bucket list material

It's not like a have a bucket list that contains "a visit to an official marine vessel". But if I did, as of yesterday  I could cross it off...

Perhaps I should start a bucket list, or not! -

Do you have a bucket list? If so, please do share...

Anyway, back to the visit to an official marine vessel.

The US Coast Guard ships visits our island quite frequently and those "coasties" sure are nice guys besides great clients of our store, always coming by to buy t-shirt for themselves and in some cases even artwork.

Well, this visit was no different other than for the first time they invited our entire staff (4 of us at the time) to come visit the ship, so we took up on their invitation and here are some pictures of our adventure.

(Unfortunately because of security issues we are not allowed to take pictures inside the vessel, but we managed to take from the outside.)

here's the CGC Venturous WMEC- 625

Notice the big helicopter in the back, we were not allowed to go up there though :(

On this last photo you can see some "stickers" that symbolize their drug busts, the top 9 that look like "snowflakes" are for boat carrying cocaine and the 3 "leaves" are for boat containing marijuana.

part of the crew with Mr. Harvey

Also earlier that day, the crew brought a gift for my boss, how nice of them, right?

In other VERY GOOD news, my husband got the job that he interviewed for about a week ago, so thank you everybody for the positive vibes and prayers you sent our way on the day of the interview.

Now, it's off to a great weekend, Happy Friday!!!

BIG Blessing!

I hate getting bad news, but specially when the news are from back home...

Yesterday while on facebook I suddenly started reading posts about a major earthquake hitting the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, immediately my heart dropped thinking about people affected by it and specially my family and friends.

But then yesterday and once again, God shows his mercy and protection to my little piece of heaven.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.6, which makes it the second strongest one ever recorded in the history of the country. But this major disaster just passed by without too much tragedy. 

Looking at a list of earthquake fatalities from quakes of equal size (or smaller) than yesterday's, it simply blows my mind to think of all the devastation and fatalities that could have result from it, but Thank God it didn't.

Here are some very sad statistics; 

Haiti, January 2010, magnitude 7.0, fatalities 316,000
China, April 2010, magnitude 6.0, fatalities 2200 
China, May 2008, magnitude 7.9, fatalities 87587

Pakistan, October 2005, magnitude 7.6, fatalities 86000
Iran, December 2003, magnitude 6.6, fatalities 31000
India, January 2001, magnitude 7.6, fatalities 20000
Turkey, August 1999, magnitude 7.6, fatalities 19000 (thought to be as high as 45000)

Costa Rica, September 5, 2012, magnitude estimates as high as 7.9 (thought to be 7.6), fatalities maybe 4, only two confirmed, both from heart attacks. 

Of course there are a few edification damages but not many... here are some photos from random facebook posts... The epicenter was out on the ocean so a Tsunami was also expected, but didn't happen.

 beach with very high surge

a lot of roads were badly damaged

big local hospital affected

Appliance store lost its roof

this is a beach close to the epicenter... that is cracked sand!

So, remember 2 days ago I posted about blessings BIG and small? Well this certainly falls into the category of  BIG one and for that I am extremely happy and thankful.

Have a blessed day!

Snooze, you loose!

Why is it that when the alarm goes off (in my case at 6:45am) in the morning, if you decide to close your eyes for 5 more minutes, by the time you open them again -yikes- it's already 7:15!!!!

But, if you are waiting in line or for somebody to pick you up and you try closing your eyes for 5 minutes, when you open them again, perhaps a whole 2 minutes have passed (at most!)... LOL!

Well, I am almost the proud owner of a "brand new, second hand" Mitsubishi Outlander 2004, yey!

My mechanical checked it yesterday and gave me the OK to buy it, he said it's in very good shape and the little stuff I would have to fix the previous owner deducted from the sale price!!!

I should be closing the deal today and then I got new wheels!

Not much going on right now, hope everybody is having a nice week and Happy Hump Day!

blessings big and small

This morning while driving home from the gym I stopped and took some photos.

While taking those shots I couldn't help but see around myself and think of the phrase

"I am not lucky, but blessed" 

Blessings on the form of a life lived well, to live where I live, to have an amazing husband and some unique and special animals (2 dogs and 7 cats!)...

Sheba

Ditto

Long Tail

Little One

But besides the big blessing, there are also many small ones like;

Finding this hermit crab by our driveway the other day...

and discovering a "Custard Apple" tree in our back yard with fruit in it, yey!

So, what are some specially little blessings in your world today?

Have a wonderful Tuesday!!!

Dude, where is my car?

A few weeks ago I started playing with the idea of selling my car, reason why? It's got some minor rust issues and the engine is not in the best of shapes.

The last time I had it serviced (along with our other little car), the mechanic told me that I should consider selling it.

Since he said that, the idea is been running around my head. Well, on Wednesday I decided to put it up for sale, and guess what? It sold in 2 days!!!

my car is the Honda CRV 2001

Here on the island, there are two main free classified website where everybody goes to sell or buy items, this is where I also sold my wedding dress!

The gentleman buying the car gave me a deposit to hold it and the deal should be finished today or tomorrow, I have already signed the release of the car I need to stop my insurance.

So, perhaps after today I am going to be driving the little Mitsubishi until I find another car, but I am considering this two options:

A Mitsubishi Outlander 2004.

 
And a Hyundai Santa Fe 2005.

I have talked with the sellers of both cars but I haven't seen any, perhaps this afternoon or tomorrow... wish me luck!

In unrelated news, I have started my very first "apparel" crochet project, I am doing the wrap up swimsuit cover-up, so far I only have 1 of the 4 squares...

I think the colors I chose are very appropriate for the beach/summer, right?

Well, hope everybody had a nice weekend and those that are in the USA are enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend.

Happy Monday!