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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

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!!

Thursday, September 25, 2014

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.

:) :)

Monday, September 22, 2014

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.

laughing gif photo: Beyonce Laughing beyoncelaugh.gif

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!!

Friday, September 19, 2014

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 :)

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!!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

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!


Tuesday, September 16, 2014

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!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

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.

Friday, September 12, 2014

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.

:)

Thursday, September 11, 2014

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!!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

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 ;)