Greece, Travel

Fira – Santorini (Thira)

I’m so excited to share Santorini with you! We spent the last 3 days of our Greece vacation on this volcanic island and really lived it up. Ever since watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, I’ve always wanted to travel here. Guess you could say we saved the best for last!

Day 1 was getting there, checking in to our Villa, eating, seeing Fira and relaxing.

Five hours on the ferry…

..made us thankful to get to our Villa and be greeted with a glass of fresh orange juice.

The view from our Villa:

These Villas were wonderful. The staff was incredibly friendly, taxied us to and from the port and offered to help us book tours, gave us complimentary drinks and served us breakfast by the pool.

Next we headed into Fira for some more Greek food!

The view from Thira was AMAZING. However, I’m realizing now that I needed to have cleaned my lens more, hahaha.

We went back to our Villa to spend the afternoon by the pool.

Robby doing his model pose.

That night we sat on the patio and watched the sun go down, snacked and went to bed early.

So much more to come!!!!

February 20, 2012 by
Joy

This week’s joy

This past week flew by. Especially with it being my last week at work. Plus my allergies and a sinus infection have been bringing down my levels of joy. However I still found some in these below:

Our new rental in Santa Cruz. We officially have a new home in Aptos, California. Yay!

Making my Valentine’s Day treats for my co-workers. I dare say they were a hit!

Valentine’s Day with Rob. He made my favorite (spaghetti) and bought me a sweet arrangement of roses and lilies.

Watching Rob open his Valentine’s Day gift. Carrying 10 heart-shaped balloons around town was a lot of fun!

Cup of Jo posted about these firefly pics and I loved them, too.

A good post on comparing yourself to others. We’re all guilty of it, but how freeing would it be NOT to?!

New York fashion week, via The Beauty Mark.

Taylor Swift’s Safe & Sound video. Love how it incorporates Katniss’ pin. Very eerie, but I think it ties into The Hunger Games perfectly:) 1 more month to the movie!

OPI’s new Holland Collection. Perfect for Spring.

An adorable onesie via Bobo Choses.

S@#t Your Girlfriend Says. This is HA-LARIOUS. I’ve totally said some of these.

This gets me in the mood for Spring. *sigh*

Sweet Salvage with my Grandma and watching her find the best buys!

The basket of gifts my boss gave me on my last day. I’m still thinking about how amazing it was.

A night with all of our friends to say farewell (more on that to come). Our families gave very kind speeches… which made our move a little more real.  

Cupcakes and Cashmere’s interview with the WSJ. She is fabulous.

Promise Tangement Hair Guide. I would love to fluff my hair like this.

Have you heard Katie Perry’s new song? Rob has been humming the chorus all week, ha.

February 20, 2012 by
Friends, Santa Cruz

Our weekend in Santa Cruz

When we weren’t looking at rentals, getting lost or admiring our surroundings, we were at Olive’s (a gal I get to work with soon!). Her place was darling. I loved her kitchen sink and organic products throughout. Hopefully she doesn’t mind that I snapped some pics!

I wish my name was Olive. I’d be all over that.

Heather made it a point to take us to West Cliff Drive so we could check out the dog beach. I can’t wait to take Tacoma! Look how stinkin’ cute Heather’s dog Rudy is!

The boys chatting.

We enjoyed our down time, too. Kicked off the Tom’s, drank some local red wine, cooked dinner and watched movies. Have you all seen Midnight in Paris? The music and scenery are SOOOO romantic. I might need to go to France sooner than I thought.

Good news is, we found a place to live and it’s PERFECT!! Rob also got to meet everyone at my new office, which I thought was pretty cool. For more on our weekend, check Heather’s weekend in pictures!

See you soon Santa Cruz!

February 16, 2012 by
Giving Joy, Projects

Happy Valentine’s Day

In lieu of us moving, I wanted to do something extra special this Valentine’s Day. So, I combined these and with this idea for a sweet treat for my co-workers who I’ll miss so much.

What you need:

  • Ingredients for rice crispy treats (marshmallows, rice cereal and butter
  • Frosting or candy coating
  • Sprinkles
  • Heart-sharped cookie cutters
  • Sucker sticks
  • Plastic wrap, ties & scrap paper

 

Make your rice crispy treats, flatten out and using your heart-shaped cookie-cutter, cut out some hearts!

Let harden just slightly and then “stick”’em! Have fun with the frosting, candy coating and sprinkles to decorate.

Let dry and then insert into a clear baggie cover and twist tie shut.

Add your personalized note. In my case, mine said ‘”OWL” Miss You’.

Then give to your friends! Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

February 15, 2012 by
Joy

This week’s joy

What brought me joy this week? Lots, but as always, here were the highlights:

Charlie has his own Facebook page now!

Smash started.

I would totally wear a top like this for Valentine’s Day.

Collide by Leona Lewis and Avicii. We warm up to this song at Ballet Fusion and I’m obsessed with it!

These cute ideas for Valentine’s Day gifts: Smores, Oranges and a scrabble game.

This adorable pirate-themed little boy’s birthday party. Definitely tucking this away for the future.

Reading about the Krispy Kreme Challenge. Running and eating donuts at the same time? Sign me up!

A nice devotion.

Scheduled a night of BAD Bingo with my work peeps. Excited to play!

My obaz emails definitely bring me joy. I haven’t bought anything yet but the items are very unique.

Maybe I should make breakfast in bed for Rob on Valentine’s Day?

Our weekend trip to Santa Cruz to look for places to live. More on that later!

Mrs. Meyer’s Basil line. It smells SOOOOO good. I’ll be buying a lot of this.

When we came home from California, we found our floors sparkly clean and dinner on the table (thanks Mom!).

Adele’s performance at the Grammy’s. She is amazing.

Spending some quality time with Heather finally! It’s still surreal to me that I’ll be working with and living near her in less than 3 weeks!

My new Tom’s. Thanks, Olive!

February 13, 2012 by