sometime around thanksgiving i received a call from my boss, who wanted to know what interest [if any] would lie in a team building trip to the bahamas in december. my first question was something to the effect of "um, you mean this year?" *laughter* "yes, this year. in a couple weeks." while i was a little apprehensive about leaving right before hosting a holiday and getting caught up in the christmas travel bonanza, the week just before christmas was the only time so many of us could feasibly leave the office simultaneously - so the plan was a go!

even in south texas, escaping to the islands is a pretty surefire way to break up the frenzy of holiday prepping and we had an awesome time team-building and exploring (including one rather harrowing taxi ride) the ports of freeport and nassau - which included a tour of the john watling's rum distillery where they have the best pina coladas you can get your hands on.

there's also something to be said for traveling with a pack of food snobs, as we ended up being treated to the steakhouse a couple nights on board where in addition to delicious offerings, they had a fantastic dessert called the "chocolate sampler."

it was a wonderful few days spent on island time!