Vacation/Cruise Recap

We left last Sunday morning (really early, like 5:30am early) to fly to Jacksonville, Florida where our cruise was leaving from. We went with our friends Mitch and Amanda, who live across the street and another couple, Matt B. and Angela. Matt, Matt B., and Mitch have known one another since they were much younger (they went to school together) and over the years Angela, Amanda, and I have become close friends. We knew we would be in for a great time being all together and we sure did!

We got to Jacksonville around 10:30 a.m. and headed to the hotel pool to catch some rays and later went to eat dinner. We ate at this amazing restaurant in Jacksonville called the Millhouse. They had some amazing food and drink specials. What a great way to start off the trip!

Monday we headed to the cruise terminal and got on board around 2 p.m.. The weather was beautiful so we headed to the deck and enjoyed a few drinks and some sun. That night we began the first of many amazing dinners in the "Sensation" dinning room. Afterwards we headed to the casino where Matt ended up winning $300!

The next day was a "day at sea" which basically meant we had all day to play on the boat. We ended up waking up really early every day during the trip so we got up, ate breakfast at the fantastic buffet and headed back out to the deck to lay out. The boat had entertainment and contests all day every day so it was very hard to become bored. Matt B. entered a cocktail contest and made a "Matteo Special" drink. He didn't win, but I think he looked the best making his drink and it tasted great! The weather was extremely hot that day the sun drained our energy, so we headed in early that day and took naps. Captains dinner was later that evening which meant we had to dress up. Not only did Captains dinner entail dressing up, but it entailed eating the best food of the whole trip. Lobster and steak galore! I had never had Lobster before and I can now say I'm a big fan!! I think all the boys had several plate-fuls that night.

The next day we arrived in Key West. We had booked an excursion to do a "pub crawl" which meant we went on a tour to five bars and got free drinks at each. It was neat because the tour guide didn't take us to regular touristy bars but more unique, out of the way, ones that locals frequent. None of us had been to Key West before and we all loved it. We all agreed our next big trip needs to be to there. I wish we had more time to sight see and check out more of the island.

The next day we went to the Bahamas. We didn't book an excursion for the Bahamas, only knew we wanted to find a beach and grab a few drinks. So we found a taxi driver who drove us to Cabbage Beach which was on Paradise Island. It is the same beach that the famous Atlantis is on and we were told it was rated in the top ten of the best beaches in the world. It was pretty, but I don't think it compared to Jamaica. But hey, maybe I'm biased. It rained about 20 minutes while we were there and we grabbed some shelter under a tent that was nearby. The rain came and left quickly and we enjoyed just relaxing on the beach. We met a local man there and he talked to us for a long time and the island and about their culture. It was really neat to hear about the differences between the Bahamas and the USA.

The next day was our last full day and it was another "day at sea". We all just used our last day to relax and take it easy. We spent a lot of time playing on the water slides which were on the boat and just laying out. We enjoyed our final dinner together and went to see some karaoke and the late night adult comedy show.

Sat we were up early and flew back to Birmingham. We arrived back around 1:00. It was bittersweet to return home. I wanted to see our dogs and rest but I also didn't want to leave the days of laying out, eating all the food I wanted (that was amazing!), and seeing great places. But here I am at home so now I guess its time to get back to the daily grind. I'm not sure how productive I'll be at work tomorrow after being off for so long! :)

For some reason I am not able to post pics on here so I'll try to make another blog ASAP with pics to follow.

Slacking.

I'm sorry to you, my 3 readers out there (my father has informed me he has been reading this so I can estimate at least 3 readers now ;) ) I have been slacking lately on my posts. I'm not sure If it's been because I've been busy or not busy enough to have much to talk about. What a paradox.


So anyways, this weekend we were very busy. I decided I would fill you in on that. To start off with, who doesn't love a 3 day weekend?! Here it is on Wednesday, and the work week is half over! Yeah! Okay, back to this weekend. Focus, Jessica!



Friday night Matt and I enjoyed a nice relaxing night at home, eating pizza and watching the movie "It's Complicated". We had terrible weather here, so we both had no motivation to leave the sofa.



The bad weather continued throughout most of the weekend, especially storming Saturday morning. As Matt and I were laying in bed that morning procrastinating getting up, we became engaged in a show on the DIY, or Do it Yourself network. Where have I been? I have never seen this network!? Wow!! After watching a show or two of people renovating their homes, we were motivated to do something. Matt suggested we paint our kitchen. I was completely up for it. So we headed for Home Depot and picked out some paint, came home and got to it. No sample colors or days to debate what paint to pick for us. We jumped right to it! It was actually pretty easy and turned out good, so we think. Here's a picture of the completed kitchen taken from my iPhone so please bear with the photo quality.

We finished up with the kitchen around 3 and I got a phone call from one of my friends, Meredith. She invited us to meet up with her and her husband at the pool. By that time, the sun was up and the rain had ceased. We went and layed by the pool for awhile and ended up grilling out over there with Mere, Ben and a few more friends. Later we headed back to our house with a few others to watch the UFC fight. Or shall I say, for the guys to watch the UFC fight and me and Amanda to chit chat.

Sunday was a wash-out again and we headed to Matt's grandparents house for a cook out. It was great to see all of his family and eat some good food. It is so nice that his whole family is so close by and get to see one another so often, it makes me miss my family so much and wish we were closer. Sunday evening we met up with some more friends and ended up playing "Minute to win it games". Very fun! We are even talking about having a "Minute to Win it" party now. I better start practicing.

Monday the weather turned out nicer and we went to our friend Amanda's parents pool. They are always so fun to hang around and welcoming us to their home. I think we have made it an annual tradition to be at their pool for at least one of the major summer holidays. We always have a blast! That night Matt and I headed to his mother's for dinner. She made a really good Boston Butt and we were more than happy to help her eat it.

Now do you see why I haven't been able to post!? I have been so busy! Though we were so busy it really was a great weekend.

Next up, we leave for Jacksonville, Florida early Sunday morning. We are taking a cruise Monday morning to Key West and to the Bahamas. I can't believe it is already here!

Anniversary

Saturday was Matt and I's one year wedding anniversary. I can not believe that 1 year ago we were in Jamaica with some our of family and best friends tying the knot. It was so romantic and beautiful to be in such an exotic and beautiful place making promises and comitting ourselves to one another. People say the first year is the toughest, and I think we must be lucky because it's been wonderful! I'm so blessed to have found such a great, supportive, and caring man. I can not wait to have many more years with him and look forward to what our future together holds. I love you babe!

Brunswick Stew

Okay Ya'll, I've been meaning to tell you about this super easy, yummy stew. I recently made a pot of Brunswick Stew and thought how quick, easy, and good it is. So why not share?! This truely makes a LOT of food, so be prepared to either have leftovers or have others over to share. I made this one time at a party and people loved it so much they were adding it to their burgers!

Ingredients:
1 tub of Lloyd's pork bbq (I just use the origonal)
1 10 ounce can of chicken, drained
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 can of lima beans, drained
1 can of whole kernel corn, drained
1 can of creamed corn
1/4 onion finely diced (optional)

So basically, in a large pot or crockpot, combine all ingredients and let simmer until warm, stiring occasionally. Obviously if you cook it in the crockpot it will take a few hours, and on the stove less time. I've made it both ways and haven't been able to tell a difference in regards to taste. Hope you like it as much as we do! Enjoy!

Recovering.

Wow! 12 days since my last post!? I'm such a slacker! Well don't worry. You haven't missed too much. My life has been pretty boring until this past weekend. And ever since Friday came, it has been non-stop. We have had a great weekend, but I must admit that is nice to be relaxing and staying at home after so many days on the go.

Our weekend started on Friday night when we had tickets to go see Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw in concert here in Birmingham at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. I LOVE both Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw so it was perfect to get to see them together in one night. We rode down to the concert with our friends Mitch and Amanda and met our other friends Meredith and Ben at the concert. Traffic was horrible, so I started to become concerned that we would miss Lady Antebellum but we arrived right in time! Here's a pic of Matt and I when we were walking to our seats.

Saturday and Sunday Matt got us tickets to the Regions Charity Classic Golf Tournament played here at the Ross Bridge Golf Course in Birmingham. It is a golf tournament that is held for various charities in Alabama. It's played by the senior PGA tour golfers.

Matt had connections and got us 8 VIP Cocina Superior tickets for both Saturday and Sunday. We recruited (it wasn't a tough sell ;) ) some friends to join us and ended up having a blast! We got unlimited free food and drinks which was great. I'm now a huge fan of Pomegranate Margaritas and veggie Chimichangas. Saturday while walking out we ended up running into several of the players practicing on the putting green. We met golfer Fred Funk and a few of us got our picture taken with him.

Sunday the weather wasn't as nice, but we still stuck it out. It ended up raining a few brief periods of time but we were under a large umbrella so we were fine. It was great to hang out with good friends, eat some good food, and watch a good game.

By the way, Dan Forsman won.

What did you say??

"You're not listening to me." My husband said to me recently. And its true. I wasn't. I was focused on my Nook or playing on my phone or something (I know, I know after I wrote that damn blog saying how I wasn't gonna be that type on the phone not paying attention to what's around me!). How often to we sit down and think about how important it is to be a good listener? How often do we make sure we are truly being a good listener?

A lot of times when we actually listen to what another person is saying we find out a lot more information about them and what is really going on with that person. Listening helps to build rapport and relationships and can leave both parties feeling validated by the conversation that they've had. I know if I have something going on in my life and can find a good friend or family member to listen to me, and truly listen, not to butt in or give me a story about how that happened to them (which can be helpful, just wait until my story is over ;) ), I feel much better and happy to have been able to get what's on my chest, off. Sometimes all I need is someone to just hear what I have to say. No advice necessary. Or sometimes I do like advice, or just to hear that you understand what I feel--the tricky part is to give that at the right time. I believe the biggest part is that I feel listened to and that the other person heard all that I said and evaluated it before speaking.

One of my co-workers does this seminar/training on listening. He says there is 2 kinds of listening, active and passive. Active listening is when you sit down, clear your mind, and hear everything that comes out of the other person's mouth before speaking. This can be hard! You really have to push all your thoughts aside and focus only on the other person and what they say. Passive listening is when you are thinking thoughts as the other is talking (maybe about what they are saying, and maybe about something completely different). We have all been there, when you're talking and the other person looks like they aren't paying attention (cough, cough, me the other night with my husband) or when they interrupt you with questions or comments that could have been answered if they would've kept listening. This can leave the other person feeling frustrated and could potentially affect them coming to you in the future to talk. It's the active listening that we all want when we are in conversations with others. To feel heard and listened to.

I know I am in no way or shape where I should be in regards to my listening. But, I realize that and am working on it. I want to be a friend that others can feel comfortable coming to me, and that I will listen to them without judging, interrupting, or trying to one up their story with a story of mine (unless my story relates and I have advice from this experience--not to just to turn the attention on myself). I am going to consciously try to be an active listener frow now on because I realize how truly important it is. Sorry honey, for not listening to you the other day.

Beach trip

So after I wrote my post moaning and groaning about how I needed/wanted a vacation my good friend Maria emails me and invites me along for her mother's 60th birthday beach trip. I swear, I got the email while I was writing the post! Isn't it funny how things work out?! So of course I took the opportunity to hit the beach with a great friend, her mother, cousins, and a few other girls this past weekend.

Maria's cousin Daree owns a beach house in Sandestin, Florida. I honestly would have been more than happy to stay in a shack so long as we were near the beach, but this house was amazing!! Daree was so kind to let us stay there, and I'm glad she was able to come as well. She honestly made everyone feel so welcome and comfortable while we were there. She even made us homemade Biegnets and eggs Benedict one morning! How lucky were we?!

So it ended up being Maria, her mother, her cousins Daree and Dalana, Dalana's friend Jenny, and a couple of Maria's mothers friends, Lynn and Jennifer, and I. When we arrived Thursday night to Maria's mother and her friend's drinking wine and talking about having had some drinks bought for them earlier in the night, we knew we were in for a great time!

Unfortunately, even after many many prayers and requests for good weather we didn't see much sunshine. Friday morning it was windy and it began to rain hard that afternoon. Maria and I headed into Destin to do some retail therapy to take our weather woes away. We later checked out the restaurant Tommy Bahamas which was really good as well! Though the weather didn't look much better Saturday, sans rain, we still decided to head to the beach and hang out. Even though the sun wasn't out often, it ended up being a great day and we did get a little bit of sun. That night we ate at Mellow Mushroom, which Daree owns (by the way) and it was soo good! I highly recommend eating there next time your in Destin, or just near one. After dinner we headed to RumRunners, a piano bar in Sandestin. We told them it was Maria's mothers' birthday and the more than happily called her up on stage and sang to her. She was such a great sport! I'll tell you one thing, Maria's mom is NOT your typical 60 year old woman! She is beautiful. No really, she got hit on several times while we were at the bar, and no one else did. That's how beautiful she is! I really hope she had a great weekend celebrating her birthday. (I think she did.)

So yesterday we headed home and it was so nice to be at home relaxing on the couch with Matt, Gracie and Max (our fur children in case you didn't know). I had a great weekend and am so thankful to Maria for inviting me to this trip and to her cousin Daree for letting us stay with her. Though it has been a great few weekends, I'm now finally ready to settle down and stay at home for the next few weeks!