Hi Gang,<br /><br />I&#39;m finally here...had a day off but am on call now.  Was busy doing girlythings   ...  manicure/pedicure/waxing...even had a nice foot and shoulder massage, not the deep tissue thing so I didn&#39;t leave feeling sore but just relaxed.  I haven&#39;t done the first thing to get ready for the Monarch other than to send a box of crew gifts to Joey, bless his heart.  Instead of paying &#036;70 for an extra box on the flight, it only cost me &#036;20 UPS to send it to Joey ( two days ) and he&#39;ll bring it to the ship for me.  He&#39;ll need a massage after lugging it, that&#39;s for sure.<br /><br />I just realized, we have two big special occasions on our four day Monarch cruise....Mardi Gras and Chinese New Year.  I tried to look for some celebratory decorations - easily could have gotten Chinese New Year ones but just didn&#39;t feel like spending my day off hauling over to Chinatown.  Can you imagine that place this week?? I thought it would be fun, though, to get some cute red and gold Chinese tip envelopes for the crew....maybe I&#39;ll still do it.<br /><br />Off to start working on the packing stuff.<br /><br />xxxooo