The very first thing we did when we arrived in Iceland was pick up our camper van from Solstice.  I had been exchanging emails with them for weeks leading up to our trip and they gave me such peace of mind, especially since every time I travel to a new country, anxiety inevitably creeps in.  Steinar and his family company put us at ease and before I knew it, I was so acclimated to van life that I feel like I would seriously consider it were I not already living on a tiny tropical island.

We spent the first night by Seljalandsfoss where you can walk behind the waterfall.  Right next door was one of my favorite waterfalls of the trip, Gljúfrabúi.

It’s often overlooked for the more popular Seljalandsfoss and you must walk into a cave in ankle deep water but once you’re in, you’re transported to an otherworldly space.

Nearby is Seljavallalaug but we heard from several travelers that in recent time, tourists had trashed the place which makes me so so so sad to hear.  We also heard that this had become the case for Hrunalaug, both of which were on my original list.  In some of the most beautiful places in Iceland, I noticed cigarette butts and crushed beer cans alongside signs asking visitors to not litter or defecate.  I also saw people walking all over their delicate moss.  We picked up trash as we went along (it’s our collective pact to take at least 3 pieces of trash from our beach home anytime we visit as well) and we did our best to leave a site as we found it.  If we all do this, Iceland can remain the wild wonderland that it is.  I was in complete awe of its epic landscape and it is my sincere hope that it can remain unspoiled and pristine.  Seriously, we were drinking ancient glacial waters to our hearts content from the abundant fresh water sources and there were places where we were the only ones around and it made me understand the magic of Iceland.  We can keep it that way.

The next morning, we drove to Reynisfjara.  Side note: about a week after our trip, I discovered a long forgotten folder entitled “bucket list” and in it was a picture of this very beach.  It seriously gave me chills.  This was an unexpected spot that we both loved and probably spent way too much time at.  We wandered around barefoot on its black sand beach, standing in complete amazement of its powerful waves (and I mean powerful as it has pulled many out to sea, never be seen again), and its striking basalt sea stacks.

If you come at the right season, it’s also a great place to see puffins.  We conversed with some locals who pointed out the sheep grazing on the sharp cliffs and how often, young ones will take a perilous misstep.  It’s yet another reminder of just how beautiful yet wild Iceland is.  There are many isolated parts of the country (particularly the highlands and westfjords) that are completely secluded where things like guardrails just don’t exist.  There were some moments where we wiggled through the westfjords on unpaved roads with a plummeting drop off canyons and cliffs that just took my breath away.

The drive from Hella to Vik in Southern Iceland was very picturesque as you can see in the video.  At the end of our 7 days, we had driven the entire countryside plus the peninsula and westfjords.  Just walking, we put in 44 miles.  Needless to say, it was a lot of driving (completely different from our last vacation where we spent our time in a safari jeep with a guide) but J was such a trooper and he was constantly marveling at the ever shifting and beautiful landscape.

Next on the agenda was Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach.  

Diamond beach was just spectacular.  Its sands were finer than that at Reynisfjara and its jet black color was just brilliant set against the glittering glacial diamonds.  J happily munched on ice chunks while I oohed and aahed at the surreal nature of Iceland.  It was here where we saw our first seals (the second time where we were able to get really close to an entire pod was documented on my facebook).

We spent that night in Höfn then made our way towards Iceland’s second largest urban area, Akureyri but not before making a stop at Goðafoss, the “Waterfall of the Gods” and Grjótagjá, Jon Snow’s love cave.

The cave next door to Grjótagjá is locked up unfortunately as it was also being trashed

Before heading west, we made our way to our first hot pot, Fosslaug (more on all the hot pots and springs we visited on my 3 Free Places Better Than The Blue Lagoon post)

Situated next to a waterfall, we spent the morning here before driving to the westfjords to J’s favorite waterfall, Dynjandi.

The next day was my birthday so J picked out a jaw dropping spot to camp and we woke up to another epic view and headed towards Hellulaug to spend the day luxuriating in natures bounty.

Water was such an essential component to our trip.  It surrounded us there as it does here on our little rock and the pure quality of it allowed us to not only drink our fill, it supported life all around and allowed us to submerge ourselves in naturally formed hot springs and bask in the greatness of waterfalls galore.

If you’re feeling a magnetic pull to Iceland like we did but don’t have a lot of time, I would recommend the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.  (Check out my Iceland Money Saving and Travel Tips Post).  It was here that me and my husband took some time to really slow down and tuck into a special secret spot to meditate and take it all in.

They call this peninsula “Iceland in Miniature” because it contains all of Iceland’s main features in one compact location like a glacier that’s also a volcano (Snæfellsjökull), lava fields, waterfalls, Kirkjufell mountain and Kirkjufellsfoss (the most photographed mountain/waterfall combo), viking relics, and black and white sand beaches.

On our last 2 days, J came back on a high from diving Silfra (a site that reveals an underwater world between two continents) and brought back water that had been filtered through volcanic rock for 65 years.  We also discovered ravines, trekked up lava fields, stumbled upon a sunbathing pod of seals, visited Gulfoss, then walked the streets of Reykjavik.  As our last and final stop, we hiked uphill for about an hour to arrive to the hot springs of Reykjadalur (see my hot springs post).

In one word, Iceland was magic and I truly hope we can all work together to keep not only Iceland, but all parts of our planet beautiful.

Pin for later

1. Save time and purchase your visas online.  When we arrived, the line was pretty long for this but we were able to forge ahead with our pre-printed hard copies.  I also made sure to make back up copies, both physical and electronic.

2. Since we never left Kenya, we weren’t required to take any vaccinations for malaria, yellow fever/etc.  We spoke to a couple that were leaving for the coast and they had been required to.

3. There is a plastic bag ban which I was very happy to see.

4. However, there were bottled waters everywhere.  Even nice establishments do not recommend drinking the tap water.

5. We made our trip in the middle of May and it would dip down to the 50’s each night.  I found it to be chilly in the mornings and evenings with just a few hours in the middle that were actually warm.  I wore my coverup pretty much the entire time and each lodge we stayed at was nice enough to build a communal fire each night.

6. The people are so friendly and so considerate of each other.  Thailand and Africa will forever cement itself in my mind as having some of the nicest people around.  Greetings are important: “Jambo!”

7. There aren’t a ton of public restrooms and even then, a lot of those don’t have toilet paper and even more aren’t traditional toilets.  I pretty much traveled with wet wipes and a package of tissues the entire time.

8. Kenya is a strange and dazzling blend of modern and traditional.  I found it to be strikingly beautiful to see traditional Masai garb against suits and ties.

9. It’s crazy vast and wonderful.  Kenya is the Africa you think of when you envision it.  It’s like it’s straight out of the movies.

10. Don’t dress scantily.  I actually ended up using the cover up I’d purchased in Thailand for my temple visits and can’t tell you how invaluable it was in both instances.  A cushion for J during the long and rough rides as well as a hat and sunblock were also very useful.

Spending time with orphans in Africa has been something I’ve wanted to do since I was 10 years old.  Every month, I would collect my allowance and send over my single bills in an envelope to sponsor a child. I told myself that when I was big, I would try and make a bigger difference. Recently, we spent time at a children’s home in Kenya and meeting with not only the 35 children there but the two young ladies that have dedicated themselves to enriching and uplifting the lives of these little ones was one of the most difficult, yet rewarding experiences of my life.

We were going to Kenya for my husband’s birthday safari and also at the top of my list was to finally go to a Children’s Home there.  The first one we went to, the children were still at school so we dropped off our gifts and drove an hour to the next one where we spent time with the beautiful children of Olochike Happichild Children’s Home in Narok.  I put together a video of our time there and haven’t stopped crying since.  I half expected the children to be morose and withdrawn but to my complete and utter surprise, what I was met with were smiling faces that were very curious about us and were eager to share.  They seemed almost clueless about their surroundings and when we arrived, were playing outside just as any other child would.  When the ladies called for them, they ran up excitedly and smiled at us.  As they lined up to show us their “house,” the bigger ones helped the smaller ones and helped translate for the ladies who spoke little to no english.  Despite this, their love for these children was so apparent.

These were some of the brightest and well behaved children I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.  There were some with no shoes, many wearing ill fitting hand-me-downs that had obviously been stitched a number of times and no real toys to speak of with a severe lack of beds in their “house,” having resorted to stacking thin, overused pads on top of each other or just hammocks, in many cases.  However, their shining eyes and brilliant smiles are something I’ll never ever forget.  Earlier in the week, we had purchased ebony wood carvings as a Father’s Day gift but the rest of our spending money was donated to the children’s home though I don’t feel it’s even a drop in the bucket so I’m asking for help.

When we asked these children what they needed, it was unanimous in that they needed beds, most of all.  Following that, it was cement, clothes, food, jackets, shoes, and diapers.  As we were leaving, a few children came up to me and also told me shelter.  Can you imagine?  My heart hurts so much.  I wish all the children of the world could feel safe and loved.  Can you envision a world where all of our little children are made to feel this way and in turn, making for a better and brighter future?

I’ve been told many times that I worry too much about matters such as this.  Being an empath has been too large a burden to bear at times but recently, I decided that it makes me who I am and I can consciously choose for it to make me a better, stronger person who is more aware or I can continue to allow it to bring me down which does no good for anyone or anything.  I want to do the best I can and help in whatever ways I can.  I’m asking for donations to be sent directly to this children’s home or if you’d rather, you can send them to me and I’ll send them with mine.

Their requests: beds {if you have any ideas on how to best facilitate this as it’s a larger item, please let me know!}, cement, clothes/jackets, food, shoes and diapers.  As you can see, none of these children even asked for dolls, games, toys, etc.  It would be wonderful to send these along as well.

Their mailing address: “Margaret Sialo Olochike Happicihld Children’s Home”
PO BOX 865-20500 Narok-Kenya

My mailing address: Angela Hair PO Box 3845 Kingshill, VI 00851

Thank you for anything you can donate.  Anything is everything for these children and I greatly appreciate it too.

Kenya, here we come!

With the flurry of back to back category 5 hurricanes, we were displaced for awhile and things were hectic to say the least.  We most definitely weren’t in any place mentally to plan our yearly anniversary trip and so we put it off until things settled.  This year, we’re celebrating my husband’s birthday in a big way with an African safari.  I can’t wait to share the experience with you upon my return but until then, we’re in full planning mode and here is what I’m pulling together as my must-have travel bag.

This LifeStraw Filter Bottle came highly recommended to me by some of my favorite nomadic friends and after finding myself too frequently thirsty on my Costa Rica trip, this one is definitely taking priority.

I’ve talked about this one before but this satin lined hat not only protects my hair, it offers a bit of shade too.  I’ll also be protecting my eyes with glasses and my skin with this sunscreen.

The caribbean sun is intense so I can only imagine what it’ll be like in Africa so I’ll be slathering on copious amounts of my homemade sunscreen.  I’ve saved so much money since I started making my own several years ago and I also love it for its simple, skin loving ingredients and reef safe, non-nano formula.

I’m not one to straggle on what outfits to pack with me.  With that said, I really struggled with which essential oils to pick from.  As you know, I use them for all of my DIYS to natural remedies.  After some thought, I naturally settled on Thieves EO for its multi-purpose capacity.

This last one was a priority for my husband.  He hiked Yellowstone last year and really regretted not having a pair of quality binoculars.  Since I don’t know much about them, I reached out directly to our safari guides and friends who have gone on safari before.  The consensus was that these were a solid pair with great clarity and durability/usability.

I’m also packing a warm jacket {desert nights can apparently get very chilly}, important documents, my camera/phone, activated charcoal/pain meds, homemade trail mix, clothes/extra socks/underwear, comfy shoes and toiletries.  That’s pretty much it.  No matter where the destination, our goal is always to pack a single personal bag and an empty one to carry back souvenirs.

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Chiang Mai was actually our second stop in Thailand but J and I both agree that it was our favorite.  Our first stop was in Bangkok but there was something quite magical about Chiang Mai.  It was actually more developed than either of us were expecting, equipped with as many conveniences that Bangkok had to offer but in a more serene, calm environment.

A comically accurate snapshot of Thailand with motor bikes parked in front of the ubiquitous 711 and tarot card reader on the left with homemade goods for sale on the right.

One of the aspects about Thai culture I found particularly intriguing was the preservation of the old alongside all of the shiny new.

Left: a lady hand making rich curry pastes.  Right: a girl hand weaving brilliant scarves.

What captured my heart and attention were the people.  Never have I been to a big city where such kindness prevailed.  It’s called the land of smiles for a reason.

For about 20 baht, I was able to enjoy an abundance of fresh local fruit between each and every meal.  You guys know how much of a fruit freak I am so this was a really big deal for me.  I love how different their mango is from ours in St. Croix and tried rose apple for the first time.  Juicy mini pineapples, beautiful longans and sugary sweet papaya {one of my faves} and even deliciously stinky durian were also daily noms.  However, the highlight of my fruitventure {sure, it’s a word} were these incredibly candy fragrant mangosteen.

Twist off its hat and what’s revealed are segmented lychee lookalike fruit {as seen in my video}.  I highly recommend them if they’re in season.

Little girl in traditional garb on the steps of Doi Suthep.

At the top of Doi Suthep.

J ate here at a commensurate rate to my fruit consumption.  The famed Khao Kha Moo Chang Phueak lives up to its reputation for buttery, melt in your mouth pork which comes on a bed of rice with a side of pickled greens and boiled egg.  As a bonus, it was walking distance from our condo.

This would be a good a time as any to let you know that we pretty much exclusively lived on street food while we were there and did not get sick or die.  I highly recommend trying foods you haven’t had before and enjoying the authentic soul of these often humble yet extraordinary dishes.

Unbeknownst to us, our living quarters were situated right next to a Buddhist temple and we often enjoyed meals alfresco on the patio, listening to the bells ring {which was lovely except for the early morning dongs}.  Clockwise: J’s umpteenth helping of Khao Kha Moo Chang Phueak’s pork and rice, panko fried chicken soaked in house-made chili sauce and green papaya salad.

These khao soi noodles have become almost synonymous with the cuisine of Northern Thailand and not only did the ones at Khao Soi Khun Yai come highly recommended, it was also another spot that was walking distance for us.  These buttery egg noodles are complimented by the creamy spiced coconut broth and nicely contrast with the crunchy noodles on top.  They’re served with pickled greens, lime and red onion.  J enjoyed these a lot which is saying something since he’s not typically a fan of either soup or noodles.

We attended a Muay Thai match, per J’s request and what I figured would be me witnessing a senseless bludgeoning or simultaneously rolling my eyes and stifling consecutive yawns actually turned out to be an interesting night.  I watched with fascination as each boxer prayed before their turn and how artfully each “dance” played out.  It actually wasn’t senseless.  Later after speaking to a trainer, I discovered that much of Muay Thai is also about mental discipline alongside its physical aspect.

The gorgeous waterfalls at Mae Sa.  We hiked up to all 10 waterfalls which took us about an hour each way, though it probably won’t take you as long since I bet you’re not as clumsy as I am.

We were able to spend an entire day with rescued elephants.  No riding the elephants or watching them entertain or do tricks, just feeding and washing them, just as it should be.

I highly recommend the Elephant Nature Park.  Left: feeding the baby elephant bananas {corn and sugar cane were also on the menu}.  Right: nursing baby.

The World Food Championships were held in Orange Beach, Alabama this year and it was wedged between my visits to New Orleans.  As it was only a 3 hour drive, it was too tempting not to take advantage and turn 2 trips into 1.  You can read all about my New Orleans adventures here.

We arrived to the Turquoise Place early Sunday evening, already from a NOLA high.  Somehow, the majesty of our suite still managed to rival this.  Our suite actually had a hot tub on the balcony overlooking the ocean and every morning, we woke up to this:

and were treated to a $1200 coffee called cup of luxury.

In conjunction with Hormel’s new “bro torch,” J had the opportunity to try it out for himself.

The next day, we traveled from Orange Beach to Bayou La Batre to learn all about oysters at Murder Point where oysters are literally to die for.  The story goes that 2 families feuded over the rights to the land and a man was murdered over it right on his very own front porch.  The prize are these incredibly plump, almost creamy, sweet and briny morsels that actually have a buttery taste to them, hence their hashtag, #butterlove

From water to plate to my belly, the theme continued with more fresh seafood in a low country boil, graciously put on by the folks at Graham Shrimp Co.

On the menu were marinated crab claws, shrimp cocktail, fried shrimp, raw oysters, conecuh sausage, seafood gumbo, potato salad, buttered corn and potatoes.  Oh, and sweet tea and banana puddin’.  Oh how I missed the south!

Supper followed suit with touring the actual fishing boat our red snapper was caught on.

Of course the day wouldn’t have been complete without the obligatory holiday happy hour!

The last day was dedicated to the actual judging.  As part of getting E.A.T certified {Execution, Appearance and Taste}, we were guided by a professional chef in all its criteria and even had the opportunity to have a test run on Chef Drew Jackman’s burgers.

On burger rotation were black and blue burgers and Italian burgers.

These are just a few selections from the structured desserts round that I got to taste and judge.  These pretty little things are from the first round of orange crepes.

Needless to say, between the two trips, I was perpetually stuffed.  My friends and family always joke that even while I’m enjoying my current meal, I’m already day dreaming about my next one.  I can’t say I had a moment to do so as I was luxuriating in all the edible wealth of what both New Orleans and Alabama had to offer.

New Orleans was somewhere that J had been to and I had been to but never together.  As culinary travelers, it’s always been a food destination for us but in the past years, between traveling through Europe and the Caribbean, domestic travel just kept falling lower on our list.  When we were given the opportunity to judge the World Food Championships last week, we took it as a sign and booked travel dates to explore New Orleans before and after our stay in Orange Beach, Alabama where the competition was being held.

We arrived to New Orleans around 10 pm on a Saturday.  After we checked into our hotel and unpacked, I wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of battling the Saturday night party-goers but my rumbling belly had other plans.  We weren’t set to pick up our rental car until the next morning so on foot, we sought the comfort of a hot bowl of beans and rice.  Somehow, we found ourselves on bourbon street.  A few folks recommended Bourbon House for its crab fingers but as it wasn’t open, an ancient door man who exclaimed he’d lived in New Orleans all his life coaxed us to go to Oceana which by its close proximity alone was certain to provide some respite.

It was about midnight before I was tucking into a combo plate of étouffée, jambalaya and my coveted beans and rice.  Being entranced by all the buskers and flashing lights will do that.

Living in St. Croix has really thrown a monkey wrench into sleeping in.  It gets so bright so early at home that despite my best vacation-mode efforts, I found myself waking up super early.  J often gets up even earlier…and goes on a 4 mile hike which makes me sweat just thinking about it but I digress.  We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed as the previous nights warm amalgamation of spices and heat seriously gave me life.  Oh, and that lofty crusty bread that accompanies every meal to sop of every drop of your sauce?  Excuse me while I salivate just thinking about it.  The first morning was dedicated to seeking out the famous Cafe Du Monde, which if I’m being honest was not write sonnets-slap-yo-mamma-scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs amazing.  It’s pretty straightforward.  Fried dough with mounds of powdered sugar.  However, I did quite enjoy the chicory laced coffee.

The next morning we went to Cafe Beignet after reading reviews about their much shorter wait time and larger beignets.  I’ll say that though the line at Cafe Du Monde looked insane, we weren’t in it for longer than 10 minutes.  What Cafe Beignet has it going for it is that we literally walked right in and received our order within that same time frame.  As for their beignets, they are a bit larger and I found them to be fluffier.

Dotted between restaurants were some local breweries and spots for famous libations.

The Pimm’s Cup at Napoleon House was light and refreshing and the establishment itself was so charming that I felt a twinge of regret for filling my belly with so many beignets as I watched order upon order of muffulettas come out.  Next time.

We also visited Hotel Monteleone, for sazeracs, which has a carousel bar, the Nola Brewing Tap Room, the Courtyard Brewery, which features a rotating food truck list and Lafittes Blacksmith Shop which is said to be the oldest bar in the U.S.

Naturally, I was drawn to New Orleans for the food but I was pleasantly delighted with just how much genuine talent there was on the streets.

The Rossi Gang who played their heart out as I sat on the curb enjoying my 5th bag of pralines.

We went to the Bourbon House for those crab fingers everyone kept telling me about and boy am I glad I did.  My regrets in life?  Not ordering more and not soaking up every last bit of sauce with every last crumb of bread.

For supper, we had enjoyed the oyster happy hour at Pascale Manale which was great.  Their famed BBQ shrimp however, was not.  I don’t know if we just went on a bad day but I found both shrimp and sauce to be flat, under-seasoned and greasy.

We spent several nights just wandering the streets and absorbing the spirit of the city.  I’ve seriously been contemplating spending half the year in New Orleans and the other half in St. Croix.  That’s saying a lot considering how much I adore our little rock with its inconveniences and all.

Out of pure convenience, we popped into Drago’s for their charbroiled oysters.  They’re said to have been invented there and they did not disappoint.

Smoky, sweet and salty, these succulent little bites were tasty and satisfying.  I urge you to try oysters in every different way if you don’t think you’re a fan.  It’s incredible how unique each take on oyster preparation transforms them from one way to another.  My love of oysters has been further solidified as we spent a large portion of our trip in Orange Beach learning all about cultivating oysters.  More on that in a couple blog posts.

There was so much more left on my list that we didn’t get to do as our judging obligations had to prioritized.  Fancy multi-course lunches, $.25 cent martinis, po-boys, crawfish boils {wasn’t the right season anyways} and alligator to name a few.  I suppose that just means that I have to return sooner rather than later.  I’m ok with that.

February 15th 2016 was by far, the best day of my life.  It was not only our 3 year anniversary, it was our wedding day.  We got to spend it with our 10 nearest and dearest in a special place we love, the Caribbean.  I am still so humbled and honored by all the love I am surrounded by.  I truly could not have asked for a better day.

However, leading up to the wedding was a different story.  I was stressed out, to say the least.  I’d heard from tons of fellow brides how fun it was to wedding plan and I can’t disagree more which is funny since I love to party plan for other people.  I knew right away that I didn’t want the focus of my wedding to be about “things” and that I wanted everything to flow organically and be mostly, if not completely DIY.  My own vision for the wedding was super intimate with just a handful of our nearest and dearest basking in the sun and playing by the water.  I did not want it to be pomp and circumstance and figure I probably didn’t all the components of my wedding “right” but it was certainly my version of a tropical paradise.

I made all of our wedding favors and we kept the decorations simple with fresh flowers from the backyard and candles everywhere.  I was and am still so charmed with the idea of the flowers that became my bouquet, all the boutonnieres and the ones we scattered everywhere coming from right outside in the backyard.  They even ended up matching my hanbok!  A plain cake from a local bakery served as our wedding cake with a tiny polymer cake topper of a Korean bride and groom in hanbok too.  For music, we shuffled a playlist of our favorite songs.  I also did my own hair and makeup and sewed my own fingertip veil to match the vintage dress I got from Etsy.  I also opted to go shoe-less which was hilarious to say out loud to the horrified ladies at the first and only wedding boutique we visited.  I’m just glad I stuck to my guns.  I shudder at the thought of what would’ve happened with heels dragging in 2 inches of rain water {more on that below}.

The fact that we even had a ceremony at all was a departure from our first plan since we had initially set our sights on a courthouse wedding for something short and sweet with the money to funnel into a really long honeymoon instead.  Our family’s convinced us otherwise and this was when I began feeling a ton of pressure.  It seemed that everyone had an opinion about everything and I didn’t want to hurt anyones feelings.

It didn’t help that 2 weeks prior to my wedding, the Zika virus made big news {we held our destination wedding in the Dominican Republic} and my wedding dress was out of stock for the foreseeable future.  Needless to say I was panicking, but somehow a calm washed over me a few days before we were set to depart.  I even made a joke that the best thing that could’ve happened was never receiving my first dress pick as the one I did end up getting was one I liked even better.  The guest list included 10 people and we spent most of our days lounging around the pool or at the beach drinking and laughing, just as I’d wanted.  The day before the wedding we even saw a huge rainbow, a wonderful omen my father said {you can even see that actual rainbow in the video}. The weather forecast had been calling for rain all week which had me getting worried again.  My mother took my hands into hers and told me not to fret.  She had a great feeling that when the moment was right, the sun would shine for all of us.

There were just so many amazing and sometimes chilling omens leading up to and on the actual wedding day.  The day before our wedding, we were running a few last minute errands and we ran into a local fish monger who had just come in with baskets of fresh lobster.  J’s father is no longer with us.  Lobster was his absolute favorite.  Later that evening, we sat down to supper and the first song that played was his favorite Bob Dylan song.  That same evening, his favorite whiskey {a particularly rare find} was available at the bar.  On our wedding night, we had a bat fly into the house.  It was the same one that had lingered by our pool snapping up insects by the water.  Bats symbolize death then rebirth.  Similarly, we had a dragonfly that kept landing on J’s mother.  It happened on more than one occasion and they are said to be the symbol of change.  They’re also the keepers of dreams and indicate an understanding of a deeper meaning of life.

On my wedding day, I lounged around in my jammies eating the most delicious pineapple and papaya from our hostess, hanging out with my family and reading cards that everyone had sent up to me.  I didn’t even put too much thought into the tropical rainstorm outside the window.  The rest of my family popped in from time to time to check up on me and asked if I was nervous and strangely, I felt eerily calm and collected.  It wasn’t until right before I was walking down the aisle that I felt my stomach lurch.  I couldn’t believe the day was here and before I knew it, the rain completely stopped and I was clutching my father’s arm.  I held on fast to him and we waded {seriously} through the water that had collected in the aisle but as I walked closer to J, I knew everything was going to be alright.  I tend to get distracted very easily but I couldn’t see anyone else’s face but his and barely heard our friend, the officiant speaking.

The most special part of our ceremony were our vows we’d written to our parents.  As calm as I was, I didn’t think I would cry but lo and behold, a sentence into reading my vows to my mother-in-law, fat tears rolled down my cheeks.  When it came time to read my vows to J, I was just a big ole ball of tears.  I couldn’t believe that I’d been so blessed to share this special day with my absolute favorite people in the entire universe and that I was marrying my love.  Instead of bubbles or flowers, we ended the ceremony with a great big group hug.  I saw it as a symbol for our wedding, a union of all the souls there together forever.  I know that sounds corny but my wedding day was special to me for so many reasons beyond the obvious.

From the moment we stepped foot off the plane, the love was tangible, palpable…clear and strong.  When reservations for our wedding rehearsal fell through {I had totally forgotten that it was Valentine’s day for the rest of the world} the group pitched in to create a wonderful impromptu home cooked meal for all of us.  I was brought to tears several times throughout the trip for all the love that I felt.  I won’t ever forget that feeling.  The love emanating from every single person there to not only us but to each other was a delicious high that I’m savoring even now.

We even lucked out with the sweetest photographers, @asiapimentelphotography Asia and Niko were so lovely to work with and Asia even took time to mend my bouquet and helped with decorations!  After the ceremony, they led us to a private beach to shoot our family portraits and capture our newlywed shots.

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have had my father walk me down the aisle {who also played his harmonica to songs he wrote himself during our reception},

but also to have a wonderful mother who’s always been with me every step of the way, two amazing “baby” brothers to laugh with – one who sang and played his guitar for our first dance to “Wild Horses” by The Rolling Stones {another one of J’s father’s favorites} and another who captured every last moment of our wedding week on camera, with the sweetest new sister and mother a girl could ask for and a steadfast man who is strong and true.

I thank God for loving me so well and allowing me to have the best wedding day I couldn’t have even dreamed up.  I’ve never felt so much love rushing in all at once.  I feel so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by the love of my family and adding to it with the love of more amazing people.  I will never forget the many hands that made our wedding possible and have exponentially grown my love back a million fold for all those special folks in my life.

Thank you for being part of my journey.  Next stop on our adventure?  Moving to St. Croix!

You can find more pictures on my instagram

SaveSave

SaveSave