You did it, sis. You made it to Q4 of the year, securing your bag without sacrificing your sanity, and if nobody told you today, I'm proud of you, damn it. As we gear up to prepare for the new year—setting our intentions, charting out our goals and sh*t—one date you can't forget to put on your calendar is the baecation of your dreams, and Simone Biles says you better Belize it.
Last month, the professional gymnast broke yet another world record by winning her 21st world championship medal but recently, sis chose to press pause on the hustle in lieu of a little R&R. After one helluva year, Simone is trading in her leotard for some quality time with bae in Belize and now we want to go, too.
Serving up some scrumdiddlyumptious Instagram images of her and bae, Stacey Ervin Jr., living their best lives, Simone proved that her holiday getaway was the baecation on the beach we didn't know we needed.
In the past, Simone noted that the Central American country is one of her favorite travel destinations, so it's not surprising that Simone and the fam chose to spend Thanksgiving there this year. In a previous interview, she explained:
"Belize, for me, is all about the beach. My family and I spend most of our days hanging out by the water, but I don't like to lie out and relax. I go swimming, which I love because the water is so beautiful and so clear that you can see all the fish underneath."
Whether it be with the fam, your girls, or bae, Belize is the travel destination you need to book a flight to ASAP. From a jungle safari to scuba diving in a sink hole, here's everything you have to do while you're there:
Get Your Self-Care On At The Secret Beach
Many travel sites suggest skipping Belize City and heading straight on over to Caye Caulkner or Ambergris Caye, where'll you'll find the Secret Beach to get massages, drinks, or smoke hookah near the water.
Go Scuba Diving In The Great Blue Hole
Totaling at about 318 miles wide and 124 miles deep, the Great Blue Hole is nothing to play with. It was once ranked as number one on Discovery Channel's list of "10 Most Amazing Places On Earth", making this a perfect attraction for travelistas and thrill-seekers alike. The famous scuba diving attraction is actually a sink hole formed thousands of years ago by a limestone cave.
Unleash Your Wild Side At The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary
Established to help local wildlife like endangered jaguars, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary gives travelers an opportunity to take a day hike in the jungle and have waterfall and wildlife encounters that will make your trip unforgettable.
Explore The Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave
The Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave can be found near the Mayan Mountains and was once believed to be a sacred place that was once known as the "place of fear", but don't let that scare you away from this dope attraction.
Gasp At The Beauty Of The Xunantunich Maya Ruins
Also one of Belize's most popular tourist sites, the Xunantunich Mayan Ruins are about 70 miles from Belize City and require taking a ride on a hand-cranked ferry to have a chance to marvel at their beauty.
Featured image by Instagram/@SimoneBiles.
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak
