Three Years Ago Today...

We climbed up a mountain and got engaged under a full moon.

The next day, we came back down and took this picture with an underwater camera leftover from our Park City ski trip...



And it was just the beginning of our grandest adventure yet.

Full To The Brim

And I'm not spilling over just yet. In fact, I'm inventing ways to pull the lip of this cup, up and up and up and up, in hopes of preserving all of this stuff swimming around inside of my heart and mind just a little bit longer.

All I can say is how incredibly grateful I am for the last ten days. They've been the icing to this ever-growing, multi-layered cake that is the marriage Cliff and I share as friends, partners, lovers, and fighters. Today marks the completion of the second layer. Two years of learning, growing, changing, becoming, loving, fighting, hoping, dreaming, and everything in between.



Happy Anniversary to us.

I love you, Cliff. Always have, always will.

It's Booked! ...and a CONTEST.

Our second anniversary trip is now official! We've been planning it for months, but yesterday we hunkered down, got most of the details kinked out, and soon enough we'll be on our way... in 67 days that is.

Wanna know where we're going?

...



...


Well, you have to guess!

Only thing is, it's more than just one place...



So what do you do, now?

1. Name the state and specific locations from the image (CLUE ONE) above.
2. Send me an e-mail with your answers.
   

The first person with the correct answers GETS A PRIZE.

(No really, I'm serious! It's rather well-suited to the theme of the trip, I should add...)

This will be the first of daily clues I'll offer through Tuesday. So if at any point, you've already submitted your answers and you change your mind, just guess again! And as you will notice, I've disabled comments so as to give a fair advantage to everyone participating (to trust their answers aren't being copied.)

Have at it, friends!

According to Plan (cont'd)

Wouldn't you know, that mysterious guy Cliff and I ran into each other, again, about two weeks after that first chance encounter we shared in the Belmont Library. This time the setting was the Beaman Student Life Center and it was a 10 o'clock hour on Wednesday, November 17. I was there for my meeting with the Orientation Council and he was there on assignment with the Student Government Association.

Just a few minutes of cautious recognition and coy conversation were enough to make me realize there really was something about this guy. And I was interested in knowing what it was. Interested enough to do some strategic research, so that we were soon exchanging e-mails later that afternoon about the SGA project he was working on. Soon enough, short e-mails about a yearbook project turned into mini-books about our semesters, about our families, about where we were from, and about our aspirations. And then about getting our friends together, hanging out, and maybe going to Fall Follies together that weekend.

Then came November 19th. And one small, uncharacteristic act on my part changed the course of my life as I knew it. You see, earlier in the day, after lengthy conversation with my advisor/mentor/older brother figure, I decided to p.s. my phone number into an e-mail "in case he needed it for our plans for Fall Follies." About 7:20PM that night, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize and though I don't usually do this, decided to answer. It was Cliff. And it was an invitation to go out and grab something to eat with him. Seeing as I'd already had dinner, we opted for a dessert/dinner of sorts and decided to go to the Panera by his Music Row apartment. I ran to my roommates and told them, "I think I'm going on a date!" and then did the same over the phone with my mom and sister. I didn't really know what this was, but I decided it required a quick wardrobe change and possibly some styling of the hair. Date or no date, I was going to look good.

He picked me up in his little red Jimmy at the front gate of The Commons, and off to Panera we went. And over a piece of raspberry chocolate cake (for me) and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (for him) we talked for hours until the placed closed for the night. By the way, he paid. And then we played Nintendo and watched "Orca" at his apartment, laughing and falling in what you might call sincere like. I had never been so unguarded with anyone before, and I liked that about him.

Our first date felt like a week's worth of them rolled into one. And every November 19th since then has been a celebration of one of the most unexpected and most welcome gifts either of us have ever received.

Even today, four years later, the celebration is as joyful as ever. We call it our dativersary.

On Cruising

Arriving in Tampa at 8:45AM, we caught a cab to the port (arriving just after 9AM) and upon pulling up saw the hordes of people debarking from the Legend’s previous week of cruising. Figuring out what to do next was the hardest part, but there were plenty of people around to help us determine what time and where we needed to be in order to get on the ship. We made it into Carnival’s holding area inside the port at about 10:45AM after browsing through the shops at port and stepped onto the boat at about 11:45AM, which was perfect. The ship wasn’t going to set sail for another four hours and we had a decent amount of time to grab lunch (GREAT FOOD!), take pictures of Tampa, and explore the ship (while toting around our carry-ons) before our room was ready at 1:30PM. I was very impressed with the size of the ship and that first night and next day at sea gave us some time to explore, carrying around our little pocket-size deck plan and wandering for hours.

To our benefit, Carnival prints daily these brochures called the Carnival Capers that gives you all the information you need to know for each day. This took some getting used to at first, because I’m all about pre-planning everything. But it was great fun to get the Capers each night (along with amusing Towel Creatures!) and highlight the activities/events/important times we needed to know about for the next day. Eventually, I came to think of these things as gold. There’s information on spa, bar, and casino specials along with what movies they’ll be showing each day, who the special performer will be each night, and the ever-important tips on what to do, where to be, and who to contact in port. It also has all of the daily changes to the dining schedule, though we could always count on the 24-hour pizza, ice cream/frozen yogurt, and room service. And though we have nothing to compare it against cruise-wise, we really enjoyed the food. Our waistlines could probably attest to that.

Being on a ship takes some getting used to, not just physically but mentally as well. I had a bit of motion-sickness on our first day and was trying to get used to the spacial limitations of essentially being on a moving Las Vegas resort on water. I mean, that’s kind of what it was like, at least according to Cliff (considering I’ve never been to Las Vegas). There’s always something going on, so the first day at sea (which was entirely rainy as we were caught in the tail-end of then-Tropical Storm Dolly) we spent our time trying to find the balance between relaxing, exploring, and doing. Throughout the week, the rhythm got a little easier, and we ended up finding a decent balance. We played in a Cornhole tournament and wound up in second place, winning Carnival medals. We played in a call-in trivia game and won a pretty cool prize package from Carnival (including another medal, a trophy, a print, a photo frame, and a Carnival bag). We went to the shows every night except our last and enjoyed them all! We even managed to watch two movies, read a few books, swim, workout (the first day), and hangout in the hot tub. And wouldn’t you know, we even donned our robes on the Deck Party night and did the electric slide, the cupid shuffle, and the YMCA (among other group dances) with hundreds of other people and had a blast! Carnival is the “Fun Ship” cruise line after all!

And while the ship was awesome, I will admit that being at port was definitely the highlight of the whole trip. Our itinerary was incredible (more on that, later) and the ease of getting off and back on the ship, even when tendering (when the boat anchors out further and you have to take a smaller speedboat to get to the pier) was great. We booked all of our excursions outside the ship, which turned out fine and a bit less expensive for us. It was strange to only spend five to eight hours at a place and then leave, but it was definitely enjoyable none the less. No matter how hard it was to leave each country, it wasn’t that hard getting back on the boat. By the second day at port (Wednesday) I came to call the ship “home” and was fairly settled in. Sleeping in a pitch black room (that’s what you get when you book an Inside Stateroom) definitely has its benefits and the bed was SO comfortable, especially for two twin beds pushed together. Also, by then, we had come to recognize a number of families and couples on the ship whom we saw and conversed with often. In fact, one couple shared our anniversary and were celebrating their twentieth while we were on our first!

Speaking of our anniversary, it conveniently fell on the first of two “Cruise Elegant” (or formal) nights on the ship, which meant we were in for lobster tails for dinner and a great Broadway-style production for the evening show. And after a wonderful night of getting dolled up, having our pictures taken (hence the new blog pic), eating delicious food, and watching a great show, Cliff took me up to the top deck under the full moon and slyly presented (and shocked) me with a first anniversary band matching my wedding band. We had talked about this very ring months ago and decided it might need to wait until later since he “hadn’t had a chance to set aside the money for it,” when really he had gone back the day after we bought our wedding bands a year and a half ago and gotten it then. As if the cruise itself wasn’t enough of a gift in itself…

Well, every good thing comes to an end and getting off the ship happened quickly and painlessly (except, if you count being done with a vacation) on Sunday morning. Having closed out our account the night before (with cash!) all we had to do was wake up early, grab our last meal at the Unicorn Café, and do self-assist (carry off our own luggage) that the morning. We did self-assist so that we could get off the ship in time to make it to the airport for our 11:15AM flight. Due to some confusion in the lobby, it seems we ended up in a shorter self-assist line, were off the boat by 8AM, and were at the airport, through security, and at our gate by 9:15AM with two hours to kill. It couldn’t have been easier!



…stay tuned for “On Ports of Call”!

And, We're Back!

So, we got back yesterday and decided we weren't ready for our vacation to be over. We went out to eat and saw "Dark Knight" just to squeeze in a last few hours together of carefree fun before Cliff went back to work. And it was awesome. I mean, "Dark Knight," of course.



Oh, and I guess the cruise, too.

Okay, okay. The cruise was incredible. And I'm awful at figuring out where to start when it comes to describing travels, because there's just so much. It's kind of like a good pint of Ben & Jerry's Half Baked. And by good, I mean when there's so many pieces of brownie and chocolate chip cookie dough you can't decide which actually tastes the best or what makes the ice cream so daggum good. All you know is that it's about the best tasting ice cream (or frozen yogurt) ever and you're content to relish it.

That being said, give me some time on our cruise reflections. And besides, I can add to the excuse of not knowing where to start. My baby brother (okay, I know, he's twelve) is coming in for a week-long visit tomorrow and I will be a little preoccupied. Yipee!

Don't worry, though, that doesn't mean I won't try. Today I've been working on uploading pictures to the computer and picking out the ones to post on our flickr account. I will also attempt to work on some succinct (yet, descriptive) reflections on cruising, the ship itself, our ports of call, and our anniversary celebration (got me some bling bling, y'all!).


I will say this, though...

I love my husband so incredibly dearly. I am grateful for everything about him, from his goofy sense of humor, to his strong arms that hold me when I'm broken, to his crinkly-eye smile, and his commitment to holding us up. This last year (and a week, to the date!) has been such a blessing in that mixed bag, sort of way. Even in our darkest hour, Cliff has shown me that there is always light. I am thankful for how hard he has worked to make our life together a good one and to ensure that our marriage is about living, about loving, and about enjoying each day with each other as it comes. We just spent nine awesome days together and I really hated to see him leave for work today. I cant get enough of him! And I hope I never do.

And We're Off!

See you in a week... :)

We Did It!

After much deliberation (and by much, I mean far too many weeks of poring over Excel spreadsheets, countless websites, a barrage of phonecalls, and wringing of the hands) we've booked a cruise! To celebrate our One-Year Anniversary, we'll hop aboard the Carnival Legend and set sail for seven nights in the Western Caribbean, with stops in Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands), Cozumel (Mexico), Belize City (Belize), and Roatan Island (Honduras). I can't even tell you how enlightening (and consuming) the process of planning this cruise has been, so we are very happy to be settled on this choice (which I was leaning towards from the very beginning).

We'll be first-time cruisers which is a big deal, considering the investment and the occasion, but this particular cruise has gotten GREAT reviews and you can't beat that. Plus, we just feel good about it. It's something we've prayed about, have been blessed financially to enjoy, and we're just going to take it all in (I can say that now that the stress of planning... mostly... is over).

By the way, if you're looking for resources on cruise reviews, competitive cruise quotes, etc. - I can get you in the know. Seriously.