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.

Hurricane Irma - September 9, 2017

The outer bands of Irma came through starting at 1am with wind, rain, and lightening. The storm was not outside of a typical storm in Oklahoma City. We were very lucky because we didn't take a direct hit like Hurricane Matthew the year before. Cuba and Puerto Rico took most of the force away from the Bahamas.

We were worried about storm surge and flooding. Mr. Delancy predicted correctly and none of that was an issue. We did lose power as the storm came through. And it came back on at 4 am briefly. By 11 am, we had our power back. We checked and the storm had fully passed the Bahamas. We were in the clear!

The airport announced that it will be open for limited operations on Sunday, which was the day we were supposed to leave. I called American and found out there were no flights that day. We decided to keep our Tuesday flight, as Monday would have been standby.

It was time to explore. The ocean was angry and the wind was whipping the sand all around us. A hat was no protection for the sand. We found one shell and headed back quickly. After much debate, we decided to head over to the other side of the island and stay at the British Colonial Hilton. There's more food options and we were hoping for some fun before it was time to leave. Surprisingly, the Hilton had space for us. Originally, we were going to stay there on September 9th but with the Hurricane, I decided to cancel that reservation.

The rest of the night, we ate, played yahtzee, watched the storm out to sea and watched tv. We never really unpacked, so we were ready to head to the Hilton the next day.  When we were packing for the trip, Ryan never thought that Hurricane Irma would come and mess up our trip. For a good amount of time, the storm was a category 5. An F5 tornado is the largest recorded tornado. His insight in packing was impressive.

Hurricane Irma - September 6, 2017

We got our last use of the kayak today and Noel picked us up for lunch. When we arrived at Max's Conch Bar, we finally had access to wifi. Our phones were blowing up from our friends. They were trying to reach us regarding Irma. The storm was quite large at this point and it was headed towards the Bahamas. At this point, I was trying to find a place for us to stay Thursday night. I called several hotels but there was no availability. I called the owner of the island, William Delancy, and he said that he does have a place for us to stay.

Sad. It was our last day on the island and our trip was cut short. When we got back to the island, we enjoyed the rest of the fish and as much beer as we could drink. We also got started on packing. The next morning was coming early because we had to be at the airport by 8am.

Hurricane Irma - September 4, 2017

Monday, September 4, 2017. The moon was brilliant and vibrant. That day was spent kayaking, playing yahtzee and drinking beer. It was a good relaxing day, with no cares in the world. More photos to follow.

Final Paris recap

The last day was an adventure of traveling in the winter time. I'm not sure I want that type of adventure again. We took a taxi from the hotel to the airport and I snapped cool (and not cool) pics. 

That Ferris wheel is giant and it is on the edge of the Christmas markets. 

Found the Louis Vuitton store!

We never made it to the Arc de triumph but here it is from the taxi. 

Since I didn't see it, I couldn't bear to delete the out of focus photos. 

It looked cool and huge. Traveling with just backpacks meant we could bypass the airline counter. The airport was fairly easy to navigate. There was a security checkpoint and border control. Then we went to Starbucks to buy another mug and get coffee. Our flight was delayed by about 40 minutes which meant we were going to miss our flight to OKC. I managed to get rebooked while at the airport in Paris. It's an 11 hour flight and we were traveling back in time. We left 

Paris at noon and got to Dallas at 4 pm. 

There was lunch, ice cream, and a hot pocket snack. They offered all the free beer and wine again but I drank club soda instead. When we landed we had new plane tickets waiting for us, for the following day.

Our flight was canceled due to weather and cue the hours of confusion. Do we go to the gate? Do we rent a car and drive? Do we get a hotel? On and on. We even went to the rental car spot but changed our mind when friends said weather was not looking good. It was 2am in Paris. We got a hotel and went to bed at 7:30 pm Dallas time. The next day we went to our gate to find out that 40 people were all on standby for the same flight. Fortunately, we were near the top of the list and made it to OKC in the morning. We landed at 9:30 am and found no shuttle. I guess we needed to call them since our flight changed. We took a taxi home because I didn't want another day taken from my vacation time. And I wanted to check on my kitties. 

They act like they don't love me but secretly they do. We came home to a sheet of ice. I immediately thought coming home was not a good idea. 

Severe Storms

I went to church to play piano but I was distracted by the weather. I couldn't take my eyes of the radar. Turns out a tornado touched down in Moore (again.) church was cancelled and I waited it out until it was safe. This is a good time of year to leave Oklahoma. If you're interested, these are tornado clouds from 2013 (shudder.)

That would be the tornado that was headed straight for downtown (which everyone said is weird and actually killed tornado chasers. Yeah I remember weird things like that.) Today, I took no photos. I was holed up away from windows, terrified. 

This is from one of my coworkers Facebook accounts. Do any of my blogger friends live in Oklahoma? Or anywhere else with regular tornado sightings? 

Half marathon training

1 - Yesterday, I tried to run 4 miles. Instead, I barely ran/walked 2.5 miles in 38 minutes. I didn't have a lot of time and my body was dehydrated. I do that to myself a lot on the weekends. 

2 - 

This is how I find myself dehydrated. My favorite beer was in tap at the bar with my mug. I couldn't resist having two mugs. 

3 - 

Everyone is cold around here. With the tempuratures barely in the 20s and whipping winds, we are all wrapped up in blankets. 

4 - 

I had delicious pizza. Yum!

5 - I'm considering making cookies to warm up. Chocolate chip cookies sound good.

6 - This week, I'm going to try turkey sandwich wraps for lunch. I've been noticing a pattern of not getting enough protein. This should solve that problem. 

7 - We bought our plane tickets for Antigua and they were the wrong dates. Fortunately, my hubby got the dates changed at sandals. 

8 - Only 89 days until sandals!

9 - I didn't win the powerball or the megamillions. Fortunately, there's another drawing.

10 - I'm gong to put away the laundry so I can feel like something was accomplished today. I had to work yesterday and that always throws off my weekend routine.

Thankful Thursday: 1000

I'm thankful for:

41: my current home, we've had ups and downs but good memories were made.

42: the new home we're moving to tomorrow, where new memories will be made.

43: elevators, to move my stuff. Please work tomorrow!

44: movers who will move faster than we can on our own.

45: coming out of the storm safely.

46: Chomps and Kirby surviving without us for a few days.

47: friends who let us stay with them for awhile.

48: good weather, which is much better than severe weather.

49: being able to move in nearly a week early, I hope!

50: safety for everyone during this intense season of weather.

What are you thankful for?

Weight Loss Wednesday: random edition

Welcome to weight loss Wednesday! Last week, I gained a pound and now weigh 135. Usually, that would be too high but my shorts fit perfectly. 135 last summer compared to now is not the same body. Impressively, the Northface shorts I purchased ages ago, we're talking years here, never ever fit. For fun, I tried them on and they fit! I'm over the moon excited! I need a hiking trip to have an excuse to wear them!

I've decided, with the huge shorts victory that the scale is not that big of a deal. Breakthrough!

In other news, we are in for two stormy days in Oklahoma. I'm terrified!

Linking up with Heather for weigh in Wednesday.

Also linking up with Shanna for random Wednesday.

Weather Saturday

As I am writing this post, there's thunder, lightening, and heavy fat rain outside. I will not be going outside until things start to calm down.

Yesterday, Chomps had a little adventure that I don't want repeated. When hubby came home, Chomps was waiting and crying loudly. As soon as hubby opened the front door, Chomps bolted out into the hallway and started walking around. He was so annoying after that adventure because he wanted out again. Awe, Chompsy, there's dogs that live here too. You don't want to be out in the hall.

I wanted to share a crazy story with you about a windstorm in Anchorage. I couldn't find any good stories to link too because it was a long time ago but Anchorage was declared a disaster zone and FEMA came to help out. It was March 13, 2003 and I had classes in the morning and work afterwards. I bundled up in all my winter gear for the day. I had to take a bus after class to get to my job and the wind was absolutely howling. With wind chill, I was waiting outside in negative temperatures.

I was having a hard time standing up in the wind. Even with all my bundling up, I was shivering and very cold. After work was over, I waited for hubby to pick me up and the wind was still howling! The doors to the mall were opening and closing with all the wind. When hubby got there, I struggled to open the car door. Our home was an apartment in the garden level, and we didn't have any damage. Nothing happened to our car but others were not so lucky. McDonald's sign was blown over. Little puddle jumper planes were blown over. There was over $800,000 in damage. I'm surprised our car was ok.

Apparently, there was another wind storm just about a month ago. These are called wind storms but the intensity is that of a hurricane. And I stood outside for nearly half an hour in this craziness. I should have called in sick.

Interesting weekend

This past weekend was interesting because there was the threat of destructive weather. Fortunately, the weather stayed away from me. I know Norman had damage but that wasn't close to here. I am very thankful for where I live. It is close to work and far from where tornadoes typically go. I am praying for this years tornado season to be quiet and everyone stays safe. Thank you Lord for protecting me. 

Confidence boost

Today’s rating is Positive.

I had a good day and that was partially because of my shoes. I had my shiny red comfy heals, which I wore with jeans to dress them up. I felt great walking tall in these shoes. I’ve had these shoes for about a year but haven’t worn them because of the colder winter weather. Maybe you have a spring outfit that you haven’t been able to wear for awhile. If you bring it out, your confidence could reach new highs and help reduce some stress.

On the job hunt, I have added one more company to the list that I am researching. I hope to schedule a phone interview with at least two companies this week. I’ll be moved in 20 days. Perhaps, I’ll have a job lined up by then. I am also praying for our home because we need to find a qualified person to rent. We have a company taking care of that work for us. I know all these issues will work themselves out with God’s help. Not knowing the answer can be so difficult and stressful though. Thanks for reading!