Favorite Friday Recipe: Jello goodness

It's been too hot to make elaborate dishes or bake so I haven't tried very many new recipes lately.  An old favorite that requires little effort and great payback includes these three ingredients:

It's pretty self explanatory I think.  Enjoy! :)

New cityscape pictures

I don't know why it's so difficult for me to commit to wall hangings but these are long overdue.  I got these city prints from etsy and love the reminders they serve of our trips to each city (Chicago, DC and NYC).

Since Ikea frames have wonky  measurements, I brought them and the drawings to Hobby Lobby and had custom mats cut for $7 a piece.  It was a team effort to hang these above our little record cabinet in the dining room.  I'm really happy with how it looks and it's a relief to have another blank wall filled.  Only 15 left to go!

Wishlist Wednesday: Girls weekend

I'm headed to Chicago in a few days for a girl's weekend with my dear friend K!

Looking forward to eating a ton of Garrett's popcorn (cheesy and caramel mix)

Shopping to our heart's content

And watching chick flicks!

Vintage Monday: Arc lamp

I've been looking for an arc lamp for some time now and was saving up my pennies for this CB2 version.  Well two weeks ago, we went up to Sun City, Georgetown (a retirement community) to check out an estate sale and came across this lamp.  At that point, we had already committed to buying a mid century bedroom suite (more on that to come later) and so B was not too happy about the thought of cramming in another item into our car.  However, the price was less than a third of what I originally wanted to pay so I happily added it to our pile of items despite eye rolling and sighs directed my way.  The lamp came apart in three pieces so we were able to fit it in the car easily and set it up in its new home in our living room.  It is an original 60s brass lamp with a really heavy base to compensate for the arc and keep it steady.

I love how it works with the fireplace and high ceilings.  We're debating on spray painting it (a color or silver) but may just keep it as is.  Thoughts?

Wishlist Wednesday: Circle shelf

I am so in love with this circle shelf!  More details:  

Bride&Wolfe circle shelves are crafted by a local artisan in the Victorian countryside. We use solid lengths of Australian timber (Blackwood or White Ash) that are gently steamed and bent using Swedish wood-bending machinery dating back to the 1850s. The shelves are then hand-finished with lustrous Scandinavian wood oils to enhance the natural timber tones.  Built to last , they'll become as precious as the heirlooms they showcase.

Vintage Monday: Hans Bolling Vikings

These Hans Bolling wood vikings were a splurge from one of my favorite etsy shops.  They are so adorable with their furry beards and studded helmets.  Will have to figure out which part of the house they'll be guarding!

a little friend

Your regularly scheduled blog posts (Vintage Monday, Wishlist Wednesday and Favorite Friday Recipes) will hopefully resume next week.  Thanks for allowing me to hijack with all this travel talk for the past two weeks.  Hope everyone has a great weekend ahead and I'll leave you with some last pictures from Barbados--featuring a little visitor we had each day on our balcony (who may or may not have been lured there by bread crumbs set out by B).

 I spy a little bird sitting on the table

Carefully choosing his morsel of food

That's the one

Showing off

Great food in Barbados

We ate our fill of seafood and local cuisine while in Barbados.  We sampled everything from restaurant dining at L'Azure at the Crane, to grabbing a table at Oisten's Fish Market as well as the drive through at Cheffette (the local fast food chain). 

Roti (I believe a West Indies version) with chicken and potato at Ackee Tree

And of course a lot of meals came with a view including this one at Atlantis Hotel.  

They had a great Bajan buffet--lots of flying fish and macaroni pie!

The view of Bathsheba, on the rugged east coast facing the Atlantic

Lunch (flying fish again) at Carib Beach Cafe

Great view of the Carribbean

I'm not sure which I miss the most--the food or the view!

Crane videos

A couple of videos to share of our stay at the Crane.  Here's a shot starting from the front door, the first bathroom, full kitchen, dining area, living room, obligatory shot of the TV for B, and finally the balcony with the most amazing view!



Here we see the master bath, bedroom, and doors that lead out onto the balcony, complete with comfy lounge chairs



View of the Atlantic Ocean from our balcony, the hotel pools and private plunge pools for the units on the ground floor

View from the Crane

We were absolutely spoiled by our one bedroom suite at the Crane.  We were on the fourth floor of building 500 which directly faced the Atlantic Ocean and its cool breezes.

Here's a view of the living/dining room and kitchen from the balcony

View of the bedroom and balcony beyond

The amazing balcony, complete with a dining set and two loungers where we spent most our time

And here's the stunning view of the Atlantic Ocean from our patio:  looking right

Turning left

And far left towards the maze of pools

Crane Beach

For the second half of our trip, we moved to the east side of the island which faced the Atlantic Ocean.  The Crane resort was phenomenal and set atop the cliffs.  The beach is accessible by stairs or an elevator.

Pink coral makes up the majority of the rocks and sand, so the sand had a pink tinge to it

View from the beach

View of the beach from the cliffs  

(B climbed out to take these pictures, I'm the tiny person standing on the left)

The waves were 8 feet and higher, swimming here is not for the faint of heart!

Pink sand!

Harrison's Cave

Harrison's Cave is a really fascinating natural wonder in Barbados.  Unlike other Caribbean islands that were formed from volcanic activity, Barbados is comprised of coral reefs and this sponge-like material creates a natural aquifer (hello fresh water supply!) as well as unique eco systems (like gullies) within the island.  There has been a huge reconstruction of the whole site as a tourist and educational attraction as well as a huge push to preserve the natural reefs, gullies and plant life.  Here's the entrance to the caves-- these huts cluster together to make different villages and seemed eerily like a Lost film set.

Huge trees and gorgeous flowers everywhere

The tour took us about 200 feet underground (though still 700 feet above sea level) into huge caverns with domed ceilings all filled with stalactites and stalagmites formed through the mineral rich water that drips down.  There were several pools of water and small waterfalls throughout and the sound of rushing water could be heard echoing through the caves.  We were allowed to take pictures but b/c of the darkness and tricky nature of flash photography, couldn't really clearly capture what we saw.  Here's a video I took at a point of the tour when we had a little more light that I hope can help convey the magnificence of this natural wonder!

Oh and just wanted to include this pictures as you know my love for irreverent signage!

Sailing on the Elegance

Sailing on a catamaran is one of our favorite vacation pastimes.  It's a great way to see the island from a different view and you're also offered a ton of food and drink the entire time.  We tend to avoid the big party boats and go for the smaller one or two hull boats.  The Elegance was the perfect boat and we had a wonderful time with the crew and our small group of 8 people for the day.

 
We sailed mainly on the west coast of Barbados, also called the "Gold Coast" as that is where all the wealthy homes and hotels are located.  It is also on the Carribbean side of the island so the water is a bit calmer.

A pirate party boat--the Jolly Roger in the distance

And the highlight of the cruise was getting to swim with the sea turtles!  I'm in the back there playing it cool but eventually I got to touch one as it swam by!