The Story of My Life

Sunday, June 9, 2013

And then there were 5!

A few weekends ago, we scooted to the beach to meet up with Em and Greg at the same house in Manzanita where we met back in February, before they welcomed miss Lily Marie into their family.

Taylor and I had quite the adventure on our way down to the coast...hitting up the fish hatchery for a show-and-tell of Taylor's favorite fishing spot on the Nehalem River, before narrowly missing a rollover wreck and calling 9-1-1 (I need to get those photos off Taylor's phone!).

We arrived at the beach just in time to take off for an amazing sunset run on the sand prior to Team Lagreid rolling into town with their outrageously well-behaved pup and baby.

Weekend tidbits:

We split the meal responsibilities again and ate like royalty all weekend long.
The boys fished and golfed...again.
Some new duets made the playlist for Dirt and Doll.
Us girls took a long walk to the end of the beach and through town, where we found quite possibly the best hot chocolate with whip cream on the coast.
A very pregnant Allison and her husband Andy stopped by the beach house for a post-dinner cocktail hour (for Andy only, people!) as they were staying at a neighboring beach town for the night.
Like mother, like daughter...Emily and Lily slept a bunch while I caught up on old magazines and read an entire book.

A very eventful, uneventful weekend...absolutely perfect.

Posing for Taylor on the bank of his favorite getaway spot.

We tossed around the pigskin a bit.

He wasn't really that excited about this. Trust me.

I wouldn't have predicted this ten years ago in the dorms at WSU.

He dropped this pass. True story.

The boys.

Christmas card worthy. Look at Dogger!

Greg's new method of cooking.

Taylor's most coveted Mexico purchase...the hat. I can't get rid of it.

Twilight beach walk and talk.

Practicing being a good godmother and Ergo-ing up a storm.

New favorite duet: "I've Had the Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing.

With our goddaughter and goddogger.

We wanted to recreate the same pic we took last time on the deck, but wouldn't you know it...by the time we finally thought about taking the photo, it started to pour. We were lucky with great weather the rest of the weekend, which is pretty hard to come by in May on the Oregon Coast.

We're off to visit the Lagreids next weekend for a very important celebration. It's Lily's baptism, and believe it or not, Taylor and I are her godparents! That's right, you can add "moral compass" to our resumes!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Days and weeks before the main event

I fought hard not to have a bridal shower or bachelorette party, but my friends found ways to spoil me rotten nonetheless.

I'm grateful for such outstanding women in my life. Girls who respect that I sometimes march to a different beat. Maybe I don't want to do everything by the book—or maybe it's that I want to do things by my own book. Just slightly different, just enough to annoy or cause a few eye rolls. You know what I'm saying? I just can't help it. I have two older sisters and a one-in-a-million mom. I want to be like each of them, independently, and then I want to be my own person, too. I digress…

Not only did I feel showered with love at the Albany "gathering," the cooking class with Allison (who, coincidentally is being induced with her baby girl tonight—prayers for the Vidourek family), and the trip to see my sisters in LA and San Diego, but I was lucky enough to share some special memories with friends during my last few weeks as a single gal.

Among many other celebrations…my high school besties planned a day o' fun brunching, baking, and crafting—all in preparation for the wedding reception (more on that later). My running inspiration, Erin, prepared a delicious banquet of brunch and snack fare for us to feast on while watching Bridesmaids the week before my wedding. My co-workers pulled off an outrageously thoughtful and sincere "off-site meeting" surprise breakfast shower. And, my friend Leslee organized a special tae bo class for my sisters, workout buddies, and me to enjoy on the day of the wedding. Yes, I got up at 5 for workout class on my wedding day. It was the perfect de-stressor.

Starting the day off right with mims.

Brunch and Mexican theme...with a "test" cake by Katie.

Check out this test cake, perfect rendition of hobnail milkglass by the one and only Katie Elaine.

Cake Brigade mem-orrr-eeeees.

Barking orders at Kell...making escort cards.

How I miss our baking and cooking extravaganzas at the Moon Tower!

Love the bubbles in a can! With a straw!

Not only did these gals whip out some serious baked goods on this sweet Saturday, but each of them made several other

On to the work "shower," where my co-workers loved embarrassing me with the toilet paper wedding gown game. Seriously, I could not have been more surprised by this gesture. I honestly was so wrapped up in a freelance job and the craziness of checking lists, etc., for the wedding, that it didn't even dawn on me that my co-workers might want to celebrate, too. They even set up a fake calendar invite and told me we were following up on a "what's your work style" off-site meeting from a couple weeks prior. My work bestie, Yvonne, really helped pull off this number by telling me how much she was dreading this meeting...how much she didn't want to go. How she kept a straight face, I'll never know!

One of my co-workers wrapped the lovely gifts (a very nice pajama set and some RL cocktail glasses) in my wedding colors, and the gals specifically planned a breakfast since they knew my affinity. Everyone brought a dish to share, or pretty bouquets of flowers, or champagne (naturally!). I was so touched. Beyond touched. I was just honored. It was a very special day for me.

Thanks again to my dear friends from near and far. From the month-to-month "countdown till the wedding" texts to the phone calls and chats (or should I say "listening sessions"), the cards, and countless offers to help with any- and everything. Everyone was so kind and generous. I'm really fortunate...to say the very least.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Luna de miel en Playa del Carmen, Mexico

We slept for TWELVE hours the first night of our honeymoon. Twelve!

I don’t think either of us had truly rested since January. It was so refreshing. Rest—such a simple concept.

No phones. No computers. I left my watch at home. The epitome of disconnecting. The resort gave us three free international calls, so five days into our ‘moon, we decided it would be fun to call our parents. Other than that, we tried our best to pick up a few Spanish words and phrases—you know, act like locals…riiight (if only I would have studied Spanish instead of French back in high school), and we made a concerted effort to soak up every moment of our newlywed bliss.

And so, that’s why I don’t have thousands or even hundreds of photos. I wanted to live the moment, rather than try to capture the moment.

Taylor’s parents have a timeshare in Mexico, so we got to take advantage of a new-ish resort in the jungle a smidge north of downtown Playa del Carmen, part of the Yucatan.

We had no plans heading into this vacation. We just wanted to vacate for an entire week.

Upon checking in, we were greeted by a VIP concierge, a wonderful Italian woman named Andy. She showed us the ropes, made some activity suggestions, and escorted us to our room. We got settled and comfortable just in time to hit the welcome dinner—an authentic fiesta. May I remind you we flew in on Cinco de Mayo? Turns out the Mexicans don’t really celebrate this day, but it sure satisfied our need to devour Mexican food ASAP...sampling a bit of this and a whole lot of that from the overwhelming buffet offered that night. We had our first of many—I'd go as far as saying countless—margaritas, and Taylor sampled a few new tequilas. We entered a raffle and won a Mexican blanket, the perfect souvenir.

After the aforementioned marathon sleep session, we called for room service because, well, it was the first day of our honeymoon, and we thought it was rather apropos. We decided to get a couples' massage because, well, we thought that was pretty honeymoon-esque, too.

We worked-out a handful of times on our vacation, but we didn't want time on the treadmill to interfere with sun-ray-soakage, so some days those exercise sessions just didn't fit into our schedule.

Let me rewind and talk a bit about the accommodations. As I mentioned, Taylor's parents graciously gifted us our all-inclusive stay. We were pam-purrred. The service was exquisite. We never strained ourselves to reach a poolside waiter or have our drinks refreshed. At one beachside dinner, the waiter even brought two cocktails for each of us…just to start the evening.

To say we indulged a bit was an understatement, so you can imagine my sheer delight when a couple co-workers told me I looked thinner post-honeymoon. Perhaps it was the killer tan? (Don't be jealous--it's gone now. Thanks, Portland!)

Here's a day-by-day recap, mostly for my own recollection…for days when I'm worn down and in need of a virtual vacation. Go ahead and gloss over the words and just check out the handful of photos we snapped. I don't even want to mention our camera broke Thursday of our 'moon. But, I guess I just did. It's embarrassing. Everyone knows how terrible I am with photography, cameras, and most any other tech-related gadget. Even reading information about technology gives me a rash. And, that's another tangent…

Please forgive this stream of consciousness. I've been working on this post for a while, and I just want to get it up. More photos to follow later, I'm sure. Once we get them all together.

Sunday

- 3:30 a.m. :: wakeup call in unseasonably warm and sunny Portland

- 5:50 a.m. :: flight to Cancun by way of Houston...special shout-out to the Texans!

- ? :: ((at this point, our "no phones, no computers, no watches" rule went into effect, so I have no idea what time it was until we returned to America the following Sunday)) arrive and shuttle about an hour south to Hacienda Tres Rios, nestled in the jungle of the Yucatan, just 15 minutes from the heart of Playa del Carmen

- WARMTH

- HUMIDITY

- POST-MARITAL BLISS

- Fiesta dinner, raffle prizes, drinks, and as much celebrating as we could before we hit the wall and slept for a full clock-hand's revolution

Monday

- Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

- Room service! Café con leche!

- Couples' massage

Tuesday

- Resort grounds exploration via mountain bike (um...to say these were mountain bikes is highly overstating what they were, but we'll go with it for the mental picture)

- Kayaking the cenotes, a total Little Mermaid lagoon moment

Wednesday

- Non-stop beach day at Playa del Carmen...

- Haggle with the Fifth Avenue shop owners

Thursday

- Deep. Sea. Fishing.

There are no words for this day. To make a long story short, I got outrageously seasick. So seasick the only thing that felt good was when Juan (the captain? first mate?) put an ice cube on the back of my neck as I hung over the side of the ship. I prayed the rosary. I counted the seconds. Once I realized I was sick, that four hours was by far the longest four hours of my entire life. Ugh. But! We were on the boat with a really cool couple, and Taylor had a great time. Once we hit land, all of us grabbed lunch (the fish we caught cooked up right before us!), and they sent us a bunch of photos from our day since our camera broke...

Friday

- Taylor meets a buddy, Rick from Calgary, who conveniently...just so happens to be a fly-fisherman ... Taylor departs at the crack of dawn (on honeymoon time, the crack of dawn is 7:30-ha!), and I really don't mind my uninterrupted pool lounge time

- Finish said book (yeah, read a book cover-to-cover in just a couple of days...who knew this could be accomplished?!) ...work on tan

Saturday

- We go rogue...off the grid...secure an all-day taxi driver, and head south to the Mayan ruins at Tulum

- Snorkel with giant turtles, grouper, bonefish, stingrays (scary), trigger, etc. etc. etc. at Akumal (one of the most gorgeous beaches I've ever seen!)

- Authentic Mexican dinner...our "last" supper in Mexico

Sunday

- Depression sets in...homeward bound

I know I'm going to need to edit that play-by-play about six times before I'm happy with it and as I look at the notes I jotted on a hotel notepad, still buried in a pile of magazines from the trip.

How about some photos?

Hotel lobby (total tourist, flashing my peace signs!)

Welcome fiesta dinner...couldn't resist the total tourist photo opp!

View from 1309.

Towel animals! Honeymoon towel animals!

Pre-tan...

Tilt your head...sushi!

Sara! How have I forgotten to tell you about this?! Michael Jackson entertainment show!

Tina and Tom from Detroit...our true blue friends at the resort through Thursday...they really missed meat and potatoes and even rented a car to get some McDonald's and sneak in a trip to Wal-Mart. I kid you not.