At Sea, Jan 28

Hey there!

I'm fondly looking back at my cruise vacation. Jan 28th was our first long day at sea. The sun was up, and so was my mood. This is the day I learned how to make a freaking awesome amaretto sour at the first of two Mixology classes and was also the night of our first formal dinner (yay, dress up!).

{my very first view of the first full day at sea}

{i so want to be back here right now...}

{a view of my feet on our balcony, looking down at deck 4}

{for real, this was the most beautiful water i've ever seen, aside from the Mediterranean}

{how could someone not want to experience this? once you get over the rocking of the boat, you're lost in the awe and wonder of it all}

After getting up and ready, we headed out to the pool decks around 9am or so. They tended to fill up later in the afternoon, so while this may seem a bit early, it was good timing to get a choice spot. After sunbathing, sipping on frosty drinks, we cleaned up and went to the first of our two Mixology classes taught by Paul from Romania. He's pretty much the coolest person we met while on board. We ended up making four drinks, one of which was their take on my fave, Amaretto Sour (they used Disaronno and a custom-made sour mix). For real, drinks are a little pricey on the ship, but this class was $14 before extra tipping for 4 drinks...totally worth it, and it was so much fun! 

{morning sun in the solarium}

{first time lounging on the deck. found a sunnier spot after this}

{happy times}

{see? sunnier. this is the beginning of my burn, haha!}

{while exploring, we found the aft of the ship}

{at mixology class. omg, we got so hammered.}

Having drank our weight in booze, we got ready for our first formal dinner. I decided to break out my brand new dress from Kohl's, and my friend, Jen, loaned me some retro, white earrings. We had more drinks (!!) and then went to dinner. Oh yeah, and Paula Deen was on our cruise. Before dinner this night, my friend, Jen, got some liquid courage in her and got her photo taken with Paula Deen. We ended up seeing her and her husband several times while on the ship. 

{i went retro this evening}

{yummy salad with olives for first course. i think i had pasta with marinara again, didn't warrant a photo}

{this guy was awesome. i think he was alone on the cruise and wanted a photo with us.}

{sad face #1...like my awesome Kohl's LC dress?}

{sad face #2, ftw.}

{friends and i at our first formal dinner}

{it's like i got a new school photo, bonus!}

More to come tomorrow!

Jes

PS--Keep the passengers of the Carnival Triumph in your thoughts. I feel so bad for those poor people. Good lord, I could not imagine, though it could always be worse. Hopefully everything goes OK until they get to Mobile, AL tomorrow morning.