Wine & Dine Part 1

We left bright & early Thursday morning for Disney. By bright & early, I mean 3:30 am with a 2:30 wake up. I was asleep before 8:00 Wed. night so I had no trouble getting up.

See the wine glass on our jackets? 

Cindy is scared to death of flying so she has to have a drink.

Yes, it's 5:00 am but it's New Orleans so it's not a problem. I had a mimosa.

The clouds looked like cotton.

It's not often you get to see the sun rise above the clouds. It was a gorgeous morning.

Once we got to Orlando, we headed straight for Disney's Magical Express. Disney makes things super easy! We checked our luggage in New Orleans & didn't have to deal with it again. It showed up in our room later. 

We got checked in & ate an early lunch at the resort. 

We stayed at Caribbean Beach & this was the view from our room. 

Next, we Uber'd to Universal. If you've never used Uber try it. There was always a driver within minutes of where we were & the app is super easy to use. I had a referral code so our ride to Universal was free. I used my referral code to send a ride to Cindy so our ride back from Universal was also free & when she used it I earned another free ride. The drivers were nice & the cars were spotless. Here's a referral code if you want to try it out - tracib393ue

We had so much fun riding rides at Universal! If you've never been, the rides there are more intense & are longer. Harry Potter's World is there & Dr. Seuss. 

We took a break & had dinner while we watched the parade.

On our way out we stopped for Ben & Jerry's. All I wanted was ice cream in a waffle bowl but they only make sundae's in waffle bowls so I went with it. So good!

It's really hard to get a good picture at night in front of the ball but I'm glad to see my shoes do reflect. Although, I'm probably never wearing those shoes again because I had blisters once we got to the hotel. 

We got our steps in! 

Friday morning we had breakfast at the resort & then headed to the Expo for packet pick up & shopping. 

They had a lot of cute backdrops for pictures.

My only complaint about the Expo is the lines for the "Official Merchandise". We were in line a good 30 minutes just to pay. So unlike Disney. Normally, they like to get you in & out so you can go spend more money!

We went back to the resort to put all of our stuff up & had an early lunch before heading to Hollywood Studio's. 

I love the Beauty & the Beast show. The dresses are so pretty. 

Single rider line for Rock 'n Roller Coaster. Love that ride!

Cindy & I rode Tower of Terror. Dianne doesn't do free falling. Cindy had her eyes covered & was squeezing my hand the whole time. I LOVE it. It's my favorite ride. So much so that I immediately went back & rode it again by myself. They used that time to go to Starbucks & get us all snacks!

While we were watching the stunt show we spotted a rainbow.

We saw Fantasmic!

It's such a pretty show. 

We stayed at Universal & Hollywood Studio's until they closed. So much fun!

Next up - Race Day!

Toodles!

Halloween

Trick or Treat was changed to Friday night because the weather was supposed to be awful Saturday. Our Home owner's Association has someone make jambalaya & hot dogs & there's a train that gives the kids rides. The ladies all get together in one driveway & hand out candy. There were some really cute kids this year. We had Jake from State Farm, LSU Golden Girls, Leonard Fournette's & even a LSU Drum Major. Really cute! 

Anna, Suzy, me, Allie, Jackie & Alexis. 

Saturday morning I was registered for the Sticker Stampede. It's a 5K that the all girls high school hosts every year. It's always a fun race because there are lots of people participating that I know. I was crossing my fingers that the weather would hold out long enough to get the run in. It rained a little but it was humid so it didn't feel bad. 

This was the very first 5K I'd ever ran. I really wanted to do it in under 30 minutes. 

My official time was 28:21. I was super excited!!! A new PR. 

Not long after I got home is when the rain started & didn't stop for like 3 days. We braved it & went to Caliente Saturday night. LOL!

The skinny margarita is so good!

Sunday after Mass we went to breakfast at a new place. It was really good. Then there was more rain.

Sunday night I had dinner for my birthday with Vicki & Allison. We went to Rum House & it was delicious!  We always have a good time when we get together.

Monday morning I went for a run.

Now I'm just waiting for Thursday!

We leave bright & early at 3:30 am!  Yikes!

Toodles!

42

Monday morning I got up to run but it was raining so I did an upper body weight workout. It's hard getting back into the swing of things since I've been out of town.

Monday night we had a Disney planning dinner at Cindy's. 

We were so excited to get our Magic Bands! This will be my first trip to Disney since they started using the bands.

Tuesday morning I got up to run & it was raining again. I sucked it up & ran a mile on the treadmill. That was about all I could take so I checked to see if it was still raining & it was just sprinkling so I headed out. My Garmin wasn't cooperating & wouldn't locate a satellite so I was running "blind". I got at least 3 miles done outside. It wasn't ideal but at least I didn't just quit.  

Thursday was my birthday. 42. Where did all that time go? I started the day with a 6 mile run.

I was a little worried about how I'd do since I haven't ran regularly the last couple of weeks but it was fine.

At work we get a cake of our choosing & I had just a regular cake from Ambrosia. White almond cake with butter cream icing & filling. It was phenomenal!

So pretty!

Since Kate Spade was having such a fabulous sale last weekend I treated myself.

Toiletry bags were something I actually needed. I've been using ziploc bags for a long time. Nothing wrong with ziplocs but I was ready for something cute!

I've also been looking for a goldish color clutch. For whatever reason I hadn't been able to find one. As luck would have it Kate had the perfect one.

It's rose gold, small & perfect!

I also bought a couple of things for gifts. Glad to get a couple of things off the list.

When we were in Fort Lauderdale I bought my birthday gifts.THANKS DEAN!!!

The Tory Burch bag I've been wanting. I went ahead & got the wallet too. It has a wristlet strap & I can fit my phone in it if I take out some things in case I don't want to carry the bag somewhere. The color is Dark Walnut. It looks darker in the picture than it really is. 

Last night Dean & I went to dinner at Roberto's. We haven't been in awhile & it's one of our favorites. 

Trick or Treat is tonight for our city because of all the bad rain we're supposed to get tomorrow. It's always fun to see all the kids in their costumes. Have a great Halloween weekend!

Toodles!

Girls Weekend!

Thursday after work I headed to Orange Beach for a girls weekend. We had such a good time.

We spent the entire day at the beach Friday.

The water was rough but we got in for a bit. It was cold but not unbearable. October is my favorite time to be at the beach.

I read, napped & ate on the beach & it was fabulous!

The sunset was really pretty.

This guy kept getting closer & closer. 

Then Cindy gave him a chip. He got really close. Y'all know I'm not a bird fan. I was ready to kill her! He must have thought Cindy was trying to kill him because when he was having problems swallowing the chip he moved away. A little while later he was back but close on his heels was a little boy. It was the funniest thing. He must have been about 3 & he only had a floaty on one arm & he chased that bird half way down the beach. He got really close a few times. 

Friday night after we all got ready we went to dinner at a place down the street from the condo called The Gulf.

It was so cute! You could eat out under the palm trees or on the patio.  It's really casual. On one side they have burgers & sandwiches & on the other side a taco bar! Guess what side I chose. I had grouper & grilled shrimp tacos & they were delicious!!! Pretty soon I'm going to turn into a fish taco I've eaten so many lately.

When we got up Saturday morning it was really cloudy so we decided to go to the outlet mall & shop & we had lunch at Lulu's, which I love.

We did this in record time! 

The sale at Kate Spade was too good to pass up. It's really a shame that none of us actually went shopping with anything in mind that we needed. LOL. Let me be clear - these are not all my bags. By this time the sun was out so back to the beach we went but it was cooler Saturday so we didn't get in the water.

 It was really windy all weekend!

Friday was a red flag day. 

The sunset as seen from the balcony!

It's been a busy few weeks. I have a break this weekend if you want to call it that. I have a race Sat. & a race Sun. but they're both 5K's & Saturday night is Halloween but at least I'll be in town. We leave on the 5th for Disney!

Toodles!

Key West Part 2

Friday at lunch we found a cute place to eat. It's called Dante's.

You could actually swim if you wanted to.

It's an outdoor restaurant but we were under the pavilion part. There was good people watching here too. I had a shrimp poboy that was del! It was along the wharf area where all the boats were docked.

I wouldn't mind being on a boat like this one!

We stopped at Sloppy Joe's for a drink & to listen to the live music and then went in Kevin's Irish Pub. We stayed there awhile listening to the live music. The guy was really funny & he was a good singer. Plus it was raining harder so it was the perfect place to hang out for awhile.

Later we had dinner at Red Fish Blue Fish. I had a blackened shrimp salad that was really good. We did a lot of eating.

At one of our stops we started talking to some locals & the guy told us he retired from the NFL. Dean didn't believe him but I overheard him talking to someone else & spell his last name so I googled him.

Everything he told us was true & we also discovered he's Dick Vermeil's nephew. He could hardly walk because his knees are so bad. His retirement job is to drive the golf cart of the hotel we stayed at around town dropping off & picking up guests at different places.

The Episcopal Church was gorgeous.

Saturday for breakfast we ate at Two Friends Bar. The NFL guy & his wife recommended it.

I love mimosa's!

The crab cakes benedict was delicious &  those potatoes tasted like French fries. Loved it!

We went to a Blue Heaven for key lime pie. It was so good! We also found out later that we should've had breakfast there & that they have something like 13 different types of mimosa's.

After pie we went to Rick's to watch football. There was live music, football & a dog. Yes, a dog. 

He was so cute & so good. You would've never known he was there. He never made a sound, just laid in his owner's lap.

When it started getting close to time for LSU's game we moved to Durty Harry's.

Perfect spot to watch college football! There ended up being a lot of Florida fans here (LSU was playing Florida) but they were so nice. We talked with them all night. After awhile the band started. They were great! They played all kinds of music that I liked. A lot of songs from the 90's.

Waiting on the game to start.

LSU won a nail biter so that was good. I'm not sure how many of you follow college football but  Tom Cruise was at the game. In Baton Rouge. 3 mi. from my house. Same thing happened a few years ago with Matthew McConaughey. I know Tom's weird but I've loved him since Top Gun came out.

Once the game was over we went to eat a late dinner. I can't remember the name of it but it was so cute.

We ate outside & had a view of the Hard Rock. I love that all of the restaurants there have outdoor tables & they're not in the back. They're all out front so you can people watch everyone on Duval Street.

Our hotel was across the street from a little bakery. They had these big cookies in their window & I wanted one every time we passed. After dinner we had one.

Warm, out of the oven chocolate chip cookie with pistachio & coconut ice cream. It was delicious!!

Sunday came way too fast & it was time to go back to Ft. Lauderdale. We stopped in Marathon, FL for lunch at the Sunset Grille. I had lobster tacos.

Really, really good! They came with a side of black beans & rice.

It was on the water & they had a pool. There were several restaurants that had pools. I hadn't seen that before.

Once we got back to Fort Lauderdale I did a little shopping.

Happy  early birthday to me!!

We flew home Sunday morning & it was back to the real world. For a few days anyway.

Toodles!