Los Lunamieleros

Our hotel room had all the essentials: flat screen tv and a bar. It was actually really nice that the room had a fully stocked bar and mini-fridge. Very convenient!

The view from our hotel room.

Dave smoking a Cuban.

A view from one of the restaurants at the resort. Dave and I ate 4 meals just about every day we were there. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and then Late Night Snack. We're going to have a very hard time getting used to being home and not having a buffet or room service available to us at all times.

The resort really was as gorgeous as it looked in the pictures. If you're ever interested in an adults only, all inclusive resort near the Cancun area, then I highly recommend Aventura Spa Palace. I really don't have one negative thing to say about our stay. Dave is interested in exploring the other parts of Mexico on our next vacation but I'd much rather just go back to Aventura. I loved it that much!


I spent most of my time reading and relaxing in the hammock on our balcony or by the beach with a Rum Punch by my side. I finished 5 books in the 8 days we were there!

It rained on us one day while we were there. The rain lasted only one hour and was very cool for us since we've only experienced 3 inches of rain in San Diego ALL YEAR!

One night they had a special honeymooners dinner for all of us. The resort had 1200 rooms (it was big) and there was probably 250 honeymooners there at the same time as us. The honeymooners dinner was a nice meal and a great way to make friends.

Dave and I spent alot of time by the endless pool.

One day we took the 30 minute ferry to the island of Cozumel. A very quiet and quaint little place to visit.

Our hotel had several places on site where we could snorkel. Here is Dave snorkeling in the Caribbean. I attempted to snorkel one day. I put on all the gear and jumped in the water. I saw one fish several feet ahead of me, immediately freaked out, and swam the 3 feet back to the dock. Snorkeling is not for me! The fish look huge under the water!

A recreation of a Mayan dance.

As part of our all-inclusive package, several tours were included. One day we went to the Mayan ruin of Tulum. Super cool and informative! The Mayan people were savage but also intellectually advanced. This is a sacred arch where every year during the solstice, a ray of light is projected from the pyramid onto this site.

Another gorgeous pic of Tulum.

To commemorate our honeymoon, Dave gave me a 3 stone ruby and diamond ring. Rubies are his birth stone, diamonds are mine, and 3 stones to represent our past, present, and future.

*sigh* We're home now. Part of me is so happy to be home (I missed Fluff!) while the other part of me wishes I was back in Mexico.

Paradise Awaits

For the next 8 days, Dave and I will be sitting by the pool, relaxing, drinking, and eating to our hearts content. Much love til I see you again.

PS - Dave and I prepped for our honeymoon by taking time the day after our wedding to sit and relax by the pool in Yosemite. I needed to work on my tan ;-p

He do, I do, We all do

Click on any of the pics to see them larger.


Rehearsing


My bridesmaids and I


Getting Ready


The finished product


The little ones and I


The guys


Dave and I relaxing before the ceremony began


After saying 'I do'


Our cake


Husband and Wife

2 becomes 1

We're Married! (more pics of me not drunk to come later)

Six

My maid of honor and I. Lately, she's been upset/sad/hurt about something and she wont tell me what is wrong. Seeing her with all these bad feelings pent up inside of her, festering, and growing is killing me.

Seven

Our wedding cake inspiration

Eight aka Ate

Yesterday I went to the bridal salon for my final fitting. Yes, final fitting. As in after this you get no more. Even though my dress fit perfectly, I attempted to spend 20 minutes walking around the store in my dress. The asian owner was having none of that and kept fast walking behind me and saying "it's ok. You take it off now". I would then walk a figure 8 in front of the mirror and say "just one more second I gotta make sure that I can raise my arms without the dress falling down". The owner would let out a heavy sigh and let me spend 3 minutes raising and lowering my arms.

What can I say? My dress is sooo comfortable and I really like being in it. Now you might be questioning me right now. Comfortable did you say? Yes, very comfortable. A little too comfortable if you ask me. I've been working so hard these past few months and have managed to lose 40 pounds. Now that I know that the dress fits (and really I can't loose any more weight or else the dress will fall off me) I am tempted by all the cookies, cupcakes, and bread items that I've so carefully been avoiding. After yesterday's dress fitting I consumed a cookie, hot dog (at the time it seemed like a good idea), several mini-reese's pb cups, hot pocket, and two graham crackers (that I shared with the cat). Today two cookies called my name. I'm not even sure why my will power is gone but I'm REALLY having a hard time avoiding foods that aren't good for me. Eight more days until the wedding and hopefully by tomorrow I find the restraint to power through this last week without eating everything in sight.



Sharing a graham cracker with the cat. He has never consumed human food and for the most part doesn't know what he is missing. Occasionally he will smell roasted chicken and sniff the air but he never ever jumps on the table or tries to eat the chicken. The exception to this is graham crackers. The cat can smell a graham cracker from across the room and will immediately be all up on me like a fat kid on cake. I'm pretty much forced to share my cookies.

Nine Feels Fine

I remember last June I went to my good friend J's wedding. As I sat there as a guest, I saw J's limo pull up and I immediately became overwhelmingly nervous. Not for myself but for J. I almost started to hyperventilate as I sat there and thought of how nervous I was for J and how that meant that I would be 10x more nervous for myself when my time came to walk down the aisle.

I later asked J is she was nervous and she said not at all. Surprisingly this seems to be the common response I hear from already-been brides when I ask if they were nervous. Each has told me that I would be calm when it was my turn. Since I am a naturally nervous Nelly, I really didn't believe them.

Here we are 9 days before my wedding and I can honestly say that I am not in the least bit nervous. I'm calm. I'm serene. I'm feeling like this whole countdown is a little surreal. But I'm not nervous. Everything so far has felt easy and natural. Sure lately I've cried at things that in the past wouldn't have made me cry but really that's only one of two ways that I have showed stress these past few weeks.

The other way? I've developed Bride's ADD. I'm normally a very focused person and now all of a sudden I can't sit and work on a project for longer then 15 minutes. My work day is entirely unproductive since I'm constantly interrupting myself. My recent work day schedule:
8:00 Arrive
8:05 Look at Personal Email
8:15 Check Work Email. Glance at new messages.
8:20 Decide to Check MSN news
8:25 Bathroom break? ok
8:30 Teleconference
8:35 I have muted the teleconference and am now looking at celebrity gossip on the internet.
8:55 What's in the soda machine? I love diet coke.
9:00 Sit at desk committed to do some work.
9:10 Look at weather on-line. A high of 73 is expected in Yosemite.
9:15 Check work email again. Glance at messages again but don't answer any of them.
9:20 Chat with admin assistant.
... And so goes my day. Luckily, I'll be on vacation for 3 weeks beginning this Friday. I don't have a lot of wedding stuff left to do but it will probably be a good thing that I wont be trapped in my office feeling completely useless.

In 10 Days ...

This is Where I Breath

I'm back from inner city LA and I didn't get shot. Honestly, the students were the most well behaved group of high school students that I have ever seen. A little too well behaved if you ask me. At a few points in my presentation I expected the students to laugh and instead they just sat there with their perfect posture and hands clasped nicely as they sat in their desks. Except for the 2 pregnant girls that I saw, you would have thought that this was the brown colored equivalent of Stepford High School. Surprising to say the least ...
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Dave and I finally had a relaxing weekend. Actually we did a lot but after 10 weekends in a row where we were running around with our heads cut off, we were very appreciative of a weekend where there was a nice balance of stuff to get done and time to relax. We even went for a 3 mile hike on both Saturday and Sunday! 3 miles! David! The man who refuses to exercise! Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the ground.
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Our photo montage has been completed for awhile (this is the rough draft version). It sure does brighten my mood every time I see it. I love that boy and can't wait to marry him in eleven days!

Something that gives me an Insta-Smile