You've got to fight for your right to poooootttty!!!!

My beloved has been telling me that joke for days now and claimed it HAD to be the title of my next blog posting.  

It's been an eventful life the last month or two (and yes, I do realize I've fallen off into the blog abyss!).....

We got engaged!  

We're getting married in France this fall!

We bought our boat!

We've moved onto Audentes! (and that's where the potty jokes start!)

First off--Patrick asked me to marry him while we were in NYC visiting with my family.   It was unexpected, didn't go as planned, but beautiful none the less.  I couldn't be more excited or happier to be the future Mrs. Jorgensen, and I'm lucky to be marrying my best friend.

Right after P popped the question!!

The lovely ring he picked for me

We've decided to get married in France this fall and we'll also be having a reception in Hawaii during the holidays....wedding planning is crazy.  One minute I'm super excited, the next I'm overwhelmed, then back to being excited!....sometimes it feels a bit lonely trying to plan so far away from my best friends and my mom, but they've been amazing in helping me plan AND most importantly, keeping my sense of humor!!!  Roooaaaar!  Run for your lives--here comes Bridezilla!!! (Luckily, this Bridezilla is tamed by a good laugh and a cold beer!)

And the boat!  We FINALLY have possession of Audentes (Latin for "bold"), our 36' liveaboard catamaran.....it's be a long (and I mean looooong) time coming--we've been planning our adventure for over a year--and made it through waves of doubt, uncertainty and fear--but we're HERE.  

We woke up at o'dark thirty on Monday morning and drove down from Jacksonville to South Florida and walked on board, keys in hand.  The boat needs some work before we head up north for under hull work....and it's been quite a bit of work!  So very hard, so very tiring, but really satisfying.

The engine needs fixing, AC is getting repaired (yes, one does need AC on a boat in Florida...I've NEVER been anywhere hotter!!!), and then there's the toilet issue!

There was an electric toilet (or "head" on the boating world!) that didn't work when we bought the boat, so Patrick and I decided to switch out to a manual one--one DOES NOT want to be without a toilet in case of an electric problem.  Not a big deal, right?  WRONG!

We switched out the head without too much trauma....we used it for a day or so, and by the second day it was time for the inaugural el dumpo.  I made Patrick give it a go (I know--I'm a chicken!)...and then I hear an explosion and a helluva lot of swearing.  Not that I blame him--while pumping the handle to flush the toilet, the toilet exploded....all over him and the entire bathroom.  To make matters worse, the handle broke off!  Massive clean up ensued (yup, there is no doubt that I love that man!), and we had to pull apart the entire plumbing system.....needless to say, the entire system had been neglected for over a year, there was a blocked vent, and the pressure was too much!!  It's been completely disgusting (yes, picture--if you dare--poop everywhere, 90 degree heat, 90% humidity, and a cramped space!  Ugh!), but we know that once the new system is in place, we'll be better off.  MUCH better off! 

Ahhh, this mist be what people talk about in term of pride in ownership!  

We're keeping our sense of humor, and I'll make sure to put up pictures as soon as things settle down.....