Meetings and Mustaches

This is the second day of my training and it's going really well so far. My roommate is definitely not a psycho-pants and the other people who are staying in the hotel are really nice too. We're all from different cities and different walks of life but we get along effortlessly and everyone's enjoying exploring this town, which, I might add, is just exciting enough to keep us entertained.

And dude. Dude! The hotel is great. Our rooms all open up to a huge atrium-like space and there are lots of trees and plants everywhere. I love hotels like that. The service has been great, and their shuttle will take us anywhere within a five mile radius, which seriously comes in handy when you don't have a vehicle and the only thing within walking distance is a 7-11.


We've found ourselves some pretty interesting restaurants and bars so far. For example, for lunch today we tried out Portillo's hot dogs. The atmosphere was fun, the food was delicious and affordable, and the service was amazing. I'm a sucker for good customer service.



The most entertaining thing about the trip so far definitely has to be the guy leading our training. He's a young guy who I'd assume is pretty good looking, but apparently he lost a bet back during football season which resulted in him having to grow an absolutely ridiculous mustache. We know this is the case because he introduced himself by saying "My name is Sean, and I don't normally have a mustache." Way to get the ball rolling with that one.

He looks like what I imagine my dad looked like in the 70's. It's a little distracting for all of us.

A certain fictional character keeps coming to mind.

My guess is that back at his house you'll find many leather-bound books.

Away on Business

As I write this I'm sitting at the airport waiting to go on my first ever "business trip." That's right. I feel all grown up and important because my company is paying me to take a plane to another city where I'll learn stuff while staying in a nice hotel. With a pool. The fact that I'm even blogging about this proves that I am a huge dork, but, considering where I work and what I do, the odds of being sent away on business are typically slim to none. I'm excited for a little change of pace. Plus, who doesn't love staying in a hotel? Especially when someone else is paying for it?

The only down-sides to this little adventure are that I don't know anyone else who's going and that one of those strangers is going to be my roommate. I'm all for meeting new people, but if my company decided it wanted to save a few bucks by rooming us together I at least hope that I didn't get matched up with someone who is weird, smelly, or who has klepto tendencies. I could do without all of those traits.

So the original registration for this trip described the location as "Chicago," but I find it absolutely necessary to use quotations because I am so not going to Chicago. Sure, I'll be flying into Chicago, but the actual event is taking place about thirty miles outside of the city. I'm slightly bummed that I'll be so close to "Chicago" but wont really have an easy way to get there, especially since I'm going to be in the area for St. Patrick's Day. I hear they dye the river green and partake in all sorts of shenanigans this time of year. That would be fun to experience!

I'm sure I'll be blogging again once I meet the group I'll be traveling with, check out the hotel, and see what festivities are in store for us.

"Chicago," here I come!

Part Three: Mexico

Our first port of call, and probably our favorite, was Costa Maya Mexico. The first thing we did was visit the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins. I've never visited ruins before, but as a lover of all things historic I enjoyed every minute of it. Our tour guide told us that only about 30% of the site has actually been uncovered and that the rest was left under the dirt and trees to avoid damaging any of the structures. We were able to climb up some of the old steps and the views were spectacular. I highly recommend this kind of excursion to anyone traveling to Mexico. Plus, they gave us free beer at the end of the trip which is always a plus in my book.

When we got back to the pier in Costa Maya we had several hours to kill, so we did some shopping, laid out in the sun, and had an amazing lunch. Even though we chose to stay in the touristy area, we had a great time. The food was good, the service was good, and it was really clean. It was a perfect stop!

Our third port of call was also in Mexico, but this time it was Cozumel. We chose an excursion at Playa Mia Resort, which included food, drinks, and access to a beautiful beach for the day. The only downside was that it was so windy they had canceled all water activities and we were freezing our butts off sitting by the water.

Eventually the weather cleared up and by noon it was 80 degrees and sunny. I was enjoying being lazy and drinking my Dos Equis when Jason got the idea he wanted to go scuba diving. He'd found a guy at the resort who could take us and it was a pretty reasonable price so we decided to go for it.

It was the two of us, two men from Puerto Rico, and our little Mexican scuba instructor Orlando all crammed into a tiny boat heading out to sea. I was nervous, to say the least, because I've never even been snorkeling before, let alone taken to the ocean floor with a huge tank strapped to my back. Orlando taught us how to use the equipment and made sure we understood how it would work and before I knew it we were in the water.

He had us practice sticking our faces in the water to get used to the breathing aspect of diving, but every time I'd go under I'd get the feeling I was drowning and immediately resurface. After doing this five or six times I eventually started hyperventilating and I had myself convinced that I couldn't do it and that I was going to get back in the boat. Of course that meant I was also on the verge of tears because I felt bad for holding everyone else back. Somewhere in the midst of my freak-out session Orlando grabbed my hand and pulled me under water, which sounds like a recipe for disaster, but actually? It totally worked.

I eventually got used to the rhythm of breathing under water and was able to enjoy myself. We saw a coral reef, lots of colorful fish and a nurse shark. However, I continued to hold Orlando's hand for pretty much the entire time we were down there. That's right. Behold Lauryn, the incredible hand-holding scuba diver.

Since we had gone off on our own excursion to do the scuba diving, Jason and I almost missed the boat. We got back onto the cruise ship about ten minutes before that bad boy took off, making Cozumel the biggest adventure of our trip.

Part Two: The Boat

Neither Jason or myself had ever been on a cruise before this trip, so we were pretty excited for the experience. Our ship was the Carnival Valor, which was really nice. We had a balcony stateroom, which definitely isn't a necessity, but we liked having the extra space. Sitting out there and hearing the ocean crashing against the boat was very relaxing... The room itself was surprisingly spacious and although we were on the ship with 3300 other people, there were always places you could go to avoid the crowd.

Getting ready to say goodbye to Miami!

The Coast Guard stopped by to say farewell.

Checking out the balcony for the first time before leaving port.

The first umbrella drink of the cruise! The drinks on-board were delicious and, we found, very reasonably priced. We expected to get slammed with the cost of alcohol, but it really wasn't that bad.

Please take a moment to notice our cheesy grins in this photo. This was after our first exciting day and a few more of those cocktails. I really didn't have that much to drink, but on that first night I somehow managed to place one of my contact lenses on the counter in the bathroom instead of inside the case where it belonged. The next morning when I could only find one contact in the case I discovered that it was completely dried out and adhered to the counter. Since I failed to pack an extra pair (lesson learned) I was without for the rest of the trip. Seriously, who does that!?

We didn't participate in many of the on-board "activities," but we did try our hand at Bingo a few times for a potential $1000 jackpot. I was two numbers away! TWO! We went to see a hilarious comedian named Percy Crews 2 and a magician who entertained us more with his flamboyant hand gestures than with his actual magic tricks. We also stopped by the casino most night on the boat to play our favorite slot machine and for Jason to play poker. Towards the end of the trip he sat down at a Texas Hold 'Em table and won over $400! Woohoo! There was definitely plenty to do on the ship.

We didn't do as much sun-bathing as we'd expected to on the boat. The days we were at sea were too windy and rainy, and the rest of the time we were off at the ports of call. It was still warm though, and I'll take those temperatures over snow any day!

Enjoying the balcony.

A gorgeous sunrise from the balcony.

On the last night of the cruise they had a free cocktail hour. You'd best believe we were there.

Next up? Adventures in Mexico...

Part One: West Palm Beach

Instead of overwhelming you with all of my pictures in one post, I've decided to break them up a bit based on the places we traveled to. We started our vacation visiting my family in West Palm Beach, Florida. I'd never been to their house and I think Jason and I both were both surprised by how gorgeous it was. We laid out by the pool, drank Coronas, went out to eat, and visited with my cousin. It was the perfect way to start our trip.

More to come soon!

50 Years

Hello all! I made it home safely from our vacation and I can't wait to tell you all about it! I'm still sorting through our pictures and getting things back in order before heading back to work, but today I wanted to blog about something completely unrelated to our trip.

Today is my wonderful mother's 50th birthday.

(pictured here with her seestor, she's the one on the right)

I know she's not wild about celebrating this milestone, but I think it's more than necessary to acknowledge the day. She's beautiful, compassionate, and I don't know what I'd do without her.

Happy happy birthday, mom.

Picture this...

My next guest post is by the one and only JenRem. Jenni was the first blogger I met in real life, and since that day I've been so grateful to have found such a wonderful friend! She is just as sweet in person as she is on her blog. Be sure to head over to her page and say hello if you haven't been there already!

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Hello there everyone. My name is Jenni from absent minded. and I'm guest posting for Lauryn so she could go travel to the warm, beautiful beaches with her super cute boyfriend. I mean no way am I bitter about her fabulous trip. I did just get to travel to Atlanta... where it snowed. And I'm currently sitting in a freezing cold, snow covered Michigan. But no, I'm not bitter :) I'm just joking, I am bitter but I'm also so excited for Lauryn. I really cannot wait to see the photos she comes back with. This girl is talented. Seriously! Have you seen her stuff?

Maybe one day I'll be half as good as her...

Lauryn and I have a lot in common, that was apparent on our first time hanging out. One thing I have in common with her that I do not have with any of my other friends is the love for photography. We both have degrees in marketing (well she is almost done with her marketing degree) and have very little formal training in photography, yet we both have the love for this creative art. Everyone likes looking at pretty things (hello, isn’t that why there is a Ms. Universe pageant and football pants?) but I love photography for a few other reasons…

I love the ability to capture frozen moments in time.

I love creating memories of events that otherwise might have been forgotten.

I love that photos, especially now in a digital world, can live on forever.

I love how stories can be told through a simple capture.

And best of all, I love how fun it can be.

I know Lauryn will agree that photography is one of the greatest things in our lives. What is something that you love and adore in your life?

ps- I'm a Canon gal and Lauryn is a Nikon girl... let's take a poll: What type of camera geek are you?