Mexico – LongLegsBigCity

I Do or I Do Not – Should You Have a Destination Wedding?

July 5, 2022 1 Comment

One of the first questions I get about our wedding is why we chose to have it in Cabo, and why we wanted a destination wedding in general. We chose Cabo because there were direct flights from New York, it was a bit different and more romantic than Cancun, and because the resort answered my email quickly and they had our requested weekend available. Our initial choice was Ixtapa, on the Pacific coast of Mexico, but the resort ghosted me for a month after our initial 2 emails.

As for why we chose to have a destination wedding, the honest answer is that we didn’t necessarily want a destination wedding, and Chris was really on the fence. But after weighing the pros and cons, it seemed like the only logical choice and, as Chris will get used to in our marriage, I was right. He even admitted it! If you are considering a destination wedding, my advice would be: DO IT. You’ll see from the grossly uneven list below that it is the correct choice.

Pros:

Why Not?: At this point in my life (mid-30’s – yikes!), almost everyone has moved away from “home.” That means every wedding is a “destination” wedding in terms of having to pay for a flight and a hotel. So why not make it a vacation, too? I have only been to one wedding in my life that did not require a hotel stay, and a handful that didn’t require a flight. And I have been to a LOT of weddings. The flight + hotel for my wedding in Cabo was honestly less expensive than many other weddings I have attended in Cleveland, Bozeman, and Las Vegas. And all of the food and drinks and entertainment were included! There were things to do during the day, like aqua aerobics, trivia in the pool, and line dancing on beach, and there were activities at night like live music, and foam parties at the club. And of course, lots of drinking.

Budget: Destination weddings are CHEAP! Relative to having a wedding in the United States, especially in a city, a destination wedding is a fraction of the cost. Labor is cheaper in Mexico, but also, having everything in one place meant we did not need to think about bringing in vendors like catering, table and chairs rentals, and of course the dreaded transportation costs. None of that was needed and it was all on-site.

Wedding Planner Included: This is related to budget, but when we were thinking about planning a wedding, it was extremely overwhelming. We both have full time jobs and adding a new title of “party planner” to my resume was not something I had the energy to do. Also, since we knew we were going to get married outside of New York City, we would need help finding vendors in that place and a wedding planner would need to make those connections for us. For that reason, we knew we would need a wedding planner, and not just a day-of coordinator. We realized we were going to be spending ~$8K-$10K on a planner at a minimum. At all-inclusive resorts, the planner is part of the package.

Where do we want to get married?: Most couples nowadays meet online, or meet in a city that is neither of their hometowns. Historically, a wedding takes place where the bride grew up, but my parents don’t live where I grew up anymore and I have no more ties to Florida, nor would we have anywhere to stay while we looked at venues. Chris and I didn’t have a single place in common besides New York City, where venues start at $15,000 just for the space. Since we didn’t have a place we really wanted to get married anyway, we decided to pick somewhere beautiful.

Scenery: When I was planning our wedding, I said to my friends that we were not paying for any extras they offered, like special plates or tablecloths or paper lantern lighting. I joked and said the beach was the decoration, but you know what? It was. It was GORGEOUS. I showed my friends the photo below and one of them said it looked fake, another said it looked like a magazine. The background of every photo is stunning. At zero additional cost!

They know their sh*t: Perhaps that wasn’t the most eloquent wording but it’s true. These resorts produce weddings like a well-oiled machine. They know what they are doing because they do it every day. Things run smoothly, on time, flowers are where they are supposed to be, there are contingency plans in place, and it is easy. We planned our entire wedding with about 30 emails back and forth. We booked our florist by email (the one they recommended) and we used their DJ. We filled out a music questionnaire by email. We filled out our cake order online. Everything was done in a few quick spreadsheets and it came to life seamlessly. We met with the wedding planner 2 days before the wedding and reviewed all of the details. She assured us she knew what she was doing, and it went perfectly. Also, there’s a huge benefit to working with vendors who know the venue like the back of their hand. Our photographer knew every spot in the resort where photos would look amazing. The one of me below was the outside of the Indian restaurant. And that random window and hallway shot… none of those could have been done without a skilled photographer who knew the space. There was even a wedding 2 hours after us, and we met the other couple in the pool the day before. We ran into them while we were both taking photos and snapped one with them. It was so fun to have another couple experiencing it with us.

Our buddies, the other bride and groom (also named Chris!)

Spending quality time with everyone: This is by far the biggest positive of having a destination wedding. My main gripe with spending a lot of money to travel to weddings is when I don’t even get to see the couple. This has happened to me a few times, where I fly somewhere, get a hotel room, and I’m not even in the bridal party so I don’t go to the rehearsal dinner. I just show up at the wedding, see the couple when they walk around to greet each table, and I also dance with them on the dance floor for 5-10 minutes. Then I fly home and send a gift. It’s the worst and I always go home feeling like I wasted my money and time. When you have a destination wedding, it’s like going on a family reunion/friends vacation. You have DAYS to hang out with everyone at the pool, have breakfast and coffee, do shots at the foam party, and pretend to do aqua aerobics while sipping pina coladas. The best part is there is zero pressure to chat with everyone at the reception and greet each table, because you’ve already been spending days with them. It’s a win-win, and you can go home feeling like you had quality time with each of your guests. I left Mexico feeling closer to the people I already knew, and feeling like I forged real relationships with those I had just met.

Cons:

I warned you up top that there are very few negatives to having a destination wedding, but after racking my brain, I could only think of 4, and you will see below that I don’t even truly believe all of them.

Not everyone will be able to attend: If you want a huge wedding with everyone in your family in attendance, then you should not have a destination wedding. Having a wedding outside of the country does require a passport, so you will be cutting out some of your guest list by having a wedding abroad. However, as I mentioned above, every wedding will have a cost for guests unless you live in the same place where you grew up, so there will always be some people who cannot attend.
You do not want your guests to spend a lot of money: Again, I don’t truly believe this is possible and there are ways around this. For example, we told our guests they did not need to give gifts because we knew they were spending a lot of money to come. We also paid for some of our close family’s hotel rooms if we knew they couldn’t otherwise afford to come. Personally, the Cabo wedding was not even the most expensive one I went to this year!
You have a family with food issues/special requirements: All-inclusive resorts are nice because they have unlimited food available at all times. They also usually have a lot of different kinds of food. But if you have family with food requirements, like if they are vegetarian, vegan, kosher, etc, it may be difficult for them to find food. For a normal wedding, you only need to worry about one meal for them. At a destination wedding, you have DAYS of meals and with limited options, it can be repetitive and non-nutritious for those family members.
You want a SUPER UNIQUE wedding: It’s true, most resorts are “wedding machines.” This means there will be many other brides and grooms out there who had a similar experience to you. As I mentioned, there was another couple who got married on the same exact day as us! However, this also means that things are well-planned and run smoothly. Also, if I’m honest, I’ve been to around 30 weddings and I’m sure the couple always thinks they are unique – they are not. A wedding is a wedding. It may be an expensive wedding, but it will not be as different as you think it is. Sure, there’s an ice sculpture or a chuppah draped in flowers, but at the end of the day, it’s a party.

As you can see, I think the pros extremely outweigh the cons, but I’m interested to hear your thoughts. Have you been to a destination wedding? Do you think it was better or worse than a regular wedding? Did it cost you more money?

Wedding

Wedding Tips & Tricks

June 14, 2022 No Comments

I promised you another installment of wedding content and this one may be the most important one. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I have been a wedding guest A LOT. I’m a pro. But now I’ve also been the bride and I have picked up a lot of tips and tricks along the way.

My first tip: Have a glam team. I know not everyone is like me, but hair is IMPORTANT. Having bad wedding hair is listed as a regret on every single Betches Brides Wedding podcast episode. As you know, I flew in Alli from @playbraids to do my hair for my wedding. This was by far the best decision I made, aside from picking the husband. Not only did it make it easy because she was able to do multiple looks on multiple days, but she was friendly and fun for all of my friends to hang out with (and me, of course!). And most importantly, it took away a HUGE piece of wedding stress for me. The less stress, the better. I felt pressured to have amazing hair, and Alli understood the assignment. She was a huge trooper, helped me film multiple tiktoks, styled my mom’s hair and my best friend’s, and put up with/loved the Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion vibes. There’s this amazing video she took while the photographer was taking serious portraits of me, and you can hear WAP blasting in the background. Special bonus, my family also fell in love with her, and my mom announced that she’s another honorary daughter of hers now. Almost every person who has seen photos of the wedding has commented on my amazing hair. #WORTHEVERYPENNY

Casual Photoshoot and Rehearsal Dinner Hair

Here’s a tip for your guest list: keep it small. Some people with large families don’t have this option, but I recommend it. With this pandemic becoming a part of our everyday lives, the trend of “micro-weddings” has continued and I couldn’t love it more. We ended up with 51 guests (and a wedding crasher, more on that later) and it was the perfect amount to feel like we had close friends and family, a full dance floor, and people all over the resort. In fact, the morning of the wedding I was trying not to run into anyone, but sure enough I ran into one of Chris’s best friends at the coffee shop. It felt intimate and small, but also like we were surrounded by everyone in our lives.

Regarding toasts and hand-written vows: do them. Both. First the toasts. Choose these people wisely. No one wants to be bored while they are trapped at their tables and far from the bar. Choose entertaining people who will also have unique perspectives on the bride and groom. You don’t want 8 friends all talking about the same things. Chris’s dad told a story I had never heard before about him as a kid. And it was so fun to hear about his childhood from his siblings. For my side, I had one speech from my family (a poem – so funny) and one from my best friend (also hysterical, I cried and laughed). Having different types of people (siblings, parents, friends) makes for different types of speeches and keeps things interesting. Our speeches went a little long, but I think everyone enjoyed them, although I may be biased.

As for vows, I know it can be time-consuming and stressful to add this on top of other wedding planning, but it’s worth it. I understand that not every person enjoys speaking in front of a crowd, but if you pretend it’s just you and your future spouse, it makes it easier. Almost everyone at our wedding knew one of us well since it was a small guest list, and it still made the wedding an engaging experience to include our guests in our love and reasons for choosing to be with this person for life. The day after the ceremony, I had one couple (who is getting married this weekend!) tell me that they planned to read their vows to each other in private, but they were reconsidering because it felt so special to hear ours. Also, the practice of writing your own vows is so special. It forces you to think of when you knew they were your person and what you love and cherish about them. The whole point of inviting people to celebrate with you in your love is to explain those reasons to them. It makes it feel more personal.

Here’s a tip for the anxious brides: only control the things you want to control. If the bridesmaid dresses don’t really matter to you, don’t worry about them! I just wanted my bridesmaids to be comfortable, so I let them pick. Granted, I only had 2 bridesmaids, so it was easier for them to coordinate themselves, but I did not want to sweat the small stuff. Another thing I didn’t care about was the groomsmen, so I let Chris pick. Yes, I was a little nervous when 2 months prior he said he hadn’t picked outfits or communicated with them, but my husband is bit of a posh spice (yes, I called him that in my vows), so I knew I could trust him to figure it out. And he did! Less stress for me.

One more tip about stress: there are some things that will be out of your control. You can’t stress about them because you cannot change them. Flight changes? CHECK. They are going to happen. Our flight to Mexico was canceled the night before. We booked another flight that night. Was it way more money than the original? Yes. But we didn’t really have a choice and I chose not to stress about it. Our MC got stuck in traffic and never arrived. But the photographer’s assistant offered to step up, and what was I going to say? No? Of course not. I said sure! And we went through the list of names for speeches and dances and she killed it. No one even noticed. These things happen and you need to make a conscious decision to just go with the flow. Having an open bar helps.

Here’s a tip regarding an expensive cake: save on the cake, splurge on the cake topper! By the time cake hits the table, most people will be up dancing. And if they aren’t, they’re probably drunk. Hell, if it’s a good party at all, probably everyone will be drunk. People are not going to appreciate the flavor and moistness of the cake. But they WILL appreciate an aesthetic. We were lucky enough to have my aunt make us a cake topper that looked just like us on our wedding day. She made the bride wear my dress, carry my bouquet, she even put highlights and a braid in her hair! Chris also looked dapper in a blue suit and white boutonniere. Everyone LOVED it. We have a google album of guest photos, and there must be 15 different people who took photos of the cake topper. And the best part: it now sits in our living room smackdab in the middle of our bookshelf. Our cleaner saw it last week and was in SHOCK she loved it so much.

Here’s another unconventional trick: do a fun (not slow) father-daughter dance. My dad and I started out slow with Lee Ann Womack’s I Hope You Dance, and after 1 minute we transitioned into a zydeco number, Daddy Lessons by The Chicks and Beyonce. It was a HUGE hit. People were laughing and clapping, and my dad and I had a blast. I heard comments about it from our guests all weekend long! It was engaging and it sped up the tedious first 30 minutes of watching dances and speeches.

Our gorgeous cake (could not tell you what it tasted like)

One of the more controversial points in this blog is about welcome baskets. I think that whether you need them depends on where you have the wedding. If you know people are flying in, not renting cars, and the hotel is in an isolated place, then I would recommend them. Water and snacks are not always available, and when they are, they’re crazy expensive. If you can’t walk down the street to a bodega or a Walgreens, I’d say it’s a nice thing to offer. However, I think they can be simple. If your wedding is local, or in a city with many things around, they’re unnecessary. And welcome baskets are definitely not necessary at all-inclusives. For my wedding there were beverages included in every room (alcoholic, non-alcoholic and water), and I made sure everyone knew that I had Advil, ibuprofen and sunscreen for everyone. Also, there was food and room service available 24/7 for free if people got hungry. We gave out engraved reusable straws as favors, and I don’t think shipping boxes of crap and snacks to Mexico and forcing people to carry it home in their already-stuffed carry-ons was necessary.

My final tip, and the perfect segue into the next installment of wedding content: Have a destination wedding. I won’t delve into it too much here since I am going to write a whole other blog about this, but suffice it to say, it was the right decision for us. I know some people say this isn’t an option because of family pressure or cost of travel but let me tell you, it was not that expensive. It was beautiful. And it was FUN. More on that next time!

Do you have any tips or tricks you’ve picked up from being a bride, groom, or repeat guest? Let me know in the comments!

Wedding

Our Wedding (and my regrets)

June 8, 2022 4 Comments

I’ve been on blog hiatus, but the good news is, I’ve been so busy that I have PLENTY of material now. SURPRISE I got married! Ok, not a surprise because I talked about dress shopping, a hair trial, and other wedding-related things for the whole 4 months while we “planned.” I use that term loosely.

I’m going to do a series of blogs about the wedding. Here’s what you have to look forward to:

NO RAGRETS. Ok, I have a few. I’ll write about those today. Read on!!
Tips and Tricks: coming out this weekend!
Destination Wedding – do or don’t? (Spoiler Alert: the answer is DO): posting next week
Wedding Recap (and the things that went wrong): later this month.

First, a quick wedding summary: It was amazing. It was so special to have all of my friends and family in one place. It was a week-long party. It was GORGEOUS. The weather was literally perfect. Some would say it was too cool at night but since my internal temperature is roughly the same as an oven, it was perfect for me. The toasts/speeches were PHENOMENAL. I really would barely have changed anything. But since that is a very boring blog post, I decided to start off with a bang and tell you about the things I would have changed.

The good news about my regrets is that there aren’t many. I’ve been reflecting for a few weeks and despite the contemplation, I still have a short list of regrets, which is great!

My main regrets are regarding the photographer, but it’s not that they were bad, they were actually great. However, I probably asked them to cover the wrong times (my fault). Since our speeches ran late, they only could cover 15 minutes of dancing and I probably would have preferred an hour. I haven’t seen the photos yet but hopefully they got some good content! And to be fair, it was nice to take as many shots of gin as I wanted and know it wouldn’t be captured on film for my future children to see. The timing also affected the photo booth, which was another regret. We had it out for people to use during cocktail hour and then the first hour of the reception. Again because of speeches and mingling at cocktail hour, no one really got to use it! I kind of wish we just hadn’t paid for it. We didn’t need it and we had fun without it. Thankfully, we had plenty of friends with phones taking pictures of dancing at the reception and the after-party. Some of those will never see the light of the internet.

Despite the many podcast episodes I listened to, I didn’t pay attention when the experts insisted a bride should have a shot list for the photographer. I didn’t have one, so it was disorganized after the ceremony as I was pulling random groups for photos. A lot of people were waiting around in the sun and people were getting antsy and sunburned. I also wish we had taken photos with every guest. Since we only had 50, it would have been totally feasible, but I didn’t think about it at the time.

The only people I saw use the photobooth!

Another thing, as I look back – I wish we had a second shooter, at least for the ceremony. I didn’t realize that since there was only one person taking photos, they could only capture one angle of the ceremony. They got the most adorable photo of Chris as he turned around and saw me for the first time walking down the aisle, but since the photographer was behind me, I don’t think he got any of my face as I walked down. Again, I haven’t seen the photos yet (they sent us 10 as a teaser), but I’m not sure how they would have captured me, except maybe far away as we were walking down to the beach. Thankfully, my friends took a few photos and videos of my parents walking me down. Also, the photographer managed to get some great far-shots as well as some great close-ups, like of Chris putting on my ring.

Photo from friends of me walking down the aisle with my parents.

My next regret should be filed under #SaveOrSplurge and for this one, I would say SAVE on bridesmaid bouquets. Full disclosure: I am not a flower girl, so these were on rock bottom of budget needs for me. Honestly, I would have gone without a bouquet myself, but it was included in the resort package. And don’t get me wrong, my bouquet was gorgeous. It’s just that it was BIG and difficult to hold! I kept asking the photographer to take photos without it. If you have a lot of bridesmaids, those bouquets can add up! The resort package included a “maid of honor” bouquet, and since I had 2 bridesmaids and no ”maid of honor,” I just added on one additional bouquet, which was a minimal cost, but a cost nonetheless. People always say, “it gives you something to do with your hands,” but the groomsmen didn’t have anything in their hands and they did just fine. I could have done without it, but I haven’t asked my bridesmaids what they thought. I guess matching bouquets do bring the pictures together in terms of cohesiveness, especially since they were in different dresses, but in my opinion, it was unnecessary.

Pre-wedding detail shots of the bouquets, they were massive!

My next regret is a true #firstworldproblem, but I wish that I had stayed longer at the resort after the wedding. I’m very thankful that we had another full day after the wedding (we got married on a Friday and left on Sunday), but it still felt too quick to return to the real world. I would have liked one or two extra days, but Chris couldn’t get the time off of work and it felt strange to stay there alone without him. It didn’t help that I had a few friends who stayed on, and I had serious FOMO! I would recommend a slower come-down for someone traveling to their wedding. I guess this is why people go on a honeymoon directly after, which brings me to my final regret – not planning a honeymoon before the wedding.

I wish I already had something to look forward to. Also, it’s incredibly awkward because once our registry was purchased (we didn’t ask for much – we’ve been together for almost 7 years!), people gave us money for specific funds for our honeymoon. For example, someone gave $50 for the honeymoon flight, or $100 for a couples massage etc. It’s extremely awkward when people ask where we are going, and I have to say “I don’t know yet.” Soon… hopefully! Stay tuned!!

I’ll be posting my wedding tips and tricks this weekend. I wouldn’t say I’m a pro now, but I have been to a LOT of weddings and now I’ve planned one, and I would like to think I have learned along the way!

Travel

Travel Recap 2018

January 1, 2019 No Comments

PHEW what a year! People always comment about how much I travel, but I honestly didn’t realize until I saw it written out in black and white. If you weren’t one of the lucky 73 people to get a holiday card from me and my emoji bf, I recapped the travel we did this year, and spoiler alert… it’s a LOT. I would simply post a PDF of the card, but that would require a lot of emoji-placement on my sweet boyfriend’s face, so instead I’ll just recap my travel here. There is still going to be some emoji-placement.

Maybe after you see how I spent half of 2018 in airports, you’ll forgive me for posting infrequently here. I left the state every single month of the year with the exception of July, when my best Australian buddy was here in the USA so I had to stay and eat Tim Tams with her.

January – Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia

I wrote a blog post about this trip, which you can back-reference here, but the main highlights were a lot of amazing food, gorgeous views of Granville Market and Deception Pass, having an all-night dance party, finding $100 on the floor of a pub, Segway-ing up the crazy hills of Seattle, and of course spending QT with my bestie! Lowlight (is that the opposite of highlight?) was leaving my phone, which was on airplane mode, in a cab. Somehow it was miraculously recovered! Not a lowlight after all.

February – Los Angeles, California

I didn’t blog about this trip per se, but I did go to a lot of ice cream places and blogged about that! I had to continue my #30Years30IceCreams with a travel edition. Also, I’m 31 now, but ice cream is still just as good. This trip was mostly for work, but every time I am in LA I try to tack on a few extra days to hang out with my college roommate! I also got to see another friend from college and watch the Olympics with him. Side note: LA is SO FAR! I always hate that long transcontinental flight, only to land in the SAME COUNTRY! I’d rather go to Europe.

March/April – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I went to the first Passover Seder at my sister’s house in NYC, then the 2^nd at my parents in Philly! I dragged my emoji bf with me as well. He is a Seder pro now. It also happened to be my mom’s birthday that weekend. My family surprised my mom by chipping in for a YMCA membership for her birthday, the one thing she wanted. She was so happy, she cried, and the video warms my heart! Thankfully, Philly does not require an airplane ride, and for this trip, I took my sister’s car. Much more convenient!

April – Chicago, Illinois

I wrote a post about this trip! (Maybe I wasn’t as bad at blogging this year as I thought!?) My work’s annual conference changes place every year, and this year I was super excited to go to Chicago because I’d never been! Technically the conference was in Skokie, but I extended my trip with my work bestie to explore the city! Highlights included: A Segway Ride, gorgeous weather, deep dish pizza, a GORGEOUS view from out penthouse Air Bnb, which had the electricity turned off for non-payment while we were staying there. Oops.

Vancouver Exploring
Gorgeous Walk to Granville Market
FOUND: $100!!
Road trip with purple bear back through the Canadian border to Seattle.
Quick stop at the GORGEOUS Deception Pass.
Deception Pass Pics
Hike in the mountains outside Seattle with her adorable pup, Charlie.
Segway with the Space Needle!
California Nitrogen Ice Cream
Quick Stop to pose with famous art at the Getty
Why so prickly? (#cactusgarden)
My happy place.
Road trip up to Malibu to a secret beach.
Can you tell she’d been crying?
CHICAGO!! Beautiful view from our penthouse AirBNB before the electricity was turned off.
Always gotta pose with Long Legs where I find them.
CHI-TOWN & SEGWAYS!
How gorgeous is this??
Also gorgeous: deep dish pizza.
Chicago Bronze Cow.
THE BEAN.

May – Cordoba, Seville, Granada, Madrid, Spain

Yeahhhh… this must have been when my blogging fell off because HOW DID I NOT TELL YOU GUYS ABOUT THIS TRIP!? It’s also when my Braid in Manhattan Instagram began, and I’m pretty sure there’s a correlation/causation there. Anyway, SPAIN. GO THERE. I fell in love with all the places we went, but my favorite was Granada. They have free food! Literally! Buy a drink, get amazing food for free. How can any place like that be bad? Also, we planned this trip during the famous Patio Festival in Cordoba, which was breathtaking. Cordoba now has the most UNESCO heritage sites as of this year! Jump on it before everyone else does. Trust me.

I loved traveling abroad with a group of girls. We all packed in backpacks and took trains around the country. I can’t wait for the next excursion.

June – Charleston, South Carolina

My best friend and I went to visit another friend in Charleston, SC and it was my first time there. It was fun to travel with a friend, especially since I usually fly solo (plus purple bear). We had lots of girly time, and I discovered the amazingness of Truly, a sparking water that is alcoholic. What? Amazing. We hung out at the pool, and the beach, and we rode around her neighborhood in her new golf cart. The next time we see each other will be at her wedding in ITALY! I’ll definitely have to tell you guys about that.

July – Beacon, New York

I said I didn’t travel in July but that is sort of a lie, I went upstate to Beacon, NY for my friend’s bachelorette! There was no airport involved (thank goodness) but it was still fun to get out of town for a bit. If you missed my blog about it, you can find it here!

Backpacking for the first time ever!
First train of MANY.
Our adorable Air bnb in Cordoba, actually one of the famous patios!
1st day Cordoba exploring.
First of a LOT of ham and sangria.
Free walking tour! We did one of these in every city.
The famous
Calleja de las Flores (Street of Flowers)
GORGEOUS patios.
Inside the Mezquita ( The Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba, aka the Great Mosque of Córdoba)
City #2: Sevilla!
Spanish Square (Plaza de Espana)
Alcazar
Blogger Photo at the Alcazar
Secret Flamenco show in Seville
More Trains Busses and Automobiles!
On the way to Granada
ALHAMBRA!
SO. MUCH. HAM.
posing on a hike up into the gypsy cave territory.
Flamenco show in cave of the Sacromonte of Granada
Final city of Spain: Madrid!
Mojitos on the top floor od a department store with an amazing outdoor patio
Charleston with my ladies!
Golf Cart Chillin.
Truly Sparkling and a FAB pool.
Bachelorette Party to Beacon!
Wine Tour commence!
How many vineyards can we hit in one day?
Hiking off the wine from the previous day!
More Vineyards
Out of Order Charleston Cycling
Any Airport with an insta-frame in a friend of mine.

August – WEDDING SZN! New Jersey, Philadelphia, Brooklyn

Within 5 weeks’ time, my emoji bf and I went to 3 weddings in 3 states. Gratefully, they were all accessible by train, and we even hitched a ride home from the New Jersey one in my cousin’s car.

September – Dublin, Ireland

What. A. Whirlwind. Thanks to my job and the many many Jewish holidays in the Fall, I was able to take a trip with my mom without taking any vacation days. We based ourselves in Dublin and took a few day trips out of the city to Cliffs of Moher, Cork, Galway, Blarney Castle, Rock of Cashel, and many other sites. We went to the Guinness Storehouse, Kilmainham Gaol (a historic jail), The Whiskey Museum, and a National Camogie Championship game. Then, as if sightseeing all day wasn’t enough, it happened that my friend from Florida was in Dublin at the same time with friends, so I went out and partied with them every night! I think I slept a maximum of 4 hours/night. It was SO fun, and I can’t wait to travel again with my mom.

October – Cancun, Mexico

This trip was for one sole purpose: relaxation. I definitely needed it after Ireland. Also, this trip came at the perfect time because it was in the middle of The Great Bed Bug Scare of 2018! It was Emoji-bf’s birthday, and all we wanted to do was sleep in and lay by the pool and read. Sure enough, that’s what we did! We also drank a lot, went to a glow party, and made new friends. But mostly, we relaxed.

November – Los Angeles, California

I went to LA again for work and hit up my favorite spots: Santa Monica beach path for a few runs, Philz for coffee, and Sidecar Doughnuts because DUH. Also, I got to have dinner with my college friend, and extended my visit to stay with my college roommate! We saw the BEST burlesque show EVER, Cherry Boom Boom, and now I follow them on Instagram and fall in love with every post. Also, we took a day trip to Joshua Tree National Park which was AWESOME. When we got back to Santa Monica, the smoke in the air from the wildfires was very intense. It’s been a rough year for the LA region.

Wedding #1! I was a bridesmaid in this one.
Wedding #2. How snazzy is my date?
Wedding #3! Same emoji, different dress.
Sister-Sister!
IRELAND! Whiskey barrels.
And lots of kegs.
Visiting one of the oldest jails.
GUINNESS!
Inside the Four Courts.
Up early… out late!
Cahir Castle and a few cannons
Inside the Cahir Castle.
Blarney Stone!
Climbing in and around the Blarney castle (my mom skipped this one).
Rock of Cashel!
Croke Park and CAMOGIE.
Outside the stadium
Cliffs of Moher
Selfie at the Cliffs
More Cliffs of Moher.
Largest glass of whiskey out there.
Galway City.
Trinity College
Selfies in Dublin.
RELAXIN in Mexico!
Beach and Bf = happy Emily
Glow par-tay.
I must be back in LA… SIDECAR!
My happy place.
First time at Joshua Tree. So gorgeous!
Explorin.
Joshua Tree Handstand.
How gorgeous is this??
KING OF THE WORLD!

November – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

After we spent real Thanksgiving in NYC because I was in the Macy’s Parade (did you guys really think I wouldn’t bring that up again??), we went to Philly for the weekend to see my parents and celebrate a belated Thanksgiving. This meant two feasts, which I will never say no to. My brother came, too! We ran a 5K together as a family and I did surprisingly well, considering how I swore off running for 6 months to heal my ankle. Most of our time in Philly was spent relaxing, but we capped off the weekend with a DELCIOUS third feast at a dim sum restaurant in Chinatown called Ocean Harbor.

December – Delray Beach/Boca Raton, Florida

At the beginning of the year, I was determined to travel more internationally, which meant forsaking a trip to Florida for the first year since I moved to New York! But by September, I really missed all my friends and I found a $207 roundtrip ticket on JetBlue and packed my bags. It’s so fun to visit my friends and soak in the warm temperatures.

December – Dallas, Texas

Every year we visit my emoji-bf’s non-emoji family in Texas for Christmas. It’s fun to get together and hang out, watch movies, wrap presents and eat way too much! I even snuck in a workout class and a run with his sisters. Even my brother drove from San Antonio to spend a few days with us. We went out for dinner and yummy cocktails with a college friend in Deep Ellum one night but other than that, we stayed pretty close to home. Also, Santa got me a new phone! Better resolution braiding pics coming soon!

Are you guys exhausted reading this? Because I am!! I love traveling, and I hope to do more of it in 2019. What are your plans for the new year? Any exciting destinations?