Deuce

In July I completed my first 5k (jogging the whole thing). While on the ship we had the opportunity to compete in the first 5k in the middle of the ocean. I was excited to compete and do another. I jogged the entire thing in 80% humidity and some heat, take that Deck 7!

JM thank you

Wellness Cruise 2010 -- Jillian Michaels

The most interesting man in the world....

While in Compton for jury duty as soon as we were given a morning break I walked across the street to grab some coffee. On my way back I noticed a flier posted on the street light.

Eastside: Atlantis

When we awoke this morning we found ourselves in beautiful Nassau/Paradise Island.

Our day started with a harbor tour.

Once the boat docked we grabbed a taxi which took us over to Atlantis, an awesome resort with everything you could ever imagine. I found us a wheelchair for the day and off we strolled through the amazing shops (think Vegas) and into the casino where my mom won $133 within minutes. I walked away with a bonus $20 and we called it quits while we were ahead. Then it was off to the underground aquarium.

The coolest thing at the resort! It is a water slide that ends in a shark tank! So AWESOME!

There is a Michael Jackson suite (top right photo the center connector) which costs $25,000 a night and you have to stay a minimum of a week, insane!  Cheapest room at the resort runs over $300 a night. The resort is full of beaches, pools, water slides, shops and a casino. You can swim with dolphins, snorkel, explore the aquarium.  For more info on Atlantis click here. We had a great day wandering around enjoying the island.



Boxed

On the way back home the Agadoni's bestowed box upon box to us. All I can say is THANKS, but it doesn't seem big enough.

The Mister and I are so grateful to everyone hooking us up with their unwanted items. Please keep them coming. You are all awesome. We have raised almost $5000 so far!

Santaized

Black Friday was quite a bit different this year. While I was glad we were able to be inside Walmart for a few hours as it was very chilly last night but I am so not a fan of how it went down. After we enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving meal with family it was time to head down to SD. There was some traffic coming down that was unexpected.

First up we headed for Old Navy, trying to get a video game. We were unsuccessful but lucky for us they handed out the cards at midnight so we were able to jet over to Walmart once we knew that Old Navy was not going to hook us up. The parking lot was jammed up as they were open all day on Thanksgiving and began some sales at midnight. We were slightly freaked out once in the store looking around at giant and mini lines everywhere.

Finally we found where the line we needed was and were told that the tickets had already been passed out and there were none left. I was bummed but thought I would ask someone else in line and an employee before we stepped out of line. Upon approaching a manager type employee at the front of our mini line and was told in a hushed tone to get back in line and she would be with us in a minute. SWEET! Lucky for us the instructions were for everyone who received a ticket to stay in line, if you left the line for ANY reason you forfeited the item. Bummer for those who stepped out of line but we were able to score a ticket. The store only had 40 in stock, which I think is crazy for a door buster on Black Friday.

So at just after midnight I was handed my ticket for the item and told to stay in line until 2am at that time we would be issued wristbands. Paul went around to try and find the smaller items (DVDs and video games for people on our list) while I hung out in the dog/cat food aisle for a couple hours. After the wristbands were given out we were allowed to roam about the store gathering other items, napping or snagging a bite to eat.

Everyone was warned that they needed to be back in line by 5am or the item would be given to another individual. I did a few laps around the store and hooked up the caffeine before walking back by the area we were lined up in. People were already back in line at 3am! I couldn't believe it we had till 5am. The problem was that there was a blue vs. pink issue and I surely wasn't going to end up with pink after coming that far. I scooped up some magazines and dog beds to cushion my bum then parked myself back in line. 5am rolled around and score got exactly what we were waiting for (glad to be able to help friends out)!

During this time Paul headed down to Target (the other end of the mall) and had to brave the cold cold night (poor Bubba). He was able to score a few more items on our lists and come 530am we were on our way back to Old Navy to pick up some jeans for my mom. Doing all that we could do at that hour it was time to grab some ZZZZZs.

Alarm went off at noon. Grubbed and headed back out with my mom in tow to the mall. Got some more amazing deals and called it a night at 8pm. Now snuggling on the couch relaxing watching the tele.

Thanksgiving 2010

I find myself being very nostalgic this morning. On my drive home last night I was thinking about my family Thanksgivings and really missing them. Some may call me crazy but I miss having 2 meals in 2 different counties on the same day. Growing up Thanksgiving was always at our house. Robin, Ron, AP, JB and sometimes Jonathan would all come down. Occasionally I also brought along a "stray" friend if they couldn't go home.

 I always got up early to help with fixing dinner: turkey, bacon steamed green beans, yams with marshmallows on top, mashed potatoes  (with no lumps for JB), stuffing, and pies (pumpkin, pecan and apple). Once the family arrived there would be TD parade and football on the TV, a few rounds of pool in the garage and good conversation. We would also celebrate my Aunts birthday with song and presents as it always falls between a few days before or after TD. After Paul and I tied the knot we hung out in SD and had Thanksgiving with my side of the family and then we would drive up to Alhambra and have Thanksgiving with Paul's side of the family. When Robin got sick and could no longer eat the family meals stopped, I miss them. Hopefully AP and JB will come down again one day to share in our Thanksgiving dinners of old.

One of the best Thanksgivings of my life was in 2005 when Paul and I were flown out to North Carolina to surprise my dad and grandparents. That weekend was amazing, most of it was spent putting together puzzles with my grandparents.

   

Last year and this (yet) I haven't really felt the spirit of the holidays. So much heartache beat me down that I just couldn't amp myself up to celebrate. I am trying to be thankful for the memories and good times from Thanksgivings past. Robin, Ron, Dad and Grandpa -- you are missed.

It's Coming!

Black Friday is almost upon us. I must say I am a bit sad as our tradition of bundling up, snuggling under blankets with coffee while doing puzzles or watching movies and sometimes just talking will not happen this year. You see stores have decided to open way earlier this year. I didn't realize how much this would upset me. I love the tradition me and the mister have created for ourselves. Occasionally we have had a friend come along with us for the excitement. I am hoping things go back to normal next year. We will begin our plotting and  figure out our strategy the moment those Christmas lists go up on the fridge on Thursday. There are already a few stops we are excited for. This is the big time for us, the one day of the year we go shopping!

Mom : The Update

A long two weeks after her initial fall my mom finally got her MRI done. They took a look at her shoulder and said she has a torn rotator cuff. She will need to contact an orthopedic surgeon on Friday to make an appointment and find out if this really needs surgery or if PT and time can heal it. She has been released from the nursing facility (thank goodness) and is home. She has a prescription for Norco which is helping her manage the pain.

Eastside: Workout!

 Everyone on the cruise was allotted 1 workout session with Jill.  It was definitely the highlight of my trip. I managed to find my way into a couple more. I was able to snatch a spot in the front row during 2 workouts, Jill said that if you couldn't do something due to injury or ability then to just keep moving. During the workout she busted into an advanced Yoga move I decided it was time to dance for the DJ. I busted out The Carlton. Jillian saw me and gave me a nod/laugh "Ha! Nice" along with a thumbs up.

Most of you know that I am an avid BL watcher and have tried to get on the show a few times so being able to be worked out by Jill was awesome. By the end I of course was not sure if I would ever walk up-right again. Each workout was supposed to be 60 min. however one of the nights she didn't have anywhere else to be directly after the workout so she was not limited to that time and as some goofballs complained about one of the exercises well, lets just say the TV Jill came out. It was over 90min straight with no break!

At the end of the workouts she had everyone lay back, palms up, eyes closed. Then she just talked to us, inspirational jargon mostly. It was quite moving though. To just be in that moment, the weather perfect, just having completed an intense workout, hearing exactly the things you needed to. Difficult to describe but quite amazing!

Eastside : Island Time

Leaving the boat and heading to Island Paradise

Our first stop in the Bahamas was Great Stirrup Cay, a small private island.

View of the ship from the shore

Relaxin after workin and before playin

My view from the hammock

There was a giant slide, beach volleyball, parasailing, wave runners and other activities, unlimited BBQ and drinks along with some great musical entertainment.

It was a first for me to ride these out in the open water. The views were quite amazing.

Some more firsts : holding a starfish, conch and sea cucumber

Missy Higgins

Kickin it with the homie

A crazy storm blew in during the mid-afternoon so we decided to head back to the ship.

View of the Great Stirrup Cay from the boat

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

We'll expand on this more later, but we'll be attending both a wedding and a funeral this afternoon. Prayers for all families involved would be appreciated....

Eastside : Wellness

This amazing cruise I got to take in celebration of my 30th year of life was a Wellness Cruise. Which means a lot of the "regular" cruise things were changed up a bit. To begin with Jill's entourage was on board. The ship still had food available 24 hours a day but the choices were for the most part healthier and all of the nutritional info was on the menu so that you could make informed decisions as to what you were eating when.

Dr. Van Herle - Did health screenings and seminars on a variety of topics

Paige Padgett - Jill's personal hair/make-up artist, she did seminars on beauty products and makeovers.

A slew of trainers (Steve Lee, Heidi Rhoades, Marco Borges, Jeanette Jenkins, Basheerah Ahmad) who did all kinds of group workouts (yoga, spin, synergy, boot camps, kickboxing, water) and seminars.

Three families that were on Jill's new show "Losing It" did a Q & A

Jo Ann McKarus (aka Jill's mom) - A therapist gave seminars on mental wellness.

Deck wars which included basketball tournaments, push-up contests, dance contest, belly flop contest, men's wet t-shirt contest, cannonball contest, a sweat station (prove you worked out and earn points for your team), and laps for tokens (earn a token for each lap you complete on deck 7).

Devin Alexander was on board to give cooking demonstrations.

Of course in addition to all of this awesomeness Jill also had two comedians aboard, DJs ( Frankie Needles and Jenna Brown), some musical talent (Michael Tolcher, Missy Higgins and Yacht Rock Revue).  

Blog-cation over?

If anyone has been paying attention, you may have noticed that it's been quite a while since I've posted on here. I know it's been at least a year. Could be two. I'm sure the Mrs knows exactly how long because the topic has been brought up on occasion. At the moment I'm too lazy to look it up....and I'm ok with that. I think part of the reason it's been so long is that once I got out of the habit it didn't seem like a good time to post again unless I had something really cool to post. A Zab style post that would get lots of comments. I will tell you right now this is not that post. It does have a funny story coming up, but really the reason I am posting is that Cyndi didn't do it earlier and is driving home from Sandy Eggo so I didn't want the NaBloPoMo posting streak to end.

The funny story? Ah yes. So Wednesdays at work mean team meetings. It's the only day of the week that everyone in every department works. So most of us do our team meetings in our various offices when the kids go back to school for the afternoon.

This week while we were going over our business, both speaker phones in our office came on. Apparently someone in our health office accidentally pushed the button marked "Conference" on their phone. I always wondered what that button did. Now I know. It makes your phone into an intercom so you can broadcast to every single phone on campus. The best part was that just after the button was pushed, one of their staff began questioning whether or not penises could fall asleep like legs or arms do. A lengthy debate continued for every administrator, office, and yes, classroom to hear until finally someone tracked down where they were meeting and pulled the plug on the phone. Luckily for one person, they did not broadcast the name of whoever was complaining of such a thing. That would not have ended well.

So there you go. Is my blog-cation really over? Time will tell.

Eastside : On the Sea

Every night there was a different theme on the cruise, I am not into going over the top for these sorts of things but I did want to participate.

80's night

Team Color night

Halloween



Eastside Day 6

October 21st

All Aboard!

View of Miami from the ship.

Quick get together for a group shot.

Jill & me

Eastside Day 5

October 20th

Epcot!

We hit every ride in the entire park.

My favorite ever (when I was 7 and now) is Figment!

Goofing off in the different countries.

There were tons of cool bands playing in the different lands of the park.

Last stop of the night Nemo! What is super cool about this is they have an aquarium after you get off the ride with all the different fish that are depicted in the movie.



After a full day of fun we left & began our LONG drive down to Miami.