Wow. For real...it's this week. So hard to believe.
I am stressing out about the trip to New Orleans. Thank goodness that I don't have gift madness to deal with too. I got Caleb's sent directly to my mom's house and am not doing anything for anyone else. So there.
1/2 day of work tomorrow morning and then it is vacation time through the weekend. That is somewhat of a relief...a couple days will get to be spent at home.
*sigh*
Really, I am going to miss being with the critters for the holiday. I hate that the dogs will be at the kennel and I hope the cats don't totally destroy the house...four days is about their max by themselves. Heh. I guess we'll see. Unfortunately, I have no vacation time when we return, so I seriously hope I don't have any major messes to clean up. It is bad enough to jump right back into work with "vacation" laundry and stuff to do too.
Yes, I am bitching. This trip is looming at me like some sort of monster out of a bad dream. Only I am not waking up and it is not going away. It will have to be dealt with when it gets here, I guess.
This weekend, I spent a very chilly windy day at one small part of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. It's about two hours from where I live. I was a little worried that I might get there and find acres of just grass. Not so!
We went to see the matinee of Avatar 3-D yesterday. I enjoyed it a lot. The plot was very nativist and (I thought) trite, so don't expect anything new or mind-blowing there and the corporate head-honcho character annoyed the crap out of me with his apparent wishy-washiness (I don't want to throw in any spoilers so I won't go into any more detail). The movie itself though was stunning. It is amazing how far 3-D technology has come...I remember watching some 3-D movie as a kid with the red and blue glasses...this nothing like that.
A friend on Facebook asked about getting nauseous...I could see someone feeling ill if you have a tendency toward motion sickness. Even with the advances, the 3-D sometimes has trouble keeping up with the fast action (I learned about the whys and such from Neil LOL) which sometimes makes it feel a little wonky to watch. I noticed in some of the fast action scenes people became sort of see-through...I think that was how my brain was processing the images.
And I would definitely caution against sitting too close to the screen - our seats were almost all the way at the back of the theater in the dead center of the row (which was amazing considering the theater was already packed when we got there!). And I can't imagine trying to keep up with the action while watching it on an IMAX screen. With that said, our friend who went with us was worried about that because she tends to get ill and she LOVED the movie. I believe her words were "the best movie she's ever seen".
All that aside, it was beautiful. It is long (nearly 3 hours), but I sat through the whole thing even after pounding a 32 ounce Coke at the start of it. ;-) The scope of it really draws you in, and even with the script predicatbility, you want to keep watching (well, _I_ did anyway).
My only other gripe about the movie is that they recycle the glasses...mine looked like someone had taken fine grain sandpaper to them...so check yours out in the lobby before you get into the theater (I didn't).
Bottom line is, I would recommend seeing it in the theater for the spectacular imagry. If you are worried about cost, do what we did and hit up a matinee (still not cheap, but much less than prime time). :)
We re-join our story in the Spa of the Ocean Spa Hotel, Cancun Mexico.
As part of our deal with our hotel stay, both Donna and I recieved a 55 minute massage and a $30 spa credit good for various services.
After some deliberation, we decide to go with the Swedish massage and an Aromatherapy Body Exfoliation. We make our appointments for 10am the day before we leave.
When we arrive at the spa, they bring us into the Women's Locker Room and ask us to change and take a warm shower before we head into the steam room. We oblige in our private showers.
After a refreshing steam, our two massage therapists bring us into a room. It happens to be the Couples Massage room....which is fine. In fact, its a beautiful room complete with mood lighting and a beautiful jacuzzi bathtub for two. The tub had lit candles around the side and some floating flower petals. We looked at each other and laughed...thinking, "You're my best friend and all, but there is no way, I'm taking a nude jacuzzi with you at the end of this".
The massages begin and they are fabulous. My masseuse doesn't speak to me (which I love) nor does she understand much of what I'm saying to her. Donna's person is much more fluent than mine.
My person only speaks to me when she commands me to do something, but what's a little disconcerting is that she bends down and whispers-this-close right in my ear. Its a little creepy feeling...plus it tickles. She had a voice like a very sweet child, so I start to get the giggles in my head. I don't want to start laughing and ruin Donna's massage, nor do I want my poor massuese to think I'm laughing at her. Its just one of those weird moments when you know you shouldn't laugh...so all you want to do is start chortling and guffawing all over the place.
The massages end and they begin the exfoliation. After rubbing, scrubbing and buffing our front sides, I'm told to "sit up". I sit up and look to my right and Donna is already sitting up....trying as desperately as I am to keep my sheet in its proper place. We get our backsides exfoliated and then are told to lie back down. From Donna's side, I hear a little laugh. First from Donna and then from her person. I wonder what they're talking about and worry that since someone broke the "seal" on the public laughing, I'm going to start to laugh about the whispering in my ear.
I'm told to lie still for a few minutes and then to get up and take a shower. The massage therapists leave and I peek out from under my eye cover and see Donna looking at me. We decide its time to get up, shower and get dressed.
Donna opens the door to the shower and its.....a shower built for two. One stall. Two shower heads facing each other. We start to laugh at how we've suddenly entered into a soft core porn flick. After some debate and many promises to "don't look", we figure what the hell? We're not THAT modest with each other. Donna heads in first and I follow behind (with my eyes closed). All I could think about was some 1980's women's prison movie and with that we start to laugh. We're trying to wash the grit off of ourselves while not looking at the other one and the whole time we're hysterically laughing. I can't catch my breath because of the absurdity of it all. The harder Donna laughs, the more I laugh. Finally, from the steam Donna yells "THIS IS THE GAYEST THING I'VE EVER DONE!! Oh, and did she ask you to do the "boobie" thing?" Apparently, Donna's therapist bent down, whispered in her ear "here...this is for your boobies" and she hands her a handful of exfoliator. I ask her what she did.
In all seriousness, she responds "I did my boobies".
That's it. I'm done. I can't shower anymore. I can barely stand up because I can't catch my breath. I run out of the shower cacking like a hen and wonder to myself what in the hell do the other spa customers think is going on in here?
Simba waiting for me to kick the ball
Yesterday there was some snow...definitely a lot of ice, and apparently freezing rain during the night:
This morning was quite lovely just as the sun was coming up before it all melted (though, I am thankful it DID all melt). I snapped a few shots before retreating back inside to the warmth of my morning coffee. I guess winter is officially here even if the calendar doesn't quite say so yet.
I suppose there will be more of this to come as winter progresses...we'll just have to wait and see!
