I Am Jewelz

Valentines Day At St. Regis Monarch Beach

2014-02-23T20:56:00.001-05:00

So this is what being a celebrity is like?? This is the thought that kept running through my mind during our recent stay at the St. Regis Monarch Beach. Eddie surprised me with a romantic trip to Dana Point, CA right after my 2 week cross country road trip.

But this wasn't your average hotel stay. Not only is St. Regis known as one of the best hotels in the world, this stay marked our Lifetime Platinum status award with Starwood Hotels. Eddie has been a platinum member for a very long time. And being a platinum member has amazing perks. We always get free room upgrades at any Starwood Hotel. Occasioanly to the penthouse suite. We get discounts at restaurants, free food and drinks inside club room, occasionally a free open bar, free water bottles, an ambassador who you can call 24/7 to do anything for you that you desire, gifts mailed on your birthday, free snacks, fruits and champagne to greet you in the room, just all around exceptional service. But to reach Lifetime Platinum is a whole different ball game. To reach Lifetime you need to have been a platinum member for 10 consecutive years and to have at least 500 stays total. Apparently there are very few Lifetime Platinum members so once the St. Regis found out about our stay they went above and beyond to make our stay special.

As we were checking in at the front desk, two managers came out and greeted us with balloons and a wine stopper. They shook our hands and took a photo with us. I felt like I was on a game show or something.

There was a card attached to the balloon which was signed by the entire management staff of the hotel.

I swear that the photo they took of us was passed around by the staff members because wherever we went in the hotel everyone knew our names! Its was so creepy but cool at the same time. The hotel upgraded us to one of their 7 suites with a personal butler. The suite we had at the St. Regis in Hawaii was pretty small so I figured this one would be too. But I was so wrong. This suite was spacious and much nicer than the other one. And just to make it extra special, as we entered the room there was a frickin hawk/eagle whatever it was sitting right on our balcony!!! The thing was huge! I ran over to take photos and even our butler broke character for a second to take photos. I was starting to think that Starwood has planted the bird there for show but they can't be THAT good right? Hmmmmm. The hawk then took a dump on our porch and our butler immediately went back into butler mode and asked if we would like our balcony hosed down LOL. We aren't finicky people so we said it was fine and continued to explore the room.

There was a bottle of champagne and chocolate strawberries in our room to celebrate the occasion.

And more balloons in our living room. This time pink YAY!

Our bedroom...

And gorgeous bathroom. My favorite room in the suite. Sadly we didn't get to use the jacuzzi.

The view from my balcony was of the golf course. I'd prefer a closer beach view but honestly who can complain when you are surrounded by such luxury?

The pool didn't get any use either as it was about 10 degrees too cold to lay out. But it was one of the most beautiful pool I have ever seen. It reminded me of something out of a European fairytale with a little bit of Vegas mixed in. There were also many homes on the property of the St. Regis which were enormous. I asked our driver about one of the homes that caught my eye and he matter of factly said "Oh ye, that house is for sale. It's about $20 million but it's just a summer home. Not to actually live in".

Ummmmmm ye.... If I was going to spend $20 million on a home you better believe I would spend every waking moment in it. Crazy rich people I swear.

Right before sunset we headed to the hotel viewing balcony. All of the St. Regis Hotels have a champagne sabering ritual at sunset.

Basically this guy sabers the end of a champagne bottle off with a saber sword and serves the champagne to the hotels guests. Here's the cool part... I always thought he was just chopping off the cork but he actually cuts the glass like it's butter. How do I know this? Because after chopping it off he gave the chopped off bottle end to Eddie and I as a keepsake.

We were told the tequila Bloody Mary's were a must try but since I'm Russian I had to stick to my vodka heritage. It was still pretty good though.

Watching the sunset over the balcony, the grounds reminded me of The Breakers mansion in Providence, RI. Iimpeccable, and dreamy.

Valentine's Day couples photo!

And finally the sun set making the grounds even more beautiful as the lights illuminated the entire hotel.

Right before dinner, Eddie spotted a piano at the bottom of a winding grand staircase. He insisted I go down and lay on it because he had the perfect shot in mind. After saying no and him not backing down, I finally went and laid on the damn thing. Not even 5 photos in, a couple staff members walked out to see what I was doing. I could tell they wanted me off the thing but we kept taking photos. After they finally kicked me off we headed to Stonehill Tavern for dinner. At least we got the shot!

As we entered the restaurant we were again greeted by our names. I was starting to think we had people following us during our stay. They seated us and gave us champagne on the house. According to Eddie it was really expensive champagne but to be honest I couldn't tell. Cheap wine, expensive wine, cheap champagne, expensive champagne...it all tastes the same to me. Now vodka, that's a different story. I can smell bad vodka from a mile away.

Dinner was incredible with many things brought to our table compliments of the chef. He was obviously informed of the occasion. Michael Mina's food did not disappoint. We had...

-Toasted olive oil & sea salted bread with a ricotta cheese and honey spread

-Kale chips

-Potato souffles with black truffle

-Pumpkin ravioli

-Blini with black caviar

-Filet mignon

-Black cod

It was definitely in the top 2 meals I've ever had. I hesitate to say it's the best meal I've ever had because I might be forgetting one or two past meals.

It is so hard staying in shape with so much good food. Had to work extra hard at the gym after this meal.

The next morning we flew back home but not before having breakfast outside on the balcony. BTW check out the bill. Benefits of being a Starwood Platinum member...you only pay .05 cents for breakfast haha. Screw Marriot and Hilton. You will NEVER get treated this well with any other hotel membership.

Places I Visited

St. Regis Monarch Beach

Stonehill Tavern

Monarch Bay Club

My Cross Country Road Trip 2014

2014-02-17T23:06:00.002-05:00

The day my cousin Polina asked me to go on a road trip across the entire country, I didn't think much of it. Of course I said yes (saying no to a trip for me is like saying no to free money) but I never actually thought it would happen. And I didn't know that it would be one of the funnest trips of my life. Who knew that driving across the good ol' USA would bring so much laughter, adventure, chaos, and bonding. Small warning, this will be a super long post as this was a super long trip.

Our Trip Itinerary

Philadelphia, PA / Roanoke, VA / Nashville, TN / New Orleans, LA / Austin, TX / El Paso, TX / Phoenix, AZ / San Diego, CA / Long Beach, CA / Los Angeles, CA / San Francisco, CA

We started our 4,000 mile journey in Roanoke, VA. You might be thinking where the F is Roanoke and why did you go there? We were originally supposed to go to Charlotte, NC but decided that because stopping in Roanoke would save us 2 hours of driving that it was the best thing to do. I guess I should mention that Polina was doing ALL of the driving so it was a no brainer.

We took the scenic route to VA passing through the blue ridge mountains.

The first day of driving and 425 miles later we were still fresh as a daisy. It honestly didn't seem that bad! We checked into our hotel and set out to find a place to eat. And that's where all the trouble began. We learned the hard way that the city of Roanoke is a total ghost town at night. We drove through blocks and blocks of city streets and didn't see a single living person or car. WTF. We pulled into a parking lot to park our car and you guessed it... no parking attendant. They had called out for the night...at 7pm. We drove to a second parking lot and same thing. Just a sign that read call this number if you want to park here. No one answered the phone. I'm guessing they took off for the night too. After much frustration, we decided to just park anywhere or we were going to starve to death. After walking and taking a few wrong turns we FINALLY found the chicken and waffle place that had amazing reviews on Yelp and found this on the door...

What the hell does "Until" mean?? It was 7pm and this place was closed because apparently from Thursday through Sunday they close at "Until". Until they feel like it? Or until they get so damn lazy they feel like going home? What does "Until mean??? I've never seen such a thing in Philadelphia. Practically the entire city was closed at 7pm and it was Super Bowl Sunday. How are business closing on such a busy day? Nothing makes sense in Roanoke. They go by their own rules. Fortunately we were able to find a cute little bar-b-q joint that tried to sell me mini Corona's instead of my requested Bacardi Diet but it's ok, I still liked them for the food.

On the way to our next city, Nashville, TN, I learned how to pump gas. Yes it may seemed a little delayed to pump gas for the first time at 26 but I know at least one other person that has never pumped gas before so HAH!

Polina is a brand new driver but honestly did an amazing job. How many new drivers have the guts to drive across the entire country averaging around 6-9 hours of driving per day?

And if it seems like we are wearing the exact same thing in all of our car pics...it's because we are. And no shame in it either. This is definitely a situation in which comfort comes before beauty. And I don't say that often.

Getting into Nashville, although bitter cold, was a relief. It was the first time we could relax a bit, put some makeup on and go out for some fun. BTW I did Polina's eyebrows in the photo below. I shaped them and filled them in. She hated it but I totally think it works with her face. Thoughts?

In Nashville, we ended up at the famous Tootsie's Orchid Lounge which according to Polina was her favorite night of the trip. It was totally laid back and fun with awesome live music all night. I took a photo with one of my favorite singers of the night.

Who later helped me carve my name into the table.

The next day, mile 988, we headed to New Orleans where we new trouble was going to ensue. How do you go to New Orleans and not get into trouble? Unless you're very boring and lame of course.

We started off innocently enough with dinner at Sinner's and Saints on Bourbon St which was just a couple blocks from our hotel. Polina had some delicious jambalaya and I had shrimp and grits. Which btw grits are my new favorite food. Not the nasty, flavorless kind you eat at the diner but the creamy, cheese infused deliciousness you get at a restaurant. I've had them fried too which is a whole other level of awesomeness. I digress.

After dinner I told Polina she absolutely must try a hurricane. I vaguely remember polishing off a hurricane with my husband several years ago and the rest of our Bourbon St adventure was a blur. Yes they're that strong.

With hurricane in hand, we set off to find the perfect bar out of the hundreds on Bourbon St. The minute we walked into the perfect bar, an ACTUAL hurricane began outside. And any girl who owns a Louis Vuitton knows that rain will trap you in a building for hours if you don't have an umbrella. Luckily I'm smarter than I look. After we were done drinking, I asked the bartender for a trash bag, wrapped my LV in the bag, tied my sweater over my head like a turban and we were ready to find our next bar. Polina walked a few feet behind me from embarrassment. I might have looked like a homeless lady with a trashbag but my LV was safe and dry!

Our next stop was Rick's Cabaret where I am embarrassed to say that I totally got ripped off by a stripper. And she wasn't even that great of a conversationalist! I like my strippers to be smart. Is that too much to ask for these days? You can't get ahead in life with just your looks hunny!

The rest of the night after Rick's was a total blur. I vaguely remember tipping and taking a photo with this guy because according to Polina bass players never get enough love.

Then I remember being the absolute last people roaming around Bourbon St around 5/5:30am. And then the next thing I remember is waking up to crawfish, egg white omelet and beignets. Not bad, not bad.

Mile 2,113, on our way to Austin, TX, we began to lose steam and sitting in the car for hours really started to take it's toll on us. We were in the same clothes, no makeup, living on crappy snack food, achy and pretty sure smelly although Polina wouldn't admit it. I think she was just trying to be nice though. I'll tell you this, you reallllllly gotta love someone to spend 8 hours a day in the car with them. And you reallllllly have to learn how to compromise. There are so many things to fight about such as which music to listen to, what temperature it should be, which direction to take, where to stop, who pays for gas, who's the best cousin. Haha just joking. Almost everyone we knew thought a fight was inevitable but I'm happy to say we did not fight once.

Driving through the Texas desert was like driving through a scary time warp. You don't see anything but sand for days. And when you finally do find a place to fill your car up it looks like this....

There wasn't an actual screen or card slot on the gas pump so we had to go inside the dead animal head filled store to talk to the cashier. He said we could fill her up and pay him later. Who does that?? What's stopping us from filling up and driving away? Those southerners sure are trustworthy people. That or completely off their rockers. Texas Chainsaw Massacre anyone?

At mile 2,686 I finally had enough of desert driving and convinced Polina to pull over at a truck stop for a few photos. WEEE.

We made a pit stop in Houston to have a steak dinner with an old friend from high school at Taste Of Texas. So apparently steak and food in general is really cheap in Texas. I thought it would be the other way around. So after gorging ourselves we had another 2 hour drive to Austin. And we had already been on the road for 7 hours straight. I kid you not, Polina and I both started hallucinating on the road. It was very dark and I could see a man standing on the side of the road. As we got closer the man turned into a billboard WTF. Then I noticed after an hour of driving on the highway and absolutely no other cars on the road, we were suddenly following some tail lights. It took me a good 5 minutes to realize that there was noone in front of us and the lights were actually lights far in the distance. Then we somehow managed to pass the Colorado River bridge 4 times while driving on a straight road. It was all very strange to be honest. Definitely the worst day of driving yet.

The next day mile 2,545, was El Paso, TX. Pretty much the only thing that happened in El Paso was that we got pulled over YAY!

It was Polina's first time getting pulled over so her hands were shaking. Apparently our headlight was out (which we later found out it wasn't). We got a warning and got questioned for having a dragon sticker on our bumper. I'm guessing there is some kind of dragon gang they wanted to make sure we weren't a part of.

Good night El Paso. We only liked you slightly better than Texas :(

Next stop... Phoenix AZ. I only took a couple photos in Phoenix because it was basically a party night. W Hotel Bar, Maya Nightclub, bottles, tables, beautiful people, exotic cars, dancing...and pizza. Nothing interesting to tell here...I swear :)

Mile 3,344, we were on our way from Phoenix to San Diego, CA and passed by these gorgeous boulder mountains driving 4,000 feet above seal level. Lots of ear popping!

Living in the city is truly like living in a bubble. We are always thinking how overcrowded the world is. But after driving across the country you come to realize how empty our country actually is. Yes we have condensed areas of people but most of our country in untouched and beautiful.

When we arrived at the W Hotel in San Diego I asked the front desk lady if we were able to get upgraded to a suite. She said "Oh you will be very happy Mrs. Abramson. You were upgraded to the best room in the hotel. We NEVER upgrade anyone to this room.". Turns out my husband had called in beforehand and talked to the lady for a bit until he convinced her into letting us stay in this $3,000 per night room. And thank the lord because after roughing it for days, we needed this.

When we walked into our 6 room, presidential suite, we were floored. Our room didn't even have a number. It just had this on the door....

Let me give you a quick tour. Please enter our spacious living room and dining room...

Walk through the hallway and you are in our enormous bedroom with a bed that fits 20 or so. The window behind the bed has gorgeous views of the San Diego skyline.

Our bed faces a large flat screen TV. Notice my perfected Wheel of Fortune pose.

Walk though our bedroom and you will find yourself in the master bathroom with skyline views.

Walk back through the living room and into our office equipped with a creepy naked butt over the work space. I'm not sure if it's a male or female butt, or how one could ever get any work done with that thing right above their head. But it's there, so watcha gonna do?

As soon as Polina finished running laps around the room, she finally settled down in one of the many window nooks to Facebook how cool our room was. I mean who wouldn't??

Again, our night in San Diego was filled with way too much drinking and cocky a**hole guys trying to buy us drinks. That is until we got back to our presidential suite. That's when the real fun began. We decided that it was an absolute must that we use the jacuzzi in our master bathroom. While attempting to turn it on, we realized the jacuzzi had no faucets. Ummmm, where the hell is the water supposed to come from?? I pressed a hidden button and like magic, a stream of water starting pouring into the bathtub.....from the ceiling! I'm sorry maybe I'm impressed by little things but when have you ever seen water come from a hole in the ceiling into your jacuzzi?? Hmmm?

We took a short bubble bath while watching TV. I was literally passing out from exhaustion so shortly after we decided to order food.

Who knew two tiny girls could each so much. We ended up ordering $80.00 worth of fattening deliciousness. As the room services lady entered our room and saw two young girls laying in bed in white bath robes with bath bubbles all over the entire floor, I was pretty sure she was thinking we were lesbian lovers on a secret fling. But who cares? We now had scallop sliders, pizza and chicken fingers!

Hah I just realized you can see our reflection in the mirror in the photo above. We are such posers. And we definitely do look like lesbian lovers.

The next morning was bitter sweet. We were excited for Long Beach but so very sad to leave the luxury that we were in.

Bye room and creepy office!!!

Before driving to LA we made a quick pit stop in Long Beach to have lunch on the beach with a friend.

Then on the way to LA I got pretty darn bored so I started a selfie taking marathon. It lasted about half an hour. Poor Polina had to witness the whole thing.

We finally arrived around 5 pm to another beautiful suite. My baby really spoils me sometimes!

I've been to LA before an definitely wanted to take Polina to something very touristy. The entire city is one big tourist trap. To my surprise she had never been to a wax museum so I just had to take her to Madame Tussauds. She was a bit creeped out by all of the life sized figured but we had a blast posing with our favorites.

The next day, at exactly mile 3,948 we arrived in San Francisco!! Polina's final destination and new home.

It was so incredibly sad to know that our journey had come to an end. I kept thinking I can't believe we did this. I can't believe we drove across the entire country. I can't believe we still love each other after doing so. And most of all, I can't believe it's over. I so did not want it to be over. I had gotten used to being co-pilot to my cousin on this wonderful adventure. We had met so many awesome people, seen old friends, visited places we would never had seen otherwise. Knowing that I will most likely never do this again was the worst part of all. Everything just seemed to fall into place to make this trip happen. We are young and we can still afford to waste some time. As we grow older, have families, get busier, I doubt life would provide us with the time to do something so spontaneous and awesome. But I'm thankful I had the opportunity and I will never ever forget our cross country road trip in 2014.

And to those who are planning to take a road trip across the country, just remember....You will see lots of cows. More cows than you will ever want to see or smell. The sheer amount of cows will give you nightmares. COWS.

1 Year Wedding Anniversary Trip To Hawaii (Part 1)

2013-09-18T15:44:00.002-04:00

I've restructured my blog a bit since I've decided it is more about traveling than anything else. At first I wanted it to be more general but as the years go by I can't deny my growing love for traveling and experiencing what the world has to offer. I feel like there is so much to see and not enough life to see it with. Oh well, let's hope we have a second life so that I can continue this wonderful journey.

I've had the words jet-setter and world traveler thrown at my husband and I many times. But I just like to consider myself as curious. I'm curious about things I've never seen. I feel like they don't really exist until I have seen them. Therefore I must see them!!

So instead of having general sections on my blog you can now go to the new navigation bar at the top of the page and click on "My Travels" to see blog posts on where I have been in the world.

My husband wanted to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon but I hate to be cliche and said absolutely not. I'm not a beach person and wasn't too keen on spending my entire honeymoon lazing about on a beach chair with an umbrella in my drink. But when he brought the idea up again for our 1 year wedding anniversary I thought why the hell not?

We decided to visit Honolulu and the oldest and most beautiful island of Kauai.

We arrived at the Sheraton Waikiki in Honolulu after an excruciatingly long day of traveling. I detest connecting flights and there are no direct flights from Philly to Hawaii. The weather was beyond perfect. My first thought was what the hell did I have against Hawaii for so long? This place was heavenly.

My second thought was what is with all of the Asian people?? I later learned that all of the wealthy Japanese fly to Hawaii (because they are so close) where everything is so cheap for them due to the exchange rate. They go crazy shopping for designer and luxury items because back home they cost way too much. Anyway, I didn't mind the swarms, they were all pleasant in my opinion.

We were greeted in our beautiful suite with an anniversary gift of local fruit, champagne, a small cake and a card from the manager. It's nice being a Starwood Platinum member! They sure take care of us!

Even nicer was the view from our room. Blue and green everywhere. Just like it should be. And with the famous Diamond Head in the background. According to my husband it was made famous by some TV show so I'll take his word for that.

Now I know Hawaii is best known for it's surfing but look at how many surfers are out there! And look how far out they are from shore! I bet they didn't get the memo that there are man eating sharks lurking in those waters. The only way you would get me out that far is by force. Also to be perfectly honest, surfing looks like such a dreadfully boring sport. You're sitting in the hot sun all day for that "perfect wave" that never comes. Then you go back to shore and eat fish tacos then go out and sit some more. Well the fish taco part sounds good but everything else not so much. I would put surfing in the same category as croquet and golf.

MMMMmmmm fish tacos. Nature's candy. If I had to live off of one food for the rest of my life it would be fish tacos. You got your protien, your veggies and carbs all in one meal. Plus super healthy and good for you.

We did a lot of the usual stuff that people do in Hawaii. Tanned, relaxed, got drunk, got wet, squeezed my husband's head with a giant hair clip. You know, the usual.

The one day while we were standing on our balcony on the 20th floor, Eddie pointed out into the ocean and yelled "Omg look at those giant jellyfish in the water!"

"Ummmmmm unless those are 4ft wide jellyfish, I don't think that's what they are hunny."

I kept looking and all of a sudden a little tiny head poked out. They were giant sea turtles!!! Swimming right off of our hotel's shore. We devised a plan in which Eddie would go into the water while I stayed up on our balcony and pointed him to where the turtles were so that he could go and snorkle with him. Yeeee...it sounded much easier than it was.

Eddie spent the next half our following my directions but missing the turtles by merely inches every time. The poor guy was swimming in circles.

I was nearly ready to give up when he found one! Proud of my work, I went back into the room and let him enjoy the graceful monsters.

The next day we decided to hike Diamond Head since "hike a volcano" is on my life list. To my disappointment we learned that Diamond Head is in fact not a volcano but a volcano tuff cone whatever the hell that means?

Honestly, I dont care. As far as I know I have climbed a volcano!

And I have done an arabesque on a volcano!

The peak of Diamond Head had such glorious views I just had to take a panoramic.

Eddie, being the rule hater that he is, kept trying to force me to go passed the sign that so obviously states that you will DIE if you dare go passed it. He also pointed out that it was obviously safe since there were two retards who had no concern for their safety who went passed the sign. Thankfully he came to his senses a few minutes later and I was able to take my husband back to the hotel alive.

We had so much fun in Honolulu but we both knew the real treat was waiting for us at the St. Regis in Kauai which was our next stop. Blog part 2 coming soon....

Universal Studios Quickie Trip

2013-03-19T20:54:00.002-04:00

I swear I didn't take a bunch of trips all at one time. I've just been neglecting my blog for too long and have so many trips and photos to post and write about.

Ever since my husband joined his new company, his new business offices are located in Providence, Orlando and some other city that I forget. So he has been traveling back in forth to these three cities several times a month. So whenever I get really sick of Philly's freezing cold, depressing weather, I join Eddie on his trips to Orlando. That's why you'll be seeing a lot of Disney World/Universal Studio posts in the future. I mean cmon, who goes to Orlando and doesn't go to the theme parks??

We luckily caught great whether during the trip. It was around 80 degrees the whole week and dropped back down to high 60s when we left. Perfecto!

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel which is located inside Universal which meant we were able to get inside the park one hour earlier than the general public. One hour may not seem like a lot but you have no idea how awesome it is to be able to go to Harry Potter world and have it be completely empty!! If you gave me the choice of being rich and famous or becoming a real wizard in the wizarding world I would pick being a wizard any day!! *Sigh* If only.

Exactly one hour after I took this photo, the park was completely packed.

My second favorite part of the park is Dr. Seuss Land. Not only does Dr. Seuss share my birthday, all of Seuss Land was built without one single straight line. Can you imagine the architectural nightmare it must have been?

"Ye um, I want you to build an enormous park with lots of rides and restaurants and stuff and oh ye, if I see one single straight line in the entire park...YOU ARE FIRED!"

FUN STUFF.

Many rides at Universal are 4D experiences. For those who have no clue what 4D is, it's basically watching a 3D movie but you chair is moving, shit is poking you in the back, if there is water spilling in the movie there is water being sprayed in your face in real life. There was even one movie where the character burped and we got surrounded by a cloud of nacho smelling air. *Barf*

No joke, this minion for "Despicable Me" was a little pervert. After taking a photo together, it looked directly at my boobs and started making creepy purring and whistling noises. All I could think of was who the hell was in there? I mean look at how tall they are!! Five feet tops! That means I just got sexually assaulted by a preteen boy or an almost midget.

Another favorite area of mine are the replica streets of New York. Universal replicated many "old" New York streets and it's always fun to walk and imagine you are in New York back in the days of flappers and gangsters.

How cool is this climbing wall!? Looks like a real NY building. I would have climbed it but those kids sucked at climbing and probably would've taken another 15 minutes to get to the top.

My handsome man in front of Poseidon's Adventure.

Messing around in some weird above ground, netting maze. It was so hot and sweaty but I'm such a kid I just had to run around for a bit.

At night time, we took a ferry from our hotel to Universal City Walk because there's pretty much nothing else to do in Orlando at night except for maybe Pleasure Island but I have bad memories from that place. It was pretty empty so we didn't go to any of the nightclubs. I don't feel comfortable going to nightclubs with under dressed people anyway. If there is no dress code, I tend to stay away. FAR AWAY.

And I must end this post with this magnificent bowl of nachos. Arguably the best nachos on the planet. I love you Margaritaville!!

Stay At Gaylord Resort In Nashville And Pink Concert

2013-03-18T21:41:00.002-04:00

Yes, there is an actual hotel that is called the Gaylord. Yes, some man sat there one day and thought that name up. No, I have no clue why someone would name a hotel the Gaylord. Yes, the Gaylord is basically 5 mini cities combined into one huge hotel covered in a bubble of glass. Yes, it is crazy expensive. Yes, people talk in funny southern accents.

What a fun trip though! My husband recently brought me along to one of his business escapades to Nashville, TN. I like to say it Naaaaaashville.

When I say this hotel is huge I'm talking HUUUGEEE. There are 5 enormous, glass covered atriums with mini jungles and waterfalls inside of them, over 20 restaurants, indoor and outdoors pools, an indoor river that you can ride boats on, I can go on but I'll stop there. You get the point. With so much to do and see at this hotel I didn't even venture out of the glass bubble for my entire stay.

It took approxamitely 2.5 hours to walk to my room from the main lobby (exxagertaing a bit) but there was a nice little cafe right next to my room where I ate at pretty much every morning. I was being pretty healthy too as you can see!

This nice little breakfast cost me $20.WTF? Totally ripping me off because they know I'm too lazy to walk 2.5 hours back to the lobby and outside to find a place that would serve me the same for six bucks.

But the gorgeous views really made up for how expensive everything was. At one point I could've sworn we were in Jurassic Park when Eddie and I got lost inside one of the atrium jungles.

Omg, this was such a perfect place to get married!If I wasn't already married I would have gotten married right then and there.

I had to look really good one night for a large event at the hotel where several thousand people from the HP convention were attending so I got my hair and makeup done at the hotel's salon. Loved the hair!! Eddie's coworker said I looked like the hot Jewish girl from "Date Night" who slept with Mark Wahlberg lol.

The Gaylord was even more stunning at night time.That's a sushi restaurant in the middle of the lobby. Honestly I wouldn't trust a sushi place in the south. What do they know about making sushi? They should stick to apple pies and fried chicken IMO. Do what you do best!!

After the HP event, a bunch of us took a bus to downtown Nashville to a Blues bar. Why did we not go to a country bar you may ask? It's Nashville after all, home of country music. Well, I was on a bus full of country music haters (including me) so we unanimously decided that blues was one step up from country.

Cool light photo during the bus ride :)

After a fun filled (and busy for my husband) week in Tennessee, we flew to Orlando, FL to see Eddie's favorite singer of all time, Pink.

I was never a fan of Pink but let me tell you, after watching her in concert, I have an all new respect for her amazing talents. She does some aerial stuff that I do. And I have a hard time breathing when I perform those moves and she did all of my movies while singing live the entire time. Seriously have no clue how she does it. Props to her!

My Creepo Facebook Messages - Part 2

2013-01-02T14:12:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! So my last "Creepo Facebook Messages" post was such a huge hit that I decided to entertain you with even more creepos! Luckily I get a never ending stream of these weirdo messages so I will never run out of material. And as someone suggested, maybe I'll even print a book with all of them haha.

If anyone has gotten perverted messages in their own inbox, feel free to email a screenshot to me at Jewelzblog@gmail.com. Would love to see some that are not targeted towards me for once :)

Here ya go...

My Creepo Facebook Messages - Part 2

-I have never scammed anyone out of their hard earned money as of yet... So no, I believe I am not Nigerian at the moment. PS...Seriously though, do I even look half Nigerian to you??

-First off, I'm proud to be a man lover and take offense to being called a "lesbo". Second, the thought of you looking at my photos and getting "hot" down there is enough to make me want to delete my FB account....forever.

-Well, here in America we don't discriminate against blue eyed people. You would really love this country.

-Not only do I get asked to help guys find dates, now I have to find their family members too?? Shouldn't I be getting paid for this? Jewelz Dating & Tracking Family Member Services. My new business venture.

-Well I'm definitely prettier than Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. They are all pasty looking. But Princess Jasmine...I don't know. She's pretty damn hot so that's a tough call.

-Way to win me over with your AMAZING personality.

-Dear Barrister Antoine, I'm not embarrassed at all. In fact, It's completely understandable that I have a secret, millionaire family in a third world country in Africa since I am of Ukranian descent and all. Also can you please tell my secret, millionaire family that I am extremely upset with them. All this time I could have been driving around in a hot pink Ferrari instead of a BMW. Not cool, not cool. And I am so glad that you realized that I was the late Mr. A Abramson's descendant as opposed to the other 2.5 million Abramsons in the world. I'll be contacting you shortly!

-You can tack to me whan pigs flay.

-The only thing you would get from wining and dining me would be a very very fat Julie. I suggest against it.

That's it for now folks! lol...I'll have more when more comes :)

My Creepo Facebook Messages

2012-12-22T15:00:00.002-05:00

I recently learned that Facebook has been filtering my inbox messages for several years now. Anything Facebook deems unworthy of my reading, it throws the message into an "Other" folder that I never even knew existed.

At first I was pretty pissed off to learn that I had been missing on business opportunities for over a year but as I opened message after message I realized what Facebook was really doing. It was filtering all of the perverted, psycho stalkers out there from ever reaching me.

Sorting through all these perverted love letters and marriage proposals really creeped me out but it was a bit humorous as well. And that is why I've decided to share some of my favorite messages with you! And I won't even bother censoring the names so that in the future, if some creepo decides to send me a nasty message, they will think twice before doing so!!

My Creepo Facebook Messages

-Mom?? Ewww.

-First off "Chris", If you have been an international supermodel since 1999 (14 years ago) that means you are old as hell now. That means you are like the grandpa of supermodels. Second, the fact that you just mentioned that you traveled the world 10 times over makes your statement "I don't go bragging every four seconds" extremely hypocritical. Third, my so called "lottery ticket" is in reality a beautiful and caring husband who understands his wife's passion for traveling and would do anything it takes to see his wife smile. Be it buying her a chocolate cupcake or flying her to Paris. And last but not least, I would be successful with or without my husband because I am driven by people like you to prove them wrong. PS. I doubt Grandpa supermodels pull in a million a year these days ;)

-Please stop begging.

-Can you want to stick your head in a blender?

-Why would anyone ever strike a deal with someone so illiterate? You can't even end a sentence with a proper punctuation mark. Wait you know what, I'm actually feeling nice today. I think I'll just take 50k of my husband's money and ship it off to Romania for you and sit on my comfy couch here in the US and wait until you build me a super-mega club that I will most definitely make millions from. 50k in Romania goes a long way doesn't it?

-What makes your heart a gift? Unless it is my husband's heart or it is studded with canary diamonds, I do not quite distinguish it as a gift.

-Okkk....

-Okkk.....again

-May I vomit?

-I hope you know that my mother reads my blog and you should be ashamed of yourself!

-Really? Because I always thought Juliet sounded much nicer.

-Riccardo....why is your email address so feminine? Identity crisis?

Ok, I have a ton more messages but I'll leave that for a second post! Time to get back to work :)

Hair O'The Dog 2013 - Disco Baby!

2012-12-10T14:06:00.000-05:00

Why are there no good gown stores in Philadelphia?? I swear I have looked everywhere from King of Prussia to Center City and nothing! I guess I will have to try my luck on the internet.

Why do I need a new gown so desperately you may ask? Well because Hair O'The Dog 2013 is coming up next month of course! Philadelphia's swankiest (and my personal favorite) party of the year!

The 19th Annual Hair O' The Dog will take place at the Loews Hotel Philadelphia and will be Disco themed which I'm super excited about! Think sleek, silver, shiny disco balls versus afros and bellbottoms :)

And what disco is complete without go-go dancers? That is why this year, Jewelz Entertainment will be providing LED dancers, full-body mirrored disco ball dancers and disco strolling tables to entertain the party goers!

Other entertainment will be provided by Split Decision Band, DJ Enferno - performing his live remix project (Madonna's Tour DJ), DJ Eddie Tully - Philly's Favorite, DJ Perry Angelozzi - Voted Philadelphia's #1 DJ and DJ Royale - The American DJ.

Hair O'the Dog will also be transforming the exquisite 33rd floor of The Loews Hotel into “Studio 33”. This Ultra Elite Lounge will be exclusive to those who purchase bottle service and that sponsor The 19th Annual Hair O’ The Dog. "Studio 33" will feature Philly’s #1 DJ, Perry Angelozzi, Jewelz Dancers, a full top shelf open bar, gourmet fare and more EXCITING details to come!! The 33rd floor sits atop the Loews Hotel as the crown jewel. It features a large terrace that lets you take in the breathtaking views of the city below in style.

The official HOD After Party will be held at G Lounge. Admission is complimentary to all ticket holders.

Purchase your tickets HERE before they are sold out. A portion of the proceeds from The 19th Annual Hair O’ The Dog will benefit Friends Are By Your Side.

Check out these photos of sexy people from last year's Hair O'The Dog.

(Photos by Albfor's Weblog)

Win A $500 Century 21 Wardrobe Makeover And 2-night Stay In NYC

2012-10-29T22:00:00.001-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of CENTURY 21 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have been wanting to take a trip to NYC for a while now not just to visit family but also to check out the Century 21 store in person. The latest trends in fashion are always at Century 21 and no matter what you’re shopping for, you’re guaranteed to snag amazing deals on designer products. There are two Manhattan store locations: Lincoln Square (1972 Broadway) and Downtown (22 Cortlandt Street).

The Downtown Manhattan location has 150,000 square feet of shopping and when you shop at Century 21, you can afford to look great anytime. Who want's to spend their entire paycheck on designer clothes? I sure don't!
I've been browsing Century 21's website and found so many cute things that I really want (need).
Of course the first thing that attracted my eye was these sparkly GUESS shoes ($59.97) because who can live without glitter in their life? It's just wrong.

My second love to glitter in pink, of course. So this pink NINE WEST snake skin wristlet ($12.97) would be a perfect addition to my wardrobe!

And I actually have these STEVE MADDEN rhinestone pumps ($79.97) already! The are super comfy an sparkly!

Have you been to the C21 stores yet? Did you find any good designer deals?
Make sure to visit the Century 21 Facebook page and enter the Empire Hotel sweepstakes for a chance to win a $500 C21 wardrobe makeover and a two-night stay at the iconic Empire Hotel in NYC! I entered last night so am keeping my fingers crossed!
An who knows, maybe you will run into one of the many celebrities that shop at C21! Check out Stacy Keibler and Olivia Palermo at the store!

Honeymoon Of A Lifetime: Part 2

2012-09-10T17:38:00.001-04:00

Believe it or not, part 2 of my honeymoon was even better than part 1. After visiting Puerto Rico, Germany, and Athens, we took a large boat to a famous Greek island called Mykonos. Yes you might know it as the best party island in the world and that is exactly why we went. Honeymoons aren't all about relaxing. You need to celebrate your new marriage and get a little drunk as well!

Most of the hotels on the island are boutique bed and breakfasts so we were excited to experience something we are not used to. Our choice was Hotel Vencia which is #3 on Trip Advisor's hotel list. The tiny hotel is located on the edge of a cliff over looking the old town of Mykonos.

We had a tiny little room booked bcause the other rooms were booked out months in advance but thankfully the couple who had booked the best room in the hotel had cancelled their reservation and we were able to book it at a super low rate.

Our balcony overlooked the hotel's infinity pool and Old Town. It was pretty interesting that while my husband was randomly checking Trip Advisor while laying at the pool one morning, there was an ad for the world's top 10 best pool views and a photo of our hotel's pool (and the exact view we were looking at) popped up on the screen!

I did some very careful posing on the edge of the pool and was very careful not to plummet 100 ft to my death. Nah, just kidding, there was a small pool edge behind me to catch me but if I was really drunk and managed to fall off the edge behind me then most likely I WOULD have plummeted to my death.

To get down to the old city we had to climb down some treacherous stairs which would never have passed the safety code in the states. I began to wonder how anyone over the age of 50 was able to walk around the city. And what the hell do you do if you are in a wheel chair?!? You would be confined to a 10ftx10ft space for your entire life. The whole city is one big dangerous staircase and probably the least wheel chair friendly place in the world!

The Greeks really do make the best of their stair situation though. They keep the city immaculately clean and decorated with many pots of brightly colored flowers.

And unlike Athens which is filled with thousands of stray dogs, Mykonos has thousands of stray cats running about. I came to the conclusion that these must be some of the smartest cats around since they chose to live on an island with an unlimited supply of fresh fish. All the stupid cats end up in NY where they have to survive on disease infested rats and such.

Here is a cat I found basking in the sun and enjoying life.

I did some basking in the sun myself!!

The Island's mascots are three giant pelicans that stay year around to be fed by the locals and tourists. They are frickin HUGE. Like Jurassic looking. It's a wonder how they can even fly. I made the mistake of getting a little too close to Petro the Pelican and he almost snipped my leg off with his gigantic beak.

The beaches around Mykonos are very different from what I envisioned. I had originally thought they would be lush white sand beaches with palm trees all around. In actuality, the beaches are very small, very rocky and painful to walk on. Yet they still manage to be some of the most beautiful beaches I have seen. And I've seen a lot!

This is totally random but I had never witnessed pigeons fight to the death before so I had to take some pics. Eddie and I were innocently sitting at a restaurant sipping mojitos and munching on beer nuts. We had some nuts left over so I put the bowl near a couple pigeons. It began innocently enough with the pigeons racing over to peck at the free food.

Then, I don't know what the F happened (husband informed me he hates when I curse on my blog so therefore I am trying my best to censor it. The things we do for marriage!)....The one pigion became all enraged that the other one was sharing it's food and literally tried to elbow the other pigeon off the edge! Now obviously I couldn't intervene for risk of being pecked to death so I had to resort to sitting there and taking photos as proof of witnessing a pigeon fight to the death.

Then the pigeon that was almost pushed off the edge decided to get revenge by trying to peck the other's eye out!

After a good 5 minutes of this nonsense they both gave up and flew away leaving the beer nuts uneaten!! What was the point of the whole fight if you leave the beer nuts? At least take one for the flight home. Do pigeons get testosterone flare ups because that sure seems like what happened.

While walking around the city, I noticed many restaurants had octopus freely hanging in the air. I just learned to love octopus very recently. Two year ago, before ever having really good octopus, I would vomit just by looking at it. They were chewy, tasteless blobs to me. In fact, yogurt, squishy cheese and octopus were the only foods I refused to eat. But after having the most unbelievable grilled octopus tentacle during my first trip to Greece, I was hooked for life. There is nothing in this world that can match the taste of freshly caught, perfectly grilled octopus.

So fresh in fact, that while having drinks on the deck of a seaside restaurant one night, one of the kitchen staff ran out onto the deck and stared out to into the ocean. Before we knew it, he had thrown out a line with bait, caught an octopus, and gutted it alive right in front of us. I have no doubt in my mind that they threw it on the grill 1 minute later.

On a sunny day, we drove across the island to the famous Mykonos Topicana Beach Bar on Paradise Beach. It is known for some of the wildest beach dance parties in the world. Thankfully we were there during off season so the place was not packed with three thousand under age party goers. Instead it felt more like a luxurious beach front lounge with tons of sexy people.

And the drinks! Oh, where do I begin. The cocktail menu was about 10 pages long and each drink came with a mini fruit salad, sparkler, and Greek flag attached to the glass

There was a gogo dancer dancing, I kid you not, for the entire 2-3 hours that we were there. She did not get down or stop dancing at all. Not once! She was even dancing in the sun. I almost wanted to get video proof to show my dancer next time they complain about dancing too long.

Taking a good picture on the beach was pretty much impossible. It was so darn windy on the island.

Here is Take 1...

Take 2...

And finally a good shot taken within a split second of the next wind gust!

After a week in Mykonos we headed to our next destination...Santorini! Santorini is known as one of the most luxurious and romantic islands in the world. We took a an hour long boat ride to the island and were greeted with enormous cliffs towering over us. Driving up the cliffs was not for the faint of heart. Driving a little too close to the edge of the road would mean plummeting 500 ft to your death...not just grazing the median like in the states. But Eddie did just fine and with a stick shift no less!

Getting to our hotel was no easy task either. After driving up a huge mountain, we learned that we had to carry all of our luggage (I am not a light packer. I had a separate suitcase just for my shoes) down the mountain to get to our room. Thankfully the hotel staff helped us.

Our room was unlike anything I have ever seen. All of the hotels on the island are boutique hotels with just 10-15 rooms each. And ALL of them have fantastic views. Our room had a balcony the size of a small apartment with a jacuzzi overlooking a still active volcano which originally created the island.

Those are enormous cruise ships down there. That's is how high up we were! Birds were flying under us! And my nose started to bleed! Ok, just kidding about that last part.

At the time that this photo was taken, I remember sipping my wine and thinking how fortunate I was to be able to experience this very moment. It was one of the most tranquil experiences I have ever had. I need to remind myself the next time I whine about how much my husband works that he works to be able to create these experiences for me.

One of the cool parts of the hotel was they served you a free breakfast of whatever you wanted delivered right to your room. Every day you would hand them a piece of paper of what you wanted for breakfast the next morning and *poof* it appeared on our coffee table the very next day :)

Santorini is even worse for wheel chair people than Mykonos. Walking a just few blocks got me really winded! I would have buns of steel living there.

Since the majority of the streets are too small for cars and some too small for even mopeds, a highly used form of transportation are donkeys! Poor lil things.

Random shot from a restaurant that claimed to have the best views to photograph on the island. Clever advertising ploy if you ask me. All the views on the island are fantastic! It's a frickin island!

Eddie rubbing a stray dog's belly on a black sand beach. Dogs flock to him like he is a dog god or something. It's the weirdest thing ever. I think they can sense good people. One of my boyfriends from the past would make dogs pee themselves from fright!

We had to visit a winery while we in Santorini as the island is world known for their wines so we visited the Boutari Winery. I finally got to check off dance in a Santorini winery off of my bucket list :)

And I got to kiss a donkey! It wasn't really real... well kinda... I think it was stuffed :-/

After touring the underground cave winery, we had a little wine and cheese tasting and of course Eddie had to get a shot of me stuffing my face. Those are his favorite.

After having much fun in the sun we flew over to Paris, France!!! I've been there once before but only for 24 hours so I had a very short lived experience of the city. It was supposed to rain every day we were there but the honeymoon gods held the rain back every single day!

The hotel staff was nice enough to upgrade us to a suite with its own living room. And if anyone knows how expensive a closet sized room is in Europe, you KNOW how expensive a room with a living room and two bathrooms is. So we were very thankful of the hotel's generosity.

One of our first stops in Paris was Musee Grevin, the wax museum. I know, I know you might think it's a little uncultured but we had already visited all of the major landmarks during our last trip.

Anyway, the line was about 2 hours and 200 people deep to get in the museum but Eddie, being the genius he is, had purchased us an all access Paris pass that let us skip the line at any museum in the city. Hell ye!!

Here is a photo of Obama and I just chilling :) Someone actually was stupid enough to comment on this photo on Facebook and say that I'm a no good liar, that I never met the president and that the guy in the photo MUST be a look-a-like. This is AFTER I had written a caption on the photo stating I was at the wax museum. Ugh, no hope for humanity.

And here is photo proof that Eddie is way better looking than George Clooney and Brad Pitt. If all three of them were complete strangers and were standing on the side of a street, I would totally make a move on Eddie in a first. Then if he rejected me I would go for George second. And if I was really desperate...nah I would never go for Brad.

I also learned for the first time that Jimi Hendrix is in fact black. Don't judge me.

Eddie had a nice little conversation with Ernest Hemingway...

While Eddie was chatting up Hemingway, I helped Da Vinci make some cool saucer looking thing.

Oh and I also made cute little poses with Einstein during his coffee break.

Does anyone else think Eddie has an uncanny resemblance to Nicolas Cage? He doesn't agree.

Many people were gathered near the Eiffel Tower for some kind of rally. I think it was either an Indian or Muslim thing.

And apparently it just happened to be Paris' busiest week of the year. All of the streets were flooded with tourists. Louis Vuitton's store had a line around the block to get in with two bouncers guarding the entrance. Craziness.

I felt really bad taking this photo but the whole scene felt sadly poetic to me. A man who obviously had a little too much of his fancy champagne, passed out on the street with his heading laying upon his neatly gathered shoes. It took me a few moments to notice the second stream of liquid coming NOT from his bottle. :(

Anyone up for a McBaguette?

Recently a new tradition has popped up all over Europe. I saw this in my recent trip to Prague as well. Lovers will sign their names on a lock, lock it on a bridge and throw the key into the river below. It has become so popular that bridges all over Paris are littered with these locks. Very cool if you ask me. Too bad Eddie and I didn't have a lock handy.

This was Eddie's artistic idea to take a photo of me on the steps of the Paris Opera theater and have only me as an object with color. I love how the family on the upper right is looking at Eddie like he is a freak. It's because he was yelling instructions at me while I was looking forward so it looked like he was yelling at an invisible person.

We also visited Jardin des Tuileries which is an enormous garden near The Louvre which I learned about during French class in High School. It was nice to finally see it in full bloom.

Goofing around with the camera....

And I would like to end this post with the man that made this whole entire month long journey happen. My gorgeously handsome, caring, loving, love of my life husband Eddie. LOVE YOU BABE.

Stay Healthy The Easy Way With NECTRESSE

2012-08-10T03:03:00.001-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of NECTRESSE™Sweetener for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have always been a huge supporter of using healthy sugar alternatives. Why consume sugar when you can get the same sweet goodness from something 100% natural and made from real fruit? Monk fruit to be exact.

NECTRESSE™Sweetener is 150 times sweeter than sugar and can be used in cooking and in baking to add natural, zero calorie sweetness to your favorite beverages and foods.

NECTRESSE can be conveniently bought in single serve packets or easy to hold canisters that have multipurpose lid for sprinkling, pouring, or spooning.

I decided to make my all time favorite banana strawberry smoothie using NECTRESSE instead of calorie filled sugar. It really turned out quite delicious. I also used a lot less to get the same amount of sweetness as sugar. My husband couldn't event tell the difference in taste!

Here is what I used:

-1 banana

-A handful of strawberries

- 1/2 cup of soy milk

-2 tsp of NECTRESSE

-1 cup of ice

I threw everything into the blender....

And voila!! a perfectly refreshing and sweet summer drink.

Follow the link if you would like a FREE sample of NECTRESSE™Sweetener

Also check out Lisa Ling's, NECTRESSE's spokeswoman who because of her diabetes depends on the sweetener, video by clicking here:

Win A FREE Vacation To LegoLand And A Set Of Atlantic Luggage!

2012-07-18T00:02:00.001-04:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Atlantic Luggage for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Who doesn't love luggage? I love luggage. Do you know why? Because it gets me places. It gets me to where I need to go. And with the amount of travelling I have been doing lately, living without luggage is like living without a cellphone. IMPOSSIBLE!!
Atlantic Luggage is affordable, lightweight, and perfect for families on the go. They are also nice enough to present the Atlantic Luggage and Legoland Sweepstakes!!

The Legoland Sweepstakes offers the prize of a 2 day vacation for two adults and two children to Legoland in Florida! The prize includes a hotel for 2 nights (one 4 occupancy room), a car voucher, a meet andgreet with a LEGOLAND Master Model Builder and a free set of Atlantic luggage!
The collections include a variety of styles and sizes with something for everyone. I personally like this one because of it's small and compact size...

This one would be nice for my husband. He is basic black type of man :)

Oh one more thing! Legoland Florida has a new waterpark (opened May 2012) with wave pool, tube slides and body slides. Families can also imagine, design, and build a unique LEGO vessel and set it afloat on the 1,000ft lazy river.
Fun stuff!! Can you imagine floating around in a giant wave pool in this horribly hot weather? MMmmmmmm. I sure can.
Good luck to all my blog readers!! I know you all deserve a vacation soon!!

Honeymoon Of A Lifetime: Part 1

2012-06-18T19:41:00.004-04:00

This honeymoon post has taken me forever to write because I was dreading the amount of photos I would have to edit and my wrist has really been acting up from clicking the mouse too much. I think it's called repetitive motion syndrome or something like that...

I even went as far as purchasing a special mouse pad from Japan that supports the wrist to alleviate pain but it only works to a point. So after much painful mouse clicking I have finally finished this post. I don't even know how many photos are in this post but it's a damn lot. I took a total of 700 pics during my honeymoon to Puerto Rico, Dusseldorf, Athens, Mykonos, Santorini and Paris and I have narrowed it down to my favorite ones. Just for you :)

To start off our honeymoon, we took a large plane from Philadelphia to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Then, a smaller 8 person plane from Puerto Rico to a little island off the coast called Vieques. We were there once before about 2 years ago for the grand opening of the W Hotel Vieques and Eddie promised to take me back again. Well actually he promised to take me back once a year (which I totally have on videotape) but we won't go into technicalities.

Once we landed in Vieques we took a few pics around the resort while we waited for our room.

And had a super delicious breakfast. Thank god the hotel comped our breakfast because the bill was something ridiculous like $50 for two plates of eggs. Like really? Are your eggs made of gold?? Do I get diamond earrings inside my egg?? It was yummy though.

The resort's rooms are situated like bungalows and have either an ocean or pool view. We opted for an ocean view since the previous time we had a pool view.

And the best part of our view? Those two little chairs!!! I don't know why but I thought these two little chairs sitting next to each other on the edge of a cliff looking out to the ocean was just so magical! Ok, I'm gay I know but seriously! Forget about the Corona commercial. This is the life!

Truly impeccable hospitality at the W Hotel Vieques. We entered our room and were greeted with chocolate dipped strawberries and champagne. We didn't even wait to make it all romantic. We just grabbed the strawberries and inhaled them haha.

The property itself was also incredible. The grounds are super secluded and kept so clean. Pool time with Eddie was awesome. Drinking countless, perfectly made strawberry mojitos wasn't so bad either. :)

The beach is secluded as well. Those black rocks are sharper than sharks teeth. Just brushing your hand on the rock will cause extreme bloodiness. Trust me, I know from experience. The resort's beach has these death rocks on each side of it so there's no chance for strangers or annoying guys who try to sell you stuff to enter.

I love Eddie......In case you didn't know already.....

One of my fav pics that Eddie took of me in Vieques! I had just finished snorkeling to that island behind me and back. I was wet, tired, and hungry and still managed to look pretty darn good! Ok, I confess. There were about 4 other photos taken before this one that were horrible failures (i.e. wind in my hair, me looking like I have duck feet). But this was the money shot!

Two weeks later we were off to Europe for the second part of our honeymoon. Our medium sized plane got switched for a much larger jet so our seats got switched from the first class where the seats go 3/4 of an inch further back to the first class where our seats lay down totally flat. Hell ye! Great start to our trip. And may I also add, we did not book first class tickets since we wanted to save money for more important things. But while at the ticket booth, Eddie had mentioned it was our honeymoon and they totally upgraded us for free. That is unheard of on international flights!! Someone at the airport must have been having a really good day!

We started in Dusselfdorf, Germany. Home of the altbier (a really nasty dark beer that Germans are obsessed with...God knows why).

Of course we had to stop and have an altbier at the famous Uerige Bar in Altstadt (Old City). You literally cannot order a drink at this bar. Once you enter, you are served their house brewed altbier whether you like it or not. There is not ordering liquor, juice or even water at this bar!! Everyone gets an altbier and that is that.You don't wanna question the Germans...they can be quite scary.

How can you have an altbier without a liverwurst sandwich? For those of you who have never tried liverwurst because of the idiotic, American phobia of liver....well, you are missing out big time buddy. More liverwurst for me.

Afterwards drinking yucky beer, we went onto a docked boat on the Rhine River where....

We had more beer!!! I really dislike beer, except for the sweet kind, and opted for a mojito and got looks of shame from many a person. Including my husband :( I stole his beer for the photo!

A random cool statue which was one of the best I have ever seen. I just can't even imagine the suffering that goes into that job.

During one of the days when I had some time to myself, I ventured out to the aquarium.... ALL BY MYSELF!! It might not seem like a big deal to some but it is an unbelievable feat for me. I get anxiety just thinking about taking public transportation in Philadelphia. And to take a taxi to a strange location in a foreign country where for some reason no one speaks English is an incredible accomplishment for me :)

Does this not look like it belongs in National Geographics?? If I hadn't taken this photo myself, I would have never believed it was taken by an amateur photographer. BTW this fish kinda looks like shrimp tempura.

Another gorgeous shot taken by moi of course. Ok, I'm starting to sound a little big headed.

And my fav shot out of the bunch! C'mon people!! This is a magazine worthy photo. I am seriously in the wrong profession.

Love my gorgeous husband!

Our next stop was to the Arion Luxury Resort off of the coast of Athens, Greece. It was so nice to finally get away from cold and rainy Germany!! And this resort was magnificent! Husband picked a good one. Politicians, prime ministers and even royalty have stayed at this hotel during their travels to Greece.

The view from our balcony made me want to cry. After being in Germany for way too long, this was pure heaven. Then, realizing that people actually live here and see this beauty everyday made me quite envious but I figured they are losing out on cheese steaks, IMAX, Broadway shows, and all the fun city stuff for the beauty. Well, actually they do have Gyros which are so much better,and healthier, than cheese steaks (Sorry Philadelphians but it's true. Try a gyro in Greece and tell me a cheese steak is still better. I dare you!). Sorry. I digress.

Our first night in Athens, we went to an awesome seafood restaurant located on the beach. We had barely sat down when the owner of the restaurant came up to us and asked us to follow him into the kitchen. Eddie and I looked at each other like...Uggghhh are we in trouble?? We followed him apprehensively....

.....he took us into the kitchen, opened a drawer and asked us to choose which fish we would like to eat! WTF why aren't they this hospitable in the US?? We get to see and pick our own fish straight from the kitchen?? It's genius! This way we know we aren't eating some scummy cheapo fish disguised as dover sole. Not that I would get the two mistaken *ahem*

We decided to go with these little tikes. I have no clue what they were but they looked too cute not to eat.

They came out looking like this with the heads still attached. Eddie got all freaked out about the heads and forced me to detach the heads off of all the fish. So he makes me eat snails with their nasty little antler things and snotty oysters (which I eventually became obsessed with) but he can't touch a measly little fish head? I'm Ukranian so my family has been eating fish heads for centuries. Well I don't actually eat them but they sure don't bother me. In fact, I do eat the fishtail. When fried, the tail contains all of the flavor in the fish. Like little fish chips. Yum

After dinner we witnessed an insanely beautiful sunset. This particular location in Athens is known for some of the most beautiful sunsets in the world... and we had front row seats :)

Another night, after I had begged Eddie to go, we went to Nobu for dinner. Who knew that Athens had a Nobu?? This was my first time eating at one and it lived up to its reputation. You can see our hotel right behind me! The restaurant was located on the hotel grounds so we even got a golf cart lift to the entrance.

And the sunset during dinner was even better than the one from the day before. Why are they so colorful in Greece??? Is it something in the air?

The next day, we went to a collapsed underground cave that had a mineral lake where we spent the day trying to "heal" ourselves in the waters.

There was a slight annoyance though. These tiny little fish would swim up to you and actually eat the dead flesh off your body. Freakin zombie fish! I have a terrible fish phobia which I developed after falling off of a jet ski (that's another story) and the slightest touch from these fish freaked me the hell out. Eddie spent a good portion of the day trying to get me to stay still in the water so these little nasty things would attack me. After feeling one of them poking me, it was enough to drive me out of the water for good.

Eddie seemed to enjoy it though. In fact, there are fish spas all over Greece where people pay money to have these tiny fish suck on your toes. BLAHHHHH *throw up*

Ye, this is a random shot but I really like it so I'm ending this post with it. I actually photoshopped the ball in since the real ball was out of the frame but it looks realistic right? I am sending this photo to Wilson so that they can use it in their national campaign next year :)

Honeymoon Part 2 post coming soon! As soon as my carpal tunnel eases down. Many more pics to come.

And my trip to Prague is coming soon. Also might be going to Panama and Israel soon. Has traveling become my hobby?? More like my passion :)

Honeymoon #1 - Vieques, Puerto Rico

2012-04-27T11:06:00.000-04:00

Yes the post title says #1 because I am in fact having two honeymoons. And before you go saying "Oh my god, she is so spoiled" I would like to you to know that not only did Eddie have several business meetings during our first mini-honeymoon, he will also be working a whole week out of our upcoming three week honeymoon to Europe. Eh, I guess I don't mind suffering a little bit if the end result is pure luxury. Plus I get to roam the streets of Germany by myself for a week. That's not too bad, right? Then afterwards we will be heading to the Greek Islands and Paris where I get Eddie all to myself!

Oh......by the way......

I'M MARRIED!!!!!!!

I totally forgot to mention that. :) I am an official wife now but with none of that wife business nonsense. You will not see me putting an apron on and asking for babies anytime soon. But it's wonderful to know that we have both committed our lives and souls to each other.

I had so much fun at my dream wedding and I'll post photos up as soon as I get back from Europe. But for now, you can check out my AWESOME honeymoon video that I forced Eddie to do during our trip. He was a little apprehensive during filming but ended up loving the end product and showed it to everyone and their mothers.

Sorry Blog....Wedding Comes First

2012-03-14T16:17:00.000-04:00

My poor blog had been so deprived lately. I keep going on it expecting a new post to have magically appeared only to remember that I'm the one that writes them. Damn.

The real reason for my lack of posts is because I am getting married in three weeks! Thus, making this the last post I will ever write as an unmarried woman. This wedding is really sucking up all my time and energy and at the end of the day, I'm just too tired to create fully formed sentences to put up on my blog.

Not only that, but my two business have been doing surprisingly well this year so a lot of my energy has been targeted towards that as well. And to top it all off...my fiance has a new job that is located over 200 miles from our home so I have to watch him leave me every few days which is just so stressful and exhausting. Thank god he is doing his part in the wedding cuz god knows I couldn't do it alone.

One thing that's for sure is that I will never stop writing in my blog. I get so much enjoyment rereading my old posts and revisiting memories. I've been reading a lot of my past posts recently and DAMN I traveled a lot in the past 4 years!!! I have been on a traveling hiatus for the past 6 months except for the occasional trip to another US city. After the wedding, things should go back to normal though.

For our honeymoon we have a mini trip planned to Puerto Rico and the island of Vieques and a month later, for the REAL honeymoon, we will be headed to Dusseldorf, Germany for a week, to the Greek Islands (Mykonos, Santorini, Crete) for a little over a week, and then to Paris for a few days. Can you say dream honeymoon????? I always knew I wasn't the Hawaii honeymoon type of girl. I need adventure, culture and extravagance for my honeymoon. Not just a beach with an umbrella drink. Nope, that doesn't cut it for me. And Eddie is giving me the most perfect honeymoon I could ever begin to wish for.

Here are some pics that I was planning to turn into blogs this past month but never got to a chance to because of reasons stated above....

I went to the Hair O'the Dog event that I had previously written about here. It had to be the most well dressed crowd I have EVER seen in Philadelphia. By far! It was so much fun mainly because the creators of the event made sure every little detail was perfect. And any event that lets me wear a gown is AWESOMEEE.

I think Eddie and I were definitely the best dressed couple...but eh...that's my own biased opinion :D And it's all because of Eddie's weirdly homosexual-esque taste. Believe it or not, he bought my dress on his own and even bought my matching Adriana Orsini bangel and earrings as well. He's my personal stylist!

Eddie and I in Providence, Rhode Island for the first time together where his new job is located. The train ride is a 5 hour hell ride but it's worth it to be with my baby.

Messing around in the bathroom before we go out to dinner with Eddie's new boss in Providence. Believe it or not, RI has some excellent food. It can almost compete with Philly!!

Eddie made me my fav bagel and lox for my 25th birthday breakfast. Yep that's right, I'm freakin old man! This is the first year people starting calling me old and people kept referring to my age as a quarter of a century instead of 25. I refuse to celebrate my bday from now on. It's just getting too depressing. I miss the innocence of my early 20s :( The bagels were good though!

Later had some dinner at a Moroccan place with some really good friends. They bring out these huge platters that everyone has to share and they don't bring utensils so you just grab it with your fingers. I think just about everyone ended up giving up and asking for a plastic fork. You try eating couscous with your fingers!! It's like trying to pick up sand with chopsticks!!

Later went to a birthday dinner for a friend of mine. I love how all her friends are beautiful! Sadly, I couldn't stay long because I had a nightclub grand opening to get to.

The grand opening of Lit UltraBar with Jonathan Peters went fantastic and I got to try out my new LED corsets for the first time which I must say, looked fantastic.*pat on back*. The Jewelz Dancers always bring it up one level!!! Check out the video below....

I did my very first wedding show for Strolling Tables which was a huge success. The brides were all over our tables and we can't wait to do another show.

We did a Casino Themed Strolling Table at a country club event in Phoenixeville. The desserts that they served were freakin insane!!! I must have eaten 15 of them. I'm such a fatty.

My cousin attempted to teach me how to make cake pops for my wedding favors. They came out so delicious but I'm afraid of what they will taste like when I attempt to make them myself.

Wow... See how much I have missed putting up on my blog??? That's only like 10% of what happened this month because the last few weeks have been so hectic. It's crunch time baby and I am soooo ready for this wedding.

I'll post again after the wedding!!

What Happened to Classically Handsome Men In Suits?

2012-01-28T13:45:00.001-05:00

I sometimes dream about what it would be like to live in the time of classically handsome men who wore suits to dinner, drank brandy, and conversed about worldly topics.

Why must I be cursed to live in the time of Jersey Shore rejects that drink Jager bombs, wear wife beaters to dinner and whose topic of choice is going to the gym, tanning and doing laundry.

Oh how times have changed.

Maybe it was the black & white screen that made some of the old Hollywood actors amazingly handsome or maybe it was because they were poised, well put together, and articulate.

I don't know how "worldly" the actors below were but I do know one thing...they are so classically handsome that it brings a tear to my eye to know that they are now gone.

Gregory Peck

Gregory Peck's facial features are absolutely stunning. Perfect chin, nose, lips, hair, eyes, eyebrows. And he even dresses exquisitely. Perfect man in my opinion.

Marlon Brando

If you can even get past his amazing lips, you can really appreciate how perfect his face is. All of his facial features separately might not be the best but when put together, they make a face to die for.

Cary Grant

Hands down, one of the best looking men to EVER have lived. Period.

Now, I'm not saying there are NO classically handsome men in our day but they are very few and far between. Here are a few current day men that really stand out to me...

Pierce Brosnan

He actually reminds me of an old Hollywood actor. His facial features are so strong and make you want to know more about him.

Richard Gere

Who didn't have a crush on Richard Gere in Pretty Woman? The only reason I watch that movie is to see him in it.

Bradley Cooper

I have actually seen Bradley Cooper in person and he looks even more stunning than in his photos. He is tall, muscular, and has insanely blue eyes!

Billy Zane

Ok, I will admit, I had a huge crush on Billy Zane in Titanic. And when I learned that his hair was a wig, I almost cried. Here is what he looked like before he went bald. They don't come more ruggedly sexy and manly than that.

George Clooney

This one doesn't even need a caption. Just like Cary Grant, he rules the world of classically good looks.

Edward W.

He has smoldering eyes, perfect lips and strong jawline. Oh wait, that's my fiance! :) I had to put him on this list because he is what inspired this list in the first place! One of the things that attracts me to him the most are his timeless good looks. People always ask him if he is a movie star or compare him to old Hollywood actors. He is also the definition of a true gentleman!

Sadly, a large part of our world is filled with these douchebags....

And most girls will never have the chance to experience a life with a true gentleman.

Sad Sad Sad :'(

I am somewhat terrified to see what is going to be considered "hot" when I am old and wrinkly. I guess only time will tell. Who knows, maybe we will even relapse into classic beauty all over again!

I Made Sushi For The First Time Ever

2012-01-27T16:34:00.003-05:00

A couple days ago, I was able to cross another thing off of my lengthy Life List. After many years of wanting to learn how to make sushi, I finally did it!

Originally, I had planned to take a professional sushi class but apparently there are a shortage of sushi classes in Philadelphia. Someone should get on that!

Sooooo, being the Google expert that I am, I started researching all the things I would need to make a spicy tuna roll (Eddie's favorite) and a cucumber roll (for my friend because she's a vegetarian).

I went to the local Asian Market (which by the way is like a world of its own) and bought a bamboo sushi mat, a wooden rice spoon, nori (roasted seaweed), sushi rice, wasabi powder (they didn't have wasabi paste so had to make my own damn wasabi), soy sauce, sushi-grade tuna steak, scallions, cucumbers, rice vinegar, Srirachi chilli sauce and mayo.

It ended up costing quite a bit but if you can imagine how many sushi rolls I can make (like 50?) with all those ingredients, I'm technically saving a fortune. It's like paying less than $1 per roll. Craziness!!

And you might wonder... why am I trying to make my own sushi when I can just buy it? Because it's cool ok? How many people do you know that can make you sushi for you when you come over? NONE. When my friends come over, I'll be like...spicy tuna or shrimp tempura?? :)

Here is my very first attempt at making sushi. Spicy tuna roll with cucumber! They look normal sized in the photo but they were seriously the size of my fist. I'm not quite sure yet on how to make them bit sized. I tried squeezing them a bit tighter but all of the ingredients started to ooze out. Then I tried putting a thinner layer of rice on the nori but it still came out gigantic. Oh well, hopefully it'll come with practice.

Here is my second attempt. Cucumber roll! These definitely came out a lot nicer. I put more filling inside so they were shaped nicer but still HUGE. I should be careful. Someone might choke and die while eating my sushi and then I will forever be known as the Sushi Slayer :-/

Yay, I think she likes her cucumber rolls. Makes me so happy when people enjoy my food :) BTW, how gorgeous is my friend? And she's not even wearing any makeup! Grrrr.

These are some of the retard sushi that never made it to the plate. They just fell completely apart. I still ate them though! Can't throw away yumminess. I need to get one of those really sharp sushi knives cuz my knives suck.

Okkk, I just googled "sushi knife" and they go for $140-$240. Might hold off on the sushi knife until after the wedding.

Some leftover sushi rice. This stuff was really the only hard part about sushi making. There are like 7,000 different steps you need to take while preparing it and it takes forever. And it's so sticky that it will stick to every part of your body...hair, skin, clothes, etc. You also have to be really careful with handling it so that the texture of the rice won't break down. AND you can't even put the rice onto anything metal or the flavor will change. Sheeesh. After making the rice, my friend said...

"I will never complain about sushi being expensive ever again."

Scallions for spicy tuna roll.

We ate all of it. It seriously tasted like restaurant sushi. No joke.

Ye so I'm a messy cook. One of Eddie's pet peeves but what can you do? My friend graciously helped me with the cleaning because according to her, it's in her Puerto Rican blood to like cleaning :)

Best picture ever!!

I'll be making Eddie some sushi for the first time today. I think I will try to make a spicy tuna roll, cucumber roll, and I'll add in a California roll this time. I personally don't like California rolls but it sounds easy to make and I'm still a novice.

My dream is to make Philly roll and an eel roll (my fav!) but who the hell wants to touch this??

BARF...not me.

Maybe I can get cooked eel somewhere. We will seeeeeee.

Don't Be Scammed By Couture Laser & Skin

2012-01-26T15:51:00.001-05:00

First of all, congrats to Jaime Leigh for winning my Benii Boutique handbag giveaway! More fun giveaways to come soon so keep a look out!

Ok, now on to my rant. I'm probably one of the last people you want to piss off because I have a very spiteful personality and like to see justice.. Granted, it takes A LOT to piss me off. Like, you gotta really try to upset me because, in general, I am a very forgiving person.

So I've been using Groupon and similar sites to find some great deals for my upcoming wedding. For example, I saved $600 on a $1,700 suit, I saved $350 on a $500 teeth whitening procedure, AND I had recently bought a Microdermabrasion deal for $55 from a spa called Couture Laser and Skin. I did my research and googled the spa to make sure it wasn't some gross, run-down place. It seemed really nice from the pictures. Although, I was too lazy to read the reviews like I usually do.

So here comes the day of my microderm procedure. I asked Eddie to take a half day from work to drive me since it was an hour away. He wasn't happy about it but he drove me anyway. We got there at exactly 2:30pm which was the time of my appointment. Once inside, I was told that my appointment was actually at 2:15pm and that I should have checked the email reminder that they had sent me. Confused, because I never get my appointment times wrong, I looked through the emails on my phone and found their appointment reminder which had 2:30pm on it! NOT 2:15pm.

I showed my phone to the lady at the front desk (Barbara I think, but not sure). All she said was...

"Oh...oops..that's weird..well, we already scheduled someone for your time slot."

SERIOUSLY!? OOPS IS ALL I GET?

As my fiance calmly explained to her that we had driven a long distance and that he had to take off work, all she did was stand and look at us with a stupid grin on her face like this was all a big joke.

After getting no response from her, we asked if there was anything they could do to help out the situation...she said, without hesitation... "Sorry no" and turned her head back to her computer.

I have never felt so mistreated by a spa or salon in my life. Not only was this lady so indifferent about messing up my appointment AND my day, she never acknowledged that it was her mistake and didn't offer anything to make it better.

When we asked to speak to the owner of the establishment...she says in an very snobby tone...

"Oh.. you won't get to him without going through me first"

WOW :-/

We left very upset and all I could do the whole 1 hour ride home was apologize profusely to my fiance for how the spa had treated us and for making him drive all this way for nothing.

We hesitantly rescheduled the appointment and told the front desk to please send us an accurate appointment reminder for whatever date they schedule us because we can't make another 1 hour trip and have the same thing happen again.

A week later, I get a voice mail message saying that I had missed my appointment and this time they WILL consider it a no show and that I cannot redeem my coupon. WTF. I looked through my email and spam inbox and found NO email from them telling me about an appointment date or time..

I no longer wish to fight this because I don't feel it's worth it. I will not be going back and I guess I will have to take the money loss. I just can't believe how unprofessional and disorganized this spa is. The front desk lady was complaining the whole time I was there about how they have so many of these Groupon, Living Social, etc deals that it's hard to keep track of them or even find space to schedule people in.

I have learned my lesson and will be paying full price in center city Phila for a spa that treats me like a queen for the day.

Anshul Gambhir, you should be ashamed of your staff. I hope you read this because it should be pretty high on Google search when you google your spa.

And a tip in case you would like to remain in business. Judging by your overall horrible online spa reviews, the rule of quality over quantity should be implemented into your practice.

Attempt To Mount A Mechanical Bull - FAIL

2012-01-09T15:24:00.001-05:00

I had a total FAIL this weekend while trying to pose for a photo on a mechanical bull with my friend. Note, this mechanical bull was completely stationary and not moving at all. All I wanted was one innocent little picture and it turned out to be a WAY harder than it looked. In my defense, the bull was abnormally high because the bag was deflated and no normal human being's legs can swing up that high unless you are a freakishly tall super model or something.

So here it is people...this is what it takes to get a picture perfect photo...

"Ok who is going first? How about I go on first and pull you up OK? This should be fun! Weee!"

"Jul, I need you to pull my leg up. This isn't working. I'm too short! You pull and I'll jump!"

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!"

"What happened? Are we still alive?? Ow, I really wish this thing was inflated"

"Ok we have to try again!! We are troopers! This time hold on really tight while I climb up."

"Whewww, we made it!"

"Ok....balance....."

"Now pose! Hah...everyone on Facebook will think we flawlessly posed for this magnificent picture!"

Philadelphia's Best Black Tie Affair

2011-12-21T13:33:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again! Time to break out that fancy gown you have been saving in your closet all year for just the right occasion because Philadelphia's swankiest black tie affair is right around the corner!

The 18th Annual Hair O'The Dog is going to be held on January 14th at the Westin Philadelphia and, like always, will be a night to remember.

Jewelz Entertainment will be premiering our brand new Glow Dancers for the first time and our custom designed Strolling Tables will also be seen throughout the gorgeous venue.

Philly's favorite band Drop Dead Sexy will be rockin the house along with the legendary DJ Johnny Looch. DJ Licious "The Duchess of the Turntables" will ignite "The Varsity Club", this year's bottle service lounge presented by Cheerleaders. Hair O' The Dog will surely deliver intense entertainment, the hottest tunes and the best in party favorites.

There are only 24 days left to get your tickets and they are going fast so better get them now or be sorry!

Get your tickets here: http://hairothedog.ticketleap.com/t/jewelz/

Check out these pics from previous years!!

See you all there!!

Jewelz Dancers At DayGlow Blu

2011-12-12T12:34:00.000-05:00

One of my all time favorite events that I have worked at was DayGlow so I was very excited when we were asked to work the new DayGlow Blu in Bethlehem.

Check out our previous DayGlow experience HERE.

DayGlow is such a well put together event and I have never heard someone complain about one thing. This time, the Jewelz Dancers danced in front of 5,000 people. Watching all of them getting covered in thousands of gallons of neon paint was absolutely the best part.

Ready for the pics? Take the DayGlow Blu/Jewelz Dancers journey by scrolling down.....

Make Your Diet Yummy With Slim-Fast

2011-12-12T03:01:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Slim-Fast for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Why do most people give up on their diets? Because their diets simply taste like chewy, nasty, cardboard pulp! So think about it, if there was a delicious diet food that would make you lose weight, wouldn't you stick to it?
Lucky for you, Slim-Fast has introduced its richest, creamiest, best-tasting shakes ever – all inside a deliciously convenient bottle that’s designed to go everywhere. And just in time for you to stay in shape during the holidays! They will definitely help me stay in shape for my wedding. I refuse to be a less than perfect bride!

Flavors available in the new Slim-Fast bottle include:
• Creamy Milk Chocolate
• French Vanilla
• Rich Chocolate Royale
• Cappuccino Delight
• Strawberries N’ Cream

I LOVE chocolate so I tried the Creamy Milk Chocolate. So so so YUM!

---------------------------------------------

The new Slim-Fast shakes are part of the Slim-Fast 3•2•1 Plan. The plan includes 3 nourishing snacks, 2 Slim-Fast shakes or meal bars, and 1 balanced 500 calorie meal per day. Following this plan will really help those unwanted holiday pounds to stay away. All the bloated people around you will secretly wonder how you manage to look so amazing. The new shakes are available in the pharmacy sections of grocers and retailers nationwide.
Don't forget to 'Like' Slim-Fast on Facebook for contests, prizes, videos and more!

The Phoenician in Scottsdale = Gorgeous

2011-12-03T11:15:00.000-05:00

When Eddie told me that we won't be staying at the W Hotel during our trip to Scottsdale because the room rates were ridiculously high this time of year (like $500 for cheapest room), I became super pouty and annoyed.

Me: But baaaaaaabe. We always stay at The W Hotel*pouty face*. Who cares how much it costs.

Eddie: *Stares at me* God, I've spoiled you.

We decided The Phoenician was the next best option since we could get a special rate there. I had visited The Phoenician once before and knew it was a beautiful hotel so I begrudgingly agreed. What an amazing decision it turned out to be! The Phoenician property is so stunningly beautiful that you feel like you are a tropical resort; not in a desert! And it didn't hurt that they upgraded us to a gorgeous suite. W Hotel, I'm sorry but you have been beat.

I snapped a few pics in the lobby while Eddie checked us in. So gorgeous and opulent!

Eddie making sure that we get upgraded to a suite. "See that girl snapping our photo over there? She will kill me if you don't upgrade me sir." Just kidding....I wouldn't do such a thing.

One wing of the hotel with smaller rooms. Look! You can see my shadow on the left :)

Panoramic view of the top pool area. There were 4 levels of pools and jacuzzis!

Ok, so on to our rooms. When we first walked in, we both looked at each other and just smiled. We figured they would give us a tiny upgrade but instead we got a 4 room/3 balcony, frickin awesome suite!

Let me give you a full tour. Follow me ladies and gentleman...

Let's start in the bedroom. The decor isn't really my style but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Connected to the living room (photo didn't come out good) is the dining room in which i love love love the lamp. I kind of wish we had gotten something similar in our dining room at home.

Then we step out onto the larger balcony which overlooks the Phoenician golf course.

Am I boring you with room photos yet? Well too bad because here is the bathroom with the shower and jacuzzi tub on the left. And like all fancy bathrooms, it comes with one of those European butt sprayer/cleaner things. Does anyone ever really use them? I would think that it would just make a bigger mess than to begin with.

Best part of the whole hotel room! A TV in the bathroom mirror that goes back to being a mirror when shut off! I told Eddie I want one and even found one for cheap, like $1,500, but he still thinks it's an unnecessary expense, so no TV mirror for me :( I will take someone's FB suggestions and glue an iPad to my wall :-P

Since Eddie was at work all day and no one around to take a pic of me, I had to resort to photographing myself. I probably would have done it even if Eddie was there.

Ok, maybe just one more.

After some much needed picture taking, I explored The Phoenician grounds for a bit. It's like a little chunk of paradise surrounded by a rocky, desert oasis. The grass was so soft and manicured, it felt like cotton candy. I've never seen grass so perfect.

Empty pool, just how I like it. No annoying children splashing and gross fat, old men staring.

The temperature was in the high 70s but it felt like high 80s because the sun was so strong. But in the shade, it was freezing. Must the weather be so dramatic in the desert?

After tanning for a bit, I had lunch at the Italian outdoor restaurant. I forget the name, sorry.

Scrumptious olive bread made fresh daily on premise. Such big chunks of olives in the bread! YUM. I also had a Reuben (my new fav sandwich. Sorry grilled cheese.)

The very next day, we were told that there would be construction going on outside our hotel room window so we were upgraded once again to our very own Casita. It's basically like your very own little house on the resort grounds. NICE.

An even more gorgeous room with a fireplace, kitchen and two bathrooms this time!

Eddie had a few hours off from work that morning so we took a refreshing hike up Camelback Mountain.

At the base of the mountain. Not sweaty yet! It's really cold in the morning too!

Pretty high up now and sweaty too! We took the hard trail which is not even technically a trail but more like a rocky, jaggedy 80 degree slope.

See what I mean? No easy hike and not for the squeamish. I saw blood on this trail!

See the little dots to the left of the cactus? Those are people far far behind us. Can't see? Let's look a little closer...

Look at those stragglers!!

Tah-dahhh. Reached the summit. Well, almost. We had to turn back because there was no car waiting for us on the other side of the mountain.

Right after the hike, without a break (cause I'm cool like that), I went to a Trampoline park which is a fantastic concept. It's basically a huge gymnasium with the walls and floors entirely covered in Trampolines. That's like every child's fantasy...right?

Yep, that's pretty much it. Well it's not everything I did or saw in Scottsdale but everything I took a pic of to show you :) Notice I am not expressing how awesome the above photo is. That's because you can see for yourself!

"An amazing image is 10% subject and 90% who is behind the lens."

Four Years With The Man of My Dreams

2011-11-27T14:45:00.001-05:00

Today is the exact day that I met my future husband 4 years ago! We are having dinner at Tequila's tonight which is where we went on our first date. I still remember the first time I met him, he was wearing a tan, corduroy jacket and he smelled so good. He drove up to my apartment in a big BMW (thankfully, he got rid of that thing, I hate big cars) and gave me a small hug. During dinner, we had such easy and comfortable conversation and it was the first time I really felt like this could be something. At the end of the night, he drove me home and I leaned for a goodnight kiss only to be greeted with his cheek instead oh his lips :(

I walked into my apartment feeling dejected. Why didn't he want to kiss me? Did he not have as wonderful time as I did? As all these thought raced through my head, I received a text message - "I had a great time with you and can't wait to see you again!"

And that was the beginning of our love story! Three weeks later, he flew me out to Puerto Rico where we started to fall in love with each other.

I would do anything for this man, he is truly the light in my life. There is not one single person on this Earth that doesn't think highly of Eddie and look up to him and what he has done with his life. I can only dream to be more like him and strive to everyday. I love love love love love love love love love (ok my fingers are getting tired) him sooooo much.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABY. I can't wait for 40 more years with your beautiful smile!

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A few 365 Photos from the past few days:

The Abramson sisters (cousins really) together again during our Grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary.

Irene and I trying on Gangsta Rompers on Black Friday.

London blocking my view while watching Seth MacFarlane roast Donal Trump.

A gorgeous rose mural across the street from my house. So nice to look at everyday.

Fall is here!! The path I walk my dogs along everyday.

Gucci and London have both abandoned their old bed for the newer, softer one.

My grandma Tamara and great grandma Polina posing in Russia.

Eddie intently working on his laptop before going to sleep.

Old Photographs Are a Window To Our History

2011-11-22T15:00:00.001-05:00

My love for photography extends way beyond taking photos of myself. I recently started a project in which I am making a Photobook with all of my favorite photographs of my grandparents and great grandparents. The photos are so incredible to look at. It's like a little window into a world that once was. One day my great grandchildren will look at my photos and wonder what our world was like.

It's kind of weird to see my grandparents in such a youthful light but they were once young too! And good looking may I add! Their photos are flawless and they didn't even have Photoshop back then.

The black and white and film grain in the photographs really make the photos so mysterious and interesting to me. I wish I could go back in time for just one day and talk to my grandparents when they were my age. That would be unbelievable but alas time travel probably won't be invented until I'm long gone. Maybe my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren will visit me one day. Then I can steal their time machine and visit MY grandparents!

PS...there is a topless shot of me at the very bottom ;)

My gorgeous grandmother. Not many people have a good looking profile line. And no photoshop!

A photographer loved her versatile look so much that he photographed her for free. Classic Beauty! Doesn't she kind of look like an old starlet back in the day?

My handsome grandpa in the Russian army. Love the classic Russian hat. Eddie got me one just like that when he was in Moscow. Except it's white and girly.

I'm sure they were very popular with the ladies back then :)

My grandmother as a child with my great grandmother. Interesting fact: people didn't smile back then because it was considered foolish to smile in photographs. You looked like a goofball if you smiled.

That's me in the front seat and my cousin Polina in the back... taken in Kiev, Ukraine. I love how I look like a constipated boy and Polina looks like a concerned cabbage patch doll.

Me: I'm in charge of this playground Bioootch!!

Polina: That's what you thinkkkkk

Ok, ready for the money shot??

Tah Dahhhhhh!!

What the hell is up with my ears? They looked like humungous elf ears when I was little and now I have itty bitty ears.