MOVING DAY!

Hello All! 

I have finally and officially MOVED to a BRAND NEW DOMAIN!!

Find my brand new blog at 

www.OneThousandJoys.com

See you there! 

<3

OnlyRoses

Tonight on our way to dinner (through the Gate Mall #ilovethegatemall), I talked Zach into taking me by a flower shop. I know that sounds weird and it IS. Especially for me because I am SO not a flower kind of girl. Give me chocolate, I will melt away into wonderland but as far as flowers go I can never get past paying so much for something that dies so quickly. 

Enter: OnlyRoses. 

This flower shop originated in London with a couple that traveled to Ecuador and fell in love with the beautiful roses, but like all flower lovers (and business owners) they wanted to find a way to take them to the next level and add value. The couple did their research and eventually found a way to actually preserve these roses... How long? You ask. A week? A month? TWO MONTHS? 

Still no. 

These beautiful roses last AN ENTIRE YEAR!! 

*GASP*

The lady in the OnlyRoses store told us that many customers have even had their roses last up to THREE YEARS!!! WHAT IS LIFE. 

These ones are even scented!! 

BUT WAIT! THERE IS MORE! 

OnlyRoses not only found a way to make fresh flowers last, those geniuses have found ways create rich and unusual pigments in the roses. And you guessed it, the color the richness of each flower lasts for years too. 

No water. No sunlight. JUST BEAUTIFUL, REAL ROSES! 

My personal favorite was the lavender but there was everything from black to lime green! 

They are even sold in these beautiful crystal vases shown. 

Of course, with every beautiful flower, comes a hefty price. 

For a scented basic LONGEST STEM YOU HAVE EVER SEEN rose, the cost is 35 QAR or $9.50

For a EVERLASTING rose in a glass vase $90

And for my favorite (go figure) the one in the crystal vase, you'll be paying about $160

BUT HONESTLY it is totally worth it; this thing will literally last longer than we are in Doha- wait did I just say that out loud? 😁😘 

Shokran & Gig Em! 

Bailey

Checkout their website here to see even more of their beautiful roses! 

Playa Mujeres, Mexico

This one has been a long time coming, when we went on this vacation I had no intentions of writing a blog and at this point had no idea that only a few months later we would be moving abroad. 

Our vacation to Playa Mujeres was literally THE ULTIMATE in luxury, relaxation and opulence. It has been a blessing and a curse to us as it was so wonderful that no vacation from here on can ever compare to it. Booking hotels anywhere else now just leaves us wishing for and dreaming of our resort in Mexico. 

This is the story of our beachfront honeymoon in The Excellence Resort in Playa Mujeres, Mexico (May 26, 2014). 

I will be honest, at the time of booking I was so wound up with all things wedding that I handed this entire task over to my boo to plan. He literally blew me away when he started sharing photos of his choice but even those could not even begin to portray the vacation we were about to experience. 

One more plug this time for www.honeymooninc.com because although it sounds completely cheesy, they hooked us up with every last detail of our trip to have everything run smoothly. 

So here we are, waking up afterthought wedding day, jump on a plane, fly just two hours south and we were there. Getting out we were instructed to find a man in a Hawaiian shirt--- walking out of the airport EVERYONE is in a Hawaiian shirt, luckily we found ours pretty easily and hopped into a van to go directly to the resort. 

The luxury begins FROM THE MOMENT you step one foot out of the van and onto the resort grand entrance. 

Before you even do, a man comes to help you out and offers a cool, moist cloth to cool down with. As that is happening your bags are already being unloaded from the car and carried in for you.

 Then the moment you step inside you are greeted with an ice cold glass of champagne and a stunning view down the grand staircase.  

Used to walking into hotels and standing around at a desk ten minutes trying to check in? Yeah, that doesn't happen here, instead there is already a person waiting to walk you down to the private lounge where you can sit and eat from a whole assortment of sandwiches and snacks and be served any drink you like while you relax and check in. 

As you can see, we fully enjoyed his bit, Zach even got his first Mexican margarita going. 

Not only are you checking in but you schedule your (included) spa day and private dinner on the beach. Seriously. 

After this, we scurried up to our room (to which of course hey had already delivered our bags) and were surprised with a banner proclaiming our anniversary. Such a personal and sweet touch! 

Not to mention the beauty that lay within!

 

Balcony view

(Notice how wide open all of these lounge chairs are-- when does that EVER HAPPEN?!) 

We even had a full out jacuzzi IN OUR ROOM! Along with this box where when you order room service (which by the way is 24 hours a day and of course all included) they drop your food in the box from the outside then you get in through a door on the inside so you literally have complete privacy in your room. 

Now we stayed for seven nights and eight days so I won't walk you through each one because literally I would wind of writing a novel, and it would be one big love story between Zach and I and this resort lol

For each meal, we nearly went to a different restaurant. There are somewhere around 13 restaurants and 9 bars (all fully stocked and all inclusive) from swim up bars in the pool to high end restaurants like the lobster house. 

Our first night we went for sushi and it was so funny because we got the menu and decided to have fun and get an appetizer, so you know we decided to get her on one to split. The funny part was when the waitress took our order and thought we were crazy for only trying one and encouraged up to try at least two but to really go for any that sounded interesting to us. From that night on we ordered literally everything and anything we wanted. For me that meant two desserts and for Zach that meant two main dishes some nights lol. 

There was even an amazing hibachi restaurant which was even more fun because you go as a set of three couples and get to make friends while you enjoy the food and show. 

I think Zach's favorite was still the breakfast though, something about waking up and getting a big delicious breakfast (and mimosa of course) while letting the realization that it is all real life sink in made for an amazing moment literally everyday. 

Speaking of mimosas this place had alcoholic drinks ON LOCK. From signature specialties daily to the "mini bar" in our room which was actually a fully stocked  (full sized) top shelf liquor (all in included of course) we certainly were livin la vita loca. 

Going to the beach or pool was also elevated. When you would go to layout, first your towels would all be freshly laid out for you and I don't mean just one, they would like live seven on each chair in a perfect manner for ultimate relation. It was awesome! Then they would bring you drink and snack menus to order from and deliver it all to you right there on the beach. EVEN MORE they would constantly bring out trays of drinks for you to try and after not long at all your side table ends up looking a bit like this. 

Not a bad way to spend your day. 

This is all not to mention the activities planned throughout the day from live bands to beach volleyball tournaments. 

Then each night there is a big live show! These shows all depends on when you are there but we literally enjoyed going to one every single night. (Not to mention the constant service of drinks and snacks throw out the show!) 

Here are some snippets from our sunset dinner in the beach. 

And our spa day (which included a full couples massage then an aqua massage which was super fun) 

We did take one exclusion to the city to experience a "traditional" market where we found some mat little keepsakes. I am all about getting suvineers as long as they actually serve a purpose when you get back home so I loved that we found this great blanket (perfect for concerts) and a hand painted ceramic serving set. Love it! 

Along the way, we also managed to meet some prett incredible people who we are actually still in touch with, a year later! 

It was an INCREDIBLE vacation and was everything we had dreamt and more. Here's to you my boo for once again, KILLING IT with your planning skills. I think I need to step down and just let you choose where we go from here on lol 

Shokran & Gig Em,

Bailey 

P.S. This post was written while flying on the Emirates Airbus A-380, the largest plane in the world! And of course I have written a blog about it but I have to just reiterate that THIS THING IS AMAZING.