Recently in Vacation Category

Man, time really flies sometimes! Hard to believe Brett & I've been married four years today! Seems like it was yesterday we were on our honeymoon in Mexico, watching the waves roll up on the beach.

Any suggestions on sandy places around these parts??

Back home in the South, beauty pageants are a pretty big deal. I did my first pageant when I was only four-months-old and didn't stop until I was in graduate school. For me, it was a fun way to spend time with my mom, get my hair and makeup done and get to wear a pretty dress. Competing in pageants was something I looked forward to doing with my own daughter someday.

Which now sits proudly center stage on the fireplace...right between my Emmy & Brett's Rookie of the Year award. Can you tell we're proud of our little boy?

Hope y'all are having a wonderful 4th of July this year! We're celebrating with Brett's family in Eastern Tennessee, but we just had to share Colt's patriotic outfit! This kid loves America!

Crazy story y'all!

Holler if it's yours y'all! Happy to send it back!

Found this little bargain at the Albany airport on our last trip back South...on sale for $1.99! Who knew loving NY could be so cheap?? :)

Ever notice that New York City is the background of so much stuff? If you just look around, you'll see it everywhere! Movies, television shows, books...the Big Apple tends to take a nibble, if not a bite, out of it all.

One of the most famous shows (and my favorite) set against the backdrop of NYC was Sex & The City. The HBO series ran 94 juicy episodes from 1998 to 2004 and spawned two feature films...ok, so the second one wasn't that great. For years, millions of women across the country spent their Sunday nights drinking cosmopolitans and debating on whether they were a Carrie, Samantha, Miranda or Charlotte.

When one of my girlfriends from Arkansas announced she would be coming to NYC on a visit, I jumped at the chance to get someone to go on a SATC tour with me! A little online research and we were booked on a 1.5 hour walking tour showcasing some of the best spots of NYC seen in our favorite show.

The tour started at Pastis on 9th Avenue, where Carrie & The Russian had brunch with some of his snooty, uptown friends. Today, it's home to a trendy hip crowd and celebrity hangout.

A large part of our SATC tour was through the Meat Packing District and we got to see where exteriors of Samantha's apartment were filmed. Her infamous bedroom was right above an upscale Asian Fusion restaurant called the Spice Market. But here's the weird thing: the waiters and waitresses wore dowdy orange scrubs and tennis shoes??

The Meat Packing District also has tons of botiques and upscale shops set under awnings that still have the hooks used to hold meat sold there in the 1900s. Hard to believe the area was once the central location to more than 250 slaughter houses and packing plants! Now, only one remains.

In the 1980's the area was known as a hub for drug dealing and transexual prostitution. By the late 1990's, designers saw it as an opportunity to cash in on the young hipster crowd and the area went through a transformation phase. Today the Meat Packing District is one of the trendiest spots in Manhattan making it perfect for the background of SATC.

Our tour also checked out Tortilla Flats, home to the disastrous double date Miranda, Steve, Carrie and Aiden went on. The Mexican dive is rumored to serve up a fabulous margarita, but as Southerners, we knew better than to expect "good" Mexican food anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Our quick tour pace came to a screeching halt when we stumbled upon the Magnolia Bakery. After being featured in just one episode of Sex and the City, the place became went wild! Carrie & Miranda snacked on Magnolia Bakery's fabulous cupcakes at a park across the street and - BOOM - a cupcake craze was born!
We had no complaints waiting for a few minutes to savor some of their delicious treats!

Next door to the Magnolia Bakery are the famous sidewalk doors that Samantha fell down and broke her ankle on. Laura and I had a little fun reenacting our own version of the scene!

No doubt, the best part of the tour was definitely a stop at Carrie's stoop, which is located at 66 Perry, between West 4th and Bleeker Street. Turns out, SATC actually used about five different stoops during the course of the show, but the one we saw was used most frequently.

Unfortunately, the owner isn't real fond of folks sitting on their front porch for photos, so a chain discourages the rubberneckers from getting too close.

The ironic part: Sarah Jessica Parker's actual building is located just around the corner from Carrie's on Charles Street! We weren't sure which one it was, so Laura and I struck a pose on a stoop that could have been SJP's. However, since no one from her security detail kicked us off the front porch, it probably wasn't her house.

I gotta say, it was a pretty sweet (and pricey!) little neighborhood. A one bedroom in this 'hood reportedly goes for about $950,000!

It's amazing how close things are together in NYC! Our tour took us the short distance from Carrie & SJP's neighborhood to the sex shop where Charlotte bought her vibrating rabbit. There were plenty of unmentionables and we were a bit wary of the sticker shock for Charlotte's toy...a good time with it will run you about $70!

Just down the street from the sex shop was the small, but beautiful garden (again, it's all about location in NYC) where Steve and Miranda finally tied the knot in season 6. The garden is tucked away, but surrounded by gorgeous flowers, narrow paths and tons of snug little benches perfect for curling up with a good book. Ironic thing about the park though...you can't actually be on the grass and weddings aren't allowed to be held there.

Oh, to walk in Carrie's shoes!

Finding Family Ties Far From Home

As a kid, I completely idolized my cousin Kari! Only three years older, Kari and I would spend summers together at our grandmother's house in Piggott, Arkansas, gobbling down Sonic burgers after a day at the public pool. Kari was always so much fun and thankfully, never minded playing with her younger, geeky and completely envious cousin.

Kari was sort of a nomad growing up...she's lived in Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Ohio and New York! Over the years, we've managed to keep up, no matter what the zip code or the time zone.

All that traveling must have stuck with Kari because she had no trouble landing a job as a professional jet setter. Working as a flight attendant for Continental Express Airlines, she met her husband, pilot Michael Panebianco...who hails from Chittenango Falls, NY! Kari's since retired from slinging drinks in the friendly skies and now lives in Ponce Inlet, Florida with Mikey and their two sons, Anthony and Jack.

Since summer in the South is such a sizzling scorcher (like the alliteration?) Kari spends most of her summer with her in-laws up here in New York. We managed to rendezvous this year on Lake George in Bolton Landing, NY at the beautiful Sagamore Resort...y'all have to check it out sometime, it's amazing!

It was a reunion almost nine years coming! With lives in different time zones, it's been hard to see each other over the years. But keeping up has never been an issue thanks to long phone calls, emails and Facebook.

It's just been a while since we've had a chance to pose for a picture together!

Which is a tragedy, especially for a family that's as photogenic as this...

Back home in the South, beauty pageants are a pretty big deal and I can't say I've really noticed many going on since we've lived in New York. But, if you've caught TLC's Toddlers & Tiaras then you might know what I'm talking about. Us Southern girls love our big hair, sparkly dresses and flashy smiles! Growing up, I competed in beauty pageants pretty much every weekend until I left for college, and even then I still did a couple here and there. I competed in my first pageant at only four months old!

For the record, the child beauty pageants I competed in were nothing like the ones showcased on T&T. My mother wasn't overweight, she wasn't forcing me to live out her unfulfilled fantasy and she certainly wasn't doing dance routines behind the judge's table.

I also worked in the television industry for nearly a decade and can attest to the tricks of clever editing. To put it simply, don't believe everything you see on tv, folks. I know several people that have appeared on the Toddler & Tiaras series who are normal, excellent parents and many of the pageants featured on the show were in towns close by, or where I've lived before. I also have pageant mom friends who have turned down the opportunity to be followed by TLC's camera crews because of the negative publicity associated with the show.

Pageants may get a bad rap, but they're something I would never change about my childhood. They taught me confidence, poise and how to put on liquid eyeliner! I loved getting my hair and makeup done, putting on a pretty dress and sometimes, winning a crown and trophy! I started competing at four months old, but I never took home a crown until I was 11! I don't have any pictures from my early days as a beauty queen up here in New York, but I did find a couple from my teenage years to share.

I didn't always win and that certainly made me a good sport. Learning how to lose gracefully is one of the best lessons in life. I never cried over not getting queen or placing as an alternate. Truthfully, my favorite part was spending the one-on-one time with my mother.

Pageants run in the family too...while we were in Missouri/Arkansas for the 4th of July, I had the chance to help my cousin Kayla get ready for the Miss Pollard beauty pageant. I actually won the title back in 1994 and it's also been a pageant several women in my family have competed in over the years.

There's just something fun about getting all fixed up!

Plus, it's a fun excuse to drag out the old crowns...

But the real beauty was Kayla! We were bummed she didn't make it into the Top 10, but she was our top pick anyway!

We're back South for the 4th of July this year at my family's farm in Fox, Arkansas...where our mascot "Foxy" is enjoying the triple digit temperatures with Tusk, the Arkansas Razorback! Happy July 4th y'all!

We just got the pictures back from our white water rafting adventure in Maine & I had to share!

As you might guess, I'm kind of a girly-girl...who married and Eagle Scout. Brett spent his childhood doing all that boy stuff-hiking, camping, rafting and doing other outdoorsy things where you get sweaty and dirty. My version of camping is visiting a Bass Pro Shop.

On our Memorial Day getaway in Maine, I suddenly found myself about 30 miles south of the Canadian border and suited up with the Magic Falls Rafting Company in The Forks, ME. (which made me think of Forks, Washington...hee, hee!)

We were set to go rafting down the Dead River...and if you remember your American History, you know that in 1775, Col. Benedict Arnold led 1000 men through Maine as part of an invasion of Canada. The group went up the North Branch of the Dead River to get into the watershed of Quebec's Chaudiere River...take that Alex Trebek!

Because in May the water temperature of the Dead River is a chilly 47 degrees, we were given some smokin' hot wet suits to sport during our rafting adventure. Of course, they complimented our wool socks and water shoes! I felt like mine had to have been inspired by Debbie Gibson, featuring the acid wash ripped up jeans look with black leggings underneath. Hot right?? I worried that I wouldn't get rescued if I fell overboard because the help would be laughing their fool heads off at me...

Brett and I were sorted into a rafting group with four Indian men from New York City and a girl who was a friend of our river guide. My "paddle faster, I hear banjos" joke was totally lost on this Yankee crowd though.

Rains in the area had the Dead River up higher than normal, and our Class II and III rapids turned into Class IV & V! We rolled down 15 miles of nearly solid rapids, including Poplar Falls, which is the longest continuous rapid in the entire state of Maine!

I only managed to lose my paddle once, but didn't fall out of the boat! Our little rafting adventure got a tense for a moment when one of the NYC guys took a spill over. The rapids pulled him so far away from our boat that the guide had to throw him the lifeline rope to get him back in. After spending about 10 minutes in the freezing water, the poor guy looked like he was in shock by the time we dragged him back into the boat!

I still don't think I'm outdoorsy, but at least I'm trying!