Spotswood House

Adam and I recently got back from an 8 night trip to Italy, visiting Rome, Lucca, and Florence. This blog post would be so long if I tried to cover the entire trip at once so we’ll focus on Rome first. By the time we arrived in Rome and checked into our hotel it was already afternoon and it was a zoo at the famous landmarks. We couldn’t even get close to Trevi Fountain and the line for the Pantheon was as far as the eye could see. Here are the terrible pictures to prove it.

And this was the low season! At this point we were not having a good time in Rome. I totally understand why there is a tourism tax and the locals are fed up with tourists. We hit the reset button and grabbed lunch. Lunch was ok, but not great – this what happens when we pick a place without fully researching it. The night was saved when we visited Drink Kong, the 21st ranked bar in the world. It was a wonderful experience. We had unique drinks, yummy snacks (delicious dumplings), and a really good time. On our recent international travels we have noticed the top bars put their menus in a book for you to browse through (below). I think it is such a nice touch and I wish American bars would do the same thing.

Our next day in Rome we tried Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon again since we got an early start and wanted to beat the crowds. But first, we had to see a Bernini sculpture at the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria. Adam is a huge Bernini fan so this was on his wish list, definitely not on mine.

Ok, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon part 2 – still lots of people at Trevi Fountain but we did get into the Pantheon.

We worked up an appetite and were so ready for our food tour – bring on all the Italian goodies please! So, I’m laying down the gauntlet – Italians have the absolute best meat and cheeses – and that is where the tour started. The Stracciatella cheese was absolutely heavenly – creamy, salty and cheesy. The meats – the Prosciutto was 100 times better than what you get in the States.

Our next stop on the food tour was pizza!!!! Did you know Margherita pizza was invented in Italy – at least legend says…the focaccia was delicious!

This is where we tried suppli (pronounced soup-lee)- a fried ball of rice, cheese, marinara and basil, very similar to arancini but even better!!! Adam is eating suppli below.

The rest of the tour consisted of pasta – Ragu and Carbonara, an Aperol Spritz/wine/amaro, a sweet bread and gelato.

Before I get to the highlight of the entire trip for me, I am going to take you on a detour and tell you an embarrassing story because not everything is perfect.

When we travel I like to pick up souvenirs – not shot glasses, a magnet with my name on it, or some other cheesy thing. I like to pick up home goods or unique accessories – things I’ll actually use or something pretty to look at. We stopped in this beautiful store (photos below) and I saw what looked like a miniature cake stand, something I could display one of my figurines on. I looked at the price and thought 9 euros is very reasonable. I was so excited. I was chatting with the lady at the counter and I go into my purse and start pulling out 10 euros and she stops me and says, “The item is 90 euros.” I tried my hardest not to look completely shocked (in my defense, they write their numbers weird in Europe). This is after she spent about 5 minutes carefully wrapping the incense burner – it wasn’t a miniature cake stand. She could tell I was not prepared to pay 90 euros and said she understood if I didn’t want to buy it but it was “made by highly skilled artisans.” I said I’m going to pass and we walked out of the store empty handed and completely embarrassed.

Now the highlight of Rome – the Colosseum. We were able to book the underground tour which gives you access to where the gladiators were housed, and where the animals were stored. We also toured the main level and the stands. It was spectacular!

We visited another top bar of the world in Rome, Freni e Frizioni – number 33. We were not fans. But, another bar checked off the list.

The last thing on my list of things to do in Rome was Saint Peters Basilica. I told Adam to put it in “maps” and lets go. He took me to Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli – a minor difference…but what it did give us the chance to see were the chains apostle Peter was imprisoned in while in Jerusalem. Also below is a statue of Moses, in the second photo (looking towards the right) in the center sculpted by Michelangelo.

After we went to the wrong church I told Adam we needed to go to Saint Peter’s Basilica right away before they closed for the day. The cabs can’t drop you off out front, they drop you off a few blocks away. As soon as we got out of the cab we decided to buy umbrellas and then proceeded to get caught in a torrential down pour. The Basilica closed about 3 minutes before we arrived…NOOOOOOOOO!!! This was not a fun part of our trip. We were soaking wet. I vowed to wake up at the crack of dawn and see the Basilica before our train departed for Lucca. This meant arriving at 7 AM to beat the crowds. It was worth it.

The two downsides of the Basilica were Bernini’s high altar was covered in scaffolding and we weren’t able to see apostle Peter’s grave. It opened for viewing after we had to leave. We tried camera trickery to get a shot.

We were able to climb the bell tower of Saint Peter’s Basilica. It was a lot of steps and very tight but the views of Rome were amazing.

After, Saint Peter’s Basilica it was off to the train station to head to Tuscany. But, before we go, more food pictures! Two of our favorite places we dined in Italy were Mastrociccia and I Monticiani.

Norway is rich ya’ll! They have over $1 trillion in their sovereign wealth fund. The fund is used to ensure responsible and long-term management of revenue from Norway’s oil and gas resources, so that this wealth benefits both current and future generations.

Already, over 50% of their vehicles are electric. That was really cool to see. And, they don’t work too hard – an average work week is 30 hours…ummm, yes please! We’re obviously doing something wrong in the U.S. But don’t get all excited about moving there just yet. They are in darkness 3 months out of the year (Nov, Dec, Jan), it gets really cold, and it rains about 47% of the time (in Oslo). Luckily, when we visited we had no rain. The weather was perfect!

We didn’t have much time to spend in Oslo but we squeezed in a bike tour. Our first stop on the tour was Akershus Fortress, built in the 1300s. The fortress has never successfully been besieged by a foreign enemy except when it was surrendered without conflict to the Nazi’s during WWII.

We visited the palace grounds. We weren’t able to tour the inside because we missed the summer schedule. I was so disappointed. I absolutely love touring castles and palaces. The statue in front of the palace is of Charles XIV John, King of Sweden and Norway. Fun little fact, he isn’t even Swedish or Norwegian, what??? He’s French!!! The blood line wasn’t very strong (King Charles XIII of Sweden was childless) so they needed to find a king from somewhere so they chose Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (Charles XIV John). His wife was engaged to Napoleon before he broke things off to be with Josephine. So much drama but in the end the people accepted him and he ruled for 26 years.

We visited Oslo City Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. They have the most beautiful wood carvings lining the exterior of the building that show the motifs from Norse mythology: the life of gods and the stories of wisdom and love, war and hate, and magnificent visions of the future.

We went to Vigeland Park, the world’s largest sculpture park by the same artist. Gustav Vigeland’s life work, comprises over 200 sculptures in granite, bronze and wrought iron. It was built mainly in the period 1940-1949, but is the result of over 40 years of work.

The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History was a must-do. It includes a massive outdoor museum with different structures (original, built to size) from over the years including a church, houses, shops, and a mini town recreated to show what life was like during different times. It was very interesting. When you walked into the wooden structures they had felt very dank, humid and smelled of rotting wood. I felt like I was about to be enveloped by termites.

My favorite place we ate during our entire trip to Poland and Norway was Frenchie in Oslo. I loved everything about the restaurant; the décor, the food, and the absolutely most delicious french fries I have ever had. We got two orders they were so good. It is really hard to get a good french fry folks!! Adam and I had a leisurely lunch with wine and the yummiest open faced steak sandwich with béarnaise sauce. I am drooling as I write this.

Some other food and drink highlights: Adam tried whale blubber…just kidding it was smoked whale and pork knuckle at Den Glade Gris. Adam said I would not like the whale, I trusted him on that one. I played it safe with pulled pork. Dessert was white chocolate with bacon bits on top. Everything was so rich! We checked another Top 50 Bar of the World off of our list, Himkok (no. 43). It was good but not the best. I tried a carrot ginger tequila drink and Adam tried a drink called Bun. It resembled bread, lol. Our favorite bar concept was a bar court, Posthallen. It was a massive building with about eight different bars to choose from under one roof. We liked diosmio – they made a great spicy margarita.

On the flight back the US we couldn’t resist and upgraded to business class. OMG, the lie flat seat is everything!!! Still not impressed with the food but so worth it just for the seat!!!!

We booked Poland and Norway on a whim but both places exceeded expectations. We had such a lovely time. I don’t like to revisit places, I have many more countries to check off the list but Poland was one of my favorites. I might have to reconsider my revisiting rule…

We just got back from a quick trip to Grand Cayman so I’ll be back soon with updates from that trip.

Had an absolute blast in Poland and Norway in late August, early September. We had such a good time in Poland (our first stop) that we were afraid Norway was going to be a letdown. That didn’t happen. Two completely different cities visited; Warsaw, formerly communist and completely destroyed during WWII and Oslo, extremely wealthy due to the oil reserves they posses. In this post I’ll just cover Warsaw.

Warsaw was a last minute decision. Our original destination was Oslo and perhaps Helsinki Finland but the more we looked at things to do we felt we needed to diversify. Warsaw fit our flight options so off we went. This is our second time flying on SAS (Scandinavian Airlines). They run flight deals a couple times a year and you can snag a premium economy seat for a really good deal which is what we did. On our flight back to the states we flew business class, yasssss! We’ll discuss that in the Norway post.

The cost of things in Warsaw are CHEAP. We stayed at a Marriott Luxury Collection Hotel and we were upgraded to a one-bedroom suite. It was fabulous. We had an entry foyer with a half bath, a living area, bedroom, dressing area, and marble bath complete with a bidet. They even welcomed us with a handwritten letter and macaroons. I highly recommend the Bristol Hotel.

We did three main things while we were in Warsaw; a cultural food tour, Auschwitz Concentration Camp, and Wilanow Palace.

I have given a few teaser photos of our food tour but here is the full review. I thought we were going on a group food tour but I guess I wasn’t paying attention and booked a private food tour with Mona. You can see Mona below in the green overcoat/kimono.

Our first stop on the food tour was for pierogis stuffed with mushrooms and sauerkraut, ground beef stuffed pierogis and cottage cheese, onion, and potato stuffed pierogis. Adam and I’s favorite was the mushroom and sauerkraut. It was soooooo good. I could’ve eaten 20 of them but then I wouldn’t have been able to finish the tour. We ate a lot of food! Next stop was ice cream. I got a mascarpone cone and Adam got a cup of raspberry cheesecake. The mascarpone was the clear winner. Tasted just like home! Next, we stopped at Bar Mlecznys (Mile Bar), a Polish cafeteria which during the Communist era provided government-subsidized traditional Polish cuisine at low cost. The name comes from cheese cutlets, which were often sold when meat was rare.

After the fall of the communist system and the end of the centrally planned economy the majority of milk bars went bankrupt, as they were superseded by regular restaurants. However, some of them were preserved as relics of the communist era welfare state to support the poorer members of Polish society.

In the early 2010s, milk bars began to make a comeback. They became small, inexpensive restaurants that took advantage of Polish People’s Republic nostalgia while providing good quality food and customer service. Due to their good locations, milk bars often fall victim to gentrification and are defended by activist groups. Today milk bars are privately owned, but partly subsidized by the state, which allows it to offer low prices (source, Wikipedia).

At Milk Bar we tried Chłodnik, a summertime only cold soup with beet root, boiled egg, and dill. Oddly enough, it tasted kind of like tzatziki but the more you ate it the more the beet flavor came out…um, no thank you. Then we tried pink Polish potato dumplings, Silesian kluski, with ground beef and duck meat on top. Tasty. And finally, crepes with a cream cheese filling and they were filling! We still had more stops after this…oh boy. Next we went to Zapiexy Luxusowe for Zapiekanka, Polish street food consisting of french bread with a mushroom spread and cheese melted on top. They serve ketchup on the side but that was totally unnecessary! We also tried a local lemon soda. Then we went to Cukiernia Pawłowicz for Polish doughnuts (Paczki). Polish people love their doughnuts. Dunkin Doughnuts has tried and failed to enter the market in Poland. Polish doughnuts don’t have a hole and are stuffed with a fruit type filling. We tried the rose flavored Paczki, well Adam did. I had to get mine to go, too stuffed, but I still had room to finish the day with a vodka tasting. So our final stop was for a flavored vodka tasting. The shots were approximately $2 a piece. That could dangerous quickly! I tried the raspberry and hot sauce flavor and Adam had plum. It was a perfect way to end our food tour.

The next day we went to Krakow to tour the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. The day started with a train ride at 5:30 AM. The train took about 3 hours to Krakow and then from there around one hour to Auschwitz. But it was so worth it, very moving and absolutely tragic. We heard stories of how some people escaped (non prisoners who worked in the camp smuggled some people out, a group of men stole SS uniforms and a car and escaped). The physical and mental abuse afflicted on these people was horrific. The people were starved and the Germans would put sand in the bottom of their water and vegetable soup. They were used as science experiments. In addition to Jews, Auschwitz contained Slavic people (considered sub-human), Polish people, gypsies, people with disabilities, Russians and many more. You weren’t allowed to take pictures but there was tons and tons of human hair that was saved. They shaved everyone’s head at the camp when they arrived and shaved their heads after they died in the gas chambers. I read after the fact the hair was used to make socks for submarine crews and to manufacture felt stockings for railroad workers. The hair was also used to make ignition mechanisms in bombs, ropes and cords for ships, and stuffing for mattresses. 

Our tour ended at Birkenau (Auschwitz II). The majority, probably about 90%, of the victims of Auschwitz Concentration Camp died in Birkenau. This means approximately a million people. The majority, more than nine out of every ten, were Jews. Our tour guide told a story of a baby born to a Jewish woman who was fed to the rats (who were as big as cats) by one of the General’s wives.

In Auschwitz all of the gas chambers were destroyed. There were 3 million Jews in Poland before the Nazis took over. Just 10% of Poland’s Jewish population survived.

Our last day in Warsaw we went to Wilanów Palace. It was built for king John III Sobieski in the last quarter of the 17th century and later was enlarged by other owners. The reason we chose this palace is because it survived WWII. Today, it is still missing artifacts from German and Russian looting during WWII.

I would describe traditional Polish food as “homey”. But, they had some great modern restaurants and cocktail bars with wonderful bartenders. The bartenders were so generous and offered us so many extra tastings. With the average price of a craft cocktail at $10 USD it was quite the bargain. Let me address the “Lord’s Skin” candy (Pańska skórka). It is sold at cemeteries on All Saints Day but I am sure you are wondering what it tastes like. It tasted like vanilla cake icing. Surprised?!

We were really surprised by how much we liked Poland. Most people spoke English, it was very safe, and so affordable. I would love to go back soon but we have lots of other countries to check off the list. My review for Oslo, Norway is coming soon.

AHHHHH, I love Pittsburgh! What a fun, hip, and affordable city. $10 cocktails…yes, please! I could live in Pittsburgh, but check back with me in February, might change my mind.

This was a quick trip but we jammed in delicious food, the Andy Warhol Museum, the Bicycle Museum, and the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. We went to Pittsburgh last year but we went during Easter and almost everything was closed. This trip I was able to check things off my list that we weren’t able to do last time like the Andy Warhol Museum. And, lucky for us, it was free and it was Andy Warhol’s birthday. The museum was seven stories with my favorites paintings below.

We were looking for unique things to do and stumbled upon the Bicycle Museum. It’s part museum, part store, part repair shop and so, so, many bicycles! It was awesome! The bouncy bike below moved by bouncing up and down on the seat, while the pedals were stationary. Obviously this bike did not take-off.

I was so disappointed we weren’t able to get into DeAnoia’s Eatery last time we were in Pittsburgh but we got in this time and it did not disappoint. Hmmm, hmm, hmmm, everything was so delicious.

The drinks: On the left is the Domenica Di Sangue with Hornitos Reposado Tequila, Amara Aranciata Rosso, Blood Orange, Vanilla Bean and Lime. It is basically a cocktail with a wine floater on top. Yum, yum, yum. On the right Adam got the Termolian with Dickel Rye Whiskey, Cynar 70, Angostura & Orange Bitters.

We started with fresh bread with whipped ricotta. And it was quite the presentation.

I ordered the Zucca Alla Neano, spaghetti with fried zucchini, parmesan cream and basil. OMG, I ate every single bite. Adam got the mushroom pasta special.

We went to the Phipps Conservatory and Gardens. Opened in 1893, it features 15 acres including a 14-room glasshouse and 23 distinct gardens.

Another thing I missed out on the last time we were in Pittsburgh is Prantl’s Burnt Almond Torte, ranked the top cake in the United States by Huffington Post. The torte features layers of light and airy cake, custard filling, and Prantl’s famous buttercream icing, all covered with toasted almonds. No idea how it ranks #1 in the US. It was just meh.

Another thing worth mentioning about Pittsburgh is it is a beautiful city with the river running through it and bridges surrounding all of Downtown. I hope we can go back again soon, especially when Fall gets here. Definitely put Pittsburgh on your to-do list. You won’t be disappointed.

Adam and I have been taking weekend trips whenever we get the chance. We have been to Richmond, Charlottesville, Colonial Beach, Washington DC (it’s a pain to drive in the city, better to just get a hotel), Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. We haven’t been to Philadelphia in a few years and I was worried we wouldn’t find new things to do. Boy, was I wrong. We went to an outstanding art museum – Barnes Foundation, a cocktail making class, a Japanese House and Garden, and Simeone – a vintage car museum.

But lets start with the most important part of our visit, the Philly cheesesteak. I do not leave these things to chance. I did my research and one of the top cheesesteaks in the city is also known for their pizza, I must be in heaven! Angelo’s was our destination and it did not disappoint! The bread was homemade, soft and chewy. The steak was tender and juicy. I’m hungry just looking at it.

Adam’s pick was the Barnes Foundation – one of the world’s great collections of modern European paintings, with numerous works by Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh, and Modigliani. I did not do any prior research to us visiting this museum and I must say I was blown away. So many impressionist paintings! There are over 200 Renoirs alone at this museum. My new favorite artist is Henri Rousseau. I was drawn to his paintings at the Musee de Orsay in Paris. His paintings are simplistic (Wikipedia classifies his genre as naïve or primitive) and he was mocked by critics but there is something about his jungle paintings I love so I was so excited to see a few at this museum. Of course I had to highlight the Postman by Van Gogh. Gotta represent the U.S. Postal Service.

Of course we had to visit Elfreth’s Alley, the oldest continuously inhabited street in the United States. We did this on our last visit but I wanted to see it again. Can’t beat historic architecture.

One night we went to a cocktail making class. This was so much fun! The cocktails were elementary but overall pretty tasty.

We visited a racing car museum. Since we now watch Drive to Survive on Netflix and now follow Formula One we thought this would be something fun to do. The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum is one of the world’s greatest collections of racing sports cars. Assembled over 50 years by Dr. Frederick Simeone, the Museum contains over 75 historically significant cars including Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Mercedes, Jaguar, Bentley, Porsche, Aston Martin, Corvette, Ford, and more. There were definitely some beautiful cars. The 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Interim Berlinetta (below) was both Adam and I’s favorite.

Here are a few more spectacular cars.

We stopped by a Japanese House and Garden. There was a demonstration going on in the house so we didn’t get photos of the inside but the real highlight was the outside gardens.

Everyone I told we were going to Philadelphia curled their noses and said, “why?!” Philly is a great city and we had so much fun. Yes, it has problems just like any large city but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Now that we are back in Alexandria full-time and back in our condo its time to wrap up our Florida experience. I am going to share the full remodel of the Tallahassee house. We knew we wouldn’t be in the house long-term and we would have to do renovations to maximize our dollars when we sold. We tried to be as cost effective as possible but still keep the remodel classy.

We did a lot! We replaced all the flooring except in the kitchen and laundry room, did a full remodel on the master bath, a touch-up remodel on the guest bath, full kitchen renovation, painted the entire interior of house, fixed wood rot on the porch pillars, and replaced the pool pump.

Here are the before/after photos in the living room. All the carpet came up, wood-look herringbone tile floors were added, and walls were painted. I kept the ceiling fans which I would’ve replaced if we were staying in the house long-term. Most of the furniture and accessories I bought second-hand except the couch and rug.

My favorite feature of the house besides the pool was the open floor plan in the living areas. The living/dining area was huge. In the dining area we replaced the carpet and painted all the walls. We left the fireplace and shelf above untouched. Lighting is one of my favorite items to change in a house – that and curtains. But, when you sell a house you leave the lighting and curtains so we kept all the lighting that existed when we bought the house. It was not up to my standards. We bought a new dining table. chairs, and rug. And now it is sitting in a storage unit😂

The master bedroom/owners suite was my least favorite part of this house. Everything was just too small – the closet, bathroom, and bedroom itself. In the bedroom we replaced the carpet and added the herringbone tile floors, painted the walls, and replaced the bi-fold closet doors with regular doors. We kept the original ceiling fan.

In the master bathroom we did a complete gut. We ripped out the tub/shower combo and put in a walk-in shower, new tile floors, new toilet, new window, new vanity, widened the doorway, and painted the walls. If we were keeping this house long-term I would’ve added the frameless glass doors on the shower. Adam built the vanity and we purchased an affordable engineered stone countertop from Home Depot. I would’ve done the vanity differently if we were keeping the house but it still turned out nice. I am really happy with the tile we picked for the shower but I would go with a lighter grout next time (the grout would turn a different color when it got wet and it looked splotchy because all the grout doesn’t get wet at the same time). But, this room was a dramatic change!

Next up are the guest bedrooms. The herringbone tiling took forever in the rest of the house so when we got to the guest bedrooms we laid the floor tile in a stacked style, kind of like a subway tile pattern. We painted both rooms. The third bedroom was definitely on the small side. The original owners used the space as an office, we used the space as a dumping ground for Adam’s hunting supplies and my extra linens.

The secondary bathroom is probably my favorite change we made. Adam built the vanity, we widened the door, painted the walls, and replaced the tile floors. We kept the shower/tub combo and the toilet. I hated that toilet. I am very picky, I like Kohler toilets and we put them in all of our houses except this one. We did a Kohler toilet in the master bathroom but kept the original in this bathroom. I definitely need Adam to balance me out. I will focus on every little detail and get hung-up on perfection. I bought a really cool modern removable wallpaper that took the room up a notch. We took out the long countertop and decided to add extra storage. I am really happy with the change. I really liked the tile floors we added in this bathroom and it was affordable.

The biggest expense was the kitchen but it had to be done. I have posted about the remodel in another post. The only thing I would change if we kept the house is add more cabinets on the kitchen sink wall. I like the shelves we put up but in hindsight I think we needed two selves on each wall, instead of one. But, in the end we sold the house for the price we wanted so win-win.

We have no remodeling projects now ☹ Our condo is completely done. We have toyed with the idea of buying another house to flip because we have been really lucky in making a lot of profit on the last few houses we sold. We have also talked about building a house from the ground up. That would be quite the project! For now we have been taking advantage of all of our free time on the weekends and doing a bunch of drivable trips. We have gone to Richmond, Charlottesville, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC (yes, we stayed at a hotel in DC even though we are only 15 minutes away, don’t like having to drive and find parking).

My other love is travel and we have added a couple more trips to the second half of the year. We are going to Norway and Poland, then Grand Caymen Islands, then Virginia Beach (we have never been to the beaches in this area since we moved here 10 years ago), and finally bucket list Bali. I already have two trips booked for next year, Turkey and the Maldives. This is what keeps my sanity, always having a trip to look forward to. I definitely do my due diligence and use points, travel sites, and advance planning to book the best deals. I never stop looking for travel deals. Well, that’s all for now.

Just got back from a trip to Ambergris Caye, Belize. It was awesome! The highlights were snorkeling, great food, beautiful resort, super nice people, and everyone gets around on a golf cart. The low points were the oppressive heat (I was sweating in places I didn’t know could sweat), the sand fleas at Secret Beach (more on that later) and the sargassum – nasty smelling seaweed.

Belize isn’t your quintessential Caribbean island (it is in Central America anyways) with a beautiful downtown, fancy shops, and crystal clear blue water. It is still a developing country (not even founded until 1981) with dilapidated infrastructure and very poor people. But if you want to visit a country before it explodes with tourism and still maintains its unique characteristics, now is your chance. This country will look completely different in 5-10 years.

We stayed 5 nights at the Alaia Resort, one of Marriott’s Autograph Collection properties. It was fabulous. We spent a lot of time at the pool and the swim-up bar! During our stay we went snorkeling twice, Adam went offshore fishing and we went to Secret Beach.

Once you got into San Pedro, the main town, things were a little less picturesque.

If you want to see the crystal clear blue water and bar hop along the oceanfront, then you have to visit Secret Beach. It was a 45 minute golf cart ride from our resort but totally worth it. We sat in the shade under a palapa drinking cocktails and then we got in the water. Harmless, right? Wrong! We got attacked by sand fleas. Getting bit by a sand flea is like a tick boring into you and you have to pick the sand flea off of your skin. Gross, that was definitely not a highlight. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay in the water for about 5 minutes due to the sand fleas.

The highlight of the trip for me was the snorkeling. We enjoyed it so much we went twice. First, we snorkeled Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley. The next trip we did was Mexico Rocks. Yes, I said sharks…we swam with nurse sharks. The coral reefs were so beautiful and we got to see so many fish.

Adam went offshore fishing and caught snapper and a barracuda. The hotel made ceviche with the snapper and blackened the barracuda for us to eat. Everything was so fresh and delicious! That is me posing with hot sauce in the photo below. Their hot sauce was legit!

We ate at some really good restaurants. My favorites were Maxie’s for the shrimp sandwich and Elvie’s for the blackened shrimp. We also went to the Garage, Hidden Treasure, and the Jungle Bar. Unfortunately, we missed lobster and conch season.

One of the coolest places we stopped by was the Truck Stop. It is a bunch of shipping containers turned into restaurants featuring pizza, asian fusion and latin fusion cuisine. They also had a pier, beer garden, bar and pool.

Time flew by and we were sad to leave Belize. But on to the next adventure…

But first, I have to show off my favorite dress I wore. Priorities.

I don’t even know where to start. Paris was awesome! We were there 5 nights. We went to the Louvre, Versailles, Chateau de Malmaison, Musee de Orsay, and squeezed in a food tour in Montmartre. I was having withdrawals when we got back so I binge watched all 3 seasons of Emily in Paris on Netflix.

Our original plans were to stay in Montmartre, a bohemian neighborhood known for the artists who used to live there. Picasso and Van Gogh ring a bell? But, there was a mechanical problem with our apartment so we stayed in the San Denis neighborhood. The problem was we didn’t find out about having to move apartments until 2 days before our trip and I booked everything with the intention of being in Montmartre. We made it work but lets just say we got our steps in and then some.

For our first night in Paris we did a food tour in the Montmartre neighborhood. We stopped for bread at the boulangerie, we got chocolate and macaroons at the patisserie, cheese from the fromagerie, meats from the charcuterie, and crepes from the Creperie. Everything was delicious but the cheese with truffles in the center was next level! We also stopped to see the famous “I love you” wall. It has the words “I love you” written over 300 times in 250 different languages. If you watch Emily in Paris you will recognize it.

Number one on our hit list was the Louvre and it did not disappoint. Thank God we got there as soon as it opened because by the time we left it was packed. Highlights for me were the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Coronation of Napoleon, the Mona Lisa, and the portraits from Thomas Gainsborough and Thomas Lawrence (my favorite painters). Adam would probably say he liked all of the Jacque Louis David paintings.

Just to give you an idea of what it is like to see the Mona Lisa – the photo below left is an unobstructed view of the famous Mona Lisa. The photo on the right is the que you have to wait in to get to the Mona Lisa.

Of course we had to go to Versailles. I started watching the series, Versailles, on Netflix, in preparation for our visit but unfortunately it was removed from the streaming service before I could finish season 2. Season 3 is on Netflix but I want to finish season 2, but that is a story for another day. Versailles was very opulent and huge. This is the only time we really had a language barrier problem. Versailles is located outside of Paris and we were going to take a train to get there. We think our train was canceled and we couldn’t figure out which train to take to get to Versailles. Luckily, I found a very nice girl who spoke English and helped us.

In a nutshell Versailles is a lot of extra. But, I have to tell you the story about these two paintings. They are both of Marie Antoinette but look completely different. Many people embellished their paintings to hide ugly features and accentuate the features they liked and this is the perfect example. The painting on the right is a natural painting of Marie Antoinette and she hated it. It features her bulging eyes, rounded forehead, Austrian lip, and the prominent Habsburg chin.

More photos from Versailles.

The whole reason we went to Chateau de Malmaison (the residence of Empress Josephine) was so Adam could see the Jacque Louis David painting of Napoleon Crossing the Alps. The chateau is located outside of Paris in a quaint town. We stumbled upon Sapristi, a restaurant decorated like a ski lodge from the outside.

We visited the Musee de Orsay. Here are some of my favorites and then the famous paintings…

Would I go back to Paris…yes, without a doubt. The city is absolutely beautiful. The food is so delicious. I thought the people were friendly enough. They kind of remind me of me. They don’t make eye contact, they don’t say hello, they don’t make small talk, they just mind their business. We found Parisians fairly willing to speak English. We got a couple food menus completely in French but I had an app to translate so that helped.

As we say goodbye to Paris, here is a photo dump of this beautiful city I can’t wait to revisit.

Our first trip of 2023 was Brussels and Paris. We were there 8 nights!! Honestly, that was too long. We were both ready to come home by the end. We spent 3 nights in Brussels and 5 nights in Paris. Brussels was okay but I LOVED Paris. Caveat, my preference is large metropolitan cities. I’ll break my vacation summary into two posts. Even though we were only in Brussels 3 days I have a lot to report on.

We flew into Paris and took a 1.5 hour train ride to Brussels. Brussels is a fairly small city known for fries, chocolate, waffles, beer, and the Smurfs. The highlight of the trip for me was the Belgium waffles…OMG, I can’t even! They were soooooo good!!!! The most popular place to get them is at Maison Dandoy. They must be doing something right, since they have been in business since 1829. Their waffles are crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, with little flavor bursts of sugar crystals in each bite. I would eat these everyday if I lived in Brussels.

Brussels is also known for their fries, maybe because they fry them in animal fat. If I’m being honest, you can get much better fries in the United States. The fries were just a little too thick for my liking but I still tried multiple places just to be sure 😉 And, yes, I am all about mayonnaise as my fry topping.

We did a walking tour while we were in Brussels and I am so happy we did. We were able to see so many unique landmarks. The first photo below is the Le Carillon du Mont des Arts, a Jacquemart Carillion clock with 24 bells. There are 12 figurines that represent important historic and folkloric figures of Brussels that come out of their niche during the top of the hour. The silver figure on the top of the building bangs the bell with a hammer. It was built for the 1958 World’s Fair. I had no idea that the Smurfs were a Belgium product. They have murals throughout the city but we only saw one (picture 3 below). We stopped by the Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries, an ensemble of three glazed shopping arcades (picture 4 below). The motto of the galleries is Omnibus omnia (Everything for everybody) but they ended up attracting a higher class clientele due to its extravagant design. We tried a luxury chocolate shop in the gallery, Pierre Marcolini’s. I am not a huge chocolate fan but these were pretty good, especially the caramel filled ones. We finished the tour with a beer flight. I don’t drink beer but I tried the Lambic beer, fermented through exposure to wild yeasts and bacteria, and it was delicious. It kind of tastes like a cider, with a berry fruit flavor, but without the distinctive beer taste, if that makes any sense. The final photo below is the most famous tourist attraction in Brussels. It is a statue of a little boy peeing (Manneken Pis) in a fountain. As you can see, the little boy is dressed up. He has hundreds of costumes they change out on a daily basis.

We visited Grand Place, a market square surrounded by gilded buildings. It was destroyed in 1695 during the Nine Years’ War with France but rebuilt four years later. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

I mentioned Mannekin Pis, the famous boy peeing in a fountain. There are two more famous statues in Brussels of Het Zinneke (dog peeing) and Jeanneke Pis (girl peeing). This city is strange!

We visited the Atomium, a landmark, modernist building originally constructed as the centerpiece of the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. It was designed as a tribute to scientific progress, as well as to symbolize Belgian engineering skills at the time. I don’t even know how to describe this place. It sort of feels like you are at Space Mountain in Disney World. You can go into each sphere of the structure with a restaurant on top.

The food was so good in Brussels. One of the highlights was Chicago Café. That sandwich in the picture below doesn’t look like much but it was fantastic. You can’t go wrong with eggs, cheese, mayonnaise, and siracha. We had the tasting menu at Le Rossini and it was fabulous. The artichoke and black truffle soup was to die for. My favorite dish was the chestnut gnocchi with sage butter and crispy bacon at Winehouse Osteria.

We stopped at a few cocktail bars in Brussels and they were ok but one stood out for its entirely unique décor,  La Pharmacie Anglaise. It’s a cross between a hunting lodge with taxidermy and an abandoned mansion by an eccentric millionaire.

Bon voyage Brussels, the city of light is up next.

Well, well, well. Haven’t posted a remodeling story in awhile but we have definitely been busy the past 2.5 weeks. We recently got back from Paris and Brussels (future blog post) and just listed our Tallahassee house on the market (please, please, please sell fast). But today it is all about where the magic happens, the kitchen.

We bought our Tallahassee house in September 2020 and it took us 2.5 years to finish the remodel. It was a big project – new floors, all new paint, a new bathroom, a refurbished bathroom, and a new kitchen. That blog post is coming soon but lets focus on the kitchen.

Here is our 1979 kitchen (below)! It doesn’t look bad in the pictures but it is a Monet – not bad from a distance but lots of problems up close. The tile backsplash was haphazardly put on with jagged edges and randomly cut tiles. The countertop around the sink wasn’t level so water leaked everywhere when you did dishes. I really liked the vintage wall oven but you couldn’t fit a full size cookie sheet in it so it wasn’t very practical. This was a complete remodel.

Time for demo. Everything came out without much fanfare but that leaky sink I mentioned above caused us some problems. Adam had to cutout all of the rotted/molded drywall and replace that section.

Here are the before and after photos so you can get a true appreciation of the changes.

Here’s a few more photos from different angles.

We wanted to keep the remodel as practical as possible, aka CHEAP. Don’t get me wrong, we wanted a quality remodel but no extra bells and whistles. We still did the soft close drawers and cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and quartz counters. We saved money by keeping the existing layout, existing tile floors, and scaling back on upper cabinets. I knew we were not going to keep this house so it didn’t make sense to design it as if I would be living there long-term. I really like the layout of this kitchen, with three distinct work areas; the refrigerator, stove and sink are all spread out and don’t impede on each other. The peninsula gets used all the time.

I can’t wait to show you the pictures of the whole house remodel. It is dramatically different! But I need a break. I am exhausted. But, I can’t stop. Once we sell our house in Tallahassee, I want to sell our condo in Alexandria and buy a townhouse.

Next time I’ll tell you all about Paris.