Blow Me Away

The Chi Pro Hairdryer is my hair's new best friend. My sis-in-law, K has been singing Chi dryers praises for years and how I just jumped on board is beyond me. Where have I been, under a frizzy hair-enducing rock?!

Apparently so. I got me some curly hair, which is usually great and I go with it. But you know, sometimes a girl just wants to change her look and go sleek and straight or even Victoria's Secret sleek with big sexy curls (my natural curvature is neither). However, I never wore these looks often enough to justify the big investment in a Chi. Oh, how I was wrong.

The reason I didn't style my hair straight very often was that a normal blow dryer took over an hour to do the job and then I still had to use a straightener. The Chi Pro gets the job done in more than half the time and if I'm deligent with the round brush I can skip the straightener all together!

It is pricey but I learned a good lesson from my ultra thrifty mama. Ulta sells most all the Chi dryers in their collection and they even put them on sale from time to time. But that's not all (moment of silence for Billy Mays) Ulta will even let you use one of their 20% coupons on their already price reduced products! I think I scored the $150 hair dryer for under a $100. Cha-ching.

So to all my curly, thick-haired sisters out there. What are you waiting for??

We got crabs...

To be more specific we had a crab. While sharing a bottle of wine and admiring the setting sun the other evening BF spotted a critter out of the corner of his eye. Having been used to critters in D.C. he figured it was a rat and was calmly watching it move so as not to alert his skittish wife.

As the unwelcome guest moved closer BF began to think that it was some sort of very large and leggy spider. Things were going to get hairy very quickly. At last he was able to really focus on it only to discover that our friend was neither rat nor spider but a giant crab.

We can only assume that he thought that we were furniture as he side saddled closer and closer to our shoes on the floor. We were even able to snap a BlackBerry photo of it. He was blue! His color didn't show up until we were able to see him properly with the flash. Just as he was about to make friends with my sandal BF got up and that thing shot off like a cannon was propelling him off our porch and out of our romantic evening.

He looked a little something like this...

On another Animal Planet-type note, this morning while sitting on the porch I was approached by another Caribbean creature, a lizard. He wasn't a little Geiko gecko either - a bit bigger, say 12 inches long and scary enough for me to make whooping noises and shout at it to "Skat!"

Welcome to the island.

Welcome to the Island

Three days and counting; that is how long I have been in Port of Spain. It has already been so much fun that I can't wait for the next couple of months.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Trinidad and Tobago (most of us, right?) here is a little geography lesson.

You see Florida in the top left? Well we are all the way in the bottom right-hand corner. See us? Above and to the right of Venezuela. We are only 6 miles off the Venezuela coast and if you're vantage point is high enough in Port of Spain you can see it to the south.

Port of Spain is the capital of T&T and sits in the north of island of Trinidad. We are bay side and act as an active port so we don't have the pretty beaches in Port of Spain, but it is just a quick drive to the north for some spectacular beaches. We are also planning a trip to Tobago where there are more great beaches. To reach Tobago you take a ferry across.

During our stay on the island BF and I are living in a furnished 2 bed/2 bath apartment in the Bayside Towers. Zach and Kelly forever! Any Saved by the Bell fans out there? No? Okay we will move along then.

This is the front of our building. The complex is made up of two towers and we are in the one on the left side of the photo. I love it, the lobby is all open-air and has the most wonderful breeze in the afternoon. There is also a tiny bright blue bird that is very quick and lives in one of the chandeliers.

Here is our building from behind. Very Miami beach. We figured out that these kind of places are probably painted to reflect the colors in the sunset - peach, pink and teals - we think that the sunset is the only thing that can pull off such hues.

This is the view that we have from our balcony. Technically we are on the ground floor so I don't know if you can call it a balcony or if it is just a porch...

Here is the view from our porch! Better.

Our pool is pretty crazy as far as layout goes but it is nice that the architects were a bit more creative than the typical rectangular pool.

During my first afternoon on the island I was surprised by my super cute husband with some very special tickets to the Beyonce concert. It was the last stop on her "I am" tour and we were very enthusiastic about attending. We stopped at the Hyatt for drinks and to meet up with new friends before the show. It was beyond surreal to have come from the States where it was snowy and cold to the Caribbean where I was lounging by the rooftop pool in the 90 degree weather. Weird.

Beyonce's concert was amazing. That woman can throw a heck of a show. This was the largest concert that Trinidad had ever seen and the Trini's came out in full force. Beyonce even incorporated a little Trini love when she sang, "Say My Name." Her stage extended deep into the crowd and before she started the song she asked this guy what his name was. He was adorable: a big fella, who was squealing and crying and shouting to her how much he loved her. His name was Dariain (spelling?). Can you guess what she did to make his year? For the first chorus she sang, "Dariain, Dariain..." This guy was flipping out already and then she handed him her sweat towel and I'm pretty sure that he passed out with euphoria.

The country had already been having an insane enough week with Carnival, throw Beyonce into the mix and you have a big and happy week. I will let BF tell you all about Carnival and the festivities that go with it. It is a contender with Rio for the best Carnival celebration.

Just a taste...

Purple!

Case and point-



Check out my pre-flight treat. All purple, all the time.


-- Post From My iPhone

Where??

Holy smokes! It has been a while since I posted but I promise there was good reason for the delay. You see, BF and I are temporarily moving to Port of Spain.

Where is Port of Spain, you might ask? It is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. The Caribbean. Oh, yes.

Stay tuned for what should be some hilarious or at least mildly chuckle-able video in the weeks to come.

On a more fashionable note, purple has really taken off as the "it" color of the season. Example(s):



Notice purple sweatshirt in background and purple cardigan in foreground.


Purple.


Hard to see but that's a purple girl behind Mr. Red Sweatshirt.

BF and I took notice of this during our own wedding weekend. EVERYONE was wearing the Barney shade.

What color are you wearing today?

-- Post From My iPhone

I Smell...Fun.

The Pimphouse Suite, pardon me that is "Penthouse Suite," of the Stoneleigh Hotel was the site of our wicked rad wedding explosion. Oops, again! What I meant was wedding reception. Must have snuck some leftover champagne into my coffee today.


Upon our arrival Misty, our amazing photog, took a few portraits. I couldn't be happier with how these turned out. She is really good at high-fashiony type of photos. Plus the lobby and bar area of the Stoneleigh are worth photographing.

My biggest recommendation to brides would be to make sure that you get some one-on-one-on-food time with your brand spanking new husband before you enter the reception. We did that and couldn't have been happier. We had an opportunity to soak up the moment, have a glass (or 3) or bubbly and taste the delicious reception fare.

After our alone time, BF and I met our wedding party on the Penthouse floor. The band introduced the wedding party along with BF and I to "Son of a Preacher Man." It is my song, seeing as my new hubby is the son of the preacher man that married us! It is so literal...

As soon as we entered the grand salon the band started to play, Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways" and our first dance began. We chose that song because it is so sweet and also short. No one wants to watch you dance by yourselves for 5 minutes, ladies. Borrrring.

Once the dance was over a waiter brought out a small cake and two champagne flutes (provided by moi) to the dance floor. Since we didn't have a big wedding cake and my mama vetoed cutting a pie, we ordered a small cake just for cutting.

It was perfect. We cut the cake, took a swig of the good stuff and then ushered everyone to the pie room so that they too could enjoy sugary pastry treats from The Pantry in McKinney.

We hung out in the pie room and mingled with our super stylish guests and then headed back to the salon for some really ridiculous dancing. It was the best and most fun night ever.

We made our departure at midnight in a gorgeous 1970, navy, Cadillac convertible; complete with Texas flag blankets and pillows. Our driver and Best Man, JD was decked out in a black Stetson and took us around Dallas before heading back to the after party.

Oh yes, there was a roof top after party. I highly recommend them.

How cute is my pop in his tux, tennis shoes and cowboy hat? It was 2:30 a.m., anything goes!

Thanks to everyone who made our wedding so great and fun. We love you!

Now that's a Philly. Or is it?

This past week BF and I made the quick trip up to Philadelphia to see his god parents. They are the best host and hostess of ever. They have a lovely country home out in Pheonixville, that they call the "Creek Retreat." This home makes my little interior design heart flutter wildly.

Other than hanging out with our family friends and enjoying their standard poodle, Looey, we also played in the city. We started by going to Independence Hall and then to the Liberty Bell. I had never seen it and was quite impressed. Did I mention that the windchill was 5 degrees? Oh, it was. C-O-L-D.

Half-popped collar? That could be a thing. Or could it?

But that didn't stop us from taking a few fine self-portraits!

After soaking in some history we were jonesing for a cheesesteak and heard the place to go for all food is Reading Market Station. And it did not let us down. Imagine a mall but for food. And a great deal of Amish people. They make great food.

If you don't want to be a total tourist, make sure that you pronounce this correctly. It is "Redding," not "Reading." It's not your fault they don't know how to spell.

I heart shrimp. Some of these were as big as my face.

Whomever figured out that chocolate chip cookies could only be made better by dipping them in chocolate is my best friend.

There was even a sweet little used book shop in the market where BF found a treasure.

The whole trip was perfect, minus the blizzard that we drove through on the way back to D.C. But BF can even make that fun!

Cheers!