I'm a diehard seafood fan and Legal Seafood is a fantastic company - you couldn't drag me out of their restaurant off Copley Square when I was in Boston.  I LOVE their food and it doesn't hurt that they always make my extra, extra dry vodka martini just the way I like it too.  Its nice to see a familiar high quality seafood brand get it right on the internet.  Having eaten at Legal Seafood restaurants several times I can see they have succeeded in creating a website that truly extends brand's reputation for quality while allowing people all over the country to experience their quality seafood delivered right to their door. I'm dreaming of their crab cakes, oh my mind is wandering and mouth is watering. Focus.  I've ordered from them and everything goes like clockwork, no problems and arrives when it's supposed to.  Its like going to the best fish monger or seafood market but having it arrive well packed and ready to be enjoyed when you open it. Legal Sea Foods Gift Certificates...Easy, Flexible, Memorable

Anyway, I'm sharing this because their food is top notch so if you're in the market for yourself or you need a great, easy for everyone but appreciated gift - one of their gift cards are great.  You can select a specific package, say gift someone a clambake or like a typical dollar amount gift card.  Either way the recipient has control of when the fresh seafood arrives so it doesn't sit at the front door in the elements, whatever they may be.

If it isn't fresh, it isn't legal!. Shop Legal Sea Foods Today

Reminds me of the time I ordered live lobsters on the internet for us, it was this whole dinner with clam chowder, live lobsters, clams even included the lobster pot to cook all in. The lobsters arrived in a styrofoam cooler with their claws banded so sat the cooler on the floor on our kitchen but my dogs were very curious about what was in that cooler. The lobsters kept knocking the lid off the cooler while it was on the floor and I remember Ginger one of my Daschunds getting very close, sniffing at the cooler and the top popped off and she jumped straight up into the air and back upped out of the kitchen all at once, it was pretty damn funny.

Anyway, back to Legal Seafood their food is some of the highest quality seafood I've had the good fortune to eat and if you're wanting to give someone on your gift list something unique try a Legal Seafood gift; you can choose between a traditional gift certificate or you can select from a menu of dinners that your recipient will love, they select the date they want it delivered so it's a fantastic gift for the seafood lovers on your list while also providing a unique and thoughtful gift. Got Lobster? -- with Legal Seafood the answer is yes!

Tags: Seafood, Legal Seafood, Fresh Lobster, Clams, Seafood Restaurants, Clam Chowder

...and it's a beautiful car. A couple years ago I researched and ended finding this great guy who's a pre-owned car dealer, his eBay ID is: volvo_for_life_2004, he lists his inventory on eBay in addition to his local sales. Well, two years ago I bought a 2001 Volvo S60, one owner, lease return car and I saved several thousand dollars. Unfortunately, that car was totaled in an accident but I turned around a few months later and bought a second 2001 Volvo S60 from him, and again saved thousands of dollars. I'm still driving the second Volvo S60 - I love that car and I love my car guy. He's told me he will source vehicles for me or my friends which is great because I trust him, he knows which car to buy and which to walk away from and that's HUGE. Well, a couple of weeks ago I received my Favorite Seller email from eBay and saw that my car guy (that's what I call him now) had this what appeared to be really nice, 1993 400SEL Mercedes-Benz sedan with really low miles of 67,000 which for a 14 year old car is just one of those rare opportunities so I told my friend about it and we did some research and I emailed the seller (my car guy because I had a gut feeling he's been driving this car himself so I ask him this and yes, he's been driving it a couple months. He bought it from is neighbors who bought it new in CT and transfered it to FL so in essence, it's a one owner vehicle with really low mileage that's been taken care of. Well, the car arrived today, my friend had it shipped, in this case from FL; it was nice it was here in three days. Beautiful graphite exterior color and medium gray, leather interior. I drives like a dream, I hope my friend enjoys it. He doesn't drive a lot so the V8, gas mileage per gallon is a non-issue for him. I'm so glad that I found my car guy on eBay he sells great cars, he certainly seems to know a good, pre-owned car whether it be from the vehicle auctions or a private buyer. Kudos to my friend I know he'll enjoy driving his new MB. Cool beans.

[insert the code for the EDMUNDS ad.]

Tags: eBay, Online Auctions, Pre-owned Cars, Mercedes Benz, Luxury Cars, Sedans, european cars

Let me tell you the story of how my friend and I wound up at Atlantis, The Bahamas. It all started with an email, I don't remember who sent it but there was this crazy, low priced mini-holiday to the one of the two Fairmont resorts in Bermuda. So, I looked into the Bermuda offer and realized that it was a large, conference hotel. Next. Ended up at this great website, which is now gone called Sunburst Vacations well we located this promo. package for 4 days, 3 nights at Atlantis, Bahamas in the Royal Tower, airfare and ground transportation to/from the airport in Nassau for this incredible price of approximately $700.00 so we went for it! We also added the gourmet meal plan and so we each ended up paying around a $1,000.00 which if you break it down -- for us figure the airfare is $350.00, which leaves $650.00 for three nights in the Royal Tower which is a savings of approximately $550.00 from rack rate to stay at Atlantis in the Royal Tower. We had excellent itinerary on American Airlines so I also added some nice frequent flyer miles to my AA account. So, with our vacation package booked and paid for I set about researching where we should dine out of all of the fantastic choices available at Atlantis, they urge you to secure your dinner reservations as soon as possible to ensure getting to dine where you want when you want. I booked us at Fathoms for the first night, Nobu the second night and Cafe Martinique for our third and final evening. I will write about the amazing meals in separate blog posts so you'll have to come back and it's worth it suffice it to say we enjoyed all three but Nobu and Cafe Martinique were extraordinary. However I will tell you about dinner our first night at Fathoms. The interior of the Fathoms dining room looks through this floor to ceiling, wall to wall glass into one of the huge aquariums that's part of what is called, The Dig. You're looking into millions of gallons of water while all sorts of marine life swims up to the window while you're eating your dinner it makes for a unique and memorable experience. The service was fantastic, I've read tons of the negative reviews about the service at Atlantis and we had no problems, in fact I'm impressed with the level of service we enjoyed considering the size of the resort. Our service was attentive and on par with what we expect at that level of travel but I digress a bit here so... After dinner we decided to hit the casino and try our luck. As luck would have it we were in its company that evening. The casino at Atlantis is beautiful, less Vegas more of a European influence with two stunning Dale Chihuly glass sculptures depicting the Fire and Moon theme of the casino, they're spectacular. The casino is quire large but not overwhelming at all, it claims to be the largest casino in the Caribbean. We're primarily slot machine players these days. My friend and I went our separate ways wandering around playing whatever machine caught our eye. So, who knows how long we'd been gambling at this point my friend was sitting at a machine and winning so I turned away looked around and found this slot machine with Tabasco pepper sauce graphics on it and I thought to myself, "I like Tabasco." So, I sat down at the machine and put in twenty dollars and hit "Bet Max", nothing. Hit "Bet Max" again and the machine starts paying off. What, I won!? It kept counting, and counting and counting, until I had won $1,200.00 from two bets totaling less than $4.00. I couldn't believe it, my first night at Atlantis and I had just won back the cost of my mini-holiday plus a couple hundred more. This works for me! I was on cloud nine plus my friend won over $700.00 dollars. I will post more about this trip because I have to tell you about the amazing dinners we had at Nobu and Cafe Martinique as part of our Gourmet meal plan; more on this and how we took in the local food scene going off the resort for our lunches. Always more to come later...

Plus we're planning on going back this fall and staying at The Cove, Atlantis, their new, all suites, boutique hotel. It was under construction when we were there as was the new spa and expanded water park. The Cove's suites all enjoy water views because they've built the hotel right on this little point where Paradise Beach and Cove Beach meet, therefore creating breathtaking ocean views from each suite. I'm so excited. I can't wait to relax on the beach, nap, nosh and write. Here are some of my favorite travel resources to help you plan your next business or leisure trip. I research several websites before I make my decision best to make more informed decisions and the internet provides a wealth of information if you know where or how to look for it. Enjoy your day.

American Express

Cheap Caribbean

eBags

Expedia

Ghurka Fine Leather Goods

Hotels.com

Priceline

Travelocity

Tags: Caribbean, Travel Packages, Vacations, Atlantis, Travel, Travel Deals, The Bahamas, Bahamas, Luxury Resorts