sunny memories...

back from jamaica. had the BEST time. looking forward to going back. well, we might try a different sandals location next year, but it's official. i love jamaica. the people are friendly, the weather {when not raining} is perfect, the ocean is sooooo blue, the food is tasty {hello jerk chicken}, and the rum ain't bad either! ;o)
this is honestly the first vacation that i don't feel like i need another week off to recoup. was so nice to lounge, relax, and do nothing. not that i don't like traveling with others, but it always feels like you have to be doing something. and it wasn't like that this time. rarely set the alarms, no having to go and see everything. just happy to be.
so the deets. i know that's what you want. not me rambling about how damn lazy we were!
had an early, early, early travel day wednesday. stayed up late packing tuesday night. i think we finished at like midnight. then we took a two hour nap. had planned on packing over the weekend. but had some stuff come up. nick's mom impromptu birthday get together, our friend's mom passing away and spending time with him. just lots of little stuff...
so limo comes at three am wednesday morning. gets us to ohare by 3:45. decent time. amazing how quick you can get someplace when there is no traffic! the lines at ohare were so quick. air jamaica, security. might have to start traveling this darn early all of the time! flight was well. slept through most of it. served us champagne. yay! ended up on the island at like noon. had to take a shuttle to the resort. like a three hour bus ride. and they drive on the wrong side of the road! egads, so glad i didn't have to drive myself! stopped at a rest area. took this picture, which i love and paid $6 for a bag of cheetos. silly us. but we were a bit hungry!
got to the resort before check in, were able to just hang by the pool for a bit. didn't stay long since the suntan lotion was packed... didn't want to fry on the first day! finally, were able to go to our room and we passed out. can you say 5 hour nap?!
thursday was rainy. bummer. thought there could have been a hurricane forming. were keeping an eye on the weather channel.
spent the day in the room and then had the rub a dub dub treatment: exfoliating salt scrub, bubble bath for two, then a 60 minute massage. excellent. the salt scrub was a bit painful, but the rest was heavenly. went back to the room so relaxed. i swear, i drooled during the massage.
had dinner at their japanese style restaurant. was okay. had some londoners at the table. was awesome. loved their accents.
friday was better. had originally planned to go to dunn's river that afternoon, but the rains came yet again, so we cancelled. was okay. nick ended up making new friends with some of the people who worked there and played sand volleyball all afternoon. he was in heaven.

saturday was the freaking wedding factory! swear, i saw 6 brides before noon. was insane. nick recertified in scuba. then went off for a quick dive. said it wasn't as nice as hawaii but had a good time nonetheless.
awesome pic from that... {sandals sends photographers on excursions and they walk around the resort taking your pictures, which is way nice. however, at $10/pic is a bit ridiculous. we couldn't resist and bought a bunch tho....}
sunday = nothingness. okay a bit of snorkeling. was given a really cool sand dollar by the dive master, nick broke it. bummer. and i just love the salt water there. so not as salty as like florida, california, or hawaii. strange but true... i think.
monday was a shopping excursion. went to a few mall type areas then one of the local people. was insane. the poverty level is heartbreaking. spent money at a bunch of little shacks. how could i not?
tuesday was dunn's river. awesome, awesome, awesome! if you ever go to jamaica this is a must. was seriously so cool. hiked up the waterfall. holy heck was the water cold! we took a party boat there, so we were able to do some snorkeling before hand. then they opened up the liquor and it was rum and red stripe everywhere! had a little dance party on the way back to the resort. seriously. the best time!
nick met up with his volleyball friends again in the afternoon.


wednesday. so sad. our last full day. did nothing. lounged and read. okay. i lied again. nick did some hobbie cat stuff. convinced me to get on with him too. then we did this giant trikebike thingie! rained a bit on and off. had a photo shoot with the sandals peeps. was nice.


thursday was homecoming. sad. got up early to take some shots down by the water. so glad we did. turned out great.

lounged on the couches, until our shuttle came for us.
ran into some nasty weather in montego bay. thought our flight might get delayed or cancelled. had some turbulence on the way home. darn clouds. landed at ohare around 10. again, tho... customs and all those kinda lines were excellent. the baggage conveyor belt thingie broke like three times. so we waited a bit for luggage. the limo picked us up and had us home around midnight. long day.
{have tons of pics. might share periodically, just didn't want to overwhelm in one ginormo post!}
friday we picked up guinnea pig. he gained 9 pounds while he stayed with nick's dad and his girflriend. will take pics and share those soon. 42 pounds is his official weight. and boy does he look like a pit. ah well, he's a good pup.
then it's back to the daily grind. nick and his family have been working on the deck. i've been trying to get some scrappy projects done. so not looking forward to work on monday. but excited about halloween. hoping to find time to carve some pumpkins!

it's 5 o'clock somewhere.

heard a rumor that we get served rum on our flight to jamaica. quite a breakfast, dontcha think?
had a busy two days at work. exhausted and it's only tuesday. so looking forward to some relaxation.
be back soon....

whirlwind.

these next few days are gonna be nuts.
lots and lots going on. kinda overwhelming. maybe the timing couldn't be better? that this vacation is going to help us slow down a bit. who knows.
got my camera bag from tracy joy. posted about it a bit ago. holy heck, it's so much cuter in person! soft and fluffy. and so bright and pretty. love the stripes and the brown. it's a bit big. but it might just work as my carry on so i'm cool with that. loving the inner pockets. my girlfriend saw it at work and said she wanted one. so doesn't even take pictures. hilarious. had told her i was looking at diaper bags because i heard they were a good substitute. told me this was way cuter than any diaper bag i would have found. then i told her that she also made diaper bags {she's thinking about numero dos} saw a sparkle in her eye. just might have to be her gift next time around.
talked to the friend in the marathon. said it was crazy. he is okay. had to stop after about 16 miles. hoping he can try again next year. maybe nick can join him then.
lots of packing. lots. have most of the stuff i need, still on a hunt for some cute brown shoes. we shall see.
first pedicure this weekend. kinda excited. hoping my feet won't be crazy ticklish. that could be dangerous!
bad people... ditched pilates and yoga. guess we just need some down time. nick especially. he's been working nonstop on the deck. they even made some comment at one class we attended, something about if you sign up, please come. blah, blah, blah. i'm sorry. but if i'm paying you regardless if i go or not, why do you care? i know. i know. waste of money. but some days i just have no go after work. ya know?

sunday gibberish.

so just some randomness...

-went shopping yesterday. tried on a super cute shirt. got stuck in it. seriously, couldn't get it off. the dressing room was full. i was dying! so afraid i would rip it and everyone would know it was me. too embarrassed to go outside and ask someone to help me. wishing everyone would leave and i could sneak to nicholas.
the darn thing was stuck on my arms! couldn't lift it up off my bulging biceps. finally got it off by pulling the neck over my head, but then it was stuck behind me.
goodness, it was terrible. i finally went out to show nick the next outfit and he was like, dude?! i confessed that i was stuck in my shirt in a whisper. showed him the sexy red marks on my bulging biceps to prove it! he told me the shirt was too cute not to get, the lady next to him even said so too. he promised to help me out of it. must remember to not argue with him that day or i'm doomed.
-have a gd fly swarming around here. annoying the heck out of me.
-today was the chicago marathon. nick was unable to run. he's totally bummed. jason did run. haven't heard from him, but hoping things went well. nick's thinking about retraining again next year.
-the deck is coming along nicely. have a scrapbook page in my head already about the progress they made in one day.... 'what a difference a day makes.' still have to take the after pictures. maybe tomorrow morning since it's dark now.
-excited for pumpkin decorating at work wednesday. we try to have spirit days {need a better term but it works} and since our doc flew to syria for ramadan, this was our chance. have a few different ideas in my mind. gonna stop at j's for some odds and ends. the only rule is that we can't carve them. which makes sense, since we are going to display them around the office for the next few weeks. fun!
-puppy is growing up. lost three teeth. think they all came out yesterday. poor guy. wanna picture so bad, but he's not very cooperative. lil bugger has learned to jump. the couch, the bed. just not into the car yet which is curious since the car is way lower than those other objects.
-had a dream that we forgot our passports for the trip. egads. that would suck.
-had a dream that i gave guinness puppy ambesol for his teeth. do they even make that?
-found out grandma is going in for a capsule endoscopy tomorrow. she has a blockage. if the capsule gets stuck, it's emergency surgery. hoping everything will be okay. fingers crossed that i don't get a phone call while i'm at work.
-been suzy homemaker as of late. nick told me he's going to build more often, so i cook more! made homemade mac n cheese, pulled pork tacos, reuben bake, cherry cream cheese coffee cake, beer brisquet. totally inspiring me to organize my recipes. i tend to collect. gonna start cataloging on index cards in an altered bg lunchbox... just the recipes we have tried and liked. will have a different area for 'to try' recipes. hoping this works for us.
-k. off to feed the boys... and hopefully watch the bears win. sigh. just not good times for chicago sports!

happiness.

i know unless i'm true to myself,
i couldn't be happy.
too much emphasis is placed today
on externals and too 
little on character.
betty white

a new fun quote. it's been a while.
saw this in my inbox and it really made me think. so true. so want to be able to say i lived a life that i was happy with. that i didn't compromise myself. granted, i know there is a give and take at certain times. but in the end, i want to say that i wasn't afraid to stand up for me.


and side note. just realized that nick and i are going on this vacation alone. well, i knew that. but it's our first vacation together. by ourselves. no friends. no family. just us. turned to him as we were driving last night and said, 'what if i find out that i don't like you.' ha. aren't i funny? truly, cannot wait. getting more excited by the day!