Belize It!

The next morning we were in Belize.  Belize has a barrier reef (2^nd largest in the world!) so our cruise ship couldn’t dock at the port.  We had to tender instead.. (i.e. get on smaller boats and take them to the dock)  Since we were doing an excursion we got priority tendering so we didn’t have to wait too awful long. 

Once we got to Belize City we met up with our excursion and got on a big bus that would take us through the city and out to the jungle.  We had a fabulous tour guide whose Cajun accent was a bit hard to understand at times but its okay... She knew each hurricane that hit Belize, when it hit and what category it was.  She also sang for us.  Here are some pictures from the city.  There is definitely a lot of poverty, but, according to our guide, their unemployment rate is really low and most people are employed by the tourism industry.  Glad we could help!

After a long, LONG very bumpy ride we made it to our destination.  They outfitted us with helmets and harnesses and off we hiked into the jungle.  We got to the mouth of the cave and it was for lack of a better word EPIC!  It was so big it made people look like midgets.  Along the way our guide told us about the history of the cave and how the Mayans used it for different ceremonies because it was believed to be the entrance to hell.  We made our way into the cave and began our decent.  Most of the time we just hiked but at times we had to crawl and repel!  Along with repelling we got to zip line twice (a first for me!) and we had to walk across two rope bridges. 

We did eventually make it out of the cave (without anyone getting sacrificed) and made our way back to the bus.  The bus took us to a lunch area where we had kabobs with a tortilla and beans.  We also got to try cashew wine (their version of whiskey)…strong but sweet.  I liked it.  After lunch they took us back to the port and we made it back to the ship just in time for one of the last tenders!

SCUBA duba doo!

I apologize for the incredibly cheesy title.. I was trying to come up with a good pirate joke for you, but you got this. 

Our next port was Roatan, Honduras.  This island’s history is what inspired the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  Its where the real Port Royal is, but I didn’t see that… I saw fish! 

I have always wanted to scuba dive.  I loved the idea of really being down there with the sea creatures and being able to stay down there for a while.  I’ve snorkeled a lot and done snuba (where you have the regulator in your mouth but its connected to the tanks that are floating on top of the water) but I was ready for the next step!  How hard could it be, right?  WRONG!

We rode in a van over to the Anthony Key Resort (a destination dive resort) where we went to a classroom to learn how to dive.  After our Canadian instructor sped through the instructions they put us on the boat and took us to a shallow patch of water next to the dolphins to test our skills.  That is when we got our dive leader, Joe from Mississippi.  He was a bit easier to understand.  Before you know it we were in the water getting ready to dive!  To be completely honest, I didn’t have any problems.  I thought the whole thing was a fantastic experience!  I didn’t have any problems equalizing or controlling my breathing while down there (thanks synchro!).  My parents were a different story.  There had a really hard time equalizing so their ears hurt the whole time.  They are just now starting to hear normally again.  Despite their issues, we were able to see a bunch of extremely colorful coral, lots of conch shells, some star fish, and a HUGE eel!   HUGE!!

I loved it!  I know that mama and daddy won’t be diving again, but I’m seriously considering getting certified!

Dinner that night.
(I'm putting this one on because Daddy deserves it..)
=D

Wasting Away Again in Margaritaville

When we awoke the next day we were docked in Cozumel, Mexico. A lot of my friends that had cruised before told me that they never really did excursions, but since it was my families first time cruising and we love organized trips we did excursions at each port.  We had a list of things we wanted to do on vacation so we tried to pick excursions that combined those things.  

In Cozumel we were participating in the Amazing Cozumel Race.  Most of y’all know I would give anything to be on, obsessed with, kinda like the show Amazing Race, so this was super fun for me and my dad.  My mom isn’t quite as competitive as us but she had a great time as well.  They taxied us to the downtown area where we got our first clue and we were off!  I can’t remember the exact order of things but these are some of the things that we did at some point:

We went to the Cozumel History Museum and did a scavenger hunt to find our next clue.

Dad got a henna tattoo that was our next clue.

We snorkeled to find out the name of the sunken ship which would lead us to our next clue.

We had to play a round of putt putt to get our next clue.

We ran by a school when the kids were getting out.  (This had nothing to do with the race.. it was just precious and so authentic!)

The race ended at a little restaurant that was basically a pavilion with a kitchen.  We ended up coming in 5^th but the time difference between the top 5 teams was pretty close!  Whatever, I got guacamole and a free pina colada—I was happy!

After the award ceremony we made our way to Margaritaville (on the suggestions of Katelyn Heck—thanks Katelyn!)  They had a bunch of inflatable out on the water including…A TRAMPOLINE!!  I was so excited!!  My cover up was off and I was on the trampoline in less than  5 min.  After that we climbed a few of the other things but then showered off and Mama and I split a big slice of Key Lime Pie…delicious!

I got to jump on a trampoline!! 

Mom on top of the slide you had to climb up.

Back on the ship for dinner.

I’m On a Boat

 Just a disclaimer:  This was my first cruise, so for all you seasoned cruisers out there please pardon my gushing about things that quite ordinary in the cruising world!

Since it is like an 8 hour drive to Port Canaveral, we headed down there on Friday.  For everyone that is thinking about taking a cruise that leaves from Port Canaveral, stay that the Four Points Sheraton.  Its right by Ron Jons, has a Starbucks in the lobby, and you can park your car there for the week for only $35!  Saturday (after our Starbucks) we made our way to the ship.

That ship was HUGE!! We were on the Carnival Dream which I’m told is the largest in their fleet.  It holds around 5,000 people—we were on a boat with a small town!!  The ship’s décor was a bit too Vegas for my taste but it certainly was sparkly!  While waiting for our luggage to be delivered we made our way to the lido deck and the restaurant up there.  After a delicious meal we explored the ship a bit and went to our room.  It was a small space but designed quite efficiently!  We also had a lovely little cove balcony which was a great place to read!

Let me just go ahead and make the blanket statement that the food ROCKED!  I was beyond stuffed at all times just because I wanted to try everything!  I had escargot, lobster, seafood pasta, filet mingon, lobster bisque (a new favorite food), and sushi just to name a few.  This is also the first time in my life where I have had a serious dessert every night.  They also had frozen yogurt 24 hours a day.  I believe heaven will be a little bit like a cruise… only you won’t gain weight.  Our waiter, Juan from Honduras, was fantastic!  If we didn’t clean our plate he was always very concerned that we didn’t like it and would try to get us to order something else!  No Juan.. we were just stuffed.

That first day at sea, I was selected to mix a cocktail that I had submitted a recipe for on the lido deck in front of everyone.   It was a little nerve racking but so much fun!  I made Ocean Water which tastes just like Ocean Water from Sonic!  For those of you that I know want to try it here is the recipe from yours truly.

Ocean Water
Coconut Rum (a lot or a little depending on how strong you want it)
Triple Sec
Pineapple Juice
Sprite
Blue Curacco (just until it’s the right color blue)

We spent the rest of the day in the Serenity area (the adult only area) reading on their big comfy chairs.

Perfection.

My Mother is Always Right.. Most of the Time

That next weekend was Jamie’s wedding, but before the wedding I had to go to a planning session for YTC (Youth Training Conference for those non-Y Clubbers out there).  I’m on College Alumni Staff for Y-Club and was psyched that I was able to help plan.  The conference is going to be AMAZING!

My friend Sandy was also going se we decided to ride together despite my mom’s warnings that I might be pushed for time.  The planning session was is Macon and I had timed it out so that when the planning session was over at 11 I could make it home by 1 to drop Sandy off and then make it to Jamie’s wedding by 4 (It started at 5).  Well the traffic gods were not shining on us that day.  First issue was that we left Macon about 30 minutes later than expected.  Then while we were no more than 20 min down the road we hit a parking lot traffic.  By the time traffic finally cleared up I knew that my mother was right…there was no way I was going to be able to go home, drop Sandy, and make it to Chota Falls even by 5.  Thank goodness my wonderful mother was there to save the day!  She met us in Atlanta, delivered my dress for the wedding, and took Sandy home—all without an “I told you so”.  My mother is an angel.

I changed in the bathroom at Target at Atlantic Station and did my hair in the bathroom at a Zaxby’s somewhere in Habersham County.  I made it to Jamie’s wedding with time to kill.  Chota Falls is BEAUTIFUL as was Jamie.  I don’t throw this around lightly but in my opinion, it was about as close to a perfect wedding as you can get!  Maybe it’s just because I love the couple so much!  The reception was ridiculous!  Great food, beautiful cake (though I’m still bitter about the fact that I was too busy dancing and forgot didn’t get any!) and really fun DJ. They had all these props for the photo booth (that bless her heart didn’t show up), so instead we just all wore them while we were dancing.  Crazy good time!

Love you Jamie and Jeff!  I hope Baltimore is great!

The next day was Susie’s shower.  I made it home in time to change and make it to that one! =) Susie and I cheered together forever!  She and her fiancé, Corey, are pretty much the sweetest couple ever!  Susie has picked my favorite color scheme for the wedding (yellow and blue) which she says isn’t because Corey went to Tech, but I’m not so sure.  Just kidding.. those are great colors!  She got a ton of great gifts.  Her china is beautiful yellow fiesta ware with a blue and white toile patterned salad plate on top.  I may or may not be stealing that idea in 10 years when I get married.  I made them a plaque with their last name (Coats) on it that I of course forgot to take a picture of!  It was a great shower except that I forgot to didn’t get cake there either.

All in all it was a great, love filled weekend!  I love wedding season!  Next time, the cruise...

Moving Out and Redecorating

I’m bad at this..  I’ll get y’all caught up at some point.   Promise.

After we survived the New Orleans trip (our concerns were not dying of alcohol poisoning or sketchies.. they were flash floods and the apocalypse), I came back to finish out post planning.  The lovely team that I work with hosted a goodbye breakfast for me and the other guy on our team that is retiring.  They are all truly special people that I am going to miss dearly.  I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to work with!

At the end of the week Mama and Daddy came to move me out of my classroom and the apartment.  Usually I get to a point when I’m designing or decorating when I say to myself was it really that bad before?  I couldn’t I have just left it?  It took me about 12 hours to put my classroom together and about the same amount of time to pack it all up.  However, looking at the before and after really made it worth it for me.  I am so glad that I was able to personalize the space for the short period of time that I was there.  It felt like home.  I was comfy, the kids were comfy, and they learned better because of that—or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. 

It was the same for my apartment.  I’m kicking myself for not getting many before and after shots, but when you’re in the zone its hard to remember to stop and take pictures.  New goal.. take more pictures of my work.  I don’t think I’ve explained the decorating of my apartment so let me take this opportunity to do so.  When Megan and I lived in the house, Meg kinda gave me free reign for the design.  I chose a beachy nautical look that really looked great with the hardwoods and white trim, but it was a bit more grown up looking.  When we decided to move into the apartment, Megan requested that we incorporate some brighter colors that would make the place a little more lively.  I was happy to oblige because while I loved our ‘beach house’ it was a little.. blah.

Our apartment came furnished with some lovely pleather couches, metal and glass tables, scuffed desks, and white, WHITE walls.  We decided when we did the walk through that we definitely wanted to used my furniture instead of theirs, so my sweet, sweet parents hauled all the furniture from Betsy to the Exchange and hauled the Exchange’s furniture back to our house.  That in itself made our place more unique.  In the common area (we will call it the living/dining/kitchen/laundry area) we painted two walls teal and one wall yellow.  I got a new cover for the futon and made a bunch of new pillows to incorporate our new, brighter, color scheme.  In the end I would say that our apt still looked beachy, but a brighter beach house for sure. 

My room was kind of an experiment.  My color schemes have gone from green and orange to incorporating yellow to incorporating navy and trying to fade out the green, to yellow and grey.  Only one problem… my bedspread that cost bank is green and orange.  Don’t get me wrong.. I love my bedspread but its kind of limiting.  I’ve gotten to the point where I do what I want with the rest of the room and then throw in a few little green and orange accessories in other places to tie it in.. Oh well, next time I’ll go for this one a cheaper, neutral one.  I painted two walls yellow.  On one of these walls I stenciled a damask pattern in grey.  L. O. V. E.  Well worth the time it took!  There was a little nook for my desk so we painted that wall grey and my dad made a whitewashed shelving unit to go above my desk.  It was perfect! 

However, all good things must come to an end.  That weekend we painted over all our walls and moved out all my furniture and moved the Exchange’s furniture back in.  My apartment now looks like every other apt in the complex.  It’s a little sad, but it makes all the hard work that went into making it a home worth it.  THAT is why I decorate! 

Bringing it all home, however, was a challenge in itself.  We had to merge two households worth of furniture into one.  It seemed like a perfect time to redo my bedroom (which hadn’t really been changed since middle school—man I wish I had before pictures!) so that we could incorporate some of my furniture from the apartment.  Here are the after pictures. 

And because I"m proud of this too, my bathroom (sorry I didn't close the toilet. Gross..)

My Ikea chandys for $30 each!

and just to make you smile...

Dooley loves 'her' new room!

I haven’t had time to do any stenciling yet but I would love to do some gray stenciling on one of the khaki walls.  My desk chair is the chair that I got at TJ Maxx for $50.  Daddy fixed the leg and it’s good as new (and super comfortable I might add!)

That is all for my room redo.. Next time I’ll talk about YTC Planning, Jamie’s wedding, and why you should always listen to your mother.  

NOLA 2011

 This last month has certainly been full of adventures--adventures that I need to update you, my nonexistent readers, on!  I expect that it is going to take a few posts to get all caught up, so make sure to check back regularly!

As expected my last week of school was emotional, but we all survived it.  I think I handled it better because I had Jamie’s bachelorette party to look forward to!  (Big ol’ sorry to everyone at school who thought I was going to the actual wedding…)  It was bachelorette weekend in New Orleans!!

Thursday night I headed to Norcross.  Jamie and I did some shopping and then taste tested some of the options for the signature cocktails for the wedding.  I still say that the Moscow Mule would have been a hit!  The next morning we were ready to GO!  We loaded up the car, picked up Laura Smith, and then…got rear ended by a transfer truck.  Everyone was okay but it definitely caused us to get a later start than expected.  After we got all that cleared up, we made it to Jill’s and got on the road. 

8 hours later…

We arrived in New Orleans, changed quickly, and made our dinner reservations at Jaques-Imo’s.  Yummy jambalaya and mashed sweet potatoe!!  Jill (MoH of the year!) also gave us presents!  She ordered t-shirts for the weekend and got us super cute buttons!  James also got a lovely veil to wear for the weekend (which I maintain got her more beads than if she had actually shown well.. you know what..)

After dinner we headed to Bourbon.  That first night we just walked through because we were going to a bar past Bourbon called DBA where a local swing band was playing.  The last (and first) time I went to New Orleans was on a mission trip freshmen year of high school.. very different kind of trip.  Bourbon St was ridiculous…like Amsterdam, but I wasn’t expecting it! 

The next day we went to ‘the fly,’ which is a grassy park kind of area by the Mississippi River, to lay out.  We had stopped at a gas station to get po boys and had ourselves a little picnic out there.  However, it was super hot, so we didn’t last too long!  We went back to the house to get cleaned up and ready for dinner.  That night we went to dinner at Domenica (the John Besh restaurant at the Roosevelt Hotel).  Very fancy and posh, but relaxed at the same time.  I got squid ink pasta with crab meat and a lemon butter sauce.  Out of this world!! 

After dinner we headed to Pat O’Breins Piano Bar.  What a good time!!!  Best part of the whole trip.  We requested the Georgia fight song (that got more than a few boos from the LSU fans in the room), Family Traditions, and Wagon Wheel.

In line for Pat O's.. Jamie, Laura, and Jill copying the picture behind them.

After Pat O’s we went to a few more places to dance and then we somehow ended up at a bar that had a bull.  Oh my.  That was when I knew that the night needed to start wrapping itself up. 

Jamie on the bull!

Ashley's turn on the bull.

While everyone slept it off the next morning, I met up with Britt to have some coffee and catch up.  For those of y’all that don’t know, Britt was my first boyfriend way back in high school.  We met through Y-Club and even though we lived 3 hours apart we dated for about a year or so.  It was a great first relationship, but we lost touch so it was great to get to catch up!  After that everyone was STILL asleep so I went to Café du Monde and got beignets for the sleepy heads!  What a great end to a great trip!