In the past five years since I have lived in Richmond, it has grown tremendously! From the dozens of breweries popping up to the swarms of post-graduates moving here, Richmond really has come to life! We recently were named one of the "10 Coolest Cities to visit in 2018" by Forbes.com! I thought it would be fun to come on the blog today and share some of my personal favorite places to see and what to do in Richmond! Hope you all love my Home Sweet Home as much as I do.

1. Breweries

Wherever you are in Richmond, I guarantee there is a brewery near by! They have become a regular after work/nice weather activity for us Richmond residents. Theres too many to mention in this post but I'll share our go-to's! If you are here on a Thursday, try Hardywood Park Craft Brewery for food truck Thursday! They'll have everything from tacos to churros. It's our favorite! Saturday/Sunday afternoons are the perfect opportunity to brewery hop through Scotts Addition! Start at Ardent Craft Ales and make your way to Isley Brewing Company, The Veil Brewing Co. and Vasen Brewing Company. Oh and if you have any cider lovers in the group, you'll be right near Blue Bee Cider & Buskey Cider. Here's a full list of breweries in RVA.

2. Richmond flying squirrels

You can't come to Richmond during the Spring/Summer without going to a Flying Squirrels game! We are lucky to have the Double A team for the San Francisco Giants in our backyard. From the traditional ballpark food to the yells of the crowd, definitely add this to your to do list! Oh and if you did not get enough craft beers at the breweries, they serve them at the games!

I worked at The Flying Squirrels for 4 Summers during college!

3. Maymont park

Maymont Park is a historic estate with over 100-acres of land right here in Richmond, VA. From the Maymont Mansion, the Japanese and Italian gardens to the different historic exhibits, there is so much beauty and history to see in this one-location! If you're lucky to have beautiful sunny weather during your day in RVA, definitely make Maymont a stop on your list!

4. Museums

Richmond has so many great museums to visit while you are here. A few are even free! On Boulevard you will find a local favorite, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts! On Fridays they offer happy hour from 5:30-7:30! Sip on your favorite drink while you sit out on the patio or browse the artwork! If you are looking to explore more of Richmond's history, try The Virginia Museum of History & Culture, The Virginia Holocaust Museum, The Black History Museum and Culture Center of Virginia, or The Edgar Allan Poe Museum! Lastly, if you have the kiddos along with you, try the Children's Museum of Richmond or the Science Museum of Virginia. Here's a full list of Richmond Museums to try during your stay!

5. Barcade

A recent addition to the RVA area is the Barcade! The Circuit Arcade Bar just opened up in the Fall of 2017 right in the heart of Scotts Addition (Add it as a stop on your Brewery Hop!) Enjoy your favorite beer/wine (they have local options!) while playing all your favorite past time games you forgot about! They have everything from Mario Kart and Guitar Hero to Ski Ball and Air Hockey! It's like grown up Chucke E Cheese but with better games! I'm sure we will be seeing more of these Barcades popping up in the coming months!

6. brunch

If you are in need of a Bloody Mary or Mimosa during your visit, don't worry Richmond is filled with the best brunch spots! From the Chicken & Red Velvet Waffles at Lulus to the Brunch Bar at Strawberry Street Cafe, you'll find everything you could want right here. Grab a $10 pitcher of mimosas at Sidewalk Cafe and have a dance with Edwina, the owner or head over to Can Can Brasserie for delicious Eggs Benedict! Richmond brunch will not disappoint you!

My Favorite RVA Brunch Spots

Strawberry Street Cafe

Helen's

Can Can Brasserie

Weezie's Kitchen

7. Brown's Island/Belle Isle

If you find yourself in Richmond during a beautiful day, head over to the Brown's Island/ Belle Isle area for amazing views of downtown Richmond and the James River. You will find everything from hiking and biking trails to more historic landmarks and even a few sunbathing areas! During Fridays in May and June, Friday Cheers events bring thousands of Richmond residents for live music, food, and drinking by the river! On your way to Brown's Island stop by Capitol Square to see the State Capitol and Governor's Mansion!

8. CARYTOWN

Carytown is a must for any first time Richmond visitors! Stroll down Cary Street to enjoy plenty of shops, restaurants, & more!

My Favorite Shops

Traveling Chic Boutique

Lou Lou Boutiques

Fabrik

Ashby

My Favorite Restaurants

Mellow Mushroom

The Daily

Carytown Burgers & Fries

Nacho Mama's

More Favorites

Byrd Theatre

Garden Grove Brewery

Bev's Homemade Ice cream

9. Rooftop bars

Rooftop Bars have slowly made their way into Richmond the past few years! If you are looking for a good happy hour location with great views of the city try the Quirk Hotel or Graduate Richmond's rooftop bars! Both offer great views of downtown Richmond and are unique hotels to stay at during your time here! My other favorite rooftop bar is the Hof Garden at the Hofheimer! In Scott's Addition, this rooftop venue will offer you the sights of Broad Street and The Flying Squirrels Stadium!

10. vcu basketball game

I may be slightly biased as a VCU alum, but catching a VCU Basketball Game is definitely an activity to add to the to do list! VCU fans are some of the best in the country and radiate so much excitement and energy at every game! From the fans to the pep band, VCU Basketball games are the place to be. Get tickets early, they sell out! (Sorry to any U of R fans out there!) GO RAMS!

Check out this amazing video for more beautiful RVA!

Video By HD BROS

xoxo

We are back home from our trip and I wanted to come on the blog to recap everything we did while we were away! I can't believe it has already been a week! Time flies. Everyone on the Royal Carribbean Enchantment of the Seas were so friendly and kind! I jokingly named this blog post "Spring Break Trip" because technically this was Kyle's first spring break! Even though I have already graduated, Kyle is finishing up his degree, which made the only time he was able to take a vacation during college spring break. When he was in college originally, being on the baseball team kept him too busy to ever go on a spring break trip. I was lucky and got to go each of my four years! So... I felt it was my job to bring him on his first one! (I also just wanted an excuse for vacation myself ;)

Our trip was a much needed little vacay away from work, school, and Richmond! Kyle and I both laughed when we got home about how even though we were only with each other for the last week, we felt closer than before we left! Spending all that time with him made me fall more in love with him.

Day 1: Miami

If you've never been on a cruise before, typically you start and end at the same location! Ours was Miami, Florida. So as you know from my last blog post, our original flight to Miami was cancelled! It's funny because while we were waiting for our flight, I let a girl borrow my charger and her early flight to Miami had been delayed like 6 hours at that point. While I was talking to her, in the back of my mind I was thinking "Thank gosh we did not book that flight". After 6 hours of waiting, her flight finally left to Miami! Little did I know, a few minutes later we would be listening to the flight attendants let us know our flight was cancelled! :/ I was now wishing I had booked that other flight! At least they took off. It was a bummer! But, I really tried to not let it get to me! We re-arranged for another flight leaving later that night and headed back home! We only live 15 minutes from the airport so we thought an Uber home was better than sitting at the airport for 5 more hours! We went over to our favorite Mexican restaurant across from our apartment for lunch and maybe had a margarita or two ;) before a quick nap! We headed back to the airport and luckily this time all went well! We made it to Miami at around 1:00 am. We were exhausted!

The next morning we had a little time before we boarded the cruise, so we decided to grab coffee (much needed after little sleep!) and explored the city!

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We made it to the ship and surprisingly the boarding process was pretty quick and easy! This was my first cruise with Royal Caribbean so I did not really know what to expect! We got to Port of Miami around 11:30 and were on the ship with a drink in hand by 12:30! We spent the rest of the day relaxing on the ship before we started our departure!

day 2: Nassau, bahamas

When we woke up on Tuesday morning, the boat was docked in the Bahamas! We decided to not plan any type of excursion or anything for this day so we just got off and went exploring! We were bombarded by people trying to sell us things and take us places right away! Kyle is so sweet and always stops to tell everyone "no thank you". I'm the kind of person who just looks the other way and keeps walking! We walked around the city for quite a while visiting shops and even grabbing a dunkin donuts coffee! (did we even leave the USA?!) After that we walked to the public beach they had near the port called "Junakoo Beach". When we arrived we were a bit disappointed. It was already super packed and any sand not taken by other people was covered in rocks!

So after being pretty disappointed with the public beach, we decided to take a taxi over to Atlantis! It was a very last minute decision but we are SO glad we did it!! Atlantis was gorgeous, the food & drinks were delicious, and we had such a great day together!

With your one -day pass to Atlantis you really do get access to everything from the many different pool areas to the water park and aquarium. Kyle wanted to do all the water rides so of course I tagged along! The very first ride we ended up wipeing out at the end (ouch) but after that every other ride went smooth. Our favorite was definitely one of the tube rides that ended by going through an aquarium! It sounds weird but it was pretty amazing! I looked up and 3-feet above my head was a shark swimming around!

I received SO many compliments on this bathing suit from Red Dress Boutique that day! I love the little tassel details and it is not expensive! Both the top and bottom are $24!

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day 3: cococay, bahamas

The third day was a bit disappointing! We woke up to the sound of our captain telling us our day on Cococay had to be cancelled due to weather! With certain ports you have to be taken to the island on little ferry boats but because of the wind they did not think it was safe to take us out on those boats! We ended up having a day at sea while we headed to our next stop, Key West. At first we were pretty bummed the destination had been cancelled but the weather on the ship ended up being beautiful! We sipped on mimosa's and margarita's all day and I could not complain!

Day 4: Key West

Our next stop on the cruise was Key West, Florida! We started our day off at Two Friends Patio for a Bloody Mary! The restaurant was right on the corner of a busy street with a huge outdoor patio area! Definitely felt like a beach restaurant. After Bloody Mary's we walked down Duval Street and took in everything around! It may have been a Thursday but Duval Street was full of many people! Duval Street is like the Bourbon Street of Key West. Plenty of restaurants, shops, and bars while you make your way to the southern most part of the U.S.

While walking down Duval Street, we passed a scooter and bike rental shop! I convinced Kyle to rent scooters with me so we could explore more of Key West than just the places we could walk to! We filled out all the paperwork and were each handed a scooter. Before they let you on the roads, they make you do a test around the parking lot to make sure you can drive safely. Well... I failed this test. I was TERRIBLE. I barely could drive the scooter and kept crashing into everything around me!! So after failing the quick driving test, we switched over to bikes for the day! I could handle that (; We explored the different neighborhoods and areas around Key West before heading to the beach for the rest of the afternoon! We grabbed fish tacos and yummy drinks at Mangoes before heading back to the ship! SO yummy and a great view of Duval St!

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Day 5: back to miami

We were officially back in Miami and off the cruise ship by around 11 am! Our hotel for the day was The National Hotel Miami and it did not disappoint! Check in was not until 4 pm but the staff took our bags to keep while we grabbed lunch and spent time by the pool! The hotel was right on the beach so we could easily go in between the pool and beach! We spent the day relaxing by the pool until it was time to check in! Lucky for us, the hotel upgraded our room to the BEST suite they had! It was huge and our patio looked out to the pool. The National Hotel really made our last day special! We were pretty tired after a long week of fun so decided to walk to a dinner spot just a few blocks away from our hotel called Sweet Liberty. The food was so good and the atmosphere was even better!

My Beach Day Makeup Routine!

Step 1. Moisturize- I use Neutrogena Positively Radiate

Step 2. Prime- This will help keep your makeup on throughout the hot day! I use Too Faced "Hangover" Primer

Step 3. Tinted Moisturizer- Rather than using a heavy full-coverage foundation when I go to the beach I will use a tinted moisturizer! This still provides coverage but is much lighter and has SPF! I use NARS Tinted Moisturizer in the color "St. Moritz"

Step 4. Powder- I will lightly set my face with powder since I have oily skin! I use It Cosmetics Perfecting Powder in the color "Tan"

Step 5. Bronzer- I love looking sun-kissed and will always apply bronzer! Right now I am using the Park Ave Princess palette by Tarte

I had eyelash extensions put in before leaving for our trip so I really did not need to worry about eyeliner or mascara! I will do a full review on my experience with eyelash extensions soon!

My Hair Products

This product is great for wearing in your hair during the day if you do not want to blow dry!

Even though our trip started off a little rocky, Kyle and I had such an amazing time together! We are excited to see where our next adventure will take us. (Hopefully somewhere in Europe! Wishful thinking!) Let the planning begin!

xoxo