Hot Autumn Day, Part 2

I chased a sail boat on a hot autumn day back in October. I followed it until I was no longer able to see it and I was met by bird on a wall of rocks.  As I chased the sail boat, the sun shined on the water like a sea of diamonds. I live for days like these. 

A Hot Autumn Day, Part 1.

A few weeks ago in October we had a hot weekend that demanded a beach day, Along with my husband and some of his family we planned a quick trip to the beach. We thought we would get there early, ride bikes and then wash off the sweat in the ocean. That is exactly what we did, well with the exception of getting there early.  Sharing some of the pictures I took while riding bikes from Venice to Santa Monica. If you would like to see my other post of Venice or Santa Monica here they are:

Venice Murals
Once upon time in Santa Monica
I Imagine
Something New
Current Interest
Labor Day Weekend
3rd Street
American Pirate
Color of the Month-July

I didn't realize I had that many Venice/Santa Monica post, sorry.

p.s. I have one more post coming.

Looking Ahead

 Everyday there are new horror stories of things that are happening around the world, that make me wonder, how far will things go? Will the current administration continue to lead us to destruction or will someone put a stop to him? Will the earth stop shaking and will the skies stop raining? Will countries stop fighting? Perhaps, or perhaps things will continue to worsen. Nobody knows, but I'd like to think that things will change, that there is hope, that all the ugly will end. I like to look ahead, seems like that's all I can do these days. 

S'mores Regrets

One of my favorite drinks at Starbucks is the S'mores Frappuccino. I know sounds a little childish and even a little cliche, but its true. Anyway, for months now I have been craving coffee like nobody's business. In particular, iced coffee. This is weird for me because I've never been a coffee drinker. As a matter of fact, I can only handle coffee in small quantities. Coffee makes me nervous, gives me the jitters and makes my stomach go a little crazy.  Due to this crazy iced coffee craving I missed out on my favorite drink, the S'mores Frappuccino! I just realized last week that its discontinued! Aghhh!!!! Why did I let this happen to me?!?!?  Pumpkin Spice season is here and I don't think I'm ready!  This week I had an Iced Pumpkin Spice drink  but I was really wanting an iced coffee. Also, when am I'm going to get over the iced coffee craving?

p.s. This post is not sponsored by Starbucks. 

p.p.s. Sorry for so many exclamation marks! 

p.p.p.s I did have an actual s'more this month when I went to the beach and enjoyed this bonfire with family and friends.  

Memory Monday

Wishing this guy's noggin wasn't in the picture!

A black sand beach!

When my husband and I got married we were in escrow to buy our first home. We used our savings to buy our home, throw a little back yard wedding and buy our furniture for our home. Since we both lived at home with our parents, we had nothing to bring with us but our TVs, lots of Cd's, DVDs  and my huge shoe collection! Which by the way, when my husband saw all the shoes I owned he banned me from buying any shoes for like a year! It was rough and lets just say I had to sneak some shoes into my house. Okay, that's besides the point.  What I was getting at was that when we got married we had a lot of expenses, so there was definitely no budget for a honeymoon. One of the promises my husband made me when we got married was that in a year we would go on a honeymoon. My husband is a man of his word, and he delivered. Upon the anniversary of our first year of marriage, we went to Hawaii! Today, I 'm sharing some pictures of that trip. We stayed on the big island and were amazed of all the beautiful things this Island has to offer. 

These pictures were taken on a small Canon camera and have not been edited with any filter.  If you would like to see more flashback post click here and here.

A Trip of Many "First"

The Punta Cana trip was filled with many "first". First time flying for more than 5 hours, first time swimming in the Atlantic ocean, first time feeding a monkey, etc., etc.  Well it was also my first time swimming with a Dolphin! I also, danced and kissed a dolphin.  It didn't stop there, I held a sting ray, let a sea lion kiss me and held a tropical bird! It was such a fun experience that I will remember for the rest of my life and can honestly say I put a check mark on my bucket list! The location was beyond beautiful and I honestly felt like a I was in a photo you see on screen saver. 

Unfortunately we were not permitted to take photographs of any of these activities because they have employees photographing you through out the park and then sell you a dvd  movie and cd with all your photos and footage for a very high price. We paid it because we figured we didn't pay for the entrance so why not? For information on the Dolphin Explorer Experience click here.

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

This photo was taken from a speeding van.

You guys, I traveled outside of the United States and it wasn't to Mexico! Through out my life I've only traveled within the United States and Mexico. My parents are from Mexico and its our neighboring country. I went to the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana to be exact. I'll be honest, I never ever planned or desired to visit this country. For starters the flight is more than 5 hours. The max I've flown is 5 hours and as I've mentioned before I have a huge fear of flying. Fear can really hold you back, but that's a story for another day. I knew very little about the Dominican Republic and honestly never considered this a vacation destination. Boy, was I ignorant!

So you're probably wondering how and why did you end up in the Dominican Republic? I'll tell you. My husband worked really hard all year and as a reward, his company rewarded him with a free trip to Punta Cana! All expenses paid!!!!!!! I feel like this post is going to have a lot of exclamation marks! I apologize in advance.

We stayed at the Secrets Royal Beach Resort which has access to an adjacent resort called Now Larimar. Both resorts are so beautiful! The hallways are lined with beautiful arches and decorative patio furniture where you can sit and relax at your pleasure.

Private beach access with wait service at your disposal and if you weren't really feeling the ocean you can hop on over to the pool. I should mention the pool has a swim up bar! 

I've stayed at all inclusive resorts where you get to indulge in unlimited food at buffets within the resort and while yes it is unlimited, the food is usually very bland and or average.  This resort is not like that at all. The food was so good. We had rib eye, rack of lamb, filet mignon, oysters, burgers, and shrimp to name a few. I've never eaten so much meat in my life.  That's not a sentence I'm proud of but its the truth. The resort did not limit you to only eating at the buffet, we had the option of 24 hour room service and  restaurants that made you feel like you were at a 5 star restaurant.    

This little boat was filled with oysters, by the time I snapped this photo more than half were taken by guest!

Okay, let's move on. I mentioned that the resort has a beach access, right? Agh! The beach! The beach was so beautiful, with its white soft sand that when the water washed up to shore it reminded me of horchata! I know its crazy and silly, but it did! 

Swimming in the pacific ocean for my entire life, I naturally eased my way into the water thinking it was going to be ice cold like it is here in the west coast. I was wrong it was lukewarm!! 

view from the ocean towards the resort. 

On a small corner of the resort, there is a booth where you can sign up for kayaking, snorkeling, windsurfing and para sailing. Can you believe that some of these activities were also free? talk about all inclusive!  Right of the bat, the first thing you notice is the para sailing because of the huge air balloons or parachutes that are passing you by. As soon as we saw this my husband was determined to do the para sailing and insisted I join him. Remember that fear of mine of flying, well this one time it held me back. I couldn't do it!! It really did look like a lot of fun and something I would remember for the rest of my life but I just couldn't do it. 

While my fear has held me back from some stuff throughout my life I never let it hold my husband back. I insisted he should do the para sailing without me and he did. While he was flying high I stayed on the beach and enjoyed the sun

I know this post was mainly about the resort but I felt like I should dedicate a post to it because it was truly a beautiful and relaxing place to stay at. I will be posting more on my trip and hope you will come back and visit. 

p.s. This post contains photographs taken with my cell phone and Nikon DSLR camera.