Friday Favorites: Beach Weddings, T3 Wand, Xcaret, The Travel Institute

Happy Friday!
I'm so glad to jump back in to one of my favorite days.
It's a Friday Favorites kind of day!
I have so many great things to share!


As always, I'm linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea. 

We're sharing our favorites from the week.

Grab their graphic and linkup with your favorites from the week, too.

Beach Weddings

I am a sucker for any and all beach weddings. 

A couple weeks ago Alex and I went to Mexico. 

We stayed at two resorts and both had lots of weddings!

One of the resorts had more over the top weddings, and I LOVED them!

My favorite thing about our destination wedding might have been my beautiful flowers that I couldn't even take home with me because we lived over 1,000 miles away and were going on a cruise the next day!

Xcaret

While in Mexico, we ventured off to our first ever excursion. 

I had seen and heard about Xcaret, so we decided to see what it was all about. 

So fun!

Xcaret is an all-natural park. 

They have animals, snorkeling, underwater rivers, swimming with dolphins/stingrays, etc. 

The locals compared it to our Disney World. 

You pay a fee to visit the park and then you can add on any extras that you want. 

We paid for the whole day and evening. 

During the evening they have a couple shows, with the Espectacular being the final and most grand one. If we were going to be there all day, why not stay for the shows?

We added on swimming with dolphins and full-body fish therapy. 

We got there pretty early and didn't want to be wet all day, so we decided to forgo the underwater rivers until later. 

We walked around and saw various animals and basically toured the whole place, getting our bearings down for where our extra add-on activities would take place. 

We saw the butterfly conservatory, birds, stingrays, turtles, etc. 

We went on a little boat ride, which was beautiful. 

I would have ridden it several times had we had the time!

Then, we ate lunch and got ready for our swimming with dolphins extra. 

I've always wanted to swim with dolphins, so I was excited when Alex agreed with it. 

We chose the package that allowed us to interact and swim with them. 

I was a bit disappointed that all of the groups were in the same area. 

There was even bleachers and a waiting area for people to watch. 

I'm not much on crowds, and even though there were about 6 groups going at once and only 3 other people in our group, I would have enjoyed a little more seclusion. 

We had a blast interacting and swimming with the dolphins!
They are so intelligent!

Then it was time for our fish therapy. 

Alex really wanted to do this, and even though I feel it's kind of like swimming in fish poop, I went ahead with it. 

The best thing about this activity was that we did the full body one. 

There were two tubs overlooking the beautiful ocean with little fish in them. 

The water was freezing, and the poor worker wasn't quite sure how to communicate with us on what we were supposed to do. 

I would say this was the only time that there was an immense language barrier. 

Otherwise the Mexicans were so great at answering our questions and communicating with us. 

Props to them for learning more languages than their native one. 

We were easily able to figure out what the guide was trying to say and slowly got into the water. 

Now let me tell you....that water was COLD!

The view was breathtaking, and I think they forgot about us because it lasted longer than I think it was suppose to. 

After the fish therapy we headed for the underground rivers. 

We were SO disappointed to find out that they close early!

We didn't check the time because we just figured they would be open until the park closed. 

Nope. 

We were five minutes late and didn't get to experience the underwater rivers. 

I felt so bad for Alex because I knew he would love that. 

We learned a major lesson, though, always check the time to see when things close!

The day seemed to fly by. 

I almost wish we had two days there.

There was so much to do and see!

We ended the evening with the Espectacular!

T3 Wand

I've been hearing a lot about wands for a while now. 

I typically use a curling iron and wrap my hair around it just like a wand. 

One day I saw the Whirl Trio set on sale on Gilt City.
It just happened to pop-up in my email.


via

Interestingly enough I thought I had a credit on that site from our wedding. 

Sure enough, I logged in and found I had a $100 credit. 

I could purchase a $250 T3 gift certificate for just $160. With an additional discount I got it for $35!!

The actual set itself cost $270. I had my $250 credit and there was an additional discount, so I paid $5 for it.
That's a grand total of $40 for this set that retails for $270!

The great thing is I love this tool!
I wasn't sure how much I would use it, but I've been loving the tapered barrel.
It only takes 10 seconds to wrap it around the barrel and you are good to go.
I've been trying out the different barrels, but the tapered one is my favorite so far!

Red, White and Blue Trifle

If you're looking for a quick and easy dessert for this weekend, check out my red, white and blue trifle!

Yesterday I posted this light, airy and delicious dessert that I might have gotten more comments on than any other dessert ever!

It's easy to make and doesn't even require heating up your kitchen!

Check it out here!

The Travel Institute Scholarship 

Last summer I took a leap of faith and started working in the travel industry. 

I had no idea what I was doing but jumped right into a three day boot camp and got the ball rolling. 

Now that I have a base, I'm working on gaining more knowledge. 

Each week I've been watching several webinars. 

One of the webinars last week was the chance to win a scholarship for a certification through the Travel Institute. 

I quickly got to work on my essay and ended up winning one of the scholarships!
I'm currently working on certification through Royal Caribbean; I'm about half way through.

When I'm done with that I will start on the new one through the Travel Institute. 

The whole world of travel has been so exciting!

Currently I have clients in Jamaica and Vegas and Alex and I are off on another getaway tomorrow morning!

Here's to hoping you have a relaxed and enjoyable weekend!

Gel Polish

Happy Last Monday of the School Year!

 Today I'm doing a happy dance that the last week is here. 

As much as I'm excited, it's definitely bittersweet.

Some GREAT students will leave me and transition into a new environment in the high school next year. 

As much as I love some of them, they need to spread their wings and fly. 

Over the weekend I started prepping even more for SUMMER!

One thing about me is I love to have my nails done.

I've always enjoyed polishing my nails, but it's SO expensive to have them done regularly. 

A couple of years ago I got my own little light to do gel manicures myself!

This was the perfect little gift that my aunt had planned to get me, but my mom loved it too much for me, so she stole the idea and gave it to me instead. 

The best part is it is SO tiny. 

Have you seen these lamps before?

via

They work great but are just so big and bulky.

My aunt and I shared this one for a long time until I got my new one. 

This is all the bigger that my new lamp is. 

The top opens up, and there's just enough room to slide your fingers in. 

Now my aunt is a beautician and she bought it, so I'm guessing it's something you can only buy at salon based stores because I couldn't find it online. 

I love that it's so little that I can throw it in my purse or luggage and not be missing space. 

I really have been wanting some new colors. 

Just over a week ago my mom and I went and got Mani's and Pedi's before her cruise and to celebrate Mother's Day. 

Usually when I go to a salon I will try a facial or massage because I know I can do my nails myself, but I wanted to do something that we could both do at the same time and to get her beach ready, so I opted for the nail route

Well I was a bit hesitant of the polish they used. 

Gellish is one brand of gel polish that some salons use. 

I've used it before and wouldn't say I'm a fan. 

Gellish polish is much thinner than other polishes. 

When I used it before I had to do 3-4 coats of my color polish.

I asked the nail tech that last week and she agreed that it does take more coats, but she said she liked it better. 

At the time, in the salon, with just two coats my polish seemed to have taken full coverage. 

It was a cloudy, dreary day on that day. 

Unfortunately, when the sun came out you can see through my polish. 

Now most people probably wouldn't notice this, but I do. 

In addition, I showed my aunt my polish later on and asked if she could tell and she COULD!

So, I'm not a fan of Gellish, but I tend to love CND Shellac. 

My aunt will typically let me go with her to the supply store and pick out my colors, but she is just so busy that I hate bothering her. 

I put it on my to-do list to find someplace reasonable online to buy polishes. 

These three places made my list

The Nail Superstore

Beyond Polish

Sleek Nail

At the end of my investigation I found that Beyond Polish was the cheapest, and they offered a 20% off code. 

So, if you do your own gel manicures or if you want to start, go to Beyond Polish. 

I've tried some of the gel polishes at other stores like Sally's, but they just don't wear as long as Shellac.

Here's a little peak at some of my new colors.

Yes I love pinks, corals and oranges this time of year. 

Just a slight variation of each is great for me. 

Doing your own gel manicures is so simple. 

While I do get my nails done from time to time, I really love doing them myself!

If only I had the whole color variety at home that they have at the salon!