Update

I haven’t blogged in awhile. Nothing super duper exciting has been going on, but here is an update on my life anyway.

I’m continuing to do well with the weight loss. As of today I’ve lost 25 pounds this year so far. I also hit on a great reward...James Avery earrings. They’re something I like, but not something I would typically buy for myself. And since Marcus and I only exchange cards on holidays, they’re not something I’m likely to get as a gift either. Plus, they never go on sale, so no worries about seeing them cheaper later. And, well, they're just so pretty!

Also along the lines of the weight loss….I started working out again a few weeks ago, and after some initial protesting by my stupid ankle, I’ve got a good little routine going. I do yoga about 4 times a week, and Marcus and I do different Walk Away The Pounds DVDs about 4 times a week. (Not sure how he feels about me telling the world that, but oh well).

On Monday I got my new heart rate monitor in the mail and I am enjoying working out with that A LOT. It accurately calculates how many calories you burn by measuring your heart rate. It’s very helpful on weight watchers, because as you start losing more weight, you start losing eating points, which makes the plan harder to stick to. You can earn activity points by exercising (which you can use to eat more), but you could accidentally overeat and sabotage your weight loss efforts if you aren’t accurately calculating your activity points. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had been underestimating my activity points!

I just booked a 7 day Caribbean cruise with 2 girlfriends for early January. I’m super excited about that! Although I did realize I will need to pack all at once for Christmas in Houston, a family reunion in Denver, and then a Caribbean cruise. Should be interesting!

My India/Pakistan novel kick is still going strong. I recently discovered that our library participates in the inter library loan program, so I may never have to buy another book again!

Oh, one interesting thing did happen last week. I woke up from a nap and then sat on the couch. I felt something scratchy on the back of my arm. I looked back to check and didn’t see anything. A little later I still felt something scratchy, so I looked back again. This time I saw something. A giant lizard! Now, at that moment my brain didn’t have the time to actually register this thing as a lizard, just a reptile in general, so I freaked out, screamed, and jumped up, which sent my lap top flying.

This isn't the actual lizard, but it looked kinda like this one

I would also like to point out that we have 2 cats and 2 dogs, and none of them prevented this lizard from strolling into our house and sitting on the couch. In fact, Gus and Emma were actually sitting on the couch when the incident occurred.

Useless animals!

That's about it. Now you're all updated.

Random Vacation Tidbits

Here are just a few things that I forgot to mention in my earlier vacation posts.

1. When we got on the first ship the Delcambres’ room smelled like a bar. It was horrible. In trying to deal with that and hopefully get them moved to another room, Marcus was told that the ship was overbooked. Huh? How do you overbook a cruise ship? Where do the extra people sleep?

2. Marcus, the Delcambres, and I played games in one of the restaurants most nights of the cruise, and most nights the ship played some sort of Michael Bolton’s greatest hits DVD. I Said I Loved You But I Lied is the dumbest, sappiest song ever written. If I didn’t hate Michael Bolton before, I certainly do now.

3. During our 2 weeks in the Caribbean/Bahamas, we saw a whole lot of people in swimsuits. Now, I am all for people of all shapes and sizes wearing whatever swimsuits they want, with two exceptions: First, speedo wearers. I don’t care if you’re George Clooney or Brad Pitt (attention older gentleman with a beer belly and middle aged gentleman with Robin Williams level hairiness, you are neither) no one wants to see you in a speedo. No. One.

Second, thong wearers. While we are very impressed with the 23 hours a day you spend on the stair master at the gym, we don’t want to see your bare bottom. We really, really don't. We especially don’t want to see it when you bend over (repeatedly) to pick up your golf ball while playing putt putt.

Seriously, wouldn't the world be a better place if speedos and thongs were banned everywhere swimsuits are worn?

So there you go, now you are all filled in on our cruises.

P.S. I found lots of pictures of people in speedos that I could have added to this post. I chose not to. You're Welcome.

The Rest of our Vacation

After our Caribbean cruise with the Delcambres, Marcus and I hopped on a shuttle bus and headed to the Miami Seaquarium. It’s kind of like a mini Sea World. Since Marcus and I are big animal lovers we had a lot of fun. Plus we both got to see manatees for the first time.

The shuttle dropped us off at the Miami Air Port after the Seaquarium, and from that point we had to take a taxi to our hotel. I booked the hotel weeks before the trip using priceline.com’s name your price. I was certain that we were booked at the downtown Miami Hyatt Regency. In fact, earlier in the week I looked for restaurants near there that we could walk to, and earlier that day I pointed it out to Marcus twice as we passed by in the shuttle. Anyway, we took a $30 cab ride from the airport to the hotel only to find out that our reservation was really at the Coral Gables Hyatt Regency. Another $30 cab ride and we were there. Our room was great and we even had a balcony.

The next day we took yet another cab to the port for our Bahamas cruise. The first stop was Nassau Bahamas. There was a minor thunderstorm most of the morning. We got thoroughly soaked, and I was so tired that I actually fell asleep on the tender ride from the port to our excursion destination. Once our sea lion encounter started we had a blast. Marcus and I and 8 other tourists got to get in the water with Murray the sea lion and his trainer. We got to pet him, kiss him, and hug him. It is right up there with kayaking in Puerto Rico as the highlight of the cruises.

We actually ended up docked in Nassau until 1 am because of passing storm, so Marcus and I decided to brave the Nassau shops for a gift for my little brother. On the way to Senor Frogs near the port we were asked “if we liked to party?” And when I replied with an “excuse me?” The man then asked “Do you want some blow?” I responded with a probably too polite “No thank you.” I then realized that I made it to 30 without being asked directly if I wanted to buy drugs. Not too bad for someone born in Houston in the late 70s.

The next stop was CoCo Cay, which is a private island owned by the cruise line. It was actually disappointing. I was all ready to snorkel, but you had to get to the snorkel spot from the beach which was covered with rocks and slime of some sort. I HATE slime! Marcus and I did enjoy some time just hanging in a hammock.

CoCo Cay, Bahamas

The final stop was Key West, Florida. We signed up for a snorkel adventure. I was so excited because snorkeling is my favorite thing to do. On the hour long boat ride to the reef I started to feel funny, but I got in the water anyway. It was my last chance to snorkel! I’m glad I went. I saw all kinds of fish and plants. It was great. I could have stayed there all day. I’ve already started researching hotels in Key West.

An example of what I saw. I actually forgot the waterproof camera.

It was a really long time to be away from home, but we had a blast!

We're Back!

Marcus and I recently went on 2 cruises. One with our good friends the Delcambres, and then one just the two of us. We had a lot of fun, but 2 weeks is a long time to be away from home. Here’s a run down of our first cruise:

Our first port was San Juan, Puerto Rico. The four of us went kayaking at night in a bioluminescent bay. I’d never kayaked before and was sure I would fall out, but miraculously we never did. We did have a rough start because the water was choppy and there were many other inexperienced kayakers as well as loose unmanned boats. It was like a crazy obstacle course starting out.

Once we got going we had a lot of fun, the mangroves were beautiful as were the stars. The bioluminescent part was super cool. We also learned that Marcus and I work very well as a team, especially compared to a lot of other couples who were pretty much yelling and/or snapping at each other the entire kayak trip. The first person in the kayak is the only one who can see anything, and tells the back person what to do. It is a great test of a relationship. We pretty much spent our time laughing.

Las Cabezas de San Juan

The next port was St Thomas. It was a cloudy day, but we still had fun. We did some shopping down town in the morning, and then in the afternoon we went to Megan's Bay. The water was super cold, but Marcus, Shannon, and I still braved it.

Megan's Bay

Our final port on the first cruise was in St Martin. That was an adventure. Our plan was to snuba, which none of us had ever done. We ate at a restaurant on the marina. On our way out to the snuba spot I started feeling sick, which is weird because I don’t get sea sick. We tried snubaing, but Marcus and I quickly gave up. He is afraid of the water and the choppy conditions and weird sound his equipment made did not help. I was feeling a lot worse, and couldn’t stay upright in the water so I couldn’t get the hang of the snuba gear.

Shortly after Marcus and I got back on the boat I started feeling very very bad. I decided to sit on the back of the boat with my feet in the water. A couple minutes later I started throwing up. I’ve never done that on a boat before. I felt a lot better afterwards, so it’s pretty clear that my lunch was the culprit and not sea sickness. Jonathan does get sea sick and for awhile we were both puking off the back of the boat. Marcus ate the other half of my lunch, so he started feeling bad too. I’m still amazed he didin’t vomit! All in all Shannon is the only one who had a great day in St Martin.

Dutch Side of St Martin

It was a lot of fun cruising with good friends, and we hope to do it again!

I'll update y'all on the rest of the trip later this week.