costa rica

We just got back on Sunday from an amazing 10 days in Costa Rica visiting Danny's family. It was my first time to go since my trip in 2008, and Danny hadn't been since 2009. I had not seen his dad since our wedding! It was so refreshing to be with his family in their home country. I know Danny misses Costa Rica so much, so it was really a blessing to both him and I that we were able to spend some time in his beautiful homeland!

This is the home that Danny grew up in, and his parents still live here!

I met all of Danny's aunts and cousins for the first time. His mom has 5 sisters and they all have kids (some even have grandkids!) so there were a lot of relatives to meet!

This is Danny's paternal grandmother, Iris, and his sister-in-law, Fanny.

We spent all day Saturday hanging out with his family, and that night we had a birthday celebration for Danny at Rapsodia Lounge with some of his friends (even though his birthday wasn't until Wedneday). We stayed out really late, and the next morning Danny wok up to run a race with his dad and brother. I slept in trying to catch up from my jet lag! Later that day we went to Irazu Volcano.

The volcano is still active - it was so cool!

We took lots of pictures :)

On the way back we stopped at an old insane asylum that is famous and now turned into a walk-through museum. It was scary! I didn't bring my camera inside. After that we drove up the mountain to eat at this local restaurant that overlooked the ocean. It was beautiful!

There was a beautiful garden right outside the restaurant.

Later that night (our days were jam-packed!) we went to Santiago's first birthday party! Santi is the son of Danny's cousin, Eduardo. This is Danny, Santi and his Aunt Nurya.

Picture of Danny's dad's side of the family!

Danny and I woke up early Monday morning to head to Santa Teresa! I was SO excited! I've always heard so much about Santa Teresa and how it has some of the prettiest beaches in Costa Rica. It was actually rated the #10 beach in the world by TripAdvisor in 2011. The beach is on an island, so you have to take an hour long ferry ride to get there. You can even pay extra to transport your car on the ferry (which we did).

The ride was actually really smooth and the view were so pretty.

We saw islands and boats and clear skys.

Once we got off the ferry, we had another 45 minute drive to Santa Teresa.

Almost there!

We borrowed Danny's brother's car to drive to Santa Teresa. It is a brand new car but does not have 4 wheel drive - let me just say driving up the MOUNTAIN to the entrance to our hotel was like driving straight up a 90 degree angle. It was a little scary!

This is the view from our room. The infinity pool overlooked the ocean.

Casa Marbella was just a short walk from the restaurants/shopping and beach.

We ate lunch at little local place, and then went to the beach!

Oh, how I missed this country! So beautiful!

We found this wooden hut that was built on the beach.

So peaceful.

Danny was so excited! And he was excited to be drinking his favorite beer, Imperial.... remember?

We found this little lagoon off the beach and they were some local surfers swimming around in it. It was so cool - the water was smooth and perfect.

 We stopped for some coconut juice (chopped with a machete right in front of us!).

Later than night we went swimming. The pool was so pretty at night! We also ate a really good restaurant down the road called Pasta Basta.

The next morning we got up early to eat breakfast and head to the beach. Danny wanted to surf!

We walked down to a surf shop and got him a board, then went down to Playa Carmen so he could surf.

It was fun! We ate lunch at a place called Da Mon Key.

Beautiful little jungle forest we found.

Jungle Forest

We watched the sunset from the pool at Casa Marbella.

Casa Marbella

So handsome.

There was a yoga deck at the hotel, and we were laughing so hard because Danny told me to do a yoga pose and I had no clue how to do it. I don't do yoga -haha!

The next morning (Wednesday) we met his family in Montezuma to take a boat to Tortuga Island. It was also Danny's 25th birthday!

I loved the town of Montezuma - it was so vibrant and fun! The boat ride was 1 hour and it was so pretty. It stopped on the way to let us snorkel.

After snorkeling, they gave us all Imperials for the rest of the ride to Tortuga Island.

The crew cooked lunch for us, so we just hung out for an hour or so and enjoyed the beach.

Tortuga was the prettiest beach I have ever seen in my entire life (even better than Hawaii and Jamaica!). It was STUNNING. The pictures really don't do it justice!

Breathtaking.

We spent Friday shopping and hanging out in downtown San Jose.

The architecture is beautiful.

 The markets have so many authentic Costa Rican items for SO cheap! We got some amazing bowls and wooden carvings for our kitchen.

 Friday night we went to Kevin (Danny's cousin's) 16th birthday party at his Aunt Zenaida's house. Her house is beautiful and her husband Hansel built it himself!

We stayed till midnight playing games and hanging out with all the family.

Danny and Zenaida

On Saturday we spend the day at Tia Iris's house. She reminds me so much of my late grandmother, Mamaw. It was so bittersweet. She cooked hand-made tamales for lunch and it was my first time to try tamales! That night we went to our last dinner at this great restaurant on the very top of the mountain that overlooked the whole city. We had such a great time visiting everyone and can't wait to go back again soon! I really practiced my Spanish too! Danny's family is so sweet and funny and kind, and I really love them so much! Pura Vida :)

yall...

...are we still friends? This is so upsetting to me that I haven't blogged in weeks. Honestly - things have been that crazy. We just got back from a banquet and I am about to fall asleep on the keyboard. We were in Costa Rica all last week visiting Danny's family, and I still need to catch up on blogging our last few weeks in October.

I'll get to all that tomorrow. Right now I just wanted to check-in and let yall know that I have not disappeared! I plan on catching up on ALL my blogging this week! :)

wishes

My mom and I took a girls trip to Disney World last week and we just got back on Sunday. We had so much fun!

It was so nice to get away for a little bit and visit one of my absolute favorite places.

I've been back to Disney twice since I worked there in 2007, and it always brings back so many memories. It's where I met my husband and changed my life forever. It will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart!

I love going to Disney this time of year because of all the fun Fall decorations. Disney really goes all out for every season!

We arrived on Wednesday and went to the Animal Kingdom to meet my sweet friend Allie! We ate at the Rainforest Cafe and then went to Magic Kingdom that night to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade (so neat if you've never seen it!) and watch Wishes.

We spent all day Thursday at MGM (er, Hollywood Studios - it was MGM when I worked there!). We had a blast! It was alot of walking but my mom did great.

We went to Animal Kingdom bright and early on Friday morning. It's one of my favorite parks - I absolutely love the safari and Mount Everest (I rode this three times by myself - ha!).

That afternoon/evening we went to Epcot and it was the Food & Wine Festival! It was sooo crowded.

 We rode some rides and then got our seats for the Illuminations fireworks show.

We spent all day Saturday (our last day) at Magic Kingdom.

We watched the parade, road a ton of rides and relaxed.

We went to all four lands, and saw that they are building a brand new Fantasy Land which will open in 2012! It's going to be huge.

We had so much fun and I can't wait to go back again in a few years!

"...and all your wishes will come true!"

be still my beating heart

Today is our three year wedding anniversary. I still feel like it was just yesterday that we were engaged.  I love you so much, hubby. You make me laugh and make me feel so loved. You are so selfless and so caring. You are such a hard worker and are everything I've ever dreamed of in a husband. I love you SO MUCH!!

 Marriage is a door which looks out upon a beautiful view.

 As that door is opened and the horizon unfolds before you,

 know that nothing is sweeter than the warmth of one hand within another.

I will love you forever!



fall y'all

We've been pretty low-key lately which has been nice.  Last Friday we went to dinner at Danny's boss's house and had a really good time. His wife is so sweet and I was dying over all her gorgeous pottery! Then on Saturday night we had some people over for a little BBQ party at our house. We hadn't had people over in forever, so it was fun to get the bonfire going in the backyard again!

Today we volunteered at the fall festival at church.  Danny was having fun entertaining the kids!

I worked the ring toss booth :)

We went to the Chapel of the Cross "Day in the Country" after - there were so many people there! There were a ton of really cute crafts, baked goods, etc. It was fun! Now we're just relaxing at home watching tv. We went to dinner last night with some friends and stayed out pretty late!

I know I mentioned this recently, but I've been feeling super crafty lately. 

My most recent project was this split pea wreath I found on another blog.  It was so easy and turned out super cute! All you need is 2 bags of split peas, lots of hot glue, a pan for the peas and a wreath form.

Just spread hot glue on small sections at a time, then dip in pan of peas and press peas to wreath with your hand. Continue this around entire wreath - I used an entire bag of the short hot glue sticks for this!

Tie a ribbon at the top and voila! Super easy!

Have a great weekend!