Another Beautiful Summer Day in Playa del Carmen Mexico
There are two important things that we haven’t done in a while so I thought, let’s try and kill two birds with one stone. Jasmin and I love walking into town along the beach from our gated community on the north end of Playa del Carmen. The walk takes about 2 hours but the time flies and the scenery is so incredibly beautiful. I figured we could enjoy a day walking into town and then I could write a blog update about it.
Jasmin & I live in the lush and quiet community of Lol Ka Tun on the north side of Playa del Carmen. The walk from our house to Xcalacoco beach takes us about 15 minutes. There are days, especially in the summer where the heat is incredible and the humidity palpable. 15 minutes can seem like an eternity but once we come around the corner and we can see the blue water and feel the Caribbean breeze we instantly remember why we moved down here 2 years ago.
Along the walk we pass wildlife, resort goers, local families enjoying a beautiful day and fishermen hard at work.
One of our favourite spots along the walk into town is the beach side cenote at Playa Punta Esmeralda. As you can see this is a local favourite, especially on Sundays. It’s incredible how cold the water is as it flows from the limestone pores of the earth into the sea.
Any walk into town wouldn’t be complete unless we stop and grab some litros from some of our favourite stops along the way. One of the best is Fe on 1st ave. They have great ceveche, burritos and litres of beer for 70 pesos.
I can’t wait until our next adventure into town. Maybe I’ll convince Jasmin to do it again this Sunday.
Here are more photos from our day. Enjoy <3
Summer Recap – A Month in Winnipeg was the Perfect Amount of Time Back Home
It’s hard to believe that the summer has already come and gone, although the weather doesn’t help much when you live in a tropical paradise and “every day is summer”. Obviously, this statement isn’t quite the truth, as temperatures do still fluctuate even in warmer, South of Canada climates. The fluctuations are obviously not so extreme, and there’s still no need to have entirely different wardrobes for the changing seasons, no mittens and scarves and parkas either. But, there is still definitely cooler temperatures here in the winter months (December-March). This is unlike the summer heat that has us melting while trying to conserve our electric bill with minimal air conditioning usage, plus an inability to cool the office and kitchen space on the opposite side of the condo as the split air conditioning units are located in the two bedrooms, but I digress. At night, temperatures can still dip down to 16c with a high of only 26c at the peak of the day in January, which is fairly different than July & August where it’s more like a low of 28c at night and a high of 38c during the day. There’s still variation in those temperatures, my friends. Just not -40c winter extremes to feels like +40c with the humidex summer extremes. I was born and raised in Winnipeg, and have spent a total of 6 years of my life (at two very different times in my life) in Montreal. So, when I tell you I know nearly everything there is to know about extreme temperature variations in one set place, I truly mean it. *Please note: this blog post will be sprinkled with teaser photos from our August weddings (Svetlana & Dmytro at Azul Fives Resort and Jenna & Dennis in Kinosota, Manitoba) to help navigate your eyes away from text at times*
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This long-winded, silly rant-like one-sided conversation I just had is a conversation that came up several times throughout our month long living arrangements in Winnipeg, Manitoba this summer. We were fortunate enough to travel home to photograph a wedding in rural Manitoba, and since we have our belongings, and essentially still, our lives in Winnipeg, it seemed only fitting to jump on the opportunity to spend as much time visiting with friends and family as we possibly could. There were ups, there were downs, and overall, the month back home went by far faster than I thought it would, or even could for that matter. I really thought 4+ weeks would be long enough that time would actually have a chance to stand still for a bit. But no, it just went as fast as ever. What we anticipated to be infinite time spent with those near and dear to our hearts, wound up (as always) becoming mere hours penciled in on a handmade paper calendar of events for the month. This was truly the only way to properly track our whereabouts, hangouts, and the like. We could communicate via this vital piece of paper when we would be separate and thus discuss access to borrowed vehicles, where we had opportunities to double date or visit friends jointly, and making sure we wrote a list of people to contact and connect with, in hopes of trying to squeeze in as many familiar faces as humanly possible.
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And it was exhausting. Rewarding too, but very exhausting. We had some much needed R+R time sporadically throughout the trip, with road trips to my family farm, Matt’s family’s cottage, and the rural wedding we were hired to shoot in the first place (making this whole trip entirely possible). Actually, the drive to and from Kinosota, Manitoba was spectacular. It’s easy to forget the simple pleasures in life sometimes, especially when you’re away from them for an extended period of time. Who knew I would miss driving a vehicle as much as I did? And who knew just how much we missed road trips with flat open prairie fields for kilometers, and those prairie sky clouds and endless horizon, and that unforgiving, relentless urge to be in the process of drinking a Tim Hortons coffee the entire road trip? We couldn’t have asked for a nicer and more exciting reward to photographing a stunning and beautiful Manitoba wedding than to have a month with friends we’ve missed dearly, family we’ve missed more, and common places and reinvented spaces that we had a chance to explore?
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In a nutshell, we ate plenty of delicious food, engaged in lovely conversations with all of our favourite people in the world (and those we missed, we obviously regret!). We took some “me” time together, but separate, at Jellyfish Float Spa for a 90 minute relaxation float (our first time and boy was it fun for me!). I treated my parents to a night’s dining experience at Chew, which is certainly a delicious place to grab food. We had a few outings with my brother, Justin and his partner Christine, with everyone enjoying Ethiopian food for the first time at Massawa Restaurant. And more importantly, enjoying a true tapas evening out with the two of them at Enoteca, which had mushrooms that were on another level, and have certainly ruined mushrooms for me in everyday day-to-day living. We were treated to a Chinese food feast at North Garden Restaurant in the city’s South end of town. We brunched over sandwiches at The Yellow Deli, owned and operated by Common Sense in St Boniface. We took ourselves to brunch on some of the best burritos either of us have ever consumed (seriously, every time, they are the best) at Burrito Del Rio in the heart of the city’s eccentric hangout known as Osborne Village. We treated ourselves to a fancy lunch at Fusion Grill, despite the unfortunate torrential downpour happening all over the city as we paid our bill and were ready to head out. We had a laid back breakfast with Matt’s parents at Perkins Family Restaurant, while I made a second visit there for coffee and breakfast with a previous Winnipeg Humane Society co-worker friend of mine, Judy. We were fortunate to make two stops in at Peasant Cookery twice while home, once for their infamous Buck-a-Shuck oyster night (seriously, $1 per oyster all night?!) as well as to try their entry for Le Burger Week taking place in cities across Canada the first week of September. There were others that we did not even get a chance to check out, as we were often too busy with plans for delicious dinners at other peoples’ places, or just out and about grabbing small things here and there.
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And that was our month long stay back home! Lots of visits and lots of food. And it was glorious. As always, it’s great to be getting back into a routine and normal life down South, but I’m already starting to feel my heart strings being twanged just a wee bit to come back again, and soon. In the meantime, it’s back to photo editing and updating the site, while organizing business-related things and the new place that we moved to back at the beginning of July. And now, for the last of our teaser photos, and keep your eyes out for these weddings, and others, going up on the site in the months to come!
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It’s a Spring of Spawns
Now that we’ve reached Level: Adult, it means being surrounded by same-age family members, friends, and friends of friends who are each spawning their own little ones. This is a whole new chapter in so many of our friends lives currently, and it was a real treat having the opportunity to watch these lovely ladies celebrating their first mother’s day this past May, this time on the receiving end of things. One such lucky lady is my close friend Bonnie, who we also had the pleasure of photographing for a post-wedding session two years ago, complete with wedding gown, shoes and acoustic guitar. Bonnie and Daniel just recently celebrated their 2-year anniversary, June 1st, to be exact, and we couldn’t be happier for them. Celebrating an anniversary, and welcoming the latest addition to their family at the end of April means the couple had that much more to celebrate. Living away from friends and family has it’s set of challenges for us, and one of them definitely is not being around for some pinnacle moments in our friends lives. Thankfully, the internet helps keep us connected, and conversing is still possible. This means that I was still able to witness the slow and steady growth of Bonnie’s belly, and see her swell with excitement as the final days drew near. This also means I was not aware of some of the trials and tribulations of her pregnancy, where things didn’t always go as expected or planned. Wanting to write a bit of a post about her experiences with entering motherhood, I took some time to ask some of the questions that are more often overlooked when it comes to the thrill of pregnancy. I wanted to know as much as I could. I wanted to feel like I was able to understand better what troubled her during those 9 months, and how life has been since giving birth to her beautiful, healthy baby boy Liam. And I wanted to be able to share that with others, for first time expectant mothers who may want some additional insider’s tips and knowledge.
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Being that my motherhood experience is limited to fur babies and being “that cat lady”, I have to admit I had no idea what else was going on inside that blossoming body of hers. I could read excerpts on Facebook about the growth, the expanding of her belly, of the need for some new clothing, and some minor discomfort. What I didn’t realize is that during her pregnancy, Bonnie felt hiccups from within whenever she would eat anything exceptionally cold, and describes them loosely as “super cute vibrations”, and he would get super active, kicking up a storm when heavier bands like Korn and Iron Maiden were played. It’s these little things that fascinate me about pregnancies, and although I know of them, don’t know when to expect them for which expectant mother friends of mine. A major downside was Bonnie developing borderline gestational diabetes which I didn’t even know was a thing. Turns out she had to follow a fairly controlled diet, as well as test her insulin levels in her blood 4 times daily. And if you think pricking your finger four times a day to test blood is the worst of it, have I a surprise for you. Turns out the swelling of most body parts resulted in difficulty walking due to sore legs and an inability to wear her rings.
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As seems common for several of our friends lately, delivery did not go as anticipated. After three failed inductions accompanied with labour pains and some morphine, the final decision was to rely on a c-section to welcome Liam into the world. All pains and unexpected turns with the end results could not overshadow the bliss that came with officially welcoming this bundle of joy into the world. And just like that, a superstar was born. Liam has his work cut out for him in the years to come, and has some pretty big shoes to fill if he’s going to be even half the man his incredible father is! Speaking of fathers, we also have Father’s day coming up this weekend, which means Daniel gets a chance to shine in the spotlight for his first time celebrating fatherhood as well. Truth be told, both parents shed some tears when Liam was finally born, both awestruck with his beauty, with his completeness, with being a perfect wee little human being they both helped create. The mixing of their genes, their personalities, their characteristics and the uniqueness that makes Bonnie and Daniel such incredible human beings, means that Liam is one hell of a lucky boy. These two sparkle, and it is impossible to be around the two of them without a smile. Daniel, always the attractive jokester and rocker, has a keen sense of style and an impeccable way of approaching life with a smile and an open heart. Bonnie has taught me so much through our years working closely together at Starbucks, which in retrospect feels like a lifetime ago, and has always had a motherly nature about her.
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And back to the days following the pregnancy, Bonnie was fortunate enough to have a lovely experience at her hospital, with friendly staff and the ability to stay for three days following the birth as she was experiencing a fair bit of pain afterwards though within just the few short days was healed enough to head home and introduce Liam to family life in their cozy den. The word that really struck a chord in me when discussing her entire experience is that Bonnie found it to be surreal, and I think that really sums it up quite nicely. I already think of it as such, so I am happy to see I am not far from the truth. Pregnancy is surreal. Period. Oh, and magical, and exciting, and nerve-wrecking, and just feels good, it feels natural. There will always be the difficult moments, like when Liam cries for reasons unbeknownst to mom and dad, but those days get easier, once realizing that it is all just part of parenthood. Liam is currently a fan of bath time with mommy, burp time with daddy, tickle time from the both of them and has figured out tricks to get out of his burrito wrapping. I kind of like thinking of him bundled into a perfect baby burrito. And nothing makes my heart swell more than hearing Bonnie exclaim “He’s kind of awesome!” So cheers to a month and a half in this world so far, little one, and cheers to plenty more months and years ahead! Now, to meet this little baby burrito in person. Uncertain which will come first, a visit back to Montreal on our part, or baby’s first tropical adventure to Mexico to see his honourary Auntie Jazz, but either way, I’ll be ecstatic when the day comes that I get to hold this precious gem in my arms, and look at his adoring parents and say “Job well done, guys, job well done.”
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Making Friends, Saying Goodbyes, and Teasers!
We are pleased to say that work has been coming in steady, and we’ve been busy busy busy, to say the least. The months seem to fly by, and sometimes it’s hard to even catch a spare breath. That being said, we are having an absolute blast with it all. There have been new friendships formed with couples we have had the pleasure to photograph, and there has been some sad goodbyes with friends living in the Mayan Riviera for the winter months, who have since moved back home. This also means no more dogsitting for one of the couples, which was also a nice change of pace, and a refreshing change, mainly because their girl was such a sweetheart. Just look at those eyes!
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We knew the time was coming, but that still didn’t make it any easier. We are sad to say that Jeremy and Brittany have moved back to their home, in Edmonton, followed by Jenn and Glen who have since moved back to Vancouver with their incredible viszla Scarlett (Check out this great list of famous dogs). But, that also means we have excuses to travel to various provinces in Canada to reacquaint ourselves with old friends. We are fortunate to have plenty of friends in Winnipeg and Montreal, having lived in both cities for numerous years during our adulthood, so it’s nice to have a sprinkling of friends in the Western portion of Canada.
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Making friends here can sometimes be difficult, and I know that may sound a bit strange, but it’s true for a variety of reasons. A lot of people don’t move to Playa del Carmen and it’s surrounding areas as a permanent move, in that there are plenty of snowbirds (young and old) that come down to escape the winter months from up North, but head back when the temperatures start rising here, or more importantly, the humidity. There’s a reason the hotels and resorts offer lower prices during months like May & June, and September-November. January starts off with a bang, and stays fairly busy and congested for the first three months of the year. But it is hard not to notice the dwindling amount of tourists come the end of March and leading into April. That, followed closely by Snowbirds deciding to head back home to enjoy the tail end of Spring, the beauty of Summer, and the first half of their crisp Autumn months at their homes in the United States and Canada. So that means there’s a lot of transience going on in our part of the world. And that can make forging friendships difficult and trying, or at least ones where we are guaranteed to see them continuously throughout an entire year, difficult. But, that’s just part of relocating to an area you know is full of tourists, travelers, backpackers, snowbirds, expats, and the like. The plus side is making friends with all these transient individuals, and thus the possibility of establishing friendships worldwide. And that, to put it plain and simple, is pretty cool.
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And now, on a completely different note, we have posted the January weddings of 2015 that we photographed, with Krista & Dennis at Azul Sensatori, as well as Kyleigh & Cody at Grand Palladium Riviera Resorts. Furthermore, here’s some teasers from the February weddings, when we had the pleasure of photographing Melissa & Chris at Grand Palladium Riviera Resort, and Lisa & Tyson at Villa Luna y Sol
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Coco Beach Eco-Market Playa Del Carmen
I feel like all I ever end up doing is blogging about how fast the time flies by, and that I am likely sounding repetitive. But, on the token, it’s so TRUE. The time seriously zooms by. I honestly can’t believe it’s already March. And already a week into this month.
We have kept ourselves exceptionally busy since the start of 2015, taking on a new and exciting side project with perogy making. And that seems to be going quite well, and has blossomed quite nicely. We were fortunate enough to be approached by a German lady living here in Playa del Carmen, Anja, to try selling our product at one of the local Eco Markets in town. And, having already made tried, tested and true customers with a wonderful ex-pat couple, Vicky & Scot, who live in the complex where the market is held Friday mornings, made it that much more inviting. We had entertained the idea of selling at one of the markets for awhile now, but had quite a few hurdles to leap before we were properly prepared. There was a dire need for a portable table, a travelling cooler that is reliable, business cards, sticker labels for the bags, and then the hassle of getting a cab to our place in the morning, as well as home. But, somehow we made it all happen! Having only been invited a week ago by Anja, we realized it was time we just purchased what we needed and get our name, and our product, out there. We also have some pretty stellar neighbours who offered a last minute lift to the market, which saved the hassle of bringing one into our gated community at 8am.
It was great fun to meet people that have heard rave reviews of our perogies, without even having tried them. And, a lot of those people definitely left with perogies in hand and smiles on their faces. All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and completely worthwhile. And more importantly, we’re very excited to say that we will be back next Friday morning too!
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Love Is In The Air
It’s that time of year that 1/3 of the population love, 1/3 of the population despise, and the remaining 1/3 just ignores completely. That’s right, Valentine’s Day is here! Or was here, rather! It’s Valentine’s night now, and today has been a day filled with tender moments and many a shared laugh with my significant other. So here’s hoping our past clients and lovers, and future couples are all able to say they’ve been able to enjoy the same. And if not today, than yesterday, or perhaps tomorrow. The day truly is irrelevant, and it’s taking the time to express your love for one another and really relish in those moments that matter most. And now, on to our fabulous Saturday.
We had a chance to sleep in a bit, of course with cats disturbing that by wandering about on our pillows and meowing for breakfast in our faces. The day started with delicious coffee and a walk to the corner store for eggs and milk, reminiscing about our past, and having all sorts of lovely nostalgic moments. Talking about how we met, how long we’ve known each other, and how much we have grown together as a couple, as a working partnership, and with ourselves. The sun was out, the day was young, and we haphazardly decided to get it started right with a bike ride for some random groceries, and some clothing shopping. We let ourselves take detours, and an alternative route, because why not really? The day was gorgeous and we were in good spirits, with no need to rush for anything. Just enjoying the day for what it was. At home, we decided to clean house a bit, minor tasks like floor mopping and laundry, followed by more work on photos from the recent weddings we photographed end of January.
We made our first attempt ever at making our own egg salad for sandwiches, as it is a favourite of both of ours, but somehow we have not made it ourselves in the 6 years we’ve known each other. Madness! So, swap the mayo with some fresh avocado, mashed with perfectly boiled eggs, finely chopped onion & celery, a tablespoon of mustard and sprinkled with salt, pepper and paprika and voilà! Our delicious dinner for two for Valentine’s day! And, to follow that all up, we are going to watch a movie and pinch some gourmet perogies à la potato/cheese/pesto! Yum! So, with that, we will at least post a few of the teasers from the first wedding we photographed January 21st, with Krista & Dennis at Azul Sensatori in Puerto Morelos.
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Another Year Passed, Another Happy Anniversary to Kara & Vince Hill
It’s hard to believe that yet another year has passed since Kara and Vince Hill’s destination wedding here in the Mayan Riviera. The wedding that started it all for us. The wedding that gave us a taste of what it truly is like being on the beach, photographing in the sand, and in the water. The wedding that was my first official visit to Mexico, and the Yucatan Peninsula. My first time in Playa del Carmen. Our first time staying at Grand Sirenis Riviera Maya. It was an eye opening experience, and one that really had us taking a moment to think about our future, and what we wanted to do with ourselves. Granted, it wasn’t an immediate decision to pack up and move down, but definitely got the wheels turning in our minds. And wondering about the possibilities that could lie ahead, if we followed our hearts and our passions, rather than succumb to what was expected of a couple in their mid to late 20s living in Montreal. The expectation was to settle down ourselves, secure a job that would guarantee a steady paycheque, look into mortgages, owning a home, buying a car, etc.. but where’s the fun in that? My heart is always seeking out adventure. And there was no looking back after that first taste of salty crisp beach air, that unforgettable feeling of tiny broken shells, mixed with dried seaweed and sand, between my toes. There was no looking back after knowing what it’s like to wake up daily to the sunshine kissing my cheeks, and warming me to the core.
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So, cheers to Kara and Vince for the experience. And we are wishing them the warmest of Happy Anniversaries from down South. We had the pleasure of visiting them in their then-home of Gatineau, Quebec and taking some time to tour around Parliament Hill with them and their dog Charlie. It was a crisp and cool January, with plenty of dangerous icy patches that had to be cautiously avoided. But it was a splendid time nonetheless, photographing their anniversary in Canada. It’s wild to think that was already a year ago! Seriously, time has really just flown by. And now, here we are having relocated to the Riviera Maya, and meanwhile, Kara and Vince have since moved back home to Winnipeg too. Along with Charlie. Bigger, better job opportunities were on the horizon, and so they packed up and headed home. A visit was in order during our return to our hometown for Paula & Scott’s Wedding this past September, and it was great to talk about our individual experiences living in Quebec versus Manitoba, and about our own respective new journeys and paths in life.
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Turns out this year, for their anniversary, Kara and Vince opted to travel to Punta Cana to celebrate, and escape the snow and cold that Winnipeg winters have to offer for half the year. Having just returned from their trip a few days ago, we haven’t had the chance to really get many of the details of how everything went, BUT, looking through the photo album Kara has posted on Facebook makes it seem like they had a blast. We are very much looking forward to hearing more about the trip, perhaps through a Skype meeting, in the near future. Until then, though, we are sending our love and our well wishes to the gorgeous couple that first gave us that inkling to want to take the dive and move down South to 12 months of summer a year. Cheers to my lovely cousin, and her charming husband! May you have many more anniversary celebrations, and looking forward to one day being a part of one again!
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Cheers to a Wonderful Year Passed and an Exciting New Year Ahead! Best of 2014!
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I know that most everyone has done their reflection on the year that was 2014, and made their resolutions for the year ahead, but here at Jasmin & Matt Wedding Photography, we wanted to take some extra time to reflect. We didn’t want our “Best of 2014” to be lost in a sea of the same, among other New Year resolutions, and the discussion about whether or not it people will succeed or fail to meet them, which are often unrealistic goals in the first place. It also seemed fitting to time everything a bit more with our Ukrainian heritage background, feeling a bit more justified knowing that Orthodox New Year, according to the Julian calendar celebrates the New Year January 14th, 2015. So, with that, I would like to say Happy Malanka to all those celebrating the birth of a new year as of yesterday! It’s hard to believe that 2015 is already upon us, but we are eager, we are excited, and we are anxious to see what this new year has in store for us, on every account and at every level.
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And now, to take a look back at the past year on a personal level, which has been full of so much excitement, so much chaos, so many changes! It’s hard to imagine that just so much has happened in one year’s time. We went from working office jobs in Montreal, photographing the odd wedding or couple session on weekends in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to devoting our lives to weddings here in the beautiful Mayan Riviera. There were long long work days, many over time hours worked, to try to cushion our bank accounts so that moving to Playa del Carmen would not be too harsh for the first few months. We moved here in the summer. The summer months in the Yucatan Peninsula are something else. They are hot. They are humid. There is plenty of sun, and very little rain. The temperatures seemed to consistently be 36c, and with the added humidity, coming in anywhere between 44 to 48 degrees Celsius. Every day. Unrelenting. It was interesting. There were many a day spent melting in bed, wondering how groceries were going to be purchased in this heat. Wondering how we were going to cook food in this heat. Wondering how we were simply going to survive. They don’t call our home town Winterpeg for nothing. And having relocated from one frigid part of Canada, to another less constantly frigid but increasingly more snowy part of the country, with Montreal for the past four years (June 2010-2014), there’s been quite the adjustment period. I would certainly say we still plenty of adjusting to do, but we’ll see how that goes when the next summer season hits us here. We had a taste of intense humidity a couple weeks a year in Montreal, and now it’s a number of months instead. The plus side though, is that the climate doesn’t fluctuate here the way it does back home, and that means our bodies are constantly adjusting to no snow, no minus anything, no risk of frostbite or layers while waiting for a bus.
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We took some time to look back at the year from a professional business stand point, with the couples we have had the chance to work, and decided to narrow down the ones we were really happy with, the ones we felt were deserving of an additional nod towards, the ones we thought really captured a moment or could tell its own story. We were so happy to be a part of so many special days for so many special individuals this year, and can only look forward to doing the same again this year, and the year after that, and so on. We had the pleasure of photographing anniversaries, weddings (both straight and same-sex), a honeymoon, maternity, and preliminary wedding photos before a couple travelled overseas to China for their actual wedding and vow exchange with family. We were able to do work in the city we called home half of the year, Montreal. We were able to photograph a close friend’s wedding in our home town and home forever and always in our hearts, Winnipeg. And we have been photographing weddings in the place we now call home, Playa del Carmen and the surrounding Riviera Maya. It’s hard to believe that our lives have changed so much this year, but every step of the way we have poured our hearts and souls into everything we do. There are so many people in our lives, family, friends, acquaintances, that will often experience envy or jealousy over our situation, over what we are doing with our lives right now. And although those feelings are completely justified and make absolute sense, I do want to point out that it’s not always easy. Photographing a wedding day is a long day of work. Secluding ourselves indoors to work on writing for the site and photo editing for our clients when the sun is bright and begging to be enjoyed, isn’t easy but has to be done. When you live here, every day may seem like a holiday to others, but it most certainly is not for us. And that is the reality anywhere you decide to live. When you’re in British Columbia and close to the mountains, you likely aren’t skiing or snowboarding every day of the week. And it’s the same when you live by the ocean, or a beach. Sure, there’s the convenience of being close, which isn’t even an option back in Winnipeg, but it doesn’t mean you have the joy or pleasure of taking advantage of it every day. There will always be discipline involved with prioritizing what has to get done versus what you want to be doing some days.
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And that brings us to where we are now. Today. Here in the Riviera Maya. Here just North of Playa del Carmen. Here in the state of Quintana Roo. Here in the Yucatan Peninsula. Here in Mexico. And we wouldn’t change anything for the world. Of course, there have been plenty of smiles, laughs, sweat, tears, and everything in between, but it has been 100% worth it. Life will never be the same. This was a huge change for us to both be making each before turning 30, and we are so happy we took that leap, made that jump, and somehow still landed on our feet in the sand, by the water, in the sun, in a place we can, for now, call home.
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Happy American Thanksgiving!
There has been so much going on with our lives currently, it’s almost unreal! I feel like the month of November only just started, but somehow I find myself sitting in front of the computer, looking at the bottom of my screen and thinking “when did it become the 27th of November”? I guess that’s simply what happens when you have, let’s say, a bit of a forced vacation from home, by means of a friend visiting from Montreal, Darwin, and deciding to enjoy some of the more touristy things that Playa del Carmen, and the Mayan Riviera in general, have to offer. That is not to say that work did not still happen, and that is not to say that were weren’t still busy finding a happy balance between work and play, but it does mean that November has become a blur of fun times with a friend we had not seen since June.
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It was lovely having the chance to just kick back some days for breakfast, or night where we would head upstairs to our rooftop terrace, with homemade sangria in hand, LED flickering votive candles in jars, a deck of playing cards just ready for action. Many laughs were shared, and we had an opportunity to catch up on the lives of our friends back home, or home #2 rather (Montreal) from a source other than Facebook, Twitter, or any other varying form of social media. We’ve had a chance to see familiar Winnipeg faces twice this year, back in July upon our return home, as well as again in September when we photographed Paula and Scott Vandersteen’s offbeat wedding, but since selling most of our belongings, packing a Uhaul attachment to our 2003 Cavalier, and bidding the French province adieu, we had not had the pleasure of Montreal companionship. Seems like a lifetime ago, but I guess when you move twice in two weeks, and the final move being in a foreign country, it really does throw your mind for a loop. Expect more blog posts covering the sights, sounds, and tastes of these Darwin Escapades in the near future, although unfortunately today is not the day, because today is already busy enough as it is.
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Why the backburner of tales of adventures and wonder, you may ask? Because today is American Thanksgiving! And although we are may be Canadian, we are always interested in potlucks, friend gatherings, and Holiday celebrations! And, we have been fortunate enough to meet a lovely American couple visiting Playa del Carmen for the months of October and November, who were wanting to prepare a turkey and weren’t sure if there was much point to the whole ordeal. Needless to say, with some encouragement and some promises of shared food and fun, the decision was unanimous that a Thanksgiving dinner did indeed have to take place, and it would be an AmeriCanadian celebration. The same night we met Michelle and Jeff, we also meet two fabulous Canadian couples as well, Jeremy & Brittany, and Jennifer & Glen. And, of course, the more the merrier when it comes to a celebrating a Holiday which has a focus on being thankful. We may all be far away from family and familiar friends, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make your own nest in a new tree. Isn’t that why the term “Friendsgiving” came about anyway?
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And so, with that, I leave you with a short video of Sushi in the kitchen trying desperately to help me prepare a new recipe, No-Bake Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites! Since most households are without an oven here, challenges when it comes to baking are plenty! Thankfully, as much as I love baking, and consuming baked goods, I try to avoid it at all costs because, well, my waistline could use the avoidance, but I missed having pumpkin pie for Canadian Thanksgiving, and thought I would give something new a try. Something healthy, but something pumpkin themed. A proper wrap up of the night’s festivities will be blogged about in the near future, complete with more photos of the deliciousness we all will consume, and obviously a yay or nay to my attempt at a new recipe. Happy Thanksgiving everyone, remember to tell someone you care that you love them, and express your gratitude and appreciation for all the things you have to be thankful for this year, and in your life.
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