Bible Verse That Inspire Me

John 16:33 (New International Version)

   ³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Proverbs 30:7-9 (New International Version)

 ⁷ “Two things I ask of you, LORD;
   do not refuse me before I die:
⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
   give me neither poverty nor riches,
   but give me only my daily bread.
⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
   and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
   and so dishonor the name of my God.

Picking Out Our Live Christmas Tree

This year my husband and I decided to have a live christmas tree. We had a fake christmas tree that we bought since we got married and have been using it every year so this year we wanted to experience getting a live tree from a farm. We enjoyed trailing the aisles of the different varieties of trees. Definitely a great way to start a tradition but let's see first how it will work out once we have it at home. A lot of people say that it is too high maintenance but it remains to be seen- Me and my husband might enjoy this better than the fake one. =)

As we continue our search, we found 2 contenders first before we picked the 3rd one as "The One". We are pleased with the one we picked. It has an even look from all angles and the smell is amazing.

 Tree Prices

 This is the one.... =)

I'm trying to get all the credit but my husband did all the work (lol)

 

 Dragging it to it's new home.

 You can't say I didn't help...

 Time to go home and set it up

Your home for the season!!!

Decoration will be tomorrow. I'll be posting the pictures as soon as we have it done. =)

Dinner at the City Dock and Lights at the Bay

Day after Thanksgiving, we went to have dinner in one of our favorite restaurants then stopped by the city dock for a walk. It was cold but just being around all the Christmas decorations and the lovely smell of chocolate surrounding the area makes the walk warm and cozy. This is why I love the holidays- everything is so beautiful and for some reason, everybody is so nice and has that smile on their face. I wish everyday is Christmas =)

 Live Christmas tree

 Hot Chocolate and Fudge

 Hmmmm yummy, I'm glad I just ate dinner or else I wouldn't let this pass.

I'm proud of myself for resisting the temptation (lol)

 Chocolates and more chocolates

Passing by the art gallery store, I couldn't stop myself to take a shot of one of my loves- Sailboats!

Next stop, we drove to see the lights at the bay. It was fun. You can feel Christmas is near. It was a night to remember.

There were plenty of light varieties but here's some of my favorites-

 Christmas Teddy Bear

 Kissing Flamingos

 Sailboats

 Lighthouse

 Anchor

 A dancing penquin

 Another dancing penquins on ice skates

 Three Turtle Doves

 A Marine

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

A time spent with family and friends. Happy to be home for a holiday event and a long weekend. My husband and I decided to host the Thanksgiving this year instead of going out to eat in a restaurant. I was excited to try the Chilled Peach Soup after I tasted it on the Carnival cruise so I attempted to make it for this occasion and I was surprised that although it did not taste close to the carnival chilled peach soup it actually turned out good, I will be making them again for sure. My husband made some holiday bacon appetizer and it was delicious- no nutritional value but hey it's a holiday so we skip being health conscious in the spirit of the holiday.

Every Thanksgiving, we really don't go for the traditional Turkey because we are not really a big fan of it (booooooo right?) =) but we like turkey sandwich from a deli (what's up with that hahaha!!), anyway, so we always go for Ham instead. To complement the dish we had sweet potato, mixed vegetables and cranberry jelly. For desssert- we had fruit salad. It was a lovely evening with great food and great wine! Cheers =)

 The preparation

  Working on the Chilled Peach Soup

 Chilled Peach Soup Recipe

 Sweet Potatoes Recipe

 Holiday Bacon Appetizer

Finished product of chilled peach soup!

 Preparing the fruit salad dessert.

 Any minute now for that food honey? =)

 The food's looking good.

 It's eating time =)

May your Thanksgiving be filled with joy sharing the blessings with your loved ones and a time to reflect on what we are thankful for each day. =)

Western Caribbean Vacation Fun Times

We're back from our long week vacation the other Sunday and I finally got the chance today to sit down and check all my emails and update my blog site. It's back to reality, vacation is over =(

It was a very memorable vacation and we definitely had a blast. Here's some of the pictures that I can share online.

11/6/2010 - Departure Day - Headed to Miami, FL for an extra day to stroll around before we embark Carnival Cruise the following day.

Aerial view of Miami

          South Beach Miami

Dinner at Anthony's in Doral, FL

 

The coal oven roasted chicken wings was our favorite. Yummy! We also tried their pizza and it was so good too. I wish they will open a store where we live but so far on the east coast they only have it in DE, PA ,NY and soon to open in NJ.

11/7/10 - Port of Miami - Enjoyed the hot continental breakfast in the hotel where we stayed at and then we started heading to the port for check-in with Carnival Valor cruise. Here's where the excitement began! =) Our ship left Miami port around 5:00pm. We roamed around the entire ship checking out every floor and getting settled into our house for a week. So exciting. =)

A view from the upper deck of the ship overlooking Miami.

 Upper Deck Pool Side

Miami Skyline

 Elevators

 Lobby

 Fish and Chips restaurant on the top floor and Rosie's Restaurant below

Lincoln Dining Room

 Casino

 Togo Sushi Restaurant

 Enjoying Sushi (My favorite!)

 There are tons of paintings all over the hallway of the ship

but I was drawn to this for it's simplicity and elegance.

Here we are waiting for the comedy show to start in Eagles Lounge.

11/8/2010 - Fun Day at Sea - We checked out different shows scheduled for the day. There are plenty of things to do on the ship that we can't even keep up. Fun times here and there. My husband and I are amused with the entire team in Carnival Valor- from the cruise director down to every single one of the members that always make it a point to let everyone have a good time. And yes you can really feel that you are on a vacation.

This day also was the 1st Cruise Elegant Night. It's amazing because it suddenly gives me a flashback of that Titanic movie- everyone looks so elegant and pretty. Hats off to all the crews and staff for they were all on the top of their game making sure we all have the best experience possible. It's amazing too that I saw a lot of my fellow Filipinos working on the ship. I feel at home right off the bat. I wish I can share some pictures here but I don't like posting any pictures of anybody without their permission so you'll only be seeing mostly me, my husband and some views.

Fun day at sea. It won't be long before we reach our first port- Grand Cayman, BWI

 Dessert

Dessert

Our second "good night" turn-down from our room attendant with our schedule for tomorrow

 and the animal folded towel- I think it's a seal, what do you think?

11/9/2010 - Grand Cayman, BWI - Our first port of call. . We decided not to get an excursion on this port. We were tendered by a small boat to the shore and from there we walked a couple of blocks to catch a bus that took us to the Tiki Beach-Seven Mile Beach where we relaxed on our lounge chairs with refreshing drinks and all you can eat lunch buffet sitting in front of the beautiful Caribbean sea.

Unfortunately we forgot our camera in our room after taking a lot of shots while entering the port so we just have couple of shots taken from the cameras of our friends on the beach- what a bummer!!! 

The water was amazing- you can't resist the clear turquoise blue water that complements the white sand. It was very relaxing. =)

 Approaching the port of Grand Cayman, BWI

 Our lounge chairs in Seven Mile Beach together with our friends

 An Iguana right above the tree where I'm sitting at.

Everyone was taking pictures and the Iguana seems to love the attention.

 Enjoying the sunset by the deck before dinner. So Beautiful =)

A lovely eskimo folded towel, the schedule for the following day

and 2 chocolates provided for their turn-down service. Good Night =)

11/10/2010 - Mahogany Bay- Isla Roatan, Honduras - Arrived around 11:00am. No boats tendering us this time. As soon as we got off the ship, we went to meet up with our tour excursion guide. We picked the Clear Kayak, Snorkeling and Gumbalimba Park. It was a fun ride to the park, it reminded me so much of my hometown in Philippines.

 Start off the day with a yummy breakfast in Lido Deck (I have to mention though that

the hot chocolate that's available 24 hours a day is so rich and delicious -no kidding =) )

 Entering the port of Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan

 The view on the other side while entering the port

 On our way to meet our excursion guide

 Shopping and Information area

 Clear Kayak

 Passing the beach

 Resort areas

 Sitting on the hanging bamboo chair when our friend saw an Iguana again =)

 Monkey's made out of a coconut shell (Cutie!)

Saying "Good Night" this time is a dinosaur (Awwwwwww!)



11/11/2010 - Belize City, Central America - Arrived at 8:00am. On this port, we were tendered again by a boat to the shore. We chose the "Raiders of the Lost Mayan Cave" also known as the "Dragon Mouth" on this stop and our experience was well worth it. Our tour guides were amazing- we travelled through different levels of the Mayan underworld by way of via-ferrata, zip lines, swinging suspension bridges, and a rappel down a cliff. We enjoyed it very much.

On our way back, we stopped by the base camp for lunch that awaits us. We were served chicken barbeque kebab, a tortilla, with beans on a side and a refreshing fruit punch. It was super delicious.

This day was also our 2nd Cruise Elegant Night.

 Welcome to Belize- Let the fun begin. =)

 A picturesque shot of their town

 A sample money shown to us by our tour guide while on the bus heading to our destination.

 Getting nearer....

 The Dragon's Mouth?

 My turn to do the combination rappel and zipline by the cliff (Fun, fun, fun!!!)

 An elephant formation inside the cavern

 Swinging Suspension Bridge

 And off I go (Yeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyy)

 Seafood Appetizer

 Our favorite chilled soup appetizer- This one is the Raspberry chilled soup. 

(The peach chilled soup we had the day before was the best though) 

 Main Course - Roasted Chicken

 Main Course - Fish (I forgot the name for this dish but this is the dish that the chef won first place in one of the cooking contest abroad- I also forgot the place but it was one of the prestigious contest- I wish I took a picture of the menu with that description) - I can see why, it was delicious. =)

 Dessert - Assorted ice cream with fudge cake

 Dessert - Chocolate coconut cake

A souvenir I got from Belize.

 A "good night" from a cute bunny welcoming us back to our room. =)

11/12/2010 - Cozumel, Mexico- Arrived at 8:00am. We did the "Mayan Ruins of Tulum". We enjoyed it so much but we wished there was more time to spend there. It's an amazing place. Someday, we would like to go back there to stay longer and enjoy what Cozumel has to offer- maybe a week long vacation in one of their villas- sounds good to me. =)

Playa Del Carmen

Mayan Ruins of Tulum

Mayan Ruins overlooking the Caribbean sea

Lining up to get back to our ship. Carnival Valor on the left and Carnival Liberty on the right.

"Good Night" from the man's best friend. =)

11/13/2010 - Fun Day at the Sea - A bitter-sweet day because we know this is our last night on the cruise- meaning back to reality but at the same time we missed home. On our last fun day at the sea, we went to see all the shows and activities. Enjoyed the different food offered on different restaurants on that day alone- it's like a farewell food galore. I splurged on their "chocolate buffet", mongolian food, fish and chips- the ahi tuna with watermelon was also one of my favorite. The fun never ends. As we head back to our room to retire for the night, a heart folded towel greeted us. We will definitely miss this experience but like they all said,  "there's always a next time". Our special thank you to our room attendants for doing such an outstanding job in making our vacation a blast. To our dining attendants- for an excellent job in making sure that our dinner each day is a special one. We hope to see you all soon. XOXO

What better way for our room attendants to say "Good Night". Well, the Heart says it all =)