Almost a month?!

I have been HORRIBLE with posting blogs. :( Here I was getting after Rachel for not posting and posts, but here I am at almost a month. Okay... let's try to summarize:

Cruise to the Bahamas: Of course this was absolutely wonderful with my honey! We flew the red eye on Friday night (02/23) to North Carolina (for a three hour layover) then on to Jacksonville. We found our shuttle ride within 5 minutes after getting our baggage, then it was off to the cruise ship. Looking at our "fun passes", it said VIP at the top. Not sure what this meant, we went to one of the attendants who told us that it meant that we got to go to the front of the line. The odd thing was, he said that we were the first inexperienced cruisers that got VIP. HOORAY!! We were able to check in within 10 minutes!! Looking behind us, the lines wrapped around and around like a snake. I'm guessing it took everyone two hours to check in. We then took our picture then got on the ship!! WHAT A HUGE SHIP! Since we couldn't get into our rooms for another hour and a half, we toured around. This was one of the few times I took pics. :( When we got into our room, we took a nap. We then went out to the deck to watch the sunset. How gorgeous the sunset is out on the water! We went to a nice dinner and met our table mates. Neshaminy and Tre were two friends from Georgia. Neshaminy loved to take pictures (I need to have her send me some more of the pics. Some are on my facebook). The other couple, Jeremy and Stacy, are from Nashville. It was so fun meeting both couples. Looks like we have a place to stay next time we travel east! We were able to go dancing that night near the casino....oh oh I better write shorter sentences now.. Ummm on Sunday, we relaxed all day long on the sun deck. Laying out in the sun on the ocean is great!! We also toured the shops and ate a LOT of food. On Monday, we were in Nasseau. We were able to tour the Atlantis hotel and walk around a bit. We stopped by this mexican restaurant called "Senor Frog" that included a bunch of people between the ages of 25-60 in balloon hats in a Conga line and dancing. Fun Fun. On Tuesday, we were at Half Moon Cay. There was nothing to do on this Island but walk around and lay out in the sun!! Lots and lots of sunscreen for both Nick and I semi saved us (some sun still got through). The water was a bit chilly... about 65 degrees. Nick said (and I agree) that this was our favorite day. It was hard to leave the white sand beaches and the deep blue water. On Wednesday, I got a bit sea sick. I was not a lot of fun because I wanted to sleep it off (the dremamine made me really tired). Dinner was good, though. The dinners were always gourmet. They included shrimp, steak, chicken, ravioli's, rolls, desserts (they had this one orange souffle that was mmmm mmm good), etc. This is why my pants are extra tight right now. :( Traveling back was so tiring, but it felt so good to be home in our own beds. A cruise again would be fun, but not for another year or so!

Countdown to the cruise

5 more days until Nick and I fly off to Florida!! I am looking forward to the cruise that takes off on Saturday to the BAHAMAS!! I bought a swimsuit online (winter time is the cheapest time to get swimsuits... I got a tankini for only $30 total! It was originally $75), I bought flip flops (2 for $5 at Old Navy), bought Nick some shorts from Costco (I still have to get him a swimsuit), and today, I bought our mini shampoo, conditioner, and sunblock. I also bought some awesome new sunglasses (picture above). Nick and I are UBER excited for this trip. I just hope the flight is not delayed. Everybody pray that it isn't!!

WOOHOO!!

"New" Friends

Friends are a great thing to have. As the years go by, though, it is hard to keep up with my own life and maintain those strong friendship bonds. Those that I still speak to, I only see probably about 4 times a month (if I'm lucky). Thinking back to the "me" in HS, I could never imagine life could go on and I could still be happy if I didn't have a gazillion friends I see all the time. Guess that's part of growing up, ay?

Speaking of "new" friends, we are taking care of our friend Kelly's cat while she is out of town for 3 months. Her cat happens to be out cat's sister. The first night, our cat (Chloe) hissed at Molly (her sister) all night long. Talk about territorial. I finally stuck them in the closet/crawl space under our loft with a shoe box converted into a litter box. I did this to 1) get them to learn to like each other and 2) so I could get sleep and conserve my sanity!! The next day, they just avoided each other, which was a lot better than them fighting. Now, a couple weeks later, they seem to be best friends. They play together, follow me around together, and even sleep together at the foot of our bed. This weekend, I saw them sleeping in the sun. They woke up when I took the pic, but you get the general idea in the picture of how they were sleeping. Molly was originally a stand offish kitty, but now she has warmed up to me and jumps on my lap whenever I am sitting down...even if Chloe is already on my lap.

Oh yeah... only 9 more days til our flight leaves to Florida...... to go to the BAHAMAS!!

New Year, New Hair

Yesterday, I decided to go to my favorite hair stylist to get my hair cut again. When asked if I mind driving 30 miles (Foster City to Sunnyvale) to get it done, my response is "not at all". In my past days, Super Cuts was my norm. This entailed a woman who I didn't really know (so I couldn't talk about things), a hit or miss haircut, and a sense of "get 'em in and get 'em out" attitude. With Lindsey, she remembers all I've talked about before (Nick, the kitties, etc), always does a wonderful job with my hair, and takes the time needed to make my hair look fantastic! This time, I knew I wanted shorter, so I said "make me pretty, Lindsey". She cut off about 6-7 inches and gave me a cute and manageable hair style. I've gotten so many compliments, but I'm still getting used to not being able to put my hair in a ponytail!! I love it, though. :)

Weekly update: Chloe

How upset does Chloe look in this picture? We took her on Wednesday, 12/10 to get "fixed". She was pretty good on the way down because I think she was happy to get out of the house. Once I took her out of the carrier bag (it's this really cute purse looking cat carrier), she did NOT like it. She crawled into my arms and hooked her claws into my jacket. She started shaking a little. Poor thing. :( I went to work and then was able to pick her up at 5 PM. The cone on her head is small, but go figure, she HATES it. When we were chilling at home, she kept trying to go under the counch, but the cone stopped her. She was not a happy kitty. Last night, we took off the cone to see if she would try to suckle her belly (she has done that for comfort ever since we "took" away Bertoli). She tried once, but it was too sore for her to do it. Hooray! So last night, she slept by my side of the bed without a cone!! One good thing (well, pertaining to getting up for work) about her is that when my alarm goes off, there is no way I can possibly press "snooze". When she knows I've woken up, she does her morning clawing on the bed spread and her cute little meows so that I will lift her up and give her a morning cuddle. I guess that's what I get for baby-ing her the first few months of her life. For Christmas, though, I think I'm going to buy her a kitty bed to sleep in.
Other than that, I saw twilight again yesterday and it was just as cheesy as the first time! Today, I am going shopping in SF with two of my girl friends. Nick and I get to go to my work's Christmas party tomorrow at the Westin in Fisherman's wharf. It should be fun, I hope. (Hey, a free dinner!) Other than that, we are enjoying our lives together!

On Saturday, Betsy treated me to a fun wreath making party in Montera (which is a little North of Half Moon Bay). It was a beautiful sunny day by the beach. There were all sorts of pine tree branches, and holly berries, and babies breath, etc. How to make a wreath? Well you grab all sorts of different tree branches, berries, etc and bunch them into 8 tiny bunches about an inch in diameter. After putting all 8 together, you clamped them onto a metal wreath frame using a metal clamper. I had such a good time. I was telling Betsy on the ride home (as I've told Rachel a month or so ago) I really want to find more friends that love doing artsy activities like these. I have fallen in love with homemaker activities. I also bought the Jane Austin collections book from Costco that has 7 of her books (Pride and Prejudice, Emma, etc). The great thing about it is that after I'm done, the book can be used as a decoration in the house.
I love the holidays!

Thanksgiving weekend!

What an exciting Thanksgiving weekend!!It started out with having Thanksgiving dinner (at 2) with Nick's family. Betsy and Bob made a fantastic Turkey dinner. I was able to use my kitchen-aid mixer for the first time ever to whip up some mashed potatoes. That mixer is AMAZING! After stuffing myself fully, I had to go back to the house to take a nap. That night, I drove down the hill to sleep at my parents house because Rachel and I were going to attempt BLACK FRIDAY!At 4:20 AM, Rachel and I were awake and ready to set off for our long day! We were outside of Walmart about 4:50 and decided to wait in the parking lot til we could at least see the end of the line. When we finally got in about 5:10, we ran straight for the toys. After fighting the crowds, we did not find much. All I bought was a $2 DVD! We then headed to Target to stand in line for the 6 AM opening. We were able to find a couple of things in there, then it was off to Stanford mall. We stayed there for 2 hours before we headed to Costco!! I bought one of Nick's presents there (which he's already found and looked at.. and loves!. Then we headed over to Toys R Us!! That was where the rush was. We stood in line for an hour to buy one item. Rachel and I were so tired that when something funny happened in front of us, we had unstoppable giggles! From there, we went to Marshall's, then it was back home to decorate the tree!! That was such a fun day that by the time I got home at 6, I wanted to pass out... but ended up going to a movie with Nick! :)On Saturday, we took Chloe to the vet for her shots... and ended up having to pay for all different stuff that cost us $270!! Animals sure are expensive. That night, Nick and I went to "Plaid Christmas" with my family. That was a great way to start off the Christmas season! Yesterday, Nick and I started building our coffee table for our living room. I love doing projects together. Overall, this was a great weekend, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the holiday season!! (as I am sitting here drinking my gingerbread latte)