Tuesday in Florida

Today we met up in Naples, Florida with the man who used to be our boss when we worked together at Purdue, and his wife.  They showed us all around Marco Island and Isles of Capri.

 We stopped for lunch at a tiki hut restaurant on the water.  That's two days in a row I got to eat outside, on the water, in February.  I'm a lucky girl!

What is it about people in Florida stapling their dollar bills to walls in restaurants with their names on them?   This is the second restaurant I've been to like this.  The first one was HUGE and in Destin.

 Presentation is everything right?   Grilled grouper, cole slaw, and twice baked mashed potatoes.

 After we ate we went back to Fiddler's Creek, where they are renting for the winter.  This place is HUGE.  And it has a wildlife viewing area.  We stopped there for a little while.   We actually saw an alligator but it wouldn't get close enough for me to get a picture.

 I couldn't get enough pictures of this cute turtle.

 Remember those little turtles that used to live in those plastic little bowls with a plastic palm tree we had as kids.  I think they are illegal to sell now.  I think this is a grown one. (below)  Thank goodness some of them escaped the plastic death bowl.  They always died in those.

 We all enjoyed visiting under the pavilion and watching the wildlife.

 Then we decided to go to an orange juice place called Citrus Grove.  Kind of like a market with lots of oranges and fruit and jams and honey, and onions!  HUGE onions!

 Mike was buying us a "going away" present.  Honeybell  oranges.  I think that's what he called them.  They are huge and he said they are really juicy.  If we eat them for breakfast tomorrow, I'll show you.

 While we were shopping there, Sharon ran into her twin sister!

 Thanks for the oranges Mike.

 When we got home we decided we were going to try to make this drink.  Well, it's good but it was too strong.   We need to tweak the recipe a bit.

 They look pretty though!

 Tomorrow is Cecilia's birthday.  I brought all of these necklaces down here, some muffins, and a little gift for her.  I'm going to go spread these necklaces all over the kitchen.

 shhhhhhhh........I don't want to wake her up!

Cindy

Florida trip and travel journal

 Hi Everyone!  Can you believe this phone? 

I love it!

I told my Shug I want a home phone again. 

So all I have to do is plug this into my cell phone and voila'!

Just like a home phone....from the 1960's!

And yes it really works.  Clear as a bell!

So the trip I'm on....

 I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.  Even stopped at Barnes and Noble on the way.   I had over an hour before boarding and I was hungry, and I had a Pre Check boarding pass.  Lucky me.  Now, if you don't know...pre check on your boarding pass basically means you get to go to the front of the line.  No waiting for security and such.   I saw a food court and nabbed a McDonalds cheeseburger and fries.  Thing is....this whole time I visualized myself relaxing, having a glass of wine, posting it on Instagram, like I see all of these other travelers doing!  (and you say video games have no influence on the way we think!)   I got to the security line and BAM!  Pre Check was CLOSED!  I had to wait in line.  A very long line.   But I got through it and still had about a half hour to spare.  I texted my friend and told her the plane will be on time.  Emailed my Shug and told him I made it!  YAY!  Then we got the news....plane delayed until 7:00.  It was supposed to leave at 5:10.  Maintenance issue. Then 7:10 Actually we had to get a new plane and a different gate.  So.....

Yep...I had my glass of wine.  And I think the whole flight was in this same little bar kiosk place! It was fun chatting with people.

 I made it to Florida around 9:45pm Sunday evening.  My friend picked me up, now it's Monday, and I'm relaxing by the pool as I type!

Right here...

 And that was earlier.  And I'm by the pool again, only now it's later. 

We went to this very cool store called The Best of Everything.  They have all kinds of fun girly-lady type stuff.  Then we went to Coconut Jacks for lunch.

 I had Mambo Mahi Taco's and some kind of mango style drink, with a very cute umbrella!

And this was our Monday.

 You can stop here if you aren't interested in the travel diary.

 So, for those of you who want to see this travel diary (junk journal, smash journal) I was telling you about....here are some of the pages I made.

I should say that one of the places that inspired me to try this kind of stuff was Mulberry Cottage in Nashville, IN.  You can follow them on Instagram at mulberrycottage.  My favorite shop in Nashville.

And I used to scrapbook, so for me this is a way of using my stuff.  It's a lot quicker than the way we used to scrapbook, and it's fun!

I used watercolors, stickers, die cuts, and washi tape.

This page was inserted with washi tape and the top part that says Travel without a map is a sticker.  I did what is called a tip in.  (google it) 

 Simple water color stripes.

 Stickers and washi tape

 water color and die cuts.

 See how you just kind of slap it on there and go with it.  Easy Peasy.

 Another little tip in.

 This is the outside of the binder.

 This particular binder holds at least four books...which is plenty.

So that's the fun little scrapbooky/travel journal.  Hope you like it!

Cindy

PS.  When I get home I will show you the cute little binder/journal holder I got from Mulberry Cottage last year.

Flying solo!

When I showed my friend all of the stuff I got at the Hobby Lobby for under $50, her mouth fell open.  Not because of the good deal, but because I bought all of this stuff!  Well look closer I said.  It's mostly stickers, and notebooks,  a pad of paper and a couple of journal covers.

(it was a week later when she went to the Hob Lob and spent more than that!)

 I used to scrapbook a lot.  Well now the thing is travel journal, junk journal, or smash book.  And according to the experts, they all mean the same thing.

 It's a less formal way of scrapbooking and I love it!  It's much faster.

 So I took a couple of hours and dug into my loot (old and new stuff) and made a travel journal. 
So...
I'm traveling. 
By myself. 
At least the first part of the journey is by myself.
I'm meeting up with a friend once I get there....and I'm taking my computer in hopes that I have some time to post about the trip.  And if I do I'll show you what's been going on in life, and my new travel journal!

But the most important part is this.....I don't think I've ever taken myself to the airport and traveled alone...ever.  And I'll be 60 soon.  I have gone to the airport by myself to pick people up.  And I've flown by myself, but my parents took me to the airport, and I was in my 30's then.  But this time....I'm doing it all on my own.  Wish me luck.  Say a prayer.  I'm exited!!!!!

Cindy

Turning 60 this year.....

Some friends of ours own a banquet facility, and a couple of weeks ago,  they decided to have a party at the facility for all of their friends turning 60 this year.  We were allowed to invite our family. 

She also asked us what our favorite cake is, that she was going to make it. 

Chocolate was already taken, so I chose cheesecake.  I don't know that I actually have a favorite cake, but I love most things chocolate.  And I do love cheesecake.   And chocolate covered strawberries, which were yummy.  And there was a delish strawberry cake there!

She had everyone turning 60 come up front and they sang Happy Birthday and we blew out the candles on our cakes!

 My Shug actually turned 60 last October, but she had him come up anyway.

 Here are the family members that could attend.

They had a DJ there playing music and when they played something from Saturday Night Fever, we pretended to dance. 

That was our era!  

 And I love these pictures my niece took because they look like we really can dance.

 We cannot!

So this is our friends.

My Shug has been friends with these guys since 5th grade.

I have been friends with them since I started dating my Shug,

however I've known a couple of them since 8th grade, which is when I actually met my Shug.

We were just friends back then.  As a matter of fact, in high school, My Shug dated a friend of mine (not pictured) and I dated a friend of his (not pictured) and we double dated, several times!  But we never dated each other....

So I guess this turned into a little love story, perfect for Valentine's Day.

Love this family,

Love these friends,

Love this guy.

Cindy

AND PS...I DON'T TURN 60 UNTIL JUNE!