Back from Mexican Paradise

We're back from Cancun safe and sound!

For some reason there were a couple of things that took us by surprise in Mexico.

Starting with the not so good things:

1. Mexico has CRAZY NASTY humidity! Ok so that should not have come as a surprise, but I guess we just didn't think about it.
2. The Mexican sun is much much stronger than even the Phoenix sun we'd come so accustomed to.
3. Mexican chocolate and butter is just not very good. Good thing I found me a place to buy Snickers bars or I don't know what I would have done.

And then the good things that took us by surprise:

1. The service at our resort was spectacular.
2. Our concierges were very good looking guys! And so helpful.
3. The beach was just gorgeous, all the time.
4. They had petit fours waiting for us each night in our room, yum!
5. The restaurants had the most superb dinner entrees, we were never disappointed.
6. The resort's on-site entertainment was really great.
7. The wireless internet connection at the hotel was very dependable, we were able to check in on Blackjack through the puppy camp's webcam every day.

On to the pictures . . .

Check out our room and the amazing view!




We called the trip our anniversary trip, although it wasn't really, that's not until September. But the timing was right with just having moved and not starting work yet so we took advantage while we could. It was actually within a day or two of the 11 year anniversary of our first kiss. So it counts. There were SO many honeymooners there it was funny! We were constantly asked if we'd just gotten married. It was a fun time, although many of the other couples were honeymooners we were all right around the same age. And we all had one thing in common: all of us were nursing sunburns at some point or another during our stays.

Here are our legs (unknowingly) burning the first day on the amazing beach.



We were so good about putting on sunscreen and re-applying but that Mexican sun and sand just had it in for us. We were nursing our sunburned legs and faces for the next few days. Here we are the morning after "laying out" by the shaded pool. I've never gotten a sunburn on my upper legs like this one. It hurt to even use the restroom!





A couple of the days quick rainstorms passed through. We all just stayed put and waited it out while trying to keep our things dry under towels. The rain was nice and refreshing.



Here we are one night, after much effort to cover up our burns and make ourselves presentable in public. I even put some powder on Steve so his sunburned face wouldn't shine too much.



There was nightly entertainment. This was the crazy fire show.



We came back to our room each day to these fun towel animals:







The view out the opposite side of the hotel. There was a lagoon and a little kayak rental shack that I'm pretty sure these five mexican guys lived in. We never saw them not sitting at the table outside, not even at 1am or 5am.





The amazing infinity pool.




Dinner at the Oriental restaurant one night. I even tried the sushi. My favorite were the banana rolls (no fish).




We got up early one morning to watch the sunrise on the beach. It was like the movies, so beautiful!




One day we took a tour bus to Tulum to see the old Mayan ruins. The tour bus stopped by this funny little souvenir shop. Doesn't Steve just fit right in?



It was ridiculously hot, I wasn't sure I'd make it through the tour. Our tour guide was this cute little mexican guy but I just did not care enough about the history to make it through the heat.






Thankfully at the end of the tour there was a beach. We all stripped down and jumped in. It was such a pretty beach and the water was perfect. And we'd brought our disposable waterproof camera.





When we got out and went to get our things we found these iguanas taking over our side of the beach!




Our last day in Mexico was by far the best. We had a couple of spa treatments included in our package. The scalp treatment was SO NICE. It was like a head massage combined with a really nice hair treatment for 30 minutes. It was even more relaxing than the back massage.

After the spa we went out to the beach and found some guys to take us parasailing. SO FUN!!! I wanted to go out again as soon as they brought us in.



Pictures taken of us from the boat:





Pictures from the waterproof camera we took up with us. Look for the big sea turtle on the bottom right of the first picture below!





Then it was off to the pool for a while and then a romantic dinner on the beach. The food at this resort was so good. Dinner was always just amazing.




And they always had the cutest fruity drinks.



All in all we had a great time and can't wait to plan our next vacation!

I love you and then I hate you

We went to the DMV last week to register our car and get CA drivers licenses. We made appointments online and they were ready for us when we walked in the door. It was really great! I've NEVER had such an easy time at a DMV visit in my life! This was my 5th time getting a new license. In fact, I've never had the chance to get my license renewed because we've never lived in the same state long enough to do so.

Anyway, back to the story. I received my original license in California when I was 16, however it expired more than 10 years ago so I had to start from scratch and take the written test. Blah. I'll never understand why they ask some of those questions. If it were my test I would just keep it to the basics and ask: Are drivers allowed to tailgate? NO! Should drivers be courteous on the roads? YES! Do we follow all signs and signals? YES! Do we pull over when a police officer turns his lights on behind us? YES! Good, now here's your license. Seriously though, I've been driving since I was 16, do I really need to take the written test all over again? It's not like the California road rules are so different from other states. Red still means stop and green still means go.

I passed the written test just fine but there was another test I failed. The dreaded vision test. I have been barely squeaking by for years on this test. But California tests differently than other states. Not only do you have to have 20/40 vision on both eyes together, you also have to have 20/40 on each eye separately. Without glasses. Apparently I passed the together test and my right eye tested 20/40 but my left eye was like 20/100+. Oh boy. They even let me stick my head in this little machine to do a more extensive test just to make sure. Failed that one too. You know it's bad when they ask you to read line 3 and not only can you not read any of the letters but you can's even tell which is line 3! My license will now forever read "CORRECTIVE LENSES NECESSARY." Argh!! I have been trying to avoid this since I first realized my vision was going downhill 6 or 7 years ago. I blame it on all the spreadsheets. I do have a pair of glasses and I do use them every once in a while. Like when I know I'll have trouble seeing long distances, if there's going to be a projector screen in a work meeting...in interviews because I figure glasses make people look older and smarter, right? But one place I hate to wear glasses is in the car. I've never gotten used to them. Headlights glare on them and I feel like I can't see as well with them on when trying to change lanes and such because of the reflections. But I can definitely see better with them on, for sure. I can actually read the names on the street signs, that's a plus. But I don't want someone telling me I HAVE to wear them ALL the time when driving! Now if I get pulled over and am not wearing them I can be ticketed.

So that's my story. In and out of the DMV in under an hour with our licenses and our car registered.

I love the California DMV!

But now I'm just positive I picked up a flu virus on that eye machine. Steve and I have been miserably fighting it ever since (and with company at our house!) and better be over it by Tuesday because we're finally taking our trip to Mexico!

I hate that nasty germ-filled California DMV!

The Innards

Ok, the house is finally beginning to have some kind of order though it's still a work in progress. But I figure it always will be to an extent so I gave in and took some pictures tonight. Let's take a little virtual tour, shall we?

First, here is the shared garage entrance, then our private garage. We're down to one car for now and it's great to have the extra storage space!



Here's the little storage room just inside. Steve has been assigned the task of retrieving all items from the garage and storage room. Spiders have been spotted down there and I will not be rummaging through boxes and such at the risk of coming into contact with one of those nasty 8-legged creatures. On the bright side, Steve now has a great place to hide my Christmas and birthday presents . . .
(Sidenote: We lived 2 years in Phoenix and NOT ONCE did I have a bad spider experience. For that reason alone I may convince Steve to move back at some point).


Next we go up a few stairs to the front door entrance.


Then take a left up two flights of stairs to our main living area (technically the 3rd floor).


The kitchen is right at the top of the stairs, very open concept. We got lucky, this kitchen is my dream kitchen! And finally a fridge with a water dispenser! I've been waiting for one of these all my 29 years, I can now die happy.


Off the kitchen is the laundry room.


Then the living area. Steve finally got his big screen as a graduation present.


We decided to do away with our dining room set to have more room in the living area for the dog and for a better thru-way to the balcony.


Our new "dining room."


Blackjack's "room."


Our HUGE balcony! This was one of the major reasons we chose this place. Although we had a little warmer weather in mind when imagining sipping cold drinks in patio chairs! A high of 67 in June is just not going to cut it. Notice the high glass sound walls. Blackjack loves this balcony, he could sniff around all day. I'm going to have to videotape the noise he makes when he sees or hears a dog passing on the street below. It's the funniest thing, he sounds like he's whining and crying at the same time and then he books it down the stairs to the front door thinking he'll be able to meet up with the other dog. It's too cute.


View from the balcony looking south. That's 580 in the distance.


View from the balcony looking west. Our street has 3 lanes which was meant to accomodate the traffic the big shopping center across the street was to bring in. However the project has been put on hold so as of now there is only a Lowe's and a Buffalo Wild Wings which results in very few cars passing our place.


Back to the house . . . off the kitchen are a couple more stairs to the half bath.



More stairs to the 4th level.


Round the corner landing and then just a couple more stairs . . . you can make it!


To the right you'll see the first full bath.


A little to the left you'll find our office slash gym slash guest room slash miscellaneous whatever room. And I have to say, we are pretty awesome. We managed to fit a desk, a bike, a treadmill, a couch, and a tv all in one spare bedroom. With room for an air mattress in the middle. Every inch of this space is being utilized.


And to those of you who have missed Kramer welcoming you into our home . . . he's ba-ack!


The master bedroom. Please excuse the mess, this room is a work in progress.


Another balcony off the master bedroom.


The master bath.




Whew! So those are the innards of our place. Do you realize you just climbed 49 stairs during our little virtual tour? Congratulations, give yourself a breather. And if you're ever in the bay area visiting, give us a call! Or better yet, come stay at our place if you're willing to put up with the stairs . . . and the dog.

Our new home

This is the outside of our new place in Dublin, CA. We're about 40 miles from San Francisco but just 10 minutes or so from Steve's new office. These are townhome style condos. Ours is the one in the middle that has the covered 2nd floor balcony and uncovered 3rd floor balcony. It's actually 4 stories since the garage is on the bottom level. We're getting our exercise, but even better, Blackjack is getting his exercise running up and down the stairs all day every time he hears a noise.


This is the view looking down the stairs. It's a much more menacing view looking up the stairs from the front door. Especially for the movers. Sorry movers! You did a great job! And sorry about the one mover that started having a burning sensation in his chest while his arm went numb. Yeah, scary. I guess moving a treadmill and queen-sized bedroom set up to the 4th floor can do that to you.


We got the keys to our new place a few days before the movers came with our things. The place was FREEZING! I mean, it's one thing for the outside high to only get in the high 70's but it's unacceptable for the inside to be in the 60's! I'm used to the thermostat set between 78 and 82. This was my attempt at staying warm on a lovely June day in California. What did I get myself into?!

Moving Day

Moving, moving. Moves are always such fun. Although it's so much better when someone else comes and does your packing and moving for you. Thank you Chevron!


The move has been especially hard on Blackjack. All the unfamiliar boxes stress him out. In fact, we had a fun little visit to the pet ER when he couldn't keep his food down all day and we thought he had some rawhide blocking his intestines. He was just fine. The move has just got him a little stressed out and turned him into a very needy puppy. He has to be ON TOP of one of us at all times. And seeing as he's slightly larger than a lap dog this can make things interesting.

Officially an MBA!

Steve is officially an MBA! Two years of late nights and short weekends but such a fun time for us both as well.

I have no pictures of my own of Steve from graduation day since he took the camera with him so this is my attempt at recording that day using pictures I found on facebook.


Steve is in the middle of the last row below.

Obama

ASU commencement last night . . . wow. It was amazing! Sure we had to arrive at the outdoor stadium at 3pm in the 102 degree Arizona sun, go through security and then commencement didn't begin until 7. But the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES was there. How cool. By the time commencement started the stadium was pretty much filled,especially if you counted all the students sitting ON the field. That's 70,000 people! Steve's MBA group was right in the middle of the field in the sun most of the afternoon but my group had seats way up in the stands just on the president's left and they were SHADED the entire time! Awesome. Doesn't get better than that.

Here's our group sitting up in the stands way up there. Me, Meredith, Jenna, and JT. Can you find us?

A view of the crowd. Thank goodness for casual dress!






We had a great time hanging out and people watching and just chatting through the afternoon. Alice Cooper came and performed which was neat. Especially since JT is friends with Alice Cooper's sons that were in the band and he was calling their cell phones just before they came on stage. Too funny.



We were sitting just above where the snipers set up watch, which was way cool. And we had binoculars. Air Force One flew just overhead above the stadium to Sky Harbor about an hour before the ceremony. Then we had the perfect seats to see the president walk in. Awesome.

His speech was great. One of hope and encouragement. And of course he joked throughout about not receiving an honorary degree from ASU, which was cool. Then he stayed for the entire commencement and shook all the doctorate recipients' hands and others. Poor guy was sweating in that heat and wearing his robe.

All in all it was a great night and I'm so glad we went! A once in a lifetime opportunity for sure. I still can't believe so many chickened out because of the heat. Wussies!

















(Thanks to Sabrina and Mer for these pictures!)

Who Let the Dog Out

Blackjack is a good dog. Most of the time. However he is not 100% trustworthy alone in the house so we crate him when we're at school/work. Here's how it goes:

Whoever is the last to leave in the morning puts the dog in his crate (he runs to get in when we say "crate it!" and waits for his treat, too funny). We give him a treat and lock the crate up, lock the house up and leave. I was the last one out the door yesterday.

Last night Steve got back from class, opened the front door and . . . no dog to be seen. The crate was wide open. Of course Steve thought I must have come home early. Nope. So he looks around and finds the dog . . . in our bedroom, laying on our bed, with socks, underwear, and bits of tissue scattered all around him. I remember giving him a treat this morning, but apparently I skipped that next step of LOCKING HIS CRATE!

This morning's poop provided evidence of just how much tissue he scarfed while enjoying his independence a little TOO much. Oops.