Dominican Republic, Take Two

Last year was my first trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I had such an amazing time, that I seized the opportunity to go again this year. This year, I stayed at a different resort, the Melia Caribe Tropical. It was less expensive (by only about $100.00), so it was a perfect chance to check out another resort and compare the two.

Here's my friend as we exited the plane. The airport had guides who led you to the appropriate part of the airport. I was scolded for holding up the line by taking a picture. Whoopsie...


I loved these palm trees; they reminded me of fans.


Here's our villa. There were 8 rooms to each villa. It looked very European to me. The resort where I stayed last year, Iberostar Bavaro, definitely had a beach-ier look to all of the buildings.

The Melia resort was HUGE. They had trams that ran every 15 minutes, to take guests to different areas of the resort. We lucked out! Our villa was located a minute walk from the beach, pool, beach buffet and fitness center/spa!


Each morning, this was my view from the beach buffet. The food wasn't amazing, but there were plenty of choices. I normally stuck to fresh fruit, then took a cup of yogurt to the beach with me. They had really exotic flavors - guava, passion fruit and other flavors I couldn't read because I didn't recognize the names in Spanish. :-)


Every day, the super tall, athletic Russians would begin a game of beach volleyball. After I went *kayaking, I asked if I could join the game. Ok, so I played volleyball in college. I can hold my own on an indoor court. However, I absolutely cannot move in the sand. So, I did A LOT of diving. I was covered, from head to toe, in sand. And I had crazy beach hair...Exhibit A:


The resort had shows each night. One night, they performed scenes from musicals: Cabaret, Dirty Dancing, West Side Story and several more that I can't remember right now. This was a scene from Cabaret:



I can't believe that I didn't take more pictures of the ginormous pool and its swim up bar. One of my favorite bartenders was Pascual (I probably butchered the spelling of his name). He would usually entice me into drinking mamajuana, though. Mamajuana is mostly, rum, red wine and honey and is supposed to have medicinal qualities. It will make you (err, me) really loopy.






Overall, I had a great time. The staff were all very nice and accomodating. With the exception of the cleaning staff, they all spoke several languages. Even with the cleaning staff, I didn't have a problem communicating my needs to them. However, the Melia wasn't as swanky as Iberostar Bavaro. I would go back to Melia and have a good time (I'm pretty easy to please), however, given a choice, I would pay the extra money for Iberostar Bavaro.

*I rented a kayak paddled around for a few minutes, then began to have a "shark freak out..." "what if the bottom of the boat looks like food to a shark...eek..."

One of My Favorites

Oh how I want a ton of bicycle social clubs in Memphis. Let's do it cycle buddies! Don't copenhagencyclechic's pictures make you want to go ride with a bunch of friends? It makes me want to dress cute, hop on my bike and chat it up as my friends and I ride from cool venue to cool venue!

Recent Discoveries

The other day, I realized something about myself. I do that sometimes - have a thought and think - hmmm, where'd that come from? Well, here it is...during a random lunchtime walk, I saw a tall drink of water, dressed in corduroy pants (yeah, it's like 95 degrees, but that's not the point I'm trying to make), loafers and a smart looking blazer. When I saw him, I thought, yum! Then, "whoa, where'd that come from?" Perhaps I picked it up from '80's movies I used to watch as a kid. The hunky lead was an English Professor (or something), looking smart & sexy in cords and a blazer.

Then, another realization occured when I saw someone in a suit & tie. They rolled up their shirt sleeves and you could see a hint of a tattoo peeking out. Oh lawd, I loved it (not tattoo sleeves, but I'm a girl and subject to change my mind at the drop of a dime, so I'm not ruling it out completely)...the bad boy who cleans up nicely. That's a new one for me; I have NO idea where it came from - I'm still working on figuring it out.

In other news, I'm super excited about this year's Tour de France! I absolutely can't wait until the fun starts.

Soapbox

Dear All,

Please stop saying (what you perceive to be cute) variations of "anyhow" or "anyway." You sound like a doofus and I refuse to listen to anything that you say after you utter "anyhoo," etc.

That is all...carry on...

Yesterday's Answers

And...the answers are: Gap long sleeved button down; Banana Republic brown crocheted, short sleeved sweater; and the cream, wing tipped shoes.

The outfit totalled, $59.93!:

Gap long sleeved button down shirt: $2.98
Banana Republic brown crocheted sweater: $2.98
Hudson skinny jeans: $29.99 (Another K&G find!)
Cream leather wing tips: $3.98
Franco Sarto bag: $20.00 (TJ Maxx!)

The long sleeve shirt was purchased for a trip to Europe, some time ago. My thought was to purchase decent looking clothes that I cared nothing about. After I wore them in Europe, I'd toss them or donate them to a thrift shop (I saw tons of re-sale stores in Paris), so I'd have more room in my bags for souveniers! Well, I liked all my thrift store stuff too much to throw them away in Europe...great theory, but didn't work out so well. Just a sidenote, I still had plenty of room for souveniers!

Beer: Helping Men (and Martie) Dance Since 1853

Well...I haven't been dancing since 1853...

I went to the Center for Southern Folklore, to take advantage of their free Brown Bag Lunch and Music thing. Josh Shoe played again. He's fun, but I have to say, I really like his voice better when he's singing his own songs. It's completely different when he sings covers.

While at the Center, I saw this sign and it cracked me up! Sadly, I didn't purchase it, but I should have. "Beer: Helping Men Dance Since 1853." Is there really any need to say anything else? I didn't think so.

Also, it's Thrifty Thursday again! My outfit includes three thrift store items. Can you guess which three? One item is a gimmie...let's see who's paying attention.

Memphis In May Olympic Triathlon and More Fun Stuff

This year, I participated in the Memphis in May Triathlon - the Olympic distance. It was my second triathlon and the longest distance I've raced, thus far. Since, I hadn't been swimming or running as much as I should have, I was a bit nervous. My goal was to finish in 3:30 (that's an ok finish, but the fast people finish in under 3 hours). One of my best friends from college, Leslie, raced with me. Well, she finished almost 30 minutes before me...anyway, our race numbers were one off. We tried to capture a picture showing off our race numbers, but it didn't work.

This was about 5am, the day of the race. We're sleepy - eyed and bushy tailed! You can't really make out our numbers written on our legs & arms, but, oh well. Incidentally, Leslie cracked me up when she asked me if I'd gotten taller since college. Haha, I wish!




The race conditions were awful. It rained some during the night, then started sprinkling as we waited to start. Someone saw a bolt of lightening and I told myself that the race administrators wouldn't let us race in dangerous conditions. Well, when I saw a bolt of lightning strike on the other side of the hotel, DURING MY SWIM, I just knew that I would die that day. In the water. By electrocution.

I survived the swim during the lightning storm and started the bike portion in a complete downpour. The streets were slick and it was hard to see, but I made it through. I might have gotten lost, but it was no biggie. Then I headed out for the run. I'm super slow. A newly made friend passed me around mile 5 and, with concern on her face, asked if I was ok. I responded, "yeah, I'm fine. This is how I run...this is my pace; I'm just slow." My degree of slowness, coupled with her thinking that there MUST be something wrong, kinda made giggle inside. It was nice of her to be concerned, though.

When I saw mile 6, I started sprinting the last 0.2 miles to the finish. After a couple of minutes, I was STILL running. My legs began to feel like lead. I asked a spectator where the finish was. They responded, "around the corner." Well, it was more like around a couple of corners. When I saw the finish, I willed my legs to keep going just a little while more. I met my goal with a finishing time of 3:22! Woot Woot! Afterward, I told Leslie that it was the longest 0.2 miles I ever sprinted. She said that the run was actually 6.78miles (it was supposed to be 6.2!)! No wonder I my legs felt like dead weight!

My friend Cat, and I stayed in Tunica after the race. We ate dinner at the casinos and gambled a little. Seriously, we only wasted about $10.00 on the slots. I hate losing money. Then we watched a cheesy band play covers for a bit.



Earlier this week, my friend at Keeping Up With the Jones' gave me the "head's up" about the Ornamental Metal Museum in Court Square. They were helping people make jewelry...FREE!



Turned out that they were making bottle cap jewelry/crafts. It was more for kids, but looked like fun, anyway. I love the Downtown Alive stuff!

And, the Answer Is...

The Ann Taylor grey cardigan! Here's how last week's outfit stacked up, price wise:

Ann Taylor grey cardigan - $4.95
Green silk blouse (don't know the designer) - $15.00 (K&G)
Merona grey trousers - $20.00 (Target)
Ann Klein grey flats - $19.99 (K&G)
Green & blue silk scarf - approximately $8.00 (Paris, near Notre Dame; bought 3 for 15 euro!)

The outfit total is: $67.94

More to come. I have pictures and tales to post from the death defying Memphis in May Triathlon this past Sunday.

Thrifty Thursday!

Can you guess which (one) item was scored at a thrift store?



Ok, I acknowledge that this is not the best photo representation of my outfit...so, here are the pieces:

Ann Taylor grey cardigan
Green silk blouse (don't know the designer)
Merona grey trousers
Ann Klein grey flats
Green & blue silk scarf

Given that the Memphis in May triathlon is this weekend (I'll be participating in the Olympic Triathlon Sunday), I may be on a slight hiatus. In other news, some whackadoo is predicting the rapture will occur Saturday. My reaction to all of this? Meh. If the whackadoo is correct, the silver lining is, I'll be with friends and no triathlon on Sunday. :-) No, seriously, I *am* excited about the tri...just getting the pre-race jitters. I've never done an olympic tri before. Eecckkk!

If I don't see you again, I hope your end of days are mucho bueno.

Tiger Lane Crit

Tonight, I attended the last of the Tiger Lane Crit series. The races were arranged/sponsored by a local team, Red Ant Racing.

This was my first attempt at capturing the cat 1's & 2's. I thought about saying it was really an artistic picture of the Liberty Bowl - but I can't lie to you. :-) I actually do like the picture - the lone little girl over there looks so small against the massive liberty bowl. She also looks very comfortable & content watching the race all by herself.



At the front of the pack is the "trek guy" from Covington. The last race, he blew everyone away. As he passed the crowd, all alone, he started celebrating. My reaction was, "what's his deal?" There was no other rider in sight. One of my friends responded, "he just won the 1's & 2's." He'd almost lapped everyone! That kid is bad to the bone, but he didn't blow anyone away this time...probably because he was pulling them along the whole time. That can wear anyone out, even that guy.



Here are the two guys that broke away and pretty much stayed away from the pack towards the end of the ride. I don't know which one won the race, but they were so far ahead. Can you see the main group behind them??



All the guys that raced last night were supa' fast! Funny thing, someone asked me if I rode last night, and I said, "in the race?" They said, "yes," with all seriousness. There's no way I could even keep up with the cat 5's (slowest category of the super fast) for 30 minutes - maybe 30 seconds, if I'm really lucky. It was a huge compliment, though, to even think that I was nearly fast enough to race a crit!

Nessie?

Has the Loch Ness Monster found its way to Memphis for the Historical Flood Extravaganza? Can you see 'her?'



This picture was captured during one of the Peddler group cycling rides. It was actually last week. The river is much higher now. Oy vey.

Can't Help But Smile

I swear, I'm not the tragic single who talks incessantly about her cat, shows strangers the "cutest" pictures and videos (of said cat), but I really can't help myself this time. Recently, I walked into my spare room to find this sight. Most of the time, Brady's a huge pain, but how can you not like this face?



This is Brady Cat in her "spin chair." She loves for someone to spin the chair while she's in it...I'm not making this up. It's the funniest thing.

Then, during a lunch time walk, I saw this:



How wonderfully girly!