Playa del Carmen

We went to Playa del Carmen a few months back. I was going through some pictures on my computer and ran across them. I instantly wanted to go back in time. This was hands down one of the best vacations.

I love Playa del Carmen. Mexico has some of the most beautiful beaches and resorts. We found a fantastic resort. The name of the resort is called Blue Diamond Resort and I would highly recommend it to family and friends. 

One of the things I really loved about this resort is that they supplied their guests with bicycles. It was so much fun bicycling through the resort to the beach, restaurants, yoga classes and spa. I felt very tropical riding my bike in my sundress and swimsuit. Plus it had a basket to hold my beach bag.

This is a picture of my sweet ride outside of the spa. I would ride my bike down to the spa for the most amazing massages. I'm a spa connoisseur and I must admit this spa was seriously impressive. I wish I had better pictures for everyone to view but I didn't have my phone on me while walking through. However, I did manage to snap a couple of shots on my way out.

Hello...It's been a long time overdue.

It has been ages....My entire life has changed drastically in the past couple of years. I've had my hands full and I dropped out of blogging world to attend to that thing little thing called life. I happen to stumble across a few things while going through boxes that reminded me of this ole blog. I figured I'd log on for fun and noticed that some of you are still blogging. It was truly wonderful to catch up on you and how much your lives have changed as well. It sort of gave me the itch to start blogging once again. I hope that y'all will follow along.

So much has happened since my last post. My husband graduated from law school. Yes, I'm officially married to an attorney. He loves working in law and has more than he can handle in cases. He still works in health care compliance but his business has expanded to both coasts. There is nothing more rewarding than to see your husband accomplish his goals and actually find joy in his career.

Last summer, we spent some time in Berlin, Germany. I have pictures from Germany but I wanted to share these of Switzerland first. We were blessed enough to have the opportunity to fly down to Switzerland and stay with friends. I had met this friend through this exact blog and I couldn't even begin to tell you how much I admire this woman. She is truly a wonderful person and to host my husband and myself, it was quite special. She has a lovely family and we are grateful we had the opportunity to meet them in person. This will always remain one of the highlights of last summer.

 

The top three pictures are of Schaffhausen

Berne, Switzerland 

After returning from Europe, I became fascinated with my German heritage. However, after researching, I found that only one side of my family was German but the other were all Swiss!!! They actually resided in Bern. Having learned that information on my ancestry only made my memories of Switzerland even more special. The Swiss people are amazing and I truly can't say enough good things about this country. I can't wait to return for another visit.

This is my great, great, grandparents. My great grandfather is the second from right. All Swiss.

 



The Adolphus Hotel

I haven't been blogging much lately. Truthfully its been quite sometime. I had started another blog last summer but for some unknown reason I cannot post pictures. I suppose I could for a price but I think it's absolutely outrageous to pay to download pictures when I can post them here for free. Don't you agree? Everything changes so quickly with updates and technology that I can hardly keep up these days. I am disappointed considering my cute little blog really represented the Southern flavor of my new chapter in life.

However, it is pleasing to see that y'all haven't forgotten my first blog Midnight Macroons. Midnight Macroons has introduced me to a vastly number of friends in blog land. Those I would never had crossed paths with otherwise so I find it appropriate to return to my blogging roots. I hope y'all still follow me as I reopen Midnight Macroons and begin to tell the story of my unique life of a California gal living in Dixie with her Southern husband. I'm obessed with historical architecture.


I get giddy as I find a historical hotel that I can reserve a room and study up the history on. Over Easter/Passover weekend, my husband and I visited Dallas, Texas. I adore Dallas. I always have such a great time there, shopping, dining out, attending sporting events, the arts, etc...etc...etc.. So, this particular weekend we decided to stay at the Adolphus hotel located in the downtown district.

There's so much history between the walls of this hotel. One of the things that impressed me the most about this hotel was the guest list, Queen Elizabeth, Donald Trump, Babe Ruth, Oscar Del La Renta, and the band U2 have all been guests of the Adolphus. Let me start off by telling you the history of this little gem. The Adolphus opened in 1912 by the founder Anheuser-Busch. It was designed by Thomas P. Barnett of Barnett, Haynes & Barnett of St. Louis. It was the first luxurious hotel in all of Dallas. At one point, in the 1920s, it was the tallest building in state of Texas. However, Magnolia Petroleum building (known as the Magnolia hotel) soon dwarfed the Adolphus in 1920s.

During the 1930s, the Adolphus hosted many big band musicians such as Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and the infamous Glenn Miller. Not only did it host to musicians but politicians as well, J. Evetts Haley, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and President George H. W. Bush.

Other famous guests include Warren G. Harding, British writer Nick Smith resided at the Adolphus when he wrote his novel "Rock Royalty: Diary of a Supermodel." Bob Hope, Jack Benny and many others have stayed here. However, my favorite guests would have to be Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip. They have a fantastic picture of the royal couple hanging in the lobby that I managed to snap a picture of.

The Adolphus is also home to the French Room. One of most beautiful dining experiences you could possibly indulge yourself in while staying in the Big D. As you step into the French Room you honestly believe you're in Europe and not Texas at all. Not only is the room filled with exquisite decor but the French cuisine is delish.

I find that most Americans do not partake in high tea as Europeans do. It's something that I've learned to enjoy and hope to pass down to our children. To sit and enjoy a nice brewed pot of hot tea with someone you love is priceless. The art of conversation is truly disappearing in our society (between cell phone/computers). It's important to make time to chat without disruptions from electronics. If everyone practiced tea time I believe we could be a step closer to world peace.

I hope y'all enjoyed my little post today!

I'm back!!!

I must admit that I'm very displeased with Blogger at the moment. I had this blog for quite sometime and this summer it wasn't allowing me to post. I'd spend time writing and downloading pictures to have it all lost out in space somewhere. Finally I decided to start another blog and now they want to charge me for uploading pictures. Has anyone heard of this? Is this new? Well, I decided to take a chance on this blog and Lord behold it worked. So, I'm back. I personally think it's ridiculous to charge to upload pictures to a blog. However, I'll spare y'all from my soapbox speech.

So much has happened since I posted here last. My husband has nearly completed his first year of law school (thank goodness). I was yearning for summer break when everything would go back to normalcy. However, he came up with a grand idea of taking courses in Germany. Of course I'd have to accompany him, HA! We intend on leasing an apartment in Berlin. I've very excited as this will be my first trip to Germany. I've traveled to Europe before but never Germany. I've heard so many lovely things about it. My great grandparents (both sides) migrated from Germany so I'm eager to research the area where they resided. I did find out that our family roots began in Switzerland and not Germany. Interesting what you find out when researching your family history.

Spring is in full force and I'm loving it. Everything in my neighborhood is lush, green, and blooming like crazy. I'm eager to visit our local nursery and plant some flowers this week. I haven't decided what I'm going to plant along the walkway. Everything looks gorgeous at the moment.

This past week my friend and I decided to venture out and check out the consignment shops around town. We found all sorts of fantastic goodies. I came across these fabulous Fox Hunt scenes. I adore Fox Hunt so I'm really happy about my new purchase. Now I just need to find the perfect wall space for them.

Mississippi Cottage

This is the view from laying on the bed looking out the window. It was so much fun to watch the boats go up and down the Mississippi River at night.

My very favorite room of the house...THE PORCH! I spent all of my evenings lounging on the porch while sipping wine and reading books.

This is the back view of the cottage. I loved the little BBQ. My husband grilled shrimp and I made a fantastic shrimp salad with feta cheese and the works. With a good bottle of red wine and the sunset it was the best.

After we returned from touring all those beautiful plantation homes we would flop into these Adirondack chairs and chat. We'd have our favorite New Orleans jazz bands playing softly over the speakers. Just enough for background music but not loud enough that you couldn't hear the crickets.

When you sat in the rockers on the platform you'd see the bridge that connects Mississippi and Louisiana. The middle of the river was the state line so when we looked over the embankment we were looking at Louisiana.

Our views of the sunset were amazing. We had some of the most gorgeous sunsets. I love this picture.

Here's another view of the Mississippi. You can see that it's still flooded by looking at the trees across the river. They say it'll be coming back down by mid July. Everything across the river is Louisiana. We are on the Mississippi side.

Hope y'all enjoyed my pictures