Ok ladies, my pics are finally up, so I can begin this TR. Photo bucket kept saying I had invalid info when I tried to sign up, but all I was doing was picking a user name and password. I tried a hundred different things, but none worked, so I used my usual webshots instead. I may or may not get through the whole trip today as I have to study for a business stats midterm tomorrow and I missed 2 classes from this trip. BUT, I will at least get Day 1 done now, and hopefully 2 later on. Here goes!...
Thursday morning we had a relatively early flight out. I didn't have to get up until 4:30am, but I was so excited that at 3:45 when I woke up, I couldn't fall back asleep. I laid in bed until 4:15, though.
Mom and I both got up, got ready and packed our final things. Then dad drove us to Logan. Since it was early and a Thursday, it wasn't too busy, and we breezed through check-in and security. I was extremely excited, which helped me suffer through the early hour, however, I still needed my caffeine. Fortunately there was a Starbuck's at our gate, so mom and I stopped to get lattes and scones for breakfast.
In barely no time at all, it was time to board our flight. Now, we had decided to each bring a carry on and check just one tote that had all our liquids. Mom is not the most effective packer, so when we went to board, they looked at her little carry on, stuffed to the brim and said it was too fat.
So she had to check it last minute. We prayed it would make the trip.
We got even more excited when we got on board the plane. I had secretly wondered if maybe Jordan or Jonathan would be on board, but then I figured they probably would either fly down a little later or have already flown out the day before.
I had downloaded a few
youtube clips to my iPod (thank you keepvid!) and began to watch one of the interviews. Shortly after, the woman seated next to me pulled out a magazine...not just any magazine, though...an NKOTB magazine. I pulled my earphones out and had to ask if she was going on the cruise. Of course! We soon learned Jamie was also booked in a suite on our deck, so we already knew one of our neighbors.
Finally the flight landed! Squee! And we proceeded to baggage claim. It was taking FOREVER. Our tote with liquids came out quickly, but mom's bag was taking a long time. I was getting nervous that they forgot to load it because I would have thought it would be the first thing off the plane. It did eventually come, though, thank goodness. So we grabbed all our belongings and headed out to grab a cab to the Westin Colonnade in Coral Gables.
It was a relatively short ride, and it's in a beautiful section of the city. Here's an idea of where we stayed:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2781791750083770231hXcgQQ
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2932761110083770231rrVOrh
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2764606790083770231TJwIrx
We were able to check in right away, which was great. We dumped our bags and went in search of a snack, since it was now almost 1pm and we last ate at 6am, our first vacation cocktail, and to scope out the scene a little bit. Every restaurant we went to pretty much served seafood and only seafood. I really don't like seafood even though my mom does, so we ended up at California Pizza Kitchen. We ordered caribbean sangria, southwest egg rolls, and spinach and artichoke dip. When we finished there, we walked around the area a little bit. Then we decided to enjoy the hotel pool. We lounged around, and I put my iPod in and fell asleep to the complete Danny Wood collection. (I discovered I'm in love with his solo stuff.)
Then it was time to get ready for dinner! We had 7pm reservations at Ruth's Chris. It was only a block away form the hotel so we got dressed and walked to it. Our waiter was great and let us take a really long leisurely meal. I had the BEST filet mignon of my entire life...better tha Grill 23, Capital Grill...you name it. This was amazing.
After we finished, we decided to check out this place called, "The Bar" that several people had told us was a low key hang-out for a few drinks. We had opted out of going to Danny's party because we were SO not shelling out the money for a VIP table, and I figured general admission would be a free for all. And I knew I had enough of that in the coming days, that I wanted something less stressful. This place wasn't really all that great, though. There was kind of a weird crowd there that night, and our drinks were TERRIBLE. Mom and I are both fans of Stoli Raz and soda water, but their soda water was sooooooo flat. So they just weren't good. I had a glass of wine, and after that we decided to leave. It was only 11pm, but we'd been up travelling the whole day, and we knew we had a looooooong few days ahead. So we walked back, got into bed, and got ready for...the CRUISE...
I'm sorry...totally realize this first day is not really very NKOTB-related...but we're getting started anyway! More to come...
Oh, and I forgot to add, if you want to cheat and check out ALL the cruise pics before the TR is complete, you can access them here:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/572200446xdqFFR
Just a thought! 
Congrats to you on doing so well. YOU GO GIRL!!!! 
It feels good doesn't it? When you take control of your food intake. I know I feel so much better when I'm exercising and watching what I eat. 
So cute! I can't wait to hear the rest of your report!
