Vacation

I'm back! Did you miss me?

So, here's the rundown on the vaca. We got into Miami on the 20th. We stayed downtown across from Bayside Market. It was kinda neat. Lots of shops and restaurants around the water. We had dinner at a little Cuban cafe, then walked around to some of the shops. The next morning, we got up and headed to the port. It took us about an hour to get on the boat. We had lunch and then unpacked and stuff. The boat was amazing! We were on the Carnival Triumph and had a balcony room. It was great! The balcony was sooo awesome. The views we had coming in and out of different ports were great. We'll definitely get another balcony on our next cruise.

The first night at dinner, we met our table mates. Oddly enough, they were our age, from Evansville, Indiana AND, they were celebrating their 4th anniversary on the same day we were! So, we hung out with them most of the cruise.

We did some shopping in San Juan. I didn't really care for San Juan that much, but we weren't there for very long. I got a really cute necklace there though. After that, we were in St. Thomas. We went to an aquarium and then went to Coki Beach and went snorkeling. Some other people went to Magen's Bay but they said it rained the whole time and it wasn't that great. My overall impression of St. Thomas wasn't that great. While the island is very beautiful, there was a lot of trash and shanti's and it just was kind of sad to see. St. Maarten was my favorite! It is such a beeeaauutttiiffull place. We went shopping, which was great! Then, we went on a catamaran snorkel cruise. That was so much fun! We saw a ton of fish, including squid, black sea urchins, and an eel.

Overall, we had a great time on the cruise. Lots of stuff to do. We saw shows, went to the casino, hung out at the disco, watched kareoke, shopped, and basically just hung out. Oh! And, we bought a piece of art at the art auction! I was really excited about that. It's a piece by Slava Brodinsky. I really really wanted a piece by Emily Benfield but it was waaaayyy too expensive.

After the cruise, we spent the weekend in South Beach. Now, my question is, why didn't anyone tell me it was Urban Beach Week? The first thing we saw when we pulled up to our hotel was a girl wearing a shirt that said "Listen, Bitch." Then, there was the girl with the shirt "Don't fuck with me, I'm from Philly." We were literally the only white people at our hotel. There were all these girls walking around with their tits and ass cheeks hanging out of their gold lam'e bathing suits and stiletto heels. Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with any of those things..but when you see a 300lb woman wearing this..something just doesn't vibe. The whole weekend consisted of this. Women walking around in their bathing suits with heels and the guys yelling "Daaammnn girrlll look at that fine ass!" Then, there were the guys with the video camera's filming the girls ass's. It was lovely! There was actually security at the entrance to the Lowe's hotel, where Emeril's is. Oh, and 2 highway patrolmen at each corner. Apparently every Memorial Day weekend is "Hip Hop Weekend" in South Beach. I had no idea. No. Idea. And don't get me wrong, if I had known in advance and been prepared, it would have been cool. But, instead of packing my gold lam'e bikini and my 6" heels, I packed a cocktail dress and manual's. Get what I mean? In the middle of this, I was sick. There is all sorts of green & yellow snotty oozing from my nose & throat. I've never been so glad to be going home. We got home yesterday afternoon. Today I've just been trying to get some rest and doing the 20 tons of laundry I have, and I went to the grocery store.

I really loved my vacation but I am ready to go back to work. Yeah, I said it. I'm ready!

We picked up lots of stuff while we were on the islands, lots of liquor for cheap, a new lens for the camera, earrings, jewelry, a globe, t-shirts, Christmas ornaments, Chris got a new watch, and various other trinkets.

I should have pictures up sometime this week. Chris leaves for Vegas on a business trip on Thursday, so I'll try and get him to post them before then.

I'll probably be posting more about my vacation as the week goes by. I know, you can't wait.