Date night! The Chocolate Martini Bar Restaurant Review!

Don't forget to enter my August giveaway worth $110 while you're here! :)

Yay!! Date night! I was excited to have grownup dinner with the hubs I adore and anxious to try Louisville's own version of The Chocolate Martini Bar. It looks from the website like this is a little mini chain with locations in Louisville, Cleveland and Buffalo. 

First of all, what to wear??

Juicy Couture Palm Leaf Peplum Blazer
Current Elliott shredded boyfriend jeans
Bauble Bar rose gold chain
Vintage Gucci Crossbody
Donald Pliner neon cactus heels

I had been looking for a way to rock this horrible heavy rose gold chain from the July PopSugar box and it looks like I found it! I wove a little piece of black tulle ribbon through part and tied a bow, to make it a little more cheeky and a little less serious. I love doing this with the massive string of real pearls I have, too! So much more comfortable with things worn in a playful and unexpected way! 


To play up the Havana nights feel a little bit, I went with some really 60's makeup. Dramatic black liquid eyeliner cat eye, super frosted pink lip (Pop Beauty lip crayon from July Ipsy bag). Not sure how to really photograph makeup? I'm working on it! LOL!

Cheesy wink for ya! LOL

And now for the FOOooooD! So many things on the menu used chocolate in unexpected ways, from white chocolate sauce pasta to salads with shaved chocolate on top! Here's what we had:

Chocolate salted caramel martini, $8 on happy hour (normally $10). Pretty good! Pretty much no alcohol though! LOL!

Chocolate Bar Baguette, $6 on happy hour (normally $9). Toasted baguette with smooth dark chocolate and coarse sea salt and olive oil to dip. Yummmmmmy!

Apple and goat cheese salad, $9. We split one of these, this was my half! Fresh strawberries and blueberries, absolutely delicious and half was PLENTY! 

Mexican Pork Tenderloin, $12. Hubby's entree. He enjoyed it, I'm thinking he would try something different next time, though! 

Strawberry Balsamic Flatbread, $7. My entree. Homemade mozzarella, fresh strawberries, balsamic reduction, white chocolate. Really good and interesting! Would def try something different next time but enjoyed this as a unique vegetarian option!

The vibe in the place could use a little classing up. It was fine, just a little too casual for how good the food was and how pricey the drinks were, if that makes sense! One cute touch is the TVs spread out playing chocolate themed shows - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I Love Lucy chocolate factory episode, etc. There was one in the bathroom playing a Spongebob episode about chocolate on a loop! LOL! 

Kind of Chuck E Cheesy to hear spongebob yelling CHOOOOooCOLATE while in the bathroom... 

There are some potential good times here with this $70 MEGATINI and the Manicure Mondays, when you get a free manicure with the purchase of a (regular sized) martini! 

OMG, now THAT'S a drink! Haha!

The takeaway? Probably won't do it again as a grownup night out but will definitely do a family meal there at some point. Kids eat free on Tuesdays and the kids menu looked like it could potentially be our girls' favorite place - PB&J, grilled cheese, kids mini fondue for dessert. 


And it was fun to walk around Westport Village for a bit! Picked up my new favorite University of Louisville game day pants and some cute jewelry at Apricot Lane! 

Can't wait for football! 

If you'd like to drool over the entire menu from The Chocolate Martini Bar, you can do so here! Enjoy!! 

Mexico Part 1! Fun long weekend in the sun!

Hubs and I recently spent four nights in Cancun to celebrate my birthday. Honestly, I know it's spoiled of me, but I was super disappointed at these travel plans. We were booked to go to The Exumas, Bahamas and play with the swimming pigs and had to cancel last minute because of a tropical storm. Seriously, last minute. As in completely different country, hotel, flights, everything about 18 hours before we were scheduled to depart. Have you ever done this?? It was nuts. 

The path of the storm didn't leave many options, nor did the last-minute plane tickets, so we wound up in Cancun. We have been to Cancun 3 or 4 times and it's been fine.... never outstanding, and the drug cartel situation continues to freak me out about Mexico (I know, I know, far from Cancun, but still). So, my expectations were pretty low....

The travel from Louisville to Cancun is a piece of cake. One layover in Atlanta, about 5 hours total travel time. Great, except for the fact that OUR BAGS DIDN'T MAKE THE CONNECTION (again!!). OMG. This JUST happened on our trip to Santa Barbara in May and, as we were leaving another airport with no suitcases, I honestly couldn't believe it was happening again. United was a nightmare in May (and still are, situation remains unresolved) but to Delta's credit, they were super nice. They gave us little travel bags of toiletries - even a crappy thin t-shirt that I wound up sleeping in that night just to have something clean. Not off to a great start BUT a Delta agent delivered our bags in the middle of the night (impressed!), so the situation could have been much worse. 

Toothpaste and deo are always a bonus.

We were booked on one of the top two floors at the ME Cancun. These floors are called "The Level" and offer concierge services and all kinds of extra amenities on top of the all-inclusive package. Hubs and I had seen this resort of Rock of Love and were excited to see it in person! Are we the only ones who watched and loved that show??? LOL!

Exclusive check-in and concierge desk for The Level

View from lobby on The Level 

First impression of the beach? GORGEOUS. Seriously. The walkable sand goes on FOREVER in both directions, the sand is super clean and soft, the water is crystal clear. Why have we been so negative about this place?? It's pretty much perfect.... At night the hotel transforms into all kinds of little specially lit bars and seating areas and looks so much like Vegas or Miami. So impressed. So, so impressed. More to come soon!! :D

View to the left

View to the right

Happy to be there! And happy I put a bathing
suit for each of us in my carry on! LOL! 

First sunset, from our room. Ok, I was wrong, Mexico. You're fab!

Friday iPhone photo dump!

Time to link up again with Jennifer over at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for the weekly photo dump! 

OMG. This week has been a blur! 

Hubs and I started the week in Mexico, on a little mini-getaway. More on that to come soon, but it was posh and SUPER relaxing!! 

So gorgeous!

Happy birthday to me!! 

<3 <3 <3

Still obsessed with the Chucks I bought there..

Probably the best photo I took on the trip.
My incognito photo skills are really becoming top notch.

The girls have been in horse camp all week, which they LOVE! It seems like such a "Kentucky" thing to do, riding a horse, don't you think??

With Nevaeh, one of their BFFs!! 

LOVE all the barn cats! This is Jo Ann, an 18 year old sweetie! 

So that's about it from here! Short and sweet this week! I've got quite a few boxes to review over the next few days but I'm hoping for a relaxing weekend. Oh, and the college football countdown is ON! CAN'T WAIT!

Bulu Box May Review - Turrible

This box from Bulu... Omg. It's so ridiculous. I had a deal and paid $19 for three months and already feel hosed! I thought for a minute that this was just some bonus box in between the regular subscription boxes... Uh no. What a rip. I guess the good news is that it can pretty much only go up from here! LOL!

Here's first looks - box was itty bitty and LIGHT, should have been a bad sign apparently!

AllerDX seasonal allergy treatment ($1.10). Ok... My allergies are ferocious, so I'm all about anything that works. I cracked up that the testimonial quote on the package was from a man in kentucky! Here's the thing, though. The directions say to take 3-4 tablets at a time up to three times a day as needed. So as many as TWELVE tablets a day. Sounds like something I'm not even going to try to keep up with. And since the sample only has THREE tablets in it, not even enough for ONE maximum dose, I'm not going to mess up my regular schedule to try. So weak.

Beauty Bursts supplement chews ($.53). This pack had TWO chews. Was like most items in the box, marked "sample not for sale", so WHY did I PAY for this stuff? Argh. Fit n Crisp Vanilla Marshmallow bar ($1.62). Hubs ate this right up, said it tasted like a rice krispie treat with a scoop of protein powder in it. Definitely had more sugar than the supplement bars I usually buy for him. But, you know, at least it was a full size item! And look at him! He's happy to have a snack!! Haha!

FitMixer Amino supplement ($1.00). Again, a TINY sample, this is meant to be a pre-workout energizer. I used it in my efforts to recover from jetlag, felt no effect. And Artisana Berry Antioxident Nut Butter ($1.75). Little bitty pack, would have been a skimpy sandwich with this! The hubs just ate it out of the package. Don't even care if he liked it! I'm so annoyed with this box at the point that I'm not buying any of this stuff! LOL!

There was information on Jay Cardiello's 40-day workout program and info to get the first workout free online. I went to the website to check, and this is free to ANYONE, so there is no value added to the box by this. Not a perk, just an advertisement. Ugh.

So this box normally costs $10 and I came up with a total value of $6.00. And even worse than the poor value is the fact that there wasn't enough of any product to really use it and get a feel for it - except for the vanilla bar, but I sure wouldn't have paid $10 for that! It would have been better to have received one full size pack of one item and that be it rather than little bits of 5 random things. Box grade: F. I've heard lots of people cancelled after this box. Hopefully next month they make up for it! If you want to take a chance on it and are optimistic like I am that it only goes up from here, sign up for Bulu Box Here. You can use code FIRSTFREE to get the first box free (it's worth the price of FREE! LOL)

Toad the Wet Sprocket in Columbus, OH 5/10/13

So, Toad has been my musician husband's #1 favorite band FOREVER. They are his #1 musical influence and the group that he used to teach him self guitar many (many! haha) moons ago. Recently he's had the opportunity to work with Dean, the bass player, on a couple of projects and last year he bought an amp from Glen, the lead singer, so there have been a lot of "Toad" moments around here lately...

The hubs has met the band and seen the band several times but last night was an exciting first - first Toad show where he was on the guest list. Nice! I was so, so, so excited to be there to see this huge moment for him. It was such a special night! So here are some deets....

First, what to wear? Always my first thought in literally any scenario! LOL! Here's my Toad selection:

Favorite True Religion jean jacket, cheapy Union Jack flag button from London, crochet dress from (yikes! haha) Jennifer Lopez collection at Kohls (past season, similar one here), neon crossbody from Marc Jacobs, favorite old beat to death Frye boots and fleur de lis tiny charm necklace. I've had this necklace forever, too, and can't even remember where I bought it. It's had me thinking lately about how much I LOVE a dainty chain and single charm. I'm working on a post about that! :)

The traffic between Louisville and Columbus via Cincinnati on a Friday afternoon is INSANE, and it was raining, which meant we had no time to go to the hotel first. I got to change clothes and put on eyeliner in the backseat, which was exciting and something I wasn't sure I could still do - I can! LOL! We arrived just in time and were happy to be there! Yay date night!

The show was awesome!

Afterwards we got a chance to hang out with the guys!

Such a great night with a million special moments, capped off for me by the origami flowers waiting in our room at the Hilton Downtown Columbus. :) The hubs is the love of my life and my best friend! I absolutely adored having the chance to share such a meaningful night with him! Life is short! Please always do everything you can to help the special people in your life's dreams come true!!

Derby Eve Festivities!

So many fab parties around town, so many opportunities for free cocktails and random celebrity encounters! This year we got a super fun group together and headed out to Unbridled Eve, a party to benefit Blessings in a Backpack, a Louisville charity that is doing big things for little people far and wide!

For the pre-party at our house, we decided to make yummy Strawberry Bourbon Lemonade. Turned out great, needed twice as much for our enthusiastic guests, though! Haha!

When drinks started running out, it was time for a quick group pic then off to board the party bus!

The dining room looked gorgeous as usual and a super fun dinner was had by all! I love extra surprise goodies like the special edition KY Derby 139 bracelet by Alex and Ani that was waiting with my place setting! Fun! And of course the Marker's Mark inspired chocolate mousse for dessert was the best part of the meal! When Nicholas David from The Voice took the stage, there was no table with a louder sing along and break down to Lean On Me than ours! Always the ones having the most fun!! ;)

One of our favorite things about a big event like this is hitting the auctions! We got some great things at this one! New bag for me, Montgomery Gentry autographed guitar for the hubs, UL football autographed by head coach Charlie Strong (da man) and a trip to the Emmys in September, complete with tickets to the iconic Governor's Ball! Nice!!

The most disappointing celebrity was Lauren Conrad... Ugh. Horrible. Didn't even want to stand up to take pictures. I took a couple of photos for friends with her but I passed on that one. A tie for our favorite celeb of the night is between Coach Strong/his wife, who were having an awesome time, too!, and Lance Bass who was SUCH a good sport with everyone!

My hair was definitely looking a little insane.... I've always thought it better to be on a "What was she THINKING?!" list than no list at all! Haha! After dancing, a few more drinks, a Luke Bryan performance (yawn), late night White Castles, a trip to the photo booth and some songs with the always rockin' Full Contact Karaoke it was time to call it a night. So much funl! Love to have the chance to show off our fab city and have a great time doing it!!