Palm Springs, CA ~ Sunrise on our mountains

The view from our balcony was gorgeous.  

Of course, the pictures don't do it a justice, but watching the mountains light up in the morning was spectacular.

Palm Springs, CA

About three weeks ago, Hubby and I went on a little getaway to Palm Springs, CA.  

Here are some of the views of this beautiful area!

Province ~ Restaurant Review

The Province restaurant is in the hotel Westin Downtown in Phoenix, AZ.

The place was beautiful.  I loved the modern yet comfy interior design.

The Roaring Fork - Restaurant Review

Back to our trip in Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, another of our favorites.

The Roaring Fork... The name itself is pretty appealing, isn't' it?!  It makes you want to know more about it.

This restaurant is situated in Scottsdale, AZ.  It was about 5 minutes away from our resort, The Phoenician. ~They have 2 other locations: Austin Stonelake, TX and Downtown Austin, TX~

My Husband's father had told us to go there for its delicious and cheap appetizers, during the Happy Hour! ~Check out their menu~
We dinned at the Roaring Fork the first night of our vacation... And we loved it so much, we went again our last night!
We ordered the same plates each night, per Dad's recommendation! ;)

From top to bottom: Kettle of Green Chili Pork, Green Chili Mac&Cheese, Fish Tacos, Beef Tenderloin Sliders, Pork Wings

Restaurant Review - Elements at The Sanctuary

My Husband and I have a few passions in common.  One of them is traveling, another one is eating!  When we go on vacation, we have the best time combining both.  We like to experience the local foods and look up great restaurants in that area.

On our First Mini Honeymoon, we dove in the tasting experience and gave our taste buds a whole new sense and definition of deliciousness.

During this month of July, every Monday, I will take you on a foodie journey to our five favorite restaurants around Phoenix, AZ.

This week, we are going back to Elements, the restaurant in The Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa.

The restaurant itself was stunning, very modern, high class, a wide open area.  But the best of it was the view.  

Arizona - Wordless Wednesday

Today, I'm trying something new...  I've recently found out about "Wordless Wednesday", a post where bloggers only publish pictures on... you guessed it, Wednesdays!  Sounds pretty cool.

Those of you who follow me have probably already seen a few pictures on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, but here is our First Mini Honeymoon in Arizona, Part 2!

**Most of the pictures where taken while driving, around Phoenix, Scottsdale, and on the way to Sedona, AZ, so some are a little crooked... :)**

Phoenix, AZ - The Phoenician

Saturday, June 15 - Tuesday, June 18, Hubby and I went on our First Mini Honeymoon.  Woohoo!!!!  

** Warning this is a looong post ~ but most of it are pictures! ;) **

This trip was very last minute.  We first wanted to go to San Francisco, CA because we love this town, but when we started talking about what our needs for this first getaway were, we realized that all we needed was to relax, bathe in the sun, lay by a pool, just take it easy for once.
So, San Francisco was not the best, it was not so warm, not really a place to stay by a pool, more like a city to visit and walk a lot.  My In-Laws had told us so much about Arizona we had been dying to go there.  Once Thursday night came, there we were looking for flights to go to Phoenix, AZ.  We had so much to do at home prior to leaving, we did not even bother finding a hotel.

Friday all day, we both were off, so we rearranged the house...again... We switched the office and lounge which I started talking about in yesterday's post.

And Saturday very early morning, we flew to Phoenix.

Phoenix, Arizona

Hubby and I are on a little vacation ~or what we call it our first mini honeymoon~ in Phoenix, Arizona. 
We landed Saturday, June 15 and are leaving Tuesday night.  We are staying in the most beautiful resort in the area, The Phoenician. 
Here is a sneak pick... 
To view more pictures follow me on Instagram or go on LIP's Facebook Page and "like" the page! (You can also click on the widgets in the column on the right to find the links to network accounts!)

Jersey Shore ~ Update

Back in February, I went down to the Jersey Shore to see what Hurricane Sandy had done there...

{You can read about it HERE}

It was pretty sad, but it did not compare to the damages I saw in the beginning of this month.

Words can't explain how saddening this was.

Here are some photos...

The Jersey Shore - Seaside Heights after Sandy

We were finally able to go down to the Jersey Shore, our first time since Hurricane Sandy.
For quite some time the bridge was closed for visitors. My husband's family have a shore house a few minutes north of the famous Seaside Heights. Of course, as everyone knows the whole area had been evacuated. Two months after the hurricane, they were finally allowed to go to their house to assess the damages, but they had to drive down to a certain area and then take transportation made available for all inhabitants of the island. Now, the island is re-opened to everyone, but there is still a curfew and police officers are very strict on what visitors can or cannot do.

Last time I was there was July 28th 2012 when my brother came to visit us from France. This is a restaurant called The Dock where we had breakfast that morning. After we ate, we took a walk all the way to the end of the dock, it was beautiful (I'll have to steal  my Mother-In-Laws's pics of that day!). There were fishermen, families going on their little boats, children running around. I can just remember the joyful happy feeling floating in the air.
When we were there 3 days ago, it was a completely different scenery...

Here is a little Before/After picture of the beach by my In-Laws summer home. Huge sand dunes formed in front of all the houses along this beach. It doesn't seem that bad on picture, but in reality it's pretty impressive! Especially when you're on top of them, and it used to be as flat as a crepe! (sorry, that's probably a very French analogy...)

Before ~ July 28, 2012

After ~ February 10, 2013

Here is another one... Let's see if you can tell the difference!!

Before ~ October 28th, 2012 ~ My crazy Hubby was the last person on the beach that day, while it was being evacuated!

After ~ February 10, 2013 

Yes, the sky is blue on the After picture! But no, that's not the only difference, nor is the snow!

Yes, the little house is GONE... :( It used to be the guard house...

And now for Seaside Heights:

Of course, it's been months now since the hurricane. A lot of work has been done already. And with the snow, it almost kinda somewhat looks... ok... I'm just saying that these are not right-after-the-storm pictures but, for us, it was still a big shocker...

Although we weren't really allowed to and cops were constantly yelling at us to get off, we were finally able to walk on the "Board Walk" or whatever is left of it and see more of the disaster caused by the hurricane.

Left over of Funtown Pier... 

I passed it so many times, wanted to go in it so many times, never went in and always said, "oh it's alright, we'll go next time". 

Not anymore I guess..

. 

This is where the Board Walk ends...

Casino Pier:

 I really wanted to go on the sky lift/sky ride... I've gone on so many in sky resorts with snow under my feet in a very cold air and being bundled in layers of warmth. I wanted to see so bad how it felt to be on top sand, on a nice summer day, wearing not much more than a bathing suit...
Not sure when that will be possible...

Still so much clean up to do...

There were mounts of garbage everywhere we looked (furniture, documents, machines, appliances...).

It just gave us a really weird feeling being there... Sad feeling I guess... "Down the shore" will never be the same anymore...

So... It just made me realize...
We never know what will happen tomorrow, so why always wait or push things back for the next day or even later on ???

Seize The Day For  A

Life in Positudiness!

~Sandie