Wishful Thinking...: One week ago, at this moment...

...we had already spent the morning walking along the pure white sand beach in Mexico, had enjoyed mimosas with breakfast, and were lounging by the sparkling, turquoise Caribbean, sipping a cerveza under a brilliant blue sky. Ah, Mexico...

So, for those of you who are still reading and haven't closed this window in a huff of jealousy (I wouldn't blame you, trust me. I'm jealous of last week's me), here are the highlights of our three days in paradise.

We were supposed to leave early last Friday morning, but in true New York/Vierhaus-bad luck-travel style, another snow storm slammed into the East Coast on Thursday. Luckily for us, this was not classified by the prone-to-exaggeration weatherpeople, so (unlike during the pre-Christmas fiasco) the airlines kept their cool and at least didn't start canceling flights until after it started snowing. A snow-white Friday morning arrived, so far-so good, and we headed out for a somewhat scary cab ride (have you ever thought about how much we trust cab drivers? Because the thought definitely crossed my mind as we slid around the Grand Central Parkway). Got to the airport in one piece, still so far-so good, and then began the waiting game. One by one the flights fell, but ours, though delayed and delayed and delayed, held strong. Finally, we heard the blessed news that we were going and get on the plane NOW. Luckily for us, our pilot had a vacation of his own planned so for us, it was Mexico or bust.

Speed ahead to arrival- after promptly ordering a mojito (ahhhhh, and, just like that, our detox sweetly ended) we checked into our awesome suite. Fancy Eric had gone all out this time and booked us in the Royal Suites. And, let me tell you, we can never go back to coach. We are going Royal all the way. The Royal Suites basically have all the features an all-inclusive resort offers everyone, but better.

We had our own cabana, complete with deck chairs, hammock and a canoe; fully stocked mini-bar and four complimentary bottles of liquor (I still ask who actually drinks those when there's pre-mixed drinks everywhere you turn. I guess it's the thought that counts); fancy robes and slippers; a private butler; a menu from which you could order PILLOWS and BODY SPRAYS (I'm so not joking on this one); 24-hour room service (for those times in the middle of the night when drinking and eating all day just isn't quite enough); and, best of all, a restaurant, pool, and bar just for our section of the resort that served premium drinks. Let's just say it was fancy.

As you can imagine, we settled pretty easily into the good life. Our routine in Mexico was lovely and simple:

We got up early, took a walk on the beach or paddled around the resort in our canoe (once we bailed it out. It was a little full of water. Trash cans make excellent buckets, btw), went to breakfast and enjoyed our morning mimosas, slathered ourselves head to toe in sunscreen, headed to Las Rocas (salt water pool by the ocean) and laid around sipping cocktails and rocking out to the easy-listening versions of everyone's favorite pop standards.

You haven't heard good music until you've heard the jazz-swing version of "Material Girl." In the afternoon, we'd head inland to the Royal pool, where we'd continue to sip cocktails and lounge around in these fancy cabana-things for our afternoon siesta.

When the sun went down, we'd get our evening cappuccino to re-boot for Round 2, and spend some time on our patio, looking at the stars and full moon. More cocktails and dinner, maybe a round of cards, and then back to the hammock for more star-gazing, before falling asleep to get ready for it all again. Sounds nice, huh?

Ok- enough rubbing it in. We're going again as soon as we possibly can, and, for reals y'all, everyone's invited. It is truly paradise, and worth every penny you may have to save to be able to go. Do. It.

And here are my top-five higlights our vacation:

5. Hitting the swim-up bar in our AWESOME rafts- one was even called "King Cool". And King Cool it definitely was. We were riding in style, and this is really the only way to go to the swim up bar when the water temp is just above freezing. I'm just sayin'....

4. The mojitos at the lobby bar and the margaritas at the pool bar. These may not seem worthy of their own item on my list, but, you know what, they are. They just are.

3. Showering under a cloudless blue sky by day and billions of stars at night. Outdoor Mayan showers may just be the best invention ever.