Project 12: March

Project 12 posts have become some of my favorite to write and read. It's a really fun way to recap the month and I look forward to looking at all of them at the end of the year! I don't know about you guys, but March flew by! I had just gotten used to writing "3" on date stickers at work when before I knew it it was April Fool's Day and I had NOTHING planned. March was a fun month and I'm thankful for all we were able to do. For the record, this was the first month that we took a picture on the first day of the month. Enjoy a walk through our March. 

DATES

1. We finally went out and did what I had given Alex for Christmas. A date to this local comedy theater. They put on stand-up comedy much like "Who's Line is it Anyway". It was super fun to be part of a smaller audience because they used suggestions that we would shout out. It was affordable, entertaining, and we will definitely be going back. 

2. Five Guys. This is probably one of the two best local places for hamburgers and we got to enjoy a little bit of the deliciousness this month.

DISCOVERIES

1. One should not eat a large fatty Chik-Fil-A meal after fasting for 12 hours. I worked Monday night and had to fast from 4AM until my doctors appointment at 2PM. I got home from work, went to bed without breakfast, and drove an hour to my appointment. Nothing sounded better than Chik-Fil-A after 12 hours of not eating. I indulged in my regular sandwich + fries but decided to add on a milkshake since I had fasted. Three hours later I was running sprints and almost threw up on the sidewalk in front of some high schoolers. I think my body got confused as to why I was feeding it in the middle of the night, then not feeding it at all, then feeding it a ton of fatty food, and then sprinting. Needless to say, I haven't had Chik-Fil-A since.

2. That David's Bridal can't ship to a different store than the one you purchased the dress in. While we were on spring break in San Diego I got the dress I needed for a wedding in September. Unfortunately they said they couldn't ship it to Colorado, but thankfully offered to send it to my house at no cost. Just an FYI for all you bridesmaids out there.

3. Blog life becomes a lot harder when I'm on night shift. I haven't done a rotation of night shift since I got more consistent about blogging, and it's taken me a little bit by surprise this time. My days and weeks are all messed up and before I know it and I have no posts planned. If you're wondering why I'm a little quieter these days, blame it on the fact that I'm kind of a vampire. 

BOOKS & MOVIES

-Books-

You guys. I actually read some books this month! Mostly because I was on vacation and had 40 hours of driving time (round trip) to devour some pages! 

"Interrupted" by Jen Hatmaker. I had been on the wait list for this book for months at the library and finally got it! I loved this book, but I'll be honest- I had a hard time getting into it because the first few chapters are uncomfortable. They're uncomfortable to read because they are so true. The second half of the book was wonderful and inspiring as she gave tangible examples of how to live out Christianity in a radical way. This book only reinforced our yearly goal of being generous, and I'm continually praying for the Lord to present us with opportunities. I highly recommend this book to everyone- just know that you need to stick with it through the first several chapters. 

"Stroke of Insight" by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. This was a book that was recommended to me by a friend at work. It is about a neuroscientist that had a massive hemorrhagic stroke in her left hemisphere. It's something that probably should have killed her, but thanks to her extensive understanding of the brain, she was able to orchestrate her own rescue and fully recover in 8 years. Though it's not written from a Christian perspective and she mentioned nirvana one too many times, it was absolutely fascinating to read her account of the morning of her stroke and how she responded to different nurses and caregivers depending on how they treated her. As a nurse who deals with patients following strokes and traumatic brain injuries, her insights have become invaluable to me in my job. She also gave a lot of perspective into the fact that we can get stuck in our own negative loops of thinking and it takes practice and perseverance to change these loops but they can be changed. If you can get past her nirvana talk, this was a fascinating book. 

"One Day at a Time" by David Sloan. Alex works part time for a home healthcare company, and has recently begun taking care of a man that has debilitating multiple sclerosis. This book is his autobiography that talks about the quick progression of his disease and how he has managed to stay hopeful throughout it all. It was a really inspiring read and cool to get to know the man that Alex has been working with a little better. 

-Movies-

Divergent. Alex had told me that I wouldn't like this movie very much so I hadn't ever seen it. After watching The Giver and enjoying it, Alex decided that I might like Divergent so we watched it one night. I totally enjoyed it- in my opinion it was the more interesting version of The Giver and I'm excited to see the new one that came out recently! 

NOTABLE EVENTS

1. Alex came down with the sniffles one night and woke up with a full blown cold the next day. I guess he must have been feeling generous because when I woke up with a sore throat the following morning, I knew it was game over. We both spent the next couple of days pounding vitamin C, water, soup, and we bought our first humidifier. Next time Alex is sick I think I might sleep on the couch because he clearly has the superior immune system. 

2. Spring Break! We had planned to go on vacation with my family a couple of months ago because Alex's, my brother's, and my mom's spring breaks all happened to land up being the same week. My Dad and I took time off from work and we headed out as a family. My family, being the planning family that they are, decided that San Diego would be our destination about a week before we left. We had a blast, and I hope to write recap post soon! 

BY THE NUMBERS

Miles run: 67

Miles driven: 2,268 (to San Diego and back)

New recipes tried: 1. These oven-roasted fajitas were super flavorful and will probably land up on our menu again. 

In N Out burgers eaten: 5. This number would have been closer to 7 if it weren't for my Dad who doesn't seem to understand why daily In N Out visits are important. If I ever move to a place that has an In N Out close by, I'm going to need an accountability partner and a rehab program to help overcome my addiction. 

How was your March? What exciting things did you do? 

5 Reasons to Hop Aboard a Cruise Ship

The hubby and I went on a cruise for our one year anniversary present to ourselves and we both absolutely LOVED our trip. It was his second cruise and my first, and let me tell you... I'm ready to hop on board again! 

Just so you guys know, just a couple years ago I was really against the whole idea of cruising. I basically thought that it was too many people crammed onto too small of a boat, all under the name of fun. Well, for the record... I was wrong, way wrong. 

There's people, a lot of them. But it's also a BIG ship, with a lot of things to do. And if you really are getting people'd out (like I get sometimes), you can always just head back to your stateroom and get some alone time. With further ado, let's get to the 5 reasons I think you should jump on a cruise ship (especially if you've never given it the chance!) 

1. Cruises are affordable 

If you haven't guessed by now, me and the husband man like to save money. Living off of a single income we also don't have a lot extra money, and we sure aren't going into debt just for vacation! Cruising seemed to be a good option on the money side of things, which is why we originally started to look into going on one. 

Depending on your cruise line, your length of cruise, and the location, you can pay less than $100 per person. This, of course, does not include port taxes (be careful with this- we didn't expect it and it raised our total price quite a bit), shore excursions, or flights if you don't live close to a port (which most of us probably don't). 

We cut costs for our cruise in three main ways: 

1. We used mileage points to get free plane tickets

2. We didn't go on the most expensive shore excursions

3. We kept our on-board spending to a minimum (this included no alcohol!)

(We did the whole thing with only carry ons which is 

another post for another time, but this saved us $100!

There are certainly ways to make a cruise expensive, but there are ways to make it affordable. Check rates often, go in the off season, book flights early, and choose your excursions wisely. Did we pay more than we would have if we chose to take a road trip to another state? Probably yes. Was it a lot more? Probably not. We felt that we got an awesome bang for our buck because of all the delicious food, entertainment, and places we got to visit. 

2. The fun atmosphere is unbeatable 

This reason seems obvious- of course a cruise is fun. But really, when I say that, I mean that the atmosphere itself is fun! People are there to have a good time and enjoy themselves making it a good environment to have a good time. 

Let me give you an example. The husband and I went to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica for our honeymoon. One of the things that we were looking forward to most was the nightly dancing that they advertised. Much to our disappointment, the dancing was usually a bust- little to no one showed up, and when they were there most people just sat and watched instead of danced. The atmosphere on the resort was totally different- people were there to enjoy themselves, but weren't necessarily enthralled by the "activities" the place had to offer.

Um... basketball on the ship?? Yes, please! 

The cruise however, is ALL about the activities. You get a daily brochure that tells you what is going on where- it's awesome! Because the cruise was so activities oriented, you'd better believe that the night club was packed every night and that the dance parties on the deck were filled with every grandma, five year old, and everyone in between wanting to have a good time jigging out the Cha Cha Slide. 

I think the atmosphere of a cruise (even if it is slightly alcohol induced) is hard to beat, and we enjoyed that everyone got into all the activities so much more than they did at our honeymoon resort. 

3. You can make it what you want 

Part of my original avoidance of cruises was because I felt like you wouldn't have the freedom to do what you wanted if you were stuck on a tiny little boat. Also, I was very wrong in this. 

You can choose your excursions off shore (these cost extra, so choosing cheaper ones is a way to save money), and you can choose what to participate on the boat. Alex and I chose to splurge on one excursion and then go two cheaper options for our other stops, and then one stop we chose not to do an excursion at all. 

Our favorite excursion- swimming with stingrays!

On our next cruise, we agreed that we would probably do even less excursions. In most of the ports we stopped, there was shopping and places you could walk in the port. You could also stay on the boat and enjoy the emptier pools and attractions (one of our favorite days was the day that we chose not to do an excursion!)

On board, there were so many options of things to choose from. We went to a musical show and a comedy show every night followed up by one of our favorite things... soft serve ice cream! There were so many options for entertainment and dining that I really felt like I could design my day how I wanted... which I loved! 

You can make a cruise as relaxing or as busy as you want. You can choose when you go eat, choose what time of show you want to watch- it's really up to you and the flexibility is awesome!

Because what other type of trip would you see an immigration office in a 

portable shed one day and swim with stingrays the next?

4. You don't have to see your wallet for a week

Probably my favorite thing about a cruise is the all inclusive piece of it. Before you board, they have you link a credit or a debit card to your room key. This can be super dangerous if you're not careful with your spending (like the couple we saw on the last day of the cruise who printed out their list of charges and looked at each other and asked how on earth they just spent $2000), but it is also really handy. I loved loved loved not having to carry around anything besides my room key all week.

I didn't have to worry about carrying my wallet around. All I  

worried about was which towel animal I would see next.

 Hello there, little bat.

I didn't have to look at prices on the food menu because it was all inclusive, and I loved going from show to show to kareoke to dancing all without a card or ID because it was included. A couple of souvenirs that we bought in port required us to bust out our wallets, but other than that we had our room keys and cell phone (for pictures only!) on us the entire week... this in itself helped me relax even more!

5. The food 

Need I say more? I LOVE food! In fact, a lot of times my day revolves around the next time I'll eat. Which is perfect when you go on a cruise that has soft serve ice cream, pizza, buffets, burgers, deli bars, and nice sit down restaurants around every corner. 

Besides enjoying more than my fair share of hamburgers and fries, I loved trying all the fancy things that you could order at our nightly sit down dinner (think lobster tail, squid, snail, tongue).

Lobster tail was probably the only 

adventurous thing I tried and actually liked. 

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Maybe our favorite part of the whole week was meeting people from all over the world. We loved getting to know our waiters from the Philippines and landed up becoming really good friends with the other couple that was at our dinner table. We hung out with these two the whole week, and get to see them again next week when they come out to Colorado for a business trip! 

So have I convinced you to go on a cruise? Have you been on one before? What did you like or not like about it?