Travelin' Tuesday: Costa Maya

Costa Maya was the third stop on our 2009 cruise and by this port we were ready to just relax on the beach.  A Mexican port close to some lesser known Mayan ruins (Chacchoben and Kohunlich), Costa Maya took a pretty bad hit from hurricane Dean in 2007.

The pier area is focused on the tourist business - with several nice shops, pools, a swim up bar area and stands for souvenirs.  Since we were the only ship docked there that day, the area was not as crowded as it could have been.

The weather wasn't really on our side as we stepped off of the boat, but thankfully the clouds and wind died down for a nice beach break that I booked.  For $35 each we secured some chairs under a palpa, chips and salsa and an open bar.

I did some research on Cruise Critic prior to the cruise and learned of some awesome hour massages on the beach for the low price of $20.  After sharing this information with the rest of my family it came as no surprised to see them head our way to cash in.

After a little more enjoyment of the view and a bite to eat, we made our way back to the ship.

It wasn't the most amazing beach I have ever seen, but it sure beat working in the office.

Five For Friday

1. When our bar glasses arrived shattered in little pieces, you looked on the bright side that with the 2 that survived, we would be getting 8 for the price of 6.
2. You let me vent about the stress at work.
3. You agree to change plans when my worrying kicked in.
4. You always let me steal a fry or two from your meal.
5. You're ok with a date night involving dinner and Crate and Barrel.

Shattered glasses.  Amazon sent replacements in less than 48 hours

Oh The Places We Have Been

I'm going to go ahead and start this off by saying this was the DIY project from hell!  I can't tell you how many times I wanted to just give up and call it a day.

But let's back up to the beginning, all the way back to December.  I've had this USA map pinned from A Step in the Journey for quite some time and finally decided to use my holiday gift cards to pick up the materials from Michael's.  Chris was a nice enough to pick up the frog tape on one of his stops to home depot.

I searched all over Michael's for a US map to cut up, but had no luck.  So these supplies just sat in the corner, probably collecting dust, until just recently.  With no success in the stores, I ended up ordering a map on Amazon.  Knowing that the map was on it's way I went ahead and painted the canvas background.  I tapped off a border and then mixed the blue and white until I was satisfied with the shade.

I attempted to be all artist like and use brush strokes that would emulate the oceans around the US, not so sure I achieved that.  Next up was the map.  I unrolled it and... it was too big.  I really should have paid more attention to the dimensions.

I wanted the map to be large enough to fit my canvas, hoping that the excess on the sides and top would equal out.  My best bet was to just trim off some of the states on the edges (sorry California, Oregon, Washington and Maine!), so I got to work cutting out each of the 50 states.  The first round of cutting wasn't too bad, it was the tracing of the states to scrapbook paper and cutting it again that really started to get me flustered.  There are no pictures of this process because no one really wants to see me going crazy!  I was so frustrated that the states weren't lining up that I was tempted just to throw the whole thing out.  With some encouragement from Chris that it was going to be ok, I soldiered on to using Mod Podge to attach the states to the canvas and then used another layer over the whole thing to seal it.  Side note - I've never used Mod Podge before and I was really worried that all of the white streaks wouldn't dry clear.  Thankfully it did and I'm now a big fan of this stuff!

As you can see it didn't fit within the border that I had painted, so for anyone interested in trying this I would suggest buying the map and sizing it before painting your canvas.  I'm pretty sure that's one of those "duh Lauren" type of suggestions.

I added little stars to pinpoint the different cities that we have traveled to, but noticed that it's a little hard to see them when you stand back.  Up close (depending on the scrapbook paper) you can tell, but further back, not so much.

I was a little sad in the number of stars on the map.  I could have sworn that we have been to more locations, but then I remembered that most of our destinations were on cruises in the Caribbean, Mexico for our honeymoon and the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.  We need to check out more of the US!  Stepping back, I looked at it as a whole and felt like it was missing something.

The original inspiration used wooden letters to spell out "oh the places we'll go" a take on the famous Dr. Seuss book (which I received as a graduation present back in the day, anyone else get that for graduation?).  So back to Michael's to pick up a couple of bags of letters.

A couple coats of white paint and we were in business!

I would have loved for the states to come out a little bit better and the stars to stand out more (I may go back and paint the tops), but overall I'm just happy that I finished this project.  I can't wait to add more destinations in the future!

Have you ever had a project that you wanted to give up and walk away from?

Travelin' Tuesday: Belize

According to Wiki, Belize is the only country in Central American where English is the official language.  This country is known for it's barrier reef, which is the second longest in the world behind the Great Barrier Reef.  Due to the barrier, cruise ships dock out in the middle of the water and use tender boats to transport tourists to the land.  Belize was the second stop on both our 2009 and 2012 cruises.

In 2009 we booked an educational tour to the Altun Ha Mayan ruins which include a brief history of the country during our hour drive.

Our tour guides were very informative and shared the history behind this ancient area.

The ancient site did not catch the attention of archaeologists until 1963, and was split into structures dedicated to public ritual and residential structures with focus on single families.

After the brief history we were free to walk around on our own and climb one of the larger temple-pyramid, "The Temple of the Masonry Altars", which stands at 54 feet high.

Climbing this was a feat for Chris due to his fear of heights.  I'm so glad that he decided to climb it with my brother and me.  As soon as that shot was taken, he was ready to head back down.  We checked out some of the local stands for souvenirs before climbing back on board right as the rain started to fall.

On our cruise last month, we didn't really plan anything for this port.  We're not divers, which is probably one of the most popular excursions for this country.  With the clouds out we decided to stay on board and make use of the open adult deck, Serenity, and it's hot tubs.

Picture taken when we first boarded, there were only a few people up there while anchored in Belize on Tuesday.

We also got in a close round of mini golf, where Chris edged me out 22 to 23.

We've never missed out on getting off in a port (even ones that we have been to before), but it was really nice to actually be able to use some of the ship's features that tend to be crowded when everyone is on board.

Five For Friday

1. We've set a goal and I know we'll be able to meet it!
2. You assured me that my project would turn out ok, even though I just wanted to throw in the towel.
3. You were patient while teaching me a thing or two in photo shop.
4.  You gave the go ahead to book flights when I was debating.  Yay for keeping the birthday travel tradition alive!
5.  Avengers! (Your comic book nerdiness is rubbing off on me)

Enjoying Guy's burgers on the cruise

More Vacation Art

Back in the day, I wrote about how Chris and I try to look for vacation art when we're traveling. Before, we would look for actual prints or paintings to frame when we returned home.  Now we're trying to get a little more creative with ways to incorporate our travels into our home decor.

That is a 4 x 6 frame for our gallery wall with a memento from San Antonio which holds a special place in our heart.  It's actually a magnet that we picked up for $4!  I was really excited about how it looks in the frame because of the added dimension from the floating mats and raised backing of the magnets.

On this past cruise we were on the look out to find something that could fill in one of the empty 5 x 5 opening frames that we have and decided on a shell coaster from Grand Cayman.  The size worked out perfectly, but the thickness of the shells... not so much.  I was so sure that I could make it work but alas, the sounds of cracking shells proved that I could not.

No fear, I was determined to do something with this!  I started to cut the coaster apart only to realize that the holes which held the shells together are very noticeable if I wanted to lay the shells flat.

Due to the holes and the amount of space I had between the frame glass and the backing I decided to just work with the little shells around the edge.  I played around a bit until I came up with a design that I was happy with.  Onto some left over scrap paper that I had on hand and this is the final product.

I wasn't sure if I really wanted to keep this color paper, so right now it's just tapped down instead of glued.  Once I finally make up my mind I'll glue it so the paper is flat.  The shells bring back memories of our cruise, as well as childhood memories when I used to collect shells from the shore.

Did you ever collect shells on the beach?

Travelin' Tuesday: Cozumel

Cozumel, Mexico was the first stop on both our 2009 and 2012 western Caribbean cruises. In 2009 we booked a beach buggy and snorkel tour at Punta Sur, while our most recent cruise gave us the chance to learn a thing or two about Mexican cooking.

First off, our buggy excursion.

After docking, we met up with our tour group and hopped into our transportation for the day.  It's a good thing my cousin Jason came with us, because neither Chris nor I are great with driving a stick shift.

Jason loved this arrangement because it meant he was free to hit the open road without having to switch off drivers.  Our caravan made it to Punta Sur and took a little walking tour of the area which included some mini ruins and crocodiles.

We opted out of the snorkeling part and enjoyed the time relaxing on the beach.  Once the snorkelers made it back to shore we had a mini Mexican feast and then headed toward the lighthouse.

Chris has a mild fear of heights, so he stayed on the ground while Jason and I made our way up 130 steps  to the breathtaking views on the top.  After admiring the view, we were back on the road headed towards the pier where we threw back a couple of drinks on the swings of Fat Tuesdays before getting on board the ship.

Our other Cozumel experience came in the form of a Mexican cooking class which we have to thank Jason's wife, Olympia for.  She took this excursion on our last family cruise (while we were driving the buggy) and came back with rave reviews of the food and open bar.  Her excursion this time around (Salsa and Salsa) was cancelled due to a low number of confirmed guests so she joined us and cooked again.

Our chefs Roberto and Luis started off with taking our drink orders before explaining the menu to us.  We worked backwards, starting with making dessert caramelized, chocolate covered plantains.

Roberto showed us a couple of tricks for decorating our plates before we moved onto the main course of fish filet topped with veggies.

We prepped the veggies and fish in the pan, then wrapped it in foil to finish cooking in the oven.  We finished off with making our spicy shrimp appetizer.  Chris likes things spicier than I do, so I was able to pull out my half of the shrimp while he kept adding spices to his.

Once we were done, it was time for a couple more drinks and up to the dining room to enjoy our meals

After lunch we enjoyed some beach time before heading back to the pier.

My view up from my nap spot.

We had a blast cooking and hope to try out the recipes that we came home with!