Adventures in Antigua: Part 1...

Sunday, July 24th:

We're finally flying to Antigua! There were several other newlyweds or soon-to-be newlyweds on our flight. So much for feeling special with my "Just Married" tank top. (I wore it several times on the trip anyway! Thanks, Melissa!) At least we got to fly in first class.



Just a slight rant on Continental's first class service...it stinks. There were no mimosas (it was criminal), and I should want to eat the breakfast...cereal or eggs are not good enough options. At least they had some biscuits later on. And what happened to not letting the peons in coach come use our bathroom?! Whatever...at least we didn't pay for it! American 1st class is way better though...just saying.

We finally made it to Antigua and made it to the Sandals Resort, where we were greeted with mimosas (why yes, I will have another mimosa!) while we checked in. We were so excited to make it to our room, which was absolutely gorgeous with a killer view.





We walked around the resort and on the beach, letting the warm water splash on our feet. I would kill to look at that water every day. Such an unbelievable color!



We had dinner at the British pub, The Cricketer's Pub, because they were the first place open for dinner and we were starving!


We shared some caribbean bbq chicken wings as an appetizer, which were super delish. I had pulled pork sliders for dinner and Jeff tried bangers and mash. And this is where I was first introduced to my new favorite drink...The Crazy Monkey. Banana, strawberry, orange deliciousness.

We headed over to the pool and spa for a little soak. Because it was dinner time, it was pretty empty, so we enjoyed the water with just a few other couples. We headed back over to the Pub to play a game of pool and Jeff played in a friendly darts competition with some employees and another couple. A few more Crazy Monkeys for me while I watched him play, and then we called it a night.

Monday, July 25th:

Well apparently we were tired from our flying mishaps the days before, because we slept in until 10:15. Yep, we missed breakfast service. Oops! We hit up the coffee shop for a couple little pastries and then decided to take the resort tour/orientation. After trying to find our way around the day before unsuccessfully, we didn't want to waste time getting lost again.

After seeing the resort in its entirety, we had lunch at Barefoot By The Sea. It was an open-air restaurant on the beach. Nothing like eating with sand in your toes! I had some yummy roasted red pepper hummus and pita chips for an appetizer. I could have licked the bowl. Jeff had Jamaican jerk chicken and I had a smoked salmon wrap. We learned quickly that they know how to do chicken here! Jeff's wings were soooo good...so spicy but so flavorful. You have to watch out for the birds though...they will come swarm your table if you're not looking.


With our full bellies we changed into our swimsuits and went to lounge under a palapa on the beach. So relaxing listening to the waves and breeze through the palm trees. I can still here them now.



Then we went to lounge by the pool. Jeff played pool volleyball while I read a book.



We had a snack of stone-fire pizza from the pizzeria and ice cream from the coffee shop. (because why not, we're on our honeymoon!) The pizzas here were to die for. Crispy thin crust with simple flavorful toppings. Pizza just does not taste the same here. And my favorite combo of ice cream was a scoop of coconut and a scoop of strawberry. A mini lava flow in a cup! (You will notice that we frequented these two eateries many times...how could we not when they were so good!)

Every Monday night the resort has a giant beach bbq. Buffet tables galore with food of every kind. And yes, there was mac and cheese. :) There was a steel drum band playing which was later followed by another local band. The highlight of the entertainment was a fire dancer/limbo expert called Mr. Moves. He was crazy. I didn't know it was possible to go that low. With fire no less.




It was a lot of fun, and we met a few couples from Texas, Toronto, and England. We saw them several times throughout the rest of the week. It was kind of nice seeing a familiar face every once and a while. We tried not to get jealous though...the couple from Texas was in the "Millionaire Suites" with their own private butler. And the couple from Toronto was staying for 2 weeks. Jealous!

A moonlit meander back to the room in the warm tropical air, and another day was over.

And the Honeymoon Begins...

Alright, it's about time I write about our honeymoon. Things have been a little hectic at work...let's just say I'm more frequently working 12-13 hour shifts. Definitely not by choice. So this blog got put on the back burner while I tried to maintain my sanity. Let's just pretend we're back in Antingua and we'll all be happy...

Friday, July 22nd:
After I finished working a long 10-hour shift, we hurried down to the SLO airport to begin our journey. Having never flown out of SLO, we didn't know what to expect, other than it being small. And small it was. There were maybe 30 seats on the plane. And it was so noisy we couldn't hear each other. Reminded me of some of our flights in Africa. Good thing it was only a 45 minute flight.

After finding our way to our gate at LAX, we found out the plane we were waiting for to Newark was about 2 hours late due to weather problems. Slight problem...we only had 45 minutes between flights. And there's only 1 flight a day from Newark to Antigua. The poor guy at the ticket counter was trying to find a way to get us to Antigua on Saturday, but to no avail. And the flight on Sunday only had 2 seats left...in first class. Fortunately he got permission from his supervisor to upgrade us so that we'd only be a day late, instead of two. And in Newark we would pick up our hotel vouchers so we wouldn't have to live in the airport for a day.

Jeff and I tried not to cry. Or yell. It was late, we were tired, and our honeymoon was crumbling before our very eyes. But our only choice was to accept the situation at hand, suck it up, and make the most of the situation.

The plane finally made it into LAX, we finally boarded, and we settled into our bulkhead seats that the ticket guy moved us into to try to make up for the crappy situation. They were great except for being next to the bathroom. But we slept through most the flight anyway.

Saturday, July 23rd:
We made it to lovely Newark the next morning and shuffled our way to the customer service counter to get our hotel voucher. We were greeted by the nicest, sweetest, kindest ladies at the Continental counter. Oh wait...I must have still been dreaming. We were greeted by two grumpy, disgruntled, not-so-friendly Continental employees. They didn't seem to understand why a whole plane's worth of customers were so upset about missing their connections. And they weren't going to give us the hotel voucher.

Because the flight was delayed due to weather, they were not obligated to provide us any compensation. Regardless of the fact that we were stuck there for almost 24 hours. And the people in LA "should have known better." And they didn't understand "why people are so upset." At this point, Jeff had the look of "I'm about to kill someone", I had the look of "you have GOT to be kidding me, woman" and we sternly persisted that they speak to a supervisor. Long story short, they eventually gave us our voucher.

We requested a bag retrieval so we could change our clothes, and meandered our way to P4...which in Newark speak, means the place you go to catch the shuttle to your hotel. (Note: we deciphered this after asking a couple people where to go and not really getting any help.) We caught our shuttle to the Newark Ramada Plaza Hotel, and got a lovely tour of the sketchy neighborhood we were about to spend the night in. We got to check-in early into our room, which I wish I had a picture of so you would know I'm not exaggerating. There were two deadbolts on the door, stains on the ceiling and walls, air conditioning only in the rooms and not in the hallways, and the tiles were not exactly attached to the bathroom floor.

After a quick shower, we decided we better not spend the entire day in the room or we might become fully depressed. So we took the shuttle back to the airport, and got information about going into NYC. Mind you, I have wanted to go to New York for quite some time. But this was not the time. First, it was 100º with what felt like 100% humidity. Oh yea, and we were supposed to be in Antigua. Not Newark/NYC.


We took the Manhattan Express into NYC, which dropped us off near Times Square.



We walked around Broadway (which was not nearly as impressive as I thought it was going to be), and into Times Square, overwhelmed by the shear number of people and terrible smell of sweat, dirt, smog, trash, and all around filth. We decided to have lunch at the Hard Rock and cool off for a little bit in an air conditioned building.



Then we walked through Bryant Park, which is quite beautiful. There was an outdoor reading room, and chess sets (most of them in use by older men), and a lawn with a giant screen where it looked like a movie would be showing later that night. All I could think about was Fashion Week and Project Runway.



We then walked in front of the NY Public Library...such cool architecture.



And then headed into Grand Central Station. The ceiling was gorgeous, with the constellations lit up. Such a huge place, with so much going on. And such a pretty building in general.



We finally made it to the Chrysler Building, which was closed by the time we got there.



So we figured out how to make it to the Empire State Building. Let me tell you, city blocks are something else! I thought I was going to die in the heat/humidity. We didn't go inside, but took pictures outside.



We eventually made it back to the bus depot and waited for our ride back to the airport.

We made it back to the hotel, ordered a pizza from the cafe in the lobby, and called it a night. We just wanted to get on the plane in the morning and make it to Antigua.

New York...I'm sorry we didn't like you. We are not big city people. Especially when we didn't plan on being there in the first place. And not when it's disgustingly hot and humid. There is more of you I wish to see, but not anytime soon. I need more time to warm up to the idea of visiting you again.

Mr. & Mrs.

Well, just in case you have been living under a rock...


WE GOT MARRIED!


It was a simply beautiful, wonderful, memorable day. We felt love, joy, and happiness. After the past 2 1/2 years of planning, everything finally came to be. And it was everything I had dreamed of and more.

Thank you to all who made the day so special. We were so glad you all could be there.








And to those of you couldn't make it, we missed you. You missed out on a pretty awesome day...and party!





A big thanks to all the photographers who sent me the pictures used above. I will post pics from our awesome photographer, Kate DiSimone once she's finished processing them. She's sent me a few sneak peeks, and let me tell you...they're breathtaking!

You Know You're A Nerd When...

...you make pie charts of the RSVP responses to your wedding.


Note that you can click on the chart to see it bigger.

Looking forward to all that this wedding week has in store. Hoping for more pleasant surprises, like today when my patient sent me "happy wedding week" flowers. Just what I needed to get super excited about this week.

6 more days!

Shower #1...

At the end of April (umm, where did May go?!) I had my first bridal shower, which was hosted by my co-Maid of Honor, Ashley, and bridesmaid, Jocelyn, at my parents' house. It was an insanely windy day, with gale-force winds, which prevented the shower from being fully decorated. We even had to hang bags of dirt off the table cloths so they would stay on the table. And the flowers stayed inside because the vases didn't stand a chance. Regardless of the lack of cooperation from the weather, it was a wonderful shower.

There were fun games, yummy food, and of course, lots of presents!



There was even a candy bar stocked with some of my favorites!


Jocelyn made adorable cupcakes, with fondant flowers from scratch. People were asking where we ordered them from...way to go Jocelyn! And they were definitely a hit!




I feel so lucky to have such wonderful and loving friends and family. It was a surprise to me that Ashley was actually going to be there. She changed her flights around after coming back from a week-long cruise, and my dad went and picked her up while we were setting up for the shower. What an awesome surprise! Thanks girls (and Mom) for such a wonderful day!

.twenty-six.

Hello twenty-six.

I'm excited for everything that you hold in store. You hold one of the biggest, most important days of my life. You will get to see me marry the person who completes me. You will get to see my life so full of joy and happiness. You'll get to experience our lives as newlyweds and all the ups and downs that come with it.

You hold the possibility of other big milestones as well. Will you be the year that we buy our first house? How will we ever decide on a house...where to buy, how big, how new. How will we agree on how to make it a home? A home that is not all Star Wars and gadgets. Will you bring a puppy into our lives? Or maybe even puppies? A new car, perhaps? Or will we try to make it as long as we can without car payments? Knowing my soon-to-be husband, I know the answer to that.

You'll get to go on adventures with us to new places. Are you excited for Antigua? Because I am. Hopefully we won't experience a hurricane. And another trip to Hawaii??? Sweet. Who knows where else we'll end up. Maybe we'll just discover hidden treasures close to home. The Central Coast is full of so many things we have yet to experience.

Oh, twenty-six. You hold potential to be so amazing, and I know you won't let me down. I hope twenty-five doesn't feel unloved and discarded, because she did a good job herself. She helped me finish out grad school, become a doctor, get my first job as a career woman, and pass my boards. Maybe you could get some pointers from her on filling up the year. She sure didn't let me down. She even took me to Africa! Thanks twenty-five for all the adventures you took me on. It was a fun and fulfilling year.

Alright, twenty-six. It's your turn. Please don't let me down. I'm ready to embrace you and all that you'll bring to my life. And I have a feeling it's going to be a great ride!

Be Our Guest...

April has been full of guests and visitors...

The first weekend of April, my good friend, Ashley, came down to introduce her new boyfriend, Sean, to the central coast. We showed him around Cal Poly, took him to eat his first tri-tip sandwich, and even made it out to Montana de Oro. While I was hoping for more wildflowers, there were still plenty of beautiful flowers to look at. And of course the turquoise water is always nice too!




The next weekend my mom came up to work on the wedding invitations. After looking up how much stinkin' invitations were going to cost, I decided it wasn't worth that much money for a piece of paper that was eventually going to make it to the trash. With the exception of a small handful that will end up in scrapbooks. So my mom and I jumped into what became a labor of love. Thank goodness I had her help or there would have been many more mistakes and many tears. As it was, we both wanted to pull our hair out. But they turned out beautiful. And I love them. Thanks Mom! They should be finding their way to your mailboxes soon...




Just a few days later, we got a mid-week sleepover with none other than our adorable nephew, Grady, and his parents. I'm pretty sure all my patients knew he was coming because I kept telling everyone. And I even got lucky and didn't have a 6:00 patient so I got to come home earlier that night than normal. We missed out on his birthday party, so I baked him a cake which he got super excited about. He was even doing a little happy dance.


We also had lots of presents for him, including a coloring book and giant lollipop (or "big pop" as he was calling it), which were both big hits.



We made a trip to the park by the lake (did you know that Atascadero had a lake?!), where Grady had lots of fun running around and racing us down the slides.


It was so much fun getting to spend some time with the little guy. Thanks so much Melissa and Derek for coming the long way up the coast so we got to spend time with you guys!

The past few weekends we've been doing wedding stuff (of course) and trying to get a little down time. The next few weekends will be pretty packed too. It never stops!

Wedding updates...we met our quota for the hotel rooms. Yay for not paying for unfilled rooms! If you're planning on booking under our group rate, there are only 3 rooms left, so you better hurry up!

Invitations will be sent out soon as I mentioned above. Hopefully they'll find their way to everyone. I heard rumors of some people not getting a Save the Date???

I broke down and hired a day-of coordinator. I didn't want to. I resisted. But eventually I gave in. I had many people offer to help set up and tear down everything at the wedding. And I accepted. But then I realized that no one was from around here, which meant if something went wrong, they'd be calling me or my mom. And I want them to enjoy their time here...they are guests after all. It's actually a husband and wife team, who also have an intern...3 for the price of 1! And they gave us a discount. And they already have done more for me than they are obliged to by contract. Sweet. I feel the stress melting away...

I'm also working on figuring out the favors and rentals. And the ten million other tiny details that no one else will notice but me.

Hope you all had a happy Easter. We spent it alone, and munched on sticky buns, ham, and all sorts of other delicious goodies. And it was nice just being together. Much love to all, and hopefully it won't be another 3 weeks until I update! :)