The great marshmallow

This is what our bed currently looks like. Our duvet we got after our wedding is very nice and soft but also very heavy which tends to cause problems such as dan having an over abundance of comforter. We took it off to clean it and notice how much more likely Maddie was to have plenty of duvet by morning. So when we saw a cheap white cover on sale at target, we had to snatch it up. We continue to reap the benefits of a lighter duvet cover and a happier Maddie, however, we are currently sleeping in a large fluffy marshmallow. It's like a child's dream in here!

Morning commute

I walk through this while my husband is snuggled up in bed. Not fair I think!

However....



At around 2pm I got these beauties delivered to me at the nurses station...



This somewhat made up for the fact that he got a free day off while I had trudge through the snow to work, then the slushy snow to my other part time job and again through the black slush to home at some point tonight. Good thing I'm wearing rain boots!

New Years Eve, Texas style

For New Years Eve of course we went and got some BBQ. It was amazing! Here's the leftovers on my plate. I couldn't take a picture until I had as much of that goodness in me as possible.
Dan and I were pretty happy about it.
Mom got a slice of pecan pie which was absolutely to die for. Yum-o!

Then we went and watched a movie and crashed back at the hotel hanging out and watching TV almost until midnight. Then we snuggled up in bed, kissed at 12 and went to sleep. It was divine! : )

The return home the next day was a nightmare of cancelled flights, buying new flights, possible 15 hour drives, watching my precious mexican vanilla get thrown out...etc. It was not fun to say the least. But we made it back only 5 hours after we were supposed to, sooo it's all good!

Final full day

On the last full night of the cruise, we were greeted with this tenderness in our room when we returned.
So tender right? It was entertaining.
We got a little dressed up. It was a good ending. The last full day was nice weather again and we just all laid out. I slathered on the sunscreen at regular 30-45 min intervals. I did not want to come back burned to a crisp and didn't really want to have to use iced tea like on our honeymoon to cool down my burns. Not so much fun!

Next up New Year's eve and back in Texas!

Cozumel

The stop in Cozumel was absolutely gorgeous. The first day with perfect weather and we went snorkeling. It was wonderful!
Clear blue water!
Hanging out on the boat with my hombre...
mmmm mmmmm! Too bad we didn't remember to bring the ridiculous $20 under water camera we stupidly bought on our honeymoon.
Part of the excursion was going to a "private" beach party. Read: they took us forever away to a random beach with some chairs and wierd floaty toys. Dan played volleyball...
I lounged and read : )
It was perfect!
Super good times!

That was definitely the best excursion we went on. Then we went back to the cruise ship, quickly changed and went back out to the extremely touristy mall that's attached to the docks. We got our magnet and that's all that matters really. It's a cool snorkel mask with a turtle and fish in it with Mexico written above. Sounds stupider than it looks : ) But I definitely fell in love with Mexico and snorkeling in warm and pretty water that day, that's for dang sure!

Dzibilchaltun

Our first stop on the cruise was at the place written above. It's mayan and I couldn't pronounce it even after a bunch of attempts sooo yeah. Dzibilchaltun is an ancient mayan city near Progresso, Mexico. We got to walk around and admired all of the old buildings...
Lots of ancient rock
I'm always amazed that people were able to make things like this without big machines to help them
There's a cenote which is a fresh water hole. It just goes down and down and apparently a lot of the cenotes link together through underwater tunnels.
Dan of course went swimming and he liked it!
There aren't many drawings still visible on the buildings but there were a couple in a little area we could walk into
We climbed to the top of the pyramid-y building
Jan holding up the sun building
Dan being a boy...
Dan trying to kill me in front of the sun building
The daddio and Dan
the parentals--tender times!
me and my daddio.

It was fun to walk around and see all of the ruins. The weather ended up being nicer but still overcast. The next day though was perfect!

Cruise Formal Night

Christmas and the first full day of the cruise were pretty nasty weather. All gray, windy and rainy. But it's always nice to be able to lounge around and have absolutely nothing to do every once in a while! The second night was cruise formal night so we got to get all gussied up. Dan wore his super cute new tie. Swoon!
Dan and Jan
Me and my momma
the momma and daddio
I sure do like that boy
Classic my parents--mom looking all into the camera, Dad thinking mom's ridiculous
Dan and Jan all gussied up
Had to give him a big ole red kiss
Then we went and did Karaoke. Mom rocked it with "I will Survive"
And Dan went crazy with "Everybody" by the Back Street Boys (alright!).

It's fun to be able to dress up for dinner every night and have one night where you get really done up. I should probably try not to be such a home body here in wonderful NYC.

Christmas!

Christmas morning we woke up with cruise anticipation. I got a text at 7:10am saying that my parents were talking with my brother who's on a mission. I threw on a hoodie and went to their room while Dan followed later. We got to chat and he sounds great! I'm so excited and proud of him and what's he's doing in Michigan. He's a hard worker and loves people and I know that where he's at is where the Lord wants him.

Dan and I had a little Christmas with my parents and I got a cute Coach wallet and Dan got an itunes gift card--always appreciated! We then got ready and were picked up by a van to be taken to our cruise!!! The best thing about a cruise is that you board and you are on vacation! We immediately went on, sat down and began chowing down on lunch. Then we wandered around a bit and eventually checked out our ity bity rooms.

Thankfully we got our bags quickly and were able to dress up a bit for Christmas dinner. We have a family tradition of popping Christmas poppers at Christmas Eve dinner but since our big dinner was on Christmas, dad brought them and we got to wear our crowns for our meal. Mom got the best little present in her popper--a compact mirror that she's been using ever since!
My mom and I
Dan the man and I
My daddio and Jan (Dan's momma).

It was definitely an unusual Christmas, but a lot of fun!

Strange things in Texas...

When we arrived in Texas on Christmas Eve, Dan, Jan (Dan's mom) and I got to wander around by our boring airport hotel for a few hours while we waited for my parents to arrive. The two best things about that boring airport hotel were:

1. The Travel Spot "Spa" (quotations not added). We asked the front desk lady if there was a place nearby to get our nails done (the females of course) and she said that there was a Travel "Spa" (putting air quotes) around the corner in the mini strip mall with random food places. We walked over there and what did we find? A shady looking entrance with a red light, Asian themed decorations and a little window with a bell to rind for service. Dan was all for ringing that bell but I ran out telling him no firmly. He did take a card though and it definitely has "spa" in quotes. Soooo Awesome.

2. The large field behind the bar with random large metal animals and a couple of creepy manikins. We had to investigate of course.
The giraffe
The bull
The woman in a man's shirt and the man in some swim trunks.

Texas kinda struggled with its first impression.

Rewind it back...

Now that we're back from the Christmas cruise 2010, I'll be doing a recap of the holiday season. Not that anyone cares, but my grandparents and family get emails of my blog posts, and I think they'll care : )

The week leading up to us leaving on the cruise was pretty hectic. I had been sick for the two weeks leading up to it thought I was getting better and then got waaaay worse. So I was not such a happy person to be around. We opened presents with each other the Tuesday before we left because that was the least hectic day.
The tree with pressies and stuffed stockings
Dan got me a New York ornament that's shaped like an apple. Perfect!
The aftermath. I got a ladle (I really needed one and Dan got a fancy Williams and Sonoma one), lots of candy, red colanders a la Martha Stewart! and a 2011 calendar of Greece with the goal of saving up for Greece this year and making a trip in 2012! : ) woot woot! Let's hope seeing that calendar every day keeps me motivated to save my money! Dan got Inception the movie (of course!), headphones, a tie, and some nice boot shoes (which didn't fit right so are getting sent back). Fitz of course got a new rawhide and treats.

I get very much into wanting to have everything in the holiday spirit and was feeling a bit bummed about not having Christmas on Christmas, but Dan was sweet and made sure to turn on some holiday tunes for me and acted excited and happy which made me feel better.

Next up, cruise time!

There's no place like home...

Maybe if I click my heels together three times, I'll end up back in NYC easy as you please.



But it probably won't work, I just have on grey Tom's and not ruby red slippers.

This morning I woke up to a text stating our flight was cancelled. Okaaayyyy.... I called Airtran (do not like then any more-- don't use them if you have a choice!) the flight was cancelled due to staffing issues (meaning too many employees partied last night and chose to call out sick-- keeping it classy Texas!). The next available flight wasn't until tomorrow afternoon. Soo either we pay for a hotel tonight or we pay another airline to get us closer to our goal.

We got a flight to Atlanta through Continental and of course I forgot to put the Mexican vanilla in my checked bag and I had to throw it away. (that's when I started crying-- it still makes me really sad). So we ran to catch that flight. Found out our Atlanta flight was also cancelled, planned on renting a car and driving 15 hours from Atlanta, miraculously found another later Airtran flight and got our tickets switched.

Now we wait for 5 hours and pray that Airtran works in Atlanta better than it does in Texas!

Not a good opening to 2011 that's for sure!