Island Daydreaming

This week, What the Hell Wednesday is dedicated to my poor excuse for a doctor. Last month I got sick while on vacation. Fast forward a month and a half and I am still sick. Luckily it died down fro a few weeks so I wasn't miserable the entire time, but it's back again in full force. I spend my Thanksgiving weekend in bed. Thanks, doc! It's magnified by a hundred because I have asthma. Luckily I have a breathing machine at my apartment or otherwise I'd have made about a dozen trips to the hospital.

What the hell? Why is it so hard to give a person who is clearly sick antibiotics? I finally got her to call some in yesterday. I hope it helps.

Thank you Christianna of The Girl With the Blue Bow for hosting this weekly rant. I needed to get that out today!

To help brighten my spirits, I'm reminiscing about my trip to the Dominican Republic. Last year on this day I headed to Punta Cana. This year, today, I'm at work...

Fittingly for Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday, here are some Pinterest images I found, photos I snapped, and images from the resort's site. Beautiful right?

Source: bing.com via Leeann on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Leeann on Pinterest

Source: jointhegossip.blogspot.com via Leeann on Pinterest

Source: tlc.howstuffworks.com via Leeann on Pinterest

Source: destination360.com via Leeann on Pinterest

Source: jointhegossip.blogspot.com via Leeann on Pinterest

Source: tripadvisor.com via Leeann on Pinterest

Punta Cana

I'm back, friends! My trip to the Dominican Republic provided just the downtime I needed. No more headaches!! It was pure relaxation. I guess the warm sun, turquoise water, white sand, and fruity blended cocktails will do that to you ;)

A quick recap: getting to the Dominican Republic from California is a pain! There are no direct flights so we laid over in Miami for five hours. Not many flights go down to the Caribbean island so the best travel plan we could do was leaving LAX at 10:30pm (traveling on the same plane as Patrick Dempsey), arriving in Miami at 6am, boarding a plane to Punta Cana at 11:30am, and arriving at 3:30pm. Whew, were we tired and hungry when we got to our resort. The four hour time change took a bit to get used to as well (Waking up at 8am local time was like waking up at 4am LA time.).

Unfortunately when we arrived at out hotel, they put the three of us in a two person room...looking at a fence. Not cool. The next room wasn't much better better as far as sleeping arrangements but it had an ocean view. We were all really disappointed with the resort. It's supposed to be the second best in Punta Cana but we weren't fans. Maybe it's because we had such a great stay at the Iberostar in Riviera Maya a few years back. I highly recommend that resort!

Our resort at dusk

So many palm trees!

Shops right on the sand

I think the fact that there were only like 15% Americans at the resort was hard, too. I know it's a culture thing but it's difficult to get used to ladies with no tops on...especially the really old and really large ones. You could tell we were American because our culture is WAY more modest. We wore cover ups and my dad had shorts on that went past his knees lol. I knew that the banana hammock thing was inevitable, but I even saw some dude take his tiny suit off! so.not.cool.

For the eight days and seven nights we had the same routine - we ate A LOT, drank A LOT, and hung out at the beach A LOT. I've only stayed at all-inclusive resorts and I wouldn't have it any other way. Our biggest worry all week was having to adjust our lounge chairs to point in the direction of the moving sun throughout the day.

Sunset in paradise

Warm, inviting water

So peaceful

Many of the pictures are on my dad's camera so I'll do a follow up post with more pictures, including our dune buggy excursion.

Suntanned Toes Ticklin' the Sand

Sorry I have been a bit MIA over the past week. Crazy headaches have not gone away and it turns out I have daily chronic migraines. My dad hurt his foot playing softball a few weeks ago and we thought it was going to be pretty serious (but wasn't - yay!). My great grandma passed away this past Saturday, but she was 103 and led a wonderful life! All of these unfortunate events have seemed to be obstacles in our family trip to the Dominican Republic.

We were about two seconds from cancelling, thinking maybe there's a reason everything is going wrong. But then we turned it around. These crazy things happening are the perfect reason to go on vacation. We need to get away. We need to sit on a tropical beach. We need alcohol...and lots of it STAT!

So this is where I will be spending the next 8 days, at this resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic!

And in true Morrissey fashion, aka our Irish drinking inclination, we are going to live it up at an all-inclusive resort where the alcohol flows. My tropical drink of choice? Miami Vice. It's a mix of a pina coloda and strawberry daiquiri.

so.damn.good.

This vacation I need to step it up. A few years back when we went to Riviera Maya, my parents were the wasted ones and I was sober. My nickname that trip became "prude". This time I am letting lose! Although, I'm already mortified to think about how hilarious my mom thinks it is to order her fav beach drink called sex in a hammock... I'm sure the last resort made it up just to laugh at her order it haha!


Have a great few weeks. I'll catch up with you all when I return!





Photos courtesy of: Viajar and Forever

Dominican Republic!

This weekend I learned that I am going to the Dominican Republic on a family vacation in December. Woo hoo!

Numerous people have explained that the beaches there are extremely beautiful. Many claim the most gorgeous in the world. When I went to Tulum in the Riviera Maya (you should totally check out that link to see my amazing trip a few years back) I was blown away by the color of the water. I cannot wait to see how this area of the Caribbean compares.

The trip will be all-inclusive and you best believe I am going to get my fill of food and alcohol. I am craving a Miami Vice already! The cool part about where we are staying at is that there are several hotels within the resort. We selected the highest hotel which means we can visit

any of the other hotels to check out the pools and eat at the restaurants.

I am super giddy with excitement. Here are pictures of the paradise that they call Punta Cana, all of which are from the resort.

Photos courtesy of: RIU