Oh, Honey Honey...

And we're back....

The honeymoon was beautiful. I'm glad we chose to do a cruise because this time of year is very tricky with hurricanes and we got the benefit of being able to sail around the inclement weather. So unfortunately we didn't get to dock at Puerto Rico, but St. Thomas and St. Maartin were perfectly sunny and a lot of fun.

I highly recommend it if you're tentative about what the weather will bring your way. I would love to go to Europe (and Singapore and Korea...) but the high costs of travel added in with the US Dollar not getting you very far in Euros added up to it being a bad idea. Plus I didn't want to think on my honeymoon. I just wanted to be fed, walk around, get a little sun, relax with my husband and not worry about converting my money or getting lost or not speaking the native language.

I think having never been on a cruise helped too. I'm pretty sure if I had done it before that I may not have found it so novel that they feed you every 10 minutes, or that they announced every single little thing in 5 different languages. I was prepared for eating a lot but was actually quite surprised at how nice the food was.

Not to be a food snob but generally food made on such a large scale (we shared the boat with 4,000 other guests) tends to be bland, generic and generally undesirable but each sit down meal was very nice. Roasted duck, Prime Rib, NY Strip steak, Osso Bucco, Escargot, Salmon...I was surprisingly impressed. Desserts were top notch too, although some felt a bit over gelatinous. Tiramisu shouldn't feel gelatinous...ever. But otherwise it was a great lazy, fattening, time. Even the buffet was quite good. Generally speaking the international foods were a bit...off, but all the foods I'd consider typical American restaurant fare were tasty. And anything that you could classify as crock-pot or pressure cooker type tender foods were good too.

Clearly I ate a lot. I deserve it. I've been eating a lot of cereal, yogurt, cottage cheese and salad for the past few months.

Poor Trevor got sunburned snorkeling. It was so fun though so I almost don't blame him for wanting to stay out in the ocean for hours. (I got out to get dry and reapply sunblock so I didn't get burned at all.) The coral was so beautiful. And although everyone says so the water is crystal clear and warm like a heated pool I guess it's just something you have to experience for yourself to appreciate because I've heard a million times how blue the water is and could hardly grasp it until I saw it for myself. And the fish swimming all around us was so charming. I know that's their habitat and all but I'm so used to the NorthEast and everything being kind of...dead and full of seaweed. I'm not much of a drinker but it's also nice that you can get bar service right on the beach. In particular the beach we went to in St. Maartin had 75cent beers.

But I'm glad to be home. Even though it's nice to have someone clean your stateroom, feed you, and entertain you with random shows and movies it's always good to be home in your own space with your soft non-scratchy towels and to be able to freely check your email. It's 55 cents a minute on the ship to be connected. And although you can use your cell phone mine was roaming the whole time. But it was nice to be totally un-connected. No phone. No internet. No mail. Somehow it's very liberating to not have to listen to how so-and-so didn't like this about the wedding, or how so-and-so was talking about me behind my back and what was being said. Sadly, there is a lot of negativity out there that people feel the need to spread around. Sometimes it's just frustrating to be told about something that I have no control about changing. I'm not an idiot; I don't pretend to live in a world of lollipops and gumdrops but it's really the last thing I want to think about fresh on the heels from getting married and honeymooning.

I suppose that eventually real life will find a way to catch up with you.

My boss was already fast at work getting me a new nameplate. When I came in I was welcomed with clapping and being referred to by my married name. It was really nice to be so warmly received by my team. I had like, 300 emails to look at but other than the usual work related stresses it was nice to be back.