Mascara

Mascara. Most females over the age of 13 put this on every day. I have had over 25 years experience applying mascara, and I have yet to find a brand that doesn't end up under my eyes, making me look like a raccoon! I have tried waterproof, smudge-proof, high-end brands, drugstore type, black, brown, even clear, those with undercoats or overcoats - but alas, all end up under my eyes.

Sigh.. what's a girl to do? I can't just skip the vital step - I'd feel naked. So each morning I apply the mascara knowing it's going to eventually end up under my eyes.. I have asked Greg to let me know when it's making circles under my eyes, but bless his heart he never seems to notice.. isn't that funny how something so obvious to me (and everyone else!) is not to him - another proof that love is blind!

It makes me wonder what are some things that I do, thoughts I have, habits I live with that are like my mascara - things that I do thinking they are helping, but in reality are just making me look bad and are causing me more work/headache later. In the physical sense I can point to things like chocolate, skipping exercise for sleep, not flossing my teeth (I have a dentist appt on Monday so I've started my "ooh I'd better start flossing now so I don't get in trouble" routine)... but from a spiritual perspective those things are harder to see - the effects or consequences of decisions made today are less obvious, but the outcome can be so much more costly.

So what spiritual-mascara am I applying now that will end up under my eyes later? Pride? Putting on the Sunday morning happy-church face? Reading my Bible "religiously" but not really applying what it says? Busy-ness - keeping my calendar packed with "good" things so I don't have time to invest in relationships?

Hmm... I'd better get my spiritual mirror out and check for those circles!

Land Ho!

We returned yesterday from our family Caribbean Thanksgiving cruise and it was great! We left out of Baltimore and the setup was great - drive by the trolleys where longshoremen take your luggage out of your car onto the trucks, then park, and get in line with your paperwork... we were on the ship within an hour of arriving in Baltimore - not bad! The other good news was that we all "approved" of this pic they snapped in the waiting area - so that took the pressure off having to get a group shot we all liked.. whew!

Aren't we a cute family with our matching leis on!??! Carrie surprised us all with the leis before our drive down - how fun! Please note - I am standing in the back and leaning forward which is why I appear to be shorter than Carrie (I am NOT shrinking, as she would suggest!).

Here's a brief review of where we went and what we did:

• Friday, 11/16 - drove to Baltimore, got on our "home away from home", unpacked and started exploring the ship

• Saturday, 11/17 - day at sea, and our first formal night - got all dolled up, Pops was in his tux! :) Was chilly outside, so not a pool day.
  

• Sunday, 11/18 - day at sea - I camped out on a lounge chair on the top deck, listened to my ipod, read my book and got some sun... aaahh.. relaxing!
  

• Monday, 11/19 - San Juan, Puerto Rico - Carrie and I were really bummed to learn that our "Snuba" excursion (like snorkeling but you can swim deeper) was cancelled.. as we didn't like any of the other options, we opted to just go ashore and explore on our own - so Sarah, Carrie and I hopped on a free trolley that took us around Old San Juan - we stopped off at 2 forts and met Mom & Dad at the restaurant Kiril (our waiter from Bulgaria) told us invented the pina coladas.. we tested them and they were GOOD!

• Tuesday, 11/20 - St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Island - Sarah, Carrie and I went on a snorkeling excursion to the island of St. John, so we hopped on a boat and in 30 minutes were in beautiful St John - then bussed over to Trunk Bay, the 2nd most beautiful beach in the world (according to whom I can't recall, #1 was in Australia) - saw some cool fish and coral - hope the underwater camera pics come out ok

• Wednesday, 11/21 - Dominican Republic - Chrissie, Sarah and I went on a Jeep excursion where we got to drive our own 4-wheel drive Jeep through the mud and dirt roads of the DR - ours was the last in the line of 7 Jeeps - we saw men working on a road, farm animals, learned about Dominican produce (bananas, coffee), hiked to a waterfall, and went to a beach - unfortunately the surf was too rough to swim.. the best part was when we passed the ATV tour group and I hit a puddle that splashed them - how FUN! :)

• Thanksgiving Day, 11/22 - Labadee, Haiti - went to Royal Caribbean's private beach - think Disney does a beach. All 7 of us took the tender boat and set up "camp" for the day - Elizabeth really loved playing in the sand - we tried to take her swimming but she wasn't loving that.. came back to the ship, showered and had a lovely turkey dinner that none of us had to cook!

• Friday, 11/23 - Chrissie and I got sick this morning, so we call this day "Black Friday", but not for the shopping... we saw on the tv that if we got sick we should go to Medical.. well unbeknownst to us if you have certain symptoms you end up in ISOLATION for 48 hours.. yep... we were confined to our cabin for the duration of the cruise! Big bummer! Elizabeth was moved into Sarah and Carrie's room, the connecting door was locked :( and our isolation began.. they had a special cleaning crew come into our cabin to change the linen and sanitize the room.. kinda made us feel like lepers! Even the room service people delivered our trays wearing gloves, and they weren't allowed in the room.. sigh.. so today was busy getting better and sleeping.. VERY glad we had a balcony!

• Saturday, 11/24 - Isolation day #2 - by this time Chrissie and I were feeling much better and were hopeful that because we didn't have any symptoms in the past 24 hours (oddly enough, no symptoms since before going to Medical!) that we could be released.. but no - the CDC was involved (yep, the Centers for Disease Control) - we had to fill out certain forms, so there was no getting out of our "detention".. the positive side of this is that we were able to rest and watch Oceans 13 about 4 times (it kept playing on the cruise tv). When the ship started to turn into the Chesapeake Bay it was cool watching the pilot boat come alongside the ship and drop off the "pilot", the guy who "drives" the ship over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel..

• Sunday, 11/25 - arrived back in Baltimore -Chrissie and I were released from isolation and able to mingle with the rest of the cruise folk just in time for breakfast. We were off the ship and in our cars by 9:30am, home by 11am!
  

When I got home I was sufficiently rested (thanks to the isolation) and full of energy, so I unpacked, did my laundry and started decorating the house for Christmas! By 2pm I was falling asleep on the couch to the classic holiday movie White Christmas.. sigh.. perfection - a Sunday snooze! :)

Last minute details...

You can really learn a lot about people by watching them deal with stress, or plan for a trip... my friend Laura is amused by the way I HAVE to get on the airplane as soon as I can - I just like to get settled, in my seat and all situated - guess I don't like a lot of surprises... my father, ever the be-prepared navy man, likes to check on things like tire pressure, adequate room in the car for luggage (pre-packing the car the night before is preferred) and the weather.. so he has e-mailed all of us this important bit o' info:

There are no tropical storms in the Atlantic or Caribbean. The forecast on Saturday for San Juan is temps in the mid-80s with a 30% chance of showers. Pretty much the same forecast for St. Thomas on Sunday.

In the WWJD-vein, how did Jesus prepare for trips? Well, before His big trip back Home He had quite a week - the Palm Sunday Triumphal Entry, teaching, and then the Last Supper, and spent His last night praying with His 3 best friends close by (ok, they fell asleep, but they were there).. I'm not seeing where Jesus was worried about packing, or the weather or if the donkey was up for the trip.. what He was interested in was relationships - people... a good reminder to focus on people - they are what's important, they are eternal, they can't be replaced....

but I'm still going to double-check my packing list -I can't calm the seas if it gets bumpy, so being able to pull the windbreaker on will be handy!! (and what's the point of getting all dressed up for formal night if you don't have your sparkley earrings or hair straightener, or should the hair be fluffy with curls?? hmm.. better pack both!)

Bon Voyage!

Extended family togetherness is on the agenda - my "original" family will be hopping on a cruise ship out of Baltimore on Friday for a Caribbean adventure that will last for 9 nights - we arrive back on Sunday after Thanksgiving...

• Mom just sent an e-mail that she has purchased a "Cruise Journal" for us all to write our thoughts in - this is similar to our "Holiday Journal" and "Montauk Journal" that has proved to be a source of a lot of funny "remember when" stories.
• When I first signed up for this and thought about sharing a cabin with Chrissie and the baby I was thinking no problem, babies are little.. umm, correction - babies are little, but they come with a LOT of stuff.. last night Chrissie was looking at a schematic of the cabin and trying to figure out where they were going to put the pack-n-play... and Elizabeth gets up EARLY.. but Aunt Jenny likes to sleep in.. uh oh, we could have our first issue! :)
  

Life Changes!

Well, I was going to start a whole new blog but then the thought of coming up with a catchy title and color theme was overwhelming, so I'm going to just catch up here!

Wow - 2007 has been a year of changes in my family:

• My parents relocated from new england to this area - so now the 6 of us live within 15 miles of each other for the first time since we were all under the same roof!

• My sister Chrissie brought home her daughter from Guatemala in May, giving my parents their first grandchild, and making her 3 sisters fabulous aunts! (there's a whole 'nother blog about this - see link to the right)
  

• I started dating Greg!

• My sister Sarah started dating Mike!

Yep! I have a boyfriend. I almost want to type that sentence again because it's so fun to say. Kinda like that Seinfield episode when Jerry had the fake wife (Courtney Cox) to get a discount on drycleaning - he was telling Kramer it was just so fun to start a sentence with "My wife..".. well Jerry, it's equally wonderful starting a sentence with "My boyfriend...". and it's a fun word to just throw into a conversation.. for a 30-something woman who had pretty much given up on a future of anything other than singleness it is a very great blessing to have this man in my life!

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
- Proverbs 13:12

So what's life been like with Greg? In a word - fabulous! My palm pilot now has a calendar, memo and task category of Greg, to record things like dates and trips, cute e-mails and ideas on where to go next. Here are some of the fun things we've done so far:

• been to a bunch of museums and gardens - Greg LOVES them - and if you think I'm slow in a museum you ain't seen nuttin' yet! Greg likes to get all the info he can! :)
• day trips to Annapolis (actually got to walk thru the house I lived in from 7th to 9th grades! it was empty and unlocked!), Chesapeake City, Avalon (got off the beach literally moments before the downpour started!), New York City (went to see the opera Carmen at Lincoln Center!)
  
• took up cycling! but not with the flashy shirts - we just like riding around on the bikes, looking at pretty houses or parks
• taught Greg how to rollerblade.. I won't say it was his favorite thing, but he was a good sport about it!
• went canoing
  
• enjoyed the Scottish Games - watched a dog heard sheep - amazing you can train a dog to do that! Greg even found my family tartan - I didn't even know we had one - go figure!
  
• went to a horse show! Greg grew up riding, competing in horse shows and even worked as a cowboy out west one summer - cool guy!
• in June we traveled to North Carolina where I met Greg's fabulous mother and spent a lovely weekend in their beautiful town
• in July we drove to Va Beach where I got to meet Greg's brother, sister-in-law and nephew. We stopped in Chincoteague for lunch, but didn't see any wild horses...
• in August it was a short drive to New Jersey to meet Greg's sister and her husband - they took us to their friend's restaurant that has THE BEST steamed mussels - it was all Greg could do to not pick up the bowl and drink the melted butter/garlic juice.. yum!
• in September I took Greg out to experience Montauk - we had a wonderful time - Dad cooked some great meals, we had perfect beach weather and it was fun to introduce him to all the fun traditions of our summer "condo"
• in October we completed Greg's "meet my family" tour by flying out to Arizona to meet Greg's other sister and her husband. We had a great time shopping in Mexico (where thankfully the dollar still has some strength!), touring Frank Lloyd Wright's winter place and looking at cactus (or is it cacti?).
  
• in November we're going to NYC for a weekend of Christmas festivities
  

As you can see it's been quite an exciting ride! :)