This morning Ben and I enjoyed a lovely breakfast buffet. I was happy to see they had oatmeal. But, I could not turn down a banana pancake or a “poached egg in salsa”. 
The banana pancake was amazing, the poached egg was a little weird. though. I also enjoyed some fruit and iced coffee to round out the meal. 
After breakfast Ben and I slapped on a few coats of sunscreen and headed to the water. We went snorkeling right off the beach and saw some parrot fish, sheepshead and others. I realized today that I really love snorkeling.
I’m scared of SCUBA diving, but give me a snorkel and some fishies and I’m all over that. 
(I need to note that it is not easy for me to put this picture up, but I am trying to lead by example. This may be as good as it gets and I am enjoying vacation without worrying about how I look. Life and vacations are too short for that. )
We also took a short ride on the Hobie Cat. The workers take you out past the breakers and it’s really cool! We have action pictures on the water camera, so all you get is this for now. 
Then, it was time for lunch. Another buffet. Shit. Shoot. I am going to come back home 10 pounds heavier and 10 minutes slower if I don’t watch it. 
Why do they offer dessert with lunch? I can’t turn it down. 
After lunch I did something I never do. After years of trying to convince me, Ben finally got me to cave.
I took a nap.
And it was good.
It didn’t exactly recharge me because I woke up groggy and couldn’t shake it, but it did feel good to just sleep a little extra.
Can I just say that open bars are amazing? And dangerous. But, mostly amazing.
With beverage in hand I relaxed by the water until we got back in…
And that’s when it happened. My third worst fear came true. I got stung by a jelly fish. (Aren’t you really distracted by what my top 2 worst fears are now?)
Anyways, Ben and I were casually swimming in the ocean around sunset when I felt a sudden shard pain on my neck and shoulder. I said “Ow!” and touched my neck, but nothing was there.
But that spot kept burning and stinging so I bobbed my neck out of the water and Ben confirmed a red slash mark across my neck. 
It wasn’t super bad, but we got out of the water in case I had an allergic reaction and it got worse. 
My skin was burning and stinging and we weren’t sure what to do, so we asked the hotel’s front desk. They sent me to the nurse.
She slapped some lotion on it and said I’ll be fine.
While Ben offered to pee on me, I was able to dodge that bullet thanks to the nurse lady. Whew, close call.
Oh well, now I know what that feels like.
It’s nothing a few beverages and a gorgeous sunset can’t cure, right?
We cleaned up for dinner, but I couldn’t take a shower because regular water makes it worse for some reason. So I changed and went to dinner looking like a homeless wet cat.
Dinner:
Dessert:
Ironically, when we got back from dinner there was a note on the door warning us about the Jellyfish in the water. Thanks but I am already well aware. 
Despite the ocean mishap, I am having a great time.
Hope you all had a great Labor Day too 🙂 
Question: Have you ever been stung or bitten by an animal or insect?
This was my first time, outside of mosquitoes of course.
Monica, you look gorgeous in a bikini!!
Bummer about the sting! Way to rock the bikini baby!
I’ve been stung by jellyfish 3 times….no fun. The first time was both of my feet (in ankle-deep water, no less!!). My feet were too swollen for shoes. The 2nd – my entire leg; 3rd – I grabbed one, unintentionally, while swimming…and then rubbed my face for some reason. No good, my friend, no good at all.
There was also the time my leg swelled up twice it’s size & turned bright red, courtesy of yellow jackets. I haven’t been stung since, and am paranoid that I’m allergic. Anaphylactic shock, anyone?
Monica, you look great in a bikini! You’re so silly. 😉 I have been stung 5 times by yellow jackets on separate occasions. I’ve been bitten by a dog and a hamster. The hamster really hurt, my finger gushed blood for forever. Razor tooth rats are all they are.
Love the photos, and you look great so whatevs!
My horse bit my sister once. I was also bitten by my dog, but he did it more out of a shock response and not because he was vicious. He had just been hit by a car and ran over to me and I reached down to make sure he was ok. 🙁
oh gosh, i remember when i got stung by a blue bottlecap portuguese-man-o-war! very pretty, very painful! my friends and i all got stung and i thought i had heard from somewhere that if you get stung, you have to pee on it, so that’s what i told everyone to do! we were all literally peeing in buckets on a beach, in front of all these people, and pouring it over wherever we’d all gotten stung! obviously, this didn’t really work, but we were still in pain, so we just sucked it up, went back to the beach house, and took a nice, warm shower. i looked up how to cure jellyfish stings and…apparently that’s all you have to do. take a nice, warm shower. afterwards, all my friends left their rooms nice and clean, and i told them the solution. they had all realized that the sting was gone and then proceeded to give me a hard time because they wouldn’t have let themselves be covered in each others’ pee if i hadn’t said that’s what i heard worked! ahh, good times. love the beach 😀
I have been bitten by a few dogs (twice on the face) and stung by a few blue bottles. This is pretty common for beaches in Sydney though. Here is a story for you….I was at the beach last year and I saw a MASSIVE blue bottle washed up on the beach. I felt sorry for it so I threw it back in the water. The problem was that I was at the beach with my dogs and one of them thought I was playing “fetch” with him so he jumped in the water and grabbed the blue bottle in his mouth!!!!! He had blue tentacles stuck all through his teeth and was really freaking out. He was OK though, after a few hours of some major salivating.
PS: You look GREAT in your bikini…..I think you may be too hard on yourself….you have a great body!
Hi Monica! I want to start off by saying I *love* your blog (read it daily)! I don’t normally comment, but I just wanted to say you look fabulous in that bikini picture! You’re such a positive role model.. you are fantastic at balancing healthy eats with indulgences and you are just so real! Have a fantastic vacation!
I love that you posted a picture of yourself looking confident and loving life while wearing a bikini. If not now, when, right?
I got stung by a jellyfish once – it hurt so bad! It even left some sort of stingers in my ankle.
I was probably 10 and had never hear of the “pee” on it cure – thank god I hadn’t – that would have traumatized me more.
Hope it is feeling better – and you look beautiful in your swimsuit.
Hi Monica! I’ve never commented before, but I must say there is no reason to be self concious. This is one of my favorite blogs because you are so real about your struggles with eating and body image. If I could look as good as you in a bikini I would be one happy girl! I think its wonderful that you train hard, but still enjoy treats and good eats. I am striving to find that balance and my life, and thanks to you I am getting there. Keep up the great work!
Ouch! So sorry that happened to you. My husband got stung by a jellyfish at you know where place, and he said it was not pleasent (you need to warn Ben :). We had to go to the first aid station and this was in Florida. BTW, you look great in a bikini, I wish I look that good! Have fun on your vacation!
you look fantastic!
I’m sorry you got stung, ouch! That’s one of my biggest fears too.
you look great!!! enjoy the vacation..so jealous!
I ran around by the river a few days ago in my bikini with no shorts on!! for the first time 🙂 And it was great. So kudos to you !
But honestly, it surprises me you were worried about the bathing suit pic because you look GREAT! Very fit. You look like a runner to me.
i am under the belief that your body is pretty bangin’. just saying.
Ack! I got stung by a jellyfish a few months ago. No fun for sure! It was a fairly tiny one (about the size of a muffin) and the tentacles were probably only 6-8 inches long, but BOY DID IT HURT!! He got me on my left hand & it was red & swollen & burning/itchy for days! Turns out about 15 other people got stung around the same time I did, so they posted a “marine life warning” after all of the complaints! It was weird though – the pain went away after about 5 days, but would sporadically come back for about a month or so. I’m really sensitive to bee stings & mosquito bites, so I’m not surprised I reacted the way I did.
I definitely keep my eyes peeled now and stay out of the water when there’s a “marine life warning”!!!
…and now I’m afraid I’ll have scared you with this story…never fear that I swim all the time still! Hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation!
My skin is tingling just reading about your jellyfish sting. I’ve been stung by a few bees and wasps, but nothing too tragic.
I’m glad you’re having fun. Curacao looks gorgeous.
You look fabulous! Enjoy your strong body, you’ve worked hard for it.
AWWW Oh no!! This SAME thing happened to me when snorkeling in Mexico. Only mine was much much worse. I feel your pain girl. It’s so rough! Hang in there and enjoy the rest of your vacation darling.
Jellyfish – yikes! At least you can cross that fear off your list. Glad your OK. Birds have a thing for attacking me. I’ve been chased and bit by two geese…on two separate occasions.
PS – you look fabulous! Rock that marathon-running body!
Hey, I’m always wondering why do you always have peanut butter with your meal? 🙂
That’s how you know it’s love. When the other so willingly offers to pee on you when you are stung by a jellyfish. 😛
Michael told me you got stung!!! The first thing I thought was if Ben peed on you:x lol Well, I’m glad you’re alive not hurt:) I’m soo Jealous by the way:*( maybe next time we can go with.
Ouch! I am terrified of getting stung by jellyfish and eaten by sharks in the ocean, but I’m glad you’re okay. Have you ever been stung by a bee? I used to all the time, because I’d swat them thinking they were flies.
You look amazing in your bathing suit & you should be proud of your strong marathon-running body. Totally right about life being too short to worry about those things.
You look awesome in your bikini! Work it!
I’ve been stung by a bee (3x)…. hurt like a b#@$&! That was a kind offering by Ben, I almost peed myself laughing.
Aw…..I got stung by a jellyfish, and bad too! It was in the Bahamas, it’s definitely a day-ruiner….but thankfully not a vacation-ruiner! 😀 Have fun!!!
Just have to second the chorus – you look fab, girl!
A) you look AWESOME in a bikini. I’m not even going to spend any more time talking about it because the fact is that you seriously look great. Nothing to even be *remotely* self-conscious about!!!
B) Sorry to hear about your jellyfish sting! but glad to hear you’re still having fun.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday!!
I am sure that was hard to post, but you look terrific and should be proud of all of your hard work! When I was a kid, I gut stung by a jellyfish in Mexico – not fun. Now I have a huge fear of jellyfish everytime I go in the ocean!
You look HOTT in a bathing suit.
I got stung by a bee. It hurt like hell and I screaming bloody murder. Gah!
I have been stung by bees and once bitten by something while camping (still don’t know what) that made my knee grow to about three times its normal size. My dad had to whittle me a crutch out of a tree branch since we were in the middle of nowhere.
I went to a buffet the last time I was in Vegas and they had desserts available during breakfast, lunch, dinner. Yeah, many a dessert was eaten by this girl!
Sorry about the jelly fish. Whenever i get stung by a bee I swell like crazy around the sting site. Luckily i haven’t gotten stung in years. I love buffets b/c you can see what you’re eating before hand, but self control is tough.
I’ve only gotten stung by a couple bees before. The poor bee was floating in the water, and I took my goggles to scoop it out and save it. The freakin’ b@stard decided to take perch on my shoulder and sting me. That’s what I get for trying to save it from drowning.
You look great! (I may be biased because we have very similar body sizes/shapes.)
Also, this is the second blog I’ve read this weekend about a blogger getting stung by a jellyfish. Odd coincidence.
That water looks sooo pretty. I want to snorkel in it too. You look awesome in your bikini. Live it up!
Looks like y’all are having an awesome time! Billy is a big napper – I rarely nap but sometimes I have no choice. 🙂 I am so sorry about the jellyfish – I got stung by a BEE this weekend! I didn’t even think that really happened. Damn, it hurts. Still does actually!
Ouch! The jelly fish sting sounds kinda scary… I have never worn a bikini. I hope someday I can…
My dog has bitten me countless times; obviously we have a loving relationship.
That is tragic. You need Cesar Milan.