Yes, his name is Gary!

Alien Abduction!

2011-10-24T13:23:00.000-04:00

So I've obviously been missing... stories of my death have been widely exaggerated... although I am a little sore from the abduction ;-)

No seriously I wasn't actually abducted by aliens... and I didn't die from alcohol poisoning at my 40th vacation away... I've just been busier than a gopher on a golf course! I have been a bad blogging friend.. I haven't even visited with my bestie Anne.. although it looks like she has been O.K without me..

So where have you been?

Well of course 1st there was my 40th birthday....

As I am completely spoilt by my husband I got to go to Miami & Key West for my 40th. My Mom & Dad flew in from England to tag along too.

We hired one of these to travel in ~~style~~ speed!! and zipped down to Miami for the night of my birthday.

Can I make a recommendation... go HERE - Michael's Genuine is the BEST restaurant I have been to in a very long time.

Dressed for the occasion

The best belly pork... even better than mine

Chocolate Cremoso sea salt, olive oil, sourdough crostini, espresso parfait

Miami = mojito

On to a bar for more mojitos

My Mom & Dad ... I think my Mom had had a few by this point!

After living it up in Miami for the night we then continued the long drive all the way down the Keys to Key West...

I'd like to say that I spent hours looking at the famous houses (Hemingway) but mostly it was sunbathing, drinking and eating!!!

Happy hour in the pool

Hubby after a few too many

My Gyotaku fish that I had framed for my birthday

"Gyotaku" is the ancient Japanese folk art of painting fish. The first Gyotaku were created to preserve the true record and size of species caught by Japanese anglers as far back as 1862.
In order to make a gyotaku print, one places the fish on a wooden bench and paints one side with sumi ink. Then they lay a piece of material, eg. Paper, over the ink covered fish, then rub the material until there is the image of the fish on it.

Margaritaville.. and yes margaritas!

Oh did I mention that Key West has some beautiful buildings?

Anyway you get the general idea, too much alcohol and food but a great birthday.. can I have another 40th next year?

Since then I have been up to my eyes in a new business venture and taking a college course online

The Savvy Squirrel..

It has been all consuming.. I am exhausted.. but I'm already getting over 150 new visitors / day.. so I must be doing something right! I have something huge in the pipeline, but for now that's a super secret :-)

If you are one on my US readers then sign up to newsletter. We have a giveaway each month (last month an Amazon gift card) and I promise that you'll find some great deals!!

Anyway I'm off to be a better blogger by visiting you all.. what have you all been up too?

If you have a blog, please leave me the link when you comment, so I can stalk you!www.thesavvysquirrel.com

40 fast approaching

2011-09-05T22:42:00.000-04:00

This week I turn the big 40 and I shall be partaking in cocktails and sun in Miami & Key West to celebrate... some crafty wag sent me these asking if I remembered them as I am so old.... how cheeky.. however I did get a good laugh out of them.. enjoy..

He can try giving me a Hoover for Christmas.. divorce papers will swiftly follow!

Anyone know where I can get some of these?

Which one would you circle?

Now that is sexy.... cough

That explains why my looks are fading fast!

Please all club together and get me some Tape Worms for my 40th!

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I have a few of those pills please....

2011-08-30T00:16:00.000-04:00

A tropical cyclone or hurricane is a storm system characterizedby a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strongwinds and heavy rain. They strengthen when water evaporated from the ocean isreleased as the saturated air rises, resulting in condensation of water vaporcontained in the moist air.

Apparently not....

Michele Bachmann - current candidate for Republican nomination for Presidential Election 2012

I think the summer sun is getting to someone... take a chill pill Michele and have a lie down in a dark room...

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of thepoliticians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are yougoing to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because theAmerican people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbidobesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending." –Rep. MicheleBachmann, suggesting at a presidential campaign event in Florida that the 2011East Coast earthquake and hurricane was a message from God (Aug. 2011)

"Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne wasfrom Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too" -Rep. MicheleBachmann, getting her John Waynes mixed up during an interview after launchingher presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa, where she grew up. The belovedmovie star John Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa, three hours away. The JohnWayne that Waterloo was home to is John Wayne Gacy, a notorious serial killer.(June 2011)

"Before we get started, let's all say 'Happy Birthday' toElvis Presley today." -Rep. Michele Bachmann, while campaigning forpresident in South Carolina on what was actually the anniversary of Elvis'sdeath, Aug. 16, 2011 (Elvis was born on January 8)

So you've single handedly upset all the Elvis fans, compared your spirit to that of a serial killer and suggested that hurricanes are God's sign to rein in government spending...and lastly, the suggestion that it might be a good idea to close the EPA and drill for oil under the Everglades... smashing that.. lets destroy one of the largest nature reserves in the country and damage the water supply to 7 million people...

I can't decide who is worse, her or Rick Perry whose increase in jobs in the State of Texas was mainly through extra government positions..called Social Security "an illegal Ponzi scheme" and suggests that Medicare is unconstitutional hmmmmmm.. oh and according to Rick, climate change is hocus pocus....I imagine the President's aids have the adverts ready to go on these two ...

Dare I say bring on Sarah Palin...

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Dirty little secret... still couponing

2011-08-24T11:30:00.000-04:00

So some of you may have read that I started to have a dirty little secret back in April this year when I became a touch addicted to couponing

http://garythedog.blogspot.com/2011/04/couponing-its-my-new-addiction.html

Well my addiction is still going strong and I have become somewhat of a couponing guru to my family and friends. My Sister in Law has bought vitamins at Publix to last her into 2013, and she paid absolutely nothing! In fact that deal is running on Sundown Vitamins until Aug 26th if you need any!

It's got past just coupons.. whenever I want to buy anything now I look for the best deals and then shop through Shop At Home.. this gives me money back on all my purchases.

I don't know about you but I buy loads of things off the internet, so why not go to the same stores I normally do (Old Navy, Travelocity and Best Buy to name a few) and get money back on all my purchases. It's just a small percent each time, but I've booked hotels and bought a new TV among other things recently and have had 3 $20 checks for nothing but using their site as a click through!

I also used Groupon and other similar sites for cheap restaurant deals... Anne and I ate out for $2 + $5 tip on a $35 check last week !

So am I saving any money? or buying things we don't need? - I've calculated (in my super sweet excel spreadsheet) that I'm saving approximately 73% now on my grocery bills.. this week I paid $45 in Publix and saved $202.. it can be done and just needs a little work, a sharp pair of scissors and a little internet savvy.

The best bit is that I have also been able to donate some of my haul..

We have a close family friend who is surviving on the bread line after some serious medical issues who I have been able to send hundreds of dollars of toiletries, food and pet supplies for just a few dollars out of pocket.. and my kitchen currently has three huge boxes of donations for the local food bank. It's a good feeling to know that my hard work is benefiting more than just us.

If you are interested in getting started message me and I'll let you know what you need to do to get up and running!!

In the meantime, at least get a shop at home account and get some money back on those Christmas purchases you know you are going to make on the net!!! Shop at Home.

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Love is.....

2011-08-23T19:20:00.000-04:00

Your new stuffed turtle, Myrtle

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Lets face it, this was 'Teddy's' holiday!

2011-08-16T10:45:00.002-04:00

Anne & Issy have been here 9 days now and I've not been blogging... I've been exhausted.. Theme parks when its pushing 100F outside with 100% humidity makes for lethargy in the evenings.. This week has been the one week when I've felt my age ...

Anyway, I've finally got chance to sit down and write and looking through the eight million photos and videos of this trip I've noticed something.. or more to the point someone...

I was contacted by immigration yesterday about the illegal entry of a small pink bear. Apparently no passport had been presented and the 'Teddy' had not answered the obligatory visa questions. Whilst for most small pink bears this would not have been an issue.. they would have lain on the owners bed, tucked up at night and not been 'out and about' ..not so with this one. Immigration have satellite images of 'Teddy' in every theme park in Orlando and there have been various sightings at multiple restaurants. Consequently we have been asked to appear early at the airport today to explain 'Teddy's' entry into the USA.. I don't envy the interviewer .. Issy is going to defend Teddy to the death!

Gary eyeing up Teddy.. looks like a tasty morsel

Teddy & Issy keeping a brave face on as we waited in Best Buy for Anne

Teddy & Issy looking at the extremely loud Spanish people in the queue at Seaworld

Teddy enjoying his lunch in Sea World

Waiting for mummy

Teddy watching the dolphin show

Teddy chilling out

Teddy's seat in the car

Teddy enjoying a spot of lunch

Teddy checking on the cooks at the Waffle House

Teddy & Issy on the bus travelling around at the Kennedy Space Station

Teddy riding high on top of Hubby

In front of the Apollo 8 replica engines

With space man Snoopy

Teddy walks on the moon!

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OMG they are here.....

2011-08-09T19:48:00.003-04:00

You may remember that I had a visitor in April this year.. http://garythedog.blogspot.com/2011/04/omg-shes-here.html .

Anyway about 4 weeks ago I was enjoying my afternoon when my day was spoilt by the loud ringing of Skype.. I don't have any friends really so it's quite shocking when it happens

"Hello uggs... it's peeing down here.. whats the weather like with you?'

'Errrr.. hot, hot and more hot.. oh and soon to get hotter....'

'Sounds fantastic, can I come back 1st week of August....?'

'Errrrm, am I allowed to say no?'

'Not really as you will break Issy's heart when I tell her how you said she couldn't come'

"I guess I can make myself available then....'

'Go get me a flight then, you know you can always find the cheapest prices.. here's my card number, try not to buy any shoes with it..'

So 20 minutes later and two flights were procured and I had 4 weeks to ready myself for another invasion..

Suffice to say she is here now...along with my favorite little person, Issy....

Issy and Teddy!

Bring on tales to make your toes curl probably !

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New blogger stats identifies Eric Northman as hot tamale!

2011-07-31T19:32:00.005-04:00

So just a quickie as it's Sunday evening and I've got a stack of ironing the size if the Tour Eiffel..

I was having a look at the new Blogger stats page and nearly spat my coffee out over the keyboard...

I'd gone from an average 25-50 page views by post (I know, I'm not the most read blogger in the world!) to 1339(and growing) for one post...

Apparently I'm not the only one addicted to Eric Northman, the sexy 1000 year old True Blood vampire... insert gratuitous photo

grrrrrrr

Indeed nearly 1400 of you lovely readers came to drool along with me...

How did they find little old me? well big bad Google of course!!!

So I am left with a little quandary.. do I continue to write about ancient make believe vamps or revert back to type..?

I can't cope with the 40 followers who check in now... how will I keep 1400 happy!????

I may just throw an odd vampire in occasionally for good measure!

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I'm an Auntie and a good one at that!

2011-07-27T21:30:00.002-04:00

So although one of my blogging friends did not want me to move on from Eric the Vampire Viking, needs must.. I still haven't completely accounted for my whereabouts in June...

One of the reasons I was missing in action was the arrival of my 1st niece (not by marriage) and my sister in law for a weeks holiday.

This would be my 1st time holding a baby (that I could remember! - I was reminded that I held Anne's Issy 6 years ago...I'd completely forgotten!) and I was more than a little apprehensive, but it turned out to be an absolute doddle. My niece was 10 weeks old and was the sweetest, quietest little bundle going. I think it helps that my SIL is breast feeding and little Aisla doesn't have to wait to be fed!

What did I learn whilst she was here....

1. If I ever have a baby I'll try my hardest to breast feed.. so peaceful
2. Baby's can fly 8 hours at 10 weeks and not cry once, and will be spoilt rotten by all female cabin crew
3. Gary is super protective of small things that smell nice and didn't like to leave her alone
4. Baby's can make the stinkiest farts
5. Gary is a master at stealing baby toys without being noticed and hiding them under the bed
6. It's really hard to capture a baby smiling on camera.. even when they smile a lot!

Anyway this is a gratuitous photo blog 'cause she is so darn cute... enjoy!

1st day... who are you? I'm not sure about you!

Do you like my hat?

My guardian protector!

My Auntie!

Sorry for the excess flesh!

Do you like my swimming outfit?

My Mummy made me swim everyday!

And after swimming... a well earned nap!

Never too young for Mickey & Minnie

Mommy

Hubbie lending a shoulder!

Gary playing protector

Only smile I caught on camera..

Oh.. and proof I'd held a baby before... me holding Issy when she was a baby!

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Officially obsessed - Eric Northman

2011-07-19T11:40:00.003-04:00

You may remember that back in May I was telling you about my obsession with all things vampire... well at least the actors playing the vampires of some particular shows... well it's morphed on now to an obsession with one particular vampire, Eric, from True Blood (and the Sookie Stackhouse books)

He is officially my 'not so secret' celebrity crush, and I don't mean the actor, Alexander Skarsgard, although he seems super funny and gregarious, I mean the vampire Eric.

For those of you who have either not read the books,The Southern Vampire Mysteries, not seen True Blood (now in series 4) or have been living under a stone, Eric Northman is a vampire, slightly over one thousand years old. He has a true 'joie de vivre' and is beyond sexy. It helps that he's 6ft 4' and built like a Greek god although it's actually his character that I love the most though...

He is arrogant, confident almost to a fault, manipulative to suit his needs and not above using deceit … sounds like not someone you’d immediately fall for.. However he doesn’t lie, is loyal, totally frank and open, and you always know where you stand with him. Conversations with Eric are seldom single layered; he never says something without reason. He is not sentimental in the least but shows a great deal of concern over Sookie (damn you Sookie Stackhouse) and her happiness and well-being.

Combining the book Eric with the portrayal of Eric on screen had just made things worse for me... True Blood is the only reason we pay for HBO and I wait expectantly each week for Sunday night to roll around for my next fix.

I then sit with my saved episodes and fast forward to the Eric bits... oh yeah.. I have it bad!

Husband is quite aware of my celebrity crush..rolls his eyes... and says he's going to run off with a Werewolf (read the books.. there are Werewolf, Shapeshifters, Witches and Fairies too!)....whatever .. they howl in their sleep!

Here's the Sookie & Eric scenes from the 1st 3 episodes this series. Insert me into scenes as Sookie !!! You see Eric as he is normally and Eric after the Witches take his memory...

And so my celebrity crush is a fictional 1000 year Viking vampire... ho hum.. at least I'll never need that 'Hall Pass'

PS,.. not sure how my celebrity crush ended up being blond as all my 'human' crushes including Hubby are dark.. I've never gone for blonds!

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New pair of Alligator shoes please

2011-07-17T19:02:00.005-04:00

So the start of a crazy week and I've promised to get back into blogging.. I must be mad...but I do have a ton of subjects to get too and some great photos to share.

No.1 on my list was to inform you all that it is time once again to shell out your $272 ($1022 for you out of townies) for your annual alligator harvest permit.

Days are numbered for a few of the alligators in my county. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Com-mission isgearing up for the state's annual alligator harvest from Aug. 15 to Nov. 1.

Imagine this bad boy (girl) at your back porch door!

Nearly 6,000 thrill seekers are expected to pay for a license to kill up to two gatorseach.

Poor things right?... well not really... they have no predators and the FWC handles about 100 to 150 calls a day from around thestate about nuisance gators.

Routine where the alligator population is 1.3 million.... yes I said that correctly ...1.3 million. Imagine San Diego inhabited solely by Alligators... eeeek

Trappers are only expected to kill 400 in my county.. last year 5800 were killed state wide.

Hunting is not as easy as it sounds.First, people will be stalking mostly in the dark since the hunt hours will befrom 5 p.m. to 10 a.m. And secondly, no firearms or baited hooks are allowed;just lures, gigs, harpoons or other things with retrieval lines attached.

You can go with this guy if you fancy your chances....

Still want to give it a shot? (well not literally as you can't use a gun...)

Over the past eight years, only 70 percent of the harvesttags issued have been filled meaning there are either a few unlucky or missing hunters

What do you do with a gator if you get one....You take it home and you either clean it yourself, oryou take it to a processor and they do it..... gross... imagine hanging that beasty above from your garage door!

Although $272 for a license to kill two gators sounds like alot of money, some hunters quadrupled that investment a couple of years ago when Hurricane Katrina hit. There was a depleted supply of alligator hides coming back into the commercial market, most of whichcame out of alligator farms in Louisiana. Florida gatorhunters a couple of years ago were getting $35 or $40 a foot for some qualityalligator hides. You get maybe two 10-footers, that's $800....

Today however alligator farms are back in business and demand is down because alligator products are a luxury item and people aren'tbuying a lot of luxury items these days.

Me, I'd turn mine into boots... because I'm never going to get my hands on $14,000 for a pair of these beauties.

Manolo Blahnik alligator boots, at a whopping $14,000. I'll be making home-made ones!

I'm normally a lover of all creatures (except crawly ones), however when you live in Florida you realise that the rogue ones need to be removed for people's safety.

What would you make from you gator hide... or have you 'unfriended' me for suggesting such an awful act... ?

ps. I'm not going hunting if you are wondering...

Alligators kill larger prey by grabbing it and dragging it into the water to drown, biting and then spinning or convulsing wildly until bite-size chunks are torn off. Even juvenile alligators execute a death roll when presented with chunks of meat. My hand looks too much like a chunk of meat. I'll let these two lovelies take the strain.. just bring me the boots when you are finished lads!

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I know, you missed me right?

2011-07-15T12:12:00.002-04:00

Whoooohooooo I'm back...

These last few weeks have been CRAZY.. visitors, house stuff, work, health issues, the return of True Blood... anyway I'm back!

I have heaps of blogging material... so you may get blogged out

Sorry I haven't visited, but I'll be a more conscientious reader now so please don't slap my wrists too hard...

See you later for my 1st blog of July (eek it's already the 15th!!!)

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Bok Tower, and killer Koi

2011-06-16T21:27:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I dragged Hubby out on a day trip to Bok Tower. I've found Florida doesn't have many beautiful spots like this, so it was a really pleasant surprise.

The beautiful botanical gardens and a stunning carillon tower listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tower sits on Iron Mountain, one of the highest points of peninsular Florida, estimated to be 295 feet (90 m) above sea level (heaven help us is we get a big tidal wave, we’ll all be washed away!)

The gardens began in 1921 when Edward W. Bok, editor of the popular women's magazine Ladies Home Journal and his wife, Mary Louise Curtis Bok, were spending the winter beside Florida's Lake Wales Ridge and decided to create a bird sanctuary on its highest hill.

Bok commissioned noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to transform what then was an arid sand hill into "a spot of beauty second to none in the country". The first year was spent digging trenches and laying pipes for irrigation, after which soil was brought to the site by thousands of truck loads and plantings began. The Olmsted plan included the planting of 1,000 large live oaks, 10,000 azaleas, 100 sabal palms, 300 magnolias, and 500 gordonias, as well as hundreds of fruit shrubs including blueberry and holly.

Under construction for over five years, Bok Tower Gardens was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge on February 1, 1929 .Edward Bok died in 1930, and was interred at the base of the tower. Today they open every day to the public.

The Singing Tower is the centerpiece of the gardens. The tower was built at the highest elevation of the site, south of a reflection pool that allows the water to reflect its full image. A 60-bell carillon set within the 205-foot (62 m) tall, Gothic Revival and Art Deco tower that was designed by architect Milton B. Medary. The tower is surrounded by a 15-foot (4.6 m) moat that serves as a Koi pond (who are all stone cold killers – see below). It is built of pink and gray marble and gray and native coquina stone.

Although the tower's interior is not open to the public, it contains the Anton Brees Carillon Library, said to be the largest carillon library in the world.

Inside the bell chamber is a playing room that houses a clavier, or keyboard, that is used for playing the carillon bells. Recitals are given daily from the 60-bell carillon set and it sounds absolutely beautiful when they are ringing.

Enjoy..

View from a distance

The flowers were stunning... especially for me.. I love gardening

Seems like a good motto to me

So peaceful

Getting closer!

Stunning isn't it?

Secret door...

What time is it?

View from the rear...

If you read the blurb above you'd know that there is a Koi pond surrounding the tower...but what ever you do, don't fall in.....

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Debbie loves cats.... OMG

2011-06-10T13:18:00.000-04:00

Hello, my name is Debbie... thanks to Crystal, @Crystal Goes to Europe blog... you made me howl with laughter today.. a good end to a crappy week.. thanks friend!

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Lizard & Squirrel Hunting

2011-06-05T21:05:00.000-04:00

Is it wrong to tease your dog....

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Gary's Saturday continued

2011-05-31T21:10:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday you may remember that we went to see out nephew & his wife ... also Gary's bestie mate Oscar the pug.

For a treat we decided to take the dogs to the dog park..Gary's favorite place. he loves swimming, running and generally all things doggy related...Oscar tries to keep up, but that Pug face holds him back and soon he's snorting for air.. meantime Gary has forgotten that his best mate is there and is whoring out with the other dogs...

Enjoy!

Gary's heaven.. water, and other dogs sprinkled with liberal numbers of tennis balls!

He looks like we could be friends... Oscar who?

Two of Gary's best things in life.. water & tennis balls

Fetch

And return!

It's ok guys..I'll stand outside and throw the ball.. you just relax in the shade!

Break for a pant...

Oscar the pug... very brave!

You just relax Cole.. ok?

Tennis balls everywhere !!

New friends!

Why won't anyone play with me?

I can keep up honest!!!!!

Gary and his new friend... even with those long legs Gary could out run him!

Mummy's boy!

End of day.. Oscar has had enough, but find air-vent very soothing....

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Ouch

2011-05-30T16:52:00.000-04:00

Do I look bruised to you?.. If so it's because I was cruelly tagged by Jewell over at Really Wait What, and it hurt, I have had to apply cream and everything... women these days, so violent...

Anyway, apparently one of the rules to this tagging lark is that you can't tag back.. I mean come on.. that makes it tough for a girl with five friends...

But I shall give it a shot...

Oh and there are rules... so don't try and make up your own....

Rule #1 - No Tag Backs (sticks tongue out at you)
Rule #2 -You are supposed to tag 8 people (you'll see if you go to Jewell's blog that she is incredibly lazy!)
Rule #3 - Answer the questions...ugh! I've copied both sets from Jewell you can pick which ones.. but don't cheat by mixing.. I will know and I'll hunt you down !

And now the questions.....

If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?

I'd have tried to foster a better relationship with my brother instead of being jealous of him while I was growing up..

What movie/TV character do you most resemble in personality?

Penelope Pitsto...heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllp.

If you could push one person off a cliff and get away with it, who would it be?

As I'll never get the chance I can say Sarah Palin right?...and this from someone who can't vote here...

Name one habit you want to change in yourself.

Procrastination

Describe yourself in one word.

Loyal

Describe the person who named you in this meme in one word.

Talented

In one sentence, why do you blog?

My friend (who I'm tagging) said she loves watching me blog.. laughing along with myself... so I guess that's why...

Here are the questions from the other tag....(requires 8 people be tagged)

Who’s listed at #1?

Say something about #5

How did you get to know #3?

How about #4?

Leave a message for #6

Have a lovey-dovey message for #2?

Do #7 and #8 have similarities?

And now for the unsuspecting bloggers who I'm tagging... big hugs, but pull your finger out and get back to it will you!

Brahm, Alfred lives here
Anne, The Day After Yesterday
Duane, Duane Scott
Crystal, Crystal goes to Europe
Nicki, Nicki Woo The Home Guru
Alejandro, Raising Amelie
Kara, Scattered joy

By the way if this is some crazy pyramid scheme and I have now given Jewell $1,000 of my hard earned cash I apologize profusely and can provide her address via email !!!!!

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What dogs do when you are out

2011-05-25T21:04:00.000-04:00

Had to post this that my sister in law sent me... hilarious...

What do you think your dog gets up to whilst you are out?

I know what Gary does....he sneaks out by the pool and goes to sleep!

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Gary's Saturday day out...part one.. the journey there

2011-05-23T19:51:00.000-04:00

Saturday was a super fun day surprising our nephew for his birthday... it was fab when he opened the door and saw our faces.. his face was a picture... we're sneaky like that.

Anyway it was going to be a long day, and as nephew's pug Oscar is Gary's best friend, of course we had to take him with us..

The journey to Gainesville,FL where Cole and his wife Kerri live, takes about two hours... and we had to stop to buy Cole a present at Gander Mountain.

Note. If you are on a time crunch (we were) do not let husband go into Gander Mountain alone.. big mistake for which Gary and I paid for by sitting in a hot car..

These next few blogs will be picture blogs... I'm lazy like that ..but on the flip side I do have some great pictures... that and my nails are so long I can't type!!!

Enjoy!!

Regal Gary waiting for his Daddy

Is it me or does Gary sit strange?

Waiting waiting

Is it time to go Mommy.. I'm bored

I'm watching... I can't see him yet

Cole's dog Oscar, Gary''s best friend

Happy..

Cole & Kerri... delicious lunch at BJ's Brewhouse

A rare photo that hubbie actually didn't censor!

Kerri trying not to look bored as Cole talked basketball

Free dessert as they messed our order up...

Tomorrow (or when I've had my nails cut) a trip to the dog park!

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The end is nigh.. finish the projects!!!

2011-05-19T23:13:00.000-04:00

With the end of the world approaching Saturday...

"Judgment Day" is approaching. Fast. The world, as we know it, will end May 21, at least according to the now-ubiquitous prophecy posted on more than 5,000 billboards, posters, fliers and digital bus displays across the country.

I think it was probably time to finish that project we started 4 weeks ago.

I don't know how it is in your house but projects seem to drag on here... there is a burst of activity and energy at the start which gradually wanes...

Anyway our front porch has been a bit of a 'nothing' space since we bought the house 4 years ago.. except for a few nice plant pots it was just some poured concrete slab, and stained at that.

Hubby and I decided that a nice coat of paint would be in order to cover the stains.. that is how the project started. Poor Anne even got dragged to Home Depot whilst she was on vacation (and didn't we hear her moan about it..jeeesh!)

The project (still underway) manifested into homemade railing, painting, hanging flower baskets and jasmine growing up center on a fancy metal piece of art...

How far has project got...

Well its built (after a lot of swearing mainly bought on by cutting wood outside in 96F temps, and being surrounded by swarming love bugs (see below), the screw holes are filled however the structure is two tone at present... wood in the middle, lots of patched white holes waiting to be sanded so I can paint them, and each end is painted. Fancy metal art rests against wall collecting dust, and front porch looks like building yard. Bring back the stained concrete I say!

Hubby hard at it

Posts in

Half way along

Gary keeping watch

Anyway tomorrow I am determined to continue with the monster.. I mean if the world is ending I don't want to be sent downstairs for having a unfinished porch.. I hear they are picky like that!...

I shall be wielding the sander, so if you hear of some nasty accident in central Florida with a power tool, it was probably me...don't be surprised if I somehow manage to sand off my eyebrows!!..and then I shall at least finish the painting... The Love bugs are gone now so wont stick to the paint.. bring it on I say...

For those of you that don't know what a Love bug is....

"Love Bugs are small flies that are in the process of mating when they swarm over the roads. So usually there are two individuals: the large one is the female and the small one is the male. The female usually gets her way and she drags the male around with her."

They don't bite.. they are just gross.. appear in May and September normally and leave crap all over the front of the car...At least someone likes them...

Endless fascination with the Love bugs

Anyway... where were we before you distracted us with little black bugs....

Don't you normally play tennis on a Friday Clare? (I hear you mumble).. well I would except I managed to slice into my index finger on my right hand with a mandolin.. and I don't mean the musical instrument (as my Mother thought, bless).. I think that I should of had stitches as it was what is commonly known as a gusher.. but I soldiered on and now just have a big gash in my finger.. I heal quick, and luckily had copious amounts of butterfly stitches here.. I don't know whether I'll pass the fingerprint exam next time I arrive back at immigration though.... The best bit, Hubby didn't even notice the blood in the pulled pork... (joking!! ..I have to say that as Sarah came for tea that night!!)

What project do you need to finish?... answers on a postcard please..(or you can just leave a comment)

I'll give you a railing update next week.. assuming we are actually all still here ...

If you have a blog, please leave me the link when you comment, so I can stalk you!

Haircuts sir? that will be $55

2011-05-17T13:37:00.000-04:00

If you read my previous post you will have seen that Gary was in serious need of a hair cut. When your dog is being mistaken for a small bear it's time..

So it was off to Petco.. I've tried him at other places, but he likes to go here for some reason, so Petco it is.

'Hello Mrs Jones... are we doing the regular cut on Gary, teddy bear face etc?'

'No'

'Oh, what would you like?'

'Scalp him, all his face, his ears, his face..and make sure you do his tail, you've left it the last three times and it looks like a duster'

'Will do... special whitening shampoo?'

'Are you saying my dog is dirty?.. grey is the new black you know....'

Anyway 3 hours later and I was back...and yes they scalped him.. $55 and I probably could have achieved same look with hubby's razor!.. they even took his eyelashes.. poor Gary..he looked most ugly.. although I made sure to tell him I still loved him..can't have a dog needing therapy!!!

Enjoy!

Check out my skinny little tail

Depressed...

Eyelashes starting to grow back 1 week later

Sarah says I look faster now...

If you have a blog, please leave me the link when you comment, so I can stalk you!

All good things come to Anne end....

2011-05-15T22:40:00.001-04:00

Did you see what I did there, I amuse myself sometimes!!.

Blogging from bed today as after a little procedure I was told to bed rest... no problem I can cope with that, and hubby made me spaghetti and fetch and ran for me... good hubby !

Anyway the blog title obviously implies that her holiness (Anne) has departed now.. it went so quick.. I hardly noticed she was here apart from the extra empties in the recycling this week.. (I did wait out in the beating sun on Thursday to make sure the refuse men knew they weren't mine !)

I took her for a last Southern meal...where she correctly identified that half the restaurant looked like they were about to clock out at any second (if you catch my drift)... I said it must have been half priced Thursday...and for once I didn't have a coupon!

The Cracker Barrel... don't go around 11pm on Thursdays!

Lady Muck!

A little morgue like.... don't know who the weird one in the corner is!

One last holiday pose

Back home and we just about got her packed... but her case (well mine really.. she's had since she bought too many toys for Issy the 1st time she came) was bursting at the seams....so what does a good host with no suitcase straps do.. she breaks out the duck tape... All Anne could do is moan until I reminded her it could have been the silver type.. or worse still her case could be busted open at Gatwick with her dirty smalls on full view (yack)....

said case with black duck tape!

The sight of a case got Gary worried, he thought it was me leaving and was very sulky..

Gary in serious need of a haircut!

Cunningly I had got Anne to the airport on time for once (a slight white lie on the plane departure time !!) and we had time to spare. We had had a great time and I was a little teary, but the sadness was dulled by some excellent cocktails...(although pricey!) and a couple of last poses from Anne...

Just get on the plane already!

The cocktails!

What a fab visit and I can't wait to see her again... ( I think she's already booked her & Issy in for October)..

If you have a blog, please leave me the link when you comment, so I can stalk you!

It's a Gator wasteland....

2011-05-11T17:40:00.000-04:00

On the penultimate day of Anne's (The Day After Yesterday) holiday we went to Gatorland... you can read her blog post about it here..

Always looking for the next exciting thing we had exhausted all the other theme parks in Orlando on her previous trips and I was racking my brains for something new and improved...

Anne, how do you fancy a day out with some local wildlife and the possibility of some animal massacre?

Always up for anything Anne was waiting by the door, ready to go (for once) before you could say Gator handbag, and we were off!

I wasn't holding out much hope.. theme parks in Orlando normally run close to $80 for the day, so finding out it was only a quarter of this filled me with foreboding...

Not much of a welcome!

I was a touch worried when we got in and saw hundreds of tiny gators in tiny pools .. although it was a touch amusing to see the turtle who was obviously confused about his sexuality!

George the confused turtle

what had I done? and they must have heard that Anne was on her way..

They'd heard Anne was on her way and posted signs..

Thieving bird hanging around snack bar!

Anne seemed happy enough, it's not like you have a ton of gators in deepest, darkest Oxfordshire...and then she saw that there was a Gator jumping show on 5 mins into us getting there... we hot footed it down to the 'show' and got ourselves a prime position ready for the action.. if I tell you that country music was blaring out from the speakers and there was a lot of camo around you'll know who our fellow spectators were....

Anyway on to the show...

.
Actually it was pretty entertaining and the Gators were awesome!

For your education....American Alligators have the strongest laboratory measured bite of any living animal, measured at up to 9,452 newtons.. !!

Anyway after not feeding Anne to the gators we happened on the most amazing wildlife preserve.. 130 gators and hundreds of thousands of birds... the boardwalks and observation towers are very organic in wood and we spent a good hour walking around looking at the flora, fauna and of course Alligators.. (are they fauna?)

Baby birds (from the Gatorland website)

Baby birds from my phone.. camera had died at this point, or broken from taken pictures of Anne?

The boardwalks through the nature reserve were stunning...

Some of the nature was quite frankly weird...

This little bugger tried to eat my ankles!

Of course you can't go to Gatorland and not wonder at the the Gators.. they are fantastic, prehistoric animals and some of them are pretty scary too!

Albino monster....

This little man saw Anne's ankles and was straight out!

Mummy & Daddy of the little one!

Is that pasty human lunch?

Now that will be a surprise for any unsuspecting birds!

Is it me or does this one look preggers?

Can you say lunch?

Can you say dessert..... fly bird.. it's not safe there

Suffice to say we had a totally unexpected great day and I hope to introduce more people to Gatorland in the future...

If you have a blog, please leave me the link when you comment, so I can stalk you!

Posh Birds in Winter Park

2011-05-03T22:22:00.000-04:00

Just a short post today as I have Anne's washing and ironing to do...

Yesterday we went secret shopping. I can't post about it (its not allowed), I'll leave it up to Anne to fill you in..but I will just say that I did end up with a touch of food poisoning (so I won't be rushing back) and very weak cocktails were $8.59 eeek!

Afterwards Anne demanded we went somewhere posh as apparently I've been taking her to some really low rent venues...

I suggested Winter Park. Founded as a resort destination by wealthy New England industrialists before the turn of the 20th century it is recognized as the first centrally planned community in Florida; its main street includes not only public civic buildings and retail, but also art galleries, a private liberal arts college, museums, a park, a train station, a golf course country club, a historic cemetery, and a beach and boat launch. Winter Park is celebrated for a sense of place and history, uncommon to many parts of Central Florida. Many structures are more than 100 years old (which is old for over here, but considering the town where I used to live was founded in 400 BC its not really that old!) The scenic Olde Winter Park area is punctuated by small, winding brick streets, and a canopy of old Southern Live Oak and Camphor trees, draped with Spanish Moss. The city draws thousands of visitors to annual festivals including the Bach Festival, the nationally ranked Sidewalk Art Festival, and the Winter Park Concours d'Elegance.

Spanish moss draped trees...

They have this mission statement on their website..

Posh I say...

Anyway it was a bit of a cheat for me, as if you remember I went with my Mom too, so I'm getting to know my way around...

It is beautiful, there is no doubt about that...

Gorgeous hanging baskets

Cafe culture... not something you get much of in Orlando

As we sat with a cool glass of wine in one of the aforementioned cafes I noticed something. We really didn't fit in...

As I looked around I realized we were surrounded by thin blond women who survive on cigarettes and cocktails...

OMG we'd ended up in some sort of Cougar episode...

'Anne ..we need to go... it might be catching'

'Why.. I think we fit right in...'

Anne trying to fit in with the Cougars...

Speak for yourself Anne, speak for yourself!

......next thing she'll be marrying a toy boy!!!!!

If you have a blog, please leave me the link when you comment, so I can stalk you!

Off to the Texas Roadhouse for an Armadillo burger

2011-05-02T22:21:00.000-04:00

So Anne has been with us for a few days now and this weekend hubster suggested a day out to the mermaids at Weeki Wachee.

I was shocked by the semi naked mermaids in the park and felt the need to stand until the park closed and cover the poor woman...

It was my duty to protect the mermaids modesty

Anne & Hubbie went and watched the mermaid show....I'll let you read about the mermaids over at Anne's blog, The Day After Yesterday, but we thought we'd make her buy us dinner for taking her.. we're nice hosts like that!

Anne had heard that she might be able to get some Armadillo if we went to the Texas Roadhouse so we rolled in looking for a table. She was a little miss-informed, she'd have to be at a roadhouse in Texas if she wanted to get her hands on some Armadillo tacos, so we had to settle for cheeseburgers and some $1.99 Margaritas.. (it was happy hour after all!)

Just one for me...

And it's a good job she didn't get her Armadillo......

Some of you may remember that this month I mourned the loss of Fred and Andy, the dead Armadillos. Very sadly these sweet little animals get attacked by dogs, coyotes and men with guns around here...

In Texas & Louisiana...... well they are dinner.

Search Google for Armadillo recipes and you will find Armadillo meatballs, Bar-B-Q and tasty Tacos!! (interested .. you wont be once you've read the rest of the blog)

Every year, about 150 Americans are diagnosed with leprosy, a disease that disfigures the skin and affects the nervous system. Two-thirds of these people pick it up while traveling overseas, but the source of the remaining third has long been a mystery.

Where did these patients, most of them from Texas and Louisiana, catch leprosy?

Well, you don't need a science degree to know what my next sentence is going to be..

It's from eating ARMADILLOS

15% of all armadillos are infected....

hmmm.. that's 15% chance that you are going to end up with something that looks like this after scoffing your tasty armadillo taco..

So if these are your uncles / fathers / brothers.. please warn them. Armadillo is not the new beef.. there's no inoculation for it..so don't do it!!!

Someones relatives... please have a heart and warn them!

I've warned Anne off the Armadillo for now, but goodness knows what will happen if she visits her blogging friends in Texas!

If you have a blog, please leave me the link when you comment, so I can stalk you!

Royal Weddings and what not

2011-05-01T19:00:00.001-04:00

So Friday was the Royal Wedding of course and I was lucky enough to be there supporting my sister in the role as Maid of Honour

Me with the pretty bridesmaid

Me with the not so pretty bridesmaid

Kate had picked me out a gorgeous dress for me, and I thought, quite frankly, that I stole the show!

After the celebrations I hot footed it back to Florida in time for some fantastic bar-be-que at Four Rivers in Winter Garden.. damn those boys know their stuff, and I gobbled down a Texas destroyer...(!)

My friend Anne was having her first bar-be-que experience and was a little taken aback at the sight of her 'Messy Pig'. The server told her 'go big, or go home' and she took this literally ordering the biggest thing on the menu and then blaming us when she saw the size of it.

Look at the size of that pig!

Down in one Down in one!

I think you'll agree who exactly was the messy pig here....

If you have a blog, please leave me the link when you comment, so I can stalk you!

OMG She's here!

2011-04-29T10:14:00.001-04:00

So my friend Anne has arrived for a 10 day sojourn in the Florida sunshine... If you don't know her you can become acquainted at her blog (The Day After Yesterday), if you can't be bothered let me give you a few details to introduce her to you

1. Anne is a gadget geek... she has to have the latest phone, laptop, camera etc and always the best available for the money... however Anne is absolutely rubbish at taking care of her gadgets.. she gets drunk and loses her cameras, she's on her third iPhone after dropping one at least in the toilet and one in the fire (doh). She's destroyed three laptops, one by wine, one by coffee.. one a friend shattered a screen (so she says!) ..

Today her latest $2000 laptop has been shutting itself down and overheating. She has been beyond traumatized.. we've been emailing Sony, and coincidentally 500,000 of her model type were recalled ... it wasn't looking good...

'When did you last clean it?'

Blank stare

'Are you telling me you've never cleaned it?'

Blank stare

I whipped out my bottle of

Whats that?

'Anne you use it to spray the dust out of your fans'

She sheepishly lifted her laptop up and I gave the fan vent a quick spray. When the dust settled we listened, the fan had stopped whirring and the laptop purred contentedly... amazing me..

2. Anne is in love with all things American for breakfast..

I don't need to say more

3. I have to effectively coddle her to make sure she gets to the airport in time and has all the items she needs in her hand luggage actually in her hand luggage! (This is what happened last time she came)
I check her in online and fill her online visa in for her... I even send pictures of which shoes are still here from last time so she can pack light...

If she doesn't take them back this time I'm garage sale'ng them

She made it without any trauma this time.. thanks to my planning and attention to details - I'm anal like that!!!!

Lastly something you all should know if you are one of Anne's blog followers...

SHE BLOGS NAKED

Puppies everywhere....

2011-04-28T16:30:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we went to see our niece who is pregnant with twins. She has been placed on bed rest and she and her husband have moved back with my husbands sister so that she can completely relax and would be closer to her doctor.

Anyway, it was great to see her, even if she was prone for the whole visit.. keep you fingers crossed for her...

Keeping her company are all the doggies, Frodo, a 3lb ball of hair, their new pup Pip, our other niece's dog Jack Jack and the fluff ball that is Precious..we didn't take Gary as he tries to put the smack down on them all.. Frodo tried to out-stare Gary last time and Gary swatted him across the wood floor.. amusing but not exactly relaxing for our niece!

Niece and her husband with Frodo and their previous dog, Stewie

Enjoy the pics... tomorrow the start of Anne's holiday with me and laptop trauma (hers, not mine)...argggggh

Jack Jack.. trying to blend into the floor

beautiful Pip...

This girl rules the house, Precious

Pip is a stunner.. although pees all the time when excited!

It's love

Frodo, keeping his mummies babies warm

Gary, sulking because he didn't get to go!

Happy Birthday Alfie

2011-04-26T10:27:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to my friends super cute doggie, Alfie... Now Alfie is spoilt so you don't have to make him cake or buy him a bone... but if you hop on over to his Daddy's blog to say Happy Birthday, he will donate $1 for each Birthday comment to the Humane Society... so go and say Happy Birthday.. he's nearly as cute as Gary!

Click on Alfie's face!!

Loose stools.. eat a carrot (well if you have fur!)

2011-04-24T09:23:00.000-04:00

Gary loves carrot.. and if I'm cooking and he sees them he won't leave me alone until he gets ~~some~~ a whole carrot...

Thought it was best to see if its actually ok to give your dog carrot, and that I wasn't killing him slowly by carrot...

Seems I'm fine though.. just no onions, chocolate and grapes though (not an exhaustive list!) apparently it will help with loose stools too!

Ok Gary you can have your carrot!

P.S I was chopping carrot for Hot Italian Giardiniera which I made this morning for hubster... he is obssesed.. you can get the recipe over at my food blog here

Hot Italian Giardiniera

Hello Verizon.. goodbye T-mobile

2011-04-19T19:40:00.000-04:00

So for the last 2 1/2 years I have been a Blackberry owner.. and I've been very happy.. but I've found myself having phone envy recently with all of the smartphones with gorgeous big screens and super apps...

Anyway, contract up and trackball defunct and I have been trying to decide what to do... I can't have AT&T or Sprint as the service around here is rubbish.. so it was my current carrier T-mobile or Verizon...

I would have been happy to have another Blackberry or whatever else really, so I went first to check on what I could have as an upgrade...

I thought I could rock one of these..cute and the latest OS6.. its pretty quick and I know Blackberry... and of course T-mobile having about $2500 from me in the last 2+ years, I bet it would be free......

WRONG..

$180 after a $50 mail in rebate (yeah, hate those).. I nearly spat at the screen!

Hmmm maybe I should change type and go for a touchscreen.. T-mobiles has the Samsung Galaxy, which is supposed to be a pretty good Android phone...wonder what sort of deal they would do...

$280 after mail in rebate...... NO!!!

Seems T-mobile do not want my continued monthly payments...

So I hopped over to Wirefly and found an awesome deal on a Verizon Droid2 Global (I need my phone to work in Australia too) and the best bit.. it has a keyboard too!

The awesome deal : FREE, no shipping, no connection, nothing!

Who needs an iPhone? LOL

So now I'll be sporting a sleek white one of these... an T-mobile can go whistle!..

Can't wait for my new gadget!!

Couponing ...it's my new addiction.....

2011-04-14T19:58:00.001-04:00

Those of you in the UK will not understand this at all as Coupons went out, as my Mom said earlier, with the war! Whilst you collect your Tesco club points or swipe your Nectar for you free shopping or air miles, over this side of the pond you collect coupons.. (too be fair I mostly used my Tesco Club Card for scraping ice off the car!)

I have lived here five years already and at no point have I ever collected coupons... until I watched a bit of 'Extreme Couponing' on TLC.

Hubby was snoozing on the sofa one night, I was working and this program came on in the background..

..'I saved 98% on my shopping bill'..

Well that's enough to make anyone look up!

I watched as these crazy couponers stockpiled toothpaste, soup and diapers. I thought.. I don't even eat canned soup!!.. but a little flame was lit..

Since February I have been learning how to shop to save money.. and with gas the way it is, I thought it would offset some of extra bills we are getting...

Well I have been completely shocked... and I'm starting to become a little obsessive about saving money (that's a good thing though right!?)

I look up the ads for my stores I go to each week, and see what is one sale, BO GO etc and then I decide what I can use.. I mean I don't have babies, so I not diaper shopping, no matter how cheap they are... and then I buy the Sunday paper for the coupons and order coupons from a clipping service for all the items that I want to buy.
The Sunday papers over here have 'inserts' jammed packed with coupons! for all sorts of things...

I'm no stockpiler, I'm only interested in things we are going to eat or use in the next few months, but I even have a little wallet that stays in my purse that goes to the store with me!

I then (because I'm sad) create an excel spreadsheet of what something will cost, how many coupons I'll need etc and then put the coupons in order (I'm sounding anal aren't I?)

Then I'm ready to shop...

At first I was a novice.. only using one coupon when I could have done two, not planning etc

Now I'm a intermediate couponer... I understand about the planning and doubling...

Will I ever be a Pro or Extreme couponer.. NO.. anyway hubby has banned stockpiles!... but its certainly a buzz to see your shipping bill halved...!!!

Best deals so far...

Husbands regular razors.. normally $4.99 - $6.99 for 3

On sale for BO GO free $4.99 (so 2.50 each) and I had coupon for $3.00 off each.. you can use two coupons...they paid me!!!! If only you could double up in Florida LOL .. I did stockpile a little here.. we now have razors for about 5 months!!! LOL

Gary's food.. $17.99 - $10 coupon.. $7.99..!!! 2 11lb bags.. Gary will be having a boring diet for the next 3 months!

So how much am I saving.. I spent $180 in the supermarket on Monday, and paid $89... that suits me just fine and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner...

Will I become a dumpster diving coupon lady buying 200 toothpastes? no... or the strange man who bought 1000 boxes of cereal...weird.. it will go off before you can eat it all!.. No I wont.. but will I continue to try and save some money.. absolutely...it's money for nothing apart from a bit of time.

So if you are in line behind me and I get my stack of coupons out.. sorry....

Vampire Obsession.. well sorta

2011-04-12T11:33:00.004-04:00

So recently I joined Seeded Buzz..

I joined it to get my readership up and get more posts 'out there' into blogging land....

How does it work.. you either plant seeds or respond to them. You give the community a post that you'd like other people to blog about..or you blog about something someone else has suggested...

You or they link back to your original blog and so on and so forth.. it sounds more complicated than it really is.

Anyway today is my first response back to a 'seed' on vampires... and the fact that Germany has real ones!!
(word of warning this is so going to be a gratuitous photo fest for the ladies.. gents may want to retrieve sick bag now!)

http://stefaniesoehnchen.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/germany-has-real-vampires/

My current obsession is with all things Vampiric.

Is it the fangs and the desire to drink blood?... err nope

Is it the desire to sleep during the day and play all night?... err as nice as sleeping through the day sounds I like the sun

Do I feel the need to develop a goth like complexion? .. err it's April, I live in Florida and I'm already brown as a berry...

Has the 'Twilight Effect' convinced me that I can live forever if I start sucking blood and had Edward on my arm.. ? err nope.. its just a movie right?

So no actual desire to be a vamp...

No.. I just want a vamp all to myself....

I just love it all.. Twilight, True Blood, Vampire Diaries, reading, watching, imagining!

I was reading on Richmond.com's blog something... and she eloquently summed up what happened to me...

'In my opinion Twilight Mania turned into a nationwide Vampire Obsession when we Gen-X and Gen-Y women wrenched the books out of our younger sisters’ hands, devoured the teen drama, and then went searching for more.

At least that’s how it happened for me.

I blew through the "Twilight" books over the course of a long weekend, periodically surfacing for air when my boyfriend asked me some inane question like; do you want something to eat? Or are you ever going to get some sleep?
Then I went through what I like to call the Twilight Hangover. That’s those first days or weeks, after you finish all of the books, when you sort of walk dreamlike through your life, wondering why you have to do ridiculous things like report to work and shop for groceries.

The Twilight Hangover is really a withdrawal of sorts. The books become an addiction and the best way to treat it, in my opinion, is to find another fix.

And that’s when I found something better than "Twilight." That’s right, I said better. I’m talking about Sookie Stackhouse.

The Sookie Stackhouse books, also called "The Southern Vampire Series," by Charlaine Harris, are exactly like "Twilight" in the sense that they’re about vampire romance, but better because no mother in her right mind would let her tween daughter pick up a copy.

The Sookie books are for us, they’re for Gen-X and Gen-Y women. They’re what I like to call, Vampire Porn.'

My current obsession is that vampire porn. "True Blood" originally aired on HBO (which we don't have), and I'm catching up on Netflix

Anna Paquin (Sookie) must have been bitten by the Vampire bug too, cause she married her vampire in real life.!!

My new DVDs should arrive from Netflix today, and I'll have all three episodes finished and back in the mail box for my next ones tomorrow!

Seriously, you should watch it.. its Twilight on crack!

And my top Vamps I'd take home with me.. in no particular order....

'Damon Salvatore'. Vampire Diaries. don't tell hubby..but I so would!

'Bill Compton' True Blood... yes please

Edward Cullen... a bit of an English fop, but he'll do!

Steffan Salvatore... them there is two good looking brothers!

Eric Northam... has that 'Kurt Cobain' look going on

OK.. I know this is six.. but Angel was the start of my Vampire obsession.. and I still would!

Ladies.. who's your favourite Vampire..?

Gents.. does you wife / girlfriend have a special place in her heart for Vamps too?

Wish it was still Sunday...apart from the murder!

2011-04-10T21:36:00.001-04:00

Well technically it still is, unless you are in England..when it's now Monday and has been half a day already in Australia... but you know what I mean

My Sunday was gorgeous..Hubby wasn't working so we went to a farmers market this morning. Its not the biggest market in the world and I suspect the bananas are not grown locally, however we met a nice man representing an organic meat company and we bought some pricey sausage... it was however delicious so we might splash out again...

The best find however was the English Fish & Chip van, who sell proper Cod & Chips...a bit early for that this morning..although I did see some Americans partaking !...and.. wait for it... BACON BUTTYS... with real bacon... oh the delight.. I was in heaven!!!

Anyway the rest of the day was just 'chillaxing' and Gary and I took in some rays out by the pool...

View from the sun bed

Keeping cool by the pool

My view..

My hairy feet!

Gary looking for lizards by the tomatoes

The dead lizard... I moved him next to yesterdays, away from Gary's jaws..

If you are a bit squeamish don't watch the video as there are scenes of killing and spilled guts...

Enjoy!

STD, Drug Addict, Nazi or Terrorist?

2011-04-08T06:31:00.011-04:00

Then you can’t come in..

What are you going on about Clare...?

I was helping my friend do her online visa application for the US the other day and quite frankly was amazed at the questions..you used to fill a green card in to get here.. now the US government like to see who is coming before they are on the plane...

Its called an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel and at the request of the Spanish government, the name of the requirement was changed from ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) to ESTA because of concerns about the Basque separatist group which also goes by the initials "ETA".

Let’s take a quiz and see how many you’d answer yes to..

1. Do you have a communicable disease; physical or mental disorder; or are you a drug abuser or addict?

A bit much to lump STDs in with mental health disorders.. or the other way around…

Definition of communicable disease

• Chancroid

• Gonorrhea

• Granuloma inguinale (do you even know what this is.. … click the link.. it’s a bit scary!)

• Leprosy, infectious

• Lymphogranuloma venereum (nope didn’t know this one either)

• Syphilis, infectious stage

• Tuberculosis, active

• And others as determined by the Department of Health and Human Services
(so that could be anything then!)
Do I need a trip down the local clinic for a clean bill of health before I answer this ?

Drug Abusers and Drug Addicts

Under United States law persons may not be admissible if they have been determined to be a drug abuser or drug addict.

What do you mean I look different to my passport photo?

Does smoking a bit of pot at college count..? ‘cause none of you are coming in if that’s the case…

2. Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving moral turpitude or a violation related to a controlled substance; or have been arrested or convicted for two or more offenses for which the aggregate sentence to confinement was five years or more; or have been a controlled substance trafficker; or are you seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities?

So I’m a drug trafficker and I’m going to answer yes to this?

Please check my suitcase officer, I have 50lbs of Cocaine

Apparently the concept of moral turpitude escapes precise definition but has been described as an "act of baseness, vileness or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellowmen, or to society in general, contrary to the accepted and customary rule of right and duty between man and man." The specific acts that such a concept includes inevitably change over time, as general public acceptance or abhorrence of issues alters; for example, until recent times, a man engaged in homosexual behavior was still considered as engaging in "criminal behavior involving moral turpitude." Basically ‘no gays allowed then’… hmmmm interesting…. This was in effect until 1990!!! WOW behind the times or what!

C) Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved, in any way, in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?

My favorite… yes sir.. I’m a spy and I’m coming to steal your secrets… Errrrr…or I thought I'd try and re-enact 9/11 whilst I was on vacation in Orlando... errrrr

And if I worked with the Nazi’s in 1933 I’d be the approaching 100.. and so am a complete threat to National security!

That's me in the middle

There’s a few more that actually make more sense… you know, have been denied a visa before? ( you know when you answered yes to above last time D'OH) Are you seeking work?… but none of which you are ever going to answer yes to if you ever wanted a VISA to come in… cause if you have been previously denied you better have a new passport number these days as your passport would be flagged automatically… I watched someone deported at Orlando once for trying to come in on a passport that was previously denied.. she had been barred 8 years ago and they still got her.. She was on next plane back to UK ..arggghhh.. Its another story as to why I was sat in immigration being Nellie Big Ears .....

Welcome to my world.. flora, fauna and dead armadillos

2011-04-07T11:24:00.000-04:00

Thought you'd like to steal a little piece of me..so I thought I'd take you for a walk yesterday with Gary.. I drew some strange looks taking pictures of weeds and dead patches of grass on our walking route and not finding too much too exciting I took some pictures of my flowers.. it seems that around me I just see the same weed all the time and some green grass and blue skies.. not that exciting... until you see a dead armadillo.. and I saw two yesterday whoohooo.. I called them Fred and Andy... Fred was very shook up..like in pieces... and Andy was all shell, his innards having been ripped away.. poor Fred and Andy.. although a big hawk was enjoying the last bits of Fred when we walked up and scared the crap out of me when it flew directly up into my path!

Enjoy..

View at start of walk.. look at that sky

The boy

Wrong way you little bugger

This is a weed, the man in the last house thinks I'm weird

Weed

I know.. you all have trees.. but look at the green / blue contrast.. well I thought it was beautiful

another weed...bring on the armadillos..

Hold on ... did we transport to Arizona?

Poor Fred.. there wasn't much left

Poor Andy.. someone had sucked his insides out!

Gary squirrel hunting

Mexican petunias,....Ruellia brittoniana - highly invasive you need to keep it under control

Mexican heather...Cuphea hyssopifolia

The only flower left on my Rose after the storms

1st flower of season on my big lilly plant.. and no I dont remember name!

Smile

These are fantastic.. I think a type of Rain Lily. might not be though!

First Bougainvillea of year

Hello Mr Toad - rescued from Gary patting him to death last night

Entrance to my house at night!

How do you do that.. Upgrades and cheap hotels...

2011-04-06T12:35:00.001-04:00

So I have had a few people ask me how I manage to get all my upgrades and cheap hotel deals..so I've decided to let you in on a few trade secrets...

In the last year I've had 7 upgrades to business on Emirates (thats $40,000+ in value), and paid 1/3 - 1/2 for some very nice hotel rooms. I never pay rack room rates for hotels, and if I can't find a deal, I'll stay somewhere else...

We'll start with the hotels because you can all do this.. it just takes a little bit of homework...

1. Don't expect to be able to get too much of a deal during holiday weekends or Spring Break if you are going to the beach.. it doesn't work.

2. Spend time analyzing the hotels in the area that you want to go to..

I use Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com & Priceline and I look at what hotels they have at a particular star rating in a particular area.

For example....

We recently stayed in Clearwater for the weekend. On Priceline there are 4 3 1/2 star hotels.. so narrow your search to these hotels.. then read all the details on the 4 hotels...

You can see here that the Marriott is $299 / night (this is where we stayed)

3. Once you have read all the blurb on the hotels and you have to be happy to stay at any one of them choose on Priceline to name your own price..

The nice thing here is that you get to choose the correct area...

Choose your star rating.. make sure you pick the rating that you've been looking at!

now here's the gambling bit....

You take the leap of faith and bid on your room...it shows you the median price and you then put in what you are prepared to pay. Always start low, and you can build up... your card will be charged if they accept...

I got the Marriott for $140 inc. taxes...a sweet deal for a very nice room that had water and beach views..

Hotwire works slightly different. You need to do your homework somewhere else because they just give you a hotel in the area you want with some information and you have to guess the hotel

Here I've looked for hotels in Perth, Australia and I have two hotels which I can see both have casino facilities... after doing my homework I would know there are only two hotels at the Casino in Perth making the 4 star the Holiday Inn and the 4 1/2 star the Intercontinental...both really nice hotels... I got the Holiday Inn for $132 / night for 5 nights on my last trip.. should have been $280 / night

So for hotels.. homework = savings

For flight upgrades you need to be flying enough miles to get you up to the top tier of a airline awards program. I looked on the Internet before I started flying to Ausstralia to see who gave the best mileage awards. Emirates, Eithad, Singapore all seem to be well rated...

I joined Emirates and from my 1st visit I was silver class, then on the second I made gold...

With free upgrades you need the flight to be full, something that happens on my route quite often and you need to know who, how and when to ask.

I have never got an upgrade in New York without using my miles...I tend to get upgrades in Dubai or in Australia.

In Dubai I always shower and get myself presentable from previous flight 1st and then I approach the friendliest male Skywards employee I can see at the desk. (If I was male I'd choose one of the female staff).

Always be super smiley and humble. They are doing you a huge favour by upgrading. Ask if there is any possibility of a complimentary upgrade... I ask early so my name goes higher up the list - I don't always know there and then, but when I re-check I tend to get my new business class boarding card.

Always be extremely courteous and thankful if you get the upgrade and even if you don't. These people may be here next time and they do remember (I've been recognised 3 times now)

Enjoy your business class seat and Emirates service... its a real treat for an economy passenger.

I used to be a Delta high miler .. you get bumped up for upgrades at the gate with them, so they can get more economy passengers on..

The key is that you need to get higher up in the Awards system and you need to ask... he who doesn't ask doesn't get!

Enjoy you hotel saving and upgrades.. I do!

Gary's best friend comes to play....

2011-04-04T16:23:00.000-04:00

Just like us, dogs can have best friends .. and Gary's is Oscar the Pug.

He visited this weekend with his owners, my hubby's nephew and his wife.. You always know when Oscar is around because there's lots of snorts and snuffles and he is an invader of personnel space, typically he is trying to sit on your head if the opportunity presents...

We had a great weekend with them just hanging out...hot tubbing, sunbathing, making homemade pizzas.. it was great to see them.. enjoy the pics!

Gary waiting for Oscar.. Sitting like I don't know what!

Still waiting for Oscar

Cole protecting his drink from Oscar

Sunbathing

I didn't want that bed anyway Oscar

I hope that's just water!

In your face!

Lick lick

Turns head at wrong moment

Oscar's Mummy

I think its love

Take a pic of me!!!!!

Gary and Mr Spikey Ice Cream Man

2011-03-31T23:03:00.001-04:00

We've got company this weekend.. in fact we have company until next Wednesday... tomorrow Hubby's nephew and wife are coming until Sunday morning, then Hubby's friend and wife and kids are coming for a Sunday cookout... then work friend from Jacksonville Monday evening and then work friend and family Tuesday... by Wednesday I will be officially cooked out..

The house has had a good clean today and last on my list was to do the dog blankets.. plural, cause he has two.. one in his day bed and one in his night bed...I know spoilt, right!?

Anyway, Gary loves clean blankets.. I think its the :Lavender drier sheets I use, and as soon as I put his day one (he's has this one since he was a puppy hence the few bite marks!) he was on his bed on his back snuggling down into it... I couldn't resist taking a couple of pics of his contentment...

Snuggle buddy

Of course me taking pics and my fame whore of a dog was up carolling his toys for me to play with him.. would it be a tennis ball, of which he has eight by the way... 4 originally and then one day I came home from tennis and forgot to put my tube of balls away, somehow the top was removed and there were 4 more balls in the lounge.. wonder who that could have been...

He has 8 tennis balls

But tonight he was in the mood for Spikey Ice Cream Man... who squeeks alot!... he's had 3 of these toys.. they normally last about a year, they only cost $3.99 and he absolutely loves them... they are definitely his favourite. I think because it squeeks differently ever time..
Anyway I played a little with him, cause we couldn't walk today becuase of the bad weather and now he is demolishing a dental chew thing that costs far too much from the vet... I love him, he is MY boy and I woudn't swap him for anything...

Spikey Ice Cream Man!

Only a clap of thunder disturbs him

Then it back to the task of squeeking

I think its love

Does your dog have a favourite toy... or is it you?..

And to my friend Anne... I know you don't give George toys.. ever wondered why he is such a git.. its because he reads my blog when you're not looking at sees Gary treated like Royalty!

Tornados, lightening and rain... I'm over it

2011-03-31T15:25:00.000-04:00

Can't be bothered to do much today... stuck in the house and I'm progressively getting more and more lethargic. Had to write this quick post before I morph into my sofa.. (I did do cleaning and washing already so not a complete waste)

Why the lethargy... its not stopped raining all day (well it did for about 15 secs where I pushed Gary out to do his business, put the pool on drain before we flooded the house and bought the water delivery in), we've been under progressive severe thunderstorm, lightening and tornado warnings so I dare not risk a quick trot around the neighbourhood with Gary as the umbrella might attract a lightening strike, and my hair is crispy enough..

So I'm stuck inside...

3.18pm and I've run out of cleaning except for the room where I don't know where to start. Not quite a hoard, but getting there .. so I'm catching up with all the on-demand TV that I pretend not to watch... don't tell anyone..

I did clean my teeth today.. so at least that's one thing.. but as I'm still in my PJ's you can guess no shower yet ...yack...

So I hope it's sunny with you...

Seeing things and Mom mobiles!

2011-03-30T11:28:00.001-04:00

If you read yesterdays installment you'd know I was on my mammoth trip to Australia. Final destination was Adelaide, but as I arrived in Melbourne so late I had to arrange a night at an airport hotel...

Its midnight and I have three choices after my 58 hours travelling... walk the 5 mins through the black depths of the multi storey car park to the Holiday Inn .. walk around the long way.. probably about 15 mins.. take a taxi...

Of course I took the taxi and the man bitched and moaned the whole time... I apologised when I got in that it wasn't a long journey, and the line at the rank was small.. they just all want the $60 to the city fares, well luck of the draw Mr Miserable taxi man.. welcome to Melbourne! I'm sure if the tourist board of Melbourne knew how visitors were being talked to they'd have something to say.. If it hadn't been so late I would have got his number, buut I just wanted to go to bed...

Fortunately bed looked like this...and as I was a Priority member I had an extension 'til 2pm for free...

I thought you were supposed to be going to Adelaide...?

I was .. all the flights were full until lunchtime... so I missed a day's work!

Sleep done, I even went to the gym to blast off some travel weariness, I packed up and made my way under the car park (a remarkably short distance :-) ) to the terminal and either I was on drugs else Melbournians had warped back 100 years

Well I thought they were amusing...

Onwards to Adelaide finally and I arrived at my hotel. One of my 'don't know where you are going and get it for an ace price hotels' - The Rockford was described as a boutique hotel (it was) in the vibrant Arts precinct of the city and bustling West End.. OK there were some Art galleries so OK... if by bustling they meant seedy, Gentleman's clubs, massage with happy ending, type of area.. then yes it was bustling!.. how do I know.. I had to walk past it all when I discovered I'd left the maid in Melbourne my travel charger. I main priority was to get back to hotel before it got dark! LOL

Super comfy bed

Fab TV

Going to rain....nothing new it always rains when I'm in Adelaide!

I was only here for work and no play so it didn't really matter and the hotel was lush... and I got it for half price :-)

After a day of rain on the Tuesday I got on the plane to Perth..

I arrived late tuesday evening, rocked up to the Hertz counter to pick up my car and was offered an upgrade.. gratis.. well you know me I'm always up for an upgrade.. that is until you end up with one of these!!! They asked me if I minded a Kia Carnival.. I didn't know it was a people carrier...
My hilarious customers asked me what time I was doing the school run and could I collect their kids too..I did however manage to wheel spin it from standing start..LOL

Things weren't all bad in Perth as I'd wangled another amazing hotel deal.. but this time it worked out good .. I got the Hoiday Inn at the casino for 1/3 of normal price.. don't ask me how.. its a secret (actually it was bloody lucky! and I'm going to write a blog on upgrades, cheap hotel rooms etc later!) Normally Perth is so exepnsive I never get to stay anywhere that good... normally some studio apartments that cost.. wait for it $180 / night! Arrrgggh ... I got the Holiday Inn for $130.. Whoooop

My normal aparthotel I stay in.. yack

Oh the heavenly beds!

Perth wasn't all work and tomorrow we're off to the Trots, and no that isn't what you get after a dodgy curry!

A nightmare of a journey.....

2011-03-28T12:21:00.001-04:00

Well I'm sufficiently recovered to now post my nightmare of a journey to Australia a few weeks ago...

I, for some unknown reason, prefer to fly the wrong way round...

I go this way...

Most people go this way... although that's a lot of ocean to fly over!

Oh I know why I go that way.....

LAX sucks big style if you have to be there more than an hour... nothing to do / see / buy etc etc... everyone rude... and I'd have an 8 hour wait if I flew from Orlando in morning... so bugger that!
I like to fly on new planes...with attractive staff... not that it isn't nice to be with the mouldy old staff on some of the US long haul flights.. but I wonder if they know where the emergency exits are, let alone how to open the doors!
Emirates gold membership has upgraded me to business for free every other flight at this point... In sing song voice 'love them'
Emirates staff are pretty, speak about 40 languages and even economy has the ICE system that has 600 channels to choose from...
I don't get jet lag if I fly this way going.. mental probably but seems to work

So it was at 5am a few Fridays ago I found myself checked in and making my way to my Jet Blue flight 6.10am to JFK. I've taken this flight numerous times and its always been a breeze.... until this last time...

As I arrived at the gate my flight was saying delayed til 7am.. hmmm that would just about get me there, it would be tight though..but I was checked in with Emirates so I'd be fine...

7 am rolled around and we were still not on the plane... OK time for some affirmative action..

I called Emirates... Hello Mrs Jones (I phoned Dubai gold line for my personal travel assistant) how can we help you today?. Ermmm I'm stuck at Orlando and I don't think that I will make my JFK flight to Dubai.. OK Mrs Jones let me assist you with that... No you probably wont.. shall I book you on the evening flight 11pm..? Yes please... There will be a $200 change fee (no choice!).. Yes just get me on it please...OK all done Mrs Jones, have a safe flight and thank you for flying Emirates...

Too simple!

OK so dreading the wait I was now going to have at JFK at least I was still going to make Australia.. I'd change all those other flights once I got to New York...

Eventually I arrived at Emirates check in and it looked like this when I got there...

Not good!

I went to the Emirates desk, and fortunately was able to confirm that I was on the next flight and as a Gold member I could come back to 4pm to get my boarding pass for the next flight (3 hours early than the rest of economy ;-)... so no lounge til 4pm? Emirates lounge is after security... Arrrggghhh... I had to hatch a cunning plan...
A quick search on the Blackberry and I found a lounge you could pay for ....and at 10am I was the only person.. $40 for 5 hours of free food, drink, showers, TV, Internet etc etc... I could have spent that much in McDonald's in JFK!

Cheers.. to me the only one in the lounge...Its always Gin O'clock!

So the hours rolled on.. I watched True Blood on iTunes, re-arranged my flights (I'd now miss a days work) and caught up on my email...

Soon it was time to go back to Emirates to get that boarding card...

Hello.. can i have my boarding card please.. oh and I need to give you $200 as I was transferred off my earlier flight...
Hello Mrs Jones... are you sure you have a seat as we are 28 overbooked...
Yes.. I confirmed it earlier...
Oh Mrs Jones, I see you are Gold, you have a seat ...so some poor bugger had been bumped for me :-( . Ermmm if the flight is that full is there any chance of an upgrade? (Don't ask.. don't get!)
Hmmmm.. no too many associates above you today.. although if you use some miles you'll take priority....

50,000 miles later

Dumped my bags with the nice girls and I was off to the lounge.... Jack Daniels and Cokes, a shower and dinner before boarding my first business class flight on the A380 (that's the plane with the two layers!)

I can't remember what airport toilets look like there days.. (Snob!)

Welcome to my seat

My little mini bar!

Its a hard life...

There's even a bar on board for business.. how ace is that.. JD & Coke please

Hardly surprisingly Dubai arrived very quickly...and I had another 6 hour wait, time to see if I could blag another upgrade...

I went to see the Skywards lovelies in the lounge

Sorry Mrs Jones.. the flight is so empty I can't give you an upgrade... how about 4 seats to yourself...

That will do nicely...

My little economy nest!

Tomorrow my journey continues on into Melbourne... and another delay..

And the winners are.....

2011-03-21T08:23:00.000-04:00

Did you enter my competition for Tim Tams?

If not you are tooooo late....

So not one of you guessed 'correctly' ... although someone was close.. but close gets you second in this world, not Tim Tams!

The pink stuff in the middle of the Italian cured meat and the Olives (although Jim thought these were potatoes!) is...... drum roll.......

Walnut & Beetroot pate.. and it was ******* disgusting... I saw at least 20 plates returned untouched!.. guess they wont make that again!

So what to do.. as there were some amusing answers....

Anne.. you don't win as you are too closely connected to the author (and there will be Tim Tams left in the fridge when you get here as we are on a diet).. so none for Anne

A packet goes to my blogging friend Duane Scott who although made no attempt at winning the Tim Tams bribed me with his abs and I'm I'm easily distracted by man flesh!
A packet goes to Brahm, because anyone who sucessfully worked in Charlie Sheen and his hooker, Strawberry Shortcake, into my blog deserves Tim Tams.. I now feel dirty!
And lastly... yes... Crystal.. for feeding her Dad horsemeat and not telling him... naughty lady!

If you lovelies will email me your address I'll send over some Tim Tams for you ..

To you other contributors... better luck next time.. but thanks for the entertainment!!!

Competition Wednesday! - update

2011-03-18T20:00:00.000-04:00

2 days left... We'll pick winner(s) on Sunday EST... and you can enter more than once too!

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE...
Tim Tams have arrived peeps.. they are now a reality ! Trust me .. the Aussies will tell you... these things are yumlicious!

Ok.. I'm in Australia... and I will bring a pack of TimTams (THE BEST CHOCOLATE COOKIES/BISCUITS) for the right answer ... and the funniest!

Please let me know what you think the pink stuff is...(as served at Ascot race track in Perth)

No clues... except it was gross!

Mummy comes to visit!

2011-03-12T05:41:00.000-05:00

OK.. for those of you who haven't been concentrating... I'm English but I live in sunny Florida. Whilst I miss my family and friends, I was born to live in the sun and purposefully sort out a Floridian to marry (that's a joke by the way!).

Funnily enough people love coming to visit to.. including my Mother, who likes to leave my Dad for a week each year and come and ~~do my gardening~~ spend some time with her daughter...

She complained constantly that her face was not going brown (I did explain that normally wearing a hat will have this effect) but apart from that was a perfect guest... me doing the hard labour, her potting the plants, me making lunch, her loading the dishwasher, me grilling at night, her keeping hubby awake!..

I try and organise some nice weather for her, and this years visit last week was no exception. Over 80f most days, we spent time gardening, reading and generally relaxing...and as it was so gorgeous I decided to reward her gardening efforts with trips out and to the beach for the weekend. I've not been to Clearwater since moving to Florida and got one of my fantastic hotel deals, so booked us two hotels rooms at a stupid price, packed Gary off to doggy daycare and we sped of Saturday morning.

We spent the day catching some rays and then after a few Margaritas by the pool, went for dinner at Columbia restaurant. After a few more drinks my Mother was very 'amusing' and we had to make sure she got back safely to her room, if you get my drift!

The following day we took her to Crabby Bills in Indian Rocks beach and got her a big breakfast to make her feel a little more 'normal' and then it was off for some more sun at the locals beach.... She promptly fell asleep.. combination of hangover and food coma me thinks!

It was great to see her, and of course she is welcome back anytime she likes..preferably this time next year when the plants need cutting :-)

Enjoy the pics... tomorrow my ~~journey~~ fiasco getting to Australia... oh did I mention I'm in Australia at the moment?

Lunch in Winter Park.. cheers

Every feel like you are being watched

Spring gardens

View from Mom's room

View from our room

Where is my cocktail!?

Like Mother like Daughter

Margaritas!!!!

Winding Dad up on the phone!

Dinner at Columbia!

Cheers... again!

Our view over the pool and bay!

Soaking up the previous night at Crabby Bills

Snooze time

80f and hardly anyone on the beach!

Gary... did you have a nice weekend.. we did!

Love on the beach.. and hubbie was there too!

2011-03-05T16:00:00.000-05:00

I write this from my comfy chair in the business lounge of Dubai airport. Normally my flights are so well timed that all I get time for is a quick shower and I'm off on the next leg... but things went all 'Pete Tong' (thats rhyming slang to my American readers for wrong!) when Jet Blue's 1st flight of the day out of Orlando was 1 1/2 hrs delayed... I'll tell you the rest this week... but I find myself with 5 hours to kill (I've only been travelling 36hrs so far!) and need to do something to keep me away from the fresh donuts they just bought out!

SO ... here is my blog on my romantic getaway with hubbie and Gary to Cape San Blas, FL for a long weekend to celebrate out 7th wedding anniversary.. we always do something special to celebrate... Its a beautiful place, if a little painstaking to get to (6 hrs in the car - I can get here and back to Jamaica in 4!) but we had a wonderful relaxing time walking on the beach and generally chilling out.

My blogging friend, Duane, told me the other day that everytime he visits my blog he gets jealous of my life... My parents instilled a travel bug in me when I was younger so I always make an effort to go places, with family still in the UK I get to visit there quite frequently, and now I'm on my way to Australia for work.. its not really glamourous, but it is different and I sometimes dont appreciate that other people don't have the opportunities that I do ... Enjoy the pics, I'll be back to you when I finally arrive in Aus!

Nearly can't see Gary in the early sea mist

Nearly lost him!

Wistful.. your Daddy is still in bed!

Beach to ourselves

Lonely palm!

Dinner...

New day.. still noone on the beach!

Germans are here!

Gary leading way back to house

Apalachacola... cute buildings

Old Florida

The Owl cafe for Sunday brunch

Ok you caught me.. cocktails for brunch!

Every feel like you are being watched!?

Jody said he was going to trade me in for this boat!

Then changed his mind to this beauty

Fine I'll take this dude in exchange!

Desolate beach at the lighthouse

Beautoful sunsets

Family shot!

Gary ..

Me & old man

Gary watching the sunset

Great weekend

Back in the sun.. finally...

2011-03-02T18:24:00.000-05:00

Ok so now we've finally finished with our English trip ( I need another vacation we crammed so much in) its time to top up the pasty english skin in the Florida sunshine. Gary had been in doggy daycare in Orlando for 2 weeks at Christmas and so I thought I'd give him a treat and take him for nice long walk around by the lake and orange groves..

Enjoy walking with us down to the lake.. keep an eye out not to step on a rattle snake - they are sluggish in winter and dont rattle to warn you..

In the United States 99% of all snakebites are caused by so called pitvipers - a family of snake encompassing rattlesnakes, copperheads and water moccasins (cottonmouth snakes). All these pitvipers are present in Florida.

They are called pitvipers because they have pits between their eyes and nostrils allowing them to sense their prey.

About 50% of fatalities from snake bites in the US are from the eastern and western rattlesnake. There are plenty of eastern rattlesnakes in Florida and as their bite can be fatal, they pose a severe threat.

It scares me silly when Gary goes galloping across the scrub!... he'd probably think it was something to play with if he found one....

Anyway I'll see you tomorrow for some romance!

Enjoy

Not a bad view to walk down to...

Gary's favourite pee tree... thought you'd like that!

Which way handsome?

We overlook Little Lake Nellie... across the tree line is Lake Nellie

Something smells good!

Gary's friend Ohio.. and when I say friend.. she comes to my front door and paws it for Gary to come out.. that's friendship!