All Things EARTH... part 2

[awhfy]

Anita, Glad you're feeling more positive about the move. Sounds as tho your DH was highly sought out, congratulations! Also congrats to your DS, I'm sure he'll do brilliant work. Melody

[Sailor_Sally]

Wow ! Anita you do have a lot on your plate but at least you may not have to move so that is a positive.

[MJC]

Anita, it's good to hear your voice. I was missing you. :)

[laurspag]

Anita, it's so good to hear from you! I always worry when it's been a while and we haven't heard from someone.

 

Our cruise was great! We are killing some time at the airport and will be home late tonight. I hope to post some pictures tomorrow depending on how things go.

[awhfy]

Laurie, so glad you had a good time, can't wait for pictures!

[laurspag]

Hello! I hope to be able to post a pictodiary this week. If I don't get to it this week, I will do so this weekend.

 

As it turns out, there were gale force winds in NYC yesterday. Our evening flight end up being about three hours late leaving Fort Lauderdale. We knew this meant missing our connecting flight, but then that got delayed. We knew it would be close. Even though our plane had not left, and still was at the gate, they would not let us on.

 

So we figured by this point, since we had to reschedule for an 8:54 AM flight the next day and would have to go through security all over again and so forth, we would just stay right at the airport. We were not the only ones, so there were people laying on the floor sleeping in various spots. I can't do that, so I've been up since 6:00 AM yesterday. Boy, am I tired! But we had a wonderful time.

 

I wanted to give you a few pictures to look at in the meantime. This one is just for fun, but I really like the picture...spider veins and all. We are what we are, you know?

 

 

And I really like this picture, despite all the wind. This was for our date night at Chops.

 

[Sailor_Sally]

Glad you made it home & great pictures !

[awhfy]

Laurie, love the purple dress

[aoknkentucky]

Glad you had a great time. You look great! Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

[laurspag]

What a busy week it's been! And this weekend will be even busier, so I thought I'd jump in and start my pictodiary.

 

First, we flew into Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, the day before the cruise. Most of the time, we have very early flights and a good portion of the day to use. This cruise, we did not. We arrived around 4:30 or 5:00, and caught a quick cab to our hotel. Check in was easy, and we were right near EVERYTHING. There was no need for a car rental or anything. We went to a local sports bar for dinner.

 

This was my traveling outfit. Nothing fancy, but it was comfortable and easy to wear. In real life, this shirt is a teal. It didn't photograph too well.

 

 

We enjoyed a beer that evening. The hotel has a free cocktail hour with light snacks that they offer.

 

 

This was the view from our room the following morning. I knew right then and there that Allure really was a very big ship!!

 

 

I was pretty excited to find out that our shuttle would arrive at 11:15, because that meant more time to explore the ship.

[laurspag]

This is our customary first photo on board. My husband loves the whole reppin' the Cuse thing, as you can see from his Syracuse shirt. I decided to wear orange myself, but you can clearly see that mine is earth orange, lol.

 

 

I have to say that I love Allure, but it has two things working against it. One is the size - it is really too big. It's hard to get around, and hard to see everything. The other thing is the lack of water views throughout. We did enjoy and love the cruise though.

 

This is the first night picture. I wanted to be comfortable. The dress is really nice, but I wish it was a size smaller. This is funny, because I had the smaller size and exchanged it. I had to be selective with my picture choice because I had to keep adjusting the dress. As you can see, we don't give much thought to coordinating. He looks great in pink, and I don't. We just wing it, and and only coordinate at times, usually with his choice of tie.

 

 

Here is another picture with just me.

 

 

The next day was our first sea day, so we were really excited to explore.

 

Central Park is gorgeous. It is the best feature I've seen in a very long time on any cruise ship. As the trees get bigger, they will provide even more shade, which the few outdoor areas seriously lack.

 

 

[MJC]

Laurie, you look so lovely in all your photos.

 

While we we're waiting for more pictodiary, here are some more of my backlog of spring fashion pics.

 

Trends for spring and summer... ruffles and pleats, and lots of red:

 

 

 

 

Vaulthier:

 

 

Valentino:

 

 

Saunders:

 

[MJC]

The spring varsity/bomber jacket trend will probably reappear in the fall:

 

 

This Vince Camuto silhouette is right up my alley - tunic, skinny pant, heels:

 

 

Versace, not strictly EARTH but so fun:

 

 

Lovely Gucci fabric:

 

 

Another fun outfit, Bottega Veneta. I've seen a lot of these dressy type short shorts in the stores lately:

 

 

I love this Coach ad because the lesson for me is that even though not everything in it is EARTH, the overall tone of the outfits is warm:

 

[MJC]

Here's the last bits. Aside from the two lovely red gowns above, these are my favorites of the bunch.

 

Calvin Klein:

 

 

Altazurra:

 

 

Elie Saab:

 

 

I don't remember who this is, but I love it:

 

[awhfy]

I swear I had that same Ellie Saab outfit in the 70s. Now I'm on a mission to find the picture! Of course I was a redhead then...

[laurspag]

Margaret, that Altazurra green dress has really caught my eye, for some reason. Of course, I'm drawn to all the red too! The Valentino dress is not my style, but that fabric is just so beautiful.

 

It's interesting to see styles that fade away and come back, and those that linger in the background forever...the more classic styles. I have often found that when something is trendier, I have trouble migrating to it when it comes back in style. It takes ma a while to think of it as being "back in style".

 

I also agree how some things may not be through and through earth, but with the right colors involved, the outfit as a whole can be a good earth outfit. It's almost impossible to find prints that are strictly earth, so it is something I consider a lot.

 

I'm going to make a post or two now, since my husband is napping. Unfortunately, it's not because of a lazy Father's Day, it's because he is under the weather. We both seemed to have picked up a bit of a cold at the airport on the way home. For me, it seems like it was just a touch, and it's on the way out. With my husband, it seems to want to stay, unfortunately.

[laurspag]

The first night, we went to see the show in the Aqua Theater. I was not able to get good pictures, but I loved the show. it's not to be missed.

 

The next day was a sea day. We decided to wander a bit and explore the ship. It can be easy to over plan when you have a lot of activities to choose from. I was hoping to keep things low key overall, so that it would be a relaxing trip.

 

We went to Sabor for lunch, where you can get smaller ala carte items to eat. We ate a bit light, as it was extremely hot out.

 

I can't even begin to say how much I loved Central Park. There is a peacefulness to it, although it does tend to get a lot of people.

 

 

 

In retrospect, this shirt rally doesn't do a lot for e, style wise. But I love the colors and the print, and it was comfortable and a nice alternative to all the athleisure we were seeing.

 

 

Anita, did you mention these beaded dresses from when you were on Allure? They are quite beautiful to see. I wish my pictures had been better.

 

[laurspag]

Tonight if formal night. I always get a bit apprehensive towards evening, because I know that not everyone dresses up anymore. I love to, but I don't want to seem like an odd ball, you know? Like usual though, once i was dressed and out and about, I felt just fine. I found that more people dressed up, and there were more tuxes than I have seen on any of my other cruises.

 

I'm kind of self conscious of...the girls. I've lost a total of 42 pounds now, and even though my chest is smaller, it's still be biggest part of me. One thing about dresses with built in bras - they work, provided that you have some muscle tone in the area, which I currently do. However, the dress was fitting a bit looser than it did when purchased, and I wasn't comfortable. So you put on a strapless, and then a dress with a built in bra over it, and you're going to have big boobs. There I said it. ;) But that isn't to put myself down - I am who I am.

 

 

 

My husband told me later than when we were in lines for photos, there were two twenty-somethngs behind us, and one of them said, "Now she is gorgeous!" It made my night.

 

The next day was another sea day. We had reservations for Chops that night. We had reservations for Mama Mia before that as well. And we did the All Access Tour first thing in the morning.

 

I'll spare you the All Access Tour pictures, but it give you a new appreciation of all the hard work that goes into a cruise when you have that behind the scenes view of what it takes for a cruise ship to run.

 

You have to wear long pants and closed toe shoes for the tour, and I only had that outfit on for three hours so I don't have any pictures. Once we got back to change, this was my outfit for the day:

 

 

Mama Mia, by the way, was very well done and enjoyable. We loved it.

 

We then got ready for Chops. This is when I wore my purple dress. I've taken this in twice, after not having been able to wear it for quite some time because it was too tight. Do you think I should hem it? It's intended to be a midi dress.

 

 

 

 

[laurspag]

 

Well, we ate too much and probably drank too much that night! It was so much fun. The one picture is actually taken in Central Park, it wasn't a backdrop.

 

The next day was going to be our first port day, in St. Maarten. We have been there before, and opted for Bernard's Tours. It was a fun excursion. Knowing I was going to climb in and out of a van in very hot weather, I went with basics. The shorts are Travex, which is great for hot weather. These are sold by Eddie Bauer.

 

 

This is Maho Beach, where everyone loves being so close to the planes as they fly in to the airport. We think they are a little bit crazy.

 

 

 

I had a bit of fun feeding iguanas too.

 

 

And I just had to throw in a pic of my handsome husband!

 

[laurspag]

For this evening here, we were eating at Giovanni's Table. We prefer late seating for dinner, and when we go to the specialty restaurants, we opt to go earlier. With Chops, we couldn't because we were going to Mama Mia For Giovanni's though, we had dinner set for 6:30. My husband thought the steak was even better than Chops.

 

I wore my new maxi. I felt it was a good choice. Most of the colors were earthy, and the blue was more of a fire turquoise.

 

 

Notice my red arm? By the next day or so, it was tan.

 

 

Let's see...the next day was San Juan. We were there for a very limited amount of time. The ship arrived at 7:00 AM, and left at 1:30 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, a family of 4 missed the ship. I felt very bad for them, but when the all aboard time is 1:30, and you come racing up the dock at 2:05 or 2:10, the ship is going to already be moving. I think it is one of my biggest fears - being left behind! I always get back early. Both for this day and day before, I saw a lot of people arriving back late.

 

We decided to visit Castillo San Crystale while we were there. There is a free trolley that we spent a considerable time waiting for. Then someone told us it was just two blocks away, so we walked. Just like every single other day on the cruise, the weather was hot and sunny.

 

Here are a few pictures from the fort. This skort is Travex. Funny enough, I had two pairs of Travex shorts with me and two Travex skorts. I loved them! They refreshed so easy.

 

[laurspag]

My husband was starting to get a bit worn from all the heat. He asked if I minded if he wore a casual shirt with khakis? I told him I didn't mind at all. I was wearing my Michael Kors snake print maxi dress. Boy I love this dress. I plan to have it hemmed soon so that I can were it with a flatter heel.

 

 

The next day was Labadee. A beach day! Now, I've mentioned that it has been mostly hot and sunny. To give you an idea of just how hot and sunny (and humid) it was, it was something like 90 degrees when we got off the ship at 9:15 AM. It only got hotter.

 

We had rented a beach bed, as the cabanas are now ridiculously high priced. That is sad too, because I've always wanted to rent one. But these were better priced, so we had decided to splurge and give it a try. We very much liked it. There were huge bottles of water waiting for us in a cooler, we had an attendant, and he brought us extra towels and the like. I really enjoyed this immensely. We swam, we ate, we drank, I read. We just relaxed. Isn't that what vacations are all about?

 

The book by the way, was "Gone Girl". I wasn't impressed. My daughters think I am nuts, but one of them said the book isn't as good as the movie. We'll see...

 

 

 

 

 

We joked that I had to pose like they have us do on the ship. Hand on hip, relax the shoulder...

 

[laurspag]

Back on board, it's our second formal night. I will say that I love my dress, but I didn't listen to my inner self that said the midriff area needed taking in more. It looked just fine, but I didn't like that it was baggy. With the pleating, it wasn't something you would readily realize, but I could hold the dress out on the sides more than I should have been able to do.

 

 

 

Once again, I was impressed by the number of people who were dressed up.

 

The next full day was a sea day. We never got to zipline! There is so much to see and do, and if you want to slow down and relax, you won't get to everything. I would love to go back again on this ship someday.

 

This was my outfit for this day. We had trouble with the camera in that it would take a while to adjust to being outdoors in the heat after being in the air conditioning.

 

 

That morning they had something called Captain's Corner which we love to go to. It is nice to see what the captain has to say, and to hear him answer questions.

 

 

I ended up bringing my teal dress for that night. I only have a picture that shows the top of it.

 

[laurspag]

These are just some random pictures for you.

 

The carousel, in the boardwalk

 

 

A beautiful sunset

 

 

You've seen this one already

 

 

Here's one I can't seem to rotate that I really love

 

 

A sunrise

 

[lah66]

WOW! LAURIE! You look AMAZING! You have lost so much more weight since the last time you cruised! You should be so proud of yourself! You need to embrace those womanly curves! We pay too much attention to the area we wish was smaller (or bigger) and don't look at ourselves as a whole! You look incredible and you can tell you feel great by that beautiful smile! I love all your dresses!

 

My body sense has been turned on its head since my DD's have gone! People keep saying that I look like I have lost so much weight but other than the 6 lbs removed surgically, I probably only lost an extra 5 lbs. I have always been short waisted so with my current barely b's up so high, I don't look so short waisted but I am very disproportionate! My plastic surgeon said I will be lucky to get a full "c" once I am fully expanded so I am trying to lose at least another 10-15 lbs before my implant surgery and our October cruise. I really need to shop before that trip!

 

Your cruise photos are wonderful! It makes me excited to cruise on Harmony in Feb! Loved seeing San Juan which is one of our favorite Caribbean ports! Thank you for taking the time to post!

 

Lauri

[awhfy]

Laurie you look fabulous! Now you really need to use one of these pictures as your Cruise Critic picture, you just flat don't look anything like it anymore!