Saturday - Cruising with Hurricane Bill

(I know, our vacation was like three weeks ago, but I thought you'd still appreciate pictures!)

Saturday was our first day at sea on the boat. Luckily, we had a friend along - Hurricane Bill, about 300 miles to our east. We enjoyed rolling along Bill's 15 foot swells, which kept the boat rocking pretty heavily back and forth from front to back. It didn't really make you sea sick, it was just a very interesting feeling!

We got up to see the sunrise over the Atlantic, which was absolutely amazing (see my post below). Sitting on the balcony, out in the middle of the water with nothing around, and seeing the world light up... absolutely worth getting up at 6:15am! We spent most of the day hanging out by the pool relaxing, or sitting on the balcony (a godsend!) reading. Saturday evening was the first formal night, which we got all dressed up for. Brad wore his tux and I used the opportunity to get a new dress. We also had our first dinner in the formal dining room, where we got to experience Carnival's famous warm chocolate melting cakes. We definitely give them a thumb's up!

chugging along through the ocean

lounging on the Lido Deck
blue, blue Atlantic water

cool reflections in the front of the ship

sporting the farmer's tan!

the first of many hours enjoying the balcony

our friend, Hurricane Bill

formal night lovin' (opted for the self photo over the $22 8x10 that the professional took!)

warm chocolate melting cake awesomeness

thumb's up to melting cakes!

Sunrise over the Atlantic

Sailing the Chesapeake

One of the best things about our cruise vacation was sailing out of the Port of Baltimore. Other than the awesomeness of not having to fly to the port, once you sail out of the port, you sail down the Chesapeake Bay, under the bridges, and out to sea. It takes almost 10 hours to get from port out to the Atlantic and it was a great journey along the way.

bye-bye Baltimore!

waterway traffic

Ft. McHenry, where the Star Spangled Banner was written

approaching the Francis Scott Key Bridge

sailing under

chugging along the Chesapeake

you can tell by the pictures that the weather was crazy - sunny one minute, cloudy the next. we spotted this rainbow and were actually able to see the entire arch. unfortunately, I didn't have a wide enough lens with me to capture the whole thing.

approaching the Chesapeake Bay Bridge's double bridge span

barely squeezing under

looking back

Back!

We're back! Fall has arrived (at least today - it was 61 degrees when I left the house this morning!), we picked up the keys to our new apartment this morning and we are relaxed from our awesome vacation.

I'm still working through our cruise pictures (you may have seen some already on Facebook), but here's a few to tide you over until I can get a better post going:

my goofy husband during the muster drill

A little technology vacation

Taking a little technology vacation for a few weeks... see you in September!

I promise lots of exciting pictures from our travels and the promise of more travels coming up in the next few months!

Five for Friday

1. I have been a bad blogger this week. I've been working to edit our honeymoon pictures, all 1300 of them. My hope is that I can actually have them done and in an album by the two year anniversary of our honeymoon this fall :)

2. Are you an opera fan? Wednesday evening I went to see a broadcast of "The Magic Flute" at the AMC theater. It was a great production, full of neat camera angles and behind-the-scenes shot. Apparently they do this several times throughout the year, so if you're an opera fan, check it out!

3. Two weeks from right now, Brad and I will be sailing away on our eight-day Carnival cruise. My only requirement for a vacation this summer was a place with a chair and a book, and a Caribbean cruise seemed the perfect way achieve that. We are both really looking forward to the break and being "off the grid" for a week.

4. The weather here is absolutely gorgeous here today. Blue skies, low humidity, nice breeze. It feels more like October than August. Hopefully it shall continue!

5. If you appreciate good photography, check out the blog of my good friend and extremely talented photographer Erin Conrad. If you ever find yourself in the Tulsa area, contact this Dr. Pepper drinking, Oklahoma loving, photographer extraordinaire!

Five for Friday

1. Last Saturday, Brad and I went to see one of our favorite country singers, Brad Paisley, in concert at an outdoor amphitheater sort of near us. It's our fourth year in a row seeing him, and he always puts on such a fun show. Despite the pouring rain, lightning, and generally chilly weather, he did not disappoint. It is actually our first year of seeing him and having anything but perfect weather, so I can't complain. Dierks Bentley was his opening act and also did not disappoint.

2. The weather in D.C. has been so odd this summer. All of May and June were cool, with two weeks of rain, and the rest of the time being gorgeous. Now the D.C. weather gods have returned to their usual summertime selves and it's hot and sticky out. The only time it seems to rain is when we have outdoor plans, like softball (rained out for the third week in a row on Wednesday). Go figure!

3. Tuesday evening I was able to meet up with an old friend (as in we haven't seen each other in a while, she's not old!) and chat all about the one year anniversary trip she and her husband took to Spain last fall. She was so nice to answer all my questions and she really got me jazzed up to begin planning our trip, despite the fact that it's still over a year away. Thanks Katy!

4. So, yes, I have convinced Brad that we should go on a two week trip to Spain next fall. I am BEYOND excited. We're still trying to figure out exactly where we want to go, but we know that any trip will include Barcelona and Madrid (because we love the former and have never been to the later). SO EXCITED!

5. In travels actually in this calendar year, we have to travel to Minneapolis in October for my great-grandmother's 100th birthday, which happens to be the weekend before our wedding anniversary. I'm thinking about tacking a small three day trip onto that weekend to celebrate our anniversary, but we can't figure out where to go. As long as we're not at work, I don't really care! ;)

Happy weekend all!

Espana

Brad and I have been toying with the idea of doing a big third anniversary trip to Spain next fall. Being the OCD planner that I am, I have already begun my indepth research of where we should venture off to for about 14 days. Honestly, the idea of taking 10 days off of work is making me both nervous and giddy!

Our only experience with this vast country of anatomous regions was the two days we spent in Barcelona before we boarded a cruise ship for our honeymoon. We absolutely feel in love with it there - the people were so nice, the architecture was amazing and the food... well, I could live on tapas and red wine for the rest of my life.

So, I ask my faithful blog followers: have any of you been to Spain? Have any "must see" or "must do" activities? My only requirement is that it is non-touristy! For a little trip down memory lane, some shots I took during our short time in Barcelona:

sheep's head for sale in the market!

the Park Guell - designed by Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi

a circle mosaic from the Park - we have a series of three of these hanging in our living room that make me smile every time I see them

flowers for sale along Las Ramblas

the view from our hotel room window of the Agbar Tower, decked out in the colors of

FC Barcelona, their soccer team!

Five for Friday

1. I feel bad I didn't do a FFF last Friday. But, as you can see from my posts this week, I was getting ready for our big Cedar Point trip!

2. Cedar Point was super, super fun. I hadn't been there since I was about five years old, so it was crazy trying to remember what rides where there then that are still there (answer: about three) and what is new (answer: basically everything). Brad, on the other hand, practically grew up there, going at least once a summer until about three years ago. He was so excited to be there and made it a point to go on every roller coaster and almost every other ride in the park. Even though I'm not really a roller coaster person, I sucked it up and rode three of them (and even the same one four times, including once in the front row!). My favorite ride is still the Scrambler though :)

3. Tomorrow night, we're going to see one of my favorite singers, Brad Paisley, at an outdoor amphitheater in the middle of nowhere Virginia. This will be our fourth year in a row seeing him and it is always such a fun concert. I'm really looking forward to it!

4. We are MOVING! Wohoo! We're moving in September from our cozy one bedroom place into a great two bedroom place that is literally right across the street from the Metro. I can't wait to have a two minute commute to the train :) We just hired movers - a first for me - who will be coming on September 14th. And the best thing about the new place? It has a washer and dryer in the unit! I think this is literally going to change our lives.

5. My office is having a big baby boom right now. One of our attorney's gave birth on Monday to a little girl - 9lbs, 12oz! Another colleague is due in mid-August and another colleague is due in December with twins. They warned me not to drink the water when I started working here... perhaps it's time to start bringing my own bottles from home!

Artsy Cedar Point

What's a photographer who doesn't really like to ride roller coasters to do for two days at Cedar Point ("America's Roller Coast")? Take pictures of the rides, of course!

**note: I actually did ride the ride below, the Power Tower. I was scared out of my mind**