Staycation all I ever wanted...

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July yesterday! We went to Dayton to spend the day with my family. It was relaxing and pool filled and overall just wonderful. I hope that you celebrated America's birthday in a similar fashion.

Tomorrow is my last day of work, and then comes my amazing staycation. Every time I think about my staycation next week, I hear this in my head:

I've never had a staycation before, and I can't wait. I usually take the week between Christmas and New Year's off, which is wonderful for spending time with family and friends, but negative wonderful for getting any projects done. 

I have been day dreaming about this glorious week ever since I found out it was going to happen. I have so. many. projects that I just can't wait to tackle!

Here are a few of the things I'm thinking about doing:

Making homemade laundry detergent. This recipe is for an HE version. My friend makes it and swears by it, and it's soooo much cheaper than buying it!

Monogrammed throw pillows for our bed. Once I make these, I think our bedroom is officially finished!

I bought the fabric to make this skirt two years ago. It's about time I actually do it.

This hat is made out of an old t-shirt. I have all the supplies to make this too - just need to do it!

I'm also planning to visit a friend, have lunch with my mom, clean, clean some more, finish organizing my sewing room, find some new curtains for our dining room, exercise, prepare for my new job, read a few books, and oh yes, relax.

I guess I probably won't get to everything, but hopefully I'll get to a good chunk. Any other ideas for things I should tackle?? If you've ever had a staycation, let me know if you have any advice for how to make the best of it!

Such a wonderful vacation!

Zac and I snuck away last week for a vacation. We've been looking forward to it for such a long time - and it's honestly what got me through the last few months of school. This was our first anniversary / end of school celebration / last hurrah for awhile trip. At some point, we're going to start thinking about having a family and week long trips to Mexico won't be a possibility anymore. Sigh. 

We went back to the same wonderful place we visited during our honeymoon. We loved it so much the first time around and couldn't stop thinking about it after we left. 

When we arrived, it was as wonderful as we remembered. The only downside was that we weren't "discovering" all of the neat things for the first time, but it felt like we had never left from the minute we arrived.

Obviously the first thing we had to do was order room service!

The gorgeous view from our room.

I mean, seriously. This is what heaven must be like.

Self-timed pictures are so difficult... This is me posing to check the light, but it took us four nights of self-timed pictures to figure out how to get the focus right. Oops.

Heading to dinner one night

Zac really wanted to try the Indian restaurant. Not my favorite, but he loved it!

Hanging out by the pool -- with the ocean in the background!

One of Zac's favorite part last year was the flaming coffee, and he was so excited to have it again. PS - is this picture not awesome? Josh, this one is for you. No edits.

Look how happy he is! And handsome too, by the way.

Dinner our last night there.

We had the most wonderful week... it felt like we were there for such a long time. I managed to read six books by the pool, we floated along the lazy river, swam in the ocean, and drank yummy fruity drinks by the pool. And we ate - my goodness did we eat. 

It was a wonderful trip and was a great way to celebrate the end of school. It was a great bridge between the craziness that was finishing up and the wonderfulness that is now!

A Quick Trip to Flordia

My in-laws spend the winter in Florida each year - Ft. Myer's Beach to be more precise - and when they invited us to visit them for a weekend, we jumped at the chance! 82 degrees and sunny? Yes, please!

We arrived to this:

Yeah, that works for me! Zac's parents live in an RV park, but it's not your normal RV park. Everyone there has fancy motor homes that are probably bigger than my house (slight exaggeration - but they are nicer than my house!). Theirs has a full bath... and a half bath. Yeah, they're neat. Here's what their set up looks like:

My sweet father-in-law waving for the camera! And of course, this is the prime method of transportation down there.

We spent most of the time doing this:

because the weather was like this:

and I was happy.

This picture is too pretty not to share.

We took off in 82 degree weather, and landed in a scorching 29 degrees. As we landed and saw the snow covered ground, Zac said, "I sure hope that's sand!" Unfortunately, it wasn't. Brrrr.

This picture is too funny not to share. It's from a Publix grocery store down there, and the sign made me laugh pretty hard!

I hope you had a nice weekend too! 

Honeymooning!!!!

We weren't sad to see the wedding festivities end, because we had an amazing honeymoon to look forward to!! We got up bright and early on Monday morning to head to Mexico!!

We stayed at the Excellence Playa Mujeres in Playa Mujeres, Mexico, which is just outside of Cancun.  It was heaven on earth. There aren't even words to describe how amazing it was!

Everyone was so nice, the food was amazing, room service was fantastic, our balcony was lovely, the pools were fabulous, the ocean was warm, the drinks were delicious  - what more can you ask for?? Shout out to Brittany and Lee, our sweet honeymoon friends from NY!

I'm already trying to figure out how soon we can go back!

Yeah, that's a lazy river. 

Our balcony.  For real.

Still our balcony. That bed is the best napping spot in the whole world.

The private pool on our balcony.

Lit up at night

Room service!

The bus we took to the Mayan Ruins

Mexican crafts co-op

Norma, the sweetest tour guide ever.

Mayan ruins

A crazy fool who ate an entire habanero pepper

The rocking bruise I had all week - and STILL have on my leg three months later!

Heading down into the sinkhole to cool off!

The lobby of the resort

Our fancy last-night dinner!

Making our mark in the sand

A family tradition

Good bye Mexico... we'll miss you!