Honeymoon Locations in the South: Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my series - Honeymoon Locations in the South!



Next stop is a town to the north of my hometown: Staunton, Virginia (pronounced STAN-tuhn).



Staunton has only one decent full-service hotel, the Stonewall Jackson Hotel!



It underwent major renovations in 2005 to update its interior to a higher standard. It had originally opened in 1924, and is on the National Trust for Historic Preservation Historic Hotels of America list. It has 124 guest rooms. Part of this project was due to a new parking garage that was built adjacent to the hotel on New Street. The other reason is because of the addition of the renowned American Shakespeare Center ("ASC") at Blackfriar's Playhouse.



As written by Frommer's: "This stunning re-creation of the first indoor theater in the English-speaking world, which William Shakespeare and his colleagues built on part of London's Blackfriars Monastery...is, in itself, a reason to visit Staunton." The theater has 300 seats and is to scale and detail exactly what a serious theater buff would enjoy!



The hotel has a lovely dining room called the Colonnade, which does a very nice breakfast. Another dining option is the bar that is open at night. Often, there is live music at the bar and they have food as well. Both come highly recommended by friends and family. M and I have discussed doing a one-night stay there at some point, so we shall see! As you can see below, their king bedrooms look super-comfy:



So, if you are a couple looking for a southern town with some of the most talented Shakespearean actors in the country, this theater and music town is for you! If you love an old town steeped in unique architecture and history, then this location may be ideal for you as well!



Photo sources: Stonewall Jackson Hotel, Staunton Visitors Center

Stylish Blogger Award

Here are the rules:
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

Thank you so much to Pink Tulips for giving me the Stylish Blogger Award!
I will now try to come up with some schnazzy things to say.

1. I wear the same size shoe and same size in clothing as my Mom, so we frequently trade things off which is always a blast... especially with some of her vintage items!

2. I have not had my hair cut, in a legitimate way, since 2004. It is VERY long now.

3. I live in Goochland County, Virginia and longingly drive past a lovely, old plantation home everyday. I squint my eyes and try to think of how it would look if M and I lived there.

4. I grew up in Lexington, Virginia, and this upbringing has made me a bit of a snot when it comes to good food, wine and a high appreciation for fine things.

5. I look more like my Grandmama than anyone else in my family.

6. I daily struggle with being a 25-year-old college senior in an undergrad-only college of 1200 students. Everyone knows I am "old" (can't they just say "older" and be nice about it?!)!

7. I have taken over M and my DVR. Shows currently being recorded: Extra Virgin, Southland, The Martha Stewart Show, Grey's Anatomy, the 12am showing up Sportscenter, Conan, The Dish, Soup, How I Met Your Mother, Damages, Greek. No, he doesn't mind. No, I am not totally positive on that last comment.

Fifteen Recently Discovered Bloggers (wow, that is a LOT of bloggers... I couldn't list that many!!!) I have lots of friends, but I have not discovered THAT many recently, here are a handful of recent additions, however!

1. 2frugalfoodies - Boarding school classmate and her hubby making amazingly good food

2. Jamie's J.D. - A Twitter friend whose blog provides me with regular laughs

3. Natalie at Tripping in Heels

4. My cousin's GF, Xiaolu at 6 Bittersweets, makes me drool on a daily basis with her delish-looking meals.

5. A very awesome family friend, Dixie Gypsy, on her adventures in Australia!

6. Amanda and Nick. I always like to get ideas from other people's weddings!

7. Sara in Le Petit Village. Sometimes she does a French word of the day with j'adore!

8. You may follow her on Twitter as SBCVandy, her blog is now titled "My Crooked Life." but I really enjoy her keeping me in the loop about her health! So important!

Feel free to spread the LOVE around, y'all!

XO

Wedding Day Jewelry

Because my ring looks like this:



And side view:



And I love pearls...

M told me, in a perfect world, he would love to give me a set of jewelry that would incorporate my new sapphire engagement ring and my love of pearls. As my current set of pearls are mounted on gold, I would love to add a set with platinum or silver as it's mounting material to incorporate my platinum ring. He said maybe he will be able to surprise me with a piece, which I would be thrilled to add onto over the years.

The Elements of Life: Ocean Collection:



Mikimoto writes of their collection saying:

Mikimoto's Elements of Life collection illustrates the company's ongoing initiative to incorporate colour into their jewellery collections. Water, Fire, Earth and Air are the four key elements of life forming harmony in the universe and unity among all living things. The use of coloured gemstones is a natural progression for Mikimoto. The broad range of coloured sapphires contrasts beautifully with cultured pearls.

The first collection to be launched in the UK is Ocean from Elements of Life, which is inspired, by the element of Water. Water represents purity and is known as the sustainer of life. The ocean, the oyster's natural habitat and the birthplace of pearls reflects shades of blue which is interpreted by Mikimoto using graduated shades of blue sapphires adding sparkle to white cultured pearl jewellery designs. Ocean from Elements of Life features necklaces, earrings and rings set with Akoya or White South Sea pearls complemented by graduated shades of blue sapphires.

Has anyone seen this collection before? It is by Mikimoto and is sold in the Virginia area by both Fink's Jewelers and Schwarzchild.

There is a drop necklace:


A stud necklace:


Drop earrings:


And bracelet:


There are many other pieces, but these are my favorites! What do you think?

The Cricut Create

Another big gift that I got this Christmas was the Cricut Create by Provo Craft. I originally had asked for the Expression, but seeing as I don't make big posters an awful lot, this similar tool certainly will come in handy while in my office at home. M really is trying to get me to do things I enjoy more often.



When you open it up, this keyboard appears to match the cartridge you placed within the Cricut, and this area is called the Dashboard.



The Cricut used to come with the cartridge called "George" but it now comes with the cartridge "DonJuan" instead. It includes both letters, numbers, short phrases as well as graphics.



As the Cricut serves many different purposes, they recommend that you purchase Replacement Blades and have a tool kit to really enjoy everything the Cricut offers.



So, M got me two replacement blades and a spatula, to lift graphics and letters from the paper!




Does anyone else have a Cricut Create or Cricut Expression? I would love to hear people's opinions on the Cricut and what cartridges they have gotten the most use from, as I hope to use mine to make cards, packages, decorated boxes for my jewelry, posters--- any sort of thing I think of, I guess!

XOXO

Bialetti Hot Chocolate Maker

This gift, the Bialetti Hot Chocolate Maker, is one of the ones I received this Christmas. I have not taken it out of the box yet - snowed in at the parentals - but I cannot wait! M purchased it for me, and it is a very thoughtful gift so then I don't spend a ton of money at Starbucks buying Venti Peppermint Hot Chocolate, no Whip, Whole Milk.

One of the many reasons I love Williams-Sonoma, how-to videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbyxZP8jc8c

(W-S is lame, however, by disabling embedding videos!! BOO)


[photo by http://almostbourdain.blogspot.com/]

Places in Paris, like salons de thé "Angelina's", serve their hot chocolate with low-fat milk in it. I normally drink whole milk, but I may get a jar of 2% milk for this product as it is designed (I think) for the lower-fat content of other milks.


[photo by http://almostbourdain.blogspot.com/]

At Angelina's, you order a hot chocolat and they serve it to you in a pitcher with a tea cup. Next to that is a bowl of fresh whipped creme and a glass of ice water to cleanse your palate of the richness.



As an unexpected surprise, My Grandmama and Grandpapa gave me the Williams-Sonoma Peppermint Hot Chocolate shavings as well, so I am ready to go with setting this baby up when I get back to the house in a few days! They did not know M was purchasing this item for me, small world.

As Williams-Sonoma writes:
* Our peppermint version adds triple-distilled natural peppermint oil for the cool, clean taste of fresh mint.

* We've chosen an artisanal bittersweet chocolate by Guittard, San Francisco chocolate makers since the 19th century.

HEAVEN!!!