When I first started this blog I imagined it would be funny stories about adjusting to life back in the city from the country. It has turned into just our life and what is going on. So it was time for a change. City Living is no longer and our blog is now IN A NUTSHELL. The blog has turned into just that- our life in a nutshell.
Please make the change on your blogs. The website http://nikkidelossantos.blogspot.com is the same though.
a place for the whirlwind happenings in my brain at any given moment...
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
My Trip to Central America- Part Tres.2
Part Tres.2- Getting on the boat
After we finished our history tour we walked back to our hotel to grab our luggage and caught a cab to the cruise ship terminals. We ended up having a fabulous cab driver and unfortunately I didn't even get his name. He was 62 and full of life and love. He shared a quick story of his life and had children and left us with a great riddle.
There is a language that everyone in the world can speak and recognize- including
babies. What is it?
I immediately guessed "the language of love"- but I was wrong. It's MUSIC. I should have known since we were in the founding city of Jazz!
Once at the terminal we made our final phone calls and headed through security to the 45 minute line to check into the cruise ship and get our account cards. I was so excited walking up the gang-plank to the ship. Once on the ship we were greeted with a glass of champagne and set out to find our room and explore. I was in shock at how huge and how beautiful the ship was.
Our room, although very small, was perfect and since we had chosen to upgrade we had our own private balcony which Missy and I were excited to use. My boss had told me that we probably wouldn't use it that much but we did in fact get our money's worth! We sat out there and read our books, caught up on life and took some great pictures! We also slept with the patio doors open all night, every night and fell asleep to the sound of the crashing waves. Once home it was hard to fall asleep the first few days with none of that noise!
Once settled on the ship we had to partake in the emergency procedure class and had to line up on the deck of the boat with our life preservers on.
Since we had smuggled vodka on in water bottles we decided to purchase the $50 soda card for the week to have something to mix drinks with. We quickly mixed our drinks and set out to explore and catch some dinner. After dinner we retired back to our room and watched the sunset, drank and listened to music on our balcony all night long! It was a great start to a great vacation!
Stay tuned for Part Quatro- 1st day at Sea!
I have finally crossed over to the world of Flickr to share my photos in slideshow form. To view the pictures for this post click on the arrow. Once the slideshow starts click on the square in the lower right corner to maximize the show. To exit the slideshow click the escape button on your computer.
After we finished our history tour we walked back to our hotel to grab our luggage and caught a cab to the cruise ship terminals. We ended up having a fabulous cab driver and unfortunately I didn't even get his name. He was 62 and full of life and love. He shared a quick story of his life and had children and left us with a great riddle.
There is a language that everyone in the world can speak and recognize- including
babies. What is it?
I immediately guessed "the language of love"- but I was wrong. It's MUSIC. I should have known since we were in the founding city of Jazz!
Once at the terminal we made our final phone calls and headed through security to the 45 minute line to check into the cruise ship and get our account cards. I was so excited walking up the gang-plank to the ship. Once on the ship we were greeted with a glass of champagne and set out to find our room and explore. I was in shock at how huge and how beautiful the ship was.
Our room, although very small, was perfect and since we had chosen to upgrade we had our own private balcony which Missy and I were excited to use. My boss had told me that we probably wouldn't use it that much but we did in fact get our money's worth! We sat out there and read our books, caught up on life and took some great pictures! We also slept with the patio doors open all night, every night and fell asleep to the sound of the crashing waves. Once home it was hard to fall asleep the first few days with none of that noise!
Once settled on the ship we had to partake in the emergency procedure class and had to line up on the deck of the boat with our life preservers on.
Since we had smuggled vodka on in water bottles we decided to purchase the $50 soda card for the week to have something to mix drinks with. We quickly mixed our drinks and set out to explore and catch some dinner. After dinner we retired back to our room and watched the sunset, drank and listened to music on our balcony all night long! It was a great start to a great vacation!
Stay tuned for Part Quatro- 1st day at Sea!
I have finally crossed over to the world of Flickr to share my photos in slideshow form. To view the pictures for this post click on the arrow. Once the slideshow starts click on the square in the lower right corner to maximize the show. To exit the slideshow click the escape button on your computer.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
50 Completely Honest Things About Me - Part 11 of 50
Since my camera card reader took a dump, the Vacation to Central America posts are currently on hold until I can get to the store and get a new one. However, I was in a totally bloggy mood and figured, lets visit this old project!
Part 11 of 50: I'm Part Sailor
In the verbal sense! Unfortunately, I am a swear word junky. I look at swear words as the most versatile words you can use in a sentence, they can be used as nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, whatever. You can use swear words to show sadness, madness, pleasure, stress and excitement. If you use a swear word while yelling at someone- they know you are particularly upset. The same goes for any emotion you are trying to perceive, swear words just enhance.
My word of choice is unfortunately F*** (sorry, Grandma) and/or Shit. I know my grandma's word of choice is bullshit, though!
The favorite F-word only tends to flow openly when there is A.) a lot of alcohol involved or B.) a lot of stress involved. So if you don't like F-bombs bombing and you see me in one of the above mentioned situations- run like the wind!
Part 11 of 50: I'm Part Sailor
In the verbal sense! Unfortunately, I am a swear word junky. I look at swear words as the most versatile words you can use in a sentence, they can be used as nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, whatever. You can use swear words to show sadness, madness, pleasure, stress and excitement. If you use a swear word while yelling at someone- they know you are particularly upset. The same goes for any emotion you are trying to perceive, swear words just enhance.
My word of choice is unfortunately F*** (sorry, Grandma) and/or Shit. I know my grandma's word of choice is bullshit, though!
The favorite F-word only tends to flow openly when there is A.) a lot of alcohol involved or B.) a lot of stress involved. So if you don't like F-bombs bombing and you see me in one of the above mentioned situations- run like the wind!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Addition- My Trip to Central America-Part Tres.1
I worked all night on uploading ALL of the pictures that Missy and I took on our trip. Although I stated in my earlier post that I would not bore you with all of the pictures I took while on the history tour our second day in New Orleans, after looking at all of the pictures again there are a few more that I want to share with you as well as some pictures that relate to the previous posting.
Our tour guide- Leon
Washing the streets of New Orleans
This building is drab and run down but strangely it's very appealing to me.
I love all of the flowers & plants that adorn all of the balconies. I could easily retire tomorrow with library of books and one of these balconies and be set for life!
My Trip to Central America- Part Tres.1
Day 2 of New Orleans started out beautiful and sunny as expected. We were allowed to board the boat at any time between 10am and 5pm. We opted to spend as much time in New Orleans as we could and wanted to actually see the city as opposed to just Bourbon St and the bars. We had gathered a ton of information on city tours the day before from our hotel Concierge and decided on the walking History tour. The tour departed at 10am, a block from our hotel so we got up early and had breakfast in the restaurant. We were able to see the morning routine for the City of New Orleans workers- which includes washing the streets with a huge spray truck. The solution smells like a mixture of bleach and toothpaste (and you all know to me that "clean and disinfected" smells like heaven to me) and foams up on the streets and sidewalks. They clean the streets like this every morning. The city looks- and smells- like a completely different place than the night before!
This was our hotel- The Inn on Bourbon. Once the Opera House that burnt down in the early 1900's.
Street Performer & The Cabildo- Site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer in 1803
The Moonwalk (not Michael Jackson's) along the Mississippi River and the corn fence
Private residence courtyard- that made me wish it was mine and I was retired!
The Ursuline Convent- the oldest building in New Orleans and still functioning.
We reached our tour group and met our tour guide- Leon. He has been retired for 12 years and is an actually certified tour guide from the State of Louisiana. He was AMAZING. His knowledge on not only the State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans but history in general and his funny jokes throughout the 2.5 hour tour made it fun and interesting all at the same time. He really new his stuff and Missy and I both agreed that we were happy we chose that tour. Below are a few pictures from our tour.
This was our hotel- The Inn on Bourbon. Once the Opera House that burnt down in the early 1900's.
Street Performer & The Cabildo- Site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer in 1803
The Moonwalk (not Michael Jackson's) along the Mississippi River and the corn fence
Private residence courtyard- that made me wish it was mine and I was retired!
The Ursuline Convent- the oldest building in New Orleans and still functioning.
I could go on for pages and pages with pictures that I took during the tour, but won't bore you. I was in a constant state of euphoria on this tour since I have such an obsession with architecture. I have LOTS of pictures of random New Orleans houses and buildings.
One place that we did stop along our tour that was absolutely amazing was the Art Studio of Craig Tracy. His canvas is actually the human body and you must see his work to believe and appreciate. View his website here.
Here is a sneak peek at some of his work.
Here is a sneak peek at some of his work.
My favorite piece is not on his website but if and when I ever become wealthy- I will own a piece of his work!
Stay tuned for My Trip to Central America- Part Tres.2- Getting on the boat
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Cinco de Mayo feliz!
Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!
I will be enjoying some wonderful Mexican food
and a few of these babies tonight!
I will be enjoying some wonderful Mexican food
and a few of these babies tonight!
Little history tip for those who are interested. Cinco de Mayo is actually not the Mexican Independence Day like most people think and it is also not a Mexican Federal Holiday. Their Independence day is actually September 16th.
The reason Cinco de Mayo is celebrated is because on May 5, 1862 the Mexican battled the French at the Battle of Puebla and they won. The outnumbered, ill equipped Mexican army defeated the French army who was said to have not been defeated in a battle in 50 years.
Monday, May 4, 2009
I am so sorry :(
I have been terrible about keeping up with this blog lately. I haven't been able to even sit and check my emails let alone download pictures of my cruise and blog. Work has been crazy and I'm helping a friend with the purchase of a house, so once I'm home from work- I'm still working. I promise to try to post Day 2 of New Orleans before next Monday. And in before next Monday, I mean probably Sunday!
Thanks for your continued interst and I promise to be a better blogger... soon!
Thanks for your continued interst and I promise to be a better blogger... soon!
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