Hurricane Irma - September 10, 2017

Mr. Delancy agreed to pick us up and take us to the Hilton. He had been so helpful and accommodating the entire time. He was running late for church but he did let us take this photo really quickly. The first room we had was not agreeable. The window was too small and it was right next to the elevator. I talked my way to a much nicer room on the executive floor and an obstructed view of the ocean. Now that's a decent room!

We walk around looking for lunch and things to do but all the businesses are boarded up. It was Sunday and nobody was in a rush to get back to business. The cruise ships weren't going to come until later this week. We even tried Subway but they were closed. I brought some snacks from our hurricane food shopping trip but not lunch. We had sandwiches from the café at the hotel.

With a lot of facebooking, I found one bar open around us. We obviously had to go.

There were about 30 people there, which was probably all the tourists in the area as most had already evacuated.

These are $8 Guinness pints. Bahamian beer is modestly priced and we quickly switched. The rest of the night was more yahtzee and weather watching. Irma was hitting Florida this night and there were plenty of angles to watch the carnage.

The ocean was much calmer on this side of New Providence.

Making wine

About 10 of us Oakie Wine Club members pooled our resources and bought two wine kits to make as a group. It's been fun getting together at The Brew Shop to go through the entire process together. And instead of 30 bottles of wine, we each should get at least 2.5 bottles. That's easier to store. 

This is a bucket of easy clean. It helps to make sure there is no contamination on anything used. 

We pitched the yeast on our second kit here.

It's a Sangiovese red wine and the grapes were grown in Italy. 

There's yeast, clay and wood chips.

That's a hydrometer and it's used to measure the alcohol content. 

This was our first kit, a big red. It's very big and apparently, needs a year to be properly aged. We moved it into a glass carboy for clarification.

In two weeks, we'll move it again into another carboy with no more wood chips. It will stay in there for at least 28 days before bottling. Next up, I'll be making hard cider. I tried to buy the cider at Whole Foods but they didn't have it yet. I have plans to pour it in November so I must get it started tomorrow. The pressure is on!

Running

Another #run logged in the books. I did #intervaltraining again and managed to pick up the pace from Saturday's run. It was definitely warm but not uncomfortable. These #6am runs are worth it in the #summer! My #injuredankle felt pretty good but there was a moment of discomfort. The #healingprocess continues. #art is courtesy of @ryanchristopherart. #Acrylic #acrylicpainting #art #artist #gold #painting #painter #okc #paseoartsdistrict #art #artist #runner #runnergirl #womenrunning #runnerproblems #injuredrunner #okc #ok #okwb #myoklahoma #runokc #runok #nike #nikerunner #run 

Yesterday, we stayed in and watered the grass and sat in the sprinkler. It was lovely. I also did my meal prep. 

And I practiced the piano! 

That was awesome! I can't play The Pink Panther anymore but I'll get that back up again. 

I also did all the laundry. So it was a productive day for sure! Saturday was a rediculous day of drinking and I had fun. I hope my waistline doesn't get me back for it. 

Oklahoma Craft Beer Festival

This is hands down the best festival that Oklahoma has to offer and it's getting bigger every year. 

We went to the VIP session, which was awesome! The glasses this year were actual glass and not plastic. 

Breweries in planning had a chance to pour. This is the Vanessa House and they're getting ready to launch their location. 

Home brewers also got to pour. That was so cool to see all my friends pouring their beer. 

Photo bomb!

Beth makes these pretzels and they're awesome! Our pretzel necklaces were not stolen. I was able to share with friends. I also made froot loop necklaces but I had time to only make two, so we didn't share those. 

We went to Tapwerks to say hi to our bartender. I met another Esther too! 

We then went home and grabbed a pizza for dinner. In all, it was a successful day and we had loads of fun!

Five on Friday

1 - Ryan Christopher Art is still at the Paseo Art Space gallery in Oklahoma City. 

2 - I ate Arctic Zero ice cream and it was awesome. Sorry for the repeat. 

3 - I ate and drank too muc last night at Red Earth Brewers. Hence, I didn't lose any weight. 

4 - On the plus side, I didn't gain any weight. #winning

5 - I'm going to a party tonight. Lord help me find my self control with the food! Seriously, where does it go when there's giant plates to snack on all night? Thank You and Amen Lord! 

Tent saga

We ordered a tent from REI and we forgot to use our coupon code that would save us $80. We called customer service but they wouldn't apply the coupon, so we ordered a second tent with the code. Our thought was we'd be able to easily return the other tent. When it arrived, we found there was no free shipping return label. So, we drove 3 hours to the closest REI, returned the tent with no problems and shopped. I have a new dress, backpack, water bottle and waterproof case for my phone. Then we drove 3 hours back home. It is a mansion of a tent with two bedrooms and a porch. I can't wait to camp! There's no picture because we haven't set it up yet. 

I ran 3 miles today with my running buddy, Brittany. We realized that we are both registered for the Route 66 half. We will train together and probably run together. It's a very hilly course but it's fun with tons of support. 

This was the view from our room. This winding river pool is lots of fun to cruise around in. There's no bar but we had beer in our room. We just grabbed a few of those and had a good time. 

Cheers to Saturday! #amiright?

Sandals Barbados

This trip brought us to the silver sandals and the complimentary couples massage. The massage was amazing!

The food was also amazing! Everything was fresh and prepared well. There were tons of Brits at the resort and the island. Barbados is celebrating 50 years of independence this year but there are definitely strong ties to the UK. 

We did a snorkel dinner cruise with Cool Runnings II and they did a great job. 

I have so many photos and stories to share and I'm planning to do that on my blog this week. 

First though, I have a long list of people I want to thank for the wonderful and welcoming service they provided. 

Shonnell

Dario

Dale

DJ Shaqmed 

Marlon

Denis

Nicholas

Stephen

Nathaniel

Jamaine 

Joy-ann 

Mario

Gilbert

Markus 

Most of these people were bartenders but the entertainment team and loyalty desk did a fantastic job. 

Paris recap, Christmas Day!

Starbucks was the right start to our holiday. From there we made the long climb up to Montemarte. All the restaurants were open and we had plans for a good big meal. 

First is the wine and bread. 

Then we split the French onion soup!

There was a leg of lamb on this plate. I ate it before photographing it. #oops #bloggerfail

Double espresso rounded out the feast. 

Nice little sunset. 

On our way back, we stopped for a beer and facilities. 

I was looking for bread at the time and a lot of places were closed. 

Before heading back to the room, we made another pit stop at Hard Rock Cafe. 

We had a good time! I'm not sure how I managed to takes selfie with my eyes closed. 

We were successful in finding croissants and we enjoyed our Christmas present. This is top notch champagne. We had a fabulous Christmas! We walked 17,500 steps.