My Favorite Holiday

I think that Halloween is a favorite holiday of many actors and other creative types because it's just another chance to become someone else for a day. I've always taken pride in choosing unique and fun costumes each year.

So how am I celebrating on this, one of my favorite days of the year? Eating chips and salsa, watching Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments, and updating our blog. At first I was a little sad that I didn't have any plans--Eric's at work, most of my friends are working or out of town--but I feel like I'm eating, watching, and blogging in the spirit of Halloween, so I'm satisfied. I wonder if Wal-Mart's Halloween candy will go on sale at midnight, or if there will still be some chocolate left for me tomorrow?

EDIT: I was feeling too eco-friendly (read: lazy) to drive all the way to Wal-Mart, but Walgreens had all types of candy for 50% off! I got Life Savers Gummies, Peanut Butter M&M's, and a Nestle assortment for $6 total. Savvy shopper!

Fun Cruise Stuff - Volume 3

The final installment of the Fun Cruise Stuff trilogy is here! I finished the home video montage from our trip. Enjoy!

Fun Cruise Stuff - Volume 2

Here's the sequel to the first Fun Cruise Stuff post--the fun tidbit as promised. Our cruise director had a sense of humor, and on the last night of the cruise he presented the following list of questions asked on the cruise. Since then, I've found out that many cruise directors list the same questions, so you may have heard this list. Still, we thought it was pretty funny.

Top Ten Silliest Questions Asked on a Cruise

1. How far above sea level are we?
2. If I’m married, can I still go to the singles’ mix and mingle?
3. Does the crew sleep onboard?
4. Do I have to leave the ship to go on a shore excursion?
5. Do you think my face is too big for the mini facial?
6. Has this ship ever sunk?
7. Is the water in the toilets fresh water or salt water?
8. What happens to the ice sculptures after they’ve melted?
9. Is the island of Coco Cay completely surrounded by water?
10. If the photos in the gallery aren’t labeled, how do I know which ones are mine?

Stay tuned for one last Fun Cruise Stuff post with the video montage of our vacation!

Fun Cruise Stuff - Volume 1

The cruise photos have been uploaded to our online account! Follow this link to view them.

Following this post will be a few more containing the cruise video montage and another fun tidbit from our adventure at sea.

Cruise Recap

We're back from the birthday cruise and we had so much fun in such a short amount of time that I can't remember it all in sequence! Luckily for you, I kept a ship's log! I was pretty seasick on Day 1, but here are the entries from Days 2 through 4. Stay tuned for photos and video.

Day 2

Hello from the high seas! It's Day 2 of our cruise and we are really enjoying ourselves. Yesterday was a nice introduction to the cruise lifestyle, and we did some cruise-y activities like roulette lessons, a scavenger hunt, and a tasty and unpronounceably fancy dinner. When we set sail, we hit some rough waters, so sadly we missed out on swing lessons because I was driving the porcelain bus! We spend the rest of the evening getting some much needed rest.

Because of some stormy weather, we bypassed Royal Caribbean's private Bahamian island to spend a day at sea. We should be returning to Coco Cay on Thursday [Day 4]. Instead, we climbed the rock wall, came in second in Name That Tune and the Nerd Word Trivia Contest, and watched the crowd favorite win the men's sexy legs contest. His primary talent consisted of scooting back and forth on his electric wheelchair. Really!

Now we're getting ready for the formal dinner this evening. I think I'll have the duck! Later tonight is karaoke (always a favorite) and a stage show, maybe some dancing at the ship's nightclub. Tomorrow is our day in Nassau. We have a shore excursion scheduled (snorkeling and sailing) and we plan to visit some local historic attractions like the Nassau Library, the Queen's Staircase, and a historic Bahamian fort. Should be big fun for my birthday!

We are feeling much better today on smoother seas. We also got some extra seasickness precautions. In addition to the nausea medication, I now have the very stylish drug-free arm bands that use the principles of acupuncture to reduce nausea symptoms. Very natural. All in all, today has been much more comfortable than last evening!

Day 3

Today has been lots of fun so far! Our snorkeling excursion was amazing -- we can't wait to make a video of our findings. After lunch onboard, we went back to Nassau to take in some historical sightseeing. It was a little overrated but still interesting and
educational. Then we did some haggling at the Straw Market. They have things other than straw there, but we sure did come out with a straw hat for me and a [straw surprise for someone's birthday]. And Eric got a conch shell horn thing which he hasn't stopped blowing since we reboarded! Dinner tonight was delicious, and after an already decadent dessert, a birthday cake came to our table! That sneaky Eric :)

AND we won Family Quick Draw, which is basically iSketch in real life, so I've had a lot of training. We're resting up after a round of Deuces Wild to get ready for salsa lessons, the Love and Marriage game show (which I'm pretty sure is a rip-off of the Newlywed Game), an ice sculpture demonstration, dancing under the stars on the pool deck, and, of course, the midnight buffet, since we haven't had enough food today. I could get used to this lifestyle! [I ended up not doing any of that stuff from the salsa lessons on because, you guessed it, I fell asleep.]

Day 4

Today has been a beautiful day in paradise! Ashore at Royal Caribbean's private island, Coco Cay, we started exploring along the beach and ended up at the other end of the mile-long island! After some hammock time, we were ready for crafting, more Name That Tune, and a little exercise back on the ship. In store for tonight are line dancing, more karaoke, a PJ party, and one big scavenger hunt! Our last night should be a fun-filled one and tomorrow we're back home. Hope all is well back on land!

So now we're back in the real world doing what we do. Eric is already excited about our next cruise, and I really enjoyed the vacation, but I, the porcelain bus driver, am glad for now to be back on land.

The Piano Saga

So as you know from the Cruise Fund post, our piano was supposed to arrive on Tuesday. Well, a previous job delayed the movers, so we had to reschedule. (This is what they do for a living; you'd think they'd have figured out how to properly schedule moving appointments by now.) When we called Thursday to confirm, they had no record of our appointment. (Those fartknockers!) So we decided to move it ourselves. Yesterday, my AMAZING parents drove down from Georgia with piano moving and tuning supplies to help us move the beast.

Our truck was a little ghetto.

Look at those boys go!

My new baby nestled in the rig

Eric bought these straps that were supposed to make the load lighter. They were junk.

It was difficult to navigate the beast up the stairs.

Before and after. Voilá!

Dad using his incredible musical ear to tune the beast

My birthday is in 6 days!

This is the entertainment I want for my birthday party...just before I go on my first cruise. Does this offend anyone else?

The Cruise Fund has been DEPLETED

At first glance, my adorable denim sequined bag looks very unassuming. However, upon further exploration, after peeking inside you'll realize it is quite assuming indeed. It's full of cash and coins!

Some time ago, Eric began saving coins that he picked up off of the ground. When we started dating, I joined the quest not only by picking up coins but adding my tips from Kimonos to the stash. Eric uses cash to pay sometimes, so he adds to the fund with change from time to time, but for the most part, all of the coinage is from the ground. We started referring to this as our Cruise Fund, and since we're leaving for our Royal Caribbean cruise one week from today (!!) I decided to deposit the contents of the Cruise Fund into our bank account to pay back the credit card payment we used to cover the $525.30 cruise charges including taxes, fees, and gratuities.

I carefully counted and rolled all of our savings and here's what we put in today:

• $256 in cash (thank you, Kimonos patrons!)
• $160 in quarters (640 quarters, 16 rolls)
• $60 in dimes (600 dimes, 12 rolls)
• $20 in nickels (400 nickels, 10 rolls)
• $17 in pennies (578 pennies, 34 rolls)

I wish I had had my camera at the bank because they had these fun little metallic color-coded trays to put the color-coded rolls in (you know, quarters=orange, dimes=green, nickels=blue, pennies=red, pictured separately here), and it looked so festive and colorful!

The final tally included, coincidentally, nearly equal amounts of cash and coin. Along with the $256 in dollar bills, we collected $257 in coins! Weird! And in the end we put in...

...$513!! If you'll remember, our cruise total was $525.30. So if Eric hadn't stolen $13 in cash this morning to take to work, we would have had exactly the amount to cover the cruise with 70¢ to spare to toss into various fountains as we wander through Nassau. Crazy! And exciting!

We had a one penny remainder, and I got a $10 tip the other night from a generous sushi-eater, so we have $10.01 in our brand new Fund. Who knows? Maybe this next one will be a Car Fund!

In other news:

• I baked some organic Jack Skellington cookies for Eric's "secret goblin" at work (don't tell!)
• I returned my Bahamas for Dummies and Cruise Vacations for Dummies and found out that my library doesn't charge late fees (!!)
• the piano is being delivered tomorrow (!! again)
• last night we saw En Vogue in concert at Epcot for the International Food and Wine Festival. At the end of the month, we're going to Boys II Men's free concert! Anyone wanna join us?!

P.S.

Headline of the Day

Charge Dropped in Gas-Passing Case

Extra Show Tonight!

Hey, everybody! I just picked up an extra show at Kimonos. To celebrate this joyous occasion, I collected some online photos of Kimonos and the Swan into a slideshow for y'all. Karaoke is always fun, so feel free to stop by for the festivities beginning at 9:30. For directions, regular show dates, and more, you can always visit my website. Enjoy!