The fam (and my steal of a dress)

One night at the resort we made reservations for the dinner at the Italian restaurant, and got all dressed up (compared to our swimsuits & coverups that we practically lived in all week, this was dressed up!). This proved the perfect opportunity for a little family photo shoot!

[Gramps, Mom, Dad, myself & Chris]

[Chris & I in front of this gorgeous gate covered in flowers]

[My beautiful momma and myself][One more of us before we went into the restaurant for dinner]

Wanna hear the story behind my dress?

I fell in love with that dress while on a last minute search for racerback tanktops at Macy's. It's from the Jessica Simpson collection, and was originally $149.99. My excitement peaked when I noticed It was marked down to $79.99, which is still a little steep for a last minute vacation purchase but I convinced Chris to wait while I tried it on!

Just my luck, it fit perfectly and I loved it even more on. As I was taking it off I noticed a little black spot on the side of the dress, and got super excited as I caught sight of one more dot not too far away from it. Damanged goods. Score. Store discount please!

As I waited patiently for the sales lady to see if there were any others (thank goodness that was the last one in the store!), cha ching, "we can take 15% off since it's damanged but you won't be able to return it". Music to my ears.

Fine. by. me. I'm wearing that bad boy in the tropics, I have no reason to return it! We also got an extra $20 off of it for using Chris' Macy's card, meaning my $149 dress came out to roughly $45.

Signed, sealed, delivered - it's mine! And the best part... those 2 tiny spots came right out!

Cross them!

Hey lovelies,
Do me a favor and cross your fingers twice please! ChrisChris has an interview right now, and my darlin friend, Jenn, has an interview this evening so send them some luck!!

Top 2 Tuesday : Hair products

This week's Top2Tuesday topic hits close to home since my beautiful momma is a hairstylist and I practically grew up in a salon!

1. Aquage Sea Salt Spray
I use this when I want wavey beachy hair... I'll spray it on after I towel-dry my hair and then either use a diffuser on my hairdryer & scrunch, or do pin curls... either way it gives it awesome messy texture without the stiff/shiny hairspray or mousse look!
2. Aquage Silkening Oil
This stuff not only makes my hair super soft, it also cuts my drying time in half!! Just run a pump throughout your hair (I concentrate on the ends) and proceed to blow dry!

I use Aquage shampoos & conditioners a lot and love them, they all smell so good and natural!


Runners up:3. HealthySexyHair Pumpkin Spice (smells SO good, love this shampoo/conditioner in the fall!)

Come play along at Taylor's blog

4. BedHead Small Talk - Hellllllooo volume! I wish it didn't have such a grapey-sweet scent though, I am weird about my hair smelling and this makes it smell like candy!

Post your favorites and link up over at Tay's blog!

Godzirra

 (CW & myself _ Halloween '08)

I have an old friend who works for a race team, and is currently over in Japan for their most recent race. I got a chance to catch up with him briefly on Facebook chat this morning, and got a good laugh...

Me: you hate being over there don't yah? haha
CW: yes. i feel like godzirra

Why do I love it so much?!

When I tell people that I just got back from my 4th trip to Jamaica the most common response is "Wow... why do you keep going back?!"
Typically the good 'ol "I just love it" will suffice and they go on about their business, but this past trip I got to thinking about what exactly it is that keeps me making that trip back.

The most obvious is the island itself. It's absolutely gorgeous!

But then again, I also love the fact that I can shop whilst in the ocean. Really? Can you combine two more perfect things?!

I also absolutely adore their language, Patois (pah-twa). It makes me giggle how quickly they talk, and how at first it doesn't even sound like English but after a while you can start to understand words and phrases.


And of course I can't forget about the people! A majority of the Jamaican's I've had the pleasure of meeting are so sweet and just in general, happy people! These two fellas practically begged us to take their picture while we were in town one dayI have to share the (we're not even looking at the right camera) picture with our favorite bartender, O'Neil!
That's just a few reasons why I love that lil island country! And the jerk chicken. But I could write a whole post confessing my love for jerk chicken, and I'll spare you that hah!

I'll (finally!) be sharing more from our trip this week!