Spring is sprung! Week is review!

This week went by in a blur. I managed to get quite a few things done but still have so much that I want to accomplish. Trying to take deep breaths and get what I need accomplished.

Managed to get in one social after work event with co-worker. We had a drink and appetizer after work. Fun!. I made an date with my sister to meet after work this Friday for a drink but she cancelled on me due to some other committments.

Self Care


Got a gel manicure in baby pink color and french tip toe polish pedicure. I love the toes but not so sure about the baby pink. Wish it was either a pearly pink or a barely there pink. Hard to tell what its' going to look like on the samples. Oh well.

Removed my braids. I got them for the vacation and they served their purpose. Now I'm on to a fun spring style. Unfortunately the dark brown/ almost black hair coloring the stylist put in my hair in January is still there. I thought it was semi permanent but it is still hanging around in full force. I purchased some lighter brown #2 hair for extensions but now I think it is way too light. I also was hoping to add some highlights in a 4/30 mix but my edges ann top hair is too dark. The young guy at the beauty supply hair store told me my hair was a #1B but I didn't think it was that dark until I got home and looked at it again in the mirror. Of course the beauty supply don't offer refunds or exchanges. Sooooo...I have a few options.

Option #1 Try to color the hair to the brown that I want. I need to dye my edges anyway but I am afraid that I might end up with some green hair or something.

Option #2 Try to remove the dark brown/ black hair color that stylist Adrienne put in with some of the color rid that you can buy at the beauty supply. It's not bleach its some type of semi permanent color remover. Need to check with stylist to be sure she used semi-permanent.

Option #3 Buy some darker hair , like #1B to blend with the #2. That might look a little more natural than to go from a #1B short natural texture to a #2 long weave hair with highlights.

Need to think about it.

Last Saturday, I went to the Scrapbook Expo and purchased an album to scrap my pictures from the cruise. As well as some items to make Easter cards and some decorative scrapbook paper.

Exercised 4 days this week. Walked at work twice, at home after work once and went to the gym one day. Goal is to try to keep it up next week.

I continue to have hormonal shifts which make me want to cry sometimes. I guess it is just part of getting older. The change of life is coming in a few years and I can't image that things will get worse but I imagine they will. The male gynecologist doesn't seem to understand. When I asked if there was anything to help with perimenopause. He shook his head. If you are still having periods then you are not in menopause. Oh. *Rolling my eyes*
I manage by thinking about my blessings and taking a glass of wine now and then. I'm so glad that I didn't wait until now to try to have children. Anyway...

Study

Registered for the July Bar Exam. This basically involved paying the outrageous registration fee which totaled $753 for the exam and the laptop fee. Which basically you have to pay. Still need to download the Soft Test software and register my computer.
Still need to study. Received the barbri study books this week and investigated a bar review class. There is a local class that looked good called the WriterEdge. Chick wants $5000 for coaching, grading tests and her books.

I'm taking a deep breath. Managed to study 4 hours a night this week and will go to the law library at JFK tomorrow to study more. I'm learning that I have to read and read the material cause I have just been skimming and not truly understanding. So I might not get through this exam but plan to keep on keeping on to get through until I pass.

Finished reading Fab 5 entries. Now I need to type up my comments and return them to the contest coordinator. I think they are due in a week or so.

Spring Cleaning
Got up this morning and finished removing the last of my braids. Then I cleaned my bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and completed some much needed dusting.

Scavenger
Found 51 second chance entries for the Calfornia State Lottery Fantasy 5 online drawing. Yes, I did scavenger pick them out of the trash at the liquor store across the street from my work. I entered all the number and have a chance to win one of 3 $10,000 prices or 13 - $1000 prizes that will be pulled this week. Checked the ca lottery website and there are an average of 175,000 entries so odds are high but better than if I hadn't entered at all. #Fingerscrossed

Husband is not speaking to me. I'm not really sure what that is about. #Shrug

Spending




















I need to get my spending under control. I cancelled the Judith Ripka today special value bracelets that I impulse purchased last night and this morning. They were cute but I have so many beautiful things already.
I have bought quite a few items of clothing from nordstroms lately. I needed some new work clothes and have been getting complements on the lovely blouses I purchased so I feel good. After I get my hair done next Saturday, I will be done spending for a while and need to focus on paying off credit cards.

Work

There is a lot going on at work both professionally and socially. It is so hard to stay above the chatter, gossip and politics. It's hard to not be influenced but what everyone else is going through. Big Sigh!
I've managed to get my work done and be supportive of my co-workers. I keep my eyes open for other positions that I might be qualified for and continue to study for the bar so that I can make my own opportunities.

WishList for Next Week
Visit with my family for Easter
Get my hair done for Easter. Figure out hair color scheme.
Get through a couple of meetings I need to get through
Exercise 5X/ Walk Daily
Study a minimum of 4 hours per day for the bar

Week in Review!

I've had a full week handling home, family, work, and study.

• Dishwasher repaired by cool female technician.
• Visit to sons middle school with Vice Principal, Principal and math teacher. Sigh!
• Scheduled my hair appointment for Easter.
• Took car to dealer to get door sensor repaired. Warranty still in effect so it was covered. Yeah! Purchase two new front tires. Car riding so much smoother.
• Began reading Fab 5 Historical entries for judging.
• Read / study for July bar exam. Civil procedure and constitutional law.
• Cleaned living room and kitchen
• Wrote 3 blog posts including review of ebooks, review of cruise, beginning of the year.
• Purchased new erotic romantic thriller ebook "Wallbangers" from new favorite author.
• Researched future cruises
• Purchased/ ordered custom chair for hubby birthday present.
• Planned small party for hubby birthday with pizza and cupcakes.
• Cooked meatloaf and mashed potatoe dinner.
• Ordered floral print blouse for Easter outfit.
• Created 4 needs assessment survey on surveymonkey for work in English and Spanish
• Resumed drinking coffee from Bagel Cafe. Chocolate Macademia nut flavored and I will be up all night handling stuff.
• Consummed one box of Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mints.
• Participated in bi-monthly team meeting at work.
• Hosted huge community planning meeting at new location with good turn out.
• Daughter to hair stylist.

Weekend WishList

• Visit Scrapbook Expo & Crop
• Study for July bar exam all day Sunday
• Manicure / Pedicure
• Sleep
• Eat well
• Welcome hubby home from business trip.

E-Book Reviews -Shaken Not Stirred by Sable Jordan; On the Wings of Love by Sienna Mynx, Bound by Night by Naomi Clark

While on my 7 day cruise around the Caribbean ( see review below) , I had a chance to read a few short stories that I had downloaded in the past few years. 

Oh my gawd! I loved Shaken Not Stirred by Sable Johnson. It's a sexy erotic spy mystery that is stars a badazz female agent. It's a short story which is available as a free download from Amazon. Her interactions with the uber sexy bad guy Xander are nothing short of thrilling. You feel the sexy oozing from his pores and taste the chocolate dripping from his skin. Its a fast read but kept me flipping pages on my e-reader. The only problem is that it's a short story. I'm sure the author Sable Johnson has more or the full story somewhere for sale but I was without internet on the ship and she left me hanging, rather panting for more. The follow-up short story that was also available about Kizzie Baldwins return home. This was another quick read that left me wanting to read more from this exciting author.

On the Wings of Love by Sienna Mynx was another short story that I had the pleasure of reading on my vacation. This is a multicultural historical story set in Hawaii in 1941. The relationship between the charcters is sweet and sensual and believable. At first I was a little uncomfortable about the relationship between the African American young woman and the white navy officer but I was quickly drawn into the story and couldn't put it down until I finished. Ms. Mynx is an excellent story teller and I look forward to reading some of her other work. The story is free available from Smashwords and other online ebook sources. Look it up.

Bound by Night by Naomi Clark was the third ebook that I was able to read during my trip. It is the story about a woman  running away from the man she is to marry. She takes refuge in an abandoned monestary. It is a short erotic read with a touch of paranormal mystery. I enjoyed this story as well as the other two.  Good story that had me turning the pages of my e-reader. This is another one of those stories I wish could have longer.

Review Norwegian NCL - EPIC Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Hubby and I set sail on the NCL mega ship epic on February 16, 2013. He had received the okay to travel from his primary care physician and neurologist and the trip turned out to be just what we needed to reconnect, rest, and rejuvenate from a stressful new year and work year.

The ship left from Miami, Florida on Saturday afternoon so we flew out of San Francisco Airport on Friday to make sure that we arrived in plenty of time. I booked a towncar from QuickSilver Town Car service in San Francisco to pick us up and drive us to the airport. We had to leave home at 3:30a.m. in order to get to the airport 2 hours early which is hubby preference. The car arrived right on time and whisked us off to the airport. We arrived and checked our two bags with American Airlines for an extra $25 per bag and got in line for security which opened at 4:45a.m. We then found out gate and shared a $10 breakfast burrito from one of the concession stands.

The flight from SFO to Miami was comfortable. I had purchased the premium seats. I used the website Seatguru.com to help select seats with extra legroom. Of course they have extra cost.

We arrived in Miami at about 2:00p.m. and I called the shuttle for the Hyatt Place Doral where we were staying. Doral is a section of Miami which is near the airport and offers transportation to and from the cruise ports as well as the airport.



Airport shuttle

The next morning we waited for the shuttle to the Port of Miami. It was $12 per person. There were a bunch of people waiting to go on the Carnival Breeze which a newer Carnival ship. The Carnival Triumph disaster was just coming to a close that week so everyone felt they had to defend their decision to go on a cruise. I love cruising so I understood. No need to cancel.

Waiting for the shuttle to pick us up.

We arrived at the terminal before 11:00 a.m. , checked our baggage and waited in the large terminal for them to let us board.

The EPIC is the 3rd largest ship built. Royal Caribbean has the largest two. The ship was definitely beautiful. There is a huge movie screen on the back of the ship in an area called Spice H2O. 

 

There are huge water slides, the world's largest casinos and Vegas style shows for entertainment. There were also lots and lots of people.

 

I book the trip through Costco Travel as a guarantee (GTY) balcony and ended up with what is considered a hull balcony room. It was cabin 8009. It's a room in the very front of the ship with a balcony and window cut into side of the hull. Norwegian gave me $50 on board credit and Costco gave me $100 as part of their promotions.  When I booked I thought I had $75 credit but when we got on board it was $100. Yeah! The $150 basically covered the service charges.

The room was fine. I had been researching rooms on cruisecritic.com and the consensus there is that the hull balcony is terrible. Not so. It was perfectly fine. There was sun, room to sit and relax and fantastic views. The room was quiet with no noise from above or below. We didn't hear any noise from our neighbors. There was plenty of storage and just a little bit of room to pass at the foot of the bed. My 6'6" tall hubby fit in the bed, in the shower and in the toilet area. He found plenty of rerun shows to watch on the in room television. The bed was a little hard. It was so hard that it gave me a backache. I requested a eggshell foam pillow top and that made the bed a little softer and I didn't have anymore backache.

The food was not bad on board. We ate primarily in the main dining rooms entitled Taste and Manhattan Room. We had a full sit down breakfast at Taste each morning and usually had dinner at Manhattan Room. For lunch we at at O'Shannons or the buffet. We went to one of the specialty restaurants, La Cucina becaue the romance package included a dinner there. It was very good.

Dinner the first night in the Manhattan Room. Steak & Lobster

One day we ordered a pizza from room service for $5.00. We also ordered a couple of greek salads which were free and a soda which was $2.00. This was delicious and we enjoyed being away from the crowds.



I ordered a bon voyage gift for myself from NCL.com. It was the Romance package and included the following. Champagne and chocolate covered strawberries delivered to the room at embarkation. We also received a dozen red roses at embarkation.



Later on in the cruise we received canapes served to the room one afternoon. We received these Tuesday afternoon when we returned from St. Maarten.

On another day we got a tea service which included breads, cookies, a variety of teas. We also got a free picture and dinner paid for us a La Cucina.

Tea service

One the first day at sea,  Darryl and I visited the spa. I had enjoyed the spa so much on my previous cruise on Carnival and I knew that they did some specials for days in port and days at sea. I convinced Darryl to visit the spa and take a tour. He liked it so much that he decided to purchase the spa pass for $20 per person. I had also reserved a spa treatment for $89 per person.
Darryl and I got to the spa early and spent basically the entire day there. The pool decks were so crowded that we couldn't find a lounge chair. The spa was a haven. There were heated thermal pools, sauna room, steam rooms, hot tubs, warm lounge chairs and a beautiful private balcony on the back of the ship. Loved it. Next time, if I ever decide to go on that ship again, I will definetly book a spa balcony room because we need the private space.

View at the balcony of the spa area

St Maarten
St. Maarten was our favorite port. We were scheduled to visit St. Maarten, St. Thomas U.S.V.I, and Nassau, Bahamas.

We ate an early breakfast at Taste and then disembarked at St. Maarten. There were tons of cabs lined up but we decided to walk the 15 minutes into town called Philipsburg. A bunch of people booked tours through the ship or on the pier the beach and town in Philipsburg turned out to be FANTASTIC.

There were lots of shops in town and women trying to get us to visit a timeshare at Little Divi. We walked along the boardwalk and bought a few souveniers. There were people along the boardwalk renting lounge chairs for $20. The two chairs included use of a floating tube, an umbrella, the two chairs, two drinks and free wifi. We never were able to get the free wifi. It was fabulous.





The beach at St. Maarten. Great Bay, Phillipsburg. A short walk from port.

Walking on the beach in St. Maarten.



View from the chair. Hubby kept his tennis shoes on the entire day.





I had not brought my bathing suit so I went in the water in my tee shirt and blue shorts. The water was very clear. We laid in the sun and drank our soda. Darryl refused to take off his shoes. Sigh.
Actually it was kind of funny. After a while we wandered back to the ship and ordered the pizza and room service salads for lunch.

St. Thomas
Darryl and I had been to St. Thomas U.S.V.I before. At the pier it took us a while to get a taxi/ truck ride into town.We finally figured out what was going on and the truck filled up and took us into Charlotte Amalie for $4 per person.

Charlotte Amalie was very crowded. The streets are narrow and the buildings are old kinda colonial era looking. It was nice but much more crowded then St. Maarten. Darryl took pictures with his ipad. We walked up and down the main street. Everywhere was selling jewelry and watches. Darryl bought me a beautiful ring as a souvenier of our trip.



 In fact the cruise ship made recommendations of where to shop. We didn't visit any of the shops but on board they were promoting Tanzanite gemstone. We found a place on the way back that had some teeny tiny triangle shap tanzanite earrings for $9 but Darryl thought they were too small. We visited the swap meet for souveniers and tee shirts.

We purchased some rum balls and went back to the ship.

We had another day at sea. We spent most of it in the room. The pool decks were so crowded that there was no place to sit down. There was also a White Hot Party at Spice H20. That was probably the funniest dance party on board. There really weren't any other clubs or parties.

Nassau, Bahamas
The morning we were supposed to visit Nassau, the Captain made an announcement that we wouldn't be stopping at Nassau. There was some mix up with the Port of Nassau and there wasn't a berth available for us. So we spent another day at sea.
The cruiseline offered us our $20 per person port fees back so we had an additional $40 on board credit. The cruise also offered us free rum punch which you had to go looking for.
Darryl bought me a watch onboard. He was mad because the t-shirts were expensive onboard and he hadn't purchased enough souveniers at the other ports.

Entertainment on Board

I enjoyed the entertainment of board. Hubby didn't care so much for it. Blue Man group was kind of cute show but it was probably better aimed at teenagers. The Legends show wasn't bad but it was over very quickly. We also purchased tickets to Cirque. The service was terrible in that show and even though I purchased premium tickets the view wasn't that great from the balcony.


Disembarkation
Getting off the ship was a disorganized mess.

Miami
We took a taxi back to the Hyatt Place hotel in Doral. It was too early to check in so we asked about a rent a car. The hotel kept our luggage and a gentleman from Quest Rent A Car came to pick us up.
After a quick registration period, hubby and I drove off to South Beach area in a brand new cherry read Toyota Corolla. The cost was $29.95 plus insurance and GPS and tax. So basically it was $59 by the time we were finished. No problem. Miami is like Los Angeles in that you need a car to get around.

Hubby and I drove down to South Beach area. We parked and walked on the beach. Hubby is from a beach city in Los Angeles and he wanted to look at the beach. The South Beach Food and Wine Festival was going on. We didnt' go in as the tickets were $225 per person.

We walked along Ocean Avenue and bought some postcards. After we walked the length of South Beach we got in the car and went to a promenade shopping district where we sat down at a cafe and had lunch and people watched. It  was really hot and humid. We were tired so we went back to the hotel and ordered some food from the cafe downstairs. Hyatt Place Doral has some fantastic cookies for $4 each. The sandwiches were way over priced but we didn't feel like going back out.

We had an early flight back to San Francisco. We left the car at the hotel for pick up as instructed. It was still basically full of gas. Left the keys with the front desk.

We took the 5:00 a.m. shuttle to the airport and checked in at the curb. The flight home seemed to take forever but we made it. I called the TownCar service which was expecting us. It still took a while for the guy to find us. There were quite a few town cars picking people up and it took a while for them to find us.

The weather was beautiful in the San Francisco Bay Area when we returned and it was good to be home.

Overall we had a fantastic trip.

I don't think that I will sail on a mega ship again unless I was with a group. I am looking to going on the Princess Cruise Tour to Alaska some day. Hopefull with the kids. I would also like to take one the other smaller more luxurious cruises on Crystal.

2013 January - February

2013 came in with a bang. My beloved hubby was hospitalized for the first four days of the year due to a mild stroke. I tried to journal and blog the event but I was so over come with anxiety, work, caregiving, and work that I couldn't get the words on the paper. He is so beloved by everyone ( family, friends, co-workers) that I was overwhelmed with visitors few if any offered me much assistance or comfort. My sister did make dinner for my family and visitor on the day he returned home from the hospital.  We spent the months of January and early February going back and forth to medical appointments and consulting with specialists. He has recovered nicely and has returned to work and normal activities. We are truly blessed and the lessons I learned from this experience is that tomorrow isn't promised so live life to the fullest and take care of yourself.

It took a while for hubby to accept what had happened to him, get over the fear and recognize that he was going to be okay. Immediately after his hospitalization, I asked the physician if I should cancel the trip we had planned for February. The doctor said that hubby should be okay to travel so I didn't cancel the trip. I guess I just had faith. Hubby wasn't so confident and he waited until he had the okay from the neurologist before he relaxed and got excited about the trip. More about the trip later.

I managed to maintain work committments but have decided that I am very unhappy about my current work assignment. I was passed over for a 2nd program specialist position. Which is just a well. It is time to move on. I continue to support a number of teams but don't have the same support from others. I am bored and overwhelmed at the same time. My supervisor continues to offer critique my work and provide "coaching" that is neither supportive, informative nor encouraging. *Shrug*

I'm practicing sharing my feelings, speaking up and implementing the suggestions that they offer but that isn't getting through to the higher ups and I feel like I am "whining" about my work instead of being heard and valued. Others at work were also passed over for promotions and the morale at the office is just a mess.

2013 Recap

Socialize

• Hubby and I attended a fund raiser for the Cameron House in San Francisco for our March date night.
• Well hubby and I spent a two week "date night" with each other on the cruise. Yeah fun!

Save

• I continue to put away a little money for future travel and fun but haven't paid off my cruise expenses.
• I have purchased some new clothes for the spring. $$ I received some complements from my husband about a shirt I had. He said "This is the way he likes to see me dressed." I guess he prefers something stylish from my Quacker Factory shirts. I have also been watching my favorite show What Not to Wear and realize that I could probably do better.
• I continue to stay on a monthly budget.

Study

• I have decided to take the California Bar Exam again. The exam is in late July. I have "options" you know. I don't have to stay in a deadend job when I have other possibilities to explore. I have started by repurchasing some books to study with . I am re-reading the study guides/ outlines from the Bar Review classes that I took a few years ago. Yeah me!
• I applied and got an interview with WellPoint/ Health Net for a Health Promotion Manager position. Yeah!

Family

• Assisted son with application to middle college high school
• Got stuff for daughters cheerleader show where she needed a "costume".

Plans for the next month

• Blog article about the cruise. Write online review.
• Judge entries for the Fab 5 RWA writing contest and return comments to organizing committee.
• Scrapbook pictures of vacation
• Manicure/ pedicure
• Visit from daughter in College
• Easter decorate/ cook
• Stay abstinate from sugar and starches.
• Get car door sensor fixed.
• Go to the gym at least 2 x a week.