She Said "YES!"

Matt FINALLY proposed last week! So the "yewts" came down for a visit this past weekend to celebrate. We had a nice lunch with Mike and Paddy down at the beach and went to Indian River Plantation to do a quickie Engagement Shoot. Here are some of my faves from the shoot:

Will let you know when we have a wedding date!

Music Clock!

Oh My Goodness!! This clock about kicked my patootie!! It has been gessoed and painted and sanded ... I had this image in my head of what I wanted the background to look like and I just couldn't make it come out that way no matter what I did!! This was my first venture into working on wood - not paper or canvas - I guess there was a wee bit of a learning curve, to put it mildly.

In the end, some Versamark ink and UTEE gave me enough of a textured background I just went with it. Distressing a little more with some paint did the rest and I called it a day. Mod Podge and let her dry.

Then I added some beautiful teal flowers I found and purchased - at full price mind you - I just don't normally do that. But one look at those flowers and I knew they belonged on my clock. They HAD to come home with me. Adding them was the perfect finishing touch it needed.

Assembling was even a challenge. I had picked up some pretty black hands instead of using the shorter gold ones that came with the kit. They didn't work. I ended up taking them off and putting the gold ones back on. They worked beautifully ... but I just didn't really like them. A few days later I found a set of black hands at Michael's (which is where I bought the clock parts from) hoping that they would work. THEY DID!! I LOVE the way it looks now!!

Crafting weekend!!

We (Missy, Robin & I) try to plan this at least twice a year. Usually in the spring and fall since that's the off peak time for the Outer Banks. It's a weekend of creativity, laughter, slumming in pjs and fun. Friday morning I'm running around trying to get everything together in one spot to pack the car, while still leaving plenty of room for all Robin's goodies. After all, she brings it for us anyway. :) We stayed at Uncle Pooh's cottage in Avon (thanks Christine!). It was a little bit longer drive than Kitty Hawk but not too bad and we had quite a bit more room. And according to Missy, the biggest perk was the Dolphin Den is right across the street.

After we unloaded the vehicles, selected bedrooms and trashed the place (not really, that came later in the evening and the next day LOL), we walked across the street for dinner. We should've taken pics of our meals. Each one was excellent!! Missy got the flounder, Robin chose scallops and I caved the for shrimp (yes, fried). Sigh. Soooo delicious. Good thing we walked back to the cottage. 

The first thing I did was change clothes and strip my face. Getting ready for some serious crafting. A clock for my craft room and Christmas cards were on my agenda - and whatever else caught my attention. It took a while for the juices to start flowing so I just decided to begin somewhere and pulled out my gelatos and see what happened. This was the result:

It was 1:30ish before we called it a night. Up and atem again around 8:30am I pulled out another canvas I had brought. It was a flower canvas I started during our last weekend back in March. It came together quite nicely I think. 

Finally I brought out my clock to work on. Missy had been working on hers and it was looking pretty damn good. She has a new toy, Silhouette Cameo, that she brought for us to play with. It's a really cool gadget. It hooks up to your computer and cuts files for you. And oh the things it can cut!! She's had this music tree file saved from a tattoo library for a while. Turned it into a cut file and put it through her cameo. There was a learning curve, I won't lie. But the end result is fabulous!

 So ... I started preparing my box. Pretty tickled with my results too - until Robin used my favorite color on hers. Long story short and too much gut time later I "gessoed that bitch" and started completely over. So it went from this:

To this:

AND THEN!!!! ... I decided I had some music stamps that would really look perfect on the background ... At home. Ugh. I put her out to dry and pulled out stuff to start on Christmas cards. Pinterest is always a delightful distraction looking for ideas. Played for awhile, kept some ideas and tossed others. I do love the ugly cards Missy threw my way. I'm going to make them gorgeous and use them for my templates. Eventually the desire for sleep won out over the desire to create.  .... Yup it was around 2am again.

Up around 8:00, we didn't get much done before it was time to start cleaning things up and packing things away. The place was trashed. Truly. It's amazing we could find anything to work with. Missy lost her cutter early on and it was right in front of her face. None of us saw it for hours. It was a weekend full of country music, paint, ink, inside jokes, laughter, food, drinks, light bulb moments, creativity, bonding and much more.

Peace bitches ... Love you!! ;)

Weekend with "the yewts"

I had been looking forward to this weekend for a year!! Cari and Matt went to the Fall Festival at Showalter's Orchards last year. She made apple chips, apple muffins, ate apples, etc. and talked about those apples for months. It ruined her for buying apples in the store. We typically go to Harrisonburg for Cari's birthday every year. The festival is usually the weekend after her birthday, so this year we decided to wait a week so we could do that too.

Bob and I left his office around 2:30 Friday afternoon, thinking the traffic wouldn't be too awfully bad that early in the day. We were wrong. By the time we checked into our hotel and got to Cari's, it was about 8pm. We were exhausted, but thankful we got there safely. The welcome little Button gave us was priceless. She is so precious. Cari had saved us some homemade cheddar broccoli soup and we were starved. That's one dish I haven't tried yet but after tasting Cari's I think I may have to. Was really good. With plans to get a early start in the morning Bob and I headed back to the hotel. That bed felt good. 

I am always so excited to go to their local farmer's market. It's such a treat to have access to such a wide variety of local, unadulterated food. We're addicted to our honey man. He has some of the best honey around and for a great price too. I always load up when we go. I also walked away with some fresh peppers, local grass fed ground beef and hot sauce. Got our sausage biscuit and headed to the festival!

Bob wasn't so enthralled with the idea of picking apples, but he played along. I couldn't believe the price tag - $20 a bushel. Crazy!! Since we wanted sweet apples they pointed us in the direction for the Fujis. What fun!! It didn't take too long to fill our bags because the trees were loaded. And of course we had to sample the bounty while we were picking. Yummmm!!

After we got home I weighed the bags. They were about 20 pounds each. Thankfully we hitched a ride on the tractor back to our car!! Last year Cari and Matt carried them back. 

After all that work, we were starving and went to one of our favorite places there, Vito's, for lunch. SOOOO good. With all the fresh air, apple picking and good food, we were beat. Bob and I crashed on the couch for a little while. Cari took pics. I'm not sharing. LOL 

Matt grilled steak and chicken while Cari fixed some veggie stirfry with rice to accompany it. Another good dinner. Oh and we had pumpkin pie for snacks and dessert. Josh came over for dinner since he was spending the night to stay with Button on Sunday while Cari and Matt went to the game. Good kid, and Button loves him!!

Mr. J's Bagels was one of the few places open early enough for us to grab something on the way out in the morning so Bob and I got there early, ate ours and grabbed theirs for take out. We were on the road about 7:45. All parked and unpacking around 10:30, we had a couple of hours to tailgate. One of the best parts of going to the game. (Especially if you're a Cowboy fan at a Redskins game.)

It was pretty cold for a mid October game. In fact, it was so cold ..... Go ahead, you can say it - "how cold was it?" Well, just let this picture speak for itself ...

Matt' wearing Bob's Redskins hat. Need I say more? I think not. But wait!!! There's more!!! LOLOLOL 

Before going to our seats we stopped by one of the stores. LOL Look what Cari and Matt walked away with:

It was bloody cold with that wind whipping. Good game though and the Skins even managed to pull out a win! Amazing. Skins 19 - 17 against the Titans. 

The drive home was brutal. Traffic was unbelievable all the way. And we hit a backup going through the HRBT due to road work that cost us an hour. It was nearly 11pm when we pulled into the driveway. A long weekend but worth it. 

Going home - hopefully

Alarm went off at 5:30. I took my shower last night but Bob still had to shave and shower this morning. Went down to breakfast about 6:00 and were packed up and ready for our taxi about 6:45. Got to the airport a little after 7. It was pretty much dead. Very strange experience for us. But at least we made it through security and were all checked in. However we were told our flight had been delayed for an hour. Niiiiice. When we got to the gate we were told the plane would depart from it was empty and closed up tight. Weird. We sat there for a while before Bob got antsy and walked around to see what he could find out. The traffic had picked up considerably but not too many at our gate. So he followed the crowd and talked to whoever he could find. Discovered the plane would most like board further down the pike. We picked up our crap and walked to another gate. It's 10:20 now and we're still sitting here at the gate. We only have 2 hours to change planes in JFK. Sure hope we make it. We had a change of flights before we left home originally and know there are no more flights to Norfolk from JFK today. Crossing fingers, toes, legs and eyes we make the connection. You know how it is ... Once you've accepted you're going home you can't get there fast enough. Anyway ... will see what happens.

Fast forward ... We made it. Flight was fine - long but fine. I watched "Divergent" (pretty good actually) and "Chef" (that was good too), then read some. We landed in JFK around 2:00. Boarding for the next flight started around 3:20 - or was supposed to. It takes a while for a plane that size to deboard. Then we had to go through Customs. Then claim our luggage only to recheck it again. Then go through security again. Thankfully, they had our tickets for Norfolk printed for us and allowed us to go through the express lines. It was pretty cool how they had all that set up. Even so, we were still in the security line at 2:50 and still had to get to our new gate (which ended up being quite a ways away) for boarding at 3:20.

All that sweating and rushing we finally made it to the gate only to be told the flight was delayed an hour. Seriously. Sigh. The pleasures of traveling, eh?

Finally, we touched down in Norfolk. Regina picked us up and we went to No Frill (we love our Spotswood Salad) for dinner. Rick ended up meeting us there too so it was a nice welcome home dinner.

Bob brought a cold back with him and hit the bed about 9. I planned to do the same but ended up unpacking everything and hit the sack about 10. Woke up with a headache this morning. Don't know if it's the weather change or if I'm  fighting his cold or what. I do know I have too much to do to get a cold right now. Laundry and grocery shopping take priority today. LOL 

A special thanks to Lynne, Terry and Keith for carting us around all week and babysitting us. Was great spending time with all of you and we really appreciate the warm welcome. Already looking forward to next time. And special thanks to Joanie for putting up with us all week and making us feel right at home. 

Southampton - Last Day

Not much going on today. Packing and getting things together. That's always the worst part of a trip. Getting ready to go home. We went to lunch at yet another new place today - The Cowherds. Food was good as always and I had my last pie - chicken, ham and leeks. Mmmmm. They know how to do their pies over here.

Went back to Joan's to load all our stuff in the car and got a couple of shots in Joan's garden. 

Gonna miss these guys. Was really hard to say goodbye to Joanie. We've enjoyed this entire trip but being able to spend time with her has been priceless. 

Terry gave us a ride back to London. We're staying at a hotel a few miles away from the airport (Heathrow) since we've got a 10:30am flight and they told us to be want the airport 3 hours early. After we checked in and bought a few hours of wifi we went down to the restaurant for dinner. Noting too interesting the rest of the night. Got to catch up a bit on some news, Facebook and emails. Went to bed early because we have a taxi set up for 7:10 and breakfast starts at 6:00. 

Bedtime, so see ya in the morning!

Southampton - Day 6

Keith picked us up around 9 this morning for our Stonehenge/cathedral day. Originally we thought Stonehenge was like Castlerigg in that we could just walk up to it but after researching it discovered it was a whole tourist thing. There is a visitor's center and you have to be shuttled over to the stones. And they're surrounded by glass. You can't get right up to them. That being said I knew I wouldn't get the shots I wanted (which I knew anyway since we couldn't go at sunrise or sunset). When we took the taxi back from the train station after going to Bath on Monday, our taxi driver suggested a drive by instead of paying to go in. I brought that up yesterday at lunch and Keith agreed we could try that. It worked well enough. He drove by (slowly according to him ... Uh huh) and I snapped away. Then he turned around, I slid over the the other side of the car and snapped away the second time. These results aren't too bad going at warped speed from the window ...

Then it was off to Salisbury to see the cathedral. Of course you could see it from quite a ways away. It was an impressive image as we walked up to it. 

The first place we entered was the Cathedral Chapter House which holds one of the four originals of  Magna Carta written in 1215AD and is considered in the best condition of the four. It was redesigned to rebalance the power between the King and the barons and is the symbol of the rule of law in Great Britain, protecting the rights of the individual. Its basic principles have been used in the constitutions of America, Japan, Germany and any other countries. It will be 800 years old next year. No photography was allowed in the Chapter House but was fascinating to hear and see some of the history. 

Inside the cathedral was beautiful. Of course there are tons of memorials for people honored throughout the years since it was built. The stained glass windows are incredible. The architecture itself is amazing. It would be amazing to see something like that built today with all the tools available. But to know it was built hundreds of years ago without the ease and convenience of modern tools? It boggles the mind it does.

 

There is also a midieval clock housed there that is fascinating. According to the information it was made around 1386 and is most likely the oldest working clock in existence. How cool is that?

And here lies one of the oldest graves In the cathedral. 

We walked around a little more just checking the place out until we'd had enough and it was time to leave. This is the third or fourth cathedral we've seen since we've been over here so we are a little cathedralled out now. As gorgeous as they all are, since they were built around the same time period they tend to have similar architecture. So another couple of boxes checked. Thanks Keith!!

It was close to noon by now and time to start looking for a pub for lunch. Keith had one in mind in the New Forest. So off we went. Long story short, we took the scenic route and weren't sure we were going to find this particular one he was looking for but in the end ... Victory!!! We made it to The Queen's Head. Of course the food was good, beer even better. I got cider again - think I'm starting to like this cider stuff. Bob got another glass to add to his collection. And we enjoyed just sitting there enjoying a meal, visiting with Keith sitting outside in the amazing blue sky weather once again.  Everyone keeps saying how lucky we are that the weather has been so great. Yes, we know. We can't believe it either. We packed jeans, sweatshirts, umbrellas, rain jackets and so forth. Haven't needed any of them most of the time we've been here. 

On the way home we stopped by Keith's to see Christine. I had wanted to see some of her pergamano projects she had done and Bob wanted to see more of Keith's clocks. So we spent a hour or so visiting and looking at all their cool hobby stuff. Christine has some beautiful work. I'm going to have to give this pergamano thing a go again. 

Back at Joanie's we chatted the rest of the afternoon away and into the evening. One of the stories that amazed us was about having meters for electricity back in the early days. They actually had a meter under the stairs for electricity and they had to put coins in to pay as you go. Keith said there were times they were sitting around and everything went dark. LOL Time to fill the meter again!! We had never heard of such a thing before.

Joan had baked a chicken breast so we made sandwiches for dinner. They hit the spot too. Listening to all her funny stories is so entertaining. She keeps us in stitches, whether it's from the stories or her reactions to them. Her expressions are priceless. We have so enjoyed her. I dunno if she can say the same about us. LOL 

It's bedtime again. Our last night here at Joanie's. Very bittersweet. Gonna be hard to say good bye. Anyway, until tomorrow, G'night. 

Southampton - Day 5

HAPPY 92ND BIRTHDAY JOANIE!!!! The revolving door started early this morning. Terry picked up Bob around 11:00 to go bowling - lawn bowling (which he thoroughly enjoyed). Simon and Carol arrived shortly after that, then Collin and Anne, Terry dropped Bob off from bowling, Janice stopped by, the phone was ringing off the hook ... It was a circus!! A good circus but a circus nonetheless. Lynne and Terry came by to pick us and Joan up and we all took off to The Lone Barn (one of Joan's favorite spots) for lunch.

Food, drink, conversation and laughter flowed like a river. The food was excellent only matched by the company. Lynne made a beautiful sponge cake that was brought out at the end. Joan only had to blow out two candles instead of 92. LOL. We got a group shot outside of the pub and headed back to the house. It was such a gorgeous day. Blue sky, sunshine and a light breeze made it a delight to sit outside in the garden, as they say (that would be yard to us). We all got some more visiting in before it was time for most to journey home.

Carol brought some delicious strawberries and real cream (we can't get that stuff at home) that were just begging to be eaten. Later in the evening that along with some biscuits (that would be crackers to us) and cheese was dinner. Soooo good.

What a blessing to be able to be here for Joan's birthday and to meet so many of our extended family. Old stories were shared and new memories made.

Keith's taking us to Stonehenge and a cathedral in Salisbury tomorrow. Crossing my fingers for continued good weather. 

G'night Mary Ellen. G'night. John Boy. (How many know that reference?)

Southampton - Day 4

Terry gave us a ride to the train station this morning to go into Bath. It was really overcast and cloudy. Hoping our luck continued and we didn't get rain - we didn't. The train ride was about 1-1/2 hours. And good news!!! We had a seat!!

We arrived in Bath about 10am. It was still cloudy and overcast but little bits of blue sky were trying to peak through. It was a bit nippy in the shadows but felt really nice in the sun. There were times I even had to shed my sweater. We ran into a guy who was giving free tours starting in about 5 minutes so we decided to hang out and see how that went. Tim was amazing. He was so passionate about all the history and stories he made the city come to life for us. The boy was full of knowledge.

We stayed with the group for over an hour, then split to do our own thing. We knew there were certain things we wanted to get done and was afraid we were running out of time. We'd heard everything closes up shop in Bath at 5-6:00. So we left Tim to go through the abbey. It was beautiful!! I read so many memorials from people who died in the 1600's and 1700's and some even before that. Crazy how old that place is. I loved photographing it. Such beautiful lines and light and color!! There were also a couple of plaques dedicated to American men who were honored for various reasons. 

We'd had a light breakfast and we saw a sign saying "the smalles pub in Bath" next door to a shop we had been in. A pint sounded good didn't it? So we peeked in to see if there was room for us, and the luck of the gods were with us yet again!! I got me a cider (learned I like ciders!) and Bob got something local. The boy ordered another steak pie for lunch. Me thinks he's going to be all steaked out by the time we go home. Good thing because he sure isn't going to get a steak pie at home!! :) And guess what they had on the menu for me? Hehehe. Butternut squash and spinach pie. Oh my. They had my number!! It was yummy too!!

We started talking to the ladies sitting next to us (almost in our laps really - it is the smallest bar in Bath, remember?) - their husbands were in the Roman Baths and since they'd already seen them they were chilling in a pub waiting on them. One couple was from Florida - they were on the road for two months!!!!! They are touring England, Wales and Ireland for a month then riding a cruise ship that's relocating from the Mediterranean to Los Angeles. Wow. I love to travel but I don't think I could do that. I asked the other lady how long their trip was and she replied, "Oh, only 30 days." LOL 

Satiated with pint and pies once again, we waddled out to the Roman Baths. And here I thought there were lots of history in London. You know all those old movies you've seen back during the Roman Empire and such? This hits home. Crazy. Of course the buildings have been rebuilt several times over as different kings come into power they like to change things to suit themselves. But the bones have been there for centuries. There are artifacts that date back a LONG way.

And check out these coins that have been found in the baths. They have been identified from countries all around the world even back in those times. Does that not blow your mind or what?

And here's a shot of the famous baths, or pool.

At different parts of the tour you could actually see steam rising from the water. It comes out of the ground really hot. 

We walked all around the city just sight seeing and did a bit of shopping. Found a few really cool things to pick up local to the area and original. We love finding those little gems. Believe it or not it was time to rest our weary feet again!!! And I needed a Ladies room, or toilet as they call them here. I do so have issues walking up to someone asking where the toilet is though. LOL. We were looking for the public ones which were listed on the map but nowhere to be found. Finally I walked into this little cafe and asked the lady behind the counter. She said, "Would you like to use ours?" "Oh I would love to!! Thank you!" It was called the Jazz Cafe and seemed the perfect place for a break. Bob got us some little munchies, a tea and a spiced chai latte for me. The icing on the cake? Wifi!!! It was nice to just sit, people watch and enjoy the city relaxing. 

The last big thing on our list was the circus and the crescent. They were both close to each other but a nice little walk away so off we went. Inside the circus - it's just a circle with trees in the center surrounded by buildings so I don't know why it's called the circus. But if you stand in the very center and clap your hands you will instantly hear it echo back to you. It doesn't work anywhere else but in the very center. Was really cool. 

The crescent was right down the street next to a part and would have been a very cool shot without all the scaffolding in one section where they were repairing it. So I didn't even snap a photo. We walked some more - each time we walk around the city we try to go a different way so we see different things. At this point we had pretty much seen what we wanted to so we just kind of meandered around. We had planned to take the 8:30 train back to Southampton and it was only around 5:00 so we had plenty of time. Guess what we did???!!! :) C'mon. I bet you can guess! Yup! Found a pub and planted!! LOL this one was on the way to the train station and they had a beer I had tried in London and really liked, the Fullers Honey Dew. We got some lemon thyme peanuts - yeah, they were interesting - to snack on and just chilled. 

There was an artist's tent set up across the street from the pub displaying drawings. I sat there and watched him the entire time. Told Bob we need to check him out. We were nearly finished and had decided to take an earlier train back when he started packing up. We grabbed our stuff and walked over there. He had some pretty cool stuff. They were all ink drawings with water color, reduced down to various sizes and printed. He was a very cool guy to talk to and we walked away with a couple of his drawings. :) 

The train ride back was uneventful and we caught a taxi back to Joanie's. Our driver was a young man who was very nice and talkative. He had some good suggestions on how to see Stonehenge and felt  the cathedral in Salisbury was much nicer than the one in Winchester. Will see how that pans out. Keith has said he'll take us to Stonehenge Wednesday. His wife called looking for him as soon as we got into the car. We were his last fare of the day and she said his dinner was getting cold. He laughed and said she was newly pregnant (2 months - I told you people here just talk to you) - and hormonal. LOL. Well, we all can relate to that can't we? Anyway, when we got up to Joanie's, she was standing at the door like she knew we had just pulled up! Great timing! 

Sitting at our last pub snacking we decided we'd just come back here and have tomato sandwiches for dinner. We weren't hungry enough for a meal and couldn't find anything on the starter portion of the menu that really grabbed us, so that's what we did. Made sandwiches and visited with Joan to hear about her day. Went up to bed around 11:00 and by midnight we were both out. 

Tomorrow is Joanie's 92nd Birthday!!!! Gonna be an awesome day!!!!!