That Time I Stayed in a Suite...

I've never been so excited about a hotel room.

I feel like it's not worth fully explaining - but basically, in a Perfect Storm of Marriott loyalty program circumstances, Husband and I were able to book a hotel room at the Sheraton Miami Airport Hotel & Executive Meeting Center (are you out of breath reading that? I'm out of breath typing it.) for a really (relatively) small amount of points, and then upgrade to a junior suite for FREE...

That Time I Had Funtimes on the Carnival Paradise...

Here are all the Funtimes-es for one of Carnival Paradise's 5-Day Caribbean cruises (Grand Cayman & Cozumel)....

That Time I Tried NCL's Le Bistro Restaurant...

Guest column: NCL's Le Bistro Restaurant

On my cruise on the NCL Pearl... which I still have yet to post about 3 months later... I wanted to try Le Bistro out since it's the only one I didn't try on the Gem. We didn't have the Dining Package, and were paying a la carte, so we got fewer items than at other other specialty restaurants.  But we loved everything we had. 

I'm not sure we would return without the dining package just because it runs up the price of the cruise. But I do really want to try some of their dessert. Check out the tasty treats I enjoyed on Cruise Radio.

More on cruising :)

That Time I Made A Death Star...

This is another thing I tried for Plastic Free July this year... Making glue!

I used the recipe for glue from My Plastic Free Life which consists of flour, water, and hot water. But her recipe makes like a quart of glue which I do not need especially just for trying out a plastic-free thing...

That Time I Freestyled on The Norwegian Pearl...

Here are all the Freestyle Dailies for the NCL Pearl's 13-day Transatlantic NYC to Amsterdam itinerary (Cobh, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Le Havre, France; Tilbury, England; Zeebrugge, Belgium; ), 4/28-5/12/19...

That Time I Met Chuck...

I needed Zachary Levi's autograph. I've had this Chuck poster on my wall for like 5 years and something made me decide that it's time.

Yes, this is a screenshot from Amazon...
I didn't think to take a photo of my wall
before taking my poster down.

And no, I didn't just randomly feel the need for this one poster to be autographed, I have a wall-of-fame where I display all of my autographs from over the years. Including the people no one's heard of...

That Time I Switched to Bar Shampoo...

Yes, I already talked about this in one of my Plastic Free July posts, but I did intentionally go down the rabbit hole on this and wanted to share more. 

This switch is something everyone should do, whether it's to save money, reduce plastic, and/or to have healthier hair. Also, never worry about needing tiny bottles of shampoo and conditioner to travel with!...

That Time I Dyed My Hair...

For Plastic Free July I wanted to try Henna dye for my hair. Let's just move past the fact that I've been living a lie about the quantity of gray hair I already have. #24forever.

This is actually "Indigo," the Henna is mixed with water on the right.

I decided to try it with low expectations. I would still be using hair dye that comes in plastic, but now it comes in plastic that's recyclable and not metal tubes that are trash. And I won't need special shampoo and conditioner that also come in plastic...

That Time It Was Plastic Free July 2019 (Part 3)...

Well, I didn't do much more than I'd done for my second post. July really got away from me.

Plastic Free July is over.

I've already decided that I need to keep going in August since I didn't get to some of the stuff I wanted to. Here's how I did for July!...

That Time I Made Plastic Free Popcorn...

Okay, I've actually owned this popper for a while, but I wanted to post about it because it's July and I love it so much... the popper, not July.

All you need is one of these poppers and some popcorn kernels from the bulk section of your supermarket!...

That Time It Was Plastic Free July 2019 (Part 2)...

Plastic Free July is in FULL EFFECT!

Here's how I'm doing so far with my list...

That Time it Was Plastic Free July 2019 (Part 1)...

Sooooooooon!

Plastic Free July begins TOMORROW!

I've made my lists...

That Time I Went on a Ferry...

Parking in New York is expensive, but sometimes you need to embark on a cruise there! I have personally cruised on Carnival and Norwegian from New York, and I believe Regent, Aida and some other lines do too. Royal Caribbean leaves from somewhere else in NJ. 

You can park at the cruise terminal for $40/day, or you can save nearly half your money by parking in New Jersey and getting a bonus boat ride - on a ferry!...

That Time I Tried NCL's La Cucina Restaurant...

Guest column: NCL's La Cucina Restaurant

I recently got to try out NCL's Italian restaurant, La Cucina on the Gem. I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant, but unfortunately, my selections weren't all a home run. Husband chose much better and enjoyed his dinner more, so I'm not going to say you should skip La Cucina, but maybe don't get what I got.

I would definitely return to La Cucina on a future Norwegian cruise, but not every cruise. But what did I get?! Read about it on Cruise Radio.

More on cruising :)

That Time I Made A YouTube...

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to put all of my YouTube videos on my blog b/c a lot of the content overlaps, but aside from my kind of crappy really amazing intro video, this is my first REAL video so I wanted to share it with everyone!

It's the first in what will be a series of videos from my cruise in February on the Carnival Liberty.  It's a little rough, but they *should* get better once I get more in tune with the whole process of making videos with basically no pre-production! Please let me know what you think!...

That 5th TIme it Was Plastic Free July...

It'sssssss baaaaaaaack!

Almost.

I'm really excited for this year's Plastic Free July because I've lost some of my eco edge since getting married. I can't ask Husband to go above and beyond like I do (he already does compared to before we started dating), but maybe we can find a couple new ways that are easy for us to eliminate plastic from our lives...

That Time I Went to Nassau Bahamas... Again...

This was the second time I visited Nassau. Last time was a year and a half ago. And I will be going back three times over the next 12 months.

It's hard not to if you want to go on an inexpensive cruise like I did on the Carnival Liberty, and/or leave out of the northeast.

This time was not all that different from the last time...

That Time I Made A Temporary Bad Decision...

I got a tattoo! Okay, not really.

I've been wanting to get a tattoo for a long time and just haven't committed yet. I've had it drawn up for years. But it's going to hurt and be expensive and of course permanent. So I have to decide if I really want it FOREVER...

That Time I Made Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars...

I found this recipe a long while ago when I used to follow a bunch of recipe blogs on Facebook. Turned out that was bad for my diet because I became hungry every time I scrolled through my feed. But I made a version of this recipe, loved it, and modified it because I didn't have enough peanut butter for the original recipe. I think I like this one better. 

This recipe is great for using up graham crackers you have left over from making s'mores. I know I never use a whole box each summer and I doubt you do either. Also this is the only no-bake recipe I've ever seen that doesn't use oats. 

Note: the meringue powder is optional. It's used to make make the bars stackable as the bottoms are otherwise very sticky. If you do want it, you can find it in huge large quantities in supermarkets, or in normal quantities in a craft store. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
2 c graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c (1 bag) chocolate chips
4 TBSP meringue powder, divided

Directions...

That Time I Cruised on The Carnival Liberty...

For Husband’s and my first wedding anniversary, we booked a little 4-day cruise on the Carnival Liberty.

This was actually the second cruise we ever booked even though it ended up being our 7th cruise. This one went to Nassau, and Freeport, Bahamas.  

We got engaged shortly after our first cruise ever on the Carnival Vista, which we loved so much that once we set a wedding date, we booked this anniversary cruise. It ended up being our 7th cruise by the time we got to it...

That Time I Went to Freeport, Bahamas...

This was my first visit to Freeport, Bahamas, and we didn’t make it very far. Admittedly, we didn’t try. We considered renting a scooter and scootering to the beach, but when we woke up that sounded a little hard and expensive so we decided to save that plan for next time we’re in Freeport… which will be in a year.

Instead, I thought it would be fun to stay within the inner harbor area and go to Señor Frog’s for lunch. I came up with this plan when I looked out our window and saw that we could practically spit on the Señor Frog’s from our balcony...

That Time I Tried Peeps Cereal...

Yes... I did mean to write this post two months ago. Oops. But I think this cereal is still in stores probably? And Easter hasn't passed quite yet.

Anyway. So I was walking through my supermarket and spotted this ridiculous item.

I don't really eat cereal, but I do love peeps, so I decided that I had to try it...

That Time I Was A Grubhub Driver...

Well... sort of.

So, about a year ago I was watching Shameless and there was an episode where one of the characters was fake-uber driving but more importantly he was doing it with his girlfriend in the passenger seat. And I thought "well I might be interested in Uber driving again if Husband and I could do it together in our spare time." But you can't because that seat has to be available for passengers...

That Time I Tried NCL's Teppanyaki...

Guest column: NCL's Teppanyaki/Hibachi Restaurant

I recently got to try out NCL's Teppanyaki restaurant on the Gem. I'm actually torn as to whether theirs or Carnival's is better. I guess I have to go with NCL because it costs less. You get fancier dessert and appetizers on Carnival, but if you're looking for what you're used to getting at a land-based Hibachi restaurant, NCL's Teppanyaki is all that and more!

I also decided that Teppanyaki was my favorite of the 4 specialty restaurants I tried on the Gem.  How was it? Details in my article on Cruise Radio.

More on cruising :)

That Time I Had Funtimes on the Carnival Liberty...

Here are all the Funtimes-es for Carnival Liberty's 4-Day Bahamas cruise (Nassau & Freeport)....

That Time I Went to St Thomas...

St. Thomas was my last stop on my 11-day Thanksgiving NCL Gem cruise. What I was most excited about is that St. Thomas is one of the US Virgin Islands (as opposed to the British ones) which meant: cell phone service!!! 

**waits for reader's to get over the fact that I "should unplug because I'm on vacation" which is not something I want to do**...

That Other Time I Painted a Painting...

I took this class-or-something (in 2011) and, my short attention span resulted in these doodles:

 ...one of which inspired this painting:

It's actually been done for some time, (but it did take a while) but it wasn't on my blog yet. And here it is!

Let me know if you want me to paint something for you, and maybe I'll do it over the course of an entire year.

That Time I Instagramed...

(Brought to you by me and the magic of IFTTT) Starbucks has the best cake pops...

That Time I Instagramed...

(Auto-posted by IFTTT)
That Time Work Was Cancelled on Account of “Cold”...

That Time I Ate The Most Stuf...

I was at the supermarket and I saw THESE:

That's right. For a limited time, you can enjoy these "Most Stuf" Oreos...

That Time I Went to Cagney's...

Guest column: NCL's Cagney's Steakhouse

When I was getting ready to go on my first NCL cruise last year on the Breakaway, I kept hearing how great Cagney's was. But the cruise was already pretty expensive, so Husband and I decided not to spend any money on specialty dining. Wait. That's not true. We chose to spend it on not-a-steak-house (lobster and the Cirque dinner/Jungle Fantasy thing).

But then we had a dining package when we were just on the Gem this year so it was #1 on our list to try.

Ultimately we decided we like Carnival's steakhouse better *hides from angry NCL loyalists* but we very much enjoyed it and will return on future cruises.  How was it? Well, I'm not going to tell you here because I already wrote about it on Cruise Radio.

More on cruising :)

That Time I Painted an Exploding Tardis...

A couple of my friends really liked the idea of paint night, but not the cost. They'd actually been once, but didn't want to spend the money again.

Source: scribbleartworkshop.com

They just wanted to drink wine and paint! They volunteered to host the event and I brought over all my paints and some canvases I already had that were not going to get used ever probably any time soon...

That Time I (Finally) Started My Video Blog...

The Lauren of All Trades YouTube Channel is a fact! I did all the graphics, it's ready to go, I even made an intro video! I think that having this will force me to actually make subsequent videos. I refuse to call it a "Vlog" because I hate that word. #videoblog #ftw

All I need now is videos.  And subscribers. Looking at you. Yes, you.

I hope people get that I was going for "funny."