Sarasota Sunsets...

I know I already did the two part recaps to our Sarasota trip (part 1, part 2) but I wanted to share a few of my favorite sunset pictures (so yes, I had to do a separate post... I like to split things up, sue me!).

Anyways, there's nothing like a sunset on the west coast of Florida... actually, I had never experienced a Sarasota sunset before and I was not disappointed! here are a few of my favorite shots from that evening...

how lucky is penelope?

within her first six months she's experienced some of natures masterpieces including a beautiful sunrise on wrightsville beach and now, added to the list - a beautiful sunset on Lido Beach! 

hopefully we can continue to share natures wonders and beauties with her!

Sarasota Sunshine: Days 3 & 4...

[check out our first two days of vacation here]
so after the holiday party friday night - we woke up saturday morning feeling a liiiiiittttttle under the weather [ahem, hungover]. of course, Penny wanted nothing to do with it. she was WIDE AWAKE and ready to play...

we headed out to brunch with my mom and then from there walked around downtown Sarasota a bit, hit up the farmers market [which we LOVED, if you are ever in Sarasota on a Saturday morning definitely check it out!]

then we headed off to the beach for a bit and took in the beautiful sunset...

from there we headed to dinner and walked around St. Armands Circle (thanks Melissa for the recommendations!). we headed back to the hotel, put PJ down and hung out for a bit and then crashed. The next day we woke up and met our friends Mike & Carin for brunch and met their son Mason (aka Penny's future boyfriend). It was a blast to hangout with them for a bit, swap baby war stories and just catchup.

such a fun and relaxing weekend! we had a great (but exhausting) trip home and by the time we landed in ATL Ms. P was down for the count!

luckily she went down easily when we got home and wasn't thrown off too bad from the trip as far as her schedule, mood, eating, etc. Thanks Sarasota for the sunshine & relaxation! DJ has already been back since our trip and I'm looking forward to getting back there sometime in the Spring (more time on the beach, yes please!).

fingers crossed it's sooner rather than later! I would do anything to be in a warm sunny location rather than rainy cold and grey Atlanta right now! BRRRRR... is it Spring yet? anyways, happy almost last saturday night (sunday morning?) of 2012!

Sarasota Sunshine: Days 1 & 2...

earlier this month we took a fun family vaca to sunny Sarasota, FL! we went down for DJ's holiday party and to spend some time with my mom - it was win-win. My mom hadn't seen Penny since she was a week old so it was so fun to watch them together and for her to see how much P had grown/changed in six months. Also, since DJ works remotely it was great for him to spend some time in the "office" and for me to meet his co-workers!

here are the highlights of our trip - there are a LOT of pictures so I decided to break the posts up... get ready...

first up, the flights! yup, it was P's first flight and she was a little champ! she did great the first flight. I nursed during take-off and landing and she slept for the majority of the flight, the second flight was not bad - she wouldn't nurse during landing and cried for the last five minutes or so before we landed but hey, could be worse!

on the plane --

we had a quick lunch with DJ before he headed off to work...

I headed off and checked into the hotel... BEAUTIFUL. just what we needed!

then PJ and I headed to Target to pick-up the essentials (diapers, wipes, baby yogurt, etc.) that I didn't want to fly with. P was beat and she took a little siesta in her stroller (ermahgawd - her thighs)....

we had a relaxing dinner with some of DJ's coworkers that night and then put P down -- we got a little creative... bathroom, nursery? all the same!

the next day we met up with my mom and she was smitten from the start...

mom spent some QT with PJ while I got a much needed haircut...

and then, off we went to the holiday party - which was a blast! so fun to dress-up and have a fun night out on the town (thanks grandma for babysitting)!

so those were our first two nights in Sarasota - another post with our next day of vaca coming up soon!

back from the beach!

well, hello there. remember that time I feel off the blogging wagon? we headed to the beach for a few days and then when we got back I was trying to balance between getting a shitdone of work done and soaking up my last few days at home with Penny. oy. so - blogging clearly didn't fit in that equation for me, oops.

vacation recap? here goes: it was great! what? you want more details? okay.

we headed to one of my favorite places in the entire world - wilmington, nc [where I lived for four years before DJ stole me away to the berkshires] to visit our sweet friends and to just get out of dodge -- oh and to eat, yes, we go on vacation to eat [and eat we did, YUM]. it was a much needed getaway for us to just decompress for awhile and for Penny to meet some of our favorite people! I'm hoping we can get back their soon [hopefully for a little longer, when we can both truly "take off" work rather than bring our work with us].

also, penny is continuing to be the easiest baby ever [I don't want to jinx myself] -- she slept pretty much the whole ride to and from wilmington and slept through the night every night we were there AND didn't seem to even be effected by the fact that her schedule pretty much got thrown out of the window when we were there -- phew. we are two very lucky people! of course, she had fussy moments here and there but let's be real - she's a three month old baby, what do you expect?! again and again, I just have to say we are so freaking lucky!

now to the part you've been waiting for... pictures from our trip!

so that's that...

we had such a great time and feel so blessed and lucky to have such amazing friends in our lives! 

now off to plan the next vacation...

sunday evening random rambles...

can this weekend not end? seriously. I can't believe it's Sunday night already... this weekend was just what I needed, nice and low-key relaxation with my love. DJ and I had a great dinner date at West Egg on Friday night [their PBJ burger = AMAZING. pimento cheese and tomato jam on a burger was even better than it sounds]. then we came home and relaxed with Ollie. Saturday was our errands day, we made our list and checked everything off - got the car washed, Ollie got a bath and manicure [and smells so good], did some grocery shopping and just relaxed. Today was even more relaxing - I cleaned for a bit and did loads of laundry and we watched some Big Bang and then [quazi] watched the Oscars... 

anyways, the lovely, sweet and adorable Sarah from A Lovely Little Life gave me a sweet blog award last week and I thought I'd play along tonight [and give her a shout-out of course - go check out her blog, she's awesome and is also pregnant with a little girl! :)]... 

so here are the questions that go along with the blog award.... 

What is your go to make up brand?

that's a tough one... my make-up case is full of all sorts of goodies [that I rarely wear, hah]. It used to be MAC through and through but I've branched out a bit. I've started loving Benefit, Smashbox and Too-Faced.

What was your favorite fashion trend of 2011?

real talk: I don't know that I can even name one fashion trend of 2011. 

seriously.

this is sad.

I guess need to start reading some more fashion blogs.

hah.

What is your favorite dessert?

just one? 

you can't be serious!?

I love all things dessert, I can't pick just one so here's a few...

creme brulee, french macaroons, key lime pie...

and...

CUPCAKES.

oh cupcakes. I love you.

What is your favorite color?

just one?

clearly, I'm very indecisive.

I guess red.

[though I love some pink, yellow and turquoise!]

What is your middle name?

well, it used to be Maria but now it's my maiden name... let's leave it at S. for the public blog purposes

The last song you listened to?

does the background music to the Oscars count?

last song played on my iPhone: Dani California by Red Hot Chili Peppers... 

random, but good song.

Dogs or cats?

[bull]dogs. duh!

Something you haven't told anyone (on your blog) yet?

let's see....

we're naming our daughter --

haha.... juuuuust kidding!

you'll find out in 11 weeks give or take... :)

but anyways, something not a lot of people know --

DJ is starting a new job this week!

it's bittersweet because he's been doing amazing work at his current [almost past] job for the past six months and he has become such a valued member of their team in such a short time... 

but the man is just too good.

I'm super proud of him as he's gotten recruited once again...

it was an offer and opportunity that he couldn't refuse and he starts his new gig on Thursday.

love you jiggs, thanks for all the hard work and sacrifices you make for sweet pea and me. 

88 lovie. you're the best.

in other news, I'm crying over Meryl Streep's Oscar acceptance speech.

damn pregnancy hormones.

on that note, time for bed... 

birthday recap...

another year older, another year wiser... or so they say. my birthday weekend was a blast and I was spoiled rotten by my amazing husband and I had a great birthday [after a slight episode in the morning... I cried. I have no clue why, I'm pretty sure DJ doesn't either - I just have this weird thing with birthdays and it's a little nutty]. so after cryfest 2012 and a nice hot shower - I had a great birthday...

I was awoken by a silly bulldog who didn't get the memo that it was Saturday, then showered by gifts by my loving husband and had an AMAZING french toast breakfast... yum. I could eat french toast every day!

DJ got me these fun photo lenses for my iPhone - and we spent quite a bit of time playing with them, I can't wait to take more pictures with them, I just need to get a little bag to keep them with me in my purse... aren't they fun?!

...we also went to the mall and ran some errands and DJ got me a pair of red toms! I wasn't quite sure if this style of Toms were for me, but I LOVE the red ones and DJ was right... I did need a pair! Ollie likes them too... bad dog.

then I had a nice prenatal massage... aka heaven, came home and showered and headed to a yummy sushi dinner - my preggo cocktail of choice = cherry coke. yum. not diet, not caffeine free. I was living on the edge. my sushi [yes, third time this week] was also amazing [fried goodness = heaven].

then we came home and enjoyed a little publix cake... vanilla, strawberry filling and creamcheese frosting. again, YUM. a fantastic, fun, relaxing and just perfect birthday.

so filled with love, laughter and gluttony. crazy to think it's my last birthday without a little one running around... I have a feeling next years [30th?!] birthday will be quite different.

now I have a little less than three months to plan DJ's 30th birthday... our plans have changed a bit since I'll be quite pregnant when his birthday rolls around but I'm determined to make it a special and great birthday to roll out his thirties [aka his best decade yet I've decided].

thanks for all your birthday wishes, here's to a great 29th year!

new years & anniversary staycation...

happy 2012! we had a great time saying goodbye to 2011, ringing in 2012 and celebrating our anniversary this past weekend during our "staycation" in Athens, GA. we headed down to Athens on Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel to start the trip.

I love me a king-sized bed...

my new favorite shoes joined us for the trip...

Then we walked downtown and just strolled around enjoying our beautiful 65 degree weather. we might have left our favorite bulldog home but we had lots in Athens to keep us company...

lovely Athens afternoon...

We stopped into a new favorite Walker's Coffee and Pub - DJ enjoyed a few nice beers and I had an uber yummy steamer and then walked over to Gigi's cupcakes where I demolished enjoyed a champagne cupcake aka HEAVEN...

then we headed back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit and freshened up for dinner. we went to farm 255 [which we wholeheartedly recommend for a great meal if you're in Athens] where they had a great four course pre-fixe dinner - we got different things for each course and shared [my favorite thing to do] and DJ got the wine pairings - I enjoyed my beverage of choice lately - h2o... so fancy, I know.

after dinner we headed back to the hotel and popped open our bubbly...

...and then watched some Big Bang Theory on DVD [I know, party animals] and switched over to CBS at around 11:30pm and watched the ball drop! It was such a fun relaxing New Years Eve just the two of us - our last childless new years eve/anniversary - crazy!  It was also crazy to think last year we were celebrating our wedding with our friends and family - two great New Years Eves... just very different!

On Sunday, we woke up and headed to our favorite Athen's restaurant Last Resort Grill for brunch - which was fantastic as always! Then we had to stop at Ike & Jane's for a donut before driving home [what? baby j wanted one two!]

here are a few more yummy snapshots from our trip...

afternoon beer/milk steamer from Walker's ~ yummy sparkling grape juice back at the hotel ~ my amazing omlette from Last Resort ~ donut = happiness from Ike & Jane's!

We returned home Sunday afternoon and lounged in our PJs. That night we had our 3rd annual anniversary pizza [after we eloped we walked home, got a pizza, got in our PJs had some pizza and called our parents to tell them we got married!  we continued the pizza tradition last year and plan to do it every year on our anniversary. we also exchanged cards [our gift to each other was our staycation] and I got a dozen beautiful red roses from my love.

such an amazing weekend celebrating [and eating] with my love! it was perfection - more than anything the best part was just enjoying some downtime with DJ, he's been working super hard lately and with my pregnancy exhaustion and holiday overload with the families, we haven't had a lot of one-on-one fun time away - it was much needed and appreciated.

2011 was a great year for us and I'm so excited to see all the joy and love that will surround us during 2012! more than anything I can't wait for may to meet our sweet baby girl! 

here's to 2012 - may it be filled with great love, health and happiness for all.