Grand Turk

What is that you say? Our vacation was almost a month ago and you still haven't seen many pictures? I know, I know... tisk, tisk. But when you see how gorgeous Grand Turk was, you will wish that today wasn't the first day of fall!

just lounging around by the shops

found a nice chair in the shade

gorgeous view from previously mentioned chairthe little white dot with the hat on is Brad... pre-cruise tan!

thought this was pretty darn funny

after a morning of beaching, we decided to lounge on the balcony a bit...

...this was our view

Five for Friday - Special Edition

It only seems fitting that my return to doing "Five for Friday" should come on a day that requires a special edition. A day that still gives me a knot in my stomach and a lump in my throat. A day that, while everything around you is business as usual, you know everyone is thinking about the same thing.

September 11, 2001. A day that will live in infamy (thanks FDR). A day that seems like so long ago, yet also feels like yesterday. This morning, I found myself standing in the hallway with coworkers, retelling our 9/11 stories. I think this has happened every year since, even hearing the same stories over again from the same groups of people. There's something about telling those stories that bring great comfort, I think, and is kind of like one huge oral history project.

I'll leave you with a great quote from then-President Bush that kind of sums everything up pretty well:

"Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children." - President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001

Serenity

(from the Turks and Cacos island of Grand Turk)

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!