2011 ANNIVERSARY STAYCATION

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I took a break from project working and spent some time with the hubs for our anniversary. To save on the expense of going away (like we usually do for our anniversary) we did a staycation. Although we were home, we did get out to two nearby areas, which made it feel like we were away. Rather than do an expensive dinner in a crowded resturant Friday night, we did a delicious late lunch at a cool hotel resturant in Ft. Lauderdale called Steak954. We both did light fish dishes: I had an amazing Mahi-Mahi fish sandwich, which wasn't at all what I was expecting - from presentation to taste! It was cut into thirds, and served with freshly made potato chips, seasoned with sea salt. Jeff had two fish tacos, and we shared a well chilled Caesar salad with an amazing dressing and fresh parm shavings. We toasted our anniversary date with refreshing margaritas served in stemless glasses - they too were dee-lish - and so was the view...



Steak954 is located right on the beach at the sleek & modern W Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. After our meal, we took a little tour of the hotel...

I think Lady Gaga would really like these chairs!

Jellyfish wall featured at the inside dining area...

Lounge upstairs, just next to the lobby area.

That overhang suspended over the bar was made of all chain links...

In the Lobby...

Outside lounge area featured cool blue stripes...

a modern take on the ocean view, just around the corner.

Then we took a stroll down the Ft. Lauderdale Strip. We stopped at a place for more margaritas that were served in these HUGE glasses... so huge, we probably could have shared one...

Woops!



For our walk back up to the car, we walked along the shore. I don't know if it was the salty sea air or the Caribbean blues of the ocean, but before heading home, we pulled into an OLD movie theatre to see Pirates of the Caribbean. We're both Pirates fans, but not too much a fan of this version - we missed the rest of the cast.

Jeff doing his thing at the table...

 For the "rapture" on Saturday evening, we spent it at the Hollywood Hardrock Hotel & Casino where Jeff got to hit the tables (to try and win us our millions ya know) and we laughed ourselves silly from the comedy performance of Lewis Black.  When they dimmed the lights, the announcer said (in a deep voice) "Welcome to the Rapture!!"

Not wanting to go home right after the show, we walked around the Hardrock shops, pubs and clubs, sat at an outside bar, had a drink and did some people watching. Oh the sites we saw - including many girls wearing thi-high mini's or winter boots (and we're going into Summer??), while others seemed to scream "Yup. I'm a tourist!"

 Sunday we just did some grilling & chillaxing - Jeff read the paper, & napped, while I was clipping & organizing coupons - but to NO EXTREME! lol We also watched some on-demand shows, like Extreme Couponing, Dresscue Me, What Not To Wear and American Pickers... but that's a whole other post...

So even though we didn't pack-up and go to any destination, we made the best of what was around us and each other ;-)