I don’t know about this dress, you guys. I love the print and the colours, but I’m not a huge fan of the style. This Desigual dress was part of the 2012 f/w “Rainbow” collection, so it’s not that old, but it feels really dated to me – like something from the early 2000s. If I’m honest, it makes me feel a little old, because I feel like I’ve already worn this dress a decade ago. Am I crazy?

That was largely a hypothetical question, but probably. So help me decide, internet peeps: should I keep it or no? Is there an easy way to alter an asymmetrical cowl neckline? Or should I even bother?

Date night on vacation is more or less like date night back home: short and stressful. (Are the kids OK? Are the grandparents OK? I hope no one is murdering each other. I wonder what they’re up to? Let’s talk some more about the kids we’ve just spent all day with. For the last 6 days in a row. Isn’t this romantic?)

But I made an effort anyway.

And my husband made an effort too. Keeping a straight face (and his comments mostly to himself) while taking a bazillion photos of your intrepid blogger.

What we lacked in romantic spirit, our surroundings more than made up for.

(No children or grandparents were harmed in the making of this blog post.)

Resort casual is a bit of a misnomer, because our resort was nothing but casual. All day, every day. I probably could have worn this tie dye affair for dinner, and not been kicked out of the buffet. As it was, I wore it a lot – during the day.

It’s incredibly comfortable – perfect for cuddling up with my kitten on the beach.

Also comfortable? This J. Crew Factory cover-up.

It was a hand-me-down from my mom, and I wore it a lot on – where else? – the beach; it was perfect for the afternoons, when I reached my max sunscreen limit, but didn’t want to risk burning. The woes of the incurably pasty, y’all.

The other thing I wore a lot was my pair of floral print shorts. I can’t believe that a year ago, I didn’t have a single pair of shorts in my closet. These 5 inch inseam ones are great for covering up my post-babies tush, without making my short-ish legs look extra stumpy. I’ll probably end up collecting every print pair that the J. Crew Factory store throws on the clearance rack this year.

Other than taking a million OOTD photos – much to my family’s chagrin – my other important vacation quest was drinking out of a coconut. I know, I have very lofty goals. However, this proved more difficult than I expected; we were surrounded by coconut (palm?) trees, but I had no way of climbing up to get a specimen, nor did the resort bars offer them. At long last, on the very last day of our stay, I happened to come across some staff carrying large bunches of coconuts they had just cut down (for safety reasons?) from the trees in the pool area. They seemed a little befuddled by my request, but graciously offered me one and, voila – coconut drink quest complete.

For the record, I’m not a fan of coconut water. So I asked the bartender to fill the coconut with my favourite alcoholic concoction: tequila + blue curacao + 7Up. It’s not the world’s most sophisticated cocktail, but it hits the spot on the beach. And, yes, I was day drinking. Hey, that’s what resort vacations are for, right?