slowing down

Things have slowed down a bit around here....not too much excitement going on. At work you can definitely tell that Spring Break is over and many of the winter visitors have headed home. It's nice to have the business...but it's also nice to get back to our regular routine. Traffic is considerably lighter too...which is always a good thing. It's hard to complain about traffic in a small town like ours, but when there are a lot of tourists in town it does get a little hectic out there. I've decided it not necessarily the tourists (not knowing what they're doing) but rather the frustrated locals who aren't used to having to wait through one or more cycles of the traffic light. hahah There tends to me a lot more people darting in and out of lanes trying to get around the slow moving traffic. Oh well...slowing down now.
We didn't get much of a Spring...we went for winter straight into summer like temperatures. I love this place...but 90 degrees in mid April is kind of hard to take!

There have been a couple of rocket launches lately...which is always a good thing. Several companies have been  having success with their launches. A step in the right direction for sure! We are the Space Coast after all!! It's a thrill to watch them go.

I'm not a big fan of watching baseball or basketball ...although  the March Madness games were pretty exciting! It's always sad when football season ends....but there is golf. John loves watching the pros. I don't mind a little here and there. Our friend Al, recently had a party for the final day of the Master's. He had gone to the actual event for a couple of the early rounds and brought back some souvenirs. He's got a big room with a very large TV...add some friends, some tasty food and...golf isn't really so boring after all. hahah About halfway through the match he had some games set up for a little friendly competition. Corn hole, darts, putting and chipping. I did pretty well on the 6 corn hole tosses...but not so great on the others...but that's ok...I really wasn't trying to win. (it was interesting to watch everyone...some of those people are seriously competitive...I was kind of amused, not really surprised, but amused) It was a fun afternoon.

Brenna in her office...she gave me a tour

This past weekend John was out of town fishing with some friends; so Brenna and I went over to check out our radio stations 40th anniversary celebration. I have been listening almost the whole 40 years. When they first started...you had to turn your radio at just the right angle to pick up the signal. Mostly classical music on the weekends back then...but over the years it got bigger and better. It went through some changes...but I stuck with it through them all. Once you listen to commercial free programming...it is really hard to listen to anything else. Plus no one else has the news (NPR) and variety of music.
I even lost out on another station's prize back in the 80's. A local station had a promotion going on...if you got their random call and you could tell them their slogan...you would win $1000.00. well...John had mentioned it to me...but it kind of went in one ear and out the other...because I didn't listen to them.One afternoon I actually got the random call
"Hi!!! What radio station do you listen to?"
I stopped for a minute knowing there was some catch phrase...but I had absolutely NO IDEA what it was...so I said
"I listen to WFIT!"
The caller told me..."if you had said BJ-105 you would have won $!000.00."
Well, .I told him" sorry I don't, but I love my station."
I would have put $1000.00 to good use...but as Jen would say..."It is what it is." And I can say I really do love my station and don't know what I'd do if they ever went off the air.

It was a nice afternoon...but it was HOT so we didn't stay too long. It got up to 90! agggh.
Where else would I get to hear music like these songs that came up on my random bike ride playlist for the day.
Come to Me-The Goo Goo Dolls
You've done It Again Virginia- The National
Waiting For Tonight- Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Mayor of Simpleton-XTC
The Golden Path-The Chemical Brothers
Litany-Guadalcanal Diary
Sunday Bloody Sunday- U2
World Spins Madly On- The Weepies
Paper Airplane- Alison Kraus & Union Station
Yer So Bad- Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Most of these songs and or groups I heard first on WFIT....with some exceptions (tv show soundtracks )...but the bottom line is they DO play this kind of music everyday. All genres, new, old, Alternative, etc...
Back in the day I would record the music onto cassette tapes...I'd hear a song starting and dash over to hit the record button. As Brenna pointed out...I still have stacks of those tapes. hahah Sometimes it took me years to figure out who a particular song was by or what it was called...Google sure has helped with that. hahah. So...here's hoping they stick around for 40 (or more) years!
And that's about it for now.
Happy Wednesday!

Celebrating the end of the 20's

Back in February we had a party to celebrate Brenna's 30th birthday. I had been trying to think of a reason for a 20's party ever since I read the Paris Wife and then again when I saw the movie "Midnight in Paris". All those great characters that were living there and having fun back then...I figured it would be a great party theme. And so....that's how it started. As anyone who knows me, knows...once I get the idea, it starts and then just keeps  growing from there. First order of business was to convince the birthday girl that she wanted  us to have this party to celebrate her birthday. She was a little reluctant at first...but that didn't last.
Once we picked the theme, I was on the lookout for decorating ideas. After Christmas, I spotted some fancy ornaments and decorations on sale. I decided we needed them to jazz up the back porch where the party was going to be.

 I got some "jeweled" garlands and the beaded ornaments and strung them around the area. Also added some lights along the back wall.
I also wanted to get some kind of fountain to go into the pool.....to make it look more like we were the Gatsby's...hahah I ordered one for Christmas. John was really skeptical about this plan, hahah but that didn't stop me. When we first installed it the water came up about 6 inches. Brenna, John and I were laughing. We looked like the Beverley Hillbillies with that fountain...but we moved it around the pool and finally got the effect we were looking for.

We had a fire going and added rope lights around the perimeter. Not that many people spent a lot of time out on the pool deck...but it had a nice effect. We came up with a plan to move the furniture around on the porch to make room for people walking around and/or dancing. The couch got shifted to one end of the room and it left a nice open area. I put a black cloth on one of my little tables and Brenna added some of her "Art Deco' look decorations to finish it off.

We wanted to cover up all the art work and pictures on the end of the porch where we had moved the couch...so I came up with a plan to get  plastic tablecloths and hang them as a sort of "backdrop". One thing led to another and the next thing you know I was covering all the windowless walls. It took a few days to do it all...but I just took my time and pieced things together and worked on it each night the week or two before the party, until I liked the results. David had a few prints for us to use and a few odds and ends to decorate with. He loaned us this big picture that is "Picasso-like". we used that for our "salon".

                          We thought that it would make a good place to pose for pictures. :)
Brenna had her heart set on ordering some petit fours....so we found a place in town that could make them. Brenna gave the woman a design to copy...and they weren't exactly what we imagined...hahah but they looked fine...and tasted great. The little cake was sort of a "Cake Wreck"...but Brenna took it and redesigned it the night before the party. Hers looked a lot nicer! (she added the edible gold beads on the top)

Meanwhile everyone was getting their costumes together. I had gotten John a Gangster vest, hat and gun for Christmas....hahah. We found a gold tiered dress on sale that would work for Megan. Brenna looked and looked for several weeks before the party and was getting a little discouraged...but finally found a beautiful dress on the sale rack at our local Dillard's. She re-worked it a little and it looked great! Josh went for the "Gatsby on the yacht" style. Marcus found a vest, and we got a hat for him. I had my costume from the Halloween party we went to in 2013; and just added to that.
The wig I bought looked goofy on me...but Megan wore it well!

I got a tray and made it into a carrier for my candy cigarettes and and Clark's Teaberry gum
Not everyone came in costume...and I suspect several people did not come because they didn't want to bother with a costume...but I will say those who did.... had a blast!

Brenna made her feathered headband and fixed her hair 20's style and Amy had fun with her head dress and long cigarette holder and gloves.

It just so happened that Megan and Marcus had planned a trip to Hilton Head, SC during the time that we were having the party. Marcus agreed to drive down (about 5-6hrs) so they could celebrate with us. It was great to have them there.

Heather & Chris...that pencil-thin mustache was too much

Jeremy and Jenny, pictured above hadn't been to our house in awhile. They weren't exactly sure where they were going, but Jeremy figured he'd know our street when he got close. Turns out someone a couple of blocks over was also having a get-together....Jeremy didn't think it was our house. His wife saw the cars and said"that must be it, I'll go check" Jeremy stayed in the car (good choice...hahah). Jenny walked up to the door in her flapper costume, looked in the front window and saw what looked like some sort of prayer meeting going on...HAHAHAHAH she turned around and went back to the car. Jeremy was glad he didn't go with her; but that got a good laugh. Not sure what the prayer group thought. :)

Brenna and Josh(aka Gatsby) with her friend Meagan(friend from sorority days at USF) from Tampa. She and her boyfriend drove over for the night. We put the headband on him for this picture

Kim, Amy & Anne

Jenny and Tammy

John with the girls

Megan and Marcus...some people didn't realize this was Megan at first... looks a little different with the flapper wig

Don't shoot!

Uncle Paul and Uncle Mark stopped by to say Hello!

Kim definitely looks like a one of the gangster's molls...I love this photo

the whole gang...well most of us anyway

We all had a great time. We laughed, danced, ate, drank and took lots of pictures. I think the friends who didn't come wished they had after they saw these pictures.

we had fun. Lots of laughs, good food, we took plenty of pictures and we danced. We had some 20's style music and then we added some dance music. I think the best song of the night was a request from Kim....A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)...by Fergie, Q-Tip & GoonRock; from the Great Gatsby Soundtrack. Everyone danced...and we had fun.

Brenna had the new go-pro and selfie stick going

The next day we were sitting around talking about the night...John said"What are we going to do next?"...wellllllll....he's got a big birthday coming up in December and I'm already working on it!
Back to the 60's for that one! :)

Crazy game nights and going to town...or good times with good people

On Wednesday, the 11th, the conditions weren't great for skiing/snowboarding. The light was kind of flat, as I mentioned in my last post....making it very difficult to see well. Goggles helped a little, but pretty much everyone agreed, it just wasn't the best conditions. (John tells me when the light is "flat" like that...fishing is no good either). Because the temperatures dropped at night...the snow would harden up and when the sun was out it wasn't a big problem, because it warmed it up enough to soften the snow up. On that day,due to the cloudy conditions...the snow stayed hard and kind of icy ....which makes it very difficult to ski or snowboard because you can't get "an edge"...you basically just slide along the crunchy icy snow and hope you don't fall! Not fun!
As it turns out, Martha had scheduled a visit to a hospital in Salt Lake City that morning, to check out their new clinic. (she had met one of the Drs or administrators when they were in Hawaii. She mentioned she was going to be in SLC in March and they invited her to come check it out.) I decided right from the start that I was not going skiing that day...the others gave it a go; but everyone came back before lunch and called it a day. So we had our "cold" lunch and took a little break before heading into "historic downtown Park City" to check out some of the shops.
Martha summed it up like this "art gallery,souvenir/gift shop, restaurant/bar, theater, coffee shop and then repeat....all the way down the block." That said, there were some nice looking galleries along the road...but I wasn't shopping for any artwork. Some of the bars and restaurants looked tempting..but we weren't eating either. We did stop at one of the (many) coffee shops for a snack. We poked around in the stores, everything was nice not too junky, but I didn't see anything I couldn't live without. We did pick up a t-shirt or two along the way.
Park City is an interesting town. I liked it. It's a pretty area, the valley surrounded by the mountains in the background. To me it felt kind of "new". It was very easy to get around everywhere (everywhere we went anyway), it feels "open" and clean and well planned out. That's kind of a lame description...but I liked it.

There is definitely an emphasis on the arts...which is always nice. Lots of galleries, as I mentioned...and sculptures around town.

Did I mention...I looked like a total geeky tourist....wearing my sneakers...hahah. I had smashed my little toe on my right foot a week or so before we left Fl...and I knew I couldn't walk around town all afternoon in my boots. I would have been more "stylish"...hahah but it wasn't worth it. It hurt!
So...it was sneakers...or my looser "snow" boots...which would also have been goofy, since there wasn't much snow or slush around to slosh through.

notice how I cropped my feet out...hahaha...since I was already being goofy and making Megan pose with me on the bench next to the bear :)

We walked around downtown for a bit. Then we headed back to Park City and checked out some of the stores at the resort where we were staying. Martha, Megan and I walked down to the center area...on the opposite side from where we were staying in the condos. Down there, there were ski shops/rentals, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, a market place, etc...and lots of activity. That's where the hotel rooms are, and the main parking lot for day time skiers is located; so there were a lot of people coming and going. we ran into Tony and Ian while we were there. We finalized our dinner plans and then called Marcus to come pick us up for a quick run to the store for some food and wine. It's interesting...they sell beer at the grocery stores...but only one place sells wine and liquor. We stopped there to pick up a few bottles. I sat in the car while they all went in...got to do some people watching. That being the only store in town selling liquor and wine....meant it was pretty popular! hahahhahaha

just after sunset

We cooked dinner every night...Tony mostly...he likes to cook and he's a good one! John helped grill the chicken and steaks one night...and we all helped with side dishes, etc...but I'd say Tony was our main chef. One night we had  a pizza-like appetizer on naan bread,Butternut squash baked with pasta and sauce, nice salad, Gluten free brownies and ice cream. Champagne, beer and wine as needed.
After dinner we usually relaxed and played games......... if no good basketball games were on.(Duke for Marcus). I brought Sequence.

On the back it says...EASY ENOUGH FOR CHILDREN, CHALLENGING FOR ADULTS!- in other words...perfect for us

 We played that a couple of times. I also brought Joker Rummy

...that was a fail...no one wanted to concentrate on learning how to play....hahah. We play "Cards Against Humanity" for a bit...Tara warned us it was a little crude...hahah It was okay...but Tony was not at all interested, Martha, John and I kept looking at each other like "What the heck is this?" hahah We gave up on that after a bit...and found the BEST game of all for our group "Head's Up!"---Thanks Ian!
We had fun with that. We decided not to have teams... we decided we'd rather  just have one person try to guess as the rest of us acted things out. Factor in the wine that was being drunk by the players and we had a LOT of good laughs. I tried my best to capture the "action".

the word was quicksand...hahah- notice Tony's reaction to John... 

 

 

marching(?)

It was hard to catch people "in the act"...because they were moving too fast. Apparently if you hit the setting,  you can record the actions of the people guessing...but we didn't do it that night. Too bad...Ian acting out jumping hurdles and the night's best.... John demonstrating "Pole dancing" by swinging around the beam
between the dining area and the kitchen...hahah would have been worth re-watching.
We had a lot of fun. We didn't go out to any bars or clubs...we didn't go anywhere...which I guess sounds like it might have been boring, but it wasn't at all. We had great fun.
Tara had a couple of friends from Ohio that we skied with one day. One night one of them came to join us for dinner. He had fun, but might have wondered a little about the crazy family Tara had married into...hahaha. Marcus might have wondered too...hahah) He did say  he felt completely comfortable and at home....and it made him miss his family.
Good times with good people.