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Abby Calvin

forever chasing light

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Our Honeymoon in Isla Mujeres

August 31, 2017      Leave a Comment

I’m a big fan of the road less traveled, and flying by the seat of my pants. But I also like to know that “it’s all taken care of,” too. That kind of describes my relationship with my husband, actually – I’m the dreamer and the free spirit and he’s the steady frame that keeps me centered. I like not knowing exactly what we’ll do or where we’ll end up, but DJ’s always there to make sure we have a hotel room to stay the night and a rental car to take us places. You know, responsible stuff like that. 😉

But I digress. I had asked DJ to surprise me with our honeymoon destination, and though he couldn’t resist letting me in on the final few options he’d narrowed it down to, I left the ultimate decision up to him. I couldn’t have been more thrilled when he chose Villa Rolandi on the tiny, tiny (only 4 miles long!) island of Isla Mujeres in Mexico!

a little flight-time reading material.
My FIRST EVER glimpse of Mexico!
this is the face he makes. when I ask him to take a picture of me but the selfie camera is still on….dorkface.

We LOVED it. I’ve never been to an all-inclusive resort before, so I had no basis of comparison, but I was completely swept away by the gorgeous resort and the attentive service! We flew into the main airport at Cancun, and a shuttle took us to the marina where a private yacht awaited us! We were provided with chilled damp towels to wipe away the sweat and travel (ew, gross) from our face, and glasses of champagne and then settled back to enjoy the relaxing twenty-minute ride to Isla Mujeres.

We went during the hottest month of the year, with temps and humidity levels both hovering around 90. At some point around the second day, I gave up on wearing heavy makeup and styling my hair! From then on it was concealer and mascara with a sweep of shimmery bronzer across my cheekbones, and my hair was in a consistent topknot, except for this day when I embraced the natural texture my hair has NEVER before had! This felt like a date-night look, with the flowy black maxi, heeled sandals and the chunky silver jewelry, particularly as we went to the fancier of the two restaurants that evening.

The food was incredible. DJ says it’s hands-down the best out of any resort he has ever been to. There were only two restaurants, but as Villa Rolandi is a smaller, more boutique-type resort with only 30 rooms, it made sense. The main restaurant was very Italian-style, and every single thing we tried was incredible. The second restaurant was a French-Mexican fusion restaurant that was only open for dinner – which was seven courses!

Note: Not from either of the resort restaurants.

We only left the resort twice. The first time we rented a golf cart for the day, and as the island was so tiny, we were able to explore it from one end to the other in a day! Highlights of this were seeing the brightly colored street vendors and storefronts through the main street in town, simply exploring the island to see what we could see, and a small crumbling Aztec ruin on the eastern point of the island.

The ruins didn’t have much to them anymore, but there was a path halfway down the rocky cliff around the point, right by the ocean, and DJ (who has been dive certified for many years) was enthralled by the reefs and wanted nothing more than to be able to dive right into the gorgeous azure water and explore the reef.

There was also a “Turtle Sanctuary” that had been highly recommended to us, where hatchling sea turtles are kept until they are released into the sea. They had sea turtles in all stages of life, which was really neat to see, but with the way the turtles were crammed into small, dirty tanks made it feel a heck of a lot more like a turtle farm. We were both really disappointed with this place – it felt way more like a tourist trap than a turtle sanctuary.

Our second trip off the reservation, as it were, was a Jungle Boat tour off of the mainland! Cancun was a 20-minute ferry ride away, and from there on we took a taxi to the Isla shopping center, which was busy and vibrant and loud and fun to walk through! We, of course, had to stop at a coffee shop and pick up a bag of locally-roasted coffee beans to bring back home with us.

The “Jungle Boat River Tour” was mostly across open ocean, and it was so fun to speed over the water with the wind whipping our hair! We ended up at a reef where we stopped the boats to do some snorkeling. After an unfortunate first experience with snorkeling in Hawaii, I was somewhat nervous about this, but I had a life jacket and DJ held my hand the whole time (and pretty much pulled me along!) and I am pleased to announce that not only did I survive, I am eager to explore bigger and more diverse coral reefs on future vacations!

Watching the sunset with my new husband was pretty much one of my favorite things. <3

Processed with VSCO with 7 preset

It was such an amazing experience! My first visit to Mexico was definitely a success. I know that anywhere we went would have had a bit of a rose-tinted glow because – well, honeymoon, duh! This was certainly not the biggest or most glamorous resort, but Villa Rolandi is a gem, and we had such a wonderful vacation there.

I don’t want to try and overload this post with too many pictures, but I can’t resist: here’s just a few more.

 

Processed with VSCO with f2 preset

I also have to give a shout out to our patient, longsuffering, AMAZING travel agent who put up with more emotion and changed minds than any travel agent should have to put up with! Kirsten at Vacations in Paradise was with us every step of the planning (DOING most of it) putting our minds at ease, and finding us the perfect destination (and great deals!)

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I feel like a poem, I told DJ tonight(two nights a I feel like a poem, I told DJ tonight(two nights ago), and what is a poem but an attempt to express a feeling without a point? 

he wordlessly held my hand a little tighter and i looked up at the stars and it was then I realized, maybe the feeling is the point. we might very well just be little houseplants with complicated emotions, but maybe the emotion is what separates us from the houseplant. and I took a breath of salt-scented air and listened to the waves softly lapping the shore and if it could all just be exactly what it was, maybe so could I, even if just for tonight. 

(the ocean makes me feel more fourish, and don’t @ me. I know this falls apart eventually but it’s where I was.)
I heard @bethmoorelpm say it was Husband Appreciat I heard @bethmoorelpm say it was Husband Appreciation Day, sooo...here’s the best one. ;) I won’t get too sappy (after all, we have an anniversary and a birthday coming up) but I’m just here to say how much I appreciate him. He works ridiculously hard and somehow still manages to find the time to unload the dishwasher on a regular basis, give me back rubs, and take me to the beach for the weekend. I hit the jackpot with him fo’ sho’.
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#husbandappreciationday
📷: @cactusandvinephotography
“We are rich,' said Anne staunchly. 'Why, we hav “We are rich,' said Anne staunchly. 'Why, we have sixteen (thirty-something?) years to our credit, and we are as happy as queens and we've all got imaginations, more or less. Look at that sea, girls - all silver and shallow and vision of things not seen. We couldn't enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.”

L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
✨ you are the best thing that’s ever been mine ✨ you are the best thing that’s ever been mine ✨

Obsessed with these sneak peeks from @cactusandvinephotography 😍😍
He follows the instructions sometimes. 🏔 He follows the instructions sometimes. 🏔
Too much and not enough, all at the same time. I’ve been struggling lately with not knowing how to BE — how to exist in this strange in-between place in which I find myself. And for a girl whose love language is “being understood,” it’s kind of a hard place to be. 😅

Too conservative for some. Too liberal for others. Never really quite enough for either.

Too religious for half the world. Too “progressive” of a Christian for the other half, aka “not religious enough.” And I get it. I used to mock people like that too. But really, all I want to do is follow  after Jesus — it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. It’s a crazy adventure for sure, and definitely not what I ever expected!

This sounds like a whiny post but it isn’t meant to be. I just want to give words to this space, and honor the God who is leading me through it, because really, he’s led me through worse! I tipped my face up to the sun today and remembered that despite anything and everything that goes on in this world, hope has not been—cannot ever be—canceled. Yes, sometimes you have to fight for it, but it’s always always always worth it. 🌿
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#notdriving
Sometimes life feels like a desert.... ? Honestly Sometimes life feels like a desert.... ? Honestly surprised I don’t take more pictures of cactooses. 🌵
Valentine’s Day is for the birds and all...but h Valentine’s Day is for the birds and all...but he’s my forever valentine. 😍Here’s a gratuitous picture of us on our honeymoon...THREE AND A HALF YEARS ago.

It’s funny, I recently ran across a very old journal entry from maybe a decade ago. I was going through this stage where I was coming to grips with the fact that I wasn’t going to be married in my early twenties like I’d always thought. And I’d just had the startling realization that maybe there wasn’t something wrong with ME — maybe HE just wasn’t ready. Doing the math, it turns out my future husband was married to someone else at the time. 😆😳 I’m not sure if that’s inspirational or just plain weird and/or maybe a little bit creepy, but there ya go. 💁🏼‍♀️ I got a good laugh out of it, at least. And I wouldn’t trade a single gosh-darn thing. All those years wondering what was wrong with me were totally worth it when I look at DJ and my life with him now.

Ah, life. Que sera sera. I’m so grateful. He is utterly perfect for me.

(And just for the record? There’s nothing wrong with you.)
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#valentines #husband #thelittlethings #thebigthings #twuewuv #marriagegoals #beating50percent #beating60percent #lovestory
In November of 2019 I invested $7.96 in stocks on In November of 2019 I invested $7.96 in stocks on Robinhood. It promptly started losing value, and after a few weeks I forgot about it. This morning I randomly decided to check my account and see if there was any spare change lingering.

My stock was up to over $200! 😱😱 like whaaaat. I’m blown away. (Do I leave it and see what happens or do I take it out while my earnings are still 2,301% ahead?!)

In other news that’s a freshly-picked Arizona orange right there and it’s the best orange I’ve ever eaten.
Because yesterday was National Spouse Day and I’ Because yesterday was National Spouse Day and I’ve got the BEST one. 🥰

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