I just got back from my fourth cruise.  I’ve decided that a cruise is most certainly my favorite form of vacation.  Each time I cruise, I learn something new about what to bring or what not to bring.

I am the sort of packer who generally makes a list of what to pack, or at least starts packing a few days beforehand, so I can puzzle over what I’ve packed, remove stuff, add stuff, buy things at the store, that sort of thing.  Since this cruise was our honeymoon I had some other things on my mind beforehand.  We decided to do laundry and pack the day before, since we had one day in between the wedding and our flight to Miami.  This worked fine, except that I should have made a list in advance.  Oh well!

Our stateroom on the cruise.  My outfit is case in point—the shorts were JUST a little too small.

What did I forget to pack that I wish I had?

For starters, a clock or watch.  We’re used to using our phones to tell time, but when you are in international waters you either can’t use your phone or most certainly have no use for it, plus the ship time may be different than phone time—my cruise did change time zones but late at night, whereas I am sure we actually changed time at some random point during the day.  We ended up having to buy a cheap alarm clock in Miami, but felt silly as we own numerous alarm clocks and each have a cheap gym watch as well.

Next:  more casual clothes to wear on the ship.  I did well packing swim suits (4) and cocktail dresses (way too many) but not enough casual clothes for every day in addition to nicer casual clothes for dinner.  I enjoy dressing up for dinner, and indeed the ship has several nights dedicated to dressing up (formal nights) but I always forget I will really just want to wear a more casual outfit the other nights, like a skirt and top, or even jeans.  My other error was forgetting I won’t wear a bathing suit all day long, and might want shorts that fit.  I packed a couple pairs of shorts, but I guess I was a bit thinner (or differently organized) over the summer than now, post holiday time, and they ended up being a bit shorter than I anticipated.  Lesson learned: try on clothes before packing them!  And pack MORE semi-nice clothes.  I have many wonderful tops that I left at home.

Shoes:  I brought plenty of flip-flops but not enough comfortable walking shoes, plus I could have used another nice pair of sandals.

View from our balcony, leaving Miami

What else does one need on a cruise?  I did well with everything else, I think.  I brought the appropriate seasickness drugs, aspirin, toiletries (too many in fact, since our ship provided loads of body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion), bathing suits/cover ups, dresses, a sweater to wear at night when it’s cold, dress purse, totes for shore days, camera, camera battery charger, sunglasses, dresses, (suits for men).  And of course the ship sells things (at outrageous prices) should you forget anything important, though you may not be able to get the exact brand you want.  There was a moment I wished we had brought antihistamines and Immodium though, so that will go on the list for next time!

In a nutshell: more semi-casual clothes, walking shoes, sandals, more otc drugs, less cocktail dresses.

I’ll try to remember for next time, though I’m sure that won’t be for over a year, so I’ll likely forget!

(Last cruise, Carnival Legend August 2010)

I love that dress!  This is at dinner on our cruise, the first "formal night."  Doesn’t my husband look handsome?

Our ship for the week.  You can see our balcony in this shot.  It was towards the top, above the first orange lifeboat.

We had a fantastic time!  (Unlike those poor people on the cruise in Italy…)

The past two weeks have been incredible.  The new year started with our wedding, filled with family and friends, followed by a few days in Miami Beach, followed by a week long Caribbean cruise. 

And now it all comes to an end.  We are home, and now we get to enjoy just BEING married, no longer stressing about the wedding…it’s wonderful!

And…with no further ado, what I know you all really want, some wedding picture sneak peeks!

Sarah Crowder is my hero!  The upper left hand photo is breathtaking, I can’t believe that’s me!  I can’t wait to see all of the pictures (next week.)

I’m exhausted.  But I wanted to say "hi" to my readers, and of course I’ll be back to regular blogging again now, and I want to tell you more details about everything, and also talk about what the upcoming year will bring. 

How are you all?  What have I missed?

We got married!  This picture is from the rehearsal dinner the night before.

It was awesome.

It’s almost time!  I am sitting around, digesting a delicious lunch from Blues City Deli.  I keep double checking my wedding "to do" list to make sure I’m not forgetting anything, but guess what?  I’m pretty much ready.  All I have to do yet is pack my overnight bag, and SHOW UP to various events.  Everything and everybody is in place, all vendors know when and where to be and what to do, the final counts are in, a really fancy dress is in my closet, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care…it’s almost go time!

And yet it’s NOT yet.  I have to wait until Monday.  Today is Friday. 

It’s FUN time though, for sure.  Our friends and relatives are converging on us now and over the next few days and it’s just wonderful!  In the past I’ve attended a fair amount of weddings, and I always wondered how the bride felt, how the couple felt, how on earth you could pull this sort of event together, how it would feel to have all the attention on you.

Answer:  Stressed, stressed, lots of organizational skills and advance planning, and AWESOME.

People keep asking, aren’t you excited?  Well, I’m getting there.  I’m getting pumped, but I’m worried, I’m panicking we’ve forgotten something important, I’m stressed over spending enough time with friends and family, I’m stressed over the fact that some of my jeans don’t fit (before a 7 day cruise, mind you), and I’m trying to stay relaxed so my skin stays awesome and my hair stays shiny.  Also I’m cooking dinner for 14 tomorrow night…that’s something I’m starting on soon.  (How do you cook dinner for 14?  Again, organizational skills and advance planning…there are also SIX tins of cookies thawing on my table.)

Also I just can’t believe it’s almost time!  It seems like it’s been so long since we got engaged yet the time has flown.

My laughing face is both awesome and singularly unattractive. 

And with that, I leave you for now.  Wish us luck!

Yesterday we had lunch with an old friend of Chris’s and also met her fiancé.  They are getting married in May, so of course we talked "wedding."  I gave some advice, you know, since I’m all knowledgeable about planning them and stuff, plus, if we brides and soon-to-be-brides didn’t give tons of (mostly) unsolicited advice, well then who would!  I told her the stuff I was told that I found least helpful, such as "be true to yourself" and "we had the wedding of our dreams for $200 and you should be able to also!"  I also gave her some pregnancy advice and asked several times when they were planning to have children, since people always have opinions on that and she needs to get ready.

Jen, Chris, and my Chris outside of Dressel’s.  I thought about getting a picture of me and Chris, but figured we’d get enough pictures taken this weekend, and most particularly on Monday.

After a potato-heavy lunch, it was gym time!  Mike is giving me an extra two sessions this week (that brings the total to four) so that I can really be in excellent shape to walk down the aisle.  He said the end of our week will be dedicated to bouquet-tossing techniques.  Oh, and I’m definitely questioning his diet—evidently he ate so much on Christmas that he threw up.  Like I did, but when I was around 5 years old.  He claims it is because ordinarily he "eats Paleo, no grains, no dairy" and spent the day eating cookies and other junk that his body couldn’t handle, but I say throwing up is a sign of weakness.  And saying that you ran 10 miles to make up for it is probably a sign of exercise addiction.  But then again, there’s no way to win the healthy argument.  Either you aren’t healthy, or you are just too healthy, or you don’t exercise enough, or you exercise too much.  No winning, much like the wedding planning—everybody has an opinion, and most people just like to tell you to be "true to yourself" and then they will tell you exactly how to go about doing that. 

Yes, I have a bit of an attitude today.  I’m allowed, I’m getting married in less than a week, and dealing with all the wedding planning stress. 

Happy Anniversary to my parents! 

Laura and I went to see Breaking Dawn last night.  I have to admit, I didn’t think it would be great, but I enjoyed the first three movies and have read the books more than once.  (I can’t believe I’m admitting that to the world!  Embarrassing!)  But…this movie was really quite awful.  Even for someone who KNEW it would be bad, I thought it would be bad in a good way.  Ugh.  No.  I’m considering not even seeing Breaking Dawn, part 2.  (I probably still will.  But I won’t be looking forward to it.)

But there was a Titanic in 3D preview.  SO excited for that!  (If you are a regular reader, you already know I love Titanic.  But seriously.  I can’t wait!)

It was crazy to see Leo and Kate on the big screen again…to see them so YOUNG.  I guess we’ve all grown older.

After the movie we met the men folk at Franco.

I look tired, or needed more mascara.  Chris looks well…sort of like a vampire!

We tried for a good picture of Laura and me together but that failed.  Oh well, you all know what she looks like, but now with more pregnant!!!

I made these delightful cookies the other night.

I don’t know why the picture is upside down, but it still looks cool.

Crinkle Cookies

inspired by What’s Cooking, Chicago?

recipe adapted from Betty Crocker

1 box cake mix of your choice (I used Strawberry for one batch, and Spice for another batch, but you can do any flavor!)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1/4 cup powdered sugar for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine the dry cake mix, oil and eggs. Mix together with a wooden spoon until fully combined.

Add any add ins you want—I put in about 1/2 cup white chocolate chips to mix with the strawberry, and butterscotch chips with the spice cake because I had that on hand.
Shape dough into 24 evenly sized balls.
Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl and roll the dough balls in the sugar to coat.
Place the powdered balls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes to set.
Remove from oven and allow to rest for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire cooling rack.