Category Archives: Travel Inspiration

Toes in the water, Ass in the sand… Honeymoon-Style

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Design Build Love

Yup! I cussed in this blog title, but you’ll just have to get over it because I have an excuse! Our entire honeymoon was hysterically euphoric and we just kept quoting this song over and over! So, there! If you follow our blog, you know that Eric and I got married about two and half years ago, but never had the opportunity to take our honeymoon. We finally decided to do it and jet-setted in December for eight days! Yes. Eight. Whole. Days! Neither of us have ever taken that much time off. Ever! We officially relaxed and recovered (post-work and pre-holiday style) at the all-inclusive resort, Now Sapphire in Riviera Cancun, Mexico. After tons of leg work to find the perfect resort, we settled on this place. It was gorgeous, the price was right, and it had everything we wanted! If anyone wants pricing or booking details, feel free to email me and I am happy to share! Seriously, for the price, nothing could beat this… or this… When we arrived, we were greeted by an amazingly wonderful room with a completely unobstructed ocean view and a jacuzzi on our balcony… which we occasionally made into a bubble bath! Our goal for this trip was to unwind, eat, take in some sun, and enjoy each other. That was it, and if we happened to fit in a few excursions, that would be great too! So our first few days were spent on the beach and on our balcony. I don’t know if you can tell, but I ACTUALLY got a tan! It was a lifetime first and absolutely amazing!!! One magical morning, while Eric was still sleeping, I awoke to this sight and immediately had to grab the camera. There was just something so spiritual and ethereal about it. … Continue reading

Posted in Celebrations, Travel Inspiration | 8 Comments

Travel, Celebration, Inspiration, Love

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Design Build Love

Ok, I suppose my tardiness is a dead giveaway since I noted above that this was a birthday and anniversary getaway and your heard about our anniversary here. Well. Forgive me. This post just hasn’t seemed to write itself. BUT, here it is. On a platter. Just kidding… that is my cake. Our anniversary and my birthday are exactly one week apart, and my birthday happens to almost always fall on Labor Day weekend, so inevitably, we try to take a little trip each year to commemorate both moments. This year, we went to beautiful Monterey, CA. Not only is this place a beautiful example of the California coastline, but it also happens to be home to the infamous 17-mile drive, on which Pebble Beach Golf Course sits… ya, it’s that infamous. People pay to drive for 17 miles. Where else do you get that? Anywho, the weekend couldn’t have been more amazing. This is going to sound bad, but while driving there, Eric and I realized that the last time we went out of town by ourselves was for our “mini-honeymoon” on Labor Day weekend two years prior. Talk about ridiculous. Couples out there reading this… don’t. do. this. Not that we’re having issues or anything, but the weekend quickly taught us how desperately we needed a weekend away alone and how much we need to make the mini-getaways more of a priority! Seriously people, mini-trips like this really don’t have to cost much at all, so there is really no excuse! I mean… look at these smiles! So, you ask, how did we spend our glorious weekend away? We relaxed, we ate, we biked, we walked, we shopped, we wine tasted, we gawked at amazingly stunning (way-out-of-our-price-range) houses… just basically put that track on repeat! And, in the … Continue reading

Posted in Celebrations, Get Inspired, Life, Our Love, Party Time, Travel Inspiration | 2 Comments

Design Inspiration- California Beach Houses

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Design Build Love

A few weeks ago, Eric and I embarked on a little ocean-side camping adventure with our friends Rachel and Brandon. Eric and our friend Ricky happened to find these campsites last summer and it took us forever to actually be able to book them- they are popular to say the least! Anywho, Ricky and Krissy were not able to join us due to some last minute things… next time! So, the four of us set out for our three day weekend. Our plan: camp eat hike beach-bum-it-up relax We totally just had a TON going on, right?!?!? LOL… seriously though, our main goal was to just disconnect and recharge! After hearing a year of hype about the vistas at this campground, I was ready to see it’s beauty, and I wasn’t disappointed! Check out these views… we literally camped under a grove of trees ON the ocean! Fair to say that we were lulled to sleep nightly by the ocean waves- soooo soothing! While camping, we challenged ourselves to a stunning 8.4 mile hike! It was beautiful, there were creeks everywhere, and it smelled like eucalyptus throughout the hike! We were on cloud 9! The evening of our long hike, Eric and I took a casually romantic ride and looked at beach houses. We FELL IN LOVE! There were so many different houses and styles and gardens! Too much to love! This house had just the most lush and amazing gardens ever! And isn’t this fence gorgeous and it was completely hand-crafted… as was the statue! Do you have a favorite house or yard? I truly don’t know if I could pick just one! Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share on netvibes share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Tweet … Continue reading

Posted in Get Inspired, Life, Travel Inspiration | 2 Comments

Wine Barrel Plans: Backyard Landscaping

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Design Build Love

As you’ve probably noticed, we’re not particularly of the “country-decor” type when it comes to our yards, so you might ask why we’re considering wine barrel plans… The answer… WE LOVE WINE!!! We’ve never wanted to limit the style of our home or yard to one particular style. Rather, we love to incorporate things that reflect who we are individually and as a couple. And, well… We. Love. Wine. That’s about it! While we’ve been thinking about how we want to incorporate wine barrels into our back yard for a while, we found some inspiration a few weekends ago… A few weekends ago, we ran out of town with two of our best friends (also adorable newlyweds who we met in the most odd way possible), Rachel and Brandon. This is us (not my best pic, but cute none-the-less). Yup, we escaped to the hills to visit Rachel’s parents, and while there, we did some wine tasting at some local wineries (Rachel’s dad happens to be a concert pianist, so he had the hookup with the wineries and scored us some free tastings)! Anyways, we had the most beautiful day. We packed snacks, lunches, and ourselves. It was absolutely perfect weather- beautiful sunshine without being too hot. Perfect. And here’s where the inspiration comes in… At our first winery, we went into the tasting room and were greeted with this beautiful, rustic tasting table: We immediately fell in LOVE and knew that we had to have at least one in our back yard, if not two! We’d likely not have chairs around them and instead would leave them open for a more casual approach to brief eating (and drinking) before returning to the pool or yard to play! Regardless, we knew that we could totally make the table top … Continue reading