This picture was taken in 2009 when some friends, the husband and I went to Ixtapa, Mexico for vacation.  It was a fantastic trip and the views were beautiful.  I love the way the palm trees are reflected in the pool as the sun was setting.

Check out more pictures from a different Mexico vacation here.

Happy Friday!

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A few weeks ago we celebrated our 1 year anniversary!  Although we got a ton of fantastic wedding gifts one of the best and most unique gifts we received was a gift certificate to Virginia Bed and Breakfasts.  After researching and deliberating on where we wanted to go and stay we decided upon The Inn at Court Square.  This little bed and breakfast is SO cute.  This place is decorated perfectly.  The wall were a Tiffany blue and the whole room had so much character.

Look at my adorable husband attempting to get out of the way of the picture.  Sorry babe you are totally still in the shot. :)  And because it was our anniversary the husband had a bottle of prosecco waiting for us when we arrived.  We drank some wine and then we headed off to dinner at Maya.

Saturday morning we did our last minute planning of which wineries we were planning to hit.  The last time we were in Charlottesville we went to Barboursville and Horton wine vineyards so those were out this time.  We were definitely up for trying some new places.  The first stop was Jefferson Vineyards.

After a very lovely wine tasting and purchasing three bottles of wine (white, rose and red) from Jefferson Vineyard we headed to Sugarleaf.  The Sugarleaf Vineyard was packed so they did our tasting outside.  Honestly it was a fantastic idea.  We enjoyed the nature view and the beautiful weather while tasting their wines.

We purchased two bottles of wine and some chocolate infused with wine.  Chocolate plus wine YES PLEASE!  Clearly my sweet tooth was taking over when I pretty much insisted we buy the chocolate sauce.  Then we headed off to our last stop and probably my favorite vineyard of the day, Pippin Hill Farm Vineyards.  The view was AMAZING, the wine was fantastic and the food was yummy!!!

During our wine tasting we realized a snack was necessary.  When we had first arrived a number people were eating sliders and omg did they look good.  Unfortunately they were really good, therefore they were all sold out by the time we ordered them … bummer!  We ended up getting a salad and cheese board.  It was super yummy and I totally forgot to take a picture of the food before we had already finished it.  Anyways this was the amazing view we had while we had a glass of wine and our snack.

I definitely want to go back to Pippin Hill Farm Vineyards someday soon.  Their food, wine and view were all spot on.  It was the perfect place to end our little winery tour.  We got a couple of bottles of wine from here as well … can you say a stocked wine rack??  After a long and fun day of wine tasting we headed back to the B&B.

It was a great anniversary weekend and so nice to get out of the city for a little while.  Have you been to any of these vineyards?  What’s your favorite vineyard in VA?

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A few months ago I was talking to my friends about how much I loved my first visit to Missouri to visit my in-laws.  Long story kind of short … after picking me up from the airport my husband drove us to his parent’s place.  As we took a left and drove down the gravel road to their house, I saw an old school John Deer tracker driving down the road.  I was so excited and couldn’t stop talking about it all weekend.  Of course this was hilarious to my husband and his family, as they see tractors ALL the time!  On Sunday before we left, my mother and father-in-law broke out their tractor and allowed me to drive it.  Check me out!!

Anyways, while telling my friends this story I started talking about how I need to experience more Midwestern things.  It took me very little time to decide I wanted to go to a real live rodeo.  After mentioning the idea of going to a rodeo to my mother-in-law she was on it, sending a list of rodeos this summer.  Soooo back in July I to my very first rodeo!

Northeastern girl goes to the Midwest and channels her inner cowgirl!!!

The rodeo had a lot of great food!  Do you see the sign that says Cheese Cake on a Stick?!?!  I wish I had tried one … maybe next time.

First up was the mutton busting.  Have you heard of this before?  I know I hadn’t.  Check out these super cute little kids hanging onto a sheep for dear life.

It was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen!  I want my some-day-kids to do mutton busting, but I’m not really sure they have those kind of activities in the DC area. :)  Next favorite thing was the bucking broncos.  These horses were coming off the ground trying to get the cowboys off of them.  It was crazy to watch.

Unfortunately the pictures I took of the bull riding just didn’t come out.   The flash was bouncing off the bar in front of us and I just didn’t get a good shot.  Therefore no good shots to share with you here.  Pout.  Maybe next time I will get a good shot.  Here’s the husband and I enjoying our first married rodeo adventure.  This was taken right before the bull riding started.

At the end of the rodeo they had fireworks and then it was time to head home.

Next time I go to a rodeo a cowgirl hat and boots are a MUST!!!  Have you ever been to a rodeo?

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Previously on our honeymoon series: Positano, Sorrento and Cinque Terre. Now that you are all caught up let’s talk ROME!

After another extremely long train ride we arrived in Rome!  I feel like our last stop was the most cultural.  Rome was a great way to spend our last few days in Italy and on our honeymoon.  We stayed in downtown Rome and within walking distance of the at the Artemide Hotel.  On the evening we arrived we were starving after checking into the hotel.  We walked down the street to a local bar.  We had a little food as well as a drink and just people watched for a while.

Day 10:

After breakfast, at the hotel, we headed to the Colosseum.  We put plenty of water and suntan lotion into our backpack as well as the camera.  Let me just say it is SO hot in Italy in mid-August!  The line was super long to get into the Colosseum so we decided to join a tour.  This was a bad idea.  Although they got us into the Colosseum quickly they really didn’t provide any substantial information.  Then they rushed us to go to the next two locations – Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.  We decided to stay behind and really soak in the Colosseum.  There was no reentry and they didn’t give us our tickets so we wouldn’t be able to get into Palatine Hill without being with the group.  Scamming some tourists was a success for this group!  Since it was the only issue we had the entire time we were in Italy all I can say is lesson learned!

After walking around the Colosseum we headed over to the  Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.  The line was SO short.  TIP – Go to the Palatine Hill and buy the tickets there for the Colosseum.  The lines at the Palatine/Forum didn’t even compare to those at the Colosseum.  After getting our fill of tourist stuff we headed back to the hotel to relax and get ready for dinner.

A friend of a friend said Restaurant Romantico was NOT to be missed and boy were they right.  This place was so small and well romantic … perfect for a honeymoon.

Day 11:

We had trouble deciding what to do on our last day.  Torn between the Vatican and a self guided tour around Rome to see a bunch of sites.  In the end a self guided walking tour won out.  Although we really wanted to see the Vatican we also weren’t excited about missing all the other great sites around the city.  Our guided tour went like this:  Capital Hill, Pantheon,  lunch at Life Pizzeria, Spanish Steps to the Trevi Fountain.

Our last dinner in Rome was at La Pentolaccia.  The owner of the restaurant suggested a fabulous bottle of wine and helped us choose great meals.  After dinner he suggested we get have some of their homemade limoncello.  The meal was a great ending to our honeymoon!

Side Note:  The wine in this picture is actually sold at Costco in VA!  When I told the husband I found a wine from our honeymoon at Costco he didn’t believe me.  Luckily I took a picture of the bottle and was able to PROVE to him it was in fact a “honeymoon” wine. :)  Every time we buy the wine we reminisce a little about our trip.

Day 12:

We took an EARLY cab ride to the airport to check our flight back to the states.  Does anyone remember that crazy hurricane from last summer?  Well we do!  When we arrived at the airport a number of flights to New York and New Jersey were already cancelled.  We were fortunate and our flight from Rome > Boston > DC still on schedule.  Apparently when we were in the air and on our way to Boston our connecting flight in Boston was cancelled.  This was actually not a big deal since my parents live in MA so we had a place to stay.  PLUS they had been watching Sophi so we got to be with our puppy too!  After a couple nights with my parents and sister we flew back to DC with the dog and started our life in DC as husband and wife!

Happy Vacationing and Honeymooning!!!

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We began our honeymoon in Positano and then we were off to Sorrento.  Day 6 was spent on the train heading north to Cinque Terre.  I read an entire book on the train ride!  After the extremely long train ride and then shlupping the luggage up a hill to the hotel we had officially arrived in Cinque Terre.

Screen shot from Google Maps

We arrived at the #1 hotel in  Monterosso (per TripAdvisor) Hotel Villa Steno.  The hotel was great and our view was amazing.  The balcony came in handy during our stay and I definitely recommend a balcony with a view of the ocean. :)

Day 7:

After sleeping in a little we lathered up with sun tan lotion and headed to the beach! We spent the day ocean side reading, tanning and hanging out.  The beach was beautiful and while relaxing on the beach I read Sarah’s Key, which is a great book and I strongly recommend it.

After a drink on the balcony and taking in the beautiful views we decided it was time for some PIZZA! Nothing had compared to the first place we found in Positano, however we were going to try to find something at least close.  As always we used the TripAdvisor app on the iphone and decided upon Pizzeria Da Ely.  The pizza was very good and we were able to land a seat outside without having a reservation. :)  After a lovely dinner and bottle of wine we headed back to the hotel.

Monterosso al Mare shuts down a lot earlier than Sorrento and Positano did.  For us this was a good thing, because the next day we planned to hike the 5 cities of Cinque Terre!

Day 8:

We woke up early, which was a nice change and headed directly to breakfast.  After breakfast we packed water bottles, sunscreen and the camera into our backpack and headed towards the trail for our big hike.  We hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza.  I honestly don’t think I’ve ever sweat so much in my entire life.  It was SO hot and although the hike wasn’t hard there were enough stairs to make it so I couldn’t control the sweating. Hahaha.  Sexy, right? Anyways after finally reaching Vernazza we stopped for lunch at Gianni Franzi.  I had the pasta with meat sauce it was A-Mazing.  After resting for a while we began the hike to Corniglia.  Once we arrived in  Corniglia it was time for a drink at a cute little bar.  The path from Corniglia to Manarola was closed for some reason so we would have to hop on the train to Manarola and then we could finish the hike through the cities.  The path closure was about all the level of excuses we needed to skip the last two cities (Manarola and Riomaggiore).  It was hot and we were tired from already hiking for the better part of the day.  We got on the train and headed back to our beautiful hotel.  We sat on the balcony, watched the sunset and savored our last evening in Cinque Terre.

Here are a few pictures from the hike:

So beautiful!!! Even though we didn’t finish the hike I am glad we enjoyed the portion that we did do.  I think if it wasn’t so hot then we would have done the whole thing.  On our last night we went to Il Casello for dinner.  The food was great and the view of the ocean was perfect.  I think this is a place that only takes cash though … just a little fyi/heads up if you decide to go.

Day 9 would be spent on the train to Rome – our final stop on the honeymoon.

Caio! See you in Rome!!!

Happy traveling.

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