Jamaica, mon!!!

my three years of marriage have been so unbelievably amazing. our anniversary celebration took place in ocho rios, jamaica and it was waaaaaaay beyond our expectations! we booked this trip in march and had been on the countdown ever since. finally our time arrived so we drove to atlanta and spent a night, then flew to the beautiful island of jamaica. when we arrived to the airport in montego bay (a shack) we were escorted to a bus that would take us to our resort. we knew that we had an hour and a half ride ahead of us to ocho rios so we made friends with the luggage guy. he showed us to the 'best' seat on the bus which was conveniently next to his and were on our way...
the drive was long even though it felt like we were traveling 100 mph on the wrong side of the road! the way people lived along the way was nothing even remotely imaginable. im talking houses made from sticks - plastic tarps for a roof - dirt floors. it was very heart wrenching knowing that we were headed for a billion dollar resort when the people of that same village lived this way.
i was forewarned by many that jamaican sellers live off tourist dollars. when traveling to a resort in any country this is inevitable. jamaica is also widely known for drug dealing... and within one hour of being in their country, we were offered drugs. yes - on a bus full of tourists. we politely declined and that was that.

finally we arrived at our resort, the riu ocho rios.
it. was. magnificent.
we walked into an open air lobby that was ginormous and beautiful.
we were given our bags and went to check in. while standing at the desk we were handed welcome drinks that they called baby makers! regardless the given name it was delish!

then we were informed that we had been upgraded to the delux wing!!!!!!!!!! it was already turning into a fantastic trip. so we found our room, admiring the breathtaking views as we walked, and started to realize we were truly in paradise. our room contained a fridge stocked with water, diet soda, and jamaican red stripe beer, liquor dispensers filled with anything you could possibly need, a california king bed, and a balcony that overlooked the ginormous pool and the heavenly crystal blue caribbean sea.  yes, we had most definitely found our paradise.

we changed into our bathingsuits and coverups, ate lunch then headed straight for the beach. being on the deluxe wing most definitely had its advantages - it was a LOT less crowded and we had no problem finding a perfect spot. here are a few images of the breathtaking beach -

time flew by and that continued every single day. the heat was indescribable and davids feet got scorched the first day. if you had no access to the beach or a pool i really have no clue how you could deal with type of weather... but we did have access... and we soaked it alllllll up! thankfully my spf 70 did its job keeping me from burning as bad as i normally would. the ocean was surrounded by natural reef that anyone could snorkel over and also had TON of swimming room. it amazed me because i absolutely do NOT swim in the ocean - atlantic or pacific. if i can't see my feet, im not going in! in mexico, the ocean was literally ALL reef so swimming wasnt much of an option, but here we pretty much stayed in the ocean all day long.

jamaicans sat on jet skis in the water trying to sell to all the tourists. they gave rides to people and one man even came out of the water with armloads of jewelry. we literally fell over laughing! they definitely work hard for their money! one man would go snorkeling every morning faaaaaar out over the reef and collected conk shells bigger than ive ever seen. he would swim his way up to shore and sell them... it amazed me!
and everyday for us was the same - get up around 730 and have breakfast - go to the beach - lay out and read for about 20 minutes - get in the ocean and swim - walk up to the pool and hit the swim up bar - lay out some more and dry off (which took a whole two minutes) - have lunch at the jerk hut which is amazing - then do it all over again until the sun was gone. we would clean up and go have dinner then enjoy the resorts nightly entertainment. my favorite was reggae night.

another view of the amazing beach and the most beautiful view while having our morning coffee -

here are some photos of the amazing swimming pool featuring beds, tables by the swim up bars and an infinity pool.

on thursday night street vendors were let inside the resort to sell their goods. david got a bamboo cup hand carved with his name and i got a beautiful handmade turquoise bracelet. both items we will cherish forever!
friday morning david took a sailing lesson for 20 bucks which lasted about 20 minutes, then we got to sail on our own. it was the most amazing part of the trip for my man! he insisted on being called captain the rest of the trip, and even named his boat the black pearl. being that far out, just us on a sailboat in the middle of the sea, was scary but super awesome. And of course he did it like a pro!

that afternoon, after hours of convincing him he would enjoy it, we kayaked. that was my highlight! i used to love kayaking and doing this on the caribbean sea pretty much made my life :-)

saturday we had an excursion planned to go to dunns river falls. it's a 600 foot waterfall that you climb, and it was way more strenuous than i had planned, but was so great. you got to fall backwards into deeper areas - slide down rocks like a water slide - and best, literally stand under the falls. it took about two hours and was worth every second.

we enjoyed more of the beautiful caribbean sea and snorkeled when we got back to the resort.... we had to enjoy every bit of sunshine that was left. thankfully our water camera had a few more snaps left so we got these priceless photos -

that evening we cleaned up (quickly) and headed back to the beach to take some more photos. we were already getting super depressed that it was our last night - it had seriously flown by.

sunday was our last day and we had to catch our bus at 10:30. we woke at 6:30, grabbed a carafe of coffee and a few pastries smeared with hot nutella and headed to the beach. we soaked in every second of sunshine we could and the views this early in the morning were breathtaking.

we swam our last swim in the ocean. it was a sad day and we were not ready to leave but it had to end at some point and we were seriously missing our pups. we checked out, got on the bus and were gone. it went so fast but we felt so incredibly grateful to have the time we did.

we also vowed that would not be the last time jamaica saw our faces! that's a fact.

happiness is...

a saturday that is a spectacular 65 degrees. and a day that you get multiple dates with your hunny.

it all began with buttermilk pancakes. (sigh)
saturday's are our 'cheat' day on the diet... although this week we did pretty bad.
anyways, we enjoyed pancakes and delish maple syrup along with a pot of christmas blend coffee. making friends with the local bucks crew has paid off this year... one cold december day, david went in for his regular cup of christmas blend and the guy lets him in on the buy one get one day nearly approaching... so of course when that day came, we bought four bags and got four free! it was a heavenly day filled with pounds and pounds of tasty coffee bean! truly - if you haven't had christmas blend, you MUST try it next season!
we are down to the last bag. actually half way through the last bag. it's depressing. so that pot of coffee was pretty special to us.

after breakfast and couch lounging with the pups while catching up on our shows, we decided to hit the town. we got ready and headed into greenville to walk the streets and window shop. we ended up stopping at the local cupcake shop for lunch. (yes, cupcakes for lunch!)
chocolate bottom and salted caramel... i think so!

then we did some shopping and scouted out all the amazing sales. here is where i feel SO lucky to have the relationship that i have. while in a dressing room trying on amazing green silky blouses that i SO badly need (not)... i can text my husband knowing that he will give me his honest opinion. he also helps talk me out of un-necessary purchases, although those are far and few between.

we then went on our final date to the movies, and ended the evening back home with an adorable little bottle of wine we picked up at trader joe's for six bucks... cheap and delish!

i. love. saturdays!
and today was just as amazing.
totally different - there was no running around, but there was lots and lots of couch lounging and tv watching and pinterest surfing. oh, and blog writing!
weekends are just good. period.

HOPE EVERYONE HAD A WONDERFUL WEEKEND FILLED WITH HAPPINESS!

my funny valentine.

i feel like i am one of the girls who are just not that into valentines day. i don't dislike it... but i don't love it either.

yes, it's a sweet day.
it's fun. (can be)
it's always nice to be recognized and feel loved and be showered with gifts.

but to be honest, i feel that way everyday. i have a fantastic relationship and feel that we show our love and appreciation everyday, not just on v-day.

with that said - i do get that it is one day of the year that is 'showy' and cute and playful... and whatever else you want to make it. david tells me that he believes i like it more than i let on...
maybe he is right?!?! whatev ;-)
a dozen roses on v-day would bring me as much excitement as watching the NFL highlights. plus, i married a man that would never bring me roses unless the occasion was a once in a lifetime... example - the night he proposed. it was magical and such a surprise. a candlelit path leading the way to our favorite picnic table at a nearby lake that we spent SO many nights becoming 'us.' a dozen red roses sat in the middle of the table and he handed them to me after i said YES! that is the definition of romantic!!!!!!! ahhhh.
now when i get flowers, he brings me wildflowers, and mixes of all different beautiful blooms... all things that i love so much. and this happens any day of the year.

so that leads to me to...
reasons that i did love feb. 14th this year...
i got an early v-day present... a beautiful and elegant white orchid that is absolutely lovely on my dining room table. 
i had to work 12 hours (dislike) and my gorgeous and sweet hunk of a man HAND-delivered this to me during my very long and BUSY BUSY workday - (along with my favorite chocolate bar!)

and after that crazy workday was over - we decided to cheat our diets (since we already blew it with the chocolate) and go out for dinner. well apparently, every couple in the united states goes to dinner on v-day (who woulda thought it)...
but everyone wanted the same sweet little italian place that we LOVE...
it. was. slammed.
had we waited, we would have probably been served at midnight. then v-day would be over.
so off we went to mexican... our go-to!
and here is where the story turns. 
david left his wallet in his work pants and realized it when we were 15 minutes away from home.  i said, "no worries babe, i have mine." we're married... money is money... come on.
so we are seated at the restaurant. we order our food and are waiting when i get into my purse to hunt for my phone. while digging through, i realize i don't see my wallet. it's huge and red and should be right in the middle of my extra large bag... but it's not. i continue to search, determined that the wallet is just buried. but it's not. it's on the kitchen counter at home.

so back to the house david drove to get a wallet... once he returned, our waitress (so super sweet) warmed the food and we enjoyed a delish meal and had quite the laugh over the whole ordeal.
i mean, we both forget our wallets. seriously.

and then there was this -

in the mailbox was this envelope addressed to me. i opened it to find a box of russell stover coconut clusters. no card. no name.... but i knew!
growing up, we would wake up on valentines day, and on the front table in the living room would sit 5 boxes of russell stover's chocolates. one for the four of us girls, and one for my mom... all from my dad. me and my sister, michelle, would have cocounut clusters. the rest would have assortments of different chocolates. we would have a few for breakfast, go to school, and come back to half the boxes being gone.... my dad's a smart man! never bought one for himself... just snacked on ours :)

so maybe david is right... maybe i do like v-day. heck, maybe i love it?!?! who knows....
it just seems that each year it gets better and better.
and i can assure you, next year wherever we are and wherever we go, we WILL NOT FORGET THE WALLETS!

since it was a fun day, here are a few of my favorite pics of my sweet valentine-

(photos taken by sarah beaty)  eyerisphotography.com

i truly hope everyone had an amazing valentines day - and spent it with someone you dearly love! i feel like the luckiest gal in the entire world. 

birthday party a huge success

we had been planning on a having a get-together since moving into our new house. so for david's birthday we had the perfect reason to do just that!
with everything in the house cleaned and presentable, all that was left to do was the cooking/baking.

on the day of the party, we woke and had our morning pot of coffee, then got to work in the kitchen. we had a list ready and a plan, but little did we know - we would be in the kitchen cooking and baking for EIGHT hours! seriously. ugh.
it was all because of a cake. i found THIS on pinterest and thought it would be the perfect birthday cake for my man. it looked somewhat complicated but super tasty, and i figured i could do it. well, he ended up helping me because it was way more complicated than it appears, but we got it done.
so - we will start with the cake.
it is three dark chocolate layers with a salted caramel buttercream filling between those layers, and a dark chocolate frosting. this cake was the most expensive cake i've ever made - so i would NOT mess it up!
i started with making the cake. that was the easiest part. just mix your dry and wet ingredients and fill up three round cake pans - bake and cool.

once the three cakes were finished we started on the buttercream caramel filling. this part made me nervous. you start by making caramel. once that is finished and cooling you make a meringue, then add those together and you have your filling. sounds easy, right?!? not so much.

making the caramel. lots of stirring and lots of close watching to make sure it doesn't burn.

the cooled salted caramel. thick and delicious! next you whisk egg whites and sugar in a double boiler until it reaches 160 degrees then add it to your mixer and whisk it until it forms peaks...

add your caramel to that and you have your buttercream caramel filling. and my lord, did it taste amazing!!!!! really really amazing.

theeeennnnnn... you make your frosting. (at this point we were wondering if baking this dang cake would ever end!) over your double boiler you melt dark chocolate... lots of dark chocolate.

mix up confectioners sugar and butter in your mixer and add your chocolate to that... and you have frosting. very rich and very good! only thing left was to assemble.
we used a lazy susan as our cake stand because frosting a cake on a spinner is just the way to go! lay your bottom layer out and add half the buttercream caramel filling on that. then top with another layer, add the rest of the filling and top with the third layer of cake.

after i had all the layers put together i used a serrated knife to even out all the edges. then i iced the entire cake with the dark chocolate frosting.

and finally, after hours and hours of baking this thing... it was finished! here is what the inside looked like when cut...

nevermind the fact that this cake took all day to make. forget that it cost nearly 40 bucks to make... that wasn't even CLOSE to being my man's favorite gift... but this was - new dexter tshirt from his best friend!

so that was the cake. it was really heavenly, but it was truly a nightmare to make. if you adore being in the kitchen all day long and baking complicated recipes such as this, then this is most definitely the cake for you! i realize we were trying to accomplish baking and cooking an entire list of things, so that has a LOT to do with the time spent and all the frustration - yet, all was worth it!

our new chalkboard was on display for all to see what we were serving that night.

i really love our new chalkboard!

for the other things we served at the party...
red velvet brownies with white chocolate buttercream frosting!!!!!! my favorite item of the night and easy to make! HERE is where you will find the recipe.

i had fun frosting these little bite sized brownies... just put my icing in a zip-lock and snipped one of the corners, then went to town!
chicken puffs - HERE is the recipe for these. SUPER SUPER simple to make and seriously DELISH!

antipasto kabobs - recipe found HERE. these were realllllllllllly good and really simple. and i realized that tortellini marinated in balsamic vinaigrette is pretty much the greatest thing i've ever tasted.

ham and cheese sliders - recipe HERE.
crock pot meatballs with homemade BBQ sauce. GOOOOOOOOOOOD! recipe HERE.
spinach artichoke dip served with pita crisps and tortilla chips - our go to recipe HERE.

pomegranate-champagne punch with lemon and mint. not only is this punch beautiful, it tastes amazing! i filled up a bundt cake pan with water and froze it to make a huge ice cube. recipe HERE.

i added mint leaves right before serving. at the end of the night, i ate the pomegranate seeds. they were yummy when soaked up in champagne and rum!

very happy with how the party turned out and we had a really good time! it was a ton of work and i barely had enough time to get ready before people started showing up... but it was all worth it!
happy birthday to my sweet husband! love him so freaking much!