Arrived in Florida Safe and Sound

I got to Florida safe and sound, flights where rather uneventful which is a good thing. My flight from OKC to Houston was spent sitting next to a young couple that were heading to Galveston to visit the young man's parents. I am thinking the young lady accompanying him might have been a little nervous as they got drinks from the flight attendant and then she pulled out several small bottles of liquor from her purse and they commenced to mixing their drinks, either that or they were under age and weren't able to order the mixed drinks on the plane. I spent time reading 12 Years A Slave that I had downloaded before leaving home...excellent book by the way and I highly recommend it.

During my short layover in Houston there was a man who lost a bag from his luggage and he was walking rather quickly. I hollered at him and he was on his phone and didn't hear me. I swiftly grabbed the bag and walked toward him. I again hollered "SIR! You dropped something!". This time he turned around, looked at me and snatched the bag out of my hand. Another gentleman was walking by and noticed how rude the man was and smiled at me. I smiled back and said "I guess some folks don't appreciate southern politeness" and he laughed at that and the older gentleman gave me a look of exasperation. I was starving as I hadn't eaten much and it was late evening by the time I got into Houston. I was able to get a salad from Wendy's that was close to my gate. I sat to eat it and looked at the time and noticed it would be time to board my flight soon. I sat there looking at my salad wondering if I should toss it or take it  with me. It just so happened a pilot sat next to me and I asked him "excuse me, I hate to bother you but do you mind if I ask you a question" he said he didn't mind and I asked "am I able to take this on the plane with me and eat it? I don't travel much and am not quite familiar with the rules". This gave him a chuckle and he told me I was able to take it on the plane and eat it. Oh and if you haven't tried the Apple Pecan Chicken Salad at Wendy's then you should, that thing was awesome! Or maybe I was just really hungry.

Since I was flying Southwest I got to pick my seat and on my flight from Houston to Orlando I sat next to an older couple. The husband was reading a book about China and the woman and I chatted off and on during the flight. I am one of those type of people that if you sit next to me for more than 15 seconds I am going to start talking to you. I find people fascinating and especially when I am traveling. I always like to hear where they have been or where they are going, where they are from and if they like it there. I did find out the couple were originally from Pennsylvania and retired to Florida. They were returning from their grandson's graduation from the Navy in San Diego. The book the man was reading about China was for their upcoming trip in June, they went to Italy last summer. He showed me several things in the book he was excited to see such as the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Army. I truly enjoyed my conversation with the couple and when we got off the plane I told them I hoped their trip to China was a good one and they got to do everything they planned.

While I might look confident walking through airports I am actually always afraid I am going the wrong way or going to get lost. Evidently my look of confidence is noticed by others because once getting off the plane in Orlando and heading to what I was hoping was the baggage area I was standing waiting for the little tram train thing and a man came up and asked me "does this go to the main terminal?". I smiled and told him "ya know, I have no idea. I am hoping it goes to the baggage claim and I am just following all the people that I noticed got off the plane I did". He gave me a bit of a look of perturbation, shook his head and walked off. I couldn't help but give myself a bit of a giggle and think why was he upset with me when he didn't know where he was going either.

I made it to baggage claim and asked a man if he was from the Houston flight and he said he was, I told him thank you and told him that let me know I was in the right place. Karen had texted me to let me know she was there and I told her just pick me up at baggage claim. I got my two bags off the belt and headed out the door. I only had to stand there for a few minutes before Karen pulled up to the curb in her new Volkswagen EOS convertible, which I almost didn't see because I was looking for her Mazda even though I knew she had gotten the new car.

By the time we were made it back to Karen's it was around midnight. We chit chatted for a bit but were both ready for bed. Karen informed me that she had found out earlier in the day that she was going to have to work on Thursday and half a day on Friday. She did offer that I could take her to work and then use the car to go do something to which I laughed and told her "if you lived in south Georgia on the back roads I might take you up on that but there is no way in hell I am driving around Orlando!". And with that we went to bed.

Today Is The Day!

So the next time you hear from me I will be in sunny or maybe rainy Florida, either way I will be on my vacation! WOOT WOOT! I got everything packed up and just have to toss in a few last minute things this morning. I gotta go see a few clients before leaving out this afternoon. My daughter is taking me to the airport and on the way we are stopping at my sisters so I can drop off Lucy. My sister and brother-in-law are dog lovers deluxe and they spoil Lucy rotten, figure it will give her a little break from Willy Wonka as well.

During all the hustle and bustle of getting ready I didn't get my notes done from Monday and Tuesday so I will be having to do those once I get to Florida. I guess that would make it a working vacation and I wonder if it would be tax deductible! HA HA HA

I can't wait to see BFF Karen and spend some relaxing time by her pool before we go on the cruise and spend some relaxing time by that pool, a beach in Nassau and a beach in Coco Cay. I hope the weather cooperates and we get to go to Coco Cay because since you have to be tendered over there they cancel the day if the wind is too high. If we don't get to go then that will be okay to. Karen and I opted for the Premium Drink Package on the ship so we won't have to pay individually for any soda's or alcoholic drinks. I think our bill at the end of the cruise pretty much consists of our drinks.

The day we get back we are meeting up with a bunch of crafty friends for lunch at Bahama Breeze and a game of "Dirty Crafter" which will be played like Dirty Santa. I will even get to finally meet the infamous Enfys! You guys might know her from Going Buggy.  If you don't know who she is then you should check out her site, she is uber talented and I bow down before her greatness! There will be quite a few of us from the old Cricut Messageboard in the group and it is always great to connect in person with people you have been friends with online for so long.

Well I'm outta here for a bit and will be checking in off and on over the next week and a half.

Cruises - Love or Hate Them? I'm Addicted!

If I lived close to a port I would probably find ways to take a cruise several times a year. I have always had a love of water and being on a big boat in the ocean just makes me feel exhilarated! My friend Karen and I have officially planned our next cruise, which will be in March out of Port Canaveral.

Karen pretty much leaves it up to me to find the cruises, at least she has in the last two years, our first two being with Cricut of course and being planned for us. This year we had at first thought we would do Carnival again and do a 7 day cruise but then after some scheduling issues we decided to go with our original dates of when I would be in Orlando and have gone with a Royal Caribbean cruise on the Enchantment of the Seas and it is a 4 night cruise. 

During my research I did find that it is larger than the ship we were on last year and larger than the one we were on during our first cruise with Holland America. We did think the Carnival Ecstasy to be a tad small but okay. We did like the Holland America ship and since this one is a bit larger we figure it will be fine. One of our reasons for choosing Royal Caribbean was that we have found they do not skimp on the booze! We never had a bad drink when we sailed with them last time.

Our stops this time are CocoCay which is one of the cruise lines private islands and Nassau. We weren't impressed with Nassau last time but then again it was a short period of time there and we were recovering from a massive party the night before. This time we have ALL day and I am researching beaches that will be nice for us to go spend the day and not cost an arm and a leg. We will also have one day of sailing.

I did tell Karen we need to find one cruise line and stick with it so we could start gathering points and get some of the good perks that cruisers get and maybe after this year will can decided if Royal Caribbean is the one for us!

Does anyone else love cruising?

Key West - Layout

One of the best day during my vacation in March was when we went to Key West. I don't think Karen and I have ever had so much fun! I took a ton of pictures of people I didn't know but luckily I also got some great ones of us so I can scrapbook. This is the layout I came up with to commemorate that day and luckily I have several larger areas where I can put the journaling because I am going to need that much space to say everything I want about that day.

Cuts in this file include:
Hibiscus
Ticket
Pineapple Drink
Sun
Sailboat
Waves

FILE DOWNLOAD

All Aboard Layout - File Available

My friend Karen and I decided on the 5 day cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy as our vacation within a vacation when I went to Florida in March. I thought about what pictures I wanted to use from that first day on the ship and while I didn't have many there were at least 3 or 4 I wanted to use. I decided to make as ship colored like the Carnival ships. I am not sure about the other colors in the picture below but I thought they at least gave me a good base to go with.

Cuts in this file include -
Ship
Title
Anchor
Wheel
Waves

I am one of those people who like to see a finished layout and be assured that when I do make any of the layouts from the files I am posting I will post the final product and backlink them to the files. Sometimes things look totally different when they are completed.

FILE DOWNLOAD