11 years as Mrs. B

Hubs and I took advantage of a promotional offer from the Wynn and headed to Vegas for our anniversary. 11 years. Being his wife. It's the good stuff.

Word to the wise. ALWAYS be nice to the front desk. ALWAYS tell them if you're celebrating something special. We scored an upgraded suite on the 58th floor. Out of 59 floors. Seriously, my ears popped in the elevator.   When we reached State Line, I made a reservation at the Chart House (one of our favorite special occasion restaurants) in the Golden Nugget. We'd only been to the ones in So Cal so we were excited. Again, I made a little note in the reservation that it was our anniversary and here were our special menus. AND they put us in a little booth in a corner. You know for all the making out we do in restaurants.

So we checked into this fabulous strip hotel but we rarely EVER gamble on the strip and since we don't drink anymore, the $1 beers at Casino Royale aren't enough to keep us on this side of town. lol. We left our swanky spot and headed right downtown. To the Cal. Hotel California. It's comfortable, it's fun, it's got low table minimums and lots of Hawaiian people and food and everything. I like it so much I disregard how much my hair smells like yucky smoke when we leave. Roulette is my game. It's easy and with a $5 table minimum, I stay occupied for at least 45 minutes on $50. I occasionally venture over to a black jack table but I get anxiety and all of a sudden, can't add. haha. We had a lot of fun. Fremont street is a trip. People watching is so much better when you're with someone, not worried about impressing anyone and you're wearing significantly more that everyone else lol.Part of Wynn offer included tickets to Le Rêve. We love seeing Cirque shows and we've seen Le Rêve before but free is free and I'm not complaining about that! The show was amazing. Nuff said. 

Saturday morning, we ventured to the new buffet at the Caesars called Bacchanal. We lazily made our way over around noon, making sure we were super hungry (I'm not one to go in to a buffet only iffy kinda hungry). Stood in line for 45 minutes! I spent the whole time questioning if it was worth it but with not a dang thing to do, we enjoyed being commitment free and lazied in line. Mr. B's assurances were right on the money. The buffet was amazing. The freshness and quality of the food... the amazing variety. Holy yum. Though I had high expectations of myself, I only managed two food plates and dessert (which ended up  being a tasting of each thing since we were bursting at the seams!).

We rolled ourselves outta there and took a walk through the forum shops. At work, we regularly change out the store windows for West Coast Burberry stores so we wanted to swing by and take a look at the Vegas location. The walk was good.

 
We headed back downtown as we had an afternoon free of plans. That was the best. Thank you anniversary date, JT's bday, Hea Bug's bday for the winning, winning, winning!

We had dinner reservations at the Steakhouse Botero, in the Wynn at 7 but by 6 we knew for a fact we were still not hungry in the slightest. We decided to skip them. The other part of the Wynn offer included a $75 dining credit to that restaurant. So while we were bummed to miss out on it, I couldn't even think of eating anything.

The show plans for the night were to see Penn and Teller which was mind boggling in the coolest way. It was such an entertaining show! I love seeing stuff like that and I NEVER try to figure things out. I just like to enjoy the magic.

Sunday morning meant heading home. We took off early enough in hopes of avoiding traffic and trying to catch a movie in LB before going home. While the drive out and most of the weekend had been cloudy and rainy, the wind the night before cleared the sky so before we left, we were treated to this amazing view.

We ate a breakfast in the hotel before leaving. This is just a shout out that it was the first meal since the Bacchanal Buffet. 22 hours later. And we only ate because we knew we should. That's a no joke buffet.

It was a happy anniversary indeed. Time out with my BFF, my main squeeze, my fella, my baby daddy, my guy, my hubs, my eternal partner and companion. Love this man.

For extra mushiness, read a little about our love story here. 

"Ever After" Kind of Living

We could start by saying Once Upon a Time but that's how fairy tales begin... And those aren't generally true. 

Back in the day, when were were young... but we're not kids anymore...

We were kids though. Kids who became friends then kids who fell in love. 

I went to see scary movies (which I hate) so that I could sit next to him and hold his arm in terror.

He took me to Disneyland for my 16th birthday.

He took me to sushi for the first time and all I ate was rice. (that has changed)

He is who I kissed when the world was fearing Y2K.

He told me to get a job. Then he got me a puppy.

He took me to the prom, in a dress he had made for me by a costume designer friend. He gave me a necklace that I still wear every day (and through every important life event). We only danced to one song.

I knew I would be his wife.

On January 26, 2002 I laced up my blue converse tennis shoes and put on my white dress. We walked our own aisles of the Jordan Theatre to the stage that we met on and this is what we said:

I, take you, to be my very best friend. I promise to support you in everything you do, to stand by you in good times and in bad. To believe in you, to trust in you and to honor you. I promise to love you until the end of time.

People were so skeptical because the idea of marriage isn't so optimistic anymore. 

We looked like kids up there in front of our family and friends.

It's not right for everyone and I'm not an advocate of marrying young by ANY means, but it was right for us. We were still seeds and with sunshine just happened to grow into the same kind of flower.

We have embraced the adventure of marriage knowing it requires constant care, attention, and work.

It's a very conscious decision that we remake often. 

We've seen marvelous sights.
Lost some very dear to us.
Gotten lots of tattoos.
Been embraced by God's good love.
Sealed our family for eternity.

Our life has grown by two amazing children.

Each bringing light, joy, and a few years of sleep deprivation.

Mostly they make us laugh.

And they eww when we kiss... which we still do a lot.

We've started a business. 

Out of our garage, our computer and two credit cards...

Rock Steady was born.

We work together, we live together, we sleep together, we parent together.

We don't tire of the company. It's nice to not only love each other but to truly like each other.

We're friends.

We work hard to live the life that we want. It doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful.

We still go on dates. He'll surprise me with flowers. I'll surprise him with Red Bull ;)

We are still adventuring. We've only just begun. There's a lot for us to see and do and experience, but we are doing it together.

To my guy Mr. B. I'm so glad to be Mrs. B.

Thanks for balancing out my crazy.

I love you.

10th Anniversary Trip Journal: January 9-10 St. Thomas and Antigua

January 9^th
After a terribly restless night of sleep, we were up bright and early for our day in port. We wanted to get some breakfast before we were out to the gangway to meet up with our excursion group. We were done pretty quickly (I had jam stuffed french toast and as delicious as it sounds, it just didn’t do it for me… there does seem to be an endless supply of pineapple on board this ship so I think I’ll turn a little yellow lol). Headed back to the room to grab out towels that the ship provides. Then made our way down to the gangway. We were pretty early so we just kind of mosied around. When we were all present, there were about 20 from our ship. 2 other cruise ships had pulled in behind us (the Carnival Victory which we sailed on when we came to the Caribbean 5 years ago and the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas). The rest of our group was made up of passengers on the latter. 

We headed to another small dock to board the Silent Lady, a pirate ship schooner. As soon as we were on board we knew we were in for a good time. Seriously, the crew was super funny! There were 4 of them and this one guy Ben, it was his first day. He got a month long internship! How crazy and cool is that? To get credit for school to come down to St. Thomas and hang out on a pirate boat all day?! I sent a postcard to Bri telling her that she should do something like that. We left the dock and went over to Buccaneer Bay which is a marine and fowl sanctuary. You can snorkel and swim around but you can’t actually go on the island itself. We got our gear and in the past I’ve been a giant chicken when it comes to snorkeling and as soon as I get too close to coral or something I get all unbalanced and such. This time, I was the first one in the water and although I blew up my life vest a lot (according to Robert) I did great.

 It was relaxing and we saw at least 6 sea turtles! We watched two of them as they came up for air too. It was amazing how different their coloring is when under water as opposed to above water… green and brownish then when they come up they’re a beautiful golden green and amber color. I got to hold an urchin. It kind of latched on to my hand with it’s little suckers. The snorkeling guide, Mary, said that the water was freezing but it felt so nice and warm! Which just leads me to wonder how fantastic it is during the summer months! There were a lot of people in the cove but it wasn’t overwhelming at all. We snorkeled for about an hour. They were mixing “painkillers” on board which is rum, pineapple juice and orange juice I think. By the way people were singing and stumbling they must’ve been pretty strong. It’s kind of funny to watch. They were also great about handing out ice water and such. We kept drinking it up and Rob only had a few diet cokes since we definitely didn’t want to get dehydrated!

We sailed (with the sails up and everything) to fantastic music over to Water Island and Honeymoon Beach. It was amazing how clear and beautiful the water is. Our ship, the Silent Lady, dropped anchor and we were invited to either wait for a ride to the beach on the little zodiac or jump off and swim. Guess what we did? That’s right. Off the side. There was a lunch set out of ribs, chicken, green salad, macaroni salad, baked beans and rolls. Our crew brought ice chests of coke, diet coke, sprites, coors lights and water for us to drink. It was nice not having to pay for them or turn in tickets like we did on one of our excursions 5 years ago. While the food wasn’t as fancy as the ship, it sure was delicious! We enjoyed every little bite. The only thing that could’ve possibly made the lunch any better was if there was cake haha. 

After we ate we just swam around on the beach. I sat in the sand (which I never do because it grosses me out) and dug my feet in and made a sand sea turtle. There were a couple of kids playing on the beach with another group and it made me miss mine. Rob saw me looking at them and told me to stop before I burst into tears lol. There was also this random dog that was on the beach. Some people were playing with him. We met and talked to a bunch of cool people. A lot of Canadians cruising. There was one guy that was in the Canadian Air Force and was traveling with his family on Royal Caribbean for the 8^th time. I guess there’s and ice rink and a rock wall! We’re definitely on that cruise line next! 


When it was time to head back to the Silent Lady, our captain, Dave blew a conch shell. Rob and I swam back out to the boat and enjoyed a ride back to the dock. We bought a t-shirt for Klaus and did some shopping at the port. A few souvenirs for the kids and then we mailed some postcards and headed back to the ship. We both got some color today even though we put on SPF 50. We just need to keep applying! We’re going to a comedy show tonight before dinner since we weren’t able to get a reservation before 8:45. Now we’ll have eaten at all different time frames so we’ll hopefully get through dinner before 10! Tomorrow is Antigua and we’re zip lining!

January 10^th

Up early because we had to be on the gangway at 8:15. There were 10 or maybe 12 from our group. Our taxi driver was cool, he told us about the differences in dialects between the islands. We listened to a ton of different types of music, from island reggae to celine dion. Rob and I sat in the front, we were able to talk to him a lot. The rest of our group seemed a little bourgie.

We arrived at Antigua Rainforest Zipline and there were two other groups there, one from a ship called AIDA we think it was out of Denmark. They had a German translator, made us think of Klaus. We were harnessed up, seriously felt incredibly safe considering the number of people that checked on our safety clips and such. Since my belt hung low I had a chest harness as well. We had helmets and gloves, you put your strong hand behind you on the lower cable and that acted as your brake. 

The first zip line was a little intense because it is. But after that, we breezed. Seriously. I didn’t even hesitate! Rob went first each time. I was nervous on the first one but then I saw they had a camera so I smiled my terror away haha. 12 lines in all including the 5^th line called the screamer… it’s 325 feet off the ground and 300 feet in the air. No one was screaming and this is the one that they take video so I busted a little chee-hoo. It was incredible good fun. Rangers at the beginning and end of each line to hook and unhook you. Great lengths for your safety, some of the stations are just platforms in the trees. Most of them were listening to music on their phones.

There came a point where you can either zip across a section or “jump”. It’s called the leap of faith and you step off a platform to a 32 foot drop. There was no question that I’d do it but that initial step was definitely second thought. A motor kicks in right a way but still that first 1.5 seconds you’re falling. Then we used a rope to help climb up to the next platform.

We came to a treehouse and were showed how to move our guide cable and clip and unclip ourselves from one station to the next. From there it was on to the challenge course which was a series of bridges and suspension lines. It was definitely challenging. You know that fear of falling and then the sense of accomplishment when you look back and see where you’ve been. Some were harder than others but we took them all! After heading back, we walked around down town and finally headed back to the ship. 
Getting changed and cleaned up we went out to the foyer to watch the dancing. Every night there are couples dancing and it’s fun to watch them. We grabbed a drink from the coffee shop and headed to the theatre to watch the variety show. There was the boogie woogie piano guy again and then a super funny comedian. We were laughing like crazy. We watched Bridesmaids and didn’t hit the sack until almost midnight.