Keith Getting His 2nd Tattoo in Mexico

Keith has been wanting a new tattoo to cover up an old one he's had for many years. We have some friends who's cousin is a tattoo artist in Merida. He was in town so we met up so Keith could get his new ink. Just so happened it was on the upstairs area of Jungle Fish, which has an amazing view of the ocean. Not a bad place to get a tattoo!!

The tattoo took several hours and will have to be finished in a few months, but for now, it looks great!

Our New Barn Doors Finally Installed

When we first moved here we had a ton of work done on our new place to get it all ready for us. We had our patio covered and screened in, new cabinets added in the kitchen, book shelves, lock boxes installed, a bar built and a barn door for the laundry room. To say it was a quick and easy process would be a huge lie. It has caused us more stress than we'd care to admit.

The barn door has been the last thing we are trying to get updated as the first one was very poorly made and started to warp very quickly. It wasn't cheap either and took us many months just to get the guy to come back and look at it. He offered to fix it but then ghosted us for months. Finally at the end of our rope we told him no thanks and we wanted our money back... He refused and said he'd fix it but tried to just bring back the same door. No thanks. Plus the bar he installed was warped due to the weight of the original door. It's now trash. Sadly, we knew we'd never get our money back as you really don't have a place for recourse here... it is what it is... So, we hired the guys who built our bar to build us new ones. They do amazing work. We should have hired them from the start but we were trying to save some money. This barn door has officially become the most expensive item we've had made for our condo. 

It only took them a month to make the doors and when they came to install them they did it all in a few hours. They look amazing and we are super pleased. Plus we know if anything happens they will fix it - they are good like that!! So, if you are in the Riviera Maya and you need some carpentry work done, call Ferro & Legno. They know their stuff!!

Sweet Sweat Waist Trimmer - Yay or Nay?

I follow a lot of women on Instagram that are major influences in the workout world. I recently noticed many of them use waist trainers to help with their tummies. I did a bit of research and found one I wanted to give a try. You basically just wrap it around you when you workout and it makes your mid section sweat way more than the rest of you. The theory is it helps you lose inches... So, I wanted to try it for myself.

It a bit hard for me to give an exact update on progress as I am eating a Keto diet, drinking Pruvit AND working out. So many factors could be associated with my inches lost around my mid section.

I bought the Sweet Sweat trimmer on October 16th and my mother brought it to Mexico for me on the 19th. I started wearing it on the 20th. It's been almost a week and I have lost 2" on my waist - which is awesome!! I have one more week for this test to see what happens. 

My stomach has been my trouble area for years now. I even tried Coolsculpting a few years back and I think it actually screwed up how my fat stores in my mid section. They didn't believe me when I told them this and of course there are no refunds so I always tell people to steer clear as I personally don't feel it's something that works, at least it didn't in my case.

Check back in a week and I'll update you on my results.

Voting from Mexico

We may not live in the US right now but we still want to vote and be apart of our home country and her politics. Now more than ever! Our plan all along has been to fly back to the US during election time so we could vote. 

Right now the General Elections are being voted on and I was told by a fellow expat that we can vote via absentee ballot from Mexico. I guess I kind of knew this but hadn't put it together on just how easy it really is to get yourself signed up for absentee ballot outside of the US. FVAP makes it super easy!!

To make sure I did everything right I called my county in FL and confirmed everything was setup correctly. She was able to actually switch me to absentee right over the phone. She then emailed us our ballots. Over the weekend we printed them out, filled them out, scanned them back into our computer and then I emailed them to FVAP with the information they requested (your county office and their contact info). 

This morning I got an email from FVAP saying they received my documents and would be faxing them to my county. They couldn't guarantee me they would receive them. I emailed my county and she said the system would generate an email when received and if anything was missing she's email me directly. EASY!! 

Maybe I was just lucky, but the process for me was super easy. 

Scuba Diving with Mom in Akumal

My mother came to visit for a week and all she requested to do was to go scuba diving. I was certified when I was 17 all because of her. It was very much a part of her life 15 or so years ago and she hasn't really been doing it at all anymore. Now that she is nearing 70, and with us living in Mexico, she really wanted to get back into it. 

We took her to Akumal Dive Shop and they took the 3 of us out to do a 45 min shallow dive. After she jumped in the water she had a mini freak out, which I can relate to as I did the exact same thing a few months ago when I first got back into the water with gear on. The guide calmed her down and helped her descend.

Once we were all on the bottom he held onto her until she was comfortable. We swam around for quite awhile and we were lucky enough to see two very large sea turtles, a lion fish, several parrot fish, trigger fish, angel fish and an old motorcycle. Apparently, where we went, they call it Motorcycle Alley.

Keith, Mom and Me with the motorcycle

Working Out is Not Glamorous - We SWEAT!