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!

Working Out Is Now a Daily Routine

When we started our Keto Journey on May 31, 2017, we were just eating Keto and drinking Pruvit. No gym. 

The other day Keith asked me give him 2 full weeks to get our bodies heading in the right direction with a gym routine. So, we have been doing just that. I decided to snap some before and better photos. We have only been doing Keto/Pruvit for 4.5 months but I wanted to show some of our most recent results. What do you think?

More About Our Lake Ozark Side Trip

Keith and I have been talking for awhile about buying a place in the States since we no longer have a home in our home country. My parents have been very kind in letting us stay with them every time we come visit. We wanted to find a place on a lake, ideally.

Fast forward a few months and we have been watching the Netflix show, Ozark. It's a great show if you haven't seen it. Jason Bateman and cast do an amazing job. Oddly enough it's about a guy who moves to the Ozarks to clean money for the Mexican Cartel. Being that we live in Mexico you'll see the connection shortly...

When we were in the US recently, we made a side trip to Lake Ozark to look at some properties as we were intrigued by the area. According to Google, "The lake runs 92 miles end to end. At roughly 1,150 miles, the total shoreline of the Lake of the Ozarks is longer than the coastline of California." It wasn't a lie, the lake is HUGE and there are tons of lake front opportunities, most of which are still somewhat affordable. The housing market appears to be on the rise, which is good.

Our realtor showed us 10 places - I think she got a kick out of the fact we live in Mexico as she mentioned the show. We NOT work for the cartel and we aren't cleaning money.

We had originally wanted a house but ended up finding a condo we really liked. All of the homes we looked at needed work that we didn't have the budget for... :( Being that we retired early and live on a budget, it had to be something we could make work. We are hoping to rent it on Airbnb when we aren't using it and have it paid off in less than 6 years. We see this place as being a lovely retreat for us and our family.

As it stands right now everything is pending until all the loan information clears and all documents are signed. We have a closing date of early November and plan to fly back to be there for the closing. The condo comes furnished so we only need to buy a few items to get it ready.

In honor of the show, we will be calling the condo the Blue Cat condo. We'd like to honor the show since we'll be in the area!

Tarah's Ketosis Experiment - Fat Burning Machine

Keith and I started following a Keto diet on May 31, 2018. To date we have both lost over 20lbs and are still moving forward with our weight loss. We are not strict Keto as we do have some days where we eat carbohydrates, but honestly it's not often. We try and keep our carbs to around 20 grams a day. 

On a daily basis we drink Pruvit, which is a drink mix that has pure therapeutic ketones it and helps put our body into a state of Ketosis so we are burning fat as energy instead of carbohydrates. "Ketosis is a normal metabolic process. When the body does not have enough glucose for energy, it burns stored fats..."

Today I did an experiment to see if my body was in Ketosis. At 9:45am I tool my blood glucose levels and it was at 0.6. I then drank my Pruvit at 9:50am. At 10:50am I check again and I was at 1.8, I'm officially in ketosis! 5 minutes later I did it again and I was at 1.9. So as you can see, I was still climbing. I am literally a fat burning machine!!

Woohoo!!! Burn fat, burn! If you are interested in ordering a 10 day sample pack to see if it's a product that will work for you, shoot us an email!

We Made a Video

Our YouTube Channel

If you weren't aware, we have a YouTube channel where we upload all of our videos of our travels, family, our Keto journey and more... 

Check it out - maybe you'll find something of interest. Please subscribe!

Pruvin it in Riviera Maya

I've said it before and I will say it again, THIS PRODUCT WORKS! 

I am NOT a "drink the koolaid" type of person. I have to try things to form my own opinion. Hell, I don't even pay attention to movie reviews as I figure, let me decide for myself, Siskal and Ebert! 🙄

Keith and I just returned from 20 days in the US and we got home and weighed ourselves, neither one of us gained a single pound. NOT ONE! 

I'll be completely transparent with you, yes we ate Keto-ish most days BUT I know I can count at least 2 Wendy's Frosties, 3 McDonald's BigMacs and one In-N-Out Double Double Animal Style burger each for us and that included the buns AND fries. (sorry not sorry!)

We did workout as best we could with several long walks and one trip to an actual gym, but I expected a pound or 5... We consistently everyday drank our Pruvit. We put our body into ketosis to burn the fat and as you can see, it worked! I can't even express how thrilled this makes me.

Join us in burning fat - we know you'll be glad you did! All you have to do is ask, we'd love to help!! 😍

Twenty Day USA Trip Wrapped Up

Keith and I left on September 21st to fly to Ohio to see my family and to go see John Mayer in concert at the Bourbon & Beyond festival.

My wonderful father let us use his car to drive to Louisville on Saturday to see the festival. It had rained the whole day and just kept on raining. Check out this video to see what I mean... Lenny Kravitz and John Mayer were amazing!! The festival ended up being cancelled for day 2 due to the park being destroyed from all the rain. It really was a nightmare in regards to the water and mud - music wise, it was awesome!

My worst nightmare came true at the festival... I dropped my cell phone ON THE FLOOR of a muddy port-o-potty!!! Muddy floor. Toilet. At a festival of 1000’s of people. (My brain was screaming bloody murder) 😱 I know what you’re thinking, “are you sure it’s mud, Tarah ?” It’s mud, shut up!!! Besides this horror, we did get back to Ohio and realized the next day someone had hit my fathers car... Our affordable trip just became much more expensive for us as we plan to pay to get it fixed for him. I can't believe someone hit us and drove us... Jerks!

During the trip we decided to make a side trip to Lake Ozark in Missouri. We have been wanting to buy a 2nd property for awhile and with Lake Ozark offering more lake front property than California we decided to check it out. We spent two days there exploring the area and with a realtor. 

We are happy to report we found a place and hope to close in early November! If you haven't been, you should. It's a beautiful area that revolves around lake living. My dream!! I blame my grandparents as they had lake front homes and boats and it was a life I dreamed to have as it was always so enjoyable!

Our adorable grandkids

On the 30th we flew to Nevada to rent a car and drive to Arizona. We were so excited as the grandkids, Alexis and Zavier, as they are in Nevada. We were thrilled to see them and their mother, Miranda, for breakfast. It was so much fun seeing them and catching up. They are getting so big. Alexis has started school and Zavier is so much more chatty than when we last saw him. We miss them so much so seeing them was a highlight of our trip!

After seeing them we drove to Lake Havasu City where Keith grew up. He showed me his high school and the house he grew up in. We also were able to see several of his high school friends for dinner, which was really nice. While there we also saw our Pruvit team members, Chris and Dani Webb. They are so inspirational and they really do live a life of health and wellness, one we'd like to emulate. 

While there, it was our 2 year wedding anniversary (October 1st). We decided to go to dinner at Shugrue's. We've had the most amazing time together in these 2 years of marriage - I can't wait to see what the next 40+ years bring!

We wrapped up or Lake Havasu trip with breakfast with Lester, Keith's HS buddy. We then drove to the Grand Canyon to stay with another HS friend, Sara, for 2 nights. She and her husband live and work in the park. First night there we met Sara for sunset over the Grand Canyon - I had never been there before so it was quite the sight. I knew it was big but it is BIG!!! So glad I was able to experience it!

Our last stop on this 20 day tour was Phoenix. We had found out the Foo Fighters would be performing there and Keith has always wanted to see them. We were lucky enough to see one more HS friend, Tiffany and her husband, for dinner. the next night we met with another Pruvit team member, Shelley, she also was an inspiration. After this trip we feel so empowered by this company and are looking forward to building our business. That night was the Foo Fighters concert and it was GREAT! 

I fell in love with Arizona and can't wait to go back!

We flew home on October 10th during hurricane Michael so our flight was a bit delayed - thankfully we were able to get home safe and sound. The dogs were happy to see us after being gone so long - we really did miss them!

Can't wait till our next big trip!! :)

Happy 2 Year Anniversary Love