today was NOT a good day

In fact, it sucked.  With a capital "S".  {Sorry Mom, I know you hate that word.  But it did.}

Let's go on vacation, shall we?

Ahhh, that's better.

I think recapping our 1st Anniversary trip is just the ticket to get me out of this Monday-funk.  

The Mister and I decided to give each other the traditional first year anniversary gift of paper - plane tickets! We wanted to go somewhere relaxing, rather than a trip full of activities and sightseeing.  {We did NYC over Thanksgiving.  Fun but exhausting.}  I love nothing more than lounging by a pool or on a beach with a good book & stack of food and fashion magazines, but The Mister can get bored with that pretty quickly.  So we needed somewhere with activities other than sitting pool side.  We could only get a few days off work, so we also needed something relatively close so we didn't waste half the trip traveling.  The Atlantis resort in Paradise Island, Bahamas was the perfect solution for us.  They have plenty of pools & beaches, but also water slides & a lazy river to keep The Mister entertained.  They also have great restaurants and a casino for night-time entertainment. 

We decided to invite my family along for the trip because we thought it would be fun to have a big group.  And no one is more fun {or nutty} than my family!  Unfortunately, my brother and sister-in-law in Boston couldn't make the trip, but my parents and sister were able to join us.

The first day of our trip was our actual one year anniversary.  We decided to celebrate with an anniversary dinner at Bobby's Flay's Mesa Grill. 

If you're looking for my family, check the bar!

The food was amazing.  Everything they put on our table was delicious.  I had a chicken quesadilla that will forever be the chicken quesadilla all other quesadillas fail to live up to.  The cilantro jalepeno mashed potatoes were heavenly.  {I figure it will get pretty expensive flying back and forth to the Carribean to get these, so I'm going to attempt to recreate these at home.}  Pork tenderloin you could cut without a knife.  And perfect margaritas to boot.   It was so good that The Mister and I sweet talked our way back in on our last night without a reservation. 

Day two was spent lounging pool side and floating up and down the lazy river.  Dinner was at a cute seafood restaurant.  We turned in early after a long day in the sun.

We woke up on day three and absolutely stuffed ourselves at the breakfast buffet.  I'm pretty sure I gained 3 pounds in pancakes alone.  Against my better judgment, I put my gluttonous rear in a bathing suit and went back to the pool.  We spent most of the day riding the slides and tubing down the lazy river.  It was perfection. 

Dinner was at Carmine's - an Italian restaurant with a location in Times Square, known for their GIANT family style portions.  I'd eaten at the NY location years before  and it was just as good as I remember.  They certainly lived up to their reputation for large portions!

This is what was left AFTER we all finished eating.

How cute are my parents?

After dinner we hit up the casino for some gambling & cocktails.  I'm not a big gambler, but I played a bit and it was fun to watch.  And my sister cleaned up playing roulette. 

The Atlantis has some amazing aquariums.  You can walk underground and look at the sharks, rays and fish.  It's really neat.  And not a bad idea for the morning when you're a wee bit hungover and not quite ready to face the sun.  Or so I've heard...

We named this guy "Jim Halpert".  He was a Big Tuna.

The rest of the trip was spent swimming, sleeping, reading and eating.  It was the perfect first anniversary.  I'm already looking forward to our next vacation...