USVI

8.02.2016

Cue the island music, break out the umbrellas for your cocktails, and lather up with lots of sunscreen. When you’re finished, join me on a little magical tour of my summer vacation. Beware: lots of beach photos to be seen, mostly starring none other than yours truly. You see, while it would appear I may have gone on this vacation solo, I promise you that my mother was along for the ride. However, since she prefers I never take photos of her, I’m left with these lovelies she snapped of me. Oh darn.

While visiting mommy dearest in Florida over my summer vacation, we decided to take a girls trip down to the Virgin Islands. I should preface this with a little background. When I was about ten years old, my parents took me on the most magical vacation to the Virgin Islands. We sailed from one island to another for a week-long trip in paradise. I have never gotten over it. It may or may not be where my obsession with islands came from.

Since that time, I’ve been begging to go back. Between all of the vacations we’ve taken, somehow we just haven’t made it back to the paradise of my childhood. However, since I left hubby at home this time, I have a feeling we’ll be going back quite soon. Let’s let hurricane season pass, and then we’ll set sail.

For our girls trip, my mom rented an Airbnb on Water Island, which is the newest Virgin Island. It’s also the smallest of the group, and has less than 200 residents. In other words, perfect for us to relax for a few days. Not only are there not many locals, there are only two businesses on the island: Dinghy’s Beach Bar (YES!), and a beach-side food bar, Heidi’s Honeymoon Grill. Both are located on Honeymoon Beach, which just so happened to be one of the prettiest beaches I’ve ever seen. And as you can see below, my friend Squirt was a regular.

Squirt and I had a little BFF quality time every morning. His friends tended to show up, but we had a special connection. Clearly. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway, because it was magical. He let me pet him for heaven’s sake. If that’s not magical, I don’t know what is.

To me, there may never be another day as perfect as this: swimming with sea turtles on one of the best beaches in the world, only to come out and be greeted by one of the best cheeseburgers I’ve ever consumed. All while sipping a Painkiller cocktail. Paradise indeed.

And while she wouldn’t let me take many photos of her, I would like to present the evidence that I was on this vacation with another human being. She may or may not be the cutest mother in the world, so I had to post at least one photo of her. Even if she’ll hold this against me for the rest of my life. As long as I have this photo to cherish for the rest of my life, I’ll take her anger right along with it.

Although we spent the majority of our time on Honeymoon Beach, I did manage to beg her to take me to St. John one day. Since being there as a child, I’ve been itching to go back. Not only does it have some of the prettiest beaches in the world, but it’s also home to a very large National Park which also includes an underwater snorkeling park. In Trunk Bay you can swim through the underwater park or just relax in one of the World’s Best Beaches. Which was the reason for my trip, clearly.

You can’t be expected to tour the Virgin Islands and not stop to appreciate the beauty. Which I did plenty of. With my camera. I know people say that you should enjoy the moment and not always be snapping photos, but really, if you don’t have a photo to prove you were there, were you really there?

DIY

Printable Bible Verse Notecards

7.28.2016

And just like that, I’m back. Back to the grind, back to the desk. Back to the Bay, back to my fat cat! I spent quite a bit of time relaxing on the beaches of south Florida and the Virgin Islands. I’m jealous of my own life right now, wishing I was still sitting on said beaches with a cocktail in my hand. I can’t even look at my own Instagram without feeling a little bit of beach envy.

I am the first person to tell you that I am one lucky traveler. I don’t ever take a trip for granted; I try to enjoy every second of every vacation we are blessed enough to take. Even when we were in the middle of a hurricane in Playa. Even when my cell phone was magically whisked away in the back of a cab in Mazatlan. Even when it’s a lightning storm on the beaches of Florida. You don’t always get the best luck, but being there in the first place is such an amazing life experience, you can’t take it for granted.

That being said, I had quite a serious experience on my most recent trip to Florida. Let’s just say that I had a blatant reminder that life is short. Hug your husbands tighter, kiss your children more, and tell your family how much you love them. You never know when you’ll get another chance.

Because of that experience, I tried to take a little extra time to thank God for everything in my life. Because I’m a huge fan of daily affirmations, I wanted to create something that would remind me to live life to the fullest. You may have seen my Police Officer Bible Printables a few weeks back, and thought to yourself, “Gee, I wish I had my own Bible printables.” (Or at least in my dreams that’s what you thought). So for the rest of you, I created another set. This time they’re just a generalized set of uplifting, supportive Bible verses. Some are perfect for your spouse, some are perfect for your friends. Leave them around the house, the office, or even send them in the mail.

You can download them here. Show me how you used them on Instagram! Tag @raeofsparkles in your photos!

DIY

Vacation Ornaments

7.13.2016

Being that I’m about to take off on another vacation, I thought I’d share with you a project from the last one. On every vacation we take, we get sucked into souvenir shop after souvenir shop, looking at all the crap. The more you cruise the aisles, the more you convince yourself that you need at least a handful of new shot glasses, a new souvenir plate, and countless keychains. Thankfully, early on, we figured out that we were going to collect ornaments from our travels, which if I’m going to be honest with you, has got to be the best souvenir you can buy. Mainly because they are put away for most of the year, but then come out and turn your Christmas tree into a story-teller. But also because our house doesn’t look like a frat house with 200 shot glasses displayed year-round. Which it probably would with the amount of traveling we do.

Since we are always on the lookout for the ornaments while we’re on vacation, we did the same thing while in Moorea. However, due to the fact that it’s a tiny little island with not much more to purchase than great seafood, we found nothing. So what do you do when you can’t find said item? You make it. Obvi.

I brought sand and seashells back from the beach in Moorea with me, so I ordered some glass vials online (couldn’t find the right sized ones at Michael’s), and painted “Moorea” on each one. I know they’re not perfect looking, but for me, this paint job has got to be museum worthy. I am the worst at hand-painting. This Moorea paint job is definitely in competition with the Mona Lisa, no?

When they dried, I filled the ornaments up with sand from the beach at our resort, put a tiny seashell in each, and tied them off with some twine. They’re going to look beautiful on our Christmas tree, if I do say so myself.

What kind of souvenirs do you collect from your travels?

DIY, Holidays!

4th of July Framed Prints

6.30.2016

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I’m not very good at decorating. I like to pretend, and every once in a while, I’m able to pull a fast one on my husband. I wish I took after my mother; the woman could have trained Joanna Gaines for heaven’s sake. When we bought our house, we asked her to kindly come out and see our First Home, with no intention whatsoever of hoping she would decorate it for us. Which she did. Promptly. Probably because she saw my incredibly horrible sense of decorating and knew something had to be done immediately. On the bright side, I’m better than my husband, which is something. If I let him, he’d hang a framed photo of Rambo in our living room. Love you babe.

When it comes to holiday decorating, I’m always so jealous of those beautifully decorated homes. The ones that elicit fabulous feelings when you walk through the door. The ones that proclaim, “I hired professionals.” But because I can’t fly my mom out here for every holiday, I guess it’s up to me to put up a half-assed attempt at decorating.

I always start with the same thing. Holiday prints. I have go-to frames that I use to change out holiday prints, and I’m always looking for new printables. Because of this, I scammed my cousin into creating a few 4th of July prints that I could use. Since she graced me with her design abilities, I thought I’d share them with you too.

Because two prints are never enough, I also did a little DIYing…which I’m sure surprised you. I printed a map of the USA on cardstock, cut it out, and applied glitter to the entire thing. I glued it to a piece of decorative paper, put that baby in a frame, and voila! A little handmade magic.