Island Paradise

It was Jim's birthday yesterday. He is now 46 years young. He had to work for about six hours yesterday but was home early enough in the afternoon that we were able to spend a nice and relaxing time together before having to go out for dinner. We were joining his parents at one of our city's nicer restaurants, Milestones, at half six to celebrate with them. This was our first time at this restaurant although his parents had been to the Toronto Milestones with his sister and her husband a few months ago. Surprisingly busy for a Monday evening - it was Lady's Night - we were none the less quite impressed with our whole experience. 

The decor was elegant and comfortable and our server was bloody fantastic. Definitely a bit on the pricey side but as Jim's Dad was looking after the bill, I didn't dwell too long. One of the Lady's Night specials was 4 Bellinis and 4 Appetizers for $40 so we started with this. Everything was divine though I was starting to feel rather full long before the main course even arrived. I ended up taking half my dinner home in a "doggy" bag after all as I ended up reaching a point where there was no way I could manage another bite.

We decided to take in a film after dinner but when we got to the theatres by our apartment, the next showing of The Dark Knight Rises wasn't for another 90 minutes which was too long to hang around waiting for it to start. By this time, we had all had too much to eat anyway and pretty much just wanted to get home to collapse on the sofa in front of the television! Jim and I told his folks that we would do this next week and would treat them for a change so I am pretty sure we'll be going to see it a week today, next Tuesday.

If all the excitement of celebrating Jim's birthday wasn't enough, we also just managed to put our deposit down with the travel agent to pay for a two week vacation that we'll be going on over Christmas with his folks and his sister and her husband. I am utterly over the moon with anticipation and honestly still have my head in the clouds. Except for two three day mini getaways last year, it has been an eternity since we have been on a proper vacation. Sad to say but it is coming up on near twenty years since our last one.

This one though will surely go a long way in making up for this I have to admit. We have booked a 10 day cruise of the Caribbean with Princess Cruises. We are taking what they call their Eastern Caribbean Voyager on the Emerald Princess which leaves roundtrip from Ft Lauderdale, Florida on December 27, 2012. I don't think I need to state the obvious when I say that this would not have been at all possible if we were both still using and in active addiction. Duh!

Following is the itinerary for our adventure:

                 Destination          Arrives     Departs

	Day 1		Ft. Lauderdale				5:00 PM
	Day 2		At Sea
	Day 3		At Sea
	Day 4		Antigua		8:00 AM		5:00 PM
	Day 5		St. Lucia		8:00 AM		6:00 PM
	Day 6		Barbados		7:00 AM		4:00 PM
	Day 7		St. Kitts		10:00 AM		6:00 PM
	Day 8		St. Thomas		7:00 AM		5:00 PM
	Day 9		At Sea
	Day 10		Princess Cays		9:00 AM		4:00 PM
	Day 11		Ft. Lauderdale		7:00 AM