost the whole day, really, up until the concert began.  Jon made margaritas from scratch and that made all the difference in the world.  Yes, it rained almost the whole day but we didn't let that spoil our fun.

Yes, this was a real, live parrot.  Or some sort of tropical bird...I'm no bird expert!

This tailgate had a "Bob for Pickles" station set up.  I love pickles and I always loved bobbing for apples as a kid so I just couldn't resist.  Jon got plenty of high fives from the guys because I grabbed that pickle in a few seconds flat!   Hee hee :)

 

I'm not exaggerating when I say people go balls to the wall at a Buffett tailgate. 

Exhibit 1:  A freaking volcano and bow of a ship!

 

Exhibit 2: A fully functioning shark-mobile!

 

Exhibit 3: Not one, but two blenders! (Serving delicious rum runners and margaritas, respectively).

 

Exhibit 4: A full-sized tiki bar!  Maybe next year we'll bring one of our own. :)

 

There was also limbo...which I earned a shot of tequila for.

 

And a parrot taller than Jon!

 

You end up making friends with everyone you meet! 

 

Of course when you get into the concert, your lawn seats are so very far away from the stage, but the music is loud and wonderful and that's all that matters.

 

Ahh, Buffett...how I love thee.  We get to do this all over again in September for the Labor Day weekend show in Bristow, VA.  We can't wait!

On Driving in New Jersey (BAD) and Sherry's Bridal Shower (GOOD)

Let me start this post with an apology to the people of New Jersey:  I'm sorry.  I said some really awful stuff about your state on Sunday.  Stuff that would make a sailor blush and stuff that I thought back on later and thought, "Holy crap!  Where did I even come up with some of those curses?" 

In my defense, I was lost and late, two of the things I hate most in life.  When I'm lost, I get scared and frantic and when I'm late, I get irritable and anxious.  Those things do not add up to a pleasant Kate, as Jon can attest to when I called him frantically from some highway in New Jersey that morning.  Somehow I almost ended up in Staten Island, as in one of the five boroughs of New York City, when I was supposed to be on the Jersey shore for a bridal shower. 

Best of all, my iPhone crapped out on me.  Like screen froze, couldn't even power the damn thing off crapped out on me.  Thankfully, it re-booted itself five minutes after I tossed it on the passenger seat in disbelief and I was able to call Jon to get me the hell out of dodge.  All I'm saying, New Jersey, is that it would be helpful to label the Garden State Parkway road signs with it's appropriate title and not some green symbol and a large P because that was not at all useful to an out-of-state driver. 

I did eventually make it to the bridal shower, even before the bride, and promptly rewarded myself with a margarita for my efforts.  To say that this shower was organized would be an understatement.  There was a trivial pursuit theme and each category had something to do with the bride, Sherry.  There was a category by the drink section (i.e. What is Sherry's favorite mixed drink) and a category by the gifts, her childhood photos , etc. 

Sherry happens to be one of my best girlfriends from college.  She was one of my teammates and roommates and we, along with two other teammates/roommates, called ourselves The Core.  Sherry and I share a particularly important bond, however, because we both specialized in the 3k steeplechase as our race.  We've suffered through intense hurdle workouts and survived jumping over and in freezing cold water pits together and I love her to pieces.  I can't wait for her wedding next month! 

Sherry, the gorgeous bride

 Taylor, our fellow CORE member and a bridesmaid

Lisa, Sherry's twin sister and Maid of Honor

Sherry opening one of the many gifts she received.  I think we succeeded in showering Sherry with everything she and Matt will need for their marriage!

Sherry and I did take a photo together but the girl who took it completely cut our heads off!  Oh well!

Some Beach, Somewhere....

I must admit that recovering from oral surgery at the beach is the way to go.  Sunshine, cold beer, yummy (soft) seafood, salt water...what more could you need? 

We stopped by Seacrets before dinner one night and saw the cutest little family of ducks swim by the pub tables in the water.  

I love going there because the atmosphere reminds me so much of Sandals resorts.  You know, drinking in the water, island music, people hanging out in swimsuits...my kind of place!  Jon brought our son, Pleepleus, along to join in the fun.

On a recommendation from my uncle, we discovered a new hangout, Fish Tales, that we absolutely fell in love with.  Like Seacrets, it also faces the bay side and has colorful adirondock chairs lining the docks.  The crowd was a little more mature, not really in age, but in behavior, so it was a nice place to grab drinks and dinner after a long day at the beach.  Apparently I was so enamored with it that I forgot to take pictures, but here's one I grabbed from their website.

Pretty, huh?  As I mentioned in my last post, my parents were in Ocean City for the annual Ravens Roost Convention.  They held a big parade on Saturday and each Roost entered floats with a tiki bar theme.  My dad's Roost didn't win, but I thought their float was pretty amazing, regardless.

They even had a moving shark swimming after a Raven!

My favorite float was one made entirely from soda cans, mostly Welch's to be exact.

Can you imagine how much soda they had to drink?  Mind you, this float was huge; it was being towed by a tractor trailer!

Like most beach vacations, ours ended much too soon, but it was so nice to get away for a long weekend.  We'll be back in July for a whole week with Jon's family.  I'm already counting down the days!

Fun With Campfires

Let me premise this post with a statement: Jon and I are not campers in the traditional sense.  We don't do tents and we don't do hiking boots and we don't start our own fires from scratch.  We're more of the cabin, flip flops and fire starter-using kind of campers and we're okay with that.  (Though I've been swearing up and down for years that I could totally win Survivor because it's always the small, skinny girls that go far.  'Course their huge boobs might also be a factor, but I'm just saying, I could totally rock Survivor if given the opportunity).

Anyhow, our friends Allison and Ryan invited us to go camping with a group of their friends at the beautiful and historic Harpers Ferry.  They mentioned cabins and beers and s'mores and we said, "We're in!"  Save for a few run-ins with large, buzzing insects and some rainy weather on Sunday, we all had a blast and promised to make it an annual tradition.  All photos below are courtesy of the lovely Allison.

What better way to spend a Friday night then by playing flip cup by the light of the fire?

Jon and I were in charge of breakfast on Saturday morning and we made omelettes in baggies over the campfire.  Yes, eggs + baggies + fires = omelettes.  Did I just blow your mind?  They're magical omelettes!

We went on a short hike on the riverbank which led us into the town of Harpers Ferry.  The town itself actually sits on cliffs above the river(s).

Saturday night started out innocently enough...(and yeah, no makeup, I must really love you guys)

But a few rounds of beer pong and flip cup later, Jon and I were up to our old routine of rodeos and goofiness.

Any night that ends with warm, ooey-gooey delicious s'mores (just look at the perfect toast on that marshmallow!) is pretty close to heaven in my eyes.

I think I'll wait until tomorrow to share my super, secret best-ever garage sale find with y'all since I loaded you down with photos in this post.  It's totally worth the wait, I promise.