Sequins and Sea Breezes: beach

A Beachy Getaway With Alden Suites

9/24/2018

Beachy Boho

6/16/2016

Happy Thursday friends! I've rescheduled this post three times now so I'm just going to go ahead and post it! And since I spent 4 hours, yes you read that correctly 4 HOURS, at the salon last night I didn't have time to write anything else. You'd think after spending 4 hours at a salon you'd be doing a drastic change, right? Nope. I made the mistake of letting the stylist do whatever she wanted because I thought she'd have fun with it. No joke, 4 hours and $250 later I came out looking almost exactly like I did when I went in. I have maybe 5-6 very subtle highlights and no cut. At least she covered my grays at the top though! But yeah, to say that was the worst salon experience ever would be an understatement. I'm not one to complain so I just left after she was done but my hair desperately needs to be trimmed and I can't bring myself to spend another ridiculous amount somewhere else to get it done. Not to mention I'd really like to have my hair actual balayage instead of just a few barely lighter streaks. And she was doing a very time consuming thing to another person's hair while doing mine so I literally sat there with my hair wet, no product, no setting time, nada for 45 mins before she came back to check on me. So here's my PSA - NEVER tell a stylist to just do what she wants because she will do as little as possible and then charge you like she did a complete makeover.
Ok now on to the post... I'm having serious withdrawals of the beach and island life. I know I live close enough to the beach but I don't get there very often so I took full advantage of being barefoot on the beach as much as I could while we were in Islamorada. Hence why I have no shoes on in this post! There's something calming about feeling the sand beneath your feet, even if the sand is pretty packed down like it was at our beach. Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels that way!
I wore this outfit out to dinner our last night out in Islamorada and it was the perfect casual outfit for dinner on the beach watching the sunset. Even though the sleeves are a bit longer on this shirt it's actually a super lightweight material and is very breathable so I never felt overly hot even before the sun went down. I love that the pattern in the fabric does a pretty good job of hiding wrinkles since I didn't have an iron with me and it had been shoved in my weekend bag for 3 days before I wore it. I paired it with a pair of simple destroyed denim shorts and my favorite tassel necklace I got last year and still wear on repeat. Everything else I kept pretty simple. In case you're wondering, yes I did wear shoes to go out to eat but I'm not going to lie, since we were on the beach I did end up taking them off and kept my toes nice and sandy!

top / shorts / necklace {old, similar here} / lips in nude / sunglasses / bracelet / flash tattoos

*Linking up with The Mix*

beach

Friday Five

6/03/2016

beach

Crochet Cover-Up

4/21/2016

beach

Beach Weather

12/08/2015

beach

Summer Loving

6/17/2015

beach

Beachin' It

7/16/2014

agave 308

So this is what Duval Street looks like...

7/10/2014

Day two we decided to spend walking around Key West and doing some shopping and bar hopping before going out for the evening. On our main bar hopping night we like to keep it casual during the day so we aren't too exhausted at night. Let's face it people, I'm an old woman now so staying out past 11 pm is definitely a struggle!

Duval Street in the afternoon and evening can be insanely packed so trying to get a people-less picture can be pretty impossible but walking around in the morning it can definitely be done. Oh and did I mention it's not nearly as hot out then either? I have to admit, some of the bars in the day time really make you question whether you want to hit them up after hours but don't worry, a few drinks in and you won't even be thinking about that! Some of them even have a bit of charm you wouldn't really expect a bar to have.

Agave 308 Tequila Bar {the last two pictures} was our first stop on our bar tour, mainly because we wanted to get out of the heat and rest for a bit, but if you like tequila this is definitely a must stop at bar. It's off Duval and more quite than some of the other bars (at least during the day) and I found out way more about tequila in the hour we spent in this bar than I ever thought possible. It was so cool to learn about different tequilas and to have a few (amazing) drinks. I also got to try a house made habanero tequila and wow... it was hot. The extremely knowledgable bartender, Tim, was great at making suggestions to us and giving us some background on tequila.
The Rum Bar is definitely another must go to in my opinion. It's a very relaxed laid back environment with amazing drinks and every rum known to man. On previous trips the bartender was Bahama Joe but this time we had a woman who was very knowledgable about rums. One of the guys in our group wanted to try a good rum so he got her advice and got it on the rocks and I must admit, there's a huge difference between a rum and a good rum.

{If you go to The Rum Bar get the rum runner and sit outside and people watch!}

After that I really feel like you can't go wrong with hitting up any of the bars on Duval St. The Whistle Bar is a great place to people watch and if you're feeling adventurous head upstairs to The Garden of Eden. It's definitely an interesting experience that's for sure! Sloppy Joe's is an obvious great spot to hit up, it's probably one of the most well known bars in Key West. Ernest Hemingway had been known to hit up Sloppy Joe's for a drink or two however the location it is now is the new location. If you want to check out the same location Ernest frequented just go around the corner to Captain Tony's Saloon. This place also happens to be on one of the ghost tours of Key West since it was originally built as a morgue in the 1800's!

4th of july

We just came in from Cuba!

7/09/2014

I promised a more detailed recap on my vacation so I hope you guys are ready! In fact, this is probably going to be at least a two day thing just so I don't write a novel in one sitting. So to start out... randomly me and a group of friends decided to make an annual tradition out of going to Key West for 4th of July weekend and I have to admit, I usually regret it right around Key Largo when I just want the crazy long drive to be over but knowing we're still only about half way there. As soon as we get there the drive is quickly forgotten in lieu of arriving in paradise. We stay at the same amazing hotel every year, The Southernmost Point Guest House (I wish I would have taken more pictures of the grounds because that's one of our favorite parts but I completely slacked there). The hotel name is a real mouthful but the people and the place are perfect. They do a free breakfast every morning and a free happy hour every evening (that right there makes it completely worth it) and they have these amazing hammocks throughout the property that are heaven to just relax in. It really doesn't get any better than relaxing in a hammock with a free drink in hand!

This year immediately upon arriving in Key West, we checked in and went straight out to meet the driver of our boat for the afternoon/evening. It was pretty interesting getting picked up (and dropped off) because the place we met them isn't really an ideal area for a boat but we made it work. From there we spent the afternoon relaxing on a sandbar off the coast of the Keys, drinking and relaxing. We ended up watching the sunset from the boat (which also included views of dolphins and sharks) and then going out and watching the fireworks. I have to admit, even though I wasn't driving, navigating a boat in the dark is kind of scary. We ended up going back to the jetty they picked us up at which was crowded with people this time. When we got there the guys on the boat started yelling "We finally made it from Cuba! Hurry up and touch land so they can't send us back!" and literally some lady standing on the jetty said "Oh welcome to America" when we got off the boat. You can't make this stuff up people.

{Sorry for the quality on these, back to the iPhone since taking the nice camera on the boat seemed like a bad idea}

I'm such a crazy morning person, I literally can't sleep in at all so I spent a lot time walking around the island in the mornings before everyone else was up which actually ended up to be a good thing. Most people in Key West sleep in from partying the night before so it was almost like I had the island to myself. Fun fact, there is NO better time to go to the Southernmost Point than before 9 am. I didn't wait even a minute to take this picture but if you go in the afternoon you can end up waiting forever.

No, I didn't actually go into Earnest Hemingway's house {pictured above} even though I really wanted to see his six toed cats but I just couldn't justify spending $13 to ~~chase some six toed cats~~ walk through someone's house.
Getting up early is also one of the best times to get pictures of the major tourist attractions without having a ton of people in your pictures.

{The "Little White House"}

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post for more Key West fun!

A Beachy Getaway With Alden Suites

Beachy Boho

Friday Five

Crochet Cover-Up

Beach Weather

Summer Loving

Beachin' It

So this is what Duval Street looks like...

We just came in from Cuba!

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