Saving the Best for Last

Last week, my last spring break vacation ever, flew by me.  One second I was in California leaving for Cabo, and the next I was getting off the plane in Austin.  While I am sad that last week is now nothing but memories, I will cherish those memories for the rest of my life!

Where to begin...

Last Friday my friends and I made our way to San Diego, where we stayed at a gorgeous condo on Coronado Island. We started our vacation with a delicious meal (shocker) at Prepkitchen, and polished it off with acai bowls from Juice Kaboose.  For anyone who has not tried an acai bowl, go try one (or make one) NOW.  This set the tone for the rest of our weekend in California, as it revolved around trying fun new restaurants, exploring the city and cruising around on a gorgeous boat. After devouring meals at Hash House a go go, Point Loma Seafood, Herringbone and True Food Kitchen, I think it is safe to say we ate our way through San Diego, which was perfect for our spring break diet...right?

Monday morning we left for Cabo San Lucas. I have to say, I am not the most joyful and relaxing person to travel with.  If I am not anxious about getting on a plane, I am anxious about our reservations or the mere thought of traveling out of the country. As fate would have it, I had every reason to be so high strung.  We arrived at the hotel, along with 350 other college students, to find that our hotel was overbooked.  And not just overbooked, but they had the audacity to TRIPLE book each room. Perfect.

After dealing with this nonsense for hours, we finally found ourselves relocated up into the mountains at the stunning Montecristo Estates, which are a part of the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach.  All I have to say is WOW.  While the location was not on the beach as we had planned, we were each put up in our own private villa. Each villa was not only a two story, three bedroom, stunning home, but each villa also had it's own private pool and hot tub.  Needless to say, I was in heaven.  Maybe our little overbooking mishap wouldn't be so bad after all!

Our entire week was spent on the beach. The resort was able to transport us back and forth to our original hotel everyday so that we were with all of our other friends. Being a guest at Montecristo meant that we even had our own private section on the beach with tents, chairs and unlimited food and drinks at our service.  I had the best time seeing friends from different schools, walking up and down the beach, sipping margaritas as if they were water, jet skiing in the icy blue waters and laying out in the sun.

As I sit here on my couch in Austin, drinking my morning coffee, and cannot help but think back on the memories and express how lucky I am- how thankful I am.  So, cheers to my last spring break ever, and cheers to the many more amazing traveling experiences to come.

Happy Valentine's Day!

May your day be filled with love and chocolate.

My favorite holiday is finally here! While I was on my arts and crafts kick, I decided to make small Valentine's treats for some of my friends instead of buying generic candy. And since we are all "trying to eat healthy for spring break," I knew it had to be something simple and not too crazy. I decided to go back to the basics of just plain chocolate...which I melted and drizzled into wooden spoons.

I love this "recipe" because it can be adapted for every holiday. All you need are spoons, bakers chocolate and sprinkles. Melt the chocolate as directed on the packaging (it is very easy to burn), pour it into the spoons, tap the spoons on the counter to spread the chocolate evenly, lightly place the sprinkles on the chocolate, and let cool. Simple as that!

Valentine's Week: Homemade Love Notes

Don't get me wrong, I love a good Hallmark card every now and then, but there is always something special about a homemade card. Not only is it one of a kind, but it comes from the heart.

This year I chose to make my Valentine's Day notes instead of buying them. I always love a good craft project and it gave me something fun to do this weekend. I ordered black and white prints of my favorite photos, bought every piece of Valentine's scrapbook paper at the craft store, and set about making personalized love notes.

PS... For those of you stuck in snow storms, this might be a spoiler, but at least you know you have a card coming your way!

Supplies included: scrapbook paper (reds, pinks and patterns), neutral cards and envelopes, tags (which I punched an extra hole in), hemp, a hole puncher, a paint pen and photo tape.

Happy almost Valentine's Day!

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back!

As I sit here, drinking my coffee, I cannot stop thinking about the amazing weekend that I had with my closest friends.  Before I tell you what we did, let me preface this post with a little background information.


My friends and I are all second semester seniors with a very, very extensive bucket list.  We have all watched the city of Austin grow and evolve since we were freshman, but we have yet to fully take advantage of everything Austin has to offer.  It is a small (but expanding exponentially) city with so much to offer- from restaurants and bars to historical monuments and outdoor adventures.  Let's just say that we have a lot of ground to cover, and thought it best to hit the ground running during our four (...five) day weekend.

We started on Thursday night by going to 6th Street- not my favorite place in the world, but always an interesting experience.  We all had fun going from bar to bar.... to bar to bar to bar!  Needless to say, Friday morning we all woke up in the mood for a very good breakfast from Counter Cafe.  Two crab cake egg benedicts later, we decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing and the spend the night eating popcorn and watching the movie 'Her.'

Saturday we woke up bright and early at 7 a.m. to get in line at Franklin Barbecue by 8:30 a.m.  We thought we would be early enough to beat the crowd, but when we arrived we were told we were in the "danger zone" and should expect our food around 2:30 p.m.  With such a large group (15+), we were just happy we "made the cut."  For the next six hours we talked, threw frisbees, ate breakfast, drank beer and just enjoyed the beautiful day.  For those of you who were wondering, the barbecue was amazing and definitely worth the ridiculous wait.  And if you don't believe me, maybe you should have a word with all the people in line who flew into Austin from around the country JUST for this barbecue. Hm.

From here we went to Abel's to watch the rest of the UT basketball game.  At this point, we were all still SO full and decided to rent a movie and get icees from 7-Eleven (all our stomachs could handle).  On Sunday, Cara and I ventured to the Barton Creek Farmer's Market to get the famous lobster rolls from Garbo's Lobster Truck.  They were absolutely phenomenal and I cannot wait to go back for more.  After lunch eight of us met to pamper ourselves with manicures before we spent the afternoon at Zilker Park.  Funny how everyone in Austin seemed to have the same idea as us.  To top this beautiful Sunday off, we had happy hour at Shady Grove and then went out to 6th Street, yet again.  How I managed to go downtown twice in one weekend... I will never know.

I know it has been a while since my last post, but being a second semester senior I now have the time to document my memories from my last semester in college.  Wow, time flies.

So welcome back to Austin, and welcome back to Pretty Little Things.

Weekend Getaway: Florence

Our weekend getaways the past few weeks have made me realize that, if all else fails, I could be a travel agent.  But just don’t ask me to book the hotel, because I will probably book the wrong one in the wrong city, like I did this weekend.

I would usually write about the highlights of a trip, but this entire trip to Florence was a highlight, with our hotel being the only “lowlight.”  Florence is absolutely amazing, and I am so glad that we chose to spend one of our few weekends in Europe there.  It was worth every penny and every pound gained (as my pictures will show).

When we landed in Florence on Thursday night, we were excited to stay at the Together FLORENCE Inn (note that ‘Florence’ is in the name of the hotel) located .3 miles from the city center.  To our surprise, the hotel was located .3 miles from the city center of Bagno a Ripoli… outside of Florence.  Oops.

So we made the trek out to the hotel and tried to convince ourselves that our hotel didn’t matter because we would not be spending a lot of time there.  We threw our stuff down, freshened up, and headed out to explore the city, but first we had to take a 20-minute ride on the public bus to even get to Florence.  Needless to say, by the end of the weekend we had mastered yet another European public transportation system.  When we got into Florence we stayed on one the "local" side of the river where we ate at a packed little restaurant called Gusta Pizza.  The pizza not only tasted amazing, but also came out in a heart shape.  We then followed the tradition and used our receipt to write a little message to stick under the glass table.  We sat at a table with a man from Florence and his lady friend and ended up talking to them for an hour.  He gave us the names and locations of the best restaurants and gelato places in town.  We finished the night with gelato (duh) and roamed around “the square” where all the locals all sit and drink on the steps of an old building.

Friday morning we woke up to a little surprise- no water.  Yes, you read correctly, the hotel did not have running water.  This meant no showering, not brushing our teeth, and no going to the bathroom.  Great.  Luckily we were ok with not showering because we were about to spend the next six hours horseback riding through Tuscany.  We got on the city bus, which we thought was the wrong one, so we got off and ended up running through the city in order to make it to our tour on time.  What a lovely start to the day.

We made it to our Horseback and Vineyards Tour and left in the van that drove us to the Chianti region in Tuscany, where many world famous wines are produced.  The next few hours were some of the most amazing in my life.  We rode horses through the hills and vineyards in the hot Tuscan sun for a few hours.  The views were unreal and unlike anything I have ever laid eyes on before.  We rode to the Principe Corsini private estate and ate a traditional Italian lunch, did a wine tasting of the Principo Corsini wines, and toured the wine cellars and estate.  Everything was perfect!

By the time we got back to the hotel we were so exhausted and decided to lay by the pool for an hour.  In the mean time, the water came back on and we were all ready to shower- but oh wait, our shower didn’t work.  The next hour we had to deal with the hotel staff and the maintenance guy, and ended up having to switch to a different room.  Strike two.

Friday night’s dinner was at Tameró, a local pasta shop that came recommended from the man we met the night before (who we ended up running into there).  We really enjoyed the “grungy chic” décor, wine, fruit and cheese tray, and our homemade pastas.  We finished the night with wine and dessert at Golden View Open Bar that over looked the river.  Our night was spent eating, drinking, and reminiscing on how amazing that day was.

Saturday morning we woke up and made our way to a Florence foodie tour with Florence Food Tour.  This tour was far better than any museum tour because we got to experience the history and culture of the city through the eyes of a Florentine.  In a few hours we hit a coffee shop, truffle shop, meat and cheese shop, the San Lorenzo Market, and a gelato shop.  We got to try every type of traditional Italian food and wine that you could possibly imagine.  The tour far exceeded our expectations, and if I ever return to Florence, I would book this tour again and again.  To read more about our day, check out my Florence Foodie blog post [COMING SOON].

From the food tour we went to explore the San Lorenzo Market, which has tons of leather goods, clothes and jewelry.  Each of us left with a little something as a souvenir from Italy. We decided we should probably do a few touristy things, so we explored the Duomo and later made the hike up to the Boboli Gardens.  Our next stop was Piazzale Michelangelo, so we stopped and got a bottle of wine from a little wine shop to drink at the top while we overlooked the entire city.  The view was absolutely amazing, and we found a cozy little bench in the rose garden where we sat and had our own little happy hour before dinner.  Of course we had to cheers to yet another amazing day!

Thanks to Trip Advisor (the most brilliant website ever invented), we had the best Italian dinner at an adorable family owned restaurant called La Cucina del Garga.  This was by far the best food of the weekend, and they treated their customers like royalty.  We started with an amazing sautéed calamari and avocado dish, each had different seafood pastas (mine was the best pasta I have ever had), and finished with cheese cake and chocolate cake.  They even brought us Prosecco, tomato focaccia bread, and a slice of lemon cake all on the house.  We were so stuffed we pretty much floated home.

And guess what happened when we got back to the hotel?  No water... again.  This hotel made me seriously doubt my trip planning skills.

Luckily our flights left Sunday afternoon, so we had the morning to check a few more things off of our list.  Our first stop was the Accademia Gallery to see the one and only, State of David.  We had all of our bags with us, so afterward we schlepped to a small cafe and bakery to have our morning coffee and do yet another recap of our amazing weekend.  We walked around a little more, ate lunch at a cute little restaurant that looked out to the Duomo, and then enjoyed one last baby cannoli in the Republic Square before we had to head back to Paris.

Now we are back in our dorm rooms, missing the many highlights of our weekend getaway in Florence, Italy.  

A Week of Day Trips: Giverny & Versailles

If you are given the opportunity to explore Giverny, take it.

I have never seen something as beautiful and breathtaking as Monet's gardens.  I have also never seen so many flowers and plants in one garden.  It is truly amazing.   After a long trek out to Vernon, we got to explore Monet's home, garden, lily pond and everything that inspired him.  We chose a great day to go because the weather was sunny and hot, and the lines were not outrageous.  

Saying that everything in France is breath taking is an understatement, even though I know I am being repetitive.  Everything is breathtaking in its own sense- Monet's gardens were a quiet and relaxing kind of breathtaking, while Versailles was phenomenal in an architectural and conceptual sense.  Anyone who knows me knows that I ask a lot of questions, many of which remain unanswered.  So here are my questions that my mind could not grasp about Versailles...

How did someone build Versailles?  How much work and money went into it?  How did Louis XIV justify spending all of the people's tax money on such a palace?  Why did Marie Antoinette need her own "mini Versailles" down the road (which was gorgeous, by the way)?  And lastly... Who needs gardens that go on forever?

All I can say is that Versailles is absolutely a sight to see.  Even though there was a torrential downpour on our long walk through the garden's to Marie Antoinette's estate, we still enjoyed every second of it.  Anyone who travels to Europe should set a day aside to visit Versailles. 

And of course we go to Versailles and find the food.  We had a nice little afternoon snack at Angelina, and by afternoon snack I mean their famous iced hot chocolate, a fruit tart and a carmel and creme pastry.