Kelsey Supreme

     At long last, the post-vacation chaos has started to die down and I can share all of my pictures from Mexico with the world! How is it that everything in the world has to happen right after vacation? Shouldn't that be illegal? It should be required that a person has a post-vacation, ease you back into life week...



     Vacation was a blast! Our trip started off with waking up way too early in the morning to catch our flight to Cancun. Our flight was nice and quick, it only took about two and a half hours instead of the three hours that we were anticipating. We made it to the shuttle to take us to our resort, and lucky for us, we were the first stop! Our resort, Secrets Silversands, was about 15 minutes away from the airport, while other groups had about a 40 minute drive.






     When we got to the resort, they gave us the sales pitch, asking us if we wanted to upgrade our room to an ocean view room. We said, nah, we'd rather see what our current room is first. We wound up with a beautiful ocean and garden view because we were on the top floor. There also wasn't anyone in the rooms around us, until the last two days. It was really peaceful. Plus the rooms themselves were gorgeous! They are super modern and very neat. The only complaint would be the bathroom situation.. which was open to the rest of the room so you could enjoy the view from the bathtub. The toilet was "closed in" by a glass door which didn't actually shut. This being a couples' resort, nothing says romance like spending a week hearing bathroom noises.. If you weren't comfortable with you significant other before this, you sure are now!



     The weather was beautiful the whole time. There was only one day where it was overcast for about 20 minutes. That day, we were on the beach, and we all took a nap on the beach until the clouds blew away. It was so great!


      We spent the whole trip bouncing between the beach and the pool. The beach was a small, and the ocean was a little rocky, but it was beautiful. Even though it was small, it was the right size for the resort, and it never felt crowded. There was a "preferred" section of the beach, which no one was ever at. There weren't any huts or umbrellas in that section, but the chairs were much more comfortable! There were bartenders who came down to the beach to make sure you always had a drink.

     The pools were really awesome too. There was an infinity pool, which was really neat. It was pretty cold, but I liked hanging out in that pool. Surprisingly, there weren't ever many people in that pool. The main pool was happening though. There were tons of activities, like aerobics classes, sports contents, and dancing in the main pool. Also, there was a bar built into the pool, so you can see why most people liked hanging out in that one. If you wanted to socialize, that was the pool to be in.



     Speaking of activities, every morning except for Sunday, there was a beach side yoga class. The class was taught in this little covering/hut right out on the ocean. It was beautiful and serene. I didn't go every morning because I was too busy having fun, but it was still one of my favorite parts about the trip. I didn't take near as many yoga pictures as I had hoped for, but the ones I do have turned out awesome. These resorts host different yoga teachers every week, and I could really see myself doing that one day..

     The resort had tons of good food too. Every morning, there was a breakfast buffet. They made some really excellent Mexican style eggs. For lunch, you could either go to a buffet, one of the poolside restaurants, or there was a barefoot bar that served snacks and hamburgers. We were normally too full from breakfast, so we just ate snacks for lunch. At dinner, there was tons of variety in restaurants. There was an Italian place, a steak place, a French place, a seafood place, a Mexican place, and a Japanese place.


   Out of the whole trip, our favorite place to hang out was at the beach bar. We went there every night after dinner. Sitting by the ocean, having a few drinks, and feeling that amazing breeze.. I don't think there was anything better than that. Some nights it was even almost cold sitting at that beach bar. We also hung out there during the day a few times. We spent almost the whole first day there, and we went there later in the week after getting pretty sunburned the day before.


     Everyone keeps on asking me how I'm making the adjustment from vacation back to work. Originally, my response had been, "Well, being here is not the same as waking up, taking a few steps, and doing yoga on the beach, but I'll live.." But now that the past two weeks have gone by, I am begging for another vacation. The world has done it's worst to make sure to remind me that work is work. I have been more busy these past few weeks than I was in the whole month leading up to vacation.. and I was busy then too! Ah, life..

     In case you weren't aware, in 20 days, I will be laying on a beach. Jim and I started planning this trip to Mexico all the way back last July. Of course, at that point we didn't know where we were going to go, or who would be able to go with us. But we knew a few things: beach, booze, and tons of friends.

Photo Credit: Secrets Silversands

     Jim and a few of his guy friends have been going on trips like this for a few years, but last year they didn't get to take one. So this year, we wanted to get as many people as we could to go. Originally, we had 16 - 20 people interested in going.

     You can imagine how hard it was to plan anything with a group that big. Picking a date range alone was tough, especially since we wanted to go in spring, but avoid most of the spring breakers. Budgets varied widely, but we settled on price ranges that would work for everyone. Then the planning got really difficult. Different things were important to different people. Some people wanted to go to Costa Rica or Panama while others wanted to go with the familiar Mexico. Some people wanted to go to a place with less families and more nightlife. Some people were more interested in the quality of the beach, but others were more interested in what food options were available. The list goes on and on..

     Eventually, we decided on a beautiful resort in Cancun, Mexico. We'll be going to Secrets Silversands Riviera Cancun. It looks like a beautiful resort, and it's rated 4.5/5 stars on TripAdvisor. One of the couples that was planning on going with us had actually been to this resort before, and they loved it. Sold.

Photo Credit: Secrets Silversands

     Like with most things in life, the unexpected came up, and our group of 16 - 20 has been cut down to 10. A few couples couldn't find babysitters, and another just got pregnant and can't go thanks to the Zika virus. Ten is still a pretty good number, and we are super excited to have so many awesome friends to come with us! We even get to meet up with some of our friends who live a few states away.

Photo Credit: Secrets Silversands

     This is going to be my first "real vacation" that I am paying for with my own adult money. It'll also be my first experience at an all-inclusive resort. I absolutely cannot wait to spend time on the beach, and you can expect tons of beach yoga pictures. Our days will be spent lounging on the beach and at the pool, day drinking with our friends. It looks like there are some great restaurant options for dinner. There is a surprising variety, with lots to try! The rooms all look beautiful too, which will be perfect for spending the evenings with my Jim.

Photo Credit: Secrets Silversands

     Obviously, I am beyond excited for this trip! It has been in the works for months, and I am way overdue for a vacation. The countdown began a long time ago, but I feel like 20 days is an appropriate amount of time to start gushing.

-Kelsey

     February is the month of love. Even after Valentine's Day has come and gone, I can't help but think about all of the love I have in my life. This is about to get mushy..


     I'm not one to get hung up on Valentine's Day gifts and garbage. In fact, Jim and I don't even celebrate Valentine's Day. Sure, we saw each other that day, but it was just another Sunday. I don't think love should hinge on a holiday.

    There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about how lucky we were to have found each other in this chaotic mess of people in the world.


     Jim and I didn't meet the way that most people think we met. I have been telling people that we met at a bar. To me, that was easier, and it was true. The first time that we met was in a bar. But we planned it. We actually met online, while I was living in Cape Girardeau and running my first yoga blog. I had made a post about St. Louis, and Jim stumbled across it. We began talking, and everything clicked. I instantly knew how much I liked this guy. He's just got that way about him. He is outgoing, which brought me out of my shell a little bit. He tells the best inappropriate jokes. We talked nonstop after we first met. He is everything that I had ever looked for in a partner, but the timing was never right for us. Until one day it was.


     We officially started dating in June 2014, even though we still lived so far apart. We worked really hard for our relationship and for ourselves during the year that we were long distance. Jim lived in St. Louis, and I was almost two hours away, in Cape Girardeau. We were both going to school and working full time. Our schedules didn't match at all. He worked a Monday through Friday job, and focused on school in the evenings. I had class all morning, and worked a crazy retail schedule. Things got stressful. Finding time to see each other on the weekends was tough. But at the end of the day, that guy could still make me happy no matter what kind of day I was having. We agreed to overlook all of the stupid conflicts, as long as we were still happy to be with each other.

     Now, after over a year and a half of "officially" being together and more hairstyles than I even knew were possible for a guy, here we are. Jim still makes me smile every day. I still look forward to seeing him more than anything else. You know that feeling you get when the pizza delivery guy is on the way? Yeah, knowing that I get to be with Jim is way better than that, and if you know anything about me, you know how much I love pizza.


     Jim has done so much for me in the time that we have spent together, and I know that he's going to keep taking care of me. He does all the little things, like talking to the hostess because he knows I hate it, singing to me in the car and replacing the words with "Toast cat," and making sure I always have my SoftLips. And he does all the big things, like making sure I talk about things that bother me, supporting all of my goals, and being there when I'm going through a rough time. He's given me advice, taken me out of my comfort zone, and made me feel more like myself. I couldn't ask for a better person to look forward to the future with.