Un-Belize-able

Our next stop was in Belize, but you will have to take my word for it, because I have no photographic evidence.  We went on a cave tubing trip, and didn't bring a camera (oops!).   If you ever visit Belize, I highly recommend the Cave Tubing trip.  We basically had a little hike through the rain forest, and then went on a float trip through some really awesome caves.  I was nervous that I would feel claustrophobic, but it was totally fine.  Our tour guides were wonderful, and told us interesting stories about Belize and about the native plants.  It was an excellent day!  Thanks to Google, I can tell you it was kind of like this. 

Here are a few pictures of us that evening at dinner.  The scarf started out as a neck accessory, but quickly became a wrap to keep my shoulders warm.  

Dress: Ann Taylor
Scarf: H&M

Roatan Adventures

Mahogany Bay is where the boat docked

After 2.5 days on the boat, we finally got to our first port: Roatan, Honduras!  We wanted to avoid the super busy beaches, so we consulted TripAdvisor, and learned about Camp Bay Beach, which was about an hour away from the cruise pier.  After a bit of drama with our taxi driver, we were happy to arrive at the beach!  

We had a pretty great day at the beach - reading, playing in the ocean, throwing the frisbee, etc.  It was really nice, because there were only a few other people around, so it wasn't crowded at all!   We got back to the pier with about an hour to spare, so we walked over to the Mahogany Bay area, and there was a little "Nature Trail" that we decided to walk through.   We saw some iguanas and birds, and a strange squirrel/rabbit hybrid, which I'm pretty sure was a gibnut.

And here's my dinner outfit for that day.  You can tell that I was bad at applying sunscreen on my arms!

Dress: Old Navy
Necklace: Charming Charlie
Belt: Limited
Sandals: Carlos Santana

Cruisin'

Monday was another boat day, but it was starting to get warmer!  I still didn't get in the pool, but I at least put my swimsuit on!  It was another lazy day of reading and watching the ocean go by.  In the evening, there was a pretty epic sunset.  I resisted the temptation to add 15+ sunset pictures here!

Our favorite spot at the back of the boat

 

We did dress up for dinner, but forgot to take proper photos.  Sometimes, you just have to enjoy life and not try to document everything, right?  A good reminder for all of us bloggers!

On a Boat

On Sunday, we were just on the boat, which is actually pretty nice, because we just got to be lazy!  The above picture shows my view for most of the day.  Again, it wasn't as warm as I expected it to be, so I kept my sweatshirt on most of the time, and used my towel as a blanket, but I mean, look at that ocean!  

When we got tired of being lazy, we ventured up to the mini-golf course and played a few rounds.  Putting is much more complicated when the green moves.  

Sunday was also the first formal night, so we got to dress up a little more.  

This is the dress I mentioned in my February goals review.  I changed it from a halter top to just having normal straps.  (Not that you can tell, because my hair pretty much covers the straps!)

Dress: Ann Taylor
Belt: Limited
Necklace: Charming Charlie
Shoes: Seychelles
Scarf: Princess Cruise Gift Shop

Oh, Galveston!

Hi there!  I may have gone on vacation last week, and I didn't tell anyone.  I'm so sneaky!  I'll be recapping vacation for the next few posts, and then I should be back to normal posts again.  We shall see.

Anyway, we flew down to Houston on Friday after work, and then hopped a bus to the Port of Galveston on Saturday morning, to catch the cruise ship.

On the Bus

We walked around Galveston for a bit before we got on the boat.  The most interesting thing that happened was when we got in trouble at the train museum.  We thought the lobby area was not part of the museum, so we were walking around in there, and of course, I had to take a picture with one of the random statues.  Then the lady at the ticket counter scolded us and said we needed to pay or leave.  We left.

Once we got on the boat, we got settled into our room, and then the boat started heading south.

One of my favorite things about cruising is the amazing sunsets, so I'll probably be inundating you with sunset pictures.  I just love the big sky and big ocean!

And finally, my dinner outfit for the first night on the boat.  This is my new $6 dress from Kohls and I quite like it!  It came with a drawstring waist, but I thought it needed a contrasting belt, so I removed the drawstring and grabbed the white belt.  The scarf was purchased after dinner at the gift shop on the boat.  It wasn't quite as warm as I expected it to be in the Gulf of Mexico!

Dress: Kohls
Belt: Chinese Laundry
Sandals: Carlos Santana
Scarf: Princess Cruise gift shop

Book Review - The American Heiress

The American Heiress was the February book club selection for the Literary Junkies.  I seriously love this book club!  It is just a great group of ladies, and I love discussing books, so it's pretty much perfect. 

This book was not so perfect.  The main character is American Cora "Cash" (get it, she's rich?), who has an overbearing mother who wants her daughter to have an English title.  So they go over to England and look for a Duke that she can marry.  Shockingly, money can't buy happiness, so there are many things that go wrong.

The beginning is very slow.  It does get a little bit more interesting as the story goes on, but I kept expecting something more to happen.  I thought Cora was pretty obnoxious throughout the book.  She is described as an intelligent woman with many talents, but I mostly noticed her being rich and complaining about things.

The ending was also very unsatisfying.  I didn't feel like anything was really resolved.  (Spoiler)  (After some pretty serious accusations, with ample evidence to back them up, Cora just believes the fairly unbelievable story that her husband offers up, and they pretend everything is fine.) 

My favorite character by far was Cora's maid, Bertha.  Her storyline was way more interesting to me, and even made me cry at one point (shameful admission, I know).  I also felt like her story wasn't really wrapped up at all.  I am going to go ahead and assume everything works out perfectly for her.


Have you read this book?  What did you think?

Book Review - The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads: 
A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present.  When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.

Here's my synopsis:
Boring.

Okay, Okay, I'll elaborate:  I really wanted to like this book, I just couldn't get into it.  The plot dragged along, and most of the interesting parts were told as a story within the story, which felt very tedious to me.  I wish the book had just focused on the actual story, instead of making it a mystery for the daughter to uncover.  In some ways, the story within the story reminded me of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, but just not as good. 

Overall, I would say skip it.