The BeeHive Bzzz

Denali!

2011-08-27T16:24:00.000-04:00

Was up at 5:45 this morning to catch our 7am shuttle to the train station. The train pulled out at 8:15 and we had to be there an hour prior. It’s a good thing the hotel was only about 5 miles from the station. Bob found Cari’s first set of cards (Alaska Railroad) in the gift shop. I’m sure there will be plenty more.

Meeting other travelers is always an exciting part of vacation for me. Despite being complete strangers there is that common bond of sharing similar experiences, swapping stories of what you both have planned and done. It didn’t take long to start talking to fellow passengers and hear their experiences. Just having a camera in your hand is an easy opening for conversation. Thirty minutes into shooting off the viewing deck of our car and we were friends for the day.

It was drizzling when we boarded and the during the beginning of the trip. The sky was gray and covered with low hanging clouds. Still the scenery was beautiful. The further north we got, though, the more blue sky peeked through. Imagine our delight when we actually spotted Mount McKinley! I’m hoping this was only the beginning of lucky happenings throughout our trip. Only 30% of travelers to the park get to actually see Mount McKinley. The mountain stands over 20,000 feet into the sky and most of the time is covered in clouds. I heard someone say it hadn’t made an appearance in the last 10-11 days. Wow!!! And not only did we see it, there was a beautiful blue sky as the backdrop!

We checked into the Princess Wilderness Lodge (Denali) and had a couple of hours to explore before going to dinner at the King Salmon restaurant. We picked up a deck of Mt. McKinley cards and a beautiful pair of handmade glass earrings for Cari and a sweatshirt for me that has a photo of the Mountain with a “30% club” stamp on it. After a browsing some of the other tourist trap shops it was time for our “6:21” reservation – how’s that for being precise? We both decided on the Salmon Salad for dinner. It had spinach, tomatoes, egg, red onion and goat cheese topped with King Salmon and a vinaigrette dressing – it was delicious! Our server suggested a local Shiraz to compliment our choice and we loved it! We were so sad to learn you can’t buy it anywhere else – it really is a local thing. Blueberry ice cream made with local blueberries was the perfect ending to a perfect dinner!

Denali Princess Lodge – A beautiful lodge with lots of amenities, but the rooms (at least ours) left a little to be desired. It was ok, just sparse. No closet space, no dressers, no drawers, nowhere to put anything. So we lived out of our suitcases for a couple of days. Oh and no wifi in the room. We had to go to the lodge for internet. Which isn’t a big deal except I wanted to upload some of my pictures to Facebook. Not gonna happen tonight.

It’s 9:30pm and while the sun is going down it’s still light outside. Bob’s been out for probably 20 minutes already. I’m thankful he isn’t snoring yet. I’ve looked through my 200+ photos taken today. They’re whittled down to about 170 after the first cut. I’m actually very happy with the results considering the circumstances – shooting from a moving train among more than a dozen others trying, just like you, to get that perfect shot.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be just as beautiful and Mount McKinley will grace us with its appearance for another day. Tomorrow is our Wilderness Tundra bus tour. It should be a good time of year to see lots of different animals too … crossing my fingers.

And we're off!!!

2011-08-26T08:45:00.000-04:00

Our morning started early at 4:15am. We left the house at 5:00am for the airport. After checking our bags and going through security we grabbed a bagel sandwich for breakfast. Our first leg left for Miami at 7:30 and it went off without a hitch. Once we got to Miami the next two legs were first class. Bob and I were really looking forward to that. We left Miami right on time and had a 2-1/2 hr flight to Dallas. After topping off my phone and Nook batteries, the Bennigan’s Tavern looked mighty inviting for a cold, foamy, adult beverage. The flight from Dallas to Anchorage was a long 6-1/2 hr flight but it was much more bearable in big, soft, cushy seats. It’s been a long day but we’re checked in and ready for bed. I’m sitting here watching The Weather Channel to find out what’s going on back home with Irene. But that’s it for tonight. Turning out the light …

… tomorrow we take the train to Denali!

Vacation Prep

2011-08-25T08:43:00.002-04:00

We were scheduled to leave Friday morning from Norfolk to Miami to Dallas to Anchorage. Ya gotta love those free miles. God forbid should you be able to schedule a more direct path. Anyway, I happened to have the weather channel on Sunday afternoon and happened to hear about this hurricane that could possibly be heading towards Miami - yup, Thursday to Friday time frame. Of course there were many factors driving the path of what would soon be named "Irene." On Monday it looked as if she would be right over top of Miami Friday morning, so Bob called American Airlines to see what the protocol is for changing flights in these kinds of cases. Basically he was told to wait and see. A day or so out is when they post travel advisories and at that point you can change your flight(s) without any additional charges.

So we waited - and we watched. Sure enough, Irene's path shifted and her speed increased. By Wednesday guess where she was predicted to go? Right over top of us over the weekend. Oh boy. Isn't life grand? It looked like we'd be fine getting out of town Friday morning, thank God. But now in addition to preparing for a two plus week vacation, we had to do some hurricane preparation. All the furniture and plants had to come off of the deck, the bird feeders and bird bath had to come down and in general everything that could be blown around needed to be put into the garage.

Leaving our home knowing bad weather was approaching was a very weird feeling. I've lived in Hampton Roads my entire life and we've been through some hurricanes. We have never left in anticipation of one. Thankfully, we've never had one bad enough we felt we needed to leave. I guess it's human nature to stay and protect what's yours, ya know? Not sure how we think we have enough power to do that but still, it's just what we do. And now this time, we had to leave. All our friends, family and neighbors were telling us they wish they were going with us. Knowing we'd have to rely on their kindness to check on things around here was comforting and frustrating at the same time.

(Note: In the end it all worked out just fine. The storm damage in our area was minimal for most people and our house and yard (except for normal storm debris) fared well. Maybe we should leave home for every storm, huh?)

Kenny!! 8/4/11

2011-08-05T09:26:00.000-04:00

Kenny

Farm Bureau Live – 8/4/11

Another Kenny concert bites the dust. I think last night was our 16^th or 17^th Kenny concert in nine years. And just think, he didn’t tour last year! After about six hours of sleep I’m sitting here with bleary eyes trying to put some thoughts together from last night. Can you believe it – Bob went to Kenny AGAIN? Cari and Matt drove down Wednesday night, so it was the four of us. And actually since the yewts got there when the gates opened, we had pretty good lawn seats.

Bob and I were dragging our feet (plus we really didn’t need to see Uncle Kracker again) and got to our seats in time to hear Uncle Kracker’s last couple of songs. Billy Currington took the stage at 7:45 and did his thing. Billy’s always good. Bob doesn’t like him, but we do. And for an early August evening, the weater was wonderful. It was humid (imagine that!) but the temperature was around 80 and there was an awesome breeze blowing! It could’ve been so much worse.

The lights went down promptly at 9:00pm and Kenny’s music started. He likes to get the crowd pumped up and on their feet before he makes his appearance. Um, that’s never a problem. He opened with “Live A Little” and by the end of the first song part of his shirt was a darker blue where he was already starting to sweat. By half way through the show it was completely soaked. Of course he told us he’d missed us, and that it wasn’t summer without coming to Virginia Beach last year, etc. I know he tells every audience that kind of stuff but when he says it in your own home town you want to believe you really are that special. LOL

Kenny always has a high-energy show but this one seemed a little more mellow than most we’ve gone to. He did quite a few slower ballads than I remember in the past. Of course we love them and it doesn’t dampen our enthusiasm at all. Most fans remain standing throughout the entire concert, singing their hearts out even through an acoustic ballad. Kenny is Kenny and we love him no matter what he’s singing. We felt very special when he decided to do “Old Blue Chair,” telling us he just couldn’t come to Virginia Beach and not play that song. He looked happy to be back on stage and interacting with his fans again.

I asked Bob as we were walking back to the car if he was glad he came. He said, “Of course I am! I like Kenny!” The man actually stood through a lot of the concert and even applauded with the rest of us at the end of the songs! You don’t understand, that’s very unusual for Bob. It was awesome to see him enjoying Kenny. Cari and I have wanted to be able to share that experience with him for many years now. The next step will be to get him to a show from the second or third row.

Set List:

Live a Little

Reality

Summertime

Beer in Mexico

Woman With You

Big Star

I Go Back

NSNSNP

Anything But Mine

There Goes My Life

Old Blue Chair

Living in Fast Forward

Young

Somewhere With You

Don’t Happen Twice

Everybody Wanna Go To Heaven

Never Wanted Nothing More

Out Last Night

You and Tequila

When The Sun Goes Down

Tractor

Boys of Fall

…. Til next time ….

Keith Urban - 7/26/11

2011-07-27T11:18:00.000-04:00

Keith Urban

Hampton Coliseum – 7/26/11

Life has been a bit busy this summer. Exactly one month from this date we leave for our 16-day Alaska trip! Combined with all the other stuff we’ve managed to cram in this summer it’s been quite chaotic.

Cari came home Sunday and since she needed an outfit for an interview on Wednesday and I still needed a couple of tops for the cruise AND I had a 20% off coupon for Kohls (that expired Sunday), we grabbed some lunch and went shopping. Let me just say it was a pretty productive shopping afternoon. We got home just in time to head back out to meet Mike and Paddy for Harry Potter at the new Beach Movie Bistro. It was after 9:30 when we got home.

Monday we met Herb and Jean at Baker’s Crust for lunch and ran some other errands afterwards. Farm Fresh had some wild caught Alaskan for a change so we picked up some for dinner. By the time we got home it was around 4:00. After dinner we watched another boring movie from Netflix. Cari and I played around on our Nooks and another day bit the dust.

Tuesday we dropped Peanut off at the groomer and stopped by Dress Barn to see what kind of clearance deals we could get. We got some. Let me just leave it at that. We managed to get out of there just in time to pick up Peanut and head home to meet Regina for lunch. I put some chicken salad together for dinner and it was time to leave for the concert. I guess my reasoning for putting all this in my Keith journaling is because Cari and I weren’t even excited about the show! We hadn’t had time to even think about it to get excited. I don’t think I have ever gone to a concert before with so little anticipation. It was a weird feeling.

The drive to Hampton was really not bad – even in rush hour traffic. The doors opened at 6:30 and we were there waiting in line by about 6:25. Jake Owen opened at 7:30. While I don’t love every one of his songs, I really liked him. I’ll enjoy listening to him even more now. He played for about 40-45 minutes.

Keith took the stage between 8:30-8:45. It was awesome. The whole show was awesome. It’s been so long since we’ve seen him – except in Nashville at Fan Fair. There is definitely a difference in Keith the person and Keith the performer from the last time we saw him in Richmond (2006). I guess between the life changes he’s experienced (marriage, children) and getting clean, he’s just happy. At least it seems that way.

The title of his current CD is “Get Closer.” It’s also the title of this tour. One of the first things he shared with us was his reason for choosing the Hampton Coliseum over the amphitheater. He wanted a smaller feeling venue, something more like a club. He asked us how we liked the new stage, “with all those stupid fences gone that separates us from you.”

This new Keith seems to be all about getting close to his fans. He gave us a taste of that in Nashville when he picked our section to come up in and perform. Talk about the highlight of the entire week! There was a small circle “stage” in the center of the floor that he played several songs on, which gave him the opportunity to see and “get closer” to even more fans. Towards the beginning of the show he was talking to us and reading signs people were holding up. He spotted one that said “Sweet 16.” It was her birthday. Keith said, “Sweet 16 and never been kissed … not by me!” He motioned for her to come up on stage and kissed her on the cheek. Now how stinking cool is that? Towards the end of the show he did exactly what he did in Nashville – picked a spot in the upper section to perform. Since we had experienced that we knew EXACTLY what those fans were feeling! God it was fun! When he finished “You Look Good in My Shirt,” he signed the guitar he was playing and handed it to a little girl nearby. She looked like she was maybe nine years old and talk about being in shock! Can you even imagine?

The entire night was like this. When you see a performer having so much fun interacting with his fans, you can’t help but have an incredible time yourself. I just love watching him. I love watching him get lost in his guitar and just be in the moment. I love watching his body language and mannerisms. He’s just fun. And when he demonstrates that he enjoys us as much as we enjoy him it doesn’t get any better than that.

“Kiss A Girl” was another special moment of the night. After the first verse or so, he stopped playing and picked three random people from the audience to join him on stage. It was like a sing off competition. The people had some brass ones I’ll tell you. However, DJ was pretty damn good – he “won.” The prize was actually singing with Keith. I videoed the entire thing – it was amazing!

He took a moment before it ended to acknowledge that lots of people are dealing with tough economic times these days. There are always a lot of concerts to choose from when deciding which ones you can afford to go to. He thanked us for choosing to spend our Tuesday night with him.

The man played for nearly 2-1/2 hours, performing 23 songs. Here’s the set list:

Put You in a Song

Fly With Me

Boondocks (Little Big Town)

Days Go By

Only You Can Love Me This Way

Long Hot Summer

Stupid Boy

Silly Love Songs

Making Memories of Us

I’m In

Blue Jeans

You’ll Think of Me

Better Half

Georgia Woods

Summer Comes Around

Sweet Thing

Kiss A Girl

Without You

Somebody Like You

Who Wouldn’t Want to be Me

You Look Good In My Shirt

Tonight I’m Gonna Cry (my fave)

Better Life

I didn’t even take my camera so the only shots I got were with my iPhone. I did take lots of videos though. Walking back to the car guess who we ran into? DJ! I told him I got the entire thing on video and he gave me his email to send it to him. He was still on cloud nine! We certainly walked away from this show feeling like we got more than our money from those tickets. That concert is definitely in my top five faves, if not my top two.

... and next week we get to see Kenny again!!! :)

"Big Pool!!"

2011-07-15T09:00:00.033-04:00

After sleeping late, Heidi came over for lunch and we all headed over to Regina's for some pool time. Morgan is talking up a storm and parroting any and everything she hears. It's so cute!! I had picked up a float and some water balls (you know the baby loves her some balls). On the way over we were telling her that we were going to a big pool. She knows what a pool is because her MaMaw has an above ground and she loves it. You should've seen her face when she saw the big in-ground pool! So cute!!

She was a bit clingy in the beginning. I think she was just overwhelmed. It didn't take her long to get over it though. She absolutely LOVED when Regina turned on the fountains. It's hysterical how she loves to get under them and get her head all wet! Heidi put her floaties on and before long she was jumping off the stairs, the side of the pool and even the diving board. She was fearless!! We'd be playing in the water and she'd look at me and say, "Jump?" LOL When I said, "Sure, go ahead!" she'd go up the stairs and walk around to the side and jump to me. I can't even begin to tell you how many times she did that. Regina called her the little energizer bunny because she did not stop the entire afternoon. She wasn't the only one who was gonna sleep good that night.

Regina made these incredible chicken nachos for us to snack on (should've taken a pic of those too). It was the perfect afternoon! We have to do that again before the end of the summer. It was heaven!!

Heidi said Morgan fell asleep in the car on the way home, around 4:30. She had to wake her up to try and get some dinner in her and Morgan cried through it. Went back to sleep and didn't get up until almost 7am Saturday morning. I think we wore her out! :)

So sad ...

2011-07-15T08:49:00.001-04:00

The anticipation for the final Harry Potter film had been building for months, years actually. I think many of us had conflicting emotions about this film. I was so excited about seeing it, but at the same time was so sad that it's over. We had to say goodbye to Harry, Hermoine, Ron and the rest of the gang.

Cari and Matt drove down on Thursday and we met at PMS Deli for lunch. From there we ran some errands and the rest of the afternoon and evening flew by! We left here around 10:00pm to pick up Regina and get to the theater a little early (or so we thought) so we could make sure we got a good seat. R-I-G-H-T ... There were 18 theaters (some large, some small) showing the movie at midnight. You could sit anywhere you could find a seat - with the exception of the 3D theater. We went through most of them an even 90 minuets early we couldn't find four seats in any upper section. It was crazy!! We ended up sitting in the back row of a lower section - closer than we'd have liked but it was the best we could find. The time passed fairly quickly (playing Angry Birds - LOL) and soon the lights went down and it was time ... for previews. After 20, or more, minutes of previews the movie finally started!

Those two hours went by fast. I loved the movie and thought they did a good job (mostly) of portraying the book correctly. They did change a few things but for the most part it was accurate. It was a late night. I think we got to bed around 3:00-3:30am. But it was awesome.

25 Years!!

2011-07-03T08:23:00.002-04:00

I guess I'm just getting bloody old. Bob and I have been married for TWENTY FIVE YEARS!!! Wow! It still blows me away! I'm so lucky to have found a man who puts up with me day in and day out. I know I'm not the easiest person to live with some days - especially with this hormone deprived, menopausal body now. There are days even I don't want to be around me. They suck. Still he loves me anyway. He may not like me some days but he still loves me. There are so many instabilities in life it's comforting to have a partner who is stable. I've always said he's my rock, my grounding rod. We are so very different, Bob and I. Like night and day on lots of things. But where it counts, home, family, core values and such, we meld pretty well.

He surprised me with my very own new Nook Color reader!! I was so excited!! I still have my issues with not being able to share digital books I buy but I guess I'll learn to work around it. At least with the Nook I can borrow books from the library and read them for free. You still can't do that on the Kindle. (On a side note, Dad is loving his Kindle!) I was in the middle of reading Iris Johansen's "On The Run" and immediately went to the library to see if I could check it out and finish it on my Nook. I could!! That was pretty cool! It's going to be so nice traveling with it! I'll really get that experience on our trip to Alaska.

We went to Burton's Grill at Hilltop for dinner. It was one of the best dinners we've ever had! Bob and I split their Mediterranean Salad for an appetizer and it's always good (with a nice bottle of wine of course). For our main course they had fresh Alaskan Sockeye Salmon that was to die for! It was over some kind of fresh corn salsa (and you know I love corn!) and slices of fresh tomatoes from Pungo. We ordered Creme Brulee that finished it off nicely! We waddled back to our car. What a wonderful day!!

Been reading too ...

2011-06-26T13:08:00.002-04:00

Started re-reading the Harry Potter books back in May. My plan was to read a book then watch the movie. That was all going according to plan until I picked up the Kindle Brooke and I were giving Dad for Father's Day. She put all the "Fever" books on there. Damn! I had read books 1-4 several years ago. I remember being so pissed at the end of the fourth book. I picked it up thinking it was the last one in that series. It so was not the last one. I'd read that whole book thinking I'd get some kind of closure at the end. NOT!! And I had waited for it to be released so I had no clue when the sequel was coming out. (If you aren't familiar with the "Fever" books go here to read more.)

Fast forward to June. Cari bought herself a Nook Color. She'd been waiting for the fifth and final book to hit the shelves so she could read the entire series at once. Well book five came out in January - I still hadn't picked it up though. It had been several years so I wanted to start back at book one and read them all again. All it takes is a couple of pages and you're hooked - so hooked. Cari read all five books in six days. Granted she wasn't in school or working and she had really missed reading for fun. There's simply not much time for that in between studying and homework during school. So, although I was into book four of Harry Potter I had all five "Fever" books at my finger tips. I couldn't resist. I caved.

I devoured the first two books. Then I hit the brick wall called Nashville. I didn't get much reading done the next two weeks. Acknowledging there was no way I could finish before handing the Kindle over on Father's Day, I went to the library and checked the rest of them out. I am so glad that series is done!! Good Gawd I needed a massage after finishing that last one! The entire thing was unbelievably intense! And it ended with, " ... the end" and on the next page, " ... for now." So you know that's not the end of the story, but at least Ms. Moning provided us with some closure.

I've got two and a half weeks to get ready for Harry Potter now!! Yikes!!

PS - Both Missy and Pat have now caught the fever! It's gonna be fun watching them read too!

Ahem (clearing my throat) ...

2011-06-26T10:21:00.001-04:00

... no literally. I've been feeling poorly since Monday. Woke up with a sore throat and just dragging. The coughing started Wednesday night. My voice started going Friday afternoon. Today (Sunday) is the second day of absolutely no voice whatsoever. I talk to myself - a lot. And yes, I answer myself too. Is that an indication of intelligence or Alzheimer's? Not sure but I'll choose intelligence thank you. I've always talked to myself, even growing up. I remember trying to figure algebra problems and talking my way through it in class. Maybe it's a product of being an only child. Who knows? Anyway, now I'm whispering to myself. I forget I don't have a voice until I try to say something. If it wasn't so frustrating it would be funny. Anyway ...

Can't believe it's been two months since I've blogged. So many of life has whizzed by!! And wait, two months from today we'll be on a plane heading to Alaska! I can't believe it's that close! We've been planning this for months now. It's incredible to believe it's only weeks away now. I am so not ready! Well I'm ready, but not ready. You know what I mean! I've always wanted to go to Alaska - always. So we decided to take the trip of a lifetime for our 25th wedding anniversary! OMG the pictures I'm gonna take!

Mother's Day - Cari made me an awesome chocolate pecan pie! We had breakfast at Rock-a-fellers and snow crabs for dinner. It was a wonderful day!

Kenny!! Our summer started with a bang on June 4 going to see Kenny at Fed Ex Field. Jamie went with us and the yewts (Cari and Matt) met us at the hotel. We got to the parking lot as they opened the doors and had a wonderful time tailgating most of the afternoon. Carla and Eddie joined us - it was great reconnecting with them again. (More on this in a separate post.)

After coming home from Kenny on Sunday, I started getting serious about getting my act together for Nashville! Cari arrived Tuesday about lunchtime and the frivolity followed!! The whole trip (with the exception of Miranda Lambert being a bitch) was awesome! For me, the best thing about it was just being together. Six full days with Cari and Missy! We had a ball!!

We landed about 11:30pm Monday night - exhausted and elated. Cari had planned to stay through Father's day and Matt arrived Thursday afternoon so he'd be here for Morgan's 2nd birthday party (which was awesome!) on Saturday. The Troupe crew met at Jewish Mother for breakfast Sunday morning - that's always a fun time! Cari left Monday for Harrisonburg Monday afternoon. The bug that was working on my body had already latched on. It was a long week. So that's where I am right now. Time to back up and fill in some blanks ...

Happy 2nd Birthday to Morgan!!!

2011-06-20T12:42:00.000-04:00

It's funny. On one hand I can't believe it's been two years since Morgan was born. On the other hand, it's hard to remember back to a time she wasn't a part of our lives. She's always been beautiful but I swear she's even more so every time I see her. It's humbling to realize there's a little bit of me in there somewhere. She was napping when we arrived so was a little groggy at first. Cari was so excited for Matt to finally meet her! Whether she remembered Cari or not (it had been about six months) it didn't take Morgan long to warm up to her. Babies and kids naturally take to Cari - she's like a magnet to them.

We ate, opened presents - LOTS of presents! - sang, had cake and played in the pool! Tiffany and Lauren were blowing up the beach balls I brought - Cars, Princesses and Nemo. Morgan saw the Cars one and said, "vrooom vrooom!" It was so cute! She's always loved balls - and the movie, "Cars." This summer she's a little fish in the pool too. Poor thing, she was shivering and turning blue in the pool but still didn't want to get out.

For more birthday photos, click here.

Kenny!!

2011-06-06T11:22:00.001-04:00

We had been looking forward to this show for a long time (actually bought the tickets back in November). A stadium show had been on our "to do" list for years. And since he didn't tour at all last year we were in detox mode for sure! Jamie came over bright and early Saturday morning and we hit the road around 7am. After dropping Peanut off with Dad we were on our way! The drive up was pretty uneventful and it gave Jamie and I a good block of time to catch up. The yewts beat us to the hotel and one of our rooms was ready so we went ahead and checked in. All of us were excited (yes even Bob) and we were out of there pretty quickly.

Cars were lined up to get into the parking lot. The gates opened at 12:30 and we were there ten minutes early. Needless to say we got a great spot. As as soon as the car stopped we were unloading and setting up for tailgating! The little Weber handled our burgers and dogs with no problem. Cari made broccoli salad and I brought potato salad. It was a bit hot - in the upper 80's - but we were thankful it wasn't any hotter. As clouds went by and gave us some shade it gave us a little bit of a break. Carla and Eddie (Jamie's ex sister-in-law and her husband) joined the party a little later - it was great to see them again and reconnect!

I'll tell you, some people have the art of tailgating down pat. The jeep next to us had a margarita machine, tent, an incredible spread and they even brought some sand and a baby pool! It was awesome! They actually made Kenny's Facebook page! His manager was riding around in a golf cart taking photos of different fans' setups. It gave us some ideas for our next tailgating party. :)

Finally it was time to make our way to the stadium! Cari and I bought the same Kenny shirt - she has good taste - and we went through the gates. Our seats were awesome!! Carla and Eddie's were awesomer though. LOL They were right next to the sand bar. Wow!

Uncle Kracker opened right at 4:30. He was okay but nothing to write home about. Apparently others weren't too excited about seeing him either since the stadium was pretty close to empty. I like his cd better than his live show. That's a shame isn't it? Billy Currington took the stage about 20 minutes after Kracker left and he was really good. We were very surprised to learn the Zac Brown Band was the last band before Kenny. I was sure it would be Billy. I really like the Zac Brown Band but their "jamming" sessions can go on and on and on and on. It even got to be too much for Bob and he generally likes that kind of stuff. After a while it all begins to sound the same to me. Cari, Jamie and I got up in search of something to eat. We missed a lot of their set but Cari and I knew we'd see them again in a few days in Nashville so we weren't too upset about it.

In the meantime seats were filling up. By the time Kenny made his appearance there wasn't a seat to be had. Kenny never just comes out on stage. He's always where you least expect him. This time he came up from the tech center in the center of the field swinging high through the crowd. It was awesome! The show continued to get better and more exciting from there. Kenny looked rested and thrilled to be in front of his fans again - needless to say, we were thrilled to have him in front of us again. He sang, danced, high-fived fans and made us all fall in love with him all over again. I later found the set list - the man sang 26 songs in that two hour period. Bob walked away saying, "He does a great show! He certainly is an entertainer." This was Matt's first ever Kenny show. Let's just say it won't be his last.

Click HERE for more photos from the night.

Back in the hotel room, we snacked, showered and decompressed a little. Cari and Jamie made fun of me on my Ambien - I remember most of it. I probably would've made fun of me too if I could have. I usually take it and go to bed, not attempt to be sociable.

After breakfast in the morning we hugged the yewts and started our trek home. Then it was time to start seriously getting stuff together for NASHVILLE!!

Happy Easter! Blessings Galore ...

2011-04-24T21:41:00.001-04:00

The weekend started on Friday by having lunch with Heidi for her birthday. How in the hell she's supposed to be 29 still has me completely stumped. Didn't I just turn 29 a couple of years ago? Anyway, we had a wonderful visit even though Morgan was sick with a double ear infection. She was still a sweetie and pretty dang pleasant considering how crappy she must've felt. Lauren and Tiffany had been trying to get her to tell Heidi "Happy Birthday" and she was so proud of herself saying "Bir-day!!" It was SO CUTE!! The only thing is that she's associating her Easter baskets with "Bir-day!!" I guess she'll have it figured out soon enough.

Saturday morning we left early to drop Peanut off with Dad before heading to Charlottesville to meet Cari and Matt for lunch. We ended up at a favorite Italian restaurant. Cari and I both got pasta with their famous "Pink Sauce," Matt ordered a Stromboli and Bob a personal pan pizza. Everything was wonderful and we certainly walked away satisfied. After browsing some of the shops it was time to hit the brewery - Starrhill Brewery, about 13 miles away in Crozet. It wasn't a "Cari" thing to do but we knew Matt would really enjoy it - and he did. I don't think they've seen the last of him. We enjoyed sampling six of their creations on tap - well we enjoyed most of them. One, Double Platinum, was perfectly horrid! It's extra hoppy and literally turns your mouth inside out! Nasty Asty!! None of us could even finish the sample. After filling two of Rick's Growlers with Cryptical and Love it was time to move on.

Before we left though, I wanted Cari to open some of the goodies I took her. A couple of months ago she ran across a fabulous deal on a complete set of all seven NCIS seasons on ebay. Unable to resist, I bought them. She's a hopeless NCIS junkie. She was thrilled when she saw I brought them to her. Our neighbor, who is NCIS, managed to finagle a personalized autograph of Michael Weatherly for her. I hadn't said a peep to her about any of this and was dying to see her surprise when she took it out of the bag (along with MY personalized autograph of Mark Harmon!!). Surprise is putting it mildly. She was amazed!! And softy that he is our neighbor said her joy over it made HIS day!

On the way to Harrisonburg Bob and I stopped at the hotel to check in and freshen up. Salad Creations, one of the local places was where we found ourselves for dinner. To my knowledge, we don't have anything like that here. They have quite a few salads on the menu, but you can also create your own. It was very reasonable and everything is fresh - it tasted wonderful!

The movie "Source Code" was next on our agenda. It was certainly different! Bob stayed awake through it - that's saying something! We went back to Cari's apartment to enjoy a cup of tea before going back to our hotel room. By the time I had my face washed and pjs on it was nearly 11:30. Bob was soon snoring and I didn't get much reading done.

This morning Cari wanted to fix us some of her wonderful banana pancakes for breakfast. She was right - they were delicious!! After visiting some more over an awesome breakfast it was time to leave for home.

Delivering the Growlers was the last thing on our agenda for today. We had no intention of assisting to "kill" them - but that's just what we did. So, all in all it was a perfect weekend - time spent with younguns, family, friends, good food and last but not least, good beer = good times. Like I said ... Blessings Galore ...

Happy Easter!

Spring!!

2011-04-20T08:48:00.001-04:00

Well I guess spring is officially here. While most people are loving this weather, me not so much. The pollen is killing me. The yellow/green dust from all the pines covers everything. I'm a prisoner in my own home. By the time the pollen is mostly gone it'll be so hot I'll still be miserable. Between allergies and menopause I've really become more of a winter person. Fall has always been my favorite time of year anyway - now even more so.

Anyway, I'll do a week in review. I can only review the latest week because I can't remember enough to review the whole month and a half I've missed. Last week wasn't my best week. Oh it started off good - it just went in the toilet pretty quickly - and I mean that literally. I finally got a new iPhone on March 17. That piece of crap LG Voyager was really on its last leg. I was loving my new phone!! There's a few quirks that I'm not thrilled with but mostly I was in love with it. Monday I met Heidi and Morgan at Mom and Dad's so we could all go to lunch together. It was lovely! The weather was good (for most people, that means sweating while doing nothing for me), lunch (at Panera) was delicious and we had four generations together! That doesn't happen every day. When we got back to the house I just slipped my phone into my back pocket and grabbed my keys - left my purse in the car. Long story short, I went to the bathroom before leaving to come home and guess what? I forgot my phone was in my back pocket. When I went to pull my pants down that baby flipped right out and went swimming!! You have never seen anyone dive so fast into a toilet in your life! It was only in there a second - thank goodness it was clean water! (All of a sudden I really didn't even have to go anymore!) My heart sunk about as fast as my phone. Not pretty.

I dried it off and it appeared to be okay. I took a breath. I thought maybe I retrieved it fast enough. I didn't say a peep to anyone about what happened. Still hoping against hope it wasn't damaged I took it out to snap a picture of Morgan ... um, not good. The view was all cloudy. First major sign it didn't escape unharmed. I left not long after that and was constantly checking the phone to see if the camera was any better. I plugged it into the radio and it even played my tunes fine. I still had hope ... for a while. Until I picked it up and it was hot to the touch. Not a good sign. I didn't know if it would dry itself out or just continue to get worse. In the end, I decided to go by Best Buy and ask what they recommended. Thankfully, we purchased the Black Tie program and it was exchanged without a problem. I had to go back to my piece of crap phone for a few days but on Thursday morning I got the call saying my phone was in and I could come pick it up. That was a happy day.

Knitting
I am making my first wearable garment - well I guess that isn't actually true because I started a Kimono last spring. But a Kimono is a cardigan and it doesn't have to fit particularly well to be acceptable. I started a Miley-tee a couple of weeks ago. The yarn I'm using is Cascades Ultra Pima and it's a beautiful rich teal color. I love the sheen of this yarn. It's 100% cotton so it's not exactly forgiving to work with but I think it will be worth it. Anyway, Friday morning at S&B I was so excited to get to the point of putting the sleeves on a holder and just working in the round on the body. The sleeves and body of the top added up to nearly 400 stitches per round - it takes a while to complete a round. I had never been ecstatic with the way the "v" had come together when joined but figured there was some little finishing technique that would "improve" it. Well I broke one of the sacred rules when I started this top - I didn't read the pattern all the way through before casting on. As written, the "v" is fairly deep. Since I didn't want to have to wear something under the top, I decided to join it earlier than the pattern stated. Well, the instructions for joining were further down on the directions and I didn't "catch" it until about 3" past where I joined. I was sick. I knew ultimately I had to frog (rip out) all the way back to the join and do it again. Three inches may not sound like much but when you're looking at nearly 400 stitches per round ... well, let's just say it's a lot. Saturday morning I sucked it up and ripped it back. Challenging though it was I managed to get all the stitches back on a needle and have been playing catch up. I'm still not back to where was on Friday but I'll get there.

I also had to rip out some socks I was working on - quite a few times. Not a very productive week for knitting. But ... there's always the next week!! I finally got the Kimono I started last spring seamed on Monday. Karen came over to help me figure it out and between us we did. So yaaahh!! It isn't perfect but nothing I make is so that's ok. This was a learning experience and I didn't spend big bucks on the yarn for this project so if it ends up being a knock around the house sweater, that works for me. I still have to do 7" worth of garter stitch all around the front (lapel) so it's not done - but a whole lot closer than before!! It will be my auto-pilot project - except when it's too hot, which would be today. It's supposed to be almost 90 degrees today. I'm hibernating.

TTFN,
QB

Mar 1! How did that happen?

2011-03-01T10:01:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been three weeks since I've blogged! I think it's because I just haven't felt up to par lately. My sinuses just aren't very happy these days. It's not bad enough to put me in bed but it is bad enough to keep me from being motivated to accomplish anything productive and the energy needed to accomplish anything productive. I haven't even done much knitting lately. I did finish a pair of baby clogs for Morgan (but I'm afraid they're a wee bit too little for her - sad, so sad) and a couple of dishcloths. After rummaging in my stash, I pulled out yarn for another pair of baby clogs and the little owl. I actually started the owl - got the body done. Haven't picked it up since. Haven't touched the clogs. Sigh ... I guess that's just not what I want to do right now because I found myself just staring at the TV not knitting at all. So last Thursday night I pulled out a ball of sock yarn to start a pair of socks and retrieved my Lady Eleanor (entrelac stole) that was put on the back burner the end of September (so I could complete some Christmas gifts). Now this stole is in James C. Brett Marble in gorgeous brown, gold, green and orange. I LOVE how it's working up. But it's unlikely I'll wear if before fall. If I don't finish it soon, though, it'll get too hot to work on it. So, hopefully, I'll get it done before it gets hot.

Went to get some baby love Valentine's Day. Nothing like some baby love to brighten and sweeten your day. We played together, laughed together and had a wonderful time. We hadn't been out to lunch in a while and ended up at IHOP. I won't even go into that story here. But suffice to say it was not a good experience and I came home and wrote a letter, a very detailed letter, a letter with pictures. I haven't heard anything from IHOP and I may not. But I could not let this experience go without letter the powers that be know how bad it really was.

OTN: I started my first pair of 2-at-a-time, toe-up socks Saturday. This is the only way to go for socks. The toes are done and I've got about 1-1/2" on the feet done. I'm really like thing so far. I've also done several tiers on my entrelac stole.

Today I'm going to pick up my first set of photos to start scrapbooking our Florida trip. I haven't scrapped in so long I won't even know where to start but I'm gonna give it a whirl.

Went to the annual quilt show with Mom on Sunday. It's the first time we've ever been. Wow! It was incredible! We'll do our best not to miss it again. I'm not even a quilter and I loved it. Quilts today are just crazy gorgeous! They really are works of art. I'm gearing up to start Cari's music t-shirt quilt though. I've been talking about this thing for years. It's gonna feel good to actually start it (with Fran's help of course!).

I think that's all the news for this time. Hopefully I'll have pics to share next time (socks, stole, layouts, quilting progress, etc.)

Happy March 1st!

How much do I knit?

2011-02-07T23:20:00.001-05:00

I don't consider myself a fast knitter. I'm certainly not a speed knitter. I am, however, a consistent knitter. I guess that's how I seem to get more projects done than some. At least that's what they say. I'm always being told, "You just whip things out so fast!" Well, no I really don't. I just stick with the projects. Sometimes I knit during the day. Most of my knitting time gets worked in at night. Rarely do I sit and watch TV without my knitting. So after I quit at night, usually around 7:00-8:00pm, I knit until I go to bed. I thought I'd keep track of it this week to see how many hours a week I spend knitting. So here goes:

Monday - 9:30-11:30am (knitting group at church) 2 hrs.
9:00 - 10:00 pm
Tuesday - nada, nothing, zilch
Wednesday - 3:00 - 4:00pm (started my Cream of Spinach Scarf)
8:00 - 10:30pm
Thursday - 8:00 - 10:00pm
Friday - 10:00 - 11:00am (S&B)
7:30 - 10:30pm
Saturday - 2 hours here and there

Sunday - nothing

Running Total - 14.5 hrs

So there ya go - I average about 2 hours a day knitting. Some days more, some days less.

Now let's see, what did I accomplish in that amount of time? Hmmm, oh yeah I finished a black and multi-colored striped scarf (from stash):

I finished Saturday a Cream of Spinach scarf from some white Red Heart Soft in my stash. Love the pattern but will make it again from natural fibers so it will be easier to block. I'm not happy with the "grafting" though so that may be a problem if I decide to make it again. I need to steam this one and see how it lays and how much the join shows while around my neck.

I think the only other project I finished was a set of felted coasters for Cari.

That's it for this week! See ya in a few days!

QB

The Clog Saga and "Double Vision"

2011-01-29T12:50:00.081-05:00

Well I didn't make my goal for a Friday update this week, but here's what's on and off my needles this past week. Unfortunately, the saga of the clogs continued well into the week. I did make myself go out in the cold back to the yarn store Saturday. I drove thirty minutes out there only to discover the yarn Cari picked out a few weeks ago was discontinued and they didn't have anymore. Not only did they not have anymore but I didn't have the ball band with me (and I didn't even know if I still had it at all) to get the color number from it. Since we didn't know the color number we couldn't even look it up so she could make a note to call the company on Monday morning to see if they had a stray ball in the warehouse. Extremely frustrated, I left. I started to head home and then decided that Knit Wits was only another ten minutes away, so on the off chance they still had a ball, I turned my car in their direction. Of course they didn't have anymore! But after telling Sharon (owner) that I wanted/needed four hanks of the sumptuous Magic Flute color of the Misti Alpaca Chunky Hand Paints (can I just say ... yarngasm?) that Regina got the week before, plus Regina needed another one, the next time she ordered ... well, Sharon found a whole nuther bag of the stuff and instead of spending $5 on a ball of wool I spent ... never mind, I don't even want to go there. But this color is so awesome Cari and I both needed a scarf with it. (More on these later.) Despondent I left Knit Wits after spending way too much money on awesome yarn still not able to finish the clogs. And I didn't know if I'd be able to get any more of that color - ever.

Bright spot - I found the yarn label (ball band) in my basket and called Sharon with the color number. She said she'd put it in her network and see what she could come up with. So Cari's clogs still sat. In the meantime, however ... I had this alpaca calling out to me. No it was yelling at me to play with it and fondle it and make it into something. I caved. It won. After trying several different patterns and needle sizes the Misti Alpaca Ribs and Ruffles pattern was what the yarn wanted to be worked in. Truly, it told me so. Each hank is only 109 yards, and working with a 10.5 needle, well it works up pretty quickly. I finished my scarf and immediately picked up the same yarn to make Cari's. I didn't intend to use the same pattern for both scarves, but in the end I did just that. I loved the first one so much and it was too perfect to do anything else with the yarn. So here's the "Double Vision:"

I had seen some felted pot holders in one of my knitting books earlier in the week. I also saw some neat mitered coasters in another book. So I thought I'd try making the mitered coasters with wool and felting them to see what they'd look like and if they'd be functional. That's what I pulled out to work on at S&B Friday morning. Wow, I was thrilled at how fast they knit up and had one almost finished by the end of the morning. Liz went by Knit Wits and called me later saying Sharon had found me a ball of the wool (for Cari's clogs) and it was in!!! Asked if I wanted her to pick it up for me! Well, yeah!! I was about ready to throw in the towel and just finish those last four rounds with the cream I was using for the cuff. So I was able to finish the second clog Friday night and I felted them today! I'm pretty happy with how they turned out - hopefully, Cari will be too.

I also managed to whip out three more of the coasters and felted them along with the clogs this morning. Pretty happy with how they turned out too!! Think I'll make Cari some and throw them in her care package to mail later in the week.

Future projects? Same as last week: the owl (maybe I'll get that pattern this week and knock that out), my entrelac stole and my kimono - oh, still need to get some more wool for a couple more pair of clogs I promised over Christmas. Michael's has it on sale this week so maybe I'll swing by there, buy some and get started on another pair.

'til next week ...
QB

On and off my needles ...

2011-01-22T00:04:00.001-05:00

In an endeavor to be more accountable in my knitting, my goal is to blog about what I have (or have not) accomplished each week on Fridays. Since I have "Stitch & Bitch" on Friday mornings I'll take a few minutes at the end of the day to log my projects. So, what's off my needles in the last week? Let's see, after a trip to Knit Wits Saturday morning I simply had to drop everything (not that I was doing that much but still ...) and play with the delicious Misti Alpaca Chunky Hand Paint hanks that insisted on coming home with me. I played with several different stitch patterns and needles sizes before deciding on a simple 2x2 rib with a twist and the following is the end result. I love it!! The alpaca is so incredible soft and squishy!!

Oh, but before I started playing with this new alpaca I made myself seam a cowl I finished the night before. Mom bought me two beautiful hanks of chunky alpaca during our weekend trip to the Outer Banks in September (for my birthday) - lime green and a light teal. Actually, I had honestly forgotten about them in all the frantic Christmas knitting. When I got home from S&B that Friday I immediately pulled both colors out and wanted to get them made into something. Initially I planned to use them together in one project but decided against that in the end. The green was calling the loudest to me so I chose a very simple cowl pattern I knew would knit up quickly. I can't wait to wear it!

And the light teal made a beautiful cowl in the classy herringbone stitch. I need to find a couple of perfect buttons to set it off, but it's otherwise done.

I also finished a dishcloth out of some pretty Plymouth Fantasy Cotton using a slip stitch pattern and size 6 needles. I need to start another one but just don't enjoy knitting with cotton because it has no give and is hard on my arm and shoulder. I'll get them done eventually. Here's the first one:

OK, so now for what's still on my needles:

Later during the week I pulled out another ball of yarn that's been in my stash for, well let's just say quite a while, shall we? It's pretty and soft and chunky but for whatever reason I haven't been able to find the right pattern for it. I've played with this particular yarn quite a few times trying to figure out what it wants to be. This week I decided it was time it joined society and quit living in seclusion in the yarn bin. After trying a number of different stitches and needle sizes it finally told me it wanted to be knit in a modified rib - 1x1 - but all the knit stitches are knit in the stitch below, creating an elongated stitch. I think I'm finally really liking the way it's turning out: (later edited: I frogged this project. just wasn't happy with it in the end. gave the yarn to Heidi to do something with.)

Cari's felted clogs: Apparently I've been dragging my heels on these. I did finish the first one early in the week. That consisted of seaming the bottom of the first sole, weaving all the ends in, making the second sole, attaching it to the first sole and seaming it. Clog one down. One more to go. After completing a few smaller projects and getting that sense of satisfaction, it was time to bite the bullet and pull out the yarn to start the second clog. I did that at S&B this morning. I needed to see if I had enough yarn to finish the second sole or if I had to go buy more yarn. Good thing I did. I had very little yarn left after just the first sole (you have to make two soles for each clog - that makes the bottoms twice as cushioned). Sighing, I left S&B and went directly to the Yarn Basket (where Cari found this yarn) to purchase another ball of the burgundy. Fran said she didn't have anything else going on and wanted to keep my company so she hopped in the car too. As we were browsing the fiber someone came up behind me and covered my eyes. Well, I knew it wasn't Regina because she was home sick so my other choices were limited and I figured it was Karen. She had an appointment this morning and didn't make it to S&B but stopped by to see if an order for the cotton she likes had come in. We all ended up going to Panera for a spontaneous lunch! I love when my Fridays come together like that!

Tonight after dinner I sat down to start the second sole, just so I'll have the hard part done when I get to it. (Have plenty of that pretty burgundy left too - hello stash!) I started the top of the clog and as I was working it I was getting this sinking feeling that I may run out of that yarn too. Ugh! Why oh why didn't I pick up that long ball that matched when I was there today? But alas, I didn't. And now I'm going to have to go back to get another one. (I'll have plenty of that left over too since I only have about 4 rows left.) First off, it's going to be damn cold tomorrow and I really hadn't planned on going anywhere. Secondly, I really wanted to finish this clog and felt the set this weekend. If I don't go all the way back out to the yarn store tomorrow, that won't happen. I'm ready to cross these off of my list and move on. I guess next week you'll find out what happens, huh?

The other two things still on my needles are my black kimono sweater that still needs to be seamed and my entrelac stole. I'll eventually get back to them - I promise!

Other projects looming on the horizon? Well yes, of course. I'm itching to do socks again and I'd love to make Morgan a little sweater, I have some fun yarn pulled out for a black scarf striped lengthwise - for me! I want to get some more of that gorgeous hand paint alpaca. There's another colorway screaming at me to come home and be made into another wonderful scarf (and Cari would really like that colorway too - so I need to get enough to make two scarves!) That's all I can think of at the moment. Oh, I need to pull stuff together to knit a little owl for my niece Ayla. I've picked out a pattern so need to get going on that too.

It's almost midnight now so that's all for this week. I'll add pics tomorrow. Next week I'll talk about what podcasts I've listened to lately as well.

TTFN,
QB

Home Sweet Home

2011-01-08T09:52:00.005-05:00

As I sit on the plane flying home reflecting on this incredible, wonderful, beautiful, exhausting week we’ve had I can’t help but be filled with mixed emotions. We could’ve spent so much more time at each park we visited, but I don’t think our bodies could handle any more days. We’re all exhausted – a good, satisfied exhausted, but exhausted nonetheless. Mom and Cari began the trip with laryngitis and coughing. Mom’s voice came back in a few days but she still has a congested cough. Cari hasn’t felt her best but has managed. Bob started feeling bad Wednesday, even opting out of going to Universal on Thursday and stayed behind in bed instead. He plugged along at Hollywood yesterday but is still feeling like crap this morning. I am so thankful I haven’t felt any of this so far – I’m not quite sure how I’ve managed to escape whatever this mess is living with all these sick people all week, but at least if I come down with it now I’ll be home.

We have gone hard this week – every day. No need for a gym these last seven days. I know we’ve managed to walk at least three miles a day – and most of that walking with a backpack on my shoulders that I’m afraid to guess how much it weighs and a Nikon D200 with a zoom lens hanging around my neck – I need a massage. I’m taking the rest of the weekend off. I’ll pick back up Monday … maybe. I can’t wait to get home and get caught up on the rest of my journaling and start editing photos. I managed to journal the first two or three days but the rest of the week I only made bullet point notes. I have well over 1,000 photos to sift through – and that’s with already doing a major weeding out of only so-so images. It’s going to be a challenge to pick only the best of each attraction/event to edit and print. I bought a 200-photo Disney album. Do you think I can get it down to 200 photos? Then I’ll have to go through again and choose the ones I want to use for scrabooking. I’m also ready to get back to eating normal. That was the biggest downside this last week – our food choices were pretty limited.

My top three for the week:

Harry Potter Land and having a Butterbeer (Islands of Adventure)

Photographing the Castle at night (Magic Kingdom)

            The Hulk roller coaster (Islands of Adventure)

Bob's top three for the week:
           The Extreme Stunt Show (Hollywood)
           The Whale Show (SeaWorld)

           Buzz Lightyear ride (Magic Kingdom)

Cari's top three for the week:
          The Hulk roller coaster (Islands of Adventure)
          Harry Potter World and having a Butterbeer (Islands of Adventure)
          Rock'n Roller Coaster (Hollywood)

Mom's top three for the week:
   (still pending...)

Home …

Dropped Mom off and picked up Peanut, stopped by Panera to pick up some lunch and it was about 1:30 by the time we got home. After eating I got a small burst of energy and managed to unpack most of my stuff before crashing. We all crashed. Bob’s still sick and crawled directly into bed – and has stayed there.

Hollywood

2011-01-07T14:06:00.006-05:00

Bob still wasn’t feeling good this morning but not as bad as yesterday so thought he could make it through the day with us. It’s funny, early in the week we were leaving the condo much earlier – we got a little later with each day. I guess that’s exhaustion talking. Cari and I were really excited about riding the “Rock’n Roller Coaster” again this time. I didn’t remember much about it except it was pretty much in the dark most of the way. That’s another ride where the lines fill up fast so we made a bee-line to get Fast Passes. Along the way we passed random acts in the street, Dorma Nesmond (she was a hoot) and Eva somebody with her director. Honestly, I think I could’ve made a day out of just walking the streets and watching those little random acts. They were very entertaining.

After getting our Fast Passes, we headed to the theater to wait for “Beauty and the Beast,” a 30-minute musical performance. As always, the talent was amazing, the costumes incredible and the whole show was wonderful. Surprisingly, I got some decent shots – the lighting was so bad I really wasn’t very hopeful. Once again it was time to eat so we found a little place and got some lunch.

We still had time before returning to ride the coaster so just walked around to see what jumped in front of us. The tribute to Walt Disney jumped. I remember going in there before but, again, there’s never enough time to see everything. It was fascinating to walk through and read the trivia about the man himself and how it all began and see the artifacts preserved from the beginning. Then we were ushered into a theater to watch a 30-minute documentary, narrated by Walt Disney, about his life.

Bob, Cari and I had been through building before (didn’t see the film though) and were still awe struck at the ingenuity and creativity of this man. To think about how he changed the world with his dream and his vision is mind-boggling. To see the beginnings of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy & Pluto – well, it just makes you smile. This was yet another spot we could’ve spent way more time in had we had it. There was so much to see and read, but the Rock’n Roller Coaster was calling our names …

I won't lie, I was a little - just a little - apprehensive about riding it. Not enough to not do it but I did have butterflies. Those butterflies multiplied as we got closer and saw the "limo" take off. OMG, it goes from 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds. That's how the ride starts. Whew! Alrighty then. And that's also when they take your photo. Needless to say, I lived through it - and enjoyed it! Bob had gotten Fast Passes for all four of us knowing he and Mom wouldn't ride, so Cari and I took theirs and immediately went again! Since we knew when the photo was going to be taken we were ready ... and the result was priceless. One more thing we could cross off our list. :)

While Mom and Bob were waiting for Cari and I to ride … twice … they each struck up conversations with others waiting. Mom talked to this older lady beside her who had such a fascinating story. I don’t know how old she was but I’d suspect in her 70’s. She was there with her daughter and kids and visits Disney quite often. In fact she said she had ridden the “Tower of Terror” just three years ago. Good for her was all I could say. I won’t even ride it – neither will Cari. She said once was enough. LOL She spoke perfect English, not a trace of an accent, so we were surprised as she was telling us she only learned English as her children did. Her parents were Canadian and only spoke French. Said her mother was beautiful and lived to be 87 years old (I think). Said she was married at 15 years old, started having babies soon after and had one child a year for 22 years! Can you believe that? That woman gave birth 22 times! Um, ouch! I can’t even imagine! She still has eight siblings alive and they are all close. Oh and there are 57 grandchildren. I can’t even wrap my head around that.

The timing was just about right to catch the street show, “Disney Channel Rocks!” so we started walking in the direction of the big hat to, hopefully, get a good spot. I didn’t know many of the songs since I don’t watch the Disney Channel very often these days, but still enjoyed the performance. The main stars were paraded into the area on a rolling stage preceded by backup dancers/singers. Towards the end they asked the kids in the audience to join them and they had a ball.

The “Extreme Stunt Show” sounded interesting and fit into our schedule so we started walking in that direction. Thank goodness we got there as early as we did because the stadium filled up while we sat waiting for the show to start. I don’t know what I expected but it certainly wasn’t what was delivered. There was so much to see as the cars darted in and out from different directions, spinning around, burning rubber and squealing tires! I think my jaw dropped at the beginning and stayed dropped throughout the show. It was like watching a well-choreographed dance team, except instead of dancers it was drivers with cars – fast cars. And these drivers knew exactly how to execute their maneuvers, within inches of where they needed to be. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Ramps, fire, explosions, jet-skis and more were involved. At the end of the show they showed the clips of a real movie using the scenes we just saw. It gave us a new appreciation of what goes into filming these kinds of scenes. There are tons of cameras, people and equipment. They way they customize the cars was fascinating. They had the engines mounted in the back and taken all the fluff out so they were light in the front, which makes the car able to spin and maneuver easier. One of the cars went backwards at a high speed during the chase. We watched in amazement as this driver spun around, went up ramps, in between buildings and back out again. I’m telling you, it was unbelievable. Towards the end they showed us what made all of that more feasible – the engine was in the back and the driver was facing the back. Too cool!!

“Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!” would be the last thing we could cram into our day and it was located close to the exit, which worked for us. A “cold front” came through on Thursday and the high temps were in the 60’s. As the sun started to set this afternoon and the winds kicked in it was downright cold … at least for Florida. We just had our new hoodies on and we were freezing! The show was okay. I’d give it three stars out of five. I guess after the stunt show we just saw it would be hard to measure up. There were three different scenes involving stunts from the movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” They picked quite a few members from the audience to play extras and they things they had them do were pretty funny. By the time it was over we were tired, hungry and freezing and we still had to ride the tram to the car, then find something to eat on the way home.

You wouldn’t think finding a decent restaurant to eat dinner in would be such a feat. Obviously it is. An hour after we left the park we pulled into Subway. It was the easiest, healthiest thing we could find. We still had to go back and pack since we’re leaving at 7am in the morning.

Top 3:

Mom - Walt Disney, Stunt Show, Beauty & the Beast

Cari - Rock'n Roller Coaster, Stunt Show, Walt Disney

Me - Rock'n Roller Coaster, Stunt Show, Walt Disney

Bob - Stunt Show, Walt Disney, Indiana Jones

Loot List:

Nada - we're all broke

Universal

2011-01-06T22:44:00.058-05:00

Bob started feeling bad yesterday so it wasn't a surprise this morning when he told me he wasn't going with us today. After several attempts to be on our way, we finally made it and arrived at the park about 10:15. I know we've been doing this all week, but it still blows my mind that it costs $14/$15 to park your car for the day. WTH? In my simple logical mind I deduce that if you pay these exhorbitant prices for park tickets, said tickets should include parking ... because how can one attend the park without driving to it - and it you drive to it you have to park your car somewhere! It irks my nerve - my last nerve no less. AND, my point in sharing that was that by the 5th day of walking parks we are nearly walked out. So, ... we paid even more to park! Another $5 on top of the $15 parking fee (which brings it to a grand total of $20) for "Preferred Parking." You'd think that meant up close and personal wouldn't you? Me too. Let me just tell you how far away we still were from either entrance. Well, I guess I can't. I don't know exactly but I can tell you it was a long walk. You know those moving walk ways airports have? Well we had four of those on our journey from our parking space to the front gate. Islands of Adventure was first on our list because Harry Potter World is there. Even if we didn't get to anything else we knew we wanted to see that part of the park. None of us had eaten much breakfast because we had purchased the Dining Plan and were just going to eat in the park. By the time we got through the gate and anywhere to eat it was around 11:00 - so we decided to just find somewhere for lunch. I haven't talked about this but we've also been collecting pressed pennies throughout the park. When we saw this Suess Landing penny we immediately started pulling quarters and pennies out.

Seuss Landing was the first section in our path and we were simply delighted to see so many of the Dr. Suess characters sort of come to life before our eyes. It was just beautiful, cute, adorable and amazing. It seemed at every turn we saw something else better than before. Even knowing Harry Potter World was around the corner (and we were pretty damn excited about that) we just couldn't drag ourselves out of Suess Landing. It was, by far, one of our favorite places.

We rode The Cat in the Hat, which is a ride through the pages of said book. I think we all could've done without the spinning but other than that it was delightful!

After going through some of the other shops (and trying on various hats just for fun) we found the Trolley Train Ride. It was just plain cute.

See? Isn't it adorable?

You know we had to ride it. Amazingly, there weren't that many people there. It was nothing like Magic Kingdom - you were packed like sardines in that place. I took this picture as we wound our way through the line - you can see us in the mirror:

When we took our place in the "shoot" Mom noticed the following sign:

Fro? No photography? I'm sorry but I just don't understand. This ride didn't take you into a performance, or theater, or anywhere else we hadn't already seen - and photographed. This ride just took you high above the rides and attractions. So what, we can't take pictures of these same things just because we're 12' in the air? Makes no sense to me. And since my camera was attached to my hands at all times, my index finger must have had a muscle spasm or something because here are a few of the photographs I didn't take:

See the coaster in the background? That's The Incredible Hulk!

And look way back there - that's our first glimpse of Hogwarts!!!

All the rides wind you through their gift shop before leaving so you know we had to have a bit more fun shopping and looking at all the fun stuff. Sadly, we knew we had to move on even though we could've spent a lot more time in Suess Landing.

The Lost Continent was next and we walked right into Poseidon's Fury. The line for the show has you winding through the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon towards and under sea battlefield for a spectacular special effects display between Poseidon and the evil Lord Darkenon. The show begins in theater #1. To enter theater #2 you have to walk through a tunnel of swirling water. It was incredible! This particular feature was not an effect, it was real. You could feel the mist from the water. Of course Poseidon prevails and the prisoners (us) are released from the underworld. As much as we wanted to explore the other attractions, the clock was ticking and Harry Potter was just around the corner.

It was so worth the wait! All we could say is "Wow!" over and over again. It felt like you were in the middle of one of the movies in Hogsmeade. They did such an awesome job of reproducing the village. Unfortunately, unlike the rest of the places inside the park, Harry Potter World was elbow to elbow. We would've loved to go into more of the shops and just browse but it was way too crowded. So we just moseyed along and enjoyed it from the streets. We got in line to ride the Flight of the Hippogriff, a mild roller coaster. I think the longest we stood in line to do anything was this ride. I even took a few shots from the coaster. The ride inside of Hogwarts was a simulation and we didn't want to risk feeling sick the rest of the day so we didn't do that. But before leaving Hogsmeade we had to have a Butterbeer. It has the flavors of a shortbread cookie and butterscotch and was so yummy! The guy who poured them for us said that J. K. Rowling sampled over 75 different flavor combinations before approving this one. They still don't have a hot Butterbeer yet because she hasn't found any she likes. We walked through to Jurassic Park, found a bench and sat down to rest our aching feet (my neck and back) and enjoy our Butterbeer. That was definitely one of the highlights of my week.

Flight of the Hippogriff

Buckbeak (the Hippogriff)

View of Hogsmeade from the coaster

There were a few things in Jurassic Park we may have checked out if it wasn't as cool as it was and we weren't getting tired. The river raft ride looked like lots of fun but people were wearing ponchos and getting wet. It was in the 60's and we just weren't up for that, so we moved on. From there we walked through Toon Town, saw some familiar characters and some unfamiliar. Broom Hilda was one of the characters milling about. She was so cute!! One of the funniest moments was when she sneaked up on this unsuspecting woman resting her eyes. A small crowd of passersby gathered waiting for her to realized Broom Hilda was there. It was priceless! I wish I had kept shooting to capture her expression. Thankfully, she was good-natured about it and laughed right along with the rest of us.

The Incredible Hulk Coaster loomed in front of us as the last ride before leaving the park. Cari and I looked at each other and grinned. Mom said, "Go ahead, I'll watch your stuff." So we did. What fun! I timed it. It took us 14 minutes from the time we got in line to walking away from the ride. And it was awesome. Both Cari and I said it's the best coaster we've ever ridden. We found Mom chillin' with her iPod when we got back. She was enjoying her new Disney music. She's so cute. If we hadn't been leaving the park I'm sure we'd have ridden it again ... but we still had Universal Studios to try and cram in before heading back to the condo.

Off to start the trek to Universal Studios we left Suess and HP behind. Since we had eaten lunch early, an early dinner sounded good. We walked through the streets, found a little Italian place and got some spaghetti - not good spaghetti but it filled a void. Probably not the smartest idea, but we ended up getting in line to ride Twister. It lets you experience what it would be like to be a storm chaser, showing and reproducing clips from the movie, "Twister." It was quite interesting and informative. Thankfully, it was pretty mild too.

We had walked past Shrek 4-D on the way in but were too hungry to stop then. Since we knew for sure that was something we wanted to do, we started walking. It was worth it. In fact it was one of our favorite things of the day. The 3-D movie puts the you right in the middle of the story where you experience water, wind, moving seats and other special effects.

Mom with Dora

I'm sorry Bob missed Universal and the Islands of Adventure. I'll look forward to going there again and exploring both parks in more detail. There were so many things left we wanted to do and experience. But you can only do so much in a day.

On the way out we stopped here and there to do some more shopping - found a couple of good bargains and started the long haul back to the car - the car parked in preferred parking - the car parked in preferred parking that was still a L-O-N-G way away. Since "Pubix" is next to the condo we stopped and bought some fresh blueberries, strawberries, cheese and crackers. The food options this week had not been the healthiest and we wanted some good food. Bob was feeling some better and joined us at the table for our feast. Exhaustion was rampant. This was our fifth park in as many days and we could feel it. We all were in bed early.

Top 3:
Mom - Suess Landing, Harry Potter / Butterbeer, Shrek
Cari - The Hulk, Harry Potter / Butterbeer, Suess Landing
Me - Harry Potter / Butterbeer, The Hulk, Suess Landing

Loot List:
Mom - Dr. Suess t-shirt, Mug
Me - t-shirt, mug, photo album (Publix)
Cari - hat & Disney cards (Publix), Universal cards, Harry Potter cards

Epcot

2011-01-05T14:21:00.004-05:00

The first thing we did this morning was get Fast Passes for the Test Track. The lines for that attraction fill up fast. While in that section of the park we walked over to Soarin' (a new ride) to see if that was something we could put on our list … NOT! None of us do simulators well so we marked that ride off our list.

The next one in that area was Universe of Energy with Ellen Degeneress. The wait wasn’t long so we got in line. It didn’t take long before we were ushered into this big, carpeted room with really large screens. There was a short “movie” starring Ellen and Bill Nye the Science Guy. After about ten minutes we relocated to a larger room with rows of bleacher type seats and even larger screens. Those seats were really large moving cars that moved through jungle scenes while explaining energy from the beginning of time until now. It was amazing. By the time that was over we had an hour or so before we needed to return to Test Track to use our Fast Passes, so we had to get something to eat. I have to time those rides just right – I can’t do them on an empty stomach but also can’t handle them right after eating.

On the way to Test Track we caught the Jamminators, a percussion group performing with trashcans as their instruments. I just love that kind of stuff. Cari got pics – I videoed them. Test Track was as much fun as we remembered. Mom whooped and hollered with the rest of us and the ride photo is wonderful!


Mom with her "1st Visit" pin

The World Showcase is a huge part of the park. I knew we wouldn’t have time to come close to seeing all of it. We walked through Mexico, did a boat ride in Norway (it was kind of cheesy), saw amazing acrobats in China, rested in Italy (and walked around taking photos) and heard an incredible A cappella group in America. There was a 30-minute movie of the “American Adventure” that sounded interesting so we took advantage of an opportunity to sit a while and rest. I’m not much of a history person and while this was well done, it wasn’t captivating. Another time when we weren’t all so tired it would’ve been better. I think we all wanted to close our eyes and rest through it – I know I was.

architecture in Italy

flags in America

By now, Bob was not feeling good at all and we were all tired so we walked through the rest of the countries and grabbed some dinner in the United Kingdom at the Rose & Crown Pub. As badly as we wanted to catch the Illumination of the Earth at 9pm it wasn’t meant to be. We started our long walk to the car (and took more photos) and got back to the condo a little early. Bob went straight to bed.

Epcot at night

Of course Cari and I stayed up downloading, viewing and weeding photos. Mom and I got on the floor and did some stretches. Hauling that backpack and my camera around were really getting to my neck and shoulders. At some point Mom went into her bedroom and just started giggling. When Cari and I asked what in the world she was laughing at she pulled out the Test Track photo and dissolved into laughter. By the time it was over all of us were crying from laughing so much. Her expression is priceless! Bob, Cari and I are smiling and Mom looks petrified! She kept saying, "But y'all just look like you're sitting in your living room watching a movie! And look at me!!" It was a great way to end the day.

Top 3:
Mom - Universe of Energy, Voices of Liberty, Test Track
Cari - Test Track, Jamminators, Mango Green Tea
Me - Test Track, Universe of Energy, Voices of Liberty
Bob - Test Track (that's it, he didn't feel good today)

Loot:
Mom - Leanne's pink ears, t-shirt for Marc

Laugh of the Day - Mom laughing at herself in the Test Track photo

More Magic

2011-01-04T07:43:00.030-05:00

Magic Kingdom was our focus today - apparently Magic Kingdom was the focus for A LOT of people today, at least it sure looked like a lot of people to us. The first thing we managed to accomplish was a little shopping. I mean hey, do you know how difficult it is to walk past all those shops and not peek inside? We well had resisted all we could resist and browsed a few of them. Besides we had a little time to kill before the "Move It! Celebrate It! Shake It! Street Party." Mom and Cari each found a Pandora Disney bead for their bracelet. Regina gave me a Mickey head for Christmas so I was already set and didn't see anything else I couldn't live without. Mom also found some beautiful etched glasses for the grandkids. I was still in the shopping phase and didn't buy anything ... yet.

Eventually we moved along to the front of the castle where the street party would be. We didn't have long to wait before the music started. Pluto was one of the characters leading the parade, followed by Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and more. The energy was infectious as the floats made their way around the circle. Once they were all surrounding us, the parade stopped and everyone was invited into the street to celebrate and dance! It was awesome!! This was definitely one of our favorite things of the day.

Bob darted over to get us some Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear. We had about an hour or so before it was time to go back and Stitches Great Escape was on our list of things to investigate (and it was close by). The wait wasn't too long so we got in line. The show takes place in a theater-in-the-round venue where you're strapped in to experience all kinds of audio, video and Audio-Animatronic technology. It was good but I'm glad we didn't have to wait a long time. While we all enjoyed it, it won't make our top three list. Then guess what we did? I know you'll never guess ... no, not eat - at least not yet. We shopped!!! LOL Again!! Do you know how stoked Bob was about this? Don't think any of us bought anything but we enjoyed looking. OK, now guess what we did? ... yup, it was time to eat again! Lunchtime! More delicious, healthy food! Let's not go there, shall we?

By the time we finished it was time to return to Buzz Lightyear. This was one ride we remembered enjoying so much, we couldn't wait to do it again. Bob's pretty good at those laser thingies. I was pretty good at controlling the spinner but didn't get many points but had a blast (pun intended) playing. In fact, we had so much fun the first time that Bob went back and got more Fast Passes for later!

We didn't have too long to wait so we got in line for the Speedway. Two passengers to a car so we split up. Bob and Cari in one and Mom and I in the other. Mom drove - let me just say it's a good thing it wasn't real because she had major problems keeping that car in the right lane. If the guide hadn't been there she'd have been all over the place! LOL

Back over to Buzz Lightyear we go, to ride again. I was hopeful I'd do better this time. It all started off well ... but then fell apart about half-way through. The power died and we had nothing ... I mean nothing. After several minutes it started back up, then died again. This happened several times until we managed to finish the ride. We later heard it was closed completely so I guess they really did have a major problem with it. Bob was on a roll too, he was up to 99,999. I think I made it up to 40,000ish.

On the way to Frontierland to ride the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad we stopped to watch another parade - Celebrate A Dream Come True. We didn't have a great spot so I didn't get great photos but it was still good - not as good as the first one but still a wonderful parade.

Bob didn't want to ride the railroad so he played on my iPod and held the bags and cameras. Mom wasn't too sure about it but was a good sport and did it anyway. It was another pretty mild roller coaster - not bad at all. Fun enough but not too intense. The Haunted Mansion was close and Cari and I really wanted to do that. I guess it just wasn't meant to be though. The wait was way too long and we were tired. We stopped for ice cream on the way to Space Mountain. It was almost time for us to return with our Fast Passes.

We couldn't quite figure out why Bob was willing to ride Space Mountain when he wouldn't ride anything else - at least not a roller coaster. We rode some pretty mild ones and he wouldn't have any of it. But for whatever reason he was ok with riding this one. Um, it was pretty intense. The only thing it didn't do was loop upside down. I think it 'bout did Mom in! LOL I've got to hand it to her, she was willing to try just about anything. Cari and I loved it. I think once was enough for Mom. But hey, at least she did it once!

Space Mountain was our last hoorah for the day. On the way out of the park, guess what we did? Yup, again! We shopped! Bob had seen a hat at one place he wanted to go back and get. Mom and Cari had seen hoodies they wanted to go back and get. Plus they had packages to pick up on the way out. Even though it was fairly early, it took us a while to get out of the park and into our car. I kept stopping to snap pictures. I love taking night-time shots.

Cari had spotted a Bennigan's Tavern the other day and had been craving their Kilkenny's Chicken Salad ever since. Our Bennigan's closed a couple of years ago. That salad was one of our favorites and it's been quite a while since we've had it. In preparation for finding it, we actually had the GPS in the car. The only thing we didn't plan on was not being able to find a place to plug it in. Do they really make cars now with no cigarette lighters? We were driving a brand new Impala so I guess anything is possible. Thankfully, it had a little bit of battery left and Cari powered it up. We headed to the closest one listed - it was closed. No, I mean closed down. For good. She looked at the next one on the list. It wasn't too far, and was on the way back to the condo, so we followed those directions ... to no avail. We never did find that one. The only thing we could figure is one of the restaurants we saw took it over and while the address was correct, it wasn't Bennigan's - and obviously the database Cari's GPS was reading from isn't a current database. Bob spotted an Uno's and we pulled in. At this point just about anything was sounding good. We were sitting there eat our dinner, minding our own business when a guy at another booth blew his nose and honked like a goose. I'm sorry. I guess I was punchy. I get even goofier when I get punchy. I laughed 'til I cried. I couldn't help it. I couldn't stop! Cari informed me in the car I was being rude. Again, I'm sorry. I really couldn't help it. I couldn't have stopped laughing if my life had depended on it. Needless to say, that was our laugh of the day. And needless to say, I was exhausted.

... and tomorrow is another day. :)

Top 3:
Mom - Parade, Train, Buzz Lightyear
Cari - Space Mountain, Parade, Train
Bob - Buzz Lightyear, Parade, Uno's
Me - Parade, Space Mountain, Train

Loot List:
Zip-up Hoodies - all of us
Cari - Long Sleeve Tee, Mug, Pandora Bead, hat
Mom - glasses for kids, hoodie, mugs (Stacey, Matt, herself), Pandora Bead, shot glass, CDs
Me - hoodie, tee-shirt, hat
Bob - hat

Laugh of the day - "Honk"

Animal Kingdom and a little Magic ...

2011-01-03T00:33:00.001-05:00

Today was another packed day. We managed to get on the road around 8:30 this morning. Since the plan was to end the day at Magic Kingdom, that's where we parked. We figured it would take a little more time to actually start the day, but save us time at the end of the day. So after picking up our tickets at "Will Call" we boarded a shuttle bus to Animal Kingdom. You know I had to shoot everything in site so it may have taken a wee bit longer to get where we were going ... but that's just the way it is. Our first stop was the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. Thankfully the wait wasn't long and our driver was quite entertaining. He told us all kinds of little tidbits that made the ride even more interesting - of course I don't remember most of it now but I really enjoyed it at the time! I know every time you do the safari ride you can see different animals, but I didn't think it was as good this time as when we were there before. I enjoyed it so much when we were there in 1999 that we did it twice. Don't get me wrong, it was good, just not fantabulous. Between riding on a rickety jeep, over bumpy roads and bridges, getting good pictures was definitely a challenge. Our driver slowed down at times but rarely stopped. I was lucky and got a few good ones.

Our next stop was the Tree of Life. Bob, Cari and I were so excited about seeing it again. It's just so fascinating to us! The carvings are just magnificent! And the 3D movie, "It's Tough Being a Bug," is awesome! We couldn't wait to see Mom's reaction to it. It was so worth it. She was amazed. We even knew what was coming and we were still surprised when the different 3D parts happened - the spraying of acid, stinging of bees, etc. I swear it really does look like the characters are right in front of your face and you can just reach out and touch them! So cool!! As we walked around the park you can see the tree from lots of different angles and it sure doesn't appear to be big enough to have a theater inside of it.

By the time we explored a bit, it was time to get a bite to eat. Mom says we're always eating - she isn't used to eating three meals a day. Huh, well she is while she's with us! Not that what we eat is always that good, but it's something. Today's lunch was pretty lame but we really didn't have a whole lot to choose from at the time. Anyway, after lunch we decided to catch the "Flights of Wonder" bird show. We got there right as it was starting so didn't get great seats, at least for taking pictures. It was pretty good - again, it just blows my mind what they can teach these critters to do.

Check out this random scene we passed on the way to our next stop - this is "Stroller Parking."

Now I know Disney is a place for kids, chronological and at heart. But fro? OK I have to take a moment to explain "fro." It's just a word Cari made up and it's caught on. One day when she was trying to say, "for real?" it all ran together and sort of came out, "fro?" We ended up using this "word" a lot during the week. Now back to the stroller thing ... why do people think taking babies and little kids to Disney is a wise and fun thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, there are moments when they are having fun but for the most part they're miserable - which means their parents are miserable as well! And the biggest mistake I see is that the parents want to do the things they want to do as well, and when you're taking little ones to a park like this it has to be all about what the kids want - and when they are tired and ready to go home to bed, you need to take them home and put them to bed! Cari was ten years old when we took her - old enough to do everything we wanted to do and she didn't need naps or to go home at 7pm and go to bed. (Stepping down from my soap box ...)

We did a couple of walk throughs and a bit of shopping before going to another one of our "must do's" on the list - "Festival of the Lion King." This repeat attraction/show did not disappoint us. It was fabulous back in 1999 and it was fabulous today. Mom was once again amazed at the talent, costumes, everything. I managed to get some decent flash shots - enough to preserve the memories. And that was all we managed to cram into Animal Kingdom.

We wanted to see the 7pm Electrical Parade at Magic Kingdom so we headed to the bus stop. You know, at this point I have to just say that people never cease to amaze and disappoint me. I don't think I have ever seen so many just plain out rude people in one place before. It's not just kids and young people either - there was a couple that had to be in their 70's cut right in front of us to get seats on the monorail. They know better!! It seems that common courtesy has completely disappeared in those who visit this part of the country. I'm telling you, it will blow your mind! People just stop in front of you, back up, run into you, knock into you, run you over, cut in front of you, etc. And with the amount of people here, it happens constantly! Sure does take some of the joy out of the day. OK, enough of that ...

... moving on to Magic Kingdom. We were delighted to see it still decorated for Christmas - although I will have to say at this point we're all pretty tired of hearing Christmas music still playing. Guess you gotta have one with the other, though right? Magic Kingdom is always magical but it's so beautiful for the holidays. Mom was happy just walking around looking at everything. Then the castle came into view. It just does something to your heart - makes you happy! It really is magical. We needed to kill some time before the parade so guess what? It was time to eat again! LOL We ended up at the "Starlight Cafe" eating barbecue. It was another so so meal but kept our stomachs quite for a while so it worked. (We pigged out on blueberries and apple slices when we got back to the condo.) Anyway, while we were sitting there killing time it started getting dark. We watched as the sky slowly darkened and the magic began on the castle. It turned from baby blue to pink to purple to orange. You know I had to play with my camera getting all kinds of different shots. And as the sky darkened it changed the whole scene. It was just gorgeous ... oh, and that was the side/back of the castle! Imagine how stoked I'd be if I could actually get to the front of it! Tomorrow night I'll try again.

We made our way through the streets and crowds to try and find a decent spot to view the parade. To say it was challenging would be an understatement - but we did. This was another repeat that didn't disappoint us. And I hate to use this word yet again, but I can't find another one to do it justice ... it was magical. After all, this is Magic Kingdom. Cari and I played with different settings, flash, no flash, to try and get the best pictures. I think between us we managed to get enough to do the parade justice.

Our plan was to stay for the "Wishes Spectacular" show (fireworks) at 8pm and then head on out. Bob was desperate to sit down so and we couldn't find anywhere except pretty close to the entrance/exit. We "rested" there for the remaining half hour or so and ended up watching the fireworks from there. As we sat we people watched. A particular family walked by us with two small children, one in a stroller. The kids were crying and the parents were obviously not happy. Mom made the comment, "Are we having fun yet?" and we all completely lost it. The fireworks were beautiful but I think we were all so tired by that point it really didn't matter. We still had to stand in line to catch the monorail back to the ticket center and then stand in line to catch the tram back to the parking lot. We were just done.

On the way back to the condo I asked everyone to list their top three favorites from the day, so here they are:

Cari - "Tough to be a Bug," Electrical Parade, Safari
Mom - "Festival of the Lion King," Electrical Parade, Safari
Bob - "Tough to be a Bug," Safari, finding a seat after the parade
Me - "Tough to be a Bug," "Festival of the Lion King," and taking pics of the castle at dusk

Loot List:
Cari - flip flops
Mom - pin for Cameron, hat
Wanda - trading pins

And here it is 12:30am and I'm just finishing up my journaling and uploading pics to facebook. Tomorrow morning's gonna come early ... more Magic Kingdom tomorrow. :)

SeaWorld

2011-01-02T23:09:00.010-05:00

Awoke to a beautiful faint rainbow this morning - apparently it rained last night. Mom was laughing at me because I went out on the patio half dressed to get "the shot." Well hell, we're on the 4th floor and there's no one around - it was only for a minute.

The first thing on our "to do" list was the Dolphin Show. As we worked our way through the park to the theater we passed the "Mantra," one of the roller coaster rides. We knew we had to ride it at some point during the day - but first, the 10:00 dolphin show. It started out with water acrobats - glad we didn't break our necks to get there on time. When the dolphins finally entered the show, however, it was well worth the wait. The rest of the show was fascinatingly entertaining. It's amazing what behavior animals can be taught. (That would be proved over and over during the course of the day.)

Cari and I decided this may be a good time to ride the "Mantra" before the park got any more crowded. The wait ended up being only 30 minutes or so - not too bad. The line wound through a cave under an aquarium so we watched fish and stingrays for part of the waiting time. As it got closer to our turn, we turned to each other and said, "Now remind me why we're doing this!?" But you know by the time you get to that point it's too late to turn back. When we saw the previous cars returning, it was a bit unsettling. The passengers were locked into their seats lying on their stomachs, jut hanging there. Okay well that's a new one. I'd never ridden a coaster in that position before ... and believe me, it was just as unsettling once I was locked into place waiting to leave. Wow ... I'll have to say it was interesting! And yes, I did scream through most of it. Cari tried to but she lost her voice the day before we left and still hasn't found it!

From there we went to this little marketplace and got delicious, nutritious hot dogs for lunch - yummm! After lunch we started walking back to the theater for the Whale Show. (We spent a good portion of the day walking back and forth and round and round - not an exceptionally good plan.) We originally found seats down fairly close and even sat there for a good 15 minutes or so. But the more I sat there the more I worried about those signs on the backs of all those bleachers .... "Soak Zone." Cari didn't want her camera to get wet. I didn't want my camera to get wet. Hell, I didn't want to get "soaked." I didn't mind getting splashed ... but soaked? Not so much. Long story short? We ended up moving up. In the end I don't think the section we were originally sitting in got splashed that much so it probably wouldn't have made a difference anyway, but better safe than sorry. They have a new calf, born mid October. He and mom swam out and everyone just "aaawwwwed" at how little he is ... um, he weighed in at 350 lbs at birth. Of course mom is about 6,000 lbs. so I guess she could handle it huh? Again, it jaw dropping what they can teach those animals to do. The first trick was waving - first on one side, then on the other. An ambidextrous whale ... wow! Then he swam right up on the platform and posed - heat and tail in the air. You could really get a good look at how huge and beautiful this mammal is. It was awesome! Then, believe it or not he was twirling around in the water dancing. Incredible! After swimming up and sliding across the main "stage" he came back around to twirl around on the platform - literally, just spinning around and around. The last main trick they had them perform was swimming around the perimeter of the tank, splashing the audience with their tails. It was hysterical.

As we made our way to the next show at the Sea Lion & Otter stadium, we passed these Macaws sitting up in a tree just making all kind of noise and drawing attention. They are gorgeous birds and loved showing off for us. One of the handlers brought a Laughing Kookaburra out about the same time. I wish I had videoed it because it really does sound like it's laughing.

The sea lion & otter show was kind of cheesy but still entertaining. The mime that warmed us up, though, was really, really good. He was much better than the show. It always amazes me how you can communicate so clearly without words if you know how. Just by his facial expressions and gestures he could carry on a conversation better than some people with an extensive vocabulary.

Ice cream time! We had just enough time to find some ice cream before the "Allure of the Ocean" show started at 3:30. I got a soft serve twist in a waffle bowl. It was delish! We made it into the theater by the skin of our teeth (wth does that expression mean anyway?). The acrobats, as always, were mesmerizing and their costumes were beautiful. They make what they do look so easy, but you know it isn't. It takes incredible strength and balance to perform the acts they do. I didn't get any decent photos because the lighting was so low but I'll keep a few of them just for preservation purposes.

We were pretty much done after that show. It was about 4:00. We debated hanging around until the Holiday Tree lights show but in the end our exhaustion won and we decided to head back to the condo. On the way out we passed the Dolphin Nursery. What fun!! One in particular was rather social. He kept coming right up to people hanging around the outside sticking his head out of the water and just playing. It was so cool!

On the way "home" we got lost. No. I mean totally lost. The upside of that was that we literally stumbled by an O'Charley's restaurant and stopped for dinner. Good thing. We were still lost. We needed to eat again by the time we made it back to the condo. No, JK (just kidding) it wasn't that bad but after walking in circles all day I guess we had to drive in circles before finding our way home. Where was the GPS you might ask? Um, back at the condo. Lotta good it did us there, right? No matter, we were safe and had full bellies. Life was good. We knew we'd make it back eventually - and we did.

Oh and one more thing ... Bob was talking about picking something up at the grocery store and for whatever reason he couldn't get the name of it out right. We have a Publix right next door to the complex. All that would come out of his mouth was "Pubix." We laughed until we cried. And it has now become "Pubix" instead of Publix.

So, for today's top three list ...
Cari - Whale show, Mantra (roller coaster), dolphin nursery
Mom - Whale show, "Allure of the Ocean" show, mime at dolphin show
Bob - Whale show, dolphin show, "Allure of the Ocean" show
Me - Whale show, Mantra (roller coaster), "Pubix"

Loot List:
Cari - cards
Mom - mug
Me - mug (from Mom), scarf

So I've weeded my pics. I always take way too many just to make sure I get the shots I want. It's after 11:00 and we're up early for Animal Kingdom in the morning. Everyone else is in bed already but I needed to get this journaling done. So, TTFN ...

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-01T00:46:00.002-05:00

It's been a busy holiday season as always, but even more so this year as it lead up to our Disney vacation. So even the week after Christmas was packed with all the last minute errands and shopping for vacation. We dropped Peanut off with Dad and picked up Mom Friday night to save time Saturday morning. Our flight left at 10:40 non-stop to Orlando with no glitches. By the time we got our rental car, though, it was 2:00 before we left the airport. We grabbed an awesome Hawaiian pizza at NYPizza for lunch, then checked into the condo - or tried to - it was about 3:10 and we couldn't check in until 4:00. So we went next door to the Publix and got some groceries for the week (which consisted of stuff for breakfast, coffee & tea, water and fruit. After unloading our bags and groceries, unpacking and chillin' for a bit, we headed to "Downtown Disney" for a bit of shopping and dinner. All I can say is I sure hope this wasn't a preview of what tomorrow will be like at SeaWorld. The traffic was unbelievable. The first two entrances to the area were full and we drove around for quite a few minutes before finding a parking spot - only because that car was leaving ... and that was just the beginning.

It was wall-to-wall people. Everywhere. We walked around for a while without accomplishing much of anything. Finally ended up back where we began for dinner at Wolfgang Puk's. Cari got some mini crab cakes (we didn't know they were mini when she ordered them but trust me, they were about the size of a silver dollar - didn't know they made crab cakes that small). Mom, Bob and I got a spinach salad that was wonderful! We were being good so we could get an ice cream later - so we thought. Our server informed us we could take a water taxi to the other end of the shopping area to go to the world's largest Disney store and we hopped right on that since we had already walked it once. But that meant we wouldn't go by the ice cream place. Oh well there's always tomorrow - and the rest of the week.

We hit a few shops on the way. Cari and I bought a couple of frames and I found some Mickey scissors for scrapbooking! I was overwhelmed when I first stepped into the Disney store. Between the size of that place and the amount of people, it was just too much, and we were tired (it was already after 9pm) and our feet hurt, and it's just the beginning of the trip. LOL - I'd love to go back there during a less busy time. Cari found some playing cards and bought this beautiful scarf - I hope I can find one for me at one of the other parks - I should've bought one too. We were pretty much done by then and started back to the car. So it's 12:30am and our first day in Orlando is over. We'll be back up early in the morning getting ready to head to SeaWorld. Here's a couple of random shots from the evening:

Dragon made from legos

Loot List
Cari - cards, scarf, frame
Me - frame, Mickey head scissors

(pics to be added at some point) ...

Christmas Knitting

2010-12-27T22:14:00.000-05:00

I've been working on Christmas gifts since November 1st. I hadn't posted any of the projects just in case any of the recipients read my blog - didn't want the surprise blown. So here's most of what I've been working on the last couple of months:

As you may have noticed I fell in love with doing those clogs. My first pair were for me and they were good practice. I've now got the pattern down pat. In fact, I've just started another pair for Cari. She picked out the yarn last week - I'm hoping to get them done before she goes back to school. Wish me luck!

'til next time ...

More snow shots ...

2010-12-27T21:30:00.006-05:00

After a yummy breakfast of whole grain blueberry pancakes topped with sliced bananas, powdered sugar and whipped cream (yeah, I know) Cari, Matt and I suited up to venture outside with our cameras and see what trouble we could get into. None of us could believe the amount of snow we got. We walked around the neighborhood a bit and just took in the scenery. The roads were pretty much a thick sheet of ice, especially in the shaded areas. The wind was whipping and we were freezing but it was worth it. After about an hour we had to give up and go in. But I got some fun shots:

It's only December 27th - I wonder if this is a preview into what the rest of the winter's going to be like. As much as I enjoyed this, I wouldn't want to have it all winter. I'm really looking forward to some 60's & 70's in Florida next week ...

A White Christmas! (sort of ...)

2010-12-26T20:55:00.002-05:00

We haven't had a white Christmas since 1948, and we barely had one this year ... but we sure had a white day after Christmas this year! Talk about the blizzard of Christmas 2010. I started taking pictures as soon as my feet hit the floor - and pretty much all day long. Cari, Matt and I went out once but the rest of my shots were taken from inside and open doors. Oh wait, I did go back out to get some of the Cardinal shots. It snowed all day long and was still snowing when we went to bed around midnight. Sometime in the afternoon I put a ruler in the snow on the deck (it's actually still there) and it measured about 7". By the time we went to bed it was up to 12" ... crazy!

As we watched the 11 o'clock news they said with the preliminary totals this is the third biggest snow on record for our area. No way was anyone expecting this. In fact, we were on the border for the 2"-4" area. Guess they missed that huh?

Christmas Day

2010-12-25T20:23:00.010-05:00

Cari's last clue for her Treasure Hunt was at the bottom of her stocking. As she pulled it out, she sighed knowing she'd have to put her thinking cap on so early in the morning. She had time to think about where to start looking while we opened the rest of our gifts. It took a few tries but she finally figured out where to look. And here she is grinning with her new "baby" ...

Getting her to put it away and get ready for brunch was a challenge, but she managed.

We had a wonderful breakfast with the Troupes. Lots of food and alcohol (Mimosas, Poinsettias, Bloody Marys), conversation and general chaos. Later in the afternoon we drove to Mom and Dad's, ate again and visited. Zachary has a cold and wasn't feeling his best but was still too damn cute in his little Santa hat.

We headed home around 5pm since snow was predicted. We wanted to get home before it started and the roads got bad - plus we were tired. LOL While we were sitting around watching football and vegging out, I got up to look out the window around 9pm and freaked out ... HUGE flakes were falling and it was coming down fast!! Cari and I immediately grabbed our cameras and began shooting through open doors. It didn't take long for us to get shoes and coats on and head outside though. So exciting!!

No telling what we'll wake up to in the morning ...

Christmas Eve ...

2010-12-24T07:53:00.003-05:00

I can't believe it's been over two months since I've blogged. Will definitely have to remedy that next year. Life has been busy as always - I guess more so as we moved into the holidays. I started Christmas knitting November 1st - I'm still Christmas knitting. I never get everything done I want or intend to complete, but that's just what I do. I love making things for people who I know really appreciate and love and effort behind the gift. As many as I have managed to make in the last two months, there are plenty more I wanted to get to that I didn't - time just runs out on me. So those projects will probably be completed some time during the year and just given to the recipient whenever it's done.

I've got lots to do today. There are a a couple of gifts not wrapped, only because I need bigger bags, but those are the only ones left "naked." Bob and I went out yesterday (yeah, I know) and managed to find some new dishes. Since we're hosting brunch Christmas morning it'll be nice to have pretty new plates to use. They're just white square plates and pretty boring, but are nice quality and hopefully they'll wear better than the last set we had. The old set was only about 6.5 years old but were pretty ragged looking. So in addition to all I had planned yesterday, we ended up out in the madness looking for dishes. THEN I had to come home and open everything, load the dishwasher and clean out the cabinets (trying to find a place to put the old stuff until I can get rid of them). So I didn't get started on my cooking yesterday like I had planned.

I still have to finish Cari's clues for her Treasure Hunt tonight. We started that tradition about eight years ago when she got her flute for Christmas in 7th grade. The next year the big gift at the end was her piccolo. I missed a couple of years in the middle there somewhere but, believe it or not even at 21 now, it's something she looks forward to and requests each year. I only have about three clues written as of this morning. We'll do the Treasure Hunt tonight. I really need to be writing those clues instead of sitting here blogging because I have to do that when it's quiet. I'll get to that next. So for now I guess this will be it.

Oh, I wanted to mention Florida too!!! I am finally beginning to get a little excited about vacation! We've never taken a vacation this close to Christmas before. I'll tell you one thing, it certainly takes long term the excitement out of the equation. There simply isn't time to think about AFTER Christmas when you have so much to do FOR Christmas. But now that it's Christmas Eve and most of what's gonna get done is done, I'm allowing myself to start thinking past Christmas Day ... I am SO looking forward to not only vacation, but getting to spend an entire week with Mom.

OK, and am going to finish for now ... hopefully I'll get a chance to check in tomorrow after things settle down a bit. So,

tata for now

ETA - it's almost midnight, we've made it through the day. The packages are wrapped, the food is prepared. Gift are basking in the light of the tree for the last night before being ripped open and discovered. In 24 hours it will be all over for another year. An entire year sounds like it's so far away. Unbelievably is comes incredibly fast. So here I sit reflecting a bit. Probably won't reflect too long because I've already taken my Ambien. LOL You'll probably be able to tell when it starts kicking in - I'll make even less sense than usual. :) Cari started her treasure hunt before 10:00pm. I actually stumped her (temporarily) on a couple of clues. She really had to think a while before she got them. Bob helped on a couple of them, giving her a direct clue she'd never miss. I was ready to slap him! Then Cari was ready to slap me. She usually gets her big gift at the end of her treasure hunt. Well this year I took a detour. She got all but her big gift tonight. She'll get the clue for the last gift at the bottom of her stocking in the morning. She isn't too happy about that part. But it'll go fast in the morning so all will be well.

Midnight now so I'm heading to bed ...

Our tree ...

2010-12-17T07:53:00.001-05:00

I should've gotten the tripod out to do these, but was in too much of a hurry. Anyway, just a few shots of our tree this year.

Snow!!

2010-12-13T19:19:00.040-05:00

Less than two weeks before Christmas and my "to do" list is as long as ever. But as the flakes start to fall I am itching more and more to go out and play in it. After talking myself into, out of and into going out again I finally succumb and suited up with my camera. I got such a rush out of being out in my front yard in the cold and wind as the white flakes fell on the leaves and flowers. This was the perfect snow to photograph. It was so perfect it looked like that fake stuff you can buy in the store. I could see the crystals in the flakes! It's the first time in my life I've ever seen individual snowflakes! They really do look like those paper ones you cut out in grade school! It was crazy! I ended up shooting a while, coming in to download and look at them on the computer three separate times. I really didn't have the time to spend the morning playing but man am I glad I did. It gave me such joy! Here are some of my faves from this morning:

Santa Baby

2010-12-06T07:59:00.002-05:00

A few favorites shots of my gorgeous grand baby!!

Does life get any better? I think not. I am truly blessed. :)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2010-11-19T21:46:00.044-05:00

I was so excited about the first half of the last movie coming out. I picked up the book to refresh my memory - remembered some, forgot some. Cari and I have always gone to the midnight release of the Harry Potter movies. After discussing the possibility of her not being able to come home on Thursday because of classes, she suggested I come to Harrisonburg so we could still go together. So, ... even though she was coming home on Friday after her classes, I drove four hours on Thursday to go to a movie. Yes, I know - but what can I say? It's tradition! The excitement had been mounting all week and by the time I got there we were stoked! Jocelyn went to dinner with us (O' Charley's), we picked up our advance tickets and fidgeted until we left a little after 10:00 for the theater. Thank goodness they didn't make us wait outside to get in because it was freakin' cold! I will have to say the time passed quickly. Finally the lights were dimmed and ... the previews began ... twenty minutes of previews! It was agonizing!

After a pretty fast three hours, it was all over. I had tried to figure out where they would end the movie - in the middle of the book. Surprisingly I thought it was perfect. I didn't think I'd like the ending no matter where or how they did it. I loved it. And seeing a movie at midnight with others as crazy as you are about the same thing is the only way to see the premier. That audience is simply the best. We all laughed, cried and clapped together as the story unfolded. So yes, I drove four hours there and four hours home to see a movie. But it was Harry Potter and it was with my daughter. Well worth my time and effort. (But I am thankful the last part comes out in the summer and she'll be home - LOL)

some random thoughts ...

2010-10-13T22:52:00.001-04:00

Twenty-one years ago right now I wasn't even in labor yet - that would begin in about another hour (around 8:30am). I remember being so relieved when my water broke - relieved that FINALLY the time had come to see this beautiful new little person Bob and I had created. That sounds good doesn't it? While it's true, in reality I was simply miserable! LOL Of course it was Friday the 13th - my due date was the 18th. What can I say? Friday the 13th's are fabulous days for me! I can remember calling Bob telling him to come back home, jumping in the shower (had to shave my legs dontchaknow?), picking up Heidi from school and driving to Mom's (my doctor was in Portsmouth) and waiting until I was ready to go to the hospital. I'm sure there are parts of that day that are a complete blur, but there are parts that still remain vivid in this boggled up, hormone deprived memory of mine. Bottom line, our little bundle of joy was born at 4:00pm on the dot.
I can remember moments thinking, "I wonder what she'll look like and be like as an adult." Incredibly, now I know. It's so difficult to wrap my head around the fact that it's been twenty-one years now. If I haven't learned anything else in these last fifty years, I've learned that the days, weeks, months and years go by so quickly it'll make your head spin. It doesn't seem like it in the moment, but damn! How did I get to be this old? With one daughter 28 (and a 16 month old grand baby) and the other one now 21? Cari's in her third year at JMU. I swear it seems only months ago I was going through the motions trying to enjoy all the "lasts" of her senior year of high school. It just doesn't seem possible it's been nearly two and a half years ago we attended Orientation and weeks after that dropping her off to live in a dorm for the first time. Talk about an adjustment! I'm happy to say I did manage to adjust to my quiet, empty nest. Oh I still miss her and we talk most days, but I've learned to enjoy my "me" time.

And we're off in a few hours to surprise her at dinner tonight. I'm so excited!! Cari and I are pretty close in our thought processes so it's not easy to surprise each other. So far, I think I've managed to keep this under my hat. She thinks we're coming Saturday for her birthday. Yeah, like I'd really not be there for her twenty-first birthday. I can't wait to see her face. :)

Fast forward to nearly 11pm. I think we managed to surprise her. We were waiting at the restaurant when she, Matt and Jocelyn walked in. I was so excited I couldn't stand it. Cari has always been just a wee bit more reserved in showing her excitement - except when it comes to Kenny, no holding back there. We had a wonderful dinner at Kyoto - a Japanese style restaurant, a quick stop at the mall, then off to Outback for dessert and some fruity drinks. Cari's first legal drink in public was a Mai Tai. All too soon it was time for us to part. It was a short visit but I'll take it. Nothing could've kept me from being here to celebrate her 21st birthday. Back to the grindstone tomorrow ...

Happy 21st Birthday!

2010-10-13T19:41:00.000-04:00

I Blinked

Happy Birthday Honey

Can’t believe you’re 21.

How can that be possible?

Where has the time gone?

I have this slideshow

Flipping through my mind

Of so many memories

As I rewind.

What happened? What went wrong?

I guess I blinked, just a little too long.

Just yesterday

You were a little girl

With pigtails and braids

In a make-believe world.

Now you’re a young woman

Living her own life

Making her own decisions

Like a bird taking flight.

What happened? What went wrong?

I guess I blinked, just a little too long.

Even as a teenager

You were such a delight

We laughed ‘til we cried

Many a night.

Now you’re off at college

Doing your own thing

And I watch with pride

As you spread your wings.

What happened? What went right?

I guess I blinked, and woke to a beautiful sight.

Love you,

Mom

some knitting ...

2010-10-12T09:32:00.003-04:00

Feels like it's been forever since I've posted any knitting projects. Don't feel like I've been very productive since spring. Some of the projects I remember completing are some dishcloths (some for Cari's new apartment and some for a friend), some bibs for Morgan (need to make some more) and I think that's about it ... I started a kimono for myself, have the back completed (it was put on the back burner). I've also started an entrelac wrap for myself too - it's gonna be gorgeous!! Just have to get time to work on it. Oh and I've started a pair of Fiber Trends Felted Clogs - one completed! I'm excited to start the second one - felting these things are gonna be so cool!

I did make some hats for my soon to be newest niece ...

And Cari will finally get the throw she picked out for me to make her this spring. Actually the knitting was done early September, but I had to seam the strips together and I procrastinated ... it turned out nice though:

One more thing I've finished is a new iPod hoodie for Cari. She lost hers and requested a new one. When I saw this pattern I knew it was perfect! Hope she loves it as much as I do (and yes, I've started another one)!

Tomorrow is Cari's 21st birthday. Ya know, I guess I'm allowed to turn 50 but my baby turning 21? I guess I blinked because it seems like we just brought her home a couple of years ago.

Paper or Plastic?

2010-09-29T12:30:00.001-04:00

How about cloth? So, went to the doctor yesterday for my annual checkup - that's always so much fun. You know, after this experience I think I'm going to investigate purchasing my own gown for the future. No, I'm serious! The nurse did let me wait until the doctor was finished in the next room so I wouldn't have to sit there naked and"draped" (and I use that word loosely) forever. Still, sitting there for five minutes in that state is rather uncomfortable. They don't use real cloth gowns anymore. They use freakin' paper. She gave me a cropped top from paper (that opens in the front) and a sheet of paper to place over my lower half. ... Um, ok. First off, as I was trying to put the "top" on I kept hearing it tear. Bloody hell! There is nothing to help keep it closed in the front. If I pulled it down far enough in the front to hold it closed, the back barely covered my shoulder blades ... keep in mind I just have a stiff, thin piece of paper covering my lower half in the front, so my entire backside is just hanging in the breeze so to speak. I tried tucking it in under my thighs - didn't work so well. I'd pull the back down and I'd hear something tear - again. I'd try holding it closed in the front and the damn thing was up around my shoulders in the back. UGH!

By the time she (the doctor) came in I gave her this evil eye and said, "You know isn't very effective, right?" Yeah yeah yeah - she went to explain they used to have the cloth gowns (yeah, I know - I remember them!) and they went to paper because the cloth gowns weren't cost effective. That brings me back to why I'll purchase my own for next time. She asked me if I wanted her to get me another "sheet?" "Um, no, let's just get this over with so I can get dressed!" That being said, she proceeds to start this conversation with me about any questions or concerns I have, what prescriptions I need refills on, etc. After sitting there holding my front together for a good 10 minutes or so (I think my hand and arm was locked in that position), she decided to get this show on the road and says, "OK, lift your arms." Now I've just spent how long trying to hold everything together, needing another pair of hands to do it successfully and she tells me to raise my arms. Uh huh. You know what happens - everything just falls away. I know I'm at the doctor, but really? Oh but wait! I gets better!!

After the boob exam, she tells me to scoot to the end of the table. Sound simple? While it should be, it seems nothing is simple with me. Oh, and I'm back to trying to hold everything together again ... I've "flashed" a few times during the conversation and exam so am a bit sweaty ... can you see where I'm going with this? The freakin' paper is sticking to me like glue!! As I try to scoot to the end of the table, I'm taking all the paper with me! Nice huh? Un-be-lieve-able. It wasn't pretty. I'm sure it's nothing she hasn't seen before but still ... anyone know where I can buy my own real cloth gown?

Hopefully I have until next year to solve this little issue ...

Neptune Festival

2010-09-27T11:50:00.025-04:00

The Neptune Festival has once again come and gone. The entire Troupe clan met down at the beach Saturday morning to browse the craft vendors. It was hot. I mean really hot. It was record setting hot. The car read 97 deg on the way home around 2:30 but the official temperature at Norfolk International was 96. I don't know if it was just too hot or if the art show wasn't that great this year. We found a few things that really caught our attention but not much. The one thing was all had to walk away with was these fabulous "YaYa Hats." They are just too cool! Every female in our group had to have one. We took this shot after our lunch at Ocean Eddies:

Soon after lunch Bob and I ended up heading home. The sun was brutal and it felt like a July or August day - both of us were just done.

Sunday morning Bob played golf but I met Mike, Paddy, Lynne, Bill, Lisa and Camryn down at 9th Street to see the sand castles. They never fail to completely amaze me. The talent to create these incredible masterpieces blows me away. The weather had done an about face and it was very windy, cool and threatening to rain. We were only down there for about an hour but well worth the effort.

Maybe next year I'll try to get down there before the crowds and get some nice shots without people.

American Citizen!

2010-09-23T10:53:00.054-04:00

I was so incredibly honored to be a witness at Regina's swearing in ceremony today. This day has been coming for a long time. Excitement (and frustration) had been building for weeks anticipating this day. It was finally here and Regina had her own cheering section - hell we had almost an entire pew! Everyone from S&B was there, plus Rick and Kathleen. She had been told the ceremony would begin at 10:30 so we all arrived around 10am. Soon after she was informed the ceremony would be divided into two groups and she was in the 12:30 group. Since there wasn't anywhere to wait for two hours, we decided to walk to a nearby coffee shop to wait. The poor security guards didn't quite know what to make of us - they were all pretty somber the first time we passed them. We seem to make a scene no matter where we go or what we do. The Norfolk Courthouse was no exception. One of the guards we passed on the way out said, "You guys remind me of a sitcom!" I responded by saying, "You have no idea."

After grabbing a snack and something to drink, we headed back to the courthouse about 11:45. At this point, the poor guards just shook their heads at us. As we filed into the courtroom and took our seats and the giggling began. I swear you just can't take us anywhere. It was pretty pathetic at one point. We'll laugh over anything. Behaving just isn't in our vocabulary. But boy we know how to have fun. The ceremony finally began and we sobered up a bit. It was interesting to see where everyone was from - several from Germany, lots from the Phillipines, a few from Pakistan and Aghanistan, and the UK. It was going pretty well until Ben Loyola got up to speak. Good grief! Thank goodness Fran had her purse and was doling out the tissues. He had us all in tears. His story was incredibly moving and his emotions almost got the best of him on several occasions.

The entire ceremony really made me stop and think about what it means to be an American citizen - something a lot of us take for granted on a daily basis. I am so thankful to Regina for the opportunity of this experience. Of course we were whooping it up and waving our little flags as we exited the courthouse - the guards were just a grinning as we left ... I wonder why?

We found ourselves at 4-5-6 Fish for a celebratory lunch where we did a bit more whooping and quite a few toasts to the new citizen. It was an awesome day and I am so proud to be an American!

OBX Weekend!

2010-09-19T11:01:00.004-04:00

OBX Weekend

Missy rented a cottage for the weekend - a birthday celebration. Mom, Missy, Regina and I were all so ready to get away for a couple of days! Of course Missy had black napkins, plates, balloons, and a birthday ice cream cake. Nothing goes with wine like ice cream cake! LOL Regina had made a yummy lasagne for dinner and all we had to do was heat it up. Settling in for the evening, we got out our yarn and put "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" on - Regina had never seen it before. I gave Mom my old iPod and she was in music heaven - you should've seen her giggle with excitement! Hope the thing doesn't die next week!

Saturday morning we had Oven Baked Strawberry French Toast for breakfast (can you say yummm!?) and headed down to the beach with our books and chairs. Mom, Regina and I walked the shore collecting shells (not sure why, it just seemed the thing to do) while Missy sat and read her book. After lunch we showered and did a bit of shopping - Mom wanted to go buy a little iHome and we wanted to hit the yarn shop before it closed. Mom bought me some baby alpaca I had picked out for my birthday. Can't wait to make that scarf! We went to The Black Pelican for dinner - Mom, Regina and I got delicious Nuts and Berries Salad topped with grilled shrimp. Missy got a shrimp and crab bake - it was divine! Regina made us some tea when we got back to the cottage and we decided to take a walk on the beach to work off our dinner. Mom, however, stayed behind to enjoy her new music. The beach at night was magical. All too soon, it was time to pack up and head back to reality. We all agreed we need to plan one of these weekends again - very soon. It was very therapeutic for all of us.

Happy Birthday!!!

2010-09-16T10:58:00.002-04:00

Auntie Joan and Lynne arrive from England on the 10th. Since Bob and I were out of town the weekend we didn't see them until the big birthday dinner Tuesday night. Jean turned 80 on the 15th and Joan turned 88 on the 16th. We had a wonderful celebration at Zoes on 19th Street. Joan and Lynne both are loads of fun! It was awesome to see them again. Since Herb, Jean and Joan were leaving the following morning for Myrtle Beach, I planned to go to hang out at Mike & Paddy's pool with Lynne. Peanut and I had a wonderful afternoon visiting with Lynne and Grendle. We had such a nice day I decided it would be a good plan for Thursday as well! Bob stopped by after work and we all went to a nearby Mexican restaurant for dinner. I've had such a wonderful time getting to know Lynne more these last couple of days. It really makes me want to go to England even more now ...

... and tomorrow I head to the OBX for the weekend!! sigh ... life is good :)

The Big Game ...

2010-09-13T10:54:00.010-04:00

Dallas - Washington Game

On the 11th Bob and I drove to Harrisonburg for a short visit with Cari before heading to the Redskin/Cowboy game in DC on Sunday. We had a wonderful dinner at Kyoto with Cari, then ended up at the movie theater. "The Expendables" was playing at the right time and came recommended by a couple of the guys working there. We bought tickets and walked into the theater, which we pretty much had to ourselves. Long story short, it was a decent movie - not a must see, but not a complete waste of time either. It made me laugh; it also made me cover my eyes a few times. Cari and I played with my new iPod (birthday gift from Bob) the rest of the evening. I learned how to get some fun new apps and we traded music and had a wonderful time!

After having an early lunch with Cari, Bob and I headed to Fredericksburg to check into our hotel before going to the game. I think we were parked and tailgating by 5:30 or so - the game started at 8:30 so we had plenty of time. Of course Bob had his Redskin shirt on and of course I had my Cowboy shirt on. :) There were LOTS of Cowboy fans, thank goodness. We grilled some chicken breasts and hot dogs and just enjoyed the moment. Our hike to our seats was a workout. Bob was so excited to see our seats for the first time! He was like a kid at Christmas! Anyway, we all know the outcome of the game by now. It wasn't pretty. While "hiking" back to the parking lot (and I use that term loosely - it was a field) Washington fans were chanting, "Dallas Sucks!" I chanted with them. It was about 1am by the time we got out traffic and on the interstate and 2am before we were back in our room. Needless to say, we slept late Monday morning. It was a busy but fun weekend!

Turning 50 ...

2010-09-09T10:53:00.001-04:00

I'm not exactly how this happened either, but I turned 50 this month. Wow! There are quite a lot I like about being 50 ...

I like where I am with myself. I like that I don't feel the need to impress others or be what anyone else thinks I should be. I like where I am in my life - my ability to not punch a time clock for an employer, the luxury of being able to work my schedule to fit my day/week, being able to enjoy rainy days from inside my cozy home, etc. I like the fact that both of my daughters have grown into beautiful, compassionate, self sufficient, incredible young women - and thankfully they still "need" mom from time to time. I like that have some of the most wonderful girlfriends on the planet. They really do try to keep me sane - "try" being the main word - and sometimes it's nearly impossible. I recognize that. We've even begun naming our inner bitches - my mom named mine, "Cruella." I think that's appropriate. Anyway, that's not all I have to be thankful for but it's a good starting place.

There are also some things I'm not very thrilled with about being 50 ...

I started "falling apart" around 38. Apparently, that was my first cycle of decline so to speak. That's when all kinds of things started changing and not working quite right. I guess 48-49 was my second cycle. I got prescription glasses for the first time a couple of years ago, came off the pill at 49 (can you say hormone hell?), I have aches and pains that are really, really annoying & things just keep popping up that make me ask, "what the hell have I done to piss you (whatever particular body part) off now?" Oh and the memory thing? Oh good Lord - it's just a shame! Sometimes I start typing a sentence and can't remember the end of it! No joke! But for the most part I'm relatively healthy. I'll take that.

"Look Again"

2010-08-26T10:56:00.000-04:00

"Look Again," by Lisa Scottoline was surprisingly good! I had not read anything by her before but ended up buying the book because it sounded pretty interesting. I didn't start the book until about 11pm (I usually read before turning out the light) Monday night. Even with only small windows of reading throughout the day (breakfast, lunch, waiting on dinner to finish, etc) I was on page 150 by dinner. It's an easy read, the print is not small and the story just kind of sucked me in. By the time I picked it up to eat lunch yesterday (Wednesday) nothing else was gonna get done until the last page had been read. Granted it wasn't the best book I've ever read and it's not on my five star list, but I liked it and will definitely look for more of Lisa's books.

I'm now finishing the 4th book in a series I started getting from Annie's Attic, "The Lady in the Attic." After receiving this last book in the mail yesterday (don't know how many are actually in the series), I canceled my membership. The books are nice (hardback) and not too long, easy to read ... but the stories are just lame. I mean, they're just okay. The books alone are $13, then they add $4.95 s/h which brings the total to nearly $19! After reading three of them, I can tell you they just aren't that good. If I was paying $10 I may continue my membership, but for $20 - nah.

Oh I did read a book on vacation too ... lemme see what that was. Hang on ... okay it was "Isle of Palms" by Dorthea Benton Frank. Again, this was a new author for me. It was interesting enough for me to turn the pages but it wasn't one of those books impossible to put down. The story takes place on the South Carolina coast outside of Charleston and is about a woman trying to get her life together. It had me laughing out loud quite often. The characters were quite likable and quick witted. I wouldn't say it's a "must read" but is an easy and entertaining read.

Think I'm going to my local second hand book store to see what else I can pick up of these two new authors ... will let you know what I find!

Move-in day ...

2010-08-20T21:38:00.001-04:00

What a summer this has been! It sure started off with a bang - our Nashville trip - But then took a dive off the deep end. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that for all intents and purposes, it's over.

Went to S&B this morning. Girlfriends. It's the perfect way to start off the weekend. I love my S&B peeps. They keep my sane - or try to. Actually, I think we all try to keep each other sane. Do you know what a blessing it is to have such an awesome support group and a safe place to just be yourself? I digress - I could go on and on about my peeps and how blessed I am. It's just that I haven't made it to many Friday mornings this summer and I can really tell. I'm anxious to get back to that particular part of my routine. But back to move in day ...

Basically, it went pretty smoothly. It was a l-o-n-g day but no glitches thank goodness. Saying goodbye is always tough for me. Knowing Cari is happy, though, makes it so much easier. She was so excited to move into her very first apartment - sharing with 3 roommates is going to be challenging at times but they'll all figure out how to make it work.

By the time we left that afternoon, Cari already had most of her bedroom put together. She had Bob hopping all over those walls hanging stuff up for her. It'll be pretty cool when we go back in a few weeks to see what else she's done. I know she'll have it feeling like home in no time. :)

Peanut update

2010-08-16T22:35:00.000-04:00

The bloody cone finally came off yesterday. Peanut wore that thing for ... let me see ... from July 7 until yesterday, August 15. Usually it would've come off on or around July 26 but with Peanut's history of attacking his eye, I was too paranoid he'd get to it again - even with the cone on. If we hadn't gone out of town I probably would've taken it off sooner, but didn't want Mom and Dad to have to worry about him getting to his eye so just left it on while we were gone.

Since he had an appointment this morning I decided yesterday was a good time to take it off and groom and bathe him. I think he's done ok with it off. The doctor clipped that little finger of the patch that was supplying the blood supply. She said it looked good (although there are a couple of stitches that haven't dissolved completely) and he shouldn't need to be seen again for three months. We still have to continue these damn drops though, and she added the antibiotic drops back 3x a day for four days. I understand why but ... ugh!! So that's where we are right now - hopefully he will continue to heal and life will get back to normal.

a mini vaca ...

2010-08-15T08:10:00.003-04:00

We managed to squeeze in a 5-day get-a-way to Myrtle Beach before Cari's heads off to school. It's been one of those crazy summers, again, where we haven't gotten to do nearly enough of the fun things we had planned. I guess that's just life. This summer our curve ball was Peanut's eye issues. Life goes on - you just have to deal, right? So we dropped Peanut off at Mom and Dad's Sunday morning and head out to Myrtle Beach. I was SO ready to get the hell out of Dodge for a while. This was one vacation that wasn't "planned out." Our "plan" was to do nothing - the entire time. We haven't had one of those in a long time. Usually, we like to go somewhere new and explore - which is awesome, but it can also be exhausting. We walked on the beach, played in the pool, ate in some dives, read our books and just hung out. It was wonderful.

Some of the best fun we had was "planting cherry trees." This tradition began two years ago in Yosemite. We sat on the deck of our rental house seeing who could spit cherry seeds the farthest. It's amazing how much fun you can have doing something so simple. This year we had to exercise some patience waiting to spit our seeds in between people walking by. I imagine we got a few looks from people wondering what in the world we were laughing so hard about.

We learned, though, that four days of that just isn't enough. It takes a few days just to unwind. By the time we really started getting relaxed, it was time to pack up and come home again. Oh well, it was something. Bob wants to go for two weeks next year. :) Fine with me! Anyway, here are a few pics from the trip ...

Now we're back home getting things together for Cari's move ... I'm sure I'll be back with fun stories about that!

til next time ...
QB

the "yewts" ...

2010-08-06T08:03:00.001-04:00

So, we met "the boy" on our last day in Nashville. Strange how a series of events had to occur for us to meet. First, Matt had been vacation the week before and just arrived back home Saturday night. Unusually, he was called in to work the day shift (which he said doesn't happen) and it was on a weekend (which he said doesn't happen). Secondly, Cari and I didn't always go back to the hotel before the night concert at LP Field. Sunday we did. He was there. We talked for a half hour or so and then again while waiting for the shuttle to go back to LP Field. After four days of heat, humidity, exhaustion and fun we were beat and decided to leave the concert early. Got back to the hotel around 10pm - Matt's shift ended at 11pm. Cari and I flew home Monday, the Facebook chatting started Monday evening. The texting started two days later and they were talking non-stop on the phone by the end of the next week and he was already making plans for a visit to Va. Beach. When Cari told him about the Rascal Flatts concert July 30 he had his arrival date.

Cari had lots of things planned: the Rascal concert, meeting Nana and Papa, making him watch "My Cousin Vinny" (yeah, I know who hasn't seen that already?), lots of restaurants, Water Country and more. They didn't get to do everything but I guess that leaves something to look forward to for next time huh? The afternoon before his flight home we had a very small window to go shoot some pictures - even though it was sprinkling. By the time we arrived at our destination it was actually raining. Even so, we still had fun:

Looks like the visit went well. For now, life is good. :)

FREEDOM!!!!!

2010-08-03T10:25:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow will be four weeks since the beginning of my incarceration at home with Peanut. I've gone through several different phases of grief: disbelief, anger, resentment and finally resigned acceptance. Yesterday, however, I moved into defiance. It's not that I feel the need to constantly run the roads, but the mere fact that I can't do anything, go anywhere without arranging for a Peanut sitter gets overwhelming at times. Therefore, I just quit even trying to do anything ... until yesterday. I went to the grocery store by myself and left him home alone. Today is Day 18 since his second surgery. He's still wearing the cone - I'm afraid to take it off because he still tries to rub at that eye occasionally. I'm paranoid, I know. I can't help it. BUT, I have gotten to the point that I'm done. Sacrificing my freedom for the past 4 weeks will have to have been enough. I'm leaving the cone on but I am no longer willing to provide 24/7 supervision. If he screws it up this time, at this point, he screws it up. I don't know what people do in this position who have lives they don't have the "luxury" of putting on hold. Crating would not have been an answer. He could've messed his eye up with his back paw if he had been crated. I don't believe boarding him would have been enough because even in a crate he would need to be watched. So what would a person do? I don't know, but I do know I won't do this again - not for this length of time. If I had had any idea we'd still be dealing with this situation this long, I'd have been more proactive about other options. On a happier note ...

I got a small taste of freedom Friday night. Since Bob was on his 4-day golf trip, I had to take Peanut to my dad's Friday afternoon so I could go to the Rascal Flatts concert that evening. PITA, but ya do whatcha gotta do, right? The weather could not have been more perfect. The high was in the mid 80's that day and there was a delicious breeze too. To be on that lawn with good friends, listening to awesome country music (Chris Young, Kellie Picker and Rascal), sucking down a Blue Moon too? Well, life was pretty good. Cari had picked up Matt from the airport that afternoon (they met while we were in Nashville for CMA Fest) so he got to meet some of the crazy clan. Saturday he was introduced to Nana and Papa when we picked up Peanut. Dad said he didn't seem like a "dumb ass" and got two thumbs up. LOL So far the visit seems to be going well - they both seem to be pretty happy and have had fun getting to know each other better. Cari's introducing him to Water Country today. Can't wait to hear about that!

I'm really starting to look forward to our Myrtle Beach get-a-way. I desperately need some "me" time - time where I don't have to take care of everyone else. Less than a week later, though, we move Cari into her first apartment. That's gonna be bittersweet for me. I'm excited for her, but will really miss her around here. I wish we had had more time to play this summer and go shopping together. We had to cram most of a summer's worth of shopping into mostly one day last weekend - when the thermometer reached 105 degrees both days - and that doesn't take into account the heat index. Brutal doesn't even begin to describe how miserable it was. The pool table is piled high with her loot and we aren't done yet. We'll have a few days after Matt goes home before leaving for Myrtle Beach so maybe we'll get a few more things done. Time is just ticking away ...

CMA Fest 2011!!

2010-07-22T13:04:00.001-04:00

Woohoo!! We're booked for CMA Fest 2011!! Just called and put our deposits down. We'll be staying downtown at the Doubletree next year. No more wasting time waiting for shuttles!! AND Missy is going with us! What fun!!! I'm not wishing my life away but I can't wait!

A bit of catching up ...

2010-07-22T10:42:00.005-04:00

Well, we're on Day 6 of the second eye surgery for Peanut. As I suspected, he pulled some stitches out and part of the graft was loose, with eye fluid leaking out ... again. He needed immediate surgery ... again, to correct it. Would it surprise anyone for me to say I had a mini meltdown? It took everything I had to keep my emotions in control until I walked outside to the car. Poor Bob didn't know what to do. He wants to make it all better and fix it - he can't fix this, nor how I feel about it. I know all about feeling helpless to make someone you love feel better - it sucks.

Peanut would be ready to go home around 3pm. We had tickets to go see BB King that evening with Rick and Regina - 9th row seats. I had a "sitter" lined up to stay with Peanut that evening since Cari had to work. But now ... I couldn't leave him with someone else after surgery. Long story short, we elected to leave him at the hospital (they're connected with a 24 emergency care) until after the concert. I needed a night off. I hated leaving him there but I needed to get out of the house more. We were back to square one with the damn collar, more eye drops, continuous 24/7 supervision, etc.

The Bier Garden was our destination for dinner. I must say, the beer was awesome (I had two tall ones) but the food was just ok. Lukas Nelson opened for BB - I hadn't heard of him before and wish I still hadn't heard of him. I'm not a big blues person anyway but Bob has always loved BB King. I could handle the music fine, but when Lukas opened his mouth this Gawd Awful nasal whine escaped his vocal cords and it grated on what little was left of my last surviving nerve. It was pretty bad. Even Bob thought it was pretty bad. It got to the point that Regina and I just had to laugh - and boy did we laugh! We laughed 'til we cried. Not only did my arm get a workout that night (from lifting the beer to my lips) but so did my abs. Whew! Bob left his seat to find a restroom and get more water. He came back and told me our neighbors were standing outside the gate waiting for Lukas to leave the stage - they didn't want to hear him any better than they already could. LOL Need I say more? Before Lukas graced us with his absence, he informed us that he'd be back next week performing with his daddy. ?? OOOOHHHHHH! It all becomes crystal clear now! His daddy is Willie Nelson - can't stand him either. And Lukas has the same kind of voice, except his is worse. No lie, if you're on myspace you can go listen for yourself here.

Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day! Missy and Mom spontaneously dropped everything and came over to play. We always have the best time together - doing nothing. We had quite a few sessions of COL (crossing our legs) so we didn't POP (pee our pants)! And it's usually over really stupid stuff that later isn't even funny anymore! Missy and I picked up some fresh corn and tomatoes that afternoon. We had fresh tomato mozzarella paninis with fresh corn on the cob and cantaloupe. Soooo good! Later that evening we laughed some more - watching Jeff Dunham. That boy just ain't right.

I so needed that girl time and distraction from not being able to leave the house for over a week. Even though I've run a few errands and been to the gym a couple of time when Cari or Bob stayed with him, it's just knowing I can't pick up and go that's the worst. Cari and I haven't even started our shopping for her apartment and we move her in less than four weeks now. We can't go to dinner as a family, Cari and I can't go to lunch or the gym together. It's extremely frustrating. And yes, I know I have friends who would come sit with him so I could have a bit of freedom to go do something. But I have a really hard time with that. Peanut's my responsibility. I don't want anyone else having to deal with it. Everyone has a life and is busy - they don't need to spend their time coming to sit with my dog. So today we're on Day 6. He screwed it up last week on Day 7. I take him back for his recheck Monday - Day 10. I can't imagine the collar coming off then. If he did that kind of damage on Day 7 I just don't see his eye healing to the point that he can't hurt it again only three days later. On the other hand, I can't continue to monitor him 24/7 either. Most days I start out in a decent frame of mind, but by the evening I'm a grouch.

Cari's off to class this morning so I'm going to spend some time in my "studio" and get my beads out to make a candle bracelet for a birthday gift. Maybe I'll even finally make one for myself!

Later,

Has it been that long?

2010-07-16T08:03:00.000-04:00

Wow ... don't know where the summer has gone and why I haven't blogged in so long. As you can see I still haven't finished blogging (journaling) about CMA Fest. Will have to make time for that. Thank goodness I have notes to go by or I would be lost. Sigh ...

I also have pics of Morgan's birthday party to go through and print. It's just been a crazy summer. I must've had a premonition of that in spring. I took a leave of absence (LOL) from Bunco because I had a feeling it was going to be hard to fit in. That just wasn't like me - to not want to play Bunco. Life is always busy but you learn to make time for something important, right? Then in late May I decided I needed to let go of yet another "commitment" I loved - Stitch & Bitch on Fridays. We have been meeting on Friday mornings for about 4 years now and it's always been my therapy, my saving grace. I don't know why it's been so crazy this particular summer but it has. I've done very little knitting, no scrapping, no beading, very little reading, very little photography, etc. When Cari was in high school I always thought life would slow down (for me) as she got older. Apparently not!

Our trip to Nashville, getting ready for it and then recuperating from it, played its part in eating up some days, but we really haven't done much else this summer. Cari and I haven't even started shopping for her new apartment. And now with this thing with Peanut it's gotten nearly impossible. This "thing" with Peanut started on our return from Nashville. We could all tell he was out of sorts and just not right. Then again, it normally takes him a couple of days after spending time at Dad's since life is busier around there and he doesn't get as much time to rest. By Friday (we returned on Monday) he wasn't any better so I made an appointment with the vet for Monday. Immediately the vet noticed he was squinting one eye. Long story short (or shorter at least), he had an ulcer on his eye. He was put on eye drops 4x daily and an eye ointment 4x daily in addition to pain med and an oral antibiotic - with an appointment to be seen again in two days.

The fun begins ... Two days later the ulcer was no better and we were referred to an eye doctor. Surprisingly the specialist's office got us in on Friday. She prescribed three different types of eye drops (totaling 6x daily) and wanted to see him again in 10-14 days. Twelve days later the ulcer had eaten through his eye and it was full blown perforated. He needed surgery ... immediately. That was nine days ago. We go back this morning.

I can't begin to tell you how much fun we've had. We (it takes two of us) have now been putting drops in his eye for three and a half weeks now. He came home from surgery with the infamous cone and has had to be supervised 24/7, not even going outside alone. Even so I caught him Wednesday afternoon with his back paw up to his face and it looks like he's done something to his eye. I am so frustrated I'm ready to scream, cry, hit something, etc. We came so far and it looked like it was healing well - now it looks like crap again. Bob and I have tickets to go see BB King tonight. Cari has to work. We have to get a dog sitter to go to a concert. I just can't believe this.

I'm prepared to hear the worst at the vet this morning. But I'm just not sure what else can be done. Drops are not working. The cone isn't working. 24/7 supervision isn't working. I just can't continue to be chained to the house and put my life on hold indefinitely. It's not just the cost of surgery again, it's also putting a 14 year old dog through anesthesia again. I guess I'll find out this morning. Maybe it's not as bad as I think. Hopefully. I have been wrong before - once in a while.

"The Search" by Nora Roberts

2010-07-15T10:53:00.028-04:00

Just finished Nora's latest, "The Search." I knew when I read the blip on her website I'd had to have the book as soon as it came out. There would be no waiting for this one to come out in paperback. It was soooo good! I've never read a bad Nora Roberts book, but I still have my favorites. This one will rank right up there with those (Blue Smoke, Birthright, Northern Lights). I breezed right through it - could've read it in 2 days if it wasn't for the distraction of dealing with Peanut's eye. When I'm thinking about the story while doing other things, that's one of the things that make a book irresistible for me. The story behind the mystery and romance was so interesting to me. Fiona (main character) leads a team of search and rescue dogs and does training as well. Of course there is a serial killer after her and a disgruntled wood worker who doesn't want to fall in love with her complicating the story. As always, the end (serial killer caught, they fall in love) is predictable but how they get there isn't. I loved it.

Friday - CMA Fest

2010-06-11T11:13:00.002-04:00

After not turning off the light until 3am, we slept late - until 10:00am! It was close to 11:30 by the time we made it downtown and we had missed breakfast, so we grabbed a hot dog from a street vendor and headed to Riverfront for Chris Young's show at 12:45. We knew it would be crowded - and hot - and it was both. We claimed a spot and someone walked by with these huge cups of fresh lemonade - it sounded and smelled so good that we had to have some. Nanny's Fresh Squeezed Lemonade - yummm! It's the best lemonade I've ever had.

Chris took the stage and stole our hearts. Again, since we don't listen to the radio much we tend to miss the new artists unless we just stumble across them. Chris has two albums and they were both in Cari's iTunes wish list. After seeing him buying them was a given. He's just a cutie pie! We're both fans for life now.

After his set we were ready for some cool air and food and we had our sights set on Hard Rock Cafe. The line to get in took about 30 minutes but at least it was under a tent so we, at least, had some shade. By the time we got our table, it was smokin' outside. Sitting in a real chair somewhere cool was heaven! Eating healthy went out the window too. As we looked at the menu, their hamburgers jumped off the pages at us. I was amazed to read that all their hamburger are 10 oz. Wow ... really? They did have a "baby" one that was only 6 oz - that's the one we both chose. Of course, we ordered fries to go with our burgers - and they were really good too! LOL

Rested, cooled off and tummies full we set off to the Convention Center. As we made our way through the streets we heard what sounded like Chris Young singing live again, so we followed the sound. Sure enough he was under a tent with just his guitar performing for a small crowd. Needless to say, we got much closer to him this time. When he finished we were informed that tomorrow was his birthday, so everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him. It was wonderful.

Once again we headed to the Convention Center. There wasn't much going on - Trent Tomlinson and the Zac Brown Band were set up signing autographs but that was about it. I did manage to pull a Greased Lightning canvas bag out at their booth though - nice bags! And we joined the Chris Young Street Team, which simply means they may call on us to promote him if/when he comes to town. That's pretty cool though! Oh, we also bought his two cds at his booth too. Good music!

Upon leaving the hall there was an A cappella group called Memphis Beat performing. You know us - we love that kind of thing. So we stopped and listened to the end, which was only 2-3 songs.

It was about time for Mark Wills to come on the Chevy stage, which is right across the street from the hall so we headed in that direction. He's another artist was have some old stuff from but nothing new. It was still fun to see him perform songs from years ago though.

Emily West was next on the schedule for Chevy stage. We had no clue who she was but didn't have anything better to do and were able to grab some good seats right up front, so we stayed. She was quite entertaining and has a really good voice. She favors Faith Hill and even sounds a bit like her. Can't remember when her cd comes out but I'm sure we'll be on the lookout for it.

Since we ended up having to take a taxi to LP Field last night, Cari and I decided to get there early tonight. After Emily West's set we stood in line for the shuttle and were there by 6:00pm - the gates didn't open until 6:30pm. So we waited some more, and watched the line get longer by the minute. We were hot, tired and desperately needed water. Any other time we'd have seen six different vendors on the corner selling water, but we couldn't find any tonight.

We went through the same gate as last night but the security guard tonight was on a power trip. Remember those plastic Starbucks cups we bought? She saw mine in my bag and told me I'd have to throw it out, that I couldn't take it inside. ??? She actually told me to take it back to my car. Uh huh, my car's in Virginia Beach you idiot! She pushed me to the side and ignored me, continuing to check bags from those behind me. After a couple of minutes, Cari and I walked away out of her sight, repacked our bags and went in through another gate ... with no problems at all. How crazy, ridiculous is that?

By the time we actually made it inside the gate, we were dying of thirst - and a little hungry. So we stopped to get some water and a pretzel on the way to our seats. That's when I spied the "Blue Moon" sign!! Woohooo! You know after the Nazi guard I needed a beer! Aw man, it went down like silk! LOL Good stuff! We chatted with the people around us until the show started. The Band Perry sang our National Anthem and we then witnessed one of the lamest flyovers I've ever seen. One lone jet. Hmm, that was impressive - NOT! Guess that's result of living close to two bases and having jets fly over us constantly.

Julianne Hough opened tonight's show. Actually her music is ok but her performance was a bit much for me. First of all her skirt was way too short, and the way she gyrated on stage you'd think she was pole dancing. It was bad. We weren't the only ones with this opinion because Cari and I heard others commented on it later. She didn't impress me much.

Josh Turner was next. Cari and I ended up standing in line for pizza most of his set. We could watch him on the TV at the vendor counter but we missed most of it. He is a pretty man, and his voice is incredibly deep.

I've never been much of a fan of Miranda Lambert. Some of her stuff is ok but I can do without most of it. She just isn't my style. Cari and I should've waited until her set to get our pizza so we would've seen Josh. Oh well, live and learn.

Every time I've seen Keith I've walked away happy. I/we have always loved his music and it's been an enjoyable journey watching him grow as an entertainer. The best thing about a Keith concert is when he gets lost in his guitar. You can tell by watching him that everyone and everything else just disappears for him. It's a magical moment. Even though it was getting late and it had been a really long day, he had most of us up on our feet, clapping and singing to the top of our lungs. Nothing like it. He opened with "Days Go By," and went directly into "Sweet Thing," "I'm In" and closed with "A Little Help From My Friends."

I haven't seen Reba in years. Cari had never seen her before and we were pretty excited! Reba never fails to please the fans. The only negative I can say about her is I was disappointed she only sang five songs. We were all itching to hear more! She opened with "I Want a Cowboy," and dove right in with "Strange," "Keep On Lovin' You," "Consider Me Gone" and closed with "Fancy." She really did leave us wanting more. :)

There was a "Special Guest" on the line up to close for tonight. Cari and I were so hoping it would be Kenny, or Garth, or George Straight or Sugarland, or ... you get my drift. We had been hearing rumors it was gonna be Kid Rock. Are you kidding me? Really? We had already decided it if was him we were leaving after Reba. That's exactly what we did. Apparently loads of others were of the same opinion because about two thirds of the stadium emptied after Reba. There was a line on the steps just to leave our seats. There were lines to catch a shuttle. The cars were lined up to get out of the parking lot. It really looked as if the concert was over. For the minority that remained, they said he did a good show. Whatever. Kid Rock is not my thing and I, personally, do not believe he has any place at a major concert (especially closing the show) at a country music festival. He is not country, not recognized as country and not played on country radio. It was still midnight before we got back to our room. I was so pissed about it I wrote on CMA Fest's Facebook wall sharing my opinion of their lack of intelligence choosing Kid Rock as our "Special Guest."

Tomorrow's another day ... :)

G'nite!

Thursday

2010-06-10T19:36:00.268-04:00

We caught the shuttle to downtown about 8:30 this morning. It was one of the few times we didn't have to wait very long for it. After several more stops we were finally on our way. Becky and her mom were sitting in front of us and we started talking - yeah, I know, imagine that. This was her second year at the festival and I was glad to meet someone to show us the ropes, so to speak. We hung around with them for a couple of hours before going off to explore on our own. On the way to Riverfront (main daytime stage) Cari and I were snapping pictures left and right. These cardboard cutouts were just begging for us to pose with them.

There was a long line to get into Riverfront park. The Judds were already playing by the time we got in, but we did see most of their show. Wynonna announced that they are going to be touring again in the fall. This will be their first tour in ten years! The photo line that is supposed to go by the front of the stage was a joke - nobody moved. And it was hot - really hot. The good and bad news about that is that today was forecast to be the coolest of the four day festival. That's really not good for me. You know how I am about heat - and humidity. UGH! Not good.

There was about a 15 minute lag to reset the stage for Clay Walker's performance. Cari and I were thrilled when we discovered he would be here. We haven't seen him in years - I'm thinking it was the late 90's when we saw him at the Hampton Coliseum. His new cd came out Tuesday (6/8) - of course we love it. Seeing so many people sing his old hits was wonderful!

Love and Theft took the stage next. To be honest, we just discovered this group a couple of weeks ago. We don't listen to the radio very often so we miss the new artists quite often unless we just happen across them. After going to iTunes and listening to their cd, we knew we wanted to see them. I'm thinking they are quickly going to become one of our favorites.

It was getting to close to lunch-time so we headed to the Convention Center where Fan Fair Hall was being held, hoping they'd have food - plus it was air-conditioned! On the way there we heard Jaron (and the Long Road to Love) on Chevy stage, so we stopped. He closed with his new single, "Pray for You." I can't even begin to imagine his delight when the crowd sang the chorus. It was pretty cool. Finally we made our to the Convention Center where we discovered, to our dismay, about the only food they had to offer was Quiznos. Ugh. One of the security guards made our day when she said there was a Panera right across the street, so we turned right around and out the door again. LOL It was after 1pm by then and we were pretty hungry.

Even though I really like to eat at local dives and joints when I travel, sometimes a familiar "face" is pretty comforting. That's exactly how Cari and I felt about Panera at that point. We lucked out on getting a table (it was majorly crowded) and thoroughly enjoyed sitting in a cool, comfortable environment for lunch. Rested and tummies full we headed back over to FFH for the second time. Not really sure what we'd find, it was like a treasure hunt looking for "stars" signing autographs. I have to confess, it was pretty cool. We had a ball snapping photos real stars and cardboard cutouts. Everyone was handing out free stuff and we loaded up on all kinds of paraphernalia - including new music! Just what we need, more new artists and new cds to buy.

Kix Brooks

The Judds

Ty Herndon

Jo Dee Messina

Farm Boy

Mindy McCready

Diamond Rio

Reba

Love and Theft

Mark Wills

Danny Gokey

Jason Aldean

Done with FFH for the day we left the Convention Center and spotted a Starbucks next door. Exhausted and with aching feet we made a bee line for a frappucino! I'd been wanting to buy one of their plastic refillable cold cups and decided this was the perfect time. It was SO good! And sitting down on those comfortable couches ... man it was heaven!

By now it was time to figure out what we're doing for dinner. Jack's BBQ was suggested for lunch so we thought we try it for dinner since we ended up at Panera for lunch. The line was out the door - so we kept walking to find something else. Well all the lines were out the doors, so we ended up going back to Jack's. It took about 45 minutes to get our food but it was worth the wait. And that Blue Moon was the perfect thing to wash down that BBQ.

Once again rested and full, we made our way back to the Convention Center to stand in line for the shuttle ... and stand in line, and stand in line, and stand in line ... We saw very few buses in the hour we stood there, and a couple of those went on by us because they were already full. By 7:35 we're starting to think we may need to take a taxi to the stadium or we'd miss the opening performance by Danny. Others were starting to get the same idea so flagging down a taxi wasn't as easy as you may think. After about 10 minutes we managed to get one to stop and went in with a group of four to split the fare. We made it to LP around 7:50, just in time to find out seats before the Oakridge Boys sang the national anthem. Melissa Peterman (host of CMT's "The Singing Bee" and Reba's BFF on her show) was our emcee for the night. The crowd roared when informed that every artist was performing for free and that all proceeds were going to Flood Relief. This was the first time in the festival's history it was sold out. How cool is that?

Of course Danny was awesome and we're so happy for him. He sang our favorite songs off the album and it just made Cari's day. If she didn't see anyone else tonight, she could go home happy.

Alan Jackson was up next. I have always been a fan of Alan the man, but his music doesn't move me like it does some. Don't get me wrong, I do like some of his stuff but am not crazy about all of it. He was so funny though. I don't think I've ever seen him share so much personal stuff and so relaxed on stage before. He'd sing a song and then tell a story, sing another one that would lead into another story. It was moving to see the gratitude he still has for the fans after 20 years. "I'm honored to still be a part of the festival," he told us. At some point he got up to get another guitar (or something - I can't remember) and said, "Whew! It's hotter than a hoochie coochie out here!" I think we laughed for 5 minutes over that one. Most memorable line of the night! Alan was enjoying himself so much that he really didn't want to leave the stage. There was a 30 minute window for each artist, plus the stage had to be changed in between each one. Alan was up there for at least 45 minutes ...

... then it was Tim's turn. The last time we saw Tim we weren't impressed. Maybe he just had an off night that night. He certainly wasn't in good form. His energy level wasn't high at all and I remember thinking that what he was giving us that night was no more than you can hear on his albums. Well he was pumped up tonight. He opened with "Where the Green Grass Grows," and the fans almost drowned him out. It was so very cool! He, too, didn't want to leave the stage and went over. Ask anyone if they cared, I think not!

Jason Aldean was next on the line-up and whenever we've seen him in the past he's been a high energy performer. Tonight was no different and the fans were delighted to welcome him and sing to the top of their lungs with him. I know I've used this word way too much in this post but it was awesome!!

Excitement escalated with the anticipation of Lady Antebellum coming on! Their latest single, "Need You Now," really took of on the charts and propelled them as favorites on numerous iPods. I've been a Lady A fan since their first release, "I Run to You," but the first time I saw the video for "Need You Now" I loved it! They did an acoustic version of this at a flood relief fund-raiser at the Ryman that was aired on GAC and it was incredible! Other hits performed included, "Love Don't Live Here Anymore," "American Honey," and "Our Kind of Love."

Surprised with a beautiful display of fireworks between Lady A's set and Carrie Underwood taking the stage, Cari and I had our cameras out attempting to capture the bursts of color. Cari managed to capture the one below that depicts a smiley face, although it looks a bit evil here - LOL:

It was nearly midnight by the time Carrie took the stage. You'd never know it by her performance, she was fabulous and pumped up! As much as we completely enjoyed her, Cari and I were too tired to get up and dance, clap and sing. We both pretty much sat in our seats and sang softly. You could tell we weren't alone in our exhaustion because as I looked around that's what most of us were doing. I saw Carrie soon after she won American Idol years ago and can saw without hesitation her stage presence has improved dramatically - and her voice? Wow ... It was about 12:30am when she took her final bow - and we were dragging.

The stadium had already started to empty out before Carrie's performance just because it was so late, but the majority of us hung in there. It took us another hour before catching a shuttle back to our room and we were starving. Between the heat, lack of food and just being exhausted we weren't feeling great. The hotel didn't have much to choose from in their "market" either - candy, chips, drinks and hot pockets. It was Thursday night at 1:45; I knew we wouldn't find anything open for delivery but called several places anyway. We ended up back down in the lobby getting hot pockets just to put something in our stomachs. When you're that hungry just about anything is better than nothing. It was 3am before we got to bed. Talk about a huge kick-off to the four-day festival!

... and tomorrow is another day!

We made it!

2010-06-09T21:50:00.001-04:00

After a very early start this morning (got up at 5am) we finally arrived here (Nashville) about 12:15 this afternoon. It was after 1:30 by the time we got to our hotel and Cari and I were both exhausted. Of course our second winds kicked in and we muddled through the rest of the afternoon. It was like Christmas opening our CMA Festival box once we got to our room! Included was a special iTunes card for 24 free songs - so you know we immediately had to power up our laptops and get those new, free songs! I managed to get unpacked this afternoon too but not much else. Didn't get a nap, but I'm hoping that'll just make me sleep better tonight.

We met Mike and Sandi for dinner. What a special treat! We met years ago through Forefront church and ended up losing touch after they moved to Nashville in 2004. Sandi found me through Facebook a while back and we immediately planned to meet for dinner in between concerts. It was wonderful to catch up with them - they're an awesome welcoming committee!!

Back in our room now, in my pjs ready to settle in for an early night. Tomorrow's gonna come early and gonna be a L-O-N-G day. We have a plan though. I printed out tons of stuff yesterday and Cari and I went through the lists on the plane this morning. We have a plan. No clue if that plan will happen but we gotta start somewhere!

Hoping to have some fun pics to post tomorrow!
G'night!

Country Throwdown!!

2010-06-05T00:10:00.004-04:00

As soon as Cari saw that The Lost Trailers would be performing at Country Throwdown she simply had to go. Tickets had recently gone on sale so we got great seats - Orchestra Center Row E. We just had to wait for two months. The Lost Trailers opened for Phil Vassar about four years ago and Cari fell head over heels for Ryder Lee, the lead singer. They were scheduled as an opening act for someone else (can't remember who) in the fall, but the show was canceled because of a hurricane. Cari was extremely disappointed. It was more than a year later we finally got to see them again. That was over a year ago now. So come hell or high water, she was seeing them at Throwdown. It was only 95-97 degrees yesterday. I don't do heat - at least I don't do it well. Normally, I would've balked big time at going to a concert in nearly 100 degree weather, but since we're leaving for Nashville in three days I figured I may as well get used to it. It was bad, but not as bad as it could've been I guess. Part of the time there was a decent breeze and that helped. I also took my little spray water bottle fan thingy. It helped too. But honestly, the only thing that helps in that kind of heat and humidity is air-conditioning.

The Lost Trailers were scheduled to perform at 2:30, so we got there around 2:00. As we sat there, and sat there, and sat there some more we finally heard they were running an hour being - pretty unusual for a country concert. They're usually very punctual. And I was amazed at how empty the place was. I don't know if it was the heat that kept people away or what, but I don't think I've ever seen it that empty before. Finally at 3:30 they took the stage and they were, as always, fabulous!! We loved every minute of their set and were close enough to make eye contact. It was awesome! Cari, of course, knew every word to every song.

After their set Ryder announced they'd be signing autographs at the Merchandise Booth. Needless to say, we immediately got up and proceeded to find the Merchandise Booth and get in line. We each bought a group photo and got it personalized, then got our photos taken with Ryder and Stokes.

Walking back to our seats to wait for the next act, Cari was floating on clouds. Not only had she gotten Ryder's autograph yet again, but she got to hug him this time and get a picture with him too! She could've gone home right then and there and been perfectly happy.

As we found new seats (it was General Admission until 7pm) to wait for the next act, we melted - no literally. Good Gawd it was hot! Finally the next act came on. I didn't even know who they were, never heard of 'em. It was Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses. ?? The first thing that really got to me was the volume on their amps was turned up WAY too high. They were twice as loud as anyone else. The base drum actually hurt my internal organs. It was crazy. I didn't care for the "music" either, but could've tolerated it much easier had the volume been at an acceptable level. I was never so glad to have a band get off the stage. I sure hope to never see them again. I have no idea why they were at a Country Throwdown. There was nothing country about this band. I may not have known who they were when they took the stage, but I certainly will never forget them now.

Finally, they quit and left the stage. Thank you God. Seriously, thank you. It was that bad. The Eli Young Band was next and we, at least, had heard of them and like a lot of their music. They were good and I'm sure we'll be getting more of their music. (Note: There's something about Eli Young that really reminds me of Wayne Newton.)

Jack Ingram was next. I've seen Jack before and he does a great show, so I was really looking forward to this. He did not disappoint. He was awesome!! Jack is so energetic and into audience participation the time just flies.

When he sang "Barefoot and Crazy" he took his boots off and put them on the mic. It was pretty damn cool to see him running around the stage singing his butt off barefoot.

Jack ended his set by coming down from the stage and getting in the audience for a little more up close and personal. We loved it. He really seems very gracious and humble about his success - and acknowledges that he wouldn't be where he is without the fans. It was cool. Next up, Eric Church ...

... not sure what we were expecting from Eric Church, but it wasn't what we got. He didn't do much for me or Cari. We had listened to his music on iTunes and liked a lot of it but after seeing him perform - not so much. His music and songs are still basically ok, but Eric himself has issues! He comes across as an angry man trying to get his point across and wanting approval for his views. There's a lot of pounding on his chest with his fists, shaking his hands, screaming at the end of a phrase, etc. Anyway, just a little over the top for me. Seeing this concert certainly wouldn't make me wanna go out and buy his CD.

Oh, I almost forgot ... in between bands they had new and upcoming singer/songwriters on the corner of the stage with just their guitars singing some of their songs. This one chick started singing and Cari and I immediately looked at each other with raised eyebrows. We thought it must be some kind of joke. After 20-30 seconds we started to realize that, no, this was just her. I tell you - honestly - the chick sounded like one of the Chipettes of Alvin and the Chipmunks!!! Seriously! It was CRAZY! I know we were rude because we couldn't help but laugh ... and you know my laugh. Enough said.

As hot as it was and as hungry as we were, we sort of considered leaving early. But after sitting through all of that and to be so close to Little Big Town performing, I was determined to make it. Let me just say it was worth it. The were SO, SO good. I'm glad we stayed - it was worth it. :)

So that was it - we were done. Tired, hot, hungry, thirsty and exhausted, we left early - before Montgomery Gentry came on. I would've liked to see them, but under the circumstances, going home sounded better.

All in all it was a good day. A couple of hiccups make it more interesting I guess but it was mostly good. Tomorrow Brooke comes in and the circus begins! LOL

Flowers

2010-06-02T20:12:00.001-04:00

We're remodeling our half bath. Well, I guess I should say Bob is remodeling the half bath. He's doing the work but I did have input on the new fixtures and such. Can't wait 'til it's done. Having that little bathroom on the public end of the house out of commission is a huge PITA. It'll be awesome when it's done though. Anyway, I'm looking for some beautiful red flowers to shoot for wall focal point in there. I don't have any red flowers but I went out to shoot just because I've been itching to play with some new photographs. When I took the trash out I saw my next door neighbors Clematis and Hydrangeas. Immediately I went inside and grabbed my camera. I ended up walking around my front yard and deck too. Of course, I snapped way more than the following but these were some of my faves I played with:

Photoshop action:

turned red in Photoshop:

Not sure what I'm gonna do with any of these but I sure had fun with 'em!

tata for now,

PS - Brooke will be here in THREE days and we leave for Nashville in SEVEN days!!

Big Band

2010-05-24T19:46:00.008-04:00

Cari and I went out to the beach Saturday for a concert at the 17th street stage. Since it was the weekend for the Drum Line Competition we thought it would be more percussion - guess I didn't read closely enough. It was the Virginia Arts Festival Big Band playing - not a percussion band. Still, we enjoyed it - even though it was FREEZING!! You wouldn't think it would be so damn cold the end of May but the wind was whipping and everyone was wrapped up. I had fun shooting the stage and Dairy Queen beside us. Here's two of my faves:

When we came home, Cari discovered the lineup of artists for the CMA Festival and we were up until about 1:30am going through new artists and music on iTunes. Getting so excited!!

Fish Fry ...

2010-05-20T21:41:00.001-04:00

A limo to Gloucester for the fish fry was the perfect idea. We loaded up and were off! Of course a little wine and beer for the ride made it even better. A fish fry isn't the healthiest food choice but since it isn't something we do on a consistent basis, we thoroughly enjoyed it. We started with some awesome steamed shrimp, then moved on to flounder, scallops, hush puppies, fries clam fritters (or whatever they're called), cake and ice cream. All of the food was incredible! I expected mediocre and was delightfully surprised.

I didn't have any of the sangria but it sure made for a fun photo!

... and last but not least, DESSERT!

Don't know this lady, but she passed us while standing in line for our cones. Ice cream and beer - I just couldn't resist taking her picture.

Love these fun "people" shots too:

Regina too this one of Bob and me. I call it Mutt and Jeff. :)

In the limo on the way home I played with some shots of all the glasses lined up. Really like the way this one came out.

What a wonderful way to spend hump day! Glad I didn't have to get up and go to work this morning after playing so hard yesterday!

(Note: the pedometer said about 13,000 steps today. Hopefully a little closer to removing some of the junk in my trunk.)

Spring ... here? / not here.

2010-05-19T07:45:00.001-04:00

This has been a really weird spring, but it does follow on the heels of a pretty strange winter. My body doesn't know what to expect, the plants outside don't quite know what to do, hell even my Tranes keep switching back and from from a/c to heat. Bob comes home from work one night and all the fans are going (my power surges partly to blame) and the next night the heat's on. Crazy! In the middle of May last night, I, yes even I, wore a sweatshirt on our nightly walk!

More signs of spring: I've had hummingbirds on my feeder already! I'm always so excited to see the first little ones of the year. I just love to watch them. I also spotted a Rose Breasted Grosbeak on my feeder 2-3 weeks ago. I haven't seen one of those in years!! I've been thrilled to see quite a few on my feeder in the last few weeks. One night while eating dinner, I actually had THREE (2 males and a female) on it at one time! Bob and Cari think I'm nuts because I get so much enjoyment from my birds.

I did find some plants that called to me yesterday at Walmart though. Had to come right home and plant them all! I've had these square wire baskets for a couple of years now and needed new coconut liners for them. I guess square is out these days because all I could find were round baskets and round liners. I thought it was stupid to have to throw these away and buy new round baskets, so in the spirit of recycling I bought the round ones anyway. They were a PITA to try and make fit into my round baskets, but I did it. Probably ruined a pair of scissors in the process. (note to self - buy the round ones pre-cut with slits next time!) I ended up putting some beautiful light green lined, purple leaf Coleus with some variegated Vinca in them. They look ok for now - will have to see how they fare this summer. Also bought some day lilies and pretty purple Delphinium to plant together in my big pots. The Hostas sitting in from of them should be perfect!

I also just had to have a pot of gorgeous Cala Lilies and a trailing vine on a trellis with beautiful red flowers ... and I can't for the life of me remember right now what it's called. UGH!!

Cari and I went to Baybreeze yesterday! I love getting my fresh stuff from them - so glad they're open again! We do so miss that little stand when they close at the end of the summer. We bought fresh strawberries (just picked), tomatoes, sweet potatoes, baby red potatoes, some free reign eggs and I found chives!!! Have been looking for chives for a couple of weeks now. Will cut some of those to have on those baby red potatoes when we fix them! :)

Love my herb garden!

On another note, I don't think Cari and I have even come up for air since she's been home. Today makes two weeks. She's not even completely unpacked yet. Honestly, I don't think she's been home long enough to unpack. Bob and I are going to a fish fry with a group of friends this afternoon and she's looking forward to having the afternoon to herself just vegging - after we go to the gym this morning of course. We have been on the go non-stop.

Speaking of the gym, I had started going back before she came home, but she really started cracking the whip! We have gone nearly daily since she's been back. And most of those days we haven't been to the gym, we've walked or biked instead. Next will be some tennis rackets for something a little different. Have I lost any weight? Me? Not much. I walked with ankle weights last night. I told both Bob and Cari if my ass didn't shrink after all this I really was gonna start sitting on the couch watching soaps and eating bon bons.

OK, enough for now ...
QB

Almost 11 months!

2010-05-14T21:48:00.001-04:00

Cari and I went to see Morgan yesterday. :) I guess I should say we went to see Heidi and Morgan, but since Heidi took Peanut to the shop to groom him we didn't really see her. Missy came by and had lunch with us and played. Morgan is such a TV nut we literally had to turn it off so she would pay some attention to us.

I took some Broccoli Salad and fresh fruit for lunch. Morgan had already eaten her lunch but was still in her seat so Missy cut up some cantaloupe, strawberries and pineapple and put it on her tray. It was quite entertaining watching those chubby little fingers chase the slippery fruit around. So I got a spoon and gave her little bites with it in between her chasing it around with her chubby little fingers. I ended up giving her the spoon - oh the fun she had banging it! So I got her little fork out that her MaMaw (Missy) gave her for Easter. She LOVED having a utensil for both hands! :) We were amazed at how quickly she figured out what to do with that fork. I'd stab a piece of fruit and it didn't take her long to get it in her mouth. What a little genius we have on our hands! And what a gorgeous little genius!

This picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Til next time ...
QB

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-10T08:57:00.006-04:00

Cari found the PERFECT t-shirt for me! I LOVE it!! And Bob got me another bead for my bracelet - "GRANDMOTHER." :D How can I not smile

It's always a good day when you're with family. Cari being home made it that much more wonderful. Our day started out with breakfast at Rock-a-fellers. Yummmm! The omelet was ok, nothing to write home about (even though I'm writing about it - hmmm), but the pomegranate mimosa was divine! :) And their cornbread is always so good I had to have a piece.

We came home and did a 4-mile walk around the neighborhood - had to burn off some of those calories dontchaknow! Cari and I went shopping for dinner. Tried a new recipe for salmon (it was good but we're still looking for that awesome one), had baked sweet potatoes and peas to go with it. Tried some new organic wine with dinner too - I think it gave me a headache, well something did. About an hour or so after dinner we tried to go to Cold Stone for dessert. None of us had been there in ages. The line was almost out the door so we left and went to Handel's. Bob got a simple double dip (strawberry & chocolate), I got a Reese Cup Hurricane and Cari got nothing. She didn't see anything she wanted to waste the calories on. We sat down and watched some DVR'd shows and I finished a knitting project, then headed to bed.

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers in my life!

She's baaaaack! :)

2010-05-06T07:36:00.010-04:00

Wednesday was a L-O-N-G day! I was excited Cari was coming home (for the summer) and that her second year was behind her - finals done and dorm living was over. So excited to have her home for the summer. Nashville is just FIVE WEEKS away! Even though she's taking a class at TCC, we'll still have some time together.

BTW, she's cracking the whip at the gym so maybe I'll be a little more fit by the time she goes back to school. She's also dropping some pretty strong hints at getting my back on roller blades. Now that could be entertaining! LOL

Bob and Herb went to a Yankees game in NYC and had a wonderful time - Yankees won! It was a really long day for them too. So glad Herb got to check something else off of his bucket list.

Til next time,
QB

Move out day!

2010-05-03T07:28:00.028-04:00

It was just easier to move the majority of Cari's stuff out the weekend before her last final on Wednesday. Bob was going to a Yankees game (in NY) with his dad on Wednesday so that just wasn't gonna work. Since Exit 245's final concert of the year was Saturday night I had to go!

After dropping Peanut off at Dad's we finally got on the road around 1:30pm. Traffic was really heavy. It was nearly 5:30 before we checked in at our hotel and got to the dorm. We went to O'Charley's for dinner and my salad was sooo good! Bob opted out of going to the concert so we dropped him off at the hotel and headed to the hall to stand in line so we could get some good seats. The end of the year concerts are a big deal! The doors opened around 7:30 and Cari and I strode up to the front. Since there wasn't anything roping off the side rows, we planted on the second row hoping no one would make us move - they didn't. :) As always we loved every minute of the concert. Two of the guys are graduating seniors and saying goodbye to them was emotional. Here are some of the lousy pics I got with my little pocket camera:

Before leaving we were able to tour a model apartment where Cari will be living in August. It's small but at least she'll have some privacy - her own bedroom and bathroom. The kitchen is really small but Cari will be thrilled with a real refrigerator and a microwave, stove and oven steps away instead of three floors down. We're gonna have fun shopping for wall decor, new bedroom accessories and kitchen gadgets!

It was a long day but after retrieving Peanut, we finally made it home about 7:30pm. I'll admit it took me a couple of days to unpack and redistribute stuff. :) And she'll be home Wednesday!! Yaaah!

Canvas Wall Art!

2010-04-26T10:47:00.001-04:00

I love how this beautiful wall art came out!! Hopefully, this will spur me on to create more. I have been wanting to play with canvas for ages. This was a kit from a class at Beach Scrapbooks - mostly. I did come home and finish it because I wanted to change the title and add some lace in place of the ribbon in the kit. Here is the sample I saw in the store:

The canvas, paper, ribbon and embellishment came in the kit. I will wait until after Mother's Day to post my version of it. :)

(5/15) ETA - Heidi LOVED it!