Catching Up!!

So, I realize it's been months since I've written last. I apologize for that and will try to do better. These past couple of months have been a time for changing for me. I'm not on Cracker Bay anymore. I left the beginning of October. The month of October Hannah and I went travelling. We went to Mississippi, Louisiana, Costa Rica, and back to Chicago. We had a blast!! The beginning of November I travelled back to Ft. Lauderdale to try to find another job on a boat. After being there for a month, I was pretty fed up with the Lauderdale scene and decided to come back home. My plan was to find an apartment and get a job in New Orleans.....well I had no luck getting a job in New Orleans, but I did find an apartment!

I spent most of December going back and forth from Natchez to New Orleans for job interviews, but nothing came ot of it. One job was selling uverse for at&t door to door - no thanks! Towards the middle of December I got a call about a temp job on a boat for the holidays. The job was a two week temp job on a boat Missy B II. I decided to go ahead and do it, I needed the money so why not? I flew back to Ft. Lauderdale and joined the boat for two weeks. It was a good trip. The first week was a charter trip with a Spanish family and the second week the owners were on the boat with some of their family members. We went down to the keys and spent Christmas and New Year's Eve in Key West. We were able to go out a couple of nights in Key West which was a first for me!! The crew went out with guests for New Years Eve, which was interesting! It was a good trip minus a few hiccups that I won't include on the blog.

When we got back to Ft. Lauderdale, I dayworked on the boat for a few more days, then flew back to New Orleans. I spent a week or so in Natchez not doing much - then the weekend of Jan. 22 Haley had her bach party in New Orleans. There were some photos from that weekend which I'll put up tomorrow. Then I went home and the following weekend was the callout ball in Natchez. On Monday after the call out ball, I went to Houston to start packing my things to be ready for the movers the next day who were in charge of getting my belongings to my new apartment in New Orleans!!! On Wednesday I moved in to my apt and started unpacking my things and on Thursday afternoon I flew back to Ft. Lauderdale.

I've got more work going on in Ft. Lauderdale. I've been offered a sole stew position on a really small boat that is going up the New England coast, into the great lakes, and down the Mississippi. Starting this week I'll also help on Missy B for two weeks prepping and during the Miami boat show. So, it appears I'm not getting out of yachting any time soon..... :)

I've included some pictures below of the last few months! Enjoy!



The gang from Cracker Bay - one more night out before Hannah and I leave!



Harry Potter part of Universal Studios

Hogmeade

Harry Potter train! Universal Studios

Marion, Rebecca, and I at Red and PJ's wedding in Baton Rouge.

Rebeccan and I at Red and PJ's wedding.

Hannah, JP, and I at Red and PJ's wedding - my two dates!! :)

The old Louisiana Lagniappe crew!!

S Sarah and me at Uncle Earls after the wedding.

JP, Sarah, and I

Hannah, Blake, and I

Sarah and me

me, Blake, and Hannah in New Orleans.

Sarah and I in New Orleans

Hannah and I experiencing a crazy random Sunday night in New Orleans! I think she likes the city as much as I do! :)

Montezuma Beach in Costa Rica

Hannah doing the canopy tour

Montezuma waterfall

Hannah and I doing the canopy tour

Hannah and I at Isla Tortuga

Our last night in Montezuma

La Fortuna - Volcano Arenal in Costa Rica

Ben in Chicago!

me and Hannah in Chicago

Hannah, me, and Liz in Chicago

Will and I at LSU vs BAMA - LSU won!!

Regan and I at The Well in Ft. Lauderdale

"Tree of Life" in Ft. Lauderdale

Sunset in Key West

Sunset in Key West

Missy B II crew before going out for New Year's Eve!

Dolphins!!

Yesterday, I was in the galley chatting with Hannah when I looked out the window and there were heaps of dolphins swimming alongside us. We ran outside and leaned over the bow of the boat, and there were at least 20 dolphins swimming with us. They were so beautiful!! I didn't have to time to take any pictures, but it was absolutely amazing!

Just call me "Grace"

So, today was my first day back jogging in over two weeks. The weather was beautiful here, and it was a magnificent day to go for a jog. I was just at the turning around point (so the furthest possible point from the boat) and jogging on a nice sidewalk with cars speeding by me on my right and surfers and beach goers on my left....when I decided not to pick up my right foot all the way and fell on my ass (or my left side) for all the world to see. Thanks goodness it takes a lot to really embarass me. I took a picture of the bo-bo on my knee just for shits and grins :)

After the jog, I went to meet up with Hannah and Tash for coffee at Starbucks. I told them about my little incident at the beach, and Hannah said that there should be an age when people just don't fall - falling down should only happen to children.....I totally agreed with her. As adults, we shouldn't fall down anymore.....oh how I wish this were the case, because I realized that I fall A LOT!!!

The last leg.....

Well, we've left Charlevoix and have been heading south for several weeks now. There have been issues with weather and high winds, so we have stopped twice - the first time in Detroit and now we're in Newport, RI. We're planning to leave for Charleston, SC tomorrow morning. The last couple of days in Charlevoix were nice. The last trip was cancelled because of high winds and rain, so the crew had the time off. We left Charlevoix for Charleston, but more bad weather caused us to pull over in Detroit for two nights. Detroit is a miserable city!!! It's very much like a ghost town. We were docked on an island, and while we were there, a Hugh Jackman film, Real Steel, was being filmed. Hannah and I rode bikes to the movie set and hung around for about 30 minutes until we got kicked off by security.



We left Detroit and travelled for a little over a week when we had to stop again due to high winds. We stopped in Newport, RI.....and lo and behold my good friend the kiwi is here too!!! The first night we were here, I was on watch but friday and saturday night, Hannah, Tash, and I went out to a bar called Benjamins. The Kiwi came to meet us as well as an old friend of his Carla. He met Carla when he was on the Red Sapphire in San Remo, Italy - Carla's boat was in San Remo as well....so we all hung out. On Saturday, Hannah and I went to eat sushi, then went back to Benjamins - where I could watch the LSU game. The Kiwi and Carla came to meet us, and LSU won!!! Yesterday, I went to lunch with the Kiwi before he left town on holiday, then came and bummed around on the boat watching movies, etc.

Today, we're "working", but there's not much to do, so now I'm on a break! We're leaving tomorrow and either going to Charleston or heading back to Fort Lauderdale - we won't find out until the last possible moment I'm sure! I've included some new photos from the last month or so.

Me, Hannah, and Tash at Benjamin's in Newport, RI.

The Kiwi and me in Newport, RI.

Excited about LSU's win!! ....in Newport, RI

Me and Carla giving the Kiwi smooches.....in Newport, RI.

me, Kiwi, and Carla in Newport, RI.

Tash and I out with some girls in Petosky, MI - one or our last nights in Michigan.

Louisiana pride - a house in Charlevoix, MI with a purple and gold fleur-de-lis flag.

Taken by the Kiwi as his boat was leaving Chicago. That's me waving good-bye.

me waving good-bye in Chicago....

Cracker Bay in Chicago.

chicago to charlevoix

Well, we've arrived back in Charlevoix from our little excursion to Chicago. We've had one weekend with guests since arriving back and are expected to have more this weekend and next weekend, then we're leaving Michigan!!

Chicago was great! I've decided I may want to move there eventually but not a for a couple years - going to keep yachting for a couple of years then maybe move to Chicago....it's in the far away future so these plans could change ;) While there I hung out with Liz and Marion - two of my favorite people, and planned to go back to visit them over Halloween! The Kiwi was also there on his boat docked close to us, so we hung out quite a lot as well! It was a great weekend!

We left Chicago and headed back to Charlevoix. We had one day off, then back to work to prepare for the next trip. Last weekend the owner's daughter and some people that work in the sales department of their company came and stayed on the boat as guests. One day while they were on the boat, we were docked in Boyne City and did the zip-line at Boyne Mountain resort. The zip-line was pretty fun. There were ten sections, and the guides taught us how to go upside down and do a front flip off one of the plat-forms....which I did and got a serious rope burn on my arm....battle wounds ;)

On Monday we went to the owner's daughter's lake house on Torch Lake and spent the day with the guests. I wake boarded and got up for about 10 seconds. I'm still feeling the pain..... The guests left on Tuesday, and we were off yesterday. Hannah, Tash, and I went to Petosky for the day to do some shopping. I have some pictures below of things that have been going on. I should be getting some more pics from Tasha of wake boarding and from crew nights out. :)



Marion, Liz, and I in Chicago.

Marion and Liz.

Liz and I

Chicago Air and Water show - pictures taken from the boat.

Zip-lining in Boyne City, MI

Turning upside down

Dropping the bean bag.

Amber, Elle, Tash, and I at Elle's house.

me at Elle's house - playing fish bowl, drinking wine, and wearing a balloon hat - typical Tuesday night.

Wake-boarding photos and pictures of the whole group from Elle's party to come......

Chicago!

I realize it's been quite a while since I've written, so it's about time I play some catch up. Since my last entry quite a lot has happened - like I'm one year older now.....unfortunately that's not something I am very happy about :) Another crew member had a birthday the day before mine, so the crew had a BBQ at a beach in Charlevoix. Since that first BBQ we've made beach BBQs a weekly occurance. We were docked in Charlevoix for a few weeks, then left and went to Bay Harbor (which is about 15 miles down the road from Charlevoix), then we were back to Charlevoix, and now we're in Chicago for the weekend. We've met some friends in Charlevoix, some locals, and have established a nice group to hang out with. Below are some pictures from the last month. I've been really slacking at my picture taking, so I'll try to get some from Tasha and Hannah for my next post.

Jaz, me, Blake, and Elle having a BBQ on Depot Beach in Chalevoix.
Hannay, Blake, Jaz, Elle, and me at the beach BBQ.

Tash, Hannah, Phil, Amber, and me

Drew and his gigantic chair at a speakeasy in Chicago called The Violet Hour

Liz and I enjoying happy our at The Wit in Chicago.

Hannah and I taking pictures at the Bean in Chicago.

The Bean!! Chicago

Coming into Chicago

me, some singer chic, and Tash at Whitney's in Charlevoix.

Cracker Bay

Horse back riding on Mackinac Island

The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. It costs $10 just to go into the lobby and after 6:00 pm all women must be wearing cocktail/evening dresses and the men have to be wearing dinner jackets.....a bit pretentious....

Tash and Jaz on their horses.

Hannah on her horse.

The Fort on Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island

Hannah and I on Mackinac Island, MI

Mackinac Island, MI

No cars allowed on Mackinac Island only bikes, horses and horse drawn carriages. One of the dirtiest jobs in America is a horse poop scooper upper on this island.

Mackinac Island

Independence Day parade Beaver Island, MI

Independence Day parade Beaver Island, MI

Independence Day parade Beaver Island, MI

Birthday cake for some guests on the boat - obviously July 4th babies. The cake was made by our chef, and it was delicious!

Phill, the chef, and the cake

Beaver Island from the boat - not much to it

Beaver Island