Finally back on land!This one's a fatty.

We made it safely home from our 8 day trip to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel and man am I done with traveling for a while.We had so much fun.The food was great, the service even better.They had a nice gym, that I used the first 2 days, then after that I just became the stair nazi instead.It's not easy running on a tredmill watching a moving horizon!They had tons of stuff going on all the time, and oh man a 24hr soft serve ice cream machine....and 24 hr room service......Here's a plethora of pics starting with pics from the ship:

Jamaica (=SCARY)

We took a bus an hr and 15min to Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville island beach thing and Gavin was not a happy camper.The driver drove like he had nothing to live for, speeding up and passing people on corners and hills on their windy narrow roads, crazy mon'!But the tour guide lady kept reassuring us to pick our jaws back up because is' no problem!Definitely an area of poverty.We didn't deal with any of the locals trying to sell us drugs since the tiny beach was private.FYI the picture of the beach was in no way altered so the colors you see are what it looked like.The water was so beautiful, and there were some cool water trampolines.A long day, but fun.And hot.Grandma Maguire got Gavin to sleep twice that day, a miracle.He was passed out on a chair with loud music playing and everything.

Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman was beautiful.A very commercialized tourist spot.Pretty clean.Reallllly hot and humid, uck.That day we took a shorter excursion right off the ship to do a little submarine thing since it wasn't an in the sun activity.The tour guide jumped in the water and fed the fish and had them all over her, so she took them to each window.Gavin loved it and kept saying fishy and water.We also got to see some shipwrecks.Then we were ready to get back to the very airconditioned ship.

Last stop-Cozumel:

Dirty dirty 'residents of mexico'.Aj and I walked around a little bit while his grandma watched Gavin.We saw the same 5 shops over and over selling the same junk.And there are like 500 jewelry stores everywhere, and perfume/cologne places all over.They make you think you're getting an awesome deal but it's nothing better than here.Everywhere we walked they'd say "ohhh honeymooners we have honeymoon special for you today'.I didn't want to explain so we just smiled.We made the mistake of going down an alley to a 'flea market' which was very dimlit and had a curtained off 'massage room', which on the way to it you pass a little bar with porn playing on the tv.Needless to say we didn't buy anything. I did like the horsies little sombrerro though.

After we got off the ship in Galveston we stayed in Houston for the night to split up our traveling and while we were there I got to see my Tara!She and her family drove 45 minutes to come see us at our hotel.It was so good to see such a comforting,friendly, familiar face!XOXO thanks Tara!
MY READINGS FOR THE MONTH:

So have you ever looked at someone or something and said "Oh I'm not a (blank) kind of person, but good for them."? Last year my (blank) was running, and I changed that around, tonight I went on a 4.75 mile run just because it felt good.And now my (blank) is reading.Those of you close to me know I am NOT a reader.Or so I allow my head to convince me.I will do a fitness magazine here and there but it better have a lot of pictures and charts.The last few weeks I have decided I want to change that, so I will.But I can't just jump into reading with lovey dovey novels etc, I need info, facts.I made one exception for the Alchemist, which was really good, I read it on the ship.Here's a quote from it I liked:




“People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them. We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good but weren’t, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever hidden in the sands. Because, when these things happen, we suffer terribly…..Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him. We… seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them- the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.”

The other book I've started is fierce conversations.It was a wallstreet journal bestseller, I'm not far enough into it yet to know how I feel about it, but it's motivating none the less. And the third book I'm very excited about. I've been thinking for a while, 'Oh WHEN we get settled somewhere I want to go back to school and learn more about web design'...that WHEN always gets me.So I decided to make that WHEN=NOW and just buy a book and teach myself.$30 is a lot cheaper than a college class! We'll see how it goes, but I'm looking forward to it.

So that's my challenge for this month, what is your (blank) that you can change?

Did you see Alicia Sacramone totally get robbed of a medal the other day?I feel so bad for her all around.First of all it was her fault USA lost the gold medal and got the silver because she messed up on the balance beam, so then she works really hard at the vault and she did awesome, but loses her spot from some chinese 10yr olds that didn't even hit their landing!Rubbish I tell you.How can a country that does THIS: get so many medals.My favorite is the elmo that says 'crap your hands!'Got those from Engrish.com, too funny.


Alicia may not have a gold medal but she has buns of steel, which brings me to a late Fitness Friday:Baby Got Back


This one comes from my Oxygen magazine this month.It's pretty simple, but gets the job done.

Wide-Stance Squat:
Stand with your feet two to three feet apart, your toes pointing out. Hold a dumbbell vertically with both hands between your legs. Keep your head forward, your back straight and your core engaged. Squat down on a count of two and rise back up on a count of two.Remember to distribute weight throughout the foot and heel.






Eat This not That: (this comes from Men's Health Magazine)
Eat This!
Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Side Salad and Vinaigrette
390 calories
10 g fat
950 mg sodium

Not That!
Chicken Caesar Salad
800 calories
45 g fat
1,700 mg sodium






"Salt binges can lead you to retain more water than the Hoover Dam. This one should be obvious. With parmesan cheese, fried croutons, salty dressing and anchovies, chicken Caesar salad is one of the most sodium-packed foods out there. (Versions at certain sit-down chains can contain more than 1,900 mg of sodium!) But it’s not just the salt; Caesar ranks right up there with taco salads as one of the most misbegotten “health” foods out there. Some versions at sit-down chain restaurants have more than 1,000 calories, 75 grams of fat and nearly 2,000 milligrams of sodium. Chicken can be a great option, though, because it’s a lean meat with protein that fills you up and helps you fight belly fat. Grilled chicken sandwiches can give you the same full feeling as the Caesar salad, without the huge caloric load and bulging belly. Add a side salad with vinaigrette dressing, and you’ve got a more complete meal with only about 200 extra milligrams of sodium."




Fast Fact:Wendys burgers were recently rated #1 in the fast food world by Zagat, the venerable restaurant rating guide. The fact that their beef is never frozen may account for this distinction.


Did you know?:At Pizza Hut, both the blue cheese and ranch sauces that come with the wings have twice the calories and 16 more grams of fat than a serving of the wings themselves.





And last but not least, the funny video for the day.You've probably already had it forwarded to you, but it's "who nailed my flip flops down":