Bringing vacation home with me

Back in the spring, I went to visit my niece in Florida. It was cold and dreary at home, even though it was May, and I spent 2 1/2 glorious days basking in the sun, walking on the beach, burying my toes in powdery white sand, eating crab cakes, and drinking margaritas while watching the sun tinge the sky every shade of red, orange, yellow and purple as it slowly set over the Gulf of Mexico. Coming home was rather depressing as I love Florida and everything about it. Well, almost everything...I don't love the giant bugs that inhabitat that state. But I love pretty much everything else...sand, blue skies, margaritas on the beach...especially when it's cold at home...there is something just so satisfying about being on the beach in Florida when it is cold at home.

On one of the days that I was visiting my niece, we went to my favorite beach in Sarasota. We took a long, hot trek down the beach, and on the way back to the car, we gathered shells. I don't know if the tide was just right or what, but we collected piles and piles of shells. It took us at least 2 hours to walk 1/2 mile down the beach because we kept stopping to poke and dig and scrape through the sand looking for the perfect shells. We collected so many we could barely carry them all.

When I arrived back home with my bags of sandy shells, I was sort of depressed when I unpacked my suitcase. I love the beach, and I always hate leaving. Besides, the shells smelled a bit funky, so I took them to the kitchen to wash and laid them out on towels to dry on my counter, not sure what I was going to do with so many shells. I decided to put them in bowls on my desk and other places around my house and office so that I could keep that Florida vacation feeling close for a while. I even sorted them into similar types. I don't know what these are, but I am always drawn to them when I am at the beach, and this bowl still sits on my piano all these months later:




This bowl contains a hodge podge of some of my favorites from the trip. It also sits on my piano, although when I first came home, it was on my desk next to the computer:




Over the past months, I have thought of putting the shells away, especially as I decorated for fall, but I couldn't do it. Seeing those little bowls of shells makes me happy when I remember those few days hanging out with my niece who I don't get to see nearly as often as I would like to.

I am so fortunate to have been able to take two vacations by myself this year, and I once again brought vacation home with me. This time though, I did it on purpose, knowing that I wanted to bring something home that would bring back fond memories of the trip. These branches, pine cones, and stones were gathered from my friend's backyard in Maine. I know the greenery won't last as the shells have; they will soon turn brown. But for now, I will enjoy their piney scent while remembering fun times spent with her family. And her dog, who I was playing with when I collected the branches, rocks and pine cones! And you can't tell from the picture, but the rocks have little sparkles in them, which is what caught my eye.




I think I have begun a new tradition of bringing treasures home with me from my travels;I can't think of a better way to keep the vacation spirit alive. Although I will have to watch my kids, at least my son who must be a closet pyromaniac. He wanted to see if the pine branches smelled better if he put one over the candle flame, and he caught it on fire. The kitchen sink wasn't far away, so all is well.

Random Rambling Post Number 999

I have been trying to sit myself down and write here for almost two weeks now. I always have the best of intentions…it seems like every Sunday, I tell myself, “I’m going to write at least 3 times this week!” I’m living in a dream world, obviously. It’s not that I don’t WANT to write. I do. I’d write every night if I could. I just can’t. By the time I can actually sit down and think enough to write, I’m too tired to type out anything coherent before my eyes glaze over and my head threatens to nod onto my keyboard. One night last week, I was sitting at my computer writing, I picked up my wine glass and started to read over what I had just written, my eyes closed, my hand opened, my wine glass fell to the carpet. That was my cue that it was probably time for bed. I’m just glad my wine glass fell to the floor rather than onto my laptop keyboard. But what a waste of a glass of wine! No, I wasn’t passing out from too much wine! LOL I was just tired, I had just poured it, and I hadn't even had a drink of it yet.

That’s just how tired I’ve been lately…by the time I sit, I can barely stay awake. Working full time is kicking my butt. I’m not cut out for this. But, since we aren’t cut out for winning the lottery…this is my life, and I am trying to make the best of it. For now anyway.

So, I’m going to “dump” a bunch of random things in this here post…things I would have written about if I had actually been writing the past two weeks.


Halloween…

Two Saturdays ago, I hosted nine 13 year old girls for a Halloween party. Tony told Lauren and Rachel back in the summer that they could have a Halloween party. Then, we ended up having a party for Lauren’s birthday, spent way too much money and energy on it, and we then nixed the Halloween party. I soon realized that wasn’t fair at all to Rachel, so I told her she could invite a few friends over. Unfortunately, the day of the party fell on a Saturday at the end of a very long work week for me, and I had work obligations that weekend as well. I did nothing for the party until 11 am the day of the party, and I spent the afternoon running around like a mad woman buying everything I needed and then coming home and decorating and preparing.

The party was a huge success. Well, it was a huge success after I got over wanting to punch most of the girls. Several of those who came were the girls who gave Rachel such grief over the summer, but they are all best buds again. If I would have not known how awful they were just a few short months ago, I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more. I put my feelings aside and managed to have fun anyway. The girls were all very nice, they all thanked me for having the party, they all had fun, so it was worth it. Several times throughout the night, I found myself feeling a bit envious of all of them. Yeah, I ‘m nuts…envious of 13 year old girls. And trust me, I would NOT relive that time of my life for a bazillion dollars. I just so enjoyed watching their easy way around each other. I did not have close friendships like that when I was a kid, and I am so glad that both of my girls do, even with the problems they sometimes have. They will both look back someday and have some great memories, and I am so glad for that.

Here are a few pictures.

Even though I waited until the last possible moment to actually buy, decorate and cook, I had found several fun ideas on the internet in the weeks before the party, and I knew what I wanted, I just had to actually do it. I ran across this idea back in September, and couldn’t wait to create it. Once again, I am proud of how cheaply I pulled this off. I bought the boots for $3 a pair at the Goodwill store near my house. I bought two pairs of tights at the Halloween Superstore, and I probably paid more for them than I did for all the other decorations combined, but since they were an integral piece…I had to. The orange tablecloth was a buck at Walmart. The purple and green vases were also found at Goodwill…a dollar each. Everything else on the table, I bought at the dollar store or I already had. I spent a total of $15 decorating the table, and I love how it turned out.










I spent a dollar making these:





Well, and my time cleaning jars out of the refrigerator. Again, I saw this online weeks before Halloween, and thought it looked like fun. The only thing I bought was a roll of white crepe paper streamers at the dollar store. I cut strips in half, glued the strips to the jar using Mod Podge, then covered it all with another coat of Mod Podge. Rachel drew the mummy faces. Lined up in my kitchen window, I thought they were pretty cute.

Normally, when I have a party, I go all out on food. This time, I went all out on decorations, and did food easy. We bought Little Caesar’s Pizza, and I made Rachel’s favorite cheese dip, some candy cane bark, and a cake.

Here are some pictures of Rachel and her friends:



I love this girl. Rachel has been friends with her since kindergarten, and she is so sweet. Rachel doesn't get to spend much time with her though. When she was leaving, she gave me a hug and told me thank you over and over and said how much fun she had. I love how kids today are so much more open with their feelings than when I was a kid. I don't think I ever hugged one of my friend's mom.



One more:




I can’t believe how fast she is growing up. Sniff sniff. And I love that she is 13 and wants to have her friends over here.

Okay, onward and upward!

Cardinal’s Baseball…

The week before Halloween and the big shindig was a busy one. The Cardinals were in the World Series, and two of my cousins were here from Colorado to go to the games. I was able to get together with them a couple of times, and it was so good to see and hang out with them. They were the “cool” cousins when we were all kids…when they came to town, life stopped…I think it was probably because their life seemed so glamorous compared to the rest of us…they lived in Colorado, they skied…their life just seemed so foreign to the rest of us. I have so many great memories of times spent with these two and their dad, my Uncle Jim, who was killed in a car accident in 1989. I haven’t seen them for years, so it was definitely a treat to get together with them. It was fun to reminisce about their dad, our grandma…and they had such a great time being here. Their dad was a huge Cardinal fan, and they always dreamed of going to the World Series when they were younger. They both even still have, and wore, their Cardinal caps from when they were kids.

In honor of the Cardinals being in the playoffs and World Series, I dusted off my cake decorating tools. I made these cupcakes for the first game the Cards played the Brewers




And I made this cake for dessert the night they ended up winning the World Series.




Yes, there is an obvious reason why my cake decorating tools were dusty, and those pictures are the proof. Years ago, I took a cake decorating class with a friend, just for fun. I have quite a collection of silver Wilton tips...it was indeed fun, but I quickly realized that I have absolutely NO talent whatsoever for cake decorating. I have the vision, but not the skill…oh well, I have other talents, and I try to embrace those. I had fun making that cake though, and the kids loved it. what's not to love about chocolate cake, even if it is crappily decorated?

Coconut Oil…




This afternoon at the grocery store, I bought a $5 miracle in a jar. According to things I have read on the interwebs…coconut oil can do everything from make dry, frizzy hair as silken and shiny as baby hair, soften hands and cuticles and elbows and dry skin, remove eye make up, make wrinkles disappear… It can also be used to make a magic shell type ice cream topping. From what I have read, coconut oil is the ultimate multitasker. So, I had to pick up a jar and see for myself just what it can do. I have already put some on my hands that have begun to crack and dry even though we’ve only had a few days of cold weather. I really bought it for my hair, though. I guess you are supposed to put it on the dry ends, wrap your head in Saran Wrap, and then leave it on overnight before washing it out. I’m testing that out tonight. I now look like someone who could play Danny Zuko in the stage production of Grease, and I'm sure I'll look even funnier when I am ready to wrap plastic around my head and go to sleep. and NO, I'm not going to post a picture of that! The things we women do for beauty...

I was kind of worried that I might end up smelling like a pina colada. I do like a good pina colada when I’m lounging on the beach, but I really don’t want to smell like one. I was pleasantly surprised though when I opened the jar and discovered that it really has no smell at all.

I am not the kind of person that falls for gimics and fads, but I have read so much about this stuff that I decided to just give it a try. If it doesn’t work on my hair and cuticles, I’ll have it on hand to make lots of ice cream topping. Just what I need…another reason to eat ice cream.

Wow, this didn’t end up being as long as I thought it would be. Shocking. And wow, I didn’t write much about food. I’m sure that will change after this weekend, though. I have a few new recipes I want to try, one is for a pumpkin yeast bread that is rolled out flat, spread with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and then rolled up before rising and baking. That’s going to be my Sunday morning project. I wish I could come up with a new hobby. One that is less fattening.