By the way...

I'm going to COSTA RICA in July! Tickets are purchased... and Tara and Shelly are coming with me!

Sanibel and Captiva Islands - 5/29-5/31, 2009

This weekend my husband surprised me by taking me on a weekend getaway for our anniversary. We spent three days staying at the Casa Ybel Resort on Sanibel Island: http://www.casaybelresort.com/

It was absolutely breathtaking! The resort itself is beautiful! It sits on the pristine beach at the south end of Sanibel Island. Our hotel room was a suite - and OCEANFRONT! Our goal was to relax and spend some much needed time de-stressing. We rented some scooters on Saturday and spent some time driving down to Captiva Island, a tiny little island next to Sanibel. We spent a couple of hours at the beach there.

We also had some GREAT food while staying in Sanibel. Anyone who knows me knows that one of my main joys with traveling is being able to experience some different foods. For breakfast one day, we ate at The Island Cow, a great little family-owned venture with exceptional breakfast and a quirkly island atmosphere. For dinner last night we ate at Doc Ford's, an exceptional place with some of the best scallops I've ever had (I am a sucker for seafood - especially scallops!)

The best thing was that Steve and I got to forget about our responsibilities at home for a weekend. We could put aside the whole trying to get pregnant thing, the bills that we have to pay, the work stress and just be with each other.

On the way back from Sanibel, we stopped by St. Petersburg and checked out the Dali museum! It was FABULOUS. I love Salvador Dali - he's eccentric, unique and completely interesting. We saw a bunch of his work and heard a few intriguing stories about his crazy ass.

All in all, it was a GREAT way to spend our 2nd anniversary. I am so very lucky to have such a loving and romantic husband!

Jaime

One of my favorite people in the world was here in Orlando for a couple of days.

I love Jaime because she is probably one of the most down-to-earth and cool chicas on the planet. She gets my raunchy humor and agrees with my nerdy taste in music. She's probably the only person I know that know more obscure song lyrics than I do. It sucks that she lives far away, but I was glad that we were able to do a little catching up. I really needed to relax and have some good laughs.

See ya again in your neck of the woods in a few weeks - love ya girl!

Costa Rica

So the Seattle trip might be swapped out for Costa Rica. I know, completely different location... very random. I get all these travel deals via email, and I happened upon this one today:

Experience Costa Rica's rain forests, volcanoes and colorful wildlife without the hassle and expense of self-packaging by booking this $499 vacation special.
This six-night fly-and-drive package saves at least $200 OFF similar packages in the market and includes:
Roundtrip airfare to San Jose from Miami (see additional departure cities below)
Six hotel nights: two in San Jose, two in Arenal, two in Monteverde
Seven-day 4x4 SUV mini/manual car rental with unlimited mileage
Daily breakfast
Airline fuel surcharges

Now I have to convince Shelly and Tara that we should do this instead. My husband is a little less than thrilled, but I explained to him that I was definitely going to spend at least 600 bucks going to Seattle (probably more). This includes EVERYTHING except food. You cannot beat that!

Life has been so hectic and demanding lately that all I can seem to think of is travel. I need to refocus and destress this summer big time. This might also be the last summer that I have fully to myself. I want to be completely selfish and focus on myself for a couple of months before I become a mommy. That way when it does happen, I'll feel satisfied and ready. I just need that one last "fling" with travel.

Insanity

The past couple of weeks have been so ridiculously busy, I really haven't had time to write a substantial post. Here's the past couple of weeks in a nutshell:

Got officially rehired at school. Teaching 3rd grade next year, switching classrooms, possibly not teaching ESOL anymore. Happy to have a job, not complaining!

Been trying to get pregnant for about a month now. Will know in a few weeks if we were successful. Want to be pregnant by JULY.

Those of you that know me, know that books are my obsession. I was part of a book club that I found on meetup and have made a couple of really awesome friends. The book club started reading some super lame books (i.e. "ChickLit" and Romance) so we branched off and started our own group. We're reading "Peony in Love" by Lisa See.

11 days of school left (PRAISE THE LORD) and I cannot wait! The kids are ready and I have been ready for about a month.

Steve and I are toying with the idea of trying to rent out our house so that we can move to a safer neighborhood.

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And last but definitely NOT least... I present to you, the travel line-up for Summer 2009:

??? Surprise Trip (Steve's taking me somewhere but won't tell me where) - May 29-31

Philadelphia/New Jersey - June 11-15

Miami - end of June

West Palm - 4th of July-ish

Seattle - July 20-24

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Dear USA,

I feel that I have neglected you in the past few years with my relentless Europe obsession. In an effort to show that I realize I live in a pretty nice place, I will be bouncing around the borders of my own country this summer. I hope to have a better appreciation (and fuller bank account) after the summer is over.

Gracias, Ms. Wanderlust

Maybe next month

Period has arrived... no baby Heydorn.
BOO. :(

Not going to get disappointed, I am so irregular it's honestly a guessing game to figure out when the time is actually right...

At this moment, glad I'm not preggers because I seriously need a glass of wine and a midol.