Girls Guide to the Galaxy™

What happens in the Riviera Maya… is really cool.  The Mister took me to Mexico for a week to celebrate our nuptials and we did a lot of cool things that we really couldn’t do in St. Louis, i.e. we decided to get crazy with some water sports. 

Now, the thing that was the most crazy for me was, though I have been skydiving, the Mister is decidedly against anything that voluntarily defies gravity.  So, I was pretty surprised when he jumped up from our lunch table the last day before we left and booked a parasailing trip for us (with no pressure from me - PROMISE).  I was all, “Really?” and he was all, “Yep. at 2 o’clock.” And then my happy dance ensued.

But, that was just the topper for the trip.  Before the crazy, in the air, above the ocean fun we went snorkeling in Cozumel, and after I got used to gulping salt water and the burning sensation that said salt water caused for my contacts (because I had no.idea.what.I.was.doing) it was awesome.  But I have to admit, when they called for our group to get back to the boat, I surprised the Mister with the previously uknown fact that I am a pretty strong a swimmer as I scooted my a$$ quickly past the barracudas (for real!) and everyone else on the tour with us, and was always the first one back to the boat when they called us up (no matter how far away I was).

We also decided kayaking would be something cool (and free) to do before we returned to our home in La Louis.  When the Mister suggested it, I thought - hells yeah! But OMG, was that misplaced enthusiasm!  I put some snorkeling gear in my kayak and set off with the group all excited and misguided. 

About 15 minutes into the trip I learned that if you weigh less than a buck and a quarter you are not the ideal candidate for ocean kayaking on a red flag beach day.  I learned this lesson learned after a huge wave slammed me (and another chicky) into an embankment of rocky beach.  I suppose upper-body strength and general girth made this a little easier for the other eight people with me and the Mister, howevah - I got slammed into a section of coral on the beach that the wanerunner-saver guy could not get to.  So, long story short, after about five fruitless efforts to free myself from the rocks and get far enough out into the ocean for the waverunner-saver guy to get me, and, in turn, strong waves quickly slamming me back into the rocks, the waverunner-saver guy finally latched onto the rope on my canoe and freed me.  After I rode about half of the trip length being towed in my kayak, I landed on the beach with the rest of the tour group… then I cut my toe on a rock that washed ashore as I tried to snorkel.

 We had an awesome little palapala roofed hut, right on the beach, and a bartender to serve us drinks while we layed on the beach, listened to the waves and roasted our crazy SPF’ed skin.  There was a swim-up bar in the center of the section of rooms where we stayed, and a bartender there that introduced me to Sambuca (shortly after this introduction I was mercifully put down for a 3 hour “nap”).  There were seven different style of reastuarants, and as a “gourmet all-inclusive resot) the food was awesome - and the water was filtered so we were never avenged by Montezuma.  Little known fat: It is surprisingly difficult to drink down there.  Unless the word “colada” is attached to your drink order the bartenders struggle, and often botch, your drink order.  It only took a couple of days for us to realize that though, and after that lesson was learned, we were in swim-up bar heaven. 

The Mister and I rocked the Riviera.  There are a couple more pics on my flickr set if you want to see a couple more… but I didn’t put all 148 of them on there, ’cause you know the Mister and his CIA thing.

So, we left the Monday after the wedding, and got back the following Monday.  Another awesome change was waiting for me when I got on the ground - a spanking new job!  I am the newest full-time writer and producer for ToastedRav.com, a site dedicated to St. Louis entertainment, culture and quirk.  I am writing stories on there everyday, Monday through Friday, and shotting videos.  I have been working there for a little over a week, and let me say, “I love it.” 

Since I am writing about three stories a day and shooting video I am trying to figure out how to handle posting regularly here, any suggestions from people who have experience writing full time and maintaining a blog?  There are a couple of ways you can keep up with what I am writing and the videos I have been shotting for the site… you can join the site and community, follow ToastedRav on Twitter to get updates when anyone posts a new story, or you can go to my profile page on the site to subscribe to my ToastedRav feed in your reader.  Even if you aren’t a St. Louisain, the stories and videos on there are pretty fun and funny (imho).  Hope to see you over there… and don’t forget to comment, heh!

Hellllew!  I am back friends, and I am married to the most wonderful man I’ve ever met (lucky!), tan (unusual for my Irish skin), and back in the blogging saddle.  Are you prepared for a gushing post?

The wedding was wonderful.  I can’t believe that everything went so smoothly for us!  That day everything was perfect, and anything that did go wrong we didn’t even notice until after we had spent a week on the beach in Mexico - and how can you be irritated when you are still washing sand out of your hair?

Speaking of hair - our hairstylist du jour and bridesmaid to the rescue Dana snapped one of my favorite pictures from the day as we were heading to the McDonald’s to satisfy my Matron of Honor’s hunger pangs (seriously, the girl is a size zero but can scarf a Big Mac at every meal and stay that way?!)

The ceremony was beautiful!  I will have to add some pictures to Flickr when I get them (almost everyone who cared to take pictures was in the wedding - haha!), but here is a shot of the quiet before (photo was snapped by one of my new Sister-In-Laws, who just had her most amazing wedding in October, so she knew how to get those flowers pinned and little detail pictures taken)!

We ended up with the most hilarious Hummer Limousine that existed.  It’s name - ICE.  Yes, there were fiber optic lights inside, and yes that is a flask in my hand (a gift from my other new sister-in-law who’s wedding I can’t wait for), but no - Nelly did not decide to accompany us on our pimptastic ride to the reception.

So, the Mister doesn’t particularly care for having his picture on the internets.  But I found this picture of the two of us together that I think will meet his requirements for anonymity.  It’s is from our first dance which was “Falling Slowly” from the Once soundtrack.

It seems like everyone had so much fun - at least that’s what they are telling me - and I might plug my ears and hum very loudly if I hear different.  The dance floor was packed all night thanks to our awesome DJ (Jaelithe’s Hubby), there was a slew of Lemodrop shots to be had all around, and almost everyone was still there at the end of the night so we continued the party at a micro-pub across the street from the reception location.  There is so much left to tell, but at the risk of boring you on my first day back I think I will wrap it up there, dear reader.  If you want to see more pics from the wedding, our photographer blogged it out here.

In the days after the nuptuals, the Mister whisked me away to Mexico for a week long honeymoon with snorkeling, kayaking, and parasailing in rotation with beach bum goodness.  More about that next week!

Thanks for blog-sitting Mike, Michelle, Jeanette and Sheila! You guys are awesome :)  Thanks for having me back readers - I missed you while I was away!

Hi, I’m Sheila (aka EatAnts in many online forums)  and, like everyone else, I’m another fill-in while our girl is enjoying her honeymoon.

As you well know, it’s Friday and a much needed one.  I’m sure I am not the only one who slid into work late this morning and plan to escape early to enjoy the first StL bearable weekend of the summer.  Can you believe the forecast is calling for no rain and not-so-freaking-hot-you-can’t-stand-to-be-outside weather?   On the flip side, there will finally be something (Olympics) to watch on boob tube this weekend, but you must get out and enjoy this weather! Tivo the damn Olympics!

Friday, August 8th
If you feel like wandering to the St. Chas part of town, Weird Al will be at the Family Arena.  (I still have nightmares of him singing “Eat It”.  Although Weird Al “Eat It” nightmares are always an improvement over the Michael Jackson “Beat It” nightmares.) If Weird Al is not your friend, enjoy some time at a restaurant with a patio or on your back deck. After a few drinks, check out the reruns of the Olympic opening ceremonies. The event is quite spectacular.

Saturday, August 9th
I highly recommend going outside. Visit the Zoo or Grant’s Farm with family. Go for a bike ride in Forest Park. Check out Niki at Missouri Botanical Gardens. (PS. The kids love Niki. Wednesday night, I watched kids crawling all over the sculptures as I passed by. What is more fun than crawling all over art?) After you wear everyone down, go home and kick back for more Olympic coverage.

Sunday, August 10th
See Saturday activities during the day. For the evening, check out the final Muny performance of the summer, “Fiddler on the Roof”. If the Muny is not your cup of tea, invite the gang over and watch the Cardinals take on the Cubs in game 3 of the weekend series. Go CARDS!

Disclaimer:  Author of this post is not responsible for “just eat/beat it” being stuck in your head the rest of the day