I’m a little bit behind in posting gift ideas given there are only 7 days until Christmas and let’s face it Hanukkah was almost a month ago!!  However it might come in handy for any of you last minute gift buyers out there (like my hubby)!!  Heck this year I have to put myself in the last minute present buyer category.  If you are already done with holiday shopping these items would make for pretty good Valentine’s Day gifts as well.   Best part is these gift ideas won’t break the bank!  With a baby on the way, we decided to keep the gift giving/spending to a minimum this year.  Being on (more) of a budget this year has enabled me to find ideas I might have overlooked in the past.  I would certainly be excited to receive any of these items …

Gift ideas under $50  | Life's Tidbits

For the Wine Lover – wine cork collecting kit
For the Lady Friend – Lenox Adorn Ring Holder
For the Home – Monogram Drinking Jars – Set of 4
For the Photographer – Fingerless Shooting Gloves
For the Cook – Nordic Ware Reversible Griddle

What gift would you love to receive that’s under $50?

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I stumbled upon this picture last weekend while perusing the external hard drive.  It was taken in 2010 when the husband (then boyfriend) and I went to Charlottesville, Virginia for a little weekend get away.  We visited Barboursville and Horton’s Vineyards.  It was a great weekend!!  Can’t believe I completely forgot about the photos from that weekend.  Thank goodness for our external hard drive /backup.  It’s so much fun to look through old photos and reminisce! :)

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Happy Friday and have a fabulous weekend!!

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A few weeks ago we celebrated our 1 year anniversary!  Although we got a ton of fantastic wedding gifts one of the best and most unique gifts we received was a gift certificate to Virginia Bed and Breakfasts.  After researching and deliberating on where we wanted to go and stay we decided upon The Inn at Court Square.  This little bed and breakfast is SO cute.  This place is decorated perfectly.  The wall were a Tiffany blue and the whole room had so much character.

Look at my adorable husband attempting to get out of the way of the picture.  Sorry babe you are totally still in the shot. :)  And because it was our anniversary the husband had a bottle of prosecco waiting for us when we arrived.  We drank some wine and then we headed off to dinner at Maya.

Saturday morning we did our last minute planning of which wineries we were planning to hit.  The last time we were in Charlottesville we went to Barboursville and Horton wine vineyards so those were out this time.  We were definitely up for trying some new places.  The first stop was Jefferson Vineyards.

After a very lovely wine tasting and purchasing three bottles of wine (white, rose and red) from Jefferson Vineyard we headed to Sugarleaf.  The Sugarleaf Vineyard was packed so they did our tasting outside.  Honestly it was a fantastic idea.  We enjoyed the nature view and the beautiful weather while tasting their wines.

We purchased two bottles of wine and some chocolate infused with wine.  Chocolate plus wine YES PLEASE!  Clearly my sweet tooth was taking over when I pretty much insisted we buy the chocolate sauce.  Then we headed off to our last stop and probably my favorite vineyard of the day, Pippin Hill Farm Vineyards.  The view was AMAZING, the wine was fantastic and the food was yummy!!!

During our wine tasting we realized a snack was necessary.  When we had first arrived a number people were eating sliders and omg did they look good.  Unfortunately they were really good, therefore they were all sold out by the time we ordered them … bummer!  We ended up getting a salad and cheese board.  It was super yummy and I totally forgot to take a picture of the food before we had already finished it.  Anyways this was the amazing view we had while we had a glass of wine and our snack.

I definitely want to go back to Pippin Hill Farm Vineyards someday soon.  Their food, wine and view were all spot on.  It was the perfect place to end our little winery tour.  We got a couple of bottles of wine from here as well … can you say a stocked wine rack??  After a long and fun day of wine tasting we headed back to the B&B.

It was a great anniversary weekend and so nice to get out of the city for a little while.  Have you been to any of these vineyards?  What’s your favorite vineyard in VA?

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Previously on our honeymoon series: Positano, Sorrento and Cinque Terre. Now that you are all caught up let’s talk ROME!

After another extremely long train ride we arrived in Rome!  I feel like our last stop was the most cultural.  Rome was a great way to spend our last few days in Italy and on our honeymoon.  We stayed in downtown Rome and within walking distance of the at the Artemide Hotel.  On the evening we arrived we were starving after checking into the hotel.  We walked down the street to a local bar.  We had a little food as well as a drink and just people watched for a while.

Heading to Rome? Here is a sample itinerary for what to do if you have a few days in Rome, Italy. Honeymoon travel guide

Day 10: Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Roman Forum

After breakfast, at the hotel, we headed to the Colosseum.  We packed plenty of water and suntan lotion into our backpack as well as the camera.  Rome in mid-August is HOT HOT HOT!  The ticket line at the Colosseum was super long.

In order to skip the line we decided to join a tour.  This was a bad idea.  Although they got us into the Colosseum rather quickly, the tour really didn’t provide any substantial information.  The time spent within the Colosseum was very limited before they tried rushing us off to the next two locations – Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.

There was no reentry to the Colosseum and we weren’t done exploring so we opted to stay behind and really soak it all in.  The tour guide didn’t give us our tickets so we wouldn’t be able to get into Palatine Hill without being with the group.  Saying behind meant we would need to purchase tickets again to gain entrance to the other sites.  Tourist fail and we absolutely felt like we had been scammed, but it was the only issue we encountered the entire time we were in Italy.  Lesson learned!

After walking around the Colosseum we headed over to the  Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.  The line was SO short.  After getting our fill of tourist stuff we headed back to the hotel to relax and get ready for dinner.

TIP – Go to Palatine Hill and buy tickets there for the Colosseum.  The lines at Palatine Hill/Forum are SO much shorter the Colosseum.

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Restaurant Romantico came highly recommended so we made a reservation through Facebook.  The ambience and food did NOT disappoint!  The restaurant was quaint and very romantic … perfect for a honeymoon.

Restaurant Romantico Rome, Italy

Restaurant Romantico Rome, Italy

Day 11:  Capital Hill, Pantheon, Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain

We had trouble deciding what to do on our last day.  Torn between the Vatican and a self guided tour around Rome to see a bunch of sites.  In the end a self guided walking tour won out.  Although we really wanted to see the Vatican we also weren’t excited about missing all the other great sites around the city.  Our guided tour went like this:  Capital Hill, Pantheon,  lunch at Life Pizzeria, Spanish Steps to the Trevi Fountain.

Things to do in Rome

Our last dinner in Rome was at La Pentolaccia.  The owner of the restaurant suggested a fabulous bottle of wine and helped us choose great meals.  After dinner he suggested we get have some of their homemade limoncello.  It was delicious and the meal was a great bookend to our honeymoon!

La Pentolaccia Restaurant in Rome, Italy

Side Note:  The wine in this picture is actually sold at Costco in VA!  When I told the husband I found a wine from our honeymoon at Costco he didn’t believe me.  Luckily I took a picture of the bottle and was able to PROVE to him it was in fact a “honeymoon” wine. :)  Every time we buy the wine we reminisce a little about our trip.

Day 12: Heading Home

We took an EARLY cab ride to the airport and checked our flight back to the states.  Does anyone remember that crazy hurricane from last summer?  Well we do!  When we arrived at the airport a number of flights to New York and New Jersey were already cancelled.  We were fortunate and our flight from Rome to Boston to DC was still on schedule.

Apparently when we were already inflight to Boston our connecting flight to DC was cancelled.  This was actually not a big deal since my parents live in MA so we had a place to stay.  PLUS they had been watching Sophi so we got to be with our puppy too!  After a couple nights with my parents and sister we flew back to DC with the dog and started our life in DC as husband and wife!

Have you been to Rome?  What was your favorite restaurant or thing to do?

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We began our honeymoon in Positano and then we were off to Sorrento.  Day 6 was spent on the train heading north to Cinque Terre.  The trip was long and I read an entire book on the train ride there!  The trip wasn’t over when we arrive at the Monterosso train station.  We then had to shlep our luggage up a hill to the hotel.  Then it was official … we had arrived in Cinque Terre!

Cinque Terre, Italy: Honeymoon Part |  Life's Tidbits

Screen shot from Google Maps

We stayed at the #1 hotel in Monterosso, at least according to TripAdvisor, Hotel Villa Steno.  The hotel was great and the view was amazing.  We made good use of our balcony during our stay. I would definitely recommend a balcony with an ocean view!

Day 7: Day at the Beach

After sleeping in a little, we lathered up with sun tan lotion and headed to the beach!  The day was spent ocean side reading, tanning and hanging out.  The beach was beautiful and while relaxing on the beach I read Sarah’s Key, which is a great book and I highly recommend it.

Cinque Terre, Italy: Honeymoon Part |  Life's Tidbits

After a drink on the balcony and taking in the beautiful views we decided it was time for some PIZZA! Nothing had compared to the first place we found in Positano, however we were going to try to find something at least close.  As always we used the TripAdvisor app on the iPhone and decided upon Pizzeria Da Ely.  The pizza was very good and we were able to land a seat outside without having a reservation. :)  After a lovely dinner and bottle of wine we headed back to the hotel.

Cinque Terre, Italy: Honeymoon Part |  Life's Tidbits

Monterosso al Mare shuts down a lot earlier than Sorrento and Positano did.  For us this was a good thing, because the next day we planned to hike the 5 cities of Cinque Terre!

Day 8: Hiking Cinque Terre

We woke up early, which was a nice change and headed directly to breakfast.  After breakfast we packed water bottles, sunscreen and the camera into our backpack and headed towards the trail for our big hike.  We hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza.  I honestly don’t think I’ve ever sweat so much in my entire life.  It was SO hot and although the hike wasn’t hard there were enough stairs to make it so I couldn’t control the sweating. Hahaha.  Sexy, right?

Anyways after finally reaching Vernazza we stopped for lunch at Gianni Franzi.  I had the pasta with meat sauce it was A-Mazing.  After resting for a while we began the hike to Corniglia.  Once we arrived in  Corniglia it was time for a drink at a cute little bar.  The path from Corniglia to Manarola was closed for some reason so we would have to hop on the train to Manarola and then we could finish the hike through the cities.

The path closure was about all the level of excuses we needed to skip the last two cities (Manarola and Riomaggiore).  It was hot and we were tired from already hiking for the better part of the day.  We got on the train and headed back to our beautiful hotel.  We sat on the balcony, watched the sunset and savored our last evening in Cinque Terre.

Here are a few pictures from the hike:

Cinque Terre, Italy: Honeymoon Part |  Life's Tidbits

So beautiful!!! Even though we didn’t finish the hike I am glad we enjoyed the portion that we did do.  I think if it wasn’t so hot then we would have done the whole thing.  On our last night we went to Il Casello for dinner.  The food was great and the view of the ocean was perfect.  I think this is a place that only takes cash though … just a little fyi/heads up if you decide to go.

Day 9 would be spent on the train to Rome – our final stop on the honeymoon.

Caio! See you in Rome!!!

Happy traveling.

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