Club Med Punta Cana

Did you know that Club Med is the company that started the all-inclusive concept? That was news to me for sure! I have a pretty big place in my heart for all-inclusives because Ever and I work like crazy all-year long and sometimes it's really nice to be able to have a vacation that is worry-free. This time around I got to try the Club Med Punta Cana resort in the Dominicain Republic. It was my first time at a Club Med all-inclusives. Over the years, I had heard such good things about this chain and I was super curious to see for myself. We had an amazing 4 days planned with the Club Med team to discover the huge property that runs on 75 acres of land. 

The location

The Club Med Punta Cana is literally 10 mins away from the Punta Cana airport. I know some people really look into this factor before booking an all-inclusive resort because they want to avoid the long bus ride, so this one is really for you. Right when you step foot in the lobby you can automatically feel the extent of the property and the hospitality. 

• Club Med Punta Cana has 631 rooms
• Family oriented resort with amazing services for kids
• New Zen Oasis adult only section with 78 rooms, a private bar, pool and beach

The rooms

We had the pleasure of staying in the new Zen Oasis section which is adults only and was built only a couple of years ago. The rooms looked amazing. Each of them were like small private cabanas. What I liked the most is that the main door opened to a private garden which was the main entry to the room, which my own private sun bed and little chilling area. It really felt like I had my own little house for the weekend. I loved the layout of the room, with a huge bath and a nice shower, everything to make couples feel right at home. The Zen Oasis area honestly looked amazing, with it's own private pool and private bar. We would get smoothies as an afternoon break and what was amazing were all the snacks the bar served around 4-5 pm, which is the time you usually get super hungry but it's too early for supper. I absolutely loved that! 

The beach

This is one thing that is an absolute must for me when I book a vacation, the beach must be long, for nice long walks and nice. The Club Med Punta Cana is such a huge property that you really get a gorgeous 2,000 foot private beach (with no vendors bothering you). The beach is very clean and you can lounge on some comfy chairs in the adult area or take a nap after your lunch right next to the beach restaurant. I honestly felt like it's was not overcrowded which is an absolute must for me. 

The activities

Wow, so many sports and activities to choose from at Club Med Punta Cana, we managed to try so many of them. When in an all-inclusive, lounging on a beach chair, eating and drinking can seem redundant to some, having a resort with a huge variety of activities makes it totally worth your money:

• Kayaking: this was a first for me. Most of the resorts offer water sports but it always seems so complicated. At the Club Med, everything was so easy, you can kayak for 30 mins, come back, go have lunch and go kayaking again or try something else. I found it was well organized. Kayaking was so special, the water was absolutely beautiful around the resort and it made it such a relaxing morning. Perfect for a post breakfast activity.

• The circus activity with Club Med CREACTIVE by Cirque du Soleil, which was super fun but super hard. Sometimes, it's nice to try something new on vacation and this was very new for me. Instructors are present on site to help you through everything.

• Archery: I also tried archery for the first time and it was awesome. Situated close to the lobby, you can reserve and try to hit the bullseye on your first go.

The food

Club Med is well known for their white chocolate bread and let me tell you that it became very dangerous for all of us after a couple of hours in the vacation. Someone had to stop us, it's sooo good. The resort has 3 main restaurants:

• Hispaniola: a waterfront restaurant that serves a sumptuous international buffet at breakfast, lunch and dinner. This place was so delish, the setting on the outside terrasse for a nice dinner is really gorgeous, especially at sunset.

• Samana: a large restaurant near the main swimming pool serving a variety of international and local favorites. This is the perfect place to go grab breakfast.

• Indigo Beach Lounge: the place-to-be during lunch. It's an all-day dining oceanfront restaurant with table service and what I loved is that at lunch, you could order your food with the Maitre'D and grab it to-go to eat on the beach, quesadillas and guacamole galore! At night, this restaurant transforms into an adult-exclusive dinner. 

What was super interesting to me was the fact that absolutely everyone on the resorts speaks french and I loved that! Honestly, Club Med is a really good destination for couples and especially amazing for families, sooo many things to do for the kids, it's crazy! If you want to learn more, visit the Club Med website or don't hesitate to send me a message. 

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4 things to do in Portugal with Air Transat

Portugal is definitely one of my favorite destinations. It just has the perfect dosage between city life and beach life. When looking to book a destination, the first thing the boyfriend and I ask ourselves is ''do we want a beach vacation or a exploring and getting lost in a city vacation?''. We usually go back-and-forth for a couple of days and end up deciding for a ''beach + getting lost in a city vacation''. We mostly reserve the full beach all-inclusive types for the winter, where all you need is a little vitamin D and relaxation. Portugal is the best of both worlds. One day you can lay on the most gorgeous beaches and another day you can get lost trying to find the best pastel de natas Portugal has to offer. I just found out that Air Transat flies from Montreal to Lisbon 6 days a week this summer, including 5 direct flights! The airline also offers 4 weekly flights to Porto. We went to Portugal 7 years ago and these are 4 things we did during our last visit and we would do again in a heartbeat next time we visit this beautiful country.

Le Portugal est définitivement l'une de mes destinations préférées. Ce pays est vraiment le dosage parfait entre la vie en ville et la vie de plage. Dès qu'Ever et moi cherchons à réserver une destination pour nos vacances, la première question qu'on se pose est: «voulons-nous des vacances à la plage ou une exploration et se perdre dans des vacances en ville?». Nous en discutons pendant plusieurs jours et finissons par décider qu'un mélange des deux est vraiment le meilleur des deux mondes. Nous réservons la plupart de nos vacances de type plage/tout compris en hiver, où tout ce dont on a besoin est un peu de vitamine D et de détente. Le Portugal est vraiment le meilleur des deux mondes. Un jour, vous pouvez vous allonger sur les plages les plus magnifiques et un autre jour, vous pouvez vous perdre en essayant de trouver le meilleur pastel de natas du Portugal. Je viens de découvrir qu'Air Transat vole de Montréal à Lisbonne 6 jours par semaine cet été, incluant 5 vols directs! La compagnie aérienne propose également 4 vols hebdomadaires vers Porto. Nous sommes allés au Portugal il y a 7 ans et voici les 4 choses que nous avons faites lors de notre dernière visite. Une chose est sûr, nous planifions notre retour depuis des années ;) 

1 - Eating your way through Lisbon - Lisbon is a city that is filled with amazing little restaurants. We all know that Portugal is known for their amazing fish, seafood, chicken and pastel de natas. Always make sure that you ask your hotel or your AirBnB host which local restaurants are the best, because trust me they know. If locals eat at these restaurants, it's because they are really good. During our last visit, we had stumbled upon this amazing chicken rotisserie, where we had an absolute feast and actually returned the next day. After supper comes the search for the best pastel de natas. I mean it's very hard to find a pastel de natas that is not good, walk around the main

1 - Manger votre chemin à travers Lisbonne - Lisbonne est une ville qui est remplie de petits restaurants incroyables. Nous savons tous que le Portugal est connu pour la fraîcheur du poisson et des fruits de mer, le poulet portugais et bien sûr, les pastel de natas. Dès le début de votre séjour, assurez-vous de toujours demander des conseils restaurants aux employés de votre hôtel ou à votre hôte AirBnB. Ces gens sont locaux, donc, ils connaissent vraiment les meilleurs endroits ils savent. Lors de notre dernière visite, nous sommes tombés sur un restaurant spécialisé en poulet portugais et nous avons mangé un festin. Ce restaurant était tellement bon que nous y sommes retourner le lendemain. Après le souper, il faut débuter la recherche du meilleur pastel de natas. Entre vous et moi, ce n'est pas très difficile, on retrouve plein de différents marchands un peu partout dans le centre-ville de Lisonne. 

2 - Ride an historic tram in Lisbon - One of the coolest things in Lisbon are their trams, they are part of the city's transportation system and make the perfect way of getting around the city and up those crazy hills. You can also find some hop-on hop-off trams that are guided to discover the city.

2 - Montez à bord d'un tramway historique à Lisbonne - Les trams sont l'une des choses les plus cool de Lisbonne. Ils font partie du système de transport de la ville et constituent le moyen idéal de déplacement dans la ville et les rues en collines. Vous pouvez également trouver des trams à différents endroits qui vous offrent des services de tours guidés pour découvrir la ville. 

3 - Walk around the Baixa district of Lisbon - This is Lisbon's heart, it's an area of plazas filled with restaurants, small cafés and boutiques and is where you should start your tour of Lisbon. You can walk from the Praca do Comercio em Baixa to Rua Augusta which is a gorgeous pedestrian street that will bring you all the way down to the Comércio Plaza. 

3 - Promenade dans le quartier de Baixa à Lisbonne - Ce quartier est vraiment le coeur de Lisbonne, c'est un endroit rempli de restaurants, de petits cafés et de boutiques et c'est vraiment là que vous devriez commencer votre visite de Lisbonne. Vous pouvez marcher de la Praça do Comercio à Baixa à Rua Augusta, qui est une magnifique rue piétonne qui vous mènera jusqu'à la Plaza Comércio.

4 - Porto tasting in Porto - This is an absolute most in this city. Porto is a port city that is known for its exportation of porto wine. The city is filled with multiple winecellar that you can visit. One porto winery we loved is Sandeman Porto, where you get a guided tour of port cellars and you learn all about the history of porto and how it's made. Make sure you eat something before going to these porto tastings, because we all know what can happen if you don't ;) 

4 - Dégustation de porto à Porto - Cette activité est un must lorsque vous visitez Porto. Porto est une ville portuaire connue pour ses exportations de porto. La ville est remplie de plusieurs caves à vin que vous pouvez visiter. Sandeman Porto est l'une de ces caves à porto que nous avons adoré. Vous pouvez faire une visite guidée des caves à porto, y découvrir tout sur l'histoire du porto et comment ce vin est fabriqué. Assurez-vous de manger quelque chose avant d'aller à ces dégustations de porto, car nous savons tous ce qui peut arriver si vous ne le faites pas;)

*This post was created in partnership with Air Transat. All opinions are my own.

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The Metro Edit: 3 looks

Last month, Ever and I decided to work on a fun little personal project: an editorial looking photoshoot in the Montreal Metro and this is the result. We had such a fun time running around the Metro and photographing different looks. I absolutely love getting creative and adding a little spin on the way I display my looks for you ladies. It's very easy to get stuck in a creative rut and I think sometimes it's important to think outside of the box. I hope you enjoy it! 

Le mois dernier, Ever et moi avons décidé de travailler sur un petit projet personnel: un photoshoot un peu plus éditorial dans le Métro de Montréal et voici le résultat. On a tellement eu de plaisir a courir dans le métro pour trouver les meilleurs endroits. J'adore être créative et essayer quelque chose de différent de temps en temps. C'est très facile de se retrouver dans un petit blocage créatif et je crois qu'essayer quelque chose de nouveau de temps en temps et penser de façon différente aide beaucoup. J'espère que vous aimez le résultat! 

Outfit 1: Blouse & Pants Zara | Boots Aldo | Coat Addition Elle | Bag Gucci

Outfit 2: Trench Gap | Boots Aldo

Outfit 3: Pants Zara | Bag Fendi

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Confident in Chantelle Paris

I am not going to lie, I can proudly say that I am a homebody. I absolutely love staying at home on weekends and lounging around the house. Being around the house obviously means you wants to be comfortable and you also still want to look pretty and it all starts from what's under. I absolutely love lingerie and my main factor when shopping for lingerie is comfort. Comfort always comes first. I want underwear that will fit right, that will not show under clothing and that will make me feel good. Chantelle basically ticks all these boxes for me. Chantelle is french lingerie brand that prides in quality and comfort. I was recently introduced to their new Soft Stretch collection that is seamless, minimal, ultra comfortable, breathable, one size fits all and just plain sexy. 

Je ne vais pas vous mentir, je peux dire avec fierté que je suis quelqu'un qui adore rester à la maison. Le weekend, j'adore rester à la maison, relaxer sur le sofa et regarder des émissions. Rester à la maison signifie évidemment vouloir être à l'aise et bien sûr, se sentir belle, comfortable et sexy, alors, tout commence à partir de ce qui est en dessous. J'adore la lingerie et mon facteur principal lors d'une petite session de magasinage pour de la lingerie est le confort. Le confort vient toujours en premier. Je veux des sous-vêtements qui vont bien me faire, qui ne vont pas paraître sous les vêtements et dans lesquels je vais bien me sentir. Chantelle coche toutes ces cases pour moi. Chantelle est une marque de lingerie française qui privilégie la qualité et le confort. Récemment, j'ai été présenté à leur nouvelle collection Soft Stretch qui est sans couture visible, minimale, ultra confortable, qui respire, de taille unique et qui est tout simplement sexy.

For me, minimal is super sexy, I don't need bells and whistles to feel good in lingerie. I've been basically living in this Chantelle Soft Stretch collection, the underwear doesn't bulge into my skin, it just sits right. From lounging at home, to putting a dress on and going on for drinks, comfort and confidence starts from what's under. 

Pour moi, un look minimaliste est super sexy, je n'ai pas besoin de plein de détails et de froufrou pour bien me sentir en lingerie. Essentiellement, depuis plusieurs semaines maintenant, je vis dans ce kit de la collection Soft Stretch de Chantelle. Les sous-vêtements me font bien et ne percent pas dans ma peau. De la maison à mettre une robe pour aller prendre un verre, le confort et la confiance commencent par ce qui est en dessous.

I am wearing the Chantelle Soft Stretch One Size Smooth Tank Top and the Soft Stretch Seamless Full Brief. You can shop the Chantelle Soft Stretch collection by finding your nearest location here. 

Je porte le débardeur Taille Unique de Chantelle Soft Stretch et le slip intégral sans couture Soft Stretch. Vous pouvez acheter la collection Chantelle Soft Stretch en trouvant votre emplacement le plus proche ici.

This post was created in partnership with Chantelle Paris. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

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30 is the new 20

I’ll be honest with you, turning 30 years old really made me realize I had to adopt new routines that had health benefits and had a positive impact on my everyday life. 30 is the new 20 but you’ve got to work harder at it. For me, turning 30 made me feel more confident. I know exactly what I want, when I want it, I love my job but it is also a more stressful time where every decision is important starting with health. And yes, let’s not forget that with 30 comes the appearance or threat of wrinkles.

Here are some of the healthy routines I’ve adopted that make me feel good and healthy:

1 – Do not compromise sleep – I know everyone says this, but going to sleep before midnight is sooo important. It immediately shows in your skin, under your eyes, you have so much more energy during the day and your brain is more alert. It is super important to establish a sleep routine and start your nighttime routine around 9:45pm, so you can be in bed ready to sleep (not on your phone) by 10-10:15. This trick has really changed my habits. Yes, it was very hard to adapt to, especially with the fact that I have a full-time job and run a full-time website but it is all worth it at the end.

2 – A good skincare routine – To fight and prevent those wrinkles you need a good skincare regimen, that you will religiously use. I’ve recently started incorporating the new L’Oréal Revitalift Cicacream in my skincare routine, which is fragrance-free and paraben-free. This cream’s key ingredient is Centella Asiatica, a plant from ancient Chinese Medicine that was used for centuries as a wrinkle fighter. L’Oréal Revitalift Cicacream basically acts like fitness for your skin, in a preventative manner and repair your skin’s barrier today in order to prevent premature aging. If you are close to my age, ladies, you need to think about this; we need to prep our skin to fight against aging and establish good skincare regimens.

3 – Drink a ton of water – This I can tell you is something I am proud to say I’ve mastered a very long time ago. I’m the girl at work that asks everyone is they drank enough water during the day. I never ever leave my house without my water bottle. I drink close to 2L a day and it makes a huge difference on my skin and on my mood.

4 – Food and exercise – Everything you ingest is immediately apparent on your skin. In the last couple of months, I’ve adapted my eating habits to eliminate bread as much as I can and really focus on a balanced diet. I always ate healthy, but I am now more careful on my intake of vegetables, fish and good proteins. As for exercise, I won’t lie, I wasn’t really good in the last couple of months as work took over my evenings. However, in the last month, I decided to create a routine and discipline myself to work out from home at least 3 times a week with a program. After only a couple of workouts, I noticed glow-y, healthier skin. 

These tricks are not anything you haven’t heard before, but what I can tell you is that by incorporating these changes, you will see a difference in your skin, your energy, your mind, your mood and everything else! 

This post was created in partnership with L’Oréal. All opinions are my own.

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