Places I've Been ~ The Things I've Seen: Gibraltar

We continued on to Gibraltar for part two of our honeymoon.
Although we only had a short amount of time here,
this was such an interesting place to visit!
Tours of the caves, visiting with the monkeys that ran wild,
history lessons and stories about the Queen,
shopping the cobblestone streets and alley ways,
and much much more...
this is definitely a place to visit!

Stopped at a light for a plane to take off then we continued onward, driving/walking over the airport runway.

Places I've Been ~ The Things I've Seen: Spain

Let the honeymoon begin! 

Helloooo Spain!!! 

Part one of our honeymoon began in Marbella, Spain.

It is absolutely beautiful here!

Shopping in Old Town, walks along the beach front boardwalks,

soaking up the sun under clear blue skies, tapas and drinks at local restaurants... 

everything is perfect!

If you are traveling to Spain, just be aware of siesta

which is from usually from 12-2 pm (sometimes we found 1-3 pm).

Apparently this is common knowledge to many people;

however, since it was our first time traveling to Europe we were unaware 

that nearly EVERYTHING closes for a couple hours in the middle of the day.

To our surprise when we showed up for lunch and some shopping

all of the doors were shut with no signs of when they would return.

We felt a little silly when we found out this is just what Europe does.

But we took their nap time to our advantage,

making it the perfect opportunity to snap some pictures 

of the beautiful scenery and cobble stone streets since no one was around.

Our Wedding

We said "I Do!"

How we found our venue...

Well getting married by the beach while having a 

royal-like formal wedding was our first choice...

however due my husband's career we had to get married during his off season of baseball

which meant an outdoor beach wedding during November would be way too cold.

So we decided to search for a outdoor venue of our next favorite option, 

which was to get married deep within the hills of wine country.

We still wanted that lush, green, tropical feeling while having a view of the water.

After many visits and lots of research through HereComesTheGuide.com 

we discovered the perfect place.

This led us to our amazing venue Los Willows Private Estate and Vineyard.

Already having the greenery by being surrounded with 

palm trees, vineyards, and rolling green hills 

we decided to bring in bright brilliant colors of yellow and blue 

(my favorite color of yellow and my husbands favorite color of blue. )

We used any and all tropical flowers such as lillys, orchids, 

birds of paradise, banana leaves etc.

And to add a romantic glow we filled the tables with candle lit lanterns.

Not only did I get to marry the man of my dreams

but we were also able to have the perfect dream-like wedding.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

 

I created this one of a kind aisle runner.

The Reception

 Details of my attire

 My hair was a curled, messy side ponytail created by Megan at Salon 29

The rings were custom made by Manya Jewelers

 My shoes were a DIY project.  

I wanted blinged out yellow and crystal shoes but were unable to find any, 

so I bought the Vera Wang White Collection heels and hand crystalized them myself.  

The rhinestones are Swarovski crystals in AB and Canary Yellow.

Mr. & Mrs.

My First Tattoo

Sorry for the disappearance of this blog earlier!

I had to make some changes but now that I am back

here are few re-posts that had temporarily been taken down.

My First Tattoo

Today I finally followed through with something that
I have been wanting to do for years now!

That's right, I finally did it!

I got a tattoo!

Now for some people this is no big deal

but seeing as I change my mind quite often, I decided to wait years and years

before finally deciding to get something so permanent.

So here it is! 

It says "Dare to Dream" with the silhouette of a mermaid.

Why did I get this?

Well, I have always been a dreamer.

I constantly wake up remembering every little detail about all my dreams. 

But mostly I am a true believer that people should not settle.

You only have one life to live and you must go after your biggest dreams.

 My husband and I are currently chasing our dream careers 

which takes a lot of dedication, courage, and strength in such an unsure world.

But I would rather take risks now than look back on life later
and regret the path I had chosen.

And why the mermaid?

I have always had a fascination with mermaids ever since I was a little kid...

probably thanks to Disney and it's Little Mermaid...

but NO, this is not a Little Mermaid Disney tattoo!

(I'm not one of those people who LOVE Disney movies still)

The mermaid makes the tattoo whimsical 

and my parents have always called me a mermaid

(mostly due to the fact that I am slightly obsessed with the water.)

Even as a kid I nearly drowned myself by jumping into the pool not knowing how to swim.

But now my choice of fitness is swimming,
as a born and raised Cali girl I LOVE the beach,

plus my husband and I try to travel from coast to coast
visiting the beaches around the world.

So besides some deeper meanings that would take pages to write about,

there you have it!  

The meaning behind my tattoo!

P.S. The first question people ask me is,

"Did it hurt?"

I'm assuming this is based on the placement.

So for those of you who had previously asked this question:

To be honest... yes!

However, I did not cry, 

the tattoo took about 10 minutes,

and at times it tickled (in which I actually laughed),

at times I was gripping the side of the bench with all my might,

and by the end of the 10 minutes I was pleasantly surprised.

Before I got the tattoo, every person I told where I would be getting it immediately said,

"Oh my gosh that is going to hurt so bad!"

So I went into it thinking it was going to feel like death, 

(maybe that's what helped) 

but by the time it was finished I was actually surprised by how little it hurt.

Now I'm not saying it didn't hurt!

It did!

Just not as bad as I thought.