Oh Mexico! Part 3

So we have come to the final chapter of our Mexican adventure. Just in case you missed out on anything, you can check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

As the week was starting to come to a close, I was finally getting into the vacation routine. Wednesday (day 5) started with a lazy morning by the pool trying to stay out of the sun being that I got fried on the catamaran trip.

 

Later that evening, we took in another one of the hotel shows. 

 

 

 After the show, we went back to our "meat buffet" one more time before then enjoying many rounds of "Cards Against Humanity".  Being that this was going to be the last night that all 11 of us, we wanted some time to just hang out as a group and have a laid back night.

 

Thursday marked the final full day in Cancun, so I wanted to make sure I got in my last bit of sun before heading back home to the cold and ice. 

However, mother nature said "No!" and the rain just came down in buckets. What to do on a rainy day while on vacation? Answer- Nap. I love me a vacation nap because there is no real reason to not to. 

I'm glad I did get that nap because with this group of friends, we were going to be ending this vacation on a high note.

At dinner, long islands were ordered and consumed which is a dangerous way to start off a night. If I was going to add a caption to the picture below- it would be over Sam's head in a thought bubble that would read: "F*** y** Joel! Shh...this is going to get interesting."

 

This was just the start off many more drinks to come throughout the night. After dinner we made a short pit stop for a drink and some salsa dancing, before we headed to our final location- "Kinky Night Club".

At this bar, Joel made friends with the bartender (like he does everywhere he goes) so there were three set of shots done within the first 15 minutes of us being at the bar.

Thanks Joel! Once we were all feeling good, it was time to get our dance on! 

That dancing may have included me... a on stage... by myself... practicing my burlesque moves- I mean we were at a bar called Kinky- so why not. Oh the things you do with some liquid courage. However, I'm a white girl who just thinks she has some dance skills... I'm just glad the video that was taken is not being shared publicly because I would be rudely mistaken on my level of "skills" that I don't really have. 

It wouldn't be a vacation without a picture like this! You know it's been a good night when someone decides that laying on the ground is a better idea than walking across the resort to their bed.

Getting up the next morning wasn't very fun, but it was nice to get to spend a little more time with our friends before parting our own ways. All and all, it was another great trip with some awesome friends and many new memories that will last a life time!

Oh Mexico! Part 2

Come Monday (so Day 3) it was nice that Sam and I had no major plans for the day.We filled our day with some more time on the beach, a nice sit down lunch with just the two of us, and an adventure off the resort to a get Sam some new sunglasses. Sam has no luck when it comes to vacations and his sunglasses; but more about that later.

 

For some odd reason, Sam and I had a room in a completely different building than everyone else. Everyone else had an ocean view room which gave them a sunrise view, while we had a view over the lagoon which gave us a sunset view. Personally, I think I would take a sunset view compared to a sunrise, because that means I don't have to either stay up all night or get up really early- neither of those two things are for me.

 

Throughout the week our hotel's lobby became a stage/ theater for these different performances they put on.

 

The shows are kind of like Cirque Du Soleil meets the history of Mexico.

After the show, we were off to a "Brazilian style" restaurant which is pretty much a meat buffet that comes to you. MMM...meat...

 

By the end of dinner everyone was a little "meat" drunk which lead to us to calling it a early night. Plus, I wanted to be well rested because we were going off the resort the next morning to go on a catamaran cruise.

The catamaran was at an extra cost. However, it was nice to get off the resort for one day. Additionally, this catamaran trip was an all day (7 hour) event which included:

Snorkeling. However, the water was really rough so it wasn't as much fun as it could have been. But the important thing is that everyone survived.

A trip to an island (I have no clue which one) for some shopping. We didn't buy any souvenirs but that is very typical of me.

There was some on board entertainment!

Many free drinks! See picture below- enough said!



A trip to a private island for lunch. The food was ok, nothing special but I'm not complaining being that it was included.

And there was "parasailing". It looked a little sketchy, so I was kind of surprised how many people did it including Sam- who by the way doesn't like heights. Go figure.

 

 
While I keep my butt on the boat, I became the designated sunglasses holder. So I had mine on my face, Casey's on my head, and Sam's hanging off my top...

Needless to say, this is probably the last picture of Sam's sunglasses before they met the bottom of the ocean. Opps- my bad... they slipped right off my top and right into the water. It was one of those slow motion moments because Sam had just brought them less than 24 hours before they met their vacation demise.

After the we got off the boat, we headed back to the resort. We were only 1000 yards from my bed that was calling my name-  when for some reason we made a pit stop at a little dive restaurant/ bar that was across the street from our resort. Why? Because Joel said so, and that he was paying... Ok, why not?!? This ended up being a poor choice. Whatever- we eat, we drank, we made it back to the resort, but by the time we were suppose to meet everyone else for dinner... I cashed in my "fun chips" and took a much needed nap through dinner.

Even though I missed dinner, I'm proud to say I "napped and rallied" so I could "rage" with Casey, and get our dance on. Too bad it we were the only ones dancing, but we made the most out it. I mean it's Tuesday night... so it's best night to "rage" right ?!? 

Oh Mexico! Part 1

If I was to sum up our trip with one picture, it would be this one...

 

There were many (many) tasty drinks to be had which is the biggest perk of going to an "all inclusive". However, by the time we got home I decided it would be a good idea to give up booze for lent (we will just ignore the fact this didn't go into effect until Friday) because even looking at a bottle of booze pretty much made my stomach turn. I would say that means our trip was a success!

(From our balcony right after we checked in!)

On the first night we arrived, we started a great tradition of the whole group meeting up for dinner. This allowed for everyone to do what they wanted during the day but it brought everyone back together at night.

 

And being that this was the first night everyone was there (Saturday), we were going to do it up right.

 

We did some roaming of the resort and end up at a "chill bar" listening to some live music.

 

 

The next morning (ok, maybe it was more like early afternoon- like I said we were doing it up right) we made it down to beach to work on our "Mexican glow".

 

Once I was officially cooked, it was time to cool off with frosty blended drink. Miami Vice's are just so tasty. 

After some R&R back at the room, we were ready to head out for our first "formal" dinner.

Being that we were such a large group, we only got a limited menu to pick from, but the food didn't disappoint and our server Miguel made us a special flaming dessert.

After dinner we where off to continue the fun which included some shots, salsa dancing, and it ended with EJ and I getting a whole bucket of water dumped on us... a server was trying to fill a machine, he slipped off the ladder he was standing on and the bucket of water he was holding came down on us. At least it was just water and no one was hurt- I call that a win!

 

Oh- lets not forget about our 10 person selfie from that night! Great work Casey! It was a great start to an awesome trip. 

Back to the Real World!

Now that I have been home for a few days, it's been harder to get back into the swing of things then I thought. Partly because I came home with a bit of a cold, and partly because we hadn't eaten health or excised at all for the last week. However, I was happy to see that the scale hadn't changed too much from before I left.

I'll take that compared to the 5 pound gain from last year. But let me tell you, I will have to work my way back up to the type workouts I was doing before vacation. Just after 30 minutes on the elliptical on Monday and I was done for.

Today we where lucky enough to get for another big dumping of snow... ugh. But I should complain too much being that I had a delayed start to work. However, I plan on warming myself up with a full recap of our trip to Mexico!

The trip was a great time with some old and new friends! I only wish I could be soaking up more of that Mexican sun right now... stupid snow- how I hate you so!  Oh I miss Mexico!

The Day I Found Out I was Pregnant

This post was written on the day I found out I was pregnant and how that day unfolded. Enjoy!

Written on March 9th:

Now I'm not super "regular" so I wasn't too concerned that I was just two days late. However, over the last few months, it has been coming early so for it to be late was a little odd. With that being the case, last night before I went to bed I figured I would read the directions on the pregnancy test to see when I should test. It said it best to take the test in the morning for the best results so I just headed to bed, but I still wasn't very concerned.

While sleeping, I had a dream that I took the pregnancy test and it came out positive. It was just so vivid it was scary. The remember looking at the little blue plus sign and even though it wasn't very dark, it was there. Now this is about where in the dream I got woken up by the husbands snoring. It was about 4:00am so I tried to go back to sleep, but it took a bit of time to shake the dream before I dozed back off.

I woke up around 9:00am (I hate daylight savings time) and knew Sam would be sleeping for a while longer. So the first thing I did was get up and take that test... I was just so much like the dream. I put down the test and tried to wait out the two minutes, and slowly a second light blue line showed up.

If I said I was surprised, that would be a lie because I pretty sure my dream told me what was up many hours before. My biggest concern was how to tell Sam. I love my husband but he's a huge gossip, and we were planning on having dinner at his parent's for his brother Joe's birthday so I figure it would be best if I told him after dinner.

 

("Kids" picture for Joe's Birthday- I'm the only one who know at this point!)

Also, I want to make sure I told him in the best way I could think of...

Back in May, Sam told me when we were getting Ashley's cookie cake after she gave birth (just in case you don't remember)-

 

he said that he would like to find out that I'm pregnant via cookie cake.  Only my husband would think getting this wife pregnant means he deserves a cookie for it! (Just kidding- kind of.)

I knew I was in no state to be creative so I googled "How to tell your husband your pregnant?" and I found this funny saying online. "Congrats, your swimmers won the race! Prize to be claimed in 9 months."

On a side note- when I went to the store to get the cookie cake, I wrote down the quote and handed to the lady in the bakery. At first she just looked at me very confused and walked away with the cookie. However, when she came back she said "I get it now! That's really a cute idea!". So I guess the very first person to know other than me was the lady at Jewel's bakery department.

Anyway- when it was finally time to have the big reveal, I called Sam into the kitchen with the cookie on the counter and the test in hand.  His face was priceless and his reaction was- "Really?!? That's awesome!". Then the very next next question out of his mouth, "So when should we tell people?". Oh do I know my man or what?!?

The Difference One Year Can Make

I'm so excited for our vacation that is coming up in two weeks! I'm so ready that I'm even starting to get my stuff around that will need to be packed. One of these items is my digital camera. I don't know about you, but any time I pull my camera out I can't help but go through all my old photos. 

 

It is photos like these that make me so ready to leave the cold and snow behind for some fun in the sun with these lovely people.

 

 

(Minus Mike but plus EJ)

However, over this last year I've been on a mission to become more comfortable in my own skin. In addition to the fun pictures of our friends on vacation, I came across this photo which was actually taken one year ago today...

 

I think it is a little funny that I happen to go to the gym today and took another picture of the scale...

 

When I originally stepped on the scale this morning, the thought that ran through my head was "I really feel like I'm going to have a fat day" (those days that the scale is just higher for no real reason). I was surprised by the number I was looking at because this is the lowest weight I've seen the scale in probably about a decade, so I needed to take a picture. I was happy to see that 154.6, but I've been pretty hard on myself lately because I really wanted to see under 150 by the time I go on vacation in two weeks. I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen because over these last few months, it's getting harder and harder for that scale to keep going down because I'm gaining more muscle and have less fat to lose.

However, I think I was meant to see that 192.1 picture today. I was meant to see it because I really have come a pretty long way in just one year (a total on 37.5 pounds). I need to be nicer to myself and realize that I have done something I really didn't think was possible just one year ago. With some hard work and dedication anything is possible; you just have to be willing to really try and put your mind to it.  

 

So in two weeks I'm going to hit the beach, show off all my hard work, and just enjoy this time in our lives. Also, I plan on getting a new picture on the beach with me in my new bikini! I worked hard for it so may as well show off a bit.