• outdoors,  travel

    La Paz Waterfall Gardens, Costa Rica

    Well, I wish I was back at La Paz Waterfall Gardens! This week has been a long one with lots of time spent on the phone to resolve different things, and family members taking turns not feeling well. We visited La Paz Waterfall Gardens our last full day in Costa Rica. I thought the price was excessive at $50 but I will say the waterfalls were amazing and the grounds well taken care of and quite gorgeous. The Animals After seeing animals in the wild at our resort earlier, seeing the enclosed animals was not as awe inspiring! However these are all rescue animals. There were monkeys, butterflies and felines.…

  • travel

    Grand Hotel Hilton, San Jose, Costa Rica

    Staying in San Jose was quite a different experience than staying in the country side and nature. The first evening was an adjustment as we arrived at our hotel Sunday night. There were many people hanging out in the plazas near the hotel, people in line for different things and no nature in sight. The hotel though was quite beautiful and luxurious and we used our hotel points to book our room. We stayed at the Grand Hotel Hilton in San Jose. We missed the turn for the hotel entrance and valet so we had to go around the block but were thankful we did not have to worry about…

  • budget,  fall,  fashion

    Inspired by Nancy and Monochromatic Black

    In the past, Nancy (NancysFashionStyle) inspired me to wear a monochromatic black outfit which I shared in this post. Today’s first outfit was inspired by a recent blog post she shared with a pair of satin trousers and a sheer top. It was all black and bookended by fun gold boots. I immediately thought of my velvet joggers and decided it would be fun to recreate that outfit (see more about her outfit here). My second outfit started with a column of black but I chose an accent color to wear with it. Inspired by Nancy I liked the idea of wearing textured pants and these soft velvet joggers I…

  • outdoors,  travel

    The Pacific Coast of Costa Rica

    When planning this trip to Costa Rica, I had to make the decision of which coast to visit: the Pacific side or the Carribean side. The pictures I saw actually did not help the decision. I ended up basing my decision on the location of the Manuel Antonio National Park which we ended up not visiting. However the landscape where we stayed is very similar to the park. We stopped in a couple of spots for pictures on the way to Quepos from San Jose but were a bit hurried as I was ready to reach our destination. The first thing I will say is that none of the pictures…

  • outdoors,  travel

    Night Jungle Tour with Jade Tours

    The second tour we took while in the area near Manuel Antonio National Park was a night jungle tour with Jade Tours. This was one of the tours listed at our resort that could be booked for us and since we were in the area for just a short amount of time, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. The tour was $55+ tax per person. I felt that the price was appropriate since it offered an experience we couldn’t have on our own but my husband thought it could have been about 10 dollars less each since it was a shorter tour. The tour including bringing us to…

  • fall,  fashion,  Ways to wear

    Dress Up your Blazer with a Skirt

    A few weeks ago, I shared a thrifted blazer my friend Jodie found for me with two types of denim in casual outfits in this post. Today, I am sharing another thrifted blazer that I found at Goodwill on the same day (as she had inspired me to look on my own!). This blazer is in a similar cut, fitted and cropped but in a nice purple color without a collar. I decided to dress up this blazer by creating two outfits with skirts and once again I wanted to incorporate some print mixing which I did in the second outfit. Blazer with Midi Skirt I typically shoot outfits at…

  • outdoors,  travel

    ATV tour with Real Adventure

    I wanted to book a couple of adventures while we were in Quepos and Tulemar Resort made that booking ridiculously easy! They have a list of possible tours with descriptions and prices and the concierge assigned to you on your stay books the tours for you. You pay for them before you check out. You can communicate with your concierge in the weeks prior to your stay to set this up and ask any questions. One of the tours we chose was the ATV tour with Real Adventure. We were picked up at the entrance of the resort in a little van which picked up a few other people on…

  • ageless style link up,  fall,  fashion

    What to Wear to a Fall Event with the Ageless Style Link Up

    October’s theme was chosen by Cathy from My Side of 50 and was great theme where we could use our imagination: what to wear to a fall event. As a family, in the fall we enjoy going to festivals, apple orchards and pumpkin patches. Some years, we do all three, others none. This year, we have been busy with sports on the weekend so I am not sure we will have time to include any such activity. We are hoping to go to the apple orchard before the season ends though! For today’s pictures, my oldest and I went to a nearby cotton field, just a few minutes from the…

  • outdoors,  travel

    Tulemar Resort: The Animals

    When we booked our 2 nights at Tulemar Resort, one of the things that drew my attention apart from the nice accomodations and the pretty scenery (jungle and beach) was the opportunity to more than likely see animals living in their natural habitat. It is one thing to observe animals at a zoo or rescue center but completely different to observe those animals living in the trees and bushes around you. So when I woke up early the first morning I went on a walk by myself as my husband wanted to sleep in a little longer. The first animal I came accross was an agouti which is a large…

  • outdoors,  travel

    Tulemar Resort: A Jungle Experience in Confort and Style

    When we decided to stay near Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica, I looked at different hotel options on Tripadvisor. I was looking for something with pretty views, not overly expensive or inexpensive and read some reviews. After looking at options around $100-150 per night, I came upon Tulemar resort which was a little more expensive but not outragious. The price per night was around $230, the views and environment looked gorgeous and the amenities looked amazing. All of the reviews were great and once my husband saw it, he said “that was the one”. It appeared that Tulemar resort would give us a jungle experience while giving us…