Sunday, May 31, 2009

May 31, 2009

Mojitos and Gardening.

Yes, I know, a weird combination.

The hubs and I have been craving mojitos since we got back from our vacation, and I had a bunch of extra watermelon from my gazpacho. So we made watermelon mojitos!


Then I am on this gardening kick, which I think totally comes from seeing Connie's plantings, and hearing a "organic vegetable garden" commercial on the radio a hundred times a day. So while I was at Walmart, I saw these two cute kits... one for herbs, and one for tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce. So I picked them up. We'll see if I can make them sprout, at which point they will need bigger pots.

May 30, 2009


We went to see Angels and Demons today. I was so pysched to see this movie, because the book is on my top ten list of favorites. In my humble opinion, the movie wasn't as riviting as I had hoped. It was good, the changes were relatively minor from the book storyline, the woman playing Vittoria was beautiful, and it was overall good. I think I just had false high hopes given how much I loved the book. Seeing the images of Rome though was awesome!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

May 29, 2009

Loved the sky tonight.

May 28, 2009

You have to find beauty in daily life right? So I meet some friends at Starbucks to catch up, and while I waited I noticed the mugs on the shelf. I was intrigued, and thought I would use them as my picture. they were bright colors and really pretty. I sort of screwed up the depth of field I was going for, but whatever, I still like the picture.

May 27, 2009

It was crappy and rainy today. In front of my building where I work, there is this random potted plant with pretty pink flowers. I thought they looked nice with the rain drops on them.

May 26, 2009

Another bird. I think they are soo pretty.

May 25, 2009

When you do nothing with your monday off except sit on the deck in the sunshine for the whole day you notice things... like the fact that the stain is wearing off my deck. UGH!!

May 24, 2009

A long weekend calls for good eats. I have been dying to make Watermelon Gazpacho since I got back from my cruise. So since it is the unofficial beginning of summer, I did. For the recipe go here.


Next, I needed a good dessert. So I made these awesome Chocolate Kahlua parfaits in my margartita glasses, the best part the recipe was "Biggest Loser" so I consider this diet friendly. For the recipe go here.

May 23, 2009

My youngest cousin,Kristina, turns 17 tomorrow! UGH! I feel old. When I was a teenager, people used to ask if she was my daughter. So since my momma was in town and so was my sis, we took a visit to see her for her birthday.

Here is a picture of Kristina, my Grandma Marie, and I. My sis asked that I cut her out of the pic because she hated how she looked, and since I try to be a good sister I agreed.

May 22, 2009

For his birthday in October my mom bought the hubs this kit to grow herbs for pizza sauce. The hubs is a big pizza fan, but only of make it at home or Sally's Apizza in New Haven,CT (pretty famous and oh yeah they have a coal fired oven!).


Well needless to say sed kit has been sitting in my kitchen since then. Neither of us has a green thumb, but we have done pretty well with my mini palm tree and this plant my friend Rae gave me on February 22. So I decided that I would crack open the kit and figure out what to do. It came with 3 compressed mini planting mix discs, for lack of a better word. The directions said, add hot water and let sit for 15 minutes, the potting mix will soak up the water and spread out like dirt. Well....how about not so much. Here is what mine looked like:
.

Yeah I think they look like turds.


If you really want to see a good gardening project, check out my friend Connie's recession garden! When I finally have a yard, I can't wait to try my hand at vegetables. For now I rely on my in-laws... they get the best tomatoes!

Friday, May 29, 2009

May 21,2009

A bird, in a tree, in front of my car, at the dentist office. He was cute, so I took a picture.

May 20, 2009


Building tear down update. Nothing too exciting here, except they are making very good progress.

May 19,2009


Ok Ok.. so I shouldn't take pictures of myself while I am driving, but I was trying to capture my tan before it faded.

May 18, 2009

No photo. I was tired and forgot.

May 17, 2009 - San Juan

And what kind of alcohol do you like? Me? I am a rum girl... so what better way to end the trip than a visit to the Bacardi Distillery?



And here is my favorite.. a Mojito... what a great end to a day!

May 16, 2009 - St. Croix

Today was our last day on the ship, and our last day to soak up the sun. We spent the day on the beach at the Carambola Beach Resort. It was gorgeous. Just like a postcard.




And of course for posterity:

May 15, 2009 - St. Maarten

We docked on the Dutch Side of St. Maarten, then took a tour bus over to the French side of St. Martin to visit a butterfly farm. It was really cool to see all the butterflies, they were gorgeous.

Here is a shot of one of the Monarchs:



After the butterfly farm, it was time for the beach! They claim since it is a French beach you might see some Nude sunbathing...we didn't. The water was really pretty:

But a little too wavey for me to go in. So of course the hubs and I posed for the camera :):



And of course, my toes in the sand

Monday, May 25, 2009

May 14, 2009 - Antigua

The hubs is a flight instructor, so if there is a cool helicopter excursion we have to take it. We took one in Hawaii two years ago over Kauai, HI which was awesome. So when we saw the helicopter tour over a volcano in Antigua, that was our choice of things to do for the day.

Here is a shot of Heliport:




Here is a lovely shot of us in the helicopter right before take-off:





Here is a shot over Antigua. It was beautiful from the air:




Here is of the steam and sulfer vents of the volcano on the island of Montserrat. The last eruption was in January 2009, and right now these vents are all that is happening:




Due to a large eruption in 1996, the majority of the island is an exclusion zone, where it is illegal to live. Here is a shot of some of the destroy and partially covered remains of houses. When the volcano erupted again in December/January, the heat from the lava caused some of these remains to catch on fire, and apparently it glowed at night according to our helicopter pilot/tour guide:




We spent the rest of the day on the pool deack of the cruise ship. Not sure why we didn't go to the beach, but I think we were just tired from getting up early to go on excursions...

The Story of The Hubs and I

People who know me well, know that I married my best friend. Yes, I am in fact a total cliche. What is funny is that getting together ina romantic fashion with my now husband was not exactly smooth sailing. Everyone seemed to see that we were in love with each other except me. I was in complete denial. So here are two songs that remind me of the early days when the hubs and I were trying to figure it all out.

For the Hub's point of view (we actually had a really similar conversation to this):

Rushlow - "I Can't Be Your Friend"
"This might come as quite a shock,
But I've given it a lot of thought.
This thing that's come between us can't be ignored.
I've taken all I can;
This is where it's gotta end.
'Cause I can't be your friend anymore.

An' I can't be accused,
Of not bein' there for you.
How many nights have you shown up at my door?
I hope you understand,
That this wasn't in my plans,
But I can't be your friend anymore.

An' it's killin' me to know you,
Without havin' a chance to hold you.
An' all I wanna do is show you,
How I really feel inside.
You can run to me,
You can laugh at me,
Or you can walk right out that door.
But I can't be your friend anymore.

So, baby, now it's up to you:
Do I win or do I lose?
Will my heart fly or lie broken on the floor.
Well, take me as I am,
'Cause I wanna be your man.
But I can't be your friend anymore.

An' it's killin' me to know you,
Without havin' a chance to hold you.
An' all I wanna do is show you,
How I really feel inside.
You can run to me,
You can laugh at me,
Or you can walk right out that door.
But I can't be just friends anymore.

We can't be just friends anymore."



And here is how I was...always so indecisive...

Carolyn Dawn Johnson - Complicated
"I'm so scared that the way that I feel,
Is written all over my face.
When you walk into the room,
I wanna find a hiding place.
We used to laugh, we used to hug, the way that old friends do.
But now, a smile and a touch of your hand,
Just makes me come unglued.
Such a contridiction, do I lie or tell the truth.
Is it fact or fiction,
Oh the way I feel for you.

So complicated, I'm so frustrated.
I wanna hold you close, I wanna push you away,
I wanna make you go, I wanna make you stay.
Should I say it? Should I tell you how I feel?
Oh, I want you to know.
But then again, I don't. It's so complicated.

Oh..just when I think I'm under control.
I think I finally got a grip.
Another friend tells me that,
My name is always on your lips.
They say I'm more than just a friend,
they say I must be blind.
Well, I admit that I've seen you watch me
from the corner of your eye.
Oh, It's so confusing. I wish you'd just confess.
But think of what I'd be losing,
if your answer wasn't yes.

So complicated I'm so frustrated,
I wanna hold you close, I wanna push you away,
I wanna make you go, I wanna make you stay.
Should I say it, should I tell you how I feel.
Oh I want you to know, but then again I don't, It's so complicated.

Oh, I hate it. 'Cuz I've waited.
So long for someone like you
Oh, what do I do.
Oh should I say it.
Should I tell you how I feel.
I want you to know,but then again I don't.
It's so complicated..
It's so complicated..
It's so complicated.
Ohh.."


Obviously I got over my "what if it doesn't work out" issue, and I have been blessed with the world's greatest hubs for the last 3.5 years. Love my man!!!

Friday, May 22, 2009

SOOO FRUSTRATING

Is Blogger working for anyone else? I can't open half of my reading list. I get a "Internet Explorer cannot open Internet Site, Operation Aborted" Message.

I can't open:
The young and Relentless
Fat Mommy to Hot Mommy
Love Life and Everything in between
My 2 Muses
Fertile ramblings
Bobbi in Lala Land
No Swimmers


UGH!!! I want to catch up on my reading since I was away!...

I found this on the support page:

"Some users are seeing an 'Operation Aborted' error message when trying to load their blogs from Internet Explorer. We're looking into this and will update this message when we have a fix.

We apologize for the inconvenience. — latest update on Thursday, May 21, 2009

Labels: following, internet explorer, outstanding"

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

May 13, 2009 - St. Lucia

Well we arrived at the beautiful island of St. Lucia... where we have been trying to go on vacation for the past year but the dang Westin keeps postponing their opening date, but I digress.. Sorry about that (I'm not bitter seriously). Anyway, It was scenic and we were about to do something totally out of our comfort zone.


Yup. ZipLining through the Rainforest.


So after a lovely ride in an open air tram through the rainforest to the top of the highest point in St. Lucia, we donned our harnesses. Aren't we cute??


Get Ready......



Get Set.....




























WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ok that seriously kicked some butt. The hike back up the mountain after going down all 10 ziplines... um not so much.


Well Ziplining wasn't the only thing we did that day(we laid around on the pool deck, drank, ate a three course dinner... you know tough life), so here are some other fun pics.... I think they are pretty self explanatory :)




Can you read mine? It says "ANGEL".. um yeah right! Hehehehehehe....now if I can only talk the hubs into getting a real tattoo with me... yeah, not so much! Actually the hubs told me not to post these pics on my blog. Guess I am lucky he doesn't read my blog ;) SHHHHHH!!! Don't tell.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

May 12, 2009 - Barbados

First stop Barbados. Or as my brother-in-law calls it "Non-Descript Caribbean Island #1". Today's excursion was swimming with sea turtles, snorkeling over ship wrecks and some beach time.

**DISCLAIMER** All the cool pics of the stuff underwater will be posted later, they are currently on disposable underwater cameras that I have to send to Snapfish to get developed. **END DISCLAIMER**

Here is a lovely shot of me, in the water in my snorkel gear:


Here is an even cuter pic of the hubs and I after snorkeling on the boat on the way to the shipwreck sites. Don't I look lovely with my hair all sea watery and tangled?? Lovely ;) ;)

May 11, 2009 - Sea Day

The first day on the ship was a sea day. All day trapped on the boat. My least favorite of all days. But we made the best of it by going to the Spa. I had a Ginger Lime body scrub and massage. Ohlala.


The first night was Formal Night. Formal nights are my favorite nights to people watch, I love to see people's definition of "Formal Attire". There are men in tuxedos, women in cocktail dresses, the women who clearly were just in a wedding party, men in suits, men in tan linen suits, women in sun dresses, some people in jeans with a shirt and tie. Good Times, I tell ya!


Here is a pic of the hubs and I on Formal Night:


When we got back to our suite (did I mention we treated ourselves to a suite with a balcony?), we had our first towel animal as left by the stateroom attendant... can you guess what it was?


If you said Dog you would be right! Isn't he cute in my sunglasses?

We ended the night with the "Show". Tonight's featured entertainers were a singing group called "The Unexpected Boys" who are a Franki Valli cover group, and had a cute customized show for the ship. They were surprisingly good, and I had a really good time singing along. So much so that I had my picture taken with the group, and bought the autographed CD.
Well, as we are walking back to the suite, I notice that the guys in the picture don't really look like the "Boys" I just met, I open the CD and notice the list of singers is different from what the "Boys" announced on stage. Well hell, I guess the group members changed.


I finally listened to the CD today. And well, it is definitely different guys, and the "Boys" I saw live were a gazillion times better. Bum dog.

May 10, 2009 - We're Off....

Like I said in the last post we left at the butt-crack of the morning. Here is a lovely picture of American Airlines Terminal and our flight information, notice anything "OFF" in this picture?:



How about the fact that the information is not displayed on a computer monitor, and instead they have 1970's style slide out numbers and letters? Not a single monitor in sight. Thank the good Lord they are knocking down this heck-hole of a terminal in 2010!


Of course after our flight landed, we went right the the port to board the Adventure of the Seas. Our cab driver would not shut up. It was kind of funny though to hear about the six pack he had in the refridge chilling and waiting for him to get home after he dropped us off.


One of the first things that happens on the cruise ship, right before you set sail is the Muster Drill. Which is surprisingly required by international law. So don your life jackets and find your muster station (ours was B13)... it is going to be a great trip.