Last Chance

Just a quick note to say that I visited the BEST store ever last night! It's called Last Chance and it's located about 30 minutes south of where I live. Why's this place so great? Well, they carry all the stuff that Nordstrom's couldn't sell. So, you've got really high quality brands like Juicy Coutour, BCBG Maxazria, blah blah blah on sale for low, low prices. For example, tank tops are $2.97, t-shirts are $5.97, some dresses are $12.97. There are some more expensive things, however, overall you're getting a significant savings. I bought some knee high brown boots last night.

In other news, Josh and I are meeting up with Mike and Tara from Arkansas in Las Vegas over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend to celebrate a late 30th birthday for Tara. Josh and I got a crazy great rate to fly from Phoenix and stay two nights at the WYNN with a $100 food credit so we couldn't refuse! The funny thing is that Josh and I will fly out of Vegas on Monday evening and on Saturday evening, I'll be flying back to Vegas to attend a conference for work! WHEW!

Christmas Time

Every year, Josh and I exchange a Christmas ornament (or two) that represents something from the previous year. Josh's gift to me was the Christmas cactus with "Abundant Sunshine My Arizona Life" written on it. My ornament to Josh was the hand painted Mexican cross which represented our finding a church this year (I bought the ornament at the resort in Mexico).

This was the first year we made Christmas cookies that turned out right (we've only tried once before). They were precut and came with icing which went a long way toward helping us out!

Josh flew out to Little Rock on Sunday to spend Christmas at home. On Tuesday night, he told me I would find a present in the bedroom. I found a pair of pearl earrings (we'd received a coupon in the mail a few weeks ago for a free pair from a jewelry shop in the mall so I was glad to get them for free rather than having to pay for them) and an Arizona shot glass.

This morning, Christmas Day, Josh called me to say there was a present in the kitchen for me. I found my stocking in the lazy Susan corner cabinet that we never use. There was candy inside but the BEST PART EVER was the apple and orange! Getting the fruit in my stocking was a tradition my mom started when I was a kid so every year, no matter what else is in your stocking, you have an apple and an orange.

Then, Josh had me go out into the garage where he had hid a Starbucks giftcard. SWEET!

I made cinnamon rolls for my Christmas breakfast. I chatted with Elizabeth on facebook, sent some emails to Josh and his dad, and spoke to my mom on the phone this morning.

A couple of hours later, Josh called me to say there was another present in the kitchen. It was a card that said to start planning our summer trip to run with the bulls in Spain. That was funny because I'd just talked to Elizabeth about running with the bulls this morning. Josh really doesn't want to go though, so I think we still need to have a conversation about this trip when he returns from Arkansas tomorrow night.

I am debating going out tomorrow for the sales. I need a new pair or two of boots. We'll see. Elizabeth asked me what I was going to do today and I said, "Drink champagne." I haven't done that yet but the day is still young....and rainy. I spoke to my mom about the weather and I asked where else in the world could I move in order to have less rain. I mean, I live in the desert already!

December 6-9 San Juan, Puerto Rico

On Saturday, December 6th, Josh and I started off our morning with some of the BEST pancakes I've ever made....because I don't really cook that well. A photo was taken to commemorate the moment.

After breakfast, we put up the Christmas tree. There are few things more stressful to me than putting up the Christmas tree (and in truth, it's Josh that puts the tree together). I think it's the Christmas lights that get to me. There is hardly a year that goes by without my incurring some type of breakdown due to the Christmas lights. Seriously, I must invest in a pre-lit tree to save my sanity. This year, the tree is crooked and only 3/4 of the lights come on when you flip the switch on the wall - NICE and CLASSY! But, I'm not much of a "Christmas-y" person anyway.

You can see by the pictures below, however, that Josh has the holiday spirit :)

Later that same night, I was off to catch a flight to Puerto Rico so I could "chaperone" two students who were attending the Latino Insitute's Technology in Education conference. I say "chaperone" because one student is older than me and is raising three kids.

We caught the red eye flight leaving Phoenix at midnight and arriving in Charlotte, NC around 6:30 am. The flight was bumpy so I didn't get much sleep. Upon arriving in Charlotte, one of my students laid down flat on the floor to sleep while I (despite the fact there were immovable armrests) laid on my side across three seats and using my suitcase (which was the perfect height) as a pillow.

The connecting flight from Charlotte to San Juan was fairly empty so although I had an entire exit row to myself, I moved seats because the arm rests didn't move. I found a row with three empty seats and moveable armrests. I was able to lay down flat and catch about 2 hours of sleep which was AWESOME.

We landed in Puerto Rico, navigated baggage claim for the students, found a taxi, and were on our way to La Concha Resort. The hotel is very nicely remodeled and all rooms are ocean view. Check in, however, was a nightmare. Our room wasn't ready for 3 hours after we arrived which normally wouldn't have been such a big deal but everyone needed to shower to get ready for the conference.

While we waited, we ate lunch at Latin Star, a local Puerto Rican restaurant. I didn't know what anything on the menu was so I went with something that had chicken, rice, and plantains in it. For those of you who know me, you know I love to travel and be adventurous, however, I'm not typically adventurous with what I eat. My dish was absolutely amazing though and I could go for eating some of it right now even.

Then, we waited some more by sitting on the beach outside of the hotel. With 45 minutes until the conference started, I had to go to the front desk to put my foot down. They gave us two rooms on the same floor and we were off to get ready.

La Concha Resort

View of the ocean from Latin Star restaurant...too bad we were still wearing our jeans, sweats, and long sleeves from traveling!

Amazing dish called Mofongo con Pollo (mashed seasoned plantains with chicken)

View inland from the 12th floor where the first networking reception was held

Oceanview from the 12th floor

There was a wine sampling event that night. I have a non blurry picture as well, however, I think the fuzziness is pretty and captures the mood. When I thanked the guy whose company was providing the wine, he didn't speak/understand English. But he said something that the group translated for me as, "We don't have to speak the same language to understand the beauty of wine."

Oceanview from my 6th floor room at night. The green glow in the foreground is a swimming pool.

Swimming in the ocean. I have this thing when the water is cold and I am going to swim, I RUN as fast as I can and fall into the water. Yes, I did that in Puerto Rico, too.

El Morro-the first fort built in Puerto Rico.

Although this pic is blurry, I love the colors and the shape of the arches.

Janell and Judith

View from El Morro

Cemetary

This cemetary was so beautiful.

OLD SAN JUAN:

The San Juan cobblestones have a bluish tint.

We left Puerto Rico on Wednesday morning after a terrible time checking out that still hasn't been settled. The front desk is by far the WORST part of the La Concha hotel. We flew up to Philidelphia and I had my fist philly cheese steak sandwich. It was good but the meat was ground up rather than being strip steak like I thought. I leave you with a goofy pic taken when I wasn't ready-ha ha!

I Want To Be At The Top Of Your Blog Roll

OK...so, obviously my "newest" post which was started several weeks ago still shows up at the bottom of everyone's blog roll. Hence, this post to put me at the top! Yes, I still owe you all posts on Mexico and Puerto Rico. I can do Mexico here as that's primarily photos.

Check out Excellence Playa Mujeres. We visited November 27-December 2. We had a day added onto our trip when US Airways canceled our outbound flight...thanks! They put us up in a nice Courtyard Mariott, but it was not an Excellence Resort.

After emailing the hotel prior to our visit that this would be our 4th stay at an Excellence property, they upgraded us to the Excellence Club upon arrival. Note that no matter what time of year we visit, I always say we're celebrating our anniversary. Only once have we been given the proper anniversary treatment (banner, flowers, etc.). The upgrade was nice in some ways (all the alcohol in the room, proximity to the Excellence Club Lounge, and the use of the Lounge-the picture with the peach rose was us eating snacks in the Lounge. They have the BEST mocha coffees there, too!). However, if you stay in the Excellence Club at Playa Mujeres you can hear the construction noise next door.

I'm HUGELY noise adverse, and the construction noise was heard from our patio and it was a minus in my book. It wasn't a deal breaker...like the one night people were talking in the hot tub below our room....now THAT was annoying! For the most part, I could ignore the construction. We spent every day laying out at the beach away from that part of the property.

You could see Isla Mujeres in the distance.

Overall, it's a close tie between Excellence Playa Mujeres and Excellence Riviera Cancun. EPM is newer which I love. But the drive to ERC is a shorter drive with less traffic. The beaches are about the same at both properties, however, we did have the clearest day at EPM....so clear we could see fish as we walked through the water.

We thought the day and night entertainment was better at ERC. The dinners overall were better at ERC as well. The service was better at EPM. Josh said we won't return to either property because he wants to go somewhere that has big ocean waves. We may be checking out Excellence Punta Cana next year in the Dominican Republic.

This is our traditional departing Cancun snapshot. 5th time we've taken it. Except after taking the photo this time, we found out our flight was canceled and that we'd have to stay in Cancun one more night. Now, I would have been ok with this if Josh decided to splurge and stay at an Excellence resort. As it was, we went with what was provided for free-the Courtyard Marriott Airport Hotel. Josh was introduced to the "all inclusive bracelet" that most hotels in Cancun make you wear...that's why we stay at places that DON'T make you wear one.

No matter where we are in the world, you will always find a picture like this where Josh is watching tv.

This was THE MOST GARRISH, BRASH. and FLASHY wreath ever! I should have videoed it. Anyway, although it was just a Marriott, I decided to treat the night right and got dressed up before heading downstairs for the included dinner. The dinner was not so good and I got complain-y before Josh reminded me that so many people in the world would be thankful for the meal that we were eating that night.

Now, normally, I might roll my eyes at that concept. "Yes, clean your plate because there are starving people in China." But that night, when he said that, it really struck a chord. Although it was far from the best food, at least it was food and I wasn't going hungry.

The next day, I spent the morning trying to send a fax to the office in Phoenix. We ate some breakfast, caught our transfer to the airport, and fortunately were able to fly out of Cancun without incident. Rather than flying direct (as we had when we arrived) we had to connect in Dallas. We finally made it back to Phoenix (visiting the wrong parking garage before finding our car). It was back to work the next day (Thursday) and I flew out to Puerto Rico on Saturday night!