Turks & Caicos

If you've never been to the Caribbean, you are missing out. Turks & Caicos is beautiful and I recommend for everyone to visit. However, do NOT forget your bug spray. This wonderful island has a tiny mosquito problem. It was recommended to me via a pamphlet to purchase bug spray. But, my wonderful boyfriend told me "Nah, we don't need it." I am still counting, but, I have over 30 bites on my legs. He knew he was in trouble.

Here is Tom - sailing on the first day.

Anyway, back to the island. We spent most of our time on the beach. Tom went sailing one day and then the other day we went snorkeling. I have no idea how I got talked into that one....I guess technically I volunteered to go with him, but, that's neither here nor there. I ended up going. I went INTO THE WATER, people. Can you freaking believe it? We were in a glass bottom boat and we drove over the reef prior to snorkeling so I got to see what was in the water prior to diving in. It looked safe. I did pretty well, but, I had one minor freak out. I couldn't see outside my peripheral view and I started thinking for a second about a shark coming up from behind me and I had a minor panic attack. But, I pulled it together and kept swimming around. We also did some conch diving. Let me define conch diving for you: Conch, pronounced "conk", is a seafood-thingy in a shell. Like that definition? Anyway, we dove down to the bottom and picked up a bunch shells with conch to eat at a later time. Here are some photos of our snorkeling and diving:

We made a quick stop on our snorkeling tour to Leeward Island also called "Iguana Island", one of the many uninhabited islands in the Turks & Caicos. Look at this freaking iguana! It was at least five feet long!!! I may be lying about that.

My awesome diving!

Tom's diving skills

Can you tell that I am EXTREMELY excited to be out of the water?

The conch shells that our group got out of the ocean.

Tom trying the conch RIGHT OUT OF THE OCEAN...I tried it, too.

My conch salad (conch is the white stuff and the rest is pico de gallo-ish)

If you look closely, there is a dark spot in the water - it's a STING RAY!!!

I didn't get back into the water after we saw that.

Here are some other random photos:

Beautiful sunset

I do not know how to apply sunscreen, apparently.

Beautiful beaches everywhere

Me and Tom...watching the sunset and enjoying tasty beverages

Extremely clear water - we could see the ocean floor at 15 feet deep!

We went to dinner at another hotel and then went and did a little gambling. We did great the first hour and then went home losers. :(

Us - playing on the beach.

Here's the view from our hotel room. We had an ocean view - um, where is the ocean? Look way way way way way far out there.

It was a fantastic place and I can't wait to go back.

Preview.......

Here are a few photos to tide you over until I can do the big post of the fabulous Turks & Caicos.

YES, you see me IN THE OCEAN with SNORKEL GEAR. Shocker!!!

Story to come.........

Happy Birthday Megan!

Happy Birthday to my friend!

I love ya!

Miller Brant

My girl, Robin, is having a baby boy very soon. Most everyone who reads this blog knows and is friends with her. Courtney, Meri, and I threw her a shower about 10 days ago (again, most of YOU attended). I was so busy pouring the champagne punch for everyone that I didn't get to take a lot of pictures. So, you can see all the fun photos that everyone else took here, here, here, here, and here.

For those wanting the recipe for the yummy punch, here you go:

One bottle of Champagne
One bottle of White Wine
One liter bottle of carbonated water
One frozen concentrate Pink Lemonade
One frozen concentrate Cranberry Cocktail
One frozen concentrate Limeade

You can garnish with lemons and mint....but, I was pouring it so quickly, there wasn't time.

I can't wait to meet Miller and play, play, play!

Telluride

View of Telluride from the top of the Gondola.

Tom and I went to Telluride last week with 10 of his friends for a short ski trip. Unfortunately, the slopes didn't get new snow for the previous 10 days so we only skied one day. The other day we rented snowmobiles and had a great time thinking we were bad-ass. Probably the entire weekend we were thinking that - just look at some of the pictures.

Tom and I at the top of one of the lifts.

Tom showing off his snowboarding skills in a jump area.

John, Tom, and Peter at the top of the mountain.

Tom cheesin' it during the snowmobile trek.
(This is now my favorite picture of him. I think it's hilarous.)

Tom and me on a break from our bad-ass snowmobiling riding.

The night before we left - the guys.

The group of guys that went have known each other for the past 20 years and had lots of stories and making fun of one another. They are also serious in their gaming. The ones who drove up brought projectors and screens to play Ghost Re-con and other car racing games. They even set it up where they could play against each other from different condos. I admit that I played one game.....but, it was Movie Scene-it. I may have even played it twice.

It was a great trip and I'm ready to go skiing again. I definitely recommend Telluride to visit, though, bring your credit cards. We went to lunch on the first day and a bowl of chili was $18!