Fashion, Travel & Lifestyle Blog || Est. 2012 || Virginia Beach, VA
A few months ago, Ryan and I enjoyed a wonderful first anniversary trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico. It was both of our first times visiting Mexico, and what truly made our trip so great is that the all-inclusive resort we stayed at truly exceeded all of our expectations! I'm excited to share a full review of TRS Yucatan (an adults-only all-inclusive resort) with you today.
It's also important to note that our lodging at TRS Yucatan was completely free thanks to credit card points! Check out THIS blog post for all of the information on how I was able to earn points and miles and successfully redeem them for a free vacation.
One of my biggest accomplishments last year was planning and taking a vacation with my husband where our flights and all-inclusive resort were paid for 100% with credit card points! I've had an interest in travel hacking (free or heavily discounted travel with maximizing credit card points) for years, but it wasn't until 2024 that I finally took the plunge into switching my personal strategies with credit card usage and spending to start my own travel hacking journey.
In November 2025, Ryan and I enjoyed a wonderful five-day trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico for our first anniversary. I don't like to gate-keep, so I'll be sharing with you the exact strategies and credits cards that we used to get our resort and airfare for free. If I could figure out how to do this, anyone can!
.png)
This trip already happened about a month ago, but I wanted to share a recap on the blog before it gets too much further out. I had a wonderful and much needed quick trip to the Sunshine State in late February! My good friend Gentry from Girl Meets Bow had an exciting last-minute opportunity to attend an event for influencers in Miami with LTK, which is the main affiliate link platform that most bloggers use. She was able to bring a plus-one, and kindly invited me! The stars aligned perfectly for me to get off work, and use flight credits that I already had for a free flight! I also extended my trip on the front end a bit, and all-in-all it was a great time.
My favorite little southeastern town is Edenton, North Carolina. My aunt and uncle moved there a few years ago, and I first visited their new town in 2021. From my first visit on, I've thought of Downtown Edenton as a heaven on earth. It's idyllic and charming, and you really do feel like you're walking through a real life version of a TV town! If you've ever wanted to visit Blue Bell, Alabama from Hart of Dixie, Serenity, South Carolina from Sweet Magnolias, or Stars Hollow, Connecticut from Gilmore Girls... Edenton really captures all of those vibes.
I love Edenton so much that it was actually the location of my bachelorette party (and one of my bridal showers!). I first published this blog post in 2022, but Edenton has had some great new small businesses open in the last couple of years, so I thought it was due time for an update to my Travel Guide!
This summer I got to visit the quaint and upscale mountain town of Highlands, North Carolina for the first time! I had seen other bloggers share about trips to Highlands over the years (notably Caitlin from Southern Curls and Pearls and Sydney from Summer Wind), so when my friend Emily selected it for her bachelorette trip destination, I was excited to finally get to visit. It had been several years since I'd been to the North Carolina mountains, and I had never been that far west in NC. The town of Highlands 100% exceeded my expectations, and I loved my brief time there for Emily's bachelorette. The night that I got back home to Virginia, I texted most of my Charlotte, NC girlfriends to tell them all that they had to visit! You know it's a good destination when you can't wait to recommend it to friends.
I'm excited to share a little Travel Diary for Highlands today with you!
In April, I got to check a travel item off from my current 101 in 1001 list: visiting the state of Delaware! Until recently, it was the only East Coast state that I'd never been to. (Note: my definition of "visiting a state" is spending a night there, not just driving or flying through.) When my dad and I used to make our twice annual road trips from my hometown in Maine to Charlotte, NC for my college, we somehow never took routes that lead us through Delaware. It's been on my list of places to visit for quite awhile, but I never would've imagined how I'd finally get to Delaware. I finally got to visit Delaware during my "funemployment road trip" to Maine this spring, which I did shortly after losing my radio job in April.
Post-college, I have always flown home to Maine for convenience. But since I was going to be visiting home for a longer period of time, I knew that I needed my car. And that meant making the 11 hour drive from Virginia Beach to my hometown! I knew that 11 hours was too long for me to be in the car alone all in one day. I told my parents that I had selected Wilmington, DE as my overnight stop for the drive to Maine. It ended up being my stop on the road trip back to Virginia, too! So I got to spend two nights total in Delaware.
I stayed at hotels in different parts of Wilmington on each leg of the trip, but neither of them were the downtown. I would still like to return to Wilmington someday and see that part of the city, as I hear it does have some nice attractions. But despite skipping downtown on these trips, there were two spots I visited in Wilmington that I think are worth sharing about with you here on my blog! The first? Winterthur Museum Garden & Library.
In January, I got to take Ryan to visit my favorite city for the first time! It was a very quick trip, and I feel like I never have enough time to see all of my friends or do everything I miss doing in Charlotte. But we did knock out several fun things, and Ryan got to meet four of my Charlotte girlfriends and some of their significant others!! So, I'll still count the weekend as a win for our first Charlotte experience together!
Here's a little recap of what we did during the weekend:
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to do a wonderful weekend staycation here in Virginia Beach. Local property management group Transcendent Stays invited me to stay at one of their fantastic local short-term rental properties. I am usually Team Hotel over Team Short-Term Rental for my travels both near and far (with exceptions to that rule on occasion), but I had such a phenomenally positive experience with this staycation that it was a good reminder for me to consider these types of properties more often when traveling out of the area or doing a staycation! I can't wait to tell you more about it today.
Last weekend, I made a quick trip to Florida! It had been close to five years since I last saw my good friend from blogging, Gentry from Girl Meets Bow. Gentry is a Florida native, and I was excited to visit her home city of St. Pete, FL for the first time. 48 hours isn't nearly enough time to do everything that St. Pete has to offer, but Gentry did show me many of the local highlights!
For Labor Day Weekend this year, my boyfriend Ryan came to visit my home state of Maine with me for the first time. While I always enjoy seeing the beauty of southern Maine in the summer months, it was definitely special to see my hometown and home state through the eyes of a first-time visitor. I feel like my parents and I did a great job planning out a good itinerary for Ryan's first Maine trip, and I'd recommend a similar itinerary for other first-time Maine visitors.
There were a few points in our trip that we visited with my family and friends, and I'll also add in additional suggestions for other activities you could do as a tourist with that extra time.
I attended my first professional golf tournament over last weekend! My friend Amanda and I decided early on in the year that we wanted to attend a PGA tour event in 2023 together. We ended up going to one day of the 2023 Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, NC. I wanted to write a quick recap blog post before I forget too much about the experience. This was also our second annual girls' trip! Last year we went to the iconic and luxurious Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia.
My dad and I kicked off the month of June by taking a dad/daughter trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic! We stayed at the Royalton Bavaro, which is a large all-inclusive beach resort. Years ago, my dad and I spent two of my college spring breaks together in another part of the Dominican Republic (read about that HERE), but we had never stayed at a resort right in Punta Cana before now.
Puerto Rico is 100% one of my favorite travel destinations that I've visited in the past several years. Whatever expectations I had about visiting San Juan beforehand were wildly exceeded! My Puerto Rico trip was in July 2022, but I was still taking my extended blogging break, hence why I'm finally recapping the trip for you now (nine months later!).
I'm well overdue to recap the amazing Puerto Rico trip that I went on last summer with my friend Liane! We stayed at the well-known Caribe Hilton in San Juan, which quickly became one of my favorite Hilton properties that I've ever stayed at. I truly don't think that we could've found a better hotel for the trip that was both of our first times in Puerto Rico! Excited to recap this wonderful hotel for you today. And very soon I'll be sharing a San Juan Travel Guide, too!
I just got back from a recent long weekend trip to Orlando. This was the first time I've been in Orlando and haven't visited Disney World at all. I was pleasantly surprised not only by how much there is to do in the area that isn't related to Disney, but also by how many great local restaurant options there are in the Orlando area! I felt like such a foodie on this trip, as it was one great meal after another! While there were some meals that were amazing standouts more than others, we didn't have any truly bad meals on this trip.
I recently got to plan my best friend Ciera's bachelorette trip in Nashville, TN! This was only the second bachelorette party that I've planned, and the first one that I've done that was a destination spot for all the guests. (Last year I planned my other best friend Julia's bachelorette weekend, but I was the only one guest traveled in for it, as we did it in Maine where Julia and everyone else invited lived.)
This was my third trip to Nashville, but first time going for a bachelorette party. Definitely a different vibe than my past trips for work and for a family vacation with my parents! I still need to get around to writing a full Nashville Travel Guide with recommendations from all my past trips for the blog at some point, but until then I just wanted to get up a little itinerary from the bachelorette trip while it's all fresh in my mind!
Williamsburg is one of America's most historic towns, and (without traffic) it's under an hour away from where I live! Christmastime in Williamsburg is especially charming. There's something special about a very classic and historic area being decked out for Christmas. Most of the buildings within Colonial Williamsburg participate in an annual wreath decorating contest. All of the materials and decorations for the wreaths have to be naturally sourced, and things that would've been around in the 1700s. So that means no Christmas lights, modern ornaments, or tinsel! Instead, you'll see lots of pinecones and sticks, fruit, shells, and more natural items. You can read more about the history of the wreath contest here!
I had to share some festive photos with you from a recent day trip to Williamsburg a couple weekends ago. I feel extra lucky this season as I also got to go back to Williamsburg for another day trip this past weekend, so I got to see all of this twice!
My mom and I spent a week in Ireland this past spring, and it's been fun to revisit all of my photos and memories to recap it here on the blog. I'm starting to work on a full Travel Guide blog post to recap all the places we went and stayed on our Insight Vacations tour. First though, I wanted to share a little recap of the outfits that I wore! I did a lot of Pinterest and travel blog browsing before our trip to find inspiration for my own Ireland outfits, so maybe what I wore can be a helpful resource for someone as well.
