Marriage Week 2
November 20 - November 26
It has been the best first two weeks of marriage; from getting to say “I do” in the charming city of Charleston with our closest friends and family, to flying off to tropical paradise in the Dominican Republic, to our first married Thanksgiving, we’ve had a lot to celebrate and be thankful for. Here is a look back at our SECOND week married.
Our Dominican Republic Honeymoon Getaway
It’s never easy leaving a fantastic vacation, let alone your honeymoon! When our original honeymoon had to be postponed due to the pandemic, Kamil took charge in planning a new honeymoon that we could do this year! He really found a beautiful property and I would highly recommend checking out Sanctuary Cap Cana to anyone looking for an all-inclusive adult-only Dominican getaway!! It was so quiet while we were there it felt like a private resort, sometimes we were the only ones at some of the pools. Anyways, we loved every second of our trip and it was hard to leave the beautiful pools, turquoise water, and delicious seafood behind and head back home.
Friday, November 20
While navigating a gluten allergy in a country where English isn’t the first language is always a bit challenging, luckily a few days in some of the wait staff knew us and knew of my allergy. One lady in particular was always SO kind and would go in the back and have the chef prepare gluten free desserts! This morning it was a poached pear in a red wine reduction as well as a gluten free cheesecake!
After a quick work out in the gym, we had breakfast, and then spent the morning lounging on the beach reading books, napping, and drinking tropical drinks. For lunch we headed to our usual, the little oceanfront outdoor dinning restaurant, where I had an amazing seafood paella and Kamil had Dominican-style fried fish with plantains. After lunch we transitioned over to the pool and relaxed the afternoon away under the beautiful palm trees and sunshine. For dinner we enjoyed a delicious steak dinner and finished off the evening by walking around the resort. While we were walking around near the pool they were getting ready for a Dominican night performance so we decided to stay around. There was supposed to be Dominican dancing but before they got to that portion of the evening, they had a painter guy who painted drawings upside down….well he wasn’t upside down, but he’d paint the canvases in what looked like crazy nonsensical lines and then he’d flip over the canvas and it would be a painting of Elvis or Marilyn Monroe. While it was interesting…after over an HOUR of him painting then they went into the live auction portion of the evening where people bid HUNDREDS of dollars for these paintings, lol. It was absolutely bizarre!! After an hour and a half of that craziness we looked at each other and were like this is so strange, let’s get out of here. So sadly, no Dominican dancing for us that night!
Saturday, November 21
Our last day enjoying the beautiful paradise of the Dominican Republic! After a morning lying under the shade of a palm tree sipping coconut pina coladas and margaritas and reading, we had our final lunch at the little oceanfront seafood restaurant and devoured more seafood and plantains. Seriously, we could eat fresh seafood every day in the salty air! We finished off the day by hanging at the pool bar and lounging in the different pools (which were basically private pools since it was so quiet out). Finally we drug ourselves away from the infinity pools and coco loco’s and got ready to head to the airport. It’s always a good sign that you’ve had an amazing trip when you don’t want to leave… we felt that way about our honeymoon!
When we had to change up all our plans for the wedding and honeymoon, I knew I couldn’t plan a new wedding and a new honeymoon and asked Kamil to take over that part of the wedding. At first I wasn’t sure I wanted to do anything, but now I’m so thankful he convinced me to still do a honeymoon now! He truly knocked it out of the park with a gorgeous resort that gave us a romantic and private-island experience. It was so hard to leave those turquoise waters, and I really would love to go back one day.
Moved into Our First Place
Once we got back from the Dominican Republic I officially moved into OUR apartment in Durham. While I visited here and there while we were engaged, I lived at my parents until we were actually married. So after we returned from our relaxing tropical honeymoon getaway, it was time to start settling into our home together. It’s definitely a slow moving process as I’m just bringing over a few things at a time from my parents house, but it’s so cool to feel established as a couple in our own home. It may be small, but it’s full of love that’s for sure!
First Married Thanksgiving
For our first married Thanksgiving we spent it with my family in Greensboro! It was a relaxing day full of lots of our traditional delicious food and watching football. While my parents did most of the prep work, Kamil and I did most of the cooking actually. We really enjoy being in the kitchen together so we enjoyed cooking and sipping wine while we helped pull together the Thanksgiving meal.
Love,
The Newlyweds K&K