We just got back from a 5 night / 6 day stay at Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos. Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos is an all-inclusive resort in San Jose del Cabo in Mexico. This was our first time at an all-inclusive resort so we had no idea what to expect. But I am happy to report that it did not disappoint. In fact, we can not wait to go back!

My husband and I hadn’t been to Cabo in over 12 years. One, because we are not big fans of flying. I hadn’t been on a plane since my trip to Boulder back in 2013 when I was working with Crocs! My husband, even longer than that! And two, if I’m being completely honest, is because we’ve been kind of (ok, a LOT) afraid to travel outside of the US (or anywhere, really). This trip was also going to be our son’s first time on a plane.

By the way, I feel like I should warn you now that this post is going to be extremely long. Lately I’ve been really inspired to share things that might actually provide more value than where you can buy something I’m wearing. The feedback from my recent thyroid surgery post and CO2 laser treatment post have been so refreshing. The comments/DM’s/emails I have received have reminded me of why I started blogging in the first place. I’ve always talked to you guys like you are personal friends of mine. So while I am not going to pretend I am any kind of travel expert, I am super excited to share our vacation with you.

The only reason I even knew about Hyatt Ziva was because of the gorgeous photos my blogging friend Balancing Lisa had posted on Instagram during her recent trip to Cabo. After we booked our trip, I started scouring the internet for even more reviews and I came across Purpose & Passion‘s post. I knew we had made the right choice!

We decided to splurge and booked the one bedroom ocean front master suite. The only problem with doing this is…we will never want anything less now! We live for our morning coffee and NOTHING is better than enjoying said coffee on a balcony overlooking the ocean! Our room also included access to the club level lounge (which we went to daily), premium alcohol, high speed internet and more.

I have never stayed in a hotel with a more comfortable bed & pillows. I know this is different for everyone but both my husband and I raved about the comfort level. We never did try the pull-out couch bed but friends who were traveling with us said their pull out was not so comfortable. They might have mentioned a bed of nails being a better option but the kids didn’t seem to mind it!

Speaking of traveling with friends…we had requested adjacent/adjoining rooms. But apparently there is only one ocean front master suite on each floor. So our only option was to have one of us downgrade. Which we did not want to do. But this is an option for other rooms/suites. So instead they gave our friends the room directly below us. It ended up being a bit of a walk from our rooms to the lobby/restaurant areas but worth it to have our view. On the other hand, we could just hop on an elevator and walk right out to the pool/beach which was also nice.

We spent all of our time at the main family pool with just a few trips to the kids pool/splash pad area. Surprisingly, we never even ended up using the kids club. Both of our families only have one child and they are almost nine years old so they thought it was a little “baby-ish”. The only time we really could have used the kids club was to go to the French restaurant (which is adults only). But kids club is only open until 5pm so it wouldn’t have worked anyway. We considered doing a date night swap so each of us could go to the French restaurant. Instead we opted to do private dining on the beach. That way the kids just played in an empty cabana behind us and everyone was happy. We will try the French restaurant next time.

Back to the pool. Since we really only used the family pool, it is the only one I can review. Even though the chairs fill up quick…it was never so crowded that it was annoying or that you couldn’t get service. Although it is supposedly frowned upon, EVERYONE wakes up early and goes down to save chairs. I went down each morning before 8am and half of the chairs were already saved. I wish there was some kind of system in place so that you knew when people were done with their chairs. Some chairs would have towels on the for hours with no one on them.

I also HIGHLY recommend visiting guest services and booking cabanas for the duration of your stay at check-in. We got lucky and were able to get cabana’s on all days but the in-pool palapa cabanas are the best. They were pretty affordable in my opinion (average was like $75/day).

Both my husband and I enjoyed 80 minute massages at the spa. I also added the anti-aging kale facial to my experience. The ambiance and facilities were beautiful. I do wish I would have spent a little more time enjoying the indoor pool, etc. but when you’ve got an infinity pool with a swim up bar on the sand calling your name…it’s kind of hard to resist.

We ate at several of the resorts restaurants (which I’ll break down below). But the absolute highlight of the trip for us was when we opted for private dining on the beach! This is not included in the all-inclusive but the experience was priceless. You can choose from three different menus and you have a private table right on the sand with your own waiter. Not only was our dinner to die for good but our server Claybert was AMAZING. Be sure to check in with guest services if this is something you would like to arrange.

I did not do a good job of taking pics of our meals, but I took several videos. I am going to make a highlight reel (of our whole trip) on my Instagram account until I can figure out how to make a decent video on Youtube! Some of our favorites are below:

DOZO (Japanese/Asian): This restaurant has a sushi bar, a regular menu and teppenyaki tables. Our friend’s read that the teppanyaki tables require reservations so we made ours as soon as we checked in. And thank goodness because we arrived on a Wednesday and couldn’t get reservations until Sunday evening! Our family had never been to a teppanyaki restaurant (think Bennihana’s where the chef cooks right in front of you), so we were extremely impressed! He put on quite the show for us and the food was delicious! I had edamame, egg drop soup, steak fried rice and fried ice cream for dessert. I HIGHLY recommend doing this!

ZAFFIRO (Italian): Zaffiro is a beach-front Italian restaurant that is open for lunch or dinner. We didn’t realize this restaurant was open for lunch so only came here for dinner once. My husband is not a fan of Italian food but I wanted to eat at a beachfront location so he caved. I had a caesar salad, lasagna and a chocolate dome for dessert. I thought my food was great but I would rather have had lunch here and done the French restaurant for dinner instead.

LA HACIENDA BEACH GRILL: We ate dinner here our first night at the resort. Unfortunately it was pitch black out (we ate late) so we did not get to enjoy our meal with a sunset ocean view. But the food was great! I had a caesar salad and steak for dinner. This beachfront restaurant is also open for lunch (with a buffet style).

EL MOLINO BUFFET (Mexican): We all enjoyed this buffet style dinner. My only complaint is that the churros (my favorite Mexican dessert) were rock hard. I had high hopes being that we were in Mexico!

LA PLAZA BUFFET (Int’l Buffet): We only had breakfast here one of the mornings. We had access to the 24 Hour Deli (I think this is for club level guests only) where we could enjoy a lot of the same food with less people in a private dining area. But my husband really liked his made-to-order omelette.

COCO LOCO POOL SNACK BAR: There are two separate kitchens inside this small spot next to the main pool. You grab a slip of paper, write your order and hand it to the cook. I ordered chips, salsa & guacamole several times a day. There is also a small kids menu. The poolside waiters get your drinks/food from this location. But our favorite place to get lunch was from the taco buffet set up poolside each day. The same buffet would turn into a fruit buffet later in the day. Get there quick because the mango’s on a stick go quick!

COFFEE HOUSE: We made our coffee in our room most days but I did stop in the coffee shop for cookies, baked goods and desserts randomly throughout the day!

We popped our heads into the 24 hour Cactus Deli (but with access to the club deli, we never needed to go here), The Piano Bar (we had kids so couldn’t really hang out), and the Spirit of 66 Sports Bar (the guys would love this spot for catching any sports while playing a game of pool) but we spent most of our evenings enjoying martini’s & cucumber margarita’s at El Mirador before dinner each night.

Oh, and I can’t forget tequila tasting at El Agave! This was SO much fun. You can upgrade your tequila options for a fee but we went with the free selections. You need to make reservations for this as well but I’m guessing if there is an open table, they’d let you grab it!

Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos also offers in-room dining but we never used it! And whenever we went to the 24 hour club deli, we would just grab extra waters/beers to bring up to our room. Our mini bar was also stocked daily with premium alcohol.

A few other things to note: YES, Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos is family friendly. There is a kids club for kids 4 and up (only open from 9am-5pm) and a teen club for 13 and up. The teen club has a pool table, ping pong, a couple video games and foosball. There is live entertainment at the theater each night… we caught the 70’s/80’s disco show and a Disney-esque mash-up performance. Both were kid friendly. On Saturday evenings, the resort allows some local vendors to set up shop on property so you can shop.

And one big thing to note, although it did not matter to us: You can not swim at the beaches in front of the hotel. We are NOT beach people…funny since I am born & raised in Southern CA and have grown up living no further than 15 minutes from the ocean my whole life. I LOVE looking at it. I do NOT love going in it! LOL. There were black flags posted each day. The black flag means DO NOT SWIM and it is the highest level warning. There were also warnings of jellyfish. Shockingly, that didn’t stop some families from dipping their toes in the water. No thank you!

So, would we go back? The answer is a resounding YES! We are already looking at dates to book again for next year. If you have ANY questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask! And lastly, no…this is not a sponsored post. I just wanted to share our vacation with you. If you want to see more posts like this…let me know!

I have a terrible habit of buying things and then leaving them in my closet unworn for months. Which to me seems like proof that I didn’t really need the item in the first place. But I think these boots might be an exception. I am obsessed with ankle booties for Fall. Also…I think hell might have frozen over because I actually bought not one but TWO pairs of cropped jeans. I swore I never would! I know that they aren’t the most flattering on me. BUT I just love cropped jeans with ankle booties!

Since it is still too dang hot for jeans, my boots had to make their debut appearance with a mini skirt instead. And I was still sweating bullets! But I like the 70’s “Twiggy” vibe I’ve got going on here. I think the belt bag keeps it looking current though.

BTW, this belt bag is the perfect size for carrying your iphone, credit cards and lipstick. It is currently on sale (snag it here), but will probably sell out quickly during Shopbop’s end of season sale.

Speaking of the Shopbop sale, early access starts today but the sale goes live to the public on 09/25 and runs through 09/28. Get 20% off orders under $500 and 25% off orders over $500 with code STOCKUP19. Some exclusions apply so get the full details here.

INSIDER TIP: You don’t have to have a Shopbop account to use the early access code so feel free to get a jump start on the sale using the code now!

P.S. Unfortunately my boots are sold out at Shopbop, but you can still find them here. Or you can shop Shopbop’s HUGE selection of on trend booties by clicking here (or you can click the image above)!

It has been SO long since I’ve written a blog post that it seems like everything has changed! WordPress is COMPLETELY different. I’ve been using it since 2010 and I feel like I have never used it before. When I tried to resize my pics with Picmonkey, it had completely changed. Oh, and apparently my Adobe flash player was very outdated as well. So if I actually get this posted, it will be a small miracle. I’ve been lazy when it comes to the blog…and it shows!

I keep telling myself that I’m going to get back into blogging and then life happens. I’ve got an almost 9 year old at home (can you believe he was only months old when I started blogging?!?) and keeping him occupied this Summer has been a full time job. LOL. So this must be what parents of more than one kid mean when they say “If you have more than one, they keep each other company”. Somehow I think you just have TWO kids saying “I’m bored! What can WE do?!?”! Ha!

I can’t complain though…we’ve had an awesome Summer so far. And we still have two trips to look forward to. One of them will be my sons first time on a plane! He is equally excited and terrified. I am just…terrified. I think its been close to 6 years since I’ve been on a plane. Yikes.

This dress & bag will definitely be coming with me on our trip(s). It reminds me of the dress Julia Roberts wore in Pretty Woman! BTW, the dress is meant to have one arm off the shoulder but I just didn’t put my arm through the hole (check out their website to see what I mean). It’s funny because this print/color combo has been everywhere lately. I found mine on PrettyLittleThing.com for less than $40! And the cute bag was gifted to me from Amerii. They have a TON of cute rattan bags to choose from. Oh, and I can’t forget the sandals. They are super cute & comfy!

Every Summer I inevitably end up adding a new eyelet piece to my closet. There’s something that is just so feminine about eyelet. I bought this top a few months ago but it is still available and also comes in khaki green. Come to think of it, I’m wondering why I haven’t purchased it in green yet?!? Oh, and I also bought a white eyelet swimsuit this year! It’s a one piece & super flattering on. Jury is still out on whether it is see-through when wet. Luckily, I am not that into swimming or going in the ocean so odds are…it will never even get wet! HA!

SHOP MY LOOK (click on an item to purchase):

SHOP MORE OF MY FAVORITE EYELET PIECES (swipe to view more & click to shop):

A few weeks ago, I had a partial thyroidectomy surgery to remove half of my thyroid. As soon as I found out I would be having this surgery, I SCOURED the internet for what to expect. Reading about other people’s experiences, recovery and seeing their scars really helped manage my expectations. Most stories that I read were about people who had a history of thyroid disease, so for them…surgery was a means to an end of their horrible symptoms. I, on the other hand, had no symptoms and normal thyroid levels/bloodwork. So for me…all I had to look forward to was a new scar and the possibility of having thyroid cancer. Ugh. I’ll start from the beginning which I kind of shared on my I drank celery juice for 7 days post.

In December of last year I finally went in for an annual checkup. I don’t know how I let three years pass because I am a hypochondriac and tend to go to the minute clinic down the street at the first sign of any illness. But in that three years time, my primary care doctor dropped me without my knowledge. I would be considered a new patient and he was no longer taking new patients. Annoying but I was hopeful I would possibly end up with someone even better. So I met with my new doctor and went over every single health issue I’ve ever had.

I started with an enlarged lymph node on the side of my neck. I’ve had it for at least 15 years. Several doctors have felt it and I’ve heard everything from a calcified deposit, to a fatty deposit to just an enlarged lymph node. But all said it was nothing to worry about. It doesn’t hurt to touch and I hadn’t developed any new symptoms (night sweats/fevers, etc.). But she said she would refer me to an ENT (ear, nose & throat doctor) just so I could check it off my worry list. She felt my neck and never mentioned anything about my thyroid.

I came THIS close to cancelling my ENT appointment because I thought it would just be a waste of time/money. But I went. The doctor felt my lymph node and said it felt normal (albeit enlarged) and moved over to my thyroid.

And you guys…this is the ONE takeaway I want you all to have.

I always thought my thyroid was lower in my neck. Like at the base of my neck where the indentation is. It is actually up higher right below your adams apple (it is known for being in the shape of a butterfly). She felt the front of my neck and said my thyroid felt full on one side and she requested an ultrasound. I hadn’t noticed a thing in the front of my neck. And let me tell you…I waste a LOT of money on neck creams. I am constantly applying creams/serums and I NEVER noticed. After that appointment, it was all I could see. How did my primary care doctor miss it, I wondered. How did I miss it?!?

I never had any type of thyroid disease symptoms. My bloodwork all came back normal. On New Years Eve, I went for the ultrasound and I knew immediately the technician had found something because she took what seemed like a million measurements. I had a thyroid nodule that measured 2.8cm. So the next step was a fine needle biopsy. I find it so strange that you have to go to an Endocrinologist for the biopsy. Doesn’t it seem like the ENT who actually does the SURGERY would be doing the biopsy?!? And so I went.

I was really dreading the biopsy. But to be honest, the worst part was the anxiety waiting for the appointment. He first went over the ultrasound with me and confirmed it was a complex nodule. He also said it didn’t “look” like a scary nodule (but that he’d been wrong before) and since it was so close to the skin surface, the biopsies should be fairly easy/straightforward. They gave me a numbing shot to start and the doctor took several different tissue samples (I think 4 or 5 total). They took an extra sample just in case it came back as inconclusive to be sent off for genetic/DNA testing.

I got the call that my biopsy came back as a follicular lesion of undetermined significance (FLUS) and that he would in fact be sending away a sample for DNA testing. He warned that it would be an expensive test (it was a $6k+ test that thankfully insurance covered a portion of). But he said it was a good test for “ruling out” cancer. Basically it will come back as showing a 2% likelihood that the cells are cancerous or a 50% chance that they are. Of course I got the call during my sons field trip that I got the 50% likelihood results and the next step would unfortunately be partial thyroidectomy surgery.

So then I went back to my ENT who originally requested the ultrasound. I was so grateful that she had discovered my “full” thyroid but on my 2nd visit, she was less than sympathetic. She did a test to see that both of my vocal cords were working properly. It was extremely uncomfortable and she gave me absolutely no warning of what to expect. I couldn’t help it and the tears started rolling out of my eyes. She had zero empathy. She acted as if it was business as usual and not a big deal and what did I have to worry about. OH, I DON’T KNOW…SURGERY…THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING THYROID CANCER!!!! WTF.

So my husband and I walked out of the appointment and swore she would be the last person on the planet that I would ever let do my surgery. And the search for a new ENT begun. Thankfully I have a friend who is an Endocrinologist and I asked her who she would go to if she had to have the surgery. We met with him and I immediately felt better about my decision to switch to him. He had a very positive calm demeanor and we set a date for surgery a few months out because we already had family travel plans that we had made a year prior. And I was not going to let this ruin our trip.

On the evening before the surgery, I couldn’t eat anything after midnight. I also wasn’t able to have anything to eat or drink the morning of the surgery. My check-in was at 5:30am so we had to be on the road at 4:30am. The actual surgery was scheduled at 7:30am. Once I was all checked in, they had me wipe down my whole body with anti-bacterial wipes and I put on the hospital gown, grippy socks and they put the compression boots on my legs to help prevent blood clots during/after surgery. I had my IV put in and of course it didn’t work in my hand so they had to put it in my arm (inside of elbow). Finally, I was given Tylenol to take on an empty stomach.

I was then given a shot of something in my IV which would basically give me amnesia. I was told I wouldn’t remember the conversation after the surgery. But I do remember saying goodbye to my husband and being wheeled into the operating room. I remember seeing a few people (another doctor, a nurse & the anesthesiologist) and I said wow, there is a lot of stuff in here (equipment, etc.). Then they helped move me onto the operating table. And that was my last memory. I was anticipating having an anxiety attack having to have on an oxygen mask on. And counting down until I fell asleep. It very well may have happened but I don’t remember any of it.

I woke up in the recovery room to the nurse asking me if I needed anything for nausea or pain.  I didn’t. Then they brought my husband in. Apparently my straight forward surgery ended up taking about an hour longer than anticipated. We were told my thyroid was enlarged so it took longer than expected to remove it. But otherwise, it went well. About an hour later, I was given the ok to go home.

I felt pretty good for what I had just been through. And even had my hubby drive me through the KFC drive-though because I was craving mashed potatoes and gravy. I wasn’t in too much pain and decided to take just extra strength Tylenol. But then the headaches and neck/shoulder pain kicked in and I was miserable. I woke up all throughout the night. And the pain continued through the next day. I decided to try the prescription narcotic they gave me because I thought it would help me sleep. I was wrong. Still woke up every two hours in pain. I switched back to the Tylenol. By day three, I  couldn’t take it anymore. I was in tears at the thought of having to go through another surgery to remove the other half if it came back as cancer.

It wasn’t the incision itself that hurt. But rather the inside of my throat from being intubated. When I woke up from the surgery, I had a fat lip. And the thing that hangs in the back of my throat was a deep purple. It felt like someone had smashed my adams apple with a hammer. And like I had razor blades and needles in my throat. Miraculously by day four, I felt a million times better.

One week after the surgery, I got the news that it had come back as benign. What a relief. That morning I had woken up and broke down in tears just dreading another painful surgery. Let alone, if it had come back as cancer. I wanted to write this all down for those days that I need a reminder that things could be worse. It has been a great reminder to not sweat the small stuff. Nothing is more important than your health. I hope my story helps anyone who is going through the same thing. I plan on doing a follow up post to share my tips on making your recovery easier. As well as sharing what my scar progression looks like. Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments or via email.