Honeymoon Part II

Honeymoon continued... IMG_3187

Leaving Four Seasons Golden Triangle and headed to Chang Mai.

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Arriving at the hotel.

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Dinner at the Four Seasons Chang Mai.

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Bathtub surrounded by glass.

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Coffee and email updating on the porch.

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Welcome flowers displayed in our room.

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Pooling!

To be honest, it was so hot in Chang Mai that I was sweating in this picture!  In the pool!  It was well over 100 every day, but it felt like 120!  We decided to leave a few days early and head to Koh Samui.  We stayed at the Imperial Boathouse, which was fine... bit it was definitely NOT the Four Seasons.

 

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Exhibit A, naked lady glasses and plastic beach chairs...

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Jimmy and I decided to combat our shock over exiting the Four Season bubble by doing a little beach bar crawl.  Stop #1.

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Stop #2.

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Stop #2 Continued...IMG_3245

And post drinks, on the way to dinner, we had a nice little photo op.

The next day we went to the beach in the morning, which was beautiful! IMG_3244

And then we went into Chaweng for lunch.  We stopped at the coolest hotel for lunch, The Library.

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There was a red pool!

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We of course opted for a good old Carona... too many Thai beers.

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We then moved to a Thai Beach Club for a second beer and a Jello Shot :)

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As well as a polaroid with a monkey.  $5 well spent... especially after doing a little afternoon drinking!

The next day we went back to the Four Seasons... which we will explore in part 3 :)

Honeymoon... Part 1/2

We went to Thailand for our honeymoon.  We took a little tour through the Four Seasons hotels in Thailand.  Wife Perk!!!

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Four Seasons Bangkok

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After 2+ months of juicing to fit into my wedding dress, this was a welcome site!

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Pool side...

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Non-alcoholic health shakes ;) -- I can't shake them... HA HA.  Get it.

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We watched the woman carving these watermelon...  it was incredible.

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We ate cashew and chicken goo on top of pineapple that blew my mind!  Seriously the best think I've ever eaten.

Then we traveled to the Four Seasons Golden Triangle.

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This is us in a boat on the way to the tented camp :)

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Our tent.  That's a bathtub in the middle of the room!  It was over 100, but I forced myself to take a bath.  Do you blame me?  It was awesome.  I of COURSE had a cold drink in the bath.   Jimmy's mom taught me about vodka, soda and orange juice, with two limes, which is the best drink in the world.  The orange juice in Thailand is actually tangerine juice, which SO much better!  I drank about a million... well maybe less, but I was obsessed.  I'm thinking of juicing tangerines just to recreate the drink.

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Our bed and the view to the porch.  There is also a FREE mini bar beyond the bed, which was the source of the cocktails...  obvi.

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This was the pool.  To be 100% honest with you, this was my least favorite of the pools... but I mean... come on.  It was still awesome.

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This is the view of our tent from the path.

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View from the Burma bar.  Heavenly.Screen Shot 2013-05-30 at 4.12.41 PM

Couples massage on our porch.  I swore I would never do a couples massage, but it was so nice we did 3.  #spoiled.

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Jimmy on his elephant.  Lovin' it.Screen Shot 2013-05-30 at 4.13.35 PM

This may be our Christmas card next year... just sayin'.

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Boat ride exploring the town.

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Waiting for couples massage #2.

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Elephant bath time.

I will post more tomorrow :)

Ski Trip Results (!!!)

Calm down.  I'm going to tell you about how my little "white lie" turned out on the trip. Screen Shot 2012-03-21 at 4.29.28 PM

That's me.  The one on the snow.  I was "resting my legs." ha.

P1000576It turns out I had not over-exaggerated Jimmy's skiing ability in my head.  He actually was that good.  Show off :)

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Thank God I brought Ben along so I could let them do their own thing and ski at my own pace.

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See?  Two peas on a Pod.

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We all skied together a little bit as well.  It went much better than I expected.  Even though my legs were on fire and I kept making bargins such as "If I ever get down this mountain I'll never lie again," (hmmmm) I did excel at certain parts of the mountain...

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As expected, I really rocked the chairlift part of skiing.  I would sit back and pretend like I didn't care at all if we put the bar down, but as soon as we did I would throw my skis up there... so thankful for just a few minutes of relief.  As the boys discussed the next runs we would take, I secretly hoped someone getting off at the top would fall just to make the ride a little bit longer.

On the bright side, my legs and butt did get a nice workout, which is why I felt fine about doing this...

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Apparently beer tastes better if you feel like you earned it.

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The only slight issue I had was when I got too tired/frustrated/unable to ski and jimmy had to carry my skis so I could take a break.  I'm not sure my brother will ever let me live it down, but hey, if that's the worst thing that happened I'll consider it a success.

Other successes?

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Shots of rumple minze at the Village Cafe.

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Taking mom to the Mangy Moose.

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Tons of great meals in Jackson Hole... and of course tons of hot tub time at the Four Seasons.

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I'm a pretty lucky girl.

Speaking of being lucky (see that segue there) , you too could be lucky IF you enter our contest to win a FREE AD in the Beacham Series.

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Come on, don't make me beg.  Right now I only have 3 entries, so if you enter you have a GREAT chance of winning.  PLEASE PLEASE PELASE.

The deadline is Tomorrow... Thursday, at midnight.  Please please please.  Don't make me look like a loser (who has to get someone to carry her skis).

Fun things coming up on This Photographer's Life:

1. I'm giving away two FREE autographed copies of Historical Concept's new book "Coming Home."

2. We will have to chose a winner of the free ad!!! yea!!!

3. We have listed a beautiful new modern house (my favorite)

4. We need to ramp up to the next Beacham Series party, so that's always fun.

Tons of good stuff on the horizon, so stay tuned!!!

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Chicago (Architecture & Panic) + Showing a House = A Winner

To continue on my ADD rampage, today I am going to show you guys a few pictures of Chicago, where I went for Halloween weekend.

Jimmy and I went to Chicago.  Why?  Well, I'd like to claim it was for a romantic getaway, but that's a lie.  We went because Widespread Panic was playing there.  I had never actually seen Widespread before (YES, ok, I did go to UGA.... I'm just lame I guess), so we went up for the Halloween show.

What did I think?  It was really great.  I enjoyed the music quite a bit.  It reminded me of Allman Brothers (I can actually hear you groaning), which is a good thing in my book.

One of the reasons I liked the show so much was because we got to dress up.... awesome.  I've never been to any Halloween shows, so I was psyched for this aspect.  I was just going to be a regular indian until Jimmy told me about this Widespread song called Blue Indian.  No brainer (thanks to Adam for the sweet costume ideas).

Jimmy was the Gingerbread man.  I was hesitant about that at first, but once I saw how much everyone loved it it was really funny.

Another reason I liked the show so much was because it was in the Chicago Theater.  It was such a cool place.  It reminded me a lot of the Fox Theater.  See the window behind us in the first picture?  You could see the stage through it.

I took this photo from the upper balcony looking down to the lobby.  That chandelier was amazing.  The whole place had such a cool feel.

I stole this photo off the internet, but I wanted you to see what it looked like.

Im sure you recognize the sign from the play/movie.  Great night.  Great band.  I will for sure see them again.

We got to stay at the Ritz Carlton there.  It was an amazing hotel with truly exceptional service...  they delivered me a cappuccino in the business center and knew us when we got out of the cab.  I was extremely impressed.  The Ritz Carlton Chicago is managed by Four Seasons - so it is actually a Four Seasons Hotel rather than a Ritz.  Jimmy works for the Four Seasons, so we get to stay there for free.  Yes, I am really enjoying that girlfriend perk.

The VERY helpful concierge told us about this cool wine bar in the basement of the Seneca Hotel across the street.  Jimmy and I went over after we got in on Friday and had a glass of wine. I could not recommend it more highly.  It is in the basement of Francesca's.  I loved the feel in there, especially the exposed brick groin vaulted ceilings.

We also went to Garrett popcorn shops.  Go there.  You will not regret it.  I dont even really like popcorn, and we had to stand in a small line.  SO WORTH IT!  Go!

Sunday we went to RL, which is Ralph Lauren's only restaurant.  Jimmy and I both agree it was the highlight of the trip.  The food was fantastic and the people were beautiful.  No kidding, every person in there looked like a model.  There was black and white photograph everywhere, and the interiors were spectacular.

See?  Thank you so much to Linda Williams for recommending!

And finally... it's not like I could leave Chicago without the architecture boat tour down the river.  Yes we were sitting in freezing rain cupping hot chocolate, so no I did not get out my notepad and take down the names of all of these buildings...  you should be happy that I got any pictures at all!  I thought I was going to lose my fingers to the frostbite.  If you know what these buildings are I would love you to leave a comment at the bottom ant tell me so I can fill them in.  I know I could spend hours researching that, but it's Friday afternoon and I'm running out of time, so help a girl out, will ya?

These corn cob looking buildings are my favorite ones in Chicago.... I know most people hate them, but I don't.  So there.

Here is a picture of them from Saturday night.

I think they are parking decks... which isn't really that cool, but whatever.

It was a really great trip.  Chicago is my favorite city other than Atlanta, so I was happy as a little clam there.  Did you know they have a TopShop there?  They do, and it's amazing.  I'll be back soon.  For sure.

NEXT TOPIC: Showing a house.

Linda Williams, who recommended RL to us, is absolutely phenomenal at showing houses. She recently made a video of her showing 515 West Paces Ferry Road, a listing she shares with Glennis Beacham.  The house is stunning, and Linda does a great job showing it.  Do yourself a favor and watch the video.  You'll love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_Z03Fu-EwrI

Doesn't she do a great job?  I'm really proud of her and this video!

NEXT TOPIC:

It's time to choose a winner in the Melissa Payne Baker painting giveaway!

Ok, I am going to find a random number generator...

Congratulations Emily!  You won the Itty Bitty!  I will be in touch to sort out the details with you.

See you guys Monday!  Have a great weekend :)