Caribbean Cruise Part 4: On the Boat (and final thoughts on crusing)

On our cruise we had three full days at sea, and all of our nights were at sea except our Puerto Rico night.


During the days we spent our time working out, sunning, reading, swimming, playing games, and eating, eating, and more eating.


We also got massages one day and attended a few of the "Celebrity Life" events (cooking show, Bermuda Triangle lecture, etc.) The massage was good but WAY overpriced and the Celebrity Life events were generally mediocre at best.

We did enjoy some of the evening events like the Cirque show and the Christmas show.


I most enjoyed just relaxing during the days at sea. We had a lot of quality time as a family playing Upwords and Hearts together. We had a balcony room and I really liked sitting out the balcony reading and looking at the sea.

(obligatory shot of the daily "towel art" in the room).

I really enjoyed our nightly dinners at the special "Aqua Class" restaurant, Blu.


The food in Blu is supposed to be a little more healthy and gourmet than the regular dining room. I liked the food in Blu a lot, but I thought overall it was A-/B+ food (but that was way better than the buffet lunch food). I think it's really hard to have good food that appeals the masses and can be made in mass quantities, ya know? Maybe I'm a little bit of a food snob. :)


Blu was a gorgeous restaurant with great service. Loved this chandelier.


My parents and us brought a bunch of our favorite wines onto the ship and payed the corkage fees at Blu to drink them with dinner. We had some killer wines (Hope & Grace, Opus, Cakebread, Tantara, Beckman, and an Italian Brunello). Here we are with a bottle of one of our favorite wines, Beckman Estate Syrah.

Note: Email me if you want my cruise booze smuggling tips. :)

It's no secret that I love dressing up, so I really enjoyed the formal nights.


My Mom does too, because she bought The Mr. and my Dad matching tuxedo vests for the first formal night. So fun!


My little family on the second formal night.



The ship was decked out for Christmas. Loved all these lights!


And this gingerbread house was huge and amazing!


Actually the Celebrity Eclipse was a beautiful ship in general. It's brand new and state of the art. It has lots of cool art and great decor in the social spaces. I loved this giant turquoise flower.


Overall I liked cruising a lot, but not sure if I'd do it again soon. I think I'd rather just stay at beautiful resort on an island (like St. Kitt's for example). Here are my pros and cons of our cruise trip...

Pros: Easy vacation for a group with different interests, great way to see multiple places in a short amount of time, effortless traveling, limited planning needed for meals/activities, gorgeous ship, good excuse to dress up every night, more fun than a standard resort hotel, cool amenities like free room service and unlimited ice cream all the time.

Cons: Feels a little like mass-produced "luxury", food is often quantity over quality, night life was pretty much non-existent, on-board activities were hit-or-miss, felt constrained by ship's schedule so sometimes time in port sometimes felt rushed, and Celebrity was constantly trying to "upsell" you on beverage packages, extra events on board, specialty dining, future cruises, etc.

Have you cruised before? Do you agree with my pros and cons?

Delicious Wine... and a Dress giveaway!

You all know that the Newlyweds Next Door love wine.

So I was really excited when the super nice people at FlipFlop Wines contacted me to sample two of their wines.



I had a chance to try the Pinot Grigio and the Riesling and I really enjoyed both of them.

What's great about FlipFlop wines:
1. Their wines are a fantastic value. They cost just $7.00 a bottle. For the price, this wine is terrific! It's perfect for a glass after work or bottle with friends on the weekend. There is definitely some crappy, cheap wine out there, but FlipFlop Wine packs some serious bang for your buck.
2. The wine is"idiot proof". The back of each bottle tells what it tastes like (for example the Pinot Grigio says it tastes like tropical citrus and ripe pear), if it's more sweet or dry, and what food it pairs well with. So if you're new to drinking wine this will help you to figure out what flavor/body you like and how to pair wine with food (as I learned it Italy, "you have-a the food, you have-a the wine!")
3. The wine supports a good cause. FlipFlop Wines partners with Soles4Souls, the international shoe charity dedicated to providing free footwear to those in need.They will give one pair of flip-flop sandals to Soles4Souls for each bottle of FlipFlop wine purchased. How cool is that?

My thoughts on the Riesling:
- The FlipFlop Riesling is a great "sweet wine." For me it could almost be a dessert wine.
- It's well balanced with a very smooth finish (not acidic at all)
- It's great for drinking in evening by itself or with a spicy Asian meal.
- A good wine for the price.

My thoughts on the Pinot Grigio:
- The FlipFlop Pinot Grigio is light-bodied and refreshing.
- It's a perfect "Summer Afternoon" wine.
- It tasted great with gourmet pizza from Trader Joe's.
- A fantastic wine for the price. I need to pick up more of this, stat!

Want to read more about FlipFlop Wine? Check out and "like" their Facebook page.

*Note: I was not paid or compensated by FlipFlop Wine for my review. They provided the wine to sample for free in exchange for a honest review.

And, because I love you guys, I have another NEW giveaway happening for a beautiful "North Shore" dress from Shabby Apple. Go to my Giveaways Blog to enter now!

Dream Jobs

Lately, work has been killing my free time! Sorry for being so MIA.

Although I love my job and it would take a lot to get me to leave it, I sometimes think about what I would do if I could have any job in the world.

I came up with five dream jobs that I'd love to have...

1. Professional Organizer

Source

I live for organizing. The Container Store is pretty much my heaven. When I was young I'd help my friends clean out their closets.

I'd love to help people organize their homes and lives for a living.


2. Winemaker


It's no secret that I love wine -- tasting it, buying it, drinking it. I love visiting vineyards -- seeing the grapes, the barrel rooms, the tasting rooms. I just think it would be so fun to own a vineyard and make our own wine.

3. Restaurateur


I'm also a foodie. I'd love to come up with fun restaurant idea, pick the menus, and entertain patrons. I know owning a restaurant is a tough and risky business but if I could make it work, I'd love it. Plus this is something that I think the Mr. and I would love doing together.

4. Party Planner

Source

I had SO much fun planning my wedding. I make inspiration boards and help people come up with party and wedding ideas. There are just endless amazing ideas out there for parties.


5. CEO/Leader/Owner of a Small Business


I know, this one is vague. But I think it would be amazing to start some kind of small business with friends or associates. I'm not talking about starting the next Facebook or something, but owning some kind of small business where we can make a living, have fun, and do something meaningful.


Now tell me, what are YOUR dream jobs?

Signs of Adulthood: Hostessing Baby Showers

My friend, Rebec is having a baby girl in September. So on Saturday some sweet friends and I hosted her baby shower in my condo's banquet room.

The shower was amazing! Mainly thanks to the amazing work of my friend, Carey, who did most of the decor.

Look how cute the tables were!


And the brunch food spread was amazing!


Besides the venue, I was in charge of coffee and mimosas (which happen to be two of my favorite things!)

I decided that the champagne glasses needed a little flair so before the shower I made some adorable (if I do say so myself) baby-themed wine charms.


Here's a closer look...


These were actually really inexpensive and easy to do. I just bought a couple colors of curling ribbon and these little table sprinkles from party city. Then I just threaded the charms, tied them on the glasses, and curled the ends of the ribbon. That way each glass had a unique charm and ribbon to people would know which mimosa or OJ was theirs.


I loved it!

Can I just say that the mom-to-be was so adorable and tiny! Here were are together...


And here she is with her loot...


I wish I'd taken more pictures of all the super cute clothes baby clothes that she got! All that cute pink stuff just melts your heart.

Here's me with a couple of my friends. Hair stylist and party planner extraordinaire, Carey, is on the right.

Adventures Wine Blogging Together

For a while I've contemplated launching a second blog dedicated to a hobby that I love.

Now, I'm not fashionista, so I couldn't start a clothing blog (see Kate's amazing example here).

And not (yet) an armature chef or foodie, so I couldn't start a cooking blog like some of my blogging friends (examples here and here)

Then one night while drinking wine on the couch with the Mr. it hit me. What's something that we both love? Love talking and sharing about? And would love to keep a record of?

WINE!

So, I'm happy to announce that the Mr. and I have started a new joint blog called, "It's Wine O'Clock."

Together we'll share about our favorite wines, our adventures in wine drinking, and much more at: http://www.wineoclockblog.com/.



Don't worry, I'll still be blogging regularly at Newlyweds Next Door. This is just a new fun blog for us to enjoy together!

You can see our first Wine O'Clock post here.

There once was man from Nantucket: Boston Trip, Part 3

In the middle of our week in New England we headed out to Nantucket Island for a little getaway in the middle of our vacation!

Nantucket looks like a movie set of a New England seaside village. There are over 800 homes on Nantucket that were built before the Civil War!

We took the ferry from Cape Cod over to Nantucket. This is the view heading into port in Nantucket. I love the little lighthouse!


And here is the Mr. on the boat. It was COLD. I sat inside. Ha!


We found an adorable B&B called the Seven Sea Street Inn. I don't think the innkeepers knew what to make of us considering that most of their patrons are retirees -- especially in October!

Regardless, the inn was just so charming!


When we checked into the Inn the innkeeper gave us the lowdown on what to do on Nantucket. When he said that there was a great brewery/vineyard on the island (in fact, the only one on the island) we knew what we were going to do for the rest of that day!

Biking is a great mode of transportation on Nantucket, considering that the island is pretty tiny.

We we rented bikes at Young's Bicycle shop and got to hear about the Nantucket vs. Martha's Vineyard rivalry from the townies working in the shop. Priceless.

Then we biked about two miles out to Cisco Brewers/Nantucket Vineyard.


We started off wine tasting.


No, they don't grow the grapes on the island. They have them shipped in from Oregon/Washington and then make the wine on Nantucket.

Then we did beer tasting.


I'd definitely say that beer is their speciality! But the wine was pretty good too.

After three hours of wine and beer tasting we headed back to the Inn to get ready for dinner.

We had dinner at a chic little place called LoLa 41. It was expensive, but really good. Their speciality is serving food from the 41st latitude line. Interesting, right?

Outside of LoLa.


The next morning we had breakfast at the Inn and then did a 20 mile round trip bike ride out to Sconset, the East end of the island.

We rode on some beautiful bike paths.


And saw some nice fall foliage.


On our way saw lots of historic homes. Including this old captain's house.


Note: I don't want to post pictures of beautiful Nantucket homes we saw, because I feel like it's odd to post pictures of homes that aren't mine. Just do a google image search of "Sconset" to see the adorable homes out there.

We finally made it out to Sconset and got a picture with the big old lighthouse. Lighthouses are so "New England" aren't they?


It was starting to get stormy out at sea, so we took a few more pictures along the coast and then headed back to town.


Good thing we rode back when we did, because when we got back to town it started pouring rain. So we spent our final afternoon on Nantucket indoors eating and shopping. Check out this shirt we found in one shop! I died laughing.


We were on Nantucket island for a little over 24 hours and had a fabulous time. But that was as long of a trip as this city girl would have wanted. Nantucket is just so small, quiet, and slow-paced! Especially in the fall. However, it was very relaxing!

See here and here for part 1 and part 2 of our Boston/New England trip. And to see our full trip itinerary in chronological order, click here.

Stay tuned for the final Boston post tomorrow!

Wine Tasting in Santa Ynez, CA

As you may know, one of our favorite things to do is taste wine, collect wine, and of course, drink wine!

So when my Dad suggested that we take a road trip up to Santa Ynez, CA (about an hour north of Santa Barbara, CA) to the wine country for some wine tasting over Labor Day weekend, the Mr. and I answered with a resounding "of course!"

We started off our wine tour at Tantera with a private barrel tasting with the wine maker. It was amazing!


If you've never done a barrel tasting, go sign up for one now! We learned so much about wine grapes, wine aging, and wine making in general. We got to taste 10 different kinds of Pinot Nior all grown and aged in different ways, straight out of the barrel. So cool!

Here's a look at some of the barrels at Tantera.




After spending over an hour and some serious dough at Tantera, we headed down to Foxen.


You may recognize this winery from the movie "Sideways". In fact, they have a picture of Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church in the Foxen scene of the movie on a shelf in the tasting "room".


Foxen is a fun and funky winery that sells an amazing blend that they make annually called "Range 30 West." We're currently aging a few Range 30s in our cellar.

Here's the Mr. and I after we bought this year's Range 30 West. Can you tell we are happy!


I tried to take a picture of the Mr. and my Dad at Foxen, but they kept acting silly. Boys will be boys at any age I guess. Ha!

{Click to enlarge to see the "Foxen Photo Booth" shoot}


After Foxen we stopped off at Zaca Mesa where we purchased some delicious viognier. Here is my Dad and me in the tasting room at Zaca.




Our next stop was Fess Parker. Fess Parker, who owns the winery, played Davy Crockett on TV when our parents were little. There's a giant picture of Fess as Davy hanging in the tasting lodge.


The Fess Parker logo is coonskin "Davy Crockett"cap and they even have coonskin caps for sale there. Check me out! Ha!


We tasted some delicious wines at the Fess Parker Lodge.


And ended up buying a case of the "Frontier Red."



We finished off the day with dinner in the town of Los Olivos and a final tasting at the Daniel Gehrs Los Olivos tasting room.


"Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy." - Benjamin Franklin