An Update Along Time Coming...

WARNING…This is a massive update, read at your own risk.

Ok this is an update that has been a long time coming. I have been so busy lately I haven’t had any time to update my blog or even update most people on my happenings. I just got back from a Caribbean cruise at the beginning of the month and had a great time. But this will be my last vacation for awhile because I just bought a house…we will come back to that one.

I went on the cruise with six friends, my friend Chad and his partner Stefan, Brett, Shane, Shawn and his girlfriend Maddie. We had a great time, good laughs and Shawn and Maddie got engaged which is a great story on its own. Shawn is a pretty honest guy so he had a terrible time sneaking behind Maddie’s back to make the preparations and get the ring. I had to hold the ring before the cruise and pack it along with me when we went. Needless to say I was stressed enough about something happening to the ring that I didn’t worry about anything else. I have been on two cruises before this one so it was routine anyway.

Day 1, Sunday – The Airport and Fort Lauderdale

All of the pictures can be seen here

I headed over to Chad’s place early in the morning because his parents brought us to the airport. All of the crew met up at the airport, which was pretty slow because it was a Sunday. I am always worried about my ears popping when I fly because I have had a couple times where they didn’t for weeks after I have flown and I really didn’t want a ear ache when I was going on vacation. Luckily the flight was good and my ears popped fine.

We got into Fort Lauderdale a little after 3:00pm and hurried to the hotel. It was only about 10 minutes from the airport and the port where we set sail from was only 10 minutes from that so we really got a prime place. After we all settled in we decided to go find some dinner so we set off for a walk. We were right on the ocean front and walked by a huge beach on the way to the restaurant. This was Shawn’s first time being to the ocean so we got a few pictures for him. Right as the beach ended we found a nice little place with outdoor seating.

We had some good food and drinks to cool us down, after all we are from Minnesota and the heat hadn’t hit us yet so being above 70 was hot. After that we walked back down the beach and relaxed at the hotel for awhile. So people went exploring but me, Shawn and Maddie stayed in and watched some TV and napped. Later that night we met up with Chad and Stefan in the Hotel bar and had some snacks, played some Uno and went to bed.

Day 2, Monday – Fort Lauderdale and the Open Ocean

We woke up kind of early so we could get some free breakfast at the hotel buffet. We didn’t have to be to the pier until 1:00 so we had a lot of time to kill and me, Chad, Stefan, Shawn and Maddie decided to walk further down the beach to some shops so we could see a little more of Fort Lauderdale before we got on the boat. We walked down and saw some…interesting people to say the least, such as a guy walking down the street in his lace bathrobe and slippers. Otherwise we just checked out some local shops, I don’t think any of us bought anything. Then we spent a little time on the beach to get some sun and Shawn wanted to collect some shells to bring home with him. We also saw a jellyfish that had washed ashore so I figured this would be a good time to point them out to Shawn so he knew what to stay away from since he hadn’t been to the ocean before.

Check in was really quick and easy at the pier and we were on the ship quick. Right when we dropped our stuff off in our rooms we changed into deck wear and headed up to the top of the ship for some lunch. It was a beautiful day out so we soaked up some sun right after that.

The rest of the day we just lounged out and relaxed. This is also the night that Shawn purposed to Maddie. We still needed to find a good spot to do it so Shawn had to sneak away from Maddie to search the ship for a good spot. He found a good spot off of Deck 5 that would have the sunset in the background. The plan was to do it right before dinner when we would be all dressed up and the sun would just be setting, we told Maddie we wanted to watch the sun set and get some pictures on the first night (yes there was a lot of collaborative thought in this). I slipped Shawn the ring I had been carrying until this point and we headed up. We tried to let Shawn and Maddie stay in front of us as we walked out so we could all have cameras ready to go paparazzi on their asses when the moment came but Maddie kept moving back toward us and leaving Shawn out front so we had to keep pushing her up and taking random pictures of them until Shawn was ready. The moment was wonderful and tears were shed by more than Maddie, Chad was in full blown tears and he didn’t even get purposed to! But it was a sweet moment and we have great pictures to prove it.

Dinner was great as they always are on cruises. I got us a bottle of champagne to toast Shawn and Maddie’s engagement. If you have never been I suggest going at least once. Having everything done for you is wonderful and they aren’t that expensive. After dinner we all split up and took it easy.

Day 3, Tuesday – Key West

It was kind of overcast in Key West but still really warm. We only had a short stay on land but that was ok because I had been there before. We walked down Duval Street to the pier at the end and did some shopping. I bought a pretty cool hat that you will see in some of the pictures. By the end of the walk I was ready to get back on the boat to cool down and rest my feet. Before I cruise I did buy two pair of crocs, sandals and flip flops. I have bad feet and they ache when I push too hard but these crocs really are amazing. I didn’t think they would be any different but I have to say that they are worth getting, even if they look a little strange.

We set sail towards Cozumel at 2:00pm so we had more time to just lay by the pool and soak up the sun. Honestly that is all I wanted to do on the cruise. I had done the excursions and other activities on my other cruises and I was just content to lay and do nothing while people served me. It was the Captain’s dinner that night so we all dressed up and headed down to the gathering where the Captain talks about himself and the ship. After that was another amazing dinner. I can’t remember what I had each night but I am not one for seafood at all. I just don’t have a taste for it, but this cruise I tried snails and lobster. They weren’t bad but they just did not have a flavor that would make me get them again. I would rather be gnawing on a slab of red meat and some potatoes. But let it be known to all that I gave them a shot while they were free (included in the cost of the cruise). After dinner we headed to the live shows they have every night. This night was a musical and dance show called “Stage to Screen.” It was a great show with tons of energy. I have never been disappointed with a stage show on a cruise. After dinner there was a midnight buffet and dancing on the pool deck. There are some pictures of me and Maddie shaking it to some music.

Day 4, Wednesday – Cozumel

We had most of the day in Cozumel and this is the one place that I did an excursion. Five of us signed up for some snorkeling so we headed off the boat to meet our party and it was…HOT. I couldn’t wait to get in the water, I think it got over 100 degrees that day. We snorkeled for a couple hours and the instructor found a yellow sting ray on the bottom and brought it up for people to see. We were in about 20-30 feet of water most of the time. There are some great pictures taken with underwater cameras on the website. After snorkeling we headed back to the boat to shower and change and met up back on shore for some lunch and shopping. After that we walked around down the waterline and took some pictures, and then it was time to hit the boat again. After dinner that night we went to another show. This time a Beatles cover band called “Beatlemania” came on board and did a phenomenal show. It was really engaging and a ton of fun.

Day 5, Thursday – Belize

Belize was a tendered port meaning that it is so shallow around the area that the boats have to stay several miles off shore and we have smaller boats bring us to shore. Belize is pretty new to the tourist industry so I didn’t expect there to be a lot to do when we got on shore…and wow was I right. The port had a lot of little shops and some restaurants but when we stepped outside the port we got mobbed by people trying to sell us anything! Chad, Stefan, Shane and Brett had all opted to do an excursion in Belize while me, Shawn and Maddie decided to fly solo to see Belize for a bit and spend the rest of the day on the pool deck of the boat. We walked less than a mile onto the streets of Belize and we were just fresh meat to these people. We had enough after about 15 minutes and turned back to the pier, did some shopping and went back to the boat. It wasn’t really a big deal to any of us because we all really just wanted to sit out and relax.

When we got on the boat I caked on the sunscreen and we headed topside for about 3 hours. Now this is when I found out that SPF 30 doesn’t do a damn thing in Caribbean Sun. Every time I go on vacation I get burnt badly. This time I was being really careful. I am thinning on the top so I had some sunscreen for the top of my head and soaked myself anywhere else sun could get me. Now I knew that even though I had all this on I would still get some sun because of my complexion and I did get a good tan. However, my stomach decided that it didn’t want to be like the rest of my body. My stomach got the most burnt out of any burn I have ever had in my life or ever even seen in my life. I could feel I was getting some sun but it was so hot out that even if you aren’t burning you feel like you are. The three of us headed back to our rooms after the three ours and the other four where still on their excursions. I could feel that I was burning pretty bad so I took a cold shower and watched some TV while we waited for the others to get back. I had, like an idiot, not brought any aloe because I didn’t think I would get burnt this time so when Chad and Stefan got back I asked Chad if he had any I could use and he brought it over to me. When he saw my stomach he mouth was wide open. He said it looked like I might need to see the onboard doctor and I felt he was right because I could barely move and to put clothes over it was like thousands of needles poking into my from my stomach hair. The funny thing is that it was just my stomach, not my chest, just stomach. Luckily the aloe lotion he had was a gift from the heavens. I don’t know what was in this stuff but the pain and redness went away after two days of using this stuff. THANK THE LORD, Chad and Stefan too. After dinner show that night was “Can’t Stop the Rock.” It was a montage of different rock music accompanied with dance.

Day 6, Friday – Open Sea

This was our one day at sea so we all kind of did our own things this day and met up with each other on occasion. I was still in tons of pain so I stayed in my room and watched movies most of the day because when any heat came near my stomach I was hurting. But it was just fine with me to do nothing for a day. This was the last day of the cruise so I tried to get out and eat my fill of the food and see the things I wanted to. After dinner we went to the final show. The performers name was Dario Alberico. I would describe him as a comedian but he also did some amazing performances with some rope. I can’t describe it but it was legal and cool.

Day 7, Saturday – The Trip Home

We all got off the ship late morning and headed through customs. It was pretty quick as well. They really have everything polished off well. We hopped a van to the airport and had a quick flight home. I left out tons of details from the days but I didn’t want this to be a novel. Please email or call me if you want more details or need any clarification on the pictures because they are all up on the website by the person that took them and don’t have any sense of what day they were taken. If you missed the link at the top of this it is here.

The House

Ok time to come back to the house thing. I had been tossing up the idea of a house for awhile now but I hadn’t taken any action besides checking listings and seeing what was out there. My lease was coming up on end and I really didn’t want to sign another one. I wanted some space to call my own and felt it was the right step for me. I have a great job and I am doing pretty well for myself. I talked with Chad and got the number of his Mortgage Company he used and setup a time to get the approvals done and see what I could afford. I made a spreadsheet of my finances so I knew how much of a mortgage I could afford with all the other bills thrown in. Huge thanks to Chad for helping with the numbers on this. After I met with Kate, the owner of the mortgage company, she made me feel really comfortable with moving forward and qualified me for several first time home buyer programs that gave me discounted interest rates, reduced closing costs and money off the mortgage. With the market being so bad the state is giving a lot of assistance to people in good standing. I am happy to say that I have an Excellent ranking for my credit score so I got into all of them. Kate even supplied me with information to a Homebuyers workshop to get me prepared, answer questions and just educate me on home ownership. She called a Realtor she worked with a lot that day and things just started falling into place.

I looked for a few weeks before the cruise and when I got back I gathered a list of some more places I wanted to see and when we went out I fell in love with one place. Not only me but also my Realtor and Chad were impressed with this place for the money they were asking. The next day I scheduled a second showing and brought Chad’s parents to look through it and get their thoughts. They would know what to look for. I can’t thank them enough for all the things they do for me. They gave it their seal of approval so I felt comfortable making an offer. We wrote up the offer that night and after some minor negotiations we came to an agreement. I scheduled an inspector to come out that Chad’s folks had recommended from doing Chad’s sister’s inspections. He came out a couple days later and did a wonderful job, I was really impressed. The only problem he found was a small gas leak which was fixed by the time I even got to the place. He called the current owners and the energy company was just leaving when I arrived. He walked through the rest of the place with me and since the owners were there I got to meet them too which I was happy about. They are great people and really took good care of this place. The inspector gave it an “A” and I was sold. I close on July 30^th and will be moving in that weekend. There are some inside pictures listed here. This gives a general idea and I will obviously be taking more when I move in. It is 1,540 sq ft. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and in a really quite area. I am going to love it.

Well folks that is all and I hope you made it this far past all the reading. Hope to hear from some or most of you. Love to all!