Birthday Blues

In less than one month I will hit the big milestone of 26. OUCH! I know it's not old but it seems like the years keep rolling by so fast. I'm actually putting together a list of things I'd like for my birthday and Christmas... a wish list of sorts you might say. I've emailed the link for the jewelry armoire to Brent. Hopefully that one will be checked off. A girl can dream for these things, right? I know some are a bit unreasonable but when he asked me to give him ideas I decided not to sell myself short.

Tory Burch Reva Flats

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Ray Ban Wayfarer in Tortoise

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Black Jewelry Armoire

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David Yurman Pearl Earrings

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Marc Jacobs Handbag

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I hope everyone had a great weekend. We actually just walked in the door less than an hour ago from our weekend getaway to Gatlinburg & Knoxville. I will try to post pictures from the trip sometime early this week. It's great to get away but I love the feeling when you finally get back home. Happy Sunday.

Broadway in B'ham

A few weekends back I had the chance to see the Broadway show Legally Blonde in Birmingham with my Grandmother Carol and sister. We had a great time. It was the second time I'd seen the show. Once in NYC and now in B'ham. They were exactly the same (great cast) just a different location. It was nice to be able to do something in town and still feel like you were far away.

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My grandmother Carol has already purchased our tickets to go see Fiddler on the Roof next month. I don't know anything about that play but I can't wait to go. Nothing beats family time topped off with a delicious dinner (which is how we always end our days together).

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I'll let you all know how this one goes as well. Hopefully this is the second of MANY plays we are able to see together. 

***So far, my favorite is Wicked but I've only seen 2 plays***

South Carolina Road Trip

BOO. That's all I have to say about that. The trip wasn't bad but the loss absolutely STUNK. Here are a few pictures of our tailgate and pre-game festivities:

always get a picture with Big AL

Fellow Tailgater Girlfriends

Half of the Usual Crew

good spot, bad outcome

everyone loves Big AL

We then stopped by game 3 of the NLDS in Atlanta. Who'd a thought our teams would go 0 for 2? The atmosphere was amazing though. I think there were 56,000 people at the game. It got loud. Too bad the Braves couldn't hold on to the comeback they made in the 9th off a pinch hit homerun.

Antigua

My favorite island of all. I loved the other islands for many reasons but Antigua was my favorite and we are PLANNING to visit on our 5 year anniversary. *I can't wait* The thing that stood out most about the island was the water. It was beautiful. Granted it was rough where the waves broke and I got knocked down and mooned any old men who happened to be gazing in my direction at that split second. Besides the embarrassment the day was fantastic. We took an open air taxi-truck tour through the towns. It was neat to see most of the island in one 2 hour tour to the beach. I feel like I've seen enough and next time (when we stay at Sandals Grande Antigua) I will have no reason to leave the resort unless it's to go shopping (did I mention I got a great deal at the Longchamp store?) The water wasn't the bluest I've ever seen and it wasn't the clearest but something about it just caught Brent and Myself off guard and we both looked at each other and thought "this is the most beautiful place we've ever been". The pier in Antigua was also the most built up of all that we visited. We sat at a local bar for about an hour before boarding the ship. It's crazy how you take moments like that for granted and can find yourself longing to go back when the daily grind of life sets in. Here are some photos...

Us with our tour guide

Having fun with the self-timer on the camera

if they don't film Corona commercials here they should!

St. Lucia

The day we left our Honeymoon I was almost positive I'd never step foot back on the island of St. Lucia. Fortunately, I was wrong! Granted we only had 1 day of Piton beer and sunshine but it was a wonderful and unexpected surprise trip back. Here are some pictures:

Way across the water is the Sandals Resort we stayed at on the Honeymoon

cloudy but still a nice day

hanging out at the pier before boarding the boat to set sail

after a few Pitons I found this hilarious... big head in an even bigger helmet..

Can I just say that if I could book a cruise online right now I would? I went from anti-cruiser to sign me up, invite me, I don't care where we are going just put me on a boat! I hope we find ourselves on another Royal Caribbean Ship soon.

Barbados

Barbados was nice. We only saw the pier and a beach. We did take a van ridge thru the town of Bridgetown but there wasn't much to see along the way. Barbados is the southern most island I have ever visited. It is south of St. Lucia. We spent our day in Barbados at the "Cockspur Beach Bar". No idea what the name means... it's just where the Royal Caribbean Beach Break Excursion dropped us off. Here are a few pictures....

if only Brent would have scooted over a foot to the right...

Brent and the pirate cruise ship

old boats washed ashore

Sunset as we left port in Barbados

Back to the Cruise...

I just realized I've been a slacker and have yet to post anything about our cruise with the daily agendas and ports/ reviews of all that we did. Here's a recap of day 1: We flew from Atlanta to Puerto Rico via Delta Airlines. It was a 3 1/2 hour flight and no passport is needed. You can also use your cell phone in Puerto Rico. No roaming fees apply. We were on the boat less that 30 minutes after stepping out of our taxi. For first time cruisers we sailed through the embarktion period. Once onboard we were like lost puppies. The ship was big (and we later found out it's one of the smaller ships in Royal Caribbean's Fleet). We had lunch at the windjammer which is what we called buffet city. After that we spent the rest of the day and night roaming the ship and people watching. Here are a few photos from that day...

Brent on the top deck before leaving port

our interior stateroom

a panoramic of the atrium area 

view of interior balconies and the glass elevators

us celebrating our anniversary with a self portrait

I promise to get back on track and share all 5 islands we visited!

Charlie update

Charlie is home and seems to be back to his old self. His lab numbers were crazy bad last Monday when we initially took him in. He had to go for treatment 3 days last week. On Wednesday they finally removed his IV and let him come home for good. He's still working on finishing his medicine off and once he does we will head back to the vet to have his lab work completed again to compare to what they ran while he was sick. Tomorrow's a big day for him... Grooming day! He will come home looking like a drowned rat. But he's my drowned rat and I can't help but smile when he looks so small and shaved down. Pictures to come! Thanks to all who were concerned about our little man. It was a scary time and I hope not to encounter any other toxic events with him in the future.

P.S. THANK the LORD that MONDAY is over. I need some time to chill out. Looks like I'll be pretty lazy tonight!

We Did it!

Us before the Depot Day's 5K

We survived our first 5K! Back in April I told my family that I was going to train and run in my hometown's fall festival's 5K race. They all chimed in and said they had thought the same thing and we would make it a family affair. Fast forward a few months and my dad breaks a bone in his foot so he's scratched from the race. A few months later my sister moved to Auburn for school so she scratched herself from the race as well. That left me...by myself. I originally started Couch to 5K after making the declaration to my family that I was going to run. I made it to week 5 or so before coming down with a bad sinus infection and eventually decided that I wasn't up for training so blew it off. The second time I started couch to 5K was in August. I made it to week 3 and decided I'd never get far enough into before the race so I gave up. I spent the last 2 weeks telling myself I was going to run but physically knowing I'd probably suck it up. I was determined not to be that girl who said she was going to do something and then didn't follow through. Somehow I convinced my husband to participate as well. What a sport he was! He's more dedicated to the gym so it was easier on him than he'd expected. There were a few times in the race where we both were mad at how dumb I was for making us do this cold turkey. However, 30 minutes after our finish we agreed to purchase running shoes, start training, and set a goal for our next race.

Brent running toward the finish line

Me running up the last incline

all smiles after realizing we weren't dead

You have to love my Papaw's humor. He got this for me... I did NOT wear it in the race but it was hilarious when he pulled it out of the cabinet and said he had a sure fire way for me to win 1st place :)

Brent finished in 33:26 and I followed right behind at 33:30. He could have had a much better time but I kept begging him to stop and walk. At one point I demanded he run on without me but being the sweet husband he is he walked by my side. I ended up getting the Silver Train medal in my age group for the 2nd best time. I highly doubt I had much competition. Our goal is to run a bit and finish our next 5K in under 30 minutes. Wish us Luck!!

He may kill me for this...

That was Brent living it up on the cruise. I thought it was too funny not to share :)

FYI: I finally figured youtube out and he FLIPPED when he found out it was a public video. I've since had to delete the youtube version and settle for the blogger version. Sorry, but we will have to live with the crappy non-HD quality if I want to avoid sleeping on the couch all week.