Showing posts with label 2019. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2019. Show all posts

Best Things I Bought from Amazon Prime 2019







2019 saw a lot of Amazon orders for our household. We've become increasingly more reliant on the benefits of Prime for a lot of our cleaning and toiletry basics, as well as gifting and shopping as we live in a pretty small town {plus, I hate going to the Wal-mart}. A few of the things I purchased last year have been somewhat life changing so I wanted to share with you!

Key-less Entry Deadbolt--this was a Christmas gift to CJM, but was really a gift for both of us! This has eliminated the worry of "where is the key" when we leave or have someone staying at the house to watch the dogs. You can set up to six unique identifying codes, it can be programmed to lock on it's own after a few seconds for safety, and was pretty easy to install. There are fancier WiFi enabled options, but this one has worked really well for us in combination with our Ring doorbell and Blink video system.

Faux Fur Wrap--with two winter weddings, I wanted to find a fashionable and warm wrap. This one is beautiful, inexpensive, and warm! I'll be wearing it again this weekend actually!

Packing Cubes--my sister in law informed me I was traveling all wrong, and boy was she right. If you don't want to check a bag, packing cubes are a must. Even if you're not flying, this has helped all my items stay much more organized, and I can actually pack more things in every bag. A win win in my book!

Revlon One Step--I actually bought this for myself in 2018, but loved it enough to gift in 2019! This is a blow dry brush that doesn't rotate, is really large so it provides a shiny, sleek look to any length of hair. I always get compliments on the volume of my 'do when I use.

Jewelry Organizer--another way to step up the traveling game. This pretty blush organizer has tons of pockets, holes for earrings to go through, and folds up to keep everything together. No more tangled necklaces here!

Micro-needle Acne Patches--I have hormonal cystic acne, and I'm allergic to benzyl peroxide. I can only use salicylic acid products, but topical treatments really don't work on cysts. These micro-needle patches gently infuse the medication into the cyst, greatly reducing the inflammation/pain/and time you spend dealing with those suckers. My little brother has also had great success with these!

Make Up Rags--Who else has ruined white rags with mascara stains? There's a lot of different make up removing cloths out there these days, but I just wanted a regular one for after washing my make up off with my preferred soaps. I found these cute black ones pre-embroidered and they've been a great addition to my bathrooms.

Amazon Essentials Sweaters--I LOVE these sweaters. They're not too thick, very stretchy, and come in a million colors. I love the for work and weekends, and the price/quality can't be beat. Perfect with black slacks for a solid "office uniform." Go get 'em!

Brightening serum--I have been struggling with some dark marks {thanks, cystic acne} this year that I didn't have in the past. I looked into some more expensive skin care lines {R+F in particular} but can't use the whole line due to allergies and sensitivities. So I tried to find a similar product with the same ingredients and stumbled upon this one with tons of great reviews. This is an intense formula--it WILL dry your skin out. But it will also actually work. I had a few spots that looked like freckles under my make up and they're totally gone or on their way out. This is basically an at home chemical peel so be sure to use good SPF and read the instructions! If you have any questions, let me know.

Cooler--"Knock off Yeti" is what we'll call this one. When our fridge died at the end of the year, this Christmas gift was a life saver. Keeps your ice, doesn't leak, isn't heavy. Need I say more? I bought a cool Georgia Southern sticker to cover the China logo.

Microfiber sheets--a million great Amazon reviews, and I need to add my own. So soft, the right 'temperature' and we both love them. No need to spend hundreds of dollars to get great sheets. Will be ordering more!



One Day in New Orleans





In August, we traveled to New Orleans a few days before Labor Day to kick off a fun-filled weekend trip. The main reason for our trip was to go to the Georgia Southern vs. LSU game in Baton Rouge on Saturday, so we added a stop in NOLA and Biloxi to explore and spend some time with friends.

We flew into Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport Thursday evening and took a Lyft {links with your Delta Skymiles for extra miles, guys!} to our hotel Le Méridien New Orleans. This was a beautiful place to stay in the heart of the Central Business District which is a lot quieter and cleaner than the French Quarter. Literally across the street from Harrah's if that's your thing, and less than a mile walk to the Quarter where you can begin to explore. The hotel has a really fun and eclectic vibe and we greatly enjoyed our stay there.

After dropping off our bags, we began to look for somewhere to go to dinner which proved more challenging at 9 p.m. in New Orleans than I had anticipated. We took off to see what was nearby and ended up at The Halal Guys which, while a chain, was absolutely amazing. I love a good gyro and this one was great--try the ghost pepper sauce, but a drop is a lot! After working all day and traveling that evening, we were tired and headed back to our room right after dinner in preparation for a long day on Friday.

Friday morning started off with the scrumptious breakfast from Bittersweet Confections. Found on picture perfect Magazine Street, we enjoyed a breakfast croissant, prosciutto, ricotta, and honey drizzled toast, a Nutella and white chocolate muffin and iced coffee before catching the free bus to Mardi Gras World. Truly a tourist destination, we were able to see from start to finish how the magnificent Mardi Gras floats are made while learning a little bit more of the history of the festival season. It was absolutely mesmerizing, and a super fun stop for all ages!






Thankfully, MGW has a free shuttle with lots of stops all over the city, so we hopped on the French Quarter shuttle and got to exploring. It ended up being a beautiful and surprisingly cooler August day, so we walked over eight miles throughout the city exploring. We took a lap around Jackson Square, admiring the architecture and the artists, before grabbing our first of many daiquiris at Willie's Chicken Shack. I'd planned on having a muffaletta lunch at Napoleon House but we were still really full from breakfast.



At 1 p.m. we joined the guided tour at the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum. The site of the first retail pharmacy, we were able to see and learn about old instruments, medicines, practices and beliefs from the 1800s. The pharmacist hubs was highly entertained. Once the tour wrapped up, we wandered for a while before heading to Pat O'Brien's for a famous hurricane at the piano bar. Going to a dueling pianos event is always fun, and it was a great place to cool off for an hour or so before a brief trip down Bourbon Street. Never my favorite place {wear closed toed shoes!}, it's still fun to people watch and try a new beverage or two.



After a nap back at the hotel and freshening up, we stood in line at Acme Oyster House for about 30 minutes before snagging two seats at the bar. Of course we had a dozen raw oysters, a po-boy and seafood etouffee--I even tried an oyster shooter. It was all super delicious and worth the wait! I had my heart set on taking a spin around the Carousel Bar with a French 75 in hand, and unfortunately I couldn't get a seat. We did however get a drink at the bar {which is actually a slowly spinning carousel!} and a couple of chairs in a cozy corner and were able to enjoy a fantastic jazz band after dinner! It was a ton of fun.



To top off the day, we of course had to swing by Cafe du Monde for an order of beignets before heading back to our hotel room to rest up before game day. I had hoped to go to the Ruby Slipper Cafe for brunch on Saturday, but we didn't get going early enough and ended up with a "recovery" meal of Raisin' Canes.

What are some of your favorite New Orleans stops?


You can shop my exploring outfit directly from the image below!







Carnival Cruise Recap | Cozumel Plus Itinerary + What to Do




*All views and opinions are my own. 

In May CJM and I went on our first Carnival cruise on the Carnival Sunshine out of Port Canaveral. This was a Cozumel Plus itinerary which was really attractive to us because we love Cozumel. The ship also visited three other ports we'd never gone to and was port-intensive so we'd have the chance to do a lot of stuff. I'll be honest, I was a little hesitant to do Carnival considering we've only ever done Royal Caribbean, but we really didn't start playing the comparison game until the very end. We always have a good time anywhere we go, so it really didn't matter which line is considered "nicer" or "more fun" or whatever. I do want to do a comparison post because there were some stark differences, but similarities too, and my ultimate take away is: you're on vacation, so it's fun!

We left on May 5, and I love cruising on Cinco de Mayo because there's always a little something fun about sailing on a holiday of any size. We drove half way to Port Canaveral the night before, and got on the ship right after lunch. With Carnival, you have to reserve a check-in time or be forced to wait. Luckily, we got to security right at 1 p.m. and walked on through. Our rooms weren't ready until 1:30 p.m., but as soon as they were we dropped our stuff, grabbed a drink, and started exploring.





Carnival Sunshine is an older ship with a semi-recent remodel, but I have to say, it's not like any other RCCL ship I've been on (old/new, big/small, etc.). This was very closed-in and hard to navigate, not a big open floor plan like I've become accustomed to. Unfortunately, there was a smell throughout many of the public hallways the entire week that was kind of awful. We tried to avoid those areas at all cost. If we cruise Carnival again, I'd have to try a newer ship. But overall, plenty of bars and things to do and see, and lots of dining options as well--something for everyone!

Our first stop was Cozumel, Mexico, and since our itinerary was a "Cozumel Plus" one we got extra time in port! I searched on Facebook a few months prior and found an amazing photography couple in Cozumel that were so sweet and picked us up right outside of the port. They took us all around the island and took some update photos of CJM and I while telling us more about Cozumel and their experience working in the cruise industry themselves. I highly recommend Mik 'n Drik Photography if you're ever in Cozumel, and I can't wait to show you our photos--although most are a surprise as I've already designed our Christmas card for this year!



After a few hours with them, we spent the rest of the day at the all-inclusive Mr. Sancho's day resort. Of course it was beautiful; the water in Cozumel is absolutely stunning. There were multiple pools, swim up bars, and plenty of lounge chairs. We may or may not have had too much to drink on the ship the night before, so we were finally ready to eat lunch and enjoyed their famous coconut shrimp, some fresh ceviche, salsa, and guac, as well as plenty of margaritas! CJM and I laid out right by the ocean for a couple of hours before spending some time in one of the pools. We met another couple and convinced them to end our day in Cozumel at the Thirsty Cougar Boozery which is home to my absolute favorite margarita in the whole entire world. It's an amazingly fresh cucumber jalapeno that is potent and has just the right amount of spice!


The following day we were in Belize, where we took a very long and uncomfortable boat ride out to Geoff's Caye, a tiny private island that only holds a hundred or so people. There we had an awesome time snorkeling in the clearest water for about an hour, before spending some time napping in the sun. They do have some guys out there grilling food that you can purchase, but we didn't get anything to eat. Belize is a tender port, and one I'd recommend definitely having an excursion planned for, unlike Cozumel which is so easy to explore and very safe.



Our third stop was Mahogany Bay, Isla of Roatan in Hondouras. This is Carnival's private port, and it was stunning {and for some reason, I basically took zero pictures here--I blame the strawberry margaritas!}. Of course there's the usual suspects {Diamonds International!}, but take a quick trip on the "flying chair" and you're on a beautiful white sandy beach. Our "excursion" for the day was actually two tickets to ride the flying chair aka ski lift, two reserved beach chairs and a clam shell umbrella, and two foam mats for the ocean. This was the only excursion I booked through Carnival because it was a really good deal. We checked in, got our spot, grabbed a drink and took our mats into the water. We basically spent all day on our mats floating and swimming which was another reason I didn't grab any pics.

On our fourth and final stop, we visited Costa Maya, Mexico. This port is really kind of cool because there are tons of shops and eateries, pools to swim in, flamingos, little museums and other things to explore all right there when you walk off the ship! If we go back to this port, I probably won't plan an excursion but instead plan on having a pool day because I really have never gotten in the pool on a ship before {kinda freaks me out}. This time, I booked and excursion to see some Mayan ruins because we've never done anything like that before and usually by this point in the trip, CJM has had more than enough sun. We ended up being the only two on our tour which was great, but it was a solid hour drive out to the ruins. We had a private tour around the ruins and our tour guide offered to take lots of pictures. On our ride back to port, we stopped at a roadside fruit stand had some of the best pineapple of my life!





Our first and last days of the cruise were sea days and very fun and relaxing. I do think Carnival does a really great job at being the "Fun Ship." It was a lot of fun, and they definitely are heavy handed with their drink pours! But overall, we missed some of the I suppose higher-end experiences we've grown accustomed to. My biggest issue was the terrible debarkation experience we had, but I'm not 100% sure if that's a Carnival or ship-specific issue.

If you'd like to see more from our trip, head over to my Instagram page {@piperellice} and check out my travel highlight where I saved tons of photos and videos from our week away.

Here are the links to the exact excursions I booked, thanks to my friend Pamela who recommended them!

Cozumel: Mr. Sancho's Beach All Inclusive
Belize: Goff's Caye Island Getaway & Snorkel 
Mahogany Bay: Relax on the Beach Package 
Costa Maya: Costa Maya Chacchoben Mayan Ruins Excursion 




What I Bought at the After Party Sale | Jan 2019




The Lilly Pulitzer After Party Sale is still going on! I snagged a few great tops yesterday when it first began, and most are still available. I took a second look this morning because a few new items were released around 9 a.m., but nothing in particular sparked my interest. Typically, my tactic is to stick to items that are less than $50 each, because otherwise it doesn't feel like such a deal unless it's THE item I HAVE to have. My goal this sale was to get some green tops ahead of St. Patrick's season in Dublin. You can never have too much green around here! 

Essie Top in Bennett Blue Sneak A Beak 

Harbour Island Tunic in Multi Early Bloomer
Button Front Elsa Top in Multi Via Flora

Button Front Elsa Top in Inky Navy Bamboo Bash
*No longer available via Lilly Pulitzer site
Orella Wrap in Onyx Metallic
*No longer available via Lilly Pulitzer site