December 1, 2010
The Homestead: Review
Well, as I shared with y’all before Thanksgiving I was going to be spending the holiday at The Homestead in Virginia. This was something certainly out of the ordinary for us, as all my life we have spent all the holidays at home in California with all of our family- aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents! I am so thankful to have a big family, but my parents wanted to do something different this year. Hope you and your family and friends had a great holiday. Thanksgiving is such a great holiday because it’t not about anything more than being thankful and spending the day with those you love!
Here are a few of the pictures I took on my phone, not the best quality and don’t capture how beautiful everything was! We had some of the most amazing food, my Mom and I relaxed in the Spa. The boys had fun clay shooting, however I didn’t capture any pictures wish I would have!
Homestead outside activities
The Main Entrance
One view of the Lobby
November 22, 2010
Thanksgiving Is Near…
Hello Friends,
My blog has looked a bit deserted from my lack of posting and I have missed sharing with you these last few weeks! Things have been a little crazy around the office as I have been keeping busy after the election, but things are finally starting to slow down now that the holidays are upon us. And now that I realize it, I can not believe that Thanksgiving is just a few days away! This time of year always seems to fly by quickly.
What are you planning for Thanksgiving?
My family is switching it up a bit this year. Instead of flying back to California for the holiday and spending Turkey Day in Bakersfield, like I have every year of my life, we are spending it on the East Coast. My parents, brother and I are spending Thanksgiving at The Homestead in Virginia. This is a very cool resort in Hot Springs, VA with so many activities, I can’t wait! My mom and I have spa appointments- I am soo looking forward to a massage! My dad and brother are going to do some skeet shooting. There are tons of activities such as wine tasting, afternoon tea, horseback riding, carrage rides, falconry to name a few! I think there will be trouble deciding what to do!
The resort is a few hours from Washington D.C., so the family is flying in here and then we are driving to The Homestead. I can’t wait and I am sure I will have a bunch of photos to share with y’all after our adventure!
September 6, 2010
A Year Of Adventures
Last night my boyfriend Tripp and I celebrated our “One Year”. It’s crazy how time flies and while a lot has happened over the past year, it all goes by so quickly. Neither one of us had ever dated someone this long, so hitting this point in our relationship was new for both of us.
Tripp picked me up and greeted me at the door with some beautiful flowers that are now displaying in my living room, see below.
I had no idea what was planned for the evening, but in an effort to both do something for each other I had made him a chocolate cake and framed some pictures of us together and he was in charge of handling our dinner plans. As we were leaving the house, he mentioned that I might need a sweater because we would be getting drinks outside. So, I brought a sweater along and as we stepped outside he mentioned that we would be heading down to the Georgetown Waterfront for drinks, I was excited because it was such a nice night out.
When we arrived at the Waterfront, he asked what I thought about taking a river boat ride over to Alexandria. I didn’t pay much attention to this question, as I didn’t think this was part of the plans. However at the same time he was putting his hand into his pocket and pulled out a reservation for the boat ride. I was very excited that he was so creative and this had been one of the adventures we had wanted to do, but also because I was genuinely very surprised and proud that he put a lot of thought into this.
Potomac River on our ride over to Alexandria
The weather was perfect and the sun was setting on the ride over. We docked at the pier near King Street and then walked five blocks to a restaurant called Columbia Firehouse.
We shared a bottle of red, fresh oysters and each had an amazing steak! It was a great night and a great way to celebrate a year of awesome adventures.
Some highlights: a wedding in Charleston, Ocean City, A day on Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Tubing, snow adventures, Bermuda, Nantucket, Visiting Washington and Lee University, New York City, Philadelphia, art galleries in DC, Jamaica, concerts, VA wine festival, and so much more!
Tripp and I, October 2009
August 27, 2010
(Belated) Bermuda Update
Hello Friends. It is the beginning of yet another weekend and this week has been particularly dramatic and filled with its share of ups and downs. A week ago this time I was getting back from an amazing 5 day trip to Bermuda and a lot has happened since then, which has made this week fly by! I am off to Ocean City this weekend for a much needed girls weekend at the beach. I am looking forward to seeing my friend Meg and catch up on our (hopefully painless) drive to OC.
I don’t normally share too many details or blog about the details and struggles going on in my life but feel like that could be very therapeutic. Uhh… but that would be a whole other post! Well on a happier note, I have some beautiful pictures to share with you from my trip. And of all the many tropical and island locations I have been to, I have to say Bermuda is my favorite so far and can’t wait to go back! It’s such an easy trip from DC – a direct flight from Reagan gets you there in less than 2 hours, you can’t beat that!
First, we stayed at a place called Tucker’s Point. Such a great resort and golf course.
View from our condo balcony, one of the 5 pools at Tucker's Point
Not a bad view to wake up to...
We rented scooters for our time there which was so much fun and it was my first experience driving on the left side of the road. As this is an English settlement and thus they follow the European custom.
Ridin' my scooter to the beach
Tripp and his sister, Emily near Elbow Beach
Some beautiful pictures at Horseshoe Bay
One afternoon Tripp and I took a scooter ride to the end of the island near St. George, there we found our way to the lighthouse and at the top some spectacular views!
Tripp with the beautiful ocean in the background!
August 9, 2010
Destination: Bermuda!
My travels have taken me to some great places over the past year- Jamaica, trips to New York City and the beach and more recently Nantucket. However, a week from now I will be in Bermuda! Not a bad life, I must say!
Bermuda
My boyfriend’s family has invited me on their vacation to Bermuda next week. I can’t wait, I have heard so many great things about the island! My mom raves about the pink sand beaches and the British influence on this colony that is due east of the Carolinas in the Atlantic.
Now if I can just contain my excitement and make it through this next week of work!
August 6, 2010
Nantucket Pictures, Part II
I thought I would share a few more snap shots from my weekend in Nantucket.
Mom and Dad checking out the map outside of our Inn
Riding bikes, a great way to see the Island
Off Main St
Lighthouse #2, at the end of the Island
At the top of the Lighthouse
August 2, 2010
Nantucket: Not To Be Forgotten
- Lighthouse Near Nantucket Harbor
This post is overdue but none the less I wanted to share some photos with you of my weekend trip to Nantucket a week ago. My parents came in town for several days and so for the weekend we decided to get out of the heat and enjoy some cooler weather and my boyfriend braved the trip with us.
We arrived Friday evening and came back, after 2 canceled flights and an extra day, Monday evening to Washington. But while there are few flights between Nantucket and Washington Reagan Airport, we definitely could have been stuck in a worse place!
The Main Street is so cute! With great shops to stop in, so many tasty restaurants and all the beautiful hydrangeas!
Flowers off Main Street
More pictures to come!
July 12, 2010
NYC Recap
Hello Friends! As I mentioned in a previous post, I was going up to New York City this past weekend and while it was a short trip it was a great time!Here are some photos from the weekend…
New York City Rooftop
Hunter Boots Showroom, where my Boyfriend’s Sister works:
Walking Over the Brooklyn Bridge 
While, it was cloudy on Saturday as you can tell, it only sprinkled on us a few minutes. I was not about to complain because the cooler weather felt great after the really hot week we had in Washington.
July 9, 2010
New York, New York
I’m heading to The Big Apple today with my boyfriend, we are going to visit his sister for the weekend who lives in NYC. We are taking the train from Union Station to Penn and I’m looking forward to the ride up- more fun than the bus ad less hassle than flying.
We don’t have any set plans for the weekend and because I have been several times now, I don’t feel like I have to cram a bunch of tourist things into our short trip.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and it looks like things are going to cool down a little after this bad heat wave we have been having.
