This past weekend really put me into the Christmas spirit. On Friday night I went with my mom and her friend Cindy to East Valley Bible Church ( www.evbc.org ) for their Christmas Musical. It was a real treat to hear the Christmas story through songs sung by the music team and also the children's group.
On Saturday morning I volunteered to help the Gilbert Boys & Girls Club at the new Mervyns in Gilbert. Mervyn's donated enough money for about 30 of the children to go on a shopping spree for themselves. Each child was paired up with a volunteer to go through the store and spend their money. I was matched up with a 7 yr old girl named Jasmine. We had a fun time picking out new clothes and shoes for her to wear to school. We were the last ones to finish, but we got a lot of great new things for her to wear this winter. It was fun spending time with her and I know I need to volunteer like that more often. After the first of the year I would like to start volunteering at the B&G Club once a week. I miss the interaction with kids and feel like that would give me just the "fix" I need.
On Sunday a group of us went to the movies to see "The Nativity". It was a good representation of what happened and the real reason for the season. Sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in all of the decorations, shopping, gifts, cookie making, and parties that we forget what Christmas is all about. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone that hasn't seen it yet.
After the movie, Ben and I went to dinner and then went to look at Christmas lights on Cherry St. They do such a wonderful job each year decorating the entire street with lights. I love to drive down that street at least once a year while listening to Christmas music.
What a fun way to start off the season!
Merry Christmas
Monday, December 11, 2006
kicking off the Christmas Season...
Dinner @ The Melting Pot
Last Thursday night I went to The Melting Pot with my scrapbook friends ( Joey, Louise, Susan, and Leanne) to celebrate Christmas. We had a great time enjoying all four courses of our fondue meal and exchanging gifts. I love when we get together, it is always a great time.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Honeymoon Vacation
What a relaxing week! I definitely caught up on my sleep that week. The cruise ship was amazing! I had never cruised before so I had no idea what to expect when we pulled up to the pier. We got on the ship around 1 p.m. and did not leave Galveston til 5 p.m. We went to check out our little room and what there was to do on the boat. One of our first stops was the Champagne Bar. Ben started off with a bloody mary and I had a strawberry daiquiri. Later on before leaving port, we had a muster drill in case of an emergency. (Sure glad we didn't cause there is no way our whole group was fitting in that little boat!) We also checked out the casino (which we never walked away winning), Broadway Melodies Theatre, The Windjammer Cafe (which the food there was pretty bad), and the beautiful 2 story dining room. From there we went back to the room for some r&r and then got ready for dinner. We ate every dinner in the dining room. Our service was great! Menchie and Marion really knew how to take care of us. Can't tell you how many little poppy sead rolls I ate that week! They were fabulous. We ate everything from shrimp cocktail, calamari, steak, chicken, lobster, fish, salads, soups, pasta & shrimp, and even a little duck. Dessert was just as good as the main course. Some nights we tried all of our options! By the end of dinner (around 10:30) we were so exhausted we usually stopped for one last drink at the Schooner Bar and headed back to our stateroom.
We had 2 full days at sea before stopping in Jamaica. We had 2 excursions planned for our stay in Jamaica. First was the Dolphin Cove. Here we got to swim with a dolphin named Mitch. He came from the waters in Mexico. Mitch did several tricks to show off his talents and then also came up to each person in our group and gave us kisses. We were not allowed to bring underwater cameras in the water with us so I do not have any pictures from this wonderful experience. I do have a video and pictures we purchased that came out really good. After saying goodbye to Mitch we headed over to the famous Dunn's River Falls waterfall. This was spectacular! We were in a group with about 20 people lead by our tour guide Mike and camera man Quinn. We all had to form a chain holding hands to climb the falls. This took us about 45 minutes to climb from the bottom to the top. We all had to wear water shoes because the rocks could become slippery. There were different areas of the falls where the water was deeper in parts. Mike had us slide down a rock, fall backwards into the deep waters, and pose for lots of pictures under the falling waters. This was definitely our best activity planned!
The next day we were in Grand Cayman. Here we went to the beach and enjoyed the clear waters and blue skies. We rented some snorkel equipment and headed out to see some underwater life. It was amazing how close the fish came to us and how clear the water was. In waters that were at least 10 feet deep you could see clear to the bottom! After the beach we headed over to Jimmy Buffett's Margartitaville restaurant. Of course we both had Cheeseburgers in Paradise with french fries. The food was very good! It was also Pirate Week in Grand Cayman and we had our picture taken with a couple from NC that come out every year and dress up for this popular event. After getting back on the boat, we went back and got cleaned up for dinner. That evening was our first formal evening on the boat. I wore a new black dress and Ben wore a grey shirt and tie. I love to get dressed up! Wish we did it more often.
Our last port of call was Cozumel. We had decided that we were going to try to parasail or snorkel again. However, when we got off the boat the winds were so strong and the water was so rough that we were unable to do both. So....we decided to walk off some of the food we had been eating all week and walked about 8 miles from one end of the pier to the other and back. It was very humid that day and we were both sweating like crazy. We stopped in a mexican cafe and had some homeade salsa and guacamole dip. Probably the best I have ever had! We walked through several shops and bought a few souvenirs. It felt good to get out and walk!
We had another formal evening that night and I wore the watermelon colored dress and Ben wore a white shirt and tie that matched my dress. For dinner that evening they served lobster. We couldn't get enough it was so good!
From there, we had one full day left at sea. So we enjoyed the pool, watched a movie in the theatre, played a few games, and took a nap. Overall we had a wonderful time. It felt like we had a good break away from work and home. Enjoy some of our pictures! (Click on the plus and minus sign to speed up or slow down the slideshow.)
Saturday, December 02, 2006
the BIG day
I loved every moment of this day! Everything turned out perfect! We had a blast and are so glad you were all there to share in our special day. We love you!!!
1 Day Remaining!
Oh, what a night...
For my bachelorette party we went to P.F. Changs for dinner on Mill Ave and then headed to one of my favorite places...The BIG Bang. The Big Bang, for anyone who has not been there before, is a dueling piano bar on Mill Ave. Ben introduced me to this place about 3 1/2 years ago and I have probably been there at least 10 times. Every visit ends up being a blast. While there, you can hear everything from 70's-current music. I have been there so many times that I have my favorite piano players. Happened to be the night we all went 3 of them were there! Throughout the evening they call people up on stage, and don't cha know I ended up on stage before the night was over. Ended up being that Kelly (from PA) called in and requested a song to get me up on stage. Oh, we had sooooo much fun! Ange and Becca had put together this little scrapbook for me to put all of my evenings pictures in and inside the book was a checklist that I had to complete by the end of the night. A few of the things I had to accomplish were to get a guy to buy me a drink, make a veil out of toilet paper and get my picture taken, pretend to walk down the aisle with a random guy and get my picture taken, find a bachelor to pose with, get a guys business card, and so many others. I ended up getting about a 92% for the evening. There were two things that did not happen which will not be revealed. We had a fun-filled night with lots of memories made! Enjoy the slide show!
