A quick look back before forward to 2020

Hard to believe 20 years have 

passed since this crew was 

together for a new year, decade,

century, millennium!!

We were stationed in Puerto Rico

for 2000 and what a party!

January in Florida is prime

'drink and a nosh on the water' time:)

February was full of appraisals-yay!

March was more hockey watching 

the Bolts kick some ass 

(before imploding later in the season). 

Wearing my new awesome fingerless 

gloves my mom made for me:)

I find them so comfortable for 

handwork too.

April brought a new adventure working

the Connecting Threads booth in Paducah

with this crazy crew!  SO FUN

Meet Amy, Barb, & Micki.

May showed me my 

cutting table for the first 

time in Months...(over a year)!
It was clean once....

Too bad it hasn't stayed clean:)

June was another workshop but  

closer to home.

Thank you Largo Cracker Quilters

July we met some local people

for a day out in Clearwater.

We had a lot of fun once I 

forced my husband out of the house-HA!

August was the BIG trip to 

Grand Rapids, MI for my

long awaited appraisal test!

Great little city and I made 

some new friends too.

My baby girl came to visit

while I was there too!

September brought the news that I PASSED

my appraisal test when I just knew I hadn't...lol

We also celebrated the wedding of

my sweet Lauren to her sweet Clayton!

October brought another birthday

and my baby girls sent me 

this sweet floral arrangement:)

October/November fulfilled 

another bucket item!!!

I was part of the 2019 faculty

at Houston International Festival-WOOT!

Here's to being picked up again for 2020:)

Great life long friends came to 

spend Thanksgiving with us and 

we took them to their first pro

hockey game. So Fun being with them!!!

We have ages of shared history

and love.

I am Very Excited to look forward 

to 2020!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

~R

Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com 

for more blogs to follow.

Day 15: Fifteen

Today's post brought to you by the number 15:)  

How very Sesame Street of me.  

Trust me I am not out of topics for this month's 31 day blog challenge but the business topics I want to share are not prepared because I am very busy and I am procrastinating (who knew:). 

Plus I don't want to drop a day because  

I am very motivated to keep up this year.

Google has to be one of the greatest inventions Ever!  

So I searched 15 and hit images- Boring!  

Then I hit the news button and Wow. 

 I try to avoid the news like the plague because it is so 

depressing and not all these stories are great 

but there are a couple that are fun/good!

**Fifteen stories of the Taj Hotel...I am intrigued.

**Fifteen Pirates in Fall Commencement. Well that is one of my daughter's Alma Mater so, that sounds like a fun story.

**Holiday Travel increases/Puerto Rico makes a comeback. 

That sounds uplifting for my former home.

** EU donates 15 mobile labs. That sounds extremely helpful.

This seems like a different way to expand my reading of "news" without being bombarded. I may add that to my lists for 2019 that I can procrastinate about-LOL!

Pop over to see who else is blogging...

http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/the-2018-31-day-blog-writing-challenge/

25 Years of Wedded Bliss.....

Yesterday's post showed our new Anniversary Quilt and today's post is about our fabulous Anniversary trip to Puerto Rico.

Since Jim is in the Coast Guard, we were stationed here from '98-2000 and had a wonderful time once we acclimated to the culture.

 

This time we decided to fly in and stay in Old San Juan without a car because they drive soooo crazy there....Good choice:)

So Jim noted when he made the reservation that it was our 25th Anniversary and booked a romance pkg.  He chose the El Convento knowing that CG Admirals and other dignitaries used this hotel when on island.

We arrived too early to check in so they checked our baggage for us and off we went...

 





This is a gorgeous old tapestry in the hallway leading to the restaurant located in a lovely courtyard.  The first time I had ever seen courtyards like this was when we lived here and I was hooked!  If I could ever find a way to live like this, I would!

So we started with a couple of rum drinks and an assortment of delicious fried treats that we remembered: Bacalaitos, Alcapurrias, sorullitos, and Tostones (cod fritters, sweet plantains stuffed with beef, sweet corn fritters, smashed and fried plantain slices).  SOO Good!!

Then we went to check into our room....In honor of us celebrating 25 years, they upgraded us to the Vanderbilt Suite (where heads of state stay).  To say we were stunned is an absolute understatement and prompted much reflection on where we started in this marriage to where we are now. The photo was taken using my panoramic mode and that is the dining/sitting rooms....bigger than my own kitchen/living room.  There was also a bar area, master suite including a huge bathroom, and a second bathroom...crazy:)

Here is the photo of Gloria herself posing in that exact room circa 1970 something??

The views from our room were the Oldest Cathedral in San Juan, La Fortaleza (Governor's mansion), and the bay leading into the port.  From this window, I could actually see the town where we used to live.

Here is another cute little courtyard in the middle of a home that is now an art gallery.  A street view leading down to the bay.

When we lived here I was also completely charmed by the doorways and the beautiful wrought iron designs that adorned  doors and windows.

We spent some time at the museums too.  We took our kids to plenty of historical sites (less boring) while we were here but not the actual museums.  There was a fiber exhibit .....Not exactly  my taste but interesting when you see how much depth he could attain with basic yarn pom poms .

We had so much fun just wandering the streets without the girls in tow this time and remembering our time together here. We tried to eat as much of the food we remembered as possible.  I found my little Helado cart with the Parcha flavor...DELICIOUS!!  All over there are these little ice cream carts but it is more a sherbet than ice cream and Parcha is the passionfruit flavor that I loved!  You could also get coco, pina, or mango.
And, of course, I am with Jim who always lucks into festivals or something similar, so one evening we came across a birthday celebration for someone...Time to dance:)

 

No life is completely blissful but I know that my knight found me and gave me a life full of love and happiness that I never imagined possible and I am forever grateful!

Lychee anyone?

When we lived overseas and my children were smaller, we used to be able to buy these fun little asian jellos in different flavors: kiwi, apple, and lychee. The white lychee jellos were my favorite although I had never actually eaten a lychee and didn't really know what they were.
One of the things my husband and I like to do is go to Saturday/Farmer's markets. When we went to the St Petersburg market last weekend, I found these wonderful little red things... Since I am adventurous (selectively:), I asked what they were and behold-they are real Lychee nuts. Aren't they a wonderful color?
You eat them the way you eat another of my family's favorites-Quenepas from Puerto Rico. You peel the red outer layer away and eat all the pulp off the inner nut. I have a few I am going to try and grow now that I am in Florida.
We also found real Guava fruit that we thought we would put into a refreshing rum drink...not so easy to do. The Guava has a bunch of hard seeds in the center and so it had to be blended first so that the seeds could be strained off. I understand now why this juice is so expensive.

Until next time, keep trying new things!