Kurt's Bday Trip--Part 2

**I found a sign advertising an attorney, so of course, I had to pose!  :)

We flew into San Jose late on Thursday, and checked into our normal airport hotel, Holiday Inn Express, for the night.  We stay here when we have to be at the airport early, or if we get in late.  The hotel picks you up for free and they were waiting for us after we cleared customs.  Took shuttle to hotel, checked in quickly, surfed the net for a bit and crashed, exhausted from flying a kinda long layover in Ft Lauderdale  I was a little terrified flying Spirit, but our flights were easy with no delays.  The Ft Lauderdale airport is really lame though, no restaurants and very crowded with little kids screaming everywhere.  I was happy to get out of there.

**View of the pool area right from our room at our hotel in Herradura.  Got to wear my new bathing suit, whoot.

Got up fairly early, as we had to be at our hotel in Jaco at 11 to meet the realtor.  Had a yummy continental breakfast at the hotel (free) and headed to pick up our rental car at Payless.  Got the rental SUV and started towards jaco!  Drive was nice and beautiful, as usual.  Pulled up to our hotel at 1105 and the realtor was there waiting.  He jumped in our car and off we went (see previous post about house hunting).  After looking at houses all day, we checked into our hotel La Brisas.  We had a room near reception and the pool.  Room was nice and had a little kitchen and sitting area.  We headed out to dinner that night at our fav place in the world, Taco Bar, in downtown Jaco.  Sat on our swings at the bar area and had spicy ahi tuna tacos, yum.  Headed to a grocery store to pick up drinks and snacks and back to the room.

Day two, I woke up and worked out with my Jillian video, and then we headed into town to walk around and have lunch before heading out with the realtor again.  We had lunch at a sports bar called Los Amigos, and I had an amazing shrimp pad thai.  HUGE, varied menu for a sports bar.  Loved it.  went and looked at houses the remainder of the afternoon.  Went and got a massage at a place called Nazareth that we like.  Decided I wanted to take Kurt somewhere nice for is bday dinner, and I had heard good things about this place called Graffiti Wine Bar in downtown jaco, so we headed there.  Was slightly concerned about getting a table because reviews I read said you need a reservation, but we lucked out and got seated right away.  We both had this saltine encrusted mahi with clam chowder that was AMAZING and I made Kurt get dessert, which was a french toast with bananas and was incredible, called the Elvis.  Oh, almost forgot, before lunch we went to Tarcoles and went on the crocodile man tour again (we went once before in 2006).  It was super fun, yet again.  The people who run that tour are crazy with how close they get to these huge creatures.

Day 3, we checked out (after i worked out and Kurt worked out at a local gym) and decided to head to an area of the country we had never been to, called Uvita, which is near Dominical. The way to get here used to be a 4 wheel dirt road, but now is beautifully paved and simply to get to, about 90 minutes from Jaco.  We drove right there, after making a pit stop in Quepos so Kurt could use the internet for some business.  We stayed at Hotel Cristal Ballena.  Our room was super nice, overlooking via a huge wraparound balcony the rain forest and ocean and pool area of the resort.  After checking in, we headed across the street to a beach area at Marino Bellena National Park.  We walked the beach and went to a cool area with some rocks and caves to check it out.  Back to the hotel and did a hot hike in the rainforest.  Prob should have taken bug spray on this one, we got a little eaten alive by the mosquitoes.  :).  It was a nice workout though and a very pretty walk.  That night was the Super Bowl, so we headed into downtown Uvita to a little bar attached to a hotel called Nido del Halcon, and watched the first half of the game while having dinner.  Headed back to the room after that and watched the second half of the game.  Crashed after that.

Day 4, we got up and headed to Sierpe to go on a mangrove tour.  Got there, and had a really nice time relaxing on the boat during the tour.  Were bummed we did not see monkeys, but we saw a lot of other birds and animals and it was a fun time.  Love spending time on the water in nature.  Drove back towards the hotel and stopped in a little town called Ojochol for lunch at a place called Citrus.  Had lunch in an outside area, that started with an amazing banana smoothie, yum.  Headed back to the room after that and I walked out, and we decided to stay in for the night and relax in the room.

Day 5, checked out and on our way back to Jaco, stopped in some little towns to drive around and explore the areas and the beaches.  We stopped in Uvita and Dominical.  Super cute little areas right on the water.  Got back to Jaco, as we were meeting up with Colin again to relook at one of the houses we liked.  Before that though, we went and walked on Jaco Beach and walked the downtown area some.  Made a reservation at Serenity Spa to get massages, and had lunch at a place called Caliche's Wishbone, that was super yummy.  Looked at the house again, and checked into our hotel, which ended up being one of my favorite places we have stayed at in Costa Rica, called El Paso de las Lapas. Small boutique place, with almost nobody there besides us.  Our room had a huge pool right outside the door.  Loved swimming in that pool and the grounds were gorgeous.  Went and had dinner that night at a Sushi place called Tsunami.  Got a table right by the window overlooking the street and we split some yummy sushi rolls and miso soup.

Day 6, got up and worked out, then headed out to explore Jaco and drive around some of the neighborhoods some more.   Decided to check out this place called Pura Vida gardens and waterfalls, which is ended up being like 6 miles up a mountain dirt road.  The place was gorgeous though and had a ton of little trails and hikes you could do.  We walked around there for quite a bit of time then headed back to the room.  Had dinner at place right on the water called Bohio's Beach Bar and got to have awesome fish tacos again, which the place is known for.  For some reason, I am totally blanking on where we had lunch this day!  We did go into a really nice clothing store in downtown jaco.  Did not buy anything, but really high quality, local made stuff.  Place was called Guacamole.

Day 7, got up and worked out, then head to pack up and head to the airport and to return the rental car, BOOOOO.  Drove to San Jose, turned the car in and headed to the airport and away from paradise.

Overall, an awesome and very productive trip.  Pura Vida!

Kurt's Bday Trip 2013--Part 1, House Hunting

Ahhh.  Costa Rica.  My favorite place in the entire world to visit.  We took a trip here for a week for Kurt's bday, and to look at houses.  Combined kinda trip, business and pleasure.  Mostly pleasure though, because looking at houses was actually fun.

We looked at houses in various areas including Hermosa, Herradura, Esterillos Este, Playa Agujas, and Tarcoles.  All around Jaco Beach, which is where we want to be near.  Pretty much every place we looked at was nice, however, we liked two of them the best.  We ended up deciding that the closer to Jaco Beach we can be, the better.  Which is basically Herradura and Hermosa.  We really liked two places.  The first is in Herradura, which is literally only 5 minutes from Jaco Beach.  This house is in a little community of houses where you have to own at least 5000 square meters of land, so the houses are never going to be right on top of one another, even though the community is not filled yet.  This house has 1.5 acres of property.  The house is about 2150 square feet and has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.  The house backs up to some huge trees, where animals often visit and while we were there, a family of 5 toucans was visiting the tree.  The owner said that a group of capuchin monkeys were there the day before.  Love.  This property needs some things done to it though in order to have it be to where Kurt wants.  We would need to build on, adding a gym.  There is no room in the current house for a gym, and Costa Rica is severely lacking in gym facilities.  I plan on working out in the outdoors a lot with hiking, running on the beach, biking, but Kurt likes having weights easily accessible and a treadmill and a bike, at a minimum.  also, the area to park cars is a kinda car port with a storage area.  we would want to wall that in totally so it was an actual garage.  Further, we would want to build the pool area up some.  Right now, it is a pool and patio area, but no coverage.  You need that in Jaco, as it is hot during the day.  So we would want to build on a covered area to the pool, maybe like a thatched roof or something.  And, we want a covered walkway from the garage to the house for the rainy season.  The house would need some paint on the interior walls as well, since one of the rooms is painted in Disney purple, LOL.  So, we have a contractor going to the house to look at it and price these things out.

The second house is in Hermosa Beach, which is about 10 minutes from Jaco Beach.  This house's interior is gorgeous and there are two options for a gym already there (an extra bedroom that is large or using the garage as as gym).  The pool area is stunning and perfect.  I think I would spend every second outdoors, literally.  The downside to this property is besides the pool, it has almost no yard.  A pro this one has the other does not is 24 hours security and free water, but you pay monthly for this as kinda an association fee (it's very low though considering with a pool, the water is included).  It's more in a neighborhood, but the neighborhood is upscale and I would feel really safe here.  By the way, our realtor, Colin Miller, was awesome.  He really seemed to *get* what we wanted and understand our perspective.  he showed us a lot of houses we had not even asked to see, and the two we like the most were not even on our list to see initially.  Anyway, we have not put an offer on anything yet, as we are waiting to hear back on the one with the land and the cost to do the upgrades.  Labor is much cheaper in Costa Rica, so fingers crossed it is not super pricey.  If we put bids in and they are not accepted at what we think we should pay, we will simply wait and look again later.  The entire experience was really positive though.  

Will post more about the non-house hunting part of the trip soon!  Pura Vida.

Check-in

We are having an absolutely awesome time in Costa Rica for our combined Kurt's bday and house hunting trip.

I will post a trip update when we return, but thus far, we have spent time in both the Jaco area and the Uvita area.

Pura Vida!

Nothing New

I don't really have anything uber important to say, so this post will just be a bunch of random crap. Sound good?  OK.

I rented another Jillian Michael's video from Netflix.  I ordered this one as I thought it would be a great arm workout instead of cardio like the one I posted about in my last post.  This one is called Shred It with Weights.  This video consists of two segments, one is considered level one and one is level two.  I did level one once with Kurt.  The next night, I did level two.  Oh this video is used with a kettle bell (or handweight if you dont have a kettle bell). I bought a Kettle Bell recently, so I used that and kurt used a weight.  Anyway, weirdly, this video really killed my legs, mostly my quads.  Which was perplexing as while doing the workout, my arms hurt.  It also worked abs really well.  Overall, I really like the video.  Not as much as the first one I posted about, but it is def a great workout.

So, the weather here has been so freaking cold.  It really seems like the coldest winter we have had in many years.  Not fun.  to prove how cold it has been, I did not wear a skirt or dress all last week and only wore pants suits, which is insanity for me!  That is how cold it was, I needed all the extra heat I could get.

I recently got a $20 gift card from Opentable, and we decided to use it this weekend.  Last night, we went to Real Seafood Company in Toledo, and then headed to the new casino in Toledo, Hollywood Casino, to check it out.  Dinner was awesome, service was perfect.  I had clam chowder as an app, and crab cakes with rice as my meal.  Kurt had clam chowder, then a salmon ceasar salad.  The casino was OK.  It was very nice, and it was fun to walk around, but the table games had really high minimum bets, which made me not want to play.  I think the lowest we saw on Blackjack was $20 per hand, which is insane.  We can play in Vegas for like $3.  We did play some slots and checked the whole place out.

I had two Groupons for a new Better Health that opened in Southgate, so I made Kurt go with me to use them this weekend.  There used to be one in Taylor that closed and this new one is WAY better!  They have an entire grocery store, as well as the nutritional supplement section.  Kurt got some protein shots, and I got some salmon burgers and an energy drink.

I ordered two new bathing suits on ASOS (a new site I have been using that has great discount prices), and love them both, which is crazy since I am so picky about bathing suits.  Here are the two I got:

I went to Kohl's a last weekend and got some amazing deals.  I only spent $12 after coupons, etc., and got a ton of stuff for that!  I got this shirt, which is so super cute for under suits:

 As well as this necklace, which I have already worn twice

and this ring, which matches everything!

have not worn these shoes yet, but found them on a clearance rack and love them, so different!

 and I got these off the clearance shelf too, except mine are red.

Oh, how I love the clearance racks and coupons at Kohl's!  I also had some cash on gift cards from some gifts I had returned, and some gift cards from points I turned in with one of my credit cards.  Yay for deals.

Kurt has been wearing glasses all weekend (me too) in prep for an eye doctor appointment we have on Monday.  We are both hoping to get LASIK on our eyes, and in order to do the appointment, you have to not wear your contacts for a few days.  Fingers crossed we both qualify.  I wish insurance covered stuff like this.

I have been researching some trip possibilities for this year.  Pros and cons to everything.  I was looking at Alaskan cruises.  We both hate the cruise thing, but for certain trips, it is the way to see everything (like our Galapagos trip).  I am also looking at more African safaris.  Who knows what we will actually end up doing, probably something entirely different, LOL.

Anyway, that's about all that's new and exciting.  Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

New Workout

I work out almost every day.  I decided about a week ago to order a video from Netflix to try and put some spin on my workouts.  After doing the workout below, I am def going to start ordering more videos.  Using them insures I push myself and don't half ass my workouts.  I can actually from the short time doing this feel improvements to my abs, legs and arms.  What's great about the ab stuff is that you don't do ANY crunches.

I ordered Jillian Michael's Banish Fat Boost Metabolism.  Anyway, I first tried to do this on Saturday, when I was sick.  Could only do about half before I had to stop as I could not breathe and kept coughing.  Felt better on Sunday and have done it every day Sunday-Thursday.  AWESOME workout.  Kurt tried to do it with me on Monday and had to stop half way through because he was exhausted!  It was funny because he was SURE it would be insanely easy for him. It's a totally different workout then running and biking and other cardio I do.  The entire video is circuit training, and non-stop.  Click here for an online review of the video and what is on it.  Basically, I really like Jillan's style and attitude, and the fact that the video is not all girly and dance-like.  Great workout, but def not for beginners.  The whole video with warmup and stretch at the end is 50 minutes, so I usually do something else afterwards as a cooldown, like biking and watching Veronica Mars.  :).

Monday downtown was reallllllly annoying.  The auto show is going on, which it has the past 7 years I have been working downtown.  However, this time, my parking lot was closed (I park about 2 blocks from the court).  Ford Media has bought it for two days, and the general public could not park there.  I ended up having to park about 0.7 miles away from the court, which does not sound bad, but it is when you have almost no change for the meter, are wearing 4 inch heels and it's 28 degrees outside.  Trying to be positive, I was happy to get 1.4 miles of cardio done for the day!  Heh!  Court went really well, and I got to meet one of the new Judges, so the morning was not a total loss.  I was so thrilled to see my parking lot open again on Wednesday, let me tell you.  I actually have started carrying flats though, because of this incident, and now wear them to walk from my car to the court and then switch to heels when I get there.  My flats easily slide into my briefcase.

Nothing else major going on this week.  Hope everyone is staying warm!  I know I will be happy to be in warm weather again.

Fun With Food--BBQ "Chicken" Salad

I made an amazing lunch today! Here is what i used, nothing fancy, but it was super yum and only like 165 calories. weirdly filling for being so low cal too.

Trader Joe's Butter Lettuce 67 Grams (basically, iceberg lettuce, you could sub any kind of lettuce here)
Kroger's Baby Carrots cut up 18 grams (again any carrots will work)
Wishbone low fat Italian dressing 1 serving (2 TBSP) (any dressing will work, but this is one of a few we keep at home because of the low fat content)
Trader Joe's Chicken-Less Pulled chicken in BBQ sauce 1 serving (bought in the refrigerated section of TJs)
***obvi, you could add any other veggies, etc. to this recipe, I was just starving and did not feel like cutting anything else up.

I had never tried the last item until today and I just aimlessly bought it at TJ's. Anyway, incredible! This low cal salad packed 17 grams of protein and only 4 grams of fat. Whoot.

So, super easy take on a chicken salad, for those of you who do not eat meat, or who like to have days with no meat consumption.  :).  I will be making this again soon.  Maybe tonight for dinner.  :).

Sick and 2012 Netflix Review

Just as I was saying I almost never get sick, yep, I get sick.  I even knocked on wood, but it did not help, boo.  Bad sinus infection.  Everyone at the office has been sick on and off so it as bound to happen.  I was sick Thursday, almost had no voice.  Friday, i woke up and said to Kurt, "I think I am going to stay in bed and come into work later."  I woke up at 2:00 p.m. and could have slept more.  Got up, checked my voice mail, called the office to answer some questions, and laid back down on the couch for the rest of the day.  Luckily, I felt a ton better when I got up today.  Hopefully, the excessive amount of Airborne I took will help me kick it.

So, I usually post this each year, what I watched on Netflix the previous year, so here ya go!  Such educational stuff I watch while working out, let me tell ya.  Really, this is the only time I have complete control over a TV, as I almost never watch TV unless I am working out and let Kurt watch whatever he wants.  I could not even start to tell you what is good on normal TV as much of the stuff I watch is from years past........I am currently watching Veronica Mars, which I love.  Prob my fav movie of the year I watched was The Help (loved the book as well) and my fav TV show of the year was prob Veronica Mars, although I am not yet done with the Series.  

Veronica Mars: Season 2: Disc 1 Veronica Mars: Season 1: Disc 1-6

The Campaign

Down to the Bone

Gigolos: Season 1

What Not to Wear: Mom Makeovers: Disc 1-2

Glee: The Concert

Gossip Girl: Season 5: Disc 1-5

90210: Season 4: Disc 1-6

Valley Girl

Moneyball

SherryBaby

Less Than Zero

Chimpanzee

What to Expect When You're Expecting

Slums of Beverly Hills

Take the Lead

Failure to Launch

Dog Whisperer: Season 1: Disc 1

Most Intense Investigations: Disc 1-2

Fired Up!

American Reunion

Night Court: Season 3: Disc 1-3

The Secret Life of...: Vol. 6: Disc 1-3

Sleeper Cell: Season 1: Disc 1

Pretty Little Liars: Season 2: Disc 1-5

Drop Dead Diva: Season 3: Disc 1-3

The '70s

Pretty Little Liars: Season 1: Disc 1-2

Six Feet Under: Season 1: Disc 1

Requiem for a Dream

Newlyweds: The Final Season: Disc 1-2

Night Court: Season 2: Disc 1-3

For Keeps

The Help

Newlyweds: Seasons 2 & 3: Disc 1

30 Days: Season 1: Disc 1-2

Newlyweds: Season 1: Disc 1-2

Taxicab Confessions: New York, New York

Footloose

Keeping Up with the Kardashians: Ssn 3...

Keeping Up with the Kardashians: Season 2

Africa: The Serengeti: IMAX

Freaks & Geeks: Disc 1

Keeping Up with the Kardashians: Season 1

Jersey Shore: Season 4: Disc 1-4

Sex Drive

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

Bad Teacher

Bridget's Sexiest Beaches: Disc 1

Horrible Bosses

Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2

Kendra: Season 1: Disc 1-2

Big Love: Season 5: Disc 1-4

The Girls Next Door: Season 6: Disc 1-2

Underwear Bomber Video

Anyone who has not seen stuff on the past on our experience with Flight 253, this is a great video that really goes over everything that happened.

Holiday Dinner

Had a really nice time tonight at the Haskell Law Firm holiday dinner.  We celebrated late since Kurt and I were out of town for the actual holiday.  We went to Benihana's in Dearborn and had a great time, with awesome good.

Funny happening of the day...I was filing some stuff at the clerk's office, and one of the clerk's said "Lori, I almost did not recognize you, you look so short!"  I wore flats today, one of the first time's ever to court.  Apparently, being 5'9 is short.  LOL.

Cold

It has been so freaking cold here.  It almost makes you not want to do anything that requires leaving the house.  Ugh.  I asked Kurt if he was working out with me tonight (which requires walking to the basement of our house) and he said "no, I am too cold to change".  And  our house is not even cold, LOL.

Had a nice weekend of NOT working.  We ran some errands on Saturday (had to pick up a package from FedEx, stopped at the office to pick up my phone charger & sunglasses I forgot and get the weekend deposit, picked up my car from the shop), and then I went on to finish family holiday shopping.  While shopping, I found the perfect pearl ring on clearance that I had to buy.  I have been looking for a pearl ring forEVER and any ring I find I like is way high priced, until this weekend!  Here is what I got:

Also, while at the office, I found my new point and shoot had arrived.  So, I got that out tonight and started programming it and figuring it out.  it seems really nice.  I got it on eBay in a package that came with memory, a case, and a cleaning kit.  Really good deal.  Glad to have one again.  I don't like carting my DSLR around everywhere.

That night, we headed to my aunt Karen's for a late holiday party with my Dad's side of the family.  It was nice to see everyone.

Today, I had lunch with my friend, Mel, and then stopped at Target, Kohl's to return a couple items, and Kroger for grocery shopping.

I made an awesome recipe tonight from zucchini.

Click here to see the recipe.  I used 1/2 cup too much zucchini (read the recipe wrong) but it still came out awesome.  Also, I deleted the nuts as I did not have anything but pine nuts on hand.

Anyway, hope everyone else had a nice weekend too!  :)

Happy New Year!!!!!

Happy New Year, friends!  :).

I had an absolutely fabulous New Year's Eve.  We were supposed to go to a friends' house for drinks and hanging out, but her daughter got the flu and they did not want to infect everyone, so they cancelled and we decided to stay in, which is our fav thing to do on NYE anyway.  Our night consisted of a competitive game of Sequence, a bottle of champagne I bought for the night from Whole Foods, and some mixed drinks, as well as football bowl games.  It was awesome, and we were in bed by 1201 AM.  Loved every second.  Also, the champagne we had was really good.  It was on sale at Whole Foods.  Anyone have any suggestions on champagnes they really like?  We rarely drink, but like champagne to celebrate once in a while.

Decided to go shopping today, as Dillard's has their one day sale of the year on New Year's Day.  Boy, that place was crazy.  And had some amazing deals.  I don't really need anything, so I was just going to wander.  I was kinda on a mission to find some new shirts for work to wear under suit coats (i.e. tanks).  I ended up finding some awesome deals.  I found my Dad two pairs of jeans for Christmas (which is on his list), and got two shirts (one Calvin Klein, one Kensie) for work, and another Ralph Lauren blue long sleeve shirt for casual.  I also really scored in lingerie, where I got really pricey bars for $5-7 each.  I then walked around the mall, and ended up buying a tank on clearance at Banana Republic, three tanks at NY and Co on clearance, and a pair of earrings on clearance at The Limited.  I bought two new suit coats by CABI in a trunk sale over the holidays, and am looking forward to wearing those this week to work with the new tanks.

Here is the stuff I got, some links online and some pics I took cuz I could not find links:

CABI stuff.  This stuff is never marked down, and since it is the end of the CABI season, I got it for half off, whoot.  The lady who sells it to me delivered it to the office on Monday.

Stuff from today

First shirt, Calvin Klein.  I loved the little gold bar across the front.

Black tank from NY and Co.

Kensie, black tank, I loved the lace at the bottom.

nonwork shirt.  Super comfy.  mostly I liked the color.  :).

Banana Republic Clearance.  Find of the day, only $6.

Also, got the following, click links.

The Limited Earrings: http://www.thelimited.com/Bezel-Set-Stud-Earrings/1532614,default,pd.html

tank in black: http://www.nyandcompany.com/nyco/prod/Sale/Sale-Tanks-Tees-Tops/Ribbon-Jewel-BodyShaper-Tank

tank in purple: http://www.nyandcompany.com/nyco/prod/Sale/Sale-Tanks-Tees-Tops/Square-Bead-Trimmed-BodyShaper-Tank

The really kewl part of today was I spent $0!  I got a gift card from one of my credit cards for turning in points, and I still have $$ left on the card.  Whoot.  I love NOT spending $$ and getting things.

I booked our Costa Rica flights for Kurt's bday this weekend as well.  We are going for a week in February.  We will be looking at some houses, as well as really looking at the area, i.e. grocery stores, fish markets, where to buy a car, where you bank, etc.  Really talking to people about the complexity of getting things set up for a move there.  We are going to stay at least two nights in Jaco, and then play the rest by ear.  Can't wait.  I booked our rental SUV, and our first night at the airport since we fly in really late, and our two nights in Jaco.  The rest is up in the air at this point, but we will figure it out.  Stuff never really sells out totally in Costa Rica.

Hope everyone had an awesome holiday, welcome to 2013!  :)

Weekend

So, vacation created a slight problem with the scale, so I have been back to strictly counting calories since our return.  and let me tell you, it sucks.  it's so hard getting back into it again, and I have not actually counted calories in a long time, as I have just been trying to eat healthy.  I *thought* we did well on vacay, but I think I just eat a lot more calories on vacay, and it's a problem.  So, from Wed until today, I have been perfect with recording everything and staying under 1200 calories a day.  Ugh.  After about a week of this though, I get used to it and it will not suck as much, LOL.

Had to take Bugsy and Gretel to the vet today.  Bugsy was due for like all his shots and a physical exam, and Gretel was due for one shot and her physical exam.  Gretel's *pugs not drugs* sweater was a huge hit with the vet's staff.  They both did really well, although Bugsy did NOT like the car ride.  He meowed the entire way there in the carrier, so on the way home, we let him just sit in the backseat and he was much happier.

Weather is total crap here.  Woke up to snow on the ground, again, and it has been lightly snowing all day long.  I wanted to go to Ann Arbor today and run some errands, but the plowing and salting of the roads has been really poor around here, and I did not want to risk getting into an accident.  So, I stayed in and relaxed, worked out, finished a book, started another.

so, on vacay, I had a beach mishap with my iPhone 4 and my point and shoot camera.  We were on a remote beach, and I had my purse with me, WAY back from the water and where the water never seemed to come up to.  While putting my coverup back on to leave, this HUGE wave came up and covered my purse in water, drenching my phone and camera and everything else in my purse.  Both died.  I was really due for an upgrade with the phone anyway, but was kinda annoyed about the camera (but thankful it was not my DSLR).  So, I got the new iPhone 5 when we got back (in white) and I just ordered a camera on eBay.  I got a Sony, that seemed to get really good reviews online.  Fingers crossed I love it.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Winter and baths

My body is having a super hard time adjusting to the temp change between St Maarten and Michigan (from the 80s to the 20s, ugh).

Some things I like about winter are winter coats, scarves, boots.........

Two things that came in the mail while I was gone.  I have been looking for the perfect grey coat forever, and finally got one on Gilt made by love Moschino.  Also got a winter hat by Betsey Johnson that is insanely adorable and comfy off Ideeli.com.

To try and warm up, I used the jacuzzi tub tonight and used two new products that I loved.  One was a bath oil that was really moisturizing and made my skin smell amazing, and the other was a bath salt that was very aromatic.  And 20 minutes later, I am still warmed up!  Yay!  Highly suggest both products, which I received as samples in the mail.

Work has been OK since I got back, phones have been ringing off the hook, but no court until next year, so I have been getting a lot of odds and ends done.  which is nice.  yesterday, because of the huge snowstorm we got, we closed early to avoid the horrible roads.

Hope everyone had a nice Thursday!

Back from Holiday

Hope everyone had an amazing holiday.  I know I did......I think my brain is still on holiday.  :).

So, as you all know, Kurt and I left for a 10 night jaunt in St Maarten for Christmas 2012.  We flew back on Christmas, which is an awesome day to fly (minus the fact that I almost died on a plane 3 years ago on Christmas day, LOL) as the airports are deserted.  The day before and after Christmas are always crazy busy, but the actual holiday is fairly silent.  There was almost nobody on our flights from St Maarten to Charlotte.

So, we rented a condo at a place called AquaMarina, which is in the Maho Bay area.  Good location for us, fairly central to all the things and beaches we like to visit in St Maarten.  We stayed in Tower X in condo 51.  Found it on VRBO.com.  We arrived in later afternoon in St Maarten, got our rental call via Thrifty, and headed to the condo with the use of the GPS.  I highly recommend renting a GPS while in St Maarten as the roads are very poorly marked.  Anyway, got there, got stopped at a grocery store on the way for some essentials, and got all temporarily moved in. Had dinner that night out and went to sleep early.

The rest of the trip, most days were spent on the beach, napping, reading, relaxing, swimming.  We also took a day trip to St Barths, which has aMAZing beaches.  Even prettier than St Maarten, but the island itself has less things to do and everything is insanely expensive.  Rooms over the holidays were in excess of $1000 a night, which is crazy to me!  Also, took a day trip to Anguilla, where I got to swim with the dolphins.

We ate out at lots of amazing places in Simpson Bay, Orient Beach, Marigot, Grand Case and Maho Bay. Most either on the beach or overlooking water.  My fav way to have a meal.  lots of salads and seafood and drinks........One night, we bought and drank an entire bottle of champagne in the room, which was glorious and relaxing.

Also read a ton of books on this trip, which was nice.  I almost never have time to read, so reading on vacay is always a welcome treat.

Hope everyone had an awesome holiday as well!  If you ever have questions about St Maarten, ask away!   We are now pros after 2 trips there!  :)

Holiday Parties

We had two holiday parties to attend this year on the same night, of course.  The first was the Downriver Holiday Party, which is hosted each year by a local attorney who is a good friend of ours.  It is had held at The Grand in Trenton.  The place closes for our event.  Anyway, we go every year and have an awesome time as we know most of the people there.  This year was awesome as well.  Got there around 4 and stayed until 630.  Left for the Monroe event then (which started at 600).  This event was at the Monroe Country Club.  Got there around 700 and stayed there until around 1030 PM.  This was our first year at the event.  It was a lot of fun.  They had a wine and cheese tasting, as well as dinner, apps, desserts and a PHOTO BOOTH.  the photo booth was an awesome addition.  We all had a blast making the Judges pose with us in there, and just being silly in general.  There were props, so of course those made their way into all our pics, LOL.  I have like 20 printouts from the event.  Apparently, they will be online as some point, so I will post some then.  So much fun.  Wore my new silver dress with black tights and black heels, and brought a black sweater in case I got cold.  LOVE dressing up for parties.   :)

Had dinner this weeks with a franchise of my KHFASS group that my friend Katie started in Western Wayne County.  We ate at Bahama Breeze.  Had amazing lobster and shrimp quesadillas.  It was a lot of fun, looking forward to the next outing, and to the original KFASS dinner next week!  

I have so many things I need to get done before we leave for vacay.  I have a hair appointment on Monday, but I would also love to get a pedicure and a new Shellac mani before I leave as well.  Also need to pack, buy more sunscreen, clean the house..........Instead I worked part of the day and am sitting on the couch.  Oh well, LOL.

Fun Time

Had a fun weekend.

Saturday night, we went to my friend, Nicole's fundraiser at a local bowling alley to raise money for the 3 day breast cancer walk she does each year with her Mom.  We bowled two games, had pizza, there was a raffle and a 50/50 drawing.  Had a blast bowling, and hanging with Kurt, Nicole, Harry and Chris.  Chris somehow took over the sound system at the bowling alley with his iPad, so we had great music all night as well.

The rest of the weekend was spent at home, working and grocery shopping.  I worked the bulk of the day today, and have crazy busy schedule with court and mediation this week.  So, I really should get to bed!  Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Vegas for Thanksgiving

Kurt and I took a trip to Vegas for Thanksgiving.  Had an awesome time, as usual.

We stayed at the MGM Signature.  Pros: the room was HUGE, we had a balcony overlooking the Strip, two bathrooms, including a huge master suite, quiet, great fitness room for working out.  Cons: only valet parking.  That annoys us, as we hate waiting for our car and would rather walk to a parking spot.  another pro was the room was free with airline miles.  A con for some would be it was slightly off strip, but since we rent a car, this is actually a pro for us since the Strip is so traffic filled.  I would not stay here again because the parking annoyed us, but would recommend it to others who don't care about that.

Our fav part of this trip by far was the helicopter tour we took to the Grand Canyon.  Neither of us have been the grand canyon or in a helicopter and this experience was amazing.  I loved the helicopter and Kurt was not one bit nervous, which is saying a lot considering he is such a nervous flyer.  The tour started with a limo picking us up from our hotel.  4 other people were in there with us and on our tour as well, another couple and a mother/daughter duo.  Got to the airport checkin, and had to be weighed and briefed on the safety stuff.  Got in the helicopter and Kurt and I were placed in the front.  SCORE.  Best seats and view.  Not sure how that happened, but it is by weight and the pilot places you.  WE flew over Lake Mead, the Hoover Dam, and then the canyon.  We landed and had a champagne lunch picnic in the Canyon, which was pretty kewl.  Highly recommend doing this.

We also saw a show called Shades of Temptation at NY NY hotel.  It was a good show.  Not the best I have seen, not the worst.  It was entertaining.

We also played a lot of poker at the Flamingo, and I don't think I lost one time.  Kurt played a lot of sports gambling stuff as well, and a little bit of Blackjack.

I went shopping two times, once at an outlet mall I like outside the Strip and once at Fashion Square Mall, which is on the Strip, kinda across from Venetian.  It is a huge mall with like 6 anchor stores.  I ended up getting a cute dress for the holiday parties i have this year at the Kasper outlet, and a blazer and two sweaters at The Limited.  Oh, and a great necklace from The Limited.

We worked out daily and had a lot of great meals too.  Thanksgiving, I made reservations at McCormick and Schmidt's off the strip.  Awesome seafood place.  I had clam chowder and a crab cake ceasar salad for Thanksgiving dinner, which is my kinda holiday meal.  Screw turkey and the fixings, since I can't eat most of it anyway!  :).  Perfecto for Kurty and I..........

Anyway, another Vegas Thanksgiving in the books!  Loved it and can't wait to go back.