Cindy's Visit to Dallas - December 2011

My sister Cindy and I are as close as being twins. We are 18 months apart in birth and even though she lives in Elgin, IL and I live in Dallas, TX, we are still very close, keeping in touch through daily phone calls, emails, and texts. We try to get together in June at her house and in December at mine.

Cindy arrived in Dallas on December 26th and after we picked her up at the DFW airport, we found a place for lunch and did some shopping at the Grapevine Mills Mall near the airport. I don't go to that mall very often since it is not close to where we live and I wanted to shop in particular at the Ann Taylor outlet store. We both love to shop and we shopped 'til we dropped!

We had a full calendar of things to do while Cindy was visiting. She decided to try going to my yoga class with me on Tuesday the 27th. This was her very first yoga class and she liked it. After we got cleaned up, we hopped on the trolley, got off downtown and had lunch at the Neiman Marcus cafe.

Cindy and I always have lots of fun craft projects to do when we get together so we had to schedule to do them in the evenings since our days were full of other fun things we wanted to do. We made some gift bags for our jewelry one night. We used the pages from the glossy ads in the "Paper City" newspapers for our bags and decorated them with ribbons, beads and baubles I had around the house. You can see them at this link -- http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKRc4

One night Cindy made me some new cloth napkins to match my placemats. She loves to sew and since I find that a horrible chore instead of doing something fun, I asked her to do this for me. I always save up my mending and sewing projects for her to do when she comes to visit. Such a wonderful sister she is!

And, of course, we had to get out the beads and make some new jewelry!

On Wednesday the 28th, we drove to Waco to meet our cousin Larry and his daughter Katie for lunch. Larry & Katie live in Austin and Waco was a good half-way point to meet. We met at Buzzard Billy's for lunch. It is always fun to get together with family!

On Thursday, Cindy and I took a jewelry riveting class together at the Beading Dreams store. I had taken the class a month prior, but Cindy wanted to take it. I audited the class and got to make another riveted copper and brass pendant.

On Friday the 30th, Cindy and I drove to Arlington and met Annie and her boyfriend for lunch. Annie used to live in our garage apartment when we owned our house on Monticello from 1996 - 2001. Annie teaches pottery here in the Dallas area. Cindy also teaches pottery and she and Annie always have a lot to talk about. After lunch, we visited Annie's pottery studio and saw her new kiln.

That evening, Cindy and I went back to the Beading Dreams bead store for a metal craft studio night. I made copper and brass book lockets for my granddaughters and Cindy made name pendants for her granddaughters.

On Saturday the 31st, we ran our Saturday errands, had lunch out, went to bead stores and we were all in bed by 10 p.m. Just the usual day and evening for us.

Cindy got to experience our bilingual service at our church, Emanuel Lutheran, on Sunday. On special Sundays such as this one for the New Year, our church combined the Spanish and English services into one service so it is a little lengthy. After the service, it was a gorgeous day and we wanted to be out. We took a walk on the Katy Trail and tried to eat lunch at the Katy Trail Ice House. Everyone in Dallas decided to do the same thing! When we found out that there was to be over an hour wait for food, we walked to the Idle Rich and had lunch there instead.

Cindy's flight on Monday was at 7 a.m., so we both took her at 5 a.m. to the DFW airport. We always hate to part, but we had some good memories and knowledge that we will be together again soon.

You can see the photos we took at this link -- share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKRlQ

1,067 Miles Later

Bob and I took our 3rd annual trip to Florida last week. We have a lot of friends who live there since we lived there for 6 1/2 years and we have family who live there. I try to get back there to visit at least once a year. Of course, it is hard to get to see everyone, but we try to see as many of our friends and family as we can. This year we put 1,067 miles on our rental car! We drove from Tampa, to Jacksonville, Lake Placid, Vero Beach and back to Tampa.

We arrived in Tampa on Jan. 3rd. Bob's son Zach lives there and he was working when we arrived, so Bob and I found a nice restaurant where we had lunch. We checked into the Hampton Inn, met Zach for dinner and chatted for awhile at a nearby coffee house.

After breakfast with Zach on Wednesday the 4th, Bob and I drove to Jacksonville. DeWayne, who is one of the recipients of my son's organs, lives there. Michael is another organ recipient and he lives in Gainesville. Michael drove to Jacksonville and we all met at the hotel where Bob and I were staying. I met DeWayne and Michael for the first time in January 2009 and we all stay in touch through phone calls, emails and texts. We went to dinner at Ragtime, near the Jacksonville Beach. We took a very short walk on the beach, as it was cold -- in the 40's.

On Thursday the 5th, DeWayne, Michael, Bob and I met at DeWayne's house. DeWayne had told me a lot about all of the antiques he collects and I wanted to see them. His room is like an antique museum! So many wonderful things to see! We went to lunch, told them good-bye, then Bob and I drove to Lake Placid to visit my dad and Susan.

Bob and I stayed with Daddy & Susan through Sunday morning. DeWayne had given me two new cookbooks, so we picked a Chicken Parmesan recipe that I made for dinner the day we arrived. I love to cook and try new recipes and the others love to eat the foods I make. It is a win-win situation!

Bob and I have a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 that we wanted to use at Daddy & Susan's, but they didn't have wireless, so Bob got them fixed up with a wireless router so we could use our new toy. We also got them a camera for their computer so we could use Skype. We chatted with Ken, my brother, and Cindy, my sister. Daddy & Susan thought that was wonderful! We also noticed that Daddy was using the closed caption on the TV so we bought him some wireless headphones. He is in the Techno Age now!

My friend Junie, whom I met through the Florida Navy Moms group, lives in Lake Placid with her husband Jeff, so we met them for lunch on Friday the 6th.

On Saturday, Bob and I drove to Arcadia and met my friend Pat and her husband Ross for lunch at the Mary Margaret Tea Room. Such a cute, girly place! Thank you Bob & Ross for going along with us and letting us eat there. We walked around the town and into several antique stores. I bought an old necklace that I plan to remake into a piece of my own.

On Sunday the 8th, Bob and I drove to Vero Beach to visit my sister-in-law Chris, her son Paul and daughters, Chelsea and Tarah. What fun to get together with more family! Chris loves to cook and entertain like I do. She made yummy quiches, homemade bread and a salad for lunch. Later in the day, Chris, Bob and I went to Treasure Cove Beach, where we walked and found many shells and pieces of sea glass. Chris collects the sea glass. The weather had warmed up to the upper 70's. We took Chris and Paul to a restaurant on the water for dinner. Too bad it was so dark and we couldn't see the water. Bob and I stayed overnight with Chris. After a big breakfast of cheese grits, eggs, toast from the homemade bread and Florida oranges, Bob and I drove back to Tampa.

The weather in Tampa was sunny and in the upper 70's when we arrived. So different from the cold couple of days from the weekend before when we first arrived. We met Zach for lunch and then, he returned to work. Since it was such a beautiful day, I wanted to be out in it instead of sitting in a hotel room. So, we walked along the Riverwalk and we took a trolley ride through Y'bor City. That night we returned to Y'bor City for dinner at the Columbia. Their famous 1905 salad is THE BEST! After our dinner, we went to Zach's apartment and watched a strange movie, "Momento".

Bob and I met Zach for breakfast on Tuesday the 10th. We went to a wonderful French bakery and cafe. It was a beautiful day and we sat outside to eat and chat. Zach took a little time off work to spend it with us, so we went to the International Mall. They know I love to shop!

Our vacation had come to an end and we arrived back in Dallas around 7 p.m. It was 76 degrees when we left Tampa and 46 degrees when we arrived back in Dallas. It was still nice to be back home.

You can see my photos from our Florida trip at this link -- http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKRjI

My Book Locket

A few weeks ago I took my first jewelry making class. It was a class on riveting. I made a beautiful pendant using brass and copper metals. I fell in love with riveting! At the bead store where I took this class, there is a metal craft studio time two or three times a month where you can make anything you want and use THEIR tools. I priced all of the tools for riveting and I decided I didn't want to spend that amount of money to own my own tools. So, using someone else's tools sounded like a good idea to me. Also, the metal craft studio time is FREE. Even better yet! All I had to purchase were my metals, rivets and wire. And the heart on the front of my book locket used to be an earring that came from the Goodwill store. Tonight I went for my first metal craft studio time at Beading Dreams. When I was in Tulsa for Thanksgiving, I asked my two granddaughters, Caty who is 10 and Carson who is 8, to draw some pictures in circles that I provided on pieces of paper for them. I asked them to draw pictures of themselves, their family, their cats & dog, their church, what they wanted to be when they grew up, etc. I cut out the circles and punched holes in them to put into my book locket. I did use one of the circles with a drawn picture on it as my template, but for some reason, none of the holes matched up when I started to assemble my book locket. I still love the way my book locket came out and I plan to wear it on a cord around my neck as a necklace. I hope everyone will ask me about my book locket so I can show them the pictures that my granddaughters drew for me and tell them all about Caty & Carson. Now, I need to make room in my book locket for some pictures that my grandson Christian can draw for me.

Nut Cracking

Every year for Christmas, my aunt Anne who lives in Oregon, sends us nuts as a gift. They are the kind you have to crack. The nuts you see in this photo are from last year or maybe some even from the year before. As you can see, I don't crack many nuts. I just don't think about cracking nuts while I'm sitting and watching TV. But today I pulled out a recipe for cookies that I want to make. They called for chopped hazel nuts. I'm sure if I were to look in some of the grocery stores, I could find some already cracked hazel nuts. But, I thought this would be a good project for me this afternoon. I don't have the TV on or music playing in the apartment. Just quietness that leaves me alone with my thoughts while I was cracking nuts. I thought about what I was going to make for dinner, what Christmas gifts I need to buy, things I need to get done in the next week or two, whether I really want to drag out Christmas decorations for the apartment and lots of other things, I'm sure. I cracked nuts for about a half an hour, and as you can see by my photo, I didn't get many nuts cracked. If I'm going to use these hazel nuts for my recipe, I'd better get cracking!!! And use these up before I get my new box of Christmas nuts from Aunt Anne!

Diet + Exercise Does NOT Equal Wellness!

Most people know that in order to stay well you need to eat a healthy diet, get daily exercise, sleep 8 hours a night, drink plenty of water, take vitamins, wash your hands after being out in public places, etc. I am a big advocate of doing all of these things and more in order to not get sick. I eat a very healthy diet and I have cut out all sugar for the past year. I do a daily 30 - 40 minute walk every day and three days of yoga. I take a probiotic ever day which is SUPPOSED to boost your immune system, take vitamins, and I drink plenty of water, go to bed at 10 p.m. and get up between 7 - 8 in the morning and I am diligent about washing my hands and not touching my face when I come home from being out in public places. But, some how I always get THE CRUD at least once a year! A week ago I woke up with a sore throat. I do have allergies to nearly everything outdoors and I use nasal sprays to combat that. My sore throat continued on for a few days in addition to coughing, nasal congestion and just a general feeling or yukkiness. My friend Mary was flying in last Saturday to stay for a few days, so I made a doctor's appointment on Friday. I asked him if he had some magic potion he could give me to make me feel better before she arrived. He prescribed an antibiotic and cough syrup for my strep throat and upper respiratory infection. My friend Mary arrived and we found lots of fun things to do -- went to the TX State Fair, took the trolley downtown for lunch at Neiman Marcus Cafe, walked on the KATY Trail, went to yoga classes twice, walked around White Rock Lake and had lunch at Eatzi's. I enjoyed having Mary here, but I didn't feel well any of those five days she was visiting. Mary left yesterday, so now I am going to take a Sick Day -- maybe two Sick Days -- and hopefully get rid of this crud!

The thing I don't understand is, Bob eats whatever he wants to eat and he does very little exercising (maybe a walk to work once a week) and he takes no vitamins. He is rarely sick! I think he has had one cold since we have been married in 16 years! It is just NOT FAIR!

NOTE: I am being a little facetious in this blog.

From My House to Yours

I just made a new necklace using some ceramic beads that are shaped like colorful, little houses and a ceramic pendant that Cindy made for me. I saw these cute, little house beads in one of my beading magazines last summer and I knew right away what I would do with them if I bought some. In June 2002, Bob and I took a trip to St. Augustine, FL for a small family reunion. We met my sister-in-law, Chris and her family and Mike and Cindy there. We took one of those trolley tours around the city and on one of the stops the trolley made, there was a unique looking old door/gate. I took a photo of this door/gate. A couple of months ago, I decided to order these little colorful ceramic house beads and I asked Cindy if she could make a ceramic pendant for me to look like the door/gate that I saw in St. Augustine. Here is a photo of my necklace that I named "From My House to Yours".

Lost Box - FOUND!!

My friend Nance who lives in Sarasota, sent me a box with some odds and ends jewelry in it on August 29th. I finally received it today -- October 10th! When Nance told me that she had mailed the box to me on August 29th, I was on the lookout for it. Several weeks later, I contacted her to say I had not received it. She told me that she used an address she had that was in her cell phone and it was one that had not been updated. It was our address on Browder here in Dallas and we have moved twice since we had that address.

Nance's church had a garage sale and she took all of the leftover jewelry from it to send to me. She knows that I enjoy turning old jewelry into my own, fun creations. I was anxious to see what she sent to me.

Nance was persistent. She had a tracking number on the box and after inquiring as to who signed for the package, she gave me the information. I called the DPL Flats on Browder four times and each time, of course, I talked to someone different. I also was persistent. Each time they wanted different information from me. This morning I decided to call once more and the lady told me that they found the package! I hopped immediately on the trolley and took a trip downtown and retrieved my long, lost package.

It was fun going through all of the old jewelry. I started getting ideas right away for some of the pieces. I'm sure my mind will be whirring tonight in my sleep, coming up with more wonderful ideas on how to use these fun pieces of jewelry that someone else thought should go into the trash.

You know that old saying about how "one man's junk is another man's treasure". I found lots of treasures in this box.