Put on the Glasses

Every night on the cruise you went to a formal dining room and had dinner served to you by waiters, unlike the lunch buffet Every night you sat at the same table, with the same people. One night of the cruise, the second night, it was the full formal dinner where everyone had to dress up. So, I thought I would share the photos. Above, you can see me ready to go to dinner. Here is Brian doing a Vogue-style pose: Here we are at dinner: It was a lot of fun! The most amusing part was seeing what other people thought of as "dressed up." Some women wore full prom-style dresses. I swear I saw a girl in a wedding dress. Some guys also considered a polo shirt and khakis to be dressy. There were a lot of little girls that were dressed up like princesses. It was a terrific people watching event.

After getting off the boat in Progreso, on the way to Chichen Itza, our bus made a pit stop in Piste, Mexico. I snapped some quick photos. Above is Brian next to the shopping area we were parked at. Here I am next to the bus: Here is a shot of building we were next to: Lastly, a picture down the street: I wanted to take more photos but the second we stepped out of the parking lot and near the street, street vendors started approaching us from all directions trying to sell us stuff. That seemed to be the theme of that day, at this stop and at Chichen Itza. Everyone we talked to on the cruise kept repeating the sellers' mantra, "One Dollar! One Dollar! One Dollar!" One man we spoke to at dinner believed he would actually hear it in his sleep. It's funny in hindsight but at the time it was quite annoying.

I had to share some pictures from the port in Progreso, Mexico. Above, you can see Brian next to our ship, the Carnival Fantasy. The water was such a terrific color that I had to take a picture: Finally, here I am: Can you tell it was windy? You can see the storm clouds behind me. We just missed them as we were getting back on the boat. We were very lucky!

Every night of the Carnival cruise, the housekeeping staff would make a towel animal for us. I had to share a picture of elephant. It's cute.

I am so proud of my husband. He has terrific luck gambling. On the cruise he made it into the finals of a blackjack tournament. He made $1000 of fake money turn into $6500. This gained him entry into the finals. Unfortunately, he had a turn of bad luck then and didn't make it any further. However, he had to snap a photo of his name on the board. He did win a t-shirt and a card holder (the kind that hangs around your neck). Here is is after-the-fact, celebrating with a beer: Go Brian! Relatedly, he did quite well at the craps table on the cruise. He won a couple hundred dollars on a hot table. Craps is a lot of fun to watch and we had a lot of fun making friends at the tables.

I am going a bit out of order with my honeymoon posts but you won't mind, right? This was the room that we stayed in on the last night of our honeymoon. After the cruise ended, we spent one night in New Orleans at the Le Richelieu Hotel . I highly recommend the place. It is a small boutique hotel on the east side of the French Quarter. They were kind enough to give us the Honeymoon Suite. It had an awesome four poster bed: It also had a full kitchen: It had a complete living room with a couch, chairs and a dining table: It also had a full bathroom, a walk-in closet, a hall closet and a linen closet. It was bigger than our apartment. It was terrific. We also had a walk-out balcony. Consider this my plug for the Le Richelieu.

Yes, that is a picture of what you think it is. Alicia is not only in a bathing suit (her first since 7th grade forced swimming in gym class) but she is also in the Caribbean. She also has a necessary drink. I have had a fear of water for as long as I can remember. However, at Brian's request, being our honeymoon, I faced my fear and got in the water. It was awesome. I get it now. Swimming is fun. I was wrong. I did, of course, accuse Brian of trying to kill me twice while in the ocean (he picked me up and accidentally dunked me). However, this is still progress! These pictures were taken at a beach club in Cozumel, Mexico. It was the second port of call on our cruise. Here I am on a beach chair enjoying a pina colada (it was an open bar): Here is Brian on the beach posing like a Sports Illustrated model for me: Finally, I had to include this shot of one of the beach club employees carrying around some parrots: We had a blast and the resulting sunburn was totally wort...

Nicole snapped this photo of me and Andrew Berns. This was taken in Las Vegas at Gameworks the day before the wedding. It reminded me of a picture of us from a long time ago that I have on my computer: I think this picture was taken sometime in college. I have known Berns since I was a baby. We grew up down the street from each other. He is a great friend and I am so happy he could be in my wedding! I know that sounds corny but it is, nonetheless, my reasoning for posting these pictures.

We just got back from our honeymoon! We took a Carnival cruise to the Western Caribbean. this included a stop in Progreso, Mexico where we took a trip to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza , one of the new seven wonders of the world. It was pretty awesome to see the structures that have survived since the fall of the Mayan empire. Above, you can see Brian at the site. Here is Alicia next to the pyramid: Here they are sitting on of broken stones from the site: Finally, here is Brian at one of the pillars: It was a really fun trip and I hope to post more pictures soon!

We are at the oldest bar in the USA, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop on Bourbon Street.  We are happily drinking hurricanes.

We are back in New Orleans aftee the cruise. Brian is seen here at lunch with fried pickles and cajun food!  More when we get back to New York!

Here we are together at a hotel in New Orleans, waiting to leave on the cruise.  We shall return to the internet in a week!

As some of you have already heard, a few weeks ago, when new tenants moved into the building, a large portion of my plants were destroyed or irreparably damaged. I know, it is sad. Brian and I were initially furious, but, with the advice of my father, I cooled off. We removed a bunch of plants from the garden, the ones that could be salvaged, and moved them up to the fire escape. At first, the destruction stopped. No children were in the backyard for weeks. Then, one night, we heard yelling in the backyard. Looking out the window, we see a group of boys throwing our rocks into the construction pit. We yelled at them to stop. They didn't. I yelled at the father standing next to the building, he yelled at the kids and they finally stopped. Fast forward another couple of weeks. Kids have dismantled much of our rock garden. I go in the backyard to work and one girl tells us how they "can't put the rocks back, they are building a bridge!" Okay, I get it. I was a k...

Last weekend, Brian and I met up with Tanya, Jorge, Bobby and Sabina for some bowling. We had a lot of fun at The Gutter here in Williamsburg. Tanya sent me some pictures and I had to share them. In the picture above, I am with Tanya, waiting to bowl. Below is Brian bowling. He has terrific form but, unfortunately, that doesn't translate to a high score for the poor guy. In the last picture I am Jorge is giving me a thumbs up and Brian is giving me a thumbs down. This is due to the fact that I won a game! I actually broke 100! I believe that is a first for me. Sheer dumb luck that it happened but I am happy!