A Little Slice of Heaven with a Side of....Not Heaven

Get comfortable, you're in for a ride...

What's better than spending your vacation on a beautiful island in the eastern Caribbean Sea? I'll tell you - having your mother get married to a really great man on that beautiful island surrounded by more than 30 close friends a family members. Absolute bliss.

Brad and I recently returned from our second honeymoon in St. Lucia. Ok, so it wasn't really about us but for the record, we've made it six months folks!

I'll start off by telling you that in my mom's next life, she should come back as a wedding planner. It's all in the details. I mean, you know it's going to be pretty amazing when the wedding "invitation" comes in a glass bottle filled with sand, sea shells and a tiny umbrella with the actual invitation inside. She went as far as to soak the cork in a coconut oil or something so when you opened the box it just smelled beachy. And that was just the beginning.



When we arrived at the resort each couple received a big beach tote that was filled with sunscreen, chapstick, and other essentials for the beach as well as a "booklet" of activities that had been arranged (massage appointments for everyone, birthday party celebrations, dinners, a happy hour cruise, etc.) and each page was completely customized. If you can't tell, I was totally blown away. To my DFF girls, you all would have been so proud. :)

The first night, we all had dinner together in the main pavilion followed by A LOT of dancing. Brad and I were feeling rather jet lagged and crashed before things got really crazy...which they did. From what I heard, A LOT of dancing was followed up by A LOT of cocktails. Birthday girl's cake ended up in her face (her own doing) and most everyone ended up in the pool in their clothes by the very end of the night. Brad and I missed it all. :(
The next day was spent lounging around the pool, drinking fruity cocktails and catching up with my sister while the boys played golf. We had rehearsal that evening down on the beach (obviously) followed by a fabulous dinner at the resort's Piton Restaurant. My mom's wedding was the largest wedding they'd ever had so they let us have the whole restaurant all to ourselves and provided a live band. Soooo much fun!

The following day was The Big Day and my mom was the picture of cool. Completely relaxed and stress free. (Must be in our blood, I was the same way on my wedding day.) Everyone had massages throughout the morning. What a way to start off the day. I had a hot stone massage....if you ever have the opportunity to do that, do it! After an impromptu "Bridal Luncheon" in our swim suits, no doubt, it was time to get ready.
The "Getting Ready" part was followed by the "Waiting" part. Wouldn't you know that the nastiest looking storm rolled in about 10 minutes before we were supposed to be down on the beach. Fortunately, it rolled in and rolled right out. Whew! That could have been bad.

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful! "Happy" just isn't the right word to describe the way Riley and my mom looked....it was so much more than that. I wish we could do it all over again. (Only this time, I wouldn't trip on my dress down the aisle. Yep, believe it. Every bridesmaids worst nightmare. I don't think many people saw it though. At least that's what I keep telling myself.) We had hors devours and champagne for about an hour followed by a beautiful dinner right on the beach. The perfect end to a perfect day.




But the party wasn't over yet! One more day of fun in the sun only to be topped off with a sunset catamaran cruise. With the exception of the ceremony, this may have been my favorite part. The mountains on one side and the sun setting into the ocean on the other. It was amazing! And then surprise birthday cakes for me, Hailey, and Lori weren't too shabby either. Again, cake ended up in people's faces. What's up with this group and cake in the face?


The evening ended with a tasty hibachi dinner at Kimono's Restaurant. Then Brad and I said our goodbye's as we were heading out early, early the next morning. :(

Here is where the "Side of Not Heaven" comes in. Brace yourself. Brad and I were up at 4:15 am to catch our shuttle to the rinkety dink airport. Here's how the day was supposed to go - St. Lucia to San Juan to Miami to Frankfurt. Simple enough, right? Wrong. A one hour delay out of St. Lucia ruined everything!!! Because of the delay, we would miss our connection in San Juan and the next flight out of San Juan would cause us to miss our connection in Miami. Wonderful. Plan B was to fly to New York from San Juan. Uggghhh. At this point Brad and I pinky swore to each other that no matter how bad the rest of the day got, we would not get frustrated with each other....only everybody else. We made it to New York just fine and spent the next 6 hours hanging out at JFK. Silver lining - our plane started boarding right when they were expected to and we were taxiing down the runway right on time. Eeeeerrrrrkkkk! Here's where it got bad.

We're heading down the runway and we stop. Turn around. Head back to the terminal. And sit. Apparantly, the landing flaps weren't operating correctly. I guess it's good we figured that out before we had to land. I was so tired, I just put my headphones on and tried to go to sleep. Lucky me, I have a window seat right next to the wing. I'm watching the guys with the neon orange vests work on the plane and I realize heat is being emited from just below my window and it's getting hotter. Knowing that this couldn't be normal I get up and find the nearest flight attendant to explain my little delimma. She kindly asked that I "please take my seat." To which I kindly replied it was too hot to sit there. And here's how the rest played out:


Flight Attendant: I apologize for the inconvience but could you please take your seat?
Me: I'd rather not. It really is quite hot.
Flight Attendant: Ok, well, why don't you ask the people around you if they are hot, too.
Me: Are you serious?
Flight Attendant: I'll need to know if it's just your seat.
Me: I promise I'm not lying to you. Would you like to sit in my seat and feel it?
Flight Attendant: Please ask those around you if they are hot too.
Me: Ummm, ok. Excuse me, are you all hot?
Other Passengers: "Oh my gosh! I'm dying!" "I thought it was just me!" "What? Do they have the heat on or something?"


Ha, lady! I told you I wasn't lying. Once the other people around me agreed that it was, indeed, sweltering in our area, Little Miss Flight Attendant Chick decides she'll come check it out. She puts her hand on the wall below my window and says "oh, it's not actually the wall that's hot, it's just that hot air is blowing in from this vent and it's making the wall feel hot." I don't know what my face had to have looked like at that moment because that was quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Oh. Well thank you Sherlock Holmes for determining that the wall itself wasn't going to spontaneously combust all over me but I could care less WHAT is hot, the fact of the matter is - IT'S HOT! So I (politely) refused to sit down. I honestly did not make a scene but after the day we'd had, I really wanted to.


They claim to have turned on the AC but I think they were lying. Tick. Tick. Tick. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. This went on for FOUR hours! Some guy in the back passed out from what had to have been heat exhuastion. Oh, and we had to refuel the plane just from sitting there. As I was standing in the aisle of the plane leaning against my very tired husband, we look at our watch and notice that if our flight out of St. Lucia had just left like it was supposed to, we would already be home. I wanted to die.


But I didn't and we finally took off. Eight and a half "short" hours later, we landed in Frankfurt. Customs was, of course, a nightmare but we made it through that, too. Hopped on the train, luggage in tow. It was rush hour so we took a cab the rest of the way once we arrived in Mainz.

Home sweet home.....

NOT!

Somebody had a little "party" while Mom and Dad where away and that somebody would be Miss Stella. A neighbor, who had offered (I might add), to watch Stella didn't agree with keeping her in her crate. Sure, it breaks my heart to put her in there when I have errands to run, chores to do and what not, but lest we forget - Stella is a 5 month old labrador puppy who is teething, no less. And what does a 5 month old labrador puppy do when you are not watching them 24/7? They chew, poop, and pee. And that is precisely what she did. Everywhere. Everything. Dining table, dining chairs, dresser, her own bed, decorative orbs (they are called orbs, not balls), peed all over every inch of our hardwood floors and even on the couch, poop residue all over the place.

Who? Me? I didn't do it.

I don't think I have to explain how we felt at this point. We have since then invested in a Steam Mop as the vacuum cleaner and Swiffer just weren't cutting it with this mess. The house has been put back together and we've returned to the crate training routine with Stella. If you think I'm a bad mother to our dog (like our neighbor does):

a.) I've done my research on crate training and it is definitely a good idea
b.) I don't care

Whew! That was exhausting. So there you have it. Our little slice of heaven with a side of....not heaven. I think I'm ready for another vacation. :)

There are tons of pictures from our trip at traciandrileystlucia2009.shutterfly.com. The password is stlucia.

Celebrating in Strasbourg

First things first - I apologize for the delay in posting. Our apartment was struck by lightening and fried our modem, thus I've been without access to the Internet.

As many of you know, I have the most amazing husband. Period. Instead of a new outfit, something for the house, or flowers he gave me something sooooooo much better for my birthday - a fabulous weekend in Strasbourg, France. Ohhhhh Strasbourg, drink it in. It always goes down smooth. (A direct quote from the husband.)

If we'd gone right, we would have ended up in Paris....how great is that?

We hit the road Friday afternoon. And by hit the road I mean HIT THE ROAD. We finally had the opportunity to let The Audi run free on the Autobahn reaching speeds upwards of 120. Don't worry, I had my seat belt on (although I'm not sure what good a seat belt would do if you get in an accident going that fast). With that said, we arrived at the fabulous Sofitel Strasbourg in just about 2 hours.

After getting settled in our room, we hit the town in search of a place for dinner. Random side note - in the square about a block from our hotel a group of people were protesting the Iran election results. Nothing too crazy but it was definitely interesting to see. Moving on - we picked a cute restaurant that had seating available outside. I had one of the best lamb shanks I've ever tasted. Yum!

While dinner was great, the next part was A-A-A-AMAZING!!! The main tourist attraction in Strasbourg is the Cathedral de Notre Dame. We'll see more of the Cathedral later, just know this - when you see it, you have one of those "ahhh-haaa" moments. Pretty incredible. We stopped at a cafe that was right out in front of the Cathedral and each of us ordered a creme brulee and an Irish coffee. While admiring the church, we overheard a man behind us struggling to order some whiskey from the very French waiter. He finally gave up and settled for some scotch. We joked with him wondering what they put in our Irish coffee if they didn't have whiskey (and we still don't know but it tasted good). We ended up chatting with him and his wife for several hours. They gave us a bunch of tips on places to visit while we're here in Europe as well as the places to skip. Great people, great conversation and a great view....doesn't get much better than that.

Irish Coffee and Creme Brulee....yummy! Not a bad view either.

Cathedral at night

We had a light breakfast of croissants and coffee (no wonder French people are so skinny, where are the bacon and eggs people?) then made our way over to the Cathedral. There is just so much to it. Sure, it's big but that's not really what makes it so amazing. It's in the details. Words won't do it justice so enjoy:

Pretty incredible, huh? What was crazy was that right after we walked around inside they ushered everyone out because someone was getting married there! Can you imagine?

After the Cathedral, we made our way over to the La Petite France area. Most of the buildings and houses here are built with the half timber design and it is quite a sight to see. We enjoyed lunch near the river (not right next to it because the waiters at that restaurant were too snooty) then more sight seeing. We picked up some delicious chocolates for our neighbor that was keeping Stella....ok, and maybe a few for ourselves. By late afternoon we were worn out and decided a powernap before dinner would be a good idea.

To really celebrate my birthday, we splurged and had dinner at GoH, a schnazzy little place that was in the Sofitel. The menu we selected was a journey in itself, to say the least. Foie gras over strawberries, sardines over lima beans with fried potato slices, who thinks of this stuff? Fortunately, we're pretty adventurous when it comes to food so we really enjoyed it. Since it was our last evening, we wanted to take one more walk around town....and Brad was craving a crepe. We went to a creperie near the Cathedral and gorged ourselves, once again.

Random funny story - on our walk back to the hotel we saw a group of people all dressed up having cocktails out on the balcony overlooking the main square. We thought "can you imagine going to extravagant parties in Strasbourg, France. Hanging out on the balcony sipping cocktails and mingling. What a life." But I don't think everyone there understood the invitation where I'm sure it said something along the lines of "dress up." The women wore cocktail dresses and the men were in suits.....well, most of them. As we sat there secretly envying these people, out walks Superman. I kid you not, full out Superman costume!! Absolutely hilarious!

And that pretty much sums up the trip. We slept in the next morning before heading home to our excited puppy. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!!

Hallo From Heidelberg

Another fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants weekend.....and I love it that way! The boys (Brad and Tommy) play on a couple of softball teams. One is with a group of guys from work and the other is with a hodge podge group of guys from all over the Garrison Base that only play in tournaments. Since I am quite certain none of the guys from the Garrison team will ever see this, I'm just going to come out and say it - they are absolutely terrible! With the exeption of Brad and Tommy, of course. (What's funny is that the coach has held practices twice a week for a little over a month now.) This weekend was the first tournament and was held in Mannheim, about an hour from here. Knowing how "talented" the team was, it was decided Friday evening that we would just count on them not making it too far and we would spend the rest of the time in Heidelberg.

We hit the road Saturday morning; the five of us in The Camery, what a sight. We arrived about an hour earlier than needed so we piddled around on base before making it to what we thought was the field for the tourney. Wrong. They boys walk up with their cleats on and bat bags in hand only to see we were at an ALL GIRLS tourney....oops. We finally found our way to the right place; however, after the first game I was beginning to think maybe they should have stayed at the girls field (did I really say that out loud?). One game down, one to go. We enjoyed some Texas Barbecue in between games then made our way over to a Mann Mobilia to kill some time. I'd never even heard of this store, it's basically an IKEA type place but on steroids. Pretty amazing. The team played better the second game and I was worried that "The Plan" was going to fall through and they'd have to come back on Sunday. But a few bad plays and we were home free. And thanks to the GPS, we were in Heidelberg in 20 minutes.


We enjoyed a fabulous German dinner in a beautiful biergarten followed by a night cap at the Dubliner Irish Pub. The nightlife in Heidelberg is nothing like what I expected....actually, I didn't expect there to even be a nightlife. Such a gorgeous, historical city - who would have thought the streets would be packed at midnight? Not me. I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera because the view of the castle at night was phenomenal! Oh well, next time.

We were up bright and early on Sunday so we could enjoy our German breakfast at the hotel. Quick recap - German breakfast means mostly meats and cheeses. Don't know that I'll bring that custom back to Texas with me. Fortunately, they also had Frosted Flakes and toast.

We hopped on a trolley (or tram, depending on who you talk to) and made our way to the center of town. Good thing we wore comfortable shoes - from there hiked, not walked, hiked up the hill to the castle. The homes on the way up the hill are like nothing I've ever seen before. Stunning!By the time we made it to the top it looked as if we'd just ran 5 miles....but it was beyond worth it! The castle overlooks the city (like most castles do) and the view was just breathtaking.

One thing you might notice in some of the pictures is all of the graffiti. I find it so odd that someone would have the audactity to use a Sharpie or even a knife to carve their initials or some stupid comment into the walls of a castle (or anything, for that matter). Grrrrr, I could just smack them upside the head.

We spent the rest of the afternoon milling around town and window shopping. I truly enjoyed Heidelberg and I can't wait to go back. It's my favorite place we've been so far! For those of you coming to visit, this will definitely be a place we'll want to check out.

Stay tuned for next weeks post...Brad and I will be off on another adventure!

Stella's First Day At School

On my way to school

Little Miss Stella is growing up and enjoyed her first day at puppy school on Sunday. It was less about "school" and more about learning to play with other puppies but she had a great time. We had been told that this was the perfect place to take your puppy to get them socialized and that the owner spoke English. Only half of that was correct. During the instruction portion of the class, Brad and I just stood there staring at each other because it was NOT in English. Not a single word. Fortunately, one of the other puppy owners filled us in on most of it. Guess we have even more motivation to learn German.

Making friends

Hide and Seek

Stella was pretty fiesty but there were a few pups that had no problem putting her in her place. She made friends with a Golden Retriever and a Weimeraner/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix. Absolutely adorable!

But after an hour of playing hard, we had one tired puppy on our hands.

We can't wait to go back!