St. Lucia Part 2

This will be my last post about our awesome trip to St. Lucia.  Then I'll go back to blogging about the normal things....maybe.  I do have a few announcements to make tomorrow about some events in the future though! 

Our next adventure in St. Lucia was a guided tour of Soufriere!  At first we thought about taking a boat tour or driving ourselves. When we met with the manager of our villa he told us that the boat tour would pretty much be a boose cruise and that we wouldn't see many things inland that most people go down there to see.  He also told us that the roads to Soufriere are pretty hilly and scary for people just learning to drive on the other side of the road.  He suggested we do a private tour, hiring a driver for the entire day to show us the town.  We are so glad that we went with this option.  Our tour guide was so nice and showed us so many things along the way. 

We stopped a bunch of times along the way at different cities/fishing villiages to take pictures. This is St. Lucia's biggest city Castries.

Maragot Bay

Canaries

Then we came within view of the Pitons

We were getting close!

We stopped at the botanical gardens/diamond waterfall/mineral baths.

Then we went to a cocoa plantation (no pictures) and then to the best lunch of my life:

because this was our view.  Our hotel manager hooked us up with the best seats in the house!

After lunch we moved on to the sulfur springs and mud baths.

And finally we went snorkeling in between the two Pitons.

We were at the resort that Oprah stays at when she is on the island.  Oh only $1000/night.  We got to pretend like we were rich and famous for the day.  All the beaches are open to the public in St. Lucia which let us sneak in to all these expensive resorts and enjoy their views. 

The next day we actually went on a snorkel trips (in which no pictures were taken).  For the remainder of our trip, we relaxed and revisited some of our favorite spots from the trip.  On our last night, we went for a sunset cruise on a pirate ship (with an open bar...yes please).

with a steal drum band!

We had such a great time, met a lot of great people and may have gotten a little tipsy.

mini cannon

It was a fun way to spend our last night, and made us remember the night we got engaged...on another sunset cruise in Key West.

Man did I look like a hot mess when we got engaged hahaha. Don't mind our matching sweatshirts, the weather was not so great that day and these were the only warm things we had with us.  One of my biggest pet peeves is when we match, so this was not ok hahah.

All in all we loved our trip.  Whenever we get back from a trip like this, we talk about our next trip.  We both want to go to Europe before we start the next phase in our life (bambinos).  We are going to try and save up some money/vacation time from work and go within the next 2 or 3 years. I need to go to Italy, not want, NEED!  I am 50% Italian afterall....



There Goes My Weekend

Man my weekend went by fast, and I even had Friday off.  Friday monring I was up at my usual time for work, 5:45, so I could get on the road early.  I was driving to Harrisonburg, VA, about a 4 hour drive to see my bff Stef and pick up some wine barrels for our wedding.  The only thing that got me through the drive was this:

The third Hunger Games book on CD thanks to my friend Caitlin.  With the trip down and back I got through 6 of 9 CD's and will pick up where I left off in the book...if I can find time to read again. Maybe after the wedding haha.

4 hours later I arrived at the vineyard where Stef works to pick up 2 wine barrels.  Stef's boss is awesome and is letting me borrow them for free!! I looked at one other place and the woman was going to let me rent them for $250 each....um no thank you haha. 

They are currently hanging in our garage until the big day.  After the pick up I followed Stef to her apartment by JMU.  We hung out, grabbed an early dinner and then went to work.  Stef had to work at the tasting room below her apartment for a couple hours and I hung out and drank myself silly while she was running around like crazy.

YUM WINE!!!

Saturday morning Stef and I went to a local farmers market and hung out until I left at 11am for the long ride home.  Things didn't settle down once I got home either.  I went to the grocery store, got home and changed, hung with Champ and then was headed to Philly with my parents for my mom's bday dinner. Phew was I tired.  I passed out last night and slept for 9 hours!! When I woke up I scarfed my breakfast and had running on the mind.

1/3 cup pumpkin, 1/3 cup greek yogurt with shredded wheat and craisins over the top. 

I went to a local park that has a 2.4 mile loop and ran 6 miles.  I was going pretty well until I reached 4.5 miles, then I felt like I was running in cement.  But I finished!!

I finished my 6 miles in 54.22, average pace 9.04.

Splits:

9.14

8.55

9.03

8.55

9.10

9.07

I think if I want to go any farther than 6 miles I need to slow my roll a bit and try to stick around 9.15 so I don't burn out.  Lunch was easy today.  I had a leftover wrap that I got from the farmer's market in Virginia.  It was filled with hummus, veggies, spinach and sunflower seeds.

Extra hummus for dipping. 

The rest of my day was spent running errands.  I went to BJ's and picked up all the candy for our candy buffet.

Just a little on the rediculous side. I researched how much to get and all the websites said around 1/4lb per person which turned out to be 5lbs per kind of candy.  Wowza.  I also went to old navy and picked up a bathing suit for the honeymoon:)

And then Matt walked in the door!! He made it back safe and sound from his bachelor party in atlantic city.  He's just a bit tired having gone to bed at 4am haha.  I spent the rest of my day hanging with the man since we hadn't seen eachother all weekend!  And tomorrow is monday :(  I hope this week goes by fast. Matt's 27th bday is on Wednesday and I have some activities planned for us on Saturday!! Can't wait!



Ready For My Roadtrip

Just a quick post here because I am running around like a crazy person trying to get everything together for my trip tomorrow!  I got a quick workout in at the gym including a great treadmill interval workout.

I ran 3.2 miles in 30 minutes alternating 1 minute sprints and 2 minute jogs.

Since I've been home I have made dinner, packed all my crap up, made a birthday treat for my mom for Saturday when I get back (recipe to come later), made a bunch of snacks to take with me tomorrow and made the grocery list for when I go Saturday night. 

Tomorrow I'm hoping to leave for Virginia at 7am to go see my bff Stef!

Stef works at a vineyard and her boss is letting me borrow 2 wine barrels to use as decor for our wedding.  The room we are getting married in is pretty much a blank slate, so it was either wine barrels or a really tacky arch right from 1980 lol.

inspiration

The Venue

I'll be back Saturday night for to celebrate the madre's bday!



Weekend Happenings

This past weekend me and my dad made our way up to Pittsburgh to help my sister and brother-in-law out with the kids for the weekend. My sister is due with her third in March so she could pop any day! We stopped on Friday night in Somerset, Pa about an hour outside of Pittsburgh so my dad could go to a business meeting the next day.  The ride out was pretty uneventful, but then we had to figure out how to get my parent's dog into a hotel that doesn't allow dogs.  Solution?? an empty backpack:

Poor Bo, but hey it worked.

The next morning my dad and Bo headed out to his meeting while I took advantage of the fitness room.

I did a three minute walking warm up and then finished 3.5 miles before I hit up the continental breakfast.  I had a bunch of cut up fruit with oatmeal on top and then some eggs and a peice of toast with peanut butter.

And then I took a look outside.

Not what I had planned for. It snowed the entire day Saturday and the high was in the 20s. Brrrr. We are not in Delaware anymore.  When my dad got back from his meeting we made our way to my sister's house.  Mia and Giona were there to greet us

I offered to cook dinner that night so I decided to make whole wheat sweet potato pizza.  I made one for the kids and one for the adults and they turned out wayyyy bigger than I had expected. Giona helped me with the toppings.

Sauce and cheese for the kids. Pesto, cheese, zucchini and broccoli for the adults. My brother-in-law had to work at the hospital from 7pm-7am which gave Melissa and I the perfect chance to watch Breaking Dawn Part 1!!!!  Love it.

Sunday was a blur.  We just hung around the house and played with the kids. My dad and I started our trip back to Delaware around 4:30 and got home a little after 9.  Needless to say I was a little tired at work today.  Good thing it was a slow day where I could zone out a lot.  I headed to the gym after work and got a good weights workout in and then did ten minutes each on the bike, eliptical and treadmill.  I have a feeling I'm going to pass out early tonight. I might be using a little wine to make sure I do...unfortunately the kids were sick which means Aunt Meggie is getting sick too.  The perils of being an aunt lol.