Travel Tuesday :: Riviera Maya, Mexico.

This was a second annual pre-Christmas trip to an all-inclusive resort.  Last year we went to the Bahamas (which reminded me that we saw a rainbow there!  We also saw one on this year's trip, but I wasn't able to snap a picture!).  This year we headed south again!

I didn't have my fancy camera since Santa hadn't stopped by before Christmas, but I did what I could.

 [Minus the two beds instead of a king, this room was a million times nicer than our digs in the Bahamas]

 [One of the three pools with a swim-up bar.  The first was the only day we used the swim-up]

 [Someone got to meet Michael Jordan!]

 [I loved these covered walk ways that led you to different parts of the resort.  I snapped this on my way to the gym, which I made it to twice between the drinking & eating #booyah]

 [The one and only picture we got together while in Mexico...and it's self-taken. Lame]

 [Holiday decor in full swing]

 [Champagne delivered to the room while we played some mean rounds of Rummy]

 [View from the private beds on the VIP beach]

Between the eating and drinking, we managed to get a couples massage (D's first massage ever!), spend an hour in the awesome spa, get a room service breakfast, eat some mediocre foods at the "speciality" restaurants,  eat some pretty good breakfasts & a dinner at the VIP restaurant, and read a lot.  As is tradition, one day was mostly cloudy and rainy so that was spent indoors.  This resort was definitely a step-up from the Bahamas.  We're really lucky to have had an overall relaxing and enjoyable trip.  The perfect way to wind down for the holidays (before going home to face the drama of family).  Luckily we took a post-Christmas mini-trip too...

Being crafty :: Sharpie decorated mugs.

I told you I did a lot of holiday crafting over last weekend.  Since last year, I've gotten to love hand-crafting gifts.  I typically do this for family and for a few reasons.  1) Family can sometimes be the hardest to buy for; 2) Hard work and being handmade means a little more and; 3) It's just plain fun!  I know lots of people have seen these oven baked mugs around Pinterest.  I took this idea and ran with it!

This tutorial is nothing too special, since the entire process is pretty easy.  I don't like to back out on promises of DIY tutorials though!

A few tutorials, such as this one, utilize Porcelaine pens.  I went for the oil-based paint Sharpies.  I read that regular Sharpies didn't hold up with washing, so I went with the oil-based method.  My mugs were picked up at the dollar store for $1/each.

Since I am not very artistic, I really felt the need to sketch my designs prior to going at it with the Sharpie.  I did find that big Sharpie mistakes could easily be scratched off.  Obviously the pencil didn't write great on the ceramic, but it gave me more confidence with my Sharpie tracing than free-hand.  You could also use transfer paper to get designs going, but I wanted to save the money.

This took a LONG time.  It was a meticulous design, but I actually got the inspiration from this Anthropologie mug.  For the second mug, I printed a sketch blog "R" on card stock.  I cut out the letter and traced it onto the mug.  Definitely not as involved as the first.  Also, beware where you hold the mug while drawing.  My fingers wiped off some of the Sharpie a few times before I realized it.  I do love how the design possibilities are endless!

That's it!  I did let the mugs sit overnight before immediately putting them in the oven; however I'm not sure that was necessary.  I totally dropped a mug while getting it out!  It fell on the coils (but didn't break) and left a darker silver line through my "R."  I just touched it up with Sharpie and baked it for another 10 minutes.  Voila!

To be fair, I don't know how these will hold up through washing.  Since they're gifts, I don't want to risk washing and having to completely re-do them.  The mugs alone recommend hand washing, so I think they'll be fine with gentle hand washes.  The Sharpie definitely stays to the touch after baking though.

I also added a sweet little touch to the mugs too :)

Being crafty :: Lit doorway garland.

Back when I showed you my glitter clothespins, I had an ultimate project in mind.  It's finally time for the reveal!

This was my muse.  When I saw it, I knew I had to try it!  For the doorway garland, it's ridiculously easy!

You'll need:

• Pre-lit garland (or regular garland plus lights) - I got mine from Target for just $13
• Command hooks (I only used three)
• Twine
• Glitter clothespins
• Glitter letters (see below)

First - Arrange your hooks on the wall.  I used one in the middle, a bit above the door frame.  The others went on the top corners (on the wall though, not on the actual frame itself) of the frame.  Obviously I'm not a stickler for perfection, so I didn't measure.  Just eye-ball it.

Second - Hang that beautiful garland!

Third - Measure out the amount of twine you'll need.  Tie one side of the twine to your Command hook.  String on your glitter letters.  This is where the centering got tricky.  Next year I plan to get the centering a bit better.  I tied knots between each letter so they wouldn't move, but I don't think it was completely necessary.  Once the letters are on, tie the other side to the opposite hook.   

[I twisted the hanging twine around the garland]

Fourth - Don with your glitter clothespins & use them to display your holiday cards!

For the specifics on the glitter letters...

 [Draw your letters on the cardstock.  I drew them on different pieces but side-by-side to ensure they were pretty close to the same size]

 [Cut out those letters!]

 [Go ahead and punch your holes before you glitter up]

 [One-by-one, I used Mod Podge to wet one side of the letter then sprinkled glitter over the letters.  I dumped excess glitter over extra card stock so I didn't waste too much glitter.  I let the letters dry over night on a plate.]

[My letters didn't stay flat after drying.  While it isn't noticeable in full pictures, it's obvious close-up.  In the future, I may use cardboard (from an old box) which will stay better and the color would go well with the glitter & twine.]

What DIY crafts are you attempting this holiday season?

A pyramid of cheese.

My oh my.  I know how you love that I give you all these grand ideals that I’ll be back with lots of blog posts within one week.  Sadly, work is really super stressful right now and overwhelming my life.  This has been a really trying few weeks.  I’ve stopped crocheting and blogging.  I’ve turned to alcohol and TV watching.  Luckily, D has become much more fitness motivated and is keeping me heading to the gym most days.  I’m lucky to have him!

We were able to enjoy a really simple but fun Valentine’s day this year.  We did the same thing we would on any normal day but with a few extra perks.

[By perks, I mean reservation cards.  Yeah, Tasty Beverage doesn’t do reservations.  We know people.]

I had been dying to try this pyramid of cheese, and it didn’t disappoint!  We chowed down and ate the entire pyramid.  Plus crackers and beer of course.

[Um, yeah.  That's a pyramid of cheese.]

Then we hit up our favorite Asian restaurant to top off the night.  Pretty perfect Valentine’s if you ask me!

Taking it easy breezy.

You know as it's getting colder here in NC, and I'm actually wishing for a snow day (before school has even started back).  I'm only wishing for that snow day so I can have a break and a[nother] reason to be lazy.  It really has me reminiscing on our vacation to the Bahamas from last month.

[View from our balcony]

While I wouldn't mind decompressing from the holidays with a post-Christmas trip, it was nice to start off our holidays in the most relaxing way.  We headed out of Atlanta on December 20 and returned late on Christmas Eve.  We stayed at an all-inclusive in Nassau and only left our resort once to check out the casino.  It was a fabulous trip with lots of drinking, laughs, relaxing, reading, eating, and people watching.  I didn't take a ton of pictures (because they would really be most of the same seeing as we spent our days mainly in the same way), but I wanted to share some snippets of our trip.

 [Early airport reading]

 [We seriously had an empty seat beside us on every single flight except our last.  Three outta four ain't bad]

[Bahama mamas upon arrival at the resort]

 [Where we spent most of our days]

 [What a beauty]

 [We spent a lot of our nights playing cards, drinking, and listening to the nighttime entertainment]

 [Lots of blue going on in this picture]

 [Working out on vacation...who am I?]

 [Finally rocking the new sunhat]

 [Spotted a rainbow on our last day!]

 [Casino.  Seriously my first time gambling]

 [Just the two of us.]

 [The nighttime entertainment was definitely interesting and kept us laughing]

 [And you know they were trying to sell us something on the beach]

 [The water was mostly freezing, but expected with the perfect 80 degree temps]

[Definitely didn't mind spending my days with this book]