Mexicoooo!

All righty! So much for updating every day. Everyone who knows me, knew that that wasn't going to happen. ^__^

But here's a quick rundown of how things have been going. I'll put a link to pictures at the bottom!

Saturday May 9th:

Woke up like any other Saturday. But instead of going to work, we were heading to the airport! Yaaaay! Lou's mom was nice enough to give us a lift to the brand new Indy airport, which is VERY pretty and well lit. The old airport was pretty dark and depressing. Except for the rainbow carpet, which I still kind of miss. So our flight to Houston ran 17 minutes late. It was touch and go whether it would be 17 or 18 minutes, but to our joy, it was only 17. Then we hopped on quite possible the smallest commercial plane in the history of commercial planes. I literally couldn't stand fully upright in the plane at all. Lou and I got all cozy in the very last row of the plane, prayed that the adorably squealing toddler a few rows ahead of us would be struck by a sudden and harmless coma that would shut her up for the two hours we were all trapped in the sardine can. Luckily our prayers were answered! Adorable toddler quieted down quickly and miracle of miracles! The tiny ass plane came with kick ass snacks! Not your usual pretzels and tiny cup of coke for us. No. We got a snack basket. What is that, you wonder? Well it's yogurt trail mix, crackers and surprisingly good cheese, kit kat bars and beef jerky. Heck yeah! So, after two hours, we get off the tiny ass plane only to discover that we had 25 minutes to sprint from one side of the Houston airport to the other. OH HOW WE RAAAN! But we made it! And prayed for the third person in our row not to show up. And they didn't! So we got to have a little bit of space apart which was lovely. We hoped for another awesome snack, but apparently they couldn't fit it in the plane which was a helluva lot bigger than the first. So we got two packets of pretzel bits and a tiny ass cup of coke. But we did get an inflight movie, which was one that I've been wanting to see. "Bride Wars". SPOILER: I kind of wish that Anne Hathaway's character wasn't the one that kind of got screwed over the most.
Anyway, we get to Cancun, meet up with mom and immediately get accosted by someone wanting us to take a tour of one of the timeshares. Yeah, we definitely declined that offer. And then after much standing around in the hot, we get in a van and head off to the resort. Cancun/Playa Del Carmen is an interesting place. It's a strange mix of gorgeous paradise-like beach and really rough uninhabitable landscape. So we dropped a couple off at a different resort. The Grand Mayan Resort. Which is ah-MAZING. and there was a lot of "Oh that resorts THERE! Cool!" on the drive over.
We got to Tres Rios, were promptly greeted by Jesus, led into a gorgeous lobby and given champagne and cool damp towels to enjoy while we checked in. We were led to rooms 1221 and 1222 and there we found our lovely wonderful unit. There are no words, so I'll just let you all enjoy the pictures. We wandered around, took a little self-guided tour and ate. By the way? Food. Also Amazing.

Sunday May 10th:

We finally got out to the pool! There are three levels of pool here, and all of them are equally awesome. There are these cabanas on the beach as well, and we chilled out in those for a little while. The beach is okay here, but it's not great to swim in because the first bit of it is kind of brown and yucky. Not because of pollution or anything. It comes from bits of wood and mangrove leaves. So I stood in the gulf for a while, then went to the clean pool. Where I proceeded to completely fry. Yup, I got super burnt. So the rest of sunday and basically all of Monday I was totally useless.

Monday May 11th:

Sunburnt. So very sunburnt. Spent all day sitting in bed playing on my computer. Honestly, it was a lovely way to spend the day. But in the evening we went to a show put on by the resort! It was a dance group doing interpretive dances about the life and customs of the mayans. There was even a Virgin Sacrifice which involved screaming on the girl's part, and being terrified on the part of a very small girl in the front row. There was also the most adorble litte person in the show who was totally hamming it up for all the ladies. So we watched the show and then we had a chance to take pictures with the "Mayan Warriors", who were some very attractive young men in loin clothes.

Tuesday May 12th:

Another day of hanging out. But I did get back out to the pool and hang out. So far this vacation has been perfect for relaxing. With the exception of the sunburn. So pool and relaxing all day, and then another show in the evening. This was a fire show! It was very impressive as you will all see in the pictures. Although the pictures don't do them justice because of the pickiness of my camera. I'll definitely upload some of the video that I took as well.

Wednesday May 13th:

So we hung out until 2:30 today. And at 2:30 we went on a snorkeling tour of the Cenotes in the nature park that this resort is on. Cenotes are fresh water springs that come up from under the ground. Although there were some little spots that were salt water. But, for my first time snorkeling, it was actually a lot of fun! There were fishes and turtles. Mostly I was just enjoying being in the water, because it definitely felt good on the sunburn. Meanwhile, we were all taking turns being flirted with by our tour guide, Fransisco "Franco". He was a very young, good looking boy who was apparently from Sicily. We were also informed by him that we all needed to go dancing on friday night. We shall see.

Thursday May 14th:

That's today! No sleeping in today. We were up bright and early to head off to the Mayan ruin of Tulum. Which is the only ruins on the beach. I would've learned more about the ruins, but it looked like I was starting to blister and I immediately freaked out and found some shade to hide in. Mom and Lou took some awesome pictures of the ruins and of the beach. Apparently the 2nd largest coral reef was off of that coast, which I didn't know. I also found out the iquanas are good at head banging. There were a bajillion igquanas around and they were all really freaking adorable. See pictures. Before going to Tulum though, we actually waited at a great shop and of course started the souvenir buying process. We opted out of going to this big water park called Xel-Ha, because Lou and I would've been turned into bacon. (Which is also ridiculously awesome here btw.) So back to the resort to eat awesome lunch, make spa reservations and then chill at the pool for another few hours. It was absolutely lovely. And now, after my computer time and much watch checking by Lou and my Mom, it's off to Alebrije (the mexican restaurant at the resort) for dinner and then who knows what!

I'll post more tomorrow and pictures a little later
Chao!

Depressing...

"

eHarmony is based upon a complex matching system developed through extensive research with married couples. One of the requirements for successful matching is that participants fall within certain defined profiles. If we find that we will not be able to match a user using these profiles, we feel it is only fair to inform them early in the process.

We are so convinced of the importance of creating compatible matches to help people establish happy, lasting relationships that we sometimes choose not to provide service rather than risk an uncertain match.

Unfortunately, we are not able to make our profiles work for you. Our matching model could not accurately predict with whom you would be best matched. This occurs for about 20% of potential users, so 1 in 5 people simply will not benefit from our service. We hope that you understand, and we regret our inability to provide service for you at this time."

I know it's just an online search but that definitely doesn't help my day. Blah...

Eff you eHarmony...

Puppy Power!

It's just me and Emma, my mom's dog, while everyone's in Cabo.

We're definitely bonding.
















Awwwwwwwww...

Them's the breaks

The rest of my family just left to go to the airport. Then they'll be getting on a plane and flying to San Diego to go on a four day cruise to Cabo San Lucas for my grandfather's 80th birthday.

And I'm still here.

I'm more upset than I thought I was going to be. (Obviously since I'm up at almost 5 am, writing on a blog I hardly update). It just seems like some kind of cosmic bullying. I'm trying to look on the brightside.

I have a well paying, not difficult job.
I have my health (read: I'm still breathing.)
I have family and friends who love me.

But then I remember that I'm still sitting here in Indiana where the weather is -20 degrees and I COULD be on a plane to go to a cruise ship.

Why am I here? Because of that well paying, not difficult job. And I keep reminding myself that it would've been stupid to pick a cruise over financial security. But to be perfectly honest, at this point in time this job doesn't seem worth all the sacrifices I'm making to work there.

Then again, it's also almost 5 am and in my vast experience with looking at life problems at this hour, nothing EVER looks worth it at 5 am.

So, I guess all I can do now is try to sleep, maybe cry a little (more. God I'm so lame). And just keep moving forward.

I can already tell that tomorrow won't be a great at work. We're supposedly having one-on-one's with my coach and in the state I'm in, I'll probably burst into tears, which will be EXTREMELY embarrassing for both of us.


sigh.

Loss

It's strange when someone dies. We hadn't spoken to each other since high school. Not because of any fight or anything... Just natural growing apart. But I do need to take a moment to mourn my friend.


She was my first best friend in Zionsville. Honestly, the first best friend once I'd learned the concept of best friends. Her dad sold us our new house, so I guess neither of us had much choice. Even so, we were friends. She was everything I wasn't. I was so painfully shy. And her? She was charismatic. One of those kids who said the darndest things. One of those kids that every loved because she was so cute and spunky. We had our fights, I'm sure. I know that for the entirety of 2nd grade we were sworn enemies. Later on neither of us could remember what started that fight. I don't really remember much of the bad...

What I remember is building an igloo and playing explorer. She made me be the girl and stay in the igloo and cook while she hunted and did the man things. And in the summer, we played mermaids and dolphin trainer in her pool. Another summer we choreographed a show on the trampoline to the music of the little mermaid for the neighborhood to watch. Looking back that was just the beginning of our choreography collaborations, since we worked together to choreograph some songs for our show choir. I remember our mobile Kool-Aid stand, taking the kool-aid around the neighborhood in her wagon and being chased by bees. Finding a dead bird on the road and giving it a proper burial in an empty lot. Finding a muddy and bedraggled teddybear on the street and cleaning it up to give to a kid who didn't have one. Sharing secrets... just... sharing life, during those years that become nostalgia and "back in the day". Catching up and laughing about life...

We aren't going to be laughing together anymore... And even though we haven't spoken in years, it hurts. A good person... a good friend has died. And a vital piece of my childhood has died with her. I pray for her family and for her...

Lindsay... Spike... you meant so much to me for those few early years. Your friendship was precious. There are so many memories, both good and bad, and I will NEVER forget you. I wish I could have seen you. Caught up with you. Laughed with you. You are so loved... And you'll be very missed. Rest in peace.

Briliant!

So extremely brilliant, you have no idea.

Little Frasier and Niles Were Quite the Handful

Teen boy: (glares at brother, bites thumb)
Younger brother: Mom! He's non-verbally quoting Shakespeare at me again!

Denver, Colorado


lol Name that play! I shouldn't be surprised that other people make this same joke, but I always am surprised.

In other news. Love the new job. I'm just antsy to get on with it. Training is a blast, but I'd really love to just be out on the floor, taking real calls.

Siiiiigh.

Cheers

Fo' Sho!

Aiiiii!! Run for your liiiiives