I'll be doing a stitching update this weekend-- probably Sunday. Erich's dad celebrates his birthday this weekend, and Erich's taking him out for a full round of golf starting at 9 a.m. I, on the other hand, will be avoiding the forecasted 90+ degrees and humidity and will spend the day stitching in front of the TV.
So yeah... stitching updates & photos Sunday. For now: SBQ's. :)
June 14, 2006: How many cross stitch books do you own and how often do you use them? I actually do not own any books dealing with technique for cross stitch. To date, I really haven't done enough specialty stitch work where I'd need one. If I need to reference anything, I just head to the 'net. I do own some collections books, though-- Teresa Wentzler's fantasy collection (which got a ton of use as I backstitched The Castle), her Christmas collection, and a beautiful Asian motifs book that Jason and Jen gave me for my birthday (in which I already am scoping for a project late next year once I get some obligation stitching done).
June 21, 2006: Have you ever used a magnifying glass while stitching? If so, did you find it helpful? When I was in elementary school, my mom would have me stitch in front of her magnifying makeup mirror so that she could see what I was doing to help me. She was in denial of her need for glasses at that point. :) I don't currently use one, but I'm thinking of purchasing one for the over-one stitching I have over several projects these days to help me stitch them a bit faster.
June 29, 2006: What do you do with your charts once you've stitched them? Do you keep them or dispose of them? If you keep them, do you organize them in a way that is different from the way you keep your unstitched charts? I work from photocopies so I can highlight as I go. Those get tossed in the trash. I do keep the originals if they're in good shape. (my original copy of The Castle is so battered it will be tossed... but I have it anyway in the collection mentioned above). Right now, I don't really have enough completed charts to organize them differently-- but I'll probably create a binder of them at some point.
July 5, 2006: What is the biggest mishap you have had with your stitching material (i.e. spillages)? In March of this year, about half a bottle of Diet Coke that I hadn't twisted closed properly spilled all over The Castle in my work bag. Thankfully, I noticed it very quickly (probably a half hour after it happened) and immediately soaked it once I returned home. I soaked the entire piece in a 9x13 glass baking dish with some Dawn soap, gently rinsed it, and placed it flat on a towel to dry. All of the damage came out. :)
Considering how often I stitch with an open glass of soda next to me, I'm very lucky.
July 12, 2006: Since you started blogging, have you noticed any difference in your stitching habits? Tell us about them. For me, it's not a change in my habits-- it's just completely opened the doors to new avenues in stitching that I'd otherwise not know about. My blog wasn't created for stitching-- it was created to help me work through some things in my head back in 2001. When I started stitching again at the end of 2004, it was just one of those life topics I started including in my writing. :)
The connection to other stitchers is wonderful- the encouragement keeps me going. Feedback has been so helpful-- through responses to my blog entries, I learned about the Rotation Stitchers board, and started stitching in a rotation style. I've discovered many new designers. I learned about Silkweaver Fabrics. I learned (finally) that no, you didn't stitch everything on evenweave like you did on Aida (aka "over one"). And starting later this year, I'll be participating in a stitching round robin for the first time.
Above all, I've met a ton of stitchers worldwide with whom I can connect on a hobby that gives me a ton of satisfaction. And that's the best part of all. :)
- Mel.
13 July 2006
10 July 2006
Just tired of it all... (rant)
This entry will most likely border on the TMI for a bit... just for forewarning. If you're not one to tolerate discussions of bodily functions and the annoyances they sometimes cause, forgive this doctor's daughter for an open entry here, and just skip it...
I've been in one of those Oh God the Admin Is Cranky moods today. It started shortly after I arrived at my desk, and has just continued throughout the day. This is thanks to a number of factors, all of which are annoyances on their own, but together add up to just... gah.
Problem One: The Post-Move Stupidity... Again After last summer, I swore if I had to deal with another department move, I'd make sure that it wouldn't de-evolve into chaos again. Last year was pure hell. Sadly, despite everyone claiming that it's been a much smoother move this year, I'm not seeing much of a difference. I've now been back from vacation for a total of four working days. I have yet to have more than a five minute stretch without someone in my office with a complaint or a problem or some random issue that couldn't be solved simply by walking around and FINDING THE SOLUTION (i.e. "where is the fax machine?!?"). And I just can't get a break to get my shit done.
I seriously wonder how some people survive in the world. I wonder how they manage to raise children. Are they just that incapable of trying to find the answer themselves? And why are they so shocked, after seeing (I kid you not) a line five people deep outside my office, that I might actually say "I don't know where the new conference room XYZ is-- I haven't had a chance to leave my desk to walk around yet and find it"?
Add to that the problems that I'm now getting blamed for by my managers that THEY created, and I've just been trying to band-aid to keep myself sane: they take our department's meeting room off the outlook planner at large... well, then Facilities instructs me to manage reservations for the room. And then my managers bitch about the temporary system-- which I clearly said was temporary and would be adjusted upon feedback- system to do said reservations. Why yes, BiggerBoss, it does cause a lot of confusion- not to mention extra email and work for me. "well just put a calendar outside the room for people to sign up for it"-- then just put it back on OUTLOOK, for gods sake! And don't complain that people might think they have to ask permission for supplies if they're in a locked room-- that's what YOU asked Facilities to do! You required the supply cabinets to go into a room which has a door that automatically locks... and also tell me to put a computer in there that's on a roller cart with no way to otherwise secure it.
That scream of pain you hear is me pounding my head into my new office wall. I'm breaking it in, you see.
Problem Two: The Digestive System Since birth, I've been one of those people with an intestinal tract that works on its own schedule, regardless of what really would be ideal. Unfortunately, if I stray too much off of my normal routine and intake of liquids or food, it costs me dearly. Since the Bahamas trip ended, I've been on an every-two-day constipation from hell and then full body cleanout stretch (with all the stomach pains and bathroom trips). I know that it originated from getting dehydrated while I was there, despite all attempts to drink water by large bottlesfull. But last week, I wound up having two nights of really random and short-lived fever spikes as some bug gets through my system. I'm tired of feeling bloated. I'm tired of unproductive trips to the bathroom. I'm really tired of the side effects of Immodium that last for a week after one dose, even if it does help in the short term. And quite honestly, I'm getting really sick of having any thoughts whatsoever about my bowels and the movements therein. I don't feel shitty enough for it to be a case of Montezuma's Revenge. Well... perhaps it is that shitty... but in the literal sense. I have no idea.
But it needs to end. Now.
Problem Three: Wedding Planning The couples are getting married. Everyone's got their dates, their dresses, their sites, etc. Me? Yeah... well... I'll get there.
No change in the planning, other than what could possibly be considered an actual fight with Erich (so rare, it's notable)... all of a sudden last week he was pushing to get this moving and I was (due to the preceding two issues) just NOT in any shape to deal with it and fighting tears as he kept pushing at me until I did the only thing I could to get it OFF of my plate of issues: "well then you call her."
And so he did. And immediately, thanks to both how I felt physically and emotionally, I had a visit to the toilet to puke.
This is where I now am with the stress level of planning my wedding- it's causing me to throw up.
All of a sudden, my mother's changing her tune... oh no, her expectations for the guest list were only "suggestions." Yeah... um... no. They weren't. Any explanations I gave for a small wedding were met with "I want you to do what you want to do for your wedding... BUT..."
The problem with my wedding is that I'm well aware that there's this attitude of "well do whatever the hell you want," but that in reality, the grief I'll get for doing whatever I want is simply not worth it to me. I realize I can't please everyone here. But I'm trying to avoid the blatant issues that, through experience, are GOING to come up.
Add to that my own emotions about just getting it over with and eloping vs. some "where the hell did THAT come from" dream of having a wedding day with everyone around is just tearing me apart. It seems like such a fucking waste of money to spend on one day, but it seems like such a fucking waste to not celebrate what is, quite frankly, probably the last celebration for MY life that involves both sides of my family.
The one good thing I have to say has come out of the discussion between Erich and my mom-- she gave us a budget. Finally. So at least I have THAT to work with, and thankfully that can lead to a lot more leverage in my direction.
So much for feeling happy and relaxed from vacation. I'm already more stressed out than I was before I left.
I've been in one of those Oh God the Admin Is Cranky moods today. It started shortly after I arrived at my desk, and has just continued throughout the day. This is thanks to a number of factors, all of which are annoyances on their own, but together add up to just... gah.
Problem One: The Post-Move Stupidity... Again After last summer, I swore if I had to deal with another department move, I'd make sure that it wouldn't de-evolve into chaos again. Last year was pure hell. Sadly, despite everyone claiming that it's been a much smoother move this year, I'm not seeing much of a difference. I've now been back from vacation for a total of four working days. I have yet to have more than a five minute stretch without someone in my office with a complaint or a problem or some random issue that couldn't be solved simply by walking around and FINDING THE SOLUTION (i.e. "where is the fax machine?!?"). And I just can't get a break to get my shit done.
I seriously wonder how some people survive in the world. I wonder how they manage to raise children. Are they just that incapable of trying to find the answer themselves? And why are they so shocked, after seeing (I kid you not) a line five people deep outside my office, that I might actually say "I don't know where the new conference room XYZ is-- I haven't had a chance to leave my desk to walk around yet and find it"?
Add to that the problems that I'm now getting blamed for by my managers that THEY created, and I've just been trying to band-aid to keep myself sane: they take our department's meeting room off the outlook planner at large... well, then Facilities instructs me to manage reservations for the room. And then my managers bitch about the temporary system-- which I clearly said was temporary and would be adjusted upon feedback- system to do said reservations. Why yes, BiggerBoss, it does cause a lot of confusion- not to mention extra email and work for me. "well just put a calendar outside the room for people to sign up for it"-- then just put it back on OUTLOOK, for gods sake! And don't complain that people might think they have to ask permission for supplies if they're in a locked room-- that's what YOU asked Facilities to do! You required the supply cabinets to go into a room which has a door that automatically locks... and also tell me to put a computer in there that's on a roller cart with no way to otherwise secure it.
That scream of pain you hear is me pounding my head into my new office wall. I'm breaking it in, you see.
Problem Two: The Digestive System Since birth, I've been one of those people with an intestinal tract that works on its own schedule, regardless of what really would be ideal. Unfortunately, if I stray too much off of my normal routine and intake of liquids or food, it costs me dearly. Since the Bahamas trip ended, I've been on an every-two-day constipation from hell and then full body cleanout stretch (with all the stomach pains and bathroom trips). I know that it originated from getting dehydrated while I was there, despite all attempts to drink water by large bottlesfull. But last week, I wound up having two nights of really random and short-lived fever spikes as some bug gets through my system. I'm tired of feeling bloated. I'm tired of unproductive trips to the bathroom. I'm really tired of the side effects of Immodium that last for a week after one dose, even if it does help in the short term. And quite honestly, I'm getting really sick of having any thoughts whatsoever about my bowels and the movements therein. I don't feel shitty enough for it to be a case of Montezuma's Revenge. Well... perhaps it is that shitty... but in the literal sense. I have no idea.
But it needs to end. Now.
Problem Three: Wedding Planning The couples are getting married. Everyone's got their dates, their dresses, their sites, etc. Me? Yeah... well... I'll get there.
No change in the planning, other than what could possibly be considered an actual fight with Erich (so rare, it's notable)... all of a sudden last week he was pushing to get this moving and I was (due to the preceding two issues) just NOT in any shape to deal with it and fighting tears as he kept pushing at me until I did the only thing I could to get it OFF of my plate of issues: "well then you call her."
And so he did. And immediately, thanks to both how I felt physically and emotionally, I had a visit to the toilet to puke.
This is where I now am with the stress level of planning my wedding- it's causing me to throw up.
All of a sudden, my mother's changing her tune... oh no, her expectations for the guest list were only "suggestions." Yeah... um... no. They weren't. Any explanations I gave for a small wedding were met with "I want you to do what you want to do for your wedding... BUT..."
The problem with my wedding is that I'm well aware that there's this attitude of "well do whatever the hell you want," but that in reality, the grief I'll get for doing whatever I want is simply not worth it to me. I realize I can't please everyone here. But I'm trying to avoid the blatant issues that, through experience, are GOING to come up.
Add to that my own emotions about just getting it over with and eloping vs. some "where the hell did THAT come from" dream of having a wedding day with everyone around is just tearing me apart. It seems like such a fucking waste of money to spend on one day, but it seems like such a fucking waste to not celebrate what is, quite frankly, probably the last celebration for MY life that involves both sides of my family.
The one good thing I have to say has come out of the discussion between Erich and my mom-- she gave us a budget. Finally. So at least I have THAT to work with, and thankfully that can lead to a lot more leverage in my direction.
So much for feeling happy and relaxed from vacation. I'm already more stressed out than I was before I left.
Webring cleaning
Back on Diary-X, I'd maintained a little webring called "A Glimpse of Time." It's happily still going, although I'd forgotten to update some things with my new template (and with the demise of Diary-X).
So if anyone's interested in joining or rejoining, all of the links are now fixed, and the new homepage is here.
- Mel.
So if anyone's interested in joining or rejoining, all of the links are now fixed, and the new homepage is here.
- Mel.
03 July 2006
Now off Carribean time...
My computer has been annoying for the past two weeks, so photo uploads are slow. I'm not sure what the problem is, but every time I play World of Warcraft, my computer just shuts OFF suddenly. I can start it right back up, but it'll shut off again if I play WoW. I imagine something's overheating. :(
In any case, Erich and I have now moved my computer downstairs to the living room for the summer (with the AC), and I can actually sit here to write entries and do little projects without sweating to death.
So... the Bahamas... are you ready for an all-in-one recap? Looooong reading ahead.... :)
We had a ton of fun. It was a very expensive week, which now Erich and I are seriously in the hole for until... well... at least October. But we had a blast.
The photos for this, by the way, are not at Flickr. I'll be uploading some of my favorites of the trip to Flickr, but I wanted to make sure I didn't use up my entire month's uploading bandwidth right away. The entire set of all photos (that weren't fuzzy) are uploaded on my website here with captions.
My overall feeling of the Bahamas are that they're definitely working toward being a huge tourist spot, but they're not quite there yet as far as the normal vacation services that most Americans expect. I enjoyed myself, but even being laid back about most things, I found restaurant service to be incredibly slow and most things frighteningly overpriced. There literally were no cheap eats places to go. Prices for food were comparable to Boston and NYC, but quality was spotty.
I see the area as definitely up and coming-- it reminds me a lot of Hilton Head in the mid-80s as it was developing its timeshare communities for vacationers. For now, though, it's a bit rough, a bit confusing, and there's definitely a bit of a culture shock as far as attitudes despite only about 100 miles of distance from Miami. But there's a ton of building going on, and it looks like the number of things for tourists to do are increasing.
Ultimately, this vacation was a destination wedding trip. Our friends Seth and Gina had decided to get married at the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort, and had invited only family and close friends. The friends contingent is a mix of people I've mentioned over the years in some form in my journal as the Boston-turned-Providence crew. Although a few members of the group have sinced moved to other states, everyone else lives in Providence now and is either an alum of Boston University, or the significant other who was brought into the circle. We've all known each other for at least nine years.
To make life easier, the friends contingent decided to stay at the same hotel- the Nassau Beach Hotel. It was located on Cable Beach on the north central region of New Providence island, named for the first underwater communications cable connecting Nassau to Miami. It's an older hotel, definitely dated in decor (it had a matching shell sink to the one in our house), and definitely worn around the edges. Apparently it used to be the swanky place when it was built in the late 60's, but it hasn't aged well. But for the obnoxiously cheap price, our room was clean and provided what it needed to- a place to sleep and a place to shower.
As the week went on, Nassau Beach was dubbed the Adventure Hotel by most of the members of our group of friends. Everyone had some sort of an issue-- although the one Erich and I had was hotel-wide (a broken hot water main). Between obscene waits for check-in, missing towels, and a few room switches due to absolutely gross conditions, it was... an interesting stay. Not a place I'd recommend, even if the beach was fantastic. From what I've heard, though, the hotel is going to be torn down sometime in the next year along with all of the other hotels in that strip to start work on a new huge multi-hotel resort to compete with Atlantis. (more on that place later...)
Erich and I were the first of the crew to arrive, having decided to do a Friday to Thursday trip. We arrived in Nassau around three, got through customs with no trouble at all, and went straight to the hotel. Because we arrived late enough, we didn't have much trouble checking in (although it took a while for them to find keys). We dropped our bags and immediately sought food, thanks to the stupid airline policies these days where if its a three or less hour flight, they don't provide anything. With only thirty minute connections, we hadn't eaten yet that day.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that we didn't need to exchange our currency. Bahamians use their own currency and U.S. currency interchangeably. One US dollar = one Bahamian dollar. That helped tremendously.
We grabbed conch fritters (a local favorite... they taste like fishy hushpuppies) and burgers, our first alcoholic fruity drinks, and then went back to the room for a nap. In the evening, we went out for a swim in the man-made lagoon, where a small ray came swimming right up to us.
The next morning, we got up fairly early and decided to do a bit of area scoping while we waited for the others to start arriving. Rather than take a taxi, we took the local bus (they call it a jitney) downtown-- the trip only took about 10 minutes, and cost a buck.
Almost immediately, we found a little mom-n-pop style breakfast cafe, which would prove to be our cheapest meals on the island. Erich went traditional with his food. I tried, and loved, one of the local favorites- corned beef and grits. The corned beef was chopped hash style, but mixed with tomatoes and onions, giving it almost a goulash type consistency. The grits were nice and thick with butter for flavor. Despite not growing up in the South, I did grow up with grits for breakfast in the instant Cream of Wheat variety. I'm picky- no soupy grits for me, thanks. Mixed with the corned beef, they were heaven.
After breakfast, we wandered downtown a while, looking at shops, popping into the duty free stores to check prices, grabbing hats and the toiletries I'd noticed we hadn't brought enough of to last the week, etc. By 10:30, it was already scorching hot and too uncomfortable to walk around. We headed back to the hotel to beach bum it the rest fo the day.
The ocean water was heavenly. Low to mid 80's in temperature- bath water. But compared to the sun's heat, it was still wonderfully refreshing. Over the course of the day, people arrived and filtered onto the beach.
As a group, we decided to spend the evening at the Junkanoo festival, which was a mini version of Carnival, just down the road from us. The parade was fantastic- just a moving blur of sound, dance, and color. Unfortunately, we found THE wrong place to get food-- it took forever (I think some people waited more than an hour after they'd ordered). But the company was good, and we kept drinking throughout the evening.
Sunday was the day of the Bachelor/-ette parties. We divided off early in the morning. The guys took a speedboat out to an island that apparently had a pack of wild boars on it (discussions of Lord of the Flies and the guys' survival abilities ensued later among the women), and the girls headed off to a more family-style excursion to Rose Island, where we spent the day beaching, swimming, and snorkeling.
My one regret on this trip is not having bought an underwater camera-- the snorkeling blew me away. Rose Island had a reef that was perhaps 50 feet from shore. The water was crystal clear, and the fish were amazing. I saw fish easily a foot across in colors that I couldn't believe existed in nature. At times, I was surrounded by schools of fish. I saw eels and jellyfish. One of the girls in our group saw a small shark. Rose Island was definitely a highlight of the trip. And I'm now hooked on snorkeling. Next vacation to somewhere warm? I'm buying my own to bring along.
That night, the festivities continued, but as time went on, many of us started dropping out from suntime exhaustion. By the end of the night, some of the girls had gone dancing. The guys had ended up in the casino near the hotel, teaching Erich to play blackjack at the ten dollar tables.
Monday was the day of the rehearsal dinner. In the morning, Seth and Gina had to attend to the legal paperwork for their marriage, so we were all on our own until dinner at 6. We all headed back downtown to go shopping at the Straw Market for souvies and such.
The Straw Market was fun. It's been around since after WWII, with numerous tight corridors packed high with just about everything. It reminded me of all of the middle eastern bazaars I always see on TV-- vendors sitting on chairs in front of their wares, trying to entice tourists to buy. Haggling is encouraged. Much of it is actually straw items-- hats, bags, fans, etc. But you can also find knockoff Coach and Kate Spade purses, t-shirts, sarongs, little wooden figurines, jewelry, and even Cuban cigars in there. I did get a bit claustrophobic-- with the exception of one, the rows were tighter than the average supermarket with walls that were ten feet high-- the vendors used poles to get higher stuff down. I walked away with a cute straw hat, two pretty batik sarongs for the beach, and a little Bahama style happy cat figurine for a total cost of $40.
After another ocean dip that day, we headed over to the rehearsal dinner at one of the all-inclusive resorts, Breezes. The food was very good-- a big family-style Italian meal (what IS it with Italian food for rehearsal dinners?). Afterwards some people headed back to the hotel. I stayed with a few of the others, managed to get myself extremely hammered, and had a blast on the dance floor until about 2 a.m., ignoring the fact that other than Gina's aunt, I was probably the oldest person out there. Since the legal age for drinking is 18 in the Bahamas, the nightclub was FULL of recent high school grads. One extremely drunk kid tried to pick me up, and his expression was priceless as I gave him a sarcastically sweet mile and tapped my engagement ring in time with the music.
Heh. It sent him running. Quick.
Anyway... I stumbled home with a couple others around 2. Erich was highly amused. In my now slightly sobering state, I realized that the girls had planned to head over to Sandals the next morning around 10 a.m., per Gina's request. I quickly wrote a note to one of the other girls and walked up to slide it under her door to let them know not to be concerned if I wasn't up on time.
But somehow, I was up-- and sans hangover - with plenty of time to spare the next morning. Some amusement at "who the hell is DrunkenMe(!)? was commented on-- my L wasn't clear at the end of my signature, apparently. In one big pack, we headed over to Sandals.
Now, Sandals is one of those super-exclusive, all-inclusive resorts. If you're not staying there, you can't go in. But as part of their wedding arrangement package, they added day passes for all of us to be able to enjoy the resort for the day (so that we didn't have to just come an hour before the wedding, and leave an hour after the reception ended). Once we were on the resort, purses and wallets went away-- all food, all drinks... everything was included.
And everyone took full advantage of that. :) Particularly with drinks. The drinks started flowing around 11 a.m. as everyone - except Gina, who was getting a massage on the dock - plunked into the pool and made full use of the bar-- that was in the pool (with underwater barstools).
Throughout the early afternoon, all of the girls filtered over to the resort spa for appointments that Gina had helped make. I got my first pedicure (which I loved and now will budget for each month). Afterward, we rushed to one of the empty rooms that Sandals ahd been kind enough to allow us to use to dress in. I was the last one in the shower, and wound up being THAT ONE who was late to the wedding.
As in-- Gina was already standing at the end of the aisle when I arrived with Toni and Jen. For the next several minutes, I was fighting back tears of anger and embarrassment. I'm one of those people who HATES to be late. And to a wedding? Yeah... *sigh* Add to that the fact that my hair was still sopping wet and I just felt completely disheveled and ugly... my mood was NOT good.
Thankfully, the ceremony started nearly immediately, and it helped me calm down for the most part. It was a lovely, simple ceremony, followed by a rip-roaring party. Everyone was dancing. Most people abandoned shoes for the floor. It was a great time. Seth and Gina had not chosen to do a first dance song. That, of course, simply would not stand with the group of characters in the Providence crew-- which happily surprised them with a special dedication... of "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye. (almost all of us were in tears from laughing.. including the newlyweds).
After the reception ended, Seth announced that the celebration would continue in the pool (which was celebrated by all of us-- now extremely hot and sticky from dancing so much). And virtually everyone from the reception (with the exception of the kids, who were not allowed to stay on the grounds because it's a couples-only resort) got in. It was heavenly. We stayed until around midnight, feasting on the romantic Midnight Buffet (which was entirely made of fruit and different styles of chocolate).
After that day, Erich and I agreed that some day, we're saving our money for a couples trip to one of those places. It was incredibly over the top in the Mount Olympus fantasy-style resort. But wonderfully romantic. :)
Wednesday was our last full day there, and we wanted to see the Atlantis resort (which everyone on the island was talking about). We managed to meet up with everyone in the early afternoon, headed over to the resort by a ferry boat (or... the adventure boat. This thing should NOT have been used as a water taxi. We were very thankful to get over in one piece, and decided we'd skip the return ride and just get a real taxi to get home). Atlatnis was again, over the top. Very elegant, very expensive (they have a suite that runs $25,000 a night!!), but fun. We grabbed lunch in the marina village before going into the resort itself. One of the highlights we'd heard about was the aquarium, but it had a $30 entrance fee, and we got mixed reviews from some of the people we'd talked to. We were pleasantly surprised to find a free trail through what was called "The Dig" - a pseudo-archaeological underwater site that had what was considered a smaller collection of fish. But all of us had a blast in there-- there were a bunch of different small display tanks, plus one ongoing portal-view of a huge tank with a variety of different fish. The photo of the manta ray is from that uber-tank. Erich took a ton of photos from the free walkthrough. All of us were impressed and satisfied with The Dig, so we didn't even bother going into the pay aquarium.
The casino tables required a bit too high of a minimum bet for our tastes, so we stopped by the casino bar for a round of very yummy frozen drinks before heading back to our hotel. All in all, we thought Atlantis was quite nifty, but other than the free aquarium, a bit over-rated for the obscene nightly price they asked for rooms (I think the cheapest is around $400 a night-- and not all-inclusive like Sandals was).
We spent the evening low-keying it between the hotel and the casino. Erich again played some blackjack. I had some fun at the slots. I didn't win anything, but had fun being silly with playing one credit per game on the penny slots, and trying my luck at a quarter machine where I'd nearly broke even a couple nights before. An elderly British woman at the machine next to me won over $2,000 on a quarter machine pull.
As the evening went on, the group slowly filtered to bed-- and we said our goodbyes. We finally wrapped things up around midnight, knowing we had to get up and pack to leave the next day.
Our travel back was relatively smooth-- customs was a pain in the ass with about four layers of checking and rechecking before we got on the plane. Our connection was extremely tight in Charlotte, but we made our plane. But by 6 p.m. on Thursday, we were home. Our bags, not having made the connecting flight, arrived home around midnight.
All in all, we had a blast. We're broke, but now know to better prepare for a Carribean trip with additional savings beforehand. It was a needed week off, and we made some wonderful new memories, both as a couple and as the larger group of friends.
In any case, Erich and I have now moved my computer downstairs to the living room for the summer (with the AC), and I can actually sit here to write entries and do little projects without sweating to death.
So... the Bahamas... are you ready for an all-in-one recap? Looooong reading ahead.... :)
We had a ton of fun. It was a very expensive week, which now Erich and I are seriously in the hole for until... well... at least October. But we had a blast.
The photos for this, by the way, are not at Flickr. I'll be uploading some of my favorites of the trip to Flickr, but I wanted to make sure I didn't use up my entire month's uploading bandwidth right away. The entire set of all photos (that weren't fuzzy) are uploaded on my website here with captions.
My overall feeling of the Bahamas are that they're definitely working toward being a huge tourist spot, but they're not quite there yet as far as the normal vacation services that most Americans expect. I enjoyed myself, but even being laid back about most things, I found restaurant service to be incredibly slow and most things frighteningly overpriced. There literally were no cheap eats places to go. Prices for food were comparable to Boston and NYC, but quality was spotty.
I see the area as definitely up and coming-- it reminds me a lot of Hilton Head in the mid-80s as it was developing its timeshare communities for vacationers. For now, though, it's a bit rough, a bit confusing, and there's definitely a bit of a culture shock as far as attitudes despite only about 100 miles of distance from Miami. But there's a ton of building going on, and it looks like the number of things for tourists to do are increasing.
Ultimately, this vacation was a destination wedding trip. Our friends Seth and Gina had decided to get married at the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort, and had invited only family and close friends. The friends contingent is a mix of people I've mentioned over the years in some form in my journal as the Boston-turned-Providence crew. Although a few members of the group have sinced moved to other states, everyone else lives in Providence now and is either an alum of Boston University, or the significant other who was brought into the circle. We've all known each other for at least nine years.
To make life easier, the friends contingent decided to stay at the same hotel- the Nassau Beach Hotel. It was located on Cable Beach on the north central region of New Providence island, named for the first underwater communications cable connecting Nassau to Miami. It's an older hotel, definitely dated in decor (it had a matching shell sink to the one in our house), and definitely worn around the edges. Apparently it used to be the swanky place when it was built in the late 60's, but it hasn't aged well. But for the obnoxiously cheap price, our room was clean and provided what it needed to- a place to sleep and a place to shower.
As the week went on, Nassau Beach was dubbed the Adventure Hotel by most of the members of our group of friends. Everyone had some sort of an issue-- although the one Erich and I had was hotel-wide (a broken hot water main). Between obscene waits for check-in, missing towels, and a few room switches due to absolutely gross conditions, it was... an interesting stay. Not a place I'd recommend, even if the beach was fantastic. From what I've heard, though, the hotel is going to be torn down sometime in the next year along with all of the other hotels in that strip to start work on a new huge multi-hotel resort to compete with Atlantis. (more on that place later...)
Erich and I were the first of the crew to arrive, having decided to do a Friday to Thursday trip. We arrived in Nassau around three, got through customs with no trouble at all, and went straight to the hotel. Because we arrived late enough, we didn't have much trouble checking in (although it took a while for them to find keys). We dropped our bags and immediately sought food, thanks to the stupid airline policies these days where if its a three or less hour flight, they don't provide anything. With only thirty minute connections, we hadn't eaten yet that day.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that we didn't need to exchange our currency. Bahamians use their own currency and U.S. currency interchangeably. One US dollar = one Bahamian dollar. That helped tremendously.
We grabbed conch fritters (a local favorite... they taste like fishy hushpuppies) and burgers, our first alcoholic fruity drinks, and then went back to the room for a nap. In the evening, we went out for a swim in the man-made lagoon, where a small ray came swimming right up to us.
The next morning, we got up fairly early and decided to do a bit of area scoping while we waited for the others to start arriving. Rather than take a taxi, we took the local bus (they call it a jitney) downtown-- the trip only took about 10 minutes, and cost a buck.
Almost immediately, we found a little mom-n-pop style breakfast cafe, which would prove to be our cheapest meals on the island. Erich went traditional with his food. I tried, and loved, one of the local favorites- corned beef and grits. The corned beef was chopped hash style, but mixed with tomatoes and onions, giving it almost a goulash type consistency. The grits were nice and thick with butter for flavor. Despite not growing up in the South, I did grow up with grits for breakfast in the instant Cream of Wheat variety. I'm picky- no soupy grits for me, thanks. Mixed with the corned beef, they were heaven.
After breakfast, we wandered downtown a while, looking at shops, popping into the duty free stores to check prices, grabbing hats and the toiletries I'd noticed we hadn't brought enough of to last the week, etc. By 10:30, it was already scorching hot and too uncomfortable to walk around. We headed back to the hotel to beach bum it the rest fo the day.
The ocean water was heavenly. Low to mid 80's in temperature- bath water. But compared to the sun's heat, it was still wonderfully refreshing. Over the course of the day, people arrived and filtered onto the beach.
As a group, we decided to spend the evening at the Junkanoo festival, which was a mini version of Carnival, just down the road from us. The parade was fantastic- just a moving blur of sound, dance, and color. Unfortunately, we found THE wrong place to get food-- it took forever (I think some people waited more than an hour after they'd ordered). But the company was good, and we kept drinking throughout the evening.
Sunday was the day of the Bachelor/-ette parties. We divided off early in the morning. The guys took a speedboat out to an island that apparently had a pack of wild boars on it (discussions of Lord of the Flies and the guys' survival abilities ensued later among the women), and the girls headed off to a more family-style excursion to Rose Island, where we spent the day beaching, swimming, and snorkeling.
My one regret on this trip is not having bought an underwater camera-- the snorkeling blew me away. Rose Island had a reef that was perhaps 50 feet from shore. The water was crystal clear, and the fish were amazing. I saw fish easily a foot across in colors that I couldn't believe existed in nature. At times, I was surrounded by schools of fish. I saw eels and jellyfish. One of the girls in our group saw a small shark. Rose Island was definitely a highlight of the trip. And I'm now hooked on snorkeling. Next vacation to somewhere warm? I'm buying my own to bring along.
That night, the festivities continued, but as time went on, many of us started dropping out from suntime exhaustion. By the end of the night, some of the girls had gone dancing. The guys had ended up in the casino near the hotel, teaching Erich to play blackjack at the ten dollar tables.
Monday was the day of the rehearsal dinner. In the morning, Seth and Gina had to attend to the legal paperwork for their marriage, so we were all on our own until dinner at 6. We all headed back downtown to go shopping at the Straw Market for souvies and such.
The Straw Market was fun. It's been around since after WWII, with numerous tight corridors packed high with just about everything. It reminded me of all of the middle eastern bazaars I always see on TV-- vendors sitting on chairs in front of their wares, trying to entice tourists to buy. Haggling is encouraged. Much of it is actually straw items-- hats, bags, fans, etc. But you can also find knockoff Coach and Kate Spade purses, t-shirts, sarongs, little wooden figurines, jewelry, and even Cuban cigars in there. I did get a bit claustrophobic-- with the exception of one, the rows were tighter than the average supermarket with walls that were ten feet high-- the vendors used poles to get higher stuff down. I walked away with a cute straw hat, two pretty batik sarongs for the beach, and a little Bahama style happy cat figurine for a total cost of $40.
After another ocean dip that day, we headed over to the rehearsal dinner at one of the all-inclusive resorts, Breezes. The food was very good-- a big family-style Italian meal (what IS it with Italian food for rehearsal dinners?). Afterwards some people headed back to the hotel. I stayed with a few of the others, managed to get myself extremely hammered, and had a blast on the dance floor until about 2 a.m., ignoring the fact that other than Gina's aunt, I was probably the oldest person out there. Since the legal age for drinking is 18 in the Bahamas, the nightclub was FULL of recent high school grads. One extremely drunk kid tried to pick me up, and his expression was priceless as I gave him a sarcastically sweet mile and tapped my engagement ring in time with the music.
Heh. It sent him running. Quick.
Anyway... I stumbled home with a couple others around 2. Erich was highly amused. In my now slightly sobering state, I realized that the girls had planned to head over to Sandals the next morning around 10 a.m., per Gina's request. I quickly wrote a note to one of the other girls and walked up to slide it under her door to let them know not to be concerned if I wasn't up on time.
But somehow, I was up-- and sans hangover - with plenty of time to spare the next morning. Some amusement at "who the hell is DrunkenMe(!)? was commented on-- my L wasn't clear at the end of my signature, apparently. In one big pack, we headed over to Sandals.
Now, Sandals is one of those super-exclusive, all-inclusive resorts. If you're not staying there, you can't go in. But as part of their wedding arrangement package, they added day passes for all of us to be able to enjoy the resort for the day (so that we didn't have to just come an hour before the wedding, and leave an hour after the reception ended). Once we were on the resort, purses and wallets went away-- all food, all drinks... everything was included.
And everyone took full advantage of that. :) Particularly with drinks. The drinks started flowing around 11 a.m. as everyone - except Gina, who was getting a massage on the dock - plunked into the pool and made full use of the bar-- that was in the pool (with underwater barstools).
Throughout the early afternoon, all of the girls filtered over to the resort spa for appointments that Gina had helped make. I got my first pedicure (which I loved and now will budget for each month). Afterward, we rushed to one of the empty rooms that Sandals ahd been kind enough to allow us to use to dress in. I was the last one in the shower, and wound up being THAT ONE who was late to the wedding.
As in-- Gina was already standing at the end of the aisle when I arrived with Toni and Jen. For the next several minutes, I was fighting back tears of anger and embarrassment. I'm one of those people who HATES to be late. And to a wedding? Yeah... *sigh* Add to that the fact that my hair was still sopping wet and I just felt completely disheveled and ugly... my mood was NOT good.
Thankfully, the ceremony started nearly immediately, and it helped me calm down for the most part. It was a lovely, simple ceremony, followed by a rip-roaring party. Everyone was dancing. Most people abandoned shoes for the floor. It was a great time. Seth and Gina had not chosen to do a first dance song. That, of course, simply would not stand with the group of characters in the Providence crew-- which happily surprised them with a special dedication... of "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye. (almost all of us were in tears from laughing.. including the newlyweds).
After the reception ended, Seth announced that the celebration would continue in the pool (which was celebrated by all of us-- now extremely hot and sticky from dancing so much). And virtually everyone from the reception (with the exception of the kids, who were not allowed to stay on the grounds because it's a couples-only resort) got in. It was heavenly. We stayed until around midnight, feasting on the romantic Midnight Buffet (which was entirely made of fruit and different styles of chocolate).
After that day, Erich and I agreed that some day, we're saving our money for a couples trip to one of those places. It was incredibly over the top in the Mount Olympus fantasy-style resort. But wonderfully romantic. :)
Wednesday was our last full day there, and we wanted to see the Atlantis resort (which everyone on the island was talking about). We managed to meet up with everyone in the early afternoon, headed over to the resort by a ferry boat (or... the adventure boat. This thing should NOT have been used as a water taxi. We were very thankful to get over in one piece, and decided we'd skip the return ride and just get a real taxi to get home). Atlatnis was again, over the top. Very elegant, very expensive (they have a suite that runs $25,000 a night!!), but fun. We grabbed lunch in the marina village before going into the resort itself. One of the highlights we'd heard about was the aquarium, but it had a $30 entrance fee, and we got mixed reviews from some of the people we'd talked to. We were pleasantly surprised to find a free trail through what was called "The Dig" - a pseudo-archaeological underwater site that had what was considered a smaller collection of fish. But all of us had a blast in there-- there were a bunch of different small display tanks, plus one ongoing portal-view of a huge tank with a variety of different fish. The photo of the manta ray is from that uber-tank. Erich took a ton of photos from the free walkthrough. All of us were impressed and satisfied with The Dig, so we didn't even bother going into the pay aquarium.
The casino tables required a bit too high of a minimum bet for our tastes, so we stopped by the casino bar for a round of very yummy frozen drinks before heading back to our hotel. All in all, we thought Atlantis was quite nifty, but other than the free aquarium, a bit over-rated for the obscene nightly price they asked for rooms (I think the cheapest is around $400 a night-- and not all-inclusive like Sandals was).
We spent the evening low-keying it between the hotel and the casino. Erich again played some blackjack. I had some fun at the slots. I didn't win anything, but had fun being silly with playing one credit per game on the penny slots, and trying my luck at a quarter machine where I'd nearly broke even a couple nights before. An elderly British woman at the machine next to me won over $2,000 on a quarter machine pull.
As the evening went on, the group slowly filtered to bed-- and we said our goodbyes. We finally wrapped things up around midnight, knowing we had to get up and pack to leave the next day.
Our travel back was relatively smooth-- customs was a pain in the ass with about four layers of checking and rechecking before we got on the plane. Our connection was extremely tight in Charlotte, but we made our plane. But by 6 p.m. on Thursday, we were home. Our bags, not having made the connecting flight, arrived home around midnight.
All in all, we had a blast. We're broke, but now know to better prepare for a Carribean trip with additional savings beforehand. It was a needed week off, and we made some wonderful new memories, both as a couple and as the larger group of friends.
02 July 2006
High School Madness
stolen from Bozoette, while I figure out what the heck is wrong with my computer. Photos and Bahamas recaps coming later today...
High School Madness!
1. Who was your best friend? Andi and Darren (my boyfriend)
2. What sports did you play? I gave softball an attempt my sophomore year of high school, but otherwise I stuck to jazz and ballet lessons outside of school. Oh, and some Tae Kwon Do.
3. What kind of car did you drive? My dad's Mazda RX-7 mostly. On occasion, his Accura Legend.
4. It’s Friday night. Where are you? High school football or basketball game, followed by bowling (frosh, soph years) and/or making out (junior/senior).
5. Were you a party animal? No.
6. Were you considered a flirt? I never heard that I was. I would presume no, since I had the same boyfriend throughout high school.
7. Ever skip school? Not a full day, no. But I did occasionally forge notes when I was running late. :)
8. Ever smoke? I tried a few my freshman year because all of the "bad kids" were doing it, and I honestly had a desire to tarnish the obnoxiously goody-goody image I had.
9. Were you a nerd? Yes. Resounding YES.
10. Did you get suspended/expelled? Never.
11. Can you sing the Alma Mater? Yes! :) And the warped version of our cross-town rival's that we used to sing.
12. Who was your favorite teacher? Mr. Tangen, the band director. Absolutely incredible guy. Tough as nails exterior, complete teddy bear interior, and treated high school students like the young adults they were. He gave respect, but demanded mature behavior in return. AND he honestly worked to have us learn classical music. How many high school band directors would give their band the full version of Cappricio Espagnol or Holst's Planets suite to work through and perform (at proper speed)?
13. Favorite class? Band and english.
14. What was your school’s full name? Billings Senior High School.
15. School mascot? Bronc (sans Denver -o)
16. If you could go back and do it over again, would you? Parts, yes. But for the most part, no. College on the other hand...
17. What do you remember most about graduation? It was the first time that my parents were together after their divorce. I remember being on edge the entire time they were there. I also was in an ankle brace for graduation, so I remember having to wear my black converse high tops because no other shoes would fit.
18. Were you 18? Yes – I turned 18 that January.
19. Favorite memory of your Senior year? Honestly, senior year was a very difficult one for me. I spent a good chunk of the year dealing with a relationship that was crumbling (and with no past experience, it dragged out most of the year). The sad memories have evaporated the good ones.
20. Were you ever posted up on the Senior Wall? I don't think we had one.
21. Did you have a job your senior year? Yes
22. Who did you date? Darren all year, although one of his good friends from the Mormon ward, Che, took me to senior prom (one of those little parts of the whole bad senior year thing)
23. Where did you go most often for lunch? As soon as I had my license at 15, I went OUT. Almost every day.
24. What did you do after graduation? That night was an all-night grad party at the school. Then I went back to the same things I did every summer-- dance recital, two weeks in Hilton Head, see the grandparents in PA, and then head to California to spend the last month with my mom.
25. When did you graduate? 1993
High School Madness!
1. Who was your best friend? Andi and Darren (my boyfriend)
2. What sports did you play? I gave softball an attempt my sophomore year of high school, but otherwise I stuck to jazz and ballet lessons outside of school. Oh, and some Tae Kwon Do.
3. What kind of car did you drive? My dad's Mazda RX-7 mostly. On occasion, his Accura Legend.
4. It’s Friday night. Where are you? High school football or basketball game, followed by bowling (frosh, soph years) and/or making out (junior/senior).
5. Were you a party animal? No.
6. Were you considered a flirt? I never heard that I was. I would presume no, since I had the same boyfriend throughout high school.
7. Ever skip school? Not a full day, no. But I did occasionally forge notes when I was running late. :)
8. Ever smoke? I tried a few my freshman year because all of the "bad kids" were doing it, and I honestly had a desire to tarnish the obnoxiously goody-goody image I had.
9. Were you a nerd? Yes. Resounding YES.
10. Did you get suspended/expelled? Never.
11. Can you sing the Alma Mater? Yes! :) And the warped version of our cross-town rival's that we used to sing.
12. Who was your favorite teacher? Mr. Tangen, the band director. Absolutely incredible guy. Tough as nails exterior, complete teddy bear interior, and treated high school students like the young adults they were. He gave respect, but demanded mature behavior in return. AND he honestly worked to have us learn classical music. How many high school band directors would give their band the full version of Cappricio Espagnol or Holst's Planets suite to work through and perform (at proper speed)?
13. Favorite class? Band and english.
14. What was your school’s full name? Billings Senior High School.
15. School mascot? Bronc (sans Denver -o)
16. If you could go back and do it over again, would you? Parts, yes. But for the most part, no. College on the other hand...
17. What do you remember most about graduation? It was the first time that my parents were together after their divorce. I remember being on edge the entire time they were there. I also was in an ankle brace for graduation, so I remember having to wear my black converse high tops because no other shoes would fit.
18. Were you 18? Yes – I turned 18 that January.
19. Favorite memory of your Senior year? Honestly, senior year was a very difficult one for me. I spent a good chunk of the year dealing with a relationship that was crumbling (and with no past experience, it dragged out most of the year). The sad memories have evaporated the good ones.
20. Were you ever posted up on the Senior Wall? I don't think we had one.
21. Did you have a job your senior year? Yes
22. Who did you date? Darren all year, although one of his good friends from the Mormon ward, Che, took me to senior prom (one of those little parts of the whole bad senior year thing)
23. Where did you go most often for lunch? As soon as I had my license at 15, I went OUT. Almost every day.
24. What did you do after graduation? That night was an all-night grad party at the school. Then I went back to the same things I did every summer-- dance recital, two weeks in Hilton Head, see the grandparents in PA, and then head to California to spend the last month with my mom.
25. When did you graduate? 1993
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