Five Thoughts for Friday

I am taking a break from recapping our Italy trip for some tidbits happening in my world.

1. As I mentioned previously, my brother is in town this week! Yay! We are headed to London for the weekend. What a lucky duck he's spending his spring break in Dublin and London!

2. At the recommendation of Jillian, I started my second Jojo Moyes book: The Girl You Left Behind. Here's the list of the last few books I've read.

3. The bird and I completed one week of oil pulling. Although it isn't the best way to wake up, it really isn't so bad. I distract myself with catching up on social media and emails in the morning. Here and here are a couple people talking about it.

4. I am finally making the decision to do a redesign for the blog... and I need help! If you have any suggestions for blog designers, please send them my way or leave me a comment.

5. Lastly... Get excited for an upcoming giveaway week! March marked my 3 year blog anniversary and I wanted to put together something special for all my lovely readers. The giveaways are scheduled for the week of April 7th!

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Italy: Amalfi Coast recap (part II)

This part of our trip definitely deserves its own post.

At the end of our vacations, the bird and I pick our highs and lows of our trip. One of my highs from the Amalfi Coast was definitely The Path of the Gods (Sentiero degli Dei) hike.

From Positano, we took the SITA bus down to Amalfi.

We had a little time to spare in Amalfi, grabbed lunch to go and hopped on another bus to Agerola (Bomerano stop), where we started the hike.

The hike is moderate and was about 5+ miles. We picked up lunch and water in Amalfi and stopped along the trail to eat, which was perfect. In my opinion, this is a must-see and do in Amalfi- fits in some vacation exercise, gorgeous views and a whole new perspective of the southern coast of Italy.

Here is Part I of our trip to the Amalfi Coast (Sorrento + Positano) and Part III (Capri).

Italy: Amalfi Coast recap (part I)

I am so excited to recap our trip to the Amalfi Coast of Italy!

Our first stop was a night in Rome. We got in and found a nearby spot for dinner and our first scoop of gelato for the trip.

How cute is this shop?!

Since it was only a short stay in Rome, I don't have much. For a full recap on Rome, here is a recap wrote up from last summer.

The next morning we took the train south, stopping in Naples for lunch before heading down to Sorrento for the night via the Circumvesuviana line. You can also take the ferry.

Sorrento was so pretty and perfect for a one-night stay.

The bird had surprises waiting for me in every place we stayed! In Sorrento, we had prosecco and birthday cake.

The next day we took the SITA bus down to Positano for two nights. This place was gorgeous!

The last three are from our hotel room + balcony where we stayed at Hotel Conco d'Oro. Highly recommended!

I have too many pictures to make this a one-parter. Stay tuned for Part II + Part III to follow soon!

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Instagrams of Italy

And we're back!

I hope to have my 'real' pictures up and ready to go next week, but for now here are a few Instagrams from our vacation in Italy.

And here is one last shot from the plane ride, going over the French Alps.

Lastly, here is a lovely article on the 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in the US.

I may be a little bias since my little hometown was voted #2! Yay!

Looking forward to a full recap on Italy next week! Have a lovely weekend!

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My Beach Bag in Italy

We are packing up the beach bag today after spending a gorgeous week in Italy.

My beach bag essentials + wardrobe for the past week

We first landed in Rome for a night before taking the train to Naples, where we had a delicious lunch, and continued on for a lovely stay in Sorrento. The next two nights were spent in Positano. This place is unbelievably gorgeous. So was the place we stayed for the last two nights: Capri. So dreamy!

Looking forward to getting a more detailed recap & lots more pictures up on the blog. Until then...

Yay for birthdays!

Today is my birthday!!! WooHoo!

I am aware my birthday is also shared by St. Patrick. But since we managed to escape Dublin this year, I am celebrating this day all by myself.

We are currently leaving Positano and headed to Capri and loving every minute of this gorgeous vacation. Looking forward to posting a recap when we return! In the meantime, follow along on Instagram (@birdietobe).

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Off to Italy

I am beyond excited to be spending the next 5 days, including my birthday, in southern Italy on the Amalfi Coast!

Packing for vacations always makes me so giddy. Here are five lovely pieces that I think would suit Italy perfectly.

thong sandals // white denim // panama hat // striped bikini top + bottom // lightweight long sleeve

Here's our itinerary and rough plan:
Day 1: Land and stay in Rome
Day 2: Train down through Naples to Sorrento
Day 3/4: Staying in Positano for 2 nights
Day 5/6: 2 nights on the island of Capri

I know I said this before, but recommendations are the best. If you have any, please shoot me an email or leave a comment below.

Hope you have a lovely weekend! Feel free to follow along on our adventures on Instagram @birdietobe.

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Midweek Links

I am in the midst of packing, laundering and charging up all our devices, but I wanted to drop by for a little midweek post with some lovely links.

1 | I love this gorgeous floral letter diy. Peonies and garden roses... swoon!
2 | Find out which 90s babe is your fashion icon.
3 | Did you see Chelsea Handler's new office? I love the open layout and pops of color.
4 | Oh, and can we talk about this pretzel wrapped cookie dough for a second?
5 | On the contrary, I will need to counter that decadent dessert with this no-equipment circuit training workout.

So excited to leave for our trip to Italy tomorrow! WooHoo! Fun fact, the fabulous Home Sweet Ruby will be in Italy the same week as us!

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Weekend in pictures

Today's breakfast brought to you by the bird... in celebration of birthday week. He's the best.

On Friday night we hosted a couple friends over for a cheese, wine and game night. Here's our spread.

I love fun nights in! Oh... and cheese!

-Cheese board: Variety of cheeses, dark chocolate chunks, honey and grapes
-Dips plate: Parmesan topped pesto and garlic hummus with toasted ciabatta and pita breads
-Vehicles: Mixed cracker plate, including this homemade recipe: Rosemary + Sea Salt crackers. SO good and such an easy recipe to make.

Saturday was a mellow day, which included downloading The Hunger Games: Catching Fire movie on Apple tv. Sunday we took the train to these outlets and scored a couple goodies for our upcoming trip to Italy!

How was your weekend?

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St. Paddy's Day green

St. Paddy's Day is around the corner and it is actually a holiday over here in Dublin. St. Patrick's Day is also my birthday! A good day all around.

However, besides the one green shirt I have that usually comes out around Christmas time, I have never been much of a green person. So here is a subtle look for St. Paddy's Day if you're in the same boat as me:

crocodile print top // cropped pant // leopard belt // mint polish // statement necklace // cork & nude wedge

I actually love the pattern of this shirt and that it's a very subdued green print. It also comes in the short sleeve Riley cut too- aka my favorite shirt ever.

Happy Weekend!

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Books worth reading

I have been in a major book kick lately.

Here are a few I have flown through in the past couple months:

What Alice Forgot // Fault in our Stars // Eleanor & Park

The Husband's Secret // Me Before You // Where'd you go, Bernadette

These were all such quick reads and each one of them sucked me right in. That to me is the perfect kind of book.

I am almost finished with Where'd you go, Bernadette and am looking for my next recommendation. Any suggestions?

Recaps + a Recipe

Happy Monday!

I have a mishmash of thoughts and pictures today. Sorry for being all over the place.

Since we are a few hours ahead, I spent my morning recapping the Oscars.

The bird's work put together Oscar ballots and boy, did we miss the mark. I think one of the only ones we answered right was Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave. So well deserved.

I just love Ellen. And here were a few of my favorite looks for the night: Cate Blanchett // Lupita Nyong'o // Julia Roberts

Here's a recap of the best moments of the night.

On another, completely separate note, I am finally getting back into my groove after this awful bug.

Did any of you get it? It was terrible! And it's taken 2 weeks to feel like myself again! Time for yoga.

Lastly, the granola seen above was one of the things I accomplished this weekend. It was delicious!

Salty, sweet and filling. Perfect over yogurt or served in almond milk. Yum!

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