And So It Begins...

Today is Eric's FIRST DAY OF WORK! Can you believe it? After a lifetime of lots of school and very little employment, Eric is officially getting his career underway today. How exciting!

He has to be at the office at 9:30 today and will start training/orientation this week, so hopefully the super long hours won't be starting just yet. No matter what, I know he'll be a big success and can't wait to hear how Day #1 goes.

Good luck, Eric!

Not Your Average Spring Break

Eric sent me this video over the weekend, and I thought I'd share it. It's about the awesomeness that is Tim Tebow. Enjoy, and Go Gators!

And P.S....I'm back from DC! It was a very busy and very exhausting weekend. Eric's brother Ronnie and his friend Tom are coming to visit tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll have some sight-seeing pictures to share soon! (And hopefully finished apartment pictures one of these days...)

10 Years

Just had to make a super-quick post to commemorate the day: 10 years ago today, Eric first asked me to be his girlfriend! I can't believe it's been 10 years already since the beginning of "Meghan & Eric." We were at the beach with my mom on Labor Day, and we went for a walk and talked. He eventually asked me to be his girlfriend, and we held hands the rest of the way back down the beach. I remember I was so, so happy that the cute boy from the pool had asked me to "go out." And now that I'm his wife, I'm a million times happier than I was that day!

Love you, Eric! Ask me something or tell me something...

A Night Out

We have just been so super busy! The unpacking is coming along nicely (hopefully I'll have updated pics to share soon), and we've been taking daily breaks to run out to Lincoln Center to reconnect with the world, check our email, and in my case, do a little bit of work. I'm leaving NYC tomorrow for DC (how backwards from what I'm used to!) for a very busy working weekend. I'm helping out with a mock trial, so the weekend promises to be super crazy for me. I'm looking forward to seeing how people interpret this case, so I'm a little excited about it, but I'm also largely bummed to be leaving NY already so soon. Our apartment still isn't quite put together, and I'd love to have this weekend to finish things up and spend some time exploring the city with Eric. But, such is life. I've got to go out and win some bread, so to speak.

But, we did have a night of fun last night! Eric and I had tickets to see "Rent" on Broadway. It's actually going off Broadway this weekend...the final performance is on Sunday, so we knew we had to get in to see it ASAP when we got to town. Our seats were in the front row of the center balcony, so pretty decent! And as you might expect, the show was just fantastic. I laughed, I cried, I loved every minute of it.

"Rent" at the Nederlander Theater

Outside the Nederlander Theater

The stage (at the end of the show)

After the show, we stuck around to take some pictures and were there when some of the cast members were leaving, so I got autographs of the performers who played Angel, Mimi and Roger! I also got pics with them. They were so nice, especially considering the mob of people that attacked them when they came out. I can't imagine trying to leave after a night at work and being hounded by people. I wonder if they like it or hate it? It made me think of Heather and her Busch Gardens shows...she has to stick around in front of the theater after each show for people to come up and talk to her and take pictures. Maybe someday she could do the same thing on Broadway!

Me after the show (and some girl carrying something that looks like tupperware?)

With my husband outside the theater

Mob of people around the actress who played Mimi (she's the one in the blue cap)

With the actor who played Roger

With the actor who played Angel

I should also add that we WALKED to and from Broadway! That is just too cool, if you ask me. It was a little longer of a walk than I may have preferred, considering I was in heels, but given our surroundings, it was well worth it and very enjoyable. We're so lucky to live in such a cool place!

Times Square after the show

Looking back at Times Square as we walked home

Update: We're here!

We made it to New York!!!

We had a very long day yesterday, but we are here. The dog woke us up at 4:15 a.m. yesterday morning to go outside, and since our alarm was set to go off at 4:45 anyway, we were up for the day at that point. Kelley picked us up to take us to the airport at 5:30 a.m. We checked in and paid for the dog's flight, made our way to our gate, and boarded the plane pretty quickly.

The dog made a LOT of noise when we first got on the plane, but then quieted down and slept for about an hour. Then he woke up and decided he was really unhappy again, so we had another good 15 minutes of yelling and screaming before he finally settled down and went back to sleep. He was pretty good for the rest of the flight, so really it was not nearly as bad as it could have been!

After arriving at JFK, we got our luggage and found a cab to take us to our apartment at last! And then the REAL fun began. We walked in to quite an (expected) mess. It actually wasn't as bad as I had expected...everything was, for the most part, in the room it was supposed to be in, and the movers had unpacked some things for us like our clothes and pictures. At least, we were able to walk in the door!

Looking into the living room from the front door

Our "extra large foyer"

The bedroom

The bathroom

The first thing we did was take the dog for a walk to get some pizza for lunch. We went to an awesome little hole-in-the-wall place called Sacca's Pizza. It was delicious! We knew it had to be good because after ordering, Eric even came out and said "they're like, real Italians in there!" Ha. 

Eric by Sacca's Pizza

After lunch we got to work. I set up the bed right away, and Eric went to work on the kitchen. Achilles thought about helping, but I think he was overwhelmed by the size of the job, so he settled in to take a nap in his new favorite spot on the couch. (He doesn't seem to care for the wood floors, and he sounds like a crab scurrying along when he walks on them.)

Eric tackling the kitchen

"I think this job is a little too big for me."

I was so, so jealous of him at this point.

Eric also took charge of making an appointment to have our cable and internet set up, which was a bit of a circus. They'll be coming on Friday to get us all hooked up (I'm actually posting this blog from the steps of Lincoln Center, where were were able to find free wireless internet. How's that for dedication to my readers?!).

We kept working until about 11:30 p.m. before we decided we were just to beat to continue. So, we called it a night. Today we are taking care of some errands and continuing unpacking, until tonight when we are going to see "Rent" on Broadway! I'm pretty excited about that.

I'll try to give more updates when I can! So stay tuned!

New York Bound!

Tomorrow is the big day! We're catching a 7:15 a.m. flight to New York, at last! I can't believe it's finally here. We've been having a great time in Florida, but I've really started feeling antsy to get up there and get our New York lives underway, so I'm pretty excited.

I've been meaning to post about the rest of our Florida fun over the past week, but haven't had a chance for any sort of in-depth recap, so you'll have to settle for just some quick pics! We've had a great time...we went to a Tampa Bay Rays game with friends and family, spent some time with my grandmother, visited Gainesville, visited my mom, and Eric visited his dad and stepmom. So we've been keeping busy, and it's been great!

Eric, me, and my dad at the Rays game. Sadly, they lost.

Our Rays game group, minus my husband: Eric's friend Eric, me, my dad, Stephanie, Ronnie and Gramz

Gainesville visit! Me (and Achilles) outside my old dorm building, Murphree Hall. 

When I lived there it wasn't air conditioned, but they just installed A/C last year. 

I hardly recognized the place without a million box fans in all the windows. Ah, the good ol' days.

Eric in the Swamp, which was all fancied up in preparation for the first game of the season on Saturday (which we won, 56-10 v. Hawaii!)

Me with the dog in the Swamp. Would you check out his tongue????

We got to see a new display room that houses all the various Florida trophies (what can I say, there's a lot of them!). 

Here are the 3 FL Heismans, all in a row: Spurrier's, Wuerffel's, and Tebow's.

We also got to catch a glimpse of football practice by peeking through a fence until we got yelled at and chased away! 

It's hard to make out, but Tebow is in this pic! He's the one on the left in the red jersey. Swoon!

So, now we are all packed up and ready to leave Florida to finally head to NYC. Eric's sister Kelley is picking us up at 5:30 a.m. to take us to the airport (thank you, Kelley!!!!). We're flying with the dog, of course, which could get interesting. Hopefully he won't be too much of a handful.

Our flight will get in to New York at 10:00 a.m., then we'll catch a cab to our apartment. And then we can finally start getting settled in! I'll be anxious to see what the place looks like when we arrive. Unless we're just totally beat, we'll probably get right to work unpacking and settling in. And I'm sure we'll take a break or two to walk the dog around the neighborhood and get a slice or two of NY pizza!

So, stay tuned for more updates about the much-anticipated move! I can't believe it's finally here!

Aaahh, the Caymans

I love the Caymans!

We're back from our first anniversary trip to the Cayman Islands! We had a fabulous time and I am so sad that it's over. I always have such a terrible time coming back from the Caymans. It's just far too nice to leave. I hope you all are prepared for a loooong recap, because we did lots of fun things! Here we go...

SUNDAY (Also known as "No Caymans for You!" Day)

As you may recall, we were concerned about Tropical Storm Fay causing problems for our flight down there. Well, our flight was cancelled. But not because of Fay! We got to the airport for our 3:30p.m. flight on Sunday, all prepared to start boarding our plane at 2:45p.m. We had time to grab some lunch and stock up on coconut rum at the duty free shop, and we were ready to go. Well, 2:45 came and went, and then 3:30 came and went, and we still weren't boarding. Shortly after 3:30 they made an announcement that there was some mechanical problem with the plane - an "inoperable part" - and they were trying to get a replacement part. So, we sat and waited for an hour. Then they finally announced that the replacement part was going to have to be flown in from Grand Cayman, so our flight was cancelled, and all other outgoing flights on Sunday were already full, so we couldn't leave until the next morning. So, I called my dad to come pick us back up and back to his house we went. Once again, it was like flashback to last year...expecting to be in the Caymans, but ending up at my dad's house instead!

MONDAY (Also known as "Our Anniversary!")

So, Monday morning we headed to the airport bright and early to catch our rescheduled flight, and this time we boarded and took off on time. Hooray! We did have to fly around Fay, which made our flight a little longer, but we got there, and that's all I was looking for! We arrived in Grand Cayman around noon Cayman time, found our ride, and made our way to the resort. 

The Cayman airport...you walk down the steps off the plane, feel the warmth of the Cayman sun, see this sign, and hear a Caribbean band playing!

 Nothing like it.

View from the window of the van as we drove to the resort

We checked in and went to our room, which was in the oldest building, furthest from the main building, which actually ended up being great. It was quiet with a great view, and our room was very nice.

The view from our room

After settling in, we changed into our bathing suits and went to meet our resort host, Jim, who was surprisingly unfriendly and seemed displeased that we arrived a day late (even though we called the resort after our flight was cancelled to let them know we'd be late). But, we were just happy to be there, so nothing could get us down! We went to the pool and enjoyed shrimp quesadillas and drinks at the pool bar. Once we were cooled off and relaxed, we left the pool and walked across the street to the grocery store to stock up on food for the week.

That evening we went out to the Dock Bar for the welcome cocktail reception. The sunset was gorgeous! We enjoyed some rum punch and CayBrew beer while watching the beautiful sky.

The Welcome Party on the Dock

Me enjoying my rum punch on the dock

Gorgeous sunset! How bad do you want to walk on this beach right now?

After the Dock party, we went to the veranda of the resort for their Caribbean buffet dinner. We dined on jerk pork, beef, and fish, plus rice and beans, bread, plantains, and salad. Mmmm! Dinner was followed by the always fun Fire and Limbo show, featuring a limbo underneath flaming bars resting on beer bottles. Impressive! Our seats weren't great for this, but we've seen it many times before so we were okay with just relaxing and enjoying our dinner.

The happy couple at the Caribbean buffet

After dinner we went for an evening soak in the hot tub (the hot tub is pretty much Eric's favorite part of the resort...especially the rush you get when getting in with sunburned skin. What can I say, he's weird). Then we went back to our room and looked back through wedding pictures and reminisced about our wonderful wedding and first year together, which was amazing. Seriously, I love being married, and Eric does too. This last year has been the best!

Then, it was time for bed. We did the same thing we did last year in terms of sleeping - we didn't sleep in the actual bedroom once. Instead, we turned off the AC and opened up the sliding doors and windows, then slept on the sofa bed in the living area, so we could be closer to the balcony and listen to the sound of the ocean as we slept. Sooooo nice.

TUESDAY (Also known as "The Sunburn Day")

Tuesday was a "Do Nothing Except Relax" kind of day. When we got up we headed right down to the beach, where we pulled our beach chairs down to the water's edge so the waves would splash up around us. We spent the better part of the day there, just enjoying the sun and reading. I actually read the better part of a GREAT book called "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. I highly recommend it to any dog-lover!

When we had tired of the beach, we went to the pool for a bit to cool off, and Eric of course spent some time in the hot tub again. Crazy boy.

Handsome husband hot-tubbing

We then went back up to our room to enjoy drinks on our balcony while watching yet another beautiful Cayman sunset. I could really get used to this!

Sunset from our balcony

More sunset from our balcony

That night we had dinner on the Veranda of the resort again. We had a delicious seafood chowder as an appetizer, then Eric had seafood pasta and I had scallops au gratin for dinner. The chowder actually really filled us up, so we ended up taking most of our dinner back to the room. We dropped our food off and then went back down to the beach to admire the beautiful moon and listen to the karaoke happening on the Dock Bar.

Having dinner on the Veranda

Moon over the water

When we got back to our room, we performed the first of many Aloe Application Rituals. We had been sure to apply sunblock periodically throughout the day (SPF 30), but either it just wasn't strong enough, or I have serious back-of-leg application problems, because the back of my legs got SCORCHED. We're talking barely able to sit down kind of pain. It was ugly. So, we kept the aloe in the fridge and frequent aloe applications became part of our daily routine! As did staying out of the sun whenever possible. Bummer.

WEDNESDAY (Also known as "Andrew Bacon Day")

We started Wednesday off with the usual aloe/sunblock application then went to meet with Resort Host Jim to get ourselves set up with reservations for dinner and other things we needed to do for the week. We then went over to the pool bar for another round of shrimp quesadillas for lunch, some quality reading time in the shade (I finished my book!), and the ever-popular Mudslide Madness. We weren't at the really "happening" pool, so although there were mudslides, there really was not much madness. That was okay by us, though!

Enjoying our mudslides in the pool

After finishing our mudslides, we went over to another one of the three pools for "Yoqua," which is basically yoga in water. It was fun! Our Wii Fit yoga had really helped us prepare!

That evening we went to the resort next door, The Reef, because the former entertainment coordinator from our resort, Andrew Bacon, was going to be leading "Name That Tune." We loved Andrew Bacon when we worked at our resort, so we were excited to see him in action again. He actually recognized us, too! We didn't do really well at Name That Tune (although I did get one point for "I Will Survive!"), but it was fun nonetheless. We also enjoyed drinks and conch fritters, and watched the impromptu limbo contest that followed the game. Once the limbo craziness was done, Andrew played some music so we could all dance, including my two favorite Caribbean dances: the Dollar Dance and Swing Engine. It was a blast! And, in honor of our anniversary, Andrew played "The Way You Look Tonight" so Eric and I could slow dance. Awwww.

Music video for "Swing Engine!" I dare you to listen to this and not dance.

Us with Andrew Bacon

We then returned to our room for snacks and drinks, and watched the Olympics a bit. Then it was time for more aloe and bed!

THURSDAY (Also known as "Stingray Day")

Thursday was a fun day! We got up early and met some new friends of ours in the lobby. We were all carpooling together to Rum Point to catch a Catamaran to Stingray City! Our new friends are named Angel and Adriana, and they live in New Jersey and are very willing to welcome us to New York. They were so friendly! And they didn't mind at all letting us hitch a ride to Rum Point, because we had no other way out there. So it was a great setup.

We got to Rum Point around 9:30a.m. and hung out for a bit before boarding the catamaran. Then we were off to our morning of snorkeling and stingray fun!

Me at Rum Point - the bus stop for Stingray City

Hooray USA! (In the spirit of the Olympics, of course)

On the catamaran

Our first stop was a reef for snorkeling. It was really interesting, because on the side of the reef where we were snorkeling, the water was only 10 feet deep. However, if you crossed over to the other side of the reef, it dropped to 4,000-6,000 feet! Wow! We spent some time snorkeling here, and some people saw some neat things like jellyfish, sharks, and eels. I saw a rainbow fish and a couple schools of fish, but not much else. I enjoyed it though! I hadn't been snorkeling in quite some time.

Ready to snorkel!

Eric snorkeling

Cayman coral

After snorkeling at the reef, we got back on the catamaran and headed over to the Stingray City sandbar, which is really unlike anything else. Apparently, years ago, fishermen would stop on this sandbar to clean or cut up their fish (or whatever fishermen do), and then would throw the scraps overboard, which brought the stingrays to the sandbar. Over time, the fishermen started feeding the stingrays, and eventually it evolved into a tourist destination, with thousands of people going there to swim with the stingrays each day. There are just hundreds of stingrays swimming all over, brushing up against you and swimming right by. You can pick them up, pet them, and feed them. It's amazing.

I really enjoyed this part of the day, although you might not have known it if you saw me there. Whenever a stingray came near me, I tended to scream and run away. Seriously, they kept chasing me, and my response was certainly flight as opposed to fight. But, I managed to stay the whole time in the water, and I even petted, held, and KISSED a stingray! I was so brave. 

Me on the catamaran at Stingray City (note the stingray swimming behind me!)

One of the many stingrays!

Eric holding one

Smooches for the stingray! Supposedly it's 7 years of good luck if you kiss one. Here's hoping that's true, because it was slimy.

After Stingray City, the catamaran took us back to Rum Point, where we enjoyed lunch with our friends. I had a delicious blackened mahi sandwich, and Eric had even better jerk pork with rice and corn on the cob. 

Happy after our snorkeling and stingray fun!

Picnic tables at Rum Point

After lunch we went back to the resort, and Eric and I enjoyed some rum cake on our balcony before heading down to the disappearing-edge pool for drinks and cooling off with our friends. We ate dinner that night in our room, and then went back out for another late night swim/hot tub. Then it was back to our room for more Olympics before aloe and bed!

FRIDAY (Also known as "Bike Day")

Friday was also really fun, and full of things we had never done before! When we got up, we got dressed and rented bikes from the resort. Then we set off on our bike adventure!

Eric on his bike

Such a scenic ride!

Our first stop was Vivine's Kitchen, which we have been hearing about ever since we started going to the Caymans but we've never been there. Apparently, Vivine cooks literally out of her kitchen in her house every day, and serves the food in her back yard. You walk up to her house and place your order through a back window. It's supposed to be some of the best local fare on the island, and the menu changes daily depending on what she has available. We were so excited to try it, and it was GOOD!

Our lunch destination

Eric at Vivine's Kitchen

Drinking the best lemonade I have ever tasted.

My lunch: fritters, fish and coleslaw

Eric's lunch: rice, fried fish with peppers and onions, potato salad, fried plantains, and a sweet potato

We had planned to head back to the resort after lunch, but we were having so much fun on our bike ride that we decided to continue on and explore a little more of the East End of the island. We had  a great time! We saw all sorts of neat things we hadn't seen before: remnants of shipwrecks, a memorial commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the Wreck of the Ten Sail and the Queen's visit to that spot, the East End lighthouse, the public library, pretty cemeteries, chickens, and of course, the usual gorgeous scenery.

Awww, poor Ten Sail.

Me at the Ten Sail Monument

The super-fancy East End Lighthouse

One of the seaside cemeteries...they're all decorated with so many pretty, bright flowers like this

After our bike ride, we went to cool off in the pool and then cooked dinner in our room. Later we went for an evening walk on the beach, then back to the pool and hot tub. We finished up the night with our usual routine: Olympics, rum cake on the balcony, aloe application, and bed!

SATURDAY (Also known as "Do We Really Have to Leave???" Day)

Saturday was our last day (BOO!). We decided to make it another relaxing day, but we wanted to hit all of our favorite relaxation spots: the beach and two different pools! We started at the beach, and spent some time under one of the little tiki cabanas which was so very nice. We also checked out the hammocks.

Our cabana

Eric in the hammock

After the beach we went back to the Premier pool bar for - you guessed it - shrimp quesadillas. Mmm, I love those shrimp quesadillas.

Eric and the deliciousness that are shrimp quesadillas

After lunch we did a little souvenir shopping at the shopping center down the street, then went to the disappearing-edge pool for swimming and hot tubbing until we had to head back to the room to get ready for dinner.

We had dinner at Portofino's, which has always been a Cayman favorite of ours. We actually even sat at the same table that we did last year when we went! We both had conch chowder as an appetizer, then I had the Caribbean Mix (shrimp, scallops, mahi, salmon and lobster) and Eric had filet mignon stuffed with lobster. It probably goes without saying that it was soooo good.

Before dinner

At Portofino's

After dinner we went back to the resort and had drinks in our room, then went out to the pool and hot tub for the last time. Then it was back to the room for rum cake, packing, and looking back over all of our pics from the trip. By that time it was nearly 1:30a.m. (Cayman time), which we were waiting for so we could watch the Men's US Basketball team play Spain for the gold. We had planned to just stay up until the US started really blowing them out, but that never really happened, so we ended up staying up for the whole thing - until 4:00 a.m.! Then we immediately crashed because we had to get up early to go to the airport the next day.

SUNDAY (Also known as "I Really Resent All Those People That I See Just Arriving in the Caymans While We Have to Leave" Day)

We were up at 8:00a.m. to finish packing up and catch our ride to the airport. We got to the airport with plenty of time to do some souvenir shopping (read: stock up on liquor and rum cakes) before our flight left at 11:30 a.m. Before we knew it, we were back in Tampa!

It really was a fantastic trip. I can't wait to see where our SECOND anniversary will take us next year!