Que Paliza

My Spanish teacher in high school, Mrs. Denis, taught me that "Que Paliza" means something along the lines of, "What a big bummer." She would say it anytime that our football team lost, or if the weekend went by too fast, or even if we got a bad grade on a test. Mrs. Denis also taught me all the words to Estoy Aqui by Shakira [in Spanish, of course], AND a really cool rap song that goes through the countries and corresponding capital cities in Central America...

K and I spent the last 5 days celebrating our one year anniversary in Antigua. Que paliza that I'm going from this:

to this:

You may have heard me complain about our new office environment with no walls. I like to refer to it as a "call center" or "bull pen." This is indeed where I work, and yes - it sucks and is distracting. I've come to accept that there is no possibility whatsoever of getting walls added to these lovely cubicles, so have chosen instead to be a "flexible" employee who is "good with change" and "easily able to adapt" to new policies, procedures, and environments...

HOWEVER - despite the approaching Sunday gloom and "Que Paliza" feeling I have inside, there is still a part of me that definitely remains on island time. Our vacation was extremely relaxing, EXTREMELY relaxing, and I still have the "chill" vibe running through my insides. K and I stayed at a resort on the very north part of Antigua by the name of Blue Waters. It was no Little Dix Bay, but the scenery and overall location were both absolutely beautiful. As a brief recap:

Day 1:

We parked on 2 lounge chairs under a tiki hut on the main beach. This was our view:

These were my staples for the week [and yes - I did check the book out from the Dallas Public Library and take it all the way to Antigua with me]:

I went for an ambitious 1 mile run in the morning, but that was the one and only time I exercised. We took a break from sunbathing for lunch, then resumed our position. That night we had dinner at the Cove, a restaurant overlooking the water, and I was eaten by mosquitoes. As in, 35+ bites on each leg. As in, the masseuse said that she could not massage my leg during our spa day because I had "too many bites."

Day 2:

We parked on 2 lounge chairs under a tiki hut on a more secluded beach outside our room. This was our view:


We took a break from sunbathing for lunch, then resumed our position. That night, we had dinner at Vyviens, with conch chowder and duck and ice cream for dessert. Earlier in the evening, K threw rocks at a palm tree to pilfer 2 coconuts, which we drank from afterwards. The prior evening we watched Bear Grylls do the same thing in the Pacific Islands on Man vs. Wild. I am certain this is where his inspiration came from. It was quite adventurous:


Day 3 and Day 4:

We parked on 2 lounge chairs by the infinity edge pool with the ocean in the background. This was our view:


We took a break from sunbathing for lunch, then resumed our position. Day 3 we got massages and I got a facial as well. Both nights, we had dinner at Vyviens again. One night I told Noricia, our waitress, the following joke:

Why should you never take a shower with a Pokemon?

[pause for effect]

Punch line: Because he might Pikachu! [or "peek at you"]

I do realize that most of the human population our age or older might not know what a Pikachu is. In fact, I'm not sure how I even know what a Pikachu is. The funniest part about it all is that this lady cracked up. Like she totally identified and could not stop laughing [probably because she watches Pokemon with her 5 year old son], as K sat there in bewilderment still completely lost. She was even still laughing when we walked in the NEXT night. Oh how I love cheesy jokes...

Lastly, K and I enjoy having fun. Who doesn't? Others have told me that we have an interesting relationship dynamic in that we're always giving each other a hard time, and make each other laugh constantly. I can't imagine it any other way. On this trip we laughed a lot, loved a lot, and reaffirmed that we are still so happy and so blessed and so excited about spending the rest of our lives together, just as much if not more than the day we got married. With that being said, I will end with a few remaining fun and beautiful pictures from our fabulous trip...