Our Honeymoon, Part III

By Wednesday of our honeymoon week all of the days started to blend into one perfect tropical retreat. With only one day of rainy stormy weather (which was amazing to watch from our balcony) we really only made time to sit out by the beach all morning and afternoon before we would head in to get ready for dinner. On our one rainy day we walked over to Atlantis to do some shopping and money-spending in the casino and ended up purchasing a very-expensive but worth it day pass to Aquaventure, the hotel's much talked-about waterpark. I will never forget riding through the mile-long 'lazy' river with Apb (there are actually quite rough rapids at certain points of the river; amazing fun especially when my tube flipped over) and having us squeal like little kids. We rode through all of the water slides together, giggling and screaming at every twist and turn uncertain of when we would plummet into the pool before us. 

Thursday marked our last full day in The Bahamas and we took full advantage of the honestly perfect weather. I adore this photo I took of Andrew standing in the water looking down into the crystal clear ocean. This photo sums him up so perfectly; calm, at peace, happy, gentle. I would love to get this as a canvas to hang in our home one day because it's so much happiness to me all in one photo. While he waded through the water dodging the waves that would roll in every now and then..

I was sitting in the sand letting the water rush in and over me to cool my body down from the intense heat. I sat here in the sand and stared out into the endless blue for what felt like hours; I didn't even know APB snapped this photo. (And to think I have such fabulous posture!) The turquoise water meeting the pale blue sky was bliss to me. Please someone take me back to Paradise Island as soon as possible. Thank you.

When we headed inside; Andrew's mojito sat on our balcony. He loves the minty flavour of them.

And I myself soaked up the last little bit of rays before getting ready for our last dinner (more about our fab dinners in Part II right here). I wore a sleeved lace mini dress with scalloped edges that I am completely in love with. I bought it online for $70 and actually ended up wearing it as a reception/dancing dress at our wedding. When a table of women at the hotel saw me walk by in the dress I could hear them whispering under there breath at how beautiful the dress was until they shouted out to me "Excuse me, are you getting married?! You look absolutely beautiful!" What sweet ladies. Thank you to whoever you guys were!

Our last dinner at the resort was in The Steakhouse and you guessed it; we had steak. Delicious steak and shrimp and crab legs, and salad and potatoes and fresh veggies and Parmesan encrusted french fries then for dessert we had the most amazing three layer chocolate cake with fresh coconut ice cream. Oh em gee. We ate like kings. And when I looked out the window from the restaurant we were greeted with this; and my gosh it was like the heavens opened up. And rained down gorgeousness on the little island of Paradise off of Nassau...

These images are straight out of my camera. For 10 minutes, I stood here by myself watching the sky slowly change colours like it was an infinite kaleidoscope of sky. Eventually people started to gather around me with their cameras trying to forever preserve the beauty that somehow seemed to envelope us into the night. 

And that day? Was a good day.

Read more...

Our Honeymoon, Part II

Tapas-style starter: smoked salmon wrapped around a creamy, fluffy ranch filling, pressurized Parmesan cheese disk coated in a crusty crumb mixture and texturized tomato and watermelon infused mousse served cold. Welcome to Krystal, the Riu Palace's fusion gourmet restaurant and the hubs and I's first restaurant we ate at on our honeymoon. The dinnerware was phenomenal and showcased some of the most unique pieces I have ever seen.

I have a confession too. I adore fancy dinners. There is something about a little champagne bucket beside your table, fancy dinnerware and impeccable presentation that makes my heart skip a beat or two. Throw in a cute outfit and the best company around and you're guaranteed a perfect night. Our hotel had a funny policy of requiring dinner reservations to eat in their four speciality restaurants. The kicker was you had to make these reservations between 7:00 and 8:00 am every morning. Luckily my sweet Apb scored us a table for two at this amazing place above where we ate some pretty incredible food (he had a passion fruit jelly and I had the best coco lava cake eva for dessert. Nom nom nom.)

The next morning we spent the entire day laying on the sunshine-drenched beach. Well Apb did. This girl was found like noted above. Frolicking in the incredibly warm ocean. My sweet Nan and Grandpa use to travel to Cuba every year on vacation for as far back as I can remember. Nan loved going in the ocean so the salt water could soften her skin and the waves could lightly toss her back and forth. Oddly enough it was soothing for me to be in the water drifting back and forth, thinking of her doing the same thing. Huge schools of fish would sometimes come and swim around me when I was only metres from the shore. The hubs bought me a very leaky face mask too, which I actually managed to use and find some gorgeous shells with.

Similar to the beach vendors in Mexico, The Bahamas had a ton of people scrounging the beach looking for people interested in jet ski and parasail rides, and women who were selling wraps and jewelry to all the 'pretty ladies'. However, this one guy came around every so often and balanced on his head was this box filled to the brim with fresh coconuts, tropical mixed drinks and brightly-hued straws. I chatted with him about his 'business' and he filled me in on the daily palm tree climbs he makes to get the best coconuts along with how some days on the beach are slower than others. For five bucks he sliced open the top of my coconut, popped in a lime green straw and handed me my sweet treat. The sweet coconut water was divine. But pouring in a frothy pina colada drink and adding a scoop of ice was a recipe for pure yumminess. 

After finishing my coconut drink and heading upstairs to get all the sand out of our suits, I washed off all of the shells I had found in the ocean. As cliche as it sounds to find shells on a tropical vacation, I actually am very proud of myself for finding the shells I did and think they are a beautiful memory of the hubs and I's time in The Bahamas. Currently, they are sitting snug in a metal clasp jar in my washroom and ironically will match perfectly the the plush soft pale blue towels we received as wedding gifts. Oh and those are our rings too. I thought I'd try my hand at my own kind of ring shot :)

Once we were ready to go, we walked over to Atlantis to check out the Casino, shops and aquarium and kill some time before  our dinner reservation. We took a customary 'before the night starts photo' and I love how happy we both look. I never truly understood the happiness that comes along with being a newlywed but to me this picture represents an emotion between Andrew and I that is simply indescribable. And absolutely everything happy.

Chocolate Madness for Andrew and Peanut Butter Brittle Cream for myself. B & J's, you make my taste buds dance. Over at Atlantis they have a cute little shop area right next to the Marina. It's an outdoor  shopping space complete with ice cream shops, Starbucks, Bahamian boutiques, restaurants and live entertainment. Besides the ice cream which was hands down delicious, our favourite shop was the Tortuga Rum Cake shop.  No bigger than a tiny office cubicle the shop sells Bahamian rum, rum-infused fudge and the cutest little rum bundt cakes we have ever seen. Each day they would place samples out front of their shop and we went three days in a row before committing to buy a six pack of the cakes.  

Here is the packaging for the cakes. They make six flavours, Key Lime, Banana, Coconut, Golden Original, Chocolate, and Pineapple. The chocolate was so very tasty but the Golden Original and Coconut were fantastic. We brought some cakes home for our families and we split a chocolate flavoured rum cake between the four of us as we shared our honeymoon stories. One of the best souvenirs we have ever invested in.

Here I am outside of the casino sporting a tropical flower in my hair. Behind me in the marina is where Andrew's dream boat sits. And behind those boats and yachts is the shopping area I mentioned above. We actually walked through the casino that same day, fascinated by the bright lights and overstimulated noises coming from all of the machines. Apb slipped me a dollar bill and said to pick a slot machine. I picked my machine, a glowing pink and purple hued unit. Must be good luck to be so happy and in love. 

Here is Part I and Part III of our Honeymoon Adventures. Happy Monday blogettes! Any special plans for the week? I can't believe how quickly the weather turned cool. Stay warm and cozy and lots of love, hugs and sunshine xoxo

Read more...

Our Honeymoon, Part I

You guessed it :) My honeymoon surprise ended up being The Bahamas (oh that husband of mine did real good). Apb and I jetted off to Paradise Island following our big day for six days and five nights to get some much deserved rest and relaxation. And we had the absolute time of our lives. Never before in my life have I seen such a gorgeous beach like Cabbage Beach. The white sand, turquoise water contrasted perfectly with the blue sky and hot weather was a much needed slice of heaven.

The two days leading up to our wedding were complete chaos; Apb didn't get into Canada until the night before the wedding and I ran around like a mad woman trying to get lots of little itty bitty things done; I promise there will be more on that soon. Getting to the airport, just the two of us on Sunday morning was a breath of fresh air and truly the most exciting feeling that as husband and wife we were off on a vacation. There we are at Pearson Airport bound for Nassau, Bahamas.

How cool is that? My boyfriend-turned-fiance-turned-hubby gets to wear a ring :)

I loved these built in screens on the backs of the airplane seats. They gave a play-by-play tracking of where we were in the sky and how close we were getting to our destination. I was pretty excited at this point to peek out my window and see gorgeous blue water. I anxiously watched the altitude numbers drop. Funny thing about The Bahamas. Cab rides are almost identical in cost to limo rides. So with no hesitation in making our vacation extra special we hoped into Prince's ride (yes, our limo driver's name is Prince) and headed across Nassau on our way to Paradise Island. Prince was so sweet and made sure to stop along the way so I could shoot this...

Be still my heart, be still. I think Apb had to hold me back from jumping in right there off the rocks.

We stayed at the RIU Palace, Paradise Island and it was a fantastic place to stay. The little balconies, Spanish-inspired interiors and it's pink-hued exterior made me smile. How lovely. We were greeted with Bahama Mama drinks upon check-in and I have to say this was my favourite drink throughout the entire vacation. Props to whoever invented the ever-so-tasty grenadine.

Below is a photo of the view from our balcony in our first room. After a room upgrade and switch, we ended up in a bigger room, with a bigger balcony on the opposite side of the hotel overlooking the ocean rather than the pool and neighbor hotel. Like it really mattered; we spent most days basking in the sun! 

  

The hotel has four specialty restaurants which showcase completely different and very tasty menus. We tried a different establishment each night minus the first day we arrived where we ate at the dinner buffet. Living apart from Apb, I forgot how much fun it was to get ready together for a fancy dinner; I think I'll always cherish those afternoon where we spent hours making our way from the beach covered in salt water and sand to looking so pulled together and dressed up for dinner. Sometimes I feel like the two of us are the only two people in the world...

Here is Part II of our Honeymoon Adventures. Have a gorgeous week my lovelies xo

Read more...