Au Revoir England...

*Image from Google*

Ooooh la laaaaa!!!!

Paris here we come!

COOLA Suncare

Both PB & I decided to skip packing our own sunscreen when we went to Maui because I had read that the hotel provided it by the pools. This was true and for the most part we used that. BUT I ended up having a reaction (read: rash) all over to something in the hotel provided stuff, so we popped into the little sundries store to buy some "normal" (read: not full-of-weird-plants-I've-never-heard-of-that-apparently-i-am-allergic-to) sunscreen.

We were going to go with the standard Coppertone until the salesgirl suggested I try the Coola products. I'd never heard of it before but she sold me on it when she opened the bottle to let me smell. It smelled like a tropical drink! I ended up buying a sample and was hooked. My rash ended up going away too! 

I have super dry skin and I really loved this sunscreen because it goes on almost like a lotion. Plus, the mango smell is divine. I didn't end up buying a full size bottle because I completely forgot in the hoopla as we were leaving. 

However, yesterday, much to my surprise and delight, I found out that they are ONLINE! 

(And on Twitter)

If I wasn't currently broke as a joke (thank you MA Board of Bar Examiners & NY Board of Bar Examiners) I would be ordering the mango moisturizing sunscreen, the peppermint lip balm and a facial sunscreen. It is expensive but totally worth it. I did not burn one bit and my skin looked moisturized and firm after using it all day!

Have you all tried Coola?

*Disclaimer: I'm mentioning this product because I love it. I wasn't asked or compensated for doing so!*

In my mind I've gone to... Maui!

Sorry this is so delayed. We've officially entered the last month of my law school career and I am absolutely SLAMMED! I literally am going to be spending every single day in the library until May 10th. I just keep telling myself, this is the FINAL PUSH!

Anyway, PB and I honeymooned in Maui at the Four Seasons Maui at Wailea. We dithered over where to honeymoon because our time was so limited. PB had never been to Hawaii and really wanted to go, so we made the looonnnnggg trek to Maui. This was my first time staying in a Four Seasons hotel and I was NOT disappointed. I must admit, I've always been a brand loyal girl to the Ritz-Carlton, but... let's just say I see more Four Seasons stays in our future.

We flew out bright and early Monday morning after the wedding. Oddly enough our gate in Charlotte was LITERALLY directly across from Hopsy's so we got to have breakfast and chat with my bff before we boarded. It was SO fun! I wore my gift from my law school friends on the plane with the hopes that perhaps we might get an upgrade.

We did not.

Word to the wise... Do NOT fly Continental to Hawaii. 

Don't do it. 

NO.

Absolutely not. 

Y'all know PB and I travel constantly... him for work, me to visit him. Neither of us had ever flown Continental and we will ABSOLUTELY never fly them again. 

Now, we flew from Charlotte to Houston and then Houston to Honolulu and had to puddle jump to Maui. Charlotte to Houston, fine. Houston to Honolulu, TERRIBLE. The TV screens barely worked... We both (along with everyone else I could see) had rolling black lines during everything we tried to watch. The sound cut in and out sporadically. It was bad.

It was also an 8 1/2 hour flight and they provided NO food. We had to BUY food. Seriously? Seriously?!?

We had to PAY FOR BAGS. $42 going... $100 coming back. 

(However, if we had taken a 3 hour flight into Mexico instead we would have had free food and bags. Tell me how that makes sense!)

The flight attendants were downright surly. 

The flight back was overbooked, we had rude flight attendants who refused to help us (had a tight connection and asked to be moved toward the front of the plane), there was no order in boarding so everyone was just clumped up trying to get on at the same time, people were trying to carry on full sized suitcases. There was no room in the bins overhead and our appropriately sized carry ons kept being moved away from us for the idiotic teenagers' HUGE suitcases. We could NOT check in online so we weren't able to pick our seats, and ended up in the back of the plane. Again, had to BUY food on a 9 hour flight... Simply ridiculous.

All in all, we were NOT fans. If you are planning a trip to Hawaii, book a different airline. 

You'll thank me. 

We finally got to Honolulu and made it onto our Island hopper flight (our bags BARELY made it... Like we were on board and they were about to shut the door when our bags got there!)

We realized, upon arriving at Kapalua airport, that we were ONE HOUR from the hotel! Yes. One hour by taxi. (Costs approximately $109, if you're wondering.) There are two airports in Maui. If you are staying in Wailea you should fly into Kapalani and NOT Kapalua. 

Oops.

We made it to the hotel and were greeted with leis and a round of "Congrats!" from the staff. We were escorted up to our room by a sweet bellman who told us ALL about the hotel. 

My Nannie had sent us a tray of yummy goodies! The dip was amazing. Seriously. I don't even know if PB got a bite before I ate it all. 

The hotel sent us a fancy bottle of champagne and a sweet card.

And our bellman took a snap of us on our balcony.

We were exhausted, but it wasn't late yet so we changed and went down to the lobby lounge to have a couple drinks. How to beat jet-lag 101... Stay up until you literally are falling asleep in your cocktail. (or 10PM, whichever comes later.)

They were DELICIOUS.

One thing you should know about FS Maui and Maui generally, that we found to be true... It's bloody expensive. Everything is. Just know that. Accept it. Resign yourself to it. 

But here is my thought on fancy hotels... My travel philosophy, if you will. 

If I'm going to a resort, where my time is going to be spent AT the hotel/resort then I'm willing to spend some major money on staying somewhere nice with excellent amenities. However, if I'm going on a trip where the purpose is to see the city or the sights and I'm only going to be sleeping in the hotel, I'm willing to go a little more down market. Agree or disagree? 

I'll tell y'all about the rest of our trip next week... For now, I need to switch gears and get into paper mode. Writing this paper about child soldiers makes me want to go work for UNICEF or the Coalition Against Child Soldiers.

Wonder if they have London offices? I'm still obsessed with working for UNESCO in Paris... but alas... No opening for baby attorneys. Boohiss. Maybe in September I'll get lucky... Keep your eyes peeled, folks!

Anyway...

Have y'all been to Maui?

Concrete jungle where dreams are MADE of...

(Side note: Um. When I typed the lyrics as the title of this post it dawned on me that it makes no sense. Grammatically. No sense. Alicia and Jay-Z need a little English assistance.)

SO! Today I have class, class and more class then hitting the gym (pushing for 25 mins on the stairmaster. We shall see how THAT goes) and then running home to get to bed early because I have to be at South Station at 6:30 to head to NYC!

What's in store for my ONE day in NYC?

*First: Grabbing a coffee with this gorgeous man upon arrival into the city*

*Then going to the following*

*Then meeting the aforementioned gorgeous man and going to try on ONE dress here*

*Then going here for dinner with said gorgie male and heading back to Boston*

Will be back Friday with a recap and a CUPCAKE (or 5)!

*PS: Today HFG is debuting Chixie- Don't forget to wish her luck!*

Wordless Wednesday: Cruise Wrap Up

Meet Luna!

Luna was our dolphin we got to play with at Dolphin Cove in Grand Cayman. I have to say... This was the BEST adventure I've ever had on vacation. It was SO fun! We got changed into our bathing suits and were given black life vests to keep us buoyant.

(Side note- When I walked up they gave you whatever size they thought you should have. PB was in front of me and he was given a large. I was sure they were going to give me a 3x but they gave me a MEDIUM! AND IT FIT!!! I died.)

*Here we are meeting Luna!*

*PB smootching Luna. CRACKS me up*

*PB getting a dolphin kiss!*

*I couldn't stop giggling. I was more excited than the 7 year old in our group!*

*She tried to kiss me when I was trying to kiss her. We bonded.*

*PB got a ride. Look at his face! haaaaaa*

*Then I got a ride!*

*Then we made her sing for us. She loved me! Look!*

*Clearly I was her favorite.*

*We got some alone petting time with her. She felt like rubber!*

*At the end she high jumped for us. She's the highest jumper of all of them in the Cove.*

*Our beautiful Luna!*

I'll be back tomorrow with the last of the cruise wrap up!

Aaaaannndddd I'm back!

We had a BLAST on our cruise... We jetted down to Miami and hit Key West and Grand Cayman. I'll do a more in depth recap later in the week. Until then, here's a teaser.

I spent a lot of time drinking these...

(Please note the billowing dress and stunning hair)

And doing this...

Best. Week. EVER.

(Even if I did gain 4 pounds...)

Let's talk Bathing Suits...

PB and I are going on a cruise on the 15th for 5 nights. Now, I bought 2 bathing suits last year. One from JCrew and one from Old Navy. I like them both but neither have much support and They are a little bright for my tastes (read- not black.) I've been browsing bathing suits and have found a few I like.

I need your help: Which one (or two) should I get?!

*This would be purchased in BLACK not white. It's from Newport News and it's a "ShapeFX" style which means it would suck me in. This is high on my list. What do y'all think?*

*Or what about this underwire cutie in Navy from JCrew. (LOVE underwire in bathing suits! And it comes in D cup! Thank GOODNESS)*

*Or this one?! I find it to be very modest and might give my girls TOO much support.

(Kidding! Just making sure you're paying attention.)*

*Twist front bandeau from JCrew. I've loved this one for a few seasons now... But, the bathing suit I got last year from JCrew was a bandeau and give the girls NO support. Hm...*

*This DKNY halter is pretty cute... I think the halter might give more support. I'd obviously go for the black and NOT the white. Wait, are all these bathing suits essentially the same?! I'm SO boring!*

*Here's my adventurous pick! This is also from Newport News. I'd go for it in Pink-Raspberry (i.e. fuchsia) It's out of my comfort zone but I kind of love it!*
OK, So far I think the first one and the underwire from JCrew are my favs, with the last one being a close third. Give me your picks! I have to order probably by tomorrow to get them here in time. Also feel free to throw out any other suggestions that aren't on here! All opinions are appreciated.

I'm BACK!

I've been in Austin, Texas for a few days longer than planned. I went with PB for the weekend because he had his company's annual meeting. Austin was cute and much larger than I expected!

I spent Monday with HFG. We had SUCH a great time! We became blog/BBM friends over a year ago and meeting her in person finally was even better! I felt as if I'd known her forever! We had lunch at Bess Bistro, which is Sandra Bullock's restaurant. It was delicious and we had a blast (Even if Sandy wasn't there to greet us). After lunch we walked around Austin for a bit, shopped at the Domain (where I discovered that Lilly Pulitzer does NOT make dresses to fit my body shape!) and then headed to the Four Seasons, where PB treated us to Champagne Tea.

*Us in front of the picture of Bess, which is the mascot*

*HFG was so thoughtful and brought me a gift bag from her party with one of the gorgeous Tory Burch cookies!*

*HFG during our tea at the Four Seasons*

I was supposed to leave Tuesday but it "snowed" in Austin. And by "snowed" I mean it flurried for about 20 minutes and apparently JetBlue ran out of deicing fluid so they cancelled every single flight for the rest of the day. I was FURIOUS! Not only were they lying to the passengers and trying to claim it was because the weather was so bad (please note there was LITERALLY no snow) but they failed to change the status of the flights in the terminal, and if it hadn't been for HFG getting an email about it accidentally and BBMing me, I would have been sitting in the terminal for hours longer! They refused to put me on another airline and then they tried to tell me that they could not get me on a flight until Friday. Oh, and they would not reimburse for the $75 in cab rides to/from the airport, or another night in a hotel. At that point I absolutely hit the roof! How ridiculous is that!? I raised my voice and stated that it was absolutely unacceptable and ridiculous and I would not settle for that remedy. After my blow up they managed to "find" me a seat on a Thursday morning flight to JFK. I've never been so angry at an airline! The other crazy thing was NO OTHER PASSENGERS WERE UPSET! Maybe this is the Yankee in me, but I was seething and the Texans were like "Ohhhhh, ok. No problem, I don't mind waiting until Friday."

So anyway... I'm back, I'm grumpy, and I have a to-do list from hell.

But HOW ARE Y'ALL!?

Check back tomorrow for a post about this amazing jewelry designer based in Austin I discovered.