Way Back...Yesterday...

No WBW post today... but....

They're upgrading our room right now (story in a sec if time) so I have a minute to tell you a story! Thanks for the comments btw! :)

So, our beach at this hotel is famous for snorkeling. It's actually got a biological reserve right on the beach roped off so guests can have snorkel equip for free and swim around, in awe of all the amazing underwater life.

Okay, so... the beach looks like this from left to right: piton, beach with deep water and platform where people are jumping/diving into ocean, roped off swim area with crystal clear water, dock where water taxis come in (a major drop off from swim area), roped off biological reserve for snorkeling, other piton. So, we're nestled in the middle of the two pitons. Okay.... So cruise ships come in on Wednesdays to another area on the island and take excursions over here to snorkel. I wanted to make sure I got to snorkel yesterday before the crowd came in (obviously).

So, after looking quite hilarious in flippers, mask and snorkel, we stepped into the biological reserve.. just us.. We saw some AMAZING fish, coral, etc right off the bat! Being absolute chicken sh*t, I stayed near Eric, though and kept glancing at the murky deep boat area..ya know...just to make sure there wasn't anything lurking over there... ;)

I glanced down and saw the most amazing snakelike thing! I started sputtering through my snorkel "mmmph...smmake...mmmph!" Eric saw it and kept watching it with me. I thought "wow, he thinks this is really cool too!" I later found out he thought it may have been something he read about called the fer-del-ance snake. (google it-it's nuts). I doubt it was, but it seriously did look like one (telling myself it wasn't so I'll get in the water today). Brought over by plantation owners (I think), the snake isn't native, but is one of the most deadliest, member of the pit vipers, and very aggressive. I just thought he was super interested in it, too... *shaking head at self*

So, every few minutes, I'd haphazardly glance to my left to see the murky deep water to make sure everything was on the up and up (and Eric kept his eye on the snake)...but I hadnt looked for awhile and was watching in amusement as two fish fought below me. That's when I looked...and saw the shape of the head....and then the fin....and no, I am not kidding you. It wasn't huge.. but it wasn't small.. I'd say 4 feet and right there on the edge of the bouys demarking the boat dock area (25 feet or so from me)...and it was definitely a shark swimming parallel to me (how I saw it's whole body). I surfaced and started scratching Eric's leg and threw the mouthpiece out studdering "SHARK!" With that, I saw we were the only two people in the whole area...and we were far out. I went back under, looked, and it was gone. By this time, I was already moving toward shallow water at an insanely stupid-human-bait-pace.

Eric said he thought I'd been kidding until he saw I was headed toward shore and then the look on my face... b/c I came up for air, looked behind me to make sure he was there headed toward shore too (b/c that made sense in my head: warn Eric, both rapidly abort snorkeling), and saw he was still pretty far out.. The only thing I could say was "......I'm...LIKE FREAKING OUT!" Being the smarter, calmer one in the sitch, he had a large pocket knife thing he pulled out and slowly edged toward shore keeping his eyes moving around him. Me on the other hand apparently thought I could outswim the shark. Yeah. Once I got shallow enough, I fell into some coral, thus making my rear burn for about 45 min afterward....*laughing at myself*

Anyway, I have to admit I was pretty happy Eric believed me...b/c I know what I saw even if others think I'm nuts...but I didn't want him to think I was nuts. At dinner last night, we were talking to another couple we'd met and the guy was like "Makes sense... Biological reserve right next to some murky, deep water... That's kinda a no brainer, right?! I felt justified...hahaha.. Needless to say if we snorkel today, it will be with lotsa other people. We don't have to be faster than the shark...just faster than them. ;) Kidding...er...kinda...

Guys, in all seriousness, even picturing what I saw makes my heart race. I used to want to go down in a shark cage someday.. I don't really know about that anymore!

Okay on to our room...We knew they were in the process of a completely CUHRAZY renovation so we really didn't expect extravagant by any means...but we had two twin beds pushed together..haha.. We gave it a shot, but upon mentioning it this morning, the staff was more than happy to upgrade us to a renovated room just up the hill! Awesome!! :)

Alright, I'll go now.. Sad today is our last full day. We leave tomorrow late afternoon and will be back in T town on Friday morning. Last night's dinner was simply breathtaking... The pictures we took (we're on like 1100 in total this week btw) are all postcards. All. *sigh*

Have a great day, everyone!!! :) Thanks again for the comments! Makes my shark diatribe worth it if I think you're reading...haha! :)

"Are you on your honeymoon?"

-the question we've been asked aboooooout 150 times. per day. haha! We laugh every time. Last night we met a couple from DC here for the guy's birthday (married couple) and another couple here for their year anniversary. We were all laughing at the "Are you on your honeymoon" question all of us keep getting...

We just arrived at Jalousie Plantation (our final hotel) from Discovery at Marigot Bay! Loved Discovery and met some fab people. Since we're at Jalousie early, our room isnt quite ready (hence the emailing really fast). Well, I can blog in depth when I return but.. since I left you...some highlights...

*Jump Up (not Jump Off like I called it) was AWESOME however the local rum may or may not have had an affect on our 7am tour wake up call.. Comedy. The tour was amazing though. Spencer (tour guide) drove us to fishing villages, a volcano, a waterfall we swam in, etc. He stopped at numerous roadside food stands to let us sample the local cuisine. My remnant rum tummy just made me smile and say "no thanks"...haha..

* Some friends from Oklahoma found a local bar where they had a bonfire and karaoke..oh and amy winehouse was there! HILARIOUS! We didnt see her, but they did and took a photo with her. Stories to follow.

* Discovery at Marigot Bay was like an absolute oasis. I cant even write enough about it right now so I won't even try....

Things we still plan to do:
* see Diamond Falls (close to our hotel)
* have sunset dinner at Ladera (look up the resort.. they have one exposed wall on the mountain in each room!!)
* snorkel (duh)
* explore. explore. explore.

....and beach it up as long as we can!! We're having an amazing time and either I'm in denial or we still really like each other after all this time together- a bonus. :) Hope you're having a great week, everyone!!!

Live, from Rodney Bay!

Hi everyone!! Just got on a computer at the hotel to check a few things and decided to blog! :) We're staying at Coco Palm right now then will transition to Discovery in the center and ending finally at the southern end of the island! :)

It's beeeeautiful here! We had some issues with the flight. Sitting in Tulsa, realized our flight was wwwwwaaay delayed, opted to try to get on one in 10 minutes.. made it.. however, we didnt think our bags would. BUT, THEY DID! We made it to Miami complete with bags at around 2am Miami time. Then, headed for the fabulous St. Lucia and arrived yesterday! And get this...a guy I went to law school with was on our plane and is staying right down the road with his wife. HILARIOUS. Such a small world, right?!

Anyway, tonight there's a party down the way.. I keep calling it "Jump Off" but I think I'm totally wrong.. haha.. We're going to go regardless as to what it's called.

Today, we walked around and explored the area then headed to the beach where we plopped down all day long. With tourism season just barely over here, there are definitely not many people. It's rather nice-not overcrowded, no wait for things, but still plenty of activity. The locals are so great-people will stop their car if you seem confused and ask if you need directions.

As much as I harassed Eric about having someone at the airport to pick us up, it was a really good idea. He drove us the hour to our hotel and told us all about the history along the way-wars, the people, the food, drove us past supermarkets, etc. We booked a tour with the same company tomorrow to see things like the volcano, waterfalls (my fav) and some other stuff.

Overall, I'm just so glad to be here. So relaxing... :) I'll try to blog more when I get a chance and hopefully it wont be so rushed.

Welcome to the weekend, everyone!!

Most importantly, I haven't been injured...yet. haha! Oh, and despite having an "international calling plan" my phone definitely does not work. at all. Arg. Sprint will be getting a few kind words upon my return..haha!

Love from the Caribbean! :)

WBW-Vacation Edition

A long, long time ago.. say... 10 years.. (good Gawd, my reunion is this year. Great reminder here. *sigh*)..a group of recent grads went to Cancun. How we got our parents to ever agree to this, I'm still not certain. The advent of google has definitely brought the ability for parents to actually research these "senior trips" more. Back then, that would have likely provided the reason I was grounded for even asking to go. haha! Nah, we were a good group really. It wasn't anything like you see on MTV spring break these days, that's for sure. 

I don't remember how many people went from our school...maybe 25? Some other area schools went at the same time and stayed at the same place, so it was like Tulsa/Owasso/Catoosa descended upon Mexico for one week. These were the four girls who made up our room-Lisa, me, Blaze and Shawna. :) You'll notice I got some of my hair braided. Yes, that's right. A random local used her comb to braid my hair and put beads in it. *shudder* What was I thinking?! 

You'll also notice how much we looked like high schoolers...and how much I totally think today's high school girls DO NOT look like high schoolers. Am I right here?! 

My friend, Chris, got a funny hat. I made a funny face. It was a funny picture. Whatever. (You can tell our room was super clean). Chris and I are still friends and he even dated my friend in law school for a couple years... funny! I even joined Chi O due in part to his awesome big sister, Julie! 

High school boys are so mature when there's a girl (Shawna from pic above) buried in the sand. Yes, I posted this b/c if you even remotely knew him, you'd laugh b/c he was the perpetual joker... The guy in the middle was one of my best high school guy friends. We even reconnected (thank you, myspace) last year and chaperoned our old high school's prom! See pic. He decided to go into something dangerous in the Coast Guard (recon missions and stuff) and sadly, we lost touch again. :( Doubt he'll be at the reunion...boo... 

Will my children go on a senior trip? That's a toughie... If they're gonna make bad decisions, they're gonna make them regardless of where they are. But, dude.. I can bet the money from my trip would have been spent a little better in say...Europe. haha... 

I'm almost packed!!! YAY!! I took the day off tomorrow even though we don't leave til later just to get stuff finished. So thankful I thought about that! 

I dunno if I'll blog again before I leave... depends how much I avoid things tomorrow....I'm getting excited!!! Ipod charged. Magazines packed. New Moon (reading it again) packed. Clothes...mostly packed. haha! 

"Somebody call NINE ONE ONE!!!"

Sorry to break it to ya, but the blog isn't as exciting as the title... I was driving to DSW for a last ditch attempt at finding a cute bag/purse and my new fav song, Fire Burning, was on...so of course I was jamming like a ridiculous fool...when I saw the girl beside me jamming to the.same.song right at the "Somebody call 911" line! We met eyes, got nervous, then realized we were both listening to the same thing and started laughing... It was an awesome moment. Fact. 

Annnnnd I found the CUTEST bag!! It's a little Nine West number (new thing: calling things "numbers"- like "That's a hot little number." Do it; it's fun). It's yellow! And I may have just taken a pic w my phone and posted it to avoid packing...

I really DO want to go on vacation.. I just want someone else to pack for me...

Oh and fyi...if you had any idea how much stuff I got done at work today, you'd totally hire me... not that I want to be hired...but well, you'd be impressed. Yeah. 

When I get back, the first thing I'm doing is seeing this movie.. b/c everytime I see the preview, I laugh so hard it's really embarrassing.. Just sayin...

Fine. Fine. I'm going to pack. Blah. Oh, and don't think I'm gonna avoid WBW.. It will be posted, my friends.. I just have to find it. Are you reading this? If so, why aren't you posting for Way Back Wednesday?! :) Stacia came up with it and it's genius! Find a photo. Tell a story. Hell, find an internet picture of something you consider "way back"...Whatever! If you want others to see it and you're not already linked to my blog, just leave a comment to say you did it on my WBW post tomorrow! :) 

And while I'm on that, I noticed I've added some followers in the past couple weeks! Fun stuff and super interesting new blogfriends. Thanks so much-I love reading your blogs! :) I think I'll kinda miss the blog while I'm on vacation...betting I'll find a business center and feed my blog addiction at some point... haha!

Oh...update... new neighbor. Girl. Seems cool. Listens to loud, but good music (which is okay b/c she's likely unpacking). She hasn't done anything annoying yet. Will keep you advised. New neighbors make me nervous. 

Things I have done since yesterday

1. Stayed up til 1:45 am cleaning the kitchen, etc. I have issues with coming home to a messy house and avoid it at all costs. I also avoid packing. Soo...cleaning wins.

2. Got my VS swimsuit in (yes, another one...and thank you, Meredith, for your comment on my last post b/c I so agree!). The first one I got from VS DID.NOT.FIT. Good news= this one does!! It's just a basic black bikini and it was uber cheap!

3. Took back a swimsuit I got at AE. It was the first one I got and basically it was out of defeat. I was tired. It fit. It was on sale. I gave in. Then, when I got a couple more, I realized I didn't even like the AE one and it was a waste of money. I took it back and the lady said "We don't return swimwear." I said "Okay... but.. could you please show me where it says that on your return policy?" She looked over it and replied "Lemme call someone.." Three minutes later: "Ma'am, we can return it." I said "I know. Learn your store policies!" (Okay, I really didn't. I was actually very nice, but just sayin...haha) :) I'm a lawyer. I read fine print. 

4. Ate at the new Charlestons out by Bass Pro. Once the patio opens, will be even better! :) And no one knows it's open yet, so go now if you're interested. :)

5. Felt very confident when leaving work that I'd get everything done before we fly away Wed night....until someone said "See you at the meeting tomorrow?" I obviously didn't know about said meeting. I spend the evening working at home so I could attend said meeting. Arg. 

6. Officially have someone to pick us up at the airport in St. Lucia. Seriously hoping he has a sign with at least one of our names on it. I would like to take a photo of this. 

7. Gave myself a pedicure. (I don't like strangers touching my feet.)

8. Looked for a casual purse to carry down there (think cheap, bright) and still no luck. Advice welcomed. 

9. Still love the Coxes on Here Come the Newlyweds. I should abbreviate. HCTN? Yeah. Done. 

10. Looked at my suitcase and thought "I should really get on that..." hahaha...

(And I paid my student loans and had a mini mental crisis per usual..haha.. Happy 1st of the Month!) Hope you had a good Monday, peeps. 

Weekend Recap!

Yo yo yo! (Yes, I said that). How was the weekend?! 

Friday night, Eric and I headed downtown for Tulsa Tough. Good times! We met up with Carrie and Chris down there and watched along with a TON of other people! :) 

Okay, so we decided to grab sandwiches at Dilly Deli (I'd never been). They were way busy with the bike race going on and way understaffed.. so it was understandable that our order took abooooout 20 minutes..although it was annoying. Then, we got outside, proceeded to eat and I realized my turkey sandwich had.no.turkey. Awesome. I practically growled (I'm a cranky hungry person). Eric went back to defend my honor...or rather get my money back...and they gave him a gift card.  :)

Soooo we used it to get beer....(Chris and I below) haha!

The guy gave us a weird look and just crossed off the amount and deducted the beer...I found that absolutely hilarious for some reason... I'll go ahead and give them a thumbs up for their good customer service...and beer. 
Cheestastic! 

 The professional bikers were fast.. in case you wondered... 

Saturday, I had a hair appointment (which made me miss the baby lovin at Jenny bugs.. boo) then had to run what felt like a zillion errands. Eric met me and we knocked out some vacay stuff (shopping, printing itineraries, blah blah) I may have purchased another swimsuit. May have. But, it's cute and it was on sale. (rationalizing). Then, we went to Asahi for dinner b/c I was about to either eat Eric or kill him I was so hungry... (again with the cranky hungry person).

And dude.. Look at all the food you get there for like 10 bucks! And my soup isn't even IN the picture! If you haven't been there, it's just off 71st (more like 69th-ish) and Memorial behind Toy's R Us. It's a little hole in the wall sushi place, but it's pretty good and it's usually packed (always a good sign).  

(I didnt have my camera on Saturday, hence the palm centro pics)

Neither one of us were feeling overly lively so we headed to the Riverwalk for some gelato (fantastic) and walked around a little before calling it a night. The guy who built the riverwalk is a genius. Period. 

I told Eric to make an excited face. This is what I got... I'm just gonna go ahead and apologize now for our ultra cheesy vacation pics b/c they're gonna happen...a lot. :)

Today was laundry day. Alright, my apartment is charming. It really is. It reminds me of something that belongs in a big city-renovated, wood floors...anyway...Sometimes its charmingness (yes, I made up a word) is kinda overshadowed by the fact that it has no washer/dryer. Blah. Well, it has one of each, but they're little and they're 1.50 each. So when your laundry gets out of control, it's an issue when you can get like 3 pairs of jeans in the washer and spend like 5 bucks to wash and dry them. 

So, I packed up the vehicular, grabbed G dawg and headed to mom's for a bit. Beforehand, I dumped the clothes on closet floor so I could sort them...and this is so perfectly demonstrative of every time I try to be productive around the apt... She sits in the middle of whatever I'm doing like "Whhhaadup, mom?! Look at me!" *sigh* :)

Hope you had a great weekend!! And did you see the preview of the New Moon movie on the MTV movie awards?! I cant wait til November!! I think I may re-read the book on vacay...Yes, I realize what you're thinking if you don't read the books.. and my only response is: read.the.books. 

New Fun Photo Site...

Read about it in Women's Health today...It's called Be Funky! It's free and I've already saved it on my favs! Anyway, here are just three of the effects! How fun, right?!

Go play!!! Hope you're having a great weekend!

"I'll be back.." (and be more interesting hopefully).

I saw Terminator last night with Eric. Good stuff. It actually was pretty decent. The cheesy part came when Arnold showed up. Yeah. haha.. Comedy. I was going to head to the Utica concert stuff, but my allergies were practically screaming "GO OUTSIDE AND YOU'LL DIE!" so I opted to stay in the a/c.

I skipped lunch today in order to get some shiznit done and I wasn't that hungry. So of course, I'm starving now. *sigh*

Plans for the weekend? Me? Well..since you asked...haha.. likely hitting up Tulsa Tough at some point, have a hair appt and getting laundry done for my trip!!! YAY! Things that bug: Why is it that the day before a hair appt, I always feel like my hair looks good? Aggravating....

I started this blog earlier and thought "Hey, maybe I'll get more exciting.." Nope. Sorry. Didnt happen. But, have a great weekend!!!

My body is a wonderland...

I laughed at my title. B/c I have a weird sense of humor.

Here I sit and I feel like I spilled water on my right thigh. Did I? No. Yet, over and over I look to make sure. Why? Oooh b/c for the past couple weeks, my thigh has felt bizarrely wet off and on. Thanks to my friend, google, I now know it's due to my back injury in all likelihood. Wet leg brought to you courtesy of....nerve damage! YEEHAW! It should go away. If not, I'll call the doctor. (See I spoke too soon when I said I was done). Poop. haha.. Oh well, could be worse, right?! It feels so bizarre!!!

While I'm on the subject of stuff like this, you know what has helped my back more than anything? Butts n guts. Yup. Making my core stronger seems to have taken any remnant pain out of my back. It's awesome! I didn't really put two and two together until a girl I always talk to in my class was discussing her upcoming back surgery (her third one and she's 35). She was like "this is the only thing that makes it feel better...working out my core..." I realized she was right. Kinda cool, me thinks. We both always hang out in the back and exchange "areyoufrigginkidding" glances as the instructor yells with a chipper tone "Okay, just 50 more!"

Yeah, that was a minute or two of your life you'll never get back. Sorry about that.

Did you watch SYTYCD?! It's on again tonight! The final two cities before the real show starts next week! Tyce was an a**hole, but I laughed. A lot.

Did you hear about the plane crash at the skydive place in Skiatook? Everyone was okay, but that's where I went skydiving! Cuhrazy!!! I remember when I went, the camera guy (I bought a video) was supposed to jump out with us. He leaned up and the pilot saw his chute was partially out of the bag! That's BAAAAD! If he would have opened the door to jump, the chute would have caught the wind, opened and likely crashed us. My tandem guy said "dont worry-we would have jumped and survived." I wasn't scared til then. haha! We had to go down so the camera guy could get another chute. When we landed, my tandem guy was like "She got scared. We had to come back down" (only kidding obviously). That just hacked me off so I was determined to go back up. Such a fun experience! I should convert my video to dvd so I can put in on here... :)

Yeah, that's all I've got for you today...

Way Back Wednesday (WBW) :)

I told you we had a school bus... Please note it was called Baller Preparatory...Wow..haha! The bus was our intro as we entered the stage behind it (like we were on the bus) to Outkast's Rosa Parks .(which I'm now listening and dancing to on my sofa).

And for another WBW, for those of you who don't know, Kendall Bell is in what is now Bayless Plaza. When seniors finish their last final, they ring the bell to symbolize being DONE! :) I heard that bell ring many times before it was my turn. The seniors in my sorority all waited for everyone to be done with finals and walked over together and rang it then took a pic in front of the alumni center (which I totally couldn't find tonight).  Then, I went back and rung it with Blaze, too, when she was done with finals. :) What's funny... I forgot to ring it after my law school finals! I know, right?! Either that or it was under construction. I feel like the latter was the case actually...

Anyway, here I am sometime in early May 2003! 
Happy WBW! 

Back from Long Weekend + 8 Days til Vacay=Not Productive

My office isn't that far from the bathroom. At all. I mean.. It's probably 100 steps or so. So, why do I wait until I'm about to BURST to get up and go?! I do it a lot.... I act like it's the most inconvenient thing in the world. It's a bizarre self induced annoyance...

Also, I've been keeping a hair tie on my wrist lately and just looked and saw there were TWO. Um.. I know there weren't two earlier. Maybe they're multiplying. *shrug* Or maybe I had one already laying on my desk that I added without noticing. But, I'd rather think they're freakishly multiplying.

I booked our hotel for Miami (finally!). Did I tell you we're staying a night in Miami on the way down to vacay? So, now we just have to book one in NYC for the way back. (See, I told you it wasn't the most convenient, albeit affordable enough to make it worth it). Here's the deal. The Miami thing wont be a big deal. We land late at night. We take off early evening the next day. That's time to sleep in, eat some lunch and head to the airport. Cool. However, NYC is a different story, folks. We land late (think > 10pm -yes, I used the "greater than" sign.) at ONE airport and then take off at 6am from ANOTHER airport. Given customs, luggage and taxi ride to the second airport, we'll likely be in a hotel room for aboooout 4.5 hours. We're debating about a plan of action. We thought about shackin at the airport..haha.. b/c if we're at all delayed, there went the hotel room. Did you know there's a whole website devoted to that?! The poll to the side is hilarious. Anyway, we'll end up at a hotel, I'm sure.. but sheesh.. It's frustrating to check in, nap n check out again! (I just had a "Pretty Woman" type image.. nervous).

There's a guy in the office next to me going on and on about politics and how "it's all about stroke." I seriously am holding back an inappropriate comment.

Happy Tuesday, peeps! Oh, and thanks for the compliments on the swimsuit btw! :)