cruise cruise cruise

Last Thursday, Ryan and I returned from our cruise. Without a doubt, cruising with my sweet Ryan was the best vacation I have ever had!

The trip started out in a high stress way that could only be the best kick-off to the most relaxing 5 days ever. We planned to leave early enough to be at the airport an hour early. After getting a camera from my brother and getting lost in Orlando, we got to the airport and parked the car 16 minutes before our plane was scheduled to depart. We ran through the parking lot, tossed out our shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, brand new sunscreens and face wash, carried on our baggage, ran through the airport and sat down in our seats 2 minutes before the (or a lincoln) to the port, but what did it matter when we were about to get onto the "Enchantment of the Seas" for a week.

Throughout the entire vacation, I was completely relaxed (at least once we got on the ship). All thoughts of work, school and life in general completely disintegrated as soon as we crossed the line between port terminal and ship.

The food was absolutely amazing. We had a wonderful dinner every night, served to us by a series of waiters. There was an appetizer, a main course, wine, breads and dessert every single night. We had frozen yogurt on tap, buffets for breakfast and lunch and snacks whenever we wanted.

The basic run down of each day of vacation went something like this:

10:00-11:00am - roll out of bed, eat breakfast

11:00-4:30 - any of the following: wander around the ship, go on an excursion, go to the casino, watch a show

5ish - watch movies and take a nap with ryan

8:30-11:30 - dinner

11:30 - go to jacuzzi and pool

2ish - end the night with movies and cuddling

One night, Ryan and I laid out on the deck.We both brought books, but Ryan was the only one who did any reading. I laid down and just stared at the stars. The ship was peaceful and the sky was beautiful. Seriously, you haven't seen the moon until you've looked at it shimmering across the ocean in the middle of the night with nothing else visible in the distance for miles.

Coming back to work was a complete nightmare compared to how wonderful the cruise was. Life after the cruise has been quite mundane. It is hard to look forward to five days a week, 7:30-4:00, when there is a life out there of fun and peace. I have never known what it is like to be completely stress free. I made the lethal mistake of checking email and voicemail while we were waiting for our flight. All reality rushed back to me in a flood of stress at killer strength.

Anyway, some pics to enjoy:

new digs

I have never been a particular fan of that phrase "new digs", but it seems to float into the office a lot. When I first moved into the fish bowl, many of the frequent hallway traffic population felt it necessary to come in and ask how I liked the "new digs" and also tell me all about how it looked before I sat there. The first 10 times it was tolerable, but anything after that was downright insufferable.
I have since graduated from the fish bowl (yea!), right into the shark’s den it seems (boo). Truly, for anyone who’s been as obsessed with Discovery Channel’s Shark Week as I am, sharks don’t have dens, but who cares anyway? But I digress. I have made the official move, waiting on the promotion and not really holding my breath for the raise. I have been rather productive on this end of the office, mostly because there are more people to waltz by and think, “Wait a minute. Since when did crossword puzzles become urology-related?” So, with the new job comes new responsibility. I must be cautious about how much downtime I take from the daily grind. The upside is, now that I am forced away from my desk for lunch I have been taking lunch outside.
I have thus far managed to keep up with Dr. Important’s requests and stayed under the radar.
In other news, family vacation (groan) begins this Friday. Ryan has been making several threats to hide me in the closet until the vacation passes. I’m considering allowing him to do so. My little sister has been staying with me for the last few days, and I am nearly ready to throw her out bodily. Maybe it is just because I love my personal space and feel much better when I know I can live as comfortably as I like in my personal space. When the space bubble is invaded, my stress level shoots up. I am honestly not looking forward to piling into an RV with my family for 13 days, bumping along the road all the way to exciting South Dakota. We will be staying at an RV camp (good Lord, shoot me now) for approx. 5 nights before coming home again. I cannot think of one single exciting thing about South Dakota and I doubt the RV camp will be anywhere near any decent shopping, provided SD actually has decent shopping. I’ve seen Rushmore. I’ve watched their projection light show thing. I’ve walked through their museum and taken pictures beside their giant heads. Haven’t I paid my due respect? We have been taking these road trips since I was 10 years old, which means for over half my life, I have spent 2 weeks in a car with my family and I still speak to all of them. Hell, I even took a 14 hour plane ride to the other side of the world with just my temperamental father and rapidly aging grandmother. My dad is already planning the next 2 years worth of trips. My brother and his wife wriggled their way out of this years trip claiming something about getting married and not having vacation time for it. Well mark my words, next year, if I’m not married, I will have a comparable excuse. Maybe I’ll be living in another state by then and just won’t be able to go. Here’s hoping.

Oh the places you'll go

I have an itch to travel again. I've been to Canada (woohoo), 48 states, Australia, Fiji, the Philippines, Spain and Morocco. Yes, I realize that I have a cruise planned in the unbearably faraway future (120 days away) and I should be grateful for the fact that I can take the trip, but it has now been over a year since I've left the country. I miss the fun of planning a trip, catching planes and entertaining myself during layovers. I miss the excitement of a new city and the joy that is a homecoming. Paris? Italy? Great Britain? When will we meet?

In 8 days, Ryan and I will be off to a faraway land called Orlando. Yippee! Orlando for me is just a crazy world of lost people searching for Mickey Mouse. Despite it's low level (or absence) on the exotic scale, I am quite excited about it. If I am successful, it will be the first time I conjured up a surprise for Ryan and actually held my tongue until the point of actual surprise! I'm looking forward to the 2 hours on I75 armed with SoBe's, yummy snacks and some quality get-to-know-you time. I love our little stop in Okahumpka, getting lost every single time we come into Orlando no matter how many times we've come through (maybe a little out of tradition) and then lounge around once we land in the hotel.

In 28 days, my family and I sans my brother and his wife, will be leaving for our annual family vacation. A tradition that has held firm since 1994. I don't even want to think about how old I was in Nineteen Ninety-four, but that is how long I have been stuffed into a car, lived out of a tightly packed suitcase and got to know who the people in my family are. I've stood behind many a photo encouraged by my mother-ever the photo opportunist, I've rushed alongside my family members from one tourist trap to the next under my father's militant travel itinerary and shopped til I dropped in nearly every shopping mall, strip mall and tourist shop across the nation. You name the "USAopoly" location on the board, I have been there or will have been there soon. Huge redwoods? been there. Mammoth Cave? done that. Grand Canyon? Seen it, thrice.

In 120 days, I am on my way to the Western Caribbean! That's the big trip, nearly 2 whole years since my last escape from the states. I've tried to distract myself from the growing excitement, planning the Orlando trip, dreading the fam vacay, and wallowing in self pity. But the truth is, the end of the year holds so many more exciting things than the summertime! Seriously, the cruise, me and Ryan's 3 yr anniversary, Christmas!, and New Years. Summertime hardly stands a chance in comparison.

Now I just need someplace between 28 days and 120 days...google maps, here I come.