Portugal-Part 1

Happy, Happy Monday! I hope you had a great week! I missed popping in with you last week, but while I was gone Tab and I had a great getaway to Algarve, Portugal. This was a reward trip and let me just tell you, they spoiled us rotten. :). We got in on Saturday evening and yesterday morning I was so annoyed no one was offering to make me an omelet. ha! Here’s a little part one recap of our trip…

Our flight left Sunday afternoon which turned out to be so nice. We were able to finish packing, take our time, and not be rushed on the way to the airport. We flew to Philadelphia and then Philly to Lisbon, Portugal {just about a six hour flight}. We arrived at 9:00 a.m. Portugal time and joined another couple on the trip for a 2.5 hour ride to Algarve, which is located on the southern coast of Portugal.

We arrived just in time for lunch, a power nap, and then Tab hit the gym while I did a little work on the patio. These were our views. Not too bad, huh?

The Vila Vita Parc Resort was home for the next six days and it didn’t disappoint. This resort was absolutely stunning and every little detail was a bit of Portugal magic.

The doors in the hallway were even adorable. 🙂

And have you ever seen cuter bathroom tile?

At this point, we’d already started making a mess…

Porches Pottery is a famous pottery company located just a couple miles from our resort so it was interwoven all throughout the resort.

I have a lot of blue/white pottery in our house so this spoke to my heart.

The welcome dinner and reception was on our first night and I wore this dress paired with these wedges. What I didn’t know was most dinners were located on a cobblestone path so oftentimes I’d take wedges/heels but walk in sandals to the event.

I did my best on day two to dress like a “yachter”. ;). Top, shorts, belt {similar}, sandals, and my cork tote was a welcome gift from the day before. Over 70% of cork is made right there in Portugal. Fun Fact!

Our set up was pretty cute!

These ladies and their spouses were our boat mates for the day and I had so much fun with all of them!

There are gorgeous cliffs and caves along the coastline so our captain {is that what I’d call him?} drove us in or along as many cool sights as possible. The resort sent snacks so we had a little lunch as we cruised. And I have my hat pulled down as low as possible so it wouldn’t fly off.

Every turn was more stunning than the last.

Super cool views with the most gorgeous water!

This spot was extra cool to me…all these people were hanging out but got there by kayak.

The guys 🙂

The theme on night #2 was Portuguese Street Fair. My dress is this one.

Our set up was stunning…outside on the patio with vendors set up for a little shopping. The dinner was more street fair type food.

And then we had a little show of Portuguese dancing. A few “lucky” friends got chosen to dance to a song that went on FOREVER. It was like that Celine Dion slow song that was seriously like 8 minutes. Do you remember the one I’m talking about? I remember at high school dances it was like you need to dance with the guy you REALLY like for that one because it was LONG! haha! This song must have been the remix version with about six songs put together. They held hands and danced, they danced with their partner, they lifted the ladies up, and on and on.

Tab volunteered a friend to dance and then this lady went after him. It was hilarious! And he got what he deserved!

Another darling little hang out spot in our resort! Isn’t it cute?

On Wednesday, we’d selected to go on a boat cruise inside caves but we hadn’t realized we’d be doing that on the yacht the day before. So we decided to switch to the hike. Our hike was actually on the top of the cliffs so we were able to see some of those same gorgeous views just from a different perspective.

I might have even spotted Jack Sparrow down there. 😉

After the hike we had a few hours to chill before dinner. This was the little walk to the beach down below.

Nap time at the pool.

Meanwhile, this was happening back home. Bowen and some friends he’ll be going to middle school with in the fall got to team up for a mid-week baseball tournament.

Dinner on night #3 was at a local winery where they closed the place down for the private event. My dress can be worn with the straps up or down, earrings, same wedges…

And this purse Sheaffer told me to buy matched PERFECTLY!

The table was absolutely stunning! One of my favorite things about these meals is most of them have assigned seating. I actually love it because I know without that I’d tend to gravitate toward the people we know the best and we’d end up not getting to meet near as many people.

Views from the table were overlooking the wintery.

It was a great start to an awesome week! See you back here on Wednesday!

XO