Manic Monday

My "to do" list has grown and grown and I've got a busy week ahead to boot. I need to get to the bank, the library and the yoga studio to sign up for practices. Laundry is calling to me and I have three layouts staring at me begging for titles and journaling. And then there is the mess that comes when anyone tries to reorganize and clean an area like my workroom.

Here are five more layouts from this weekend. I love the Fancy Pants(?)birdie and polka dot papers. They worked perfectly with the photo shoot that Clare and Pam B did with the boys.







I have one more of Landon to finish off and two more of the cruise pictures. Hope to be able to post those tomorrow.


Tomorrow Jo and I head to Weight Watchers. Despite indulging in Christina's wonderful cooking this past weekend and showing very little self control with the potato chips, my weight on my scale is about the same. Hoping the daily walking and biking E and I have been doing is working. Wednesday is dentist early in the morning and scrapping at Posh with Jacqui and Di. Thurs is Book Club and Friday is Nana/Papa fix day with the boys. Sat. we have Dinner Club at Suzie and Justin's.

Off and running! Hope you have a great day!

Oh Lordy, what a party....

I headed up to Ginni's Crop in the Country early Sat.morning and, after a short detour (love to take the scenic route, ya know), I arrived with pics in tow, tons of paper and embellishments and...I set an all time record for me at any crop EVER...13 layouts (ok..one needs a title and one needs a title change), one Maya Road mini chipboard and a tag for Gingersnaps!

Here are the ones I did of Clare, Pam and I on Captiva...I wanted these to be special for special ladies who shared an amazing time with me.








So, back to Ginni and Christina's Crop...if you have not been to one of these, the main ingredients are conversation, laughter and unconditional love. This crop was one of the smaller ones and perfection in my book. Ms Linda, owner of Hilltop Memories, was there with her store; Natasha in all her splendiferous glory was there from the East Coast Florida, Mama Ginni, and our chef, Christina..oh, and moi. The conversation was lively, the scrapping hot and heavy and (some of the conversation too) I didn't get to bed until after 2 am.

Plans are afoot for some fun adventures...and more layouts from this weekend. I did a whole series (5) of my grandsons and a few more of our Med cruise. I've finally scrapped us out of Barcelona and we are now at sea heading for France.

AND, our computer guru, Rob, has our computers, emails etc. all cleaned up and running...gotta love that son of mine.

Thurs and Friday

The days get away from me sometimes and this is one of those times. Yesterday Jo, Kathi, Elenore and I met Gloria, Marsha, and Sandy at the Art Center of Dunedin to view the miniature art exhibit. I was stunned by detail work in many of these pieces...some were acrylics on such mediums as canvas, of course, enamels and a synthetic ivory that we were told the British call ping pong ball. The artists in residence for the show were knowledgeable and friendly.




After the exhibit and a visit to the gift shop where I found the prettiest piece of jewelry and so reasonably priced, we all met up at Sea Sea Riders a mile or so away but still in Dunedin. I believe all of us ordered some form of seafood and there were no complaints! I had the seafood medley over linguine. I was a very happy camper.

Jo and I did a bit of shopping at Fresh Market for E for supper tonight and then on to Home Goods and TJMaXX where I found two cute tops for jeans in the sale aisle. Gotta love a bargain.



Today, being Friday, is when E and I get our Nana/Papa fix. Jo came over around ten with Bill who took E home. Jo and I played with the boys, took them out to lunch using their stroller built for two and had a pretty easy day.




While we played with these two handsome young men, our husbands did a few fix it jobs around our house here. E and I gave each other new lights for outside our garage for Christmas and Bill helped E install the last one of the two. Our bathroom sink stoppers also work again...thanks Bill and Jo.

They are coming over for supper tonight. E has promised that he will recreate food native to each of the ports of call on our cruise with Bill and Jo. He did a cassoulet from France and tonight's port is Italy with a porcini mushroom lasagna.

And I am all packed (I think) for the Crop in the Country that my friend, Ginni, and her daughter, Christina, host every other month. I leave early tomorrow morning and return late afternoon on Sunday. Linda Jenkins, owner of Hilltop Retreats and Traveling Store will have the store there . Natasha is coming from the other coast and I know that Janet and Barb were trying their best to attend from Ft. Myers. If I can get internet, I'll report in from the crop.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Happy Scrapping at Posh today

Jacqui and I scrapped our little fingers to the bone today...ok, so we almost scrapped our little fingers to the bone...lol. I did get 3 layouts done and you will have to trust me that they look better IRL than here on my blog. The pictures I took of them leave a lot to be desired but if you wish to get the full impact, the two of Landon are hanging up at Posh in the baby section of the store and I am still debating if I should add anything to the upper right of the layout of Colvin or not.

Pam Bennett took the close ups of Landon.





Jacqui and I did break briefly for lunch at the Marathon Cafe in Palm Harbor...love our waitress, Linda and the food is light and tasty but plentiful. I kept my points around 8 for the entire lunch.

Tomorrow, Jo and I are to an exhibit at the Dunedin Art Center with Glo, Sandy and maybe one or two ore of the gals from Book Club. Then we're off to lunch either at the Art Center cafe or Sea Sea Riders in Dunedin.

The progress on my reorganization/purge/garage sale bin in my work room is coming right along: three shelves, four drawers and all my chipboard both words and shapes down from three drawers to two. It may take me a year, but I'll get there yet.

Hope everyone is having a great day.

Sat. with Kim

Kim and I were up, dressed and ready to have a great day early. We headed to Dunedin for the Green Market and I got some tomatoes and apples to take home to E. He has rejoined me on the Weight watchers' plan and we are doing very well, thank you very much. Just need to figure out how to use my calculator to figure his point total.



By the time we finished at the market, the little boutiques and shops were opening. I picked up a couple of beautiful ornaments for our tree that I had deemed too expensive before Christmas but affordable at 70% off. I also got two spacers for my Pandora bracelet but these are Vera Bradley ones. Am redoing my bracelet later today.

And then we headed to my very favorite store in Dunedin, Q'a (www.gdunedin.com) And they now carry shoes! and what shoes they are...Kim went nuts because the prices are so reasonable too. I got some of the make up the store had on special and a few baubles but Kim made a real haul.




Kristen called us when the boys got up from their nap and we met her at Molly Goodheads in Ozona. This was one of the first restaurants the kids took us to when we would visit them here when we lived in Ft. Myers. It is a cute, rustic place with a darling patio outside, an enclosed porch and good food. The tables are big enough for all of us.

Colvin was not wild about the dill pickle we gave him to taste but Landon sunk his (two) teeth into it with great joy.





Busy week coming up here in Paradise. Tomorrow I am cropping with my friend, Jackie, at Posh. Our friend, Di, is out of town until the 30th. We are making plans to attend one of Debbie Schuh's classes being offered locally in a month or so and hoping our new scrap pals from Orlando will be able to join us.

Thursday, Jo and I are joining some of the other Book Club gals for an exhibit and lunch at the art center in Dunedin and Friday, Jo is coming over to the twins's house to sit with me and give E a break. He and Bill will be working on the stoppers in our bathroom sinks. I think Jo and I will be having far more fun than the guys.

Sat. morning early I'll be heading up to my friend, Ginni's. She and her daughter host a crop in the Lake Pan area every other month. We were scheduled for Dinner Club this Sat. night but it has been moved to the first weekend in Feb. so I am going to crop with Ginni. Can't wait as it has been too long.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Thurs and beyond

Poor Clare,on her last full day here and we couldn't go on the boat ride to the island and the river tour because the fog moved in and the ride was canceled. Thursday, the fog cleared, the sun came out and Jo and her sister, Sandy, and I had a great time on the ride. While we did not get to dock at the lighthouse island of Anclote Key, We did do some shelling on the nearby island where people take their boats on weekends.






Friday, E and I headed over to the kids for our day with the boys. Kim, our friend, from St. Louis who now lives in Vero Beach, came over to relieve E around 1pm and she and I played with the boys til Kristen got home. Then it was back to our house for supper and conversation.
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I put this layout I did of Pam, Clare and Janet this Sunday. E was off to watch football with his friends and I stayed home and scrapped the day away. I put the finishing touches on a project for Gingersnaps (see my altered blog this coming Wed.), finished off 9 ACTs for a swap and did this layout for fun.


Should be caught up with myself soon. Hope everyone has a great week.

Pam's pics of the boys I

Be sure to scroll down to see more of the boys. I am so fortunate to have had a photo shoot by two talented photographers, Clare O'Connor and Pam Bennett. Love all the candid shots they both caught of the boys! Thanks to both of you!

Pam's pics of the boys II

Catching up with myself...

Clare left us on Thurs and the day before we went to Dimitri's on the Water down on the Sponge Docks for lunch. She and E had the octopus and the lemon potatoes (to die for). I am not a big octopus or calamari fan so I opted for a gyro. This restaurant was one of our favorites.

We had a date with Sandy and Jo to go on the boat ride out to the light house and through the bayou and the tour the river to the Gulf but the fog started to roll in and the ride was canceled. After some last minute shopping, we all regrouped at our house for an E meal and refresher course on how to speak Kiwi. Hope to be fluent by the time we head to NZ next year.





With great reluctance, we took our Clare to the airport on Thurs. and head soon that she had her flight and the slight mess had been straightened out by a lovely man at the check in desk. I hope she is loving San Francisco as that is one of my favorite cities.

Friday, we resumed our Nana/Papa day with the boys. Although we'd gotten some visits during the past couple of weeks, I was going through withdrawal. Here are just a couple of the shots I got while we played with the boys. Colvin is up on hands and knees but not making much movement in either direction and both boys love the jumpy apparatus Kristen and I each got one of for the them. Both boys stand straight up in it and in the walker for longer and longer periods of time unassisted.

E and I have already purchased bumper pads for our sofa table and two of our glass covered tables in the house and cleared all the breakables from the bottom shelves of the entertainment center in anticipation of the boys' walking. We have high locks on the sliders and our bedroom door that lead out to the pool and are getting estimates on a nice looking fence for the lanai as well. All outlets already have plugs in them thanks to janet and bob Miller!



Double blog post tomorrow so I can get caught up more. Hope you are having a great weekend.

Happy Sat.

It is a bit chilly here in Paradise this morning but never to cold to shop. The sun is out and the surf is up...so onward! Our friend, Kim, got in yesterday, played with the boys for a while and, after a wonderful meal by E (lemon chicken and balsamic green beans), I introduce Kim to the chocolate wine. The rest of the evening is not for publication...just kidding, of course.

I have tons of pictures to post and will try to get some up later today. Jo, her sister, Sandy and I took the boat cruise out of the Sponge Docks last Thurs and E and I baby sat the boys yesterday. It had been far too long since we had had our Nana/Papa fix. I also want to post the oh so cute photos our pal, Pam Bennett took during the photo shoot with the kids.

We're off to Dunedin this morning, lunch with Kristen and the boys at Molly Goodhead's and then down to the Sponge Docks if time allows so Kim can shop there also.

I am scrapping all day tomorrow now that my work room is clean and shiny again. I've got several projects on the back burner and need to get hopping on them.

More later...hope your weekend is a good one.

Photo shoot of my grandboys

When Clare, Pam and I went to introduce their 'aunties' Clare Bear and Pam to the boys, both of these incredible photographers did a photo shoot. These are Auntie Clare Bear's. No other words are necessary!

Well, except that Mr. Landon (aka Chunky Monkey) has not one but TWO teeth! and his brother, Colvin, ( aka Slim Jim) is not far behind!

More pics from St. Pete

More of the beautiful glass art. We were asked not to take pictures inside the museum but there were a few exhibits outside the 800lb. door that lead into the main exhibit hall where we could take some shots. This is one of my favorites.

And the rest here are pictures from the rest of our day's adventure. In many ways, this part of St. Pete down by the Bay and the Pier reminded E and I of La Rambla in Barcelona and/or the Central West End district in St. Louis with the sidewalk cafe's, the hustle and bustle of well dressed people, the meandering walks of tourists and locals alike and the backdrop of the the water, complete with sail boats and the live guitar music we could hear from one cafe as we walked.

Had E and I not retired to Florida, we had considered city living in St. Louis either in the Soulard area or perhaps Lafayette Square. There is something about having all the amenities of the city available with in a short walk that is appealing. Perhaps that is why I love living here in Tarpon Springs...E and I can walk or bike to the library, most of our doctors, three small but lovely museums, and dozens of restaurants. We got our desire, just in miniature!






Today we are off to finish Clare's shopping down on the Sponge Docks. There is a clothing company that is making quite a name for itself centered there: Sponge Diver Supply. I have a tee for myself all picked out as well.
We are meeting E at Dimitri's for lunch and then Jo and her sister, Sandy, for the Spongeorama boat ride out to the lighthouse (beach and dolphin cruise). Then home for a pork roast with orange marmalade glaze.

Hope your day is a great one!