Costa Rican Birthday Baecation



Hola Amigos!

I spent my 30th birthday in the rain forrest of Liberia! Feels so surreal to say that. It was EVERYTHING! I mean, yes it was super hot and humid but my God was it beautiful!

My husband and I went to Liberia, Costa Rica for my milestone birthday. We used the website Cheap Caribbean. I have booked 3 international vacations through this site and have never had an issue. They are always offering specials too! We booked it kind of last minute but they were offering an amazing deal at Secrets Papagayo, which is where we lived for 5 days and 4 nights. This is an all inclusive, adults only resort. It was breathtakingly beautiful. From the food, to the staff, to the drinks, to the massages at the spa! Every aspect of this vacation was bomb!

Cheap Caribbean allows you to book your flight transfers with them. When we touched down our driver was there with a private air conditioned van ready to roll. In 20 min we pulled up!

This was the view from the main lobby where you check in. Upon arrival they offer you cold towels and wine! And our room was ready as soon as were arrived! No wait! Luxury all the way!

The only minor complaint we had was that we had huge tree ants in our room. Mostly on the ceiling. We called the front desk and 2 minutes later a nice man was at our bungalow door with a can of stray helping my husband get rid of them. The resort is very lush and green and in a jungle somewhat, so it was kind of inevitable. Every day we would see these huge iguanas. We even saw a raccoon twice too.

This was our cute little bungalow. They call this the tropical view room. From that patio and the  shower we could see the ocean. I would def recommend a ocean or tropical view rooms. The others are all the way in the back of the resort and they kind of looked like motel rooms. 

The resort was very hilly. They have shuttles that with pick you up and take you to the main pool, restaurants,  and spa. Most of the time we walked just to get some exercise and soak up the sun and the view. From our room it took us about 5 min to walk to the main pool and restaurants each day.


On the first two days we just enjoyed the resort. It pretty big. Every day they leave a itinerary at your door that list all the activities that would be offered that day. They had everything! From yoga at 8am, to poolside trivia, to bicycle rides, dance lessons and live outdoor music! I mean everything! We hung out by the pool, drank pina coladas and margaritas, tried out some dance classes and went jet skiing. The jet skiing was short lived. 12 min in my husband flipped us off into the ocean and we had to be rescued by kayak. There is some footage on my Facebook page if you need a good laugh.
They call this a black sand beach. The sand gets this dark black color from all the minerals from the near by volcanos.

I pretty much wore dresses the entire vacation. This one is from Asos,  It was so cool and comfy. I did our dance lessons  in this and it was really hot but because of the material, when a breeze came I cooled right off.

Every day we hung out by the pool we got these delicious fish sandwich. I forgot what type of fish it was but it was more dense. Kind of like a tuna steak or swordfish texture. So good!


The sunsets were to die for! A picture would never be able to capture the real beauty of it. 
On day two we also went to the tourist desk to check out some excursions. I knew I wanted to do something active on my bday. The excursion we really wanted to do wasn't offered on Saturday so we went with one called Sensario. It included a 3 hour hike in the rainforest accompanied by swims in a natural hot spring and waterfall and a lunch. 

Day three was my birthday and excursion day! It was awesome!

It was a 2 hour drive to get to the rain forrest. Our first stop was for complementary coffee and pastries at this mom and pop bakery.

The pastries were really fresh! The coffee was out of this world! I just drank mine black and a little sugar because I  am not a baby cow! Lol



This was in the natural hot springs. It is warmed by the local volcano and literally felt like hot tub! Natural is so dope!





Here I am at the natural waterfall. I was seriously so cold! Its crazy how and hour apart in the rain forrest you can have a cold waterfall and a hot spring. We learned the water being so blue is an allusion caused by the sun, minerals and light rays. Science is crazy! So refreshing!

At lunch we saw 3 spider monkeys playing in tree!


On the ride back home we stopped on the side of the dirt road and saw a family of Toucans! 

I might add that the 3 hour hike a little more then we anticipated. It was very hilly. It was gravel trail so that was nice but there were steps y'all! It was definitely leg day that Friday! When we got back I took a quick wash up in the showers and we had a delicious veggie lunch! I ordered gluten free pasta with veggies and my husband had a veggie hummus wrap with chips! Both were very good!

I really want to try to recreate this pasta at home. It had olives, tomato and cucumber in it. Some of my fav veggies!



I slept all the way back to the resort! Your girl was tired! We had started our excursion at 7:50am. At 6pm we arrived back to our little home. We relaxed and showered and go ready for our 9pm dinner reservation at the hibachi restaurant on the resort. The hibachi show was a typical hibachi show lol. Aren't they all pretty much the same. The food was really good though.



Even though we had a 9pm reservation we still had to wait about 30min to be seated. Perfect time for a photoshoot! My hubby is such a good photog! We we had drinks at the outdoor bar and took pics.  My dress is from Asos again! It is currently out of sock though.
Of course my husband met a frat brother at the resort. These dudes are everywhere! Lol


We brought the candles with us and my husband snuck away and gave them to the waitress and they brought this dessert platter out for me sang! I love chocolate so I really enjoyed it!


After dinner we walked over to the bar. We drank and talked to strangers and drank some more. At this point everyone at the bar was using my birthday as an excuse to take shots. It was so fun!

Birthday sash on our front door complements of the resort! 

Day four was our last day in paradise! We ate breakfast at the buffet and then just relaxed by the pool until our couples massage appointment. We sat through a time share bribe presentation just to get a  50 minute Swedish couples massage for $50 total! That was a huge deal because the spa on the resort had them going for $150 per person. Boy was it worth it. I felt like new person afterward. The spa facilities were sparkling clean. Equipped with a sauna, pool, snacks and lockers!

Stomaching that time share presentation for an hour was well worth the spa massage discount! 


I highly recommend this resort! Simply put it was LIT! Lol
I am honored that God has allowed me to accomplish so much at the young age of 30!
Forever grateful for the glow up!
Hello 30s Club!


Love Always,

April W.

Random Weekend in the A

Hey There! 

This past weekend my mom, my sister and I randomly decided to go to Atlanta, Georgia.  It is only about a 3 hour and 15 min drive from Charlotte, NC. One of my best friends also lives in Atlanta too so I am always down to go there. Per usual my mom had pretty much picked out every vegan/vegetarian restaurant that we would be eating at while down there. Initially my sister and I were a little weary of her picks but she did not disappoint! Every spot was bomb!

Restaurant #1 was Soul Vegetarian 2! 

As soon as we got in town we headed to Soul Vegetarian 2. Atl traffic was stupid and we we're pretty hungry. When you walk in, you immediately get this nostalgic, old school diner type of vibe. I loved the energy there. When I went to the restroom I even told my sister that it feels like your in the bathroom at your grandparents house or something. The waiter was super nice. When we entered we  sat ourselves and looked over the menu. We had a salad with iceberg lettuce, sprouts and tomato with a mild vinaigrette dressing. For my meal I got the macaroni and cheese, collard greens and a breaded tofu that kind of resembled fish sticks. Everything was delicious! Soul Vegetarian is best known for their soy free vegan ice cream. I had to try it. I had the mint chocolate chip flavor. You would never know it was vegan! They even sell it by the pint in the local home healthy market in Atlanta. 

My cousin snapped me and was like, " vegan soul food and yeezys" lol I was like "its all about balance"!
I snapped a pic of my food but of course forgot to save it to my phone. Follow me on snap at mcaprillately.


Restaurant #2 was Dulce Vegan!

On Saturday morning at around 11 am we headed over to Dulce Vegan Bakery & Cafe. This spot was really cute and trendy and 100% vegan. I mean their wifi passcode was "death before decaf"! My kind of mantra lol. My sister and I ordered bagels. I think my bagel was called the Kirkwood. It was an everything bagel with tofu scramble "eggs", cream cheese, cucumber, tomato and kale with a matcha latte. My sister got the everything bagel with tofu scramble and vegan bacon. My mom got the grits with veggies and biscuit with a fig jam. Omg the biscuit was EVERYTHING. The fig jam was absolutely out of this world good! We also caved and got an amazing cinnamon raisin roll. It was hands down one of the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had. 

The fact that this was made with no animal by products is crazy. It was so soft and moist and  yummy! I could've eaten two easily!

My matcha latte was really good to me. My mom and sister said it wasn't sweet enough but they can add agave to make it sweeter.
After Dulce Vegan we just kind of wandered around the area. We found a Arden's Garden juice shop. I had never even seen an Arden's Garden store before but they are all over Atlanta. I usually just see them at the grocery store near the produce section. We popped in and they have fresh and frozen fruit bar for juices and smoothies. My sister got a shoot of cranberry and ginger. It looked painful to drink lol. 

I just had to take a pic by the pretty purple wall.

We walked a little further down and found a really cute yoga studio. The instructor just happened to be outside and invited us in to look around and view her schedule. My mom is big time yogi. Next time we are in Atlanta maybe we will take a class.

My mom is certified yoga instructor. Her business is called Got Yoga! Check her out on IG at debenjoyingyoga!

Next we decided to venture over to Little 5 Points. I scored a 100% silk Ralph Lauren scarf for $18.00 at the thrift store Psycho Sisters! I was so excited about that! American Apparel was also having a massive sale 70% off everything in the store. You know we went a little crazy in there too. They have the best jeans!

I had a guy stop me and ask me where I got my hoodie from. It says "Kinda Bad Kinda Bougie" on it! It is from a  site called Coffee in the Shower. They have a ton of cute stuff!

Right by this mural was a guy selling his art! It was so nice! My sister bought one of his pieces. Check him out on IG at ttib_art! #supportblackartist



Restaurant #3 was Gekko Sushi!

Saturday night my sister and I met up with one of my besties at Gekko Sushi! They have a $30 all you can eat sushi special! Sounds great right? And it is, but it comes with several funny stipulations. You can only order two items at a time. Oh and if you don't finish your rolls you they charge you like $3 for every piece that is left or something weird like that. Sheesh! The sushi was pretty good! Only roll I was not too crazy about as the sunflower roll (recommended by our waiter). Everything else we ordered was on point. AT 9:30pm they do complimentary saki bombs! Can't get much better than that! And you do the saki bomb collectively as a restaurant. So fun!

Wine, Sushi, Saki and Friends! Love it!!!

On Sunday morning. My sister and I were on the struggle bus. Stayed out too late. Meanwhile my mom was up with the birds at the gym in the hotel. We packed it up and went over to Sevananda.
Sevananda is a black owned home healthy market. Like Whole Foods or Earth Fare but with way way way better prices. They have a hot breakfast bar which is so good and vegan! We all got tofu scramble, biscuits and grits! I had an awesome time with food and family in the A. 

F.I.L.A and all their yummy food too!

Until next time...

Love,
April W.