Japanese Visitors

Well, I call them Japanese visitors, they've lived in Japan for over 5 years. I am so happy that my beautiful niece and her wonderful hubby came over to the states for a visit. Neither of which are Japanese natives - she is from the USA (raised in Minnesota), he is from Matamata, New Zealand ( also home to Hobbiton - Yes, I can officially call my nephew a Hobbit)

I only had 1 full day with them and loved every minute of it. We took them on a tour of downtown and stopped at Centennial Olympic Park.We walked around there a bit, then decided to go to The World of Coke. I hadn't been to the new one since it moved next to the Georgia Aquarium in 2007 (gosh, has it been there that long?!). So I was glad to be able to go to it too. I am glad we got there early because when we left there was a HUGE line to get in, we didn't wait at all (aren't they cute?!)
They really seemed to have a good time
It was almost 2 pm by the time we finished there so we decided to take them to the local brewery - Gordon Biersch (which is also one of our fave places). They enjoyed the beer sampler
and I loved the fact that she takes after me in the fact that she takes pictures of their food.

We then road around town a bit more and ran into a Caribbean Music Festival and then headed to Little Five Points - we first went to Junkman's Daughter - Candace loved this place when she was younger so thought she might want to go there - well some things never change. She still loved it and ended up buying 2 new pairs of AWESOME shoes and a cute dress!

My sister-in-law made dinner reservations for us a The Commons, so after shopping, we headed back to Stone Mountain. We had a fabulous dinner and found out what Airline Chicken was (never heard of it before). After dinner, we headed to the Laser Show. I knew it would be packed since it was the opening summer weekend PLUS since it was Memorial Day weekend. But we found a great spot up near the top of the hill, sat back and enjoyed it. I loved that they had a Georgia Music Hall of Fame segment now (since Georgia Music is very near and dear to my heart and I used to do the accounting for the GMHoF)What a full day. We had breakfast this morning before they headed down to Florida to see mom and dad. I wish we had a couple of more days but I'm so grateful for getting to spend time with them. I miss them both and wish they would move to the US - seeing them every 2 years or so is just not enough.

Glee - Bad Romance

Have I said before that I love Glee? I'm sure I have.
I was looking for their version of Bad Romance on You Tube (which of course isn't out there - it is so hard to find videos from Glee - Fox is highly protective of them.

Anyway, I found this instead - it was made a few month's ago before the Lady Gaga episode appeared - maybe the creator of this video will change the music to the Glee Cast.

Graduation Card

One of my oldest friends, who've I've known for 25 years and who I tremendously respect, has a daughter graduating this week. I can't believe it! It doesn't seem like that long ago that his son was born and then 15 months later along came this beautiful girl. His children really are beautiful kids, inside and out - but they have great parents so it only makes sense that their kids turned out so well.

Anyway, I wanted to make her a card for graduation and decided to make one with Hello Kitty, but it just didn't feel right - so I pulled out my Cricut handbooks and started browsing. I really wanted to use my newest cartridge - Create a Critter, which is probably the best one they've come out yet for making cards - I could use this cartridge for days!

I found the cutest little owl and branch in there and thought it looked kind of scholarly so I made this card with it. All paper is Die Cuts with a View (DCWV) card stock.

I thought it needed some pattern paper in the background but it just looked too busy so I left it just plain - I'm happy with it and I am sure she will be too.

National Scrapbook Day

Today is National Scrapbook Day. Unless you are a scrapper, you probably are not aware of this wonderful day. I actually spent the day scrappin' ! Most the time I am out of town on this weekend so was glad to be here and actually have the time to participate in NSD.

Although I don't want to have extra competitors, I must share the love with my fellow scrappers and let you know about a FANASTIC give-away at Everyday Cricut - they are giving away a Cricut Expression. Wow !!!

Good luck to all who enter (including me!)

Savannah Retreat - Final Day

We were very sad to be heading back to the real world, we had a great time. Teresa managed to get us an invite to Sapelo Island due to her mother's connections through the UGA Marine Institute (note: it is VERY special to get onto this private island - not many people are allowed to do this and you must have special permission to do so).

We woke before the crack of dawn because we had to be at the ferry dock at 8:30 sharp and we wanted to be there by 8:00 since we had no idea where we were going. It was about an hour and 15 minutes further south from Savannah. We made the boat with plenty of time to spare.

Now of course once you get to the other side of the island, the Marine Institute said they would provide us with a car to ride around in. Now, we were not expecting anything spectacular but...we were not expecting a very rusted, very moldy, very scary car. It ran okay though and that is what mattered. We dubbed him "Jimmy" - well he already had that name technically so we just let it stick with him.

Thank goodness Teresa drove - I don't think I could have handled those roads - she did a great job - I was quite impressed by her driving skills actually. Only a tiny bit of the island is paved, the rest of it looks like this:

We first went to the Chocolate Plantation (which is derived from a French name - they didn't grow cocoa beans or make chocolate there or anything).

We also saw the Hogs Hammock community (which I kept calling Hogsmeade ala Harry Potter). It is a community owned by the Gullah people. We then saw the Reynolds Plantation (I think it made Teresa a bit sad to see that it had not be well maintained since she was last there as a child and also that we could not get into it)

We were running short on time - I wanted to make the noon ferry and it was already 11:30. Luckily our gracious UGA Marine Institute Program Director, Gracie, drove us to the lighthouse and to the ferry dock in record time. As we stepped onto the boat, they closed the chain right behind us...whew!

I would have like to have stayed on the island a couple of hours longer at least but if we didn't make the noon ferry then we couldn't leave until 4:30 and I didn't want to leave going home that late, we'd have to still eat lunch/dinner (there is no where to eat on the island) and we wouldn't get home until after midnight if we stayed that long. Hopefully one day, we can go again and spend a little more time there. We had 3 hours but wanted a little more.

All and all.... a great weekend retreat - we had a wonderful time and shared a lot of laughs. I wonder what we will do next year on Confederate Memorial Day?

Savannah Retreat - Day 3

We were very disappointed when we woke up to a steady rain. We thought about taking a trolley tour but thought better of it. Instead we decided to ride out to Tybee Island.

We went by K-Mart so I could get an umbrella (since I didn't bring any) and I bought a scratch-off lottery ticket and won $150 !! Whoo hoo !! Yeah me !!

Along the way to Tybee, I asked if she had read "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and she had and asked if she had ever been to Bonaventure Cemetary (often mentioned in the book) and she never had - so since it was on the way, we decided to stop by.

Now, I love cemetaries, love walking around them and the older they are, the better. So of course I love Bonaventure. I'm glad she wanted to stop too. I have 2 must stop places. The first is usually to see Gracie.

Gracie was an adorable and much loved little girl, who contracted pnemonia and died suddenly in 1890. A sculptor made this statue of her from a photo and apparently it is an exact image of little Gracie.

I always leave Gracie a penny when I visit her. When I went to leave it, I could see that I was apparently not the only one who leaves them for her.

The other one I must visit is the one below. I don't know why I love her so. I think it is just her simple elegance - she looks so serene and peaceful yet strong and protective.

We spent quite a bit of time at Bonaventure - there is just so much to see

After getting stopping by to give Johnny Mercer a bit of a hello and getting soaking wet, we found our way out and headed to Ft. Pulaski, which was our next stop along the way to Tybee Island.

By the time we got to Ft. Pulaski, the rain had stopped (thank goodness). It was extremly windy. I had never been to Ft. Pulaski before - it was so peaceful and calm out there. We stayed several hours. Also, it was pretty cool that it was National Park Week (all National Parks were free so we didn't even have to pay to get in)

It makes me sad to think that for many years, this place was overgrown by weeds. Thank goodness it was rescued from that and people can now see it. It was not a very active fort except right near the beginning of the civil war when the Confederacy tried to secure it before the North could inhibit it. After a 2 day long battle, the Confderates surrendered. There was just too much damage to the fort - you can still see cannonball holes in it and they say you can see a cannonball lodged in one place (but I never found it). I had an odd feeling I had been there before - perhaps I had, as a child and just forgot. Something just seemed so familiar about it even though I don't recall ever going there before.

Just before leaving, we found the Cockspur Island lighthouse.

After spending several hours at Ft. Pulaski, we headed to Tybee, we didn't have a lot of time there because we were going to meet my friend's dad for dinner soon. We did have time to see the lighthouse and swing by my former bosses home (she has since moved though) and just drive around a bit.

We then went to Uncle Bubba's Oyster House for a very, very late lunch/early dinner - it was about 5 pm and we hadn't eaten since breakfast around 8 am so we were getting kind of hungry by now. We sat outside and were surprised most folks wanted to sit inside. Until the wind about blew us away and then we realized why they sat inside. We still enjoyed sitting out by the water though. I had a nice crab cake dinner with "Savannah" red rice (which I think they made up for the tourist because I've never heard of such a thing) and some cheese grits. We also shared this awesome crab/shrimp dip appetizer.

Teresa's dad then met up with us there and we left our car park there while he gave us the tour of Wilmington Island (where he lives) - there are some HUGE houses there. He showed us where Michael and Paula were living when they met (apparently they still live in Michael's house) and he showed us the new house that Paula and Michael are building/have built - it was unreal - beautiful and I'm happy for her - for someone to come from humble beginnings and now be able to have this kind of money. He showed us his favorite hangouts and then we stopped to visit with his cousin and his wife and their mirage of pets - they had a yorkie that sat in my lap the whole time we were there - I loved it!

It was getting late and we knew her dad had a long work day and we wanted to get back and look up some info on Sapelo Island before we left so we headed back - after researching, we decided to go ahead with our plans to see Sapelo Island (although it was 1 1/2 hours away - the wrong way from where we needed to be headed back home) - I said as long as we could make the noon ferry back, then I'd go. She agreed and we soon drifted off in to sandman land after a very busy but enjoyable day.

Savannah Retreat - Day 2

We had a free breakfast at the Country Inn and Suites and headed out in the rainy morning to Forsyth Park, where the Sidewalk Chalk Arts Festival was happening. I was afraid it wouldn't be going on since it was raining but it was mostly a hard drizzle and it eventually stopped. Here are a few photos.

(You see a lot of SCAD students' backsides)

We then went to City Market and shopped around and had late lunch/early dinner at Vinnie Van-Go-Gos

When we finished at City Market, we headed down to River Street to have a look around. We took the free ferry across the river and back (just because it was free and we wanted to take a boat ride). There were lots of arts/craft booths set up and we spent some time strolling (and shopping) through them. There was a live band playing and they were EXCELLENT !!

Much to our surprise and delight, they had a fireworks display on the other side of the river to end the evening's festivities. We loved it and thought it was a great way to end the day.