Foggy.

There is something about vacation that completely warps my mind upon returning. I stay in the dream-like cloud for DAYS, as though I am in denial about living in reality. I begin to obsess about how much I do, in fact, despise my job (even though I really don't on most days) and that everything about where we live is stale and boring.

I suppose this is a sign of a good vacation.

And it truly was a great vacation.

We went to Playa Grande, Costa Rica, a new location for us, and then back to Volcano Arenal, where we got engaged in 2007. We brought our friends Kim and Robbie this time, a part of our huge group that went last year. I believe they love Costa Rica just as much as Dustin and I do, so it was an awesome traveling foursome.
We didn't have much of an agenda. We went to the beach, the pool, the hot springs, ate a lot, hiked, and just overall relaxed. It was an amazing, baby-free, beautiful vacation. (That's right. I said baby-free. Judge away. It was amazing and marriage needs attention, yo.)

I've already looked up ticket prices to go back in a couple of months. Sure, that's a pipe dream because we really can't afford to go away again, but it's fun to pretend. We will, however, be planning next year's trip very soon because we are that obsessed.

Gracias por otro buen viaje, Costa Rica. Nos vemos el ano que viene!
Pura Vida.

Reminders.

I have been rifling through our wedding photos within the last couple of days, feeling very nostalgic.

There is just so much raw emotion behind these pictures. Everything about our wedding trip was just amazing.

Dustin and I chose a destination wedding for some unconventional reasons. Some choose it to have a vacation for friends and family, or maybe to avoid inviting 300 (eventually drunk) guests to the same local venue that four of your other friends got married, but for us, it was much more.

We felt a connection with Costa Rica. We found so much of ourselves in that country. We got engaged there. We had a spiritual connection with it. It certainly wasn't just about getting married on a beach. We could have done that here since we live in paradise. No. We wanted our friends and families to experience the connection that Dustin and I found there.

I'm not quite sure if we succeeded in doing exactly that for all 18 in attendance, but I know for some of our guests, something magical was found since one couple got engaged there two years later (love you, Danny and Kendra!) and another married in the exact same spot three years later (which, sadly, we were not invited to.  Don't ask).

Kudos to us for passing on the magic.

But, in August of 2008, these were our memories that we were creating.

Oh, yes. It was fun. The memories will certainly last a lifetime.

Thank you, friends and family, for making this trip so priceless.

Looking at these these past few days has been such a good reminder of who Dustin and I are as a couple. Where we've come from, what we've been through, and what we've created since our union. Our life is truly blessed and rich.

Happy 3 years, babe.