{Getaway} Weekend in Asheville

A couple of weeks months ago (where did the fall go?!), I surprised Bryan with a getaway to Asheville, North Carolina for his 30th birthday. One of my best friends lives in Charlotte and has been telling me what a great little city Asheville is for years, but I always figured I'd just go whenever we end up planning a girls weekend down there. I hadn't thought about it as a possibility for this birthday getaway until I stumbled across the fact that Asheville is known for its breweries. Charming, laid back city + mountains + driving distance + dog friendly + BEER = perfect spot to take the hubs!

UK 2013, Part 4: Northumberland, York & London

After Edinburgh, we headed back to England for the final portion of the trip - this time traveling down the eastern portion of the country and stopping in Northumberland and York before returning to London for our last couple of nights.

UK 2013, Part 3: Edinburgh

On Wednesday morning, we had yet another big tasty meal with our hosts in the Lake District before making the two-hour drive to Edinburgh.

UK 2013, Part 2: London & the Lake District

I already talked about our Iceland layover, but I guess I should back up a little and mention what we were doing on this trip in the first place. One of my friends from high school recently moved in with her boyfriend in London, so another high school friend, my husband, and I decided to go visit them and do a road trip around the country. We had such an amazing time! Once we met up with them, the first part of the trip included some sightseeing in London followed by a visit to the Lake District in northern England.

UK 2013, Part 1: Iceland Layover

Well I've been totally MIA lately. We got back from our vacation a week ago, and since then, I've been in a major post-travel funk where I just don't want to get back to normal life (blogging included). Does that ever happen to you?

I figured I'd ease myself back into the blogging arena with a multi-part series of posts on our trip. The first part of our UK trip didn't even happen in the UK. We had a layover in Reykjavik, Iceland from about 6am to 4pm on Sunday - not a ton of time, but enough to see a little of the city.

Girls Weekend in Austin

This past weekend, I had a pretty awesome girls weekend in Austin with two of my favorite ladies. We had very little planned ahead of time, but everything came together for the makings of a fantastic trip. Here's how our itinerary turned out for our weekend getaway in Austin...

{Mini-Getaway} West Virginia Ski Trip

Earlier in the winter I snatched up a Travelzoo deal for a night of lodging plus two lift tickets for $89 at Canaan Valley, West Virginia (yep, lodging and two lift tickets for $89 total - score!!), and we finally made use of it last weekend. It's definitely a small ski resort, but we had a great time checking out somewhere new to ski (for Bryan) and snowboard (for me). The snow conditions were amazing - so much fluffy powder to play in (something we're not used to on the east coast!), no crowds at all, and the lodge was pet friendly, so we got to bring Smokey along with us. Plus I was so excited to be on a snowboard again, since I hadn't been since we were in the Alps two years ago! Here are a few pics from the trip (please excuse the iPhone photo quality!).

A little tropical escape from the winter

Bryan's company goes to the Caribbean every January. Each time, he goes off for a few days, then comes home all bronzed...or sometimes lobster-like. Either way, I am always extremely jealous that he gets to go off to a tropical paradise while I'm home alone in the cold. Not this year though!! This time, I finally got to tag along! The trip this year was to Secrets St. James in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

We had a great view from our balcony - especially at sunset.





We went on a catamaran excursion that included snorkeling and playing at Margaritaville.

We spent time at the beach...

...and the pools.

Did some activities like kayaking, volleyball, and bocce ball...

But mostly, we did a lot of drinking. All inclusive resort + huge group + very young company... really it's more like a college spring break trip than a company event. Lots of fun, even though it definitely makes me feel old at the ripe ol' age of 29.

Hooray, beer!

via

 Overall, not too shabby for a free trip!! :) Fingers crossed I get to go again next year...

Foreign Coin Magnets

What do you do with your foreign coins? We never really figured out what to do with them - they just sort of turn up randomly around the house, although whenever I see them, it makes me happy. When I saw a pin on this post from Tattered Style, I knew I finally had a foreign coin solution!

These were the coins I was able to find after a quick search, since like I said, we don't really have a spot where we keep them. I used round magnets and a hot glue gun. My magnets didn't seem very powerful and some of the coins were fairly heavy, so I was afraid they might not stick well, but they work perfectly fine. This project literally just takes a few minutes, looks great (they're classy looking magnets, aren't they??), and brings back happy memories whenever I go to the fridge. I love them!