Thanksgiving in the South

I'm well rested after traveling a little more than 10 hours in a car from Florissant, Missouri to reach Pennington, Alabama.  But I'm thankful that my husband, Eddie, did all the driving.  I offered, but apparently I drive like Miss Daisy, and he wanted to "get there" :)  I get to do some driving on the way back.  For now, I'm spending my morning watching my mother-in-law cook chicken and dressing (instead of turkey and dressing) at Eddie's request.  I won't complain though.  After all, I like chicken, and I know I'll be turkeyed out before the end of the year.  This breaks up the monotony. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Dorian

Loving Life in St. Louis

Dorian, Lori, Karen and Pam (l-r) on a lunch break between sessions

St. Louis was a lot more fun for me this weekend.  I had a visit from some friends from Memphis.  Karen (she was one of my bridesmaids three months ago), Lori and Pam came up for the Joyce Meyer Love Life Women's Conference.  I took a couple of days off of work to hang out with them and attend the conference.  It was nice to spend several days with Karen minus wedding stress :) I had the best time even though I was fighting with my allergies most of the time.  It was three days well spent.  I got to catch up with the ladies and we got to worship together while learning about how our attitudes affect our thoughts and how our thoughts affect our moods.  The take home message for me was to have an attitude like a dog instead of a cat.  (I can explain later in another post, but my weekend guests know what I'm talking about.)  I can't wait until next year.  We are already planning to attend the next conference in September, 2011, and we're hoping to get some other friends to come with us.  Thanks for visiting ladies!

Jamaican Honeymoon

It's been a long while since I've posted on 'Dorian's Days'. The last post involved an engagement, and about a year and a half later I'm writing on blogger again-after the wedding! I have to admit that I've been sleeping on my blog big-time. So, I've decided to wake from my long blog nap and write about my honeymoon which is a new and exciting thing for my husband and me.  Several months before the wedding, Eddie and I decided on the Couples Resort in Negril, Jamaica based on a two-thumbs-up rating from Amy and her husband Joe as well as reviewing a DVD called Unforgettable Honeymoons which gave us the run-down on all the top resorts.

I must say that with over a year of wedding planning, Eddie and I were secretly waiting for honeymoon time when we could get away from the stress and work involved with wedding planning.  It was fun at times, but we're glad the planning is over :) We were excited to become husband and wife but more excited to get away as husband and wife to a place that neither of us had ever been to-Jamaica.

We took off on our journey on the Tuesday after our wedding. We really needed those couple of days to see family off, unwind, and pack our stuff.  A couple of Target trips were necessary to get all the supplies and beachwear needed like swim shorts for Eddie and a white bikini for me. I don't know why, but I just felt like I needed a white bikini to add to my collection of swimsuits :)

After landing in Montego Bay and going through Customs, we had about an hour of shuttle bus ride to the resort. I fell asleep a couple of times during the drive, but I was awake long enough to see the Jamaican people living everyday life. I didn't know that they drive on the left side of the street in Jamaica! The roads are pretty narrow as well, so we had a couple of uneasy moments that seemed to almost result in head-on collisions, but our driver knew what he was doing and so did the Jamaican residents.  On the roadside we saw all types of houses ranging from shacks to middle class homes to what seemed like they could be mansions-all nestled very high in the sides of the hills. All kinds of businesses are on the side of the road-fruit and vegetables, clothing...you name it, they have it. They will even walk us to your vehicle and and offer their products. On our ride up, we had the option to pick up some honey buns and drinks. We did not partake, however.

The Lobby Entrance to Couples Negril

After a little more than an hour on the road, we arrived at Couples Negril. My first impression of the place was quaint, tropical, and open. That's what it felt like to me. The open lobby was equipped with ceiling fans which brought a nice breeze. It looked a bit gloomy when we arrived, because it had just rained. Eddie shared with me during our trip that it rains between 2 pm and 6 pm every day at this time of year on the island. He was right, because it did just that all during our trip. But no worries, as they say in Jamaica, because it's a predictable cycle: sunshine, humidity, a short rain, coolness, sunshine again. We got used to it.

We were shown to our room which had a perfect view of the tropical foliage. We decided to drop off our bags and go find something to eat. The great thing about an all-inclusive resort is that you've already paid for food, drinks, entertainment, etc. It's all yours to take while you are there. So, we visited the Heliconia Grill and ordered food while sitting on a deck next to the beach. BBQ wings for Eddie and jerk chicken for me. The next four days were thoroughly enjoyed!

Relaxing on the beach chairs

Wednesday was our first day on the beach.  We spent most of our time gazing at the blue sky, frolicking in the water and eating chilled fruit served by the beach waitress.  I learned while Eddie's family was in St. Louis for the wedding that not one of them is fond of water.  This includes Eddie, so I was glad that he got out with me and splashed around during our trip.  Eddie and I spent quite a bit of time floating in the ocean.  I must say that it was nice being served frozen fruit kabobs as we just hung out on our beach chairs between dips in the ocean!

Having fun in the white bikini.  Cheese!

 

                             Eddie floats in the ocean

                         Enjoying frozen fruit kabobs

Our favorite thing about being on the resort was just hanging out-not knowing what time it was and not caring!  We checked e-mail very little and never turned our cell phones on.  This was peace!  We basically ate and did what we wanted.  There is definitely no shortage of food at this place, so we had to sample everything!  Well, I had to anyway.  One place that had ambiance and pretty decor was a Japanese restaurant called Lychee.  Eddie was kind of skeptical about going here, because he  likes his food pretty basic, but he ended up liking his meal much more than I liked mine. 

              Eddie using his chop sticks at Lychee.

Above:  a couple with the same wedding date as us took this for us!

Me shootin' pool.  Eddie beat me, but I gave him a run for his money!

Fine Dining

Couples Negril has one "fine dining" restaurant.  We had great food around us at all times on the resort, but we had to check this out.  The place was so exclusive that if you came a little late for your reservation, you were turned away.   This happened to a couple of people while we were there.  The restaurant could fit only around 30-40 people at a time! So, we felt kinda special.  The funny thing is that after we finished dinner at the restaurant, we headed straight to the buffet so Eddie could get something to eat.  He does not do the pretty food thing!

Eddie doesn't typically drink, but he had a sip while waiting for our table.

Cheers for me!!

We had special couples booths.  No chairs for us!

Eddie's fancy plate.  This is his favorite kind of food.  NOT!

It's pretty though.

Casual Dining

The fine dining was cool, but what we really liked were the buffets.  24 hours of whatever we wanted was more our style.  Eddie's favorites:  fresh fruits and veggies, wings, and little chocolate cookies.  My favorites:  cinnamon cookies, made to order egg-white omelets, fried plantains, and little fried dough biscuits.  I will go back just for the biscuits!

Eddie eating his fruit and veggies

Me eating breakfast-so good!

Our Snorkeling Adventure

Day four of our trip started with a plan. We were to go snorkeling at 9:30 AM, rest, then head to a shopping trip offered by the resort. Snorkeling was cool. Eddie and I suited up, learned how to use the breathing apparatus, and we did pretty well considering the fact that we are not good swimmers. We saw cool fish and other sea creatures, and we were good until we both floated away from the group into some shallow water. I ended up banging and scraping my knee on the hard coral (Did you know coral was hard? I learned the hard way!) After this happened, Eddie and I had had enough and got back on the boat. My knee was burning and swollen, and Eddie had swallowed some of the salt water, so he was quite queasy on the boat. Needless to say we were glad that snorkeling was over, and we couldn't wait to see the shore! I went to the nurse on duty who looked at my swollen knee and immediately thought I'd been stung by a jellyfish. I assured her that my knee was just scraped up from coral. I'm glad she believed me, because I didn't want the jellyfish treatment-whatever that was gonna be. She cleaned and rubbed hydrocortizone on my knee, and still in pain, I headed back to the room. The rest of our morning and part of our afternoon was spent in bed recovering. So, no shopping for us. I will definitely snorkel again now that I know to watch where I"m floating. Eddie has informed me that he will not do it again but said it was a good experience for him. I just regret that I did not get a picture of him in the water during the snorkel trip. I am so proud of him for getting out there!

             My snorkeling boo-boo.  It's all better now :)

Relaxation!!

Glad that we lived to tell about our snorkeling experience, we spent the rest of our honeymoon chilllin.  There was plenty of food, entertainment and beauty on the resort, so we didn't venture out.  Part of our all-inclusive honeymoon package included a 30-minute couples massage.  We took advantage of it the day before we left for home.  Eddie and I were side-by-side in the room, and we each had our own masseuse.  We only wish it had been longer than 30 minutes!  We must do the massage thing again.  Perfect for a vacation!

Our Last Day in Paradise

We took a last dip in the ocean the evening before we were to leave.  It was fun, but we kept thinking about our long trip home.  It's amazing how you see creatures in the ocean at dusk that are not there in  the early daytime.

Going Home-A Trip to Reality

We spent our last morning in Jamaica walking around the resort that we called home for four days.  We had our usual breakfast and with suitcases full, prepared for the long trip home.  For us the trip included an hour ride from Negril to Montego Bay, a trip through customs, a plane ride to Chicago, a lay-over, then finally a quick flight to St. Louis our home.

Ready to go.  NOT!!!

Jamaica The Beautiful!

The travel was long but so worth it to visit an island like Jamaica.  Neither Eddie nor I had ever experienced a vacation quite like this.  We will look back years from now and remember Couples Negril in Jamaica as the place where we had our first husband/wife vacation.  We hope there will be more to come-Paris, Spain, Africa-the possibilities are endless!  Of course Jamaica will have a special place in our hearts.  We will return again and again. 

Dorian Doss

Eddie Doss

The beach from our point of view!

TRAVEL TO BE CONTINUED!

Put a Ring On It

Yesterday was V-Day. As you read in my previous post, we were planning to have a nice dinner at The Melting Pot. We ended up at PF Chang's in the evening, but earlier events of the day included breakfast at Cracker Barrel, a trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden, and a marriage proposal. Yes...a proposal! I had no idea it would happen today, but I found out later that it had been planned weeks before, and everyone seemed to know about it but me-my sister, my mom and dad, Eddie's frat brother, Harrell (he introduced us) and his wife Kita, and Eddie's mom and siblings. I was truly shocked but excited. After Eddie, with a huge grin on his face, said "Will you marry me?!," I stopped shaking long enough to whisper "yes". My now fiance, Eddie Doss, and I are pictured above. A couple at the the garden was nice enough to take this photo after the moment happened. After strolling around the garden for about 20 minutes, he picked this spot in front of the waterfall to pop the question. I will always remember this day. I was asked for my hand in marriage on February 14th, 2009, Valentine's Day, in front of the waterfall at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Please wish us goodness, happiness and peace as we take this journey together.

V Day

Valentine's Day is coming soon. Can you believe I'm thinking about this? I starting thinking about it when Eddie told me this evening out of nowhere that "Valentine's Day is on a Saturday this year". This led to a conversation about what we'll do. Dinner and a movie it is. To my amazement, we have decided on The Melting Pot. Why am I amazed? I love to try new restaurants and food in general. My boyfriend, on the other hand, is a tad picky. He also has stopped eating beef and pork recently. He'll eat fish but no shrimp, crab, or lobster for him! Eddie is also not a fan of "pretty food." So, I am happy that he's stepping out and doing something different with me. Reservations will be made this weekend. I'm excited!

Vacation

I feel so bad that I have not blogged since November. Has life been that busy for me? Not really. It's not that hard to sit down for 5-10 minutes and write some thoughts down. It just hasn't been a priority. I must be pretty bored, because I started my vacation on Christmas Eve. I'm not even half way through it, and I'm blogging. I'll go back to work on January 5th, so I have a good amount of time to sleep in, read, shop, hang out with my retired parents, do laundry...stuff that I do not have much time to do when I'm working. So, I'm really thankful for this time I have off. Luckily, the policy at the company I work for is to use it or lose it [vacation] :)

Change

It is 10:14 PM (Central) on Tuesday, November 4th, and Barack Obama has been elected president of the United States. He is my president. He is your president. I am overwhelmed! How exciting!

My Kind of Town

I returned this week after a four-day conference sponsored by The American Dietetic Association, an organization of which I am a member. It was in one of the best cities in the U.S.-Chicago. I'm sharing some of the highlights with you.

I was fortunate to have a little bit of down time to visit with Amy and Joe. Amy moved to Chicago from Columbia, Missouri in July to join Joe right before their wedding. They are doing great, but Amy is not thrilled about the approaching cold weather:)

Seared Sea Scallops and Shrimp (the green stuff in the middle is a Granny Smith apple)

I admit it. I like pretty food. This is the beautiful dish that I had while at Vong's Thai Kitchen with Amy and Joe. The way a dish is presented can make it that much more enjoyable!

Another pretty dish courtesy of Hershey's Chocolate (the "bowl" is a cucumber cut lengthwise and the dressing is a vinaigrette made with chocolate although it tasted nothing like it

)

Me and Tony (He's grrrreat!)

The Expo Hall is the place to be at these ADA meetings. It's a huge room full of food companies convincing dietitians to recommend and use their products. They do this with plenty of free samples, and I got plenty of them including Frosted Flakes, which is not my favorite cereal, but it was free. I can also add that I won two cookbooks and box full of raisins and nuts from California Raisins. I love the Expo :)

Chris Gardner autographs his book

Did you see The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith? Well Chris Gardner is the "real" person that he portrayed in that movie. He gave an inspiring motivational talk to kick off the conference. His main message is: Whatever happens, never stop, because you never know what great things are awaiting you if you keep moving and stay focused.

Labor Day Weekend

We decided to have our Labor Day festivities a day early. Here're a few shots from our Sunday dinner. We had a good time and lots of good food.

Dad and sis in the kithchem

Mom and Eddie

Dad Grillin'and Chillin'

Dylan and his "dog"

Done grillin'

Retreat and Devotion

Today was another day of retreating. I started my day with a classic massage. Next time I want to try the massage with the hot rocks. I hear it does wonders.

At 10 AM I spent two hours of an excellent devotion given by my church member Kim. The theme was "You Don't Know My Name". I think everyone got teary-eyed as Kim and the other ladies expressed how calling on God by His different names has helped them through difficult times in their lives. This devotion reminded me that God serves us in so many ways and that He is everything that we need, although it's hard to realize that sometimes with all that we have going on in our lives. In order to remind us Kim gave us an exercise. She gave us a sheet of paper with all the translations of God's name and a smooth rock. She asked us to think for a couple of minutes and write the translations of God's name that applies most to us. There were more than ten to choose from, but after thinking for a bit, I wrote on my rock El Shaddai and Jehovah-jireh. El Shaddai reminds me that God is sufficient for whatever is needed. Jehovah-jireh means that God will provide. I plan to keep the rock by my bedside and use it when I reflect from day to day. Very powerful.

The Ladies Participate in the Group Excercise

Well, after that emotional two hours, most of the ladies headed to the Zona Rosa Mall. It was time to eat, so a bunch of us headed to Mimi's Cafe. Great food. The highlight was their huge homemade muffins. If it's your first time at the cafe, they send you home with four of their signature muffins. How nice. The best is the carrot-raisin-nut. After lunch, I was there long enough to grab a decent swimsuit (yeah!!), get a cup of Cold Stone and head back to the bus. It was super-hot, so we did not want to stay out there long. After a nap, I went to the hot tub to soak. It was a full day.

Ahhh...relaxation!!

I've taken off a couple of days of work to take part in a ladies church retreat. We left the Ferguson Heights Church of Christ this morning at 9 AM and arrived in Excelsior Springs, Missouri around 2 pm. We were supposed to get here at 1 PM, but the bus driver's GPS threatened to take us down a closed road and into a river, so he had to do some re-routing, needless to say. Then, later in the day, the group decided that we needed to head to Super Wal-Mart to pick up some necessities-chips, chocolate, gum, water, swimsuits, etc. It must have taken us an hour to get there. Apparently, the driver was not too sure of where he was going. When he stopped to ask the locals, it became apparent that they were not sure either. Well, I think they knew, but "it's just down the road" means different things to different people. Anyway, we got our snacks and such and headed back to The Elms our hotel.

The lobby at The Elms, Excelsior Springs, MO

I never did find that swimsuit, but there's always the mall. By the time we finished our "outing"we were famished. Dinner at the hotel was great. We ate at Adega, which has a prime rib, seafood and pasta buffet on Fridays. Very tasty, especially the made-to-order pasta. Now, I've retired to the room for some much-needed rest. Tomorrow has in store a 9 Am massage, our devotional, a trip to the mall (another fun-filled bus adventure), and other activities which I hope will include water. Hope I find that swimsuit.

A toast to Amy and Joe

My good friend Amy got married to her friend for life Joe yesterday. I just want to wish them the best in all things. Here's to them and their private beach ceremony! I can't wait to see pictures! Oh...and I hope to see you guys for a bit in October. I'm gonna be at a conference in the CHI.

Love and happiness,

Dorian

Wanted: Not bad at all

Had an outing last night, and I saw Wanted. The cast: Morgan Freeman, Angelia Jolie, Common (one of my favorite rapper-turned-actors). It did not disappoint. There was plenty of action all through the film, so it kept me on the edge of my seat. Of course there was quite a bit of violence, which you get a lot of in action movies, but it was an entertaining ride. The movie, however, did not end at all like I thought it would. Total shock. And that made it all the more entertaining. I love a twist! The special effects remind me of The Matrix, a movie I never really understood, but it was fun to watch. I could get a much better grasp of the plot with Wanted, which gives it some points with me. So, all-in-all, you should go see it.

Action on the weekend

I'm so glad it's the weekend. These days Saturdays and Sundays are very precious, because Monday through Friday it's work, work, work! I think I have convinced Eddie to go and see Wanted with me today. I haven't read or heard any reviews and I don't want to. I just want to see if I like it. It's been a long time since I have been to a fun, action-packed movie. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

By the way, I was able to put in over 4,000 steps on my walk this AM. I wanted to get to 5,000, but I have places to go today. Didn't have time. Oh well, I'll continue with my quest to 10,000 steps later.

Counting Steps

I'm in the second week of a walking challenge at my job. We each have to record our steps using pedometers provided by the company, BJK People's Health Centers. Then, after about 12 weeks, the number of steps for each team of 5 will be tallied. So far, I've been averaging about 3,000 steps a day. Somehow, my team members are managing to get up to 20,000 (I wonder where they're walking and when they find the time to do it.) Anyway, I'm proud to say that I did some extra stepping after work yesterday...and I broke 5,000! I think I'll make my personal goal 10,000 in one day.

Weekend in Columbia

I spent a very fun and relaxing weekend in Columbia, MO (my old stomping grounds). The reason was my dear friend Amy's bridal shower and bachelorette party. All the ladies cracked up at some point during the evening. Check out video of Amy at The Deuce.