Cancun?!?!

After dealing with months and months of sickness and feeling awful, E and I found ourselves with an entire week off over our anniversary. This rarely happens, E almost never has a solid week off (unless it's Grammy time) and when he does have days off, they never seem to coincide with our big events. It seemed like the stars were aligning and telling us it was time for a vacation.

Our first thought was Hawaii. We stayed in a gorgeous house on Kauai last time we were there and would have loved to go back. Unfortunately, that property was booked solid and our back up connection for a good hotel didn't pan out. With no good hotel options, and crazy expensive food and airfare, Hawaii was out.

Until we meet again, Kauai...

With Hawaii off the table, I began looking into other tropical destinations, specifically those with all inclusive vacation packages. This was right up E's alley and it took about 5 seconds for him to fall in love with the idea of an all inclusive resort - all the food you can eat, all the alcohol you can drink, what's not to love? However, it was now less than 3 weeks till we'd be leaving and the top 20 all inclusive resorts in Jamaica and the Caribbean were booked. For such an expensive trip, I really wanted to make sure we stayed at a fabulous resort and there were just no 8, 9 or 10/10 vacancies left for less than serious cash.

Aside from booking a smaller getaway like Santa Barbara or Morro Bay, our last option for a tropical getaway was a family friend's resort time share in Cancun. These friends had offered up their timeshare a long while ago and although we'd never taken them up on it, there was the offer, still standing. There was some rapid back and forthing about how cool it would be if we could go, and before I was quite mentally ready for it, we were booked for a 5 day vacation in Cancun.

My usual vacations take several months, hours of research and a great deal of thought to plan. I need prices on every possible flight mapped out over several price fluctuations. Trends and seasonal pricing information for all the housing options in our top three locations. This trip took two conversations and the better part of an hour. It went from an idea to kick around to a charge on our credit card in less than 48 hours. I'm actually so discombobulated by the whole thing that I've had a tough time wrapping my head around it.

Since everything was so last minute, we've had to book, cancel when there were problems with the extras, and rebook under a different affiliation number (who knew there was more than one??) and book the last two plane tickets available after they went up $300 overnight. The flights are so full that they won't let me select our seats on the way there and on the way back, we're in the last row. It's making me crazy.

But, then there's this:

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And this:

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And this:

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It also comes with resort credit good for the spa, snorkeling, turtle and stingray encounters and all sorts of other things. Private, romantic, candle lit dinners on the beach. An in room liquor dispenser, a swim up bar, delicious restaurants of all types, 24 hour room service. It promises, without a doubt, to be an absolutely incredible and much needed vacation.

Now, all I have to do is cram several months of planning and prepping into just a few days. I need swimsuits, sandals, beachy clothing! E has decided he hates all his shorts and where on earth am I going to find swimsuits in my size this last minute? I need to decide which excursions and spa treatments we want so I can book them now. There's so much to do that I'm going to need a vacation from my vacation planning.

TWW: Delicious Distractions

Today's two week wait distraction comes in the unexpected form of absolutely delicious, deep dish, chocolate chip cookies. It all started at about 10:30pm when, still full from a dinner of lasagna, salad and rather good red wine from BevMo's sale, E turned to me and asked if there was any way I could make him cookies. Home made, deep dish, chocolate chip cookies, to be precise. Was there any way I might have the supplies to make them now?

I've never been one to turn down and opportunity to bake and as I told E, I've never had a kitchen that didn't have the most basic baking ingredients in stock. Chocolate chip cookies, I told him, definitely fall under the basic ingredients category and I happened to have another muffin top pan sitting conveniently nearby in the shopping bag I hadn't yet unpacked. Muffin top pans are some of to favorite kinds of pans and I've developed the habit of buying one every time I see them. This new one was number 4 in my collection. 

It took me a few minutes to gather the supplies and start mixing everything up, but by 11:30, three trays of deep dish chocolate chip cookies were wafting their chocolatey aroma throughout the house. This time, I used the traditional Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe and made 18 cookies using a muffin top pan with 6 cookie spots. Each depression got a very generous tablespoon of cookie dough and it ended up being the perfect amount. 

They were absolutely delicious. Crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, with warm melty chocolate chips throughout. E had inhaled two before I got the second tray out of the oven. They're definitely an easy crowd pleaser and were an excellent distraction for this evening. 

Today was a long, hot day. E was off work, a rare Saturday off day that also happens to be his only off day in a 20 day stretch. Milou had agility class, which was somewhat less fun than usual given the miserable heat, and E and I spent most of the day attempting to stay cool and nursing giant Jamba Juice smoothies. I know the acupuncture diet says no cold food, but I couldn't even look at a hot meal until the evening. 

I also found out that one of the women on an infertility board I frequent just got her BFP. She also had 6-7 eggs this month so I'm taking it as a good sign that 7 eggs is this cycles lucky number. Only 6 more days until I can start testing and I really, really hope this is it. I've been crampy and bloated and of course my boobs are sore but I don't want to read too much into it because it's probably all from the progesterone in the Endometrin. Thanks Endometrin! You know how I love you.