There's just over two weeks until my cruise and I'm getting so excited!  This weekend I spent some time putting together the outfits I'll be wearing, so I wanted to share them with you like I've done with my past cruises.

And that's it, all of the outfits I'm bringing on my cruise!  As you can see, I've opted for mostly workout clothes for our port days.  I figure they will be cooler and more functional for the hot weather we're supposed to have.  Besides, I've got the evenings to dress up and wear pretty dresses!

Like I said, I'm getting so excited and definitely counting down the days (18 days until I leave)!!

My Bahamas cruise starts exactly four weeks from today!  I've already started putting together my packing list and I also just went clothes shopping over the weekend, so I figured now would be a good time to do a post on all of my cruise outfits.  Some of them are the same outfits I wore on my last cruise, mostly because I haven't really added many summer clothes to my wardrobe since the last cruise.  Here are the outfits I'll be wearing on my 8-day trip:

Here are all of my clothes laid out.  It was slightly less overwhelming to pack for an 8-day trip instead of my last trip, which was an 11-day trip.

Living a healthy lifestyle can be challenging enough, let alone when you are out of town or on vacation.  It seems like as soon as you get off your usual routine all attempts at a healthy lifestyle go down the drain…or at least they do for me.

I have a week-long work trip coming up and I am determined to stay on track and not lose the momentum I've gained so far.  Here are some tips and tricks I am using for my trip so that I can maintain a healthy lifestyle away from home:

• Pack healthy snacks: being on the road makes it really easy to justify grabbing a quick bite at a fast food restaurant or overindulging at a restaurant.  By bringing healthy snacks you will be able to keep your blood sugar at a regulated level and have something to fill you up between meals.  On this trip I'll be bringing 100 calorie packs of almonds, dried apricots, and Kind bars.
  
• Bring your sneakers: usually the last thing I want to do on vacation is work out, but if you're determined to keep up with your healthy lifestyle it's not a bad idea to bring workout shoes with you.  That way you at least have the option of going for a walk or hitting the gym.  For this work trip I am using a larger suitcase just so I have plenty of room for workout clothes and shoes.
• Check out menus before getting to the restaurant: these days almost every restaurant has their menu online.  Instead of making my meal choice when I'm hungry and tempted to eat unhealthy food, I usually look at the menu before getting to the restaurant so that I know what I'm going to eat before I even sit down at the table.
• Bring a reusable water bottle: drinking lots of water is a huge part of my lifestyle transformation.  I bring a water bottle with me everywhere I go so that staying hydrated isn't as much of a challenge.

Let me know if you have any travel tips or tricks that you use on your trips in order to stay healthy!

My Eagle Creek packing cubes arrived the other day and I wanted to try them out right away, so I decided to do a packing test run for my trip.  Here is a look at everything I'm taking.

As a carry-on, I will be using my green Coach travel bag because it has comfortable straps, it zips closed, and it hold a lot of stuff.  The items included in my carry-on are:

• Electronics: laptop, iPad, camera, headphones
• Documentation: passport, cruise paperwork, flight itinerary
• Comfort: snacks, eye mask, water bottle
• Toiletries: face wash wipes, face lotion & sunblock, razor, prescriptions
• Makeup bag: basic makeup that I can't live without in case my suitcase is lost

Inside my carry-on I will also have a little zipper pouch with all of my cords in it.  It will have cords or chargers for my iPhone, iPad, laptop, and camera.

Along with my carry-on bag, I will also be taking my full-size purse on the plane with me.  I will only be using this purse during our time in Daytona and will use a smaller cross body purse for the cruise.  Some items in my purse include:

• Wallet: credit & debit cards, driver's license, health insurance cards, cash
• Zipper pocket: tissues, gum, bandaids, nail file & clippers, hair tie, chapstick
• Medicine: Pepto tablets, eye drops, Sudafed, Benadryl
• Misc: phone, sunglasses (not pictured)

Inside my checked suitcase will be two cases for toiletries.  The smaller one is specifically for my shower items and the larger one is for everything else.  Here's a closer look at both.

The smaller case is from Soap & Glory and it came from a holiday gift set.  I held onto it because I thought it would come in handy some day, and now it has!  The items in my shower kit include:

• Body: mini shower puff & Victoria's Secret shower gel in Pure Seduction
• Hair: Aveeno shampoo & conditioner, Organics Argan Oil of Morocco
• Face: Travel bottle of Cetaphil face cleanser
• Shaving: Johnson & Johnson baby oil for shaving my legs

Inside my larger toiletry bag I will be taking:

• Body: deodorant, Victoria's Secret lotion and body spray in Pure Seduction, Coach Poppy perfume
• Sun care: Coppertone Ultra Guard sunblock in SPF 50, Hawaiian Tropics Silk Hydration After Sun Lotion, UV Sun Sense bands to remind me to re-apply sunblock throughout the day 
• Face: Clean & Clear makeup remover, cotton rounds
• Teeth: toothbrush, toothpaste, floss
• Hair: brush with hair ties & comb
• Zipper pouches: first aid & manicure set

The zipper pouch inside my larger toiletry kit will be for first aid items.  They include:

• Tissues
• Pepto tabs & Tums
• Dramamine (Less Drowsy) & Sea Bands
• BandAid Blister Friction Block Stick

My travel manicure set will include:

• Studio35Beauty nail polish remover pads
• Sally Hansen Ultimate Shield Base & Top Coat
• Sally Hansen No More Mistakes manicure clean-up pen
• Essie polishes in Mint Candy Apple, Cute as a Button, and Watermelon

I will also be packing a mini laundry kit in my checked suitcase, which will have:

• Tide travel size laundry detergent
• Febreeze fabric spray
• Downy Wrinkle Release
• Shout Wipe & Go wipes
• Travel lint roller

During the trip I plan on keeping a Smash book of our adventures, so I am bringing the Simple Style Smash book along with a zipper pouch of supplies, including:

• Two-sided pen & glue stick combo, travel scissors
• Washi tape in a variety of patterns and colors
• Stickers, pockets, and a Smash pad
• Thank You cards for the service crew on the ship
• Post-It notes for leaving notes on my friends' doors

Some other items that will be packed in my suitcase are for my cabin stateroom.  They are:

• Over the door shoe organizer to store odds & ends
• Travel alarm clock and nightlight
• Power strip to have extra outlets in the room
• Suction cup hooks for hanging up things to dry
• Glade Plug-In to keep the room smelling fresh
• Highlighter for circling interesting activities on the daily schedule

And now, finally on to clothes and accessories.  The pictured accessories above include:

• Kate Spade Allen Street Neil Bag in Coal for daytime use
• Black clutch for formal dinner
• Umbrella and hat
• Green shawl and black sparkly scarf
• Various necklaces
• Tote bag for pool or beach (not pictured)

Here are all of the clothes and shoes I'll be bringing on the trip for both Florida and the cruise.  If you're interested, you can see how my outfits are broken out in my last blog post.  My list of clothes includes:

• Bottoms: jean leggings, two pairs black leggings, two pairs capris, two skirts
• Tops: seven tank tops, two t-shirts, two black cover-ups
• Formal dress (along with one or two casual dresses not yet purchased)
• Bathing suit and beach cover-up
• Pajamas: two sets of short and t-shirts and a robe for getting ready
• Shoes: black flip flops, pink flip flops, gold flats, nude flats, walking shoes (not yet purchased)
• Bras, socks, and underwear

This is the final product once I loaded everything into my suitcase.  The suitcase itself is a SwissGear Checklite 24" Upright in Charcoal with spinner wheels.  I bought it at Target for about $160.  I'm hoping the light gray color will make it stand out from the other 95% of suitcases on the luggage carousel that will be black.  

And that is a look at everything I am taking on my trip!  I believe I've thought of everything, but if I am missing something that you have found handy on a cruise before, please let me know in the comments!

I found this cruise outfit guide on Pinterest and it motivated me to put together my own outfits for the cruise I'll be going on in a month.  Here are the different outfits I'll be wearing on my 11-day trip:

I've done this for past trips and usually something changes along the way and the outfits don't end up being exactly as planned. But at least I know I've got enough clothes to last me the full 11 days and I won't be forgetting anything!  

I may re-think the skirts on the at-sea days because I've heard it can get really windy on the ship's deck and I don't want to have to hold down my skirt all day long.  I am also going to purchase some comfortable walking shoes to wear on our excursions, so the flats in the pictures will likely be swapped out for more appropriate walking shoes.

Online it says we will have one formal dinner for our five-day cruise, so I'll at least bring the dress pictured above and will likely buy another one or two casual dresses that I can wear to dinners on the other nights in case I feel like being a little more dressy.

I am a very organized person, so I was excited when I learned about Eagle Creek packing cubes.  I originally heard about them on YouTube from Ingrid, whose channel is called missglamorazzi.  Here is a link to her packing video in case you want to see the packing cubes in action.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I'll be going on an 11-day trip in about a month, so I am in full-on planning mode.  I already have a list put together of what I'm bringing along with a newer, bigger suitcase ready to be packed.  Once I saw Ingrid's video, I knew that packing cubes were going to be super helpful.  I went online to Amazon and got a few of them.  Here's what I ordered:

• Eagle Creek Travel Gear Pack-It Cube, Black (2)
• Eagle Creek Travel Gear Pack-It Tube Cube, Black
• Eagle Creek Travel Gear Pack-It Garment Folder Small, Black  
  

The garment folder is probably the coolest piece I ordered.  Instead of describing how it works, here's a video where you can watch it in action.  The size that I ordered holds up to seven items at a time.  The reason I chose the smallest one is because it's almost the same size as the pack-it cube, so they'll stack nicely in my suitcase on top of one another.

I plan on doing a full post of my packing process, so I'll share pictures with you of the packing cube, tube, and garment folder in action!

In exactly 43 days I will be boarding my first cruise ever!  I am so excited that I've already started a packing list and have already bought stuff for the trip.

The actual trip itself is eleven days and the cruise will be for five nights.  We will be flying into Orlando on Thursday, April 24 and staying in a condo in Daytona for two nights.  On Saturday, April 26 we will drive a car from Daytona to Fort Lauderdale, which is where we are boarding the cruise ship.  

Our cruise is through Royal Caribbean and we will be sailing on the Liberty of the Seas.  We have one day of sailing, then we stop in Belize on Monday, Cozumel on Tuesday, and another day of sailing on Wednesday.  We get back to Fort Lauderdale on Thursday at 7:30am.  After that we return to Daytona and will stay until Sunday, May 4, when we fly out of Orlando.

I am staying in a promenade stateroom, pictured below.

The promenade staterooms look out over the Royal Promenade, which is like the "downtown" area of the ship with shops, bars, and food.  Here is what it looks like on our ship.

The Royal Promenade is located on Deck 5 and my room is on Deck 6, so I will be looking down on all the action throughout the day, which apparently includes parades!  

Now that I've given you an idea of what the trip will be like, I want to share some packing tips that I've been picking up during my preparation for the cruise.

Here are some items to pack that you may not think to bring:

• Hanging Shoe Organizer - almost every site I went to suggested that you bring one of these.  Everyone says it's a lifesaver for living in such limited space because it allows you to have one place to store all kinds of small objects you might lose track of, like power cords for your phone or travel-size toiletries.
• Power Strip - apparently power outlets can be hard to come by in the staterooms, so a lot of people suggest bringing a power strip so that you can multiply your outlets and have enough space to plug in everything at once.
• Travel Alarm Clock & Night Light - it sounds like most staterooms do not include an alarm clock, so bringing a travel one with you is a good idea if you would like to be able to check the time without using your cell phone.  Also, the rooms are very dark at night (especially interior rooms) so a night light can help you get around without bumping into things.
• Binoculars - a lot of packing sites also list binoculars as an item to bring that you might not think of.  They are nice to have on deck and also on excursions to view wildlife.
• Misc. - a few other items that were mentioned are magnets for your stateroom door to be able to distinguish it from all the other identical doors in your hallway, a highlighter used for your calendar of activities to keep track of the things you want to do, and suction cup hooks so you have plenty of places to dry things.

I will keep you posted as the cruise gets closer.  I've already booked my excursions, so I'll definitely do a blog post about what we'll be doing on the cruise.