And Finally... Wasting Away in Margaritaville

So as I promised, the following is a post about my cruise.

Day 1:

We arrived on the Carnival Cruise Ship Conquest just in time for checking our bags and being able to walk around the ship to get acquainted with our home for the next seven days.

But before that I have an honest opinion about the Check-In process. When we got to the dock, in New Orleans we had no idea what to do with our bags. I felt that they needed to have more signs saying what to do. There were none we could find. Thankfully someone who had traveled before on a cruise told us that we have to give them to someone that was in a Hawaiian shirt. 

This was one of those moments where I thought “Hmm… Hopefully this is the right person, and our bags won’t get stolen!!” But thankfully it was, and we then went and joined a line. 

As we waited, after making our way through the ‘security’ checkpoint we finally made our way to the front when a manager came over and asked us to step aside because we needed to be checked by a drug sniffing dog since we had to change a person 2 days before the cruise. I would like to say that I did not appreciate this, and that also we did have to change someone, but it was 3 days before the ship sailed and not 2. So that was annoying. Also, I did not appreciate feeling like a criminal. Once we were sniffed by the dog, we were then taken to the “VIP LOUNGE” like this would make us forget. Ugh. It didn’t. 

Anyway, once we got on the ship, we asked someone where to go, and I thought we were kinda rudely answered. 

Don’t worry though. This post will get better. We had a great time! This is just my honest opinion about the ship and the cruise.

Once we found our way to our room we were then asked to go to the required safety lesson. 

After this we found the ice cream machine and then got ready for dinner. 

Dinner on board was amazing, and we were extremely pleased with our waiter and our other servers.

Our steward Moe was also great!

Our first dinner on board!

Me and Uncle Van!

Day 2:

Day 2 was a day we were on sea, and the ship had a lot of things to do and entertainment throughout the day, but we were excited to go lay out and get some sun!

We ate lunch at the buffet, it was quite delicious. The dessert bar was heavenly! So many choices to choose from, and I'm a huge fan of dessert, so I was so excited to try a bite of different things!

Beautiful View

Dinner was in the dining room and it was delicious as well!

Here Comes The Sun!!

Our Fun Times and Our First Towel Animal! CUTE!

Nothing better then sunbathing!

View from the upper deck!

The Slide!!

Hot Tubs!

Pool!

Uncle Van's Bunk-Bed above ours!

Sisters! :)

Silly Destin and Van!

:)

Sisterly Love!

Beautiful Girls

View above our dining room!

Lounge where we saw the funniest comedian!

Strike A Pose!

Fun Times On Board

Our Elephant Towel Animal!

Day 3:

Another day at sea. I liked these days. I found them relaxing and exciting. Fun activities all day long. Swimming in the pools. Laying out on the decks. Sun. It was so very much fun! I would give anything to have another of these days (said as I’m looking out at drizzling rain. Yuck) 

Day 2 at dinner my sister and friend Destin started to feel sea sick. We were hitting some rough seas and they were feeling it. Luckily, I did not feel anything. They made sure to take medicine before going to dinner and we ate at the buffet that night.

Day 4: 

This was our first port, Montego Bay, Jamaica. This was our first experience with docking and having to get off the ship, and again I felt they could have more signs and more directions. While our Fun Times (The daily schedule) were great, it was often inadequate to fully explain the procedures and common FAQs.

Montego Bay was definitely not what I expected. We got off the ship and decided to walk around a little.

We took a left and walked until we decided that we had walked enough and got a cab to take us to Margaritaville. It was the first day that Margaritaville had been opened since Jamaica had been hit by Hurricane Sandy. They were still painting the slide, so we were unable to slide down it, which we had really been looking forward to.

We decided to take a ride in a glass bottom boat and went snorkeling on a reef. It was so beautiful and serene. I seriously felt so blessed being down there and looking at God’s work.

LAND!

Our Ship from the Jamaica

Ready for Jamaica!

View of the port!

Singers in front of the port!

MONTEGO BAY!

YAY JAMAICA! 

Margaritaville

Water!

Margaritaville Take II

The Slide!

YUMMY!

My Little Sister's First Drink!

Beautiful view!

Snorkeling!

Snorkeling Take II

The Glassbottom Boat

Christmas in Jamaica!

Center of Town had a Christmas Tree!

So pretty!

Margaritaville :)

Day 5:

This was the day we went to the Cayman Islands. This little island proved to be difficult to get to.

Since the Island did not have a dock big enough for our ship, we had to take a smaller boat from our ship to the dock. The process was not described well and we were stressed out about the whole situation.

Luckily, we eventually got to the island.

Again we decided to walk to a beach, but we were unaware of how far away the beaches were so we ended up hailing a cab again to take us.

The water was the prettiest water I had ever seen. It looked turquoise it was so pretty. You could see clear to the bottom, which was quite lucky since there were sea urchins all over.

Our ship was sooooo big!

Wow!

The Turquoise Water!

Day 6:

This was the day we made it to Cozumel, Mexico. We had planned on shopping in Mexico so we just decided to have our free margaritas (thanks Destin who found the tickets online!) and hit the shopping.

Shopping in Mexico was quite fun. My sister, Lindsey (Linz for future references) was amazing at it. She haggled her way through so many of our purchase, we definitely owed her some money! :)

We got lots of things: vanilla, chocolate, sunglasses, shirts, and bracelets. 

The people in Mexico were quite nice. For lunch we decided we wanted to try real Mexican food! I forgot to take a picture BUT I got chicken and steak fajitas. They were quite delicious.

Unlike in our restaurants they do not bring out chips and salsa, they brought out guacamole with Pico de Gallo mixed in it. I’m not a big fan of guacamole, but I decided to venture out and try it. It was delicious!!! I ate so much of it!!! YUMMY!!

It was so windy!

Pretty water!

:)

Horse and Carriage

Fountain! 

Our ship!

Frog Towel Buddy!

BEAUTIFUL Girls!

View from the glass elevator!

Tequila Night on the Lido Deck!

:)

Gorgeous Girls!

Sisterly love!

Silly time! (Maybe too much tequila ha)

We loved our towel buddies! :) 

Oh Carnival Conquest!

Day 7:
Return day. This was our last day at sea and on the ship. 

Unfortunately the wind was so cold we were unable to lay out, so we mainly hung out in the hotel room and rested. 

It had been an adventure filled week!

All of us with our steward Moe! :)

Our Dining Room-Monet

Us with our Waiter!

Towel dance!

Our Assistant Waiter! :)

OUR FAVORITE TOWEL BUDDY! A MONKEY! 

Have you ever been on a cruise? If so where did you go?

If you could take a cruise anywhere, where would you choose? I think I would take a European cruise that stopped in Greece!

Live Fit

Sooooo I've been thinking about starting another workout program.

After hearing about Jamie Eason's program at Live Fit I've decided to begin it next week. (And no, I'm not putting it off just because I'm scared- though no cardio at first?!?! Thats a little scary!) I'm waiting for my protein powder and kitchen scale to come in. I found a great deal on Amazon and I plan on continuing researching the program over the week and beginning the menu planning next weekend.

HOLY COW!

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I've looked at the meal plan, and it looks pretty simple. Eating every 3 hours. High protein, low sodium.

Jamie has some really delicious looking recipes: Pumpkin Bars? Lemon Bars? YES PLEASE!! Eating every three hours? Umm.. Yea... That is not the easiest. But I'm going to give it my all.

Definitely planning on making the Turkey Meatloaf Muffins to be sure to have something to be able to take on the go.

The workouts? Lots of weights. I'm not very knowledgeable on weight training, BUT the site gives great videos on how to do each exercise. And I'm always up for learning new things!

I am excited for this new challenge!

Clean eating and weight training! :)

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So what have I been up to?
School. Babysitting. School. Babysitting. My life is SOOOO exciting! ;)

I actually did get out to have some fun on Thursday night, and went to the PILF (Public Interest Law Foundation) 22nd Annual Auction. It was quite fun. I ended up volunteering to sit at the table and take tickets during the most exciting part- the Auction. BUT I still ended up winning a lunch date with an amazing professor at one of my FAVORITE restaurants in town! So excited!

Yesterday, I decided to make an impromptu trip to Memphis in order to look for oat flour and go to Old Navy (I had a coupon that was too good to pass up). I ended up having a great day and made it home just in time to run off to babysit two of the most precious little girls ever!!
Is there anything sweeter then getting a baby to sleep?

So what am I doing today?
Going through my fridge and trying to get most of the stuff that can't be eaten during the clean eating program eaten BEFORE I start. Its going to be difficult, but I think I can manage it! ;)

I'm also not feeling super well today. Massive headache. I had planned on going to a friend's superbowl party but I'm not so sure I'm feeling up to it today! :(

I am going to try and take it easy and take a nap later.

So...

What exercise program are you currently on? Do you eat clean? Follow the paleo diet? Vegetarian/Vegan diet?

Who do you think will win tonight?

What I'm Eating Wednesday

I got the idea for this type of post from The Lean Green Bean and I will go on to list the foods I've been eating this week with pictures if I have them. 

Eek. I need to remember to take pictures!

Typical Green Smoothie

For breakfast I've been having my green smoothie: frozen banana, spinach, greek yogurt, one packet of stevia for sweetness, water, strawberries. So yummy.

I forgot to take a picture till I was half way done!

For lunch the past few days has been a pretty repetitive lunch. Sliced deli turkey on either a whole wheat wrap or on whole wheat bread. A side of pickles and either whole grain goldfish or tortilla chips.

SO yummy. I am so lucky that I don't get sick of repetitive meals!

Soup time!

I get out of class so late on Tuesdays that I just decided to cook some brown rice on my break, in my new rice cooker that I'm soooooooooo excited about! I love rice, but I'm not so good at cooking it. This definitely made it easier! I added the brown rice to a can of Amy's Veggie Soup. It is so delicious. I seriously am obsessed with that soup. And I know, canned green beans? Well I love them, and they're quick! I also had a side of carrots and broccoli from The Green Giant. They were ok, I don't think I will get them again. I've definitely had better!

I don't know why the picture is so fuzzy

Breakfast this morning was pretty typical. Whole wheat English muffin with Sugar Free Fiber Polaner Blackberry Jam, greek yogurt, and egg whites with spinach. I also ate a banana once I got to the house I babysit at. Since I eat breakfast so early; around 7, if I don't split my breakfast, I end up getting hungry way before its time for a snack!

So I decided on Tuesday, since it was a day of mainly sitting around at school, that I would take a calorie count of what I burned throughout a whole day. Well I started Monday night around 8 (yes this is when I'm climbing in bed) and continued for about 22 hours. I ended up having to restart it and just save the number and hours because after I worked out Tuesday morning (a short Insanity workout) it stopped working for some crazy reason and I had to reset it.

After taking into account the previous count I burned approximately 2250 calories over 22 hours. I'm glad to know that, it allowed me to up my daily calorie intake in order to lose weight effective.

I'm up a few pounds since before Christmas, which is no big deal. Just going to slowly keep my calorie count around 1700-1800 a day when I work out, to keep the weight loss going.

I'm only about five pounds away from my goal weight. 

I think Saturday/Sunday I will wear the watch again, to see the number of calories burned on a complete rest day. No exercise except the daily walks I take Leo on. Which hopefully are around an hour a day. BUT that depends on weather and time permitted. 

I'm Back!!

Hi Blog Friends!!

I'm back! Sorry I've been gone, I have been so busy being home and the cruise (which will get its own post very soon!) and school starting back.

Things are going very well. I'm pleased to say I am a nanny three times a week to one of my sweet 'children!' His Mom is going back to work temporarily, so it may not last for too long, but I'm blessed nonetheless.

This was my first week back to school, so far I like my classes, though I'm only taking three. I'm also doing a research project with one of my favorite professors, and am getting some academic credit for it.

My meals for this week have been pretty standard. These are the ones I've photographed:

Yummy Green Peas

Amy's Vegetable Soup- Its so addictive!

Amy's Vegetable Soup take 2- this time with Green Beans!

Burrito with a whole grain tortilla, egg whites, spinach, green bell peppers, and salsa! Yummy!

Breakfast Burrito

I've been seriously considering going vegan for a couple of weeks. I've discovered unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and I love it. I'm still making up my mind on the vegan thing, I've been eating vegetarian almost every meal, without even thinking about it most of the time.


I've started over with Insanity, and I'm working out a couple of times at the gym a week instead. I want to get back into yoga at my gym, and I"ll probably start going next class which is Tuesday. Its just hard because I'm in class on Tuesday till 6, but I get so much out of yoga it is really worth going! :)

What I've Been Eating Lately

Well readers, I have been super busy studying, cleaning my house and packing for both the cruise and for a few weeks home for holiday vacation! :)

Dinner: Rotisserie Chicken, Baked Red Potato, Quick Garlic Toast

Breakfast: Raisin Bran

Lunch: Hummus, Carrots, Bell Pepper, Flatbread Sandwich Thin

Breakfast: Cheddar Grits with Spinach and Scrambled Egg Whites, Banana, and Bagelthin

Snack: Hummus Chips! These things are DELICIOUS!

Dinner: Leftovers. With green beans! 

Waffles and Syrup and Blueberry Greek Yogurt

Walking Buddy! :) One of my sweet "children"

I forgot to take a picture of my sushi or salad, but I did NOT forget to take a picture of my fortune cookie's fortune!

Christmas present from my BFF. Goes great with my watch!

Because I've been so busy, I have been eating a lot of leftovers, and because I'm getting ready to leave I've also been trying to clean out my cabinets and refrigerator. 

The Tuesday After Two Exams

In all honesty, I have not been eating super well the past week and a half. When finals come, snacks come out. And there is nothing against eating snacks! I think they're necessary to protect me from getting that starving hunger that causes me to over eat! Yet snickers and pretzel m&ms are not as filling. But oh well! I'm almost done! I have one more next week, and in the mean time I'm babysitting to make some money for the cruise...

Still finding time for exercise with Leo is very important to me!

Roxy is not impressed!

So I had a scary situation happen to me Friday night when I was driving home from babysitting. When I was driving down a road a deer ran out in front of me and I swerved to hit it, and I lost control of my car for just a moment. Just long enough to hit a mailbox, which at first I did not know was a mailbox. I thought it was a pole. It was tall and fancy and I wasn't paying attention to what was coming, I was trying to stay as calm as possible to recover the car and avoid the deer. 

Where I'm from, people who hit deer total their cars. I did not, no COULD NOT total my car. I'm a student and I've had this car from five years. I love it, and I cannot afford to buy a new one. Yes, I have insurance but I can assure you my 13 year old car doesn't have much value anymore. Anyway, since it was late I just got out long enough to move the mailbox out of the driveway of the people's house, made sure my car was ok and left a note with my name and contact information saying I would pay for any damages, hoping I would not have to make a claim with the insurance.  

I got a call a few days later, Monday, from the very nice man whom's mailbox I had hit. Ugh. He's a doctor and his mailbox was 700 bucks, not including the installation fee. I. Wish. The. Deer. Would. Have. Chosen. A. Cheaper. Mailbox. To. Run. In. Front. Of. Ugh... Well, I've made a claim, and I know that's what insurance is for. But still, I feel guilty. I know its not my fault in my head. But that doesn't always pertain to what actually STAYS in my mind.

So yea, finals and mailbox damage make for a stress free December! Is it time for my cruise yet?!?!?!