Fireman?

Many of you may know about my obsession with calling the police/fire dept./EMS when I see anything going wrong.  Therefore, you can imagine how excited I was to get to try on my friend Brandon's fire suit.  Brandon is really a fireman, so his uniform even SMELLED like fire. 

In this photo, I'm am trying to look "tough".  Unfortunately, I look like I am blowing kisses at the camera.  Note to self-  work on tough face.

Aruba, Ooo I Wanna Take Ya..

View of the Ocean from the room

Doug & I jumped at the chance to tag along with friends Trisha & Justin when they vacationed at their timeshare in Aruba. Justin & Doug are both 3rd year residents, so we all enjoyed the break from Durham.

Monday

Lazy River view from the room

Dinner at Smoky Joe's

In front of Soprano's Piano Bar

Justin & Trisha left on Saturday, but Doug & I didn't leave for Aruba until early Monday morning. When we arrived at the beautiful Marriott around 2:00 PM. We met Trisha's siblings Wade & Sara and got settled in. Our first order of business was going to the store to pick up food & drinks for the week. Since the suite had a full kitchen, we made many of our meals to cut down on costs of eating out. Back at the hotel, we spent the afternoon in the pool (mostly the lazy river) and played volleyball. We went out to dinner at Smokey Joe's and the Sopranos Piano Bar for drinks and entertainment. We walked back to the hotel on the beach - not bad for our first day!

Tuesday

Sunset on the balcony

Bartenders and Mojitos

Hot tub with the whole group

We spent the day at the pool - even partaking in some poolside bingo. We grilled a very late lunch which lead straight into happy hour in the room. One of Justin's brother's - Marcus- flew in and joined the party. We played card games on the balcony until deciding to head back to the pool for some late night hot tub and lazy river. We later had a very casual dinner to finish off our first full day in Aruba.

Wednesday

Beautiful Baby Beach

Doug with the big catch

The fishermen
Trisha and me at the bar


Trisha, me and Doug

We woke up early to take the four guys to meet their fishing charter. While the three girls hit the beach. We drove south to check out Baby Beach. It was a gorgeous cove beach - that made for a beautiful day of swimming. On the way back, we picked up the guys just in time to see their haul which included an impressive Wahoo. The boat captain gave us a portion of fish to take back, which we enjoyed for dinner that evening. The guys finished up their manly days by having a cigar then we all headed to the fancy bar at the Marriott hotel for a drink then on to the casino for a little gambling. It was a late night - but such a great day.

Thursday

California lighthouse

Arashi Beach

At the Bushiribana Ruins

Doug on Natural Bridge Doug & me at Madame Janette's

Cheers - me & Trisha

The five remaining vacationers drove around the island on Thursday. Seeing some of Aruba's sights. We started out with the California Lighthouse on the northern tip of the Island. Nearby, we stopped at Arashi Beach and enjoyed the wonderful snorkeling available right along the shore. Then we drove the east side of the island. We saw the Bushiribana Ruins, Natural Bridge & Natural Pool. It was nice to drive around the small island and see the local sites. That night we splurged and went out to a nice dinner at Madame Janette's. A small outdoor restaurant that had wonderful live music. Dinner followed by late night hot tubs - made for a perfect evening.

Friday

One of the many iguanas by the pool

Karaoke at Champions

Our last full day on the island, we started by doing a little shopping and then headed to the pool for the afternoon. We celebrated happy hour at the swim up bar (yum, Pina Coladas!) We also ventured to the resort beach and found a local man to take us all tubing. A few injuries aside, we had a great time riding the waves on the ocean. For dinner we grilled steaks and had a wonderful dinner in the room. Then we headed to Champions Sports Bar for Karaoke night and eventually found ourselves at the casino playing blackjack. This was my first time playing blackjack and it was a lot of fun -sitting at a table with all our friends.

Saturday

Goodbye Aruba!

We packed up & left the resort -stopping at some local vendors for souvenirs on our way to the airport. After long day of traveling, we picked up Willie and we were home in our own bed by midnight.

We had a wonderful time with new and old friends. Cheers to Aruba!

Gas Shortage

Since a lot of people have asked, I thought I should post a quick note about the gas shortage that we are experiencing here in NC. The situation is concerning here in Durham, but worse in other areas of the state. It began two weeks ago - right when hurricane Ike hit. Gas stations here began to hike prices - up to and over $5.00 a gallon. The governor came in to regulate the prices, promising to prosecute any gas station who was price gauging. That has helped the prices to stay under $4.00 but many gas stations are still running out of gas.

When we went to get gas last night, we went to eight stations before we found one with any gasoline. Stations that do have gasoline will most likely have 91 octane, but we weren't being picky. They are also asking for courtesy of only using 10 gallons per fill. Doug and I are trying to keep our gas tanks above 1/2 to avoid running out, but it is certainly a strange and scary time. Asheville a popular mountain tourist attraction here in NC is completely out of gasoline - causing all businesses to shut down. There are stories of people in Charlotte waiting 5 hours in line for gas. We are hoping for relief soon.

Megan & Jason's Wedding Weekend

I was so honored to be part of Megan & Jason's wedding last weekend in St. Louis.  Megan is such a special friend to me - she & I were roommates when I was planning my wedding.  I was excited to be involved in the day as a candle lighter and so happy that I could hang out with the bride-to-be, her friends, and family.  The best part of the weekend, is that Megan stayed so true to herself, extremely funny and warm.  The worst thing, all the beautiful photos I took of the weekend were lost on a faulty digital camera card.  I am hoping to get a few shots from the official wedding photographer, which I will post when I get them.  (I know how important it is for Megan to "make the blog").  

So along with my camera card giving me problems while at an all night Kinko's (trying to make copies for Megan).  I also forgot my cellphone at home and did without for the entire weekend!  However, I was still able to see a few friends while in town.  Thanks so much to everyone who squeezed me into their busy weekends and were so kind to deal with me not having a phone (Steve, Connie, Rebecca, Karen, Derek, Michael, Rachael, Katie).  Plus, apologies to Jaime for never connecting.  I wish I could have stayed extra days to see everyone!  Gives me something to look forward to for the next visit.

I Love Apples (Computers)

And my new job said, "Welcome to computer heaven." To which I replied, "Thanks, I think I'll stay awhile."

Awesome BRAND NEW Macbook Pro Laptop will be waiting for me when I get home from vacation. Almost makes coming home from vacation exciting. Almost.

A Hurricane, A new job - Just a Normal Week

Hurricane Hannah decided to give us some trouble here in North Carolina. Since Durham is about two hours inland, we didn't have any issues with this storm. However, we are told that hurricanes can travel this far inland (people always get a far off look in their eyes and say, "Remember Fran?") This weekend, we thankfully only got a ton of rain and a little wind -no big deal at all.

Last Thursday also marked the beginning of a new job for me. I am now working at a small advertising agency - CJ&P. While it was a tough decision to leave so many friends at my last agency, I am so excited about this new opportunity and this next chapter.

Looking forward to Megan's wedding next weekend and then our vacation to ARUBA! Fun times.

Slayman Family Weekend

This weekend, Doug & I were so happy to welcome my mom, Grandfather John and Great Aunt Evie to our home. We had a wonderful weekend with our family - showing them our life here in Durham. We went shopping, to the pool, out to brunch, to the farmers market and to Duke campus. Most importantly, we had a wonderful time sitting around and talking. It was such a treat to spend time with my family.

Doug & Willie

Willie playing football

Mom, Grandpa & Evie

The whole gang in the Tabacco District.

Grandpa, Mom, me and Evie at Duke Gardens