EPIC week

We are back from our wonderful week on the EPIC, and I am ready for another! We started our heavenly 10 day holiday driving down to Miami to pick up my dad. After some last minute shopping and dropping my mom and dad at the hotel mister and I had a nice dinner with his friend Alistair and some drinks to start the vacation off right!

Saturday morning we boarded the ship and said goodbye to Miami!

NCL EPIC

bye Miami!

My dad had been traveling from Africa for around 22 hours and with being on planes for that long he caught a bit of a cold. The first night of the cruise is the pub crawl (which we had all been looking forward to) but my parents decided to skip it so my dad could rest a bit. I was sad they missed it, but Sean and I still crawled away. They take you to 5 bars for 5 shots plus a few other games which includes beer. I never do all the shots but it is still really fun!

Pub Crawl 2011

We had two days at sea to lounge around, relax, read and hang out by the pool. Our first stop was in St Maarten. We took a cab to the french side of the island and enjoyed a beautiful beach and the sun! We all managed to get a little sun burnt even though we were all wearing sun screen. It was a beautiful day with great views and the water felt amazing! Later in the day we did a bit of shopping and mister and I had lunch and a drink at a cute place on the beach.

Mister and I in St Maarten

Me and my Dad looking at some shops

Our next stop was St Thomas, lots of fun shops to look at and beautiful scenery. After all the time in the sun the day before we opted for shade and a yummy lunch at a restaurant with a great view. 

Us being silly

St Thomas

Our final stop was in Nassau. I was most excited about this stop because I have always wanted to see the Aquarium at Atlantis. I am so glad we went! It was pretty expensive for a pass just to see the aquarium but there were so many awesome fish and critters it made for a day of fun. The best part was feeding the sting rays! After Atlantis Sean and I went and explored the straw market and found a few things to bring home including two large wood masks, a pretty bracelet and Christmas ornaments. My family always gets an ornament for each trip so every year when we put up our tree we can look and them and remember the fun times. I have always loved this tradition because that way you don't just buy something that will clutter up the house and you always have it to look back on. I also love that Mister and I have done this for all of our trip so far!

love the manta rays

fun fish

mister feeding the sting ray

my turn!

mamma with the sting ray

giant chair

Here are some other highlights of the trip:

I LOVE towel animals and this one won my heart

So many photographers all over the ship, couldn't resist this picture!

We won another bottle of champagne in the casino!!

At the Cirque du Soleil dinner theater

Beautiful parents

Taking Yahtzee really seriously

cheezin it

All in all it was a wonderful week and I am really sad it is over. My parents head back Wednesday morning and I probably won't see my dad again until around Christmas. I will get to see my mom in July, but that is it for the rest of the year. I am so grateful we had this time, and really happy they got to spend more time with Sean and get to know him more. 

We are now back to work and counting down until our next trip in May!

xoxo

holiday

Tomorrow morning I will be driving (let's be honest, sitting in the passenger seat) to Miami with this guy

and this lady

to meet this guy

so we can all get on this ship

and hopefully not get busted for this like our last neighbor

and have fun times like this

So forgive me, but this little blogger is going to be MIA for a week. I will return with lots of pictures, stories and hopefully not a sun burn.

While I am gone, please go to this site and do a trivia question everyday! It donates kibble to pups in need - if you are really feeling awesome, click on free kibble kat above it and donate to kitties too! I do both every morning and hate that I will be missing a week.

xoxo

mamma's here!!

My mommy got here Friday!! With all the crazyness that has been the past couple of weeks I am so happy she arrived safely. Friday night mister and I picked her up from the airport and then we went and had dinner. We were all fairly tired so we had a pretty early night. 

2005

 Saturday was a wonderful day. We woke up and mister went to work on his car while the girls went to get pampered! Mom had an hour long facial while I had the most wonderful pedicure ever followed by the OPI gel manicure. It is pretty much the same thing as the shellac manicure that is really popular right now. The only difference is with the OPI version they still file your nails down. I am a nail bitter unless I have had my nails professionally done, and even then they always chip after a few days so I was really excited to try this out for the first time. It claims to last 3 weeks so I am hoping it at least lasts until after our cruise! Topped all that off with a mini facial as well. Can you say spoiled?! I was in girly heaven.

London 2009

Saturday night we had a wonderful dinner with Mister's mom and Glenn. It was really nice to have my mom meet them and get to spend some time together. Also enjoy a pretty fantastic dessert and I cannot believe left overs still exist. Having some when I get home tonight. Mister kicked my butt at Wii tennis per usual but I actually won bowling!!!

London

Sunday was the best day yet. Seven hours of shopping with my mom. There is just nothing in the world better than a fun day of shopping with my mamma. Really any day with her is pretty fantastic, but shopping days are the best. Mom did really well and found almost everything on her list, surprisingly target was a total hit with some awesome summer dresses. I fell head over heels in love with a pair of jeans from H&M unexpectedly. I have been on the hunt for some good boot cut jeans, as much as I love my skinnies some days you need a good boot cut and H&M had the perfect ones, plus a really cute top and wedges! We also found some great things for my dad and some pants for Mister. When the mall closed (that's right, we shut it down!) we met mister and his dad for a delicious dinner at Buca de Beppo. Love me some carbs!

Paris morning

3 more work days and we will be heading to Miami to meet up with my daddy and going on a cruise!!!!!! Counting down the hours... 

Has anyone been to St Maartan, St Thomas or Nassau and feel there is something that cannot be missed? We are working on excursions and any advice is appreciated!

Flying by!

After a week of searching for my camera charger and finally just ordering a new one off ebay, which will arrive in the mail today, I finally found the charger... in the random electronics bag in the closet...where it belongs. It normally lives in my camera case so everything is kept together, but my old camera charger is in that bag so I thought it was worth a shot and sure enough, there it was. Leave it to me to be too organized! So pictures will be uploaded tonight!

Mister and I had a fairly busy weekend and when I sat down to look at the rest of the year it seems this entire year is going to be pretty busy! Thursday night we went to a trivia night at a local place called graffiti junktion with Craig and his friend Holly. 

 It was really fun and one of the best burgers I think I have ever had. We also went to dinner with them Friday and then saw Holly's friend play live music at Orlando Brewery, where I ended up with a beer that not only looked like but also tasted like drawn butter. It made for good conversation but not so good drinking. 

Saturday I organized a bit and realized that either I am out of town, Mister is out of town, or we are both out of town at least once a month every month this year! 

January - We went to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras ball

Mister picked up his new car

February - We are going to Daytona for a weekend long car show this weekend

Mister is currently flying to new york to pick up a car and drive it back tonight/tomorrow for work

March/April - Cruise with the parentals!!!!

May - 5 day trip to Helen, GA for a car show that I am really excited about

Trip to Miami for a friends graduation

June - Mister is heading up to the Dogfish Head Brewery for his and Craig's birthdays

July - I will be celebrating my birthday (a week after) with my FAMILY in Calgary!!

July, August, September - Mister is gone a week each month for a show

October - Possible mini trip/mini cruise with some friends

         Hopeful annual girls weekend in Miami

November - Heading up to Delaware with the Mister for thanksgiving at Dogfish Head for the mystery beer release

December - Christmas in Canada!

So needless to say my calendar has all sorts of things going on in it which is really exciting, but tiring too!

Now that I have my camera back up and running I am really anxious to get back on the cooking challenge. I have quite a few recipes saved and have been reading up on lots of tips and tricks. I am hoping to make something involving crepes this week. We went to an art festival on Saturday and they were making fresh crepes which has had me dreaming about them since! 

Hope everyone is off to a great start of the week!

EPIC adventure

My mind has been completely taken over by the fact that in 43 days I will be in Miami with the mister meeting my PARENTS all the way from Africa so that we can get on a boat and float away for a week!!!! Specifically the NCL Epic. 

Sean and I did a week long trip on the Epic in October with stops in Roatan, Costa Maya and Cozumel and had an amazing time. The ship itself it pretty incredible with tons to do and lots of entertainment; so when it came time to picking out a holiday with my parents we were really leaning towards doing the other side of the Caribbean on the same ship.

Art Auction Party Night

Rainy day in Cozumel

We were completely addicted to this game in the casino and won 3 bottles of bubbly!

Roatan

 This time we will be stopping in St Thomas, St Maarten and Nassau. Needless to say from the moment we booked this trip my mind has been all about the pre-trip shopping to distract me from the fact that it is still 43 days away.. 

I wrote a list of a few things that I would like for this trip and have started my online bargain hunting already! Thank the Lord for Skype, mom and I have been sending each other links and opinions on all of our picks so far, and with her help I picked out a new bathing suit! I am really excited about the racer back on it, it will be perfect for excursions and the ships water slides! I then began the hunt for cute/comfy dresses because I have a serious addiction to cotton summer dresses. I ordered this dress for night: 

and have been going back and forth about ordering this one for a day time around the ship (I also found it on sale cheaper so I might just have to pick it up!)

 

Other than that we went to the outlet mall a couple of nights ago and I picked up an awesome Oakley suitcase for a steal and another fun strapless cotton stretchy wonderful dress on clearance! I would like 1-2 more dresses, something white for the NCL white-out party, a nice pair of shorts and I should be all set! Now I just have to remember to not only hit the gym but stop looking at things like this, this and this. Wish me luck....