Now if you know me . . . even a little bit . . . you're suspicious. I don't just randomly give stuff away :-)
Nope. Not me!
I'm here to tell you about a giveaway that Hollie Johnson (www.skinnyhollie.com) is doing. She just spent 4 months as an ambassador for Slim-Fast. To commemorate the end of her journey, she's giving away a $50 AmEx gift card.
Please visit her blog at www.skinnyhollie.com to learn how you can get in on this!
Rhonda
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
At Sea
We just spent 7 days aboard the Carnival Dream.
We departed Port Canaveral Saturday around 4 pm. John noticed the moment the ship started moving. Me? Not so much. I guess growing up near the water and coming from a family that has always owned at least one boat has its advantages!
Since we couldn't drop our carryon bag in our room yet, we went directly to the Spa for our tour and to sign up for the VIP area. We get unlimited use (while the spa is open, of course) to 2 steam rooms, 2 different rooms with heated chairs (so relaxing!), the thalassotherapy pool (not quite as hot as a hottub), it has some sort of minerals that are supposed to help your skin), and a few other things. We considered getting a spa room when we booked so that would all be included...but we wanted an aft facing balcony. Since the spa is in the forward part of the ship, those two wishes are mutually exclusive.
Dinner Saturday night was in the steakhouse. There's a $30 per person charge, but on the first night each couple gets a complimentary bottle of wine. Totally worth it. I've paid a lot more for worse/less food! After dinner we crashed. I mean that literally. We basically fell into bed and didn't budge till morning.
When we woke up Sunday morning, I was a little surprised to see that we STILL hadn't cleared Florida! Dang Florida is a long state! When we left port, we booked it to international waters so the casino could open. There's a map channel on tv in our room that gives our exact coordinates, speed, direction, etc. at every moment. For a map geek like me, it's very cool. Anyway, we were off the Florida Keys when we some up. I looked around for that place called Kokomo, but The Beach Boys were either lying about the location, or it was more than about 5 miles away. I just can't see any further that that. Ha ha!
I sat on the balcony for a while and just listened. It is amazing to me how quiet it is out there. There's no engine noise whatsoever. Just the sound of the water passing by. I love it and could probably sit out here all day. The aft facing balcony is awesome. There's a lot more space than a regular balcony and I get to stare at the prop wash which to me is a beautiful sight. And assuming we're not headed straight east, I can watch the sun rise! Just in case you're wondering what it looks like . . .
And the sunrise out here? Wow. Just wow.
We ate breakfast in our room Sunday morning, went to the spa for a while, then frittered away our day here and there. The casino was calling John's name and he, fairly quickly, turned $100 into $300 between video poker and blackjack. Then turned another $100 of that into $300 at the poker table. I like it. If he's going to do that well, I might leave him in the Casino! It does feel good to play with other people's money. We not entered a slots tournament for kicks and giggles. There's no talent involved. Or even thought. You just keep pushing the button . . . John at least made it to the finals and got a shirt for his efforts.
Sunday night was formal night. We clean up pretty well. And we both ate WAY too much food. But there was lobster. What was I supposed to do? Small frustration . . . When we got to the dining room, there was a line. It took about 15 minutes to get to the hostess stand . . . where we got a pager and we were told that it would be 45 minutes. But I was hungry then! And I was wearing heels!
After dinner, we went back to the casino. John gave back a little of his profits. The cards just weren't friendly. He lost a couple of big pots when another player sucked out on the river. Annoying, but that's how poker is!
Sunday night the seas were a little rougher than they had been. Between that and the heels I was wearing, I looked like I had really been having a good time. Ha!
Woke up early Monday morning. The ship was rocking a little and something was tapping and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what it was. I thought something might have been rolling around in the little night stand, but I couldn't get to it. I chilled for a while then went out to the balcony. It was still early enough that on the western horizon, I could see lights on Mexico. (Astute readers will understand that means it was still dark! Yes, I woke up early!)
Very shortly after I went out on the balcony, I figured out the tapping! One of our chairs is missing a rubber foot and as it rocked back and forth the back of the chair was tapping the window. I immediately decided I would check the position of the chairs before going to bed. :-)
It's funny. I look down at the water and think, "That doesn't look very rough. It's incredible we're rocking this much." And then I remember that I'm on the 7th deck...so I'm at LEAST 7 stories above the water. Hmmm. It really is all about perspective, isn't it!
Monday was our Cozumel day and we had nothing planned. Originally we thought we would go ashore and do a little shopping. Then we saw where we were docked and decided against it. We were on a pier far different from the last time we were in Cozumel. This one seemed like it was in a very touristy area without good access to the town. So we never even left the ship. Just sat and chilled and enjoyed having the place nearly to ourselves. At the end of the day, we heard others say that they took a taxi to get to the shopping area outside of the port. Good call staying on the ship!
Tuesday brought us to Belize. John had been following Cruise Critic message boards and found someone who was going cave tubing. She had hunted down a company that would give a discount for a group and used fancy tubes with head rests. We paid less TOTAL to go with her group than we would have paid EACH if we had booked through Carnival.
There were 13 of us plus two guides. On the way to the caves, we got a narrated tour from one of the guides. Belize is cool. National language is English. (Can we even still say that about the US?) Many different cultures all living fairly peacefully together. Peace makes me happy. And there is no welfare system in Belize. If you don't work, you don't eat. I like that philosophy.
We were told, almost jokingly, that.they get cable TV (Miami stations) so what we see, they see: Desperate Housewives, Jersey Shore...I have to admit, I think their lives would be better without our influence!
Our group was in a 15 passenger van. John rode shotgun and had a great conversation with the driver about life in Belize. The driver lives about an hour from Belize City (where we docked). On days that he works, he has to leave home around 4 am to get to work, get the van ready, etc. During the busy season (now) he usually works 4 days a week. During hurricane season, he usually only works 1 day a week. Ouch. That's something we really take for granted. That whole going to work every day thing. It is too easy to assume that the guys we meet while on a trip like this do what we see them doing every day. Not always the case...and it has nothing to do with whether or not they want to work and everything to do with whether or not there is work available for them. That's humbling.
Cave tubing itself was awesome. We walked about 40 minutes carrying our tubes, wearing life jackets and helmets. When we finally got to the water, it was...refreshing. Seriously, a couple of people called it cold, bit after that walk, I really liked the fact that the water was...not as warm as some people wished it were.
We went through two separate caves totalling approximately a mile. The rock formations were very cool. And it was insane to see how high the water sometimes gets. Crazy. Heard lots about Mayan mythology. We were told that the Mayans didn't think the world would end in 2012, but that they saw it as a new beginning.
Tuesday night, we were scheduled for the Chef's Table. What an experience. The group (only 14) met in one of the tiny little bars on the ship. The head chef for the ship came in . . . and a couple of servers. We got 3 different little one-bite appetizers. Amazing. Awesome. Ridiculous. Then we all piled into an elevator and went to the galley. What? That's right. We ate dinner in the galley! The seats were all assigned and we all had printed menus at our seats. I could go get the menu and detail every course, but I wouldn't do any of it justice. It will just have to suffice for me to say the food was delicious and presented beautifully. Just before the entrees were brought out, we were taken on a tour of the galley. On our tour, we learned that none of the food is cooked with gas. What? The steaks are SO good! And there's no flame? None. Fire is one of the most severe threats on a ship in the middle of the ocean, so to minimize the chances, they don't have flames. Crazy. We also got to see the dessert chef prepare a batch of Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. The only word that comes to mind while watching this is "sinful." Honest. There are equal parts chocolate, butter and, I think, sugar. I can't even make that up! After the batter was mixed, we were lead back to our table where we were served two different entrees (fish and beef) and dessert . . . part of which was that WCMC that we just saw mixed. The chef himself served the WCMC to us.
Wednesday morning we woke up just off Isla Roatan, where we had an excursion booked to visit a wildlife park and a beach. After one look at the channel that shows wind speed, etc., and one look at the waves, we were pretty certain we would not see Roatan. The channel to the port is very narrow...and this ship is damned big. We watched off our balcony as the captain spun us in circles a couple of times and made a couple of approaches to the channel. . . then listened as he announced over the PA system that, due to high winds, we would be unable to make that port. The rusted remnants of 3 old shipwrecks are visible around the channel, and in the wake of the Italian cruise ship fiasco, I wonder if he's being even more cautious than he normally would be.
Since we were saving money on that excursion and the Belize port charges, I, being the consummate geek that I am, immediately went to guest services to try to book the Behind the Fun tour that takes place on the final day at sea. On a 7 day cruise, this is a 3-hour tour of all sorts of fun places--like the Bridge! And it costs $100 per person. Which is why I hadn't booked it. I mean, it costs them NOTHING for is to tour around...why so expensive? (Supply and Demand, of course!) Unfortunately, the tour was already booked solid. Damn. I was afraid of that. By the time I got back to our room, our planned excursion in Roatan as well as the port charges associated with Roatan had been credited back to our account. They're so efficient around here!
So...we're left with an extra day at sea. We spent most of the day just chilling out. Played a little bingo (didn't win anything, of course), spent some time in the spa, and wandered around.
We checked the map channel several times...mainly to see what bizarre directions we would go now that we had an extra 8 hours or so to get to Costa Maya. It seemed to is there was a fair amount of "positioning" going on. Keeping the boat positioned on such a way that would minimize movement.
Thursday morning when we woke up, we were just off Costa Maya. Another non-Carnival excursion booked today. There's an all-inclusive day resort for cruise passengers nearby called Maya Chan. A walk through the port area followed by a bumpy 20 minute ride and we're there. Shown to our assigned area--an umbrella, small canopy, two chairs and a table. Right on the ocean. A few minutes later, the owner brought around rum punch for everyone and invited us to make ourselves at home. 30 minute massage for $25? Yes, please! Alcoholic fruity beverage? Yes, please! Delicious fresh buffet lunch? Yes, please!
There is natural sea grass in the area and when the wind is blowing as strongly as it had been for a couple of days, there's more of it than usual. The entire water line was covered with sea grass. They're not allowed to do anything to it when it's in the water, but as soon as it washes ashore, they can rake it up and take it away. There was an older man there raking. And raking. And raking. He filled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow. By the time he emptied the wheelbarrow and got back, you could barely tell where he had been raking. It really made us sad to watch him. There was a futility to his work that would have driven me crazy. Or maybe it was just job security? Judging by his clothing, he is not a wealthy man. John and I wondered what his daily wage is and know there is no way to find out. As one of those random things, John took $5 and walked over to the man. In John's limited Spanish (which is about 1,000 times more Spanish than I know), he interrupted the man and thanked him for his work and then handed him the money. The man was so surprised. He thanked John several times. John's response was "My Pleasure" which, of course, he said in Spanish . . . because he's good like that :-)
Before we knew it, the time had come for us to head back to the ship.
As we entered the port, we had some time and decided to look for a souvenir. Before we got that far, though, we saw two people struggling to get a lady (at least 50 years old) out of a chair. This lady was OBVIOUSLY not of sound mind and body. John and I went to see if we could be of help. Our offer was appreciated, but declined when port personnel offered a wheel chair.
So we continued to look for a souvenir. John saw a wool poncho in Packers colors. $50. Too much. Back and forth. Back and forth. What a pain! Finally settled in $32 with a "free plastic bag" and we were on our way.
John took a bit of a detour on the pier to take a couple of pictures of the ship. It's huge. And it's easy to forget just how big it is while you're walking around. Then you're standing beside it and it is easy to remember that it's 15 stories tall. And you see the markings on the hull that indicate there's another 27 feet of boat under water. Sheesh. That just blows my mind.
We were back on board well before the horn sounded. I watched a couple of people run toward the ship . . . Being in that position is NOT on my list. Like ever.
While we were getting ready for dinner, I heard a funny noise. Turns out, it was a note saying I "won" (yeah, whatever!) a second chance drawing for a discounted spa package. Since Friday was a sea day--and our last day on the ship--I would have to make a decision fast. The deal was pretty good but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the money.
Friday morning, John made the decision for me. He proclaimed that I should do it, so I set an appointment for 1:30. We went to the dining room for breakfast then just chilled out reading on our balcony for a while. Have I mentioned that I could sit and stare at water going by all day? Well . . . I almost did!!!
At 1:15, I headed toward the Spa. I had a head, back, and foot/ankle massage. 90 minutes in the treatment room. Bliss!!! Of course at the end, the therapist gave me a "prescription" for about $700 of stuff to help me with stress, acne, and who knows what else. What a trip. From there, I went to the VIP area of the spa. Thalassotherapy pool? Yes, please :-) I spent some quality time in there, then headed back to our room to shower. By the time I got back to the room, it was after 4:30. Where, oh where did the day go? Oh, that's right. I spent it relaxing!
Dinner was delicious. Then we spent a little time in the casino. John won a little money at poker; then lost a little money at poker. When he got back to an even dollar amount, he called it a night and went to the cashier to get the money that was in his poker account in cash. Woo hoo!!!
We went to a comedy show. Freaking hilarious. In fact, the guy (Jeff the Fun Dude) that introduces the comedians is JUST as funny as the comedians were this week. He's very self-deprecating . . . which is fun to a point. He just has a funny way of saying things that wouldn't ordinarily be funny.
And then we had to go pack because we had to have our suitcases outside our room before 11 pm. Egads. We had a lot of stuff with us! The room started to look really empty when we had most of our stuff out in the hallway in our two big suitcases. We just kept the bare minimum of stuff . . . and still filled our small suitcase and the backpack. Once again, we have a LOT of stuff!!!
Saturday morning we woke up to see that we were already in port at Canaveral. We got ready and waited for the announcement for our group. We disembarked, went through Customs, got our bags and headed for the shuttle area. This is going to sound ridiculous, but we were actually in our car and getting on the road at 8:09 am. Have you ever heard of such a thing?
We departed Port Canaveral Saturday around 4 pm. John noticed the moment the ship started moving. Me? Not so much. I guess growing up near the water and coming from a family that has always owned at least one boat has its advantages!
Since we couldn't drop our carryon bag in our room yet, we went directly to the Spa for our tour and to sign up for the VIP area. We get unlimited use (while the spa is open, of course) to 2 steam rooms, 2 different rooms with heated chairs (so relaxing!), the thalassotherapy pool (not quite as hot as a hottub), it has some sort of minerals that are supposed to help your skin), and a few other things. We considered getting a spa room when we booked so that would all be included...but we wanted an aft facing balcony. Since the spa is in the forward part of the ship, those two wishes are mutually exclusive.
Dinner Saturday night was in the steakhouse. There's a $30 per person charge, but on the first night each couple gets a complimentary bottle of wine. Totally worth it. I've paid a lot more for worse/less food! After dinner we crashed. I mean that literally. We basically fell into bed and didn't budge till morning.
When we woke up Sunday morning, I was a little surprised to see that we STILL hadn't cleared Florida! Dang Florida is a long state! When we left port, we booked it to international waters so the casino could open. There's a map channel on tv in our room that gives our exact coordinates, speed, direction, etc. at every moment. For a map geek like me, it's very cool. Anyway, we were off the Florida Keys when we some up. I looked around for that place called Kokomo, but The Beach Boys were either lying about the location, or it was more than about 5 miles away. I just can't see any further that that. Ha ha!
I sat on the balcony for a while and just listened. It is amazing to me how quiet it is out there. There's no engine noise whatsoever. Just the sound of the water passing by. I love it and could probably sit out here all day. The aft facing balcony is awesome. There's a lot more space than a regular balcony and I get to stare at the prop wash which to me is a beautiful sight. And assuming we're not headed straight east, I can watch the sun rise! Just in case you're wondering what it looks like . . .
And the sunrise out here? Wow. Just wow.
We ate breakfast in our room Sunday morning, went to the spa for a while, then frittered away our day here and there. The casino was calling John's name and he, fairly quickly, turned $100 into $300 between video poker and blackjack. Then turned another $100 of that into $300 at the poker table. I like it. If he's going to do that well, I might leave him in the Casino! It does feel good to play with other people's money. We not entered a slots tournament for kicks and giggles. There's no talent involved. Or even thought. You just keep pushing the button . . . John at least made it to the finals and got a shirt for his efforts.
Sunday night was formal night. We clean up pretty well. And we both ate WAY too much food. But there was lobster. What was I supposed to do? Small frustration . . . When we got to the dining room, there was a line. It took about 15 minutes to get to the hostess stand . . . where we got a pager and we were told that it would be 45 minutes. But I was hungry then! And I was wearing heels!
After dinner, we went back to the casino. John gave back a little of his profits. The cards just weren't friendly. He lost a couple of big pots when another player sucked out on the river. Annoying, but that's how poker is!
Sunday night the seas were a little rougher than they had been. Between that and the heels I was wearing, I looked like I had really been having a good time. Ha!
Woke up early Monday morning. The ship was rocking a little and something was tapping and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what it was. I thought something might have been rolling around in the little night stand, but I couldn't get to it. I chilled for a while then went out to the balcony. It was still early enough that on the western horizon, I could see lights on Mexico. (Astute readers will understand that means it was still dark! Yes, I woke up early!)
Very shortly after I went out on the balcony, I figured out the tapping! One of our chairs is missing a rubber foot and as it rocked back and forth the back of the chair was tapping the window. I immediately decided I would check the position of the chairs before going to bed. :-)
It's funny. I look down at the water and think, "That doesn't look very rough. It's incredible we're rocking this much." And then I remember that I'm on the 7th deck...so I'm at LEAST 7 stories above the water. Hmmm. It really is all about perspective, isn't it!
Monday was our Cozumel day and we had nothing planned. Originally we thought we would go ashore and do a little shopping. Then we saw where we were docked and decided against it. We were on a pier far different from the last time we were in Cozumel. This one seemed like it was in a very touristy area without good access to the town. So we never even left the ship. Just sat and chilled and enjoyed having the place nearly to ourselves. At the end of the day, we heard others say that they took a taxi to get to the shopping area outside of the port. Good call staying on the ship!
Tuesday brought us to Belize. John had been following Cruise Critic message boards and found someone who was going cave tubing. She had hunted down a company that would give a discount for a group and used fancy tubes with head rests. We paid less TOTAL to go with her group than we would have paid EACH if we had booked through Carnival.
There were 13 of us plus two guides. On the way to the caves, we got a narrated tour from one of the guides. Belize is cool. National language is English. (Can we even still say that about the US?) Many different cultures all living fairly peacefully together. Peace makes me happy. And there is no welfare system in Belize. If you don't work, you don't eat. I like that philosophy.
We were told, almost jokingly, that.they get cable TV (Miami stations) so what we see, they see: Desperate Housewives, Jersey Shore...I have to admit, I think their lives would be better without our influence!
Our group was in a 15 passenger van. John rode shotgun and had a great conversation with the driver about life in Belize. The driver lives about an hour from Belize City (where we docked). On days that he works, he has to leave home around 4 am to get to work, get the van ready, etc. During the busy season (now) he usually works 4 days a week. During hurricane season, he usually only works 1 day a week. Ouch. That's something we really take for granted. That whole going to work every day thing. It is too easy to assume that the guys we meet while on a trip like this do what we see them doing every day. Not always the case...and it has nothing to do with whether or not they want to work and everything to do with whether or not there is work available for them. That's humbling.
Cave tubing itself was awesome. We walked about 40 minutes carrying our tubes, wearing life jackets and helmets. When we finally got to the water, it was...refreshing. Seriously, a couple of people called it cold, bit after that walk, I really liked the fact that the water was...not as warm as some people wished it were.
We went through two separate caves totalling approximately a mile. The rock formations were very cool. And it was insane to see how high the water sometimes gets. Crazy. Heard lots about Mayan mythology. We were told that the Mayans didn't think the world would end in 2012, but that they saw it as a new beginning.
Tuesday night, we were scheduled for the Chef's Table. What an experience. The group (only 14) met in one of the tiny little bars on the ship. The head chef for the ship came in . . . and a couple of servers. We got 3 different little one-bite appetizers. Amazing. Awesome. Ridiculous. Then we all piled into an elevator and went to the galley. What? That's right. We ate dinner in the galley! The seats were all assigned and we all had printed menus at our seats. I could go get the menu and detail every course, but I wouldn't do any of it justice. It will just have to suffice for me to say the food was delicious and presented beautifully. Just before the entrees were brought out, we were taken on a tour of the galley. On our tour, we learned that none of the food is cooked with gas. What? The steaks are SO good! And there's no flame? None. Fire is one of the most severe threats on a ship in the middle of the ocean, so to minimize the chances, they don't have flames. Crazy. We also got to see the dessert chef prepare a batch of Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. The only word that comes to mind while watching this is "sinful." Honest. There are equal parts chocolate, butter and, I think, sugar. I can't even make that up! After the batter was mixed, we were lead back to our table where we were served two different entrees (fish and beef) and dessert . . . part of which was that WCMC that we just saw mixed. The chef himself served the WCMC to us.
Wednesday morning we woke up just off Isla Roatan, where we had an excursion booked to visit a wildlife park and a beach. After one look at the channel that shows wind speed, etc., and one look at the waves, we were pretty certain we would not see Roatan. The channel to the port is very narrow...and this ship is damned big. We watched off our balcony as the captain spun us in circles a couple of times and made a couple of approaches to the channel. . . then listened as he announced over the PA system that, due to high winds, we would be unable to make that port. The rusted remnants of 3 old shipwrecks are visible around the channel, and in the wake of the Italian cruise ship fiasco, I wonder if he's being even more cautious than he normally would be.
Since we were saving money on that excursion and the Belize port charges, I, being the consummate geek that I am, immediately went to guest services to try to book the Behind the Fun tour that takes place on the final day at sea. On a 7 day cruise, this is a 3-hour tour of all sorts of fun places--like the Bridge! And it costs $100 per person. Which is why I hadn't booked it. I mean, it costs them NOTHING for is to tour around...why so expensive? (Supply and Demand, of course!) Unfortunately, the tour was already booked solid. Damn. I was afraid of that. By the time I got back to our room, our planned excursion in Roatan as well as the port charges associated with Roatan had been credited back to our account. They're so efficient around here!
So...we're left with an extra day at sea. We spent most of the day just chilling out. Played a little bingo (didn't win anything, of course), spent some time in the spa, and wandered around.
We checked the map channel several times...mainly to see what bizarre directions we would go now that we had an extra 8 hours or so to get to Costa Maya. It seemed to is there was a fair amount of "positioning" going on. Keeping the boat positioned on such a way that would minimize movement.
Thursday morning when we woke up, we were just off Costa Maya. Another non-Carnival excursion booked today. There's an all-inclusive day resort for cruise passengers nearby called Maya Chan. A walk through the port area followed by a bumpy 20 minute ride and we're there. Shown to our assigned area--an umbrella, small canopy, two chairs and a table. Right on the ocean. A few minutes later, the owner brought around rum punch for everyone and invited us to make ourselves at home. 30 minute massage for $25? Yes, please! Alcoholic fruity beverage? Yes, please! Delicious fresh buffet lunch? Yes, please!
There is natural sea grass in the area and when the wind is blowing as strongly as it had been for a couple of days, there's more of it than usual. The entire water line was covered with sea grass. They're not allowed to do anything to it when it's in the water, but as soon as it washes ashore, they can rake it up and take it away. There was an older man there raking. And raking. And raking. He filled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow. By the time he emptied the wheelbarrow and got back, you could barely tell where he had been raking. It really made us sad to watch him. There was a futility to his work that would have driven me crazy. Or maybe it was just job security? Judging by his clothing, he is not a wealthy man. John and I wondered what his daily wage is and know there is no way to find out. As one of those random things, John took $5 and walked over to the man. In John's limited Spanish (which is about 1,000 times more Spanish than I know), he interrupted the man and thanked him for his work and then handed him the money. The man was so surprised. He thanked John several times. John's response was "My Pleasure" which, of course, he said in Spanish . . . because he's good like that :-)
Before we knew it, the time had come for us to head back to the ship.
As we entered the port, we had some time and decided to look for a souvenir. Before we got that far, though, we saw two people struggling to get a lady (at least 50 years old) out of a chair. This lady was OBVIOUSLY not of sound mind and body. John and I went to see if we could be of help. Our offer was appreciated, but declined when port personnel offered a wheel chair.
So we continued to look for a souvenir. John saw a wool poncho in Packers colors. $50. Too much. Back and forth. Back and forth. What a pain! Finally settled in $32 with a "free plastic bag" and we were on our way.
John took a bit of a detour on the pier to take a couple of pictures of the ship. It's huge. And it's easy to forget just how big it is while you're walking around. Then you're standing beside it and it is easy to remember that it's 15 stories tall. And you see the markings on the hull that indicate there's another 27 feet of boat under water. Sheesh. That just blows my mind.
We were back on board well before the horn sounded. I watched a couple of people run toward the ship . . . Being in that position is NOT on my list. Like ever.
While we were getting ready for dinner, I heard a funny noise. Turns out, it was a note saying I "won" (yeah, whatever!) a second chance drawing for a discounted spa package. Since Friday was a sea day--and our last day on the ship--I would have to make a decision fast. The deal was pretty good but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the money.
Friday morning, John made the decision for me. He proclaimed that I should do it, so I set an appointment for 1:30. We went to the dining room for breakfast then just chilled out reading on our balcony for a while. Have I mentioned that I could sit and stare at water going by all day? Well . . . I almost did!!!
At 1:15, I headed toward the Spa. I had a head, back, and foot/ankle massage. 90 minutes in the treatment room. Bliss!!! Of course at the end, the therapist gave me a "prescription" for about $700 of stuff to help me with stress, acne, and who knows what else. What a trip. From there, I went to the VIP area of the spa. Thalassotherapy pool? Yes, please :-) I spent some quality time in there, then headed back to our room to shower. By the time I got back to the room, it was after 4:30. Where, oh where did the day go? Oh, that's right. I spent it relaxing!
Dinner was delicious. Then we spent a little time in the casino. John won a little money at poker; then lost a little money at poker. When he got back to an even dollar amount, he called it a night and went to the cashier to get the money that was in his poker account in cash. Woo hoo!!!
We went to a comedy show. Freaking hilarious. In fact, the guy (Jeff the Fun Dude) that introduces the comedians is JUST as funny as the comedians were this week. He's very self-deprecating . . . which is fun to a point. He just has a funny way of saying things that wouldn't ordinarily be funny.
And then we had to go pack because we had to have our suitcases outside our room before 11 pm. Egads. We had a lot of stuff with us! The room started to look really empty when we had most of our stuff out in the hallway in our two big suitcases. We just kept the bare minimum of stuff . . . and still filled our small suitcase and the backpack. Once again, we have a LOT of stuff!!!
Saturday morning we woke up to see that we were already in port at Canaveral. We got ready and waited for the announcement for our group. We disembarked, went through Customs, got our bags and headed for the shuttle area. This is going to sound ridiculous, but we were actually in our car and getting on the road at 8:09 am. Have you ever heard of such a thing?
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Weight Update
One week in, I'm down 7.1 pounds.
An excellent start, but it's only a start. I know better than to think I'll have weeks like this, um, ever. It's a week one thing. My body is flushing salt.and junk like crazy.
I have worked out only very lightly this week because I hadn't done anything in that arena in 6 weeks. So this week, I rowed 2,000-3,000 meters per day. Feels good to get back in the routine.
We have RowPro software which ties right in to our rowing machine. RowPro has a training plan function which I'm using. The first couple of weeks it just ramps you up and then the real fun begins.
As far as food goes, we've done really well--at least until today. I did eat lunch out one day with a friend. I chose a salad with balsamic vinagrette dressing. There was no cheese or meat to add ridiculous calories. Just a small amount of dried cranberries and a few sunflower seeds.
Today, though? Morning was ok. Lunch was ok. But now we're watching football and remembered a cheese and sausage tray in the refrigerator. Damn. On the bright side, at the end of the day, whatever is still there is going in the trash.
So even though we've had a little hiccup with the food thing today, I'm looking ahead to next week.
I'll pack lunch for us each day this week. Dinner will be at home each night. Except Wednesday. Wednesday we're eating with some friends so they can put corks in wine bottles filled with liquor . . . but that's a story for another day.
An excellent start, but it's only a start. I know better than to think I'll have weeks like this, um, ever. It's a week one thing. My body is flushing salt.and junk like crazy.
I have worked out only very lightly this week because I hadn't done anything in that arena in 6 weeks. So this week, I rowed 2,000-3,000 meters per day. Feels good to get back in the routine.
We have RowPro software which ties right in to our rowing machine. RowPro has a training plan function which I'm using. The first couple of weeks it just ramps you up and then the real fun begins.
As far as food goes, we've done really well--at least until today. I did eat lunch out one day with a friend. I chose a salad with balsamic vinagrette dressing. There was no cheese or meat to add ridiculous calories. Just a small amount of dried cranberries and a few sunflower seeds.
Today, though? Morning was ok. Lunch was ok. But now we're watching football and remembered a cheese and sausage tray in the refrigerator. Damn. On the bright side, at the end of the day, whatever is still there is going in the trash.
So even though we've had a little hiccup with the food thing today, I'm looking ahead to next week.
I'll pack lunch for us each day this week. Dinner will be at home each night. Except Wednesday. Wednesday we're eating with some friends so they can put corks in wine bottles filled with liquor . . . but that's a story for another day.
Entitlement
I get it. Pretty much everyone in a developed country has entitlement issues. We are amazingly fortunate to have been born (or maybe just live in) a place where we don't actually need anything.
The thing that gets me is the people that whine that what you have or what you're doing is so much better than what they have or what they're doing.
For instance . . . my little household.
My husband and I work hard. We make decent money. While we're not going to be in the "Rich and Famous" section any time soon, we're also not (assuming we keep our jobs, of course!) going to be in the welfare line any time soon.
We have a nice house that we paid too much for (bought in September 2007 at the very top of the real estate bubble!), but we love. When we bought it, the basement was completely unfinished. We finished it the way we want it . . . with a home theater, a workout room, and a sports bar room (complete with a bar and 6 televisions).
We take nice vacations. We are fortunate to work for employers that provide paid time off and we use it to our advantage.
We don't feel bad about any of it. I don't want to say that we "deserve" the nice things we have. In fact, I often look around me and am reminded that I definitely do not deserve the things we have.
I have a serious problem with the welfare mentality. That people that have nice things or get to do nice things somehow owe those who don't.
I have a family member with this issue. I recently posted on Facebook that we were watching television and stopped on the movie Titanic and that we're going to be on a cruise in two weeks and that probably wasn't the best movie choice we could have made. My family member responded with "U bitch...u always going somewhere...include me one time...i have always wanted to go on a cruise...as the name says...Dream...lol"
A couple of things.
- Does the "lol" at the end mean she was joking? History says she wasn't.
- There is absolutely no reason not to spell out the word "you."
- She's right. We go places regularly. I post about them because the places we go are often more exciting than when we're chilling at home watching a movie.
- I won't include her because she hasn't earned the right to go with. If she saved and paid for a trip, I'd like to think I would welcome her . . . but to be honest, she would have saved just barely enough to be able to go and wouldn't have any spending money.
It's all bullshit. This is the person who spent God knows how much money this fall fixing up her daughter's room, buying her daughter (I think she's 9) a laptop, etc. and then whined at Thanksgiving that she didn't have any money for Christmas. What? That's ridiculous.
So, yes, I do have a sense of entitlement. The job I work says I'm entitled to a paycheck and a certain amount of time off. How I spend my paycheck (after I've paid my bills, of course) and how I spend my time off is my own business.
And you're not entitled to bitch about how I spend either.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Time
It is often said that there are only 24 hours in a day. I get that. There are literally 24 hours (plus a little which makes us have leap day every 4 years, but I digress) in every day.
But not all of those hours are available to us to accomplish our goals.
We have to take time to eat. We have to sleep. Some of us have to take time to work (and get ready for work and drive to work, etc.).
But what about the things that, while not necessarily "required" of us, we consider to be non-negotiable?
Some may feel that a certain amount of time spent reading daily is non-negotiable. Others may feel that a certain television show is important enough that they would include it as a non-negotiable. Still others would include exercise time as a non-negotiable.
A long time ago, I read somewhere that if you schedule time for yourself as you would an appointment on your calendar, you're more likely to keep your commitment to yourself. True? I don't know. But it does make me think.
So what if we subtract out all the hours that are taken by the things that we absolutely must do. What's left in the "budget"?
What if we started using that new number as our "There are only x hours in a day" number? Would we realize how precious those hours are? Would we value those hours more because there are fewer of them?
I don't know. I won't even pretend like I know. But this whole thing has me thinking . . .
But not all of those hours are available to us to accomplish our goals.
We have to take time to eat. We have to sleep. Some of us have to take time to work (and get ready for work and drive to work, etc.).
But what about the things that, while not necessarily "required" of us, we consider to be non-negotiable?
Some may feel that a certain amount of time spent reading daily is non-negotiable. Others may feel that a certain television show is important enough that they would include it as a non-negotiable. Still others would include exercise time as a non-negotiable.
A long time ago, I read somewhere that if you schedule time for yourself as you would an appointment on your calendar, you're more likely to keep your commitment to yourself. True? I don't know. But it does make me think.
So what if we subtract out all the hours that are taken by the things that we absolutely must do. What's left in the "budget"?
What if we started using that new number as our "There are only x hours in a day" number? Would we realize how precious those hours are? Would we value those hours more because there are fewer of them?
I don't know. I won't even pretend like I know. But this whole thing has me thinking . . .
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Weight
That’s right. I didn’t mean “wait.” It’s not that I have a problem with patience (well, I do … I’m just not working on that one today!). I have a problem with weight.
Two facts have fed into this problem …
1. I love to eat. I love to eat the wrong things. I love to eat too much. I love to eat too much of the wrong things. Issues, I’m telling you. Issues.
2. I don’t particularly care for physical activity. I can spend all day reading a book, doing Sudoku, surfing the internet, watching television or a movie … or just simply doing NOTHING.
Those things said, I need to figure out how to fix this. I need to want to eat less … and eat the right things. I need to want to move more.
As frightening as this sounds, I think I’m further along on the wanting to move more thing … See, in March 2011, I was introduced to indoor rowing. There’s a place here in town called Greenville Indoor Rowing (online at www.greenvilleindoorrowing.com if you can believe it!) that has a bunch of indoor rowing machines in a room and an absolutely brilliant guy running the place. A former NFL player, he’s in his 70s now and far more fit than I’ve, um, ever been … all because he’s been rowing for 25 or so years. Crazy.
Anyway, I really like this rowing thing. Enough that I’ve already rowed over 1,000,000 meters (that’s 640 miles for all of us living in the US that never really figured out that whole ridiculous metric system thing). Enough that we bought our own rowing machine for our house so we can row any time we want.
And that’s a good thing. Because I can now row any time I want. Which makes me happy.
But the eating thing? That’s a whole different story. I wish it were as easy to burn calories as it is to consume them. And why does everything that tastes good have so many damned calories? Frustrating.
Seriously. If I were an alcoholic, you wouldn’t put one drink in front of me three times a day and tell me that’s all I can have. If I were a druggie, you wouldn’t hand me heroin or crack or whatever three times a day. But as a food addict? I’m just screwed. I have to eat to live. I’m supposed to go to the refrigerator (or cabinet, or whatever) three times a day and make a controlled, logical, healthy decision as to what I’m going to eat. Awesome.
That’s it. I have to eat to live … not live to eat. I need to re-direct those “Hmmm, what’s to eat” thoughts into something healthy. So when I’m maybe a little bored, instead of looking for food, I need to make a different choice. When I’m maybe a little emotional (because I am, after all, female!), instead of looking to food, I need to make a different choice.
It’s going to take a while. Certainly not something I’m going to fix overnight. But I’m going to work on it. And just when I think I have it all figured out? I’m going to screw up and realize that I don’t even begin to have a handle on it.
But for now? For now, I’ll just take one day … hell, one meal! … at a time and see what I can make of this mess.
Two facts have fed into this problem …
1. I love to eat. I love to eat the wrong things. I love to eat too much. I love to eat too much of the wrong things. Issues, I’m telling you. Issues.
2. I don’t particularly care for physical activity. I can spend all day reading a book, doing Sudoku, surfing the internet, watching television or a movie … or just simply doing NOTHING.
Those things said, I need to figure out how to fix this. I need to want to eat less … and eat the right things. I need to want to move more.
As frightening as this sounds, I think I’m further along on the wanting to move more thing … See, in March 2011, I was introduced to indoor rowing. There’s a place here in town called Greenville Indoor Rowing (online at www.greenvilleindoorrowing.com if you can believe it!) that has a bunch of indoor rowing machines in a room and an absolutely brilliant guy running the place. A former NFL player, he’s in his 70s now and far more fit than I’ve, um, ever been … all because he’s been rowing for 25 or so years. Crazy.
Anyway, I really like this rowing thing. Enough that I’ve already rowed over 1,000,000 meters (that’s 640 miles for all of us living in the US that never really figured out that whole ridiculous metric system thing). Enough that we bought our own rowing machine for our house so we can row any time we want.
And that’s a good thing. Because I can now row any time I want. Which makes me happy.
But the eating thing? That’s a whole different story. I wish it were as easy to burn calories as it is to consume them. And why does everything that tastes good have so many damned calories? Frustrating.
Seriously. If I were an alcoholic, you wouldn’t put one drink in front of me three times a day and tell me that’s all I can have. If I were a druggie, you wouldn’t hand me heroin or crack or whatever three times a day. But as a food addict? I’m just screwed. I have to eat to live. I’m supposed to go to the refrigerator (or cabinet, or whatever) three times a day and make a controlled, logical, healthy decision as to what I’m going to eat. Awesome.
That’s it. I have to eat to live … not live to eat. I need to re-direct those “Hmmm, what’s to eat” thoughts into something healthy. So when I’m maybe a little bored, instead of looking for food, I need to make a different choice. When I’m maybe a little emotional (because I am, after all, female!), instead of looking to food, I need to make a different choice.
It’s going to take a while. Certainly not something I’m going to fix overnight. But I’m going to work on it. And just when I think I have it all figured out? I’m going to screw up and realize that I don’t even begin to have a handle on it.
But for now? For now, I’ll just take one day … hell, one meal! … at a time and see what I can make of this mess.
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