Last week, Tomorrow’s Hope Foundation (THF) held its 20th Annual Swinging for Scholarships Golf Outing at Meadow Brook Club in Jericho. It was my first golf event, and I worked and helped onsite.
I had a fantastic time. Even better, the organization raised over $450,000! THF provides scholarships for Catholic school elementary students in Long Island.
We got to spend some quality time in New Orleans before and after our cruise in February. Most of the time was spent walking around and/or eating (which is not a bad thing 😜). This was also not my first time in New Orleans; it will not be the last. Next time, I want to take a Ghost or Voodoo tour and enjoy more nighttime stuff.
Two more days until our Disney Cruise! I’m revisiting some of our past cruise vacations to get us pumped and ready to go.
In October 2024, we enjoyed a 7-day Caribbean cruise on the MSC Meraviglia to celebrate my birthday this time. We learned a lot from our first cruise in February! For our NCL cruise, we waited to book everything on the ship. Frequent cruisers know that booking packages in advance is the way to go; it’s cheaper, and you have more options. So we bought everything in advance! We got the drink and wifi package (worth it to us), we got the specialty dining package, and enjoyed four amazing restaurants. I prebooked excursions, spa treatments, and little goodies throughout our cruise. I even booked a little photo shoot for us. It was all worth it!
We had the best time! Learning from our February cruise, we took advantage of every amenity we could. Our daughter participated in the kids club this time, while my husband and I enjoyed the spa and the nighttime entertainment. We also got to enjoy some shows with our daughter. She slept through one show (lol), but she enjoyed the acrobatic one, in the carousel lounge. My daughter was better potty-trained this time, so we got to take advantage of the pools more. The one negative we experienced was the weather. It definitely wasn’t on our side, and we only made one of our ports, but we made the best of it on the ship. The ship had tons of activities to participate in. We plan on going on another MSC cruise in February 2026!
On Saturday, we celebrated my daughter’s baptism and Pre-K graduation. The baptism was held at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Astoria, and the after-party/reception was at Astoria World Manor. We were truly blessed to have so many people celebrate with us.
Today is my Dad’s 83rd birthday!
We went to London Lennies, one of our favorite restaurants, to celebrate.
Can’t complain, I had a very low-key 4th of July.
Filled with
and fireworks 🎆.
This holiday season has been an absolute blur; it went by so quickly. About two weeks ago, I went to a Winter Wonderland party at the New York Junior League with my husband and daughter, and we got a chance to have a moment with Santa. We had the best time, and it was our first holiday event this year together.
Last week, I attended Holly and Ivy at the NYJL. This annual event includes a festive lunch and a shopping experience. It’s so popular at the League that tickets are hard to get, and I’m glad I got to snag one.
I had a great time with friends and got some cute things for Christmas.
Tis the season for advent calendars! This year I splurged on a few.
I got my daughter a unicorn-focused one with jewelry and toys.
My cats are sharing one filled with toys.
I splurged on a whiskey one for my husband. Bonus it came with two glasses 😉.
Since I’m looking to learn how to crochet, I got myself a Wooble advent calendar, and I’ll be crocheting cute little animals 🥰.
Are you an advent calendar fan? What is yours?
The Casual Explorer 