Pura Vida!

Have any of you ever been to Costa Rica?  I'm going to be traveling there next month.

It's my first time going to Central America and my first time going somewhere tropical! (Miami doesn't count, right?)

Of course no vacation would be complete without a little wardrobe day dreaming on my part.

I've had my eye on this beach cover up from Lemlem for a while, but even on sale, I can't bring myself to pull the trigger.

I could maybe use a new pair of shades.  I love this take on a classic style.

I'm not really a backpack kinda girl, but I'll need something utilitarian for tossing into the 4x4 and carry on the plane. 

While a good part of our time will be spent on the beach, there will be some days spent walking through rain forests and nature reserves.  Just because sneakers are sporty, doesn't mean they can't be cute!

Oh, and did I mention the rain forests?  Best pack a waterproof jacket just in case!  I love the classic/vintage look of this one.

I'm going to be there in 2 weeks and I'm open to any suggestions.  We're renting a car and are going to be splitting our time between Montezuma, on the Pacific Coast, and Puerto Viejo, on the Caribbean Coast.

Did you know?

I love hedgehogs!  

 

It's true.  They might be my favorite animal even though I've never seen one in person.

People keep them as pets in Europe, but it's illegal in the U.S.  I may just have to settle for this:

Not as cute, though.

Welcome back

Hello there!  It's nearly two weeks into the new year and I'm finally getting around to saying hello to you all - how rude of me!

I had a week off of work between Christmas and New Year's and it was the loveliest week ever.  I had very little expectations as far as plans go and it was just the perfect balance of relaxing and doing.

We had fancy coffee every morning for breakfast.

We did silly things like make our own baguettes so we could recreate sandwiches that we had in Spain.  (OK, I didn't make any baguettes, but the Man did.  And they were awesome.)

Of course the sandwich fixin's required a special trip to a store in Queens that makes their own chorizo.

And I made these napkins just in time for New Year's Eve dinner.  

Did you also know that my blog turned 6 years old?  I've been doing a lot of thinking re: the blog and I'm going to try to shake things up a bit.  The blogisphere has changed so much since I started in 2005 and a lot of the blog friends I had are no longer writing.  

I have big plans for 2012 - how about you?