st. thomas, sea day, and half moon cay

Next stop: St. Thomas

When we got off at St.Thomas we took a bus to Emerald Beach. We had a beautiful time in the water and the sun for about an hour and a half...until it started pouring down rain. So here's a little sharing of our beautiful time in St. Thomas while it was nice outside.


It was a tad bit chilly when I first got in...took a minute to adapt.

That evening we had dinner in the dining room, and then it was the "eurodam's got talent" show. They had the cruise director, art director, and the guitarist acting as "judges" for the show. It was a good time had by all as the judges made jokes and poked fun. We all received "eurodam winner" trophies. Glad we were able to put on some entertainment for the audience.

The next day was a sea day. We spend the day lounging around, I went to a little teams trivia with some of my friends on the ship. Went to afteroon tea. Before dinner I went and watched the guitar player for a while. It was a nice before dinner relaxation time listening to music and reading. After dinner, I caught the end of a marriage game show, sang a little "Ain't no mountain high enough" with the cruise band, stopped by the dessert extravaganza, and spent time time singing in the piano bar with some of my fellow karaoke contestants.

The last port day was at Holland America's private island, Half Moon Cay. It's a nice beach, and they have different water sports equipment you can rent. They also have a beach cookout, and areas for the kids to play. We got back on the ship, showered, watched some guitar playing, went to dinner, and did some more hanging out and singing in the piano bar.

All in all, we had a most wonderful vacation. Looking forward to the next one!

San Juan

The next stop on our ship was San Juan, Puerto Rico. We spent most of the day walking around just enjoying the view and the architecture, and my husband took some pretty awesome pictures.

Prior to heading off on island as we didn't get into port until 1Pm, I went to a cooking class on making cinnamon rolls. We had a nice lunch on the lido deck. Then we headed onto the island.

This is the square where many of the locals were sitting eating lunch:


A random street we were walking down:

Another cool street:


And another:

Grand Turk

We have arrived on the island of grand turk. Josh and I decided that we were not going to book any excursions this cruise, so that we could be free to just relax and enjoy ourselves and do whatever we want. Something nice about the port at Grand turk is that when you get off the boat the beach is literally RIGTH THERE. you just claim a chair and hop in the water. There is no charging extra for beach chairs, pool chairs, etc. We decided to go to a little less busy area of the beach, and josh really enjoyed taking pictures of the waves crashing on the shore, and i enjoyed floating in the water.

God's amazing creation. Can't help but be in awe.

Serenity: I was out there floating like a bobber somewhere.

That was taken from our balcony back on the boat while still in port. We are saying GOODBYE GRAND TURK!

Spend a while relaxing (napping) before dinner. Had a wonderful dinner with our table mates.

Next up: SAN JUAN!

come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me

I woke up to the knowledge that I had no obligations. Just relaxation. Josh was still sleepy so I went up to the lido deck and got an egg white omelette, sweet muesli and coffee...while I sat out in the beautiful sunshine and read my kindle. What a way to start vacation. After breakfast josh and I went to a little meet and greet where we met up with some of the people who had chatted on the cruise board prior to the cruise. I met a sweet sweet couple named Martha and Jerry, who I'm sure you'll hear more about during this vacation blog.

Sometime after that I went to a cooking class called "Flavors of the Eurodam" where different chefs from the specialty restaurants on the ship gave cooking demonstrations. We had lunch after that and then went out and relaxed on the deck in the very nice deck chairs by the pool. Spent a little time in the hot tub where I met a very nice woman named Gayle who I got to know very well over the course of the cruise as well. After the hot tub we fell asleep on our fabulous deck chairs for a while. We relaxed a while before dinner then went back to dinner for night #2.

That evening after dinner I went to go watch karaoke for a while. I sat down in the only open seat, which was by the DJ, not realizing that they were wrapping up for the night, when the DJ thrust a book of songs into my lap asking me to please pick a song, and I had less than a minute, as they hadn't had any women singers that night. So on impulse I opened to the first page, say Shania Twain's "Any man of mine" and said "that one". So next thing I new I was having a good time closing out karaoke for the night and after the song the DJ said "so, who thinks she should be in our Eurodam Superstar competition?" as a form was handed to me. So...followup on that in a few days following on the report of San Juan!

Next up...Grand Turk!!

Vacation...finally!

So, I am finally getting around to posting about our most wonderful vacation that we (Josh and I) took a few weeks ago to the Eastern Caribbean.

We left mid-morning on November 11, 2011 and flew from Albany to Ft.Lauderdale. A direct flight! It was wonderful as I haven't had one of those in years and years! We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale where a van picked us up to take us to the hotel. We got lunch and rested a while. That evening we went to a delicious wood-fired pizza place for dinner with my cousin Jamie and his wife Justine, who are in FLL while Jamie is in PA school there. They picked us up from the hotel and took us back after dinner. It was so nice to get to spend some time with them and getting to know Justine better.

The next day, Saturday, we got up and had breakfast. Around 11 a shuttle took us to the cruise port, where we boarded our Holland America ship, the Eurodam.

Can you see me waving from our balcony? :) We were actually near the back of the ship, but we did have a balcony, which was very nice. It actually only took us about 30 minutes to go through check in and get on our ship, which was very nice because in the past it has taken a few hours at times. We were able to put some of our things in our room immediately, and then scope out the lunch buffet! Every day on the lido buffet for lunch they had a salad bar, sandwich station, and different cuisine (e.g. mexican, italian, chinese, american, etc) at different stations, and then of course a huge desert station with lots of mini desserts to choose from and ice cream.

After we ate we spend some time walking around the ship learning the layout and walking the outside decks prior to setting sail.

We were able to relax in the room for a while and then we had dinner at 8pm. We met our table mates, Jen and Kevin, who were also a young couple, from Ohio. Our table was right by the window at the back of the ship in the dining room, so we were able to watch the waves while we dined.

After that we relaxed as we began our journey! Great start to vacation!

Will post more on Day 1 at sea and ports of call soon!

A light unto my path

As like most other weeks, this one was not less crazy, but was also most wonderful.

Not sure how much I'll be able to type because my arms are shaking from just finishing my WOD. Lately I have been doing so much per diem work that it has been difficult to go to the gym, but I really don't like not doing anything, so I've been trying to make up some WOD's that I can do at home. Plus, the cruise is in two weeks, which means lots of eating delicious food, which means working out before and after is a must!

Yesterdays WOD:

100 burpees: 25 of the not on knees, 75 on knees - Time: 9:05
50 tricep dips off edge of bed
50 reverse crunches

Todays WOD:
5x rounds of:
20 x 3 pulse deep squats
10 straight leg raises laying down holding onto bed
15 L side planks to 5 dumbbell hugs
15 R side planks to 5 dumbbell hugs
20 twist crunches

After the 5 sets:
50 V crunch ups
30 second planks x 4 rounds with 10 second rest in between

So I'm pretty tired.

Monday I got to see an old patient of mine who is doing very well and making more progress than the doctors ever thought he was. I am so blessed and thankful to have even gotten to play a part in his recovery for a period of time, and continue to see his progress as we continue as friends. It's always so awesome to see how God works beyond what Dr's ever thought was possible. And then Monday night I crashed at 7:45. I would be embarrassed if it didn't feel just so good to sleep 9-10 hrs on a weeknight.

Tuesday and Weds were lots of hours of work, doing per diem after the full time job, but I love what I do, thankfully.

Last night we had friends over from church and had a most wonderful time. I will be sad to see them snowbird off to FL for the winter, but am thankful for the time we were able to spend together last night visiting, and eating her most delicious chocolate truffle pie.

Today was a blur of picking out/up primer and paint, going to my friend Chantelle's sons 2 yr old bday party, and starting to paint the dining room. Speaking of painting, it's about time for the second round of primer.

But lastly, there was the huge blessing of two healthy baby boys from two wonderful women at church this week. I can't wait to meet them both! Life is such a blessing, and I don't want to take any moment for granted.

Thanks for reading!

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" Psalm 119:105

This week

Wow what a week it has been. So many great things happening, so little time to sit down and write about them.

I worked per diem a few days this week, so while that counts for 12+ hour days working, I am very blessed to have the opportunity to work and have a stable job, as well as some extra on the side. Plus it doesn't hurt at all that I love what I do and enjoy the patients I see.

Thursday night I was blessed to have the opportunity go to Jeni's home for dinner (Jeni is the director of Girlnetic Albany) and meet with a number of wonderful women who are taking active leadership roles in Girlnetic as well as the founder of Girlnetic, Jonaliza. Jeni was a wonderful hostess. She made squash apple soup with sliced baguettes with local cheddar cheese baked and for dessert pretzel rods dipped in chocolate. She even sent me home with leftovers! :) I am so looking forward to being more actively involved in Girlnetic and getting to know all of these wonderful women better.

Today we had our Capital District Christian Conference at Clifton Park CC and it was a wonderful time and fellowship and learning. It is so encouraging to see committed Christians come together in one place with a common goal. We had a number of area "keynote" speakers, some breakout sessions and time to spend visiting. Our good friends came in from New Hampshire as well to show their support. Again, we are so BLESSED!

I am so thankful for a family who is ALWAYS there for me, even though they are so far away. I love that they are there for me when I am happy or sad, or upset, or anything, but always help to remind me to keep focused on what is most important, and to be patient and trust in God.

I'm sure there will be many more blessings tomorrow, which I look forward to experiencing and reflecting upon. I thank God for all he does in my life!