I kept a big secret from my husband.

I kept a secret from my husband for one month. It wasn’t a bad secret, but it was something I mostly kept to myself. And for a good reason!!!

After returning from our cruise on the Carnival Vista, I knew we needed to book another cruise and soon. So, on Cyber Monday, I saw that Carnival was having their fantastic $50.00 per person deposits so I started looking at our options. While looking, I was texting my hubby about the sale and possible fun itineraries that I wouldn’t mind going on. He never responded to any of my texts so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I booked a 5-night cruise on the Carnival Dream sailing out of Galveston on August 19, 2019!

This cruise will be going to Cozumel and Progreso which we have already done a few times. But, when I booked this cruise, I did not realize that it was exactly 17 years to the date from our honeymoon cruise! I realized it when I was looking for things to put in the special surprise I was working on in my mind. It obviously was meant to be.

We celebrated our 17th anniversary on December 14th but I did not tell him about the cruise. I decided to wait until Christmas. But I told him I was working on something very special for him for Christmas and I would gave him a little preview of the something special. I had started making scrapbook pages from our wedding and I showed them to him. He loved it. Little did he know, I had so much more waiting for him on Christmas!!!

When Christmas finally came around, I had finished the special surprise, a very special scrapbook was packed in a box along with a T-shirt I ordered from my friends at wepromoyou.com, a specialty lanyard, and a luggage tag with the cruise info on it.

He was very surprised and extremely happy.

So for the first time in our 17 years of being happily married, I kept a big secret from my hubby. The only other secret I kept from him was when my daughter was expecting her son.

Carnival Vista – highlights from our November 2018 cruise

Saturday, November 10th… After months of planning, the day finally arrived when we packed up our cars and drove to Galveston. I had very high hopes for this cruise as it is likely to be my mothers last cruise. Everything was great until I started having my usual anxiety while my hubby was driving. But that wasn’t anything a little Tylenol PM couldn’t take care of, LOL.

Of course there was the obligatory stop at Buc-ee’s in Madisonville. It was definitely time to get something to eat, like fudge!!!

We made it to Galveston without any problems. We stayed at a different hotel than we usually do. This time, we stayed at The Commodore on the Beach. I was concerned that the three rooms I booked would be scattered but they put us right next to each other. Also, I rented a wheelchair from Scootaround and it had already been delivered to the hotel and was waiting for us. So far so good.

After settling into our rooms, we went to have dinner at The Original Mexican Cafe. It is a tradition and Jim and I established in 2011 when we were introduced to this restaurant during a meet and greet brunch for our Carnival Magic cruise. We were seated quickly and the service was fast and good as always. Afterwards, it was time to return to the hotel and get ready for the next day and boarding the Carnival Vista.

On Sunday, November 11th, we woke up to a beautiful day. But then again, what day isn’t beautiful when you are about to board a ship!!! Jim and I made a quick trip to WalMart to get some cruise necessities and to drive down Harborview to get our first view of the Vista. She is big and beautiful!!! On our way back to the hotel, I received a text from my oldest granddaughter with something she wanted up to pick up for her. No problem!!!

We finally made it out of the hotel and went to the pier. I’m a HUGE fan of faster to the fun. We were on the ship in no time at all. This was when we had my mother use the wheelchair as we were concerned with her walking that much for that long. I am very grateful for having this chair although she wasn’t very happy about it.

So the remainder of the week was made up of sea day brunches, Mahogany Bay, Belize, Cozumel and the last sea day. I will be making a scrapbook with more information later but here are some of the highlights.

I hope to one day sail on the Vista again as I really didn’t do the things I normally do on a cruise. Would I do it all over again, ABSOLUTELY. But next time, I will not have the high hopes I had going into this cruise. I learned a very valuable lesson about traveling with someone who has dementia.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year one and all. I hope everyone had an enjoyable night. We did nothing. Absolutely. Nothing. And that was fine with me and my hubby.

Today begins a new year with renewed hope and for some, one word to focus on for the year. I have heard about people selecting one word for inspiration for the year and I decided I would give it a try this year and will make a scrapbook of my “progress” during the year. My plan is to do a weekly blog about my week and how the word I selected has impacted my daily life.

I have chosen the word FAITH. Why? Because I need to learn to have faith in myself to be the best I can be. This year, I want to use faith to become closer to God. I want to have faith in myself to be a better wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, just an overall better person. I want to have the faith in myself to do the things I need to do to accomplish things daily to improve myself and my family and our lives. I want faith to guide me daily.

I do have some fun things planned this year and I also intend to blog more often about things going on with our lives and our travel plans that have been set in motion. I will also blog about our November 2018 Carnival Vista cruise. There will also be a blog about a very big secret I kept from my husband.

For now, I just want to wish anyone reading this a very Happy New Year.

Getting Carnival Vista Ready #10… Let the packing begin.

I have had plenty of time to choose my clothes, shoes, and accessories. Now it is time to start packing.

For this cruise, I decided to use packing cubes. This is something very new to me so I’m not sure exactly how it will work out, but I’m going to give try it. I started out by ordering some GONEX packing cubes from WalMart. It comes in 3 sizes and in a variety of colors. Since I would need to order some for my mother to try, I order 3 in different colors, Blue, Yellow, and a turquoise color. I received them very quickly and decided to give them a trial run. I tried rolling my clothes and I tried just folding my clothes. I have decided that these will not work for me for a 7-day cruise but can still be used for the smaller items. I next turned to Target and found some things I thought would work great for my husband and I so I ordered said items. I was able to use the extra large and large cubes to fit my clothes in.

I decided to use the large cube for what I consider daytime clothes… shorts and shirts to wear around the ship and at the various ports of call. I tried the rolling technique and the regular folding and found that regular folding works out best for me. Everything fit in the cube nicely and doesn’t feel like they clothes are shoved into the cube.

I used the extra-large cube for the evening clothes which are the outfits I will be wearing to dinner and around the ship afterwards. My cruise-elegant dresses will be packed in a regular garment bag. The evening clothes fit nicely into the extra large cube and I can probably add some more to it if I wanted to. But I don’t want to. I’m trying NOT to over-pack on this cruise. I guess time will tell if I have succeeded or not!!!

I purchased a bead container at Hobby Lobby along with some plastic bags to use for my jewelry as I have seen people on YouTube use them with great success. I was amazed with how easily everything fit into the container and now I do not have to worry about anything becoming tangled!!!

My travel first kit has been packed and is busting at the seams!!! But keep in mind, I’m packing for 9 and I feel the need to be prepared for any emergency that may come along. I am keeping everything in a cosmetic case I purchased at Tuesday Morning. Everything fits in nicely unless I think of some other items I might need.

I am using a ditty bag I found at Tuesday Morning for our suntan lotions and after sun lotion. Everything fits in nicely and will come in handy while hanging out on deck or on the beach. There is also enough room for the mosquito repellent wipes I purchased, but not for the Bugables. So it looks like I need to do some more shopping!!!

And last of this packing series, I have packed my hair care products into a cosmetic bag I purchased at Tuesday Morning. Everything fits well and will be easy to access for our pre-cruise stay.

In the next segment of Getting Carnival Vista Ready, I hope to be able to pack my cosmetic bag and also our overnight bag. Plus some other essentials I will be taking and how I hope to pack them.

Getting Carnival Vista Ready #9

It is very early in the morning. Too early to be honest. But I woke up at 2 am and have not been able to go back to sleep. I’m not sure if it is because of my upcoming cruise or the fact that my 40th high school class reunion is tonight. In any case, I have decided to do another installment in my getting cruise ready series!!!

Today’s installment is all about the accessories. And by accessories, I mean jewelry and shoes.

My jewelry is very basic for the daytime. Gold hoops or silver anchors. It should be a simple choice, but I have 2 different selections for each! Necklaces are also somewhat basic only a couple of stand out pieces. But the evening earrings take are AMAZING. For several years, I have been wanting to purchase some earrings from BaubleBar and I finally took the plunge this year. I am so glad I did!!! Not only are the pieces I purchased perfect for my cruise, they are also good for any other time!!!

Of course, shoes are important! I will be taking all the necessary shoes… plus a few more!!! Dress shoes for cruise elegant night, flip flops while catching rays on deck, and, of course, shoes that are appropriate to wear in the dining room at night. Plus that gave me an extra excuse to buy more shoes!!!! And my tennis shoes for walking around the ports and maybe for morning exercise. Maybe.

In the event I wake up energetic and decide to walk of the previous nights Warm Chocolate Melting Cake, I will also be packing a couple of pairs of leggings and a couple of t-shirts…. just in case. But let’s be honest, this is something that hasn’t happened before I might not happen again!!!!

The next installment of getting cruise ready will be about the extra necessities I have been picking up recently. I have never had to buy stuff for 9 people before so things are really starting to pile up!!!!

Getting Carnival Vista Ready #8

It took some doing, but with the help of my mother, daughter, and middle granddaughter, we were able to narrow down and finalize my evening attire selections. And it was not an easy thing to do. But we did it in under an hour!!!!

Embarkation day is usually casual with some passengers waiting for their luggage when dinner time comes around. So we will be dining in the clothes we board the ship in. Something that is still in the planning stages but hopefully within a few days, that will be all ironed out.

We will be sailing on a 7-day cruise which means there will be 2 cruise elegant nights. This first one will be on our first sea day and the second one will be after we sail away from Cozumel. The remainder nights are casual, but not too casual.

On the first cruise elegant night, this is what I have selected.

I purchased this dress when my son got married 3 years ago as an option for my Mother of the Groom dress. But the tags are still on it and I’m hoping it still fits!!!! The earrings and shoes I plan on wearing are also included in the pictures.

We usually consider the second elegant night as another opportunity to get dressed up but not as much as the first elegant night. For this night, I have selected this dress that was in my second Stitch Fix box. The jewelry in also included in the pictures but I’m still not sold on my shoe selection. There is a chance I might wear the same shoes as I do on the first elegant night as the dress is real long and the shoes are not likely to be seen.

The remainder of the nights are casual with capris and tops being the order of the night!!! I do not know what order these will be worn in, but they will all be worn. At least that is the plan.

So what do you think of my choices?

In the next blog, I will share the shoes and jewelry I will be taking with me. I already have my jewelry all packed up.

Getting Carnival Vista ready #7 – what I will be packing for the daytime fun!

I have been planning on this cruise since we book it over 14 months ago. To say I’m excited would be an understatement. You would think it is my first cruise, but it isn’t. But this cruise will definitely be different as we are traveling as a 4-generation family. My grandchildren have never been on a cruise and I can hardly wait to see their faces when we first get on the ship. I hope they are filled with as much excitement as we will be!

Most of my days on a ship are usually spent on one of the upper decks catching some rays. I’m hoping this trip will be much like the others have been. As crazy as this may sound, I have selected 2 pairs of shorts and 4 tops that will be worn on the sea days and while we are at Mahogany Bay. I have also picked out a pair of shorts and top for our time in Belize and Cozumel. So that is a total of 4 pairs of shorts and 6 tops.

This is my selection for Belize. Now, in all honesty, there is a possibility that I will just stay on the ship on this day. But then again, I might take the tender and check things out at the port area. It just depends on my mother and how she is able to navigate here and there.

This is my selection for Cozumel. I know we will be doing shopping in town and maybe some in port area when we return.

Sea days will definitely require a swimsuit and I have 2 that I will be taking along with 2 cover-ups.

Stay tuned for the next installment which will be my even attire selections. Over-packing is alive and well and living in my house!!!!

Diet week #6

I tried to do better at keeping track of what I ate, but I do believe I missed a few and I definitely didn’t take many pictures. I think I do better when I do daily diet entries on here instead of weekly. Time to step it up!!!

Monday 10/01/2018. Started this week with left over roast and potato’s that we had the day before for lunch at mom’s. This is what I pretty much ate all day. I also had some Tangerine LaCroix water with a splash of ginger ale.

Tuesday 10/02/2018. I was very bad. I went to Zeke’s Fish And Chips. OMG their food is so good. I had one piece of fried cod with fried zucchini and french fries. This meal kept me feeling very full for a long time. Tangerine LaCroix water with splash of ginger ale.

Wednesday 10/03/2018. Started my day with brunch consisting of a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. Some days it feel good to have something so basic! For dinner I had spaghetti and meatballs and a small salad with avocado ranch dressing.

Thursday 10/04/2018. Spaghetti and meatballs with salad for a late lunch/early dinner.

Friday 10/05/2018. Same as Thursday. No reason to change something that is good and filling.

Saturday 10/06/2018. Brunch consisted of a peanut butter sandwich with grape jelly. (There were no more leftovers to eat and I was feeling lazy.) Dinner consisted of 2 fried eggs and 3 pieces of bacon.

Sunday 10/07/2018. Lunch at my mother’s apartment. Since we were celebrating my husband’s birthday, we got to pick what we were having to eat this day. He picked spaghetti and meatballs. So, that is what we had plus we also had chicken spaghetti and a salad on the menu plus a chocolate birthday cake that my grandson was more than happy to pick out!!! I had chicken spaghetti, small salad and one small piece of garlic bread.

Getting Carnival Vista Ready #6… Yes, I am an over-packer.

I always pack more than I need. But I like to have choices. This year, I will TRY to scale down some, but that may not happen. Some habits are hard to break. But I will plan everything out so that maybe, just maybe, I will actually wear everything I pack. I know it is not likely, but a girl can dream!!!

I like to try to plan my clothes for each day I will be gone. This cruise leaves on a Sunday. We will be driving to Galveston on Saturday so we do not have to stress over traffic and any unexpected delays. I do not want to miss a cruise because of delays getting to the port. I make a list clothes I am likely to wear according to our itinerary including travel days. This is the list for this cruise…

Saturday – TRAVEL DAY!!!. Jeans or Capri’s, shirt, tennis shoes.

Sunday – EMBARKATION DAY!!!! Jeans or Capri’s, group shirt, tennis shoes.

Monday – SEA DAY/CRUISE ELEGANT NIGHT. Daytime: shorts & top, swimsuit & cover-up, flip flops/tennis shoes. Evening: long dress, dress shoes, accessories (for dinner). Capri’s, top, sandals or flip flops (for after dinner). Yes I realize that is 2 outfits for the evening but I really do not want to wear my 5 inch heals all night long!

Tuesday – SEA DAY. Daytime: shorts & top, swimsuit & cover=up, flip flops/tennis shoes. Evening: Capri’s & top, sandals.

Wednesday – Mahogany Bay. Daytime: swimsuit & cover-up, shorts & top, flip flops. Evening: Capri’s & top, sandals.

Thursday – Belize. Daytime: shorts & top, tennis shoes while in port; swimsuit & cover-up, flip flops on ship. Evening: Capri’s & top, sandals.

Friday – Cozumel/ SECOND CRUISE ELEGANT NIGHT. Daytime: shorts & top, tennis shoes while in port; swimsuit & cover-up, flip flops on ship. Evening: long dress, dress shoes, accessories (dinner); Capri’s & top, sandals (after dinner). Yes I know, it another 2 outfit night. To be honest, depending on what is going on this evening, I might stay in this dress for the night. But then again, I might not.

Saturday – Sea Day. Daytime: swimsuit & cover-up, flip flops; shorts & top, tennis shoes or sandals. Evening: Capri’s & top, sandals

Sunday – THEY KICK US OFF THE SHIP. Travel day home. Jeans or Capri’s & top, tennis shoes.

After I make out my list, I look at my clothes and try to decide what I am going to take. I know on our night in Galveston we will be having dinner at The Original Mexican Cafe. This is a casual restaurant so we should not have the need to change clothes before we go out for dinner. This packing list does not include under garments. But that is only because I wait until the last minute to pack that!!! And I also have to make sure my mother has everything she needs. I have already purchased her some shorts and some Capri’s for this trip. She has since forgotten that she has them, LOL! This is what we have planned for her so far. She seems to think she needs more things, but that is probably just the dementia talking!

I do know I will need help in deciding what daytime and evening outfits to take on this cruise. My plan is to take pictures of the outfits tomorrow and post them in a blog tomorrow. At least that is what I hope to do.

Stitch Fix #4… I’m so happy, but did I keep everything?

Stitch Fix box #4 was a good one. I really think my stylist really listens to me. I requested a brown pair of gladiator type sandals, a necklace for the dress in my 2nd Stitch Fix box, and a solid brown t-shirt or tank top. She listened!!! Unfortunately she could not help me with the sandals but she did send me a necklace and a brown top.

Up first… PINK CLOVER – Rachelyn Raglan Knit Top in the color Grey. The fit is perfect. Very soft. I’m very happy with it!!!

Next is… Hummingbird – Liara Knot Front Knit Top in the color Brown. I asked for a solid brown shirt and she sent me the perfect one!!! As you can see in the picture, it works PERFECTLY with the capris I am planning on taking on our cruise!!!

Next is… Mello Day – Amarah One Pocket Flannel Top in the color white. I do not know why they are saying the color white. It is a beautiful plaid shirt in red, black, and white. This shirt will definitely keep me warm if it ever starts getting cold, LOL!!!

Next is… Democracy – Kathryn Bootcut Jean in the color indigo. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. There are no other words to describe these jeans. Everything is perfect.

And last is the necklace – Nakamol – Blythe Delicate Charm Necklace in the color Gold/Silver. The necklace is cute but to be honest, it is not what I was wanting for a dress I will be wearing on the cruise. But I’m sure it will go with the grey shirt I received in this box!!!

For reference, the is the dress I will be wearing on the second cruise elegant night.

And these are the earring I am planning on wearing with it.

I am considering 2 different necklaces for this dress.

Possibility #1

Possibility #2

Which do you think would work the best??? Please let me know in the comments which one necklace you would pick. Or maybe you have a better suggestion. I’m open to your suggestions!!!

Now… back to my Stitch Fix box #4. I kept everything. I didn’t return one thing. And I am very happy I made that decision. If you would like to try Stitch Fix, let me know and I will send you my referral code.

Have a great week!!!