The Big Red Boat OF DOOM!

April 9, 2013 By 3 Comments

All the chatter about Carnival Cruise Line’s doomed cruises lately has reminded me of my family’s cruise history. I give you the story of doomed cruises, Herbert style…

big red boat

When I was young and my parents were still in the jewelry business, we bought from a company that gave cruises if you bought a certain amount of product from them over the course of a year.

We cruised the seas on the Premier Cruise Line (aka The Big Red Boat, aka Disney Cruise Line before DCL existed) and it was great fun.

A few years in, after cruising every year to Nassau, they switched it up and we went to The Abacos.

The trip was uneventful until the morning we were supposed to go through a small channel to enter The Abacos or some other nonsense. The weather was bad and we couldn’t get through.

Apparently this had never happened before. OF COURSE IT HADN’T.

We turned around or something and went over to Nassau. Again. (I know, rough life?)

Premier gave everyone 50% off cruises and we took them up on it.

The next year, we hopped the same boat with the same itinerary.

Guess what?

Yup. It had only happened once before and again, we found ourselves on the cruise that couldn’t thread through the teeny tiny channel.

Back to Nassau. More braids and haggling with people over $1.50 trinkets made of paper (or imported from Vietnam).

Oh well. 50% off another cruise for 4 people. We’ll take it.

Third cruise booked. This time with my Aunt, Uncle, and two cousins. It was great fun!

UNTIL WE COULDN’T GET THROUGH AGAIN!

According to the cruise line, this had only happened TWO other times in the history of navigating the miniscule channel that had been dug by hand by Oompaloompas apparently. And guess what? We were on all of them.

Free cruises for all! WHEEEEEE!!

We booked another cruise. Same ship. Same place. Because, well, obviously we’re insane.

When we boarded the ship, the Captain greeted us. We were “the family” that was doomed. I’m sure he wanted to kick us off so they would make it through the pin-head size lane to The Abacos.

But instead, he greeted us with open arms, a fruit and champagne basket in our room, and an invitation to breakfast in the steering room of the ship to watch him thread through the channel.

Even on vacation, we bounced out of bed at some ungodly hour and went down to the ship’s steering room. If it had been me NOW, I would have had my sister hold me while I hung off the front of the ship ala The Titanic, but alas, we just sat there and minded our manners while a (probably drunk) Captain steered us SUCCESSFULLY through the channel.

We were thrilled to finally see The Abacos. It was as gorgeous as reported in all the travel brochures.

The only part of that cruise that truly sucked, was the fact that it was the end of the line for free and discounted cruising for us.

Filed Under: Adventure, Memories Tagged With: , , ,

Dreams DO Come True

July 30, 2012 By 19 Comments

This email came through to me last night.

Thank you for signing up for the Rockettes event on Friday, August 3rd, at 7am, at Radio City Music Hall! This email confirms your space at this event. We can’t wait to see you there!

I’d be totally lying if I told you I didn’t tear up. And squeal out loud. And immediately call my 14 year old niece.

This is totally a dream come true for me.

Let’s back up a little… like to when I was two.

At two, I got my first pair of ballet shoes and started taking classes. I danced non-stop until I graduated from high school, taking ballet, tap, and jazz.

In 7th grade, I was a majorette and a cheerleader in 8th grade.

When I was a freshman, I was one of two freshmen to make the high school dance team — The Vespidaettes.

August, 1990, y’all! I’m 2nd from the left.

Dancing took me many places.

I went to camps during the summer, training with several professional ballerinas.

My dance team earned the chance to dance in two Cotton Bowls at NCA Camps.

I was invited as a senior, to dance in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland. My whole family went. (Shoutout to Mama and Daddy for doing everything they could to allow me to experience these trips.)

Twice I was invited to dance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The first year, the 5 of us who went from my school were front and center. We opened the parade and it was AMAZING! The second time, we were almost front and center, in a group of 1000 high school girls. We marched the parade route and experienced the whole shebang.

There were two groups that, all my life, I’ve looked up to. The Rangerettes from Kilgore College in Texas, and obviously, The Rockettes.

I knew I would never go to Kilgore College, so my dream of being a Rangerette was dashed (although I could totally kick my hat like they could) (they didn’t call me Miss Dance America for nothing, you know).

But I did look into auditioning to be a Rockette. Crazy? Hell yeah. But why not?

Only… I was too short.

My hopes for being a Rockette were dashed, also.

In college, I took ballet from a wonderful man, Mr. Curtis, and kept myself semi-in shape. But now? Not gonna lie… I’ve let myself go.

I could blame it on grief, marriage, laziness, birthing babies, arthritis. Whatever. At the end of the day, I’m out of shape.

So it’s highly likely I’ll rip pull a muscle on Friday morning. It’s highly likely I won’t care one single bit.

I’ll be dancing with the Rockettes, y’all. Probably with tears rolling down my eyes from both joy AND pain!

 

Filed Under: Memories Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Stream of Consciousness Sunday: Anticipation

July 29, 2012 By 20 Comments

Helloooooo! It’s time once again for Stream of Consciousness Sunday!

This week has been a whirlwind of emotions, decision-making, planning, scheming, worrying, and anticipating for me. I’ll be able to tell you more later but it’s good stuff!

Anticipation… that makes me sing Carly Simon and now that song will never leave my head.

Since a lot of us are anticipating of lots of different things (school, BlogHer, new jobs, etc), I think it’s the obvious prompt for today.

Today’s (optional) prompt is: Anticipation.

Your five minutes starts now!

stream of consciousness sunday

When I was little, we went to Disney almost every year for my sister’s birthday. We won’t discuss how jealous I always was because I got stuck with a December birthday and she got dang Disney World.

The night before we would leave, we would always sleep in the same room. I don’t know why, but it was just what we did. We would stay up late, trying not to go to sleep in case we overslept. Even if we hated each other at the time, we tolerated each other for that one night.

We always got up way before dawn because we usually flew in my dad’s little Cessna. But if we ended up having to drive because of weather, we had time to do that, too.

From those times on, any time there’s something I’m anticipating and I can’t sleep or wake up so so early because of the excitement, I always say it’s “like I’m going to Disney World.”

That’s how I feel about BlogHer next week. I’m already itching with anticipation. I love the city more than any other place in the world and can’t wait to be surrounded by gobs of other bloggers.

**********************

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

  • Set a timer and write for 5 minutes.
  • Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
  • Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
  • Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post (in the sidebar).
  • Link up your post below.
  • Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

 

Filed Under: SOC Sunday Tagged With: , , , ,

My BlogHer12 Goals

July 18, 2012 By 16 Comments

If two weeks leading up to BlogHer reminds me of Bid Day 94 at Auburn, up to and including the shrill squeals and OHMAHGAHs and jumping up and down, then I’m going to be honest — Mama’s gonna need cocktail hour to start around noon!

There’s an absolute blizzard flurry of excitement about BlogHer 2012. It starts on August 3 in New York and (woohoo) I’m going!

VOTY Honoree  I wasn’t going until one hot summer night in St. Simons when I checked my email to find out that my post was chosen as a Voice of the Year Honoree. And then Jason pretty much forced me to get a ticket and go. No, I don’t get to read or anything at the VOTY Keynote, but my name is on that list. And by God, that’s all I needed to validate the fact that I CAN write and that I should definitely go.

So I’m going. I’m flying before the sun comes up on Wednesday August 1st and will have all day Wednesday and Thursday to do whatever I want before the conference even starts! Then on Sunday, I’ll have most of the day to goof off.

I have a list in my head a 5k long of people I want to meet. Maybe I’ll meet them all, maybe not.

I’m not losing sleep over what to wear. Yes, I’ll grab a few new things, but that’s simply because my closet is, well, an embarrassment to the female species. It’s so bad, my girl card is one hole punch from being revoked.

I’m excited about swag. I’m sure there’ll be some great stuff. But I plan to be kinda picky about what I actually take and bring home with me. They should all just give out gift cards. That would rock, now, wouldn’t it?

There are a few goals that I have for the long weekend. I know you’re dying to know what they are, right?

  • Go for a jog in Central Park.
  • Have a Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3.
  • Hit a good number of sessions.
  • Go to all the official parties, at least for a little while. BlogHer has worked extremely hard and the sponsors are so generous with their time and investment. It would be insulting not to go. Also, I don’t want to traipse all over town just to go to another party. Anyway…
  • Rest when I feel like it and not allow myself to be overwhelmed.
  • Buy this ring at Tiffany.

Simple enough?

 

Are you going?

 

Filed Under: Adventure, Thoughts Tagged With: , ,

It’s Conference Time!

June 20, 2012 By 5 Comments

‘Tis that time of year for mommy vacations, er, blogging conferences.

type-a parent conference

Type A Conference

On Thursday, I will leave and pick up Crystal at the ATL airport and we’ll head up to Charlotte for the Type A Parent Conference. This will be the first time Crystal and I have met in person, even though we’ve worked on Band Back Together for gosh, about 2 years together.

I went to Type A last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was very anxious and nervous about meeting so many “big bloggers” and all kinds of silliness like that.

This year, I’m feeling pretty dang relaxed. I’m excited about seeing friends from last year and making new connections with people I know online.

There are a few of the sessions I’m REALLY pumped about. And of course the parties will be fun. But mostly, I’m looking forward to hanging out and being in the presence of so many amazing women (and a few amazing men who come).

BlogHer '12BlogHer 2012

A few short weeks after that, I’ll be headed to BlogHer in NYC. And I’m just beside myself excited about it. You’ll remember Jason made me get a ticket when I found out about being a Voice of the Year honoree.

I love New York so much, I’m going without any plan whatsoever. Either I’ll hook up with people and go out gallivanting or I’ll just do my own thing.

So here’s hoping I come home from both conferences with new ideas, new enthusiasm, new motivation and new friends!

If you’ll be at either, let me know!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts