---- Countdown to Cruiseday -----
As some of you know, I am a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to packing and cleaning (and most other tasks that seem at all arduous, honestly).. so I had the great idea to just wait for Matt to come home on the night of Dec. 7th to help me with the packing. This way when I spazzed out the next day about "did I pack the _________ ?" he'd be able to say, "yes, darling sweet, brilliant wife, you DID in fact pack the ___________" Great plan, right?!
Our night of packing started like any other night of packing... with me dawdling on the computer and Matt eating. Finally the time had come. We pulled out the suitcases... and began our quest to pack 4 ppl's swimsuits, casual clothes, dressy clothes, and formal clothes for 7 nights. And don't forget the shoes... they took up almost a whole suitcase of their own. Matt began to pack his clothes.. I began to pack everyone elses. About 2.2 minutes into packing his clothes, Matt asks where the garment bag is.
"
Um, we don't have one. We've been borrowing my parents' bag.. but this time they're going with us.. so we don't have one"
"
So what am I supposed to do with my suit and tuxedo???"
"
Well I was thinking that you would fold them into a suitcase with the rest of the clothes"
At this point I notice Matt's veins begin to pop out a little on his forehead... and then watched a grimace wash over his face...
"
Will that not work?" I ask sweetly and innocently.
*more veins begin to pop*
"
Do you KNOW how MUCH this tux cost?!? THIS is an $800 tux!!! I will NOT ruin it by packing it!!!!"
Um, well... "
So do you want to go buy a garment bag?"
"
Well I'm NOT going to just ruin my tux!"
"
Ok, well Walmart is still open"
*at this point all of his veins are fully popped out and a look of complete exasperation tinged with a bit of rage sweeps over his face*
he looked a little bit like this, but with more anger than pain..
"
I'm in my F'ing pajamas! I'm not going to F'ing Walmart! I'll go in the morning"
"
Well I don't think that's a good plan because we already have too much to finish in the morning and I was hoping we'd be done
packing tonight"
"OMG" obscenity, obscenity, obscenity... stomping, kicking, waving fists in air...
"
Alrighty... well you have fun with your packing"... and I leave to find some solace with my RFF's online.... I'm not sure we spoke more than 10 more words to each other after that.... but um, on the plus side, we did mostly finish packing by about 1:45 that morning.... on the down side I was secretly wondering why on earth I booked a 7 day cruise in a tiny room with Mr. Stompy
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The next morning Matt goes to workout while I finish packing and run some errands. Sadly Matt has told me that his extra large paycheck is in fact already in the bank account... which prompts me to do just a "little bit" more shopping. A quick run to the store for a $12 dollar black tie winds up costing $85... but no matter, we're on vacation! And without that black tie, formal night would be RUINED! So, it's not my fault. Plus, Kayli (my 8 year old) needed a shirt for western night.. again, not my fault.. blame the cruise industry!
I finish shopping and get a much needed pedicure (you know that scene in Dumb and Dumber when Harry and Lloyd get a pedicure in a little placed called Aspen?! yah... that was me). I had a very lovely conversation with the woman sitting next to me, and secretly wished that I was going on the cruise with her instead of Mr. Stompy... I was tempted to ask for her email and explain that I thought she could in fact be my new best friend.. but decided that might infact be the exhaustion talking.
We had arranged to leave at 1pm... but my parent's weren't ready yet... How this is possible is beyond me.. .they had packed 2 days prior! And only had 2 of them! No matter... we arrange to leave without them because we have a date with destiny that night... we are to dine with the StewartG clan! I kiss all my furbabies goodbye and try to hold back tears (you would understand if you knew my precious Ella
-- properly pronounced "Ew-wa" with a baby voice)... and by 1:40 we are on the road!
Yeehaw!
The trip down was uneventful. God bless portable dvd players! We make excellent time to The Woodlands and decide to stall by buying yet MORE stuff at Target. Soon enough it was time to meet up with the G's! I think I was more excited about this dinner than I was about Western night on the cruise! Stewart met us on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant wearing his pinko commie lawyer clothes and looked quite dashing! I think he told me those weren't actually his true lawyer clothes, but then were fancier than the t-shirt and shorts I'd met him in, so it counts. We were escorted inside to meet Kelli for the first time, and also Adrienne and Iain. We enjoyed our Mediterranean food and conversations, and the kids enjoyed running around the restaurant. Isabel (my 6yo) soon decided it was high time for a dance recital... so she had me write up invitations on the napkins and pass them out to everyone. Thankfully nobody had other plans, and it was a packed house for the recital...
After Isabel's solo, Adrienne joined in...
And then we forced the older siblings to pose for a photo as well...
And of course the grownups...
We talked about how great peep fest was going to be... said goodbye for 10 minutes or so, and then headed back to meet my parents at my Aunt and Uncle's weekend house (Frogwood).
The girls and Matt had never been to Frogwood, and they were impressed with it's size and niceness... Isabel asked me why WE didn't have a weekend house, and I explained that Mommy and Matt were
not both lawyers in Houston and were happy to have our one house. (and no, Stewart does not know my aunt and uncle... I already checked ;-) )
After getting the girls set up with a movie, my parents decided to teach Matt and I how to 2 step... afterall, Western night was quickly approaching. I eyed Mr. Stompy suspiciously and sized up the potential for disaster with this plan.
"
I'm gonna need some booze first"
No problem! Frogwood has a well stocked liquor cabinet and a margarita mix in the fridge... perfect! Let the dance lessons begin! We mastered the base step fairly quickly (and by "we mastered" I mean I could do it and Mr. Stompy was ok as long as he counted it out) Soon it was time to learn the fancier steps... and here is where things started to fall apart.
Time for more booze. Ok.. back to dancing...
after about 45 minutes it's decided that Mr Stompy and I are NO Fred and Ginger, but we can probably hold our own on Western night... assuming the lights are low, the music is easy to count, and we don't deviate from the basic step. Success! We all snuggle down in our beds while visions of cruising dance through our heads....