The last day for errands.

So today is my last day for crazy running around. Let me first tell you about yesterday. Yesterday I went to the Palisades Mall and spent a whopping 7+ hours there! I told you it was a big one- 2nd biggest in the country. I did very well. I bought quite a bit of clothes. I found both Ginger tablets and ginger candy- just in case any of us get sick. I bought a couple rings and necklaces, bought my dad a bunch of clothes and bought my mom her two formal dresses. (i gave them both a cruise shopping spree for father's/mother's day) So we all did pretty good. I also called and got Rocky an appointment for Monday at the vet. I really don't want to take her to the vet the day we're leaving and have a bunch of suitcases out, but that's what you get when you're a major procrastinator. So today's agenda was to take Rocky to get a haircut at 6pm and that's about it. I was going to clean all day. Last minute decision, I went ahead and got my hair cut. I went to a salon I had only been to one other time quite a while ago. I'm trying to find a new stylist. My former stylist has a really annoying schedule, or lack there of, so I want someone with better hours. I actually haven't gotten my hair cut in almost a year. I have been trying to grow it out, so it never really hit me how long it had been until recently. So I go to this salon and ask the girl to take 1-2 inches off. My hair was just too long! It was down to my waist... curly! It was long. So she starts cutting and she has my chair so low, I can only see from my chin up. BIG mistake! She cut off 5-6 inches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO mad. My hair is now the length it was a year ago when I started to grow it out!!! Now it looks good, but I'm not about to be straightening my hair on a hot/ humid/rainy cruise! So I'll be wearing it curly, which means I loose like another inch in length. I dislike my hair curly when it's this short. Ugh! The joys of being a woman. I know it's just hair and it will grow, but this really upset me. I cry like twice a year. After today, I can't cry again until Jan to keep up with my quota. I literally started to cry twice over my haircut. Let's say it together... "I need a vacation". I just don't understand how someone can see their client hold out their hair, with their fingers showing how much they mean, hear "1-2 inches" and go ahead and cut off 5-6!! The more I think about it, the angrier I get. I should go back with a ruler with a bow on it and tell her, "A gift from me to you." Okay. I'm done now. Well, no, I'll probably be whining a lot about the length of my hair (or lack there of!!!!) for most of the vacation, but I'll keep it to just my parents, as they have to love me. Even when I'm acting like a spoiled brat. Well, I'm off to clean and pack. I actually clean best when I'm angry, so this is good. Thanks lady! Is it Monday night yet?


Edit: In my rage I forgot to post the most important thing.

Please take some time today to remember the families and friends of the victims and survivors of 9/11. I know I can still picture how beautiful that day was and how quickly hate changed everything. This may seem cliche or cheesy to you, but it's not! If you do feel that way, you really need to take some time for self evaluation.

God bless America and the men and women who give their lives every day to protect us and our freedom that our forefathers fought so hard for! I <3 America!

It's here!!!

If ever I needed a vacation... this is the exact moment. Monday can't come soon enough! Can I just tell you... I hate people. Okay, not my loyal blog readers, or my family or my friends, but everyone else is just driving me insane! I swear working with the public has got to be the worst thing on the planet. Ugh. I need a vacation. This last week of work has been the craziest roller coaster ride of emotions and feelings for me. I'm gonna tell you right now, I don't know about where you live, but NY has the most spoiled, entitled, paranoid, ungrateful, sue-happy people in the world! Seriously! Can you imagine a world without people, well THOSE people?? Now don't get me wrong, no one's perfect & I'll be the first to say I have my moments. I'm not talking about the everyday person here. I'm talking about the type of people that when you see them coming you run the opposite way. You know the type of person that if they were walking down the street with their untied shoelace dragging on the ground and when they walk by you, you accidentally step on their shoelace, they fall & then sue you for everything you're worth, due to the mental anguish from their embarrassment of falling. THAT type of person. Ugh. I tell you what, I shower before going to work everyday and I feel like I need a shower after work just to wash off the ick. The worst part about those type people is, when you deal with them, they wear you down so much you start to become like them! Enter my 26 day European vacation ick removal plan. People are always amazed at how often I vacation, but this is why. Dealing with these people all day, add on top of that I'm salary, so that basically means YOU'RE ALWAYS WORKING, even while at home and on vacations. I live for vacations. I have to, otherwise I'll end up like them- the ickies or Steven Slater- I don't condone his actions, but I sure do get it. After 28 years of dealing with people flying in & out of JFK, I think I would have done worse!! I have to watch myself. I have to keep my spirit sweet and my heart soft, so that means... vacation!! 

3 days and a wake-up!! I am so excited! Even more exciting... my Kindle got here just in time! I've already spent almost $100 on books! Some books I had to buy again, since I already had them as paperback, but I don't mind. I love the thing so much already. I was surfing Facebook on it! Anything that I can go on the internet with is a friend of mine. Tomorrow is my big shopping spree which hopefully means I can finish up packing. I want to get my hair cut, but I'm trying to find a new stylist. Anyone know what that is like???? "Hi. Can you cut hair? I mean good though?" Who's gonna ask that & even if you do get enough nerve to ask something like that, who in the right mind is gonna say, "Uh, actually I suck at cutting hair. You should try my competition in the next chair. They're awesome!" I digress. Saturday night I have to bring Rocky for a haircut, which reminds me I was supposed to call & have her squeezed in at the vet today. Oops! My brother & sister-in-law are staying at the house with her, so she'll be good. I have a manicure, pedicure & wax scheduled for Sunday, so that means I want all the heavy lifting & scrubbing done by Sunday morning. I've also been trying to help with the jet lag, so I've been waking up at 4am (10am Dublin) all weeks and now tomorrow, I'm gonna shoot for 3:30am. God help me. 4am hasn't been bad, I used to do 4:30am for work, but 3:30am is not morning, that's night time. No one should be awake at that hour! I still have quite a bit of odds and ends to finish up, but nothing too demanding. It's getting exciting! Especially knowing I only have a short day at work tomorrow. Shopping here I come!

Plans for Port Days.

I am 6 days (& a wake-up) away! I cannot believe how fast it's coming. Actually, I can believe it. With how busy I've been it makes sense. I feel like no matter what happens on this trip I'm going to enjoy it even more than I normally would. Any other vacation I've been counting down to, when I hit about 2 weeks out it feels like life has slowed to a crawl & all I can think about is the trip. This trip, I've been praying for the days to last longer, due to my worked obligations & deadlines. Hard to imagine, but I also am not even thinking about the trip. My cousin was talking to me yesterday & said how she was so excited for me & asked if I was excited... I had no idea why she thought I should be excited! Burnt-out, table for one. So I've got it figured out. If you want your trip to come quicker, schedule it for 3 days after the biggest work deadline of the year - that trip will sneak up on yah so fast!

Plans for Port Days.

 Gibraltar, UK: Normally I never schedule excursions with the cruise line. They always overcharge you an insane amount. For Gibraltar, however, I did. For us to see what we want it would cost us nearly the same as if we just took a cab. Other factors that had me go with DCL's excursion was that if we take a cab, you have to wait for it to fill completely to leave. So we could get off the ship, find a taxi & then sit in it for 1-30 minutes waiting for the driver to fill his taxi, which is actually like a mini-bus. Plus, if we go with DCL, they send their ships photographers on the excursion with you to take photos. That was a big plus for us, since we are buying the photo cd. We want as many photos on that thing as possible! Another plus, is DCL excursion people are the first off in the morning. So we'll be taking the first of the morning tour that leaves at 7:45am. It will take us up The Rock of Gibraltar where we'll get to take in the sights, see a gorgeous cave & spend some time with special friends... stay tuned. We'll get back to the ship at about 10-10:30am. We'll probably shop a little in town before getting back on board. After some shopping we'll go back on the ship for a nice, quite lunch & then send my dad off on another excursion that is right up his alley. He'll be going on the Fortress Tour, where he'll have a walking tour of the World War II tunnels carved in the rock. There are 30 miles of interconnected tunnels in the Rock of Gibraltar. Hopefully he won't be walking all of them! My mom & I aren't going. It's $55 per person and really, we're not men, so we're not into the whole WWII history like every man in America seems to be. We didn't want to waste the money to go. Plus, I think that would be a little too much walking for my mom in one day.

Madeira, Portugal: I have scheduled a private tour of Madeira. It's a 4.5 hour tour taking us to see all the sights. This tour is going to finish with a bang...stay tuned! Once the tour is over, we'll probably head back on board, have lunch, then probably get back off the ship & do a little shopping. You'll notice a pattern of us eating on board & not in town. I was a lot more adventurous & loved to try the local cuisine. However, a TERRIBLE meal in Egypt that had me sick for many days of my trip has really made me a lot more timid. So if I can eat somewhere where I know I'll be okay (and it's already paid for), than I happily head there. Prima donna here, remember?

St. Maarten: This day we'll be split up again for the morning. My mom & I will either be sleeping, shopping, swimming or whatever we feel like doing. While I'm treating my dad to a special excursion. My dad's dream is to own a sailboat. I'm sending him for sailing lessons at home, so when I saw this excursions, I knew it was for him. My mom on the other hand is terrified of (small) boats, so we didn't want her left alone, so I'll be staying with her while my dad goes on the Twelve Meter Regatta. This is an excursion with DCL, but I couldn't pass it up for him. Basically, you get to become a crew member on a sail boat (vessel, to be correct) that's sailed in America's Cup. My dad is really excited to do this one. So I'm happy for him. I swear, the man has no hobbies, so if I gotta pay $5,000 for him to actually do something that he enjoys, I'd do it. I'm still trying to figure out what he's going to do with himself during our 5 sea days straight. Should be interesting.

Tortola, B.V.I.: I don't have any plans for Tortola. We'll probably just get off the ship, walk around a bit, maybe find a taxi & do a little in-prompt-to tour of the island. Maybe stop at a beach. I really have no plans for Tortola. It's just another caribbean island. Really, you've seen one, you've seen them all. Plus Tortola is not really a shopping island, so that really is a damper for me, but I know my dad will be thrilled!

Castaway Cay: Our final port is one of my favorites. It's Disney's private island, Castaway Cay (pronounced "key"). This is a small island in the Bahamas that Disney owns, not leases like other cruise companies, but owns. It's an amazing place. It has three beaches, family beach, teen beach & my personal favorite, Serenity Bay, the adult only beach. Serenity Bay is like heaven on earth. The beaches have umbrellas, lounge chairs, those short chairs that have you sitting in the water, private cabanas & best of all, hammocks! They also have water sports, fishing, sting ray encounters, a huge BBQ buffet, the character come out, parasailing, bike rentals... the list goes on. It's amazing! If you click on the picture to the left you will see something that makes the island even more special. In the background you will see the home of the Black Pearl, the actual ship used in the Pirates of the Caribbean Movie. Unfortunately, Johnny Depp is not still aboard. That's probably a good thing, though. Can you imagine??? Dear God. You wouldn't get me off that island, that's for sure! We have no official plans for Castaway Cay. We'll probably end up over at Serenity Bay. I guess you guys will just have to wait & see. I'll leave you with my favorite picture from Castaway Cay... yes it's me in the picture.

Well, that's it. I have told you my plans for the entire trip, starting with Ireland & Spain & ending with Castaway Cay. I do also have post cruise plans with family, a stop over at Disney World for their food & wine festival & then plans to visit friends over in the panhandle, but there's really nothing too exciting planned for those days. I will post about our two days at WDW, but I have no plans for those days as of yet.

If you're just joining me, you can look back through my post to get a better idea of this, now 26 day(!!!!!!!!!!) trip. If you don't want to subject yourself to that much rambling, I understand. So in short, I am taking a 26 day trip with my parents (actually they're going with me) to Ireland & Spain, then I'm boarding Disney's cruise ship, the Magic, for a 14 day cruise, beginning in Spain & ending in Florida. I will be reporting back here daily & depending on how the internet connection is, I'll be posting lots of pictures. You are more than welcome to join me on this trip of a lifetime.

Ahhhh! I leave in 6 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good God! It's September already!!!

Where has the time gone?! It's September! I'm 11 days and a wake up away! WOW! I feel so unprepared... but I'm not. Ok, so clothes wise I'm unprepared. I have no idea what I'm packing when it comes to clothes. I have my two formal dresses and I have my one semiformal dress. Really it's my clothes for dinner that I'm not sure of. I have planned the day of Friday, Sept 10th as my shopping day. I'm going to go with my mom & we're not coming home until we have everything we need... and more. I need clothes, but nothing else. My parents have clothes, but nothing else. You may think that I am waiting until the last second & you are right. Work has been INSANE and I can't even think about anything not work related until Wednesday, a week from today. I'm not concerned though. We live about 45 minutes from the Palisades Mall, America's 2nd largest mall. You may have heard about it if you watched Rosie O'donnell's old talk show. She lived in the area and there were many rumors that the mall was sinking. SHe was always talking about it until the builder finally came on the show to refute the allegations & assure that it is not sinking.  Now that we got that important info out of the way. I don't know, I guess I'm a rambler tonight. Anyway. We'll be going to the Palisades Mall. If the 2nd largest mall in our country doesn't have all that we need, we're in trouble! They even have a Target, BJ's & Home Depot... good thing, 'cause I'm short on hammers & you can't go on a cruise without a hammer?? Jeez. You'd think the mall was paying me for advertising or something. My point in short... we are shopping in a giant mall 2 days (and a wake up) before we leave and there is no way we shouldn't leave with everything we need... and then some. Now onto more important things. I finally received our pirate t-shirts and they're all correct! Finally. It took three tries. The positive thing is, I'm selling the wrong ones on ebay. So if you liked my pirate shirts, watch for them on ebay. I also received my leg, security wallet. I wrote my tour guide company to ask them just how much I need to worry about pick-pocketing in Barcelona. They told me that I would have nothing to worry about during the day, especially with the fact that we'll be with a tour guide. They said that you have to be careful at night, especially on Las Ramblas (popular street). They said not to carry a lot of extras. They also said it wasn't as much of a problem as the internet makes it out to be. So I bought the leg wallet for our night in Barcelona when we'll be walking Las Ramblas to get to and from our dinner & show. The dinner is already paid, but I want to have our passports with us just in case and a little extra cash for possible souvenirs. So I'll have it... better safe than sorry. All of our excursions are booked and ready. I have printed out the menu for the place we're eating at for lunch on our first day. We may be slightly tight on time so I want us to be able to already know what we want when we walk in the door. Let's see what else. I found out that at our hotel in Dublin to get electricity into the outlet in our room we have to insert our room key into a slot by the door to activate it. Good to know, 'cause I'm sure we'd be totally lost without knowing that. I still have to order more euros. I've been carefully watching the rates to get the best rate I can. They arrive in 2 days, so I still have time. I still have to alert my CC & bank that I'm going away. I've made 3 copies of each of our passports. I've also checked-in to our cruise. I'm still waiting on my Kindle. They still haven't shipped it, but I checked last week and if you order that day, they said they'd ship out the 17th, so I ordered two weeks prior which means my Kindle should be shipping out by the end of this week. I have 2 day shipping, so I still have some time. I just wish it would come already! Well, I think that's it for now. Not a very entertaining post, I know, but what can I say? Life has been crazy lately. My next post will be about our 5 port day plans. How exciting!