My 1st Carribean Cruise!

Hello all!

Carnival Vista Ship at the Port of Miami

View of Miami from the ship

I just came back from my first Caribbean cruise this past Sunday and I had a really good time. Fourteen of us from my family went on a 8 day Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Vista line. We flew into Miami boarded there. We had two sea days which was pretty fun. From 8 in the morning til 2am the next morning, there were activities for everyone all ages. There was a camp for kids during the day, dancing on the main deck in some afternoons to movies at night time. The food on the boat really good. Everything to burgers and fries, Mexican food, Seafood, Italian food, Asian food and a whole slew of dessert options.

Margaritaville in Grand Turk

Our first stop was Grand Turk. The port was right on the beach which was absolutely perfect. Walked
straight off the ship to the beach. Here, me and my family enjoyed some drinks from Margaritaville and cruised up and down the beach. I got a chance to go horse back riding on the beach and in the water which was so much fun. Talked to the natives of the island who were all so kind and got to learn a little bit about the island. In all, we spent 7 hours in Grand Turk before we boarded the ship to the next island which was La Romana, Dominican Republic.

View of the ship from the beach in Grand Turk

View of Grand Turk from the ship

The Dominican Republic was fun. We took a $5 round trip bus ride downtown to where all the

La Romana, Dominican Republic

vendors selling art, food and other souvenirs were being sold. Here, the natives were extremely nice, especially when I told them that I was from Boston, the same place where David Ortiz aka "Big Papi" played and retired from the Red Sox. I heard that the beaches here are really nice, but it was about a hour away by taxi both ways, and I didn't want to take the chance going and get back to the ship too late or worse, miss the ship.  I bought some beautiful souvenirs and drank some Presidente beer which was oh so satisfying.

Dancers downtown in D.R.

Curacao was the next island we docked. I absolutely loved the bright colors of the buildings and homes on this island. I walked about 15 minutes into town to take a ferry across the way to get downtown. Downtown is where all the different restaurants, shops and vendors were located. Here I learned to speak a few phrases in their native language which is papiamentu that has elements of Dutch, English French, Spanish and Portuguese. Bon Bini, means welcome! :-)

Rif Fort in Curacao

View from Ayo Rock Formation

Aruba, our very last stop on our cruise was really nice. We went on a three hour tour of the island. Our first stop was the Ayo Rock Formation where we got to climb to the top and got to see a beautiful view of the island. Our second stop was the Aruba Aloe Balm museum they have. There we took a tour of the factory and got to see how aloe is harvested and used to make different products such a soaps, lotions, shampoos and other products.
The museum smelled absolutely wonderful. The tour ended with us going to the gist shop where I purchased some Kiwi soap which I loved a first smell! LOL. Next, we rode over the the California Light house where fresh coconut water was being sold straight from the coconut. Our last stop on the tour was Palm beach, I've never seen water so blue before. Absolutely beautiful!

Aloe Balm Museum

Our tour bus

The last two days, we were at sea and I took advantage and got some well needed rest and packed up all my clothes and souvenirs.  Overall, I had a really good time on my first cruise. The only thing I did not like is the motion sickness I got from the boat rocking back and forth at night. There were only a few nights that the ship would rock, but when it did, boy it rocked!
Everyone that I came in contact with that worked on the ship were always nice. The food was really good with a lot of variety to choose from. The activities on the boat were a lot to choose from and all really fun and the rooms were nice and clean and the beds REALLY comfortable. I would definitely go on another cruise in the future, less than eight days though.

If you are interested in going on a cruise, or just want to find any information about them click here!

More pics below...

Bright beautiful buildings in Curaco

Curacao

A view from the California light house in Aruba

Art work in Curacao

A statue in D.R. 

Map of Curacao

Map of Turks and Caicos Islands

Natural Hair Decision

Hello All,

Hope you all had a good weekend! I wanted to come and share with you guys about a decision that I made recently. For the past 6 years I have been natural (my hair that is) and it definitely has been a journey. I went from being a product junky spending a lot of money on so many different hair products. Over the years I have had my hair braided in micro braids, Senegalese twists, marley jumbo twist, crochet hair styles you name it, I have tried all of the protective styles. For the past few months, I felt like taking care of my natural hair has become more of a chore. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my natural hair and the many ways that I can wear it, but taking care of it is very time consuming. I  made the decision to get sisterlocks installed on my birthday weekend.

Sister locks are similar to traditional dreads, the only difference is that they are installed by a special tool and a loctician who has been certified to install sisterlocks. Sisterlocks were created by Dr. Joanne Cornwell back in 1993. To keep them maintained, you got every 4-6 weeks to get them re-tightened.

I got my sisterlocks installed over the weekend of February 10th, 11th and the 12th and it took 72 hours to install! My loctician has a space in her home that is very comfortable. She has Netflix and Hulu which made the time go by so quickly! I went prepared with my snacks, lunch, neck pillow and my tablet.

Getting sisterlocks was the best thing to do for my hair. No more spending money on buying all those different products to put in my hair, no more worrying about what to with my hair when I go on vaca and most of all the low maintenance  of the locks. Unfortunately, I did not take pics of my hair when I got it installed. In the future I will post some pics of them.

To find out more information on sisterlocks just google it and plenty of pages with info on them will pop up!

✌

Vacation in Playa del Carmen

Hola Amigos!

I went on vacation to Mexico last month (mad late, I know) and I had THEE best time. I stayed at

5th Avenue in Playa del Carmen

Occidental at Xcaret Destination in Playa del Carmen which is an all inclusive resort. It is a HUGE, beautiful resort.  Me and a couple of my friends went from May 5th to May10th. The hotel was in the middle of the Jungle which was pretty cool. There were monkey's deer, iguana's and other little creatures that would roam freely around the resort. That is that part that I didn't read about the hotel, but I didn't mind at all, I love animals.

The hotel rooms were nice. They provided both a bottle of champagne and tequila which was nice. The hotel staff was so friendly and helpful. The restaurants that they had on the resort were also very good. They had a 2 different buffets, that served breakfast lunch and dinner. One buffet was located on the beach, the other buffet in the main area of the resort. They also had an Asian, Italian and of course a Mexican restaurant. They also had a steak house which was so so good.

Every night they had entertainment in the main area of the resort that included magic shows, dance numbers and also had kid activities during the day. They also have their own club on the resort that was open every night from 10pm to 1am that played old school music, top ten list music, 70s, 80s and 90s music.

Love this pic! Located in the hotel lobby

This was my first time going out of the country and it has inspired me to travel even more. This summer I will be going on a family reunion cruise to Turks, Dominican Republic, Curacao and Aruba. I am too excited!

Her are some pics from my vaca..

The beach on the resort

The beach

Another shot of the beach on the resort

The Buffet on the beach

Parrots are only out during the day

One of the Iguana's chilling

Catch yall on the next post!

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🎉🎉Happy New Year🎉🎉

Happy new year to all! Hope you all had an amazing, safe holiday!

It's been a while since I last wrote a post for my blog, I've been doing some major slacking on that. Anywho, I  had a good Thanksgiving , Christmas and New year.

I went out for the first time on new years eve and went to Mohegan Sun casino in CT which was cool. Pigged out at the buffet, danced to the countdown to the new year and threw a few dollars in a couple  slot machines. Didn't win anything tho..lol.

I am definitely looking forward to 2017! New outlook, new attitude, new confidence and new beginnings.

This year, I am going to try my best to write weekly posts on my blog. I have a good feeling that it is going to be a good year and would love to share it with you!

Catch you on the next post!

My Skin Care Routine

Hey everyone!

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. I wrote a post about my weekly wash day routine for natural hair last month here, so this week, I would like to share my daily skin care routine with you. The skin products that I like to use is the Alba Botanica Hawaiian line which I absolutely love. The line of products are all natural and work and smell fantastic! The Alba skin products can be purchased at Whole Foods, CVS, Walgreen's or you can purchase it at Marshall's or TJMaxx like I do, and save a few bucks by doing so, almost half the price!

The face wash that I use is the  pore purifying pineapple foaming face wash or the deep cleansing coconut milk face wash. They both work really well, the pineapple face wash is more foamy  and sudsy while the coconut milk face wash is more frothy. When using those facial cleansers, I use my Bella Beauty facial cleansing brush that I also purchased from TJMaxx which was $9.99.

After washing my face, I follow up with using the complexion balancing hibiscus facial toner. I use a cotton round and apply the toner to my whole face and neck. After applying the toner, I use the aloe and green tea oil free moisturizer which makes my skin oh so soft with a nice cooling sensation after I apply it.

Once a week I use the pore-fecting papaya enzyme facial mask and the pineapple enzyme facial scrub which are both really good. I also have the pineapple enzyme 3- in 1 clean towelettes which I use before applying the papaya enzyme facial mask and times where I just want refresh my face.

If you want an all natural skin care line that is inexpensive, works well and also smells really good, I would recommend using the Alba Botanica Hawaiian skin care line. I have been using it for over a year and I love it! Another good thing about using these products is that, a little goes a very long way! I always use small amounts of the facial wash, the facial mask and the facial moisturizer, I use the toner generously, but it still goes a long way when I use it.

Thanks for stopping by, catch you on the next post!