Mexican Riviera Cruise with WONDERful Souvenir in the Works! 6/7 PTR Link!

[Leshaface]

I hope you do get to London one day!

Thank you for looking though the wedding pics, we got our albums & high-res photo CDs a couple of weeks ago so I've been busy uploading to photobucket so I can share some of the 'real' photos I love looking through them all, seems like a dream now!

And next update to TR is coming soon, hehe... I've tried to drag the last day out because I don't want it to end!

I don't blame you! I hate endings of TR's! Hopefully soon though you'll be starting another one? Although June 2013 is a ways away.

 

[Leshaface]

Oh boy, I did not want to get up out of that bed at the Charles Hotel. It was so comfortable. Even though our flight wasn't until later in the afternoon, we weren't sure how the traffic would be and we still needed to turn in our rental car, go through security, etc.

We ended up leaving the hotel around 8:30 and drove back to Rhode Island. Some farewell pics:

Even with a stop for coffee (At Dunkin's of course), we still had lots of time to spare by the time we got into RI so we took a little detour to a little town that I can't even remember the name. But it was adorable. We pulled over by a lake/bay area to relax.

After we headed to the airport, dropped of our car, went through security (there were only a few people at that time going through!) and sat around waiting for our flight.

We had so much fun, but we wished we had an extra two days to play with. But we definitely want to return someday. Dan really wants to go back to Portland, which really surprises me. I'd like to go back to Boston and do museums and eat more food.

Sorry it took so long to write this!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Once again, more awesome pics!

Bar Harbor, Maine is also a very nice town. The Bar Harbor Inn is a beautiful hotel, and it is right in the middle of everything. When we went to Maine in 2003, we stayed there and we didn't need the car until we left! We were able to walk everywhere, and the food of course...was amazing!

So, your cruise is getting closer...and closer...and closer!

 

[franandaj]

Well I can help you out with a couple of those sites.....I think the big stone churchy picture with the "flash" is the "Old North Church". I thought that the regal three story building with the red brick on the first two floors and the white and gold on top was the building in front of Quincy market, but now I'm not sure if that was the "Old North Church".

Your boat part was on the Charles River and you went underneath the Charles River Bridge.

Looks like you packed in a lot of stuff! Too bad you missed the Union Oyster House, that place was awesome and I think they had AC!

So what did you do AFTER you got back to So Cal?

And do we get to see any pictures of the final result after the four grown men almost herniated their discs?

 

[Pinkocto]

Here I thought you had already packed in a full day after the brewery tour and the duck tour, and then you had tons more packed in! Love the pictures! I'm so glad you left the first hot restaurant, that would have made for a miserable meal.

Too funny about the urinals facing the ballpark. I wonder how many guys have missed while watching the game

 

[heathsf]

I'm so sorry I keep falling sooooo behind! I just caught up though.

1. Oh my GOSH about that creepy whistling man. That story really scared me. It will definitely make me think twice about walking around at night by myself. I'm so glad you decided to run run run run run and not look back! Gosh that is so frightening.

2. You guys packed so much into your NE trip! We went to the Sam Adams brewery a few years ago and even though I'm not a fan of beer, it was still a fun time. And one of our samples was Cherry Wheat and it was pretty good (for beer!) I know which bar you're talking about at Fenway although we haven't been there, just seen it. I love that stadium. It's got so much character.

3. Your trip is coming up so soon! I wish I was as motivated as you to work out. Maybe I need to plan a vacation to help me out

4. So sorry about that coaching job. It is so difficult to comfort someone when it comes to that. My closest friend was pretty much offered a job to work for Tiffany and told her they would call back next week with details for her to come back to make it official, then the next week, then the next and after four weeks of waiting they told her it wasn't going to work out. She was devastated. What can you say? It's just not meant to be. Something better will come along. But you know they're in a place where saying those things doesn't really make them feel better. But time will help. And eventually something better will come along for DH and then you can celebrate bigtime!

 

[Pinkocto]

Your trip is so close!!! We're counting down to the same week, so I'm doubly excited!

Is your annual Thanksgiving trip happening pretty soon?

 

[Leshaface]

I'm so sorry I keep falling sooooo behind! I just caught up though.

1. Oh my GOSH about that creepy whistling man. That story really scared me. It will definitely make me think twice about walking around at night by myself. I'm so glad you decided to run run run run run and not look back! Gosh that is so frightening.

2. You guys packed so much into your NE trip! We went to the Sam Adams brewery a few years ago and even though I'm not a fan of beer, it was still a fun time. And one of our samples was Cherry Wheat and it was pretty good (for beer!) I know which bar you're talking about at Fenway although we haven't been there, just seen it. I love that stadium. It's got so much character.

3. Your trip is coming up so soon! I wish I was as motivated as you to work out. Maybe I need to plan a vacation to help me out

4. So sorry about that coaching job. It is so difficult to comfort someone when it comes to that. My closest friend was pretty much offered a job to work for Tiffany and told her they would call back next week with details for her to come back to make it official, then the next week, then the next and after four weeks of waiting they told her it wasn't going to work out. She was devastated. What can you say? It's just not meant to be. Something better will come along. But you know they're in a place where saying those things doesn't really make them feel better. But time will help. And eventually something better will come along for DH and then you can celebrate bigtime!

I've never tried the Cherry Wheat but have heard great things about it! Need to try someday.

Oh many, my trip is coming up too quick now! I need it to slow down just a smidge so I can catch up with my shopping and working out

Thanks for the kind words about DH He really wants to be somewhere we he feels wanted and needed, and apparently, this isn't the place for him. He's doing WAY better though about the whole situation.

Your trip is so close!!! We're counting down to the same week, so I'm doubly excited!

Is your annual Thanksgiving trip happening pretty soon?

Hi Pam!

I know it's getting SUPER close! I can't believe it's already next month

YES! Our Disneyland trip is already NEXT WEEKEND! We're leaving Friday afternoon-ish and won't be home until later Monday morning. Still need to get tickets!

 

[Leshaface]

Hi everyone!

Sorry i've been MIA. Been mostly lurking the past few weeks. But I needed to add the last part of my NE trip!

We planned to stay a night in Long Beach after we returned home from NE for two reasons: 1) to pick up a HUGE wine fridge that my friend Alison was letting us have and 2) we knew we were going to be exhausted from all the traveling that we had done over the past few days and it would just be nice to sleep and relax without having to drive right away.

It only took us about 20 minutes to get from LAX to Long Beach. We used to live in LB so we KNEW we had to get some of our favorite Mexican food for dinner while we were there and we drove around to all our old spots. The College, our old apartment, etc. After reminiscing, we decided to check into our hotel, Hotel Maya right by the Queen Mary.

It was a wonderful room for a BARGAIN! $60 a night through Priceline! We even got fresh cookies upon check-in because it's a Doubletree hotel

We ended up sleeping very well. And woke up fairly early because we needed to go meet up with Alison and pick up the wine fridge. But first here's how it looked that morning when we woke up:

Nice, cool, and overcast. Ahh, it was great to be back in California.

We packed up (yet again) and got ready to meet up with Alison. She was giving us a HUMONGOUS wine cabinet that holds close to 500 bottles! Her and Fran were trying to clean out their storage units and had this in there that they wanted to get rid of. So OF COURSE we'll take it off their hands! This thing was no joke. It was heavy and ridiculously huge. But we managed to haul it back to Tulare. We had to keep it in the truck overnight because it was too late to unpack it (and too heavy for just the two of us) so the next day DH, our 2 neighbors, and a friend of one of the neighbors came over to unpack it. Oh my gosh. I wish I would have gotten video of these men trying to move it. Now two of these men are massive - they were struggling. We knew, wherever we put it, it was going to stay there for good

I'm going to post a picture of it when I return home from lunch. I thought I took one, but it didn't upload to iPhoto. So this is not complete and i'll return to this part....

Okay got the pics!

Massive right?

Now Alison, don't laugh at the next pics...

Hey! We're planning trips left and right! We can't afford to fill this baby up very quick! LOL! But it is a start. We also have some bottles in our smaller wine cabinet. One day we will have a glorious collection like Alison....one day.

 

[Leshaface]

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Last year I made these for the neighbor kids and nieces and nephews:

And I just got to thinking this year....how LONG it took me to do those! So I scaled it down a bit and made these this year:

Red velvet Cheshire cat cupcakes

Rice krispy treat witch hats

Sugar cookie pumpkins

They were a hit! The cookies were magnificent! Oh so good. I usually one make these particular cookies for Christmas cookies, but decided to bring the recipe out early and i'm so glad I did.

My pug Percy decided to partake in the Halloween festivities too!

One cowboy you don't want to mess with

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In other news, we decided to get Percy a brother. A brother in the form of a Boxer and we're picking him up after Thanksgiving Dan has always wanted a Boxer, so it was time to get one. He already picked it out and he's picking out a name. The only thing I asked was to keep it Disney themed, so here are the names he's thinking..

-Bagheera (jungle book - even though we know it means Panther. Just a cool name)
-Benny (Benny the Cab from Roger Rabbit)
-Bullseye (Toy Story 2 & 3) - I LOVE this one
-Buzz ( Toy Story)

-and my hubby's absolute favorite and is the leader as of now - Bowler Hat Guy. Yes. Bowler Hat Guy from Meet the Robinson's.

We'll see what happens with that.

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In MORE news, our annual Disneyland trip is right around the corner. Next weekend already! We still need to get tickets, but I believe my brother and his wife are getting annual passes. Also, what turned into a Johnson family tradition, turned in to "Other families as well-tradition". I guess more people from SIL's side are coming . Ookkaay. Let's see how this goes. I'll be doing a mini-tr about that.

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ACTUAL TRIP NEWS

I got our cruise booklet in last Thursday!

This makes it even more official for us! Just 2 nights ago, I bought a dress for either Palo or Formal night. Not sure which one to wear it to yet. But you'll probably see some repeat dresses from our cruise in June. Frankly, I just don't want to buy more dresses. I feel like I have a lot in my closet, but we'll see as it gets closer.

 

[franandaj]

I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit when I saw those poor lonely bottles in the cabinet. But hey! There's more in there than it had for the last five years! I hope you are able to find a cooling unit or fix the other one before it gets really hot next summer. Mine has some kind of problem, it keeps getting too hot and an alarm beeping goes off, very annoying.

Those cupcakes are too cute! I don't know where you find the time to bake and decorate like that!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Your pug Percy is adorable!!!!!

And your cupcakes look delicious...I LOVE LOVE LOVE red velvet!!! Can you ship some to Brooklyn please?!

Your cruise is coming up so fast! Before you know it, you will be sailing! Enjoy Disneyland!!

 

[Leshaface]

I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit when I saw those poor lonely bottles in the cabinet. But hey! There's more in there than it had for the last five years! I hope you are able to find a cooling unit or fix the other one before it gets really hot next summer. Mine has some kind of problem, it keeps getting too hot and an alarm beeping goes off, very annoying.

Those cupcakes are too cute! I don't know where you find the time to bake and decorate like that!

I knew you would laugh! We're hoping to start working on fixing the cooling unit next Spring before it gets warm. Although our house never gets hot. Especially in that sitting room area. Depending on what happens next year, we'll be making a few trips to Paso AND hopefully one to Napa! Our problem is, we like drinking wine so it feels like once we put a bottle in there, two come out so we can drink them

Thanks! Baking relaxes me. Crazy, I know but I just love doing it! Plus I love eating it too

 

[Dream426]

Congrats on the new edition!!! Love the wine cabinet also. YAY for getting the cruise documents. So exciting. Only a few more weeks.

 

[Leshaface]

Your pug Percy is adorable!!!!!

And your cupcakes look delicious...I LOVE LOVE LOVE red velvet!!! Can you ship some to Brooklyn please?!

Your cruise is coming up so fast! Before you know it, you will be sailing! Enjoy Disneyland!!

Ugh, Red velvet is my favorite! Next would be chocolate..of course! And i'm definitely making pumpkin cheese cream cupcakes/muffins in the next few weeks. The Disney kind!

Btw Bonnie, I know you're getting back into working out (not hardcore like what you used to do) but are you at all interested in Pilates or using your own body weight to strength train? I found this AMAZING website called blogilates. She's out of San Francisco and all her videos are full length and free. It is tough stuff but really works in all the right areas. I've been using her stuff since last Thursday, and I'm actually excited to do her workouts. She has a lot of videos so you can change it up and not get bored. Check her out if you're ever looking for something new to try.

Congrats on the new edition!!! Love the wine cabinet also. YAY for getting the cruise documents. So exciting. Only a few more weeks.

Hi Gina! Long time no talk! I'm super excited to be going! Mostly so I can come back and provide food porn for everyone

 

[PrincessSophiesMom]

LeshaFace, following your TR is making me so excited! Our trip isn't until February. I can't wait to see how much fun you have! P.S. Pugs are my fave!

 

[Dream426]

Hi Gina! Long time no talk! I'm super excited to be going! Mostly so I can come back and provide food porn for everyone

Love food porn!! Meant to say love the cupcakes and everything you made last year for Halloween. I am a huge cupcake snob....haha I can eat that and brownies all day long. I can't wait for your TR and to see all the food you eat. When we went last year on the Wonder they had this dessert in Animators Palate that was soooo good they gave us double..haha I forget the name of it. I think it was something with apple. I could have had 10 of them. I always look forward to dessert on the ship and always have desset sent to the room at night and my drink.

 

[Leshaface]

LeshaFace, following your TR is making me so excited! Our trip isn't until February. I can't wait to see how much fun you have! P.S. Pugs are my fave!

Hi PrincessSophiesMom! It will be VERY nice for you that you don't have to travel far at all to get to the port! Thanks for following along! And if you have any questions at all, or if there's something you want me to be on the lookout for you, just let me know!

Love food porn!! Meant to say love the cupcakes and everything you made last year for Halloween. I am a huge cupcake snob....haha I can eat that and brownies all day long. I can't wait for your TR and to see all the food you eat. When we went last year on the Wonder they had this dessert in Animators Palate that was soooo good they gave us double..haha I forget the name of it. I think it was something with apple. I could have had 10 of them. I always look forward to dessert on the ship and always have desset sent to the room at night and my drink.

Oh my gosh. At the bolded - just a few days ago, I found a brownie cupcake It's fudge brownie mix that you drop into the center of cupcake mix so you get the best of both worlds! Then top it off with fudge frosting! Check it out! The pictures are amazing!

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/new-recipes/brownie-batter-chocolate-fudge-cupcakes.html

I'll be on the lookout for an apple dessert at Animators Palate then!

 

[Dream426]

Hi PrincessSophiesMom! It will be VERY nice for you that you don't have to travel far at all to get to the port! Thanks for following along! And if you have any questions at all, or if there's something you want me to be on the lookout for you, just let me know!



Oh my gosh. At the bolded - just a few days ago, I found a brownie cupcake It's fudge brownie mix that you drop into the center of cupcake mix so you get the best of both worlds! Then top it off with fudge frosting! Check it out! The pictures are amazing!

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/new-recipes/brownie-batter-chocolate-fudge-cupcakes.html

I'll be on the lookout for an apple dessert at Animators Palate then!

I am picking my chin up off the floor. Those look AMAZING!! I am def. going to have to try and make these one day. I made fudge brownies for my daughters baptism favor but now I wish I had this recipe. Have you tried to make them yet? If not and you plan to you will have to let me know how they come out. I am always trying new recipes. Thank you so much for this.

 

[Leshaface]

I am picking my chin up off the floor. Those look AMAZING!! I am def. going to have to try and make these one day. I made fudge brownies for my daughters baptism favor but now I wish I had this recipe. Have you tried to make them yet? If not and you plan to you will have to let me know how they come out. I am always trying new recipes. Thank you so much for this.

I'm actually making these on Thursday! The only thing is I may not make the frosting. She uses 5 STICKS of butter for 36 cupcakes So i'll probably sub that frosting for some other type of frosting. But I'll definitely let you know how they turn out!