Mostly Awkward & a bit of Awesome

Awkward: elevator rides. No explanation is really needed for this one, but let me delve into this a little deeper: to push or not to push the close door button, to move to the back of the elevator when people get in or stand your ground, to get off before others or wait for them to exit first, to small talk or not to small talk, to hold your breath or gag from BO and/or cigarette smoke, to make eye contact or not to make eye contact, to go up 15 flights of stairs to avoid awkward elevator situations or to suck it up and deal.

Awkward: Seeing someone craning their neck to try to read your tattoo on your foot. I finally just told him "it says Live, Laugh, Love." To which he replied "interesting location." I said "yeah, better than my first thought of my wrist!" His response? "Speaking of bad tattoos, at least it's not a skull or something." Thank you random guy on the elevator for not only being awkward, but also sharing your opinions on my tattoo. I wish I had replied with "Oh, I have one of those on my lower back!"

Awkward: People who have disgusting toenails but still insist on wearing sandals.

Awkward: receiving this photo from your SIL late one night:

Why yes, that is my brother with a makeshift spear through the eye of the largest rat I have ever seen. I also received videos, but I will spare you from those. He said he measured it and it was 11 inches!!! Crazy! Apparently he wanted to wake my niece up to show her but my SIL told him no. I said they could have just told her the rat was sleeping and had pink eye if she asked. We're classy, I know...

Awesome: Today is Thursday...the week is almost over!

Livingston Vacation 2015, Part Two

They had this picture hanging up in the condo and it really resonated with me. The beach has always been my happy place--the sand between my toes, the sound of the water crashing on the shore, picking up seashells and seaglass, and admiring the overall beauty that God has created.

We lucked out with mostly good weather while in Padre, it only rained for a short amount of time a few days during the week (usually first thing in the morning). I took this picture literally 15 minutes before it started pouring! haha

This is what I did all day, every day and this is what Jacob did:

Well, that and read. He actually brought a few books too!

We decided to go on a Dolphin Watch/Eco Tour in the middle of the week and it was great!

They dragged a fishing net behind the boat and discussed everything they caught for the Eco Tour portion and it was cool to see the creatures that are common out there. The only downside was that they didn't catch a whole lot that day.

This was a Flounder--not what I expected a Flounder to look like. I was picturing a big, puffy, yellow fish...The Little Mermaid lied to me. haha

A crab of course! What was cool though is they taught us how to tell the difference between a male and a female. This crab was actually pregnant, so they stressed the importance of not injuring it and quickly returning it to the water.

Then my favorite part of the tour--dolphin watching! I have always loved dolphins and could spend hours watching them. It was so hard to get a good action shot, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching them.

On to Book #2 for the week....Jennifer Wiener books are great beach books!

On the last night, we decided to take a Sunset Dinner Cruise. They served us grilled shrimp, fajitas, and fruit. I devoured the shrimp--it was my absolute favorite! 

The cruise ended with a fireworks show over the bay. Perfect ending to a great week!

We met a great couple on the cruise, who were also celebrating their One Year Anniversary, so we decided to grab a few drinks after the cruise at Louie's Backyard and saw the coolest sandcastle! Also, in case you don't already know, never tell a bartender to surprise you with "something fruity" unless you want a souvenir cup half-full of 5 various liquors, a handful of cherries, and a bit of Sprite. It was surprisingly good and only $12 but soooo strong! Jacob had to help me drink it because if I finished it, I would not have been walking out of there. haha

Since Jacob drove the entire way down, I decided to be nice and offer to drive some of the way home. Not 15 minutes into the drive, I saw flashing lights in my rearview mirror and was handed a Warning for going 10 over the speed limit. In my defense, I was honestly looking for a Speed Limit sign! It's a good think he didn't catch me a 1/4 mile back when I was going 15 over the alleged Speed Limit...we'll keep that our little secret. haha

We were so bummed to come back to the real world and go back to work, but we were so happy with our decision to go to South Padre. It was a beautiful beach, and a very relaxing vacation. We will definitely visit again! 

Livingston Vacation 2015, Part One

We knew we wanted to take a vacation this year around the time of our One Year Anniversary, but it took us forever to decide where we wanted to go. We knew another all-inclusive resort was not in the budget this year, so then we thought about a cruise, but then got scared of capsizing and/or catching the bubonic plague, so we ultimately decided to rent a condo in South Padre Island for a week. Jacob thought it would be fun to roadtrip it down there (roughly 12 hours from us), so that's what we did!

On our trip down, we drove through Texas Hill Country (which is so beautiful, but I was unable to get any good photos of that) and a lot of cute little towns. When we drove through Mineral Wells, Texas, we were immediately stunned to see a massive building standing high above everything else. Since it was so out of the ordinary, I googled it and found out it was The Baker Hotel. This hotel has such a rich history and they are actually in the process of reviving it! If and when they get this hotel restored, I definitely want to go back for a visit!

We finally made it to San Antonio (our stopping point for the day) and got to explore the River Walk on our Anniversary. We toured the Alamo; got our mandatory mashed pennies and shot glasses (which never ever get used); took a boat ride; and ate Mexican food at the oldest restaurant on the River Walk. Despite our rude waiter, it was an absolute blast and we would have loved to spend more time there.

In retrospect, that is not the most flattering dress. Darn...

The Alamo, obviously!

On our boat ride

Unfortunately, we missed meeting Morgan, John, and Ted by hours. By the time we realized that we were both in San Antonio, I was already in pajamas and Morgan was living it up on the River Walk (what can I say, I know how to party). I was super bummed that we missed each other...maybe next time.

The next day we drove the remaining 4 hours to South Padre (part of which was through a torrential downpour/monsoon) and immediately went to Sea Turtle, Inc. since we had time to kill before we could check into our condo. If you have never heard of this place, stop what you're doing and go read about them right now (or maybe after you get to the end of this post). Sea Turtle, Inc. rehabilitates injured sea turtles with the goal or returning them to the ocean. They also have a conservation program to relocate, protect, and release hatchlings!

They are also home to Allison (the first sea turtle to use a successful prosthesis)

We even got to feed Gerry (just like Johnny Carson & David Letterman)

Of course, Jacob was the only one tall enough to throw the lettuce over the tank
...I just got to tempt him with it. I felt kind of bad...

We finally got to check into our condo and it was absolutely gorgeous--even better than the photos we saw online! We immediately changed clothes and went out to walk on the beach and play in the water.

View from our balcony 

View from our bedroom

Stay tuned for Part Two of our vacation!