It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…around here anyway…haha. 🙂 I have again started to decorate for Christmas way earlier than most probably do, but, I have found that it takes me quite a while to get everything into its place and all prettied up. In addition, my Dad who will be here for Thanksgiving, love, love, loves Christmas decorations, so I wanted to get them up for him–And one of our daughters and her beau will be on a cruise over Christmas and we are going to celebrate Christmas with them on Thanksgiving–all good reasons to decorate a wee bit early this year. 😉 I started working on the staircase bannister today—actually, Chris started working on it before I did…by the time I even opened up one of my peepers this morning, he had attached the garland that we had put together last year, all I had to do was a bit of tweaking and adding of big, beautiful bows. I wrote a long blog about the process that we went through last year, so I will link that here, but, before I give you that link, here are a few pictures of the finished project–We didn’t change a thing from last year’s creation:
I’ve also created a little video tutorial of sorts and along with my blog explanations, if you’d ever want to try something like this, it should be a snap for you. 🙂 In this video, I also show you how I decorated up my mantel, hearth, and credenza today. Here is my blog post from last year giving you all of those particulars–I didn’t really do too much differently this year…If it ain’t broke don’t fix it and all of that huh? 😉 😉 And before I give you that link, here are today’s mantel and hearth creations:
Here is the link to last year’s blog post where I explain all about the mantel and hearth:
I’m getting a bit of a head start on my Christmas decorating this year in that I decided on a whim that I would go ahead and make up several — as in 4 — Christmas centerpieces. 🙂 As I’ve explained in the past, I always use the same “staple” pieces when creating my centerpieces…i.e. lanterns, trays/plates/bowls, & candles…throughout each Season. I just change out the accent pieces to match the Season in which we are celebrating. So my first task for 3 of the arrangements was to deconstruct them and put all parts and pieces into labeled ziplock bags so that when I pull my stuff out next year I won’t get completely overwhelmed and I will have provided myself a clue of where to start the Fall decorating frenzy.
Here are the 3 centerpieces I deconstructed and reconstructed with Christmas accents:
I *thought* it would only take me a short amount of time to complete that task, but, pffft…I had obviously lost my mind for a moment, because it took me quite a little while to take apart, label ziplock bags, wrap up breakable items, etc…etc…BUT, I finally got it all completed and packed away. I then had to venture down into my basement where all Holiday bins–thankfully, well organized and succinctly labeled for my own convenience– are located. I needed to gather up the supplies out of their specific bin necessary to reconstruct my Christmas centerpieces. And **bonus** I collected up the parts and pieces for another centerpiece that I had created anew last year and added it to the queue–certainly I could do a ‘quick’ video showing how to put 4 centerpieces together. 😉 Uhhh, *quick* might not have been the correct word to use, but, I did manage to get all 4 centerpieces completed and I am quite happy with the results. Sooooooooo, I would say, even though my video is a bit over 24 minutes long, I was still able to transform my centerpieces over to Christmas and recreate a new one “in a snap”.
Here are the 3 centerpieces that I recreated after de-Fall’ing’ them. I’ll post a link below to my YouTube video tutorial–in which I explain every step for each little project. 🙂
And here is the 1 centerpiece that I made up specifically for the Christmas Season:
Today, I will be de-Fall’ing’ the rest of the house—Think of me, say a prayer for me, sent me a good thought as this chore is my least favorite thing to do in my decorating endeavors. 😉 That said though, I will definitely take the time to pack everything up nicely and in an organized fashion because I know when I take the time to do that, the next time that I go to decorate, it will be a ‘snap’!! 😉
I have officially finished my first crafting project for the 2016 Christmas Season. This burlap and snowman wreath was so much fun to create–This is an easy little wreath that anyone could create without too much trouble. I’ve made a tutorial video and have just uploaded it to my YouTube Channel, I will post a link to that below.
Let me give you a tiny bit of a back story about this wreath. My daughter Christin is a teacher and one of her colleagues has asked me to come to their school and teach (what me teach?) a class showing how to make a burlap wreath. 🙂 So I humbly said that I would be honored to do that, and then I started to wrap my brain around what I might like to make as a demonstration for them–I thought I would make a burlap wreath to display, one that they could refer to as we were creating, and then I needed to make one while I was teaching them the steps–I decided to buy supplies to make two of the same wreath, I will be donating one of the wreaths to the school for them to use to raffle off, proceeds will go to their “Relay for Life” team to help combat cancer–A horrible illness that has affected our extended family several times . 😦 So, donating a wreath that could possibly bring in a little money to help…no brainer for me. 🙂
Here is the “Supply/Informational” sheet that I provided to them so that they could prepare for our little class:
And I also provided this collage picture to show them what supplies I had gathered for my wreath:
Here is the supply list if anyone out there would like to make this wreath for themselves:
16″ Work Wreath
1 Roll of Burlap Runner (18″x15′)
1 Roll of Solid Burlap Ribbon (5.5″x15′)
1 Roll of Coordinating Wired Ribbon (for a craft bow)
Snowman (or other item of your own choosing)
Burlap’y’ Christmas Ornaments
Coordinating flowers…i.e. Poinsettias/Pine picks
Scissors, Pipe Cleaner & Wire Cutters
Hot Glue Gun
Here is a link to my tutorial video on my YouTube Channel:
Wish me luck y’all!! I yammer along here on my blog and yes, now in my video tutorials, but, I’ve never taught a class—I mean, I’m not nervous about getting up and talking to those folks, I just want it to go well and I want to be a help to those that attend…OH gosh, it will all work out, and in the end, this wreath will help to combat one of the most horrible diseases on the planet, cancer. *That* is a good thing. 🙂
Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤
**In crafting there are no mistakes, only unique creations**
~Arlynn ❤
***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE (11/15/16)
Oh my gosh y’all!!! I “taught” my burlap wreath making class last night, but, can I tell you something?! The ladies in this class were absolutely awesome and truly didn’t need too much instruction. 🙂 They were all very talented and they were ready to work to create something gorgeous for their homes…AND they did!! Here are a smattering of pictures of our time together, creating, laughing, and enjoying one another greatly. I feel like I have gained many new friends, friends that I will definitely cherish. OH what a wonderful evening it was!!
Here I am standing in the parking lot of our daughter’s school–Yes, I was a wee bit nervous and excited. I was fixin’ to go and teach teachers…what?! lol
We were spread out and ready to go in the library–And of course, me, who is never at a loss for words started out the class by introducing myself a little bit…
And then we got started, I honest to goodness only gave a tiny bit of instruction as I was standing up there and then I started circling around the room and helping each lady get started, and they took it from there! I did make all of the bows that you’ll see, it is a skill that needs to be honed and goodness knows, I’ve been making them for over 35 years now…BUT, the ladies made my bows look fabulous and I need to take a lesson from them and how they fluffed them out and arranged them on their wreaths so beautifully—I’m telling you, these girls were amazing!!!
The ladies were diligent workers, here are a few pictures of them in action and in deep concentration as they let their creative juices flow. 🙂 I LOVED watching them–And I tried my very best to make myself available whenever anyone had a question–They told me that I did a good job–I will take them at their word. ❤
I unfortunately didn’t get a picture of this wreath and this awesome Mom and daughter team, but, it sure was looking pretty as we were working on it here–SO sorry I didn’t get a picture girls!!! (I’d love to see a picture of the final product when it is completed)
Hahaha…OH Lawd, we were in deep conversation here huh? LOL
Here are pictures of the ladies with their gorgeous creations (some of the wreaths didn’t get completely finished, but, ALL were so, so, so pretty no matter the state in which they left). 🙂
First, let me say that this sweet lady didn’t need my help at all–She said she came for the camaraderie (and trust me this was a wonderful group of ladies with which to spend time), check out the beautiful wreath that she created! WTG Nancy!!
And here are the rest of the ladies that I was able to help…Again, I was amazed at their creativity, tenacity, and desire to make beautiful Christmas wreaths for their homes. 🙂
Here is Kate–That plaid ribbon…OH yes, I need some of that!! Such a pretty wreath! The accent pieces that she chose to pair with that ribbon…so, so, so pretty!! 🙂
This is Janice–I can’t wait to see her finished product, you should have seen some of the accent pieces that she had at the ready, we just ran out of time……Such a lovely wreath in the making though. 🙂
This Peggy with her big, beautiful deco mesh wreath–She didn’t quite get it finished, but, again, it is going to be just gorgeous when she adds her other lovely other accent pieces. 🙂
This is Joan—Her wreath looks SO pretty and it matches her genuine sweetness…All she needs to do is to add her lettering and a few more accent pieces…Wow, is that ever going to make a statement wherever it gets hung. 🙂
This is Denise and she is the lady that pulled our evening together (thank you Denise!!). 🙂
And this is Tabitha—I kind of sprung a little ‘surprise’ on her…and thank goodness she was a willing participant with my surprise. At first, I fully intended to demonstrate how to make a burlap wreath by actually going through the steps as I made my own wreath explaining as I went–trust me, there would have been no way that I could have made a wreath while there, I ran around answering questions, making bows, and chatting it up with these ladies–I’m a pretty good multi-tasker…but, not that good…lol. 😉 As I stated above in my original blog post, I made that other Snowman wreath to set up as a demo and I also donated it to the school to help raise funds for their Relay for Life team (or for whatever other good cause for which they might want to use the proceeds–They will be raffling it off). 🙂 ANYway–I had brought along all of the parts and pieces to make an identical wreath and thankfully Tabitha said that she would stay to create it — At the end of the evening, she took her beautiful creation home with her; she did a fabulous job!!!
Our daughter Christin is one very, very lucky young lady to have all of these wonderful women in her life…They are all very, very special!!! VERY special! Christin was there too btw, she is the one that clicked off these pictures, and in her own quiet way, she also helped some of the ladies by answering questions and sharing her own talents.
**To all of you ladies that attended, know that you touched my heart of hearts with your kind words, your desire to create, and your sweet, sweet ways–My life is forever changed after meeting all of you and spending time creating with you! Thank you for having me and for trusting in my ability to help y’all make something that you’ll have in your homes for many Christmases in the future…(((HUGS))) all around!!***
Life is good!!!
Until next time, ya’ll take good care! ❤
**In crafting there are no mistakes, just unique creations**
When I woke up on this morning, I couldn’t believe that we were already at our last Port of Call in Halifax, Nova Scotia; this cruise had flown by way too fast!! As always, Chris was taking his morning walk, getting his coffee, doing his crossword puzzles, and catching some really great pictures.
Check out this pretty ship, the Seabourn Quest:
To show you how far away this ship really was, here is that picture before it was cropped:
Check out this pretty Lighthouse…
And here is another Lighthouse, only problem is, well, could they have put the cell tower out of the direct line of sight of the Lighthouse? Check it out…
Those cliffs are pretty amazing though huh? Wow!!
My outfit for the day:
Check out this Canadian Navy’s Submarine! The Captain actually came over the public address system to alert us to their presence. 🙂 We all walked out and waved to them. 🙂
Here comes the Pilot to help us navigate through the local waterways…
Here is the Carnival Pride again, she’d been with us at every port:
We’d noticed that several of the Ports that we had come alongside (not tender ports) on this trip had been very industrial in nature. Chris and I are more accustomed to the Alaska ports which cater more specifically to cruise ships where shopping and other cruising/tourist related activities are more easily accessible. Actually, we think that Alaska is the exception because Hawaii’s ports were similar to the ones that we experienced on this trip. One thing that we have noticed though is that because the ports are industrial in nature, the local folks have tried to make a more welcoming facade by providing tents or booths where they sell their wares. In Halifax for instance, the entire cruise terminal was full of booths from one end to the other–In St. John, they had a huge tent set up for their folks. Anyway, just an observation that we made while on this trip…
Here is the Princess Patter and Halifax Port information:
Here we are snugged up against Pier 21…
That bagpiper was awesome!!!
So now that we were securely moored up in Halifax, Chris and I made our way off of the ship–Of course, the elevators, as always, told the tale of where we’d be for the day.
As I mentioned in the video up there ^^, we’d be meeting my dear friend Nancy and her sister Jane today–I met Nancy via Facebook back in 2008, 2 days after I joined Facebook. She had a Newfoundland dog too and we had a ton in common and as we got to know one another better through the years, we figured out that we had much more than our pups in common. 🙂 Our first task after disembarking was to pick up our rental car from the Hertz place. (Chris made those arrangements online before we even left home) … The Hertz building—really it was just a small room inside of another building right off of the street about 2 blocks from the cruise terminal–easily enough found. 🙂
Here was our mode of transportation for the day:
We had printed off directions to where we were to meet Nancy and Jane so off we drove through the streets of Halifax. A pretty little city with very busy streets as there were several cruise ships in port on this day.
We managed to find the restaurant pretty easily and we parked and waited for Nancy and Jane to arrive. 🙂 I had butterflies fluttering around in my belly big time…I was so excited!!! They pulled into the parking lot and then the HUGS began!!! 🙂 It was so nice to finally meet Nancy in person!! ❤
Yes, the tears were flowing through those smiles!!! ❤
We had a lovely time together exchanging gifts, here is one thing that Nancy made for me…How talented is she?! Wow, I was blown away!! And I will cherish that very special gift forever!! ❤
One more picture before we said our goodbyes…I was so sad to leave her side, no doubt about that…:'(
–All right…Moving on to our next destination…Chris and I left there and started driving toward Peggy’s Cove–It was about a 45 minute drive–very pretty, and an easy trip to do on your own–it is really not necessary to take a planned (Princess) excursion, just rent a car and head on out. If you don’t have a cell plan that would provide you with a GPS, make sure your rental car has one or you print off the directions before leaving home.
The leaves were gorgeous on our way…
And before we knew it, we were arriving in the sweet little town of Peggy’s Cove…A very, very quaint little community that has been in existence since 1811—And the Lighthouse, that is still a working structure, was built in 1914—It is run by the Canadian Coastguard.
I am a real fan of music of all sorts, and bagpipes have always really intrigued me–I play a bad clarinet…haha…So blowing into those pipes seems to me like it would not be an easy instrument to master…this fella was doing a fantastic job at entertaining all of those who were there visiting…
And Chris put his wide angle lens to work–My favorite shots, pretty much of the entire trip, were shots like this one–I just think that this is an amazing picture (and we have probably 10 of them that look similar to this)…
And that was our day in Halifax…We really had a fantastic day, I especially enjoyed this day and the day that we spent in St. John in that we weren’t hurried or herded (like I do feel we are sometimes when we’re doing a more structured excursion). We headed back toward the ship and turned in our rental car (the Hertz representative wasn’t in the office, but they did provide a drop ‘box’ in which to deposit the keys when the car is returned). We then headed back onto the Regal, but, first, I stopped to do a bit of shopping at some of the booths that were set up in the cruise terminal. I met Chris back in the room and before long, we headed up to the Horizon Court to grab some dinner…It was Italian night—Some of my very favorite food on the planet thank you very much. 😉
I just love their ice sculptures! This one was dubbed “The leaning tower of ‘pizza'”…hahaha. 😉
Honest to goodness, we did not have a bad meal in the Horizon Court or Bistro all week long, everything was always great! Now that we had exhausted ourselves running around Halifax and then filled our bellies with delicious Italian food, we headed back to our stateroom, and we again, entertained ourselves with some movies from the massive selection available. (I’ll add a little video of said tv in my next post).
My next and then last posts in this Series will touch on our last day on board (including a video of how the Stateroom TV works and what it has to offer), then disembarkation morning and then, I will also include a little video of our welcome home committee…;) (Think large, furry, beings) 😉 My very last post in this Series will concentrate on the Regal Princess. It will include a detailed collage picture tour of all of the venues that I could find to photograph. It is probably going to take me several days to compile that one. But, it will be worth it when I’ve finished…:)
As we continue on with our Canada & New England adventure aboard the Regal Princess, I’m excited to tell you about our day in Boston which was interrupted a bit by some inclement weather. As you saw in my previous post where I spoke about our time in Newport, Rhode, Island, the weather was starting to kick up pretty badly by the time we finished our day there. Well, the weather continued to worsen and to say that we had a rough night on board is an understatement. When I turned my light out and retired for the night, the seas weren’t too awful bad, but, then I was jarred awake (literally) by the rocking and rolling seas. I swear to goodness I almost got tossed right out of the bed…lol. My first thought was that we certainly were going to get called to our Muster Stations at any second, but, we never were. I will say that those were the worst seas that I ever remember being in on a cruise. Our Stateroom was pretty far forward though, so that might have added to the roughness of our night. Chris was up very early the next morning and he took this video out of the windows of the Vines Bar on Deck 5:
Chris estimated those waves to be in the neighborhood of 30 to 40 feet high and the winds were just a-howling. It was pretty intense there for a while, but, once I gathered my senses and woke up a bit more, I realized that we were just fine and dandy and that being jarred awake and the need to shake the cobwebs out of my brain was probably what contributed to my moment of terror (about the Muster stations…).
Once I was up and *trying* to walk around our stateroom and having my first cup of tea, it was time for me to get freshened up for the day–**Side Note: Thank the good Lord that there were handles in the shower…Without them, well, let’s just say I would have been splayed out in the tub lickety-split, I was holding on for dear life in there…lol…**. But, I did manage to get myself spiffed up for the day, here is the outfit I chose to put on that morning:
Next we skipped on over to our little mailbox and retrieved our Princess Patter for the day…Which had a bit of an insert — an amended Itinerary if you will — for the day. I will play you an announcement from the Captain after I show you the pictures of the day’s Patter.
This is the amended page, we were going to have a change in our regularly scheduled morning & afternoon ‘programing’. 🙂
Let me pause and let you hear what information the Captain delivered over the public address system that morning. Please forgive me for having my iPhone tilted throughout this little video–I was obviously intently listening to what our Captain was saying and not paying a lick of attention to how I was holding my phone—BUT, you’ll be able to see those rough seas zipping on by, and remember, we were way up on the 12th deck, so they didn’t look quite as bad as they really were; still, they look pretty angry:
As you heard in the video, the Captain had announced that they were working with everyone on shore with regards to excursions, they had to cancel many trips on this day because we truly were 4 hours late getting into Boston than was originally scheduled. This informational sheet was delivered to our Stateroom shortly after the Captain spoke to us, we were relieved to see that our tour was a go. 🙂
Here is what we had planned for the day with one slight change, we were not offered the “Optional drop off at Quincy Market”.
We didn’t do too much through the morning hours before Boston came into sight, of course, we headed to brunch and when we walked out of our Stateroom, we saw that Phillip (our stateroom Steward) had decorated up our door–celebrating Chris’ retirement…woohoo. 🙂
Yes, Msssss Smug had arranged for that via the Cruise Personalizer before we boarded…… 😉
We walked around the ship a bit, poked our heads into a couple of shops–and Chris got me this jacket (that is the Pilot Boat making its way to the ship to my left):
As we got closer to Boston the winds started to die down as did the seas. We were then able to catch some pretty pictures off of our balcony as we were approaching…
Then, I tried something new, I went “Live” on Facebook—What a spiffy little option…Here is what I had to say as we were making our approach to Boston:
I had to do a little research when I got home and I actually figured out how to retrieve said live videos off of Facebook…OF course that is IF Facebook didn’t REMOVE them…More on that a little later…:/ Here are some pictures that Chris clicked off as I was chattering away into my iPhone. 🙂
There are those tug boats greeting us, they stuck with us all the way, I love to watch them work! 🙂
And we took time out for a selfie:
Once we were securely alongside, Chris and I headed down to disembark, it was time for us to head out to our excursion. The Regal has signs like this at all of the elevators, they welcomed us to each port and gave other information on sea days…spiffy-diffy eh?!
And off of the ship we went:
I clicked off a real quick picture of the Seawalk from off of the ship (this was our first time off since we left New York):
Our mode of transportation:
We started heading toward the boat that would take us on our Harbor Tour—The Princess rep on the bus was as always full of fun facts and a plethora of information, unfortunately, I didn’t retain much info this time…haha…I do know that she said that they might open up this rusty bridge for crafters to sell their wares on the weekends…that was pretty cool. 🙂
Boston is a gorgeous city steeped in history and this is where I really got messed with by Facebook…Here is the boat that we went on for our tour:
And once aboard and on our way for our Harbor Tour, I had climbed up to the top deck and I started taking more “Live” Facebook videos–I took a ton of video, but, unfortunately it has since disappeared…been removed…been deleted (not by me), it is completely gone, gone, and gone—I am devastated because as y’all know, I love, love, love my facts to be correct and up-to-date–Sooooooooo, instead of trying to caption all of the following pictures, I will just show you what we saw because thank the good Lord, Chris was clicking off pictures the entire time that I was yammering away into my phone doing that ‘live’ and soon to be completely gone video. Yeah, I’m a little miffed about that disappearance, I cannot tell a lie……
Here is the USS Constitution–Unfortunately, it was in dry dock:
If you would like to read up on what one could do while visiting Boston, here is a great link. There is the Freedom Trail, the Old North Church, and a lot of other things to see…too many for me to mention, but it is a lovely city and as I mentioned steeped in history.
We really enjoyed that boat tour, and I am so so very upset that my video was lost…But, maybe one day you’ll be able to do it and you’ll get to see the wonderful sights that we did. We climbed back aboard our motor coach and started heading back to the ship, we didn’t get back until after dark and right before the ship sailed. Yes, we normally do arrange our excursions through Princess because the ship will definitely wait if your tour is running late. Unless I’ve been to a location before and I know first hand that a certain tour company is reputable (like for instance The Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour out of Ketchikan, Alaska–I trust them implicitly ) we will not book from an outside source. Some might, but, we don’t…please don’t judge…that is just the way we choose to do things. 🙂
Here are some of the sights we saw as we meandered through the city on our way back ‘home’. 🙂
The Old State House:
Custom House Clock Tower:
And because I am an Apple user:
We were just about the last tour to climb back aboard the Regal Princess and we were rushing pretty quickly, but, I did manage to take a picture of the Seawalk at night while tripping on along to the tiny little metal (precarious…haha) stairs the lead back onto the ship…
Next stop…Dinner in the Horizon–We were famished! <~~~Not really, but, it had been a long time since we had something to eat. 😉 After dinner, we were exploring Deck 16 and it was getting close to 8pm, the time that the Fountain Show begins every night. Well, guess what I did? Yep, I took a LIVE Facebook video, and Facebook messed with me *again*. This time they were kind enough to leave my video in tact, but, they removed the sound…copyright worries and all of that (which I totally get and wasn’t too upset about). Before I show you the video that I did salvage of the Fountain show, here I am on the Seawalk at night. The reason I show you this is because I do want to mention something here for those of you who might be wanting to book a Stateroom near that Seawalk on the Regal or the Royal—The blue hue that emanates from that Seawalk is quite intense, I’m sure you could clip your room curtains shut and block it out, but, I did want you to be aware that it is quite intense (and yes, you can look through the floor and see right down into those balconies right under the walk). Just a little info for y’all…
And before the show started, Chris and I clicked off a few more pictures of things on and around that deck and also the Boston night-scape—It was awesome!!
We had had a lovely day–And we really enjoyed this Fountain Show put to the music of Michael Jackson (in this video’s case though, I added some music so that we didn’t have to worry about infringing on anyone’s Copy-write…🙄…
Chris and I hadn’t planned any special off-ship excursions for this our first Port of Call, Newport, Rhode Island, we just hadn’t seen anything that interested us too much when we perused around the different options online before our trip. But, it turned out to be a God send that we didn’t have anything special planned as I woke up with a stupid migraine–yep, I’m a migraine sufferer, stupid headaches. Thankfully, I do not get them as frequently now-a-days, and they are not nearly as intense as they were when I was younger…I can thank my ‘friend’ menopause for that. Regardless, I took some Advil (I refuse to take prescription medication for my headaches–Advil works in a cumulative fashion for me, so I will definitely stick with what works) and went out onto the balcony to see what Newport looked like from a distance because we were anchored off shore. 🙂 Well, as it turns out, it wasn’t a very pretty day in Newport on that day, it was a bit windy and rainy and a smidge foggy–NOT that that bothered me that much, I was just so happy to be where I was in that moment in time; nothing, and I mean nothing, not a threatening hurricane, not a migraine, and certainly not a little rain was going to ruin my good spirits and positive attitude. 🙂 This is what I saw when I walked out onto the balcony…
What a cool schooner huh?! 🙂 I just love looking at old ships like that! 🙂 The next thing I did was to check our little mailbox for our Princess Patter, here is what it had to offer up on this day:
Princess also provides you with a map of the Port that also includes a list of shopping venues. This came tucked in with the Patter…
The day before, Chris had picked up some Excursion information just in case we wanted to sign up for something. Yes, there was still room on many of the excursions (we are used to needing to book online when going to Alaska, those Excursions can fill up rather quickly). We normally do take Princess Excursions, that said, we will and did this time venture out on our own as well.
Next up…Breakfast in the Horizon…Yum Yum!! I chose to go to the Omelet making center on this morning…
It is obvious that I did not worry about my diet during this week—Nope, I truly didn’t—And honestly, that is something that is usually rather prominent on my mind on a daily basis, but, I wasn’t going to allow the thought of gaining a few pounds keep me from indulging in some great food on this cruise.
Before we left the Horizon Court, I stopped by one of their self-serve drink centers and clicked off some pictures of what they offer for free all day, every day. They have several of these stations set up throughout the Horizon Court and Bistro. 🙂 This is where Chris came every morning with one of our thermos cups to gather hot water, tea bags, and Splenda for my cup of tea. Bless his heart, he’d always have it back in the Stateroom for me to drink when I woke up every morning.
OH yeah, btw, this was my outfit for the day…And I ended up wearing my red jacket with it, it was quite chilly, windy, and wet in the morning and the weather worsened as the day moved on along. 🙂
We took some more time to walk around the ship and explore, I’ve got so many pictures of the ship and I am planning to share them all with y’all, here are just some…
We headed back to our Stateroom to hang out in there for a bit and here are some of the sights we saw as we looked off of our balcony.
We also had a bit of business to attend to…We needed to fill out our “Disembarkation Questionnaire”–Hated doing that honestly, after-all, we had just embarked on our journey…but, business is business, and Princess runs like a well-oiled machine, they are very organized in just about every aspect. 🙂 For the first time ever, we checked the box to say that we’d be “Walking Off”. 🙂
Next up, well, guess what? It was time to eat again! YaY! LOL This time we chose to go to the Italian restaurant that is located right of off the Piazza called Alfredo’s. Boy oh boy was it ever good!!!! We greatly enjoyed our little pizzas.
Chris got “Pizza Capricciosa”—And he loved it!
I got Pizza Regal Princess, and I ate every last bite, it was delicious!
They prepare the food right there on site (instead of carrying from one of the other kitchens on board).
And of course, as always, the staff was so cordial and nice. 🙂
Next up, a bit more exploring…
We climbed aboard an elevator and headed on up to 16 to take a look outside from there…
It was just a tad windy…lol…
Then we headed to the very aft of the ship so that we could take some pictures, we passed the Outrigger Bar on our way…Check out the cute fella behind the bar…LOL. 😉
We took these few pictures while we were fighting the windstorm, it truly was like a wind tunnel back there.
This was Fort Adam’s State Park–It has been in existence since July 4, 1799. It was named after President John Adams.
We headed back to our Stateroom and had a little bit more business to attend to, we had this Custom’s form and letter waiting for us in our mailbox. We needed to fill it out and hand it to our Steward (or leave it on the desk for him to retrieve), by that evening.
We then walked out onto our balcony and we noticed that there were several of the Tender boats bobbing around near the ship–it appeared that they were having some trouble navigating back to the ship. It was quite the show and Princess as always was being extremely careful and they were ever mindful of the people on those Tenders.
The weather was definitely deteriorating as the hours were passing by, here are some of the other sights we saw while watching those Tenders and other boats maneuver through some waters that were getting quite kicked up…
And here is a little video that I took spanning the afternoon into the evening–It took them hours and hours to safely get all of those Tenders back on board. But, in the end there were no injuries and all was well. Thank goodness…:) 🙂 The Captain came on often and kept us up-t0-date as to the happenings…
And that was our day in Newport, Rhode Island, we spoke to some folks who had been on those Tenders and they said that it was quite the harrowing experience, but, they always felt safe and well cared for. We ended up watching a couple of movies on the tv in our Stateroom and turning in a bit early (a ton of stuff is available on the Regal’s tvs…I’ll put up a little demonstration video that I made in another post–this one is long enough..haha).
As I said in my video up there…”And the saga continues”…Those seas didn’t let up and actually got much worse through the night, but, I will tell you all about that in my next post. Here is a little sneak peek & link: Canada & New England: Boston, Massachusetts
Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤
***If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me…Psalm 139***
My goodness gracious, somebody needed to pinch me, I could not believe that we were actually aboard the beautiful Regal Princess, and let me tell y’all, she surely is a gorgeous girl; I will be doing a collage picture tour of the Regal at the end of this Series so that you can see as many venues as we could find to photograph.
Onward we go with our adventure, last we left off, Chris and I were entering our Stateroom, so let me show you a few things that were waiting for us upon our arrival. Here is a sneak peek of our Stateroom, Mini Suite A214:
Of course the Princess Patter (sort of like a calendar for that day’s events–you get one in your little mailbox for each day of your cruise) was waiting for us.
And I had ordered a “Soda & More” package online before the trip, the cup in the picture below was a gift from Princess and the sticker on my room card shows whoever I ask for a soda or more that I do not have to pay (onboard). BTW, a Soda & More package costs $8.05 a day and look at all that you can get to drink with it…
***Indulge yourself with this premium Unlimited Soda & More Package, entitling you to unlimited fountain soft drinks, plus mocktails, juices, and complimentary hot chocolate throughout your cruise. Price includes service charge***
We also found this waiting for us…This was a new thing for us because this was the first cruise that we were at the Captain’s Circle “Platinum” Level. Believe it or not, we never went and indulged in those spiffy treats–We were so busy, we just didn’t think to go…haha. But, this is a nice little perk. 🙂
Also, Chris ordered a Coffee Card online before the cruise and waiting in the Stateroom was a white card (just like the one that I got with my cup up there ^^^). The card instructed him to take it to the International Cafe and once turned in, he was given his Coffee Card. He used that entire card, one punch per cup of specialty coffee and then he purchased another one later at the IC. 🙂 Note: With the Coffee Card, you do get get unlimited brewed coffee (no punches utilized) which is a bit better than what they serve in the Horizon Court for free. What can I say, Chris likes his coffee. 🙂
All right, now that we’ve seen all of the goodies that were awaiting us on our arrival into our room, here is a video tour that I created and narrated of our Mini Suite A214. 🙂
My goodness, that was such a nice room. I will admit that I didn’t care for the pillows and I ended up asking for others which truthfully, weren’t too much better…haha. I’m going to have to figure out how to take my nice, soft, fluffy, feather pillow on our next cruise. 😉
NOTE: I need to make a couple of corrections from what I mentioned in my video. I’ve been told that that couch does not pull out into a queen-sized bed, instead, the cushions come off and a mattress lifts up and covers the couch length-wise making it into a single bed; I didn’t pull it out when we were there…my apologies for the faux pas in the video. OH and one other thing, only one Princess tote bag is given per **Stateroom**, not per *Passenger*.
Next, we did a little bit of exploring around the ship–Here are just a smattering of pictures that I clicked off while we were zipping around:
All righty, it was time for my most favorite part of the cruise…The Muster Drill! 😉
I’m just kidding, it is certainly *not* my favorite part of the cruise, but, it is a necessary evil that comes with cruising, and I’m grateful to Princess that they do all of their Muster Drills indoors and this time around, our drill was held in the Princess Theater…And OH my gracious, take a look at the Regal’s beautiful Princess Theater:
Here is a little video of our time at our drill. 🙂
Now that *that* loveliness was completed, we sure felt safe and we sure felt HUNGRY…So off we skipped to the buffet for a light meal. I could NOT believe my eyes when we walked into the Horizon Court & Bistro–yep, they have a “Bistro” on the Regal too. It was massive, there was SO much food to choose from and there was plenty of seating available. Every single thing that we had at the Buffet throughout the entire week was scrumptious…no honesty, it was really, really good. So good in fact that we didn’t step foot in a Dining Room (admittedly we usually don’t) or a Specialty Restaurant (that we always do on every cruise). The only places we dined other than the buffet was The Crab Shack one evening and Alfredo’s–the pizza place in the Piazza–I’ll highlight both in a future post. I was amazed at the variety of food available in the buffet, the presentations were spot on, and well, pfft, there was no need to go anywhere else. 🙂
The difference in the Bistro and Court? Easiest way to tell you about that is to copy and paste Princess’ explanation…Here we go:
“Horizon Court – Buffet and Bistro
Horizon Court Buffet – One of Princess’ most popular casual dining options, the Horizon Court buffet on Regal Princess provides additional dining options, including action station choices such as Asian cuisine, Mediterranean dishes, a pasta corner and salad-tossing stations. For early risers on the go, new “Grab & Go” options are available, while healthy breakfast options offer the fuel guests need to make the most of a day at sea or ashore. Those who love to sleep in will even find a special “late, late risers” breakfast corner. At lunch, a variety of new live stations feature a regional flair, including a rotisserie, and Japanese Hibachi Grill.
Horizon Bistro – Dinner in the Horizon Court will offer an interactive experience with themed events and specialty dinners. On certain nights guests may find a Brazilian churrascaria, Argentine gaucho theme, German Beer Fest, a European bistro or British pub. Actions stations found here include a hibachi grill, rotisseries and carving stations, a taqueria, and a sandwich bar.”
Here are just a few pictures that I clicked off on that first day, I have plenty more that I will highlight in that collage post at the end of this Series…
After we were finished eating, we did a tiny bit more of exploring, it was almost time for sail-away, but, there was one thing that I wanted to check out first…
The Sea Walk!
And being the goober that I am, I had to take a walk right on across…;)
It was now time for Sail-Away–They moved the sail-away “party” into the Piazza because of the weather, but, Chris and I along with tons of other people stayed outside on deck as we sailed out of Brooklyn. Yes, we were a bit damp as it was misting, but, that didn’t dampen my mood at all, I was one happy camper to be starting this new and fun adventure. Here are a few pictures of our time on deck and then a video of our sail-away. 🙂
Manhatten:
Governor’s Island:
The Statue of Liberty:
And a little video–I recorded the first part of the video where I’m talking right after we boarded, and then I switch on over to our sail-away. 🙂 Listen for The Love Boat themed horn at the end of the video. 😉 🙂 SO cool!!!
And we were on our way!! I know I am a menopausal woman in her mid-50’s, but, I was so touched at that sail-away that I actually did shed a tear or two. I feel so lucky that we are able to go on these adventures. Okay, enough sappiness from me!
Next up, our first port of call, Newport, Rhode Island–To say that we had some rough seas…well…Stay tuned!
Good day to all of you happy travelers out there! Well, the tick, tick, tick of that clock that I mentioned in my Canada and New England Wardrobe Choices post has really started to move fast now! We are less than 20 days out from our cruise—I’m SO excited I can hardly stand it and I’ve been itching to write a little post to bring y’all up-to-date on what I’ve been working on to prepare for our next amazing journey on the Regal (what???) Princess.
Before I get started, I wanted to share that I’ve met a person online that will actually be on the cruise at the same time as us. Her name is Jill and we met through a cruising forum on Facebook; we are going to be making arrangements to meet at the International Cafe while on board the Regal for a cup of coffee/tea <~~(in my case). I can’t wait to meet this sweet lady as she and I have done a lot of conversing and she sounds like a wonderful woman! I’m hoping that she’ll allow me to share a picture of the two of us in one of my trip blogs. 🙂
Here is what our Itinerary will be:
We’ve made a few Excursion reservations through our Personalizer on Princess.com, we will not be doing scheduled excursions out of every port, instead, we are going to venture out on our own renting cars when need be. As a matter of fact, I’ve made arrangements to meet one of my dearest Facebook friends Nancy when we’re in Halifax. I met her through our love for our Newfoundland pups…she is an amazing lady and I canNOT wait to give her one of the biggest (((hugs))) ever!!
Here are the Excursions we’ve chosen (so far…we might definitely change these up, we’ve been known to do that once aboard):
Anticipation!! A-N-T-I-C-I-P-A-T-I-O-N!!! That feeling really ramped up when my travel agent Joy called and told us that she had printed off our boarding passes, travel insurance info, and luggage tags…yes, yes, I know, I had the ability to do that myself a while ago, but, it is always fun to go and pick our travel docs up from Joy and discuss any last minute items or ask any questions that we might have. When I got those luggage tags home, we put them in our spiffy new luggage tag holders, and placed our paperwork into one of my folders. 🙂
Wow, that was exciting!! Okay, so maybe not all *that* exciting…lol…but, I was pretty happy to have taken one step forward that would bring us closer to heading out on our cruise. 🙂 For those of you who have gotten to know me, you know that I am a pretty organized person so it will not come as a surprise to you that the planning process for our trips is one that I embrace wholeheartedly. I decided today that I would start to pack up what I could and those packed items would sit on my cedar chest for the next 20 days waiting for me to pick them up and carry them to our car on the day we debark on our adventure.
I’ve packed up my Carry-On bag, well as much as I can get it packed that is. 🙂
And I’ve gathered everything else that I think I might possibly need into a basket and have set it out on my cedar chest. Here is a shot of that basket:
As you can see, I have gathered our Princess thermos cups to be used for our morning coffee/tea (Chris carries mine up to the Horizon Court every morning and makes up my tea—bless his big heart). Then next, I packed up my three Vera bags that I will use for various things:
Our medications in the middle bag, and the last plastic bag will be used for my perfume/shampoo/hairspray/etc…I’ll wrap the breakable items in bubble wrap to pad them a bit:
And I’ve set out my Make-up case, also from Thirty-One:
As I mentioned, all of these bags will sit right like this on my cedar chest until it is time to finish packing all of them:
Then I will place them into my large 29″ Spinner suitcase–and if need be, any overflow will go into this Vera Weekender bag:
As I’ve mentioned before, that Weekender bag has a sheath on the back of it and it will slide nicely down over the handle of my suitcase:
I placed our luggage tags on my luggage and I’ve put an extra one in the front pocket just in case the one on the handle is lost:
And one more thing that I’ve collected to take along is this magnet of my pups that my dear friend Liz gave to me as a gift when we were visiting with her and her hubby last April in Vancouver:
Also, I ordered myself up another magnet from Shutterfly, this one is of my human family to take along as well–Remember the walls in the Staterooms are metal:
OH one last thing, I’ve already picked out my outfit for the car ride up there…*This* outfit is definitely subject to change though, but, for now, this is what I’m planning to wear:
AND now, I will watch that time tick, tick, tick on down to GO TIME—Again, I’m not wishing my life away **^^Mom^^**, but, I wouldn’t be sad if that time would pass by quickly. 😉
Our Canada and New England cruise is getting closer and closer every day and it won’t be long before it is upon us which means it won’t be long before I try my very best to pack just *one* suitcase…albeit a large 29″ spinner suitcase, but just one none-the-less. 🙂 I do plan to have a Vera Bradley Weekender bag handy just in case I have any overage and if I don’t end up using it going, I know I’ll be able to fit it into my or Chris’s suitcase and will utilize it for souvenirs for our trip home.
Here are the bags I have set aside and am anxiously waiting to fill!! 🙂 (I’m excited, can you tell?) 😉
I know those of you who follow me know that I’m now a HUGE fan of packing cubes and packing folders. Here are links to the items that I use: Shacke Pak (packing cubes) & the Medium Eagle Creek Packing Folder. I know that I will definitely, ***easily*** be able to fit every item of clothing into these spiffy packing mechanisms because I am taking literally half of the clothes that I took on our 15-Night Hawaiian cruise…Here is the packing folder filled up nicely with over 20 tops that I took to Hawaii; I will take less than half of that amount on the 8-Day Canada and New England cruise.
And here is what my suitcase looked like filled to the brim with my packing folder and cubes:
–I needed that ^^ entire suitcase just for clothes–I used another smaller suitcase (below) for all of my “Must Haves” for that trip.
I am bound and determined to fit all of my clothes and must haves into my one large suitcase…..a-n-d yes ***IF*** I absolutely cannot fit everything into that one suitcase, my Weekender bag will be there ready and waiting for me–As y’all saw, it has a lovely sheath that fits over the suitcase’s handle which will make it easy to maneuver (I only have to get it from the car to the Princess folks on the dock–We are driving to NY and parking in a close, secure parking lot).
I will be packing 5 other small bags to go into that large suitcase as well, one for my cosmetics, this Thirty-One bag:
And the other three bags will hold my hair products and perfume, my Must Haves, and my hair brushes and accessories:
Fingers crossed that I will be able to fit everything into that one suitcase. 🙂 I’m ready to roll now, and as I said in my other post…I’m trying NOT to wish my life away…BUT, I just need for the time to pass so that we can once again be off on an amazing adventure. One that will collect memories for us to cherish and relive for the rest of our lives. 🙂
As you all know by now, I love to redecorate and create new cozy corners and more, so I’ve really enjoyed switching things out and transforming the house so that we’re ready to greet those cool, crisp morning and usher in the changing of the leaves. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year, the warm colors speak to me and help me get inspired to create. I will admit that I was well-prepared for this year’s decorating, I had organized myself pretty well when I packed away all of my Fall stuff last year so this year’s decor went together rather easily—*except* that I had to dig into my bins a little too much. When it is time to put this decor away this year, I am going to try to make myself a label and a sketch of what is where in each bin…that way I won’t spend half of my time digging and grumbling to myself that I can’t find this or that. 😉
Let’s get started, I did make a little video to accompany my explanations in this the body of the blog, it is located down below. The first thing that I started working on was this cozy corner that sits to the right of the family room’s credenza:
Next, I moved on around and put up a wreath that I made last year–It truly was so easy to make…It is nothing more than an oval grapevine wreath with a leaf garland glued on, a plaid bow, some pumpkins, some acorns, and a welcome sign:
Next was the “Ivy Table” so named because it used to have ivy stenciled on the door fronts before Chris repainted it a distressed black to match the black Hooker furniture that sit in the rest of this portion of the house. I got the shelf above it at one of our local craft stores.
I moved on into the kitchen next, the first thing I did was to make a quick centerpiece for the Island by using a tray, a Yankee Candle and rod-iron holder, and accent pieces that I had saved from last year:
Next I tackled the windows–Let me let those of you who might have just found my crafting blog know that I typically will keep “staple” <~~generic decor such as lanterns, tins, vases, ladders, and the like ~~ in place and just switch out the accent pieces to bring in whatever Season/look for which I’m going. In the kitchen windows, I leave two plate holders, two tins and a vase in which I make small flower arrangements. You’ll see below what I’m speaking about–And I explain further in the video:
And the kitchen was completed:
Next, I worked on the kitchen table. I switched out the tablecloth for one with a fall motif, then I made up the lantern centerpiece for Fall. I replaced the candles on the flanking candle sticks and added Fall candle rings and called it finished. 🙂 Here is a link to my blog where I explain how I create my lantern centerpieces: A Lantern Centerpiece For All Seasons
To finish up the kitchen eating area, I created a cozy corner, changed out the decor on the kitchen hutch, and on a corner cabinet:
I switched out a few things in the Powder Room:
I then took a moment to take a few pictures of what I had accomplished:
AND then I literally collapsed for the rest of the evening…haha. As I mentioned in my previous blog, this is not hard physical work for me, but, boy oh boy does it take some brain power. I’m a creative person by nature, but, it is still a challenge to do so many things in one day—BUT, of course, I’m anal retentive and want it all done sooner than later. 😉
One more thing that I show you and talk about in the video below is this spiffy little remote controlled outlet package that Chris installed for me–I show you how it works in the video. Here is a picture:
And here is that little video:
Next up, I’ll be showing and telling you how I transformed the living and dining rooms over to Fall—I utilized that pretty green color that I have been using in those rooms to bring Fall to life in a softer and gentler way.
*In decorating there are no mistakes, just unique creations!*
Here is the link to last year’s blog post where I explain all about the mantel and hearth:
Here we are snugged up against Pier 21…
Here is a little video of our time at our drill. 🙂
Our medications in the middle bag, and the last plastic bag will be used for my perfume/shampoo/hairspray/etc…I’ll wrap the breakable items in bubble wrap to pad them a bit:
⚜️ Arlynn's Country Craft Corner ⚜️ 