don't dream is over

These past few days back in my home country, visiting family and friends, feels like a dream, one that was way to short and now it's time to wake up and get back to reality.

We got back on Saturday night and yesterday was a very well deserved day to decompress and gather the energy needed to start up a new work week.

The next few weeks are going to be very busy. At the end of the month wee are having 3 events at work to celebrate our 5th anniversary, which means, hectic busy times ahead.

To say our trip was amazing is sort of an understatement, it was SUPERB! We had a wonderful time with my parents, hanging out at their house, with them and their animals (4 dogs and 1 cat).

Like I mentioned before, the Elton John concert was very good and worth the trip! We also had time to spend it with friends as well to visit our property on the Pacific Ocean.

I took a million pictures... well, in fact to be exact I took 434 which are now downloaded on a folder on my computer, waiting for me to sort them and then, let the sharing begin....

For now, here are some random shots I took the first few days....

Luch time at Johnny Rocket in the dolphin mall, Florida

Panorama view of my parents front yard

Gaia, Olibear & Emma

Orchid blooming in the yard

Will try to post more photos tomorrow, here's to a great week!!!

One love, one heart

Today is Marley Day, another year that marks the day that my favorite artist was born.

Although he is no longer around us in the flesh, he is in spirit and in all his music legacy.

Jah bless Bob and may your soul rests in peace united with God almighty, Happy birthday Bob!

Well.. We are in Costa and so far so good. The Elton John concert was epic, looks like he reads my blog because he sang all of the songs I wanted!!!

Today we are off to the Pacific for some sea, sun and sand. I decided to do a quick blog so this is it for now...

Already have tons of pictures that I will share when I am back in Grand Cayman.

Have a great week!!!

almost there

All my bags are packed [well, almost]... So I am about ready to go.

Tomorrow around this time we'll be heading to Miami for some good 'ol retail therapy [shopping], then we are off tomorrow night to Costa Rica and God willing, we should be landing at around 10pm, woo-hoo!

I don't wanna sound too excited, but I AM!!!

It really hasn't been that long since the last time I was there, just August last year, but still, home is home and it always makes me excited to be back.

Did I also mentioned that on Friday we are going to the very first Elton John concert in Costa Rica? So double excitement for this trip.

I really do hope the concert is good, and that he plays "That's why they call it the blues" [my favorite song of his], and "Rocket Man" and "Crocodile Rock" and "Benny and the Jets" and "Good Bye Yellow Brick Road" and "I'm still standing".... well, all of them I guess! LOL

Check out a Pop Up video of my favorite Elton song, with sun fun facts...

Also on Saturday we are having a bbq at my parents house to celebrate my 35th birthday coming up at the end of February, so triple excitement...

On another note, last night I took some random pictures while we were outdoors enjoying the afternoon/sunset time...

Ditto enjoying the plant area

old cactus in a new pot

Ditto assisting with the gardening

"this is my toy"

afternoon delight + coffee

Serious Ditto

Sheba refusing to look at the camera

Well, to those not going on vacation tomorrow, like we are! Hope you have a great week and beyond.

I will be back in blogger world in about 12 days... Not sure if I will be able to post anything while I am away and not even sure I really want to make the effort, as I just want to disconnect.

See you and read you all in a few days, be happy!

short but sweet (weekend)

Last week ended with a wonderful surprise, a little Christmas parcel sent by a dear friend finally arrived and it made the end of my Friday a memorable one, Thanks Joan for all the wonderful things you send us, love it all!!!

On Friday I went out with some friends to celebrate our friend Emma's birthday, we had a great time at a new place, Karoo. It was a nice night with good friends, good food and good spirits!

Me, Emma (the BD girl) and Jen.

Saturday was my morning out with Yanique.

We truly had a great time together, I had promised to take her to Spots public beach where you can access a cave that is right in front of the water.

I discover this cave through my husband, who took me there back when we were just dating.

The thing with this cave is that you can only access to it is via the water (unless you know somebody that lives one the two houses that share that little part of the beach), so if the sea is rough then it's not very easy to get there.

on our way to the cave

Fortunately for us, on Saturday the weather and the water conditions were great, so we had no problem reaching the cave.

entrance to the cave

After visiting the cave, we walked a little further down and found a "sort of " road that leads nowhere? It was a nice little wooded area, sort of a secret road.

secret road

Finally after swimming back to the beach where we left out things, I lay down to read a bit of my book and Yanique walked to the dock where a man was fishing.

After a while she came back to show me the fisherman's catch of the day... a peacock flounder!

nice catch!

Also on Saturday afternoon I purchased a new Kipling Duffel bag and I am very happy with it, so I have already started packing a bit of things I am taking as presents.

 

The rest of the weekend was very relaxing at home, started a new crochet project (my very first scarf) and of course enjoyed my "ool".

Hope you had a nice weekend and an even better week ahead!!!

monkeying around...

For those that didn't know we have monkeys in the Cayman Islands...

Well, we don't!

Although our cat Shadows seems to think that he is one.

A few days ago I decided to collect all the little piece of yard left from my projects and put them in a little basket for birds to grab the piece and use them in their nests.

So far no bird have decided to go for it, but as soon as Shadow noticed the basket, he was completely decided to reach it and check it out...

But that little adventure didn't last very long, as the branch I put the basket on is pretty straight so he was unable to reach it.

 
I guess it's kind of common for cats to climb trees? I really dunno because I've never really had any outdoor cats before- well my Mom's cat Lea is an outdoor cat but their property is so big that no one can really tell what she is up to most of the time, perhaps climbing trees?

Maybe this next week that I will be in Costa Rica- YES, we are leaving on Wed. for 10 days- I will try to keep track of Lea and learn more about the behavior of outdoor cats... or maybe not!

Well, the weekend is almost here, tomorrow I plan to spend the morning with Yanique, I got the o.k. from her Mom to plant some Sunflowers, so we will do that first and then off to the beach, hopefully it would be nice weather to do some snorkeling with her!

Hope everybody has a nice weekend and that the weather wherever you are is nice enough to enjoy the weekend to the max!!!!

Have a good one : )


 

virtually there

Recently a very good friend of mine that is an artist, Carlos Tapia, had his latest art show, knowing him and his beautiful pieces full of color, vibrant and with plenty of cats (his favorite subject), I am sure the show was a success.

Unfortunately the show was back home and being that I don't live there, I missed it :(

But what if I could still walk around the halls, look at every single piece like if I was there myself?!?

Well,  yesterday I got an email invitation from him, to join him on a virtual tour of his show.

Don't believe me?

All you have to do is click here and join him as well, just click on it and then use your mouse to move left/right/up/down or click on the rooms (salas) below...

You will see some very cheerful, colorful and happy pieces, if you like cats I am sure you will find something that you will like...

Of the show, this piece is my favorite one

Cat Rollercoaster

 And also this other one called "The tree of life", lovely isn't it?

And last but not least a picture of me and the artist....

One day I am hoping to own one of his pieces and splash my wall with all his colors!!!

If you would like to see more pieces by my friend Carlos, click here to visit the gallery that sells most of his pieces.

I hope you had some time to visit the virtual tour and that you enjoyed it, have a great Wednesday!

3 day weekend

Yesterday was a holiday here, Heroes Day.

In my case I didn't do anything particularly heroic, but lay down to catch some rays, swim in the "ool" until my fingers appeared to be about 50 years older than the rest of my body and of course finished up a couple of more crochet project.

One of the project was my version of an "Angry Bird" Bennie Hat, I made it using the Kids Owl Hat pattern (photo I shared a couple of days ago), and then did my very own version of the face... I think it came our pretty good, waddaya think?

On Saturday night I had some friends over for dinner and they both fell in love with my hat, now they both want me to make one for them, perhaps when I come back from CR in February I will get around to do it... And also my husband asked for an "Angry Bird" hat but he wants the black bird that explodes!

During this past 3 days I also had some good quality time with the kitties and here are some updated pictures of them...

BTK "wagging" her tail

mouth-full

Little One expecting more food

 

Dinner time

Last project of the long weekend was another potholder to take home to my Mom this coming February, here's the pictures (unfortunately I took the picture at night so the colors are not quite right).

I am planning to make yet one more for my aunt and then perhaps in late Feb. I will be giving one away right here... so stay tuned!

Have a great Tuesday!!!

come ride with me...

Saturday's visit with Yanique to the Equestrian Club was fun, I think she had a good time although she did mention at the end that she much rather go swimming, so we already made plans to go to the beach next time.

Yanique riding one of the horses

Sometimes I am kind of concern that there are very few activities for kids on this island, perhaps it's because I am not used to "having kids" to take care of- that I cannot come up with ideas, and although going swimming sounds good, I don't think the program is about doing the same thing over and over. So, I explained to her that we needed to try different activities!

I know she is looking forward to come to our house and meet our dogs, by the end of Feb. she should be allowed to come over (3 months after the program starts), so that will make her happy.

Yanique also mentioned that her favorite flower is the Sunflower, so on Saturday I went to the nursery and picked up a pack of Sunflower seeds, I am planning to call her Mom this week and ask her for permission to plant them in her yard by Yanique's room window, I think it would be fun for her to look after the flowers and watch them grown and bloom... hopefully her Mom will say yes!

Again going back to the Equestrian Club, here are some more images of that morning activity...

Yanique and Lulu (the donkey)

getting ready to ride the pony

the goats and the kids had a great time together

In another note, today is the celebration of the Chinese New Year for the Year of the Dragon... So, in order to welcome the year right I just finished an amigurumi Dragon, that I've named "Puff" the magic dragon, here he is.

Now, with "Puff" on our side we should "Enter the Dragon" year with certainty that only good things will come our way... Happy Chinese New Year to all Asian's and those who celebrate it too!!!

hooked on projects

Crochet has become such a big part of my life that at this point, it's kind of hard to remember the time when I didn't know how to do it!

Learning this skill was an amazing accomplishment and now every time I finish a project I feel very rewarded to be able to create such amazing pieces with my bare hands.

So, for this year so far I've finished one project and have two more in the process, plus another one on the "queue"!

The recently finished project is a kid's owl hat for my godson Julian, whom I will be seeing this coming February in Costa Rica.

I bought the pattern from Inner Hooker just a few days ago and it took just one day to complete the whole thing... here's the picture of my finished piece.

I brought the finished piece to work to be able to try it on a kids mannequin we have downstairs and here's what it looks like on...

I hope it's going to fit him and that my cousin (his Mom) he will like it, the size I made is for a 1 to 5 year old so it should last him for a while!


"In other news", tomorrow is Saturday and I am looking forward to take Yanique to the Equestrian Center in the morning, I found out a few days ago that they offer pony rides for kids as well as a petting zoo with goats, bunnies an a miniature donkey!


Here are some photos from their website but I am sure to take lots tomorrow to share with y'all soon!

source

Here's the owner with the miniature donkey...

source

how cute is that? only problem is going to be that I am going to wanna take both the pony and the miniature donkey home...


Have a great weekend!!!!

Tag, I'm it!

Today, I was prepared to share my latest crochet project but before I even started typing, one of my dear readers, Heather from High Heels and Flip Flops tagged me in the latest round of getting-to-know-you blog questionnaires.

I don't usually participate in this kind of questionnaire "thingies" but since Heather is so nice I decided to give it a try...

If you would like to read Heather's answers, just click on her blog link above.

Now, the rules of the whole thing are:

1. You must post these rules.

2. Each person must post 11 things about herself on her blog.

3. Answer the questions the "tagger" listed for you in her post, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

4. You must choose 11 people to tag and link to them in the post.

5. Go to each blogger’s page and mention that you have tagged her.

These are Heather's questions to me:

1) Who inspires you, whether historically, in your day-to-day life, or both? 

Animals inspire me, because they live in the NOW, like there's no yesterday or even tomorrow, plus they also live 100% true to their instinct.

2) Do you have a favorite season? 

My favorite season is "Vacation" season, LOL... well, I guess that would be summer.

3) What’s your top goal to accomplish within the next five years? 

I would like to be fit and in my healthiest weight.

4) What was the first job you ever had?

I worked part time for my Aunt's travel agency.

5) What’s your all-time favorite book? 

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

6) What’s the most unique place you’ve traveled to so far in your lifetime? 

Petra in Jordan.

7) If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? 

Anywhere where my husband and dogs are with me.

8) Which qualities do you love most about yourself? 

Magnanimous; I like to be generous in life, give of my time, money and wisdom. Share with others so they can see the true joy and adventures of life themselves.

9) If you could describe yourself in just one word, what would it be? 

Sunshine

10) What’s your favorite type of workout routine? 

Right now the kettlexpress classes I take on Monday and Wednesdays.

11) What’s your favorite guilty pleasure meal or snack? 

guilty pleasure- Dulce de Leche!!!

Now, it's my turn to create my own questions...

1. If you could go to any place right now where would you go?

2. What do you keep handy at your night stand?

3. When you were a kid, what was your family game?

4. What's your favorite kinds of food to cook?

5. What are 3 things you can't live without?

6. If you could change somebody's life today, who would you help and how?

7. What do you think would be the hardest thing for you to give up on?

8. If you could change your name, what would you name yourself?

9. If you could do anything OR wish for anything that would come true, what would you wish?

10. Where would you like to go on your next vacation?

11. What is your favorite blog to read everyday?

And here comes the hard part... I am suppose to tag 11 people to answer my question, unfortunately I don't have 11 people, so I am going with the following. 

Also, I don't really expect people to do to wanna go with it, but here are my choices and if you feel like you want to do it as well, just tag yourself and go for it!

Colleen @ Daily Ponderings

Debbie @ Happy Days

Miss McKay @ Miss McKay

Tom @ My World in Crisis

Jess @ This Life Is Mine

Mark @ First Time

Joey @ Joey's Cafe

Will share my latest crochet project tomorrow, have a great Thursday!!! 

Wild Cat

Meet Goldie, the wildest, most ferocious tamest cat of our entire pack... Well at least with me!

It's amazing what a sweetheart he is and how much he has warmed towards me since we started feeding him.

Every day when I come home, as soon as he hears my car, he comes running out of the woods or where he is and greats me with this huge "meeeaw" and when I call his name, he replies with anoter "meaw"...

I think he also misses me when I go inside the house and it looks like he wants to come in, but the dogs are definitely not to trust or 100% ready, so I don't want to put him in danger.


All the other 5 cats are doing very well too, but none of the others are like Goldie towards me, he is my little kitty!

Happy Wednesday!!!

what starts well...

Yesterday was a good day, despite the fact that my husband got hurt and needed 6 stitches on his knee (he is o.k.), work was busy and I got a really nice surprise...

Remember the drawing I made from my friend Aidan and that I shared with everybody here?

Well, yesterday I got an email from Aidan's Mom saying she had forgotten to send me the following picture he made from me in December.

This lovely sign of love makes the whole drawing process sooo much worth it, I can't wait to see more of him, he is definitely a great kid and I am happy to know him!

Now, when it comes to kids, there's another one that although I haven't been around him much, he already has a HUGE chunk of my heart, my Godson Julian.

Here's the most updated picture of him I have...

Isn't he adorable?!?!? Can't wait to see him this coming Feb. when we go to Costa Rica for a visit!!!

On a last note, the new banner is "in da' house"! Thanks to everybody for your comments and suggestions, I think I will be using all 3 randomly during the year just to give my blog a little extra, so stay tuned for all 3 coming around : )

Have a wonderful day!!!

out with the old... banner!

Every now and then it's good to change, evolve, rearrange things in you life; perhaps around the house, your desk at work or even do a inventory of your dreams, maybe dust some old ones and bring in the new ones.

So, again for me it's that time... a bit of "out with the old" and "in with the new", in this case a new banner...

I've been working on some ideas, and this when where I need your help.

I made 3 options and I would really like your opinion on which one should I go with, so here they are:

Option #1- the black background:

Option #2- blue background:

Option #3- Yellow background:

What do you think? 1, 2 or 3?

Have a great week!!!