Cruise Day 4 - Tracy Arm

Day four was another day at sea... well sorta. We didn't get off the ship anywhere, but we did get to go up Tracy Arm to see icebergs and a huge glacier!

I started this day extremely tired... I'd been up until probably 4am the previous night. The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that you could hear the waves crashing loudly against the side of the ship. And when I opened my eyes I noticed the ship was going back and forth. The more I thought about it the worse it made me feel. I sat out on the balcony for a bit to get some air... but that was fricking freezing so I came back in and went for breakie with the girls. I had a few tater tots and my aunt gave me a Gravol and after eating I went back to bed and took a nap.

I woke up and headed up onto the deck where the family was waiting to see the glaciers. I was so overtired I just reached a point where everything was funny and it was definite Danielle Comedy Hour. I was laughing about everything so hard I was crying. My sister and I were making scary faces with our bear hats on, and I just can't do it as well as she can!

This part of the trip was really cool. All the water is melted from glaciers and has no impurities so it's a crazy caribbean blue-green colour. Some of the icebergs even looked blue. They sent a lil boat with some crew down to bring an iceberg back onto the ship. Also while up on the deck we got some amazing hot chocolate, and by this I mean half hot chocolate, half Bailey's.

Later that night we hit up the club again for some TEQUILA SHOTS!

It was a lot of fun until this crazy girl from Quebec was getting jealous that the cute guy was paying attention to me. I left for a few minutes to go get changed into some comfy clothes and she used the opportunity to get all up in his grill. Yeah, I said it. But, the look on her face when I came back was priceless!

The boy and I hung out super late again that night. He was someone that I really clicked with and could easily talk to. And the kissing was getting better. Way better. Like weak in the knees hard to breathe better. And him telling me that he would definitely date me if I lived back at home with him didn't help things. We were talking about marriage and kids and love and all sorts of crazy things that get girl's brains going. Late that night he walked my back to my room... only for me to discover my keycard had de-magnetized in my pocket so I had to knock and wake the girls up. They weren't too happy with me.

Cruise Day 3 - Icy Strait Point

The third day of the cruise we reached our first destination: Icy Strait Point in Hoonah, Alaska. It's a teeny, tiny I don't want to say town, but I don't know what the word is for little village created solely to make money off cruiseship tourists. It's basically a bunch of log buildings with some tourist shops. And there's some totem poles. And a cat.

The best part of this place was the enormous zipline that went from the top of the mountain right into the town... and I zipped it. (Totally a word.)

Since my mom and sister are extreme-sport-avoiders my dad and I, as well as my cousin and her mom and dad, headed up the mountain in a bus. We then had to walk for a bit, then wait in a huge-ass line. Not zipline at the Olympics big, but two-hours-in-the-Alaskan-cold big.

It was worth the wait! The zipline is one of the longest ones of its kind in the world, is around a mile long and you reach upto 100km/hr. It was so fast that I could barely breathe; I had to turn to the side to take a breath. Even when I was coming close to the end I was going super fast and thinking that I was gonna die... but the huge springs at the end saved me.

This is the video I took:

The other highlight of the night was up in the club all the cruise staff was dressed up like the Village People and the cruise director was teaching how to give a lap dance. GOOD TIMES! The crusie staff were hilarious... and kept calling me Serena ... as in Vanderwoodson on Gossip Girl. I don't really think I look like her (maybe 10 lbs less and a boob job), but I'll take it.

I stayed up late that night and hung out with the cute boy I'd been talking to. We walked around the ship, even tually stopping to talk in this little library... where we had our first kiss. At first it wasn't great, but it definitely got better. I even found myself starting to like him. I know, not neccessarily the best idea on a 1-week cruise.

Jessica Simpson on the May 2010 Marie Claire Cover with NO MAKEUP!

I was not surprised that Jessica Simpson graced the cover of the May issue of Marie Claire  But I was surprised to that the photo had not been touched up in any way.  And...GASP...Jessica is not wearing ANY makeup.  ON THE COVER!

Confession:  I'm not really a Jessica Simpson Fan.  A girl should be celebrated for her brain, and not for the size of her boobs.  Unfortunately in Jessica's case, it's the opposite.

Having said that, it took a tremendous amount of guts for Jessica to appear makeup-less and not electronically augmented on the cover of Marie Claire.  She is promoting A Beautiful Me, an initiative encouraging young women to be comfortable in their own skin and love themselves for who they are.

In a world where many women don't feel comfortable leaving the house without at least some minimal makeup, Jessica's cover should be an inspiraton to us all.  If Jessica can grace the cover of a major fashion magazine without makeup, every girl should feel comfortable leaving the house makeup-less!  

So if you're going to the market, or you're going to hang out with some friends, pass on the makeup.  Just slap on some sunscreen and go have fun.  You're beautiful just the way you are!

Not Tempted, A Little Tired, Kinda Boring ...

Well my friends, today I would NORMALLY do my blog bestie's and soon to be MAWWIED soulmatey's Temptation Tuesday but I'm kinda in a funkity funk today.  No, nothing's wrong, I'm just tired and really feeling alltogether uninspired.  Does this ever happen to any of you?  So what am I going to do?  Tell you about my ohsoexciting evening last night.  Did that sentence sound like it was dripping with sarcasm?  Because it was.  First off, a little bit of good news, the naseau (I think, but this was as of yesterday, we'll see when I have a few good non-ralphing days in a row) has started to subside a bit.  So I was actually able to eat these last night ...

{Except mine we scrambled egg only.  The ham and cheese in this one look good too, which is a HUGE step for me to say ANY kind of meat looks even edible and not repulsive!}

And then watched the following ...

{Gasp, shock, AWE ... Nicole did well again.  But thank GOODNESS Evan took home 10's this time and not friggin Nicole.  SHE IS A PUSSYCAT DOLL PEOPLE.  I'm just sayin'.  Ugh, frustrates me.  That's like taking Mariah Carey and putting her on Idol.  Are you going to be shocked when SHE does well?  I think not ...}

{WHICH, bytheway, my husband HATES this show.  I literally have to watch it while he's not around.  But he'll watch Jersey Shore?  Go figure ...}

{Fellow watchers, are you as worried about them as I am?  I LOVE Tori & Dean, but they seem to be following in the rest of Hollywood's footsteps and heading for divorce!  This was the ONE couple that I thought had it!  They're so dang cute!  But Tori, honey, PLEASE eat a pizza.  Not like one piece, a whole one.  Maybe a couple times a week.  Sheesh.}

With this guy ...

{I had to take a picture.  To send to his dad who's working.  His momma MAY or MAY NOT let him lick the pudding/ice cream container/popsicle stick/anything he wants that I'm going to throw away, clean after I'm done and here he JUST finished with my vanilla pudding cup, although he apparently thinks there's more to be had because I put it on the bar to the left of him, thus his LEANING into the bar/snuggling with the back of the couch ...}

And that, my friends, was my riveting evening.  I don't like Mondays because, HELLO they're the start of a work week, but I LOVE Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday nights because of the awesome TV lineup.  Tonight?  DWTS results, American Idol, Glee and LOST had BETTER be a new one!  I think it is.  Is it 8 pm yet? 

And I am wearing a few of the fun stuff I got at the craft show I went to with my Silly so I thought I'd go ahead and show you.  I got this fun necklace for $12.  Heck yes.

And this not too shabby knock-off Yurman ring (that doesn't mean I don't want a real one sugar, as wives we have to clarify these things ...) for $5!  Heck yes.

 

{Please ignore the awesomeness that is my nubs of nails.}

And there's a "few" ... ahem ... more at home.  I'll show y'all as I wear them.  And that's it for the boringness that is Life in the Fulmer Lane today.  Maybe I'll be more exciting tomorrow.  But I'm thinking since I'm a creature of habit, probably not.

Have a loverly Tuesday loverlies!!!

The Undomestic Goddess - Sophie Kinsella

After liking Twenties Girl so much, I had to get more Kinsella books.  So of course I picked up The Undomestic Goddess.

This book is about Samantha, a successful London lawyer whose idea of house work is picking up her clothes at the dry cleaners and ordering take-out for dinner.  Samantha is on the fast track to making partner, until she makes a major mistake.  The kind of mistake that may cost Samantha everything she's been working for her whole life - her career.  In shock from the realization, Samantha walks out of the office, boards a train, and finds herself in the middle of nowhere.  She stops at a fancy house to ask to use the phone, but is mistakenly interviewed for a housekeeper position.  She is offered the job, and accepts it.  Unfortunately, she has no idea how to run a household.  She can't cook and she can't clean.  But as she learns how to work a stove, and a washing machine, and an iron, and a vaccuum cleaner, she also learns that there is more to life than 16 hour days at the office.  She begins to embrace the daily life of her new domestic self, and finds unexpected happiness.  Unfortunately, you can't just run away from your life and disappear.  At some point your past catches up with you...

Kinsella is an excellent story teller and her characters are compelling.  The Undomestic Goddess is no exception.  I could not put this book down.  I could identify with Samantha, and her struggles and her instinct to just walk away and start a new life.  I could also appreciate that you can't really start fresh without accepting where you came from and what you've done.  And most importantly, this book reminded me to appreciate the simple things in life, no matter how small and 'insignificant' by society's standards.  Life is too short to take anything for granted.

I loved this book and recommend it.  If you love 'chick lit' and romantic comedies, then put The Undomestic Goddess on your reading list.  You won't be disappointed.

Weekend Wrap-Up and Funny Story ...

Good Monday morning loves!  I'm going to go ahead and warn you, my weekend wrap-up's for the next couple of weeks are going to be notsomuch exciting.  Mainly because I #1 - want to sleep all the time, #2 - don't have adult beverages anymore that cause me to get camera-happy and take a gazillion pictures and #3 - feel like I'm going to hurl all.the dang. time.  Don't get me wrong, I THOROUGHLY ENJOY my weekends, but I'm just not the most "blog-exciting" during them.  Example a.) I did not get out of my PJ's all.day yesterday.  Never left the house, let alone the COUCH for that matter, other than to take care of ... ahem ... necessities ... all day.  The Mister waited on me hand and foot (because he's cute like that and because he IS part of the reason I feel this way, winky winky) whilst I watched an I Love Lucy marathon on The Hallmark Channel.  All day.  Such a loverly day.  Saturday night we just laid low as we did Friday night.  The Mister's been out of town and working crazy hours (even on weekends, my poor boo) so he needs his rest and down-time as much as his 11 week pregnant wife!  So there you go.  There's the wrap-up.  Exciting eh?  Like I said, notsomuch.

So, on to the (two) funny stories.  First story happened a few days after I found out I was preggers.  My mom was (as evidenced from Friday's post) SO excited she wanted to send me a little "Congratulations" of sorts at work, but wanted to be non-chalant so as to not announce my very early pregnancy to everyone I worked with.  SO around 4ish one day at work I hear the delivery guy at the front and go up to sign for whatever's being delivered.  And then, I almost wet my pants while simultaneously falling on the floor laughing.  Why?  Oh well because ...

This is what was sent to my office.  Subtle huh?  I about busted a gut I was giggling so hard.  Luckily I'M the one that signed for the delivery, my office isn't far from the front door and as SOON as I got in my office I popped the balloon and folded it up (not that the adorable little elephant vase didn't give it away a BIT) took it home and it's in the "baby's room" right now because I thought it'd be hilarious if she was right and definately worth keeping.  I called her laughing so hard she could barely understand me to tell her thank you for her sweet (and hilarious) gift and she proceeded to tell me that the person she spoke with didn't so much speaka-da-english and may or may NOT have gotten "be subtle" confused with "be over the top" ... Oh momela (her name's Pamela, thus I call her momela sometimes) you are so cute.  Okay, on to funny story numero dos.

So remember our 5 year anny was the Friday before last?  WELL you would THINK, 5 years = that's a long time = fancy pants dinner coming our way right?  Um, no.  Not when you've been up-chucking for the past 3 weeks and pizza is THE ONLY thing that sounds edible and/or appetizing.  Well, the Mister had to work on Saturday and then I spent longer than usual trying to find something that my ever-expanding waist looked semi-decent in was a little late per usual and our favorite pizza place, Mama's Pizza, was closing 5 minutes after we got there.  SO, what did we do?  Ordered takeout and ate our romantic 5 year anniversary dinner IN MY MISTER'S TRUCK on our way to meet our friends after.  And I will never forget it.  1 - because I was pregnant and 2 - because I think it's hilarious.  My sweet Mister, what a trooper he is.  I jipped him out of a PERFECTLY good excuse for a nice steak dinner, some good wine (for him, hmph) and a delish dessert.  

{The AMAZING buffet we were too late to partake in.}

I'm hoping I kick this naseau by my birtfday and maybe THEN we can make up for it.  And SPEAKING of birfdays ...

It's my birth month!  So, I'm going to copy some other blogs I've seen do this and post some old (eek, pregnancy must make me brave) pictures of me this month.  I'm going to try every day, but I'm not going to promise this because ... well that would require digging through my mom's photo albums and I'm just not sure that's going to happen.  Watching my DVR'ed shows on TV sounds much more appealing ... BUT I do have one for the first day, this is me (on the right) at I have no idea how old with one of my best friends growing up, Casey (who people thought was my twin).

{Aren't those awesome watermelon shirts?  Maybe everyone thought we were twins because our MOMS DRESSED US ALIKE ... just a hunch.}

At the Movies - The Back-Up Plan

Of course I had to see The Back-Up Plan.  After all, it IS a chick flick - my kind of movie.

In The Back-Up Plan, Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has her life together.  She is getting older and really wants kids, but there is no man in the picture.  So Zoe takes matters into her own hands, and goes to a sperm bank.  On the way home from her insemination appointment she meets Stan (Alex O'Loughlin).  He turns out to be someone she wants to date.  Unfortunately, just after their first official date, Zoe finds out she is pregnant.  So as Sam and Zoe start their life together, they must deal with all the trials and tribulations of a first pregnancy.

I am not usually a Lopez fan.  Maid in Manhattan - blech!  But The Plan was a funny movie.  I was definitely entertained.  There are some corny parts that I could have done without, that make me not super enthused about this one, but overal it was a decent flick.  Having said that, I would recommend it to my girl friends who enjoy a decent chick flick.

In short, it was cheese - but good cheese.

How about you - see any good movies lately?