Let's Talk About Mexico

This will be a different kind of Review Wednesday, my friends (✿◠‿◠)

Typically we would review a kawaii item or fashion within our community (like the lip balm review here). And this evening, I have a very different kind of 'review', if you could call it that. I'm going to tell you the highlights of our trip to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico and we're going to look at pictures - as promised - of the #Kawaii365 projects I was able to come up with each day.

Let's start with the cute pictures! (in order of date taken)

I realized getting lip balm on my drink could be cute.

While putting sunscreen on my pale Celtic legs, I got creative

The sand is smiling back at the sunshine

This 'towel teddy' looks complete with my HK sunnies on her head

"Hello from #Kawaii365 in Mexico" - left for room staff to find

I doodled this on the back of an adult coloring page

One day I decided to make Hello Kitty in the sand

My 6-year-old niece and I drew this cutie together v(=∩_∩=)ﾌ

Rob bought something that seemed very happy!

And I was very happy to see the lobby shop on the resort has stuff for cute-lovers like me and like you! These are wallets and bags:

And Now Let's Talk About The Trip!

So you already know Rob's mum has been saving up most of the year to take her family on a week-long trip to Mexico. We all agreed on Puerta Vallarta, which is just on the Pacific Ocean. We stayed at the Riu Jalisco resort. It is such a fabulous place!

The resort itself is the perfect size for being able to walk to the buffet from our room, and also to the pool or the beach. It was very easy to understand, well-laid out and beautiful! The style was elegant and modern, and overall very clean. The staff were amazingly friendly and had a great sense of humor, like when we were the first ones to enter the dinner buffet, they'd all line up and give us a welcome applause. They also liked to dress like Canadians (in RCMP uniforms) and engage us in games, which was so awesome! One of them even got my husband to drop and do 15 push-ups, so I fell in love with Rob all over again!

Our room was in a Villa with an open roof. Very cool.

I got a very nice tan from the pool and the beach - though it's their winter and the days averaged around 26*C, there was a cool breeze just off the ocean and I often had to wear a wrap or even a towel, lol. The UVB rays still got me though, even through sunscreen. It does look sexy.

We spent a great majority of our time on the beach, where my husband and some of his family members enjoyed wave-hopping. At first, Rob tried to drag me in waist-high but when a wave almost pulled me under, I was done and went back to sit. Shortly afterward, a wave grabbed the glasses right off Rob's face and now they're floating somewhere in the Pacific. So one of the first things we did when we got back was to renew his prescription and order new glasses.

I also really enjoyed time on the beach with my 6-year-old niece Ella. We built various things together out of sand, and eventually started to build 'sand cats', which she wanted to name Hello Kitty. It's always nice to meet a young fan of kawaii ^_^

The nightlife was absolutely outstanding!! My 2 favorites were the Michael Jackson impersonator show, and the Rock Opera, where professional dancers told a story with some hit classics.

A couple of times we went off the resort to see 'real Mexico'. The old western movies always make it seem so run-down, dirty and violent, but in real life it's quite modern and the people are friendly. We walked along the boardwalk of Malecon, Puerta Vallarta and saw the tourist shops, where I got some small souvenirs. It was cool taking a taxi there & back (though when he thought we were American, the driver attempted to overcharge us on the way back). The second time we went off the resort, we checked out a big casino that was very popular among tourists, though I had a little trouble figuring out the slot machines at first (it wasn't just the language, but the differences compared to what I'm used to seeing here in Alberta). Rob & I both had some pretty big wins (in Pesos) on a slot game called 'Magic Forest' so that was nice to leave with extra MXN money. Of course, a great majority of it went to tipping resort staff or shopping in their stores :)

My feet in a cold, refreshing pool at the top of a waterslide

It was such a fun trip overall, even with the minor set-backs like our stuff almost permanently locked in our safe forever and Rob's loss of his glasses - the good memories definitely outweigh the bad ones. It was so nice lounging by the pool together, having Rob drag me through the cold pool to the swim-up bar for fruity drinks, and dressing to the nines for the a la carte dinners and dancing later.

The bands, dancers, and impersonators were all super-talented!

I must say it was totally awesome dancing with Rob in the discotech - mainly because he is not a fan of dancing at all, but to know he's willing to do it in public for me means a lot! Thank you.

One of the very best (and romantic!) parts of the trip was when Rob booked us for a 30-minute couples' massage on the beach. It was one of the nicest experiences of my life and I enjoyed every second of it. Well, except for the one where the lady said they were over, lol.

And I would like to give a big shoutout to the cute girl from Texas! I didn't get to catch your name since it was loud at the stage show, but I would like to thank you for your courage to walk up and compliment my Hello Kitty knapsack. I really enjoyed discussing kawaii culture with you for a couple of minutes - keep being you (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

I accidentally captured her sitting at the table, in the dark red dress. If you recognize yourself, please comment :)

~Coming Soon!~

And before I go for the evening - do you remember in Autumn of 2016 when we had the #KigurumiChallenge? It was a lot of fun to test our confidence levels and not care what others may think, and just let our freak flags fly high (like when I dyed my hair pink a few days ago).

Well, soon I will be doing a #KaraokeChallenge to make the rest of our winter more fun
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

I will be leaving a list of songs for you to choose from, and you will challenge me in the comments section below by picking for me from the list provided, and then I'll film myself singing it for you. Then you get to pick for yourself from the list and upload yourself singing on social media, with the hashtag #KaraokeChallenge and I'll find and share you here!

Today's #Kawaii365 cutie:

Cute faces in text are provided by www.kawaiiface.net