My Paradise

...Is this place called Punta Mita. It's about 45 minutes north of Puerta Vallarta and is pure heaven.

My parents bought a place down there about 7 years ago, and we've been spending our Christmases (and their winters) in this little Mexico home ever since.

My favorite vacation cocktail: Vodka, Pineapple, & Cran

Most nights, after spending the days sunbathing, reading, and swimming, we head out to dinner on the beach. 

One of my favorite nights though was a night home. My cousins and uncle spent Christmas in Mexico as well and they decided to spend a few days at our house too. The first night they came we had made pizza and pasta,  played games, listened to music, and just enjoyed being on vacation together, under the same roof.

 

And of course, we still have to have a Christmas tree - mini, or not.

During December the humpback whales travel their way up the coast, and make a little pit stop in Punta Mita with their babies. Every year you can rent a boat to go out and spot them. My cousins that had never done it before and it was so much fun to see it  through their eyes. Plus, it was a great whale season - we spotted like 15, and we even saw 2 jump fully out of the water.

 

 

On Christmas Eve, more members of our family flew down from Chicago and joined us on vacation just in time for dinner. We celebrated with turkey, pasta, and wine....except that the ocean waves were crashing just behind our seats.








Christmas day we opened a few presents, walked the beach, and had another big dinner with friends and family at a nearby resort called Imanta. It's a crazy, jungle like resort and probably one of the coolest properties I've ever been to.

And the views are amazing.

From there, we spent every other day, lounging at the pool, indulging in countless Coronoa's and consuming a few too many orders of chips and guacamole.

 

Punta Mita is not short on stunning restaurant locations. This restaurant, Sufi is one of my all time favorites.

 

 

 

But, my favorite night was a group  BBQ dinner (for 60), served family style on the beach at the St. Regis. Happy hour was set up at 6:30 so that everyone could take in the sunset and have a few margaritas.



 

 

 

Plus, just to seal the deal that the night was seriously perfect, they set up bonfires along the beach for your roasting marshmellow pleasure.

 

Our last night came to quickly. We had another group dinner on the beach, watched another amazing sunset, and cheers-ed to another amazing vacation.







Then, of course, the day I left....my sister Nellie and cousin's headed to grab drinks after dinner. Nell was told by a friend that Justin Biber and Selena Gomez were on their way in. Sure enough, Ms. Gomez showed up, and the story that ensues is honestly too funny (and way too unfair to share), but the first thing Nellie said to me after the story was, "You have to blog this".