Atlantis Vacation Days 4, 5, 6, 7

Ahh, the final days of our trip our upon us! We have had the most fantastic time and would highly recommend Atlantis to ALL of our friends! The last few days have been super casual. We've enjoyed lazy days on the beach and at the pool.

And yes, we got our tan on!!

We've also been to all of the aquariums over and over again- we just can't seem to get enough of those Manta Rays! They are HUGE and I mean HUGE!!!!

These guys were just plain creepy.

See that little dot out there? No, it's not a Hot cabana boy! It's Cody! :-)

And Look what we found!!! For all of you who know how truly OBSESSED I am with Christmas decor- wait until you see what I have up my sleeve for this year with these puppies!!

You can't see my white knuckles in the photo but I braved a scooter ride with Cody! We had a lot of fun though! My favorite part was bartering with the scooter guys to get the best price!! :-)

No...he didn't let me drive! Just posing here! LOL

And Today was amazing but our battery died in the camera!! We did however have a underwater camera with us so as soon as those get developed- I'll post them!!

We went on a AMAZING snorkeling trip! We visited 2 reefs and then at the very end got to swim with Sharks! It was pretty scary. I thought we'd get to go to some cove and the nice little sharks would be there.

Boy was I wrong. DEAD WRONG. We dropped anchor in the middle of the ocean and they had us hold onto this safety rope and not "make any sudden movements". We did this for the 10 longest minutes of our lives. Then at the end, the guide threw in fish food to show us how the sharks will eat. YIKES. But the weird part is- they have a scuba trip where you get even closer and I really want to do it. Call me crazy. :-)

We head back to Cali tomorrow. While it's been a great vacation, all things must come to a end. We're excited to see our kids (dogs and cat!), and one of us is excited to go back to work! :-)

I need to earn this trip every year! Well worth the work!

Lia

Atlantis Vacation Day 2 & 3

Hello All!
We are still having the time of our lives here at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas! We will recommend this trip to ANYONE and EVERYONE! They truly have so much to offer if you are going as a married couple no kids, if you have a million kids, or if you are just going with friends. So much to do and see! AND...the architecture is AMAZING! The picture above is the lobby to our hotel, The Reef.

On Wednesday we ventured out across the canal to Nassau. We enjoyed a nice Bahamian breakfast (haha French toast and grits!) then did some power shopping!! It was actually a perfect day to visit the world famous straw market because it started to pour! The nice thing about the Bahamas is that when it does rain, its warm, and it doesnt last for very long. I was a little disappointed in the straw market because it is very different than how I remember it 7 years ago. The vendors are pretty much all of the same stuff and there isnt really any authentic jewelry or shells. Mostly handbags, t-shirts, and mugs. But we still scored a few good items and I was able to practice my bartering skills!

Then we were on the hunt for snorkeling gear since we left ours at home.

Ahh! The snorkeling has been great! Cody and I both enjoy this very much so it's been fun to do this together. The Reef Hotel has its own private beach and there are never many people on it, so the fish and sea life has been great! Here is a picture of one of the fish' that we have seen:

We have a ton of underwater pictures, so I'll have to post those when I get back. We did get a little freaked out by some fish that would not stop circling us- Aggressively! Cody saw them first and I thought he was exaggerating- but he wasn't! About 20 of these huge fish kept circling us! We weren't sure if they were mobsters fro the sharks so we got out of there! LOL)

The squid (below) was my favorite thing we saw. We saw a little school of about 5 of them. Very cool!

Then we hit the waterslides. I must say that Atlantis has the coolest waterslides I have ever experienced. First of all, you dont have to leave the water to experience them. They have conveyor belts that go off of the lazy river that you can take to go to your slides! How cool is that! The picture below is from my favorite slide, "The Abyss" , a dark drop slide and when you get to the bottom you are in a cave surrounded by aquariums! We sat in there for about 20 minutes looking at all of the cool fish!

Another slide- you float through a aquarium!

After a lazy beach and waterslide day, we hit the streets of Atlantis last night. The lighting was beautiful! And we got to see a really cool lighting storm over the water. We grabbed some icecream and just walked around exploring.

And for those of you with kids (or are big kids at heart) we went and checked out the kids club. Oh my goodness! They have a entire section dedicated to RC race cars/monster trucks. Think "build a bear" but with RC racers. The kids get to design and build their cars and then for $5 a day get to race on the HUGE track against other cars! Super Cool!

Hmm... can you guess which car I would get? :-)

Now our next venture is the Leap of Faith. A straight down drop into a shark tank! Yikes! I'll let you know how that goes!

The Disney cruise ship pulled in today and boy did that hit me hard. My brother, sister, myself, and my mom had a amazing time on that trip. When we stopped in Nassau my mom and I swam with the dolphins. I'll have to post that picture later on. It was such a great time and our last vacation together just the 4 of us. It was one of the most memorable times we had!

We do miss our animals dearly, but we are really having a great, relaxing time!
Thank you Mary Kay!

Atlantis Vacation Day 1

At last our vacation is HERE! For my family/friends who didn't know I chose a DREAM vacation package from Mary Kay this year instead of a Diamond ring. Honestly, with what a GREAT time we are having I just might do THIS every year! For $8.22 (Yes, we went a wee bit over MK's budget! LOL) we are enjoying a FABULOUS 8 day trip at the Altantis Resort in the Bahamas. I really wanted to archive our trip well and figured Blogging would be better than journaling and give us the opportunity to look back!

Ok so let's begin! We took a red eye out of San Francisco and arrived in Miami then transferred over to Nassau. We are staying at the REEF which is one of the Altantis resorts hotels. AMAZING is all I have to say. For those of you who LOVE architecture, this place is elegant AND edgy! I posted a few pics of our room!

The BEST part was that the front desk manager UPGRADED our room to a corner balcony suite! Wait to you see the views!!

So here are some room pictures:
Below is the kitchenette- it comes with a stove, microwave, blender, pans, dishwasher, and full service dishes!

Our bed and to the left is a window with iced glass that goes into the bathroom (YES, that is a TV in the bathroom!!)

DRUMROLL please. . . .The VIEW from our Balcony! The blue lagoon is actually home to about 20 dolphins! We have been watching them swim- it is so cool!

And on the other side.... WOW..look at the water. We spent about 2 hours down there today and the water was PERFECT. And yes, for those who asked...I am getting my "tan on"....I brought my spray tan with me!! No skin cancer or aging here!!! :-)

So when you see how brown I am in the photos below, thank my friend Lesley Bodine for her "Liquid muscle" LOL. :-)

Happy 5 Year Anniversary Babe!
This trip is so special for us- Atlantis was on my original dream list when I first started my Mary Kay business. Taking my husband there has been a dream come true!!! :-)
(LOL- YES..the tan is FAKE!)

On a side note- When you go to Atlantis- DO NOT ask the employees there to take your photo. They expect a $5 tip! YIKES!

We spent a lot of time exploring the Hundreds of aquariums that Atlantis offers. They actually have the largest Marine life habitat in the ENTIRE world! Everywhere you go there are tanks that house exotic fish and sharks.

Today we saw manta rays that were the size of a volkswagon Bug! No joke!

Cody being a goof-ball at one of the aquariums:

Me and the sting rays!

We are having a Blast! Tomorrow we are going to the Aquaventure- an amazing waterslide park inside Atlantis where you NEVER leave your tube! Water rockets and conveyer belts actually take you to the different slides. Some of the slides go through glass tunnel aquariums (tubing through a shark tank for example) as well as fire/rain technology. Should be pretty cool!

Look at the intensity in his eyes as he's thanking me for holding all of those Mary Kay parties!
Haha!

Until tomorrow or the day after,

Lia

The $10 Eye-Lift

WARNING! You are about to be SHOCKED! As many of you know, I am naturally a blonde. I know, I know, What ever possessed me to dye my hair brown? I HAVE NO IDEA- but I LOVE it. :-)

Well, that left me with one little problem that I ignored for quite sometime. My eyebrows were blonde. I "thought" that I had fixed it by having my hairdresser dye them when she does my hair every 6 weeks. Then one day a friend of mine asked if I ever thought about lining my eye brows. (haha dont you just LOVE honest friends?!)

Hmm.. What a concept.

The minute I did .....I was hooked. I whipped out some Mary Kay brow definer and Viola! I was a new woman! Check out this photo below- See what a HUGE difference brow lining makes? My eye looks lifted! AMAZING!

Maria's" Bump-it" Review

So I am finally posting the results of the "Bump-it". I was first introduced to this little baby on a infomercial....and well, those of you who know me- know I'm a SUCKER for "as seen on TV" products. SO of course I just HAD to have it. As my credit card was about to get charged $140, I paused and thought- hmm... probably shouldn't. And much to my impulsive surprise- I didn't! And Boy, was I glad I did because Walgreens had them for $9.99 just a week later and now you can get them EVERYWHERE! 

So it comes in two colors, the Dark brown and the blonde. Each kit comes with the regular bump-it, the (OH-SO-INTIMIDATING) Hollywood bump, and two baby bumps. 

I was actually pleasantly surprised with how easy and quickly I was able to put it in. I'm not naturally a good hair parter and was pleased that my line could be crooked and it would still work! Here is a little image tutorial I found:

Now I have only used the normal bump-it. The Hollywood bump-it just doesnt cut it in Northern California. It would totally fly at a night club in Los Angeles or a Beauty Pageant in Tennessee. But not here- people would look at me like I'm a hooker. :-) So the middle bump-it works just fine!

Now here are my hair pictures of the regular bump-it. 

Totally worth the $9.99 in my opinion.....$140- Not so much!

We've come a long way baby. . .

I cannot believe that in October Cody and I will be celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary. It just seems like yesterday that we were two kids ( I was 19, he was 22) saying our vows with NO IDEA what the next 5 years would bring us. It amazes me each time I reflect on all that has happened (good & bad) I come to the same conclusion each time: We have changed so much. Thankfully, in a good way, and together. I'm going to share with you our timeline over the last 5 years so that you can see how ONE event and and JUST one decision as far as how you react to it- can literally change your life.

Here was our timeline for the last 5 years:

October 23, 2004: Wedding Date. Quick honeymoon to disneyland for 3 days (barely affording it!)

June 2005: My grandparents take Cody, I, my Mom, uncle, cousin, and siblings on a week long Hawaii trip. This would end of being one of the last times we'd all be together again.

October 12, 2005- I am fed up with corporate America just one month before my 21st birthday and decide to start my own Mary Kay business while working full time and taking 21 college units for my marketing degree.

October 23, 2005: Celebrate our one year anniversary in Disneyland for a weekend because that's still all we could afford.

March 2005- My very first career conference. I go as a brand new red jacket.

April 2005: We get our first baby, "Buster" aka "Kitten"

June 13, 2006: My mom passes away suddenly at age 43.

June 15, 2006: I decide I cant go back to my corporate job and resign planning to go into DIQ July 1st.

July 1st, 2006: Move from our 700 sq foot apartment to a 1600 sq foot house. Still renting.

July 2006- Go to my very 1st seminar with my brand new recruit Lori Swilley. I didnt want to leave my family so soon, but my gut (and family) told me to go. SO glad I did!

September 2006: My grandma goes into surgery and ends up very sick and in ICU. We dont think she is going to make it and I am able to be by her side 24/7 because of the flexibility my Mary Kay business affords me. After a few weeks- she is fine! Praise God!

November 1st, 2006: I debut as the youngest sales director in our National Area at age 21.

January 2007: My very first leadership conference in San Diego

February 14th 2007: DIT week in Dallas Texas- Toni Moore and I become even closer and that was the week that she became a Christian and I gave myself permission to start grieving the loss of my mom.

July 2007- Go to seminar for the first time as a sales director.

December 2007: Pick up my first FREE mary kay career car, the Saturn Aura. We trade in my jetta and Cody's GTI to buy him a Dodge charger.

March 2008- Have my best month ever in Mary Kay. My commission check this month is OVER $13,000. And- my income would not drop below $6,000 per month after this averaging $8,000-10,000 each month. I also earned my pink cadillac.

May 2008- My Mary Kay business has picked up a ton!- We are able to move into a BIGGER house. A 2400 sq foot BRAND new house- BUT still renting for $2200/month. The California housing market isnt a good time to buy in at this point.

June 13, 2008: The 2 year anniversary of my mom's death, and the exact day I picked up my first pink cadillac. God works in mysterious ways!

July 2008- Finish our first full year at $500,000 unit club. Cody goes with me to seminar for the first time. I get a diamond bar pin, a 4 carat diamond ring, awards, plaques, and recognition and Cody sees how much Mary Kay CAN change our lives. He's on board and ready to roll. Our marriage also significantly improves from this point forward because we have added a new level of intimacy- we dream together.

December 2008- We BUY our first home in a gorgeous golf community! 5 bedrooms, 3 .5 baths, 3400 square feet. Thanks to Mary Kay, its not too bad for a "starter house!". NO- our starter house turned into our dream house!!

January 2009- We get our 2nd baby, "Maya". I told Cody when we bought a house he could get his dog. And he did. By the way, Mary Kay paid for her also!

July 2009- Finishes $500,000 in sales again taking a travel voucher to go on a 8 day trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas. Mary Kay announces that they experienced significant growth last year even in the midst of a recession.

And there you have it! Almost 5 years!!

In Summary:

-We went from broke to a 6 figure income

-2 free cars

-bought our first home

-had a plan B when tragedy struck

-Realized how important time with family is

-went from having a quick,cheap honeymoon to a 5 star luxury resort

-We matured and no longer sweat the small stuff.

-was able to spoil my husband with: a new car, dog, computer, etc.

A LOT can happen in 5 years and I feel like Mary Kay accelerates where we are going in our lives. Most of the things I've accomplished in the last 5 years are a direct result of starting my business. Imagine if I had not? I'd be in the same miserable job, surviving the same miserable life. I am so glad that I chose to NEVER quit my business. Trust me, there were times I wanted to but I knew in my heart that this business plan was proven so I kept going anyway.

Now- I am so Excited about the next 5 years and what they have to bring! Can you imagine what's in store?

How about you? What's your 5 year goal? I want to know!

-Lia