Valentines Day At St. Regis Monarch Beach

So this is what being a celebrity is like?? This is the thought that kept running through my mind during our recent stay at the St. Regis Monarch Beach. Eddie surprised me with a romantic trip to Dana Point, CA right after my 2 week cross country road trip.

But this wasn't your average hotel stay. Not only is St. Regis known as one of the best hotels in the world, this stay marked our Lifetime Platinum status award with Starwood Hotels. Eddie has been a platinum member for a very long time. And being a platinum member has amazing perks. We always get free room upgrades at any Starwood Hotel. Occasioanly to the penthouse suite. We get discounts at restaurants, free food and drinks inside club room, occasionally a free open bar, free water bottles, an ambassador who you can call 24/7 to do anything for you that you desire, gifts mailed on your birthday, free snacks, fruits and champagne to greet you in the room, just all around exceptional service. But to reach Lifetime Platinum is a whole different ball game. To reach Lifetime you need to have been a platinum member for 10 consecutive years and to have at least 500 stays total. Apparently there are very few Lifetime Platinum members so once the St. Regis found out about our stay they went above and beyond to make our stay special.

As we were checking in at the front desk, two managers came out and greeted us with balloons and a wine stopper. They shook our hands and took a photo with us. I felt like I was on a game show or something.

My Cross Country Road Trip 2014

The day my cousin Polina asked me to go on a road trip across the entire country, I didn't think much of it. Of course I said yes (saying no to a trip for me is like saying no to free money) but I never actually thought it would happen. And I didn't know that it would be one of the funnest trips of my life. Who knew that driving across the good ol' USA would bring so much laughter, adventure, chaos, and bonding. Small warning, this will be a super long post as this was a super long trip.

Our Trip Itinerary

Philadelphia, PA / Roanoke, VA / Nashville, TN / New Orleans, LA / Austin, TX / El Paso, TX / Phoenix, AZ / San Diego, CA / Long Beach, CA / Los Angeles, CA / San Francisco, CA

We started our 4,000 mile journey in Roanoke, VA. You might be thinking where the F is Roanoke and why did you go there? We were originally supposed to go to Charlotte, NC but decided that because stopping in Roanoke would save us 2 hours of driving that it was the best thing to do. I guess I should mention that Polina was doing ALL of the driving so it was a no brainer.

1 Year Wedding Anniversary Trip To Hawaii (Part 1)

I've restructured my blog a bit since I've decided it is more about traveling than anything else. At first I wanted it to be more general but as the years go by I can't deny my growing love for traveling and experiencing what the world has to offer. I feel like there is so much to see and not enough life to see it with. Oh well, let's hope we have a second life so that I can continue this wonderful journey.

I've had the words jet-setter and world traveler thrown at my husband and I many times. But I just like to consider myself as curious. I'm curious about things I've never seen. I feel like they don't really exist until I have seen them. Therefore I must see them!!

So instead of having general sections on my blog you can now go to the new navigation bar at the top of the page and click on "My Travels" to see blog posts on where I have been in the world.

My husband wanted to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon but I hate to be cliche and said absolutely not. I'm not a beach person and wasn't too keen on spending my entire honeymoon lazing about on a beach chair with an umbrella in my drink. But when he brought the idea up again for our 1 year wedding anniversary I thought why the hell not?

We decided to visit Honolulu and the oldest and most beautiful island of Kauai.

Universal Studios Quickie Trip

I swear I didn't take a bunch of trips all at one time. I've just been neglecting my blog for too long and have so many trips and photos to post and write about.

Ever since my husband joined his new company, his new business offices are located in Providence, Orlando and some other city that I forget. So he has been traveling back in forth to these three cities several times a month. So whenever I get really sick of Philly's freezing cold, depressing weather, I join Eddie on his trips to Orlando. That's why you'll be seeing a lot of Disney World/Universal Studio posts in the future. I mean cmon, who goes to Orlando and doesn't go to the theme parks??

We luckily caught great whether during the trip. It was around 80 degrees the whole week and dropped back down to high 60s when we left. Perfecto!

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel which is located inside Universal which meant we were able to get inside the park one hour earlier than the general public. One hour may not seem like a lot but you have no idea how awesome it is to be able to go to Harry Potter world and have it be completely empty!! If you gave me the choice of being rich and famous or becoming a real wizard in the wizarding world I would pick being a wizard any day!! *Sigh* If only.

Stay At Gaylord Resort In Nashville And Pink Concert

Yes, there is an actual hotel that is called the Gaylord. Yes, some man sat there one day and thought that name up. No, I have no clue why someone would name a hotel the Gaylord. Yes, the Gaylord is basically 5 mini cities combined into one huge hotel covered in a bubble of glass. Yes, it is crazy expensive. Yes, people talk in funny southern accents.

What a fun trip though! My husband recently brought me along to one of his business escapades to Nashville, TN. I like to say it Naaaaaashville.

When I say this hotel is huge I'm talking HUUUGEEE. There are 5 enormous, glass covered atriums with mini jungles and waterfalls inside of them, over 20 restaurants, indoor and outdoors pools, an indoor river that you can ride boats on, I can go on but I'll stop there. You get the point. With so much to do and see at this hotel I didn't even venture out of the glass bubble for my entire stay.

It took approxamitely 2.5 hours to walk to my room from the main lobby (exxagertaing a bit) but there was a nice little cafe right next to my room where I ate at pretty much every morning. I was being pretty healthy too as you can see! 

My Creepo Facebook Messages - Part 2

Hey everyone! So my last "Creepo Facebook Messages" post was such a huge hit that I decided to entertain you with even more creepos! Luckily I get a never ending stream of these weirdo messages so I will never run out of material. And as someone suggested, maybe I'll even print a book with all of them haha.

If anyone has gotten perverted messages in their own inbox, feel free to email a screenshot to me at Jewelzblog@gmail.com. Would love to see some that are not targeted towards me for once :)

Here ya go...

My Creepo Facebook Messages

I recently learned that Facebook has been filtering my inbox messages for several years now. Anything Facebook deems unworthy of my reading, it throws the message into an "Other" folder that I never even knew existed. 

At first I was pretty pissed off to learn that I had been missing on business opportunities for over a year but as I opened message after message I realized what Facebook was really doing. It was filtering all of the perverted, psycho stalkers out there from ever reaching me. 

Sorting through all these perverted love letters and marriage proposals really creeped me out but it was a bit humorous as well. And that is why I've decided to share some of my favorite messages with you! And I won't even bother censoring the names so that in the future, if some creepo decides to send me a nasty message, they will think twice before doing so!!

Hair O'The Dog 2013 - Disco Baby!

Why are there no good gown stores in Philadelphia?? I swear I have looked everywhere from King of Prussia to Center City and nothing! I guess I will have to try my luck on the internet.

Why do I need a new gown so desperately you may ask? Well because Hair O'The Dog 2013 is coming up next month of course! Philadelphia's swankiest (and my personal favorite) party of the year!

Win A $500 Century 21 Wardrobe Makeover And 2-night Stay In NYC

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of CENTURY 21 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have been wanting to take a trip to NYC for a while now not just to visit family but also to check out the Century 21 store in person. The latest trends in fashion are always at Century 21 and no matter what you’re shopping for, you’re guaranteed to snag amazing deals on designer products. There are two Manhattan store locations: Lincoln Square (1972 Broadway) and Downtown (22 Cortlandt Street).

Honeymoon Of A Lifetime: Part 2

Believe it or not, part 2 of my honeymoon was even better than part 1. After visiting Puerto Rico, Germany, and Athens, we took a large boat to a famous Greek island called Mykonos. Yes you might know it as the best party island in the world and that is exactly why we went. Honeymoons aren't all about relaxing. You need to celebrate your new marriage and get a little drunk as well!

Most of the hotels on the island are boutique bed and breakfasts so we were excited to experience something we are not used to. Our choice was Hotel Vencia which is #3 on Trip Advisor's hotel list. The tiny hotel is located on the edge of a cliff over looking the old town of Mykonos.