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Second of Advent

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nutcracker-brookfield2016Hi guys! So, last night my husband and I went to Brookfield to watch a free performance of The Nutcracker by The New York Theater Ballet and children from Ballet School NY. I’ve never seen The Nutcracker and I actually didn’t even know the story (believe it or not), so I was excited. We came an hour early and it was already full! I can’t say it was the most amazing ballet ever but for being a free performance it was ok. The choreography wasn’t very good and the poor kids didn’t get to dance much, some little girls just sat as statues and not much more. The “Marie” dancer was not very good either, even J said so before I mentioned it. There were a few great dancers though and some costumes were cool. I’m sure kids in the audience loved it.

Today we took the subway up to Grand Central. We wanted to check out the Christmas shops both inside GC and by Bryant Park. Not much interesting there, but it was nice to walk around and try to get some Christmas feeling. Back downtown, J went to the hairdresser and I went to Starbucks. Normally I’m not a Starbucks fan, but I like to order a soy peppermint latte with extra espresso there. Now, we’re just hanging out at home. A pretty relaxed weekend.

Disney World, Magic Kingdom

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Finally, here are some picture from our trip to Disney World and the Magic Kingdom on October 1st. 

This really was a DREAM COME TRUE for me! Holy moly I was excited! There was so much to take in. I wanted to explore everything possible. 

We came there when they opened the doors at 8am. I could barely breath because I was so excited! The guys had booked us on some rides that we had to somewhat keep the time at so to be honest it felt like we just walked around to find the rides, but I didn’t mind, I had a blast:) I had searched online before the trip on what we should do and see there, but some things that I mentioned was actually closed for construction, so, I just completely left the map/schedule/everything else to the guys. Along all the walking, I kept taking off from the other three to go look at something or take a picture. I’m pretty fast and I know how to make myself small in crowds, so the others sometimes didn’t even noticed that I had disappeared for awhile, haha. 

We went on the Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin rides. Both were really fun but honestly not too special. Our third thing we booked was the Monsters Inc Laughing Floor. I looove that movie and I was excited:) And we actually got picked on from “Mike”, hahaha. 

The only request I had for the day was that we would be there when they open and stay til they close. But in the afternoon, the others where pretty tired (I wasn’t, I don’t get tired when I’m excited) and they somehow convinced me that it could be good to go back to the hotel for a few hours and then go back for the famous fireworks. After those few hours, a massive thunderstorm came over us. The fireworks was canceled so in a way it was good that we had left, but I’m sad that I didn’t get those few hours, but whatever, I got to see everything. Plus, we were busy with other things that night. 

Tony wanted to propose that night and I was going to be the photographer (that was part of our trip from before we even booked it). Because of the weather, he ended up proposing in the hotel arcade. Jim was running around getting free stuff (Thank you Disney World!) to send over to their room and I was pretending to play with my camera when all of a sudden Tony was down on one knee and Jamie was in shock. So sweet! I got a few good pictures for them.

So our Disney Magic Kingdom day was awesome!!

Thanksgiving 2016

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thanksgiving-2016-4This year we decided to stay at home in NYC for Thanksgiving. We bought a 9 lbs turkey, the smallest we could find in the store. We started cooking right before noon and it took about 3 hours, cause the bird was still a little cold. Jim was responsible for the turkey, cause I think that’s disgusting, and then we helped each other with the rest. The food turned out awesome and I’m very proud of my husband for cooking a great turkey. Thor went crazy by the turkey smell. He knows the word too so he went crazy just by hearing us talk about it, haha. 

It felt like a long day yesterday. We started with watching the parade on TV. Jess, who I danced with in The Equus Project, was in it this year so I tried to keep an eye out for her. When J started cooking, I cleaned the whole apartment, and eventually I joined him. After the food, we watched football, played yahtzee and ate pumpkin pie. Right before we were going to start a movie, our neighbor knocked on the door. She wanted to give us some cake she had baked. How sweet! Shortly after that, she came back with paper plates with lots of food. Haha, too cute! She knew we were staying in NYC this year without family, so maybe she thought we needed some food:) So today I have been eating like an elephant.

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Prospect Park

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Last week it felt like we were getting closer to summer again and then yesterday it changed to winter. Strange. I even put on a sweater on Thor this morning. Jim wrote earlier that they have a little snow on the ground by his new office, which isn’t really that far north. 

On Saturday, Jim and I took the subway out to Brooklyn. We had brunch at some small place and then we walked to Prospect Park. We were in the north end of the park and that whole part belongs to the Botanical Garden. We walked around it til we got to the actual park. Very quiet there. Lots of trees, water and pathways. More of a park, almost a forest, feeling than Central Park. Sure, I haven’t been in the northern part of CP, but still. Very nice and I could really picture myself walk around there with Thor. He would love all the leaves on the ground:) 
I have lived in NYC for almost 6 years and we have never visited the park. We’ve been to a concert there once, but that doesn’t really count. Now we can cross that off the list. 

8 days on St Lucia

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Our trip to St Lucia was a last minute decision since my husband found out that he had an extra week off before starting his new job. So we thought we could make this a very relaxed vacation. But that’s never how it turns out to be, haha.

The flight was delayed and when we finally got to our hotel resort, St James’s Club Morgan Bay, it was almost dark. We got to eat, walk on the beach and then it was night. We decided to make Friday, our first full day there, a relaxed hotel day. The weather was hot, drinks where full of sugar and food was great. We spent most of our hotel time up on the hill by the grownup pool. Quieter, no kids allowed, barely anybody else and perfect view. In the evening we booked a table at the Bambou restaurant which had great food.

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On Saturday we started out trying the famous St Lucia Cocoa Tea in the hotel cafe. By lunchtime we decided to take a taxi to Rodney Bay, a community north of our hotel. They had shopping malls and a casino, that was basically it, so we went for a walk more north to a gorgeous beach with clear blue water. We didn’t stay there for long, cause we had a reservation to get back to, but it was very nice.

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Our hotel had one fancier restaurant, Le Jardin, that wasn’t included in the all-inclusive that we had heard had great food, so of course we made a reservation there for Saturday night. The food was indeed really good and I ate way too much, haha.

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We got up early on Sunday morning to have time to eat a little breakfast and pack our bags before our taxi that we booked via Real St Lucia Tours (same company that we booked to pick us up at the airport) came. It took us about 1.5 hour to drive down to the Piton mountains. There, we met Stanley, a Rastafarian skinny man, who was our guide for hiking/climbing Gros Piton. A separate blog post about this day: HERE.
Sunday was a holiday on the island. A Creole Festival to celebrate the history and their language. On our way to the mountain we drove by locals that sold food along the roads and we had decided to get some food after our hike. But in the end of the hike it started pouring down on us and our entire drive back to the hotel was a wet mess. Not a chance to sit outside to enjoy some creole food and most people had packed up their things. So we were hoping that the hotel would have some good creole food, but nope, it was French or Italian night or something. A little disappointing, but oh well.

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Monday started early as well. My husband and I, together with 6 other hotel guests jumped on a speedboat and went on a fun adventure. Beautiful view, bat cave, mud bath, waterfall, snorkeling and lunch at the guys house to mention some of it. Separate blog post about this will pop up soon too.

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After two very active days we decided to hang out by the pool and do nothing all of Tuesday. We borrowed a double kayak and went out for a little bit, but it was kinda wavy so we didn’t stay out for long. The Bambou restaurant was our only option for dinner that night. They had a new menu and the food was great just as the time before. All through dinner we watched the lightnings out on the ocean which was kinda cool. A light show that continued on til the next morning.

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It was raining on the first half of Wednesday which was kinda boring, but at least it was warm:) After breakfast, we ran over to the gym and stayed there for 1.5 hour. After that we just hung out in the pool, in the cafe or at the bar. So, we had another full day at our hotel. We wanted to go paddle board in the afternoon when the rain had stopped, but they only allowed us to go kayak. So we got a single kayak each and I noticed how much I liked it and how fun it is to paddle fast:)
On Wednesday nights they have a “beach party” where they serve the food on the beach and perform, which we had heard was fun. But since it rained earlier in the day they had to serve the food in the normal area and the performances where in the hotel theater. We stayed up quite late sitting at the theater bar.

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Thursday was disappointing. We booked an excursion through the hotel to go zip lining. Both me and my husband were excited since neither of us has done that before. 12 zip lines in the rain forest sounded awesome. It started to rain halfway there, but it didn’t bother us, because wet zip lines means that they go faster. They had told us it was a 15 minute drive, but it took over an hour. When we got there we saw that the road was about to get flooded. We could maybe get to the lines, but not be able to leave, so, we had to turn back. Another hour driving, 7 disappointed tourists and one extremely happy tourist who didn’t like rain (?!). We spent the rest of the day reading books, playing beer pong and eating food at the hotel. The rain stopped at night which was nice since we had a table at the Morgan’s Pier restaurant. The night ended sitting by the bar talking to people we had got to know. Not a bad day, but disappointing. 

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I got out of bed when the sun was up on Friday. I had already kinda packed the night before so I just put my bikini on and went to the pool up on the hill. Seemed silly to be by the pool so early, haha. Perfect sunny morning and I could enjoy getting a tan. I had been so careful all week covering myself up, so on my last day I just put sunscreen on and sat on the chair hoping to get some color in my face.

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The taxi picked us up at 10am, which turned out to be waaayyy too early. I asked J if we could sit outside at the airport for an hour or so to enjoy the view and the sun before we check ourselves in, but he insisted on that we could find an outdoor area once we checked in. Little does he know that those doesn’t exist (which I knew, but he doesn’t listen). Oh well. What would one more hour do really. 

This spontaneous vacation was awesome!!! I loved every second of it, even if it rained for two days and we didn’t get to zip line. A perfect getaway before Jim stared his new job. Now, we are done traveling for a while. Or, at least til Christmas when we most likely will fly to Chicago.
St Lucia is beautiful and I can really recommend it!