JAMAICA!

This year for our vacation we went to Jamaica. We stayed at Couples Negril, an all-inclusive resort in Negril, Jamaica. Way back in February we decided to book someplace warm and where we could leave our worries behind because work was getting a little stressful. We had never been to a tropical island before or an all-inclusive. One of the reasons we chose an all-inclusive is because Scott tends to worry about finances...well not so much worry more like he's very focused on our financial situation and getting out of debt. So when we go on a normal vacation he would take out all the receipts at the end of the day and balance his checkbook online. This gives him piece of mind. This is a good thing for our marriage because I am completely opposite...not organized and certainly don't plan well for the future so having a partner that does that religiously is a definite plus! Anyway, so we wanted a vacation that we didn't have to even think about money and what we could/couldn't afford. So we chose an all-inclusive. We were originally thinking Sandals but after doing some research Couples seemed more attractive to us. Couples is, as you may have guessed, just for couples so there aren't any kids. We love kids but not for this vacation. Also Couples seemed more relaxing and laid back and less spring-breakish like Sandals seemed. A little more expensive but personally I think it was much better. You get to know more people (workers and guests) since it's a smaller resort.

The weather in Jamaica is perfect. Averaging around 80 degrees in December. It rained once, for about 10 minutes and it was perfect rain...just a shower with the sun still shining. We never got hot, never got cold....just comfortable all the time.

When we arrived in Jamaica you drive 1 1/2 hours to Negril from Montego Bay. We drove through some poverty-stricken areas which made me feel a little weird. I felt like I was this greedy white American just taking advantage of their nice weather and white beaches. So many houses looked like they were abandoned but people were still living there. They just don't have much stuff at all! Scott said something interesting: it's kind of ironic...they have it right and we have it wrong. It looks like they're lives are so empty and they may even think they want to come to America eventually but what they have is something we're very much lacking. They have family and friends that they spend time with all day...they're developing relationships that are so meaningful and rich. Most of all, they're not materialistic. They're lawns aren't groomed perfectly and most don't have cars. They use their own goats for milk, cheese and meat. They have little shops and bars so they can make money. Their simple life was sad at first but slowly became attractive to me. Even a McDonalds didn't last there! Can you imagine? They're lives look like poverty-stricken to us but this is what they know...this is their life. They still had schools and stores and were generally doing well. I'll explain my thoughts on resorts and the effect on their country later.

Upon arrival to our resort we were very impressed. The service was amazing and we got a nice cool towel and glass of champagne while we waited for our reservations to go through. We came at night so we were a little confused when we first got there. From then on we quickly realized we were in paradise. Our room was fantastic, we got breakfast in bed almost every day, no tipping allowed on the resort so no worries there. A typical day would be heading down to the beach and lay out...swim a little, go in the pool, read, sleep, relax...wonderful! Then we'd go up to the beach for some jerk chicken or fresh fruit. When it became dark we'd go back to the room, get cleaned up and dressed up and head out for dinner. Two restaurants are very fancy with a dress code and a 5 course meal. EXCELLENT! They also had an Italian restaurant and buffet every night. They had little events going on all the time like a wine and cheese party, dancing, manager's appetizer party...all that sort of stuff.

We went scuba diving one day. This was our first time scuba diving and we were a little nervous. We went through a discover scuba diving course with an instructor named Sugar :) Speaking of Sugar, all the workers there are Jamaican and just wonderful. They're so laid back and nice...plus it's not a stereotype...they always say Ya Mon and No Worries Mon...always. Anyway, so we went through the course and then practiced what we just learned in the pool. IT was kinda scary and not as easy as I thought it would be. It's hard to get yourself to breath just through your mouth and not rely on coming up for air for a long time. We practiced all sorts of skills like getting water out of our face mask under water, what we'd do if we were out of air, equalizing the pressure in our ears and just swimming around in general getting a feel for our buoyancy. When we got out in the ocean we went 30 feet down and it was amazing. Still a little freaky but it was so calm down there and we saw lots of cool things. It's interesting communicating with each other without even talking and being in a COMPLETELY different environment like that. Scott had a little problem and he handled it so well. His buoyancy was off (he didn't have a heavy enough weight belt on) so when Sugar told us to let our air out and stand on the sand at the bottom Scott couldn't do it. So automatically he thought something was wrong so he started to go into panic mode. He gulped in a ton of water and it came out his nose into his mask (covers nose and eyes). Sugar helped him and made signals to breath and calm down. Scott amazingly did without going back up for air! He got the water out of the mask like we practiced and got his air supply to work again. Sugar took him by the arm for a while and put another weight on his tank. He was much better then. I know when we were practicing Sugar had me practice that I was out of air and that I needed to get air from Scott...well it didn't work right away and I panicked and went up for air...this was in the pool! Scott did well staying under. Overall a great experience!

We also went on a Catamaran Sunset Cruise where we were served rum punch and I even jumped off a 30ft cliff! That was a lot of fun.

Couples is a place we really enjoyed and we really want to go back. It's such a cozy place that really almost feels like a second home. Everyone is so personable! The whole time we were wondering about resorts and what the Jamaicans really thought of them. We couldn't ask resort employees because if they didn't like them...they wouldn't tell us because they could get fired. So what we really needed was someone who lives there or lived there but didn't have any reason to fudge a response. We actually met a guy at the airport in Charlotte!!! Strage coincidence really. His name is Damien. We asked him and he said that people don't have a problem with them...they bring a lot of money to the country. He did, however, encourage us to see the real Jamaica and what the beautiful country has to offer not just retreat to the resorts. I agree with him but that's a completely different vacation. Like we said we wanted a vacation where we didn't want to worry about anything or go anywhere. This was ideal. But I would love to go back to Jamaica someday and tour the country...that would be awesome!!

I'm just going to attach a few pictures because later I'm going to attach our slideshow that we made.

The beach


Us with one of the workers


The pool


Cruise


Relaxing






Our room


Sugar

BLS

BLS stands for Basic Leader Skills. A few months ago I blogged about possibly becoming a Weight Watchers leader. I've been a receptionist for about a year now and the leader I work with decided that she needs to spend more time at home with her kids to help them with homework. So in the meantime we needed to find a leader for the Stewartville meeting that we worked at. Well none of the leaders in the area could pick up another meeting on that particular night. So with much support from both Sandy (the leader) and the WW members who attend that meeting, I decided to go ahead with it. A member (Nancy) who had just become a Lifetime member for WW expressed interest in working for WW so she quickly became the receptionist to take my spot. (You have to be a Lifetime member, which means you go through the program, reach your goal and maintain for 6 weeks, in order to be an employee for WW)

In order to become a leader you need to go to BLS for training. This is a long weekend of intense training and preparation. I went to this training two weekends ago at The Hilton in Eagan, MN. All I can say is wow! This was such a wonderful yet intense weekend it's hard to put it into words. The entire weekend was just filled with lessons on how to communicate with the members, how to help them, listen to them, encourage them etc. Also the basics on how to facilitate a meeting.

Let me just say this. In high school I was very involved in speech team, drama all that stuff so the "getting up in front of people" part wasn't much of an issue for me. And even watching the leaders I would always think to myself "yeah that seems pretty easy and fun" Well let me just say that I have a whole new appreciation and awe for these leaders. There is a lot more to it than you think. You're not just up there as a lecturer...you're up there facilitating a meeting. There's a big difference. The idea is to get all the to members communicate with each other and be an active part of the meeting. It's important to keep the focus on them and not on you as the leader.

There were so many wonderful and supportive people at BLS...it felt like a church retreat or something. We're all so revved up and ready to take on this new avenue in our life, it's so great to be able to experience this with others and make a difference.

Our Trainers


The New Leaders (some of us are hard to see...you can see my pink left shoulder and half my face towards the right of the group)


Keep in mind EVERYONE you see in the pictures above are all success stories!

After BLS we need to do 4 mentoring sessions before becoming the official leader. Last night was my 4th mentoring session which means it was pretty much my first meeting because my mentor just sat back and critiqued. Well, I think it went really well. It's a little easier being in front of everyone than it was during training. It's weird being at the front of the room though... but I'll get used to it. I remember it was weird to be in the back of the room as a receptionist at first too.

I was talking with my mom earlier today and she said to me, "you know why it's easier once you're in front of everyone and have a meeting going? Because you believe in what you're 'selling'" That's so true! I believe in WW 110%! It's a program that works (if you work at it too of course). But all of the tools for living and little lessons you learn actually bleed out into every part of your life and it can improve your entire life not just weight-related issues. If I've said it once I've said it a million times: it's a lifestyle change, not a diet.

Believe me, if I can do this, anyone can. I know a lot of people say that but I put off coming out of the womb I procrastinate so much :) I've so enjoyed being a part of WW as a member but love it even more as an employee!

A sincere thanks to all at BLS for a wonderful and life-changing weekend!

Christmas with the Jones'

Wow it's been a while. It's been crazy busy and I literally have had zero time to update the blog. In fact I don't really have time now but I'm doing it anyway because I hate coming back to blogs and seeing the same thing all the time.

A few weeks ago we took some pictures of some good friends of ours for Christmas. This is practice for us as we want to get into more of this kinda stuff. Actually we already have a name for this new part of our company: Midwest LifeShots Photography. We want to capture candid moments and throw some posed shots in there too but primarily film on location. It's been a lot of fun so far. It's especially nice since we're in the slow season with virtual tours.

Here are some pics that we took for them (they all looked sooo good!):

We thought this one was hilarious!

Happy Birthday Laura!

My sister turned 30 on Sunday! Sorry for spilling the beans about her age :) I love my sister, I'm so blessed to have her in my life! We actually had a surprise birthday party for her on Friday and we got some pics. I'm posting this later than her birthday because I put together a slideshow and have attached it for everyone to enjoy. She had no clue about the party! Turn your volume up :)

Click here to see all the pics in a web gallery (you can download from there too).

Shannon and Jeremy

We went to Shannon and Jeremy's wedding two weeks ago. It's taken me this long to finally get to some pics and have a moment to blog.

Shannon and I were best friends in high school. We got along great and have so many memories together. She moved away when we were in high school but we kept in contact. She came to my wedding back in 2003 even. Just recently we went to a Photoshop conference in Milwaukee and since that's where she and Jeremy live we decided to give them a call and see if they wanted to hang out. This was the second time we met Jeremy but the first time we didn't really get a chance to get to know him. We really enjoyed our time there with them. It was like Shannon and I were becoming friends all over again but in a different way (a good way). And Scott got along great with Jeremy too.

So we made another trip to Milwaukee for their wedding. It was such a great time. My only regret is that I didn't get a picture with her!!! What was I thinking? Another friend from high school, Mark, was there and it was so nice being able to hang out with him and catch up. Shannon and Jeremy's wedding was beautiful. We especially enjoyed the reception. It was perfect, right on Lake Michigan inside a pavilion that had a warm ambiance with glowing candles and fall decorations everywhere. The food was picnic style and very good. The desserts were maybe some of the best I've ever had!! She also had a scrapbook table with tons of stamps and little stickers along with a Polaroid camera to take your picture and make a page for her. Wish I would've thought of some of this stuff!

Shannon and Jeremy make an awesome couple. They both love to dance and act and they just seem so right for each other. That's what makes the wedding.

I'm excited cuz we're getting together again around Christmas time to watch the Bears/Packers game. I have a feeling what the outcome of the game will be :( but you never know :)
Here are some pics. We really didn't take many and a lot of these are with the small camera so nothing to write home about but you get the idea of the evening and location.












Me working on our scrapbook page


Lake Michigan




View from pavilion