hello, world.

I just realized that I've been gone for quite some time.....not that it matters as I'm sure that very few people read this....but I like the theraputic nature of blogging. So hello, world.

Oh, the holidays!! Oh, Jamaica!! Lots to talk about...here's a brief synopsis of the past month:

*Decorate the house for Xmas
*Try to be bikini-ready for Jamaica
*Go to MD for best friend's father's funeral (very, very sad and unexpected)
*Stress out about my not yet ready bikini body (fuck it.)
*Go to MD for Turkey Day! What a fun weekend....I absolutely love my family.
*Eat entirely too much to even consider getting in a bikini.
*Go go Jamaica for seven days. Have quite possibly the best vacation ever and come back well-rested and totally disconnected from my life in Nashville. I'm so serious about my snowcone stand idea.....and I'm currently accepting applications.
*Didn't care at all about my bikini body because I had such an amazing time.

That's pretty much it. The past month of my life. Very full.

I won't really go into many details of the above list, but I will brag a little about Jamaica. Holy hell. Can I please go back? Really? Why the hell do I live in Nashville and not Montego Bay?

So basically, I go somewhere tropical with my mom and sister every December. Long story short, she owns a Swimming Pool company and the distributor she gets her supplies from sends the dealers on "free" trips every year. Since she brings both my sister and I, and we stay for two extra days, there is a buy-in, but still, a lot of what we do is totally paid for by someone other than us, and we take full advantage!

This year we stayed at the Half Moon Resort and Spa in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Do yourself a favor and check this website out. If you EVER go to Jamaica, stay here. It's so worth it. Also, go the all inclusive route. It's also totally worth it. It is so nice going to a resort and not having to look at how much every dirty banana drink and lobster tail cost!! The resort is absolutely perfect. Beautiful, clean, friendly, refined, HUGE (500 acres!) and just so relaxing....this is my second time there, and it was even better than the first time. We even requested to stay in the same suite because we loved it so much the last time!

We did everything we wanted to do: ATE, ATE, ATE (best meals included the conch trio with lobster tail, and of course, the local jerk chicken we went and picked up on our last night), drank a ton (my favorites being the Dirty Banana and the Miami Vice), took lots of pictures, and just enjoyed ourselves!! My favorite thing we did, however, was the Parasailing. 400 feet up in the air drug behind a boat in the Carribean. Yeah. Freak yeah.

I'll put up a few pics, but they just won't do it justice. I absolutely love Jamaica, and I love Jamaicans. They are so proud of their country, and once we explained that we've been there twice and will continue to come back because we just love it, they all were calling us "family." I got such a warm and fuzzy feeling from that. That someone I have only one thing in common with - a love for Jamaica - can consider me "family" in a sense. Very cool.

Something that I learned that I didn't know before (my foodie friends will enjoy this):
The local Jamaican food is incredible. Jerk chicken, that's a given..... but there were two things that I had never heard of before that I ate this week, and it was seriously life changing.

1) "Festival." From the sound of that, you really have no idea what it is, right? Well, it's bread. Holy moly bread! Try to imagine a hush puppy mixed with a funnel cake, in breadstick form. Yeah, you're mouth is watering, isn't it?
2) "Breadfruit." This was probably my favorite thing all week (besides the local coffee (MMM)). It's a fruit that when cooked, has the taste and consistency of bread. So basically, it's like eating bread, but it's fruit!! My soulmate. Our local meal we got from Scotchie's was Jerk Chicken, Jerk Pork, Festival, a sweet potato (which is totally different than our sweet potato) and some breadfruit. Life changing.

What's neat about it is that there were breadfruit trees all over the resort, and the workers would just climb the freaking trees and grab the fruit to cook it. I loved talking to them about it! And then knowing what they were doing when they were climbing the trees ;-)

MOTHER BITCH. As I sit here writing this blog, a freaking JAMAICA commercial came on TV!! I serioulsly almost cried. Bob Marley's "One Love" was playing, and all it said was "once you go, you know." That sums it up. I suggest that everone go. Please, go...... aaah.....

Well, I guess that's all I have to say. I am going to be suffering from post-vacation depression for a while, so I apologize to anyone who has to come in contact with me over the next week or so. At least the holidays are coming up and I can try to switch into that gear and distract myself...

aaah....breadfruit.