Maryland Visitors!

So, my friend Cassie is traveling all over the country auditioning for grad schools... her first stop was University of Maryland. Since Hallie & Dustin live in North Carolina they drove up to meet her and Sam flew over with Cassie. They enjoyed a couple of days touring DC and one of the nights we met in Downtown Silver Spring to enjoy dinner and dessert.

The group at the end of the evening!

This was our dessert:Chocolate with strawberry buttercream (real strawberry pieces!) YUM. Cake Love is an amazing place.

I seriously needed this night... sometimes I feel like I don't fit in here. It was great to see people from home and my core group of Chi Alpha. =)

The Caribbean

So Quinn and I took our first cruise, on the largest ship (RC: Liberty of the Seas).
Quinn left the country for the first time (along with going snorkeling.) It was a nice family trip (we even got to stop in Hollywood, FL to see my Aunt Brandy), even if they did have the coldest weather on record! The days and nights on the ship were spent soaking up the little sun we got, attending shows and games, rock climbing, ice skating, shopping, and more!

We made stops in Costa Maya where we had an amazing tour guide (Luis Gonzalez) who told us all the history of the Mayan people and pyramids but also the culture. He let us chew on unrefined gum from the chiclet tree, then had us smell the allspice leaves and gave us allspice to take home with us, finally then since the Mayans used cocoa beans as currency he gave us each a few and we even tried eating one- very bitter!!
Our second stop was in Belize City, it is a beautiful country but extreme class lines between the poor and rich are very evident as well as aids infecting the population. Our tour guide, Gregory Doran, was very laid back (maybe a little too much for us considering we had to be back on the pier at 4pm... we gave him a lot of trouble, we're sorry) and full of conversations, seriously he never stopped talking... well until the van's hood smashed the front window, but that's another story... we went zip-lining through the jungle, then tubing through a cave system! Awesome.
The final stop was in Cozumel, we had a nice relaxing day on the Wyndham's private beach with unlimited food and drinks as well as access to the sea kayaks. While there we signed up for a snorkeling tour, our guides were GREAT! We got to snorkel at two seperate reefs- the Columbian & Garden, and made a stop on Starfish Island. There we got to pick up starfish as big as our heads and collect sand dollars.

[click to see all of my photos from the trip]

Since we've been home it's been cold, but not too much rain and no snow. I am trying to find a part-time, M-F, with hours between 8am-4pm. It's proving hard to do... other than that, the piggies are doing well, we've had a friend over for dinner, and I'm hoping to see a few friends from AZ this weekend (cross your fingers!). Quinn has been super busy with work, and has a pretty intense schedule, not to mention he's currently taking two college courses. I hope all of you are doing well!

New Year's Eve '09

So my friend Casey had made reservations about a month or so ago for Fogo de Chao, and graciously invited Quinn and I to join his group.

There is no doubt about it, the food was AMAZING, and it better be, it cost $49.50/person! Also if you do go, I suggest ordering "ice water" the sparkling and spring cost $5.00/bottle. Oops! It was the most expensive dinner of my life.

The beef filet mingon's (with or without bacon) is amazing, fraldinha, frango, and picanha were so tasty! I know I ate like two weeks worth of red meat in one night. Scary. Anyway, when you go in they give you a two-sided disc, one side is red the other green. When you want the gauchos' (seriously, they wear Brazilian gaucho pants/boots, and most of them spoke Portuguese!) to bring you meat you turn the card to the green side. If you need a break, or just a moment without them placing large slabs of meat in front of your face, you turn the card to the red side. You are also served unlimited sides of: pão de queijo, polenta, garlic mashed potatoes, and caramelized bananas. There is also an open salad bar.

Talk about food coma! All of us were unbuckling belts...

Great night, amazing experience, but definitely not a place to eat at often. (A $100+ bill for two people without any beverages or desserts is extremely EXPENSIVE!!)