Thursday Thoughts

Well I wanted to get you all a recap of the cruise we just got back from but I ended up having to work super late last night and by the time I packed for today's cruise, I was just too tired to use my brain to recall everything. Maybe I'll be able to type it up on this cruise and be able to post it when I get back. 

Yes, you read that right, I'm going on another cruise today. It's the same ship and destination (Cozumel) as EM and I did in September on EM's 1st Cruise but one less "sea day" as this is only a 4 night weekend cruise vs a 5 night week-day cruise.  This will be EM's 3rd cruise. This makes my 5th for the year and overall 23rd cruise. Yes, you can say I'm obsessed and luckily I married someone who loves them just as much!

UCF is going to their first ever BCS Bowl! The only downside, it is in Glendale, AZ. We were really hoping to go to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans but it was announced that we will be playing Baylor at the Fiesta Bowl on New Years Day. As soon as we were able to start making travel arrangements (we were on our cruise) it was already 3 days after the announcement and only 3ish weeks before the event so all the flights were coming up around $800-$1k, wayyyy too much. After about a week of exhausting every travel option, we decided we are going to drive. This means a 30+ hour car ride, EACH WAY.  I am not excited about the drive at all. It'll be G and I and our friends Dan and Shari (they just got back from the cruise with us). With splitting  rental car (since we all drive sedans, we decided to rent a SUV), gas, hotels and the cost of tickets and NYE/tailgating plans we'll each probably spend about what it would have cost for JUST the flight which makes me feel better about actually driving. Yes, the drive will suck, but it was the only affordable option for us to go and we're all very excited about the game! So, we're leaving the 29th and plan to get there sometime on the 30th (recover from the long drive), party it up for New Years Eve, tailgate for the game, hopefully WIN the game, and then drive home on the 2nd to be back the 3rd. No, we're not taking EM, she'll be getting some nice bonding with my parents that week. It's just not the trip to take a one year old on. I might actually get to see my two cousins (one which just had a baby girl a few months ago) who live in Phoenix too! I haven't seen them in like 10 years so it'll be nice to see them in person and not just on FaceBook.  GO KNIGHTS! #ChargeOn #UCFiesta

Today starts 18 days off from work! My company works a 9/80 schedule so I get every other friday off plus they shut down from December 24th through the 1st every year. So with the way the off fridays fall with the holidays, by taking 2 true vacation days, I was able to have 17 full days off and because of the cruise I had to take 3 vacation days and have 18 days off. This is my favorite perk of my company! Although, I won't be getting much relaxing done during these 2.5 weeks. Between the cruise, hosting Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, celebrating Christmas at my parents the 28th and heading to Arizona, I'll be exhausted when it comes time to go back to work on the 6th. Oh yea, I have a baby shower too! I'm exhausted just thinking about it lol #FirstWorldProblems

So that's it from me for my Thursday Thoughts... be back in a few days!