Tag: warm weather

A Jamaican Vacation

Lauren10 Comments

We’re home.

No more “Yeah, mon” or “No problem, mon” or “It’s only 10 AM but I’m gonna start drinking now, mon.”

Instead, we came home to cold weather, dry air and such heartbreaking news about the tragedy in Connecticut. My heart goes out to anyone and everyone whose lives have been affected.

All tragedy aside, we really did have such an amazing vacation and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend 6 full days in the sun, with a tropical drink in one hand, a good book in the other and seriously, no problems, mon.

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The weather was beautiful the entire time we were there and was basically a constant 84 degrees (even at night!). Obviously, it’s a lot more humid than Colorado, but I’m actually not the type to mind a little (or a lot) of humidity.

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Every night I would sarcastically ask Joey, “What do you think we’re gonna do all day tomorrow?” because we basically woke up at the super-late-for-us hour of 9 AM, grabbed breakfast and parked it on the beach all.day.long.

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I guess we occasionally moved it to one of the two pools. One of which had a swim up bar, where we watched at man in his 70’s get completely annihilated and then didn’t see him drink an alcoholic beverage for the remainder of the trip.

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We stayed in Negril, which is about an hour away from Montego Bay, at the ClubHotel RIU Negril and I would definitely recommend the resort. It was all-inclusive so we made sure to take advantage everything the resort had to offer.

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Um, mostly the alcohol. But there was food a-plenty and some kayaking as well. There were a couple of buffets and 3 fancier multi-course restaurants, which were included in the price of the resort. I won’t say it was the best food I’ve ever eaten, but I didn’t really have any complaints though.

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We were able to try all 3 restaurants and I was pretty impressed. Or was under the influence of too much wine and whatever this green drink was.

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But really, I was most impressed by the jerk chicken shack that opened up everyday right on the beach and served the most deliciously tender and slightly spicy chicken. Which we served up with rice and beans and a good ladle-full of barbecue sauce. We may have each devoured a plate almost every single day.

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I also contracted a mild, okay severe, obsession with jack fruit. If you’ve never had or seen jack fruit, it looks like a watermelon with this pokey-looking outside and the inside is bright yellow with big chucks of fruit that you have to remove a giant seed from and pull out with your hands, which get all sticky in the process.

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So worth it, though because that tropical flavor and odd texture are so so addicting. Not that I would know anything about that though.

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The resort had an entertainment team that put on nightly dance shows, all of which we watched and loved. One night they did a Michael Jackson show and their Thriller number was awesome plus they ended the show with my all-time favorite MJ song, “Will You Be There?” Yeah, from Free Willy… That’s everyone’s favorite, right?

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They also led aerobics classes, beach volleyball games, poolside contests and nighttime dancing. I wouldn’t know anything about those last two activities though…

CANNOT.RESIST.THE.CUPID.SHUFFLE.

I think our favorite part of of the trip was the excursion we went on to Rick’s Cafe, which is a restaurant bar with cliff diving!

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We stopped on the way for snorkeling and to swim into a cave where part of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed. Once we got to Rick’s, we ordered food and drinks, then watched a wedding where the bride and groom said “I do” and then jumped from the 40 ft. cliff into the ocean below, still in their wedding clothes!

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Then Joey and I both jumped off that same cliff! I’m terrified of heights and have never done anything like that before. I think the extra strong rum punch I had helped me gain the courage to do it. Total vacation highlight!

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As for the beach and the Jamaican landscape, it was gorgeous! The water was so warm, clear and calm. Watching the sunset over the ocean and seeing the sea floor littered with tiny starfish is something I’ll never forget.

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Actually, I don’t think I’ll ever forget the whole vacation.

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Are you more of a sight seeing or R&R vacationer?

Have you ever been to the Caribbean?

What’s your favorite vacation memory?

Weekend Things: This is December

Lauren3 Comments

So, it’s that time of year again.

December.  Full-on Christmas season.  Which means Christmas lights, Christmas shopping, Christmas music (except that I’ve been listening to that for the past 3 weeks…) and Christmas feasting.  Oh and December also means the KBCO Studio C release!

I’m sorry if you’ve been reading my blog for the past 3 years, and have to keep reading posts about me waiting in line at 6 AM for some CD, drinking Starbucks and dressed like it’s below freezing outside, but this year will be no different.  Except that it was about 50 degrees and I was overdressed.


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But like always, my mom ended up going even though she claimed she wasn’t, we took pictures of us waiting in line and sent them to my uncle (who pointed out that I was overdressed) and reminisced about all the other years that we’ve waited in line.

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Warm enough for iced drinks, apparently.  I think I prefer warm weather to having to wait outside in the dark while it rains or just full on snows.  And by “I think” I mean I know.

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I’m guessing next year we will reminisce about 2012, the year someone drove up and asked why we were all waiting in front of a liquor store (the line ends up winding there) and one of the radio show hosts answered that “the people of Boulder just want their liquor!”

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And I will reminisce about how ecstatic I was that they were passing out bagels and cream cheese because I’ve had a serious bagel craving for the past couple of weeks.  And just for the record, that bagel was everything I hoped it would be.

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You know, I used to go because there’s a 2 CD per person limit and my mom needed me to be able to get more than 2 CDs, then I went because it was a tradition, and now I go because I want a copy of the CD.  It’s unplugged, it’s not the crap on the pop radio stations and it’s always so good.

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I think Mayer Hawthorne and Grafitti6 are my favorites, but really, I love them all so far.  Oh, and I also go because it’s tradition.  And once something becomes a tradition, I basically insist on doing it for the rest of forever.  So don’t think you’re bailing next year, Mom.

After we got our CDs, we all kind of parted ways and I, in fact, went off to run a race.

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This being the only proof that I actually ran the Colder Bolder with my friend Jenn because I wasn’t about to carry my phone during the race.  The joke was on me though when we got beanies in our race packet and had to hold them the entire time we ran.  The race was on CU campus and I love being on campus so I loved the course (except the hills!) and only ran off the race course on accident once…

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December also means the Denver Parade of Lights.  Which I thought would mean a quick drive into Denver, picking a prime spot to watch the parade from and easily grabbing a late dinner somewhere on the 16th Street Mall.  Except that it was really nice outside and everyone else also had the same plan, so by the time we’d made it to the parade (40 minutes after it started — hey traffic, you suck) it was so packed that there was no way we’d be getting anywhere close enough to the parade to see it.  And the wait for a table was an hour and a half (no thanks).  And we wandered around through crowded Denver for way too long looking for somewhere to eat that didn’t have a wait that would have us eating after midnight.

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Okay, after midnight is a slight exaggeration.  Oddly enough, even though nothing went as planned and it was late and it felt like we had walked all over Denver, I was totally okay with how the night turned out.  I’m usually the one who freaks out if we stray from the plan or if dinner isn’t at a normal hour and for some reason, I was just totally calm.

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We eventually happened upon a place with no wait (whoa!) and enough good-looking menu options to make up our minds pretty easily.  I got French Onion soup and a glass of wine and was totally content with life.  That parade probably sucked anyways.

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I spent the better part of yesterday at the mall with this person.  This person who has a dog treat fanny pack.  And whom, I told “I can’t be a part of this” to when she put her dog treat fanny pack on.  But we also did some Christmas shopping, lunch eating and boot trying-on.

Since it’s December, I can only assume there will be more Christmas activities, Starbucks holiday drinks, shopping, comfort food and family time.  Yep, it’s that time of year.

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How did you ring in December?

Are you done Christmas shopping or are you like me and have barely started?

Does it feel like winter where you live or is it unseasonably warm like it is in Colorado?