Stuck In An Elevator!!!

Sooo I got stuck in an elevator the other day...it was quite exciting! haha. Luckily they have a call button inside the elevator and they answered immediately. The whole shebang lasted about 10 mins. Did I mention I was suppose to be on stage and had no way to tell my band that I was stuck! haha. I got some pretty evil looks when I walked into the club 10 mins after we were suppose to start playing! LOL. They forgave me.

When I had the idea of starting this blog, I wanted to make sure that I posted the "not-so-fun" moments of my life just as I did the good. I want it to me more realistic/in-depth than just posting updates on facebook. So the lastest "not-so-good" moment... As most of you know I'm singing for Carnival Cruiselines at the moment. My days are free time, but at night I am singing 3,4,5 hours!! It's ALOT. Not only does shiplife include long hours, but it includes coming in contact with much more germs than we normally would. We are seeing thousands of new people each week. We also deal with dust that has built up over the course of the ships' life, but there are some cracks you just can't get into to clean very well or they choose not too. The dust and dry air causes everyone to have sinus issues. Anyhow...lately after singing/talking for a little period of time, I have been experiencing a very odd ache/burning sensation on the left side throat and on the under side of my chin. The doctors on the ship can't see that far down my throat so they decided to send me to an ENT (Ear, nose and throat) doctor.

The van came and picked me up and we were off to the the doctor. Upon arriving and discussing my symptoms, they decided to scope me (AKA stick and tube up my nose and down my throat). YAY. So fun---sarcasm. The worst part was the substances they sprayed in my nose to numb it. YUCK!! I guess it was worth it! haha. So the verdict????  Acid Reflux & Allergies. It had got so bad that it was causing my vocal chords to inflame. Good news??? No nodules and we got an answer!!

My days now consist of Nexuim twice a day, Fluconase twice a day, and Singular at night! haha. Today is the first day I think I can tell a difference so that is exciting!

PS. My CD's are finally in the mail. Been a long process, but I will have them soon!

Hope all is well in your world.
Peace, Love and Pineapples.
-Katie A.

"Weren't You On The Last Cruise?"

July 2, 2011
Weren't You On The Last Cruise?

So I've been reading a book and the writer states that bloggers should blog everyday....oops!

Everyone is starting to look the same! All the friendly faces are starting to run together and I'll forget if we're on a 5 day or 4 day cruise and if we've switched passengers yet! I've also accumulated a cruise life sense of being "lost in travel" when talking about the days of the week ...all the staff, including
myself, talk in days of cruise rather than days of the week. Instead of saying "let's hang out on Friday or Monday", like we normally would... we speak in "cruise days" such as "next Progreso" or "Hey, let's go Scuba diving two Cozumels from now!". So lately, I never know what day it actually is at the moment.

We did have two familiar faces on this last cruise that I could never ever get mixed up....My parents!! It was their first time on a cruise so we spent the first day or two trying to help them adjust to how everything works and showing them where everything on the ship was located. And sure enough, we haven't seen rain for 2 months and it decided to rain BOTH days in port. But we tried to make the best of it! On the first port day, we got off in Progreso and took them to a little hole in the wall taco place. I don't even know the name of it...or if it even has a name for that matter. They have $1 tacos and they are GREAT!! Totally legit. It's one of our favorite places to eat and we usually go there every week!
And we also had "real" Coca  Cola...apparently Mexico is the only place that still uses real sugar in it. I couldn't really tell a difference, but Randy swears by it. I guess I'm not a good critic of the stuff because I don't drink it usually anyway. But I have noticed that all the straws in Mexico FLOAT to the top of the glass. Next time you're here and you get a soda...watch your straw. LOL.
(Random Note-- The intercom totally just paged Mel Gibson...surely it's not THE Mel Gibson. Just sayin.)

After we had our yummy tacos we walked around the block to get some sort of dessert. My mom was on a mission to find a pastry, but we never ran into a pastry shop. We did ,however, pass a popsicle stand AKA Ice Lollies. Didn't sound to interesting so we went to a tiny frozen yogurt place. My dad and I got coconut flavored and it was the BEST!!! I wonder if I was extra hungry that day and it made everything taste better. haha. Or maybe it was because family was with me. Nah....it really was a fantastic dessert. Again...I don't know the name of the place. I will probably make it a regular spot to eat as well so I'll let you know if I find out what it's called.

The next port day was Cozumel. We took a taxi to a popular crew hang out called "La Choza". Spelling?. I had kept hearing about how amazing the food was so I wanted to try it. The cheeze sauce and guacamole was pretty good, but I wasn't blown away with my entree. Everyone else liked their food so I may have to try it again and get a different dish. We had three nice amigos come play us a happy song while eating..I'll have to post you
some video. haha. I felt the urge to get up and dance a little. After lunch, we headed over to another popular crew hang out called Barracuda. It has a pool with a swim up bar and a long pier to run and jump into the ocean! This was the most fun I had all week with my parents. Just relaxing in the pool, drinking Bahama Mama's, and hanging out with family and the entertainment staff. The rest of the day consisted of under water breath holding contests, my dad jumping of the pier like a kid, Randy's wife side belly flopping by accident and all of us playing in the rain when it decided to pour down for a little bit. My dad said he actually liked that it was a little cloudy and rainy cause it wasn't scorching HOT. It was nice to feel the rain on the skin. Liberating. Aside from visiting the ports, hanging out in the balcony room and watching movies with the family was super relaxing too. (Random Note: All the commercials are in Spanish. The movies are all in English, but the commercials are in Spanish. It's fun to try and guess what the commericals are advertising or saying. haha)

Getting to show my mom and dad around was great, but it has also made me excited to get back to them and my friends in the states! With a blink of the eye, we're already at the halfway point of this journey with about 2 months and a week to go. I know the time is going to fly by so fast and it'll be over before I know it!! Hopefully you've enjoyed my "food critic-ish" blog post. haha. I'll leave with you with a few more random facts and I'll try to blog a little more frequently....till next time!!


Random Facts:
-We got a new steward that cleans our rooms. He is GREAT! Much
better than the last.
-Went SCUBA diving for the first time. It was so amazing to be
under water for 30 mins or so. I loved it!
-In order to make best use of my internet time, I have started to
type emails and blogs in a word document first so then I just
have to copy and paste when logged in! I use the same strategy
to read long MSN news stories or info of that nature.... I'll copy
and paste it onto my desktop for reading later on.
-When the boat rocks back and forth a little...we all look like
school of fish swaying from side to side together in a group. lol.
-We are playing a huge July 4th deck party in a few days! Happy 
early 4th!!

xoxo, Katie A.