Montego Bay: Family Vacation

Our trip to Jamaica last weekend was one for the books especially since it involved lots of family time and relaxing by the pool and beach with frozen cocktails. 
 

We stayed at the Iberostar Rose Hall Beach all-inclusive resort in Montego Bay which exceeded my expectations in terms of the restaurants, entertainment, and overall amenities. Plus it's a gorgeous location for a destination wedding which was the purpose of our trip.

K and I booked a standard room and were so surprised to see this beautiful view from our balcony, considering most resorts charge an upgrade fee for an ocean-facing view.

Like one should do on vacation, I traded technology and my first-world worries for relaxing, exploring, indulging, and luckily spending time with family so I'll let the pictures do the talking from here.

The Restaurant Scene

 

My Cousin's Wedding

Family Excursion

All I can say now is "Take me back!!!"

The Good-to-be-Home Weekend

Wow, I can't believe it's August already! This year has been zipping by but I guess time flies when you're having fun although we really need to slow down the clock for getting older!

I had a pretty low key weekend which was perfect after returning home from our family vacation in Jamaica last week. Other than catching up on some sleep, my days were spent unpacking, doing tons of laundry, and getting things organized around the house.

We ventured out on Saturday night to celebrate my good friend's birthday at Tapa Toro for dinner, which is a new Spanish Tapas restaurant right below the Orlando Eye. The food was delicious and the company was even better. We stayed out for a few hours to celebrate the birthday girl and then called it a night. 

On Sunday K and I made spent the morning relaxing at home and giving Lola all the attention. We missed her while on vacation.

We went out to grab some groceries and lunch and can I just say my new favorite guilty pleasure are Brie Bites. I may have to try making a baked version of these at home since I'm a huge fan of brie cheese.

That's all I have for today! I hope this week treats you well...I'm praying the heat in Florida eases up for us soon since it's been unbearably sauna-like hot. The weather was much more comfortable in Jamaica!


Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Vacation Highlights

I'm back and hoping to catch up on all the blogging over the weekend!

Thankfully Friday arrived really quickly this week after returning home from Jamaica on Wednesday night. It's never fun jumping right back into reality but a two-day work week makes it so much more bearable to deal with the post-vacation blues.

We flew to Montego Bay last week Friday for my cousin's wedding and had an amazing time catching up with 20+ family members that came in from three different countries. It was really good for the soul and, being at an all-inclusive resort in paradise, made it that much sweeter!

 

I plan to post a full travel recap next week when I've had time to organize my photos...and my brain, let's be honest...but I wanted to share some highlights from the trip.

Family Time
K and I are the only ones that live in the US so spending time with my parents, sister, and the extended family was much needed. Especially being able to catch up with my cousins and meet their babies (and not-so-much-babies anymore) for the first time.

 

Pre-Wedding Fun
On night one, the bride-to-be willingly agreed to participate in the Miss Iberostar "pageant" which was really a very unorthodox competition involving collecting as many shirts and pants from the audience. Guess who won?



On night two, we secretly organized some extra entertainment from the staff that came to the beat of the Magic Mike soundtrack. She was a good sport and it was no rated-R show but it was so fun and pretty hilarious to cap off the night before her wedding.



The Wedding

This is a given because it was the purpose of our trip but we got to witness my cousin and her love say their vows in a beautiful setting.

Post-Wedding Fun
We only had time to leave the resort and do one excursion on this trip so we picked a catamaran cruise (more to come on this) but snorkeling was one fun part of the excursion.

On our last night we had a bonfire cocktail party on the beach for one last get-together before saying our goodbyes the next day.

Bonus Highlights
Other than all the quality time with my family which is priceless, a huge highlight of our trip was winning two free gifts. I chose a 50-minute massage at the and K picked two tickets to the VIP departure lounge in the Montego Bay airport. So much unexpected pampering but we loved it!

The MoBay VIP departure area offers complimentary food, drinks, and a really comfortable lounge with reliable WiFi access so it was a really nice end to our trip.

So happy to be home to be with my Lola but lots of detoxing and cleaning eating is much needed for the next few weeks.

I hope you enjoy the weekend just as much as I will enjoy sleeping in my own bed!

An Anniversary trip to Ocho Rios

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I'm still in Jamaica relaxing for a few days with the family after celebrating my cousin's wedding yesterday. K and I visited Jamaica back in 2012 for another destination wedding in Negril and now we're in Montego Bay so I've been looking forward to seeing a different part of the island.

My good friend and fellow blogger, Kate from Green Fashionista so generously offered to share the highlights from her wedding anniversary trip to Jamaica. They happened to visit around the same time we were there in 2012 but they stayed in Ocho Rios which is a part of the Jamaica I've yet to visit.

 

Kate and her hubby spent 4 nights at the Sunset Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios, which they chose because it's a beachfront all-inclusive resort with some beautiful pools and waterslides.
 

The swim-up bar is always a favorite when it comes to all-inclusive resorts and Kate said they immediately got in the pool when they arrived and could just feel the stress melt away.



Their days were spent lounging in the cabanas by the pool, sipping on cocktails, and enjoying the pool and waterslides.

Sounds like the perfect vacation to me and that's exactly what we've been doing.



They enjoyed some Bob Marley cocktails poolside which look delish.

I just love the view from their hotel room and it gives you a nice glimpse of Ocho Rios' coast.

Thank you Kate for sharing the highlights of your anniversary trip to Jamaica!

If you're interested in exploring more about Jamaica, you can read Kate's full Ocho Rios trip recap and my trip to the 7-mile long beach in Negril.

Hope this week treats you well!

                                                                                 

Jamaica Bound

Happy Friday!

I hope you have some fun plans lined up for the weekend. I've been looking forward to this day for a few months now because we're en route to Jamaica for my cousin's wedding and will be spending the next few days with my family in Montego Bay. The last time we went to Jamaica, we spent the entire trip in Negril so I'm excited to explore a different part of the island.

For once I planned nothing for this trip and will be going where the wind takes us around whatever wedding festivities we have to attend. I'm hoping to go on an excursion or two but I'm waiting to explore the options while we're there. I'm most excited about lounging on the beach and hopefully returning home with a nice tan.

Enjoy the weekend!

Travel-Size Essentials

                                
We travel quite often so I have a toiletry bag that's always packed with travel size products for when we decide to take off for a weekend trip or even a longer vacation. While I'm known to over pack in the clothing and shoes department, I have my toiletry selection under control. Other than the basic necessities like toothpaste, shampoo & conditioner, deodorant and a razor, these are some of the other essentials I take with me on vacation (in travel-size).

Neutrogena Wet Skin Sunblock  /  Morning Burst Facial Scrub  /  Vicks ZzzQuil Nighttime Sleep-Aid

Gentle Eye Makeup Remover   /  Yes To Cucumber Face Towelettes  /  Victoria's Secret Lotion

OFF!® Insect Repellent  /  Nivea Skin Creme   /  TanTowel Express Self-Tan Kit 

 A few other travel-size things that I also pack are dry shampoo, body spray/perfume, hand sanitizer, a good quality chapstick, and aloe vera (for tropical destinations).

When it comes to getting adequate sleep on vacation, I usually also bring along some melatonin for those restless nights. Until recently when I tried ZzzQuil Nighttime Sleep-Aid (sample from Influenster). I went out and bought a full pack because it helps you fall asleep within 20 minutes and doesn't leave you feeling groggy the next morning.

I've talked about being a non-morning-person before, probably because I'm the exact opposite and prefer to stay up late but that isn't practical when you have a 8-5 pm gig and need to be up at the crack of dawn. So I really like how ZzzQuil helps you sleep soundly for about 7-8 hours. The best part is the ingredients are non-habit forming because it's solely made for sleep and not for pain or sickness. While I wouldn't take this every night, I definitely need it from time to time when the night owl in me decides to come out to play.

I received a sample packet of ZzzQuil Sleep-Aid complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.  The review above is my true and honest opinion. #ZzzQuil, #SleepLovers, #ad, #gotitfree @Influenster