Day 8 - Paradise

Today, I am supposed to post a picture of a place I've traveled to. Easy choice of the place I want to talk about:


Excellence Playa Mujeres was a fabulous resort outside of Cancun Bert and I visited in July. It was the best vacation ever. I loved every second of it. I think about it daily, as I still wear the hotel slippers every evening.

Oh, how I miss you, EPM.

To see much more on this magical destination, click here and read the post that will pop up below.

Labels: meme, travel, vacation

Paradise Found

Subtitle: Mexico, A Photo Essay

Bert and I have returned from 5 nights in paradise. For our 6-year anniversary and my 30th birthday, we took our biggest trip ever - to the fabulous Excellence Playa Mujeres. This resort is 20-30 minutes from Cancun and is the most beautiful place I have ever been. The food, the service, the resort, the pools - all five star. Below are some of the highlights!

One day, Bert and I went to Tulum to see Mayan Ruins. We were told the ruins overlooked the 2nd most beautiful beach in the world. Indeed, the water was turquoise.

Labels: vacation

4th of July at the Lake

Bert and I had the best 4th of July! We celebrated with friends at Lake Sinclair. From eating brick-oven pizza (where the photos above were taken) to spending two days on the lake (thank goodness for sunscreen) to eating truly shameful amounts of food, we had an incredible weekend.

We capped off the weekend with a low country boil (yay for turkey sausage!) at an event with Jews, Christians and Muslims. To me, THAT'S America.

Thanks goodness for good friends!

Labels: friends, holiday, vacation

Mountain Getaway

I am exhausted.

Usually, when Bert and I go to the mountains, we come back relaxed and rejuvenated. This time around, we all stayed up 'til 1-2 every morning. I would shut down the party every night by announcing I needed to get some sleep! :)

But, oh boy, what a great time we had!

We met Bert's BFF, Wes, and his fabulous wife Jamie in Blue Ridge, Georgia. Our cabin was AWESOME. Click here for pictures of the cabin.

We enjoyed strolling the streets of downtown Blue Ridge, eating, shopping, etc. We also visited Mercier Orchards (where the photo above was taken). So fun.

And BTW, I highly recommend the book "If" to take along as a great fun adult game/conversation piece.

Between cooking out, my famous Chicken Scallopini, hanging out in the hot tub and watching the Golden Globes, it was lots of fun.

All in all, it was a great weekend! We are lucky to have such fabulous friends.

Labels: friends, vacation

I Left My Home in Georgia, Headed for the 'Frisco Bay

Going from Pacific Coast time to East Coast time makes for a doozy of a jetlag, but I finally feel normal today. And for all of you that have ever visited San Francisco, you know that it was totally and completely worth it. We were gone nearly a week, and got home this past Friday. Let's go on a photo tour. I'll start at the beginning.

We arrived at noon on a Saturday, checked in at the Westin St. Francis, and headed to Fisherman's Wharf via cable car. Had lunch and the waitress said we had to go to this old-timey arcade, the Musee Mechanique. It was so neat, and of course Bert beat the machine in arm wrestling on the highest level. :)

After the arcade and checking out the sea lions, we walked a short distance to Ghiradelli Square, where we shared the best ice cream sundae I have ever had in my life. I was worried about all the calories, but shouldn't been have due to the walk from hell we had to take straight up several hills to Lombard Street, the "curviest street in America":

The GPS on my phone was messed up, so after all that, we ended up walking really far through Chinatown back to the hotel in Union Square. Exhaustion.

Day two. We got up, caught a MUNI bus and went to Golden Gate Park. I LOVED the Japanese Tea Garden. If you go to San Francisco, I highly recommend this. Pictures cannot do it justice; it is truly one of the most magical places I have ever been:

We walked through Golden Gate Park and saw stunning flowers on the trek to Haight-Ashbury, the hippie district. We got some fabulous peace posters, but the most memorable part of this area was Scooter Girl:

Why, yes, she is only wearing a tutu and rainbow colored knee-socks. Why? Well, she was probably on her way to the Gay Pride Parade. Yep, we were there while 1.5 million people were there for a gay pride extravaganza. The nudity freaked me out.

Anyway, then, we ended up walking a crazy long way AGAIN to get to the Painted Ladies:

There are lots and lots of houses that look like this in San Fran. When we FINALLY got there, we were exhausted. Bert and I proceeded to get into an argument about if the Tanner Family lived in one of these. No really. But first, I belted out the "Full House" theme song. No really.

Side note. I was right. The Tanners did NOT live in a Painted Lady. See here. Bert should know to never question my pop culture knowledge. :)

That evening and for the next few days, I had a conference to attend. It was fabulous and I learned so much and made great contacts. Really wonderful professional experience.

In the evenings, Bert and I enjoyed some fabulous meals. Our two favorites were Naan-N-Curry, an Indian restaurant and our very top - Michael Mina. The Indian restaurant was delicious and reminded me of my family. Nice having a moment with "my people." And Michael Mina - WOW.

I had wanted to go to this restaurant since seeing it on the show "Giada's Weekend Getaways". She ate a lobster pot pie there that looked divine. So, Bert and I went and ordered off the prix fixe menu (which you have to do). For my first course, I chose something that sounded good and involved strawberries. It was called foie gras.

FOIE GROSS!

Little did I know it was liver. It was disgusting. I actually did not find out it was liver until the day we left when I remembered to Google it. I started gagging in the airport. Thank goodness that waiter was super nice and not hoity-toity at all. Plus Bert said it was my first time to try it, as we didn't want the chef to think it was HIS foie gras that I didn't like. It's all foie gras that I despise.

Anyway, the lobster pot pies came out - divine. It was all I had hoped for. Then, our waiter came back and said, "The chef is concerned you didn't have enough. He will send out a cheese course with his compliments." WOW. Talk about service. The cheese was delicious. The shining star of the meal was a root beer float (with root beer and sassafras sorbet) and two warm and ooey-gooey chocolate chip and pecan cookies. It was not just a good meal; it was an incredible dining experience. Five stars. After that, we went to a super cool speakeasy recommended by Alli.

Our next big excursion some days later was the Golden Gate Bridge. Magnificent.

We were told we could walk the bridge (It took around 30 minutes of crazy windiness and super noisiness with all the cars whizzing by) and would be right in Sausalito. WRONG. After walking nearly two hours, Bert and I FINALLY arrived in Sausalito. Here I am really depressed and tired:

Anyway, we FINALLY arrived, and it was gorgeous. I cried at lunch because the food was gross, but that's another story. Here is a snapshot of lovely Marin County:


I was still upset until we found a candy store, and I got some new gorgeous earrings. Then all was well.

Our last big excursion was to Napa Valley. It was nice to be back in a car and not reliant on walking belligerently long distances or taking public transportation. We went to V. Sattui, which had a fabulous lunch, and Mumm Napa. It was so very beautiful. We went on a tour at Mumm Napa, and also went to a gallery at Mumm where they had Ansel Adams photography. It was a great day, and we felt very cultured.



We had time left before having to take the car back, so we went to Twin Peaks to see a truly incredible view:


In fact, there were lots of postcard views. Sometimes the scenery was so incredible that it was hard to truly absorb what you were seeing. Magnificent. It was a great week, and after a long stretch of being crazy busy for me and Bert, it was just what we needed. And while there's no place like home and the South is that for me, I definitely heart San Francisco.

Labels: family, travel, vacation

Bachelorette Bash

As promised, here are a few pics from my friend Amber's Bachelorette Weekend in DC:

Labels: vacation

Coming Soon: A Much-Needed Vacation!

In less than two weeks, Bert and I will be at this cabin we rented in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Hopefully the leaves will be in their autumnal glory. I am so looking forward to this.

And by the time we leave to go on our trip, I will be done with my mid-term (tomorrow...wish me luck!) and a paper I have due in school. And, I will be finished with another set of crazy projects at work. I just wish I could fast-forward to October 26!!

On a good note, we are going to see Guster on Tuesday...one of our favorite bands that is performing downtown. And in general, despite the crazy busy-ness, life is good. I am blessed.

Labels: fall, vacation

Sun and Fun

Labels: family, vacation