Sandra Crittenden

As someone who enjoys cooking, I have maintained a small herb and vegetable garden at my home for years to complement my kitchen endeavors. In the Houston area, we have a long growing season but we do deal with excessive heat in the summer and some freezes in the winter. I have a lime tree that produces well and I am able to grow different vegetables all year long. While I keep my array of herbs going pretty strong throughout most of the year, I do have some problems. In particular, I struggle with maintaining cilantro in the summer and basil through the winter.

After years of pondering the AeroGarden system, I received one for a holiday gift last month. I have the classic design LED seven pod AeroGarden Extra. I set it up with the basic herb seed pack. Within two weeks, I had growth across all seven seed pods. It is just as simple as the advertising suggests.

I would recommend carefully considering placement of this indoor garden in your home. The bright lights can disrupt your slee…

I am no stranger to the delights of a Ritz-Carlton stay but the El Dorado Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Puerto Rico exceeded my expectations. My husband and I arrived late in the evening with a small group of friends. We were celebrating a momentous birthday for one in our group. We were quickly checked in and settled into a spacious and welcoming room. Our comfortable accommodations along with the lulling sounds of the sea right outside our terrace quickly put us to sleep after a long day of travel.

We awoke the next morning and found ourselves in paradise. The casual elegance of the room along with the capacious bathroom made a perfect temporary home. We fueled up for our day of fun with the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Omelettes to order, prosciutto and an array of fresh fruit and pastries became the way to start off each morning.

We spent most of our days enjoying the grounds; we biked, we swam and we napped poolside. The complimentary guava popsicles were a treat to look for daily by…

As Originally Seen in the January edition of Galveston Monthly magazine

As Originally Seen in the January edition of Galveston Monthly magazine