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!!)
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!
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 place2. There's nothing to do when it rains here3. Currently still living out of my suitcase, no closet space and no hangers4. I so badly want my pots and pans here5. There IS a STARBUCKS!!! I couldn't be happier!6. I hate sweeping7. You can drink and drive8. Being happy with what you've got is how you'll get through life9. Adjusting to a "full" bed is NOT a fun thing10. I want a dog so bad11. Can't wait to come home for the holidays!!
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.
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!
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. 
