By tick and tock a day is done.....

By tick and tock a day is done, when seven go by a week is done.......... and before you know it a whole month is gone. The first part of that is a line (as I remember it) from a children's book I like to read to the kids every January about the months of the year. It's called "Month by Month A Year Goes Around". I know it sounds cliche...but time really does seem to be flying by.

 After all the holiday and party fun, life got back to normal. We have settled back in to our regular, sometimes boring, routine, but all in all I can't complain. It is lovely in Florida at this time of the year. We have a lot of sunshine and even when the temperatures drop...they don't stay that way for long enough. It's perfect for walking, taking bike rides and finally getting to open up the windows to let fresh breezes in.

This year it seems like there are more than the usual amount of "snowbirds" in town. While winter started out pretty mild up north...I guess the price of gas inspired a lot of people to head south. The traffic has been terrible and  at times it seems like every other car is from somewhere else. I am not looking forward to the Spring Break crowds...mainly because you have to constantly remind yourself to factor in a little extra time to get places due to the increased and often times, slower traffic. I certainly understand why people want to come here...but when you need to get somewhere, you don't always appreciate the sight seers...hahaha

Our January trip to the Viera wetlands...Erik was a great guide!

I haven't posted in a while...so I'll back track a bit to catch up. Super Bowl Sunday this year wasn't really very exciting...because none of the teams I care about were in it. The play-offs were fun to watch...and for a minute it looked like "my" Steelers might just make it.....hahaha but in the end neither the Broncos or Panthers really excited me.
We did however have a fun Super Bowl Party at our local hangout...LongDoggers.  Al made some extra food just for our group and I made some cookies. We kind of "took over" the outside patio area and we just had fun.

I barely watched the game...but had plenty of fun talking and eating and just enjoying the gang. There were several "pools" of course...and John and Ron got lucky and hit one square; so that was an added plus.

Next up on the calendar

 our plans included a quick trip down to south Florida to celebrate our anniversary and see David in the Coconut Grove Art Festival.

It was a busy weekend in Miami...the art festival plus a big boat show down on Key Biscayne.

Our friend Al had a booth at the boat show, and we had hoped to get down to check it out too. That didn't work out...more on that in a bit.

We lucked out and found a room within walking distance of the art festival...with this beautiful view.

art show booths

We walked around and enjoyed the artwork. Stopped by to visit with David and Augie...and people watch for a bit. After a brief time at the art show...we decided to see about heading over to check out the boat show. We knew there was a water taxi service so we thought we'd try that.

We took a nice walk through the park and to the dock. There were a lot of boats! The amount of money spent on those boats was hard to comprehend..... lets just say the economy seems to be doing well in South Florida. Well...we got to where the water taxi was picking people up and found out that we would have to wait. There was no way we'd get on the next boat based on the number of people in line. Boats hold about 30/35...we were just past that mark in the line. Several different boats were running...but there was a lot of traffic on the Inter coastal Waterway...slowing things down. 45 minute wait for a boat...followed by a 45 minute ride over....we began to realize that this was not going to be an easy process. did I mention John is not good at waiting in line...hahah. Plan B we decided to set out on foot back to the hotel area to try to find the shuttle that was also taking people over to the boat show. After a meandering walk around Coconut Grove...we found where we needed to go for the shuttle...then we had to wait some more. All the while John's cold medicine was starting to wear off and he was not feeling 100%.....but he hung in there. Just as we were about to give up...the shuttle appeared and we headed over, along with a handful of other folks. The trip over was quick! But as we got closer to the entrance to the show...we saw hundreds of people waiting in lines.....and we realized they were in line trying to get BACK to where we just came from. OKAY.....this was not looking too promising...big crowds of hot, grouchy people (I assume...we didn't actually get off the bus...hahah). We evaluated the whole picture and decided there was nothing at the boat show we really needed to see...so we told the driver we were just going to stay on the bus and go back where we started. hahaha Apparently this is the first year they have had the boat show on Key Biscayne and things did not go as smoothly as the organizers had hoped they would...as far as getting people to and from the venue. Oh well...we got a nice little tour of the area while we rode the bus to and fro.
When we got back we found a local spot for a bite to eat. Live music ( a little loud...but that's the way it goes), decent food...not exactly the steak dinner we had kind of planned on...but much easier.
Basically nothing really went according to plans that day/night...but it was beautiful and we still enjoyed ourselves. I scored a little piece of art. Had David go negotiate a deal for me, since he knew the artist. He saved me $40.00!
Enjoyed sitting on the balcony back at the room listening to the sounds of the town down below and watching the lights come on. Sunday morning we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise right outside our window.

We planned to scoot out of there fairly early in hopes of avoiding most of the traffic on I-95. There was a coffee shop downstairs in the hotel...and while I had to wait several minutes to get my sandwich...I have to say it was one of the best breakfast sandwiches I have ever had! Turkey, egg whites, spinach and Havarti cheese on a toasted English muffin...a nice way to start the day, that's for sure.
 So...even though out trip turned out to be nothing like we had planned...AT ALL...hahah I really enjoyed it all anyway....John...with his cold, the lines, the waiting... etc...maybe not quite as much...hahahah
Now a little poem by Elizabeth Coatsworth:
                                                               MARCH
                                                              A blue day,
                                                               a blue jay
                                                        and a good beginning.
                                                               One crow,
                                                            melting snow---
                                                           spring's winning!
                                                                             

Friends and Costumes

I told you that the whole costume aspect of the party was met with mixed reactions. It made some people nervous; but not us! hahah I knew some people wouldn't get into it, but I was curious to see what ideas everyone would come up with. In the end I was (actually, I think everyone was) impressed with the amount of participation and the variety. The costumes certainly were a good ice-breaker and they kept everyone laughing and smiling all night....just like a good costume party should. The people at Party City were probably wondering what was going on...hahaha I bet they were wondering where the party was...hahah I know I would have been.
Any way...here's some fun pictures of the various costumes. Facebook did a Friends movie today for Friend's Day...pffffffffft...here's MY "friends" review. They're in numerical order on my camera...so this is kind of how the night progressed.

It's fitting that some of the first people to arrive were family members and old friends....like Art and Gayle. John went to first grade with Art!

It was also funny when it took a few minutes to figure out exactly who was who...Al above looked a little different with his "sideburns and mustache". When Megan came home after Brenna teased up her hair...John didn't even recognize her for a minute. hahah That's okay...Megan didn't know who I was either...hahaha
When the invitations went out...I had a start time of 7:30pm...in hopes that people would get there by 8:30pm. Honestly most nights I'm falling asleep by 8:30pm...and I was afraid if the party didn't get going early enough...we might all be slowing down when we needed to be amping up. Fortunately...for probably the first time ever....people actually started arriving early! (we did tell some people to come at 7pm...but it surprised me that they actually did come then.) I can't lie...hahaha many times when we had parties in the past, I have been known to stand by the front window watching for the first car to arrive.

  Band t-shirts included The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Allman Brothers

                                    There were lots of glasses... and some rose colored lenses.

cousins

Some wigs made people look completely different...or years younger...like Nancy here, who looked just like she did in HS in her wig.

                      We had NASA engineers and Astronaut wives and Audrey Hepburn styles.

I remember people thinking I was a little crazy because I wanted to come home from  Gainesville for "The Mardi Gras Ball" a crazy costume party /dance that the church put on every year as a fundsraiser. (Comments like "Let me get this straight...you need to get home for a party your parents (and their church)are having???)
 It was a party that my parents and all their friends helped plan, organized and went to...and they had a blast every time. Once we were old enough to go...we had fun too. Watching them, etc. Well...that's kind of how our kids feel. Their friends were curious the first time we had a costume party and they came to it...but now they know it's going to be a good time!

Jon (on the left)...along with my sister and my niece walked through the lobby of the hotel in this get-up. hahaha

                 beards and sunglasses and big hair make it hard to tell who's who...hahah

                                           At 8:15 the party was already hopping!

someone asked Elizabeth if that was her real hair...hahaha

   These were blue tinted glasses.....but he couldn't see...hahah so we popped out the lenses.

as I said...the video FB made for me wasn't even close.....here's what my "Friends" video might include...:) :) :)