Welcome To Miami

That Will Smith song always pops in my head whenever Miami is mentioned.

Best. Song. Ever.

Party in the city where the heat is on
All night on the beach till the break of dawn
Welcome to Miami (bienvenido a Miami)
Bouncing in the club where the heat is on
All night on the beach till the break of dawn
I'm going to Miami
Welcome to Miami

Check it out. Google Search: Will Smith Miami.

We had the pleasure of attending a sweet couples nuptials in Miami. My first time actually there! I had onlybeen to th eairport a dozen times but that was it. Hubby as my tour guide, as he has been there so many times throughout his college daring days...we set off on a Friday after work for the weekend.

We stayed at the lovely Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. I would totally recommend this hotel. Such a great time there. Customer service passed my expectations (hard to do). Valet was prompt, check in was efficient and we headed to our room. Now silly me I didn't even take pictures of our room that looked out onto Miami Beach and a little of downtown. Here are some I took from their website though:

Our room was on the very right corner. It really was perfect.

Modern check it desk.

Our room actually was larger than this but the same type of set up.

After we checked in, throw our bags on the bed, hung up our clothes we headed out to search for food.

We walked just behind out hotel to this cute Wine Bar and indulged into some meat and cheeses as well as a couple of bottles of wine.

It was so good. Absolutely recommend this place. The owners son was our waiter and he was lovely. It was a relaxing, not rushed atmosphere. Made you enjoy where you were.

After the Wine Bar we headed back to the hotel but not to our room to the hotel bar!

We were sitting two chairs in :) for more of a visual. I do need to get better at taking more pictures.

This bar is called Catch. Cute logo they have.

I thought it was a great idea to order a martini called the Deadliest Catch..I might have regretted this decision in the morning ;)

We meet some wonderful (movie working) people. The bar closed and we headed to bed.

Saturday was spent in bed mostly. Like I said above "recoviering"! It was rainy outside so I did not feel to guilty. Movies and room service was most of our day.

Then it was off to the wedding!

We had a wonderful time witnessing the vows of this couple. You know that feeling they were just meant to be? Thats them. To a tee.

After the ceremony and before heading to the reception we made a pit stop in Calle Ocho in Little Havana to Versailles. OH. MY. GOODNESS. It was so good. Hubs wanted the cafecito and a cuban. I ordered the black bean soup. We were in heaven. Glad we stopped. I recommend this place if you are ever in Miami. Go there. Do not stop at go. :)

We headed back to the reception to honor the new Mr. & Mrs.

Thank you for inviting us! It was a lovely time!

That evening we drove the "strip" of Ocean Drive and surrounding streets to see what the night life held. We decided to head back to the hotel after that. I am glad I did it at night and saw what the talk about Miami nightlife was all about.

Sunday morning we arose and headed back to South Beach to grab some breakfast, stroll the beach and walk a bit before getting onto the road heading home.

Took a picture (had too)!

Snap Snap and we continued our journey..

The place we ended up to eat at is the same thing as Cheesecake Factory. It was really good but the plates were so large, way too large. Wasteful actually in my option.

We got back on the road and I am known for stopping and seeing random things. Like when we went to Atlanta we stopped at the world's largest peanut and took a picture. I love that memory. We were laughing the entire time.

So...we found some pyramids that were houses. Strange right? We had to make a stop.
Don't worry I snapped a few pictures here. LOL.

Enjoy!

XX

-Tee

Homemade Laundry Soap

Last night, I made a run to Wally World

and found the ingredients to

make my very own laundry soap.

Oh yea, watch out Martha Stewert! lol.

The powdered kind, not liquid.

From the recipe,

I added in Purex Crystals

to make the smell a little fresher.

Just because I like that.

I used the blue one!

Smells so fresh and so clean.

Man, my house smells awesome

after mixing it all! haha.

Here goes nothing!

Let's see how well it does and how long it lasts!

Ready....set....laundry time!

thanks pinterest for the laundry sayings and recipe...

XX

-Tee

UPDATE (10/22/12): It works so WELL! Even hubs likes it. Oh yea. Score for savings and actuallyworking! Still So much left and we do alot of laundry for two people!

no labor kind of a day

happy labor day loves.

hope you are relaxing.

enjoying this day.

you deserve it.

for all the hard work you do.

each and every single day.

remember, no more wearing white.

hope you wore white all weekend long.

today is the last day to wear it.

so go ahead and sport it.

yes, i am a floridian that certainly follows that rule.

don't you?

XX

-Tee

bowties VS neck ties

hello einstein.

bowties vs neck ties, that is the question on the floor.

which do you prefer?

thank you social primer

bowties?

neck ties?

does a man sporting a bowtie, turn your head?

what about a man with a neck tie?

swooning over both,

but i'm sad to announce my man

is not a bowtie kind of guy

is yours?

my kind of bowties:

my kind of neck ties:

enjoy!

XX

-Tee

Otown Hotel Experience

Travelling anywhere, I find HIGHLY exciting.

And maybe it is because I do not travel that often.

So when the chance comes I get this total giddy feeling...

even if it is to a place I have already been...

I am still beyond excited.

Leading into my next entry...travel for business or is it really pleasure? 

Everything I do is a mix of both. you never know who you are going to meet.

I like that part of it.

I want to share with you just a bleep in my latest

travel adventure with the hotel I stayed at.

Recently I was blessed to be able to attend a conference put on by a organization I belong to,

Meetings Professionals International (MPI) in Tampa Bay.

Every year, a Southeastern Conference (SEC) is held and

I was an honored recipent of a scholarship to attend, a couple days before .

When opening the email to be invited to go, I was so so so happy, like a child in a candystore kind of happy. I had a scholarship for my fees to be waived to the conference.

Oh yeah!

Thank you Tampa Bay MPI!

And now...to pay for mileage and room and oh wait...for that approval from work I could even go!

Well, with the company and boss I have now a days,

my life in the competing world with them is non-existant.

Thank the heavens.

My boss does not see me as a threat and in return,

 I think I am acheiving more then I ever thought I could in my role here.

Totally awesome feeling, I highly recommend.

With that said, my director was more than happy to send me off to learn some new things,

meet some new contacts, and gather some hours for my continuing education.

Sweet deal if I do say so myself.

This particular year, the confernce was being held at the fabulous Gaylord Palms in Orlando.

Just a short hop and a skip over from St. Pete and enter into conference haven.

Buttttt the rates at the Gaylord are so so pricey I did not want my director to have heart attack.... so reasonable me, I priced a Marriott 5 miles down the road at a quarter of the price.

Yes, a quarter of the price.

Hello Orlando and all you lovely tourists.

The hotel went turned out to be some what of a nightmare.

Unloading the car, I had my laptop rolling bag, my vera large duffle bag, my purse and my hanging clothes.

I got this (normally my loving so very helpful deals with the luggage but not on this solo trip)!

Off I head to my room. .

Walking in...Mr. Irragation guy decides oh nows a great time to test the waters (pun intended).

He turns ON the sprinklers. Whattttt? Really dude.

Me, now running through the water like a I am at a water park!!!

Soaked. Perfect.

Full steam ahead I head for the door. Locked. OMG.

Me: Find key in my purse, oh that's right it fell to the bottom of my purse.

Rivals Mary Poppins carpetbag :)

In the meantime of trying to find the key I start to smell this stink.

I looked around thinking...That can't be me? Is it the water from the sprinklers?

Oh no no no. It is not me! Theres a leak in the ceiling ABOVE me!

What's a few more drops over me now right? Wrong. Ugh.

Finally into the door and head to the elevators.

No signs, where O where are you mr elevator?

I'm exhausted just explaining this!

::gasp::

I made it.

Flopped onto my bed and breathe for a mintue.

What an experience.

Onto the conference to mix and mingle with new friends!

Remember I said that my hotel was located just five miles down the road?

The traffic to go 5 miles...took a total of 50 minutes to and from the conference.

You read that correct, fifty minutes in stopped traffic!

Yuck.

Oh well, lesson learned...stay no matter the price at the conference hotel.

Less headache, more rest.

The second night must have been teenager stay up and be as loud as possible night.

I did not get the memo but they sure did.

Knock Knock Knock on every door. On the walls. Probably on each other.

Screaming. Laughing. Phones buzzing and beeping. Music. The whole nine yards.

Oh, and now my ac unit is making some kind of noise...awesome.

To say the least, I was exhausted the next morning.

But hanging out with my new friends one more day brought on energy.

The conference was amazing.

Learned so much.

New ideas. New trends.

Made a lot of great contacts.

Meet new friends.

Overall success.

Hotel bust.

XX

-Tee