Cropping on Anna Maria Island

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Last Thursday, Cynthia and I headed south to join Janet, Dee, and Jill, Michele and Joyce (who joined us for shorter visits) for a four day adventure in Paradise. 

Since pictures are worth a thousand words...here ya go!  P.S.  Janet and Bob own this complex of condos and if you are interested in renting please let me know and I will send you their contact information.   Amazing place...and about a block from the beach, if that.

I walked every morning and tried to include the beach each time!

We ate at so many wonderful restaurants on the island...the Sand Bar, the IGA, another restaurant across from the Pier near the Post Office whose name escapes me right now, and the Columbia on our road trip to St. Armand's Circle in Sarasota.

and, of course, a pitcher of Sangrias.

I even got some progress made on my Aus/New Zealand album...14 more pages (mostly double page layouts) but am still not out of Sydney! lol. 

Hope you are having a great day!

Photos from my phone

I have a Droid phone not an I phone like all my friends and the one thing I like about my phone is that it has a SIM card.  I can pull that little thing out, load it into an adapter and load it onto my laptop.  I don't always carry my camera when I walk and that is when I seem to take the most photos.

Today, Jo and I met at Tarpon Tavern around 9:30am and walked to the outdoor gym.  We've worked up to two rotations on each piece of equipments with 12 reps each.  Then, we walked around time before we headed to Bayou Cafe for brunch.  When Jo and I walk I try to find a different street or place each time.  Today, we headed down Gross Street and were admiring this place built in 1910 from street, when the owner came out and invited us to roam the paths in her back yard...simply amazing.  The original bank of Tarpon Springs is on her property, little bridges and big and ...well, see for yourself.

the views are all from the back of the house.  The owner had a fire going in the fireplace inside and it smelled so good.

 

Tomorrow I'll try to remember to put up the pictures from my phone of the Grands...and Leighton with hair bows! lol

Slow down life...slow down!

I looked at the date on my laptop this morning and thought to myself, shouldn't it still be December? and here we are in a new year and ten days into it as well. 

Our friends, Steve and Dee Dee, arrived for a visit on the 31st and we headed out to dinner after a couple of cocktails around town.  We had a quiet New Year's Eve and then sped full steam into the New Year with breakfasts, lunches, happy hours and dinners all about our wonderful town. 

Wine on the Docks is one of our new favorite places to go along with Tarpon Tavern.

The Schmidt's were suppose to head back to St. Louis on Jan. 5 and just missed the Blessing of the Fleet on the Sponge Docks that day.  A few hours later, we got a call and all flights to St. Louis and Chicago had been cancelled until the following Wed.  We had Leighton on Monday and Steve and Dee Dee were able to experience the Epiphany Celebration here in Tarpon Springs (the largest in the northern hemisphere) and the Glendi celebration that follows.  They took these wonderful pictures for me.  I'd have joined them with Leighton but it was a bit too cold for little girly.

We are slowly but surely getting back into our schedule but still trying to catch up on our rest.  To say a good time was had by all when our friends were visiting is an understatement to say the least. 

Hope your new year is wonderous so far and continues to be so...

Poor Poor Neglected Blog

Hopefully I can post the rest of the Christmas Day pictures here.  Let's give it a shot.

Our friends from St. Louis, Steve and DeeDee, arrived on New Year's Eve and we headed to a new Italian place in town for dinner.  Then it was back home to cheer in the New Year.  They were scheduled to leave on the 5th. but, due to the winter blast up north, all flights to St. L were cancelled til tomorrow.  They did get to experience the Epiphany celebration here and the Glendi that followed.
It is a brisk 40 something here as we get some of the filtered down cold.  It is suppose to be back in the 80s by the weekend.

Busy week here.  Chris started back to school yesterday and we have Leighton from ten -three now.  Tues, today, is our day off then we are back to our Wed.-Fri. schedule with little missy to before and after school.  Some of us are cropping tomorrow and I have Book Club tomorrow evening.

We almost have Christmas down and have just the tree, the village and the swags in our room and the living room to go.  Jo and Bill are joining us for dinner tonight and, while the men make limoncello and cook dinner, the gals are helping me take down the big tree.  We bought a new one for next year and can't wait to pick it up...we got the same height (7.5ft.) but this one is a bit more narrow and is 'frosted'.

I am going to tear this work room of mine apart this weekend and do a complete reorganization.  It is driving me crazy.  Might just have to schedule a big craft sale in my drive way to clear out some of the things I no longer use.  Anything that does not cell will be donated to the retirement home not far from here and Hospice.

That is my one and only New Year's resolution.  Hope your new year is going well.
And a SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO MY SON, ROB, ON HIS 41ST. B'DAY!