Being Thankful

November has come and gone, and it happened fast. Like supa fast. I blinked and it was suddenly December. I truly thought things would slow down after the wedding, but boy was I wrong! We started November in the Dominican Republic while on our honeymoon. Quite a few of my friends and family did the month of thankfulness on Facebook and updated daily with the things they were thankful for. I liked the idea, but wanted it to be a little more introspective, so I decided to keep a note in my phone that I added to each day. This list only represents 30 things/people/events that I am thankful for. In reality I could never sit down and list out all of the amazing things in my life.

1) My husband. He's pretty awesome :)
2) My wonderful mother who does so much for us, like watching our dog during the honeymoon!
3) Home sweet home. Love my quaint little spot in the woods, especially after being gone for a week.
4) My best friend and matron of honor, Beth. She is amazing and so selfless. The amount of energy, time and money she put into making my wedding day perfect can never be repaid or thanked enough. Love you bestie!!
5) A job with a company of people who genuinely care for me, my family and our well being.
6) The kindness and generosity of family and friends that have allowed us to start our marriage with new belongings - like fresh bedding and new kitchen wares!
7) My amazing new in-laws who have taken me in and love me as their own.
8) The ability and opportunity to work a second job for supplemental money. I may not like Outback and won't be there much longer, but it's been good to me over the years...mostly.
9) My beautiful sisters - Alyssa, Ashland and Kristina - that have always understood and appreciated my silly, goofy self.
10) Ballet. I don't do it much these days and I miss it, but I love the passion I feel for it.
11) My dog. She thinks I'm one of the coolest people ever. Little does she know! Either way, she's always happy.
12) The two men that have accepted me as their own daughter. Chip and Howard, they let me right in.
13) Andrew's job. The Cheesecake Factory is a great company and his coworkers were very welcoming of me at the work outings I've been to.
14) Warm clothes and heaters in the cold, making us able to stay warm and comfy!
15) Cameras and pictures that give us the ability to create reminders of the wonderful days of our lives.
16) Coming home to my husband after a long days work and cuddling up in bed.
17) Great friends and meeting up for dinner when we have time.
18) Nap time after a long day. And a husband who only heckles me about it a little.
19) My bed -- new sheets, blankets and pillows make it so so cozy and pretty!
20) The great women I work with. Love our office ladies.
21) Date night with my husband. And Mexican food. Yum.
22) Outbackers that are friends - both new and old.
23) My Nanny - she's one of the kindest, sweetest and most caring women I know. She's the best.
24) Days to sleep in and be lazy!
25) My dance family. I love them.
26) My nieces, Harlee and Mabry. Being able to see the world through a child's excitement is priceless.
27) An early close at the office and being able to enjoy a beautiful, albeit cold, early afternoon off work.
28) My family. The one I was born into, the ones I married into, and the those that I've grown to love over the years.
29) Being able to recover when I feel awful and the forgiveness of family who know I am not perfect.
30) My husband. Again. He opens and closes this list for me!

We are lucky enough to have a lot of our family here in Alabama. So we did my mom's for lunch and made it to Andrew's mom's for dinner. We got to see a lot of family members, laugh, eat, drink, be married, and have a great time. 

1st MARRIED Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FEAST! Mom goes all out!

Half of our group.

My sweet niece, Mabry.

The Boggans :)

We also got to take in the Iron Bowl with some awesome people, even though the outcome wasn't quite what I was hoping for. After the game we hung out, drank, talked and played Pictionary. Sadly the men won again, as is too usual in our gaming history.

 At the end of the day it was a great game, a lot of fun and I still say Roll Tide :) Unfortunately this means Andrew and I won't be squaring off in an in-house BCS Bowl with Florida State playing Alabama. That would have been interesting!!

Honeymoon in the Dominican Republic

It's now been almost 2 weeks since Andrew and I returned from our honeymoon, and I'm missing the beach and fresh Caribbean air. We were fortunate enough to be gifted an amazing honeymoon as our wedding gift and we are so thankful for it. We chose to go to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and stay at the resort Shannon and Ted stayed in for their honeymoon. They had rave reviews and nothing but positive comments, so it sounded like a fit for us!

We decided to leave first thing Monday morning so we could get there early. Unfortunately catching a 9:45 flight from Atlanta meant leaving Birmingham at about 4:00 am. Yea. This is after a crazy busy weekend where I had almost no sleep, and Andrew was pretty exhausted himself. We got about 3 hours of sleep the night after the wedding, so we were pretty spent and ready for a week in paradise. Andrew drove for about an hour and started getting heavy eyelids, so we pulled off for donuts and switched seats. Of course once I took over it started sprinkling, but whatever, Andrew got to nap for a bit and I got us right into Altanta city limits before I woke him. After a slight disagreement in where we were going and which parking lot we were supposed to be in we finally made it.

Turns out our flight boarded at 9:00, and thanks to a very friendly and fast Delta employee we made it through security and got to the terminal just in the nick of time. We boarded up, got going and I fell asleep pretty immediately. I slept until we got to the Dominican shoreline and then I was wide-eyed with excitement.

The Punta Cana airport is really cool. It's modeled after straw-roofed tiki huts with outdoor boarding and a 3 man band playing music as you walk in. Very cool. Customs wasn't bad and we were on our bus and on the way to the resort within about 30 minutes. Yay!

After arriving at the resort, checking into the 'Elegance Club' (adults only side of the resort), and getting a tour from our butler, Orlando, we made it to our room to settle in. Andrew likes living out of his suitcase, but I like to unpack and get comfortable.

Honeymooners!!

The room! 3314

View from our balcony

We decided that after a crazy, busy weekend and a long morning of traveling we would have lunch and take a nap. Great plan. We ordered room service (included in our all-inclusive package!) and watched tv for a bit then vegged out on goodies. After eating I don't think it was more than 5-10 minutes before I was in a deep slumber. It was probably about 6:00 when we laid down. At 3:30 am I woke up haha! I could have gone back to sleep but in getting up to use the restroom Andrew woke and he could not go back to sleep. So we got up, showered, got dressed and decided to watch the sun rise on our first full day in paradise.

This is what it looked like as we were first walking outside

 

 

 
















After the sun was up we walked the beach a while, decided to have breakfast, and then headed down to the pool. This is where things get hazy. Since we were up at 3:30 am, by 10:00 we were ready to go. So we had a few drinks in the pool. And then a shot of 'Mama Juana' or Dominican Power, as the locals call it. This shot consists of: rum, red wine, and honey that then sit and soak with tree bark and herbs. Guys, this was one of the nastiest tasting things I've ever drank. But it's a local thing and we gave it a try. I learned about 10 years ago that I cannot drink rum. It just does not agree with me and I get straight up black out drunk. Off like 3 drinks. We don't drink a whole lot, but my tolerance is higher than 3 drinks. Not where rum is concerned, unfortunately.

So we meet a few other couples on honeymoon, have fun, hang out, I got locked in a bathroom and thought I was going to die in there (it was a pull, not push situation), and by about 11:30 I was done. I inform Andrew that I'm wasted and need to go pass out. Technically I don't remember anything past being locked in the bathroom. I'm told that I stumbled my way upstairs, face planted on the bed and was snoring within minutes. Sounds about right. Andrew wasn't so straight himself after drinking in the heat like it was no big deal either, so we both passed out and woke up about 6 feeling a little worse for the wear, but sober.

Up we were and decided to eat at Asadito Steak House, one of the 7 restaurants on the property. We still didn't feel all that great so we had dinner and went back to the room.

 

 Wednesday was pretty rainy and overcast so we took it pretty easy. Got up and had breakfast, explored the resort. We found some pool tables in desperate need of repair and decided to play a game. I beat Andrew (woohoo!) but he will talk all around it about how the stick sucked, the table was uneven, whatever he can think of to try to discount it. I think it makes it more of a win b/c my stick was just as bad and I still won!

Wednesday night we set up our 'romantic dinner for two at Sea n See' that was part of our honeymoon package. Since it had been rainy we weren't able to eat on the beach, but they had a few tables set aside away from the rest of the business and we had a quiet, 5 course meal. The outdoor, semi-rainy weather was not kind to my hair.

Main course from Sea n See

After dinner our butler set up the hot tub with bubbles, flower petals and candles. So many bubbles.

Thursday was Halloween and the Majestic decorated to suit the theme. There were weird, creepy statues all over, the staff wore hats, everyone played their part. I had a little fun with a few of the statues. Grandparents, please disregard the Medusa picture. ;)

After posing with a few statues we headed out to the pool for a little sun. We swam around, relaxed a bit, then I decided it was now or never if Andrew was going to be able to golf while we were there. We hadn't planned on doing any excursions, but he was really hoping to play golf. The weather had been hit or miss and Thursday was just beautiful. So, we ended the pool early, met with the consierge and arranged to be picked up at 1:00 to go golfing! Turns out the summer tank top I was wearing was inappropriate for the golf course, so some fast thinking by the driver led to me wearing Andrew's undershirt for the afternoon.

The course was 18 holes of beautifully manicured golf. I'm not a golfer, so I drove the golf cart while Andrew did his thing. I played some music through my phone and worked on my tan and watched my handsome husband sweat his butt off in the hot sun. It was hot, but perfectly sunny and beautiful.

Wife as caddy, workin on my tan!

I think he enjoyed himself.

Sweaty after golfing, but happy :)

After we returned we took our daily, afternoon nap. Definitely a requirement when you've been out in the sun all day! We awoke rested and ready to try out the Japanese restaurant, 9 Doors.

Our Hibachi chef made us a beating heart of rice, and a flaming pineapple. He also set the entire area on fire (on purpose) and had me scooting back in my chair. This was one of our favorite restaurants.

Not the most beautiful meal, but very tasty.

Friday came and while the weather was decent, we were pooped. We ordered room service and stayed in bed for almost the entire day. We watched the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a few episodes of wildest police videos, took a nap, watched another movie. It was a totally lazy day and it was awesome. We may have been in a beautiful setting, but it was still vacation and a lazy, do nothing kind of day was right up our alley.

Rocking the purple robe Shannon got me :)

After a day of laziness we decided to get up and clean up to go try the Italian restaurant, Il Botaccio. I had a lobster ravioli and Andrew had a carbonara pasta of sorts. The food was ok, but it wasn't very filling and we ended up ordering room service again :) After dinner we caught a magic show in the theater. It was terrible, but got us out of the room and gave us something to do for a bit.

Saturday we woke up to beautiful weather and our last full day in the Dominican. So, we got ready and headed down to the pool. We found our usual spot open, dropped our stuff off and got comfy at the swim up, pool bar. Saturday was pretty slow since lots of couples were leaving, so we had awkward conversation with the bartender who didn't have the best English. No worries, part of the deal.

We got back to the room to find our towel creation for the day was a swan heart (I think?).

 And because he's a good sport he let me get some pictures of him with it after I moved it from the bed. He tries :)

We had one restaurant left to try and that was the French place, Limited Gourmand. We had our reservation for 6:30 so we would be finished in time to watch the Florida State vs Miami game. This was definitely the fanciest of the restaurants, so I did not break out my camera mid dinner. haha.

After dinner we came back to the room for College Football Saturday as it's called in our house. Florida State killed Miami and I had a happy husband.

Sunday came and we were up and eating breakfast earlier than I'd have liked. But, we got a good meal in, took a nice long walk on the beach, finished packing and headed to the lobby to wait for our bus.

 
Last pictures in the room before heading down stairs

We had such a great time and loved our stay. As much fun as it was though, it was time to go home!
 The return trip wasn't nearly as smooth and we even got to see the Homeland Security office of the Atlanta airport. Yea. 

A big thanks to Peggy and Chip for making our trip possible!! And another thanks to Mom and Kristina for watching our Sidney Lou!!