Honeymoon

Now that I've sufficiently covered the wedding, I will give highlights of the honeymoon. Saturday and Sunday night J and I stayed at a very charming bed and breakfast, Maplehurst Inn. I love old decor and architecture and it was lovely.

The destination was a surprise for me so I didn't know about it until we arrived. It's in an historic district and there were some guys (very frat boy-ish) in an historic house beside of it when we got out of the car. I'm still full clad in dress and veil, and one of the guys on the porch asks, "Hey--did you just get married?" We both say yes and in true frat-boy style he says, "That's awesome--do y'all wanna come have a beer?" HA! Now that's a memory. We did, however, decline the gracious offer. Only in East Tennessee do you get hospitality like that.

Bright and early Monday morning our plane left for Florida and that afternoon we boarded our ship and disembarked for a tour of the Caribbean. It was amazing! I had so much fun just being able to relax and hang out with my new husband. I laid in the sun, J laid in the shade, it was good times!

While on the ship we played putt putt, ate, tanned (again, I tanned, he shaded), ate, went to shows, ate, shopped, ate, sat on the decks, ate....you get the picture? I love cruise ship food, and so did J. I had sushi every day, ice cream sundae's with cookie on the bottom, and chocolate cake! YUM! J just enjoyed grazing the Pool Grille and the midnight buffet, whether he was hungry or not! I love getting dressed up for dinner, especially for the formal night. Of course, we dressed up every night in cocktail attire. We also went to a couple shows and saw a couple comedians. We (I) really enjoyed the Broadway and Hollywood shows.

While at our ports of call we enjoyed catamaran rides, snorkeling, kayaking, sightseeing, visiting lighthouses, shopping, and being away! The snorkeling trip was slightly disappointing. Hurricanes and storms have majorly damaged the reefs so it was different than what I had experienced before.

Overall, we had a wonderful trip. I'm hoping we take a cruise next January to visit the USVI, Ochos Rios, Jamaica, and Aruba. Doesn't that sound wonderful? I've found a great itinerary that I'm ready to go for!

So when J and I returned home late Friday night we were expecting to see the mess that had been left. We had guests in town that week, we had a madness of gifts, decor, etc., that had been returned to the house, and we had been so busy with last minute wedding preparations and honeymoon preparations that we had been messier than usual and hadn't cleaned. I was dreading not being able to make a path from the door to anywhere. But, when we did open the door, our house sparkled! All the gifts had been neatly stacked in one of the spare bedrooms, everything was put back where it belonged, the dishes had been washed and the dishwasher reloaded, the carpet vacuumed, the floors swept and mopped, and the trash taken out. The only thing to do was laundry (and knowing how picky J is, that didn't dare!) My lovely girlfriends, Sjb and T-Ho, had came and cleaned out house so we could come back to a nice clean space and continue to relax and enjoy the weekend. It was wonderful. They even cleaned the pottys--now that is a true friend!

I love honeymoons--I think J and I should take one every year.