As this week comes to an end I have to say it has been the best one yet. I started the week off in SF for work and ended the week spending an amazing weekend with DH and BFF. I have no complaints. I don't normally celebrate Valentines Day so the BFF decided to torture me by decorating for the holiday. It turned out to be a lot of fun actually. I may have to start celebrating. There was a lot of instagram activity this week. My biggest challenge was trying to figure out which photo would be my photo of the day. 

Today I am linking up with: 

I went to college in Tampa, Florida which meant that there was a lot of time spent down in Ybor City. Most of it involved lots of dancing and drinking (not for me but everyone else since I barely touched alcohol all through college). 

Coming back for a visit a couple years later (*wink) and boy has it changed. Not only is it 10 times cleaner but its seems a good number of dive bars have been replaced with fairly decent looking restaurants. I am wondering if they were there all along and I just never noticed. 

What has not changed are the cobble stone streets which nearly killed me when I was hobbling along in my 4 inch heels (5 inch heels didn't really exist back then). I opted for flat sandals this time around in order to avoid major injury. Also there are still a handful of vintage shops which have amazing finds although the prices are a bit too steep even for New York standards. 

It was great to visit and take a stroll down memory lane. Maybe I will take a chance and visit at night next time I'm in Tampa. I am just not sure I have enough courage to brave the craziness that goes on there at night. 

IM BACK!!!! After spending the week down in Mexico for my birthday (and DH's birthday) I have returned back home to cold brutal New York City. I want to go back NOW!!!! It was such an amazing week. We stayed at Paradisus La Perla which is located in Playa del Carmen. This place is amazing. I definitely am looking forward to going back. There was a whole lot of eating, sleeping and sipping of course. I probably ate about 5 times a day (in between naps of course) and drank my share of cocktails.  Unfortunately I did not take many pictures. We were too busy sleeping, eating and drinking. I did manage to sneak in some shots with my ipad and phone.

While in Orlando I had an opportunity to go to the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. I have to say I was in heaven. Two of my favorite things in the entire world all in the same place. Oh yeah!!! It was a lot of fun to try different food and wines from all over the world. We started in France and ended up in Argentina. DH even had a chance to try French beer. 

When it is 85 degrees out it is a bit difficult to take advantage of all that fall fashion has to offer. Even though it was great to spend the week out in Florida last week I am very excited to be back to the fall temperatures and fall fashion. I still managed to take advantage of some of the fall trends by swapping out my colored jeans for a pair of colored shorts. There is a pretty good chance I will be wearing this outfit again with red cords or skinnies and black booties. 

I decided to take the week off from blogging (and work) to spend some quality time with DH and family. It was mostly a restful week which I was very thankful for. We spent the beginning of the week at the beach which was amazing. Some of my favorite beaches in the world are along the west coast of florida near Sarasota. The crowds are minimal, the water temperatures moderate and the gulf is almost always calm. 

After a few restful days at the beach I made up for my lazy days with some shopping. I found some amazing deals at the outlets. Lets just say I averaged over 70% savings on all my purchases. You know I love deals. We even managed to go out to dinner and spend less than $25 bucks (including beer and sangria). 

Once I got my fill of shopping we pretty much spent the weekend marathon napping. I never knew two people could sleep so much. I pretty much only woke up for my morning coffee, a dip in the pool and an afternoon glass of wine. I am going to miss those cat naps by the pool and on the big comfy couch. 

This past week really didn't start until Saturday afternoon. I managed to make it down to Florida on Friday afternoon but it was work work work up until that point. Once Saturday afternoon rolled around DH and I had an opportunity to take a break from life and have a bit of fun. Outside of the fact that it was another crazy week at work and DH tried to sell my cat it was another amazing week. The highlight of the week was spending my Saturday evening at the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot and getting to spend all of Sunday with the BFF. I really cannot complain. As for my outfit challenge, even though I have not been documenting it (only took one photo last week) I am still going strong. I have yet to repeat an outfit in 2 weeks. I am hoping to be a bit better about documenting it this week. 

As a prepare for a week long stay in Florida I am faced with the great task of packing. I HATE packing. I always pack the day before I am scheduled to leave and get all stressed out and end up throwing a bunch of stuff into a huge bag that I then have to check in. This time I decided to be a bit more responsible and actually plan ahead. By planning ahead I was able to fit 16 outfits in a carry on (no baggage charges) and then some. Here is what I packed. Stop by tomorrow to check out the outfits  I am planning on putting together while I am away. How soon in advance do you usually pack?

Earlier this year I had a chance to spend some time in San Francisco. Although I was there for work I was able to sneak in some sight seeing  (and a tiny bit of shopping) on the weekends.  It is a great city and although I could never see myself living on the west coast I did enjoy my time there and look forward to going back  for fun, not work. :)

I HATE PACKING. Most that know me know that I usually wait until the very last minute to pack at which point I start to panic, find the biggest suitcase I own and stuff half my closet into it.  And that is just for a weekend trip. In an effort to be more organized I decided to put together a set of packing guides specifically for the summer to help myself as well as my readers spend less time packing and more time enjoying their weekend getaways. 

Its been extremely hot so everyone is headed to the beach. Here is  what I would pack for a weekend getaway to the beach. The secret is to keep everything within the same color palette in order to minimize the amount of pieces you are bringing without sacrificing style. 

What to Pack: 

The Outfits

(1) Beach Day 1

(2) Drinks by The Pool

(3) Dinner and Drinks 1

(4) Beach Day 2

(5) Brunch and Shopping 

(6) Dinner and Drinks 2

(7) Lunch Date