St. Maarten Travel Post

Pinel Island

                           

Pina Colada duty. 

Shoal Bay Beach, Anguilla

Mullet Bay

Cupecoy Beach, right around that rock was a nude sunbather!

Ice cream boats instead of trucks on Pinel Island

Just wanted to share some photos from our great trip to St.Maarten and maybe offer up some advice. This was our first time in St. Maarten even though we have had a timeshare for about seven years that offers us a space there. The first day we got in, it was raining heavily, so we hung out in the Greenhouse restaurant which had pretty good food and 2 for 1 drinks for happy hour. The day after, we went out to Pinel Island. Once you get to the spot where the 'ferry'(its a small boat) leaves from, you can park and rent kayaks or paddle boards and get over that way. It was $15 for a single person kayak and $12 for the boat ride over. Get there early, they do not have many kayaks/paddle boards. Once you are there, I really suggest the Karibuni restaurant($20 for umbrella and chairs). Their drinks are really good and strong and the food is great! I suggest getting the cuttlefish dish. The service is super fast and friendly and they gave us a try of their home made banana rum, which was so yum my dad kept trying to get the recipe. 

The next day we drove with plans to go to Cupecoy Beach and snorkel. It is beautiful in pictures, but in person, there is not much sand or beach and the water is quite rough with a lot of rocks through out. It's not great for smaller kids, so we traveled on to Mullet Bay Beach. This beach is really pretty and I would suggest it for young kids and inexperienced swimmers. The snorkeling was okay. We got to see a few fish and urchins. The highlight here was the woman giving massages on the beach(I think her name was Trudy). 

The day after was my daughters birthday and she kept talking about going to the pool. Instead of taking her to the dinky pool at the apartments we went to Loterie Farm. They have a really beautiful pool in a lush rain forest setting. Entrance fee gets you a lounge chair and towel. The food here was pretty great, too. Here, I suggest the chicken and brie sandwich and BBC drink. You can also zip line or hike here but we decided to just chill. In the evening, we went out to a nice dinner at Ocean82 in Grand Case (get the lava cake, trust me). The views here are amazing, so make sure to make a reservation before the sun sets. We made the mistake of thinking there is no traffic on this island.. because island life, right? Wrong. Give yourself more time than you think you need, especially when traveling at rush hour(there are a few draw bridges near Simpson Bay). 

The day that followed really pissed me off. It was the only day we had planned perfectly and woke up super early to make sure everything went according to plan. We were going to get on a catamaran to go to Anguilla. It included food, drinks, snorkeling, transportation. We booked with Bluebeard Charters. Their website said to be at the dock at 8 am. 8:30.... 9:00.. still no one came. We tried to instagram direct message them. Nothing. The hotel tried calling them. Nothing. We finally get in touch with them after calling them and they say they had to cancel due to electrical issues. No one emailed, no one showed up to let us know. We just waited and wasted time on our last full day there. Finally, we decided to take the ferry over. Anguilla was AHmazing. We spent the entire day at Shoal Bay Beach. Be warned, their sun is no joke! Bring nothing below 70 SPF sun screen. You will not tan. You will burn. The drinks here were much much cheaper than St. Martin. The food was lacking a bit of something though. The snorkeling here was phenomenal and there is a big reef that is very much alive. Here, we saw many fish in all colors. You can rent snorkel equipment 40 ft from your beach chair. 

If you are going to party,drink, and eat this is the place for you. There are restaurants literally everywhere. Anguilla was a bit more peaceful and less developed, and I love it for that. If you are going for relaxation and to get away from people and de-stress, go elsewhere. Such as Anguilla, St.Lucia, or Antigua. 

Thanks for reading!

St.Lucia Travel Post

   Although it pains me to say it, I am back from St.Lucia. It was so amazing, we honestly did not want to come back and had it not been for work and our daughter being back in CT, we probably wouldn't! Seriously, we started looking at other rentals online and even at what it costs to buy there. If you are thinking of visiting this island, don't think just DO. We stayed at Villa Piton (from VRBO) which we quickly found out everyone confuses with Villa de Piton and any other house with that name variation. An awesome hair stylist at Ladera, Yvonne, informed me all you have to say is Jon DiPol's old house. He is the architect who designed the famous Ladera resort on the Island. It was his home in St.Lucia when he was living, sadly I found out he passed away a few years back. The home has no address, but it is worth it to trek through the crazy winding nature trail road to find this gem.

We rented a car after I did some research and found out a single ride from the airport to here costs near $85 US. It was very useful since nothing is within walking distance. It was super fun, too as long as you are careful and don't drive like a maniac. We payed about $340 and split the van cost with eight people so it was very affordable. The house was phenomenal! Very clean, comfortable and we all felt safe. The house came with a housekeeper and cook, as well as a grounds keeper which came every morning to clean the pool and make sure everything was ok.  The best part... views are a perfect 10 out of 10! 

the view from our master bedroom

from the living room

Sugar Beach at Viceroy

Sugar Beach is a great location to spend a beach day. They have imported white soft sand, a restaurant, strong delicious drinks and a great atmosphere. You can rent snorkel equipment as well as other water sports necessities. Although, bring a towel, the chairs are $50 US to rent. For us, it wasn't worth it since we were only there for a couple of hours, but maybe if you plan to spend the entire day there it could be beneficial. 

the view from our sunset Catamaran cruise with Mystic Man Tours

I would highly recommend the Mystic Man Tours sunset cruise as well, we had unbelievable views and a gorgeous sunset with a knowledgeable sailor. Aside from Sugar Beach and this sunset cruise I would suggest heading to Ladera for dinner and live music. They had excellent food and the best Mahi Mahi I've ever had. If we had more time, we would have loved to check out the local nightlife in Soufriere and head up to Rodney Bay. 

Overall, we are already planning another trip here. I can not tell you enough of this Islands beauty and peoples friendliness, it was a true pleasure to experience even if only for three days. I had the time of my life!

Thanks for reading!

Time to Shop for Destination Weddings and Honeymoons!

  With the trips to St. Lucia and St.Martin coming up I am searching online for outfit ideas as well as shopping for new items. The trip we have in May to St.Lucia is for my best friends wedding and I am enjoying helping her find some new items to pack for the trip and her honeymoon. She gave me the idea to make a post about it and I figured why not? There are probably others heading out on vaca AND its wedding season so brides may be shopping for their destination weddings and/or honeymoons as well!

  Let's start with the travel outfit! Whether you like to be comfortable or go all out when you travel, you should feel beautiful and special traveling to your wedding destination or to your honeymoon. I am definitely one of those people that is always cold, so no matter how warm it is outside I always bring some sort of light jacket to fly with and can never do shorts or dresses so Included pretty sweaters. However, if you are not like me, the summer dresses and florals are perfect for you!

        Your next look will probably be a rehearsal outfit. In our case, the bride has chosen to do a casual sunset catamaran sail with finger foods as the rehearsal dinner, which I LOVE. This one has proven to be a bit more difficult since a dress probably isn't the best option unless you are really comfortable flashing your goods to everyone once in a while with a good wind. These looks can also work for heading out at night for drinks or exploring the island and shopping.

          She also asked for help finding cute island worthy shoes, cover-ups and swimwear since they are also honeymooning in the Caribbean.

         Also, ever since I have joined Etsy as a seller, I have noticed there are very cute swimsuits on there handmade by talented people that can also be custom made to your measurements. One of my favorites that is affordable and has great reviews is this one by seller Jkinis.
    

She does a lot of reversible suits and scrunch butt bikini bottoms.

   And finally some shoes!!

                                                                Thanks for reading!! 

New on Etsy and Travel Update

  Hey guys! Just wanted to share this cute new romper that is now on my Etsy shop.

                 

                                                             

  I have been feeling really inspired by a few exciting trips coming up. We are heading to St.Lucia in May for my best friends wedding and St. Martin in June as well as Poland in July, so for the most part I am thinking tropical. I really loved this fabric and am considering doing just shorts or maybe a skirt in it. I also noticed most views on my shop are people looking for swimwear, so a lot more of that coming soon too. St. Lucia and St. Martin will be great locations for shooting the items and I am so extremely excited to see my best friend get married in paradise and just have fun and travel! If you would like to follow along or want updates on new Etsy items, you can follow me on instagram


                                                        Thanks for reading!

Charleston, SC Trip: Isle of Palm and Boone Hall Plantation

 Here are some photos from our  trip to Charleston, South Carolina! I know I don't usually post photos of my family here, so this is rare. However, this was a family trip so it is what I took photos of. I am so grateful to have been able to spend this week in such a beautiful place with family, I had to share the pictures. This place is such a great location for a mini vacation, if you are within driving range, definitely check it out! There is a lot of fun things to do, just make sure you visit in the spring-late summer as the beaches in November were a little bit chilly.

Boone Hall Plantation

Our daughter LOVED the beach

Marni Olive Branch Dress

                                                                    Thanks for reading!

What I Wore; Leather, lots of leather

       We are finally completely settled in at our new place in Virginia! We found a great apartment really close to plenty of restaurants, shopping, and nightlife. It's a bit smaller than our home back in CT, but it makes up for that with giant walk in closets, a pool, and a gym. So, I guess that means I am now obligated to get in shape.
   
        Yesterday was my birthday, and I figured it was a good time to come back to the blog world! There are a few exciting things coming up that I am looking forward to. The big one being the move here and meeting new people. A few others are a bunch of weddings happening in the next year, and traveling to celebrate those involved. We are also planning a short stay in the Outer Banks with some friends, possibly, in the next two months. If you know me or have read here before, you know how much I love planning travel outfits and packing (and traveling ANYWHERE in general!).

      My look for yesterday was a little bit rock/edgy with somewhat gothic makeup. You would think  that the weather would be somewhat pleasant since we are "south", but fun fact, it's still cold...

                                              Blazer     here ( on sale)   You can't see it but I am wearing a blazer under the jacket that comes with a tassel tie belt, that I have been using as a choker necklace.     

                        Top  Here (on sale, too!)     $12.99, in black and white

    Jacket (similar)   Here       On sale for $35

Boots are Giuseppe Zanotti, but similar here   for $134. 

In retrospect, even though these boots provided extra warmth, I think I would replace them with regular black pumps or booties and reserve these tall boots for dresses and skirts. 

Thanks for reading! 

Cruising Costa Brava

Poncho $29.90     /       Sunglasses      /       Similar tee

This is what I wore for a less then warm day in Tossa de Mar Spain. I really had my heart set on swimming in these gorgeous turquoise waters for months and this day turned out to be around 73 and windy. For the hike up to the castle ruins I wore just my white tee and shorts, but afterwards threw on my poncho sweater, which turned out to be a very common article of clothing for me on this trip! Tossa de Mar also has a very old quaint little town attached to the old castle, and exploring there is wonderful. After staying here for the day, we drove through the mountains to Sant Feliu de Guixols, which is an adventure in itself. Every turn and bend is a photo opportunity worthy of a postcard. Easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. 

Hope you have enjoyed these photos, because I loved taking them!

Thanks for reading.