Daiquiri Withdrawals and Sea Legs

Sea Legs are real. We returned from our first cruise last week (Royal Caribbean) and I still feel as though I am swaying. It's most noticeable when I'm on the treadmill. I must look like a drunk. Speaking of drinks, I'm going through daiquiri withdrawals as well. Life is hard.

As our official celebration for becoming debt free we decided to do something big. We hadn't been on a "real" vacation together, ever. So a cruise fit the ticket. Signing up months in advance and picking a week directly AFTER spring vacation made for a VERY lovely and cheap ride down south.
Above is a photo as the boat is leaving Galveston.

Below, we're walking the platform to get onto the ship. Our friends came with us. Lex says his favorite part of the vacation was the anticipation—here's that moment!

Our first evening and next two days were spent at sea. We played shuffle board.

I climbed the rock wall, and raced Adam up once. I won. Is it fair I took the easier route? He has more muscles.

Card playing was a given whenever we had some "free" time.

Everyone says not to miss the ice dancing. The entertainment on board pulls talent internationally and is better than I was expecting. It's not broadway—but it's broadway's understudy-ish and I enjoyed it.

The food was lovely. Being served was lovely. Not doing dishes was lovely. No grocery shopping was lovely. I want a dining hall with a wait staff and chef when I grow up.

Don't you love Adam's shirt? I almost bought one to match (and alter to fit) so we could be twinsies. I think I will next time. Why not?

Did I say daiquiri withdrawals? Add piña colada to my declaration (or confession?).

The guys hung out at the Flowrider a few times (Marla did boogie boarding the last day).
First timers get a little help.

And then they're left on their own. Falling is inevitable.

Adam did get up several times. I captured some handsome shots which make him  look very cool, but the expression on his face below is more revealing of his actual experience. I LOVE IT!

Have to end the Flowrider experience with more fruity tropical elixirs from the bar.

Above: At the bow of the ship. The wind was so strong I'm pretty sure if I did a few different poses my clothes would have come off.
Below:There are some creative areas to take photos. "Let's do our debt free scream!"

We spent time on deck as well. Not a lot of sunbathing. Three of us burn too easily. That's okay. I'll sit in the shade, people watch, eat my free ice cream cone(s) and feel quite splendid doing so.

Deck activities included things like: sexiest man contest and world's best belly flop contest.This guy was all in!

In the evening we enjoyed shows and game shows too! I really enjoyed the game shows, they were FUNNY and included members from the audience. *Ahem, Lex* I want to go baaaaaaaaack!

One of my favorite on board activities was looking out at the ocean. It's not a view I get to see everyday.

On the third day there was land!

The port in Falmouth is new and quite lovely. But outside the port, the area is rather the opposite.There is a distinct difference between the "haves" and "have-nots" in Falmouth. We took a tour of historic Falmouth, which was interesting but a little awkward. It felt like we were on the outside looking in on somewhere we had no business being.

This is an old church built over 200 years ago. According to our guide (who was wonderful and had the happiest laugh) it's the tallest building in Falmouth. The locals set up camp all along the front of the building to try and sell anything they can.

The only thing we purchased was at port, we bought two Tortuga Rum cakes. They are waiting in my cupboard for us to eat them.

Surrounding the church are raised graves as seen below—to keep the water out during flooding since Jamaica is at ocean level.

There were several goats hanging out around town. This one found a lovely spot in the graveyard.

Below: A grade school.

Below: Town hall (or courthouse?) and another church.

The tour pulled over at a very small beach area. I'm not sure why, it wasn't anywhere you'd actually go. But everyone got out and walked to the water anyway. It was our first time being down at the ocean since leaving Texas.

A day later we made port at Grand Cayman! It was lovely! Completely opposite of Jamaica. There's a lot of money in Grand Cayman. Adam and I wanted to spend some time at the white beaches. We took a taxi to 7 Mile Beach, rented two chairs and an umbrella and spent about four hours there. (It gets crowded toward the afternoon. More than one cruise ship ports there at a time and the tourists come pouring in.)

This is Grand Cayman from the treadmill on the ship. (Yes, I exercised almost every day. How else does one justify several desserts a day?) I think I could learn to love this view.

The next day our friends treated us to a snorkeling trip in Cozumel. Wow. I hadn't realized how scary the ocean is. It feels so HUGE when you're under the surface. The photo below makes the ocean floor look like it's maybe five feet away from Adam. When in reality it's probably around 30 or more. I know! You can't even sort of imagine it.

None of us could swim deep enough to touch the bottom. Some fish visited us up top. But our guide took our camera's down to the  to snap a few shots of other fish. Watching him swim down, down, down, was impressive.

Toward the end I got extremely motion sick from being knocked around by the waves. While snorkeling was my favorite activity—I will do something for the sickness next time. (I was not bothered by the rocking of the boat however. Figure that one out.)

This trip made me realize how very small I am, and how very scary the ocean can be.

If you have never considered a cruise, or if it's not at the top of your list—reconsider. Our tickets were under $400 each (plus tax and tips.) That covers travel, room, food and is a great value for a 7 day sabbatical and little snippets of the world. Just be sure to travel during the off season.

Now I understand all the cruise t-shirts out there, like this one: "I have no cruise control, they just seem to book themselves."

Cruises are more social than not—hey, you're staying on a ship with about 3,000 happy people—so you might as well go with a bunch of friends and make it a really great time!

Mountain Man Surprise

Surprise! Dafni wanted to throw her hubs a Mountain Man Surprise party. She had to purchase all the decor with cash and hide everything so he wouldn't catch on. He literally wants to BE a mountain man, so the idea was perfect. Isn't she awesome?

She borrowed animals for the walls, and purchased plaid to make an incredibly fun backdrop for photographs. (Too bad people at the party didn't play along, poo on them, they missed out.) You should see the photoshoot that went on after everyone left! Ain't nobody gonna stop me from goofing around at my bestie's shin-dig!

We arrived early to help her quickly get things ready. She had log pedestals for the food and other fun props for the table and let me have a go at setting it up.

A lot of photos like this one were placed about the room.

One of the games was meant to be a moose target practice…alas the suction on the arrow didn't work. But the kids had fun before the party got started anyway.

At a Mountain Man party, the best party favors include deer and moose droppings.

Dafni served yummy corn bread, old fashioned soda,

cupcakes,

and great chile. Here recipe can be found on her website here. (I WILL be making it. It's that good.)

Yes my friends, she's due any day with a little baby mountain man! Can't wait to meet him.

Brandon was THRILLED with his party. It's his 30th. I'm sure he'll remember it forever.

There are about a bazillion captions for the pic below….

Thanks for inviting us Dafni, themed parties are the best!!!

Yummy Birthday

Dafni's birthday is synonymous with good food. She and Brandon introduced us to EatZi's. It's crammed with food from floor to ceiling. Friday nights are especially awesome as they have quadruple layered pizza ovens working full time. (Why only on Fridays? No idea. The place was PACKED.)
Go to the one in Dallas, it's much bigger and has more variety of food.

Upon walking in you are hit all at once with the sheer variety of great eats: Bakery, Desserts, Grill, Sandwich bar, Cheese bar etc. I forgot my manners and allowed myself to be sucked in and followed my eyes around every corner. Dafni chased me down and told me to wait up. Oopsie.

This is the bakery area. We were told no photos allowed. Shhhhh. Again, why wouldn't someone want free advertising? We are beyond the days of keeping something awesome to yourself. It's not like I can look at their rolls and figure out exactly what ingredients are in it so I can go home and make them myself. Guh. Let people talk about your awesome product people!

There's the cheese bar.

And the pizza! Oh yum. Thin crust, chewy, hot and fresh.

I ordered one with chorrizo and a cilantro avocado sauce. It was delicious…although quite spicy. I wasn't able to finish it, my mouth was burning up and nose leaking everywhere.

Dafni had a lovely custom made sammy from fresh bread. Oh man. It's 8:40 and I haven't eaten yet. Blogging about food isn't such a bright idea right now….

Later, needing something else to do we decided to try out Glazed Donut Works in Deep Ellum. It's right in the middle of the nightlife there—bars, tattoo parlors, small performance stages...If I could describe the general feeling of the area I would say it's a bit crummy, not in a great part of town, lots of graffiti, and it's not "up-and-coming" it looks as though it came and went years ago and is waiting for a second round of "up-and-coming" to begin…but there's also a good sampling of people who hang out there so it's an interesting place to be at night; and maybe slightly scary—except that it's busy and somewhat crowded depending on the venue.

Glazed is a brilliant business. They open at 10 PM and close at 2AM to feed the night life who have "developed" the munchies and want something sweet. The line was long. So SMART!

The donuts are on display in the front window. You don't even go in. You order at a sliding window and they box it up for you and you are sent on your way to eat in the street. We hovered in a well lit doorway of a closed store to try out our little tasties.

Lovely aren't they? I ate two. I had my unfinished spicy pizza to thank for the extra tummy room as well as a four mile run earlier that day.

The sad part…they weren't that good! They weren't fresh. Can you believe it? I was extremely disappointed. Upon further thought I wonder if it's because we were there right at opening, so the batch we ordered could have been leftover from the morning store hours. Next time we should go at 1AM and see if there's a difference.

Thank you for celebrating your birthday with us Dafni!