It’s a Pleasure, Mr. and Mrs. Sun!

Ah, Mexico…what a wonderful place to visit, and oh, my how I didn’t want to come back, especially since it meant my vacation was over and it was back to work for this girl!  In short we had a wonderful time!  We did a lot of relaxing, a lot of reading, a little swimming, quite a bit of sunbathing, some pretty good eating, and even a little bit of drinking…

For those interested, we visited the Secrets Maroma Beach Riviera Cancun resort in Cancun, Mexico and it was heavenly.  I had heard wonderful things about this resort, both from friends who have been there and also from the Trip Advisor reviews, but I really didn’t think it was possible for a place to be THAT great.  Well, I was wrong!  As soon as we arrived, we were greeted with a glass of champagne and a cold towel.  Once we entered our room, we were given a “tour” by our concierge, Cesar, who constantly referred to us as Mr. and Mrs. Sun the entire trip…nevermind the fact that he couldn’t have possibly been much younger than us…it was still very nice!  What was also nice is that when one of us said “Thank You” or “Gracias” when someone on the staff did something to help us out, they ALWAYS responded with “It’s a Pleasure.”  Every. Single. Time.  So cool!

Everything was great!  The food was good, the beach and pool area were beautiful, and the grounds couldn’t have been cleaner.  It was just an amazing trip!  We didn’t really do anything too exciting.  We did go into Playa del Carmen one night to walk around, but other than that, it was mainly a trip of relaxation and being pampered!  Here are some of my favorite pics of the trip!

This first group are just pics of the property.  The first pic is of the pool with the beach in the background, then comes the pic of the pool at night, then is the view from our room, and finally the beach.

The Christmas decorations were still up in the hotel and in Playa del Carmen.  I think it’s so fun to see different climates and how they decorate for Christmas!

Now for all of the pics of my beau and me.  The only 2 of note is the one with our chef at the Japanese Restaurant on the resort and also our recreation of the Corona commercial…

One final thing to note…there were SEVERAL wild animals on our resort.  They scared the crap out of me at first, but I quickly adjusted…oh, who am I kidding…I was terrified of them the entire time…My hubs took all of these pictures and I just kept walking every time we saw one of these creatures.  Ha!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Let’s make it a great day!

My Happiness Project

I’m sure by now you’ve all heard about The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, right?  If you haven’t, please check it out immediately.  I first heard about it from Natasha’s blog and was intrigued enough to check it out.  I am currently about half way through the book and I’m really enjoying it. 

As I was reading the first few chapters, I really started thinking about my happiness and where I am on the spectrum.  I (like Rubin) believe I am very happy…however, I think there are many steps I can take to make my life better and make myself and the people around me MORE happy!  While I don’t believe I have the time or the energy, for that matter, to devote my ENTIRE 2013 to such a task, I do believe I can focus on one small area of my life that I’d like to “work” on each month.  AND, what better place to document my Happiness Project than right here on this blog. 

In thinking about what brings me happiness (or unhappiness, rather), one word came to mind:  GUILT!  I hate that word and I have to say that I think every area of my life that “needs work” is strictly 100% because of my guilt.  Therefore, I think the entire focus of 2013 will be to work on taking steps to keep myself from feeling so guilty in all areas of life.  For example, I feel guilty when I arrive to work late, I feel guilty when I don’t workout, I feel guilty when I don’t take Zoey on long enough walks, I feel guilty when I snap at Patrick, when he VERY RARELY snaps at me.  This year, I’m going to work on these things…one area of life at a time.

So, you’re probably wondering, where am I beginning?  Well, you’re looking at it.  January is going to be focused on Blogging.  At first I was going to include blogging in the “Me Time” month, but then I decided that it used to be a very large part of my life.  I used to write with much greater regularity, and lately, it seems that it’s one of the first things I let go when life gets too hectic.  Hence, the guilt I feel for not allowing myself the time to commit to one of my favorite hobbies.  Therefore, this month will be focused on blogging.  Without further ado, here are my January Blogging Resolutions:

1. Blog every work day. This may require me to blog on Sundays some weeks and schedule posts in advance, and it may require me to get up early before work some mornings, but I want to aim at blogging every day that I go to work.
2. Comment on at least 2 blogs per day.  I love when people comment on my blog.  It seriously gives me a little bit of sunshine in my day.  So, I’m going to aim at commenting on 2 blogs per day.  I know to many of you, this doesn’t seem like a lot…for me though, it’s huge.  You have now idea how often I read a blog link during my lunch break and think “Oh, my, that outfit is soooo cute.”  However, because I am usually in a hurry to get back to work, or to move on to the next blog, I never take the time to actually tell the blogger.
3. Have my blogs posts published by noon everyday. Again, this may require me to get up early, but HOPEFULLY, I can keep this up!
4. Proofread every post for grammatical errors.  I know this isn’t a big deal, but nothing irritates me more than looking at a post I just “published” and see a big spelling error.  All it takes is a little bit of time to make sure every post is somewhat professional.

Well, there you have it!  My January Happiness Project!  Stayed tuned to see how it all works out…at least for this month.  Happy Monday friends! 

So Long 2012…

Well, as you have probably already noticed, I haven’t been the best little blogger in the world these days.  I have told several people this, but I kept telling myself that after the wedding my life would slow wayyyyy down and I would have much more time for my hobbies.  Alas, this didn’t happen and here we are, on January 1, 2013 and this is my first blog post since mid-November.  However, I plan to remedy this in the new year (I know, I know…you’ve heard it all before).  I really mean it this time and plan on explaining more at a later date. 

For now, let’s take a look back at all things 2012, which will go down in history as my best year to date! 

January – What a great way to start 2012!  It was complete with a Staycation with my beau, hosting a baby shower for one of my BFFs, and posing for some of the MANY pics we had made this year when we had our engagement pictures made.

February – Not only did this month mark the beginning of tax season, we also celebrated Sweet Zoey’s first birthday, enjoyed a nice Valentine’s dinner prepared with love by MY Valentine, and attended the Nashville Junior Chamber’s Bayou Bash.

March – Well, because of the fact that I literally worked and slept through most of March, there aren’t many fun pictures to share.  However, not only did we celebrate another year of birth for Patrick, but he also treked out to Vegas with some of his best guy friends for the Bachelor Party to end all Bachelor Parties.

April – Ah, April…one of my favorite months…I’m sure you all have figured it out by now, that this is the month that my life is back to normal and I get to do fun things again…like take pictures.  I also spent most of April wrapping up my training for the Country Music Half, which was very hot, but just as much fun as I remembered from the year before.

May – Not only did we celebrate my 32nd (YIKES) Birthday during May, but we also met Baby Kennedy, saw my sister graduate with her master’s degree, attended my Knoxville Wedding Shower, and took Zoey to the Natchez Trace on Memorial Day.

June – Wow!  Things REALLY started gearing up for the wedding in June.  We had my Work Shower, my Nashville Shower, and my Bachelorette Party.  In addition to wedding festivities, we also met Baby Braden and attended Anna Lea and Wes’ beautiful wedding!

July – WEDDING month!  And let me say, it was absolutely consumed with all things wedding and honeymoon!  Not only did I marry my best friend on July 14, but we also went on an ah-mazing honeymoon to London, Paris, and Amsterdam.  It couldn’t have been more perfect!

August – After getting back from Europe, it was time for me to get busy with work and also for us to move in together.  I wish I could say I was all moved in to Patrick’s house in just a few weeks, but to just be perfectly honest, it’s January and I’m still not fully moved in…hopefully, I will be one day, but I’m also considering just putting everything that not her, yet, in storage…I mean, let’s face it…if I haven’t used it in the last 6 months, I don’t think I’ll need it until we have a bigger house, no?  Anyway, back on subject, in addition to our co-habitating experiences, we also spent much of August going to the Tomato Festival and having our “After Session” photos made with Sweet Zoey.  Oh, and we also received a congratulatory letter from The President and First Lady on our recent nuptials. 

September – This month was full of cheering on the Vols (to much avail), attending both the Dog Days Festival and a Titans game or 2, and also taking Zoey to her first “Puppy Shower.”

October – This month was full of Vandy games, Halloween costumes, and going to see one of our sweet flower girls in Sleeping Beauty.

November – In addition to the normal Thanksgiving visit with my family, this month was also full of a trip to FL with 2 of my besties to run in a half marathon, and we also managed to move my furniture out of my condo and into Patrick’s house.

December – This month was most definitely full of Christmas Joy.  We celebrated Christmas with my family, we traveled to Florida to celebrate with Patrick’s mom, and we rounded out the new year with a night’s stay at Opryland.  Oh, and I got the flu…yes, the flu.  =(  At least I got it before tax season and not right in the middle of it, right?  Always looking for the silver lining.  =) 

It was truly a wonderful year, and I can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store.  I have a feeling it’s going to start out well as my beau and I leave tomorrow to head to Mexico for a quick trip to relax and enjoy our last little bit of the holidays!  I’ll be back next week friends!  Happy New Year!