So at this time in two weeks I will be sitting in the Long Beach airport awaiting a flight to…THE BAHAMAS!!! Now, mind you, as of this time last week I did not know that this was in my immediate future. JetBlue announced an All You Can Jet pass to fly unlimited for one month anywhere JetBlue flies. It took me all of 5 seconds to know that I FOR SURE wanted to buy the pass…but I knew convincing Mike would be a whole different story. Surprisingly, it only took him a few hours to think it over and we were doing it!! Believe me, no one was as surprised as I was! So, after we bought the pass we had to sit and figure out a plan for where we were going. We spent many many hours figuring out the best plan for maximizing our travel.

So the final plan is to head to the Bahamas, New York, train to Connecticut, Virginia, hopefully a car ride to DC, Florida, Costa Rica, Florida, Home. Phew. We are doing all of that in 3 weeks. It’s going to be a whirlwind, but I think it’s going to be one of the funnest vacations we’ve ever gone on. I think I’m most excited about Costa Rica. I’ve been wanting to go there for years, and checking out all the images on Google Earth have gotten me so excited! If any of you have any advice or recommendations for what we should do in any of these places I would REALLY appreciate it. Normally, when we go on a trip we’re heading to ONE place and I can fully research that one place, but it’s a little hard doing that with all these places!

Now, heading on a spontaneous 3 week vacation isn’t all fun and games. We have sooooo much to take care of before we can leave…including Mike still needing a passport(!!!!!!!!!). But we’re doing all we can to be super prepared and ready to go.

Trust me there are going to be a TON of pictures coming your way…speaking of pictures, if you live or are planning in being in one of the places we are visiting and would like to schedule a photo session, please email me at amanda@amandarae.com for information about pricing. We’d LOVE to shoot in new places.

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Last night, we both had the day off and I impulsively bought us tickets to see Rent at the Hollywood Bowl. I had seen the movie Rent and saw Rent on Broadway in New York a few years ago. Mike had never seen it. I had a feeling he wouldn’t like it very much, but the night was about the experience. We both had never been to the Hollywood Bowl which is just an incredible venue. Pretty much anyone that was there would agree that Nicole Scherzinger was absolutely incredible. That girl can sing and perform like none other. If she chooses to continue a career in Broadway I will see anything she is in, and pay whatever it takes to get there to see it! For real.

So, considering that we don’t get out much and don’t dress up much, we took a few minutes before we had to leave to take some pictures of each other since we were looking so lovely. And can I just say that I am now convinced that hiring and training Mike to be my second shooter was by far the best decision I have ever made. I’m going to go ahead and say these are my favorite pictures of me. And not that it was a contest or anything….he soooo kicked my butt that I’m not even going to show the pics I took of him!! Also, we found my new favorite place to take pictures. It’s not an easy to get to place, we had to climb under a fence to get to it, but I’ve had my eye on it for a long time and I’m so glad we finally went there!

Here is an iPhone pic from the Hollywood Bowl. Love the subtle mountain view in the back!

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It felt so great being able to shoot something just to shoot and not because I was paid to. I had a blast photographing everything at the hotel. So this post will be dedicated to details and my next post will feature my friends.

You can also check out our community tumblr page that we all posted images to throughout the trip!

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Whenever we see a lion, it reminds us of our little lion, Murray. Our room key had a lion!

I know this next one is not focused on our faces but it’s hard taking self portraits! And I still like it.

Vegan donuts YUM!

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Until today. Today, Mike and I along with my friend BreAnne headed 30 minutes away from the Las Vegas strip to jump out of airplanes. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. So I wasn’t even nervous. I didn’t have a single butterfly in my stomach. I just thought it would be fun like a really big roller coaster. So we all head up in a tiny plane. The first person that goes looks like they pretty much just fell out of the plane, which is not what my tandem jumper told me would happen. Then Mike went next. Then it was me. I kinda screamed a little as I watched my only husband fall out of a plane, but still it was all happening so fast that I didn’t have any butterflies or feelings of regret. But the second I stepped out the plane, I think my stomach STAYED in the plane because I was instantly nauseous. We did a little somersault out of the plane, and it was all down hill from there. I had spoken to my friend Aundrea the day before and she was like are you going to be able to breath with all the air rushing toward you? And I was all I’ll be fine I’m sure. Well that’s where I was wrong. I could not breath! I kept gasping for air! And then I felt panicky because the wind was so strong and it was so hard to breath. Oh, and my ears needed to pop so bad it almost hurt. Then he launched the parachute, and everything just stopped. It was like we were just sitting there in the middle of the sky. Which was the coolest part. But, mind you, my stomach is still in the plane so I’m really not feeling so good. The guy gets kind of fancy with moving us all around with the parachute. And all I’m thinking is dude I’m about to throw up on you/I want this to just be over.

So the landing was good. But I thought I was going to throw up right then and there. But I didn’t! So I was like cool, I’m totally good. Then we all climbed in a van to head back and the driver gave me his water and a plastic barf bag and I was thinking thanks but no thanks I won’t be needing this…and then I lost it. We get back to the place and we’re waiting for our videos and I’m feeling a little better after getting that out, but not great. So finally we head out to the car which thankfully Mike had already turned on to cool it off before I got in it. And for some reason, the second I closed my car door I knew it wasn’t over. I opened the car door and left a nice little present for the nice skydiving folks. So, I’m like ok NOW I’m done. I’m really good. So, of course we didn’t grab an extra barf bag or anything. So we’re heading back to the strip and I’m just really not feeling good but I have nothing left in my stomach to get out. But it’s coming again. And I can’t see anything reasonable to throw up in to. So I grab my brand new souvenir skydiving t-shirt and proceed with the vomiting. Then BreAnne finds a bag in the back seat so I place the t-shirt in the bag and I think alright finally everything is okay. Meanwhile, I’m holding a plastic water bottle in between my legs, and I start thinking that doesn’t just feel cold that feels wet. So I lift up the water bottle and vomit got on the my seat, and upon further exploration it’s all over my pants. All over. I don’t even know how it got there. I was so careful when throwing up in my shirt. So we park and get out of the car and it’s just everywhere. There’s no way I can walk from the parking garage, through the casino, and up the elevators with vomit pants. So I found a rather large scarf in the car and wrapped it around my waist. Just in case you are wondering…there is no worse feeling in the world then walking through a huge Las Vegas hotel with VOMIT PANTS, no matter if people can see it or not…the wearer, aka me, can FEEL it every step of the way.

Ok, so there’s a video of the dive, not the vomiting, but I’m having the hardest time doing anything with it. It’s an unrecognizable file and nothing I’m doing will make it recognizable. I’ll add it to this post later if I can, although it’s the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen of myself…the only reason I’m considering uploading it is because it made Mike and BreAnne laugh harder than I’ve ever heard them laugh before so if my misery brings joy then it surely must be shared with the world! Until that time, enjoy these iPhone pics.

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The groom and groomsmen taking a swim before the wedding!

I love the wave perfectly behind them!

I feel like a broken record, but once again the cake was provided by the fabulous Jana of Jana’s Creative Cakes.

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