A New Beginning... A plan in motion

I am going to try to be a better blogger... I am going to try and carve out a little life for myself and not let cancer define me... since I have had so many non-fun things taking place around here, I have let my other blog slip. I would like to get back on track. As I prepare for another great trip I realize that I need to catch up some serious travels that have passed.

I am (pretty much) 5 days until my mom and I leave for another incredible cruise. As a travel agent, I get so many great deals forwarded to me and this one I just couldn't pass up. My mom and I really wanted to do some type of "girl trip" this year and this one came at the (almost) perfect time.

I have prearranged tours with a few different private companies. It's kind of funny... I would actually make commissions off the cruise line shore excursions, but I absolutely hate them and I never recommend them unless there is no better choice.

I have met a few people on the CruiseCritic.com and have arranged to get together with a few different couples for tours. One couple I am really excited to meet is Anthony and Maria from Australia. We'll be joining them for a tour in France, and they'll be joining my tour in Rome. Since we've emailed back and forth several times, we have also decided to join up with them for dinner each night. I look forward to our time on my favorite ship! Solstice... HERE I COME AGAIN!!!

I have made our pre and post cruise reservations at the same hotel where Dan and I stayed after we were married on the ship in Barcelona. We are staying at the Duquesa de Cardona and it's just a perfect hotel!

I have arranged a pre cruise dinner with a few people on the CruiseCritic.... Les Set Portes is supposed to be a fabulous restaurant with excellent paella. I'll let you know after we eat there what the verdict is.

Post cruise in Barcelona is going to be a great time. We have 3 days to explore the city. I have been to the city several times but this will be my mother's first time. I have put together a Gaudi day (Antoni Gaudi)... seeing all sorts of Gaudi designs. One of my favorite's is Casa Batllo and the one of the most famous buildings of Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia. Love it or hate it, it's a site to be seen!

We have arranged all our Italy tours with RomeinLimo... this is a FABULOUS company and worth every penny for their private tours. We share a van with people we meet on the Cruise Critic and it becomes less expensive than the ship tours... and SO much better!

The planning is done... the tickets are printed... now to pack my bags!

5 days until we go!

Our cruise itinerary is:

Barcelona

Nice, France (visiting Monaco, Eze, Nice & St. Paul de Vence)

Livorno (visiting the Montecarlo wine road and Lucca and Pisa)

Rome

Naples (taking a hydrofoil to Sorrento for the day and enjoying the Amalfi Coast)

Kotor, Montenegro (this is a new stop for me... and looks amazing!)

Venice (2 days in Venice... the sail in and out is so incredible)

Dubrovnik, Croatia (this place is gorgeous and I can't wait to show my mom)

Barcelona

May 9-12th - A Newport Beach Getaway

Alex's father was coming into town to spend some time with Alex and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to leave town. Dan had been wanting to take me to Newport Beach for some time. SO... off we went. It was going to be perfect. My cousin, Rian and her husband Jordan were going to meet us for lunch with their little one... Martine. I was SOOOO excited that I was finally going to meet her. She was just adorable! I loved getting to snuggle her a few hours.

Other than catching up with my cousins, we spent most of our time just riding bikes and eating and drinking. From the beginning we just planned on renting bikes and not getting a car. We had such a great time and BOY did we do some biking. We had great food every day and REALLY good drinks! It was just what I needed!

Rian and the adorable Martine (Martini)

The cute Newlin family

The most adorable photo ever! I brought Martini this headband...

She loved me...

The best Key Lime Martini ever! :D

June 15th - The Barley's Have Arrived!

The Barley's have arrived! We had kind of a low key day. We had lots of drinking and catching up to do. It was so great to see one of my besties again. Minda and Steve live in England, so it's not easy getting to spend time together. I was really excited for our week together. Today we visited the Cluny museum (one of my faves!) and then had dinner planned with everyone at Le Coupe Chou. It was a really fun day!

MANY many drinks later...

The whole gang at Le Coupe Chou

Boeuf Bourguignon - cute little copper pot all to myself! YUM!

Inside the Musee du Moyen Age (the Cluny)

June 14, 2010 - Paris again? Mais bien sur!

We were off again to my favorite place on earth... Paris! We had a 3 week grand adventure planned and it started with a week in Paris. The plan was to stay a week in Paris... meet up with some friends... and then off Dan and I would go to explore some more of France. On this trip we'll be ticking off another item on Dan's "Bucket List". Not sure when we will get to my own, but I'm having so much fun helping him with his... who cares!

This trip when we arrived Paris we decided to take the RER train into the city. It was VERY easy to do and less than half the cost of a taxi. If traffic is good, a taxi is quicker... but at 16 euros, this was a great way to get into Paris and we literally walked ONE block to our hotel. It was sunny when we arrived and I was ready to go!

This year we are meeting up with 2 couples in Paris. Paul and Sharon are flying in from Florida. We met them on a cruise last year and they are a BLAST to hang with. They are staying the entire week we are here. The other couple, Minda and Steve, we met in 2009 on Alex's Make A Wish trip. Since then, Minda and I have become really close. I couldn't wait to see her again. Minda and Steve were spending 6 of the 7 days with us. They will fly in tomorrow. I'll make sure Paris is ready for her :O) Also... one of the key things that shaped this trip was our wanting to visit our foreign exchange student and her family again. We learned that both girls would be in Paris on our arrival... and we would be staying with them and their family later on in the trip. This was a bonus to see them before we arrived their house later on in the trip. I couldn't wait to see Mathilde and Justine again. We were Mathilde's host family back in 2006 and since then we have gotten close with her twin sister Justine also.

We were meeting them both for dinner tonight! YAY!

Our first dinner in Paris is ALWAYS Relais de L'Entrecote in the 7th arrondisement. It's our favorite steak and fries place. The French twins love it also, so it was a win win. And happy hour is ALWAYS Les Deux Magots. It's expensive... it's touristy... but there's no better for watching the Parisians on parade. We love it there.

Ooooooh!!! It feels so good to be back where I belong! Paris is my fuzzy blanket.

Dan and I with Mathilde at Les Deux Magots

Dan's favorite crepe place... Nutella, of course!

Paul & Sharon feel the magic of Paris

The view outside our hotel room window

May 14th, 2010 - Blast Off The Bucket List

One of the things that was high on my husband's "Bucket List" was seeing a space shuttle launch. 2010 was supposed to be the final year and we had 4 launches left to try and make this dream come true. As I researched this more and more I found that planning a shuttle launch was about the hardest event to try and plan. This was our 3rd attempt to try and see it... and lucky for us the trip went flawlessly. Our 3rd flight to Florida in 5 months was enough already!

Tickets went on sale a few weeks before the launch. At this point I already had plane tickets and hotel reservations. I was registered for ticket information and was ready and waiting at 3 computers as the tickets went on sale one early morning. I did NOT get through in the 30 seconds before they sold out. Since we live in this great informative world, I learned through Facebook that there were some other companies to purchase tickets... all of this took place within a few minutes. I called the other company and voila... I had Causeway tickets for two. The Kennedy Space Center Causeway is the closest place you can view the launch. We were lucky! I had scored us the most difficult to get tickets for the closest viewing possible. Dan and I were SO excited to be attending. We were just hoping that it would go! The chances of it not going are greater than it going.

We landed in Orlando and rented a car to spend the next 3 days out in Cocoa Beach. I do not recommend this as a travel destination. The weather was great and we had a REAL early wake up call in the morning to catch the bus to the launch area. There were several meeting areas for the bus ride into the Space Center. The amount of people that were coming from all over the world was really incredible to see.

This was the type of day that I will remember forever. NO, it wasn't as close as you hope it will be... and it's all over before you know it... but this memory will stay with me forever. It was never ON my bucket list, but I'm so glad that we made this happen for Dan... and in the process I found that it was something that meant a great deal to me. I feel very fortunate to have been there that day.

Click here for more info on the NASA Space Mission STS 132

Dan and I out at the Causeway

Straight out ahead is where the shuttle was ready and waiting.

5...4...3...2...1... We have lift off!

Solstice Caribbean Cruise January 2010

The day had arrived... we were on our way to Fort Lauderdale to board the Celebrity Solstice. We met up with our best cruising buddies in Atlanta and soon we were on our way.

I had Pricelined all our rooms on line and we stayed at the AWESOME Riverside Hotel on Las Olas Boulevard. We had an incredible room overlooking the New River. We met up with our entire group at the hotel. My parents flew in on a different airline and just happen to meet up in Chicago with our other cruising buddies, Kristy and Jeff. We had dinner at the incredible Big City Tavern. What a night!

Soon we were walking onboard the Celebrity Solstice. This was our second time onboard this incredible ship. It was like coming home. It's my favorite ship I have ever been on.

We were getting ready for our sail-away party. Here is Deb and Rich... our bestest cruising buddies from Kansas.

This is Kristy and Jeff... Fantastic couple from outside Chicago. I met Kristy on our Med. cruise and I couldn't wait to sail with her again and to meet her husband. I see MANY more trips in our future.

My parents came along for this cruise... this was the first time we have all cruised together.

Here is Dan and I at my favorite bar, the Sunset Bar. It is the nicest outdoor area on the ship. I just love it!

This is me at the pool area. I think the Solstice has one of the nicest pool areas I have seen.

Our first port was San Juan, Puerto Rico. I arranged for our whole group to take a Segway Tour. It was one of the best activities we have done on a cruise. What a FUN FUN day!

After our super fun tour, it was time to party at Senior Frogs. I don't know what it is about this place that makes you lose all sense of sense! :D We had a blast!

Here is most of our group hanging out on our balcony. We had such a great time with all of our friends. It was hard to leave.

Another happy hour at Galleria Tastings... what a fantastic bar! They have these cool molecular drinks. Oooh... I want to go back already and have another!

On Saint Maarten, we sent the boys to Maho Beach. This is the famous beach where you watch the airplanes land. It is truly an incredible display.

Here are all the boys handing out watching airplanes.

The bar at Maho Beach has a surf board in the sand that says when each aircraft is supposed to arrive and what type it is. It makes planning your time between drinks much easier.

What a wonderful vacation! We had so much fun with all our friends. It was so nice to be back onboard the Solstice. SO much fun, in fact, that we booked another cruise for next January.

September 4th, 2009 - Farmers Market, shopping, old friends and TAO!

It was our last full day in New York City... I really wanted to get to the farmers market in Union Square so that was our first stop. The farmers market operates Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday every week all year long! I really wanted to find a local wine for my wine social, but everything we tasted pretty much tasted like crap... oh well. It was very interesting to walk around and sample things. It would be great to be able to shop here every week. I wonder what they sell in the winter? Here are some gorgeous displays of veggies...

After the farmers market we were off to Macys to do some more shopping. NO, we didn't get tired of shopping. At all! :o) One picture I wanted to show were the original escalators in part of the store. They are so interesting. They are entirely of wood and so cool. You haven't really experienced Macys until you have been to the one in Manhattan.

After much shopping we had to return to the hotel and get ready for our last night out on the town. I had connected with an old friend on Facebook and we were meeting up for drinks and dinner. I had pre planned drinks at a place called Salon de Nang. It was a roof top bar that was supposed to be very cool. It was... but boy was it expensive! Not that it stopped us from ordering drinks. A regular Corona was $12 a bottle!!! The sunset view was gorgeous though as was the bar itself. We met Jennifer here for drinks and then it was off to dinner at Tao!

After drinks we were off to Tao. I had reserved us dinner at this place more than a month in advance. A must if you want to dine on Friday or Saturday. It was such a great place. CRAZY but great. This restaurant has been in several different movies, and Sex and the City... the one you may know the most is the speed-dating scene in the movie Hitch. It is like a wild night club but yet a restaurant. I got some type of dish that I didn't realize that I would have to cook when it arrived at the table. It was very good, but after many glasses of wine, this was a challenging thing to do. So... out comes this big block thing with a fire in the middle... and then a big caldron type thing sits on top.

Cindy and Jennifer showing off with their chop-sticks.

There is a huge Buddha inside the restaurant... two stories high.

This was such a great night. It was sad to see our time come to an end. I can't believe how fast a week goes by in this city. We ate so much great food. I can't wait to visit some of these places next time!