Vacation: Part 2

As you may recall, I went down to Florida to take a cruise with my family and to spend some time with Landon.

After we got back from the cruise, I got to hang out with Landon for 3 days before I headed back home to the west coast.

We got back on Thursday and then decided that we wanted some more adventure.  Enter "operation Busch Gardens Tampa."  Upon realizing that NC State was playing Duke that Saturday, we decided that there would be no rest for the weary and hit the theme park on Friday instead.

I would highly recommend this park!  It was a park and a zoo in one and was so cool!  Since it was the off season, there were no lines and we were able to get on the front row of every coaster.  I took pictures of our seats until I got yelled at and my camera got confiscated.

We got to ride some pretty sweet coasters, but sadly Landon's favorite, the Sheikra, was closed for the season.

As we meandered through the park, we got to see all kinds of critters.  It was perfect, because we did not think about the combination of post-cruise-vertigo and roller coasters..... Lets just say we took it easy and paced ourselves.  But we were still excited.

There were the not-so-cool critters....

The nostalgic critters.....

The hilarious critters....

The rarely sighted and little studied critters.....

The majestic critters...

And the large critters....

But my personal favorites of the day were the kangaroos.  If I had to pick an animal to be, I'd totally be a kangaroo.  Check out how crazy these things are (sarcasm)!

But these super pretty birds were baller too (as evidenced by my ridiculously excited face).

And Landon almost got attacked by an emu during a staring contest (check out the dude behind him waiting for the bird attack).  I guess he has a love-hate bird relationship?

Other than enjoying a few wonderful date nights at our favorite Lakeland spots, watching the basketball game together (WOLFPACK IN THE HOUSE!), and going to church, we decided to go do a little zombie killing with Landon's new Sig Sauer (and a rental Smith and Weston 9mm):

All in all, it was a wonderful vacation, and I was super bummed to come back to reality.  I think that drive to the Tampa airport was the hardest one yet.  

But fortunately, I was coming back to a brief 4 days alone before Chelsea, Caroline, and Emily came to visit me, so I had something to look forward to!  More on that adventure shortly :)

ttfn

ap

Food for thought:

What does love look like to you?

Now that I am writing another paper on my thesis work, I am reminded of this feeling.

I am keeping these things for my children one day

Vacation: Part 1

So I went on vacation 2 weeks ago.  A blissful, wonderful vacation filled with beaches, warm weather, family, and relaxation.  I didn't look at a computer or answer a phone for 9 whole days and it was bliss.  I forgot how much I hate technology.  Its honestly taking everything in me to blog right now (and Caroline, the blog master, is sitting next to me on the couch and is forcing me to do it so I don't forget all of the wonderful details).  You should feel special.

I flew down to Tampa, grabbed my man, and we headed down to Ft. Lauderdale where we met up with my family (!!!!!!!) and took a cruise.

Our ship was fabulous (and is the second biggest cruise ship in the world, just FYI).

We had a great time (all 22 of us!).  Ryan and Ben rocked out the Flow-Rider all week.

Kori and Spike even had a little Jack and Rose moment.

We even got all fancy and dressed up for formal night.

 Our first port was Belize City, Belize.  The city was super pretty, but we immediately were whisked away on an excursion to our own private island.

Safety first though, on the boat ride over.....

Until we realized that you could take beer on the boat.  Then there was a mad dash to get enough for everyone before we departed.

Our island was 1.3 acres.  Isn't it beautiful!?  It looks like something out of a post card!

We went snorkeling, hung out on the beach, and then ate a fabulous lunch of lobster and chicken that the locals grilled for us (complete with an unlimited supply of rum punch!).

On the way back, we hit a brief patch of rain, and all the ladies hit the deck.  Literally.

The next day, we ported in Cozumel, Mexico.  After a bit of shopping, we hit up Carlos N Charlies.  Let's just say that this place was CRAZY and leave it at that.

Overall, it was an absolutely wonderful time.  I'm so glad I got to spend time with my family and Landon at the same time.  It was so relaxing and the scenery was beautiful.

I'm so blessed with such a wonderful family!  This past week at work was terrible trying to catch up, but so worth it :)

-ap

Throwback Thursday

Cent, five cent, ten cent, dolla!

Ahoy mateys!  Today's throwback comes from 2008, when Lisa, Larisa, Kate, and myself went on a little cruise around the Caribbean for spring break.  This is in honor of the cruise that I am taking on SATURDAY (!!!!!!!) with my whole family AND my boyfriend!  What?? Who does that??? Who sees both their family and their boyfriend at the same time???  Craziness.

Here are the lovely ladies and our mariachi band in Cozumel, Mexico :)  Larisa and Lisa and I lived together for 4 years (with various awesome....and not so awesome....) roomies in between.  I do miss those girls!

Have a great week y'all!  And in honor the cruise, please re-visit this 2009 classic:

Happy sailing, you lilly-livered-land-lovers!

AP

2013 Bucket List

Its that time of year again..... time for another bucket list!  I prefer not to pick a resolution for the new year for myself.  Every new year is a clean slate to move forward with everything and anything, so the idea of picking one thing that I will resolve to do just doesn't tickle my fancy.  Plus, bucket lists are more fun and its pretty satisfying to look back at the year and realize that you did about 70% of the things you wanted to do.

So without further ado, I give you (drumroll please.....).....

Alaina's 2013 Bucket List!
1.  Go to a San Diego Chargers game (and yes, I am beginning this list with things not accomplished in the 2012 bucket list!).

2.  Make a t-shirt quilt.

3.  Become a certified equine appraiser with the ASEA.

4.  Revamp my horse brokerage business, add the appraiser business, and either partner with another company or start my own LLC.

5.  Live within 200 miles of Landon.

6.  Hiking trip in NorCal (Redwoods/Oregon, anyone??  A stop in Seattle??)

7.  Hiking trip to Joshua Tree National Park.

8.  Ride my mule on the beach (yes, I just went there).

9.  Be more punctual.  I am super, super terrible at being about 5 minutes late to things.

10.  Being better about not over-committing myself.  No means no!

11.  Go to a Wolfpack basketball or football game (I really cannot put into words how much I miss these..... and I haven't been to any Wolfpack sporting event in 3 years......)

12.  Some sort of very large adrenaline inducing thrill chase.  Examples include, but not limited to: skydiving, hang gliding, kite surfing, snowmobiling, bull riding, or some sort of climbing on something high.

13.  Serve my campus in a greater way through prayer and service projects with other faculty.

14.  Go to both DisneyWORLD and DisneyLAND (since Landon lives near Orlando, and I'm in CA, when am I ever going to get the chance to hit both in one year again??)

15.  See an orca. (side note:  this is not whale-watching, which I vowed I would never do again)

16.  Have an individual rider from one of the Cal Poly teams that I coach place in the top 5 in their class at Nationals.


I'm also doing something new this year to see how I can measure up.  Haha, get it?  Measure up??

2013 Fitness Goals!
1 . Run a 5K (this is a big deal because I really, and I mean really, hate loath running.  But I want to do one just to say I did (and support some sort of good cause in the process!).  Hey, Keri Jewell, maybe we buddy up on this one??

2.  Raw 1 rep max deadlift: 165 lbs

3.  Raw 1 rep max squat: 145 lbs

4.  Raw 1 rep max bench: 95 lbs (don't make fun....my bench is absolutely terrible;  this is a lofty goal)

5.  Do more yoga.  And stop hating it so much.

6.  Increase flexibility, especially in my hip flexors.

7.  SDHP 115 x 5

8.  Swim more!

9.  18% body fat

10.  More suspension training.

Happy 2013 to everyone!!!  Bring it on new year....I'm ready!

Love,
AP

2012 by the numbers

Happy New Year everyone!  And happy birthday to my Daddy :)

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable New Year's celebration.  Mine was wonderful, but it made me realize that I am old.  I just can't drink alcohol, be a social butterfly to 3 social events, and stay up late like I used to.  Laaaaaaaaaame.  I'm sure I could if I got back into practice though, ha.

2012 was a year of ups and a year of downs.  I'm neither sad to see it go nor happy to put it behind me.  But I do know that so many blessings are in store for me (and for you!) in 2013, and I welcome it with open arms :)

Here is a look back at my 2012, by the numbers ('cause thats how I like to roll):

4 new animals acquired (1 mule, 1 Iceland horse, 1 border collie, some ducks that got killed by raccoon)
15 visitors with ensuing adventures
1 major injury (woo hoo for only 1!!)
1 wedding (that number hasn't been that small in a LONG time!)
1 trip home to NC
4 National Parks
1 new amazing church family at Mercy Church

Many new friends made, many new students and horses at work, and many other adventures around California this year!  Here are some of my favorite pictures from this past year.  May you have a wonderful and blessed 2013!

Love, AP