My Weekend Retreat in Coconut Grove Gardens

I decided to go away to Coral Gables/Coconut Grove/ Miami for a few days this past weekend to visit my little brother. He is a senior at the University of Miami. I have not been over here since we dropped him off in his freshman football dorm aka jail cell so it was definitely time for a visit.

For the past two years he has lived in a quaint garden community off campus in Coconut Grove. It's a tiny cluster of tropical rustic cottages that sit in the middle of a wide array of palms, bamboo, and Bougain trees.

To me the cottages are something straight out a Bob Marley song- which is pretty darn cool! Stevie lived in the Wheelhouse up until he just recently moved across the garden to a bigger unit called the Bougain Villea House. His old place was actually photographed for a coffee table book while he was living there!

So I enjoyed my time there, soaking up the simple life... with teal tile countertops, bright, island-hued walls and watching peacocks walk by as I munch on breakfast. It was a great few days away from the ordinary life!

rooftop "lounge"

looking out the front door

on the roof top deck to his old roof top deck

one of this sidewalks

Stevie's "Garden"

Front door to kitchen view

Love the counter tops. :o)

Living room to kitchen and bar area

Side View of the his cottage

The Main House of the Property

Sign for his house...needs some TLC :o)

kitchen to living and front door view

kitchen

rooftop deck again

another shot of kitchen

peacocks hang around the garden!

The fish tank :o)

Labor Day on Useppa Island

To celebrate Labor Day we took a day trip to Useppa Island. I thought I wanted to move to Captiva but Useppa completely captured my heart.

It's a tiny private island that you can only access by boat off the coast of Fort Myers/Sanibel/Captiva, Florida. The island has gorgeous quaint beach cottages right off a pink-paved path with lush tropical landscaping. I've been to a decent number of tropical places in and out of the country over the years, but this is by far my second favorite place to St John/Trunk Bay in the Virgin Islands. Yes.... it's just fabulous! And you don't even have to travel out of the country!

Bennett loved the cruise through Pine Island Sound to get to the island. He danced to regaee music, watched dolphins jumping through the wake for the first time, and was fascinated by all the power boats on the water.

I told Michael I'd love to stay on the island for an anniversary one year. If you're ever in the area you need to must check it out. You have to be a member of the island to "go" but you can actually access it as a public guest through Captiva Cruises which leaves from....you guessed it....Captiva Island! I would love to be a member of Useppa when I'm grown up!

"One of the top 25 true island retreats in the world - serenity, great facilities and fishing, and no cars - Useppa has it all."

- Conde' Nast Traveler

VISIT USEPPA!

I'm an Auntie!

Hello blog world! It's been a little while since I've blogged! Our vacation to Florida was wonderful and just this week we made another trip...to Atlanta! One of my best friends, Emily, had her baby!

William Micah Castleberry was welcomed into this world on Monday, June 18th! He weighs 9lbs, 13oz and is 22 inches long! He has a head full of ridiculously well-styled blonde hair! I am so proud of Emily and John and am so excited to watch their family grow! Little Will is seriously a precious little baby!

Michael, Bennett, and I made the trip to Atlanta the day she had him and I was definitely not emotionally ready to see one of my best friends hold her first baby! It was amazing!

Here's me holding Will!

Emily gave me and some of her other best pals an "I'm an Aunt" pin from the hospital! I was beaming! :o) (It's the little things...well....I guess this is a pretty big thing!)

We went out to celebrate Will's birth that night. Bennett "enjoyed" some Italian food at Maggiano's!

Babies are just amazing gifts from God! Congrats to the Castleberry family! Love y'all!

Old Broncos

I have no idea what to blog about today. Not a stinkin' clue. So I'm going to blog about old Ford Broncos.

They are my dream car. I've wanted one for as long as I can remember. I always wanted one in high school but my dad always had bought me a more practical car. (I don't blame him considering he didn't want to have to pay to be fixing it all the time). The closest I ever got to one was my Barbie Beach Buggy when I was five. However, I didn't dig the pink paint scheme and the "pow-pow push mobile" mantra it carried with it. I eventually had to move on to the more practical options of hard tops and power windows.

But one day...I'll be crusing the ocean-side streets in my 1974 Ford, hair blowing every direction imaginable, dog chillin' in the back, going to pick up Bennett from school where he'll point and say, " Look! That's MY Mom...in the SWEET Bronco!"

'74

Dare to dream.... :o)

Oh! And if you didn't catch the free photoshoot giveaway being featured on the blog this week- check it out here and get entered to win! It's easy to enter!

A Pedal Down Memory Lane

Michael and I finally got out together on our road bikes! Yes- together! We made the big step in our lives and also for our marriage and decided to get a babysitter. God, being the awesome God he is, didn't leave us out to dry! He put a wonderful young lady into our lives. We couldn't be more blessed when it comes to the one we found to take care of Bennett! She is absolutely fabulous. I'm not disclosing her name to you. Sorry- she's ours. :o) :o) :o)

Tonight was totally awesome though. Best 3.5 hours we've had alone together in awhile (out of the house). ;o)  We drank some energy supps to get even more pumped up....

It was time to hit the pavement! We rode through the streets of the Augusta Road area, which brought back lots of memories of when we lived on that side of town when we found out about Bennett! We then got on the Swamp Rabbit Trail and headed out of downtown and made a bee-line for the first place we lived together- The Lofts of Greenville! We loved that place. It had it's negatives- but all-in-all, it was a pretty awesome place to live when we were youngins'!

If you're looking at the pictures with the full view behind us (above), ours was the dead center on the very top (the tall section of the building)! That was the only window in our entire place! A little secret...we had actually considered moving back there right before we decided to buy our house we just moved into. Probably best we didn't. Not the best set up for a baby. :o)

It was funny thinking back on all the places I've been with Michael as we rode around tonight. From first the swanky urban loft, to then the two bedroom over-priced stone cottage in downtown, to then the Suburban rental with lots of ants and roof leaks with a bad landlord, and now to our very first home with loads of room to spare and grow a family :o) It's amazing to see how far we've come together.

I'm so happy I met him and so happy to be pedaling beside him on this crazy, bumpy, and curvy-swervy road of life.

Week at the Beach

Another long over-do blog post. Surprise. Surprise. Story of my life. And I apologize...this is another long post, but more because I am indecisive person when it comes to pictures. So goody for you- you get to enjoy them all!

Me and two of my besties went to Florida for our "adult" spring break about a month ago. Luckily when I head to Florida that equates to a free vacay since my family lives there. All we needed to buy was food, big girl drinks, and anything we found in stores that fit our budgets. We spent half the week inland in Fort Myers and the other part on Captiva Island where my Mom works at an island cottage. If you've never been to Captiva and you love quiet, quaint island towns....this one's for you.

It was an amazing week away. We soaked up the sun almost every day, got to spend time with my hilarious family, and had major girl bonding time. A personal plus for me...I learned how to curl my own hair thanks to Chelsea and Kira! They patiently worked with me all week! A plus for my family is that we brought Bennett down with us and he got to spend time with them all week long! A win-win.

Here's a photo journey of our trip!


Lover's Key- The island that I spent tons of time at growing up. Stevie took us there on his boat. What a gem! We spent the day tanning, climbing trees, eating melon, and then finished the day by taking the boat to eat at The Fish House. Kira got to drive the boat. :o)

Captiva Island- We packed up Mom's huge SUV the girl way and headed for the islands! We spent a few days at a tiny island cottage. It was bayside so we had a dock, a pool, and it was just across the street from the beach.

There was a lizard in our cottage and Kira was a little restless, but she felt more safe with her pocket knife. :o)

One of our days at the beach, Kira and I went paddle-boarding. Such a great workout!

We also went to the Captiva Island Crab Races. My cousin Chris won third place and took home a medal and some cash! What's the Crab Races? It's the Kentucky Derby for Crabs. It's stupid. We had a blast.

The Start Line

Chels picking her crab...Cop Wife 2

Cop Wife 1 & Cop Wife 2 were losing...

Me picking my crab.

Chris won third! He got his Nascrab certificate.

 And if you visit Captiva you MUST MUST MUST go to The Bubble Room. You have to get "The Bubble Bread" and a piece of their cake. It's to die for. The Bubble Room is famous and also probably the most random place. Ever. They have a Christmas room. The waiters are dressed as boyscouts and there is even a Tunnel of Love. It's pretty awesome. My mom and Aunt Marla came with us to dinner! It was a lovely girls night. Then Chris showed up after he got off work at the Island store... :o)

We decided to party at the cottage and dock that night....

Beasting some Bubble Room cake..

Chelsea's twirl dress. She convinced me to buy one too!

Chris...partying it up.

Chelsea showing off. ;)

We took some normal shot of us too. Couldn't pass up the pretty scenery on the island..

The rest of the time we were inland in Fort Myers. We were back and forth between my Aunt Marla's house and my parents house since they live on the same circle. Bennett got to go on his first boat ride!

We got to hang out with a bunch of Stevie and Chris's friends that made us feel young again. Our night of country line dancing was a hoot! Thank goodness we went with all the guys to protect us though...gheez!

Bennett hanging with the cool kids...

Steve and I having a blast at Ale Mary's...such a classy place.

make shift glasses

nerdo-s

Evan Heaven!

Steve was a trooper when he took us shopping and even endured a night of terrible service at the hockey game...

My dad took us girls down to the beach for dinner one of our last nights. So we made HIM feel young again! :o)

We worked out with Aunt Marla. She brought along her cocktail. We went slow so she didn't spill.

The vacay wouldn't have been complete unless we saw Titanic in 3D. We balled. We gushed about love and Jack Dawson. Hell I even took a picture of his sweet self in the theater. Couldn't resist.

It was a blast of trip and I'm so pumped I got to bring along two of my best friends! Even peanut didn't want to leave...

I love vacations! Can't wait for our family one coming up in June!