4 Days In...

Come on, 2009 -- show us what you've got. Better economy? Weird weather? The possibilities are endless.

But hey, it's too soon to talk about that, & I'm not going to join the throngs of bloggers that have shared their cheerleader-ish hopes & dreams for the year like they do every year. Frankly, the year is merely a period of time & it's going to be what it's going to be...& that's largely up to us & what we choose to do with it. Having said that, Happy New Year, & I hope that you make the best of it!

So, we've been back for a while, but let's talk about my trip to Jamaica, shall we?

Actually, there's not that much to tell. We went, hung out on a beautiful beach at an amazing resort, drank lots of rum at the swim-up bar, & got a tan. We had a killer massage in what had to be the coolest place to get a massage EVER. The food was great, the views incredible, & we neglected to take a lot of photos. Damn, damn, damn. In my defense, we didn't really go anywhere or do anything other than hang out...but here's what we took. (If you want to see more, check out the link - Couples does a great job!)

Our room upon arrival...I'm not a fan of the headboard & the bed was harder than I like (but I'm spoiled), but overall, the room was nice, roomy, & very blue & white.

Here's a couple of views from our terrace...sadly, neither photo does it justice, but as I said earlier, I just wasn't inclined to keep snapping. It really was outstanding, & at night, the lights were fabulous.

The only thing we didn't love about our room was the noise - we were just down from where most of the nightly entertainment was, which wasn't cool if we wanted to get to sleep before midnight. Oh well.

On our first night, there was a huge wedding. I'm guessing the bride & groom were natives because there were a lot of people! I'd hate to think how much money it cost to have a wedding at the resort, but I'm here to tell you, it was gorgeous. I was only able to get 1 shot, & it's not a very good one...

Ok, not the best, but I figured it'd be a bit tacky for a stranger to run around taking pictures...but take my word for it - it was beautiful. I wish I could've taken photos of the tables, but it was really dark, & then there was the whole tacky thing I just mentioned, so sorry... I know some of you would have really enjoyed them. Everything was very well done - the flowers, the lighting, music, the colors... As pretty as it was, all I could think of was how much money was spent on 1 little day, a mere blip in a life. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20!

The lobby was decorated for Christmas.

Eh, as usual, my photos don't do it justice. New camera, you know.

So yeah...great trip. It was over at just the right time - we were missing the dogs terribly. After a few delays at both the Montego Bay & Charlotte airports, we finally made it home. Talk about a major drag...but thank goodness there are decent bars in airports. There's even a wine bar that we discovered last year at the Charlotte airport that serves & sells North Carolina's Yadkin Valley wines, so obviously, we had to stop in again. Checking out wines from other states is a big hobby of ours, & I'm happy to report that North Carolina's wines are pretty damn good. Seriously - while they may not be of the same caliber as Napa or Willamette, I think they have real potential, therefore, I'm happy to support their efforts. Some day, we hope to take a trip to the Yadkin - I think it'd be cool (I'm certainly not going to go to a NASCAR race, which is huge in that area), one We bought a Bordeaux-style red blend from Raylen Vineyards, & I'm looking forward to sharing it with some of our fellow winos.

My dad had taken great care of the girls, as always...they certainly didn't starve. Within seconds of walking in our door, I was struck by how much bigger Piper had become! It was really remarkable. So much so that we're going to get her in to see the vet in the next week or so - the poor chunk has to get her thyroid checked & be put on a diet. Everyone ele was great, though, & Gordon said that they all had a wonderful time.

The second thing we noticed was that it had been very windy while we were gone. I'm so glad we bought a cover lifter for our hot tub's lid -- it was the only thing that held the lid on! We walked outside, heard this loud watery noise & then saw that the lid was halfway off! A lot of the water was gone, so we had to refill it. I hate to think of how much our electric bill is going to be...needless to say, Doug was not pleased.

So, what next? Other than a cruise to Mexico in February with the Luces, we're trying to figure out what our vacation plans are over the next year or so.

Tough problem to have, I know.