dreamin'

dreaming this morning about waking up here...

i've started the last two mornings with prayers and coffee on the back porch and this book recommended to me by the adorable liz. i'm really enjoying it.

my mind has been dreaming of a get away.

going anywhere fun for memorial day? spill it.

tamarindo costa rica travel guide: part 3

in the last part of my costa rica travel guide series, i wanted to tell you what we did and what we saw. costa rica is so beautiful. part of it's mystery and the experience is just observing the wild life. i felt like my dear friend jodi, always on the look out. we saw some amazing birds and i was able to find a family of howler monkeys with the help of the hotel's gardener. i was waking up really early every morning, so i would just go sit by the pool and one morning i heard this crazy howling sound and was able to sign my way through getting him to take me to see the monkeys (rosetta stone anyone?). we also saw iguanas all over the place, which reminded me of our friends abbey and jamie who had one growing up. i was so jealous that they got to have one!

we only did one excursion because most of them required a min of 2.5 hour drive time each way. because we were only staying for five days, we didn't want to waste a large portion of it traveling. i really wanted to see the arenal volcano or the monteverde cloud forest. next time. we did however take an atv tour to a canopy tour, which was really awesome and way more fun than i thought it would be. anyone who knows me knows that my grandparents have four-wheelers (as we call them) and i am pretty afraid of them. i was riding one when i was little and pushed the gas instead of the break and it turned in to a two-wheeler with me on my back. sam drove and it was a dusty wild ride to an amazing zip-lining course. i was pretty deathly afraid at first but after a while soaring over the incredible forest felt kind of normal and great. ok maybe not normal, but i did it! yay.

my favorite thing we did was just discover the beaches and watch the surfers. i could sit on the sand with a cold drink and watch surfers all day long. sam and erik took a surf lesson from pedro who they met walking around the city. he was so amazing. both of the boys got up and tore up some waves. they were exhausted after. sam really cut up his foot too so i was glad we saved the surfing for the last day. i had my little blue crush moment with the board. that was enough for me!

i feel a longing in my heart to be in costa rica right now, only this time with matilda. i wanted to share everything i saw with her. there were dogs everywhere, so chill with no collars. there were playgrounds at every restaurant and big hammock swings and i could just see her loving every second as much as we did!

now, where to go next...

tamarindo costa rica travel guide: part 2

we certainly did our fair share of eating in costa rica. isn't that the best part of vacation?! we had breakfast most mornings at our hotel. breakfast was brought out by the lovely coco: granola with bananas, watermelon, mango, and pineapple. it was served with a pitcher of milk and some of the best coffee i've ever had. just a little slice of heaven.
for lunch we sort of wandered through the streets and sought out what sounded good. we loved eating on the beach, but felt like some of the prices were a bit steep. we had the most fantastic tacos at nogui's sunset cafe. to.die.for. also, we had such a great time at eat at joe's at witch's rock that we went two nights for dinner. they have great sushi and awesome nachos. richard, the owner of arco iris recommended la baula pizza bar for dinner and it was awesome! the place was packed and the pizzas were perfect and woodfired. so good. erik got the sausage hot dog pizza which was hysterical. it was literally an oscar meyer hot dog chopped over a pizza:/
our hotel has one of the best restaurants in the city: seasons by schlomy. the atmosphere was so fun on the tiny patio by the pool. there was live music and on my birthday sam had the mariachis serenade me with a love song. such a sweet memory. speaking of my birthday, for lunch sam and i had a little date and took a taxi to barcolo playa langosta. what we didn't know is that the hotel is all-inclusive. we found this out when they asked for our wrist band. lunch was a $20 buffet for visitors. we didn't want to turn right back around (we were starving) so we stayed. the food... let's just say i ate a roll, some fruit, and a scoop of really generic neopaliton icecream. we weren't discouraged though. we had several glasses of water wine and beer to make the trip worth our while. we ended up walking back to the hotel on the beach and it is one of my favorite memories from the trip!




check out more restaurant reviews here.

tamarindo costa rica travel guide: part 1

last summer we decided to take a big trip with the excuse that it was the year of our thirtieth birthdays. our neighbors christy and erik were in! erik's birthday is a couple of days after mine, so our excuse bases were covered. we knew we wanted to go to costa rica, but had no idea where to start. after doing one of my yoga videos, i googled where it was shot and came across tamarindo. we all liked the idea of staying in a surf town (who didn't want to be a surfer after watching blue crush?) so that was decided. next we searched trip advisor to find our hotel. after reading the glowing reviews of hotel arco iris and it's owner richard, we booked our rooms.

the hotel was set back from the beach, so it was a little bit of a walk, but perfect for burning off the rich food we were eating! the walk allowed us to explore the area, but was a bit dusty due to us traveling during the dry season. the weather was perfect and we were told that it hadn't rained in three months. i really liked that we were secluded in the hotel. it was the perfect place to relax. we saw so many beautiful birds and i was able to get a glimpse of a family of howler monkeys!

the rooms were made up of a collection of little bungalows, both connected and free standing. everything was very clean and the bathrooms were really nice. tamarindo is on a septic system so no flushing of the tp. that definitely took some getting used to...

we really loved arco iris (rainbow), the only downside being that our bed was a little on the hard side, but it's not like we wanted to sleep all day. i couldn't wait to wake up and soak up all that costa rica had to offer. the staff was amazing and we felt completely safe and cared for.

stay tuned for part 2- eating & shopping (aka my favorite thing to do on vacation)

back home

after a blissful few days away, we are back home. i could not wait to get my hands on this girl. i've realized that going on vacation is so important. sam and i did years and years of staycations and it's just not the same. we fell in love with the costa rican attitude. it is super contagious. i feel so relaxed and recharged. i'm putting together a travel guide that i'll share with you guys next week. for now i'm easing back in to yoga and eating well. after eating things like: "nachos as big as your a**" and drinking my fair share of pina coladas, i figured it was time to try my first cleanse. will let you know how that turns out!

have you ever done one? do tell.

have a wonderful weekend! i can't believe this burst of spring we've had in the south. buds on everything. we need to start our spring vegetables!

p.s. here is a great handout on super foods you should know about.

greetings from tamarindo

thank you so much for your birthday wishes! it meant the world to me to get such sweet messages while we were away. sam and i have been having the time of our lives celebrating with our friends in costa rica. i can't wait to tell you all about it, but for now...

PURA VIDA

beach dreaming

{images courtesy of: 1., 2., 3. via design sponge, 4., 5.}

i can't get my mind off of our upcoming trip to costa rica. that's right, i will be knocking another one off my list and celebrating my 30th birthday in a foreign land. with snow in the forecast i can't stop picturing myself strolling along the pacific coast. we are going to be staying in the coolest place in a little surf town. i might take a surfing lesson. for those that know me, you may balk at this, but listen i'm going to do it.

have a great weekend and thank you all so much for your sweet comments and notes of encouragement.

they mean so much to me!

Fancy Pants

Motherhood is the most beautiful experience I've ever had. All of the bad hair days, body issues, nights in, early mornings are completely worth it. I love Matilda more than I ever thought possible. She literally makes me gush. My friend Brittany says I have a crush on her and it's true! All of this to say that although my life is as full and blessed as its ever been, I'm craving some glamour these days.  I find myself fantasizing about romantic nights out with my husband and exotic trips. A vacation is really long overdue, and because Clark Howard mislead us about tickets to Hawaii, we're rethinking our plan and looking at Costa Rica. 
Have you been?





{united planet}



{aid abroad}



{national geographic}



{our surprising world}

I want to be wearing this during the day.





DVF Resort 2010

and this at night:



Diane Von Furstenburg

Was she inspired by Aretha?



LC

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