La Petite Chic

Last Minute Gifts for Father's Day

I can honestly say that I did not procrastinate this year and have been done with my Father's Day shopping for quite a few weeks now.  That's usually not the case because both my father and my father-in-law are hard men to shop for.  They were both vocal with their Father's Day requests this year though so they made my shopping extremely easy.  However, I realize there might be some of you out there who are still scratching your heads and wondering what to get the first man who ever loved you. 

Don't fret!  I've come up with some quick and easy ideas for what to give your dad on the day to celebrate him for all the kisses of skinned knees, taking you to the New Kids on the Block concert and waiting with you at the school bus stop every morning.  (Thank you, Dad!)

CHEAP: A home-cooked dinner

A lot of what I know about cooking I learned from my dad.  Since Jon and I moved in with my parents, my dad and I have been sharing cooking duties and I think he's secretly proud that I love to cook as much he does.  I think any dad would be thrilled to sit down to a home-cooked meal made especially for him by his daughter (or son!).

For the main course, I would serve this Chicken with Balsamic BBQ sauce (pictured above) with a side of Lipton Onion Roasted potatoes and corn on the cob fresh from the farmer's market.  Simple, yet delicious!  I think a fruit pie would be a great ending to the meal and this Fresh Peach Brown Sugar Pie sounds heavenly.

ACTIVE: Take your dad on a long bike ride or hike 

 

(photo found here)

Let's face it; more than anything else, your dad probably just wants to spend time with you.  How long has it been since you've had quality one-on-one time with him?  With work or school and/or other obligations breathing down our necks, it's sometimes hard to find the time to sit down with dear, ol' dad and catch him up on what you've been doing and to find out what he's been up to.  If you take him on a hike or bike ride, the only thing to distract you will be the beautiful scenery.  Treat it like a father/daughter (son) date and send him an evite requesting the pleasure of his company.  Pack a few sandwiches, snacks and drinks and stop along the way for a nice picnic lunch.

FROM AFAR: Send your dad a handwritten note of thanks

If you live miles and miles away from your dad and won't be seeing him in person, why not send him a letter of thanks for all of the little things he's done for you over the years?  If it were me, I would thank my dad for working the night shift when we were little so that one of my parents would always be home with us.  I would remind him about those bumpy ponytails he used to send me off to school with and tell him how I can still feel his big hands clumsily pulling my hair back.  I would thank him for the amazing opportunity he gave us to live in Germany and for watching the History Channel so much that I grew to love it too.  See, it's not that hard!  Wouldn't you love to receive a letter like that?

SPENDY: Treat your dad to a day at the ballpark

If your dad is a sports fan like mine is, I bet he would love if it you bought him tickets for a baseball game.  It doesn't matter if you're in the nosebleed section or club level, nothing beats watching the home team play ball while enjoying a hot-dog and beer with your dad.  Make sure to take a picture together and frame it to give to him the next time you see each other.  This would be a great tradition to start for every Father's Day.

Does anyone else have any good ideas to share with the rest of us?

Last year, I shared pictures from the Jimmy Buffett concert.  Good timing; we're going to our first of two this year on Saturday!

 

On Driving in New Jersey (BAD) and Sherry's Bridal Shower (GOOD)

Let me start this post with an apology to the people of New Jersey:  I'm sorry.  I said some really awful stuff about your state on Sunday.  Stuff that would make a sailor blush and stuff that I thought back on later and thought, "Holy crap!  Where did I even come up with some of those curses?" 

In my defense, I was lost and late, two of the things I hate most in life.  When I'm lost, I get scared and frantic and when I'm late, I get irritable and anxious.  Those things do not add up to a pleasant Kate, as Jon can attest to when I called him frantically from some highway in New Jersey that morning.  Somehow I almost ended up in Staten Island, as in one of the five boroughs of New York City, when I was supposed to be on the Jersey shore for a bridal shower. 

Best of all, my iPhone crapped out on me.  Like screen froze, couldn't even power the damn thing off crapped out on me.  Thankfully, it re-booted itself five minutes after I tossed it on the passenger seat in disbelief and I was able to call Jon to get me the hell out of dodge.  All I'm saying, New Jersey, is that it would be helpful to label the Garden State Parkway road signs with it's appropriate title and not some green symbol and a large P because that was not at all useful to an out-of-state driver. 

I did eventually make it to the bridal shower, even before the bride, and promptly rewarded myself with a margarita for my efforts.  To say that this shower was organized would be an understatement.  There was a trivial pursuit theme and each category had something to do with the bride, Sherry.  There was a category by the drink section (i.e. What is Sherry's favorite mixed drink) and a category by the gifts, her childhood photos , etc. 

Sherry happens to be one of my best girlfriends from college.  She was one of my teammates and roommates and we, along with two other teammates/roommates, called ourselves The Core.  Sherry and I share a particularly important bond, however, because we both specialized in the 3k steeplechase as our race.  We've suffered through intense hurdle workouts and survived jumping over and in freezing cold water pits together and I love her to pieces.  I can't wait for her wedding next month! 

Sherry, the gorgeous bride

 Taylor, our fellow CORE member and a bridesmaid

Lisa, Sherry's twin sister and Maid of Honor

Sherry opening one of the many gifts she received.  I think we succeeded in showering Sherry with everything she and Matt will need for their marriage!

Sherry and I did take a photo together but the girl who took it completely cut our heads off!  Oh well!

Some Beach, Somewhere....

I must admit that recovering from oral surgery at the beach is the way to go.  Sunshine, cold beer, yummy (soft) seafood, salt water...what more could you need? 

We stopped by Seacrets before dinner one night and saw the cutest little family of ducks swim by the pub tables in the water.  

I love going there because the atmosphere reminds me so much of Sandals resorts.  You know, drinking in the water, island music, people hanging out in swimsuits...my kind of place!  Jon brought our son, Pleepleus, along to join in the fun.

On a recommendation from my uncle, we discovered a new hangout, Fish Tales, that we absolutely fell in love with.  Like Seacrets, it also faces the bay side and has colorful adirondock chairs lining the docks.  The crowd was a little more mature, not really in age, but in behavior, so it was a nice place to grab drinks and dinner after a long day at the beach.  Apparently I was so enamored with it that I forgot to take pictures, but here's one I grabbed from their website.

Pretty, huh?  As I mentioned in my last post, my parents were in Ocean City for the annual Ravens Roost Convention.  They held a big parade on Saturday and each Roost entered floats with a tiki bar theme.  My dad's Roost didn't win, but I thought their float was pretty amazing, regardless.

They even had a moving shark swimming after a Raven!

My favorite float was one made entirely from soda cans, mostly Welch's to be exact.

Can you imagine how much soda they had to drink?  Mind you, this float was huge; it was being towed by a tractor trailer!

Like most beach vacations, ours ended much too soon, but it was so nice to get away for a long weekend.  We'll be back in July for a whole week with Jon's family.  I'm already counting down the days!

A Little Bit of Life

Time sure does fly when you're having fun (or commuting) and honestly, living my life hasn't left much time for writing about my life.  Summer is normally a busy time of year for us, but last week was especially crazy with the holiday. 

It all started on Thursday when I finally got my summer highlights done.  It had been over a year since I last had my highlights done, so my poor hair was in dire need of a little bit of summer brightening, not to mention a trim.  To give you an idea of my day, it went something like this:

5:30 AM -- Rise and shine
6:15 AM -- Leave for work
7:45 AM -- Arrive at work
4:00 PM -- Head for home
6:30 PM -- Supposed to be starting my hair appointment, still in traffic
6:45 PM -- Finally arrive at my destination (the salon) 2¾ hours later
9:15 PM -- Leave hair salon
9:30 PM -- Arrive at home and wolf down some left-overs for dinner
10:00 PM -- SLEEP

To say that traffic was a bit of a nasty bitch last week would be an understatement.  Jonathan drove in with me one day and asked in incredulous horror, "Is it like this everyday?"  Well, not that bad, but yes, most evenings it takes me two hours to get home, make it three if it's Friday.  I can make it in to work in about 1½ hours, but it's been averaging about two hours lately.  I really hope that the Memorial Day holiday had something to do with it because I always thought that traffic lessened in the summer.  We shall see.  In any case, I hope to be done with commuting by the end of July.  My fingers are crossed very tightly that my clearance will come through quickly and easily.

On Friday, I had the wonderful opportunity through work to participate in a home build with Habitat for Humanity.  I spent most of my day hanging plywood on the side of a house while dangling off of four stories of scaffolding.  Not only was it a very rewarding experience, but I also had the chance to learn that I'm much better with heights than I give myself credit for.  In some areas of the house, the scaffolding didn't quite extend to the end of the wall, so I was literally hanging off the scaffolding, legs wrapped around the poles, while hammering nails and drilling screws into the plywood.  It was a lot of fun, but I have to admit I was relieved when it was time to go because it was hard work and it was terrifically hot that day, close to 90°.

I'm bringing sexy back...

The fun continued into Friday night when we met up with our good friends Allison and Ryan to see Kenny Chesney in concert.  I always kind of figured that the core of his fan base is teenage and twenty-something girls, but I was way off base...the cougars totally love him!  The weather was beautiful and Kenny put on a great show, strutting around and flexing his muscles.  It was actually pretty funny how often he flexed. 

We didn't slow down a bit on Saturday.  There were errands to run during the day and then we went to downtown Annapolis to meet up with my friend Steve, who is stationed in San Francisco with the Coast Guard.  We stayed out until 2:00 AM, longer than we've lasted in a long time!  When we finally woke up the next morning, Jon mumbled, "I'm too old for this."  Sadly, I would have to agree!

Sunday found us helping my parents with yard work, clearing out their backyard which is mostly wooded.  It was tough work, but at least I can say I came out of the weekend with a tan, albeit with a few bug bites and blisters as well.  And finally, on Monday we visited several new home communities to get an idea of what is out there.  If we want to build a new home, starting in the next month or so will put us in our time frame of moving out and actually buying in September.  Unfortunately, a community we fell in love with a few months ago just sold out of all their home sites so we'll need to find somewhere else that we love equally as much.  We found a gorgeous community just across the Bay Bridge that has views of the Chesapeake Bay, but we'll need to decide if we want to make that drive to work every day.  The actual mileage wouldn't be very far from my parents nor our new jobs, but traffic tends to be a bear in the summer due to people heading to the beach.  Still, it's on our list.

Phew!  That's what I was up to last weekend!  Taking a cue from one of my favorite food bloggers (actually, one of the first blogs I followed as well), I'm going to start looking back at where I was a year ago in my posts.  Kind of neat way to remember where I've been.

Last year, I returned to the country I called home for four years of my life.

Fun With Campfires

Let me premise this post with a statement: Jon and I are not campers in the traditional sense.  We don't do tents and we don't do hiking boots and we don't start our own fires from scratch.  We're more of the cabin, flip flops and fire starter-using kind of campers and we're okay with that.  (Though I've been swearing up and down for years that I could totally win Survivor because it's always the small, skinny girls that go far.  'Course their huge boobs might also be a factor, but I'm just saying, I could totally rock Survivor if given the opportunity).

Anyhow, our friends Allison and Ryan invited us to go camping with a group of their friends at the beautiful and historic Harpers Ferry.  They mentioned cabins and beers and s'mores and we said, "We're in!"  Save for a few run-ins with large, buzzing insects and some rainy weather on Sunday, we all had a blast and promised to make it an annual tradition.  All photos below are courtesy of the lovely Allison.

What better way to spend a Friday night then by playing flip cup by the light of the fire?

Jon and I were in charge of breakfast on Saturday morning and we made omelettes in baggies over the campfire.  Yes, eggs + baggies + fires = omelettes.  Did I just blow your mind?  They're magical omelettes!

We went on a short hike on the riverbank which led us into the town of Harpers Ferry.  The town itself actually sits on cliffs above the river(s).

Saturday night started out innocently enough...(and yeah, no makeup, I must really love you guys)

But a few rounds of beer pong and flip cup later, Jon and I were up to our old routine of rodeos and goofiness.

Any night that ends with warm, ooey-gooey delicious s'mores (just look at the perfect toast on that marshmallow!) is pretty close to heaven in my eyes.

I think I'll wait until tomorrow to share my super, secret best-ever garage sale find with y'all since I loaded you down with photos in this post.  It's totally worth the wait, I promise.

Oh, Hello Blog

I don't think I've ever gone a whole week without blogging, save during vacation, and I have to admit, the longer you go without, the easier it is to consider just calling the whole blogging thing off.  But then I think about the friendships I've made and the thought of sharing pictures of our new home (once we have one) and our baby (again, once we have one) and those things are enough to shake that idea off all together.

So, thank you for bearing with me during this period of transition.  I realize I haven't just been absent from my own blog, but there comes a point when you just have to hit "Mark All As Read" and continue on with life and that's exactly what I did this morning.  If I missed some huge announcement, please oblige me and leave it in the comments or send me an e-mail.  I would hate to be the last to know some big, exciting news.  (Though I did catch your "I'm engaged!" post, Katelin, and I'm thrilled for you!)

I still owe you pictures from camping 2 weekends ago and I have new pictures to share, as well, of what might possibly be my best garage sale purchase ever.  I've had quite a lot of fabulous garage sale purchases in my life, so that should just let you know the extent of the awesomeness.  I'll give you a hint until I get around to uploading the pictures: it's pink and it rings and no, it's not a cell phone.

Lastly, my previous post kind of alluded to great things being in store for me and lo, it's already happening!  I had two (yes, two!) job interviews last week and they both went amazingly well.  So amazing, in fact, that it came down to me actually making the decision between the two.  The first position is for the federal government and I'm not sure I can go into much more detail than that, but trust me, it's an incredible opportunity.  The second is actually for the same university that I interviewed with at the beginning of April, and again, it's a great opportunity. 

Both of them would be a promotion and both of them would be in a comfortable commuting distance so it really came down to factors like salary and stability and opportunity, and most importantly, what just felt right.  I picked the first.  The kicker?  I won't be starting for at least 3 months since it requires an extensive background investigation and security clearance, but regardless, I am thrilled and excited and relieved to have found such a perfect-for-me position.  True, I'll be doing the crappy commute for three more months, but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

To all my mom friends out there, including the furbaby mommies (because hey, we clean up poop and puke too!), I hope you had a lovely Mother's Day.  Jon and I made donations in our mom's names for two worthy causes and spent Sunday at the ballpark with my mom and dad.  Last year, before we even thought about selling the condo, we bought season tickets for all of the Sunday home games for my beloved O's and are really enjoying them.  Nothing quite beats sitting in the sun with a jumbo ballpark hotdog and a cold beer while watching my favorite team play, especially when surrounded by family.  And the great thing about loving a team that's not exactly the best team?  You can get great seats for not a lot of money! 

Here's a view from our seats (taken with my iPhone):

Ahh, Camden Yards.  One of my favorite places in the whole world.

Moving On...

My posts have been quite photo-heavy lately, but I just couldn't resist sharing a few pictures from the Virginia Wine Showcase last weekend before I get on with my post. 

We were joined by our wonderful friends Allison and Ryan and Adam and Adrienne.  Adrienne used to be Jon's roommate when he lived in Atlanta and she and her husband live just a few miles from us now!  I don't think I've ever shared the story of how Allison and I met, but it is truly such an interesting and fateful one.  I know I already owe you all our engagement story, but I'll share my Allison story someday too. 

As is customary, I found my favorite wine pourer, Andy, from Peaks of Otter Winery and took another picture with him.  Remember my first and second encounters?

 

The rest of our weekend, and subsequently, this week, has been spent preparing our condo to be listed on the market.  Ready or not, it's going to be listed next Wednesday!  Well, I lie, we're actually super ready.  We ended up going with the first realtor we met with, the one with the blog and the one whom we've known from his open houses in our community for the past few years.  We really trust him and know that he has a good handle on selling condos in our area and we feel that he has our best interests at heart and is not just out to make a buck on our listing. 

We've had just about a month now to accept our fate and to formulate a plan and now we just want to get this over and done with as quickly and painlessly as possible.  I met with our realtor-provided stager on Tuesday night and really had such a fun time seeing our home through the eyes of a potential buyer.  The stager said that we have a lovely home and though she usually gives her clients a Top Ten list of areas to improve and focus on, she could only come up with eight minor things that even she confessed was a stretch! 

In fact, we've only heard positive things from everyone we've worked with so far.  My favorite comment was from a realtor who said that you could tell the instant you walk into someone's home if it's just a house to them or a place they're really proud of and enjoy living in and she said we were obviously part of the latter.  I love hearing stuff like that because Jon and I are so proud of the way we made our little condo our home and it's nice to have others recognize that.  Once our place sells, we will be moving in with my parents for at least 3-6 months or so to rebuild our losses and then we'll resume our search for a new home.  Despite everything, we're optimistic and happy and are really looking forward to the next chapter in our lives.   

St. Lucia and Barbados

For San Juan, St. Thomas and St. John, click here and for St. Maarten and Antigua, click here. 

We had a bit of rain in St. Lucia, but that didn't stop us from going into town and exploring a bit.  We did some window shopping, then found a tiny little bar that overlooked the sea.  Jon and stopped in for a beer (Piton, the national beer, named after their famous mountain peaks!) and watched the rain fall until it finally dwindled into sunshine.  Typical St. Lucian weather!

 

St. Lucia is often described as the Hawaii of the Caribbean, and if you've ever been to Hawaii, you'll understand why.  It's very tropical and green with lush plants covering the rolling hills and mountain peaks.  It's breathtakingly beautiful with small lagoons scattered about, surrounded by colorful houses. 

 

This trip marked our first time back to St. Lucia since our honeymoon in September 2006.  We actually went to two islands on our honeymoon because Jon and I both felt very strongly about where we wanted to go so we figured, why not do both?  You only go on your honeymoon once, right?!  Jon picked St. Lucia and we decided to go there first because the atmosphere seemed more relaxed and secluded and we figured we would need that after the excitement of our wedding!  It was perfect.  (In case you're wondering, we went to my pick, Jamaica, for the other half of our honeymoon.)

Imagine my surprise when our cruise ship sailed out of port and we passed right by the Sandal's resort we stayed at!  I took over 40 pictures because I was so excited, but I managed to narrow it down to one for you all to see.  Notice that blue building peaking over the right side of the main building?  Jon is convinced that was our honeymoon villa.  It was definitely around there somewhere, but I'm not so sure that was the villa.  Regardless, it was pretty cool to see that place where we spent our first week as husband and wife.

 

I took this picture of Jon as we were sailing out of port.  Rain brings rainbows and this was one of many of the gorgeous ones that we saw throughout the week.  Doesn't hurt that it's right behind my gorgeous husband too!

 

This was the only group portrait that we managed to get the whole week.  The only time you're ever really all in one place is when you're at dinner and this is exactly when it was taken.  From top to bottom, left to right:  Joani (my mother-in-law), Eric (my father-in-law), Linda (my mom), me, Jon, John (my dad), Tiffany (my cousin-in-law) and Bradley (my cousin).  We really had such a good time with everyone.  I couldn't have asked for better and more fun-loving parents, in-laws or cousins and of course, my incredible husband who loves to travel as much as I do!  I'm such a lucky girl.

 

Our very last port of call was Barbados and it was certainly worth the wait.  We took our third and final snorkeling trip here where we visited a popular sea turtle hangout and a shipwreck.  Can you make out the skate (kind of like a stingray, but mainly found in warm seawater) in the sand below?

 

We also saw another beautiful rainbow from end to end.  I haven't seen this many rainbows since my family and I visited Scotland when I was younger!

 

We waited and waited and waited for a turtle to come and I had just given up and gotten back on the boat when one finally decided to visit.  I jumped back in for a closer look and it was really one of the coolest things I've seen.  It glided so gracefully through the water and was such a serene and peaceful creature.

 

The shipwreck was actually a submerged barge that was sunk there as an artificial reef.  All of the wrecks Jon and I have dived and snorkeled on have been submerged barges, but they're still pretty cool because they attract a lot of fish. 

 

After we were done snorkeling, we went to a beautiful beach with our rum punch in hand.  Here I am looking for more seashells.  The racerback on my bikini is totally what made me fall in love with it.  I think it's safe to say that this is my favorite swimsuit EVER! 

Now this is what I call paradise.  Just look at the blue of that water and the sand on the beach.  That's our boat in the distance.  And of course, rum punch in hand!

 

I found these baby hermit crabs when I was searching for seashells.  They were so tiny and they tickled when they crawled across my hands. 

 

If I were ever stranded on a deserted island, Jon is definitely the person I would want to be stranded with me.  Especially if he brought rum punch along too! :)

 

This was the view of Barbados from our ship.  Isn't it exquisite?  I would love to spend a whole week there.

 

The second formal dinner on the cruise was that night and I finally got to wear my emerald dress!  I love it so much that I think I'll be wearing it to every wedding we attend this year!  May as well get my money's worth.

 

This was the very last picture I took, the striking view from our balcony.  Le sigh.  Until next time, Caribbean. 

 

St. Maarten and Antigua

To start at the beginning in San Juan, St. Thomas and St. John, click here.

I think St. Maarten is my favorite port of call.  They have it all; white sandy beaches, warm, calm water and lots of duty-free shopping, all within walking distance or a short water taxi ride away from the dock.  It's a trifecta of awesomeness!  In the bottom of the photo below, you can just make out the construction area of the new dock being built in anticipation of the Genesis of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's newest ship.  When the ship is completed, it will be the largest cruise ship in the world, with a passenger capacity of 6,400!  Jon has already decided that we'll be cruising on it at some point. 

The first thing we did upon arriving in St. Maarten was renting beach chairs and an umbrella for the day.  When you walk along the boardwalk, you are immediately met by locals trying to get you to sit in their chairs.  Jon and I have learned from previous visits to hold out and keep walking until you get to the chairs with the nice cushions, about halfway down the boardwalk.  We were able to rent four chairs, two umbrellas along with a bucket of 6 beers for only $20!  We bargained them down to that, of course!  That's the secret in the Caribbean...never pay what they ask for because they are always willing to go down in price.

We were some of the first people to arrive so we snagged a prime waterfront spot.  (Remember the purple bikini that I just had to have?  This is it!)

 

The beer of choice in St. Maarten, and much of the Caribbean, is Carib.  It comes with a lime and tastes very similar to Corona.  Very delicious and refreshing.

This is a side view of our beautiful ship at dock.  Believe or not, this class of ship is one of the smaller classes that Royal Caribbean boasts.

 

Jon and I always have to take this same sort of picture in the water.  He must have been a few beers in because he took about seven of these and this was the best one!

 

I remember taking this picture, trying to capture the gorgeous turquoise color of the water.  I didn't think it turned out until I uploaded and saw that it was pretty accurate.

Our next port of call was Antigua, an island which we considered honeymooning on.  We took our second snorkeling excursion with my parents and got to experience the beautiful water around the island.  They dropped anchor quite far out and the sea was a bit rough, but it was such a great experience.  One of the snorkeling guides actually led me far away from the group on my own private tour of the reef.  I grabbed his hand and we spent a good ten minutes snorkeling over spiny sea urchin and following colorful schools of fish.  The same guide later found a huge sand dollar for me and presented it to me on the boat. 

Jon is great in the water and has no trouble going all the way down to the bottom so that I can take fun pictures of him.  If you've noticed, all the pictures of me snorkeling are taken from below.  I just can't seem to dive down under the water when I have a life vest on!  I just bobble right back to the top!

 

This reef had a lot of beautiful plants and bright blue fish.  You can see one peeking out of a nook below.

Once we were back on board, our captain and crew served us pimiento cheese sandwiches and you guessed it, rum punch!  Jon and I sat on the front of the catamaran enjoying our treats and watched a storm roll in beside us.  A funny note about snorkeling excursions and rum punch...you will not be served any rum punch until after the snorkeling part of your trip is done.  There will be no drunk snorkeling!

 

They sailed the catamaran right onto the beach where we spent some time sunbathing and enjoying the water.  I love the photo of my mom below.  Can you see the heart shape surrounding her in the water?

 

This is typically how you'll find me on any beach, hunched over looking for seashells.  There are some beaches where you aren't allowed to collect shells as they are protected under the Natural Wildlife laws, but most of the beaches we visited had a plethora of seashells for the taking.  I'll share what I did with my collection of shells in a later post.

 

In case you're wondering what the staterooms are like on the cruise, here is what ours looked like.  It's quite small, but you're really only in there to shower and sleep.  For the first time in our brief cruising history, we had a room with a balcony and absolutely loved it!  I would go out on it every morning to greet the day and we also hung out on it in the evenings, while getting ready for dinner.  We would order a cheese plate from room service (FREE!) and enjoy a red bull and vodka while sitting in our chairs and watching the sea below us. 

For those of you who might not know this, Jon proposed to me on our very first cruise together, just about in the same spot where I'm standing.  Aww!  I actually don't think I've ever told the proposal story on here, so I'll have to share that at some point.

 

Also, please note my running shoes and workout clothes...we ran two miles on the outdoor track almost every day.  It was a great way to burn all those extra calories we were consuming!

On this night, we had our "Repeater's Party" which is Royal Caribbean's way of thanking you for cruising with them again and being members of their Crown & Anchor Society.  You get to meet the Captain and there are trays of free drinks and hors d'oeuvres floating around.  I made Jon take this picture of a carved watermelon for me...go Richmond Spiders!

I enjoyed many glasses of free champagne at the party, thankyouverymuch!

 

Coming up in my next post, our last two destinations of St. Lucia and Barbados.  Don't miss it!

San Juan, St. Thomas and St. John

Since I have so many photos that I want to share with you all, I'm going to do it a couple of destinations at a time... (click on photos to enlarge, if you fancy)

Our trip began in beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico.  In anticipation of the gorgeous weather, I boarded the plane wearing a safari dress over leggings, which I stripped off as soon as we landed.  It was wise choice in theory, but I forgot to consider that the metal buttons would set off the alarms in security resulting in a lovely body pat-down by the lady TSA agent. 

Our hotel was just a few blocks from the beach, which we took advantage of as soon as we dropped our luggage off in our room.  We stopped at a tiny, yet busy, restaurant en route to the beach where Jon and I shared a mofongo.  What's a mofongo, you ask?  It's pure deliciousness, that's what it is!  Really though, it's a native Puerto Rican dish of plantains mashed with olive oil and various spices and includes a meat of your choice.  We opted for chicken and wasted no time in scarfing it down.  I was really proud of myself on this vacation because I stepped out of my normal food boundaries almost every single day.  A cruise is the perfect time to do this because your meals are included in the cost and really, if you don't like it, you can send it back, or if you have a husband like Jon, he'll finish it for you!

Compared to other islands, this was an expensive rental fee for a chair and umbrella for the day.  I couldn't resist this picture though.

 

After lunch and our stroll on the beach, we caught a taxi to Old San Juan, one of my favorites cities in the Caribbean.  You may remember my photos from last year.  I just can't resist the beautiful colors of their homes.

Wouldn't you just love to relax on this balcony every morning?

 

Before we knew it, Saturday was upon us and we were finally able to board our ship.  We were on the Serenade of the Seas, which is a sister ship to the one we were on last year, Jewel of the Seas.  Jon tends to like the bigger ships because they have more to do on board and well, they're just larger, but I really love this class of ship because it's more intimate and you end up making friends with total strangers.

Our first port of call was St. Thomas, famous for it's duty-free shopping and gorgeous beaches.  You can sign up for excursions on the cruise (mini day trips) and St. Thomas held the first of the three excursions that we had planned throughout the week.  It turned out to be our favorite of our whole cruise, and quite possibly, out of all of our cruising experiences. 

We boarded a gorgeous catamaran in the port of Charlotte Amalie and it whisked us away to a beautiful snorkeling spot over a reef. 

Guess who joined us on our little adventure?  Yes, that's Pleepleus with the beautiful Charlotte-Amalie in the background!

 

On the way to our snorkeling spot, we sailed past none other than Eric Clapton!  Well, who knows if he was actually in there, but that is most definitely his private yacht according to our guide!

 

I had the forethought to sneak a roll from breakfast and used this to lure fish to me as we snorkeled in the sparkling turquoise water.  A handy trick learned from various SCUBA guides!

 

The fish below was Jon's favorite and he tailed it for a few minutes, getting some awesome shots in the process.  Just look at the teeth on it!  By the way, Jon's underwater camera case for his Canon was my Christmas gift to him.  He had one for his old Canon, but needed a new one for his new camera that he got for his birthday.  It takes wonderful pictures and can even go deep enough for SCUBA diving, though we didn't dive on this trip.

 

This school of fish loved my roll!

After snorkeling, the catamaran sailed us to a picturesque beach on St. John (another island to check off our list!).  Jon has carved our names in a heart on the sand on just about every beach he's visited, just one of the many reasons I love this man!  Unfortunately, this one got blurred by some water drops, but you get the idea.

Le sigh...isn't this dreamy?  And yes, totally posed!

 

One of the best parts of our excursion (or any excursion for that matter), was the rum punch that was served for our sail back to Charlotte-Amalie.  You will never taste the same rum punch twice in the Caribbean, of this I'm sure.  The version we had on this trip had nutmeg grated on top of it, making it slightly spicy which I loved!  We actually chose to do this excursion because it was described as a Champagne Catamaran Sail to St. John, with cheese and bread served as well.  All I had to read was champagne and cheese and I was sold!  Though I actually ended up drinking more rum punch than champagne (even though I'm not a rum drinker!) because it was just that good. 

This is what happens when you get a bunch of tourists drunk on rum punch on a catamaran cruise, then send them on their way back to town on a route that includes a terrifying stretch of road named Donkey Hill.  It was such a fun group of people!  I wish we had taken a video so that you could hear the "woo-hoo's!" and see the whole busload raise their hands in unison on every dip!

 

Drunk, no?  And don't you just love how the windows on the bus are heart shaped?

 

I had so much rum punch that shortly thereafter, I purchased a Bernard K. Passman piece in town that I never knew I wanted!  It is absolutely gorgeous, though it did blow my whole cruise budget in our very first port of call!  At least it's a collector's item!

After some shopping, we got back on board and Jon joined one of the poolside activities.  That boy never sits down!  I opted to enjoy a margarita instead.

It was our first formal night on the cruise, which I love and Jon abhors.  He has to wear a suit for work every day so it's not really a treat for him to do it while on vacation.  I, on the other hand, will find any excuse to don a pretty party dress!

I adore this photo of Jon's mom with her two favorite men...aren't they cute?  And wowza, doesn't Jon look just like his dad?!

 

Here's me with my parents, though my dad is making a funny face.  It's really so much fun to have our parents come along.  Now if only we could convince the rest of our families!  My cousin Brad and his wife Tiffany did join us for this cruise (so fun to have another couple our age along!), but they were celebrating Brad's birthday in a different restaurant that night.

 

Stay tuned tomorrow for St. Maarten and Antigua!