Nanny Diaries and more Tomily plans

So yesterday was my first day as a nanny

and it went as well as I could have hoped.

I got the kids to and from school with ease

and we only had like 2 or 3 minor meltdowns

between brother and sister.

Success!!

I was a little nervous about the kids liking me.

Isn't that just crazy because I mean...I'm pretty likable ;)

I don't know why I was worried about that because

by the end of the day yesterday I pretty much

had both kids vying to be my best friend.

I'm a fun nanny...it's true!!

I'm still trying to get used to having these

in the back seat of my car..it's a bit weird to 

see in my review mirror.

This is going to be an excellent job for right now

and probably through at least half of next year.

Yea...like through the summer of 2015.

"Wait but aren't you going to England??"

hmmmm well, I think the plans have changed a bit.

We THINK...nothing has been confirmed but

we're thinking about Tom coming back

over to Texas for a couple or more than 

a couple of months next year.

Soooooo that's exciting!!

We're trying to figure it all out as we speak..

Literally...we're speaking right now on skype as I write this

and we're looking into different visa's and such :)

Actually Tom is just playing on his new guitar while

I pester him about looking into Texas stuff ;)

ah skype dates, how we love and loathe you ;)

Won't be long before we're back in the same place.

And the fact that that place might be Texas again is real exciting!!

:)

Hope you're all having a great week!!

I GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!

Oh hey, guess what????

I'm a working woman!!

I'm a Nanny!!!

I basically feel just like Fran because

I'll be watching kids and i'm dating a Brit

and I have a nasally voice sometimes...or all of the time.

Dang allergies...

So I am officially a working woman

but i'll be working with two little kiddos

instead of working on things like spreadsheets ;)

From now on I'll have 2 car seats in the 

back of my little Honda Civic.

I'll have two new besties,

one is 3 and the other is 6

and i'm so excited about it!!

It's true though, I'm a College Grad with my BBA

and I took a nanny job....Why??

Well truth is I could have probably

looked for jobs that weren't nanny jobs.

I could be doing 9-5 M-F and be making

good money and stuff but have zero zero zero

time for my really fun relationship with Tom.

Soooo I chose a part time nanny job

with crazy amazing hours and GREAT PAY.

Like.....whoa....the pay...holy smokes!!

Not trying to brag but...If I knew I could nanny

and make more money that way than a regular job

then I would have gotten my degree in nannying ;)

I am just SO excited about this.

I emailed the Mom on Monday through the

website Care.com and heard back from her the same day.

I had my interview the next day and then two days later

I have a job and my $3 in my bank account looks

a little bit brighter and cheerier because it's about

to get some fraaannnddssss!!

I will work 3 days a week, 6 hour days with breaks in between

because both kids are in school.

I do drop offs and pickups and homework and playtime

and probably one too many fun trips to Target ;)

This job is also going to change all of those 

Tomily plans I wrote about the other day.

As soon as I write down a plan it only takes like

a day or two for something to happen that changes those plans.

So that's crazy and exciting.

We've got some stuff to work out now

and we're both really excited about the changing plans.

I'll add onto that later once it's all confirmed.

So yea, I've got a job and I'm so pumped.

I can't wait to meet these kiddos and

start this fun journey with this really sweet fam.

:) :)

Tomily Plans for the next year!!

Well i already mentioned that

the school thing was a buuussstttt.

We were hoping that Tom would be able

to enroll at our local college here in town and

just take a few classes that he was interested in.

Tom already has a degree from his University in Liverpool

so we thought it would be easy to get him accepted

into a non university for a few fun classes.

We were wanting to get him over in Texas

for about a year on a Student Visa.

But we found out that if you get a student visa you have to follow

a degree plan and that wasn't what we wanted.

This school doesn't do Masters programs either.

And we're not really looking at getting a Masters degree

because it would just cost too much.

We didn't want Tom to follow a degree plan either

because instead of taking the classes he'd want to take

he'd be stuck in English and Math and Science classes

just like a first year student.

So anyways...that's not happening

We got pretty pumped about the school thing.

We started thinking about all of the fun stuff we could

do in the USofA for the next year.

But then it crashed and burned soooo we had to move on.

While we were in the car driving to Houston

last weekend we brainstormed ideas the whole way.

We discussed the option of going to

Australia or New Zealand next year.

We punched some numbers...

and realized that we'd be spending more than saving

if we were to move across the world to either place.

Both AUS and NZ have the working holiday programs

so we would be able to work while over there which is good

but the money we made would have to go to rent and food

and anything else we'd want to do and I just don't

see us saving up as much as we'd want to save.

Plus on top of that we'd both need to have

about $7,000 by the end of this year.

I have like....$50 in my bank account ;)

So that doesn't look like it's going to happen right now.

We came to the conclusion that this next 

year needs to be about saving money.

Tom has a good job in Liverpool and we

want him to keep that job for as long as possible.

So after we decided that moving across the world

was just not going to happen we transitioned

over to talking about going back to England.

We were pretty happy by the time we got
to Houston because we now had a plan.

So here's the plan...the early version as I'm 

sure it will expand and change in the coming months.

I'll go back over to England in January or early February

for a few [5or6] months...

Then I'll come home at the end of that

and get a job and work for the rest of the year

and save up my paychecks along with Tom's paychecks

that he's been saving and will continue to save.

Tom may or may not come back

over to Texas next year.

Just depends on work and money.

We're hoping to have quite a bit saved up

by the end of next year so that we can

do more in the following year.

Maybe even permanent things.

We've heard Just get married already and well yea I'd love that

and so would he, but we want to be financially ready

to do that because we have more to plan and pay for than just

a wedding and a honeymoon.

We've got to pay for a marriage visa and a flight

and a small wedding and a fantastic honeymoon

and an apartment and we have to decide who's moving where

or are we both moving???????

If we move to England then Tom has

to be making a specific amount of money or have

enough saved up to support me.

The same goes for moving over here

except over here my parents can sponsor us

If I don't make enough money to support us yet

which makes it much easier on us.

The costs and questions just add up real fast

and we just want to be responsible and prepared

for when the time comes. :)

We're so responsible, I sometimes wish we weren't

but I know it will only benefit us in the long run.

:) 

Hope you're all having a good start to your week!!

Etsy Newness

I just wanted to share a few

new items that I've put up on Etsy recently.

I've not made prints for a few weeks

since going to the Dominican so once I got 

home I was ready to get back to it.

I've also added some Letters to the shop.

They are painted free standing letters.

I personally love them and I'm

excited to have them in the shop.

I'm also putting my prints back on Jane.

They will hopefully be up in about a week or so.

I made about $100 last time around on Jane

and soooo I'm hoping that happens again...

Or let's even aim higher this time ;)

So here's a little snippet at the newness.

Head over to my shop to see the rest :)

Etsy Shop

Tomorrow my dad is going to show

me how to use a Jigsaw for a new product

that I'm adding to the shop in early October.

I've been planning this one for a while

and i'm really excited about it!!

I'm just trying to make some money for

a plane ticket to England.

This is the life of a Traveling Entrepreneur.

;)

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

My Birthday Abroad | Falling | Leaving

On September 4th, 2014 I turned 24.

The amount of 4's in my birthday this year

made it feel a little luckier which I know is totally

silly but birthday's are magical so I'm going to go with it ;)

I usually spend my birthday in School.

Sometimes my Birthday falls on a weekend

or labor day and I'll have the day off

but usually I was in school.

I like to tell everyone that my mom

was in labor on labor day, I mean she was

but it just doesn't mean the same thing ;)

Anyways, this year I was definitely not in school

but instead I was on holiday in the Dominican Republic.

The day was pretty normal, we stayed by the pool

then we went down to the beach.

Everyone in our group gave me well wishes

and happy birthday's throughout the day.

Dinner time came around and we had reservations

at the Italian restaurant on the resort.

The whole group came and I got to sit at the head of the table

where the balloons were which meant that the staff knew something

which meant that maybe I'd get some free cake ;)

Well after we ate I looked over and saw the staff gather and then the

singing starting as they walked over with my cake.

Then Tom and his family started singing and it was just great.

As soon as they got over to me one of the waiters 

popped all of the balloons as a form of celebration

that my heart was not ready for.

Scared the crap out of me.

Anyways, they sang and after they sang

the staff came over to me and they all shook

my hand and told me congratulations which was so sweet

and a little bit funny.

Congratulations you made it another year..haha

After dinner Tom and I headed down to some shops

because I had been eyeing a ring that I wanted.

(Not an engagement ring)

See, just a fun blue ring.

The stone is Larimar and it's the

national stone of the Dominican Republic.

I think it's beautiful and if you see me around

you'll probably see me wearing it because I haven't

taken it off since getting it.

My Birthday in the Dominican was one I'll never forget.

It's the first time Tom and I have been in the same place on my birthday.

We were also together on his birthday this year.

I obviously love being with my family on my birthday

but if I had to be anywhere else I'm real glad it was with Tom and his family.

They are my second family and I love them all so much.

It was great to be able to spend my 24th birthday with them.

:) 

Ok so i'm going to wrap up the Dominican posts today.

I've just got two more things to add and then I'll be finished for a while.

A few posts ago I talked about bruises that were on my body.

Well those bruises are from a pretty nasty fall.

In fact I'd go as far to say it was my worst fall, and i've had plenty.

I don't even like calling it a fall because 

I threw my body into the ground so violently.

It was more than just a fall...

So Tom and I were sitting around being lazy when I heard

it start to pour rain outside.

Call me crazy but I got REALLY excited.

I told to Tom to come see it with me but it

was more of a shout because i shout when i'm

excited about something.

So I head out into this tile hallways that goes

from being covered to being outside.

I see the rain and I decide it's a good idea

to run towards the rain as if the rain would leave

at any moment during the downpour.

Tom is now behind me and I run, not fast, but

I run towards the rain and Tom runs behind me.

So I'm running and then I'm not running

I'm actually flying through the air.

Not only am I flying through the air but i'm also in a narrow-ish

hallway so i'm also banging body parts against walls and the floor.

Now i'm sliding.

Sliding across the tile floor, almost unconscious i'm sure.

I slide and then I plop off the step that goes from the

tile hallway onto the cement sidewalk.

And I stop.

I looked up and saw Tom standing there absolutely 

bewildered as to what just happened.

He runs over to me grabs me ever so gently

because every muscle in my body has basically given up on me

and he slowly moves me back inside.

Once we are safe from the rain that USED to be so cool

we take a look at my injuries.

I hadn't hit my head but I suspect if I had

we would be calling an emergency vehicle.

I was in shock, I was shaking and weirdly crying

with no tears, I think my tear ducts were in shock as well.

The worst pain I had were in my toes.

I was sure that three of them were broken.

I'm wiggling them now and they still hurt..

The fall was bad but right after the fall I didn't think there

was too much wrong with me and I thought I got out lucky.

Next day my left foot pinky toe was black and blue and so painful

to walk on that I had to limp.

I had a HUGE bruise on my right side thigh

and my right arm felt like it had been punched several times.

And finally I had a nice scrape on my left knee.

So as you can see I didn't just injure one side of my body

but instead I injured both sides of my body.

I don't know how my head was not involved but i'm very glad it wasn't.

Sheesh that was a long story.

We had a few days left at the resort after my fall.

We just relaxed until it was time to head home.
We even got some more sun thankfully.

Two weeks in paradise kind of made us forget the journey home.

Tom was going to have to go back to Santiago while

I went back to Puerto Plata.

We flew our separate ways and met up in Miami.

We had some pizza for dinner and then got on our last flight to Dallas.

The flight was nearly half empty which was nice.

Lot's of room so everyone could enjoy some extra space.

So we take off and everything is great...

AND THEN WE FREE FALL.

Yea, I don't know if you've ever been on a plane

where it just drops out of the sky but it's absolutely terrifying.

We only fell for about a second but it was long enough

for you to pee your pants multiple times.

I mean a woman screamed, she screamed.

One thing you don't do on a plane is scream.

It was terrifying.

Luckily they got things back to normal but never

actually told us anything about the drop.

We all expected a little announcement like this...

"Oh sorry folks..psh..we had a little turbulence there...psh..

nothing to be alarmed about...psh...go about your business...psh..

and thank you for flying American."

But no...none of that...no one said anything...as if it didn't happen..

BUT IT DID HAPPEN

But we made it back to Dallas in the end 

so I guess it wasn't that bad.

:)

I'm going to stop there.

Hope you are all having a great day!

Excursion in the Dominican

I started my Dominican trip posts last week

but obviously with Tom heading back to England

I had to interrupt the vacation posts a little bit.

Well Tom made it home safe and sound

and I had a good weekend in Houston with 

my best friend from College, Lauren.

Now I'm home, he's home and it's time

to get back to the normal grind.

His grind is work, my grind is

trying to find work for the next 3 months..

But currently I'm sick in bed with 

a pretty severe cold that started Sunday

afternoon with a teeny sneeze and worked

it's way up to fever, sore throat, sneezing, coughing + some

all in like an hours time, and it's still going..

So i'm thinking this is a perfect time to continue

to blog about our time in the Dominican Republic!!

For the most part we were all beach/pool bums.

But there was one day when the whole family

went on a boat excursion where the final destination

was a place called Paradise Island.

We woke up early and got on a large bus along

with about 20 other people, we made up almost half of the group.

We got on our way and headed over to where our boat was waiting.

Once on the boat we headed to a natural swimming area in the ocean.

I was so nervous about this because swimming is not something i'm good at

and swimming in the ocean with fish is something i'm terrified of...

So I was like...ok let's get there and see what it's like and then

we will just see what happens..

We get there and this is what we see..

And i'm like...OH SNAP, this is happening!!

The water was so clear and so blue and I was not going

to stay on that boat for a minute longer.

So we all jumped in, actually I slid in off my bum.

Baby steps, baby steps.

We also got floatie noodles so I was golden.

we swam around for about 40 minutes before it

was time to get on the boat and head to the next stop.

Next we headed over to a beach where our lunch was being made.

We walked onto this beach and were welcomed with

fresh coconuts already ready for us to enjoy...

Or to try and then decide it's so so nasty.

We decided after two sips that these were not for us.

BUT they are fun and picture worthy so you know..selfie coconut time,

even though they're really nasty ;)

We had lunch on the beach and then headed back

to the boat to head to the final destination.

Paradise Island

This island is bigger than it looks

however most of it / all of it was covered in water.

Paradise island consists of 7 palm tree shacks

that house snorkel gear for tourists.

We got off the boat and got our snorkel gear.

Most of the group went with the guide to snorkel 

over the coral and to see more fish.

I stayed behind with Holly Toms sister

and we had a blast snorkeling around the little island.

Our guide said there were fish that can bite when you

go to the deeper snorkel area...soooo....i was happy to stay behind ;)

We saw some beautiful fish in our area and we were even able

to get closer to the coral area so we got to see some of that as well.

It was so fun, the whole day, it's one of my favorite day's that we had on the trip.

Plus I got to do it all with this handsome guy which

made it even better!! 

Tomorrow I'll talk about my

birthday in the Dominican.

:)

Hope you're all having a great week!

Saying Goodbye / Airport Scene

We left the house around 7:30am yesterday to begin our

trek to Houston to drop Tom off at the airport.

We went to IHOP and got a hearty breakfast before we hit the road.

Fort Worth to Houston is a 4 hour trip.

4 hours of last minute chats, jokes, giggles and mushy love.

We listened to the oldies but goodies

and we talked about the past six weeks.

We reminisced on our favorite moments and

we talked about what we think is to come.

We were able to brainstorm ideas for next year

during the trip and we actually came up with a pretty great plan.

Let's just say we might just do this year over again,

except this time budget better and save more money.

So if we can work it all out

i'll soon be looking at flights back to England :)

We're relived now that we kind of have a plan in place.

Before the trip up to Houston we were both just

unsure about the next step.

But now we think we've got it figured out

so I'll talk more about this later.

Airport Time

We get to the airport around 1:20.

This is when hand holding becomes essential and

looking at each other directly in the eyes becomes difficult.

We get Tom checked in and move ourselves

to a little corner in the airport where we feel semi alone.

We hugged and I burried my head in Tom's chest.

We're at perfect heights for warm chest hugs, at least for me.

Tom's head just floats above ;) haha

We get ready to part ways when I say something like "Noooo, WAIT"

and then I attack Tom and give him a neck raspberry.

:)

Listen, the neck raspberry sends him into a fit of giggles.

He was looking so sad to be leaving so I lightened the mood

with a neck raspberry, i'm a classy lady ;)

We laugh and kiss and hug and kiss and he

walks off and I walk after him and we kiss and hug

and then I say something like "we're starting to draw attention"

AND THEN Tom decides to really go in for a big kiss

which leaves our audience in giggles and ewws haha.

I told Tom that I didn't want him to leave and the look

on his face will probably stay with me forever.

His face crinkled up and bit and he almost crumbled.

Tom doesn't really cry in these instances.

I cry, I'm the cryer, I've got the crying part down.

Tom waits till after I leave and then tells me

he had a moment after I left.

But this time around he allllmmooossstttt lost it ;)

My poor guy, he didn't want to leave and man oh man

if I had the recourses to keep him with me all the time

you better believe I'd do whatever it would take.

But he had to leave in order for us to continue to move forward.

It's a strange way to look at it but it's true.

I'm just really really excited to get back to him.

If that means going back to England for 6 months than so be it ;)

So another Tomily time has come to a close

but there is just sooo much more to come :) :) :)

Hope you're all having a wonderful sunday.

Another long distance farewell

I have to return Tom to England today via an airport in Houston.

I am not excited about this at all, neither is Tom.

Uggghhhhhhhhhh

This is the worst part of long distance.

The absolute worst.

I'm going to cry in public.

I hate crying in public.

But it's going to happen.

I'll leave a puddle in the airport for sure.

It's inevitable.

What's even worse is we were kind of on the cusp of

making some BIG plans for next year.

Like spending the WHOLE year together plans.

They involved Tom registering for school here in fort worth.

The plan seemed perfect but it fizzled out in the end.

We were on the verge of this plan working,

we got our hopes up and starting thinking ahead,

and now we're back to the drawing board for next year.

It's not the end of the world by any means

but we were just excited about the prospect of Tom being

in Texas for a long period of time and now we're just not

sure what will happen, who will go where and yahdeeyahdah...

We will figure it out, we're good at figuring this stuff out.

We were just hoping we'd have plans in place before he left

but that's not going to be the case soooo we will just have to 

deal with it and move on and continue to look for ways to be together.

We will be good, we both know it and we're not worried.

We're just ready to be rich and be together ;)

 

I'll of course keep you all posted

on the plans as they come into view.

Hopefully we will have something in mind soon.

The past six weeks have been such a blast.

I love this man so so much and it's been amazing

having him back in Texas for a while.

It's going to be so hard to let him leave tomorrow

but I know he has to leave in order for us to move forward at a later date.

I've said it before, long distance is hard but it's so worth it

when you're with the right person or wright person...

Get it...Tom's last name is Wright...

Hah ;)

That's freaking hilarious!!

<3 div="">

Thoughts and prayers appreciated

as we part ways aggaaiiinn and for safe travels for both of us.

:)

República Dominicana

It was a year ago that this holiday

to the Dominican came to life.

Tom and I were sitting at a Denny's in the Mojave Desert

eating lunch when Toms family skyped us with the big holiday news.

They asked if we wanted in and we were hesitant

because we weren't sure where we'd be in a years time.

We didn't initially book the holiday with his family.

They went ahead and booked it as a big package and then

a few months later we finally decided to book it ourselves.

I was the first person to get to the resort.

About 45 minutes into my wait I saw a bus pull up.

Then I saw my people get off.

I ran over and met the whole group that consisted of around 13 people.

We all hugged and chatted while they got checked in.

It was so good to see them after not seeing them all summer.

Once Tom arrived we were all able to get settled

and get started with this holiday.

Holiday = British version of Vacation if anyone was confused.

...

This was the first time I had ever been to an all inclusive beach resort.

These aren't the kind of trips my family would take.

Not because we didn't like the idea but probably more so because

we just didn't know enough about this kind of vacation.

So this was my first experience of a chill holiday

where lying by the pool is the main activity for the day.

And I have to say it's absolutely brilliant (as the brits would say).

I mean it's SO GOOD!!!!!!!

It's basically sleep | eat | swim | sleep | read | eat | sunbathe | eat | sleep | swim | eat | sleep.

It's a magical land where you don't have to do anything but relax.

It's just crazy and incredible and I have to say I'm in love with it.

Our resort had Three different Hotels on it.

They were all the same RIU hotel chain but they were

separate hotels, one of them being quite ritzy while

the other two were less ritzy but still incredible.

The Resort had three pools.

The Ritzy one had a ginormous pool

while our hotel had a nice sized pool.

The other pool was located at the last hotel,

this hotel was actually closed during this time of the season.

So day one we found our people by the closed hotels pool.

They had showed up and asked if the pool was open

and the staff reported that it was open, however there was no one there.

They used this pool to train people who wanted to scuba dive

but for the most part no one really ever trekked down to it.

That is until we came along.

For most of the trip there were only ever about 20-30 people around this pool.

There were even less people in the pool.

Half of the time we had the giant pool to ourselves, the water part at least.

Then you'd go down and see the other pools and giggle

about how many people were trying to swim around in it.

We had our own area, our own pool and it was perfect!

Along with having our own pool area we also had

a basketball court and a sand volleyball court.

We got a ball and got pretty active on both courts.

I'm pretty positive that before this trip Toms family

was unaware of how athletic I am.

Well...now they know ;)

Along with the pool and the sports we also had

an amazing beach area with tons of beds and beautiful

palm trees stretched out over the sand.

Tom and I made a point to get out there almost every day

to lay out and read our books.

I'm reading Outlander right now and I'll be doing

a post devoted the this book soon.

It's SO SO GOOD!!!

That's probably my favorite part of the holiday.

Laying by the beach, listening to the waves, reading, sunbathing and just relaxing.

The majority of our time there consisted

of relaxing by the pool or beach and eating and sleeping.

Can't really complain about that ;)

The best part, of course, was that I got to spend lots of time with my guy.

Come back tomorrow for more about our trip :)

...

While vacation posts are fun I couldn't finish this one without

saying some words about today's anniversary.

September 11th was 13 years ago.

It was an absolutely devastating day in Americas history.

I'm praying for and thinking of all of the families that were affected that day.

While we go about our day's not thinking too much about that day

it is engrained in those families minds every single day.

I wish that we could all be celebrating peace today instead of fearing

the same thing that rocked America all those years ago.

I pray for peace over war and love instead of hate.

I pray for this country and the countries of our enemies and for the world.

I wish we could all be friends and just be happy but I know

that things run deeper than that and it's not that simple.

I plan to hold that day in my heart for the rest of my life.

I was only 12 when it happened but I remember it like it was yesterday.

Never Forget that day, never forget the people!!

Story time - We're back from the Dominican Republic

Well we're back.

Tom and I returned to Dallas last night

after spending two AMAZING weeks in paradise.

Paradise = All inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic.

I'll do a post later all about the resort and

the good and the bad and reviews and such.

But for now i'll just give you guys the story of our trip

in a couple of separate posts to keep it controlled.

First of all here are a few changes that have occurred 

since leaving for our trip two weeks ago.

I'm TAN..woohoo

My hair is significantly blonder

I'm now 24

I have a HUGE bruise on the side of my thigh

& My little pinky toe on my right foot is swollen three times it's

original size and it's not the prettiest of colors.

More on the state of my injuries in a later post

that will make you giggle at my expense...it's ok though

I totally 100% deserve every gig.

...

Ok so let's start from the beginning.

The night before we were meant to leave Tom and I

were going over all of our travel details making sure

everything was good to go.

We booked our flights separately but managed

to get on the same round trip flight from dallas to miami and back.

However, we were not able to get on the same flight to

the Dominican Republic.

We didn't think much of it at the time of booking,

we just said that whoever landed at the airport first would wait for the other.

Well that night while looking through our arrangements

we see POP airport on my itinerary and STG on Toms.

heh..

It's midnight on the day of travel when we

realize that we're flying into separate airports in the Dominican.

We've both traveled by ourselves before.

I've flown roundtrip to England twice on my own

and Tom backpacked Europe by himself a few years ago.

We're pretty avid travelers so while it was a hiccup

it wasn't anything that would be too terrible.

I think it was just a little scary at the time

because we didn't know what to expect in the Dominican.

Tom was more worried about me than anything.

His family was flying into the same airport as me

and he was desperately trying to get someone to wait for me

at the airport while I kept saying I'd be fine, I'll just get a cab,

it will be ok...he wasn't so sure though.

It turned out that I was the first to land so there

was no family to find and before I could get situated 

I was whisked away to a taxi cab by an energetic dominican man.

Oh wait let me backtrack...

Our flight to Miami from Dallas was easy

but it put us in a bit of a time crunch.

When we landed in Miami we became those

people who run through airports to catch a connecting flight.

Tom was minutes away from missing his flight

while I got to my gate when they were boarding group 4.

So we made it and the journey to the Dominican Republic began.

When I landed and got off the plane I went to the exchange people.

I had $107 on me and I exchanged $100 of it for Dominican Pesos.

Then I got in another line that was for the Tourist visa.

I had not known at the time that there was a $10 charge to enter the country.

I only had $7 left and they didn't accept Dominican Pesos.........

-face palm-

So I begged the people behind me for three dollars.

They were so nice and gave me the money with a smile.

After that I went and grabbed my bag and before I could even

set my suitcase down a man approached me and took it off me

and started asking me "bus or taxi" in a very strong Dominican accent.

I said taxi but at the same time I was wanting to stop for

a minute and look out for Tom's family just in case someone had waited.

There was little time for looking around though because

the man who escorted me through the airport was a fast little guy.

He was walking with me and kept looking at me and saying

something that I couldn't quite make out.

"You uh give uh me uh tee"

That's what it sounded like..

I finally came to the conclusion that he wanted a tip.

He walked me about 100 feet from where I grabbed

my bag to where my taxi was and he wanted a tip.

So I gave him one, but at the time I didn't know

the exchange rate between US Dollars and Pesos.

So I'm pretty positive I gave him about $10

because I was a bit frazzled by it all.

Once I got to the Taxi I felt a lot better.

He took me straight to the resort and not long

after I was met by Toms family and then FINALLY

after what seemed like forever I saw Tom pull up.

We stayed at the RIU Merengue resort.

It was all inclusive and absolutely gorgeous.

I miss it already and can't wait to share more

stories about our time there.

Check back tomorrow for a new post about our trip.

I know, two day's in a row, I spoil you guys ;)