Our Mexico Trip!

Last week's trip to Mexico was just wonderful. We were looking for a fun way to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. For year one, we went to New Orleans. Year two took us to Europe (France, Switzerland, and Italy). Year three - we stayed at home with our two-week old newborn babe! And for this fourth year, we wanted a quick, direct flight, a beautiful all-inclusive resort, and a lot of lounging around. We got exactly that.

My sister and her husband had such a marvelous resort experience on their honeymoon and had nothing but rave reviews about Paradisus La Perla in Playa del Carmen. I'd visited Playa del Carmen before and loved it, so I was excited to see the area again. The reviews on TripAdvisor were great, and I ended up searching several sites for the most competitive rate and settling on cheapcaribbean.com. I was a little nervous not booking directly through the resort, but we ended up having a very positive experience using that booking site and it was quite easy. I was even able to add in round-trip transportation from the airport to the hotel (about 45 minutes away) when booking -- one last thing for us to have to deal with upon landing and returning home. 

Upon checking in to the resort, we were greeted with sparkling champagne and macarons ... not a bad touch! We did decide to pay a little more for the Royal Service upgrade. This upgrade allowed us access to a separate part of the resort with a smaller, quieter pool, more top-shelf liquors, an open-air restaurant that serves all three meals called La Palapa, and a personal concierge to help us with anything we needed. 

Our arrival time was around 4:00, so for our convenience, our concierge had already set us up with a dinner reservation that evening at The Market, which is an Argentinian steakhouse where they serve dinner Rodizio-style ... big salad bar in the center of the restaurant and the waiters walk around with large skewers of various meats to cut off and serve you until you are full. After dinner, Ian and I walked around the resort a little and walked down to the ocean to put our toes in the sand. 

The next day, Wednesday, we spent a good amount of time at the pool in the morning. Ian went to the gym so I had some solo time to read before he joined me. 

We had a simple lunch at the buffet at The Grill and then got ready to go to Fifth Avenue (downtown Playa del Carmen) to walk around for a bit. 

After walking all over downtown Playa, we stopped into a cute bar for a cold beer. It was so hot outside!

Later that evening, after cleaning up a bit, we stopped in for a pre-dinner martini at their onsite martini bar (the Spicy Tamarind martini was my favorite ... made with habanero-infused vodka!) and then went to a sushi dinner at Bana. Super dinner, but not the best service that night. 

The next day was our wedding anniversary! We started out our day at breakfast at La Palapa, went to the gym together, and then hit up the pool. We met a really sweet couple from London by the pool and had the best time chatting with them. 

That afternoon we enjoyed a couples massage at YHI spa ... highly recommended! I'm usually not one for couples massages but this was a great way to celebrate our anniversary day. Ian went with the deep-tissue massage and I chose the more relaxing version. 

Later that evening we got together with our British friends before our dinner reservations and attended a wine tasting. We split up for our dinners (we had an amazing supper at their Latin-fusion restaurant called Fuego ... our favorite dinner of the entire trip) and then got together again afterwards for the resort's Casino Night. 

We all went to the little nightclub afterwards together before calling it a night!

On our last full day, Friday, we went back to the spa (the Royal Service upgrade gave us daily access to the spa pool, jacuzzis, steamroom, sauna, and facilities) to relax at the pool and read. 

Later that afternoon is when we spent a few hours sitting by the ocean ... and immediately wished we had more time to spend there. We enjoyed the breeze coming off of the water and also cooled off with yummy Rum Runners. 

We were so surprised to return later that afternoon to our room and see that our new friends had purchased our favorite bottle of Mexican wine from the previous night's wine tasting and had it sent up to our room for our anniversary! They included the sweetest note with a little inside joke that we laughed together about the previous night. What awesome folks. 

We had plans to mee them at 5:45 and hop in a cab with them to downtown Playa to check out Alux (pronounced "Uh-loosh"), a restaurant and bar that my family has visited that is actually below ground in a cave! 

I was so excited to see the facial expressions of Ian, Sarah and James as we descended down into the caves to have a pre-dinner drink together. They were all in awe!

I am normally one to skip out on shots, but they have a specialty shot bearing the restaurant name that our waiter said was great. We were so impressed with how it looked - a quick drop of Bailey's into the shot gives the appearance of a cave's stalagtites and stalagmites!

Once we had our cocktails in hand, our waiter gave us a tour of all of the caves. It was breathtakingly beautiful. 

This is their main bar. If you are ever in the area, this place is a true experience. 

We were just having such a great time together that we all decided to ditch our separate dinner reservations back at the resort -- we cabbed it back and ended up being able to all have dinner together at The Market ... where we had a very tasty dinner and I somehow got roped into another shot. Blehh!

From that point on, many other photos were taken which will just have to survive in the safety of my phone. Lawdamercy. Crazy times with this beautiful couple, and Sarah and I may have crashed a wedding reception for a spin around the dance floor before we felt guilty and danced right out (so embarrassing but hilarious). 

We will definitely be keeping in touch with them ... they are just a blast and a wonderful couple!

The next morning was a bit rough -- the wake-up call came at 6am and we were being picked up by the shuttle at 7:10am. The light at the end of the tunnel was that we were SO excited to see our baby again after 4 nights away and spend a wonderful evening with her!

If you are looking to vacation in Mexico, I would highly recommend this resort. I have a feeling this will not be our last trip there!

Our Airbnb Experience in Charleston, SC

When my husband and I started looking around at hotel options for our Charleston getaway, we were finding that some of our favorite places to stay were booked -- and while others were available, our stay would be costing us a pretty penny.

We were already thinking about more of a bed & breakfast setup, so I decided to hop on to airbnb.com to see what I could find. Lo and behold, this beauty popped right up and I was immediately smitten with the idea! The price was so much better than we were expecting, and all of the reviews I read were just so good. With the cost savings each night, we figured we could go all out on shopping and dining!

The basic concept of airbnb.com is that you can rent out a house or a room from a private owner -- you pay them directly upfront, pay a small fee to airbnb.com, and that's it. The option I found for us enabled us to have a private room and bathroom in a beautiful home (in a very safe neighborhood) that was just a walk away from the historic downtown area.

I do have to apologize for the poor photo quality, but I snapped these on my phone as we were leaving!

The house was just adorable and our host was nothing short of lovely. Our room had a king bed and plenty of space but still with a cozy feel. Our host Cheryl is an artist, so she has such a keen eye for decor.

  

We also had access to the kitchen downstairs, and our sweet host had coffee and biscotti laid out for us each morning. She also had wine in the fridge that she keeps on hand for her guests. So nice. I brought some O'Douls Amber for myself but Ian enjoyed his glass :) 

(Sidenote: when did I become the beer drinker and he become the wine drinker? Total role reversal.)

I think the most important thing you can do when booking through a site like airbnb.com is to check the reviews, each and every single one of them. Staying in someone's home -- especially if your host is going to be there -- can be a really different experience and if you've never stayed in a B&B then the concept may be quite unfamiliar to you.

Speaking for us, our experience truly couldn't have been better -- our host was rarely around, but when she was, she was just a true Southern belle ... completely sweet and hospitable. Our room was completely clean and well-appointed with lots of fresh towels. It was very nice having paid upfront so that when we got there, we didn't have to handle any monetary transactions. 

We hope to stay at this very home again and will definitely be using airbnb.com for future trip planning!

Weekend Recap: Our Charleston Getaway

This weekend was the best. The best.

At the beginning of last week, Ian threw out the idea of a last-minute getaway. SOLD. We'd both been stressed with work, and I knew this escape was just what we needed. Charleston, SC has a very special place in both of our hearts ... if you have been there, you know it is just plain good for the soul.

We had a really fun and different adventure this time around -- we stayed at a beautiful downtown home that I rented on Airbnb.com. I will definitely be sharing more about this experience!

After getting settled into the home, we walked to King Street for our dinner reservations. We had a wonderful dinner at Prohibition (including a truly amazing fresh strawberry mocktail) and then walked down to Virginia's On King where we shared the most delicious slice of key lime pie.

We took a cab home that night just due to the chilly temps. The next morning after a bite to eat, we decided to do something that Ian has always wanted to do -- we toured Patriot's Point, where the USS Yorktown is held. Tickets are $18 for adults and it was such a fun and different way to spend the morning -- and because we learned so much, we didn't feel guilty spending the rest of the afternoon just relaxing and shopping!

For lunch we headed into Sullivan's Island and had the best sandwiches and chili at Poe's Tavern. Everyone needs to experience Poe's in their life at some point!

After lunch, we shopped all up and down King Street. Ian didn't get anything but he did treat me to the cutest tortoise cuff at C. Wonder. And when we were shopped out, we did something we NEVER do ... we napped! That's right, back to the house we went and we just crashed for about an hour. It was just what we needed.

We got ready for the evening and Ian snapped this photo of me in the house -- our host is an artist and this is one of her pieces!

That night we had late dinner reservations at Charleston Grill, but we headed downtown early and had a few pre-dinner beverages. By far, the best spot we ended up at was at The Thoroughbred Club right in Charleston Place hotel. We'd been wanting to check out that bar since our last stay at Charleston Place this past September (PS: I was newly pregnant during that wedding, but we kept it a secret, so I sipped on fake cocktails all weekend!). Since we didn't get to go then, we really wanted to make it happen this time around. The bartender made me the yummiest mocktail with cucumber and mint.

And dinner that night was nothing short of amazing! Charleston Grill had some of the best service I've experienced in a very long time. We shared an appetizer and had two entrees, two sides, and then declined dessert -- but our adorable waiter still brought out a little sweets sampler for me complete with some chocolates, a macaron, and a praline.

Although we will be taking a "real" babymoon shortly, this little mini-babymoon was the perfect getaway! 

A Christmas Washington DC Visit

We had the most magical weekend visit to see Ian's grandparents in DC.

I can't describe how fortunate I feel to have these special people in my life. Grammie introduced me all weekend long as her granddaughter. I haven't been referred to as a granddaughter since my sophomore year of college when I lost the very last of my grandparents. She and Grampa Jim call Ian and I "our Will and Kate." The love we feel from them is just so heartwarming.

Ian slyly tried about eighteen dozen times this past weekend to sneak the restaurant bills from them, but his grandparents were on him every single time like hawks, insistent that "we were theirs for the weekend" and our money was no good in DC. It was just so sweet.

I arrived Friday afternoon, and after lunch I went with Grammie and Ian's sweet cousin Megan to Tyson's Corner for a little holiday shopping. Ian arrived later that evening due to an afternoon case in Charlotte he had to attend for work. That evening we ate at home and took it easy. We had a busy day planned for Saturday!

We had a great breakfast at a nearby family-run diner that Grammie and Grampa Jim visit every Saturday morning. The true highlight of Saturday, though, was seeing the Washington Ballet perform The Nutcracker at the Warner Theater. We had great tickets to begin with, but we received a last-minute upgrade to VIP tickets which included premiere seating and drink tickets. I know you are so jealous that I got a free ginger ale. :) Almost back to the champagne days, almost. Only twenty more weeks.

The theater was so lovely, and I loved the DC spin that this ballet corps put on the traditional Nutcracker story. I teared up at so many points in the ballet just reminiscing about the days when I used to dance in The Nutcracker and the wonderful people I miss from the ballet school. 

Following the ballet, we braved the 37-degree temperatures and rain and headed to the White House to see the National Tree. It was a beauty!

They also have trees set up for each state, so here we are with the North Carolina tree. 

That evening, we were treated to a fantastic dinner out. I had a steak with lobster mac & cheese and roasted brussel sprouts with prosciutto and a mustard sauce. We came back to the house afterwards and sat around the tree, just chatting. Grammie brought out a tray of decaf mandarin orange tea and homemade cheesecake slices. 

All of that food + a growing baby equals one large tummy.

I'm still smiling as I reminisce upon the highlights of the weekend and the unconditional love I feel from these beautiful people.

I hope your weekend was filled with loved ones as well. This is a great time of year to reflect upon the important family members and friends in our lives. Cheers!