Greetings on this rainy, gray Tuesday.  I’m feeling very sleepy today – I am writing this while sitting at my computer cloaked in my zebra snuggie.  Oh how I love my snuggies.  Later this afternoon I’m going to head over to Buy Buy Baby to do some research on baby products.  I spent the entire flight there and back from The Bahamas reading the book Baby Bargains, which helped me narrow down the things I think we need for the little guy’s arrival.  Now it’s time to go check out this stuff in real life.  There is really so much to learn about!  Craziness.

But before I go, I’ll fill you in on the rest of our trip to the Bahamas for the 2011 Bahamas International Film Festival.  There were many positives and negatives about this trip.  I’ll start with the positives:

• I managed to get a little (really… only a little) sun and the weather was pretty nice (high 70’s to low 80’s most days with some wind and clouds)
• We met a lot of great contacts in the film world and talented people in general – many of whom live in Brooklyn!  And I’m sure we’ll keep in touch and get to know these people even better in the future.
• We met Zoe Kravitz and enjoyed her interview while she was being honored as the “BIFF 2011 Rising Star”.  She was super poised, adorable and lovely and now I’m going to keep a look out for her work in the future.
• We reunited with friends we met at the festival last year – one of whom is a local Bahamian and got us off the resort one afternoon and showed us a bit of the local flavor.  Here are a couple photos from our outing:
  

  A Statue in Downtown Nassau

  

  A ruined old building in downtown Nassau

• Adam was a juror for the “First Look” competition, which included both short films and features made by Bahamian filmmakers.  This was a highlight for me – as I learned a lot about Bahamian culture and about the true essence of the Bahamas.  My favorite feature film in this category was called Amos Ferguson – Match Me If You Can and told the story of one of the Bahamas’ best known local artists.  Amos Ferguson seemed like a special soul and was a talented and passionate painter and I am glad to have learned about his story.  I found this film to be really touching and enlightening.  Here is a NY Times article about Amos if you’re interested in learning more.  And here are a few of his paintings:

Now… the negatives.  Although we were grateful to get away for a few days – this was really primarily a work trip vs. a vacation.  It didn’t exactly have that “baby-moon” vibe I was looking for.  And now – forgive me while I rant for a few minutes about the Atlantis Resort.

A view of the Coral Towers at the Atlantis Resort

Here is where The Atlantis falls way short in my book:

• The resort is monstrous and has the vibe of Vegas, Disney World and a Cruise Ship mixed into one…  not exactly my cup of tea.
• The food is TERRIBLE.  Yes… they have some nice dining options like Nobu and Mesa Grill – but dining here costs a fortune and the quality is not nearly as good as it is in their NYC counterparts.  For less expensive dining options, you basically have lots of fried, processed, gross food – that still costs way too much (we’re talking $40 for BREAKFAST!).  And then – everything closes at weird hours, so we often found ourselves with no available options except for the overly priced and totally disgusting room service (or mini bar, which we frequented due to a lack of better options.  I ate granola bars for dinner more than once).  To give you an idea about how terrible the food was – our favorite thing to eat during the entire trip was the movie theater pizza, which was supposedly from Domino’s, re-boxed and sitting under a heat lamp.  Yes – it was a sad state of affairs in the food department.  Hell… I was on vacation and lost two pounds.  That’s never a good sign for me.
• There is NO relaxed vibe in this entire resort.  Although there are at least ten different pool areas – every single one of them comes with a DJ, who pumps bass-heavy music all day long.  I went in search of maybe one adult-only, quiet pool (I know – I’m getting old) and nope… there aren’t any.  So I sat as far away from the pool as possible next to a waterfall, which helped to drown out the sound of the music and the DJ so I could fit in a little reading.  Actually – I even called the front desk and complained on Saturday morning as we were awakened at eight-thirty am by bumping beats coming from the pool area closest to us.  Eight-thirty am?  Really?  We had been enjoying sleeping with our door open up until that point – listening to the waves and the palm trees blowing in the breeze but that joy died on Saturday morning.

So here’s what I’m thinking… If I never stay at the Atlantis resort again… that will be fine with me.  However – I am totally interested in experiencing the authentic essence and spirit of the Bahamas and I’d love to return for another visit – this time, departing from Nassau immediately and making my way to another island.  That being said – the festival was super generous and we were very honored to be asked to return this year.  And, as it was last year, the people we met and connections we made was truly the best part.

Now – I’m off to Buy Buy Baby!  Wish me luck.