I Didn't Forget Entirely

So I did write one post for yesterday but I did not publish it. Here is the second and I'll somehow have to get the two for today in later. Alex and I are going to do tennis after I get off of work so we'll see how I manage.

Portions are almost impossible on a cruise. There's so much food and it's already paid for. Now with the buffets it wasn't a problem since there was only a few selections for vegetarians/pescetarians. Likewise with dinner but dinner included appetizer, entrees and dessert. The main menu (which consisted of nearly ten items) changed every night and there was no way I wasn't going to try everything I could. Just wanted to shpeal about the food real quick before I climb into the next day on the cruise.

Wednesday, July 2nd the cruise was supposed to take port in Coco Cay but weather did not permit with the tropical storm brewin and stewin up the east coast. So the captain gave us a day at sea. It started out with cloudy weather but cleared up and turned out to be a sunny partly cloudy day. The family spent time by the pool, my brother won the belly flop competition, and my brother, Gina, and I went rock climbing. We all made it to the top! It's been a long time since I had rock climbed (like over ten years) and it saddens me that I have such a fear for heights that it caused a panic attack near to the top of the wall. I ran out of options and couldn't see how to climb any further. The person holding my line helped me out and I made it to the top and rang that victory bell. Very exciting. My fingers hurt afterwards.
I think I may have taken a nap before dinner.
After dinner was karaoke. My brother and I sang Barbie Girl by Aqua and my goodness I forgot how high pitched the song is. After karaoke was a Battle of the Sexes game. I made the mistake of volunteering for the round where we have to pop a balloon on a team mate in rather suggestive positions. Mine was from behind. I tried to pop a balloon by humping another girl. It wouldn't pop and we lost. It was very awkward infringement of my family.

After Battle of the Sexes ensued more awkwardness with a game called Quest. It was done in teams of six. On my team was my dad, me, my brother, Jenny, Gina, and Michael. The object of the game was to do whatever task was given. For example: a male team member comes to the floor wearing four bras on their head. Another quest was a team member doing the worm-- which is how I hurt my left knee. Never try the worm without seeing someone else do it first. Watch your knees. What made this game most awkward was me trading clothes with my brother in front of my family and the crowd. The quest was to trade clothes with a person of opposite sex on your team. I traded my dress for his shirt. Then he and Jenny shielded me from the crowd so I could redress. Not that the crowd hadn't already seen my bra and undies. 

So that was all awkward but tons of fun. 

I passed out afterwards but before I closed my eyes I mostly just thought of Alex and how I'd be seeing him again soon. I had fun but it really made me miss Alex because I know he would've made it even funner. (People use the word fun that way but I'm still skeptical about it being proper. Heck we live in America, propriety doesn't really matter anyway).

Chaotic Mind

Some giggles.

I realized on my way to work this morning that, despite my calm exterior, my brain is still running with stress. Who knew that a vacation of a cruise with family would wind me up so badly? I should be able to relax now but I do have school work I need to finish and turn in in addition to getting my books for the fall. I really need a daily planner because I can't keep pushing myself like this-- to the point that I'm doing absolutely everything last minute. I've been a procrastinator but just thining how fast time goes... I need to find a way to make everything fit and still be able to sleep and spend time with Alex and my friends.

I really want to just finish this ridiculous summer semester, enjoy what little summer I actually have, and get a good start middle and end to the fall semester. 

And that's why I'm stressed. Too much in my mind. I've been getting the morning relief with yoga and laughing while trying to do yoga with my babies but when I'm at work and it's so slow... My mind is set loose. 

Having August 2nd off for TBCC will be nice-- it's always a special occasion to have a Saturday off. I really want to make the most of it. 

We Have Lift Off

Why is there no rum cake?

On Tuesday, July 1st we took port in Nassau, Bahamas. It was nice to spend time with the family but rather disappointing to finally be somewhere other than the United States and not really feel like I'm somewhere else. Yes the buildings were different and the streets were cluttered and dirty (but that just makes me think of New York). I think it's because I'm a Florida girl and anywhere that is warm and beachy is going to feel similar to home-- and anywhere that allows for walking to most places makes me think of NY.
While my mother and new family looked at knock off purses I discovered that I'm not a Michael Kohrs fan. It's too flashy for me. I like my subtle, brown bags (though there was this super cute boho/Moroccan style bag that a lady had on the cruise that I really liked).
Somehow there was some time to stop in some shops and I found a shop with locally made hot sauce and spices (SCORE!). I purchased two different hot sauces for Alex because we never have any for him during taco night. I also got two different spices. One was a blackened seasoning which we used with some fish last night. There was so much flavor and punch, I did not regret getting it. The other spice was a Caribbean blend spice. It smelt good but we haven't had anything to use it with yet. I totally should have bought some rum cake because after that I didn't have another opportunity to buy some and try it. The one thing that is specifically bahamian and I didn't get to try it. Poo.
We had lunch at the Hark Rock Hotel there and I had a decent veggie burger. I was really hungry so it's difficult to accurately judge. I enjoyed the Hark Rock but it's moreso a meat-eating place.
Afterwards we went back to the ship and I took a nap while watching food network. Food network is da-bom. Always relaxing. I woke up to get ready for formal night which was nice. I got to wear my 50's wiggle dress from Bettie Page (now called Tatyana). I also got to see a really cute retro dance/music performance that night in the ship's theater.
Also got to watch a fun couples game show that made me miss Alex even more. There was this old couple who'd been together for fifty something years and were still happy-- they still kissed like teenagers. They were so sweet together and I know that one day Alex and I will say we've been together for fifty something years. Just like this:

The Force Between Us

This morning I gave Alex a kiss before taking Penny for a walk because he'll often be already gone for work by the time I come back. I was coming around the corner when I saw him waiting to get into his car-- waiting for me. I waved and quickly dumped Penny's poop bag into the garbage so I could sprint across the street (safely) with Penny. I needed one more kiss to get me through the day. I tapped on his window with a smile and he happily opened it to give me the life force that makes each day matter.

It's funny how important and how special a simple thing like a kiss can be. People make kisses so complicated but in reality, when you're with your other half, a kiss is like being a magnet. You just get close and your lips meet. Like the force of nature it is. 

People search their whole lives for a perfect person but the problem is that they have the perfect person in their mind already. You can look for certain qualities and features in people all you want but when you des ruminate based on these restrictions you could be passing up your other half. The perfect person isn't going to be everything you expected and everything you looked for at first. Once you give them a chance, you find out that you were looking all wrong and your heart weeps with joy that you gave them a chance.

Once you're with them you most likely won't get everything you had thought you wanted in the past. This is a good thing because this person helps you find out more about yourself and the aspects and personality they carry with their being become more meaningful to you than the very air you breathe. And thus a kiss between two energies becomes a self-sustaining life force. Together, drawn by force (and chance), kept by compassionate love. 

Boarding Her Majesty

The trouble with cameras and busy other people? Some is always left out of the picture (in this case my mom).

On Monday, June 30th I boarded Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas with my parents, brother, and new family members. I believe I mentioned in my previous post that I managed to take very few photos of my own so almost photos of the cruise and the wedding are harvested from other people. (I need to work on harvesting more. I only have what I found on Facebook so far).
Shortly after boarding we had to do a Muster Drill which my parents were very flustered with since all they did was spend a minute showing us how to use the flotation devices. Afterwards we all met on the deck over-looking the pool and just talked and took pictures. Then we got ready for dinner (which my mother was not happy that I wore my black sweater for). It was the only actual casual whatever night so I just wore what I had on. The ship was really rocking because of the developing storm in the water so we were all feeling a bit nauseous. After some bread I was able to endure (Funny side story: a couple days into the cruise my father found out from someone else on the cruise that his motion sickness patch wasn't even on right-- he was able to psychologically make himself not get sick. Of course, being my father, he still wanted to wear the patch. I did just fine without a patch as long as I was busy, sleepy, or eating. I was surprisingly able to keep to these key three throughout my time on the actual ship.).
After discovering first-hand that Jenny's family is notorious for being late (like actually late not just five minutes), we were able to over our meals (and my goodness did I need to order a lot!). Being on a cruise definitely promotes being a fatty because each night there would be a new main menu as well as dessert menu. They had their staples every night but I was more interested in what wouldn't be available the next day. This first night I recall getting escargot (it wasn't prepared very well so I didn't enjoy it at all-- it was like they just put cheese on the snail and called it a night) and another appetizer (unfortunately this one slips my mind). For a main course I ordered the vegetarian chili tortilla dish (this kitchen actually made tortillas look attractive on a plate without adding ridiculous garnishes). For dessert I ordered a rather dry chocolate cake and a special strawberry mousse tart (there were a lot of strawberry dishes made available throughout the cruise).
After dinner we all went to the comedy show which wasn't very funny aside from the "NASA" joke (I had made a comment regarding the identical names of NASA and Nassau earlier that day). Then I decided to turn in. I couldn't relax because i just felt so much energy built up so I made a trip to the ship's gym. Apparently I missed out that night at karaoke because my brother sang an ol' blue eyes song (Frank Sinatra, for you non-big band fans). I was content with the gym then passing out on my wonderfully set up pull-out sofa bed (I tell no lie-- this bed was extremely comfortable for a pull out. I was amazed and slept better than I had for the past three nights).
Aside from what I just shared and the stress of trying to coordinate and work with my parents, I spent a lot of moments wishing Alex could have come. It wasn't because I didn't want to get to know my family better, it's because Alex is my other half and being on such a new adventure without him didn't feel quite right. I did my best to make the best of everything but in the end it wasn't what it could've been if I had Alex. He keeps me on my feet, on the ground (yes, it's possible to be on your feet not on the ground- it happens when you're a person who leans a little between weird and crazy).
To keep it simple: I really missed him. And the fur babies, of course.

It's Make Up Time-- and Not the Fun Kind With Kaitlin

I have twelve days of blog posts to make up for. How am I going to catch up? Two posts a day for six days. That'll be interesting. Here's my start on playing make up/catch up.

Not only am I behind in my blog posts but I'm also further behind than I'm comfortable with being in my school work. I'm really tired of online courses because there is so little motivation that even when I get excited about the topic it's hard to keep me there because there's no stimulus of hearing other people actually discuss and present. Some professors will say that doing video chat and such online makes it the same as a physical class but I highly disagree because of the digital crippling of social interaction. Physical class allows for people to meet and talk about topics other than class without seeming creepy by going out of the way to message a colleague (hey I see you have a LOK avatar, I really love that show.) It doesn't sound too weird to me because Alex has really got me to a point of being okay with speaking randomly to people-- I just need the opportunity to do so. Online class you just log on, listen to the professor read the slides to you, read a colleague's question about something the professor just answered. Yeah, it's lame. I miss feeling challenged in the classroom and, as weird as it is to say, mentally punished (whether by myself or the professor through a pop quiz) for not doing the readings.
So I have quite a bit to do this weekend and next week and then I'm free until fall semester at the end of August. Wow summer goes too fast... summer semesters are poo.
One week. I can do this. Silly annual cold is out of the way. I can do this.
Oh, yeah, if you didn't catch my Facebook post, I was sick the past three days. It figures: attend my brother's wedding, go on a family cruise, come back to work, then be sick for days so I can't focus on my school work. Poo.

Hurricane In-Season

I'm here at a Hurricane Grill in PSL and it looks like I have six blog posts to make up for. Of course you all understand why and are wonderfully forgiving of my absence. I know you are all also eager to hear more about my brother's wedding and the cruise. So here I am working on catching all of you up.
This post is to make up for Sunday's post. You may have seen a post on Sunday but that one was making up for Saturday since I was busy with wedding stuff that day.
I woke up to go get hair and makeup done by the stylists selected by Jenny. They were both very nice and talented. They opened up my eyes and made my hair gorgeous.
(Quick note: I don't have any pictures really of this special day because I was a bridesmaid and there are no pockets on a bridesmaid dress. I was indeed mushed around the hotel with the other girls and Jenny to take pictures in the Florida sun so there will be pictures eventually. The families also got photos so I just have to snatch 'em.)
While we're on the topic of beauty stuff, I want to share that I have gotten compliments about me looking like a model. A very generous compliment if you ask me. Jenny was the most lovely I've ever seen her. Thinking of it now, she's the prettiest bride I have ever seen (and I've seen a lot on TV). Her fun and loving personality made her beautiful appearance that much more radiant. A true bridal beauty.
Her and my brother did the "first look" thing before the ceremony and it was lovely. It was so special that I'm happy I got to see. I know my mom wishes she could've been there too but so much was going on I was just following instructions. Luckily my amazing partner Alex stayed with her while everyone else was doing photos and running around.
There were a lot of tears on this special day-- as is appropriate. All happy tears. Mine were a mix of happy and worried. I'm getting to why. I'm not worried for Jenny and my brother-- they are wonderful together and I'm so happy to have Jenny and her family now a part of my own. I was all smiles and happy praises throughout pictures and the ceremony. It was at the reception that I cried. The tears came fast when my parents danced to their own wedding song as their wedding anniversary was the next day. Seeing them together like that was so beautiful, so special-- a good omen for my brother and Jenny's own marriage. After almost 30 years, my parents are still somehow together. The tears came because I hadn't seen my parents look at each other like that in a long time. After the initial beauty of the moment I became worried-- how long will it be until I got married? (That seemed to be the statement of the night: "You're next." As in, I'm the next to get married). Will my parents make it to my wedding with all the health issues they've been having? I don't want to have one of those days of sad mixed with happy. I want my wedding day to be one of the happiest of my life, not one without a parent. I want them to take better care of themselves but they've denied any of my help and suggestions. It's up to them whether or not they make it.
That was the only time I cried.
I wanted to cry a few times while on the cruise but I'll get to that in coming posts.