A Wedding and Mexico

Okay apparently when I said last night I meant tonight.

I've had plenty of time today to write this. I finally downloaded my pictures and had some time to look through them and I realized something. The pictures I have don't do this particular place justice. They certainly don't do the wedding justice. Everything was so incredibly beautiful and my camera just didn't capture all that. It was a whirlwind trip but full of such beauty.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon without issue. The drive from the airport to the resort took about 50 minutes but our driver took it slow. Playa del Carmen is a mix of incredibly luxurious resorts and some of the most abject poverty I've seen. The road we took in was divided. The left side had some exclusive resorts with the kind of guarded gates that I've seen in luxury travel magazines. On the other side of the road, shacks and run down stores. It was an odd paradox.

Our resort was no exception to the beauty. Here is a picture of the grounds.

This is the first all-inclusive I have ever stayed in and I was not prepared for how pampered I would feel. During check-in we were presented with some rather tasty alcoholic drinks. The mini-bar (also included) was stocked with beer, soda, water, and several full sized bottles of alcohol just waiting to be tapped. The room was just gorgeous but other than sleeping we spent very little time there. The first night was not a particularly good night but considering that Jeff and I hadn't slept much the night before and had been traveling all day, we ended up in bed about 8 that night.

Jeff woke me up to see the sunrise the next morning. There is nothing more wonderful than being wrapped up on a beach chair, listening to the sound of the waves, and watching the sunrise on the beach. The day was spent sleeping on beach chairs, playing in the ocean, and hanging out with family. I walked the beach both mornings with Jeff's dad and by the end of the trip my legs were killing me. The rehearsal dinner was that night but both Jeff and I were exhausted again and ended up in bed by 10.

The next day was the wedding. The resort had set up chairs and a wedding arch on the beach. It was a fabulous setting. I spent the morning walking the beach with dad, playing in the kiddy pool with my niece and nephew, and looking for Jeff. He and I managed to lose each other from morning until the wedding at three. I have to say that if Jeff and I were ever to get married again, this is how I would do it. To be able to attend a wedding, with drink in hand, and bare feet is just perfection. I took pictures and watched the kids and enjoyed the wedding. Everyone on the beach stood and watched. It was a wonderful moment. Here is a picture of the wedding party. I should download the professional ones but for right now you'll have to make due with my amateur ones.

After the wedding we sat in the lobby bar and had drinks until dinner. We ate at the resort's steakhouse (they had five restaurants). Then the bride and groom celebrated their marriage with a quick dip in the pool.

Jeff and I headed back to the room about 11 and went to sleep fast. We were both up by 2 since we had a transport coming for us at 4. The trip back to the airport in Cancun was much less slow and much less enjoyable. The driver drove like a maniac and with us being in the far back seat it was a bumpy ride. We did get there much faster than the trip in but I was a bit nauseous. The flight out of Cancun was great but getting out of Atlanta was a little more problematic. We ended up home about 3 hours after we were scheduled to. It was seven by the time we were finally home and Misty was thrilled to see us.

All and all it was a wonderful trip. The resort was beautiful, the all-inclusive part was fabulous, and the time spent hanging out was a lot of fun. It took me a couple days to recover but I'm so glad I went. Congrats guys. And thanks for a great trip.

Been Missing

I'm back. Okay I've actually been back in the country since late Sunday night. I've been mentally back in the game since last night.

I have tons of pictures to show you from Mexico. It was gorgeous. Truly beautiful. The resort was incredible, the all-inclusive aspect was wonderful, and the wedding was very pretty (enough adjectives?). And I've been meaning to post pictures and write about the trip but I just haven't been in the mood. Monday I spent the whole day with my aunt and uncle who were visiting. Tuesday I began kicking myself to sit down and write. So yesterday morning, after enough kicking, I decided that I would make this an extended blog vacation. I wouldn't post until I felt ready to. I wouldn't feel pressure to produce. I don't ever want this blog to feel like a job, a chore, something I have to do. Rather it should be something I'm excited to do.

All this week I've been coming home at night and crashing. I lay on the couch and stuff my face until I finally fall asleep. It's been hell on my mood and completely unproductive. I decided to change things up yesterday. Last night I sat on the couch and read. I watched TV and knit. I read more. And sometime last night a switch was thrown. I felt like myself again. I woke up this morning invigorated. I found at least three things I wanted to talk about just this morning alone. And I figured it was time to break my silence. A week and a half is a pretty long time for me to go without writing (or at least blog writing. I wrote free-hand all trip long). So this is just to say I'm back. I am composing in my head a post about the wedding and the trip that I'll post tonight. With pictures.

Still Not Back in Reality

I'm still on vacation today so I've been a little slow posting anything. The day has been wasted reading webcomics and playing with the cat. Mostly this is because the weekend was just so wonderful. I'm not yet in the mood to do anything productive. So instead I'm sitting out on the front patio, enjoying the gorgeous weather and a good cup of coffee and remembering.

I took Friday off and Jeff and decided that we would do some shopping on the way down to St. Louis. There was no hurry. So we packed that morning and headed out about noon. We stopped in Williamsburg at the outlet mall and did some serious shopping for work clothes. I got a ton of cute clothing and had an enjoyable day. I was working to finish my knitted shawl (which didn't get done) and the miles were flying by. About Hannibal (an hour and a half outside of St. Louis) Jeff realized that we had forgotten our dress clothes at home. My dress and his suit for the wedding were hanging on the bedroom door. There were many bad words said and then we both collapsed into giggles. It just seemed so much like us to forget.

So when we arrived in St. Louis, Jeff dropped me off at the mall and headed to Mens Warehouse. He found a really nice suit and then went to the mall. I'd been searching all over and couldn't find anything I like. He took me to one store and picked out a great black dress. I'm still impressed with his sense of fashion. I tried it on and we both agreed that it was perfect. So at 9 we finally arrived at the hotel to see two busloads of high schoolers heading in. Jeff and I just looked at each other and groaned. It was a high school band. Luckily for us their parents were there as well and we didn't hear them at night. That night we hung out with Jeff's brother and the soon to be bride (along with some of their friends) at the hotel bar playing cards. At midnight there was the required Steak n Shake run but then we all headed to bed.

The day of the wedding was a great mix of sunny and cloudy but cold. I had bought a back-up shawl in Williamsburg which worked out perfectly. I had abandoned my knitted one after realizing that I didn't even have the dress. The wedding took place in the afternoon outdoors in a pretty little park. It was a small service but very sweet. Jeff's brother got choked up on the vows and couldn't speak. My nephew (he's 2) spent the whole service running around the park and trying to get into every picture he could. The bride wore this beautiful strapless dress but ended up with a shawl. It was freezing in the shade. After the wedding service, we headed back to the bride and groom's house so they could change and then to the restaurant for dinner. After dinner (which was wonderful) we headed out to a bar to watch football and play more cards. We stayed for a little while but neither of us was used to the smoke and it started bothering both of us. We were home by 11 and I was asleep by 11:30.

The next morning I was up really early and sat down in the lobby writing and watching the high schoolers leave. I was impressed by how little I had heard them. At 10 we had breakfast with his parents and the bride and groom and then headed out. I drove most of the drive home since Jeff was so tired and the time just flew. I don't remember the last time a trip in total went that quick. We had a wonderful time. We spent tons of time with his brother and (now) wife. We met some very nice friends of theirs. We hung out with my in-laws and got to be part of a very sweet wedding. Next they get married in Mexico which I'm looking forward to. Warm weather, sandy beaches, wonderful people. That weekend will be even better than this last one. But I'm still pretty relaxed.

Knitting Challenge

I've joked that I'm the world's slowest knitter. When I first started knitting with my sister, almost three years ago, it took me almost nine months to finish my first scarf. I was so worried about messing up and having to start over. Now I've learned how to fix my work so that is less of a worry but I'm still slow. It took me almost two weeks of intermittent work to complete my first mitten. I won't even begin to estimate how long my first hat took me.

But last night I set up a challenge for myself. I'm heading down to St. Louis this weekend for Jeff's brother's wedding. The dress I'm planning to wear is short sleeved and St. Louis isn't expected to be balmy. So last night I started looking at shawl projects. I found one that estimates as taking 12 hours. I'm going to put that to the test. This afternoon I am running out to the yarn store to find my yarn. And then I'm going to try to finish this thing by Saturday. You would think that this would be plenty of time but remember, I am the world's slowest knitter. My knitting group was very positive so I'm enthused about it. Plus sometimes it's good to challenge yourself. And I'm hedging my bets with a lacier shawl pattern. We'll see if I finish.

Not Sitting Down for It

It has been over five days since I got any good World of Warcraft playing in. Yes, for those interested, I'm going through withdrawl. I had family in all weekend which means I didn't get home until after midnight. Normally if that's the case I can only sneak in two hours before my body decides to shut down. I'm a morning person by nature so by 11:30 I'm normally ready to crash. Pushing myself until 2 or 3 involved lots of caffeine and then some seriously jittery hands.

On Monday I got in an hour of fishing (I'm still at level 150) and some cooking material gathering (I'm not even to 150 on my cooking). But as I was finishing gathering crocolisks (yeah pretty pathetic huh?) a good friend that I hadn't talked to in a while called. I knew that if I continued to play and tried to talk I'd get no where. So I logged off and then talked for over two hours. At 10:30 on a work night I'm not logging back on. Last night was knitting and we ended up hanging out talking until at least 9:45. So tonight I plan to get some play time in. I haven't done dailies in a couple days and if I ever want to hit exalted with Oracles and Ebon Blade I'm going to have to start working on those.

But now I have an issue. In October Jeff's brother is getting married. In Jamaica!!! As told Jeff, of course we have to go. It's family. Can you tell I'm a little excited for this? Then again who wouldn't be excited about this?

And I've decided that it's time to get serious about my weight (again!). I'm not going down there with where I'm at currently. (I've lost and then regained a total of 110 pounds in the last four years. 60 on the loss, 50 on the gain.) So here's where it gets tough. One of my favorite activities (WoW) is sedentary. Add to that the fact that I sit all day at the office. And of course I have the terrible habit of eating in front of the computer.

So I'm writing this down so that all of you are witnesses. No eating in front of the computer. If I want to eat I have to stop playing. That should be a good incentive for me. And then my next thing will be buying a balance ball for home. I know they seem silly but if I can work my stomach muscles (even a little) while playing, it's worth it. Who knows it may even improve my posture. Mixing a bit of exercise with my playtime...sounds like a plan to me.