Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Last night wrapped up a 9 day vacation to visit my family and to attend a dear friends' wedding. I left earlier than Hubby to spend some quality time with my mom, sister and grandparents. It wasn't as smooth as I expected, when I found out my step-dad was in the hospital with stage 4 kidney failure! My mom was trying to juggle seeing my and making sure my SD was okay. He ended up being in the hospital for 10 days, but is now home. As most of you know, I haven't spoken to my SD in over 8 years. I only got to see my mom a little bit, but it was still nice to spend some time with her.

My sister was awesome and hung with me the whole time and we saw the following movies:

Fame- Totally fun and catchy. Worth renting if you like dancing/singing movies
Zombieland- Friggin' hysterical. Woody Harrelson was so funny and it's my favorite movie I've ever seen him in.
Couples Retreat- Really funny. The whole cast is great and they did a bunch of improv scenes and it was great. I love Kristen Bell and she was totally cute in this movie.

She also made me get Bare Minerals makeup, which I'm in love with! I got the Matte version to help with oil control and it rocks. I barely got that dewy look even though it was crazy hot my whole trip. We also fit in some time at the beach and saw Manatees and got to see pods of dolphins while we were boating. Needless to say, I'm sporting a rockin' tan!

The rehearsal dinner was fun, but the dang place was hot as balls! We were all pretty uncomfortable, but at least they had good food. It was held at a Golf Country Club, so we did some midnight glow golfing that was really fun. I even managed to sink 3 putts which really impressed the guys. It was fun to run around without shoes on the green in the dark. None of the other girls gave it a go. It was a blast to spend time with our old friends. It was like time hadn't passed and we still lived there. The laughs and jokes were rolling the whole time and it was great.

The boys were supposed to go golfing the morning of the wedding, but most of them were pretty wrecked and didn't make it, including Hubby. The boys left later on and I spent more time with my sister. I decided to get a hair blowout so it looked bouncin' and behavin' for the wedding and it was totally worth $25. The wedding started at 5pm and the ceremony was beautiful. The groom ( I was roomates with him and his brother in college) started crying as soon as the bride walked down the aisle. It was very touching and I definitely got teary eyed. Afterwards we headed over to the reception where the open bar was flowing! They had the best champagne and I drank Poinsettia's all night long! The food was amazingly good, the cake was scrumptious and the DJ totally rocked it. We must have danced for 2 hours straight and I managed to take over 250 pictures. We laughed, we shed a few tears and danced the night away like old times.

We finally called it night around 1:30am and headed home to sleep on some great memories. I know I drifted away with a smile on my face. Sunday morning we went to breakfast and hit up some boating time. We tried to catch fish and failed miserably, but we did see dolphins and sting rays! Sadly it was time to head home around 4pm. We were so busy talking we barely made our flight and we realized we had left Hubby's backpack at the house! Too late to do anything, Hubby threw a fit and we had to board the plane. He was super crabby and blamed me to which I told him to Eff' off. Halfway thru the flight his eyes flew open and informed me our car keys were in that bag. Shit. When we landed at our layover, we phoned home and my lovely MIL kept repeating "OH MY GOD!" After I got her to knock that off, she informed me we should take a cab. WHAT?! That would have costed about $100 because we live 45 min. from the airport. So I did what anyone would do, I pulled out the big guns. I called T up and begged her to take our spare keys to the airport parking so we could get home. Ever the most excellent friend, she agreed and saved our life and probably our marriage. I wanted to whoop Hubby's ass so bad! Then it turned out our flight was delayed for over an 1 1/2 and that was it. We finally laughed and threw in the towel.

We ended up getting home about 1am and promptly passed out. Flying is stressful, especially when you have to get up at 6am for work! But it was a great trip and I'm so glad I got to see family and old friends.

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem!

I'm off to soak up the sun! I'm heading South for a wedding and to spend some much needed time with my family. I'm going to sleep in, watch Westerns with grandmom, go see Whip-It with my sister and other fun things like that. Oh yeah, and hit up the beach and ocean a bazillion times!

So while you're at work, picture me lying on a beach towel, falling asleep to the rhythmic ocean waves crashing upon the beach. Sigh. Oh, and I'll sure as hell be drinking those ridiculously overpriced Pina Colada's!

The best part is I get to go to a ritzy wedding for two of our friends and eat fabulous food and then cry when I remember I can't eat the wedding cake since it has wheat in it. Damn. Guess I'll be drinking my dessert!

See you in 10 days!

Trip Planning

Hubby announced last night our cousin and girlfriend want us to consider going to MusicFest in Steamboat Springs, Colorado next January. Hubby has gone 2 times already and it's always been with all the boys and a couple athletic girls/girlfriends. I have chosen to pass normally, but I figured Hubby wanted to go but was feeling guilty about being away for 6 days. So I enthusiastically told him I wanted to go. He was surprised but excited, and then reminded me the temperature normally hovers around 5 degrees. Ouch.

But in my attempt to be excited about things Hubby wants to plan, I'm going ahead with my feelings and telling him it would be fun. There is no way in hell I would ski, so I could sell my lift ticket for about $150 and I would say hello to a fabulous mud massage and body wrap instead. The total hotel and music pass would be about $450, which isn't bad for 6 days. The problem is it's about 18 hours away from where we live. Hubby and Cousin T would be doing the driving but the idea of sitting in a car for that longs makes my butt numb already. The closest airport is in Denver, which is still 5 hours away. But that's way more manageable, so we're contemplating taking the trip. We have to decide pretty fast, otherwise our Cousin is going to find another couple to split the lodging with.

It may be cold, but taking a sleigh ride during the day and going hot air ballooning and sipping hot toddies by the fire sounds incredibly fun. At least I could say I went there once!

We Need To Go To Mexico

Seriously! My in-laws are in Cozumel and apparently the all-inclusive hotel they are staying at has a 10% occupancy rate at the moment! We could go for dirt cheap! Anybody in?

Random NYC Photos

Here are some of my favorite photos of the ones I've been able to download so far. (I took over 300 photos!)

Tub full of gumballs at Dylan's Candy Shop!

Entrance to Natural History Museum

Moby spinning at Museum Party

View from C.'s apartment

Random building in SoHo

Back To Reality

My trip has come to an end and I'm back in the real world. Plane got in around 10ish last night and I was super excited to get home and see hubby. The only real hitch of the entire trip is my luggage did not make my connector flight in Houston. So I'm hopefully getting it delivered this afternoon. I guess I'll do a rundown of the trip by day to make it easier.

Thursday evening T and I caught a bus to NYC for $22 round trip! It was a comfy bus and there were only 9 people on it. It takes about two hours from Philly to NYC, so we chatted, took pictures and laughed the whole time. Our friend who has an apartment in the city, C., met us at the bus stop and we headed to her place to drop off our luggage. By then it was around 8:30pm, and we decided to head to Chinatown to grab a cheap dinner at Penang, a Chinese restaurant. After we were stuffed, we walked around a bit and decided to call it a night.

Friday morning was rainy, so we decided to check out the Natural History Museum. It was a perfect day to be inside all day, plus you can pay what you can afford at the museum. We ended up spending about 5-6 hours wandering all around the museum. And yes, it is the museum from the first movie "Night At The Museum." My favorite exhibits were the dinosaur and sea life exhibits. They had great photo opportunities and very interesting facts and models. Another friend W., told us about a party at the Guggenheim museum that night, so we decided to go there. First we had dinner at POI POI, a Peruvian restaurant that was out of this world! The food was amazing and we stuffed ourselves. We were dressed to the nines and ready to get our dance on, so we headed to the Guggenheim, only to find out the party had been cancelled! No fear, the security guard at the History Museum told us they also had a party going on that evening and Moby was the guest DJ. It was held in the Planetarium, which was amazing. The music was pretty much techno, but that didn't stop us from getting our groove on! I got some great photos of Moby doing his thing, so that was pretty cool.

Saturday we got up and headed to Century 21 to do some shopping. I found a cool mint green shirt and that was about it. I wasn't prepared to spend $250 on a dress I liked. We then headed to Chinatown, my favorite place in NYC. We haggled over perfume, scarves, headbands, purses, wallets, etc. After we had dropped quite a bit of cash there, we meet up with W. in SoHo for some additional shopping and lunch at Bar 89. I had the most amazing BLA, which is a Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado sandwich. T. and C. had an equally amazing burger. After browsing the more expensive boutiques, we headed to Greenwich Village where we stopped at the local favorite Pinkberry. The yogurt is very tart, but I love the mochi balls, which are Chinese rice candy. So I ordered a side of those, minus the yogurt. Needless to say, they thought I was crazy. We also stopped at Crumbs, a bitchin' bakery that has the biggest cupcakes ever. I got the Hostess cupcake which was amazing. We people watched while sitting in the window for a few hours. The plan was to go to the Brooklyn Museum for a dance party that night, but we were exhausted from walking over 10 miles. We decided to eat at Cafestaria, which was a noodle house across the street. It was ridiculously yummy and only $16!

Sunday we got up and bought sandwiches for a picnic in Central Park. We found a shady spot and set out our blanket. The plan was to chill a few hours and then head to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). We all fell asleep and decided to skip the museum and just enjoy the beautiful weather. We chilled from about noon to 4pm and then went to check out a street fair that was going on. By 7pm we were hungry and stopped at Asia Grill, which specializes in Chinese and Vietnamese food. I tried the Pad Thai and it was fabulous! It was a huge portion and I tried to eat it all, but failed. By that time we were all exhausted from walking probably over 40 miles total this trip and had to go and pack to get ready to be at the bus stop by 9pm. Our bus left NYC around 9:15 and we began the journey home to Philly on a double-decker bus. We laughed and reminisced about the fun times we had had.

Monday we woke up leisurely and then ran some errands. T had an amazing blow dryer that I will talk about more tomorrow. I had to get one in DE, because I had never seen that type at home. I also made another pass at H&M to see if there were any more clothes I just had to have. Of course there was, so I bought more stuff! I headed home around 5:30pm and was very sad to go. I really do love NYC and it would be a dream to live there for at least 4 months to experience all it has to offer. Anyone want to go next year?!

Stuffed and Satisfied

I got into Philly yesterday around 2pm after a uneventful flight. Uncle C picked me up and we chatted and had dinner until T got off of work. T and I then headed to Casablanca's for our favorite Moroccan feast. We were there eating and lounging for around 2 hours. The food was amazing and the music was nice and authentic. Sadly the belly dancers are only there on the weekends, so we didn't get to see any hunky male dancers.

Today we're taking out time getting ready. T & I are heading to the mall to do some tax free shopping at H&M. Hubby wants me to be on the lookout for anything he may like that I could buy for him. We head to the bus stop at 4ish to head to NYC and meet up with C. to head to her apartment in Manhattan. C was able to pull some strings and got us free tickets to see John Legend at the Good Morning America summer show. Hopefully the rain holds out and we'll go, but the downer part is we need to leave the apt. at 6am! We're going to play that one by ear!

I Want To Be A Part Of It...

New York, New York! NYC here I come baby! I'm wrapping things up at work and I'm about to leave early to get my bangs trimmed so I look my hottest on my trip. Flight leaves at 7am, which means I need to leave the house around 5am ( The only part of the trip I'm not looking forward to). I've got to pick up some magazines, snacks and camera batteries on the way home. Gotta swing by T's house to borrow her jacket (I'm blessed with generous friends, she's never even worn the jacket!). Need to fish the luggage out from the attic and finalize my packing. Spend some time with hubby before I try to go to sleep despite my childlike excitement that keeps bubbling through today.

I'll see you all next week!

5 Days!

Only 5 measly days until my trip up North! Oh how I've been anxiously awaiting this trip and getting to see my high school friends T & C. I fly into Philly on Wednesday and later that evening we have reservations at our favorite Moroccan food joint called Casablanca. For $22, you get a 6 course authentic meal that will rock your world. Thursday we'll head to H&M for some tax-free shopping and then after lunch we're catching a bus into NYC.

Our original plan was to drive to New Jersey, park in a parking garage and catch the ferry into the city. However, upon learning the price was close to $50 a day to park, we quickly vetoed that idea. It's cheaper to catch the 2 hour bus into the city and we'll head right to our C's apartment in Manhattan. Friday we're going to sight-see and take advantage of the pay what you can event at the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). The rest of the trip will be more sightseeing, shopping and eating. I'm so excited!

I was quite interested to learn that starting on the 25th, Times Square will be closed to cars. It's been transformed into a "Pedestrian Promenade" until the end of the year. Times Square is a crazy, loud packed place where pedestrians fight with cars to get across the street. The mayor hopes it will reduce accidents and bring back the old charm of Times Square. They have set up tables and beach chairs for people to relax at during the day.

*picture found on Yahoo news*

Knots of Anticipation

I'm nervously awaiting a call from my friend T, who I was supposed to go visit in May. Turns out she mistakenly booked the wrong week off from work, and now they are having to scramble to find someone to cover her manager shift. If they can't find anyone, I have to beg with my boss to let me change the dates of my trip. I also have to keep my fingers crossed the airline tickets won't be more expensive. I should know by 1pm today, so I'm trying to be optimistic. I would be crushed if I had to cancel this trip.

NYC Here I Come!

So excited, I booked my ticket to New York last night! I'm heading back for my birthday and couldn't be more excited. I can't wait to spend hours inside H&M and Century 21 looking for ridiculous deals. Hubby booked a ticket as well, but he may not come. Tickets were lowest they've ever been, so it was silly not to grab an extra one just in case.

Hubby tried to impose a $200 limit on my spending, we'll see how that goes!

My Favorite Trip Photos

Back To Reality

Sadly, every wonderful vacation must come to an end. I'm back home now, and trying to will my stubborn fingers how to type properly again. I think they are protesting not being on vacation! Not that I can blame them, our trip to Cozumel was amazing and it's sad that we had to leave our little cozy cocoon of a honeymoon and come back to reality.

In the most ironic of situations, we had boarded our flight and we were all ready to go, when the captain's voice comes on the loudspeaker to inform us they forgot the routine maintenance check the night before and we would have to deboard and it would take up to 1 hour to complete the task. I mean, it only took us 3 1/2 years to go on the honeymoon, what's another hour?! We were ticked off, and ended up missing our connector flight, so we didn't arrive in Cozumel until 2pm. We went straight to the hotel, checked in, got our bearings and booked our activities for the week.

We crashed early that night after hitting the buffet and slept a solid 10 hours. We then hit the beach all day Saturday. The weather was perfect, a nice breeze was blowing to keep us cool. We hit the buffet again for dinner and caught the show that evening at the resort.

Sunday Hubby went diving, and I indulged in a mud massage and foot reflexology. It was heaven! We spent the rest of the day lounging and being lazy. It was awesome!

Monday we went to the national park and swam with the dolphins. We got to give them kisses and hugs, and they did a foot push on us. It was amazing, and both dolphins, Shadia and Scarlett were pregnant. They were very good sports and very friendly. We also went snorkeling in the park, which was beautiful. Water was very clear and you could rent their equipment for cheap. We also rented a Jeep and cruised around to the other side of the island and took some great pictures. We ventured into town for some light shopping and a wonderful sunset dinner.

Tuesday we chilled at the beach and then went on a catamaran snorkeling cruise. Saw some sea turtles, trigger and puffer fish, as well as a huge grouper. Had lunch at a private beach and picked up an awesome shell necklace that was handmade. Hubby got a Cuban cigar and was very happy.

Wednesday was our last day, and we relaxed at the beach and then had to head back to pack up. Due to customs, etc, they require you to be at the airport three hours early, which stunk. It took us a grand total of 15 minutes to clear customs and then we just had to sit and wait. The trip was amazing, and hubby and I really enjoyed each other's company. We did have a fight over my inability to read a map, but I was actually doing quite well reading it. I think Hubby was just nervous about the rental car getting hit or something!

I'm sad to be home, but ready to get back into the swing of things. I've got a baby shower this weekend and lots of food shopping and cooking to do!

Viva La Mexico!!!

Oh hot damn, the last day of work before our trip! Our flight leaves at 7:30am, and we'll be soaking up the sun by 11am. It's my wish that when the resort shuttle picks us up, we'll be greeted with a cool and refreshing pina colada. It's about a twenty minute ride from the airport to the hotel, and you can be sure I'll be snapping pictures along the way.

I purchased a 2GB memory card for my camera and I'm hoping to capture some really great sunset and possibly sunrise photos. Hubby plans to do some diving and I am bringing along a few books to read while I lounge in the sun. Ahh, I can almost smell the ocean now! We also plan on renting a jeep and touring the East side of the island. Many of the reviews I've read say that the current is stronger on that side, so we'll probably just check it out and forgo any swimming.

A stop at the national park to swim with dolphins is also on our to-do list, as well as visiting some local ruins. A stop at Alberto's for the famous fish taco's is also a must. This last day of work is going to be torture!

You Are Cleared For Takeoff!

After months of debating the best place to finally take our honeymoon, last night hubby and I booked our trip to Cozumel for a glorious 5 night, 6 day stay! I am very excited and relieved that hubby was able to stop agonizing over the best place to stay as well as the best price. There are so many wonderful resorts to choose from it was getting a bit overwhelming for me.

Hubby kept going back to one resort in particular because it is located at the end of the island which means less of a distance to amazing scuba diving. To keep things easy, I declared that the resort looked the best and we should pick that one. Whew, getting him to make up his mind is difficult! It's not a party resort, and no spring breakers are allowed, and that appealed to both of us. We are looking for a laid back vacation with lots of time soaking up the sun, snorkeling, scuba diving and possibly visiting the local ruins.

I need to start checking out my closet and deciding what to bring!

Cruise Ship Memories

When I was 14 or so, I went on a 14 day cruise with my mom, sister and grandmother. It was during Christmas and New Years and we went all over the Caribbean, including Venezuela and Columbia. I met a ton of kids my age and we ran around the ship and had a blast. One of the boys I met, Matt, was funny and dorky and we hit it off right away. We became a "thing" and held hands, kissed, etc.

One night after dinner, we were walking around on the top deck and we went to sit on some lounge chairs. We talked a bit and kissed, and then he tried to feel me up. That was my first experience with someone trying to touch a boob, and I quickly smacked his hand away. I also laughed, because it was utterly ridiculous. He laughed too and we went back to the group and went to the dance club.

We kept in touch after the cruise, mostly by letters and some phone calls. I hadn't heard from him in a few weeks and I got a letter from him. I was girlishly excited until I started reading the letter. He informed me that he enjoyed talking with me and hanging out but he had to confess something: He sometimes liked to wear woman's clothing at home and in public. Honestly, I was weirded out for 5 seconds and then said whatever floats his boat was fine with me. I realized we were just pen pals and we'd never be anything more than that, so I wrote him back telling him that. I was supportive because let's face it, we all have weird quirks.

We lost touch shortly after and I sometimes wondered whatever happened to him.

Honeymoon Update

Last night Hubby and I spent some time researching honeymoon options so we could finally book our honeymoon, almost 3.5 years after our wedding. Originally we had thought somewhere in Mexico, but then friends of ours were raving about their trip to Belize where they stayed in the jungle for 3 days, and then spent 3 days on the beach. Needless to say, Belize started to become a possible choice.

We read a ton of reviews on upscale Mexican all-inclusive resorts and also checked out the hotels in Belize our friends recommended. If we had a week to spend in Belize, it would definitely be our main choice. However, since we're only able to do a 4 day trip, we've decided Mexico is the better option. The hard part is limiting our resort choices. The ones we are looking at are very beautiful, on the beach, provide tons of activities, etc. So far, we both agreed that the Iberostar Hotel in Cozumel looks perfect.

Now the hard part is deciding when is the perfect time to go!

NYC Here I Come?

I was bored at lunch yesterday and thought I would check to see how much flights are costing these days. I was stoked to find out that I could purchase a ticket to Philly for $200 roundtrip!I'm going to talk to hubby tonight and see if he's down for going to NYC in May for my birthday again. Even if he's not, I'm going to book my flight. I guess I better start saving my money for that. Lord knows I'll get into trouble at H&M and Century 21 again. God I love NYC!