Enjoying the fall in Alabama

Hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was filled with good food and wonderful times spent with our families and friends.

Just wanted to start out the work week with some fall pictures from the Shoals:



Steve LOVES sunning on the porch.

Wil LOVES rolling in the grass.

I'm LOVING these fall colors.

Let the Christmas festivities begin!

If you know me, you know I've been decorating for Christmas since the week or two after Halloween! I'll get pictures posted soon!

Bama vs. LSU - A Day in Tuscaloosa

Well the BIG GAME is this weekend and I have to throw out a ROLL TIDE for all of y'all. Of course there's also the important holiday of Thanksgiving before the game. This year I'm thankful for a lot of things. It's been a challenging year, but I've decided that's a good thing.

Matt and I are blessed beyond measure. We have wonderful families, a good marriage, opportunities for travel, more food, shelter and transportation than we need and many many other small daily blessings. I am so very thankful for all of it. I am also VERY thankful we're heading home to Alabama this very afternoon to enjoy spending some time with our families.


I've been holding onto these pictures forever. I wanted to get the cruise photos posted before I moved on so I'm really late on these. Anyways, Matt and I went to Tuscaloosa the Saturday of our long weekend in Alabama. We didn't have tickets to the Bama/LSU game, but we were able to enjoy the crowds on the quad, take pictures and just (especially for me) enjoy being back on campus. I loved going to college at UA. I remember walking across the quad on a beautiful fall afternoon and hearing Denny Chimes strike the hour my first semester there. I thought nothing could get more collegiate than that.

Maggie is a graduate student at UA so we met up with her and Martin. We ended up snacking and watching the game at her apartment while she was actually at the game. It was a really fun day and we couldn't have asked for better football weather or a better football game!



Matt and Martin being good sports and wearing the colors of the good guys.

Denny Chimes

Me in front of my favorite entrance to Reece Pfifer. I spent many hours in the computers labs in the 3rd floor windows and the media center right up those stairs and through the door.

Martin, Maggie, me and Matt after the game. We celebrated on the Quad.

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

Hiking in Oak Mountain

After we got back from the cruise, just as we were getting back into the swing of work, Matt got the dates for a Ala. Bar ethics course he needed to take. He's actually exempt from taking the course because he's not a practicing attorney right now, but since he has to justify not taking the course every year and jump through hoops to do so, he decided to go ahead and take it. So I got to spend a long weekend in Alabama!!

On Friday afternoon, after we worked out of Andrea's apartment that morning, we headed to Oak Mountain for a hike with the dogs. It was GORGEOUS.

Moss

Trees and crisp blue sky.

We love the Great Outdoors

Puppies on the road

Don't worry, no cars were on this road.

Cruise - Day Six - Leaving Miami for Orlando

We got off the cruise ship around 8 am on Saturday and headed north to Orlando. We planned to enjoy Disney and watch some football in our hotel room. We headed to Hollywood Studios.

The Great Muppet Movie - preshow

Matt, browsing Star Wars toys

The Pixar lamp from their logo comes out to dance a few times a day. This robot is really amazing.

Then we headed to the hotel to enjoy a light supper and cheering for Alabama against TN...I don't' remember who Auburn played that day. After that amazing end to the game where I hugged the hotel TV and yelled, "I love you, Terrance Cody!!!" I was too excited to remember anything else from that night. Roll Tide!!

Cruise - Day Five - Grand Turk

Ok I'm going to try to get all these cruise posts up today.

Our 5th day was in Grand Turk of the Turks and Caicos. It was a spectacular place for snorkeling. We took a boat ride out to some small keys around the island for snorkeling and then after we got back we just walked right off the beach into some more reefs. My snorkel broke when we were on the beach but I had fun picking up pieces of sea glass and coral that were rolling in on the waves.

That night was our last night on the boat. We went out to breath in the fresh sea air one more time....

It was an amazing trip and one I'd go on again and again just to try out all the adventures in the ports of call.

Cruise - Day Four - Post Formal Dinner Dance

We went to a 50's 60's dance party after our formal dinner. It was fun to dance around to the oldies. We were the only people there so it was fun to get some pictures of the dance floor.


Ronnie and Karen

Dale and Ed

Me and Matt, not a perfect picture but I love it.

Ed, Dale, Ronnie and Karen: Cutting a rug.

Cruise - Day Four - Formal Night

After a hot day touring San Juan, it was time for our second formal dinner. We had some delicious food on this cruise and the formal nights were nights when the chefs really shined. Escargot, salmon, duck, prime rib, shrimp, and all kinds of tasty delicacies. By the end of the trip I was ready to get back to the less rich food I'm used to, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it to the fullest on this trip.

Bowtie Guys (Ed and Matt)

Dale and Ed pose before dinner.

Me and Matt pose before dinner.

Our veiw of the dining room.

Cruise - Day Four - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Day Four was spent in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We hired a local tour guide to drive us around and tell us all about Puerto Rico. It's a beautiful place. We went to Bacardi Rum to find out how rum was created and is made.

This is the main building of the factory. This tour wasn't like a winery where you get to see the actual making process, we really just toured a museum. Apparently, the secrets to Bacardi rum making are very well kept and will remain that way.

Matt on a fort in San Juan. This fort was used for some of the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean.

A mural of Ponce de Leon in the Puerto Rican capitol building.

The Cathedral de San Juan. One of the oldest cathedrals in the Western Hemisphere. This cathedral is located in Old San Juan and is also where Ponce de Leon is buried.

Sorry, this port of call was more of a geeky history lesson. Old San Juan was gorgeous. All the houses are different colors. There are tons of shops and it really gives you the feeling of having stepped back in time.

Cruise - Day Three - St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.

By Tuesday we were in St. Thomas, by far my favorite stop on this cruise and any other cruises I've been on. This island is AMAZING. The mountains, the colorful buildings, the reefs, the water....it was all so so beautiful. We went snorkeling in Magen's Bay on the opposite side of the island from the dock the morning we arrived. It was a spectacular beach. Magen's Bay is one of the top 10 beaches in the world and I can see why. We snorkeled for a couple of hours at least.

This is the view of Magen's Bay from the top of the mountain you cross to get to the other side of the island. This picture is from Wikipedia, but our taxi driver stopped and let us snap pictures of this view.

Again, this is another picture from Wikipedia, but it could have been taken the exact day we were there. It was THIS gorgeous. We were incredibly lucky.

After snorkeling, we came back to the ship, ate lunch, showered and then headed back out on the island to visit Paradise Point. This is a little tourist trap on the mountain above the dock area. It's a little expensive for the trip up there but it was the simplest way for us to get a great view of the island.

Riding the sky tram up the hills.

From the top, looking down on our cruise ships and St. Thomas. One of the buildings down there is St. Thomas University....how come no one mentioned this to me when I was applying for colleges?

The whole cruise crew: Me, Matt, Dale, Karen, Ronnie and Ed.

I LOVED this island and I really want to come back to vacation just here. It was gorgeous. We passed a retirement home as we headed over to Magen's Bay and Matt and I joked that we'd live in an old folks home if we could be on St. Thomas when we retire. ;-)

Cruise - Day Three - Fun day at Sea

That Monday was our "Fun Day at Sea" - It was spent sleeping in, getting some sun and doing tons of reading and tetris playing. It was gorgeous as we sped through the waters. We couldn't have asked for better weather on this trip.

Our first formal dinner was that night. Matt looked very handsome in his vest.

I love these blue colors on him.

Ed and Dale in their cruise formal wear.

Matt and I in our room after a delicious meal.

There's nothing I like better on my vacation than doing tons of sleeping and reading. I was able to get a nap in EVERY afternoon on this cruise. It felt GREAT! Plus I was able to enjoy another favorite pastime (yes, I consider napping a pastime): READING! I had picked up several books from Amazon and the used book store to keep me entertained. I started with The Magicians which is kind of a Harry Potter like story but in College and then went on to Lonesome Dove. I've heard about the Lonesome Dove stuff my whole life but I'd never read the book. I started it late in the cruise so I'm still trying to get into the first few chapters, but so far, I like it.

Anyone have any other recommendations for reading? I'm going to need some winter reads for when the holidays are over and I'm missing the hustle and bustle.

Cruise - Day Two - Nassau

Our first day was in Nassau, Bahamas. I love this city. We were supposed to go to Castaway Cay, but storms in the area forced us to detour to Nassau instead. No problem for me. It was a chilly 75 degrees in the Bahamas that day but we didn't care. We shopped in the straw market, went to my favorite linen store down a back alley that Matt and I found last time we were there and then took a taxi over to Atlantis for more sightseeing and shopping. A very FUN day.

Look at that GORGEOUS blue/green water. My favorite part of the Carribbean.

Downtown Nassau. A beautiful area.

The dome inside Atlantis.

Fish in the aquarium in Atlantis.