Meeting A Blogger Friend

I have to say one of my favorite parts of our vacation was getting the opportunity to meet my blogger friend Barb. Barb lives in Florida. We've been blogger friends for years now. I was so excited when she offered drive up to meet with us at the airport.

We had a very long wait after getting off the cruise ship. I had no idea what I would do to entertain a six year old in an airport for eigth hours, but Barb came to the rescue. She met us in the airport, then took us on a tour of all the wonders the airport had to offer. Barb even brought her daughter Julz along. We joked because Julz had reminded her mom that you aren't supposed to meet in person with people you have met on the internet. While Julz is 100% right, meeting with Barb was like meeting with an old friend. It felt like more like I hadn't seen her for a few months instead of a first meeting. It amazes me that just by reading each others blogs and e-mailing that we could form a friendship that was so easy and enjoyable. I was thrilled to spend the day with Barb and Julz!
Here is a fountain located in the center of the airport. We walked, shopped, chatted and had lunch together. Barb and Julz even got to meet my husband. As most of you know he is elusive and blog shy so he's never featured here but alas he does exist!

Barb was too kind, she brought handmade goodies for each of us. She made a tea wallet for me with a beautiful green mug(same color green as my kitchen) and one of her famous wonder wallets for my husband. We greatly appreciate her kindness and even better it's ironic. Barb and I became blogger friends when I won one of her wonder wallets for leaving a comment on her blog. I still have that very wallet and a matching tissue case in my purse! I've always been impressed with Barb's craft talent. She has an ETSY shop here and makes beautiful bags, wallets and goodies. She does custom orders too.
She made this wonderful travel pillow case so Nature Girl would have something to remember Florida by. Nature Girl loves it!
Since I started blogging a few years ago I have been in contact with many bloggers. I have been constantly amazed by the kindness and generosity of my fellow bloggers. Until last week I have never had the opportunity to meet in person with a blogger friend. I have to say it was a great experience!! Meeting Barb in person was even better than I expected. She is the kind of person anyone would be happy to call their friend and I'm glad we got to meet in person. I hope that this is the first of many more meetings with Barb and family. So Barb if you ever want to come up North you'll always have a place to stay.

We're Back!

We're back from vacation! We enjoyed a four day Disney cruise in the Bahamas. We visited Nassau and Castaway Cay. This is a picture from the island in Nassau where we participated in a stingray adventure. We got to snorkel with, pet and feed the stingrays. Nature Girl was not a fan of the salt water as it tasted bad and hurt her eyes. I was not a huge fan of the stingrays. They felt a little slimy. I would compare them to mushrooms, harmless but a weird texture. The fish we feed them were smelly and gross. They flocked around the feet of Nature Girl and I when they realized we had food. They almost knocked us over and I had to hop on one foot to avoid stepping on and possibly injuring them. It was definitely a different experience.


We enjoyed the water and the beach. It was hot and humid but very enjoyable. Nature Girl bought a big conch shell and has been practicing blowing into it. She's getting better at it.


One thing that amazed me was the color of the water. I think you hear everyone say that but it's true. It's so much more blue! If you are looking for a fun family vacation I would suggest a Disney Cruise. The food was great, the shows and movies were fabulous and we enjoyed ourselves!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to you! Nature Girl drew this picture and said "Happy America Day!" It seemed like the perfect picture for this post. We hope you have a wonderful holiday.

Vacation Toes

We're getting ready to go on vacation. Yesterday we spent the morning with Laurie as she pampered us for hours. Nature Girl got her own special reclining pedicure chair. She was thrilled! It was the best manicure & pedicure I've had. Laurie really spoiled us. Thank you Laurie!!!
Look how great our nails look! We had them done in our vacation theme. Can you guess where we're going?

Apron Fieldtrip and Apron Fun

While we were in Vermont we took a little field trip to the Vermont Apron Company. The owner started off making carpet bags to sell at craft fairs and farmer's markets. She got tired of always sewing bags and sewed a few aprons. She found that the aprons sold out faster than anything else. She started making aprons and opened the Vermont Apron company.
Nature Girl posed with the manikins. She wasn't as excited about the aprons as I was but she still had a good time.
The cashier had fun talking with Nature Girl as I tried on aprons. She even dressed her up in a manikin's wig. With Nature Girl entertained, I finally decided on a pretty reversible sheath apron. My husband wondered why I needed another apron, let alone to buy it! I can't explain why . . . I just loved it.

I signed up for the Vermont Apron Company newsletter while I was at the store. The newsletter was e-mailed to me today and it has a code for 25% off a purchase. I could have used it last week but that's okay. If you sign up for the newsletter you get monthly discounts on specials both in store and online. Stop by the website to see. Plus, they're getting ready to launch a wedding apron. The newsletter has a sneak peak. It looks like it will be beautiful! I wish I had thought about a wedding apron to protect my dress. Then again 10 years ago I didn't wear an apron.

The Toy Society

We did our first Toy Society drop this morning. The Toy Society spreads joy and kindness one homemade toy at a time. You can check out the Toy Society and it's mission here. It was very exciting to take part! Nature Girl picked our drop location and the spot to leave the toys. We left the house early and went to the park before anyone else would be there. She asked me to tie the bag to a play structure. Then we played on the slides, swings and merry go round for a bit before heading home. It was a great outing!
We hope that whoever finds and rescues the turtle and his fishy friend will enjoy them. Nature Girl enjoyed this project. Now she wants me to make and hide toys in our backyard and in our neighbor's yard for their kids too.

Artful

From time to time I've posted Nature Girl's artwork. I LOVE her pictures! This time I wanted to share two pictures that she has recently drawn. Nature Girl really enjoys drawing and has gotten very good at drawing people. The first one is a picture of her friend Abby. The second one is a drawing of her Mimi. The photo isn't the greatest. That's my fault not hers. I like to scan in her artwork but the original of this one is on Mimi's refrigerator in VT. I think it's still somewhat visible though. I think her drawings turned out great!