St. Marteen! Sean, Irene & I's Honeymoon

"Where are you going on your honeymoon?" I was asked quite a bit.
"St. Marteen"
"Oh! Cool.... Where is it?"
"The Caribbean"


That's all I knew about this little island. I was so so so excited to travel somewhere new. I knew that it was a half french/half dutch island. I figured it would be like Hawaii times 1,083,492. Nope. I really should have done more research. No one mentioned it was a third world island. Oh well. Sean and I love exploring. I don't mean to sound ungrateful. Sean and I picked the spot. It would have all been impossible without both of our parents. 


Let me back up a little bit. We were married Friday, August 19th in Newport Beach. Before we flew out of LAX on Saturday, we had a few hours to hit up some of my old stomping grounds. By that I mean restaurants of course.

Toi Thai on Sunset Blvd. The atmosphere is as good as the food.

We were all set to board a convertible van for Sean's first celebrity home tour. (Yes, I've done many and am known to correct the driver when they get their celebrity 'facts' mixed up).

Sadly the tour wouldn't get us back in time to get to the airport, so we didn't get to go. Next time!

No complaints because it gave us enough time to get over to Magnolia's for a little banana creme pudding. :)

We made it to LAX and boarded no problem. (Shout out to Daddy Lamb. He flies A LOT and basically rules the skies. He hooked us up with sweet airline privileges. We flew like a boss. THANK YOU!!)
When we landed in Miami for our connection, both Sean and I's phones rang. The airline was informing us our connecting flights were delayed. Whaaat? Why?! This little lady was just getting started out in the Atlantic ocean:

Who invited Irene?! While we were in Miami Irene was simply classified as a 'tropical storm'. The airline couldn't promise us when/if we'd be getting to St. Marteen. All me knew was the storm was headed to towards us in Miami. Bummer.


Daddy Lamb set us up with some sweet accommodations in Miami while we tried to make the most of our time there. We took advantage of a sweet cuban restaurant while we waited to hear how many more days we'd be stuck.

Good news, Irene started to head toward America and we were able to fly around it the next day! 

This is Maho Beach.   St. Marteen is one tiny island!

Our home, Simpson Bay Resort

Our sweet rental. Sean looks really good behind the wheel. Makes him look so strong.

Basically we hit road everyday. One stop light on the entire island. For the first we days we just drove around to different beaches.

We loved the beaches with fruit drinks.

Yes, the blender is powered by a car battery. Awesome.

A typical view out of the car window at night.

St. Marteen definitely has some of the best water I have ever swam in. It was tough to enjoy when the locals hardly let you rest-- they're so pushy with their products. I hated waking up to the option to buy a puka necklace...

Orient Beach, probably our favorite beach on the island.

I spent most of my time in the sun shaded. I'm just sensitive like that.

Sean wanted to leave the winner of the hand stand contest up to you readers. So please feel free to vote in the comment section.

While Irene was making her way up the U.S. coast, we enjoyed beautiful weather. It only rained once- on our scuba diving trip. Ironically it was clear the entire boat ride out, until we got in the water. We couldn't have planned it any better.

 I've been certified for close to 10 years. My dad has always spoiled me setting up my equipment - I learned I wasn't very good without him! Sean has swam and played water polo for years so I wasn't worried about him getting used to scuba diving. It was cool to be there for his first dive. Typically new divers go through air much faster than 'seasoned' divers. Nope! Sean was so calm and could have stayed down much longer than me. 

He had a little trouble equalizing at first but got the hang of it.

The weather had cleared up by the time we surfaced. We're guessing our masks got mixed up. You can see how tight Sean's was - and mine was leaking the whole time.

The next day we took a ferry to the french island of St. Bart's. Certainly not the 3rd world accommodations we become accustomed to. It was beautiful. Far more expensive, but beautiful.

We spent most of the day at the french Shell Beach. Sounds fabulous right?...

No, it was actually pretty painful to walk on. The water was awesome though.

Happily returning the rental car.

As you can tell, we were TIRED. We flew back to LAX then drove to Utah the next morning in time for Sean to start school on Monday. Sigh. I'm certainly missing it right now. THANKS AGAIN to our amazing parents for such an incredible trip!

Empire State of Mind

Ya miss me? I have been a little MIA. Sean and I were lucky enough to have another chance to travel. We've barely settled in from traveling for the wedding, honeymoon (yet to be blogged) -- but when a free trip presents itself, you take it.

Last week I went to a week of corporate training in Morristown, New Jersey. (Fist pump!) After meetings were over on Friday, I rode into NYC. Sean flew into the concrete jungle late that night to meet me.

I've been to NY before so I loved playing 'tour guide' for Sean. My tours consist of FOOD. I'll get to the food part...but as for a real tour, I left it to the professionals:

I "bargained" with these 2 for close to a half hour. Don't get me started on that argument...I finally paid and hopped on the bus.

I recommend anyone visiting the city do a bus tour. Even if you have been before, Go! I learn something new every-time.

Why not go for the free poncho? Every-time I've ridden the bus, it's rained. Bummer.

First stop: Madison Square Park for a little Flat Iron Building and Shake Shack! I've read articles debating who makes the best burger: In-N-Out, Five Guys or Shake Shack. Sean and I are both from California so we're pretty biased towards In-N-Out. We tried Five Guys and never want to go back. I was excited for Sean to try Shake Shack to help me decide. Drum roll please...Shake Shack takes the cake! The beef really won him over.

That night Sean and I took the train out of the city to see one of our favorite comedians Jim Gaffigan in Morristown, New Jersey. HOT POCKETS!

The next day we hit up American's first pizzeria Lombardi's. mmmm

(Look how cute this guy is! NYC was such a 'romantic' city. I just loved having this guy around 24 hours a day.)

Serendipity! Frozen hot chocolate!
We hit up another Shake Shake on the upper west side.

Katz Delicatessen. Corned beef sandwich. It's where Harry met Sally.

Tom's Restaurant. This time we went inside and ate. It wasn't fab.

xoxo Magnolia's Bakery xoxo
mmmm, banana creme pudding. My second love. I got Sean addicted too. We ate em everyday. Craving it now. Tear.

We did squeeze in a little site seeing between the food...

Staten Island ferry! Checked out Lady Liberty on our way.

He's the king of the world!

Coney Island. FYI: Coney Island shuts down after summer. Shuts down everything. We did manage to snag 2 Coney hot dogs. Amazing. Should I just make this a food blog?

I was cold most of the trip. Proof.

Strolling through Central Park.

Ground Zero is one of my favorite spots to visit. The Freedom Tower is a new addition to the skyline since the last time I was there.

Lastly, I'll finish this monster post with a BIG THANK YOU! Sean and I were lucky enough to stay with Aimee & Jerry. Aimee is my hip hop twin. She brought Jerry into my life over a year ago when they got married. They're an awesome couple. They live in the building attached to the Manhattan LDS temple. I loved the location.

Aimee is one gracious hostess. Totally spoiled us. Homemade cinnamon rolls!

Overall, AMAZING trip. We can't wait to go back. Sean and I are crossing our fingers we'll have some opportunity to live there.