Take Time For Tanning

With a whole day at sea, there were activities galore to explore around the ship, but it was the scrapbook-lady-filled conference center we headed for. After our morning tanning session up on the top deck that is! A heavy handed application of sunscreen and suit up in the room, our already established daily morning chat with our porter in the hallway, and with fresh towels, hats, sunscreen and reading materials in tow, our next task would be to select seats from which to bask.

Would we go for the sit down options facing in towards the poolside action, or  a view of the sea vista over portside...of course  we chose the more natural, scenic view. The fat free version if you will haha. A pleasantly warmed breeze cooled us slightly, but before we could get our gear assembled in the shade under our chairs, I could feel the suns rays at work (and the sweat on my upper lip ew). 

Few sensations rival the pleasure of laying on a towel under the hot sun in a bathing suit while reading a lovely bit of trashy romance in the guise of serious reading materials implied by the muted black cover of my kindle paperwhite. While I lost myself in the story of a woman who ends up in the Heartbreak Hotel and, through the powers of love and, er, affectionate liaisons, ends up earning a devil his soul back,  D chatted with a fellow who had been on the boat for an astounding 9 weeks! With another week to go! And a month in Panama planned after that! Holy Bob Barker look-alike, Batman! He was quite entertaining though, and I especially enjoyed seeing how every crew member who walked by greeted him by name and stopped to chat with him. He knew many of their names as well, so obviously he had the courtesy many visitors onboard lack with making requests of the staff.

Downstairs in the conference room, the refreshingly cool crop-in-progress was a bustle of activity; Cricuts humming, multiple animated storytelling's and uproars of laughter dotting the auditory landscape, and I submersed myself in the task of applying the previous two days' thrills to my albums pages through interpretive papers and embellishments. Wave patterned laser cut washi tape, nautical Motif die cuts from Fancy Pants, as well as their chipboard and button set will compliment all of the printed photo collages I plan to have waiting for me at Walgreens when I touch down in Tacoma at the end of the week.  I know, I know, I can be a little ambitious at times.

I love to have my printed photos in hand so soon after a vacation of any sort. The memories fade so quickly, and those tangible reminders really help a visual learner like myself to remember all of the interesting people I meet as well as the gorgeous views I've just experienced. I've heard it said that 96% of what one thinks each day is a repeat from the day before, so I don't mind at all that I love the photos I'm taking so much that I've just keep scrolling through my vacation pictures repeatedly throughout each day of the trip. Plus, it's a lot nicer in my opinion to hand someone a stack of physical photos, as opposed to suggesting they swipe through your collected images. 

We sat with the most delightful couple during lunch in the Sapphire dining room; Denise and her husband shared that their son would be graduating from the coast guard the following weekend! Oh, could you ever feel the love as they talked about how proud they were, and how much they looked forward to seeing him after the cruise. And all I could think was, you get to go on another vacation right after this one? LUCKY! But oh, wait, so do I next month... Mexico here I come!