Planning A 17th Birthday Trip

 My daughter's 17th birthday is coming up and I am so excited for what we have planned.

I love this era of the birthday trip, almost more than the birthday party. Well, maybe just as much. 

It's less work and way less stress to plan a simple trip to the beach, especially living in Costa Rica. However, depending on the trip or the party,  they both can cost a bag financially.

But both can be done on a budget as well and the budget queen, me, will make this upcoming trip as budget friendly as possible. It'll definetly be cheaper than the party we originally wanted to plan and for sure will be just as good of a time. 

Here are just a few details we have so far, a breakdown of the birthday weekend celebration, if you will. Friday the 26th is the actual birthday, so we plan to take the birthday girl and her 3 closest friends to PF Changs for a " fancy" dinner, with everyone dressed in their semi formal best. 

There will be a sleepover, some dancing, some karaoke and a movie, if time permits because everyone has to be up early on Saturday to head to the BEACH!!!!! Jaco Beach baby.  

It's been a minute since we've been to the beach, so it's time and we're ready. It's just an overnight trip but we will make the most of our one night. We rented a 3 bedroom townhouse that comes with a ton of amenities plus, we'll be at the BEACH!!! We're all super excited. 

This upcoming week, we'll do a bit of party prep like a few diy decor to make the house and ranch area as festive as possible with the old hollywood theme. Besides making dinner reservations and buying a few items for the party, like snacks and cheap party favors, there's not much else to do but pack for the BEACH!!! We cannot wait, it's gonna be too much fun!

                    

                            Cake and Decor Inspo

Waterpark Family Day

 While the kids were on holy week break for Easter, we decided to do at least one fun activity outside before the week long vacation came to a close.  We ended up going to a water park that also has hiking trails, a waterfall and a soccer field. It was a much needed day out and we all had a blast. The kids even got a chance to do the zip line activity, which was a highlight for my 10 year old 

Does The Easter Bunny Get Tips

 Hi, it's me, I'm the Easter Bunny. And no, I don't get tips. But the joy I get from making lasting memories for my kids for each holiday is payment enough.

Easter 2024 was another epic celebration at home. As per usual, I wrote the clues, hid the eggs for the scavenger hunt and then filled baskets with all my kids favorite goodies. 

I also meticulously planned a menu for the day that included a brunch and a dinner of a few yummy foods and treats. It's what I love to do and will do it for as long as I can.

                The celebrations started the day before at Lincoln Plaza's Easter event.

                           Brunch

                   Easter Baskets 2024

                             Easter dinner

It was an amazing family Easter!

Keeping Things Simple

 Thank goodness my oldest son is very low maintenance because all he wanted for his birthday this year was an ice cream cake and Japanese food. That's it, that's all. And due to our strict budget this year, everything he wanted luckily fit into the budget.

I wanted to do more, as I am the queen of extra, but budget wise, I'm happy I could give my son exactly what he wanted guilt free.

Besides, I have 3 other kids who will most likely want more than that for their birthdays, so I will get to do more very very soon. However, I will be content that all I had to do was pick up a cake and uber some food for my oldest.

So here's a post to my oldest who celebrated his 24th birthday on the 28th of March and all he wanted was some ofnhis favorite foods.

Another Random Post

 March has been pretty uneventful but there are little moments that bear remembering and blogging about. 

Like pajama day at the kids school and yes, my little guy won for best pjs.

Lunch with hubby is always worth a mention, as I love to spent time with my man. Plus, your girl loves to eat out. However,  this trip to one of our favorite spots was not the vibe. The food was mediocre at best and pretty disappointing.  Hopefully our next outing will be more delicious.

And then the highlight of the month, so far, was Dune 2. I still have so much to look forward to this month, but watching Dune 2 in theaters was quite the experience.  

Not only was the movie incredible and I can't wait to watch it again, but seeing it in theaters was so much fun and so worth it. ❤️ 

Journey To Glass Skin

 I've been dealing with hyper-pigmentation and dark spots for over 20 years. I had pretty terrible skin and at one point in time, would not leave my house without makeup. 

Skin care just wasn't that important to me until it was. I was tired of the way my skin looked. I envied girls with beautiful skin and perfect pores. I wanted that and so I started my journey to clear skin. 

I wasn't looking for perfection but I wanted better looking skin that didn't embarrass and disappoint me every time I looked in the mirror.

First step was implementing a consistent and effective, yet simple, skin care routine. Keeping it simple meant I would have no trouble keeping up with the routine overtime.

Next step was tackling the dark spots, which meant I would need some sort of chemical peel. Once I had a good and effective skin care in place, I saw a significant and dramatic difference in my skin. It looked more even and I experienced less breakouts. A chemical peel would only add to my results, making my skin even more vibrant and youthful.

The peel wasn't a fix all, however, and I will have to get another one. But the results are pretty impressive.  To keep my skin looking as good as it does, I still have to keep up with my skin care and continue take really good care of my skin. 

Date Nights And Celebrating Friendships

 Date nights and brunch dates give me life and get me so excited.  It's even better when it's a spontaneous day out.  

Thanks to hubby we had two days out back to back and it was lovely. Having brunch after hubby's chiro appointment has become sort of a new little tradition.  And then randomly,  on a Friday, the day after our chiro brunch date, hubby surprised me with a spontaneous date night out. It had been a while since we had a good date night as we've been trying to stick to a strict budget and be more financially frugal.

It was a well needed time away and the perfect way to spend some quality time together.  Hubby works around the clock nonstop, so it's always a nice change of pace when he steps away from work for a few hours. 

On top of my recent days out, I finally had a girls meet-up with my friends to celebrate a few birthdays. We had three birthdays to celebrate but we mainly gave the attention to our friend celebrating a major birthday milestone in turning 50. It was such a vibe!

We decided to have our celebratory meet-up at a cute little cafe that surprisingly had one of the best strawberry milkshakes I've ever had. Yum!