Picture this...
Scene: Morning of the wife's 30th birthday. The hubby and wife are outside getting ready to leave for work. He leans down and kisses her, starts to straighten then he stops. He gets a weird look on his face...
Husband: "You have a grey hair."
Wife: (very seriously) "Are you f@*%ing with me?"
Husband: (starts laughing) "I'm totally serious."
Wife: (slightly panicked) "I don't believe you, pull it out"
Husband then pulls out the offending hair and hands it to the wife. She looks stunned. The husband starts to laugh.
Husband: "I think it's funny that today of all days you have a grey hair."
Wife: (looks at the husband with tears in her eyes) "I can't believe I have a grey hair!"
Husband: "I guess it would've been better to not tell you and let you find it yourself."
End Scene
What a great birthday surprise...
Yeah, I've never been one who cared about how many birthdays I've had. There must have been a nice convergence of events for me to react quite the way I did. At least everyone I mentioned it to, found it funny and I did too, but not until the weekend...
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Last Weekend
Last weekend, I went up to my parent's place for a visit. I always love going up there, Emmy gets to run around and play with the Bens (yes, there are two). It turns out that all of the Lilacs were in full bloom. Lilacs are my favorite flowering shrub/tree. They smell awesome and have great color. I decided to wander around and take pictures.
Unfortunately, the lighting caused the colors of the lilacs and some others to be completely wrong in the photos. I wasn't sure how to fix it, but here are some of my favorites.
Wild Strawberry blossoms, I used to eat the strawberries when I was a kid!
A bleeding heart, another favorite. So much so I bought one to plant here.
This is a great example of the color issues with the lilacs. This one was actually a dark purple, so it's weird to see the color the camera came out of.
These are just cute.
The rest of the pictures are here if you are curious. These are all outdoor pictures, but I always think it's really pretty up there. If weren't for all the bugs (I'm such a city girl these days) it would be even better.
Unfortunately, the lighting caused the colors of the lilacs and some others to be completely wrong in the photos. I wasn't sure how to fix it, but here are some of my favorites.
Wild Strawberry blossoms, I used to eat the strawberries when I was a kid!
A bleeding heart, another favorite. So much so I bought one to plant here.
This is a great example of the color issues with the lilacs. This one was actually a dark purple, so it's weird to see the color the camera came out of.
These are just cute.
The rest of the pictures are here if you are curious. These are all outdoor pictures, but I always think it's really pretty up there. If weren't for all the bugs (I'm such a city girl these days) it would be even better.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Cruisin'
This post may actually be shorter than I originally thought. It's two weeks past the cruise and the memories fade fast. The full set of my pictures are here, other pictures are here and here.
Recently, a group of friends (Greg, Jessie, Sandie, Drew, Forrest and Amanda), the husband and I took a cruise to Bermuda. We sailed out of New York on the Norwegian Dawn, of Norwegian Cruise Lines. As with all vacations there was, the good, the bad and the ugly, but mostly good!
Departure Day
The group split up before the arrival time, have were already in NY visiting friends and the other half drove up Sunday morning. From all the NY horror storries, we were worried about traffic problems and the weather took that day to nice and gross (rainy, rainy, foggy). We padded out our drive time, to ensure we arrived by the boarding start time of 12.
The drive up was surprisingly painless! There was very little traffic and fairly sane drivers on the road. Our boat happened to be one pier over from the Intrepid Museum, so we got to snap a few cool pictures of the airplanes and such. Boarding was actually even less painful than the drive! We walked into the pier area, left our luggage, and waited in line for someone to give us our key cards and make sure we didn't have H1N1 FLU (aka Swine Flu). They then gave us a group boarding number and once our number was called we walked on to the ship!
Luckily, just as we came on, one of the waitstaff was returning with more glasses of champagne. The only free alcohol on the trip, your darn right I drank the whole thing (and I don't like champagne). The other half of our group had not arrived with us, so we looked from the boat to the pier and what do we see through the windows? The rest of the group! They were in line to check in, which made everyone less stressed since we were all there.
After a while we went up on board and waited in the rain and crappy weather until we passed The Statue of Liberty. This is the first time I've been that close.
Cruise Proper
After getting out of NY the days at sea are a little bit of a blur. There were bad comedians, movies on bad screens, good games of Fluxx, exercising, drinking, eating and lots and lots of going up and downstairs or elevators.
The water in the middle of the ocean is pretty cool. It's a really deep blue, with light blue spots indicating shallower water. At one point I recall the Captain saying the depth was 13, 648 feet (give or take due to my memory). However, the sees were very rough. If anyone was going to get sea sick, that was the time. You'd be walking along the right side of the hallway and the next thing you know you're on the left side because of a swell. Our room was on Deck 5 and the waves were splashing our windows and I heard rumor of waves up to Deck 12 in the front of the boat.
The best part of the days at sea were the drinking days! Specifically, we did a Mojito Tasting, a Sangria and Tapas tasting and Margarita Madness. The mojito business was very interesting, we learned how to make different types of mojitos and a little bit of the history of them and the ingredients. I'm still a fan of the original. The sangria was awesome, I prefered their white, though in general I prefer read. We got to taste olives (yuck), champiñones (mushrooms with garlic) and tortilla (a Spanish omelet, kind of like a frittata). Margarita Madness was just fun.
The worst part was the disappointing food. I had expectations of good food, because what else do you do on a ship? Eat? The second disappointing thing was the service. It was difficult to communicate as very few spoke English with any proficiency. You could visibly see servers getting annoyed when you asked questions or make requests.
Land Legs
The time in port was pretty cool. First day we went on an Aquarium, Caves and Highlight tour. Due to time constraints we didn't get to spend much time at the sites. Though our bus driver did spend copious amounts of time describing Bermudian burial methods, which I could've done without. I probably wouldn't do this type of excursion again.
The other excursions were Kayaking and Snorkeling, both of which I thought were awesome. The tour group Fantasea Bermuda ran both tours and they were pretty darn fun. Kayaking we took a boat out to a beach where we picked up the kayaks, and happened to see an Upside Down Jellyfish. We paddled around to another beach where we hung out for a bit. It was very tiring, but good! The boat trip back was awesome. They pulled up to another one of their tour boats and the newbie jumped across to the other boat, as a joke. We pulled away and left him! It was funny.
The next day we found out that the Catamaran for the snorkeling trip was the one they left the newbie on. It was a good time snorkeling around the chilly waters. I saw a box fish, which was very cool. A few other fish were in the mix and lots of coral and sea slugs. That boat ride was awesome too, if a little chilly on the way back.
Every where I went in Bermuda, it felt like we were on a boat that was moving. I guess that is what they call land sickness (I also dealt with it for about a week after we got home!). We randomly found this restaurant that looked like a total dive. We were all tired and hungry (and cranky). So we just went in, with low expectations. It was actually pretty good!
The best time was had at the Frog and Onion Pub in King's Wharf (Heritage Wharf). Good food, good atmosphere, good drinks and good friends.
Home Again
Once we landed in NY again, the group split. We took a leisurely ride back home and tried to relax before going to work on Monday.
Impressions
My overall impression is that we would probably try another cruise, but NOT Norweigan Cruiselines. I also think it's not the vacation choice the hubby and I would do with just the two of us. Friend cruises are definitely a good time, as long as everyone has the right amount of down time.
Recently, a group of friends (Greg, Jessie, Sandie, Drew, Forrest and Amanda), the husband and I took a cruise to Bermuda. We sailed out of New York on the Norwegian Dawn, of Norwegian Cruise Lines. As with all vacations there was, the good, the bad and the ugly, but mostly good!
Departure Day
The group split up before the arrival time, have were already in NY visiting friends and the other half drove up Sunday morning. From all the NY horror storries, we were worried about traffic problems and the weather took that day to nice and gross (rainy, rainy, foggy). We padded out our drive time, to ensure we arrived by the boarding start time of 12.
The drive up was surprisingly painless! There was very little traffic and fairly sane drivers on the road. Our boat happened to be one pier over from the Intrepid Museum, so we got to snap a few cool pictures of the airplanes and such. Boarding was actually even less painful than the drive! We walked into the pier area, left our luggage, and waited in line for someone to give us our key cards and make sure we didn't have H1N1 FLU (aka Swine Flu). They then gave us a group boarding number and once our number was called we walked on to the ship!
Luckily, just as we came on, one of the waitstaff was returning with more glasses of champagne. The only free alcohol on the trip, your darn right I drank the whole thing (and I don't like champagne). The other half of our group had not arrived with us, so we looked from the boat to the pier and what do we see through the windows? The rest of the group! They were in line to check in, which made everyone less stressed since we were all there.
After a while we went up on board and waited in the rain and crappy weather until we passed The Statue of Liberty. This is the first time I've been that close.
Cruise Proper
After getting out of NY the days at sea are a little bit of a blur. There were bad comedians, movies on bad screens, good games of Fluxx, exercising, drinking, eating and lots and lots of going up and downstairs or elevators.
The water in the middle of the ocean is pretty cool. It's a really deep blue, with light blue spots indicating shallower water. At one point I recall the Captain saying the depth was 13, 648 feet (give or take due to my memory). However, the sees were very rough. If anyone was going to get sea sick, that was the time. You'd be walking along the right side of the hallway and the next thing you know you're on the left side because of a swell. Our room was on Deck 5 and the waves were splashing our windows and I heard rumor of waves up to Deck 12 in the front of the boat.
The best part of the days at sea were the drinking days! Specifically, we did a Mojito Tasting, a Sangria and Tapas tasting and Margarita Madness. The mojito business was very interesting, we learned how to make different types of mojitos and a little bit of the history of them and the ingredients. I'm still a fan of the original. The sangria was awesome, I prefered their white, though in general I prefer read. We got to taste olives (yuck), champiñones (mushrooms with garlic) and tortilla (a Spanish omelet, kind of like a frittata). Margarita Madness was just fun.
The worst part was the disappointing food. I had expectations of good food, because what else do you do on a ship? Eat? The second disappointing thing was the service. It was difficult to communicate as very few spoke English with any proficiency. You could visibly see servers getting annoyed when you asked questions or make requests.
Land Legs
The time in port was pretty cool. First day we went on an Aquarium, Caves and Highlight tour. Due to time constraints we didn't get to spend much time at the sites. Though our bus driver did spend copious amounts of time describing Bermudian burial methods, which I could've done without. I probably wouldn't do this type of excursion again.
The other excursions were Kayaking and Snorkeling, both of which I thought were awesome. The tour group Fantasea Bermuda ran both tours and they were pretty darn fun. Kayaking we took a boat out to a beach where we picked up the kayaks, and happened to see an Upside Down Jellyfish. We paddled around to another beach where we hung out for a bit. It was very tiring, but good! The boat trip back was awesome. They pulled up to another one of their tour boats and the newbie jumped across to the other boat, as a joke. We pulled away and left him! It was funny.
The next day we found out that the Catamaran for the snorkeling trip was the one they left the newbie on. It was a good time snorkeling around the chilly waters. I saw a box fish, which was very cool. A few other fish were in the mix and lots of coral and sea slugs. That boat ride was awesome too, if a little chilly on the way back.
Every where I went in Bermuda, it felt like we were on a boat that was moving. I guess that is what they call land sickness (I also dealt with it for about a week after we got home!). We randomly found this restaurant that looked like a total dive. We were all tired and hungry (and cranky). So we just went in, with low expectations. It was actually pretty good!
The best time was had at the Frog and Onion Pub in King's Wharf (Heritage Wharf). Good food, good atmosphere, good drinks and good friends.
Home Again
Once we landed in NY again, the group split. We took a leisurely ride back home and tried to relax before going to work on Monday.
Impressions
My overall impression is that we would probably try another cruise, but NOT Norweigan Cruiselines. I also think it's not the vacation choice the hubby and I would do with just the two of us. Friend cruises are definitely a good time, as long as everyone has the right amount of down time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
