Command Center

I'm a big weirdo. There is nothing I get more excited about that having something that's organized. I think that in order to have a functional and organized house, you need to have some sort of command center. Since I can remember, I've drooled over these Pottery Barn's products..

Whoever started this command center craze is a genius. I wanted one immediately. Since Pottery Barn is $$$$$$$ and I was a poor college student, I found copy cats from Bed Bath and Beyond. I asked for them for Christmas two years ago (you know, always planning for the future), and saved them for when we'd be married. Here they are now..

Not bad for being generic right? I want to say they were $30 a piece, PB would be probably 2-3 times that much. I'm sure the PB brand is a little nicer, but these do the job just fine. Although, I'm pretty sure Bed Bath and Beyond no longer carries these. The functions are self explanatory. We have a calendar that's obviously for event planning purposes with labeled slots for relevant items.

A slot for keys and small items hangs below. We used the small slots for various business cards we've acquired, which has actually been quite handy already. The slots for gift cards, coupons, and keys have obvious functions too.

We are still defining the purpose of the inbox slots. Andy and I each have one. Right now we just put in everything that lands on the countertop that we don't know what to do with yet. I'm sure this will become more efficient with time.

I've discovered that the bulletin board is not large enough for our needs. I have a second board in another area off the kitchen that is a work in progress, so that should help reduce the clutter. The slots on the side are again for everyday items we might need while using this space.

Is this space complete? No. We really need a desk to sit underneath this. It makes more sense to me that the mail, bills, and various papers that enter our home land here first before being distributed to their proper spots. Since we know our office isn't functional, there is no need to send anything in there that won't be getting filed. Plus, this will probably be where we'll write checks, pay bills, sign papers, mail letters, etc. I'd love to move over the change jar, pen/pencil holder, and random note pads over to a desk. It'd also be great to store envelopes, stamps, and random stationary here and eliminate the need to go to the office at all for this stuff. Plus, we need a designated area for cell phone and laptop chargers.

I live off my Google calendar, but I'm a sucker for a good planner. Since my calendar only stores my events, it would be nice to have a central planner that both of us can physically right down our schedules. Since the hanging calendar is only one month, a 12 month planner would work better. I would keep it here on the desk.

Basically I want this station to be a go-to place for information and everyday products. We have the space, so why not use it? Now, it's only a matter of finding the right desk and setting the rest up. I'm loving where it's going though!

Office Chaos

We knew from the beginning of planning this house that we wanted a designated office space. It was particularly important that it be close to the entryway so if any of Andy's seed clients had to come over it would be convenient to meet with them without trapesing through the whole house.

I'm just going to bite the bullet and show you this space now rather than after projects are completed, because in all honesty it will be years. We have always had a vision of what we've wanted to do, but when you have a whole house to tackle, you have to prioritize and some things just get shoved lower on your list. Right now this room is downright dreadful looking.

Here is our office space.. with no staging.. (I also really need a camera because these photos are pathetic)

Try not to look at all the crap. Office storage is clearly an issue, and this room has become a dumping ground of sorts. Every piece of furniture in this space is old and only about 5% functional. They are all fine for now but hopefully in a few years, none of this is here.

Let's start with the filing issue. Andy and I are both really into maintaining organization. It's really hard to do that when you don't have a good system. The filing cabinets that we do have are already full of random things, so they don't really get used. Not to mention they are just plain ugly. We will need a LOT of filing cabinets to satisfy our filing/organizing needs, and I want them to be pretty. This is why this project will have to wait. Even the ugly and junky filing cabinets are an investment, and I don't want to spend the money when I know we want to replace them before we even bring them home.

Let's move onto the desks..

I like the desk that I use because it's so large. It was perfect in college because I had other storage solutions and my desktop was always clean. However, it doesn't have any drawers, so all of the papers and junk are visible and create so much eye clutter. It looks like a paper shredder threw up in here. Everything is just sitting on top of the desk taunting me.. I get so frustrated while I'm in here.

Andy's desk is I guess a little functional. He uses this computer for gaming and also has our financial software on here. I like the slots at the top because we can easily store stamps, envelopes, paper, etc. But again, this is a cheap laminate desk that is old and ugly. Since we each have desktop computers, two desks have been necessary. I'd really like to ditch one in the future, but for now two will have to do.

As far as the design of the room, there is none. I bought the cheap red curtains at Target, because Andy is in the office mostly at night. It's creepy to not have curtains when it's dark outside, so we totally settled for these as a temporary solution. (I really hate doing that, but again we probably won't get to this room for a while). I have an obsession with office organizing products, so as soon as we get the big things complete I will be going to town on that stuff.

For now here is our to-do list:

1. Built in wall of file cabinets and bookshelves opposite of doorway.
2. New desk(s)
3. Create reading nook in front window with chaise lounge or comfy chair (prob can't be done until we ditch the second desk)
4. New, colorful window curtains
5. Wall decor
6. New desk chair(s)

Cruising the Bahamas: Part Three

Thursday and Friday

(A wopping one photo in this one..)

After a few busy days, I was kind of looking forward to having a day to do nothing. Since we were at sea all day Thursday, Andy and I had booked two massages for 9:15am. I grabbed a light breakfast at the Park Cafe, and we went to the spa. We each had separate appointments so we were in different rooms. I was slightly disappointed with the massage. The woman was very nice, but it was a very light massage. And I remember not liking the music they played. Give me sounds of nature, not 70s disco. I'm spoiled because now I compare everything to our Hawaii trip. Our couples' massage there was heavenly and we were right on the beach.. Oh, to be back there..

After the massage, I waited for Andy in the spa lounge chairs overlooking the ocean in the back of the boat. How peaceful. Then we found his family at our usual place on the pool deck and started to soak up the sun. It was so darn hot. The pool deck is completely exposed to the sun, but there are other decks above that go around the pool area, so you are completely blocked from wind. Here is where I should discuss the accomodations for the pools. I have mentioned a few times the Solarium, which is the adult pool. It's in a completely separate area and is for adults only, but is not very large (maybe 10' x 15'). It's mostly shaded with a part glass ceiling so you don't really get sun exposure/a tan. The outdoor pool area consisted of two pools about the size of a standard family pool. However, the outer half of each pool had water only 1-2 inches deep - just enough to get your feet wet. So that leaves an area about 8' x 12' (?) that's actually deep enough to submerge.

I've said before that there were 3000 people onboard. How in the world do you take turns being in a small area with that many people? You don't. So I maybe spent 10 minutes total in the outside pool. I also should mention here that 340 Argentinian girls were onboard celebrating their Quinceaneras (15th birthdays). So there were teen girls everywhere being rude and wearing thongs. They took up an entire pool on their own.

Mid-afternoon I heard there was a Harry Potter trivia contest. I was all about it, because let's admit, I'm a bit of a super fan/HP genius. First off, the event was incorrectly advertised so I was in the wrong room and was late. I'm disappointed in my 16/20 but will note that everyone who did better than me was on a team of like 5 so if we divided HP knowledge by person I would've wipped everyone (I'm competitive and a sore loser). The ones I got wrong were only wrong because of technicalities (yes I'm explaining/making excuses to make myself feel better about the loss)...

Back to the pool deck to just hang. Most of the time I was on this deck I was in the shade because of the heat, so I didn't get a very good tan. We all showered and got ready for our last night eating at the My Fair Lady. This night I had a starter that was advertised as pita and hummus and ended up being something totally weird. It just happened to come with a miniscule pita stick and a teaspoon of hummus, but I ate it nonetheless. I had a lamb shank which was good, and finished with chocolate ice cream. Then we decided to walk around the boat. There were a lot of parts that I had never gone to, and it was a great sunset to watch.

The photo above is probably the closest I got the edge of the boat the entire trip. I don't think I ever even touched the railing and literally would stay a good ten feet away from that thing.

We had some time in the room before heading to the 9pm theater show. It was the RC singers and dancers doing various numbers from musicals. This was right up my alley and I quite enjoyed it. Not sure anyone else did but I was entertained. Immediately following the show, the comedian was set to start. He, like the magician, lives on the boat most of the year. He was an older guy with very adult-focused humor. It wouldn't be something I would actively seek to do again, but it was okay. He was funny, but I don't think a 23 year old girl and a retired aged male have the same sense of humor.

Then there was some kind of interactive game show that we checked out. I was pretty tired and wasn't really interested in the game, so we headed back to our rooms and packed up. We had to set our luggage outside to be checked by security. We wouldn't see it until we were off the ship. Thankfully, we had a carry on, so we kept everything we needed (toothbrush, makeup, clothes). Not sure how that worked for everyone else.

We woke and were already docked at the port. We got a quick breakfast, finished packing, and met the fam at our check-out point around 8:40am. Again the process was pretty efficient, but a lot of slow moving lines. We made it to the baggage point and found everyone's luggage pretty quickly. We loaded up the van and were on our way by 9:30.

At this point, we weren't sure what we were going to do the rest of the day. We had our van but no real plans. Our flight wasn't leaving until 4:55pm. Somehow we ended up at a camping park with air boat rides. We had to wait an hour for our turn. It lasted about a half an hour and we saw one alligator. It was okay.

We dropped off Andy's brother and SIL at the airport for their earlier flight before grabbing lunch at Chili's. We made it back to the airport about 3 hours before our flight. It was the longest wait ever. Finally we were boarded. The take off, flight, and landing were incredibly turbulent. I usually enjoy the thrill of flying, but not this time. I really thought we were going to fall from the sky and die. Andy's arm probably still has nail marks from my grip. Thankfully, we landed. It seemed forever for us to get luggage, find the bus driver, and drive home, but we made it to our house around 10pm. It was a good trip, but was also so nice to be back in our own bed!

We will probably never cruise again. I'm glad we did it once though so I could see for myself what it's like. My main dislike is that it's a very busy and crowded experience. I remember being worried about germs/getting sick (have you heard of meningitis?) and people breathing/touching the food on the buffet. I enjoy isolation - peace and quiet. I don't really get the thrill of being on a boat vs. a hotel, although the ports give you a variety of things to do which is nice. It was nice that all the food was included, so walking up just to get snack was convenient. There was a good amount of entertainment provided, if you need a schedule of activities to be satisfied on vacation. All in all, it was a good trip because we were together as a family.

Cruising the Bahamas: Part Two

Tuesday and Wednesday

On Tuesday morning, we woke up and were already anchored in the Bahamas at the RC's private island, CocoCay. We snagged breakfast, prepped for a day at the beach, and headed down to Deck 2 to load onto the ferry boat. CocoCay is a very small island and doesn't have accomodations for the boat to dock directly on the shore, so we had to take ferry boats from the ship to the island. It was probably a 5-10 minute ride and each boat held 200 passengers. We had to swipe our "SeaPass cards" while exiting and entering the boat so they could keep a correct count of everyone.

We got to the island mid-morning and I was surprised at how neat it was. There were huts and shops, an area with hammocks under palm trees, and of course beach chairs everywhere. There were several outdoor bars, as well. There were a handful of beach activities you could do at cost, but I really just wanted to bum out in the sun. We found the rest of Andy's family and I got cozy in my beach chair. I'm definitely a beach girl. I could spend a week alone on the beach reading and sleeping and be thrilled. I was a little disappointed because I think we chose to sit at the noisiest spot on the island - right next to the band. I guess there were 3000 guests staying on the boat, so we probably wouldn't find silence anywhere we'd go. I still was able to read almost all of my book and got plenty of sun. They had a huge buffet area with several stations for lunch, so we ate right on the beach. It was a really pretty setting. We packed up and made our way to the ferry around 2:30. We had a quick swim in the Solarium before the ship left port again at 4:30. We showered and headed to the dining room again at 6pm.

All ten of us ate together this night. Apparently we never got the memo that you had to wear Red Carpet attire. Literally everyone was in evening gowns and suits - like way nicer clothes than 85% of the guests wore to our wedding. The fanciest thing I brought was my $12 old navy cotton tank dress, and the only shoes I had were old navy flip flops. Thankfully I didn't care. We were totally getting judging eyes from everyone, and actually got turned away from the dining room because the women didn't have heels on (we snuck in when no one was looking). So that happened. Finally we ate and I had some sort of salad (it had artichokes and lots of beans I remember), Corvina fish, and cheesecake. All of the food was excellent. This was probably my favorite food of the whole trip.

It was this night that we saw the magician. What a cheeseball. His wife was his assistant and they live on the ship most months out the year. You could tell he says the exact same things at each show, it was so rehearsed. I mean, the magic and illusions were pretty sweet, but I couldn't get over the cheesiness.  We headed to our rooms to prep for our next day in Nassau, and were going through all of our options for activities.

The next morning, we got breakfast and met everyone near the Guest Services place to decide our plan of action for the day. We had ported in Nassau, Bahamas before we even woke up, but we had no idea what we would be doing that day. We knew we didn't want to stay on the ship, but all of the possible activities were outrageously priced, and none of them seemed worth it to me. I remember repeating "I just want to go to the beach" about a million times. According to guest services, it was a half an hour walk to a public beach. I was the only one who seemed to care to spend the whole day there, so we ended up deciding to go tour the Atlantis hotel with Andy's parents and brother's family, but the tour wouldn't leave until 1pm.

Three of the four boats that were docked at the Bahamas. Ours is in the middle.

We decided to spend the morning at the beach, even if it meant a walk. We had to swipe our SeaPass cards leaving the boat, and pretty much walked right onto the island. I remember never showing my Passport and thinking how weird that was. There were a total of 4 cruise ships docked, so the place was pretty crowded with tourists (lots of locals yelling and haggling for you to use their services). The walk to the beach was maybe 20 minutes, so not that bad. And the beach was wonderful. It was quiet (Hallelujah!), the sand was white and soft, and the water was a clear blue. We found Andy's two brothers and SIL and enjoyed the sun. I could've stayed there all day, but it ended up being maybe an hour before we had to leave again. We made the walk back, got through the laidback "customs" place, and were back on the boat for lunch. We quickly changed clothes and exited the boat again to head to Antlantis' island. It was a short 5-10 minute bus ride across the island.

As you can see it was vey windy.

The tour began at the shops in Atlantis, we went through the Casino, and started touring the aquarium and "The Dig." Apparently the Dig was constructed to mimic the real Atlantis community. There were fifteen chambers with various items, but all had glass to view the fish. I think they said Atlantis has the biggest ocean exhibit for marine life in the world other than the ocean itself. It was a pretty lengthy tour since it was so big, I was kind of over it by the end, but I'm not really up on my marine life. Once we exited the Dig we walked through the pool areas to another part of the ocean exhibit. I will say, Atlantis' pool area is pretty darn sweet. There were about a million different sections, and it was gigantic. They had their own huge manmade lagoon beach with a large blowup obstacle course in the water, several different pools, of course the popular slides, and kids water play area. Andy and I decided to walk around the grounds after the tour ended to see the sites.

Although everything was so cool, it was also very crowded and loud. I would never stay there unless it was during slow season. Plus, the resort allows docked cruise ship guests to use its pool services for a (large) fee, so there were even more people around. But I won't say that I didn't regret not getting the Aquapass and spending the day at their pools rather than doing the tour..

We met back up with the family in the hotel lobby, and had a drink while visiting. Andy and I decided to make the 4pm bus to the ship, so we said goodbye and got right on the shuttle. This driver was very informative. I think he took a longer route through town, but he showed us a lot of the local sites. He talked about different trees and plants, how to cook various native fruits, history of the town's churches and hospitals - it was actually really interesting. We really should've tipped him!

We got through the port business and were back on the boat. We changed into our suits and headed for the Solarium for some quiet relaxing after the busy day. I remember the pool felt really wonderful after sweating all day, and I finished my book on the comfy lounge chairs. Andy's brother and SIL met up with us and we exchanged stories about our day. I ate dinner in the Solarium at the Park Cafe (it was so much more peaceful than the Windjammer buffet area). We showered and spent some time in our room before heading to the Love and Marriage Gameshow.

I had been looking forward to this ever since we got on the boat. The whole family had been trying to convince my in-laws to sign up for the show because we were there for their anniversary. They weren't really into the idea (I can't blame them), so much so that my MIL left the room during auditions. Each couple had to audition in front of the audience by singing or saying a set of lines determined by the cruise director, Mark. Awkward. But the show was absolutely hilarious. It featured three couples, one married 0-5 years, one 5-25 years, and one 26+ years.

The youngest couple was on their honeymoon. They were college students from Ole Miss and since I'm in the judging mood I'll add that they had only been dating since the previous fall. Andy and I could've beaten the pants off of them.. The other couple had been married 17 years I think and their daughter was in the audience, so that would've been uncomfortable. The last couple was from New Jersey. The husband basically forced the wife to do the show and was a riot. The wife was so uncomfortable that it was funny - they ended up being the winners. It was definitely a highlight of the trip.

The boat was set to take off from the Bahamas at 11:30pm that night, and there was a big party on the pool deck. Andy and I checked it out and sat in some lounge chairs on the upper deck to see the view as we left the island. After that, it was time for bedtime. The next day we were set to sail all day at sea.

Kitchen Reveal

I meant to finish this before moving onto the cruise posts, but oh well.

I have clearly done a pretty poor job of documenting house progress. I know I haven't shown pretty much any room finished, but that's because I feel like there aren't any rooms that truly are finished. The one exception is the kitchen.

Andy and I both adore our kitchen. There isn't much we would change about it.

Not only is it beautiful (at least to us), it's pretty darn functional. I have oodles of counter space and storage, and overall the flow works well. I talked about my kitchen wish list in this post here, and I think we've pretty much nailed it.

White cabinets were something I always wanted, because they are so fresh and clean looking, but still traditional. Ours aren't a bright white, but rather an ivory or cream. I always envisioned more of a white, but this is the whitest color they offered. I'm still happy with the look. I also like the look of a classic shaker door, but with some detail. This design was a perfect marriage of the two. The navy wall color is pretty bold, but it came out exactly how I wanted it to. I wanted a high contrast color to break up the white. Not very many houses have bold navy walls, but almost everyone who's visited our house comments on how they like it.

Dura Supreme Cabinetry - Chapel Hill Door

The countertops might be my absolute favorite thing of all, though. We knew we needed to get formica countertops for budget purposes, but that didn't mean they had to be ugly. We saw a sample in passing at our local home store and it had been our number one choice since day one. It is the perfect way to connect the cabinets and wall color. The pattern keeps with the bright kitchen feel, but also looks higher end (to me atleast).  The countertop never looks dirty, I love the edging that we ended up choosing, and it just plain works.

Stools from Great Escape found here

I also love the look of the stools at the island. They are perfect and give the room a touch of modern. The stainless steel matches the appliances and also the light fixture above the island. Oh baby, do I love that fixture. We found it on sale at the KBL store and from the minute I saw it I knew it would be perfect. Andy disagreed, but after a return trip I finally convinced him that we needed to take it home with us. We also have a lot of pot lights throughout the kitchen, which are great for brightening the room up. Good lighting can do wonders..

The floors on the other hand give me a bit of grief. We spent months it seems going through flooring, and none were what I had envisioned and were within our budget. This one seemed to be the closest thing to what I wanted, so we went with it. It's an engineered hard wood. I love the look of it, however it is impossible to keep clean. Since it's dark, it shows pretty much everything, but I also think it's worse because there isn't really a finish on it. I can mop the floor and as soon as my clean bare feet put a toe on those floors there is a mark. I've given up. Mopping doesn't help. Footprints are more prominent since so much light shines in from the sliding door. Thankfully, they aren't visible at night.

I should note that in all the designing of this house, the things I chose from instinct are the things that work the best. The stools, countertops, and light fixture were all things I had to have from the minute we saw them, and I couldn't love them more. There are other items (especially in other rooms in the house) that I 100% settled on for the sake of having to choose something, and those things just don't work. I have learned that taking your time and waiting for the right products/items is best, but that's really hard for people like me and Andy who are impatient and want things done now.

I should mention that all of our cupboards are full. At least full in the sense that they all have items stored away, but are not overflowing. It's the perfect amount of space. I will probably do separate posts on the appliances and organizing because that's just opening a whole 'nother can of worms.

We also have to work on getting a little desk for underneath our command center. I don't like having the pens and papers and coin bucket on the island counter, but right now there is no other convenient place to put them. I'm on the hunt for a fuzzy rug to put in the open space in that area, too. I am still perfecting the rest of the staging of the countertop and bookshelves. I don't like counter clutter, but the compost bin, utensil bin, olive oil, and paper towels have nowhere else to go. I need them to look like they belong. The bookshelves are fine for now, but I'd love to more effectively use this space for seasonal decorating. On the opposite end, I keep my iHome, cooking books, and recipes. I will eventually come up with a more efficient way of storing those, too. Will our to-do list ever be complete??


Check in tomorrow for more of a run down of our cruise in the Bahamas!

Cruising the Bahamas: Part One

I decided to separate this post into three installments rather than one long novel.

At the end of July, the entire family (5 Bauman men, 4 wives, 1 nephew) celebrated my in-laws' 35th wedding anniversary with a cruise to the Bahamas. (Two vacations off the mainland in two months!) My MIL had been planning it for about a year and a half. I had never been on a cruise before but figured now was the time to go since we don't have kids.

Since I'm a bit of a psycho, I've had about a million visions of falling overboard a big ship (usually other people, not me - hence why I will never take my children). I wasn't really worried about the boat sinking or getting stuck anywhere, but more about the falling thing. My family had some personal things going on too, so I wasn't all that excited to leave, but Andy talked me into going on the trip last minute and we made our way south.

We left early Sunday morning from my in-laws' and our bus headed to Midway airport. The baggage check-in was crazy busy - nothing I had ever seen before, but we made it through and were on the plane. I took naps here and there and we landed in Orlando. We met up with my BIL and his fiance coming from Mississippi, waited FOREVER for our baggage to come through, and went to Hooters for lunch (the difference between all girl and all boy families definitely shows in where you go to eat). I will admit that I was a total sourpuss during this time, but we got to our hotel in Port Canaveral, and spent some time by the pool. I lightened up a bit before we headed to Cocoa Beach to find a place to eat. We ended up seaside at Captain J's I think? The food was alright, but the service was awful. I think we were there for like 2 hours overall, but we had a good time laughing and enjoyed the ocean view.

I remember sleeping gloriously Sunday night. I had been extremely sleep deprived for weeks leading up to the trip, so I think my body was grateful for the rest. Andy and I got a late breakfast at the hotel buffet (it was suuuper crowded since it was so close to the Port), showered, packed, and we all loaded up for the ship. Boarding started at 11am, and we were there first thing. We had to pass a few check-ins and security points, but the process was fairly easy and quick. We were on the boat at maybe 11:20am, but we couldn't access our rooms until 1:30. We dumped our things at a few poolside tables while we waited.

Exhibit A of the matching family shirts. Not a great picture but the only one I have of them.

Before I go any further, I'll explain the layout of the ship a bit for your reference. We were on the Royal Caribbean's 'Enchantment of the Seas.' There were 12 levels or "decks." If you really want to know where everything is, the info is on the Royal Caribbean's site here. But I'll give a quick run-down since it might be nice for me to look back on when I forget.

Arranged from the front of the ship to the back..

Decks 2 and 3: all staterooms (mostly for workers I assume)
Deck 4: staterooms, Centrum (aka lobby area) and My Fair Lady dining room
Deck 5: Orpheum theater, Casino, Boleros Lounge, My Fair Lady dining room
Deck 6: Orpheum therater, Centrum shops and galleries, Chops Grill/Schooners Bar, Spotlight Lounge
Deck 7 and 8: all staterooms
Deck 9: Windjammer Cafe (buffet), pool, Solarium (adult pool), Park Cafe, Spa and Fitness Center
Deck 10: Trampoline, Teen center/Nursery, Spa and Fitness Center, Rock Climbing Wall
Deck 11: Viking Loung, Concierge Club (only front of the ship)
Deck 12: Diamond Club (only front of the ship)

Now back to Monday's events.. While we were stationed by the pool, we all took turns heading into the buffet to grab lunch. My first thoughts were that it reminded me of my college dorm cafeteria (although I lived in a pretty nice dorm). It was loud and chaotic and busy, but I guess that's how buffets are anywere (I don't ever go to them, so I don't really know). Finally we were able to get into our stateroom. It was a decent size, but the bathroom was very small, just big enough for one person to be in at a time. The ceiling felt a little lower, but luckily we had adjoining rooms with Andy's brother, so opening the door made the room feel larger. We had all gotten nicer rooms with balcony access, although I didn't spend too much time out there because of the falling issue.

After exploring of the ship, spending more time by the pool, and participating in the mandatory drill, the ship finally set sail at 4:30. We dressed and went to the My Fair Lady dining room for dinner at 6. It was a formal dining room. We had the same two waiters every night and were always served three courses of our choosing. This night I had fruit, some sort of marinated pork chop, and carrot cake for dessert. The food I got on this night was just okay. We ended the day going to the opening show in the Orpheum theater, which was hosted by the ship director, Mark, and featured the RC singers and dancers and also the ship's comedian. We then headed to the pool deck and hung out with the fam for a bit. I think it was this night that we went to the "Silent Party." It was a dance party where you get a set of headphones and choose the music station you want to dance to (there were two different live DJs streaming through the headphones). It was a weird concept but actually more fun and less lame than you think. Then it was time for bed.

Stay tuned for the next installment!

NOTE: Sorry for the lack of photos. I can count on my hands how many I took of the whole vacation..

Honeymoon: Day 8

Sorry this is another lengthy post, but last one!

We woke up early on Monday to shower and finish packing. We left the hotel around 7 am to make the short drive to the airport and return our rental car. The returning process was super quick and easy, and we were at the airport entrance a little after 7:30 for our 9:35 flight.

When we went to check in, I asked the woman if she could let our baggage through to our United flight. However, since we wouldn't be leaving Honolulu for 12 hours, she said no. I called our travel agent and she was really upset for us, so she said she'd make a call. It really wasn't that big of a deal to me to recheck our bags real quick once we landed in Honolulu, but I let her do her thing. We waited by security for nearly a half an hour before I just said screw it. We put the luggage through and of course I then got a call from our travel agent! I felt bad, but as a crazy person I needed to get to the gate. Since Kauai's airport is small, it took no time at all. We were in within 5 minutes! Andy got pancakes and I just sad and read at the gate. The flight to Honolulu was a quick half an hour and we were in Honolulu!

I will say that at this point, Andy and I were regretting taking the day to go to Pearl Harbor. We were sad to leave our resort, but were also just ready to get home without having to go go go. It was going to be such a hassle figuring out baggage and transportation to and from, and we were dreading it. Plus, with the changes in hours for the USS Arizona Memorial, we knew weren't going to get to see it. I figured it would be a bust going at all.

But after landing on Oahu, we ran to the other side of the airport to recheck our luggage for our United flight that evening at 7:30 pm. It was quick and painless (thankfully)! We had decided to take a bus from the airport to Pearl Harbor, and knew that it would come just before 11 am, so we popped a squat and waited the half hour. I was super worried about the unknown of relying on other transportation, but it came! The ride was less than 10 minutes to Pearl Harbor. The visitors center is quite cool. I didn't realize the area was so big and there was so much more to do than just see the Arizona. We checked our bags and got our head sets for the audio tour first thing..

First stop on the audio tour: the map

The tour comes with a map of numbered spots that correspond with audio sections. You can listen to several pieces of history leading up to the event of Pearl Harbor. It's narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, but other people pop in, such as historians, veterans, and reenacted voices of Presidents and figures from the day. You walk through a few museum-type buildings where you can view artifacts and watch videos that link up with the audio. I am into nerdy things like reading and history, and Andy is not so much. I knew he really wasn't interested in the tour and he kept speeding me along. I didn't realize until later that I skipped like 5 sets because he was moving so fast! One of my regrets was that I didn't get to hear it all..

View from the visitors center facing the Arizona Memorial (the long white building on the water)

The tour was both interesting and incredibly sad. There were parts where I would've cried if I wasn't in public. Andy and I were both surprised at how populated the place was with Asians (ironic, huh?). He was also a little annoyed that not everyone was paying the respect warranted at a place like that. I know it's vacation but it's basically a cemetery, so it's not really the time to be super goofy.

Originally we thought we would take a cab from Pearl Harbor to Waikiki Beach, but we were worn out. I didn't see the point in paying a cab to drive to other side of the island just to see a beach. Plus, we hadn't made any plans once we would get there. We decided to just take advantage of the other things at Pearl Harbor and stay closer to the airport. At this point I think Andy started to wish he would've slowed down the audio tour to waste more time. We grabbed sandwiches at a snack shop, and decided to see the USS Bowfin submarine. This included another audio tour, which we listened to more intently this time.

Listening to the Bowfin audio tour

USS Bowfin submarine

Aboard the Bowfin facing Ford Island

Next up was the Pacific Aviation Museum over on Ford Island. Since the island is still a naval base and not exactly public, we took a tour bus over. We made it to the museum just in time to watch a short 10 minute video, which I enjoyed. Then we viewed two different airport hangars which housed different aircrafts. I think Andy quite liked this part. I wasn't that into it, but I'm a girl and I don't really care about that stuff. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but we tried to take our time.

We got on the bus to head back to the Harbor around 3 pm-ish. At this point, we decided we would just start the trek to the airport, so we would have plenty of time. We walked to the bus stop and a random guy asked if we were going to Waikiki Beach. We said no, that we were going to the airport, and he said he was a shuttle driver who could take us there for $5 a person. We said sure and headed over to the van.

I should say doing stuff like this is not like me. I am not a risk taker and I don't trust strangers. At all. But for some reason I was okay with it because I had no idea when the next bus was coming and I knew that the airport was close and on the way to Waikiki Beach. We got on the van and everyone else looked normal, so I relaxed. The driver walked away and Andy and I got to talking to the couple next to us. Turns out, it was the shuttle for the Hilton Hotel. The dude was making cash on the side to take us! They reassured us that he had dropped people off at the airport on the way there, but we were still a little anxious. Once we got on our way, he passed the exit for the airport and I felt we were doomed. It turned out to be fine and we were there safe and sound. Since we'd checked our luggage earlier, we zoomed through security in 5 minutes and had 3 hours to wait for our flight. We relaxed knowing that the hard part of traveling was over, made a quick stop at a shop for some Honolulu cookies for my mom, ate dinner at Burger King, and got to our gate. The time went surprisingly fast and we boarded our plane with no problems.

Originally our seats weren't next to each other. They were in the middle section, so we each would have two strangers on either side of us. However, earlier in the week, my mom had upped our seats for us so we were by ourselves on the window aisle and had an extra 6 inches. It was nice. When we took off, they started playing "Safe Haven," so we both were occupied by a few hours. Afterwards, I hit the hay. I was so exhausted after the long day that I fell right asleep. I wouldn't say I was comfortable, and I woke up every few hours, but the flight went by fast! After landing, we grabbed a muffin and some OJ, got our luggage immediately, and were picked up by the car service. It was bittersweet to be back. We were happy to start married life at home, but I kept thinking of the long to-do list we were returning home to!

Overall, it was a wonderful week away. We are now spoiled for every vacation we'll ever take. Good thing we'll be back on the beaches of Hawaii in just six short months :)

Here is a list of things we'd like to do in future visits:
1. See waterfalls (we saw a few but from really far away)
2. Hike the NaPali Coast
3. Go kayaking
4. Do a helicopter tour
5. Try snorkeling again

Honeymoon: Day 7

I will warn you this post is long and with few pictures, but again it's for documentation purposes.

On Sunday we woke up first thing to head to our tubing adventure with Kauai Backcountry. At the shed, we stocked up with our water shoes, helmets, and gloves before loading up two vans worth of tubers. Then we rode up to private land in the mountains, owned by Steve Case (creator of AOL). All of Kauai Backcountry tours are held on his property.

The drive was maybe half an hour, most of it being through grassy fields and forest, completely off the beaten path. During the ride, our tour guide Nalu was very informative. He was a native of the island and a great resource. He was maybe 20 years old? He spoke fluent Hawaiian and had an accent, but told us all about the history of the trees, sugar cane plantations, and just so many things. It was very interesting. The grounds used to be sugar cane plantations, and we even passed a hut from the 1800s where one of the founders of the plantation slept (apparently this hut is some sort of major historical landmark). We stopped to lookout over Wai'ale'ale Crater, again one of the wettest spots on Earth. You could see across to other mountains, which had waterfalls (!). You couldn't see them up close, but you could tell they were there..

A little farther drive took us to our destination. We got out, put on our gear, got a brief safety demo, and began loading up the tubes! I will say I had been most nervous about this experience all week, more so than any other of the events we had booked. I noticed all the other girls were wearing shorts and tanks, and I was just in my plain bikini. I felt out of place, and I was terrified about the water being so cold. It didn't help that I knew we were going to be floating in a ditch..

However, once I got in my tube, I was fine. The water was not uncomfortable at all since my butt was really the only thing touching it. The water was clean and only 2 or 3 ft. deep the whole time, so you could stand if needed. I wouldn't exactly describe it as a lazy river but it isn't too treacherous either. There were times when it sprinkled and moments where you ride slowly in the sun. We passed through 5 different tunnels in the mountains which get a little creepy because it's dark. Our helmets had flashlights, but still. In the final tunnel, they have you keep your flashlights off and I was a little uncomfortable about that, but it was fine. There are a few dips and curves which toss you around a bit, and the instructors aim to get you wet, but it was really enjoyable. It ended up being a really cool experience and I'm glad we did it.

Sidenote: When we got our snorkel gear, Andy really wanted to get an underwater camera, both for the snorkeling and the tubing adventure. I caved, but will say that we took no photos underwater snorkeling. And, Andy was too much of a chicken to get it out of the car for the tubing. A complete waste and I'm still bitter about it, especially since the tubing turned out to be so cool and totally picture worthy. My rant is over. But since we don't have photo proof, here is the link to the company's site which has a video that gives you the gist of what we did: Kauai Backcountry

Anywho, we were probably in the water for not quite an hour. The last part was my favorite because we were completely comfortable at that point, the sun had come out, and we could just relax. When we got close to our landing our lead instructor (who we discovered was a trickster) hid in the bushes and scared us all with pig noises as we road by. We got out, loaded the vans, and drove up a bit to have a picnic lunch. We had turkey sandwiches, Maui potato chips, and Kauai cookies, and loaded for the drive back to the shed. Here is where this story gets interesting..

On the way up Nalu did the talking, but apparently the way back was for Darren, our driver to speak. He was a white kid from Oregon maybe in his mid to late twenties. He mostly talked about what restaurants to go to and tried to give "hidden treasures" of the island but he was rubbing me the wrong way. I kept thinking he had to have lived on the island for just a few years, so how much of an expert could he be? Then we passed a corn field. He asked what we saw and of course Andy, being a farmer, said "corn." Darren said "what kind of corn?" Andy said "research?" Darren started on his spiel about how it's GMO corn...

Sidenote: As we had been driving the island all week, we saw tons of "NO GMO" signs all over the island. While talking with the horseback trail guide, she stated the island had gotten more educated about it in the last year and it was a newer controversy.

I completely understand why the island wants all non-GMO considering it's isolated and they want to follow nature as best as they can, but this Darren kid's reasoning was completely false.  I myself am neither pro or anti-GMO. I'm all for having your own opinion as long as it's an educated one. He was talking about how he saw the chemicals they put on GMO corn and how horrible they are, but he must not realize that the purpose of GMO is to REDUCE the need for chemicals. Andy will tell you he sprays half as much on his GMO corn vs. non-GMO, making the kid's argument completely invalid. He also said he has a friend who works for Monsanto and says everyone there "knows they are bad." Well, my husband is a farmer who sells Monsanto and he would disagree. I won't even touch on the rest of his argument. Even if GMO is bad in any way, it has not been proven. If you want people to agree with your views go for it, but give them corrent information.

The entire time this kid was being an ignorant fool, Andy and I kept our mouths shut. I think for one, we were in shock and didn't have time to respond. And two, we knew it wouldn't matter. When we got in the car, Andy was completely irate. I've seen him angry, but I have never seen him so worked up. I thought he was going to turn the car around and tell on the idiot for brainwashing our whole van into being anti-GMO. You're a tour guide, fool, not an agricultural expert.

Moving on..

The rest of the day we spent by the pool. We got drinks and I wished I would've gotten the mango smoothie sooner - it was soo good.

We had dinner at Duke's Barefoot Bar at the resort. I got Korean beef tacos and Andy got a burger. We spent the evening walking the beach and packed up for our early rise and departure for the airport the next day. We were so sad to be leaving paradise...

Honeymoon: Day 6

Day 6 was Saturday, hiking day! We woke up bright and early, put on our "hiking gear", and made our way south toward Waimea Canyon.

As you see on the map there are two roads that get you to the state park, and one road that takes you up the entire canyon. We took the road off Kekaha up first. I was having a bit of an anxiety attack at this point. The roads were super curvy and winding, and literally right against the side of the cliff. No bars or rails or nothing. It felt like Andy was going 50 mph (when he really was going 20-25).  I was certain we were going to drive right off a cliff. Once we met up with the other road by the state park it got better, and we stopped at our first lookout.

We had a book of trails with us which pointed out places off the road to go and hike. Before we went, I thought this wouldn't be a problem. But, since the roads were narrow and you just had to pull off the side of the road to find the trails, I really wasn't interested. The trails weren't marked so we were kind of clueless and ended up only stopping at the lookouts along the way (these all had official parking and were clearly labeled).

Then we made it to the very top, the end of the road. This place is called Wai'ale'ale (sometimes the Crater), and is known to be one of the wettest spots on Earth. I think if we ever go again we will go all the way to the top first thing before the fog sets in, and stop at the other lookouts on the way down. This lookout was connected to a trail of sorts that we decided to hike down. It was probably 20 ft. wide with cliffs on either side - CREEPY! I surprisingly did okay but I wondered how many people have fallen off. The views were really breathtaking.

The trail

On the way back up to the car, we decided to have a little jog/race. Wuff. The fact that we'd been sitting on our loins all week coupled with the fact that we were at a high altitude, we were wiped. Time to enjoy the ride back down. This time we took Waimea road so our views were a bit different..

We made it back to our hotel probably around noon. I think we just had PB sandwiches and headed to the pool to enjoy the sun of course. We got french fries and onion rings on the beach and just enjoyed the day. We had planned to go to Kilohana plantation for dinner and site seeing, but we realized later on that dinner there ended at 5:30 and we weren't going to make it. That's on our bucket list for the next trip! We ended up ordering salad and pizza and eating it on the beach. I think we got another round of gelato at a place at the strip, too. That night we enjoyed another swim and sat in the hot tub, starting to get sad that our trip was almost over..