Five on Friday (23): Vacation Edition

Hello! Long time no talk! It always feels weird, disconcerting, and a little bit awkward when you take a break from blogging, even when it’s unintentional like this was. I found it a bit difficult getting back into my routine when we returned from our vacation and my blogging took a hit.

So. Last we talked, I told you about how I got extremely sick on the way to our cruise and wound up in the ER. If you missed that fun little tidbit, check it out. It’s a thrilling story of vomiting on the streets of Tampa (sorry, Tampa) and riding in an ambulance. Hooray!

Our five day cruise essentially consisted of me being sick for four of those days and sleeping said days away in our cabin. However, I wanted to try and think about some of the good things about our vacation, so here we are! Trying to be positive, y’all. And also, for those of you who aren’t into cruising… they take super corny portraits during your cruise that you can buy. I’m always a sucker for those photos, so you’ll see one of those a little later on!

ONE.

I was really excited to go to Cozumel because hubby and Caleb are Mexican so even though I was sick, I forced myself off the ship and just took a few sitting breaks. While it was very touristy and we definitely didn’t get a taste of “real” Mexico, it was cool. We probably spent about an hour hitting up the shops and bought some cool souvenirs including a puppet, maracas, and shirt for Caleb, and for me, a Mexican doll and one of those brightly colored woven blankets I’ve been wanting forever. We got some chips and guac too, but honestly? The Mexican restaurant we like around here is better. Yikes!

TWO.

While on the cruise, Jerry and I were celebrating our anniversary and Grandma was celebrating her birthday, so we got a few perks from Carnival. Each of us got a $50 spa gift card for the ship spa, so Grandma and I went and got mini-facials and LAWD, was it heavenly! I am NOT a girly girl at all so I’ve never had one and now I want one like… every day. Because of our gift cards, we only ended up paying about $15 each for the most relaxation I’ve ever had in my life in 10 minutes.

THREE.

The last night of the cruise, I actually felt human again so I made it out to dinner and to a comedy show. The comedian was really funny and dinner was amazing. For the first four days, I could only take a few bites of food for the whole day. I got a lot of room service and personal deliveries of food from Jerry and the grandparents. I made it to dinner one other night but took about two bites total. I’m glad I got to enjoy at least one good meal and let me just say… I am obsessed with Carnival’s chocolate melting cake — SO much ooey gooey chocolatey goodness.

FOUR.

We were in the middle of the ocean and far, far away during the election madness. It was so nice to be disconnected for a few days so that I could avoid all of the Facebook drama for awhile. I’m personally someone who doesn’t discuss politics and keeps my political beliefs to myself, so all of the social media madness over the elections is always cray cray. Enough said!

FIVE.

We spent two nights before our cruise and two nights after our cruise hanging out at my grandparent’s house in Florida. Since this was the time of the trip that I WASN’T sick, that was fun and relaxing. It’s always so nice to spend time with them since they live so far away. We really, really missed Caleb, but had a nice time with them as always. We watched a great movie (St. Vincent), looked at old pictures, had frozen custard a time or two (…okay, two), and shopped a bit. Definitely counting down the days until I can see them again… they’re two of my favorite people.

So, that’s my attempt at a positive spin on a vacation gone wrong! I really want a do-over soon but ya know… monies! Hopefully we can cruise with Caleb in a couple of years if we can save enough. We’ll see!

I’d like to get back to my regular-ish blogging schedule next week, which, let’s face it… is only two posts a week, but things have felt crazy, stressful, and exhausting as of late so who knows.

Happy weekend, friends!

That’s five for now — see you in the next chapter.