Sunday, Day 3 - St. Croix

Woke up around 7am this morning (after not getting to sleep until somewhere around 2am - ugh). Packed our beach bags and got dressed to meet Jacques and Gigi at 8:00 to go down to Blu for breakfast. We all had omelets, wonderful service and a great start to the day ... Except it looked like rain. In fact, before we could finish breakfast it was raining a bit. They even told us on the announcement to carry an umbrella if we were leaving the ship for an excursion. Hmmm, not good. Our plan for the day was getting a taxi to take us to Sand Castle beach to hang out and snorkel. Rain and beach day do not go hand in hand. But whatever - we came back to our cabins and finished getting our stuff together. Before we left the room there was an amazing rainbow right outside of our cabin. It was splendid!!! We took that as a good omen and left with smiles.

We were at the beach, in lounge chairs, under an umbrella 30 minutes later. The skies looked a bit ominous in places and we even felt a few sprinkles but what the hell. When you're on an island in the Caribbean does it really matter? The sun would peek out now and then until eventually mostly what we had was blue sky. The more the sun shone, the bluer the water was. I don't think I will ever tire of looking at that gorgeous blue topaz color of the water. It just mesmerize me. 

Our first dip of toes in the water was a bit of a shock. It felt pretty dang cold!! We persisted and eventually we were all the way in. Once the shock wore off it actually felt very nice. Of course when the sun came out it helped to warm up things too. Gigi never did make it in but Jacques frolicked like a fish. Going back to our chairs and just chilling out was pure heaven. Later in the afternoon we had a nice walk down the beach and so the rest of the afternoon went. Water, chill, beach, water, etc. it was really windy and so a a little rough. Didn't seem good circumstances for snorkeling so we never even broke out our snorkel gear today. Hoping tomorrow is better. 

Our view ...

Our first beer of the day ...

At some point we started talking to another cruiser floating in the water.  Didn't get her name but learned a lot else about her. LOL This is her 32nd cruise and she's doing another one in March and another one to Europe in September to celebrate her 50th birthday. Says she's done them all. I bet!!! She was telling us about the big group right down from us - there are about 80 in all and they're all part of a wedding party, which will be held on St. Thomas Friday. Holy cow. We don't even know 80 people, much less 80 people that would be willing to go on a cruise as part of he wedding party! How awesome is that? Food for thought. 

We started packing up to come back to the ship around 3:00. We knew we wanted to hit the spa and detox a bit, catch an early dinner at Blu and try to find the game on one of the TVs at 5:30. Wait. What game you say? Well. Let me tell you. Hehehehehe. The Cowboys vs Lions playoff game don'tcha know!!! I knew I couldn't see the entire game and eat dinner in Blu too so decided to eat as early as we could and catch whatever was left of the game as soon as we could get there. 

So returned to the ship, sauna, shower, dressed for Blu by about 5:40. The only glitch was that Blu didn't open until 6:00. Ugh. So we waited. It as worth the wait. The shaved pear salad was excellent. Bob also ordered macadamia nut crusted pan seared scallops for an appetizer that was divine. We all ordered the pacific salmon for our main course. You know it didn't disappoint. And the apple crisp with vanilla ice cream on top? Yummy. Add a couple of glasses of wine to that and we need cranes to leave. But hey, at least we skipped lunch, right? One of the best parts of the dinner tonight was that someone went and paged Gabriel for us so he came up from his current position to say hi. That was so sweet!! Even if he didn't remember us it had to mean something to him that we remembered him enough to want to say hi again. Mazy is upstairs in the Ocean Cafe these days at lunch time. So we should get to see him Thursday when we're crushing all day. Looking forward to that!

The only place we could find the game on was the casino. Surprisingly, there were very few people there. Then we discovered why. It was only audio. The picture was gone for some reason. Ever tried listening to a game in the middle of slots being played? Yeah. Didn't work too well. Eventually we decided to give up and come back tithe room. Even if the satellite was still messed up at least we could hear it better from there. Lo and behold we turned it on and magically there was a picture!!!! So we got to see most of the last quarter of the game and see my boys whoop up on some Detroit Lions patootie. <big fat cheesy grin> Works for me!! Final score was 24-20 Cowboys!!!

Not much else going on that we were interested in after that and the guys were about done so Gigi and I took a stroll up the to Emporium to see what kind of shipping we could do. Not much. We walked around but very little caught our eye. By the time we came back to our cabins it was about 9:30 and we were ready to prepare to hit the sack early tonight. 

I say that but here I sit and it's nearly 11:00 now so not but so early for me. 

St. Kitts and Nevis tomorrow. Another one of Terri's recommendations, the Reggae beach and bar. We have a 9:30 shuttle to catch. Breakfast at 8:00 in Blu! Better get some shut eye!!

Night!!

Saturday, Day 2 - San Juan

After an amazing breakfast at the Papillon Restaurant in our hotel we finished packing up and took a taxi to the cruise terminal. Check-in started at 11am and we were there about 10:45. Anxious much? LOL It as a great time to get there because we sailed right on through and were completely checked in and out the door headed to Old San Juan by 11:15. Our first glimpse of home for a week ...

A short taxi ride later we were exploring the old fort. We spent a good hour or so walking around, reading about the years of battles fought and won, and taking in the sights. It really is beautiful and so full of history. 

The views of the harbor were beautiful. More on the history later.

We left the fort walking toward Old San Juan to see what kind of trouble we could get into. I had to snap this shot as we were walking by ...

We did eventually find a restaurant where we could sit outside and enjoy an adult beverage and ended up ordering a couple of appetizers to snack on to tide us over until dinner. After our big breakfast we really didn't need a big lunch.

One of the little servers brought us a map and showed us how close we were to the cruise terminal so we ignorantly chose to walk back. After all, we needed to move and burn some calories - right? It sure sounded like a great idea. So we walked. And walked. And walked. And walked. It was like the ever elusive carrot being dangled in front of you and no matter how hard you tried you couldn't get any closer to it. After a good hour of walking, Bob managed to flag down a taxi that was up ahead of us.  Thank God he saw him and backed up to wait for us. It was at least another mile, mile and a half or more to the ship. It wàs very windy and very sticky. We were done. Best $10 we've spent yet. 

It was so nice and comforting to board the ship and know where you were and where you needed to go. When we got to our cabins we were delighted to find our luggage right there waiting for us!!! Yippee! Now we can take a shower before dinner. Trust me, that was a very good thing. So we took turns unpacking - only one person at a time can do that. If you've ever been in a cabin before you know what I mean. If not, we'll let me just say ... Never mind. Just trust me. You have to take turns to unpack.

If felt so good to get cleaned up and ready for our first dinner at Blu tonight! Gigi and I hung out on the deck together while Jacques and 8Ball were showering. We shared some champagne and simply basked in the fact that we were on our balconies once again. It felt like coming home. 

About 6:00 we headed down to Blu. I was really hoping there would be some of our old people on this cruise but alas, there isn't. Not to take away anything from the current crew, we just loved the last one. Our cabin steward is Javier. We asked about Jose, who we had last time, and he said Jose was on holiday in Honduras. Good for him. Javier seems to be very enthusiastic and eager to please. I think we'll be just fine. 

Mazy did not greet us at Blu and that was sad. (We later found out that he is in charge of the Ocean Cafe on Deck 10, which is the main eating area for the ship. It's the constant buffet. A huge responsibility. I think our new maitre d, Shah, will be broken in before the week is out. Gabriel has been moved to the main dining room (we have to go at least say hi to him) and Ganna is gone. I guess she left the company and has moved back home. So tonight we had Jasna (pronounced Yasna, from Yugoslavia). She is going to be fun to work with. The guys ordered the filet minon, Gigi ordered the blackened ahi tuna. I'm not much on sushi and I was afraid the tuna would be too raw for my liking. Jasna talked me into at least trying it and said if I didn't like it she'd take it back. So that's what I did. It was ok but certainly not my favorite thing I've had and I probably wouldn't order it again, when Yasna came by to check on me and asked how I liked it, she promptly said she'd bring me the filet when I said it was just ok. Can't beat that service can you? I had the special dulce creme brûlée for dessert. Yummmm. So delicious!

We were ushered out rather quickly for mandatory muster call. Everyone had to report to their stations at 7:45. Apparently there were some who thought they were special and the exception to the rule because we ended up having to wait around until about 8:10 to view a 5 minute demonstration of how to put on and wear a life jacket because there were some absentees. Go figure!

It was getting close to time to pull out of port so we made our way up to deck 11 to hang out and watch. Dancing by the pool right under us provided entertainment while we waited. We enjoyed the fresh air and disco music for a while and eventually decided we'd had enough and we're going to to try and get a good seat for the 10pm show tonight. The first time we got there it was only about 9:30 and the doors weren't open yet. So we found a little sports bar and the guys got themselves a Guinness, that they ended up taking into the theater only minutes later. 

The show was an introduction to the cruise director and some of the acts we're going to see around the ship this week. The main attraction tonight was Rick somebody who is a juggler. He's also a comedian. He started of a little slow but definitely made up for it by the end. He included a couple of people from the audience to help with part of his act and it was really funny. 

The show was over about 11:00 and 8Ball was hungry so we went back up to Deck 10 to find food for him. While we were walking around looking to see what was available that time of night, Bob almost ran straight into a mirror thinking it was another corridor. Oh that was a good laugh. The next one came while we were sitting at the table discussing knots under the skin and Ricky says, "I have a calcium deposit right here." And Bob pipes in saying he has one of those on his thumb too! ... While rubbing his pointer finger. That's some weird looking thumb there dude!!! Good grief everyone else in there at that hour thought we had lost it. They weren't far off! LOL That was our last hurrah and sent us back to our cabins. We all were done. 

So here I sit being rocked to sleep - man that feels good!- and journaling. This is our route for the week:

Looking forward to St Croix tomorrow!!!!

Ttfn ...

Friday, Day 1 - We're Off!!!

We booked this cruise a year ago and believe me, I've been counting down for a year!! The closer the months, weeks and days drew, the more excited I became. See, this time I knew what I was in for. Last time we cruised the Caribbean it was all new. This time? We're pros. LOL Gigi and I have been in cahoots for months waiting for this day. And now, we're finally on a plane and our countdown is measured in hours, not months, weeks or days. I am so there. Before I go any further let me explain that we all have cruising personas. Bob became 8Ball in San Juan last year, Ricky and Regina are Jacques and Gigi and I eventually adopted the handle of Bambi. The names are interchangeable and I won't always be consistent with using one or the other.

This year we decided a January cruise would be better than a December before Christmas cruise. So this time all the hoopla of the holidays are behind us. I plan to milk this chill mode as long as possible. Jacques and Gigi have the cabin we were in last year and ours this year is right next door. 😁😁😁 

Our limo (Gigi's van) arrived earlier than expected this morning and 8Ball and I weren't quite ready. That didn't squash the exitement though. We arrived at the airport about 7:30am and were checked in and through security by about 8:10. Since we had so much time before our 9:55 flight we hit the closest bar by our gate and started out in vacation mode with beers all around - at 8:30am. Well hell it was 1:30pm in England, right? LOL I think we beat our earliest record this morning.

Bob and I brought physical books to read on the beach. First time we've read a real book in ages. We also bought them digitally so when on the ship we can read on our iPads. That's pretty bad isn't it? I checked Goodreads last night and Cari and I have both read the one I brought, "Superstition" by Karen Robards and both of us rated it very high so it should be an easy read. Otherwise I have plenty to choose from on my iPad. 

Getting ready to land in Orlando. We have a couple hour layover here. I'm thinking more eating and more drinking are in order!!!

... Yup. We found our old haunt from last year Johnny Rivers' Grill & Market and planted. Some mediocre food for lunch and adult beverages, of course. It was just enough time to kill with leisure and line up for the last leg to San Juan. 

(Check out the chick yawning behind us LOLOL)

Thankful for some uneventful flights, we landed in San Juan around 6:15. The airport here is dead and it takes a while to get the luggage. Finally, we're loaded into a taxi on our way to the hotel, Marriott Miramar. I have to expound on this taxi ride. This guy was intense. We've ridden with some doozies. He may have edged into first place. The boy was driving like he stole it!! Even Jacques was putting his seatbelt on. No really, that's saying something. I think we were all saying prayers that our big adventure for the week wasn't going to end before it got started. Gigi said later that even she doesn't drive like that ... I had to remind her that indeed she does, in DC. CRAZY!!!

I think we all kissed the ground when we made it to the hotel safely. LOL Typically, we ask the locals where to eat whe visiting a new place so we asked the girl at the desk and without hesitation she recommended Casita Miramar for local cuisine. It was a short walk from the hotel and we all agreed it sounded good. We had also read wonderful things about this place on trip advisor. The worst part of the evening was the 45 minutes wait for a table but we were prepared for that as well. That time was passed enjoying a local holiday passion fruit sangria. Man was it good!! Bob tried a local beer and wasn't  impressed. So we we got to our table we ended up ordering a pitcher of sangria for everyone. I think it's saying something when even the guys really like it. 

The food. Wow. Was fabulous! Bob and I chose their Christmas special with was some kind of pork dish that literally melted in your mouth. Our server said it was a typical local Christmas dinner at most homes around here. I can see why. Was divine. Gigi decided on an avocado stuffed with shrimp and sweet plantains. It, also, was amazing!!! Jacques ordered the sword fish and cleaned up his plate. I'm just glad we had to walk back to our hotel. What a fabulous beginning to an amazing week ahead!!

And 8Ball ... I don't know what's up with him. He is so not into the chill mode yet. He was suggesting we meet for breakfast in the morning at 7:30!!!!! FRO? What was he thinking? We all looked at him like he'd grown another head! 9am sounded much better to the rest of us. Smh. We'll get him in the mode. Guess it just may take a little longer for him. 

That's it for Day 1!

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.