If Not By Sea then By Run-June '14 Cruise/Oct '14 ToT 10 Miler/Feb '15 PHM PTR

[Tinker326]

Elsa is not a princess...she is a Queen! And I so think you would be perfect at her! I was reading something last night...and nearly sprayed my computer with what I was drinking...

You know when Elsa sings her final line...The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway...the poster wrote that this was the best OFF line ever delivered by a cartoon character!

I would have to agree...maybe that is why when I am about to explode I start singing Let it Go at the top my lungs (okay in my head anyway).

I will admit- I sing that song at the top of my lungs all the time! And I completely agree with that line being the best eff off line in a Disney movie ever!! Which is why I love it!

This is one of the reasons I am drawn to her character to run in the Princess. (I still like Olaf better though. I want my own Olaf!)

I am a huge British History buff...I love all the pomp and circumstance! As far as the telly...I love Downton Abbey and Call the Midwife. I have started rewatching the Tutors recently!

And you will not believe this but...this weekend I booked our hotel reservations for the end of our Europe trip for London in August...and of course I had to book the Harry Potter Studio Tour as well as the London Harry Potter Walking tour! EEEK I am so excited...that is what dh gets for having to go fishing in Italy (thus messing up some of our Rome plans) and then when we get to London he has to go to some Gun Store!

I can't wait to see the Tower of London and Westminister Abbey again...I wont tell you how long it has been since I have been to London.

Eek! Yhea for you for working in London into Europe!!! All good anglophiles should, you know!!!

I can't WAIT to hear all about the studio and walking tour! Part of my 40th Birthday Girls Trip is, as mentioned, stalking Brittish actors. One in particular will be Snape (Alan Rickman) who I have a mad old man crush on!
I also plan to hunt down Richard Armitage. (if you have never seen the BBC version of North and South you MUST watch it!!! It also has Bates in it from Downton (another one of my faves as well))

I could spend days in the Tower of London.. and I love Westminster too! If I wasn't in a rush to pack, I'd upload some of my England scrap pages... eh, maybe I will later after I finish packing........

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

I lived in London for years. I miss it terribly. Hoping to run the London marathon one day. Talk about training though!

 

[Tinker326]

I lived in London for years. I miss it terribly. Hoping to run the London marathon one day. Talk about training though!

I am jealous. I would love to live in London!

What a great goal the London Marathon would be. I think I know my limit is 13.1. I can't even imagine doubling that!

 

[Tinker326]

Here you go Tammie!!!

























Ahh, now I want to go back.

 

[Tinker326]

^^^^^ Holy Cow those are gigantic. Sorry. Probably should have resized. But I'm not gonna! Because I have a 4am wake up to head to sunny AZ!! Whoop, whoop!

 

[momabaarjo]

These are beautiful...and I am going to have to ask you to name kits when I get ready. I am so excited to get to go back to London! OMG I loved how you got both Harry Potter and Disney on the same page!

I have North & South in by Netflicks list...gonna check that out! So ready for season 3 of Call the Midwives...1 more week!

This darn trip is in exactly 4 months. And I don't have anything planned out...UGH it is driving me crazy. When I gave up my OCD planning ways last August I never thought it would effect me like this. So much to do and see and I just cant pull it together. But at least we have plane tickets and places to stay booked.

 

[momabaarjo]

Safe travels to sunny AZ...after the winter you have been having you deserve some time in the sun!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Enjoy that warmth and sunshine!!!!

I'm awesomely jealous of all the London talk. Never been overseas! Farthest I've gone is Mexico.

We just need to get you an iron on Olaf patch for your costume! Here's a start, but I think they have some on Etsy too...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/261415542915?lpid=82

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I like warm hugs!

headband

bow

so cute!

Looking through all this stuff might actually make you want to be Olaf even more! It's so cute! What if you did Olaf but not in white? like black with Olaf on it???
like this kinda?

 

[Linda67]

Just catching up and looks like there are a lot of potential London visitors
It's been a grey old day in London today but it still looked pretty cool
Any advice required on pub crawls I'm your girl
Oh and I've been to the Harry Potter Studio Tour and it's so worth the trip out to see

 

[Tinker326]

I am back from the warm and sunshine!

I found it hard to check in on my phone & my parents had no wifi at their house. So I plan to spend tomorrow getting back up-to-date with my subscribed threads!!!

I need something to do to keep me from dwelling on the fact that it's 36 degrees here & I left 85 degrees there. You know, besides laundry!!

And maybe I'll even post some vacation pics to share the warmth & sunshine.......

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Yes! Pictures! Pictures!!!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

i'd love to see pictures of sunshine and warmth. i'm forgetting what it is.....

 

[Tinker326]

As promised- here are some pictures of sunshine & warmth. In case there are any other Northerners who might have forgotten what it looks like.

We spent the last week in sunny Arizona where my parents winter. It was fabulously warm and a much needed getaway!

We had a harrowing start where our pre-arranged taxi never showed up & we had a mad dash to the airport/gate... I don't even want to remember because we almost didn't make it....

But we did....



We arrived and first thing on the kids list was some swimming!



Look at the blue sky!!!







After we left the pool they wanted to 'sun'. Sounded good to me.



Since they are young, that got old fast- so they went to feed the fish. Grandma and Grandpa's house back a golf course- the 18th hole- which includes the lake....



My Aunt and Uncle came up from Maricopa for dinner..and the girls discovered a ball..and wanted to play baseball. Only no bat- so we improvised with the broom. It was a lot of fun!



On Sunday we woke early, packed up the car and headed 3 hours South to Benson to see the Kartchner Caves. There were no pictures allowed in the caves but they were very, very cool! My kids were fascinated.

Afterwards we walked around the caves and explored the Desert....







After that we checked into our hotel quickly and then set off to find Gammon's Gultch which was a rare gem find. It's a movie set/ghost town created by the child of the bodyguard to John Wayne. He's worked and met many old Hollywood Legends and his town- full of authentic/moved buildings is full of antiques that represent the building. He was a hoot as well... and had wonderful stories of actors & set pieces....





The Sheriff himself......



Lock her up!!



He even played the Piano and Banjo-



The three Saloon Girls...



Back at the hotel we swam, showered & found a pizza place for dinner!

 

[Tinker326]

Monday morning we all awoke early and headed for hotel breakfast...

Our goal was to head 30 miles South to Tombstone. This is a town we've done several times but my kids/hubby love it. I could give or take it.. as I feel it's a tourist trap. I enjoyed the previous day's Gammon Gultch much more.

On our way down we stopped at a mission- St. David's... we strolled the grounds for a bit...



At Tombstone- two of us were wiped. For some reason I was just void of all energy this day. And Becca had a sore throat and cough. So we struggled to keep up....

We went to the Courthouse where there were lots of historical artifacts from Tombstone. I enjoyed this- but just didn't take any pictures because of how I was feeling.

Then to the main street where we wandered. We had done the OK Corral in previous years, along with the gunfights.. so neither were on the agenda today...

We stopped for a picture at the famous Bird Cage. A very historic old 'entertainment venue' and apparently very haunted...



And then into some stores.. before deciding we were hungry. The natural place to go.. an old brothel, of course! Always kid appropriate!

I've mentioned before Sarah has filtering comments.. Oh man, I wish I had recorded the conversations she initiated during lunch. They were awesome!

The menu.. come on..it's funny!



Inappropriate lunch!



I had another one I was going to post.. it's pretty funny.. of Sarah pondering
the restaurant with a gigantic picture of a neeked woman behind her- but then I remembered this is the DIS and I should respect that, right? Right.. So I won't post!

After lunch (the food was very good!)- we headed back to Grandma's.. Where the evening included swimming & early bedtime!

Tuesday was enjoying the sun. And.... Spring Training Game for our beloved (but horrible) Cubs!



Their brand-new stadium! Very nice!



Go Cubbies!!!



Yhea. They were winning until the top of the 9th. When LA managed to score NINE RUNS in one inning. Way to choke Cubs.

Just like Wrigley! Only- warmer!



Much warmer!



Overall, a very fun afternoon- even with the loss!



Wednesday was my Birthday. Big 37! My mom treated me to a pedicure. Then the hubby and the kids made me a cake. And took a picture of the family. It was very windy this day...



We decided to spend the afternoon at Butterfly World.











Dinner was Mexican and Margaritas. This is always my birthday dinner because the hubby doesn't like Mexican.

Thursday we awoke early and headed to the White Tank Mountains. The parents were taking the kids hiking on some easy hikes while the hubby and I tackled a 10 mile hike up the Mountains.

It was spectacular. We saw almost no one...







A little frightening was about 5 miles into the hike- with NO ONE around- on the said of a very small mountain side path.. we ran into a Rattler.....

I saw it (I have Eagle Eyes) and ran past it. Which irritated it.. and it riled up and started rattling... leaving Hubby on the other side. So he, of course, screamed like a girl and did a running jump over it...

And then we turned around to get this (not the best) picture. We were not hanging around to get a better one!



We did capture the rattle though..which was cool!

We saw two other snakes on our hike (one def. not a rattler- one undetermined as it slithered into a rock) And one Coyote. Very large. Thankfully, NOT in a pack. And he ran off when we approached.

It was an awesome hike- but the downhill killed me- and I am still sore today from this hike!

Friday we did nothing except enjoy the sun. We spent hours at the pool. More hours outside. A wee bit of time at the Model Train Club. More time at the senior mini-golf rec area.. out to dinner.. home to a fire..

And sadly, early Saturday.. we boarded our plane home. Warm, sunny vacay over. Back to work & reality & craziness tomorrow. I'm not ready....

There you go.. Spring Break recap. Hope you enjoyed the sun!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

And now both of us are back to the cold.....brrrrrrrrrr!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

And now both of us are back to the cold.....brrrrrrrrrr!!!

OMG, you are BACK!!!!!!! It's like you dropped off the face of the planet! I have QUESTIONS WOMAN!!!

 

[momabaarjo]

YAY your back and it looks like you had a lovely warm spring break. So many fun things and memories.

Yes you certainly riled up that rattler...and I don't blame your dh for screaming like a girl. I usually back away very quietly...but of course I don't make him look like this...UGH!

 

[Tinker326]

And now both of us are back to the cold.....brrrrrrrrrr!!!

Ann- I was hoping for FB teasers...and nothing?!?!?! Are you leaving us in suspense for your TR?????

YAY your back and it looks like you had a lovely warm spring break. So many fun things and memories.

Yes you certainly riled up that rattler...and I don't blame your dh for screaming like a girl. I usually back away very quietly...but of course I don't make him look like this...UGH!

Oh, you are Texas girl- you know these situations. All we did was pass the darn snake- but it must have surprised him... because he was hissing & rattling away at us..... And that picture was with a zoom- so we were not that close taking it......

Up North here, we just have gigantic skunks and possums.

But regardless, the trip was nice & did you notice all the BLUE SKY in those pictures? That is unseen here... it was wonderful.

 

[Tinker326]

Some more exciting than others.

Revelation #1- I suck at taking selfies. The selfies you see below took about 30 minutes and still didn't turn out good. There is a skill in the selfie. And I do not possess it.

Revelation #2- Apparently I am fatter than I thought. (not a good revelation). I got below shirts thinking they'd be big. Too bad the big fat baby in my belly (named sugar) thought otherwise. Yhea. Shirt is not big. And I need to really start losing weight.

Revelation #3- The actual shirts. These are a reveal of the outfit that Karen & I will be assembling (possibly mostly assembled already) for the 10K.

This is NOT the costume, rather our shirts to wear at another time.....

I give you...
The Tweedles.



You know, except Karen is not a cat. Or a pillow. Chessie stood in for her since both Chessie and Karen are jazziritiffic.

And because the front isn't cute enough... the back. (an even worse selfie)



Aww. We're so jazzirit cute.

I'll look better in this shirt next Feb when I lose 10 or 20. I dream.

Reveal #4. March miles. I ran a total of 31.33 miles in the month of March. I am happy with that number. Tomorrow begins a new month with hopefully better mileage. No Spring Break 'excuses'. (But I'll find other ones!)

There are my reveals.