Jamaica Mon.

I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving holiday filled with green bean cassarole, mashed potatoes, turkey & LOTS of family time.  Me personally...I could go a VERY long time without seeing another green bean.

Today I'm doing another cruise recap, and can I just say, I would much rather be crusing thru the jungles of Jamaica with a rum punch in hand right now...

.....but hey, another day another dolla.


On Wednesday of our cruise week (Halloween!!) we ported in Jamaica.  And can I just say, I had NO idea the beautiful wilderness Jamaica had to offer! 

We pulled into port & were shocked at the mountainous view!

After being at sea for a couple days, we were ready to hit the pavement.  I don't know about other cruisers, but Jon & I are HUGE FANS of the shore excursion's Carnival has to offer.  One of our favorite parts of cruising is spending the first couple days at sea, going thru the booklet of all the different options you have to choose from.  As much as we absolutely LOVED our all inclusive beach parties & snorkeling excursions we signed up for on our honeymoon, we decided to switch gears and see more of the beautiful islands we ported in OUTSIDE of just the beautiful water & beaches.

If you haven't heard of Chukka Caribbean Adventure , check them out folks.  They have the most fantastic tours & even more badass tour guides.  We chose the 4x4 Safari Tour and were so thankful we did!  We love getting out of the tourist parts of the country & seeing real, authentic areas of the townships.  And the Safari Tour provided us that.

We capped off the day with a trip to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville where the views were TO DIE for!

Then back to the boat to Flintsone up.

Did I mention we were Fred & Wilma this year? LOVED how the costumes turned out!

Thank You Amazon.

Another Fred & Wilma! 

But c'mon.  There's just no comparison, right? ;)

And this is what we looked like after a day crusin' thru the hills of Jamaica capped off with an amazing Halloween night.

We'd do it all again....right Fred?


 

Cruisin'

Ok, ok....I owe you all a monstrous apology.  I posted some teaser pictures from our recent cruise on Insta over a week ago, and here we are.  Still nuthin'.  And yes, I know I spelled nuthin' wrong. 

To my defense, I came back to a super stressful work load.  I would explain further but I've never really told you all what I actually do for a living, so it wouldn't make much sense.  Also, I have chosen to keep my professional life totally private from Hell on Heels.  I do however plan to give you all a glimpse into my day job one of these days, just not sure when.

But back to our vaca.

It was ahhhhmazing ya'all. 

It's official, we are cruisers.  We went on one for our honeymoon & decided to do another to see if we loved it because it was our first romantic vacation together...or if we really loved the aspect of cruisin'. 

And let me tell ya, we love the aspect of crusin'.

Booze.  A Beautiful Ship.  Fruity Cocktails.  Your Own Waterpark.  Vodka.  Mini Golf & A Hotdog Stand SHAPED Like A Hotdog.  Whiskey.  Breakfast With A View.  And More Vodka.

We were on one of Carnival's newer ships, The Carnival Magic.  MUCH much bigger than our last, however we have to say, I have no complaints about the smaller ships.  They may not have all the fluff, but we loved both equally as much.

This cruise however will always hold a special place in our heart.  Because, ya 'all.  We were lucky enough to land on one of the semi annual Gay-ribbean cruises that Carnival hosts.

 We saw more gay flags than Chaz Bono on steroids.  But we loved every fluorescent speedo we saw, especially the ones who had pink sparkly toenails to match.

While we're on the subject of everything we loved about our cruise, gay & alls, let's talk about the absolutely fantastic italian restaurant on board:  Cucina De Capitano.



DELISH.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

You know what else we love?

Towel Animals.

I know, we're so grown up.

If you could have only seen Jon & I, the morning we walked out onto the pool deck after breakfast to fine THIS!!!!!!

Towel animals were EVERYWHERE.

We. Went. Crazy.

Crazy in love that is.  Kind of like how I'm crazy in love with this guy.

And lastly, we WOULD NOT be doing this cruise justice if I didn't tell you all about the coolest pub of ALL TIME. 

Too bad it's not on land.

One of the reasons we fell in love with this place, well actually, THE reason we fell in love with this place was when we discovered these.

Delightfully refreshing blue fishbowl FULL of fantastic-ness.

After one of those you feel like you can conquer the world, err, casino.

But no need to go into details involving our casino trips.

We'll save that for a rainy day.

Kind of like the time Jon got hypnotized & asked a woman to give him back his belly button.

"Excuse me Miss, will you please give me back my belly button?"

Reason #897890675 why we LOVE cruises.

Stay tuned...next week I'm hopeful to give you all a recap of our 3 shore excursions:

Jamaica, Grand Cayman & Mexico!

Today I am reminded....

That there is so much more going on in the world, so much deeper and profound than words can even describe. Deeper than politics. Deeper than the tedious things we worry about on a day in day out basis.

This has absolutely nothing to do with politics.

While everyone whines and moans all over social media today about who won the election, there is a wonderful man, friend, father, pastor and husband dying of the terrible disease that cancer is.

Joey is his name.

He's vibrant, engaging and has a gift from God that enables him to reach deep within youth and adults alike, showing them how amazing God is.

He has three children, the youngest a daughter named Josy.

11 months ago, Joey was diagnosed & it was terminal from the start.

Most recently he was told that realistically he only has 2-3 years to live. While that may seem like a lot compared to the terrible news some receive everyday, it's never enough.

He won't get to see Josy walk down the aisle, or go to Prom...or teach her how to drive. He won't see his two older boys go on to be amazing with whatever task they take on.

While I grew up without a father, it was still never natural to think that he wouldn't give me away on my wedding day. In fact, many years were shed that week. Tears of joy knowing he would forever be looking down on me, proud as hell that I found an amazing man to share my life with. But also tears of pain that still lie deep within, that my father has missed so much.

And here you have Josy...

I want to share a profound statement Josy made, spoken on behalf of her mother, Dawn.

"Health is valuable but it's so easily taken for granite. Even more valuable is our view of God. Josy recently watched again "Letters to God" Sunday. As tears flowed down my face, she said, "mom it is okay, God has chosen us for this because He knows how we will go through it and He trusts us to do it". If she can trust God, can you?"

In this time of giving thanks for all the "stuff" we have, remember to give thanks for things much deeper than what the eye can see. And remember to thank God, or whoever it is that you pray to, that you have the ones you love around you this holiday season.

Because that's what matters the most.