Travel Story: Tamarindo Cost Rica

Hello Everyone!! Tanya Brown here, (AKA Schatzi) posting for the first time on this lovely blog.
I wanted to share this travel adventure my husband I took a sort while back. This was my last surf travel trip right before I got pregnant and I have very fond memories of Tamarindo, Cost Rica.

Amazing Sunsets

The Costa Ricans have a phrase “PURA VIVA”, which holds special meaning to them. It translates to “pure life”, meaning ‘life is good – live to your fullest’. We certainly took to ‘Pura Viva’ attitude !! During our visit to Tamarindo, Costa Rica we wanted to improve out surf skills. So we signed on with CR Surf Adventures. What an excellent choice that turned out to be! The guys at CR Surf Adventures were stellar. They took care of everything. We had transportation to & from the airport. Our accommodations at The Diria were arranged. We got surf coaching everyday. They even plan two additional activities for you that are included in your package. The hotel was beautiful and we would highly recommend it. The surf instructors (we mainly worked with Cesar & Chino) at CR were great. They assessed our ability and worked on the skills we needed to improve. Even if you are an advanced surfer, they still provide coaching & tours which bring you to locations that you might not be able to get to on your own. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that they know everyone in town (talk about 'Surf Mafia') &  if you’re in the water with them you never have to worry about locals giving you dirty looks! One of our extra activities were a Catamaran tour that took you to a more remote location to snorkel & provided food, cerveza's, and good times. The other was a zip line tour through the rain forest, also an amazing experience. We would not hesitate to return & can't wait to bring our daughter back with us!

Tamarindo, Costa Rica is a SURF town!! Scenes from the famous surf movie Endless Summer were filmed here. I think I lost count at just how many surf shops were in town. The one shop we wanted to find, we didn’t. The famed Robert August (we own a namesake board) of Endless Summer, has his shop here. We wandered, but we did not find it? Just an excure to go back !

CR Adventures helping us improve our skills!

 Smiles of 'STOKE' after a day of surfing &some well deserved cerveza's 

Another beautiful sunset

Other travel tips for Tamarindo:

The Diria is the biggest, and I think the nicest hotel in town. It is centered on the beach, which is is very long. The restaurant in the hotel is pretty good! We were surprised at how many great  little restaurants were in town, so there are no shortage of places to eat. The Wild Panda (good vegetarian) is owned by Junior, a CR surf instructor, Portofino has good pizza, Bamboo has great sushi, Eat @ Joe’s great burgers & nachos, and many great beach places serving fish!! Try to fly into Liberia, as it is significantly closer airport. There are many other activities to do there, aside from surfing. You can take a canopy zipline tour (which we did & was lots of fun), snorkeling , ATV jungle tours, and horseback riding. No matter what you do there you will certainly  experience PURA VIVA!

XOXO - Schatzi Brown

Coming in HOT!

Alright y'all... There's something I've gotta share with you. I have recently come in contact with an awesome and inspiring lil lady from Long Island, New York. She has a heart of gold and an amazing, artistic talent that can make you feel like you are in the middle of an endless summer, sitting on the beach while sipping pina colodas. Her name is Tanya Brown (aka Schatzi Brown) and you've gotta check out her work...  

 She created the sweet background for this blog and has tons of other gorgeous patterns and designs that she has used for iPhone cases, pillow cases, graphic prints, make up cases and so much more.

 

 

 

When I was a teeny wahine, I was pretty obsessed with anything and everything Lisa Frank. Well Tanya's prints kind of bring me back to those days, but I think her art is even COOLER! Not only does she have a talent for awesome graphic design, but she is constantly thinking of ways to look out for the environment and give back to the community. Check out her blog http://schatzibrown.wordpress.com/ and Etsy shop  https://www.etsy.com/shop/Schatzi Brown. Hopefully, if I play my cards right, she may even collaborate with us here on Beauty and the Beach :)

 

A HUGE, special thanks for the blog art, Tanya!! Can't wait to see what the future holds for you and all of your amazing ideas! Where there's a will, there's a way, and you undoubtedly have a bright future ahead of you.    XOXO

FINALLY

SPRING IS HERE.

Our Sweet Escape!

 

Like most people in the US, we have had quite a frigid winter here in coastal North Carolina. In effort to save money for future endeavors, we needed to plan a low budget getaway to warm water, lots of sunshine, and good waves. What better way to escape the cold than a road trip down to the Florida Keys!? It was the perfect remedy to beat our winter blues and refresh our souls. We scored some sweet waves, (glassy, chest to head high + under offshore winds), surfed our way down the sunshine state, ate tons of fresh, local seafood, SUP'd, snorkeled, swam, fished, and explored all over the mangrove mazes. Oh yeah, and how can I forget one of the highlights of the trip?! Surfing with manatees!! So my point is, you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on airfaire and hotels to plan a great vacation. Just grab some friends, split the gas and lodging, hit the road and wing it! You never know what adventures may lie ahead :-)

 

A great website to check out and help plan your next road trip is https://roadtrippers.com/

 

 

From great eats and drinks to amazing natural wonders, this site breaks it down and has it all! I highly recommend it, no matter what your point of interests may be.

 

Fishing off the keys

Mangrove mazes off Key Largo

 

Indiatlantic surf sesh

  



Told you I was a mermaid at heart ;-)

 

 

Florida pink flamingos! 

 

 So, I'm a little obsessed with palm trees...

 

 Butterfly kisses

 

 SUP Adventures

 

Always looking for the next adventure :) 

 

Are you 'kini ready?

It's almost that time! It's been months since we've felt the warmth of the sun on our bodies, but spring will be here before we know it. Time to shed the rubber wetsuits and get our bodies ready for some SUN! Whether you're rockin' a teeny bikini, beautiful monokini, or a cute one piece - we all want to be comfortable in our skin. I know I've been trying hard to trim off these last few winter pounds I seem to have packed on.  Here are some helpful links that help motivate and inspire me to get back in 'kini shape!

 

 

The Best and Worst Foods for a Bikini Body 

 

 

http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/diet-tips/best-and-worst-foods-bikini-body

 

 

Found this workout on pinterest, love the Tone it Up girls!!

 

 

Just for giggles, this one is for Sarah ;-)

 

 

And for all my west coast friends who are probably in awesome bikini shape year round, be sure to check out Billabong's Bikini Truck, powered by Swell. Awesome summer styles, coming to a party near you! Hey, just another reason why I might need to make my way to the west coast for another impromptu adventure ;-)  #BillabongBikiniTruck

 

 

 

http://thebikinitruck.com/

 

 

A lil sugar for your Monday...

Words of wisdom from Starbucks

I'll take a tall skinny vanilla latte with a side of positive thinking  ;-)

Let the adventure begin!

Alright ladies, we decided to start this blog as a place where we could share some of our experiences and stories as we enter our third decade of life. Ahhhhhh, the good ol' dirty thirty. A slightly scary reality we have learned to come to terms with. We may not feel like we're old, but we definitely can't hang like we use to. Our bodies demand a little more care and attention (going to sleep earlier, working out a little harder, watching what we eat, having a few less drinks than we would maybe want to), it's been a less than pleasant reality. Having said all that, it's been a beautiful journey and we are so very thankful and blessed to have made it this far. We'd love to use this little space on the great world wide web to share with you. Enjoy!!