Puerto Rico 2015

Almost a month and a half ago I was soaking up the Puerto Rican sunshine in San Juan. This is an annual trip that my parents take with their friends and this was my first time back since 2010. It was even more special because this was the first year (of hopefully many) that I was able to share this experience with my boyfriend, Carson.

We stayed in the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa and it was absolutely wonderful. Just as amazing as I remembered it and it was such a good feeling to be back - the staff are wonderful and so is the entire resort.



Of course the first thing we did was change into some non-winter clothes and headed to the beach!

We then ended up taking a nap before dinner because travel is hard! After re-fuling we had some pre-dinner drinks at one of the resort bars and had dinner at a wonderful Asian restaurant located in the resort.



Sushi is our favorite so it was a perfect dinner! The following day was full of relaxing by the ocean and the pool, reading, swimming, eating, and drinking. And the evening included a wonderful dinner at the Italian restaurant at the Resort and more good times with everyone.

The following day was full of (surprise!) beach and pool time! I actually ended up finishing two books and starting a third one on this trip which felt really great since I have a harder time finding time to read now.

The following day we rented a car and went to the El Yunque National Forest which is the only tropical rain forest in the U.S National Forest system which is super cool. It only took a short drive to get there and we spent about half of our time hiking and half of our time driving up the mountain that it is located on.





And two of the best things: waterfalls and rain forest cats!

 

When we rented the car the lady who take care of it all suggested that since we had to rent the car for 24 hours that we go into Old San Juan since we told her we were going to be boring and just stay in that night. So we thought about it, got a list of restaurants from the concierge that she recommended and tried to decide if we should go. It so happens that Carson worked with a guy who was actually from Puerto Rico and had suggested all of these different "must-dos" for us - it so happened that going to a restaurant called Marmalade was on the list and it was also on the list the concierge gave us. When we realized this we immediately called and made reservations for 8:30 - the only time they had available and off we went leaving our friends and family to watch the Super Bowl because we couldn't care less about football to be honest.



Oh my goodness. This was the best food either of us has ever had in our entire lives. And not pictured is this white bean soup that our friend told us we had to get - and he was absolutely right, it was heavenly. The service was also amazing and we met some other couples there who were actually from the states too which was nice.



We left the following day but not before having a delicious last breakfast and taking one last walk on the beach and gathering sand for our collection at home. I can't wait to go back and experience Puerto Rico again. 

What are some of the places you want to visit next?

Weekending

I can't believe this was already the first weekend of March. Where did the time go?! Especially thanks to that pesky daylight saving time... But, I had a wonderful, mostly relaxing weekend trying to get myself all sorted out and ready for a new job.



The weekend really started on Friday evening this time for me because I got off work at 5:30 (yay!) and I had accidentally purchased tickets to see comedian Demetri Martin in DC earlier that day for what I thought was May 6th. When I actually was done buying them I realized that it said March 6th. Que panic attack. But everything worked out really well - my boyfriend and I drove down to College Park, hopped on the metro and were in the theater in about an hour and a half just in time for the opener to finish up. We loved the show and even got an upgrade to our seats so we were sitting on the main floor. We ended up getting sushi at one of our favorite places in CP and reminisced about my college days there.



Saturday was a bittersweet day because we attended the funeral of one of my best friend's grandmother's. The service was small and very nice and while I had only met her grandmother once or twice I could clearly see that she was a wonderful woman who loved God and helped everyone around her. I am also glad that I was able to be there during for my friend and her mom during this time.

On a whim we decided that evening to use these "date night" giftcards that my aunt had given us for Christmas that included dinner and a movie. Sadly, the gift card was to Applebee's and there was a 45 minute wait when we got there so we ended up settling for Taco Bell and saw the Kingsman. We absolutely loved that movie - it was hilarious, surprising and action packed. I would highly recommend that everyone see this movie although it's really not appropriate for children.

Sunday (the dreaded daylight savings day!) found us asleep when we should have been at church. Thankfully our church posts podcasts and we are currently going through The Story so we are able to catch up on our own. We visited our friend Mary and relaxed at home while getting some much needed cleaning done after the house kind of exploded due to Carson's surgery. The day and weekend ended with a business meeting, friends, Say Yes to The Dress Atlanta and cookies.

I'm pretty pleased with my weekend, how about you?

I'm linking up with B Loved Boston and Champagne and Suburbs for Weekending!

Hi There!

I'm Svetlana and new to the blogging world. I decided that this would be a good place to share my thoughts, experiences and a chance to meet new people. I am currently 23 years old and call Baltimore my home, for now at least. I am in a relationship with a wonderful man and consider myself to be very lucky. I graduated in May of 2014 with a Sociology degree (I can't believe it's almost been an entire year!) and while I would love to do something with my degree it's not in the stars for me right now. I am currently transitioning from working full time at IKEA to a full time job writing code for a new website company. I love to travel and see new places and to read so I'll probably be writing about what I've read, what I'm doing and maybe some other things if I find link-ups along the way. I can't wait to meet you!

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