I can't believe I haven't written anything since Thanksgiving and here it is almost Christmas! Oops!! Well the last few weeks not much has happened here, i'm learning a lot more about the pawn shop stuff and all the slang words used here, maybe i'll put a list at the bottom. Darin got a tattoo in our kitchen by Lil' Wayne the rapper hahahahaha, not really but that's pretty much who he looked like. I was a little nervous about the "at home tattoo" process but everything is sterile and new so don't worry. It looks pretty good, Darin wants to add a little more to it in one area when we come to Orlando for Christmas though.
We were recently in Freeport this week for a day to help out Tony and also to get the last of our things over there. I love that I can pick up and go to another island today if I wanted to. So weird that my life IS this....don't know when i'll get used to it, and when it feels real and not a super long vacation. It was nice to see Tony, Sania and Leanna again, hang out and sleep over (yea we stayed a night and made it a 2 day trip). The only problem we had was that we didn't have a toothbrush. We're back in Nassau now and guess what the first thing we did was....yep, brushed our teeth hahaha! Today we woke up to no power and no water....so we went to work with out brushing our teeth. Hopefully this won't be as frequent anymore. Only on an island I guess your power and water is off just because.
We did get some awesome news this week.....we get to look for a new home here!!! Thank the Lord! This place is getting worse and worse between the toilets, shower, power and water issues....the backyard and porch is to die for though, but we're gonna have to leave our little piece of paradise. Tomorrow I meet with a realtor and look at 2 other places. One is a brand new town home across the street from the beach, and the other is in a really cool neighborhood with ALL the homes on a canal with a boat dock in every back yard! I'm so excited to have our own place with no issues to live with, and we'll have our own bathroom and closets!! Keep your fingers crossed it all goes well!
We also had some visitors last week...Drey and Shane came for Drey's birthday so it was nice to see them for a few days. The only downer is that the weather was a little breezy and cool....jeans and a light sweater kind of day. As soon as they left, it got nice out so Darin and I went to the beach for the rest of the day. Poor Drey didn't get her "bahamas" day while she was here. Maybe next time. On Thursday my friend Maureen comes.....and then I fly back with her Sunday to Orlando!! YAY....can't wait to come home and see everyone and eat good food! Darin found out today he gets the 23rd through the 27th....he is SOOOO happy, hasn't stopped jumping around since we got home today. See you soon everyone!!! 9 MORE DAYS!!!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Thanksgiving
Chicken, corn bread, ribs, baked beans, macaroni and a gatorade! So my first Thanksgiving away from home wasn't so bad. Darin picked up that stuff from a local mom & pop's place called Bahama Grill. We started off the day with Darin going into the shop to work and I decided to stay home. Darin was closing early so I read and laid outside in the sun for a few hours. I got 
to see my family on skype a few times, there's a LOT of people to see so I couldn't do it in one call. Made me miss being there. I got to see Rachel crawl which Dr.s say she would never do, got to see Dominic's HUGE eyes take up the screen as he says hi and waves, Laura dangled fried turkey in the camera as I sat at the end of the table watching everyone eat, Carlin and Taylor making faces at me giggling, and the display of food my mom and aunts so nicely set up. Total there was 2 deep fried turkeys and 1 regular turkey. At the end of the day we took a family picture that came out pretty good. Darin and I were on skype so it makes a fun picture of our first Holiday away from home.
We did still wish we were back in Orlando with our families for the holiday, but it makes me more thankful to be home for Christmas and wake up in my old house with my family. I can't wait for my mom's Christmas breakfast with mimosa's (I think it was last year when I opened champagne and it almost hit my mom in the head after bouncing off the wall). When us kids were little we used to sit at the top of the stairs and wait for my parents get ready for the day before we could run down the stairs to open presents. They used to make us sit there so they could shower, get breakfast ready, my dad set up the camera, and if we woke up at 6am, we sat there till 8am or whenever my parents were ready. My dad video taped every year all 3 of us running down the stairs in excitement to see what Santa brought us! Now we're 22, 25, and 27 years old and we still take a moment to sit at the top of the stairs before we come down. There's no rule anymore how long we have to sit there for, but I think the tradition my parents started really means something to us kids. We sit there and remember the years past and what we used to do and that one time we did rock paper scissors to see who would go 1st down the stairs, it just brings us back to that place as kids. This year Darin gets to sit with us at the top of the stairs....a new edition to our old tradition. I've asked Darin if he used to have a childhood tradition and his answer was "I ran out of my room and shook all the presents every year", lol. We've talked a little bit what traditions we want to start this year and do every year so our kids have a special tradition they remember. So far we don't have much, but Darin did suggest we go to the beach and surf every Christmas morning before we open presents....he's so creative ha ha. Well i've got to grab lunch and head up to the shop. See you all in 23 DAYS!!! (I hope I get a mac book from Santa!!)
to see my family on skype a few times, there's a LOT of people to see so I couldn't do it in one call. Made me miss being there. I got to see Rachel crawl which Dr.s say she would never do, got to see Dominic's HUGE eyes take up the screen as he says hi and waves, Laura dangled fried turkey in the camera as I sat at the end of the table watching everyone eat, Carlin and Taylor making faces at me giggling, and the display of food my mom and aunts so nicely set up. Total there was 2 deep fried turkeys and 1 regular turkey. At the end of the day we took a family picture that came out pretty good. Darin and I were on skype so it makes a fun picture of our first Holiday away from home. We did still wish we were back in Orlando with our families for the holiday, but it makes me more thankful to be home for Christmas and wake up in my old house with my family. I can't wait for my mom's Christmas breakfast with mimosa's (I think it was last year when I opened champagne and it almost hit my mom in the head after bouncing off the wall). When us kids were little we used to sit at the top of the stairs and wait for my parents get ready for the day before we could run down the stairs to open presents. They used to make us sit there so they could shower, get breakfast ready, my dad set up the camera, and if we woke up at 6am, we sat there till 8am or whenever my parents were ready. My dad video taped every year all 3 of us running down the stairs in excitement to see what Santa brought us! Now we're 22, 25, and 27 years old and we still take a moment to sit at the top of the stairs before we come down. There's no rule anymore how long we have to sit there for, but I think the tradition my parents started really means something to us kids. We sit there and remember the years past and what we used to do and that one time we did rock paper scissors to see who would go 1st down the stairs, it just brings us back to that place as kids. This year Darin gets to sit with us at the top of the stairs....a new edition to our old tradition. I've asked Darin if he used to have a childhood tradition and his answer was "I ran out of my room and shook all the presents every year", lol. We've talked a little bit what traditions we want to start this year and do every year so our kids have a special tradition they remember. So far we don't have much, but Darin did suggest we go to the beach and surf every Christmas morning before we open presents....he's so creative ha ha. Well i've got to grab lunch and head up to the shop. See you all in 23 DAYS!!! (I hope I get a mac book from Santa!!)
Monday, November 22, 2010
Atlantis & Gambling
Yesterday was one of the best days living on an island. We got wrist bands thanks to Jerry, to play in the Atlantis water park for the day. I'd gone earlier in the week with 2 other people, Daniel and Jess who were here for a pawn meeting/honeymoon....we had such a blast!!! On Sunday (yesterday) I wanted to go so so so bad and Darin was being all poopie and lazy saying "it's my only day off I don't want to do anything" so my point exactly...it's your day off, lets do something fun!!! Last Sunday we woke up at 2pm, so this Sunday we were going to do something FUN!! And FUN we had!! OMGosh this place is so COOL!! You feel like a 10yr old who gets off a ride only 
to grab another tube and run up the stairs again. There's about 8 rides, 6 with tubes and 2 with out. Pretty sure we got to them all. It was the first official use of my new Olympus Stylus Tough 8000 underwater camera. It held up nicely, was used as my paddle when the current in the lazy river took me away from Darin, the sound is nice, the pictures are great! So thumbs up to my sweet little camera!! Enjoy a few pics and a video i've posted. One day i'd love to go again, not sure when that will be though. (sorry if the video is a little blurry on here)Today was my first day at the shop "working" yep, I work there!! Just part time, I do administrative stuff, and help out where I'm needed....Darin puts me to work, and soon he'll have 3 shops to run here so i'm sure i'll be keeping busy. Fine with me though, my hours are great...I make them up!! :) I usually go in around 10am and leave around 4 or 4:30pm to beat the traffic home and start dinner. Tonight is special BECAUSE we play the "numbers game" or the "lottery" here and you just pick 3 numbers and play in the 4 houses; Miami, Chicago, NY, and I forget the other. You can play as many 3 digit numbers as you want for .50 or $1 whatever. I always choose 327, favorite number is 3 and i'm 27. Darin and Bobby at the shop have played it a few times but nothing's happened. Now....when you play 327, you also win if it says 372, 723, 732, 327, 237, all the combos. If you bet on straight, then it HAS to be 327 what you bet. SO today Bobby comes up to me and asks for a number real fast, I'm like 327 duh, why ask? He's like uhhhh I don't know about that one today, I told him just play it, your mean if you don't! So, he plays......later on today, he comes jumping around in the back, GUESS WHAT NUMBER PLAYED!!! what what?? Bobby says 723!! OMGosh my numbers!! I asked how much he made off me and he keeps jumping around the store and finally say $600!! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy crap! I should of played my number today, for .50 cents!? HA! So maybe i'll play tomorrow. Bobby and the boys are coming over for beer and to grill out steaks on his tab! I only made $25 off the deal...next time I'm gonna win! Darin always plays 611 (for our anniv.) and 407, my mom tells him to play 614, and I play 327, so he always plays those 4, he won the first day but none since. He also doesn't play 3 times a day like Bobby. We play like once every couple days....our odds aren't as good. So i'm marinating steaks.....gotta run and get ready for the boys to come over!! See you!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Busy busy...
It's been so long....oops! Life is a little crazy here. It's been SOOOOO busy, i've worked my butt off organizing the shop like a mad woman! It's paid off though, shop looks good, paperwork is all organized in files, and there's no crap just sitting around, everything has it's place! I really enjoy being at the shop, maybe not all day but most of my day. I think this line of work is so interesting, I absorb it all. I think Darin gets a little frustrated because I constantly ask questions and talk about stuff and he's so busy or so tired from the day i'm just the pest that means his day can't end because I keep talking about it. I'm just so interested, and I have opinions I want to share. Lots is happening with the shop here in Nassau. A new one is opening soon in like a week or so that Darin will have to open, and then be running 2 shops on the island. Jamaica just opened it's first about a week ago and it's second shop is being renovated a little then opening very soon. This business is exploding with new shops!! I can't wait to travel to all of them one day. We'll be in Nassau for a little while so I hope everyone can make it out for a weekend trip sometime.
Our house here is the same, one shower, and now 2 toilets for 4 people.....and most of the time 5. It's very frustrating waiting for your shower in the morning because the working one is in another room, so we have to wait for the person to wake up before we can shower (which is what i'm doing now). Boomer (Chad and Emily's dog they had to leave behind until he got his doggie health certificate) wakes us up promptly at 7:30am because our door doesn't close. It shuts, just doesn't click closed, so he can push it open with his nose and come in to jump on the bed. I've learned before going to bed to put one of our suitcases in front of the door so he can't push it open, it's worked so far. Driving here is like no where else. If my mom was here she'd have the death grip on everything she could grab in the car. Honking is not a mean, get out of the way kind of thing, it's more like a thanks or go ahead kind of thing. Sometimes I honk because everyone else is honking in an intersection. The other day I should of recorded the pile of cars honking just for the sound effect.
I'm trying to think of a "Doty Family" tradition we can start. I saw painted Christmas ornaments in Atlantis yesterday and I want to get one and put "our first Christmas" on it. That's just for one year though, I don't know what to do for every year. I have some time to think about it, but any ideas would be helpful.
A few things:
1. I don't like the sushi here, I miss Freeport's sushi place
2. There's nothing to do when it rains here
3. Currently still living out of my suitcase, no closet space and no hangers
4. I so badly want my pots and pans here
5. There IS a STARBUCKS!!! I couldn't be happier!
6. I hate sweeping
7. You can drink and drive
8. Being happy with what you've got is how you'll get through life
9. Adjusting to a "full" bed is NOT a fun thing
10. I want a dog so bad
11. Can't wait to come home for the holidays!!
Our house here is the same, one shower, and now 2 toilets for 4 people.....and most of the time 5. It's very frustrating waiting for your shower in the morning because the working one is in another room, so we have to wait for the person to wake up before we can shower (which is what i'm doing now). Boomer (Chad and Emily's dog they had to leave behind until he got his doggie health certificate) wakes us up promptly at 7:30am because our door doesn't close. It shuts, just doesn't click closed, so he can push it open with his nose and come in to jump on the bed. I've learned before going to bed to put one of our suitcases in front of the door so he can't push it open, it's worked so far. Driving here is like no where else. If my mom was here she'd have the death grip on everything she could grab in the car. Honking is not a mean, get out of the way kind of thing, it's more like a thanks or go ahead kind of thing. Sometimes I honk because everyone else is honking in an intersection. The other day I should of recorded the pile of cars honking just for the sound effect.
I'm trying to think of a "Doty Family" tradition we can start. I saw painted Christmas ornaments in Atlantis yesterday and I want to get one and put "our first Christmas" on it. That's just for one year though, I don't know what to do for every year. I have some time to think about it, but any ideas would be helpful.
A few things:
1. I don't like the sushi here, I miss Freeport's sushi place
2. There's nothing to do when it rains here
3. Currently still living out of my suitcase, no closet space and no hangers
4. I so badly want my pots and pans here
5. There IS a STARBUCKS!!! I couldn't be happier!
6. I hate sweeping
7. You can drink and drive
8. Being happy with what you've got is how you'll get through life
9. Adjusting to a "full" bed is NOT a fun thing
10. I want a dog so bad
11. Can't wait to come home for the holidays!!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
First Day in Nassau...
First day's been a great one...had a good shower and went grocery shopping!! Sounds good right? HA!! I was informed waking up this morning, as I said to Darin, i'm gonna go shower he says you can't. I can't? Why? We had a leak and we're not sure where it's coming from upstairs. So this is a couple days ago, and when did these boys shower last??? Yea. Apparently there's a "plumber" guy coming but he hasn't shown up yet. There's always the pool shower outside at the community pool we can use, but we have to wait till the wind dies down from the hurricane because the waves are crashing over the wall where we'd shower at. Out of 4 toilets 1 is working. They are on a pressure system so when we flush, it's basically the toilets decision if it's going to work today or not, or maybe flush now or in 30mins...lol. So that's my early morning. I head off to the food store after the boys go to work. I got a nice 2008 Nissan Sentra (pawn car) to drive me there. I get $220 worth of groceries and i'm driving home with my trunk full realizing I have to walk, yes, WALK about a 4 house street length from the front of our complex to get my groceries inside. I didn't have the clicker to the gate to get up to the house. So I took a trip with as much as I could with the light bags on my right arm so I can still reach the key pad to put the code in for the walking gate up front. Returned for my second load wich looked a little heavier, had some trouble lifting my arm for the key pad this time, put some stuff down, let myself in and made it about half way and put some of my load down to finish the rest of my journey. Don't worry I went back to pick up the stragler bags 1/2 way back. So everything is sitting in bags in the kitchen, cold stuff to and what am I doing? Sitting on the couch, out of breath writting this. I did open the sliding door and all I hear are the waves crashing out back. It's a soothing sound, they make machines that say so...but I have the real thing. I guess the $220 struggle of a walk I had earlier was worth it to be here. I'm gonna make some hot rasberry tea and put away the groceries. Hopefully the rest of my first day won't have as many surprises as this morning.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Dear Freeport....Hello Nassau!
Today I go to Nassau. Darin left last Friday and we'll be there a "few weeks". Not sure how long a few weeks is. It could actually be a few weeks or it could mean a few months....we'll see. As of now we live in Nassau. The time in Freeport was so so fun! Thanks to all the little kids I got to watch during the day allowed me to accumulate some fun money and play all day with some of the cutest most adorable kids! Thanks to Tony & Sania for taking Darin and I around all the time, showing us Freeport every weekend and letting me watch Leanna. Thanks to Briton and Noel for all the Sparky's fun nights and Agave's steak fajitas and red wine and also watching Nina for a little while. Thanks to Krissy for letting me watch the twinzies and teaching me a little spanish lol, and thanks to the pawn shop team for being the best!! Maybe we'll see you all in a few weeks! Gotta go get on the plane!!
I'm happy Maureen is coming in 2 weeks!!! YAY!!! Everyone else needs to make the trip over also!
I'm happy Maureen is coming in 2 weeks!!! YAY!!! Everyone else needs to make the trip over also!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Good morning daddy!!! I know you read this every morning...wanted to tell you that I love you, and I miss you so much xoxo!!
So I just got back from Miami, went to visit Fabiola. Had a great weekend and bought out Forever XXI I think. I have to keep up with "whats cool fashion" a little at least. I spent a lot of money according to me, but for most people it was probably nothing. We went to some really cool places in Miami; The Room is a really cool low key beer bar, Liv is in the FountainBlue hotel, it's a pretty crazy club....I won't go into detail about that one, my mom wouldn't like to read about it and this burrito place called Peppers, was outstanding!! I got home Sunday night and pretty much passed out.
I've also started watching these twins, Lucy & Harrison about a week ago so 2 weeks now. I watch them in the morning for just a few hours like 2 or 3 days a week. They are such cuties, and they're so good!! Darin says I should just watch kids all day and have that be my job. It's needed here trust me, everyone is always looking for a nanny. I just don't have the house to do it in or the length of time here. Since we're not sure when we're leaving I didn't want to start something then leave in a month and everyone would have to quick find someone else. The kids I watch now the parents know Darin and I's situation and we could leave anyday.
SPEAKING of leaving.....Darin's found out he goes to Nassau Friday (tomorrow)....not really sure how long possibly a few weeks, but we know from previous moves that sometimes it turns into a lot longer than a few weeks. He went from Turks and Caicos to Nassau in Febuary for a "few weeks" and has never been back lol......it's October, so we're just never sure. I'll be here in Freeport for the time being untill we know something further. This weekend is going to be super crappy since Darin is gone, Tony and Sania will be gone, Britton and Noel are gone, and Krissys gone too.....so i'm alone this weekend with nobody to hang out with and it's halloween!! I'll be at the resort beaches and Sparky's for Sunday football, so I have a little to do at least. I did get a phone today!! I haven't had my own number here so everyone's had to call Darin looking for me and sometimes i'm not with him. I got a "rokr or rocker" phone and typing on it is so old school, kinda fun! Well, I've got to go pick up Leanna now.....i'll keep you all updated!!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Social Networking & Riding Scooters
The past few days have been so SO nice out!! Sunny, a little breezy and cool!! We've taken advantage of the scooter we have, and it's been so much fun!! I pray for no bugs in my mouth and none to smack me on my forehead while Darin speeds down the streets. He goes in and out of the middle dotted lines, trying to miss the little reflectors between each one. Today we went to Garden of the Groves. It's a tourist attraction here and i'm not all about seeing bushes and trees, but we heard there was a cool restaurant there. We arrived fresh off the scooter, and it's $15 to get in...I kinda told the lady we wanted to check out the restaurant and walked in...not really sure what she was saying to us as we passed, but oh well!! The little cafe was extended over a good size pond that had 2 waterfalls pouring into it! Really cool place, they even have a good looking menu 
but we'd just eaten my famous bagel, egg, bacon and cheese sandwich, so we didn't eat. Next time for sure!! I did try a "bloody cesar" which was awesome!! Our friends Britton and Noel were there, and they recommended it. Kind of like a bloody mary I guess. When we left I asked the lady what was in it if it wasn't a bloody mary, and good thing I
didn't ask her before I sucked it down or I would of never gotten it! It's clamato juice, worcestershire sauce, tabasco and vodka....doesn't sound that bad untill I asked what clamato juice was, um CLAM JUICE mixed with tomato juice!!! EWWWW....but i'd already had it and it was pretty darn awesome! So, i'll have it again next time!Since i've recently become a "tweeter" i've learned how to hook it up to my facebook so when I tweet, it goes right to my facebook also.....hopefully people won't be annoyed if I update my status/tweet more often. I'm still not 100% sure how twitter works, what the RT means and the tagging people and it not showing on their pages, but I guess that's how it's supposed to work? I've also noticed people posting pictures, and they're links. So you click on a link to be directed to the picture...pretty easy, but I can't figure it out...so after a friend recommends something I try it but I can't find the app on my iphone, so i'm goggle-ing "how to upload pictures to twitter using an iphone". I've found there's 5 ways...I tried one and it didn't seem to work, so I tried "twitpic" and downloaded that app and now it's super easy!! Now if I "tweet" it goes to my facebook and to this blog!!! Social networking is so nuts, I can't believe we can do 1/2 the stuff on the internet by a few clicks of the mouse and automatically your iphone, facebook, twitter, blog and email are all synced!!! Boggles my mind!!!
I leave for Miami Thursday thanks to my FABULOUS friend Fabiola!!! She did get my ticket with Doty on it and not de Clercq Zubli so hopefully customs in the states will be nice to me with just a copy of my marriage liscense....nobody cares here lol.....MIAMI HERE I COME!!!!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Orlando Trip Video
Here's the video of the 10 days that I was recently in Orlando. It was WAY WAY to big to put up on this blog, so it's up on youtube, just click the link below!! There's a little of everything, friends, family, dogs, kids, birthdays, so much stuff.....so when you have a good 10mins to sit and watch, you should! Enjoy another personalized video of mine! Thanks to all of my family who came to the cookout, Sarah & Tom for hosting it, Tom for introducing your Ahi dish to me, thanks Laura for your fantastic photo & dancing skillz at the wedding, thanks to Sarah for having Dom's birthday that weekend so I could join, thanks Alan for coming up with the dive and tube trip, thanks to Teya & Bry for staying ALL weekend with me, thanks Tierney girls for making dinner and letting me stay with the pups all weekend, thanks dad for having a skate night and mom for all your home cooked meals!! I loved it all and enjoyed every minute!!
Click Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqpIAG3k_NU
Click Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqpIAG3k_NU
Friday, October 8, 2010
Exciting News!
No, i 'm not pregnant! lol but I have other exciting news! It's not set in stone yet, but do you ever watch the show "pawn stars", it's on the history channel? Well, the travel channel is talking to us about doing an "island pawn stars" show!!! It's a reality show, and it will be about all of our shops and what to do on that island, hence the travel channel. Not sure how it's all going to work out, but we should know more pretty soon. It's kinda cool to think about but then i'm like, won't it be so weird having a camera crew in the shop everyday? I usually go to work with a pony tail and no makeup with my glasses on....soon that will be no more! I've thought that the only down side will be getting up earlier to actually DO my hair and makeup. If anyone knows me well enough, I only do those things when i'm going out somewhere, lol....change is a good thing I guess. I'm excited about them filming the island stuff, and what to do here, where to go, those kinds of things. I wonder if we'll be a part of that too. I told Darin that would be fun because we've lived here for 4 months, and haven't really done anything that a tourist would do, so it will kind of force us to see the island and take advantage of what we have here. I write on here like once a week, and sometimes I feel like I write about nothing or that nobody is interested and i'm just wasting my time. NOW i'll be able to write about another cool experience and write about a behind the scenes thing, and what it's like being on camera, hopefully you'll keep reading my blog as it gets more interesting! Till next time!
For my family and friends with out facebook, here's a picture of my "perk" from my last blog.
I'm so in love with this ring....UGH it's so pretty!!
For my family and friends with out facebook, here's a picture of my "perk" from my last blog.
I'm so in love with this ring....UGH it's so pretty!!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Perks & Football
Well this coming weekend we were going to attempt to go to Cuba. Didn't quite work out since the shop is opened on Saturdays. There is a holiday on Tuesday the 12th but the shop would be open Monday, so.....we can't go. Tuesday's holiday is Bahamas Discovery Day, kinda like a Columbus Day for the U.S. Update about East sushi....it's officially closed! Our sushi chief came into the shop today and said it's closed since last week :( Now we don't know where to eat. Guess we'll have to venture out to find something else we love. As for the shop, it's doing GREAT! Still really busy most days, Thursdays seems to be the slow day of the week while Monday and Saturday's are the craziest, and they do very well. I got my second perk from Darin working at a pawn shop last week!!! My first was the stone in my engagement ring, which I still can't believe a pawn shop could produce such a good diamond, but it's possible!! My second however is my new pearl ring! I've wanted a pearl ring for so so long, it's my birthstone and I look at them whenever i'm in a jewelry store. They're so expensive though, just a pearl or maybe a few diamonds around it...I could never just buy one, and spend the money on it. Well....last week one came into the shop with a pearl set, necklace, bracelet, earrings and a ring!! I fell in love immediately!! It was PERFECT!! I asked Darin if he could split the set, just the ring. Needless to say, I now have myself one of the prettiest pearl rings i've yet to see!!! I love it!! Just one pearl, with little diamonds around it. You don't wanna know what I paid for it or you may just stop breathing!
So Sunday's now are "fantasy football" days. There's a sports bar called Sparky's that we like to go to, and it's free wings all day, and good beer specials. Darin and I downloaded the yahoo fantasy football app for our iphones, so we sit there and stare at the tv while updating the stats on our phones to check out the points. Darin won last weekend, but so far this weekend he's losing, still one game left tonight, we'll see if his team pulls though! The people at Sparky's are super nice, though they don't serve food till 5pm. There's one guy named Raffy, and he now knows to go get frenchfries for me around 3pm with mayo and mustard on the side from a nearby restaurant! Who knew!! I think it's the coolest thing that he does that for me every Sunday now, extra tip his way!!
I think this weekend we're gonna head to "the hole", basically a place you just go to jump in a hole. Darin's done it before with Chad, and I want to see this "hole" but prob won't jump in. I jumped off a cliff in Turks and Caicos, but that water was super clear, this hole Darin says isn't as high, but you can't see in the water....that part freaks me out. I think i'll just watch the guys jump. I haven't been to the beach in a few weeks....so i'm hoping to make it there (down the street) this weekend also, as well as watch football.
Something new:
-we've started to pack our lunches...and finding out it saves tons of money
-our "dinosaur" is on the fritz
-wendy's breakfast is served with waffle fries instead of hashbrowns
-Darin finally got his temp work permit!!! YAY!!
-I can't get mail at the shop, had some stuff sent and found out I need a p.o. box and i'll probably never see what was coming :(
-medication is super cheap here, and with out insurance!!
-compliments go a long long way
p.s. the video of my 10 day trip to orlando is almost done!! it has everyone in it, I mean everyone!! Till next time....toodles!
So Sunday's now are "fantasy football" days. There's a sports bar called Sparky's that we like to go to, and it's free wings all day, and good beer specials. Darin and I downloaded the yahoo fantasy football app for our iphones, so we sit there and stare at the tv while updating the stats on our phones to check out the points. Darin won last weekend, but so far this weekend he's losing, still one game left tonight, we'll see if his team pulls though! The people at Sparky's are super nice, though they don't serve food till 5pm. There's one guy named Raffy, and he now knows to go get frenchfries for me around 3pm with mayo and mustard on the side from a nearby restaurant! Who knew!! I think it's the coolest thing that he does that for me every Sunday now, extra tip his way!!
I think this weekend we're gonna head to "the hole", basically a place you just go to jump in a hole. Darin's done it before with Chad, and I want to see this "hole" but prob won't jump in. I jumped off a cliff in Turks and Caicos, but that water was super clear, this hole Darin says isn't as high, but you can't see in the water....that part freaks me out. I think i'll just watch the guys jump. I haven't been to the beach in a few weeks....so i'm hoping to make it there (down the street) this weekend also, as well as watch football.
Something new:
-we've started to pack our lunches...and finding out it saves tons of money
-our "dinosaur" is on the fritz
-wendy's breakfast is served with waffle fries instead of hashbrowns
-Darin finally got his temp work permit!!! YAY!!
-I can't get mail at the shop, had some stuff sent and found out I need a p.o. box and i'll probably never see what was coming :(
-medication is super cheap here, and with out insurance!!
-compliments go a long long way
p.s. the video of my 10 day trip to orlando is almost done!! it has everyone in it, I mean everyone!! Till next time....toodles!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Just Saturday...
I live on an island and I slept, I mean "layed in bed" till 3:30ish today! What a LOSER!!! The weather the last few days has been amazing, sunny but breezy! Perfect!! I got these 2 new games on my iphone, one I should of invented because it's so me, has melissa written all over it!! It's called Color Fill, and you have 4 colors to color a picture but the colors can't touch! I love this because I can't stand coloring a picture and have the same color next to each other, almost just unfair to the other colors, too much of one color in one area just isn't right. I also don't like certain colors next to one another like; green and red, red and blue, red and orange, purple and pink, orange and purple, mainly because the colored pair resembles something. Green and red is christmas, red and blue is July 4th, orange and purple the suns basketball team, idk why. Anywho...
I made my first homeade pie crust for my breakfast quiche for dinner! Came out pretty darn good, I didn't have an official "pie" pan so I went for the square glassware. I don't have all my pots and pans here yet, so I use what i've got to get by. Don't know if I said earlier, I didn't have a mixing bowl so I was using a pot to mix cookies and meat for meatballs and stuff like that. Craig came down and brought me a mixing bowl, I was so excited....the things I now look forward to.
If you don't already know, Darin and I found out last week that we aren't going to Grand Cayman anymore. At least for a while. We'll be here in Freeport untill further notice, maybe going to Nassau to run stuff over there. I cried about it at first only because our hearts were set on going there, and having "normal" things to do, places to eat. But after talking to Darin and thinking about it, Nassau is cheaper for our family and friends to see us, we can come home for the holidays, there's a good opportunity to make good money in the Nassau shop, so now if we went it wouldn't be so bad. Makes me realize what I really got myself into marrying a pawn shop, island traveling guy. I have to be ready for anything, and when i'm ready for that it's gonna change to something else i've got to be ready for. I'm such a planner so letting that go, and just going with the flow of things is proving to be something I struggle with. My "planning" personality is learning and adjusting to it so I'm pretty sure i'll be fine the next go around.
Oh, Darin got a new iphone 4 and he's super excited....the first one at this shop, and he's already claimed it.
I'm making a Miami trip in a few weeks to see Fabiola for a long weekend, so i'm looking forward to that!! Maybe get a tattoo while i'm there (mom, stay calm).
Oh, and I signed up for this twitter thing...not quite sure how to use it yet or if i'll continue to use it, guess I can tweet more often on there and not annoy people with my hourly updates on facebook (which I don't currently do, but could). Tweeting is more for min by min updates of peoples lifes. We'll see! BE A FOLLOWER!! or not.
I made my first homeade pie crust for my breakfast quiche for dinner! Came out pretty darn good, I didn't have an official "pie" pan so I went for the square glassware. I don't have all my pots and pans here yet, so I use what i've got to get by. Don't know if I said earlier, I didn't have a mixing bowl so I was using a pot to mix cookies and meat for meatballs and stuff like that. Craig came down and brought me a mixing bowl, I was so excited....the things I now look forward to.
If you don't already know, Darin and I found out last week that we aren't going to Grand Cayman anymore. At least for a while. We'll be here in Freeport untill further notice, maybe going to Nassau to run stuff over there. I cried about it at first only because our hearts were set on going there, and having "normal" things to do, places to eat. But after talking to Darin and thinking about it, Nassau is cheaper for our family and friends to see us, we can come home for the holidays, there's a good opportunity to make good money in the Nassau shop, so now if we went it wouldn't be so bad. Makes me realize what I really got myself into marrying a pawn shop, island traveling guy. I have to be ready for anything, and when i'm ready for that it's gonna change to something else i've got to be ready for. I'm such a planner so letting that go, and just going with the flow of things is proving to be something I struggle with. My "planning" personality is learning and adjusting to it so I'm pretty sure i'll be fine the next go around.
Oh, Darin got a new iphone 4 and he's super excited....the first one at this shop, and he's already claimed it.
I'm making a Miami trip in a few weeks to see Fabiola for a long weekend, so i'm looking forward to that!! Maybe get a tattoo while i'm there (mom, stay calm).
Oh, and I signed up for this twitter thing...not quite sure how to use it yet or if i'll continue to use it, guess I can tweet more often on there and not annoy people with my hourly updates on facebook (which I don't currently do, but could). Tweeting is more for min by min updates of peoples lifes. We'll see! BE A FOLLOWER!! or not.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
O-Town Bound
This is a long one, so get your coffee, and have a few mins to sit and read...just an FYI! Also, a video montage will be following this blog in a few days of my trip to O-town!
Just got home from my 10 day trip to Orlando and it's good to be back with Darin! It all started super early on Friday morning Sept. 10th, also Allison's wedding day!! Left Bahamas at 7am, landed with my awesome sister to pick me up in Orlando at 1:30pm. From then it was a whirlwind! Hair appointment at 2:30, dropped my stuff off at the Tierney's (stayed the weekend to watch the pups),ran around to multiple stores to find white sandals for the wedding, back to the house, got ready and off to the wedding which we made it by 6:02pm, the wedding is at 6pm. Now when I say that I got ready, I really meant was using a bathroom, mirror, and bedroom with Laura, Teya and Tera with Bryleigh running somewhere, needless to say it was chaos. I think I changed outfits 3 times, Laura 3 times, and Teya twice...it was like a sorority house, lol! The wedding went great thanks to an open bar, dancing and an awesome photo booth!!
Saturday I got up to eat breakfast with my parents and Craig, then headed off to my cousin's son's 1st birthday party! Teya, Justin and Bry came along too since Teya slept over all weekend. There was a huge blow up slide for the kids to go down, snowcones and an annoying dog at the house next to the park that continued to walk along the fence and bark at the kids having a good time. It was nice to see my family most of the day though I wish I brought my bathing suit to go down the blow up slide, Justin was the only smart and brave adult at the party. After the party we (Teya, Bry and I) went back to the Tierney's and sat by the pool. Justin and Craig went "boarding" in Clermont then came to the pool, most intense part of the day was watching Bry barf everywhere...is normal for her when she swims, it was just a lot as she tried to make it to the grass and ran through it, LOL....eww! :) My favorite part of the day though was telling Jenna (Tierney's dog, and i'm her BFF) that we were going to Jersey Mike's for dinner. If you know me well enough you'd know that in the past i'd go to the Tierney's house and Shelby and I used to bring Jenna to Jersey Mike's with us. So, all I had to say was Jersey Mike's and she knows exactly where she's going and gets SUPER excited!! We park, and let her out, she runs right to the door and waits, so I let her in and she says hi to all the customers and then helps me eat my turkey sub! MMMmmmmm so good! The funny part is watching her when we get home as Sadie and Casper smell her and she stands so tall (she's so small) with her little tail wagging acting like "yea, I got to go, and you didn't", little priss :)
Sunday was my family party at my aunt and uncles house (Sarah & Tom). We did a big bbq and pool party with margaritas and awesome cheese dip. Some family had to drive in town from Jax and Melbourne to join us. Thanks to my family for making the trip over to come see me!! Hopefully we'll be back for Thanksgiving!!!
Monday I had some appointments, went shopping for a little bit with Teya and finally went to my parents and unpacked there. Finally home, mom made dinner and I pretty much stayed up with Laura and had a sleepover in her room with Casper too.
Tuesday I got up early to go to the court house in Winter Garden to "change my name". Everyone says how long it took at the court house and they sat for hours and blah blah blah. I had a feeling I was not in the right spot, so I went outside and called a social security number to find out I had to go to the social security office NOT the court house. So why does everyone say how long they were at the court house for and making this huge deal over it?? I was about 10am by the time I made it to Semeron Rd and Gaitlin Rd where the Social Security office was, got my number and I was in and out in less than an hour. Now I just had to wait for the next day to change my bank and drivers license stuff. Me and mom got Chick-fil-a, and went to mine and Craigs house to clean a little and organize some of the wedding gifts that take up the whole 4th room! I got to see Liz, Mo and Tera at happy hour Flemings style....I looked so forward to having a glass of red wine with Liz, she would be my "wine" partner in life I think.
Wednesday was fun! My dad took off work to "hang out with his daughter"...so he thought, but what we really did was coffee from Dunkin Donuts, DMV, DMV, DMV (yea we went back and forth 2 times because I didn't have the right "form") and the bank. So my father daughter time was spent driving from home to DMV and back again a few times....ugh, but i'm officially a DOTY, after being married for 3 months! Thanks daddy for driving around all morning with me!! I love you!! For lunch I met my new family, the Doty's, at UNO's. Got to see all 5 of them, and had a really good buffalo chicken quesadillas. Since my dad took the day off we made plans to go skating (yes, the ones with 4 wheels) in Winter Garden. I have skates from when me and Darin went though our "skating" phase of the relationship lol. They're white with pink wheels!! Totally cool! Teya, Justin and Bry came too, it's was Bry's first time, and it was something i'm very glad I didn't miss because we laughed (nicely) so hard! My dad is just as great of skater as I remember from being little. One of my fav things as a kid was skating, lots of my b-day parties were at skating rinks, and my dad always was in the competitions and won! A proud kid I was as my dad ruled the skate floor! I loved dragging behind hanging on to his pockets, we could of been a great skate team me and him!
Thursday I went to my old office for a little while, and was supposed to meet up with Alan for lunch but he and I went to 2 separate Pei Wei's...oops! I headed to UCF side of town for dinner and wine night at Kaley's place, got to see her and Shelbs new apartments all decorated and cute with mom Tierney's magical touch! I went to Shelbs first for a little while Kaley was still in school, since I didn't eat lunch yet we decided a small snack from Pei Wei would be fine, we had a few hours till dinner. On the way Shelb and I get hit from behind. It was one of the hardest hits i've ever felt in an accident, resulting in both of us grabbing our necks immediately after it happened, and a headache shortly after. BUT....the car looks great!! A loose license plate spot light, and 2 little scratches later, I can't believe that's all that happened. I thought for sure, we'd walk around the car to see a HUGE dent and the trunk pushed in...GO MAZDA 3 !!! Dinner was fabulous! Kay and momma T made chicken stuffed with mozzarella, pesto and presunto with broccoli on the side with a glass of wine to sip on.
Friday my mom and I went through ALL of the wedding pictures, and ordered so many!! We signed up for CVS and Walgreens to get the special 50 free for first time users with 25% off your first purchse. After using my name, her name, and making Laura her own accounts (Laura, ask mom your passwords if you don't know about this yet...oops), and about 400 pictures later, we only paid about $35!!! My mom is such a penny saver, i've learned from the best! We also ordered the announcement/thank you's, I can't wait to see those, we had to really order them, not do the hour photo, so I haven't seen them. Craig and I headed to BJ's Brewery by the Millenia Mall for happy hour and met up with Sarah and Tom (aunt & uncle), also Sam from my old job came. It was Maureen's birthday too, so we went out to Hagan's Irish Bar afterwards to meet everyone....always a good time there!!
Saturday was an EARLY morning....per Alan Jackson....we had to be up at 7am leaving for Gainsville area to go to Devils Den dive and snorkel spot. Surprisingly we left by 7:45 with 8 of us! Wouldn't believe it, but I was there! The drive was nice, I rode with Mo (Maureen). We practiced our bubble gum blowing skills which aren't as good now as they were when we were kids. Possibly having the wrong gum, when other members stoped to potty, we went to walgreens to scout out new gum hoping this kind would be better....no bueno. Oh well, gave us something to do for 1.5hours! The dive/snorkel was so neat, the cave was so cool!! The water was FREEZING!!!! I pretty much enjoyed watching everyone...I stood waist deep for over an hour, finally swam to the other stairs for about 5 seconds and I was done. There was no sun since it was a cave, so it was already cold down there. After the dive/snorkel we went to Rainbow River Springs where you rent tubes and a trolly takes you to the beginning and you relax in your tube for a 2 hour river ride. That was cold too, but the sun was out so I got in this time. Pictures and video to come....I slept the whole way home, and then for like an hour more at Craig's. He and Chris got a new projector for the movie room and hooked it all up with the speakers and everything and we watched 2 movies....it's SO SO cool!!
Sunday I got to go to church with my parents, stoped by the Doty's on the way home, ate lunch at my mom's and then Laura, Teya and I were off to the movies. Justin picked Teya up from the movies, so we were saying goodbye (outside of the car) and we turn around to Bry wild child in the front seat, with the a/c blasting, windshield wipers full speed, all 5 windows rolled down, hazard lights on, blasting the music at full capacity, while she's on her knees in the driver seat holding 10 & 2 going nuts trying to turn it left and right! lol.....hopefully that's not foreshadowing when she's 16 driving down 1-4, LOL!! She's so crazy, I love it!
Monday I grabbed breakfast with Jenny, got a couple last minute things, and headed to the airport but on the way had to stop and pick up Darin's "fixed" laptop i'd dropped off earlier in the week. My mom is so cute, she parks and walks me all the way to the security line, and she'll wait till I put my belt and shoes on, and blow one last kiss to me through the crowd of people. I'm glad I can say I have a mom that does stuff like that, a great mom! So off I go to Freeport and Darin. My trip doesn't end so smoothly...When I was in the states I mangaged to grab 6 iphones from people off Craig's List. I had them stuffed and hidden places in my suitcase so when I went through customs hopefully they wouldn't find them and I wouldn't have to pay duty!! I'm in Miami waiting to leave and I know a guy Dan from Freeport so I said hi to him, and then our fav bartender Lenny was on the flight home too. He sat right behind me....weird knowing people on your flight, but then again not many flights go to Freeport so I guess i'm bound to know someone! I reach Freeport, get up to the customs desk;
lady: how long are you here for?
me: 7 days
lady: where are you staying
me: a friends house and then the Lucaya hotel
My heart is POUNDING, I have no clue why, like they won't let me in the country or something lol...so I pass though her and get to my luggage. I stand, and wait, and wait, and see fimilar bags go by, and wait.....my luggage never made it!! OMG! So I close down the airport after filling out a paper. My bag should be here by 2:30pm tomorrow the lady tells me. I get to the customs guy and he was just being dirty flirty with me but he wasn't searching my bags yet where I had 2 more hidden phones, so I flirted back, PHEW he let me go by, then he says "wait!" and i'm thinking, oh crap! i'm busted, they're gonna hold me till someone pays, what if they found out I was here longer than 10 days on my last trip and they deport me...AHHHHH...so I turned around, "yes?" I asked...he says "do you have any black family members?" and i'm like "no, well I do have a cousin that is, and she's adopted" totally not getting what he's talking about, and he says "so where did you get that a*s from if your not related to a black person?" holy crap, I hit him and said eww gross and covered my butt and ran out of the airport.
Today I did get my things, and I made friends with a guy in customs so when I got my bag I went to him, he just asked if I had food or gifts, no and no I said so he let me go through. PHEW!! No search was great!! So the phones are safe, and i'm safe, and we didn't have to pay duty on a thing!!! So here I sit with the shop closing, 3 hours later, and i'm finally done this super long post!!
Just got home from my 10 day trip to Orlando and it's good to be back with Darin! It all started super early on Friday morning Sept. 10th, also Allison's wedding day!! Left Bahamas at 7am, landed with my awesome sister to pick me up in Orlando at 1:30pm. From then it was a whirlwind! Hair appointment at 2:30, dropped my stuff off at the Tierney's (stayed the weekend to watch the pups),ran around to multiple stores to find white sandals for the wedding, back to the house, got ready and off to the wedding which we made it by 6:02pm, the wedding is at 6pm. Now when I say that I got ready, I really meant was using a bathroom, mirror, and bedroom with Laura, Teya and Tera with Bryleigh running somewhere, needless to say it was chaos. I think I changed outfits 3 times, Laura 3 times, and Teya twice...it was like a sorority house, lol! The wedding went great thanks to an open bar, dancing and an awesome photo booth!!
Saturday I got up to eat breakfast with my parents and Craig, then headed off to my cousin's son's 1st birthday party! Teya, Justin and Bry came along too since Teya slept over all weekend. There was a huge blow up slide for the kids to go down, snowcones and an annoying dog at the house next to the park that continued to walk along the fence and bark at the kids having a good time. It was nice to see my family most of the day though I wish I brought my bathing suit to go down the blow up slide, Justin was the only smart and brave adult at the party. After the party we (Teya, Bry and I) went back to the Tierney's and sat by the pool. Justin and Craig went "boarding" in Clermont then came to the pool, most intense part of the day was watching Bry barf everywhere...is normal for her when she swims, it was just a lot as she tried to make it to the grass and ran through it, LOL....eww! :) My favorite part of the day though was telling Jenna (Tierney's dog, and i'm her BFF) that we were going to Jersey Mike's for dinner. If you know me well enough you'd know that in the past i'd go to the Tierney's house and Shelby and I used to bring Jenna to Jersey Mike's with us. So, all I had to say was Jersey Mike's and she knows exactly where she's going and gets SUPER excited!! We park, and let her out, she runs right to the door and waits, so I let her in and she says hi to all the customers and then helps me eat my turkey sub! MMMmmmmm so good! The funny part is watching her when we get home as Sadie and Casper smell her and she stands so tall (she's so small) with her little tail wagging acting like "yea, I got to go, and you didn't", little priss :)
Sunday was my family party at my aunt and uncles house (Sarah & Tom). We did a big bbq and pool party with margaritas and awesome cheese dip. Some family had to drive in town from Jax and Melbourne to join us. Thanks to my family for making the trip over to come see me!! Hopefully we'll be back for Thanksgiving!!!
Monday I had some appointments, went shopping for a little bit with Teya and finally went to my parents and unpacked there. Finally home, mom made dinner and I pretty much stayed up with Laura and had a sleepover in her room with Casper too.
Tuesday I got up early to go to the court house in Winter Garden to "change my name". Everyone says how long it took at the court house and they sat for hours and blah blah blah. I had a feeling I was not in the right spot, so I went outside and called a social security number to find out I had to go to the social security office NOT the court house. So why does everyone say how long they were at the court house for and making this huge deal over it?? I was about 10am by the time I made it to Semeron Rd and Gaitlin Rd where the Social Security office was, got my number and I was in and out in less than an hour. Now I just had to wait for the next day to change my bank and drivers license stuff. Me and mom got Chick-fil-a, and went to mine and Craigs house to clean a little and organize some of the wedding gifts that take up the whole 4th room! I got to see Liz, Mo and Tera at happy hour Flemings style....I looked so forward to having a glass of red wine with Liz, she would be my "wine" partner in life I think.
Wednesday was fun! My dad took off work to "hang out with his daughter"...so he thought, but what we really did was coffee from Dunkin Donuts, DMV, DMV, DMV (yea we went back and forth 2 times because I didn't have the right "form") and the bank. So my father daughter time was spent driving from home to DMV and back again a few times....ugh, but i'm officially a DOTY, after being married for 3 months! Thanks daddy for driving around all morning with me!! I love you!! For lunch I met my new family, the Doty's, at UNO's. Got to see all 5 of them, and had a really good buffalo chicken quesadillas. Since my dad took the day off we made plans to go skating (yes, the ones with 4 wheels) in Winter Garden. I have skates from when me and Darin went though our "skating" phase of the relationship lol. They're white with pink wheels!! Totally cool! Teya, Justin and Bry came too, it's was Bry's first time, and it was something i'm very glad I didn't miss because we laughed (nicely) so hard! My dad is just as great of skater as I remember from being little. One of my fav things as a kid was skating, lots of my b-day parties were at skating rinks, and my dad always was in the competitions and won! A proud kid I was as my dad ruled the skate floor! I loved dragging behind hanging on to his pockets, we could of been a great skate team me and him!
Thursday I went to my old office for a little while, and was supposed to meet up with Alan for lunch but he and I went to 2 separate Pei Wei's...oops! I headed to UCF side of town for dinner and wine night at Kaley's place, got to see her and Shelbs new apartments all decorated and cute with mom Tierney's magical touch! I went to Shelbs first for a little while Kaley was still in school, since I didn't eat lunch yet we decided a small snack from Pei Wei would be fine, we had a few hours till dinner. On the way Shelb and I get hit from behind. It was one of the hardest hits i've ever felt in an accident, resulting in both of us grabbing our necks immediately after it happened, and a headache shortly after. BUT....the car looks great!! A loose license plate spot light, and 2 little scratches later, I can't believe that's all that happened. I thought for sure, we'd walk around the car to see a HUGE dent and the trunk pushed in...GO MAZDA 3 !!! Dinner was fabulous! Kay and momma T made chicken stuffed with mozzarella, pesto and presunto with broccoli on the side with a glass of wine to sip on.
Friday my mom and I went through ALL of the wedding pictures, and ordered so many!! We signed up for CVS and Walgreens to get the special 50 free for first time users with 25% off your first purchse. After using my name, her name, and making Laura her own accounts (Laura, ask mom your passwords if you don't know about this yet...oops), and about 400 pictures later, we only paid about $35!!! My mom is such a penny saver, i've learned from the best! We also ordered the announcement/thank you's, I can't wait to see those, we had to really order them, not do the hour photo, so I haven't seen them. Craig and I headed to BJ's Brewery by the Millenia Mall for happy hour and met up with Sarah and Tom (aunt & uncle), also Sam from my old job came. It was Maureen's birthday too, so we went out to Hagan's Irish Bar afterwards to meet everyone....always a good time there!!
Saturday was an EARLY morning....per Alan Jackson....we had to be up at 7am leaving for Gainsville area to go to Devils Den dive and snorkel spot. Surprisingly we left by 7:45 with 8 of us! Wouldn't believe it, but I was there! The drive was nice, I rode with Mo (Maureen). We practiced our bubble gum blowing skills which aren't as good now as they were when we were kids. Possibly having the wrong gum, when other members stoped to potty, we went to walgreens to scout out new gum hoping this kind would be better....no bueno. Oh well, gave us something to do for 1.5hours! The dive/snorkel was so neat, the cave was so cool!! The water was FREEZING!!!! I pretty much enjoyed watching everyone...I stood waist deep for over an hour, finally swam to the other stairs for about 5 seconds and I was done. There was no sun since it was a cave, so it was already cold down there. After the dive/snorkel we went to Rainbow River Springs where you rent tubes and a trolly takes you to the beginning and you relax in your tube for a 2 hour river ride. That was cold too, but the sun was out so I got in this time. Pictures and video to come....I slept the whole way home, and then for like an hour more at Craig's. He and Chris got a new projector for the movie room and hooked it all up with the speakers and everything and we watched 2 movies....it's SO SO cool!!
Sunday I got to go to church with my parents, stoped by the Doty's on the way home, ate lunch at my mom's and then Laura, Teya and I were off to the movies. Justin picked Teya up from the movies, so we were saying goodbye (outside of the car) and we turn around to Bry wild child in the front seat, with the a/c blasting, windshield wipers full speed, all 5 windows rolled down, hazard lights on, blasting the music at full capacity, while she's on her knees in the driver seat holding 10 & 2 going nuts trying to turn it left and right! lol.....hopefully that's not foreshadowing when she's 16 driving down 1-4, LOL!! She's so crazy, I love it!
Monday I grabbed breakfast with Jenny, got a couple last minute things, and headed to the airport but on the way had to stop and pick up Darin's "fixed" laptop i'd dropped off earlier in the week. My mom is so cute, she parks and walks me all the way to the security line, and she'll wait till I put my belt and shoes on, and blow one last kiss to me through the crowd of people. I'm glad I can say I have a mom that does stuff like that, a great mom! So off I go to Freeport and Darin. My trip doesn't end so smoothly...When I was in the states I mangaged to grab 6 iphones from people off Craig's List. I had them stuffed and hidden places in my suitcase so when I went through customs hopefully they wouldn't find them and I wouldn't have to pay duty!! I'm in Miami waiting to leave and I know a guy Dan from Freeport so I said hi to him, and then our fav bartender Lenny was on the flight home too. He sat right behind me....weird knowing people on your flight, but then again not many flights go to Freeport so I guess i'm bound to know someone! I reach Freeport, get up to the customs desk;
lady: how long are you here for?
me: 7 days
lady: where are you staying
me: a friends house and then the Lucaya hotel
My heart is POUNDING, I have no clue why, like they won't let me in the country or something lol...so I pass though her and get to my luggage. I stand, and wait, and wait, and see fimilar bags go by, and wait.....my luggage never made it!! OMG! So I close down the airport after filling out a paper. My bag should be here by 2:30pm tomorrow the lady tells me. I get to the customs guy and he was just being dirty flirty with me but he wasn't searching my bags yet where I had 2 more hidden phones, so I flirted back, PHEW he let me go by, then he says "wait!" and i'm thinking, oh crap! i'm busted, they're gonna hold me till someone pays, what if they found out I was here longer than 10 days on my last trip and they deport me...AHHHHH...so I turned around, "yes?" I asked...he says "do you have any black family members?" and i'm like "no, well I do have a cousin that is, and she's adopted" totally not getting what he's talking about, and he says "so where did you get that a*s from if your not related to a black person?" holy crap, I hit him and said eww gross and covered my butt and ran out of the airport.
Today I did get my things, and I made friends with a guy in customs so when I got my bag I went to him, he just asked if I had food or gifts, no and no I said so he let me go through. PHEW!! No search was great!! So the phones are safe, and i'm safe, and we didn't have to pay duty on a thing!!! So here I sit with the shop closing, 3 hours later, and i'm finally done this super long post!!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Friends In Town!!
The last 2 weeks have been crazy...the shop FINALLY opened! It's doing great so far. My job is going well, the girls are so cute, and so good! Nap time is a breeze, they go to bed themselves and i just shut the doors. Silence for 2 hours, it's great!! Poop diapers are a new thing to me but so far it hasn't been that bad.
Last weekend our friends came in town. They came over on the Discover Cruise that leaves from Ft. Lauderdale daily and comes right into Freeport. Everyone left Olando Friday morning at like 4am, got on the boat which left at 9am and we picked them up at 2pm. They offer free food and drinks on the boat so you could imagine what it was like picking 11 people up who had free stuff for the last 5 hours. We went to Mrs. Walkers conch shack, which everyone thought was amazing!! Also visited the pawn shop before bringing everyone to check into the hotel. Another great thing is the hotel where our friends were staying is a 5 min walk to the house!! We all met for dinner at East, Darin and I's favorite sushi place, and went out to a local bar and to dance at the casino club. I lost my brand new underwater camera there. Craig brought it to me and I used it for about 4 hours and it hasn't been seen since. I'll be investing in another one soon! Saturday some of us met for breakfast and went into some shops, layed by the pool and waited until Darin and Chad got off work. We had the booze cruise at 6pm which was a great start to the night! Got back around 9:30pm and went to change and head back to the casino club where we had VIP all night. SO much fun!! A late night dip in the pool and hot tub to top it off! Sunday was kinda rainy and cloudy so we just hung out at the pool and then our house for a little while untill it was time to drop everyone back off at the ship. I suppose the trip was as awesome for everyone as it was for me, except for the ride back from being droped off at 5pm ship left at 6pm, gets to Ft. Lauderdale at 11am getting out of the parking lot and off the boat and it's after 12am and not getting home till 4 or 5am!! UGH, i'm just glad I didn't have to do that part of the trip. Thanks Craig, Alan, Jenny, Mo, John, Kaley, Claire, Fabi, Matty, Katie, Matt & Chad for coming over and spending the weekend with us!! Video of the weekend will be up soon!! HEE HEE i'll be nice with the editing!
I've recently got my ticket to come home in Sept. for a friends wedding. It's a 10 day trip so i'm excited to see everyone and stay at my parents.
Last weekend our friends came in town. They came over on the Discover Cruise that leaves from Ft. Lauderdale daily and comes right into Freeport. Everyone left Olando Friday morning at like 4am, got on the boat which left at 9am and we picked them up at 2pm. They offer free food and drinks on the boat so you could imagine what it was like picking 11 people up who had free stuff for the last 5 hours. We went to Mrs. Walkers conch shack, which everyone thought was amazing!! Also visited the pawn shop before bringing everyone to check into the hotel. Another great thing is the hotel where our friends were staying is a 5 min walk to the house!! We all met for dinner at East, Darin and I's favorite sushi place, and went out to a local bar and to dance at the casino club. I lost my brand new underwater camera there. Craig brought it to me and I used it for about 4 hours and it hasn't been seen since. I'll be investing in another one soon! Saturday some of us met for breakfast and went into some shops, layed by the pool and waited until Darin and Chad got off work. We had the booze cruise at 6pm which was a great start to the night! Got back around 9:30pm and went to change and head back to the casino club where we had VIP all night. SO much fun!! A late night dip in the pool and hot tub to top it off! Sunday was kinda rainy and cloudy so we just hung out at the pool and then our house for a little while untill it was time to drop everyone back off at the ship. I suppose the trip was as awesome for everyone as it was for me, except for the ride back from being droped off at 5pm ship left at 6pm, gets to Ft. Lauderdale at 11am getting out of the parking lot and off the boat and it's after 12am and not getting home till 4 or 5am!! UGH, i'm just glad I didn't have to do that part of the trip. Thanks Craig, Alan, Jenny, Mo, John, Kaley, Claire, Fabi, Matty, Katie, Matt & Chad for coming over and spending the weekend with us!! Video of the weekend will be up soon!! HEE HEE i'll be nice with the editing!
I've recently got my ticket to come home in Sept. for a friends wedding. It's a 10 day trip so i'm excited to see everyone and stay at my parents.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
First Video Blog!!
The video has a bunch of little clips of our life in Freeport. In one part, Darin explains to my mom about me eating raw fish, not sure if you'll really hear what he says. Another part, Sania sings happy birthday in indonesian to Darin. This is the first of more to come, hope you enjoy it! Have a great week!!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Short & Sweet
This past week has mainly been focused on getting the pawn shop open. We've had people in and out working on stuff, computers came so Darin has been setting that up, i've been painting a lot, cleaning stuff, and hopefully we'll be open by Monday, Aug 16th. I can't wait for the store to open, I think i'm as excited as Darin is to finally get this thing going.
I also got all the wedding pictures back and have them downloaded to my computer to have forever!! I'm so glad they finally came! Now I can do all of my thank you's when I go home in a month, and print some out to put in frames for our home. I'm looking forward to coming home for a little bit. Going to a friends wedding, a 1st birthday, and a family BBQ with margaritas! I've been working on a video blog, it's coming along great! I think you'll love it! I just have to do a little more to it, and i'll be posting it very soon! Sorry this blog is short....the week flew by so fast I don't even remember it.
I also got all the wedding pictures back and have them downloaded to my computer to have forever!! I'm so glad they finally came! Now I can do all of my thank you's when I go home in a month, and print some out to put in frames for our home. I'm looking forward to coming home for a little bit. Going to a friends wedding, a 1st birthday, and a family BBQ with margaritas! I've been working on a video blog, it's coming along great! I think you'll love it! I just have to do a little more to it, and i'll be posting it very soon! Sorry this blog is short....the week flew by so fast I don't even remember it.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Birthday & Boating
To add to the last post, the Little Tings:
1. We've been telling some people we're opening a pawn shop. At the sushi place we go to, the waiter asked what we did here, so Darin told him that he's opening a pawn shop probably in a week or so. His face, and the other 3 guys faces that turned around and looked surprised at us, threw us off. What the heck did we say?? The waiter says, "a porn shop?" we say "no no, a pawn shop, p-a-w-n"....OHHhhhh lol and everyone starts laughing. I guess with our accents being different, how they say porn it sounds like pawn, so when we say pawn it sounds like porn.
2. We're learning about holidays here, and the recent one was yesterday, Monday. I heard on the radio it was a holiday weekend. When there's a holiday here, they take the following Monday off so it's always a 3 day weekend. I asked a guy in the shop that was helping us what the holiday was. He told me "August Monday". Ok, so whats the holiday for? He says "August Monday". So apparently it's just because it's a Monday in August. I asked Darin joking if we had an "October Wednesday or a September Tuesday" here also :) Bahamians (as I shake my head)
3. Honking your car at people is generally a good thing, 1 short honk is like telling them to go ahead and go first, the they honk back 2 short honks which means thank you, for letting me go ahead. The only time honking is bad is just like the states, one loooooonnnngggg honk!
Darin's birthday was July 30th, he turned 26!! I made a fantastic rasberry yogurt cake (recipe at the bottom) and of course we went to eat sushi, and out after. Sunday was the first day of lobster season!! We made plans to go out with Tony and his friend Dan to go snorkel, look for lobster, or anything else we could find. We went east down the coast about a mile or so, the beaches are so pretty on that end, it was so nice! The sun was out so we could see really good when snorkeling. Darin and Tony got in first, 10mins later I get in and Tony called me over to look at something, a Sea 
Ray swam below us. OMG I about freaked out!! All I thought about was Steve Irwin! I held as still as I could while freaking out inside, and watched this huge creature just gracefully swim by, it's like slow motion how it swims, but moves pretty fast. Glad that's over, so I turn around to follow Tony and he points out a barracuda! Um yea, i'm getting out of here right now! Well....the boats a little further than I thought, so I just stayed by Tony and when I got to the boat, I just held on to the rope in the water and dragged behind as Dan drove. I felt safer hanging on being dragged than just swimming on my own. Most of the time i'm fine, but the sea ray and barracuda freaked me out for the day. It started raining and Tony was driving so Dan could get in the water, me Darin and Dan were all dragging behind the boat when I felt Dan and Darin let go, so I just held on and Tony starts yelling for me to let go, and he'll be back to get me....i'm like what!? Leave me? He looked kinda panicked and all I can hear is something about bleeding so I let go of the rope. Tony speeds back to Darin and Dan as I frantically start swimming as fast as I could towards the boat, I wasn't waiting for a shark today. Dan speared a Hog Fish, and that's what was bleeding. You can't let a fish bleed for long or a shark will be coming by. Tony looked at me and said "I was gonna come back and get you". I told him I was scared alone that far away so I had to swim back....I got on the boat, done with this day, and the things that were in the water. Now it's raining and I had no towel, and it's freezing! I get Tony's shirt on and the boys get in and we go about a mile out past the rain to wait it out. While driving out, these birds were going right along with us, and one of them mid flight shook like dog when it's wet, I found it kinda funny, never saw a bird do that before while flying. So we have this HUGE hog fish, and we haven't eaten lunch yet. The storm passes and we head to a little place on the beach called Banana Bay, it's a restaurant. It's looks so run down that last time we passed it I thought it was vacant. Some of the roof is missing, no people, the big drapes 
outside were all ripped and some missing, I mean really, a crappy looking place. We pull up to it, and there's some people here, we ask the cooks if they'll clean and cook the hog fish we just caught. We have a seat outside and a little while later we all got a plate of hog fish, coleslaw and french fries! Fantastic!!! With no lobster and a really long day behind us, we headed home. Minus the rain, cold, and creatures, it was a great day, and Darin loved being able to get in the water for his birthday.
*The picture on the side of the boat says "on eagles wings".....I thought of grandpa, love you.
Yogurt Cake....recipe by Jen Fox
1 box white cake mix
3/4 c. water
1/3 c. veg. oil
3 egg whites
2 yogurts of choice
1 cool whip
Mix first 4 ingredients, add 1st yogurt, pour into 9x13 greased pan, back @ 350 for 30mins, let cool completely, mix 2nd yogurt and cool whip, spread over cake, refrigerate until served.
1. We've been telling some people we're opening a pawn shop. At the sushi place we go to, the waiter asked what we did here, so Darin told him that he's opening a pawn shop probably in a week or so. His face, and the other 3 guys faces that turned around and looked surprised at us, threw us off. What the heck did we say?? The waiter says, "a porn shop?" we say "no no, a pawn shop, p-a-w-n"....OHHhhhh lol and everyone starts laughing. I guess with our accents being different, how they say porn it sounds like pawn, so when we say pawn it sounds like porn.
2. We're learning about holidays here, and the recent one was yesterday, Monday. I heard on the radio it was a holiday weekend. When there's a holiday here, they take the following Monday off so it's always a 3 day weekend. I asked a guy in the shop that was helping us what the holiday was. He told me "August Monday". Ok, so whats the holiday for? He says "August Monday". So apparently it's just because it's a Monday in August. I asked Darin joking if we had an "October Wednesday or a September Tuesday" here also :) Bahamians (as I shake my head)
3. Honking your car at people is generally a good thing, 1 short honk is like telling them to go ahead and go first, the they honk back 2 short honks which means thank you, for letting me go ahead. The only time honking is bad is just like the states, one loooooonnnngggg honk!
Darin's birthday was July 30th, he turned 26!! I made a fantastic rasberry yogurt cake (recipe at the bottom) and of course we went to eat sushi, and out after. Sunday was the first day of lobster season!! We made plans to go out with Tony and his friend Dan to go snorkel, look for lobster, or anything else we could find. We went east down the coast about a mile or so, the beaches are so pretty on that end, it was so nice! The sun was out so we could see really good when snorkeling. Darin and Tony got in first, 10mins later I get in and Tony called me over to look at something, a Sea 
Ray swam below us. OMG I about freaked out!! All I thought about was Steve Irwin! I held as still as I could while freaking out inside, and watched this huge creature just gracefully swim by, it's like slow motion how it swims, but moves pretty fast. Glad that's over, so I turn around to follow Tony and he points out a barracuda! Um yea, i'm getting out of here right now! Well....the boats a little further than I thought, so I just stayed by Tony and when I got to the boat, I just held on to the rope in the water and dragged behind as Dan drove. I felt safer hanging on being dragged than just swimming on my own. Most of the time i'm fine, but the sea ray and barracuda freaked me out for the day. It started raining and Tony was driving so Dan could get in the water, me Darin and Dan were all dragging behind the boat when I felt Dan and Darin let go, so I just held on and Tony starts yelling for me to let go, and he'll be back to get me....i'm like what!? Leave me? He looked kinda panicked and all I can hear is something about bleeding so I let go of the rope. Tony speeds back to Darin and Dan as I frantically start swimming as fast as I could towards the boat, I wasn't waiting for a shark today. Dan speared a Hog Fish, and that's what was bleeding. You can't let a fish bleed for long or a shark will be coming by. Tony looked at me and said "I was gonna come back and get you". I told him I was scared alone that far away so I had to swim back....I got on the boat, done with this day, and the things that were in the water. Now it's raining and I had no towel, and it's freezing! I get Tony's shirt on and the boys get in and we go about a mile out past the rain to wait it out. While driving out, these birds were going right along with us, and one of them mid flight shook like dog when it's wet, I found it kinda funny, never saw a bird do that before while flying. So we have this HUGE hog fish, and we haven't eaten lunch yet. The storm passes and we head to a little place on the beach called Banana Bay, it's a restaurant. It's looks so run down that last time we passed it I thought it was vacant. Some of the roof is missing, no people, the big drapes 
outside were all ripped and some missing, I mean really, a crappy looking place. We pull up to it, and there's some people here, we ask the cooks if they'll clean and cook the hog fish we just caught. We have a seat outside and a little while later we all got a plate of hog fish, coleslaw and french fries! Fantastic!!! With no lobster and a really long day behind us, we headed home. Minus the rain, cold, and creatures, it was a great day, and Darin loved being able to get in the water for his birthday. *The picture on the side of the boat says "on eagles wings".....I thought of grandpa, love you.
Yogurt Cake....recipe by Jen Fox
1 box white cake mix
3/4 c. water
1/3 c. veg. oil
3 egg whites
2 yogurts of choice
1 cool whip
Mix first 4 ingredients, add 1st yogurt, pour into 9x13 greased pan, back @ 350 for 30mins, let cool completely, mix 2nd yogurt and cool whip, spread over cake, refrigerate until served.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Little Tings...
Some quick things we've learned:
1. We have no iron so I've been using my hair straightener for cuffs of shorts, and sleeves to get out wrinkles.
2. We don't have the Disney channel (one of my favs), Darin likes it because he doesn't have to watch Wizards of Waverly Place anymore.
3. Darin claims "blankie" has moved on to his side of the bed from now on (i think he's realized how much he loves blankie, because he also likes to tuck it under his neck when we watch movies in bed)
4. Finally a new(er) car with A/C and a radio!!! This time it's a Lincon LS, but we still have the "dinosaur" (our older car)
5. Only 1 food store sells cheese out of 4 that are around here.
6. I found milk for $4.99 yesterday!!! A whole gallon!
7. I can only fine Starbucks items in 1 store, and it's only the little glass jar of moca frap, and vanilla frap, and there's only 2 or 3 of each kind, so I buy in bulk.....the 2 or 3 moca ones.
8. If you own a business, you can't fire people for being late, because the whole island is late, there's nobody on time except us (for now, i'm sure we'll follow along soon).
9. Quiznos never has the toppings I want...but lettuce and tomato are always ready, basically that's all you get.
10. My new fav ice cream is the "Bahamian Flag", it has pretty colors in it, and it's yummy!
11. I hate doing dishes
12. We go to the same bar so much, that we walked up the other day and the bartender Leny said, Anjeo and diet? looked at Darin, and then said, a Kalik Lite? and looked at me....sheesh he's good!
That should do it for now. I've been filming some random stuff lately so i'm gonna try and put it all together and post that next. Hopefully it turns out ok! :)
1. We have no iron so I've been using my hair straightener for cuffs of shorts, and sleeves to get out wrinkles.
2. We don't have the Disney channel (one of my favs), Darin likes it because he doesn't have to watch Wizards of Waverly Place anymore.
3. Darin claims "blankie" has moved on to his side of the bed from now on (i think he's realized how much he loves blankie, because he also likes to tuck it under his neck when we watch movies in bed)
4. Finally a new(er) car with A/C and a radio!!! This time it's a Lincon LS, but we still have the "dinosaur" (our older car)
5. Only 1 food store sells cheese out of 4 that are around here.
6. I found milk for $4.99 yesterday!!! A whole gallon!
7. I can only fine Starbucks items in 1 store, and it's only the little glass jar of moca frap, and vanilla frap, and there's only 2 or 3 of each kind, so I buy in bulk.....the 2 or 3 moca ones.
8. If you own a business, you can't fire people for being late, because the whole island is late, there's nobody on time except us (for now, i'm sure we'll follow along soon).
9. Quiznos never has the toppings I want...but lettuce and tomato are always ready, basically that's all you get.
10. My new fav ice cream is the "Bahamian Flag", it has pretty colors in it, and it's yummy!
11. I hate doing dishes
12. We go to the same bar so much, that we walked up the other day and the bartender Leny said, Anjeo and diet? looked at Darin, and then said, a Kalik Lite? and looked at me....sheesh he's good!
That should do it for now. I've been filming some random stuff lately so i'm gonna try and put it all together and post that next. Hopefully it turns out ok! :)
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Nassau again, & our 78' Lincon Grand Marquis
Just got home from another trip to Nassau. Darin and Chad went to Orlando from Thursday to Monday and I went to stay with Emily and the kids in Nassau so I wouldn't be in Freeport alone. I finished a book, did some P90X, went to Senior Frogs and ate my favorite fish tacos mmm!!! The kids love Senior Frogs because they get balloon hats made by the local clown. I got to talk a lot to Emily, learned how she handles her 3 kids; Annelie is 5, Chandler is 3 and baby Kailyn is 3mos. She's a great mom, super patient, makes dinner, does laundry, feeds the baby, plays at the beach with the other kids, gets them down for naps, gives the baby a good "tummy time", works out, all in a day's work, I mean this girl gets stuff done! I watch with amazement how great she can juggle her whole day. When I do have kids, i'll be skyping her. She also lives on an island life which is totally different than the Florida life, so when I say (in the future) there's no butt paste at the one store on the island that has it, she'll probably whip out a home recipe she's used because she's already been through that one. Emily knows everything I think, she says she doesn't but I know she does.So we're home...there were a few break ins about a mile away from the house, so I didn't sleep well last night. Darin did, he's snoring away and 1/2 laying on me. I probably got about 3hours of sleep.....like my mom, I worry. When the light shines though the window because the sun starts to come up, that's when I finally fell asleep for a good 2 more hours, felt like a vampire...awake at night, sleep by day. Well, I accomplished a task today, grocery shopping alone! Only to get a few things but it was my first time driving there, going in and out without Darin. This store we go to is called "City Market" (the place that gives out the coupons, mentioned in a previous post), it's known to the locals here as (excuse me) "Shity Market", and found out why today....went to the dairy section to get milk, there was NONE!! not even 1 thing, nothing! A friend told me they're always out of stuff when you go because we are the last City Market to get serviced on the island, figures it's by us.
If you haven't heard of our awesome car yet, you have to know it's by far, the most looked at, talked about car in this whole area! People stare, yell things at us, run off roads to turn around and look as they drive through intersections, we go to bars and people know who we are, and they leave their job to go look at it in the parking lot at it, just nuts! I've been telling Darin I need to video tape all of the commotion when we drive around and put it all in a video together! SO...today we pull up to this gas station, one we haven't been to yet but drive by a lot. We pull next to the pump and the service guy comes up (yes, you don't
have to get out of your car to pump gas, you just hand them money and sit and wait, kinda nice lol) he says; "i've been waiting for you to pull in here so I can fill this thing up", Darin and I laugh, so he says "this is what you're gonna do (as he rubs his hands together), i'm gonna fill this thing up, you're gonna sit in the back and i'll drive you to where you need to go and i'm gonna take it out for the night!" he raises his arms to the sky and yells "WHOOO".....by far the best car moment we've had! After we left Darin says "thats when we needed to have the camera out to video". Darn it! Next time!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The Freeport House
BACK PATIO, KITCHEN, LIVING ROOM
MASTER BEDROOM, SIDE OF HOUSE, FRONT OF HOUSE
BEACH is about 4 houses down the street, so kinda the back yard!! YAY
a local wanted our coconuts, my "sneak" picture though the blinds
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Road trip, snorkeling & p90x
This past weekend on Saturday we took a road trip to West End, it is as it says, the west end of the island (necessities for road trip pictured). Not much out there but some HUGE houses, and a nice resort with a marina. The marina was loaded with tons of really really nice boats. For a 45min drive, it kinda wasn't worth it, but we had a good time on the drive and seeing the boats. Ventured back to Port Lucaya and partied there for the 37th year of Independence of the Bahamas, kinda like the US 4th of July. I wore the appropriate colors of yellow, teal and black, so I would fit in a little here. Sunday we went on Tony's boat (Darin's shop partner), the boys went spear fishing as I tested out my captain skills and drove the boat beside them careful not to run them over. I did great!!! We went to the port, boys ate some fresh conch salad...me? I ate french fries and conch fritters, someday i'll be able to eat the foods of where I live, now isn't my timing. My favorite part of the day was after lunch we went back out and went snorkeling. I LOVE to snorkel, I wish I had an underwater camera on me because things were so so peaceful a
nd pretty down there. I learned to be careful of the
"fire coral" it's really pretty but don't touch it, and be careful when you swim by that your leg doesn't hit it. I know what a grouper fish looks like and a yellow tail. I'm not best at fish names and what they look like, but i'm learning. I guess I should know what i'm eating when I order it. To the left is a Conch shell. In the Bahamas, it's very popular; conch salad, grilled conch, fried conch, conch fritters, schorched conch and tons more ways....it's everywhere you go here. The picture on the left has a live conch in it, but don't worry we put him back and didn't take him home for dinner! :) Monday was a holiday, we seriously stayed inside all day, watched movies and tv....such bums!!We've also started P90X as of last week. Going good so far, I don't like the cardio because you "punch the air", Darin got mad at me because I didn't try, but I didn't want to so I went out and ran a mile and came back to do the last part of it which isn't "punching air". That's cardio to me, running! I also FINALLY found swiffer pads to clean my floors, after 3 weeks and 5 stores later, they were $13 for 25 of them, don't know if that s good or not. I like grocery shopping here but you can only buy the necessities or else you'll easily spend $300 for nothing!! Milk is $3 for 1/2 gallon and $7 for a gallon, BUT, you can buy 2 of the 1/2 gallons for cheaper...go figure?? You realize nothing is the same price at any of the 4 grocery stores here, I found cream of chicken to make dumplings for .90cents at one store and then $1.80 at another, for the same thing!! I don't get it....anyways, we're off to Nassau in the morning and I'm staying with Emily and the kids while Darin goes on with Chad to Orlando. Getting stuff for the shop, wish I could go too. I'll be back in September so it's soon enough, and i'm counting down!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Weekend in Nassau, groceries in Freeport
Right after my last post on the 29th of June, Darin came into the room and said "pack your bags, we're going to Nassau for a few days"....WHAT!? Darin had to help Chad out with some shop stuff so we packed a book bag each and waited for our ride to the airport. 3 outfits and 7 days later we're home and glad to wear some other clothes and sleep in our own sheets. 3 outfits was not enough, and I'll definitely be packing more the next time we go for "a few days". On the flight sitting in the seat right in front of us was a Nassau Pawn ad!! Darin was happy to see the advertisement made it on the plane! lol....Being in Nassau it was nice seeing Emily (it was her birthday) and the baby and the kids. We got sushi for Emily's birthday, which was A LOT of food. We went to the mall, beach, straw market, Starbucks, senior frogs (awesome fish tacos), and Emily and I saw Eclipse together for her birthday. One of the good things about this trip was that Darin and Chad didn't have to go see Eclipse, Emily and I had each other and the guys were thankful for that. Later in the week, I think Saturday Emily and I dropped the boys off at work and headed to the bookstore. I HAD to get Breaking Dawn, and Emily wanted the side book to Eclipse that tells another story of little girl vampire. She read it in a day! lol, i'm still working on mine, and should be done today. Chad Darin and I went out with a local friend, Adam, to some cool places. Compass Point which the manager told darin to try this 25yr old rum, and I had to try this other vodka. You could of drank them on the rocks it was so good. We went to Krazy Johnny's, where a live cover band of the 70's plays and they were awesome! When they stopped playing around 1am, Adam brought us to another place downtown. It was upstairs somewhere, not even sure what it was called, but it was really cool. We met these 2 guys that went to Dr. Phillips High School (a rival school to mine) and graduated my year, they had mullets and sunglasses on with crazy mustaches. Super long night, we got home after 4am. One of the crappy things about island life is that everything closes around 5-6pm....so no late night McDonalds or Taco Bell. There is a place that we stopped at and they served cracked conch, chicken and fries. A little sketchy that late at night but we made it home.
We got back home (Freeport) yesterday. We needed groceries and Darin told me to go bymyself and see how I did. I went to one last week with him, but not this one. I told him he had to go places with me atleast once and then I could go alone. Plus i've never driven the car before and it's quite large. So we both went. The cool thing about this store is the coupons! Depends how much you spend and they give you 5cents back. You have to put the stamps on paper to equal a dollar, and you can use them next time you shop, we have $3 so far and I keep them organized in a little book. Today, we plan on going to sign up for the gym right down the street. We'll see how well this goes. I don't really have much to do so I think i'll be going when I get up in the mornings to go. You can jog down the beach to it and have a nice jog back home too.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Birthday on an island
It's been a few days and we've walked down the beach from a friends house, went out on a boat on the inter coastal, stopped at a place in Port Lucaya got a drink and drove home. We saw the Ghost1 ship from the Pirates movies. They film the movies here and some in the Dominican, which I didn't know but I got a picture of it! Sunday was my birthday, my GOLDEN birthday. We went to Port Lucaya at a resort called Pelican Bay and ate at the restaurant on the dock over looking the marina (the picture on the left is the view from our table). The sun was setting and all the clouds were super blue. It was my first time ordering fish for myself, parmesan crusted grouper!! Darin had hog fish, his favorite. Really really good dinner for a birthday dinner. Got icecream from a little place and headed home to watch Alice in Wonderland! On another note, the shop is coming along, we went and cleaned up the inside yesterday, pulled some stuff down (it's being remodeled). The place used to be a clothing store, so the perk was that I got A LOT of hangers!!! My clothes are still in my suitcase so this is really exciting! I get to hang my clothes!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
And so it begins....the Doty Life
Est. 6.11.10, that's right!! You all know the story of us meeting in high school, we kept in touch over the years and in 2006 we started dating and in October 2009 Darin moved to Turks and Caicos, and I went down to visit for Christmas and New Years. Our 4 year anniversary was in January, so while I was there, Darin proposed at sunset on the beach. From then he moved to Nassau, as I planned our wedding in Florida. June 11th we got married, and Darin moved to Freeport the following Monday. I, as of June 24th, moved to Freeport to be with my new Hubby. Been here officially a day so far. I left at 7:30am, my mom and dad brought me to the airport around 5:30am, it was SOOO early!! I had 2 very large bags and my carry on, I thought the bags were to heavy so I called at 12am while packing to ask about the overweight fees, and how many bags I could have. Talking to a lady with American airlines, I decided to take 3 bags and the first two were free if under 50lbs, and the third would be $100....so that was fine, I expected one fee. Arriving at the airport and checking in, i'm sure glad my parents came in with me. I could only bring 2 bags under 70olbs and it would be $50 a bag....HOLY CRAP!!!! So the 3 of us go to the side and my dad is weighing the suitcases, as i'm pulling crap out and throwing it into another suitcase. It only took about 10mins which was great because I needed to do this fast. Get back to check in, and my 2 bags are 68.5lbs and 68lbs!! WAHOOO ok thank goodness!! My parents walk me to the security line which is quite long but went pretty quick. I had to say goodbye to the people who've raised me for the last 27years of their life. I'm the oldest, and i'm moving out of the country....I couldn't imagine my kid leaving me like that, but they know it had to be done. Ofcourse I cried, my mom cried and my dad tried and did a good job but I saw some tears. They stayed by the window till I went through security and couldn't see them anymore. My mom stood there blowing kisses and my dad waved every time we caught a glimpse of each other. I'm quite lucky to have parents like that. Getting on the plane to Miami was perfect, I made it right as it was boarding. In Miami I had to sit and wait an hour or so...I realized it was just me, and I was actually leaving and moving. I got kinda nervous and my stomach was a little nausea, I kept thinking as soon as I see Darin things will be fine, I just have to get there. All the mixed feelings of being sad and nervous, excited and happy was a little much for me. Sitting on the second plane to go into Freeport, I thought I was going to pass out! GREAT! Thats all I needed right now, and this poor girl next to me is about to freak out when I tell her I might pass out and to get someone. I took a few deep breaths and put my head between my legs pretending to get something out of my backpack under my seat, scrambled around for a min or so and sat back up. Ok, refocus....I think i'm ok, i'll just keep reading the magazine. I did fine the rest of the flight thank God! Arrived in Freeport, got through customs, they checked my bag because I was alone and had 2 huge bags and 2 carryons....great, more money I had to pay, oh well. She asked who I was visiting, I said a friend. She asked if I had gifts, I said a few t-shirts and a hat. That seemed ok to her, but opening the other one she asked about my cutting board and the electric wine opener....oops, um yea those are gifts too, he needed on but it was cheap" I told her. She should of charged me duty and didn't!! I was free to go! So onward to the curb outside where Darin soon picked me up in our 78' Lincon Grand Marquis LOL...and he's right people stop him and yell things and ask how much to buy it, almost like we're in a porsche but we're not. It's kinda funny, the police lady at the airport came up to us and I thought she was gonna say something about my luggage but she told Darin, i'm not here to arrest you I just wanna look at the car, ha ha....I feel almost famous riding in that thing! Anyway....It's beautiful here, trees and landscape kinda like Florida, reminds me of home. The buildings are newer, the beaches are amazing, our house is so so so cute, and there is just a lot of happiness and love here. Last night (my first night) we went out for sushi at this great place called East. I had California Rolls as 
usual but with king crab, really really good. I tried a spicy tuna roll that Darin had, and I ate plain clam meat that a friend had. No real taste to the clam, just chewy, and the spicy tuna roll was definitely spicy. We went out after to dance and go to some bars in Port Lacaya, had a great time all night!! Today we went to a friends house (right on the beach, so pretty) and watched USA lose :( we walked home down the beach only a few streets over. I could get used to this.....loving it so far!! I promise this will be the only LONG post, it's the first so what'd you expect :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)