Another Day At Sea And Another Dinner

After two fun-filled days in Venice, Melissa and I enjoyed a day of relaxing in the sun. I could not take my eyes off of the Mediterranean Sea. I feel like I can speak for everyone when I say, "It is the most gorgeous shade of blue ever!"



Just to give you an even better appreciation for just "how blue" it really is, look at this picture of the water in Venice and compare it to the picture below it of the Mediterranean Sea.





It is truly beautiful!

I've said it before, but it is worth repeating....."Well done, God!" Amen?

So what's a girl to do after spending a day in the sun getting freakishly sunburned?

Well, I wondered that same thing, so after much thought, I decided to get all dressed up and go to dinner. And since I was freakishly sunburned, I was so thankful that I had brought my shawls for the dining room. I had to cover all of that nasty red skin up!


(And Kenny if you're still awake, remember, that is not a table runner wrapped around my shoulders; it is a shawl, thank you very much.;))

Each night before dinner, Melissa and I would take our picture together. (Remember I warned you all at the beginning of all these trip posts that you would just have to ignore us sometimes. This is another one of those times.:))



But this night at dinner, we also took pictures of the sweet people that were in our group; they ate dinner with us almost every night of the cruise.

This is Margaret, and her husband Chuck, and Margaret's mother, Kay. (Just so you know, this is the family that kept us from being abandoned in Croatia. They told Count Dracula that he could not just leave us there. Thank you Margaret, Chuck, and Kay!)



This adorable couple is Barbara and David. They were so lovely. (They made me miss Shannon; just look at how much they adore each other. Sigh.) The last day of our cruise was their 41st wedding anniversary. Sigh.



And last, but certainly not least, is Peter and Jenny; they were sweethearts. (I sat next to Peter every night. I love him. I think he reminded me a lot of my dad, so I took to him right away. Every night I was picking stuff off of him...like lettuce, tomato, cheese, etc. He was always getting food on his shirt (like me), so I would get it off his shirt for him. I liked to tease him by asking him, "You weren't saving this for later were you?" He was so funny and kind to me.)



Now for the food......

I told them to go to the kitchen and fix me a dang quesadilla!

(Just ignore me....I live with two teenage boys, so we are always quoting Napoleon Dynamite. Sorry.)

This starter was a "Chicken Quesadilla." It was served with guacomole and salsa too.
It was delicious!



For my main course I had some form of chicken. (It had a fancy name, I just don't remember it.) It was served with green beans, potatoes, and this red stuff. (Again, I can't remember the name of the red stuff, but it was a fancy name.)



And as you already know, no meal on a cruise ship would be complete without dessert.
This night I ordered a slice of diet lemon cake. (Again, it had a fancy name, but I can't remember it.) This dessert was very light and refreshing, and just look at the artwork made entirely out of edible syrups. I felt bad messing all that artwork up.....but not for long.;)

Mmmmmmmmm!



While we were devouring enjoying our dessert, our waiters provided us with a little entertainment.

Here is Gusti dancing in true Ricky Ricardo style. Gusti is from Bali.



And Ioan joined in on the fun as well. Ioan is from Romania.



Ioan and Gusti were wonderful! They were so nice and funny; Melissa and I looked forward to seeing them each night.

Well, after stuffing ourselves full eating dinner and enjoying the entertainment, it was time to head back to our cabin. We were both excited to see what kind of towel animal we would have on our bed. (I was just secretly hoping that it would not be another frog.)

Here it is, but I don't know what it is, do you?



If you know the answer, please let me know. I'm afraid I don't have any special prize or money to offer the first person who knows the answer, but you could just walk away from the computer knowing that you are the smartest person in all of blog land.

I'm just saying is all.

Our First Full Day Out At Sea

Before I start today's post, I wanted to let you all know that I am going to the doctor this morning at 10:15. God willing, the doctor will be able to let me know what is wrong with me. I will let you all know what I find out.

Today I am going to show you a few pictures from our first full day out at sea.
For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while now, you may remember when I talked about "bathing suit" shopping.....Well, now you unfortunately will all get to see the bathing suit that caused such a commotion at Wal-Mart.

(Before I show you the picture of me in the bathing suit, I need to remind you that the camera and the computer each adds ten pounds; so please remember that I don't do look anything exactly like Kathy Ireland in this bathing suit, and we will all be fine. Thanks ahead of time for your cooperation in this matter.)

The wind was blowing like crazy this day.....but the view was awesome!



Here's my sweet Melissa looking so cute!



Here I am again in my black sunglasses....right before they broke.:(
Both pair of my sunglasses broke on this trip....so when you see me wearing sunglasses after this day, they don't belong to me. I had to mooch some of Melissa's.



Also, can you tell how much pain I am experiencing in this picture?.....Not long after this was taken, I had to go to the infirmary......I was diagnosed with a nasty kidney infection.:(


All I could say when I saw this view was, "Well done, God!"



The water was the most beautiful shade of blue that I have ever seen.



This is a picture of one of the pools on the ship. We never got in it because it was too chilly with the wind blowing so hard, but I still wanted to show you all a picture of it. The hot tubs were a favorite spot for many with the chilly temperatures.



After laying out in the sun all afternoon and going to the ship's infirmary, it was time to get all dressed up for the Captain's Dinner. Melissa and I ate dinner each night in the dining room. It was a lot of fun getting dressed up each evening. We ate with the same people each night too, so it was really nice getting to know all of them. (I will show you their pictures in future posts.)

I've told you all before that most of the time when I get all dressed up and fix my hair, I never quite achieve the look that I am going for.



But with a little help from my friend (and hair stylist), Melissa.....I was able to achieve a look that did not cause as many people to look upon me with pity in their eyes.



Here's Melissa looking beautiful as always.



If you have read this blog before, then you know that I love any meal that I do not have to cook or clean up after. So, needless to say, I loved every meal that I had on this cruise.

I have never seen so much food in all of my life.
And each dish that they served us was better than the dish before. And do not be confused, Melissa and I both took pictures of every dish that we were served in the dining room. At first, everyone at our table looked at us like we were "special" when we whipped out our cameras, but by the end of the cruise, they all wanted us to take pictures of what they were eating as well.:)

Each night's dinner began with an appetizer (or a "starter" as it was referred to on the ship).

For this night's starter I chose, "Grilled Chicken with a Greek Salad."



For the main course I chose, "Spaghetti Carbonara."



Then for dessert, so that I could keep my Kathy Ireland like figure, I chose something from their light menu, "Diet Banana Gateau." (Gateau is the French word for cake, but it sounds so much more elegant, doesn't it?)




All three of these dishes were delicious! Every night the food was as much fun to look at as it was to eat. Their presentations were amazing. Just look at that dessert plate again. At home, I would have just opened up a Little Debbie cake and thrown away the wrapper. I would not have gotten out a plate and put fancy designs all around it, but they did.....And I loved it!:)

Each night when we returned to our cabin to get ready for some sleep, our covers would be turned down, there would be chocolates on our bed, and some form of "towel animal." The animal for this particular night was a rabbit.



Isn't it cute? You could buy a book on the ship that showed you how to create these towel animals.....But I've got to be honest with you.....I do good to just fold my towels and put them away at home....I'm not going to take the time to turn them into animals......However, it was a lot of fun to enter the cabin each night and see what type of "towel animal" that we would have.

I could get very used to life on a cruise ship.

I'm just saying is all.:)

Make-Up, Hair Don'ts Do's, And Evening Wear

I told you several posts ago about bathing suit shopping for my upcoming trip. (I promise I will tell you about the trip soon.)

I not only need a bathing suit, I also need some "dress-up" clothes.

And as I've mentioned before , since I am a stay-at-home mom, I don't get dressed up ever that often.

I don't even know where to begin shopping for dressy clothes, or as some people like to call them "Evening Wear".

The only places I usually buy clothes at are Target and Wal-Mart. And let's face it......if you're buying clothes and ground beef at the same time, chances are the clothes are not going to be dressy. I'm just saying is all.

My idea of "dressing up" is a pair of jeans that have been freshened up in the dryer with a sheet of Bounce that are clean and a shirt that doesn't have any mustard or dog hair on it.

Getting dressed up also usually requires a nice hair-do and make-up. As a general rule I only wear mascara and lip gloss, and I wear my hair in a clippie. I am not very good at applying my own make-up or fixing my own hair. No matter how hard that I try, I just never seem to get the look that I'm going for. My hair-do's turn into hair-don'ts, and I have never been able to make my make-up appear normal natural.



So anyway, my trip date is looming ahead of me and I am sitting here wondering, "What am I going to wear?"

I can't even seem to get motivated enough to go try any clothes on. (Maybe it's a little post traumatic stress from the last time I was in a public dressing room.)

If I wait much longer though, I am going to be in trouble. I don't want to wear just any old dress I see hanging in a store window.....do you know what I mean?



But...."I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow."