Cruise Outfit and Packing Strategy

For your viewing pleasure: a few looks from dinners, a few from post-dinner hanging out with our table mates, a few from playing around in port during the days.

I will mention, though, that taking clothing was a royal waste of space in my suitcase. I packed over 9 tee and top options and only wore 5. I had two pairs of shorts and only wore one (mostly because all of our time on deck and on shore during the days were spent in a swimsuit and coverup. Why would I bother getting dressed to go to a beach if I can just drape and cover to go to a beach?).

MVP's for the week:
- Ankle/skinny white jeans- wore them almost every evening to hang out with a simple t-shirt and necklace or t-shirt and scarf combo.
- That floral scarf. I only took one with lots of color and was able to match it with a citron tee, a grey tee, my blue flowy dress, my tailored cream sheath dress, coral tank, etc, etc, etc. Incredibly versatile.
- Coral anything. It was the accidental theme color of vacation.
- Peeptoe neutral pumps, which looked rockin' with every dinner outfit, even if I opted for the cognac sandals instead (some choppy water during a few evenings).
- The absurdly bright batik'ed green and orange sarong coverup. I wore this draped across my back with two corners criss-crossed around my neck to make a modest dress. I felt perfectly tropical and a little bit foxy without showing my boobs to everyone.
- One darling vintage clutch, which gave a nice chic vibe to my formal dinner looks, and a kicky bit of personality to my white skinnies and a tee ensembles at night.
- SPF. No burns, only tans to show for our week away.

Big wastes of space:
- Tennis Shoes. Working out was a pain in the butt with so many suburban moms around and all my walking and hiking was done in my moulded rubber footbed Chacos.
- 2nd pair of shorts, too many extra tops, jacket.
- Too many jewelry options. I knew I'd choose simple or choose a scarf, so why did I bother?

 

The Do-Nothing Floating Vacation

We're baaaack.

Rob and I were given the unwarranted and completely appreciated gift of a cruise vacation by my sweet mom and dad in celebration of his degree, new jobs, and making it through the last few years. I'm so grateful for the chance to really unwind (something it usually takes 2-3 full days to do when I'm working) and enjoy my husband's company.

Cruise highlights:
- Reading (sporadic and with a background 90's pop soundtrack blaring through the ship's speakers)
- Lounging in shady areas during bright days, both on and off the ship
- A 75/25 ratio of swimsuit and coverup to real clothing
- Choice beach lounging locations as a reward for getting our buns out of bed early during days in port in Roatan and Cozumel\
- Awesome dinner tablemates- we spent every evening together at the piano bar or pub, singing our guts out
- Being the only person in the lounge (including a few 40-60 folks) who knew the words to the Cheeseburger in Paradise "rap"
- Comedy shows
- Watching numerous children in the midst of a sugar-induced meltdown since there was 24-hour access to soft serve ice cream
- Accidental 5-course meals at dinner upon requests to "try just a little of XXXX"
- Holy Blue Water, Batman
- SPF 30 reapplied a thousand times and no sunburn to show for it
- Saw a pair of monkeys on the beach and held an iguana, who felt like a heavy sequined purse
- Shallow water snorkeling with our own equipment- no expensive tour guide necessary

If you ever get a chance to cruise, I highly recommend it. We had a lot of fun people watching and gorging ourselves on the ship, explored new countries as we got to port on the cheap by just hiring a taxi for the day, took borrowed snorkel gear from my family, and bargained like crazy whenever we could.

I'll share my dinner looks later on in the week, it was really fun to have an excuse to get dolled up each evening!

Up on the "Adults Only" deck of the cruise, sipping on unlimited sodas and reading

Overlook on the ridge roadway in Roatan, Honduras. I spent literally half of my waking hours in a swimsuit and that coverup wrap.

Reading on the beach on Roatan, Honduras

Windy departure from port

Pina Colada, private cabana with hammocks, and loud waves in Cozumel.

Nerd. I love him.

No joke. Water that perfectly blue.

I was so grateful for a table full of cheerful, chatty, and low key couples. We had so much fun with this crew all week!

Beaches and Ballgames

Okay, so last Friday, I got a little ahead of myself when I chattered about the baseball game. And I never posted a photo of the weekend in Galveston. So, here we go.

It's been a yearly tradition to join the head of the composition department for a celebratory weekend away with all the composer students. This year, we all piled into a house south of Galveston. I've ripped on Galveston before for being too touristy and for not having nice beaches. But, dang, if you get out of the city a little ways, the sand is light and fluffy, wide beaches, and quiet. A little overcast and a bit chilly, but we got some good tennis golf going down on the beach, card games and giggling, and tons of opportunity to watch some cut-throat beer pong. I enjoyed myself immensely!

Thursday through Sunday, we were able to score cheap seats to see all four Detroit Tigers' games against the Houston Astros (charmingly known as the Last-ros. They're not very good). Rob has been a Tigers' fan since he was in the womb (no joke, he was born days after the last time they won the World Series) and he and his dad have been long-distance radio and online tracking the seasons together since we moved away from northern Ohio. And the Astros juuuuust switched leagues, so they came to town to play a series for the first time since we've been down south. Needless to say, we were really excited about it!

I spent the beginning of every game hovering around the 3rd base fence, hoping to get my favorite player, Austin Jackson, to sign my ball cap. I'll be honest, I have a big crush on the guy, but it sure doesn't hurt that he's a pretty potent center fielder. Dude can run and can catch some really impressive fly balls.

No luck on a signature, but he did turn and wave once when the kid next to me yelled his name. I would say "Close enough" but I really thought I had a chance at a pitty autograph since I was down there every day. Tough luck. Also, Sunday's game was pitched by Justin Verlander (widely reconized as the best pitcher of any team right now) and we were less than 200 feet from his warm up before the game. Rob did a little fan-boy dance. Can't say I blame him.

This is when he turned to acknowledge the little boy.

Oh, hey, Justin Verlander. No biggie, we're 200 feet away from the MLB MVP of 2012.

Nice sneer.

Other highlights: Bromance came to all four games with us and purchased a refillable popcorn tub for $10 the first game. We refilled that bad boy for free the rest of the series. Brilliant. Little Roo was in town for a visit from L.A. and we got to spend all of Saturday with her. Such a treat! Our buddy also made a strange face in every photo I snapped of him. It's a series of photographs I'm proud to have. Aaaaand, on Sunday's game, Rob was accosted by the Astros' mascot for being a Tigers fan. He was made to tie the mascot's shoe, and then the mascot flipped his Astros jersey over Rob's head to cover the Detroit Tigers "D" shirt. No joke, it was 3 minutes full of pretty absurd interaction with an enormous green muppet. The Little League kids a few rows behind us were cackling, they loved it!