Coming soon to a neighborhood near me...

I rode my bike into town after my Weight Watcher's Meeting (two lbs to go to goal weight btw) and dropped it off at the bike shop.  I blew another spoke one day last week and we have some bike outings planned so I wanted to get the spoke replaced as soon as possible.

To get in my hour of exercise for today, I then walked home.  I was a tad delayed but delightfully so.  There is a new place or two opening in my lovely little village on the Gulf.  I had a lovely visit with the owner of one, Dan Jenkin, and learned a bit about his new venture. 

Tarpon Tavern is set to open some time in mid June.  There is a fun courtyard under construction and the inside is going to be tres cool 30 craft beers on tap, a wine bar, food and live entertainment.  If you are a local or visiting in the Tampa area, you can get a hold of Dan at 727-945-1000 or on Facebook by "liking" Tarpon Tavern.  The Tavern is at 21 N Safford in Tarpon Springs. 

I'll update as the plans progress!  I love to support local businesses and this one is within walking distance for us as are most of the places we frequent and support. 

Some fun news also coming soon to my A Toast to Altered Art blog so stay tuned and, as always, thanks for reading my blog!

Just walking in the rain....

Which is what I was singing this morning.  E and I decided it had been far too long since we had visited our favorite breakfast place in town, Toula's on the Trail.  So off we went.  E walks a tad slower than I do so he left first.  We both headed through the North Anclote River Park and caught the Pinellas Trail.

Impressions on my walk: cool breezes, rainbow, salt marsh grasses flowing like water, birds winging , blue sky, clouds darken, and then , a block from the restaurant...a deluge!

E called me on the cell and he had taken shelter about six blocks away and was heading home to get the car.  I made it to Toula's and drank coffee, read the Sunday paper and visited with one of the locals til E arrived.  As usual, our meals were so good.  I got about 2 blocks from the restaurant when it poured again.   Bless my honey...he was following me in the car and gave me a life the rest of the way home.

We no sooner got home than once again, the sun came out, the sky was filled with fluffy white clouds and  off I went again...I need to walk another half hour to make my daily walk quotient and, just as I was nearing the home stretch, once again I got soaked.

It has been an odd day weather wise to say the least but a lovely Sunday none the less here in Paradise.

Hope your weekend was a good one!

TGIF here in Paradise

It has been a topsy turvey kind of day today.  In the workroom purge, I have managed to misplace my safety net to my life, my spiral daily calendar.  Woe is me.  Woe is me.  I have managed to reconstruct through June 10th, the twins b'day and am working on filling in the blanks. 

Meanwhile, the workroom purge and reorganization continues.  Closet is 3/4 ths done with a few drawers left and some over head cabinets needing attention.  One thing misplacing my day timer has done is that not knowing what I am suppose to be doing has freed me to do what calls to me at that moment and right now that is this workroom.

I pulled out two layouts I had been struggling with and finished them today.  I needed to feel I had finished something, you know?  And, I loaded my kits for my class tomorrow at Posh Scraps.  I am teaching the third from the last of the technique classes:  To Dye For.  This one is one of my favorites.  Also scheduled at Posh is the Photo Transfer class on May 12 from ten -noon and the Foils and Leafing class on May 26 same time same place.  More detail on my altered blog as the dates approach.

Other DATES to NOTE: 

Sat. April 28:  garage sale at Posh Scraps
May 5:  National Scrapbook Day at Posh Scraps
May 16:  Save the Date  6:30pm class that you won't want to miss...trust me on this one!

Caution: Adults at Play

These were taken by a poor passerby yesterday when Janet Miller and I went exploring during our walk through Maximo Park in St. Pete, Fl. yesterday.
As I believe to be true, "Growing older is mandatory; growing up is optional". Janet dear, I always have fun with you!

Greetings from the Cheeky Chics Scrapbook Retreat

I have completed six layouts since our arrival Friday at the Marina Cove Resort for the Spring Fling Cheeky Chics Scrapbook retreat on Friday. I hit the wall right after dinner last night but am ever hopeful my mojo will be waiting for me at our crop table when Janet and I get back from our walk this morning.

Here are the layouts I did complete. I think this one and the one above are my two favorites so far.
I have been wanting to scrap this photo of Landon and me taken last Jan. during a photo shoot done by Clare, Pam and Janet for the longest time.
When I printed this photo taken this past Easter of Colvin, it came out a bit washed out like it was an old print you might find in a grown ups baby album. I decided to go with what I had and scrap it "old fashioned" . Love these papers, btw.
I played around with some inky blotches in this one. I am not sure if I like the results or not. The inking is done on cellophane so I can easily remove the title and replace it without any damage to the layouts.
I adore the new beachy line from Creative Imaginations and had fun enhancing the paper fancy cut shells with the Pearlescent paints but feel this layout falls a bit short of what I was aiming for. Pilot error I am sure because I love these papers I got from Posh Scraps.

Janet and I are off for our morning walk soon. Hope your weekend is as much fun as mine has been so far.

Spring is in the air

Our gardenias are in full bloom on the lower lawn and the tree is covered with tons of buds. Our roses are forming small buds and the amaryllis plants which we could never remember to bring in from their brown bags in the garage and repot in time for Christmas are blooming as well. We gave up on the repotting thing when, a couple of years ago, on a visit to Janet and Bob Miller's on Anna Maria Island, we saw a whole garden area planted in amaryllis and blooming away so we gave it a shot, planting these under our bedroom window.
And, speaking of Spring, after picking Jill up at the airport, we headed to The Pier in St. Pete for lunch at the Columbia. The Pier is due for destruction some time next year. The monstrosity (in my opinion) that they are planning on replacing this edifice with is so costly that the entire project will have to be done in stages rendering its use less than that of the current Pier. There is a grass roots movement to save the Pier and refurbish it instead of tearing it down. I hope someone listens as the upside down pyramid has been around for eons and is one of the signature sites in this area.


While we waited for Janet and Michele to arrive, Jill and I headed to the top deck with its amazing view. We had ice tea til the others arrived, some salsa and chips. Then we headed to The Columbia restaurant. This is a branch of the original which is located in Ybor City and is a must see . This branch is the same food but not nearly as ornate as the one either Ybor or the one in Sarasota. Our server mixed the requisite sangria and we all had soup and the infamous 1905 salads. Perfection




This is a view from the observation deck across toward the city of St. Pete. The pink building is the historic and quite lovely, Vinoy. While Bob and Janet have stayed here, Clare, Janet and Bob, E and me did have cocktails there one lovely afternoon during Clare's last visit stateside.


Before we headed to the Cheeky Chics Spring Fling crop, we visited a couple of shops in down town St. Pete. Here we are sitting on a window sill thinking of those who could not join us this crop: Di, Baby D, Jacque, Cynthia, Maria and, of course, our Clare.
We settled into the crop (spacious tables, wonderful variety of snacks and drinks, a darling little store and our pal, Dee) and got caught up with some of the gals we only see at these crops. Some old friends joined us and new ones as well. Despite a slow start for all of us, I managed to complete four layouts, Janet did five, Jill finished at least four or five and Michele made lovely card after card.

Janet and I are off soon for our morning walk, then breakfast and then off to the crop again. The Marina Cove resort here is a wonderful place with two pools, pretty landscaping and perched on the edge of the Bay with a great view of that 'dreaded' bridge, The Sunshine Skyway.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

And a dip in the pool

Leighton seemed to really like the pool water and, of course, she was dressed to the nines!
The little guys liked the floaties better this year since they discovered "bumper cars" is such fun.

What a great Tues this was. I got to play with the Grands a bit; I checked at WW with a minus of 3.6lbs for this past week which only leaves me 3.2 (I think) to go to goal; I stopped by Posh Scraps to drop off some layouts and Michele gave me goodies with which to play. (see my altered blog for a product review).

We're off to our Nana/Papa play date tomorrow and will check in when I can. Hope your week is a good one.

The Egg Hunt

Uncle Rob played Peter Cotton Tail this year for the first time and did a great job of hiding the eggs and taking some of the one gazzillion pictures for me. We handed each of the little guys a basket and showed them the first hidden egg and they were off and running.
The only time they slowed down was when Landon discovered that some of the eggs contained yogurt candies and other toddler 'cookies'. They did like the little fuzzy chickies Linda Adams and I found too but preferred the eatables. And then Colvin found that if you knock two of the real dyed eggs together, they make a fun noise and bits even come off...lol

So, here are far too many pictures of our egg hunt but I just could not pick.

Easter Parade

The Easter bunny came to our house and brought Leighton a sweet and very soft lamb, some sunglasses (pink, of course) with a terry cloth and velcro band and a darling romper with a big kitty on the backside. The twins got matching baskets with a soft bunny, Hot Wheels sun glasses (they are so Joe Cool in them too), bubble wands and a paper and crayon pack from Auntie Linda. These crayons only color on the 'special' paper.
Here is our little girl in the dress her Papa picked out for her and the bunny ears her mama got her. Oh, and that is daddy, of course.
I found these darling little coveralls and the white shirts at Beall's Outlet here in Tarpon Springs for the boys for Easter. The little bunny on the pocket is so soft and fuzzy. The ears are compliments of their mama.

I am afraid that next year when the boys are almost three, they will not want to wear cutesy "ahhhhhhhhhh" outfits so I had even more pleasure picking them out this year.

Next installment: the Easter Egg Hunt

Grammies and Grand Daughters Photo shoot

Adriana Davies did a photo shoot of Dee and her grand, Bri, Maria and her grand, Bella and of me and my grand, Leighton a couple of weekends ago at Craig Park on Spring Bayou here in Tarpon Springs...and I am so impressed. We had 3 babies all under 5 mo. old and she got beautiful shots of all of them and us. Adriana owns Angel Lights Photography and can be contacted through the link. Trust me...she is amazing.






I have posted on of the layouts I did with one of the photos on my altered blog, A Toast to Altered Art. along with the directions on how to print photos successfully onto canvas paper.

Hope everyone has a delightful Easter or Passover!