We ran away...

And it was wonderful! Ben and I kidnapped each other and ran away over Thanksgiving. We headed down to Florida and spent some time at Disney World!

 We stayed near Downtown Disney and found ourselves walking around the restaurants and shops almost everyday. I probably walked past this gorgeous tree a dozen times before I realized that it was covered in empty spools for the garland... I think I have an idea for next year!!!

 Ben and I had so much fun exploring all of the parks and enjoying the food (especially in France where I took this picture at Epcot) and I miss getting to spend all day with him... But it was a great time and I can't wait until he gets home from work (it must be this snow and icky weather that's making me sappy... I can't help but worry when he has to be out in this junk)

 Many of the parks were decorated for Christmas and this was one of the most gorgeous trees I've ever seen! It was right at the entrance to the World Showcase at Epcot and it was soooo tall. It had to be 75 feet tall or better. What you can't see are the sparkling lights that reminded both Ben and I of the Eiffel Tower from out trips to Paris. It was gorgeous but it made the trip weird and here's why...

I live in Northeast Ohio. I have all of my life. Right smack dab in the middle of the snow belt. However I saw Christmas trees surrounded by palm trees. And it was warm... And sunny... It did help put my into the holiday spirit, but it was strange. It felt surreal I guess.

We spent most of our time either at the parks or Downtown Disney and even though it was just the two of us, no kids in tow, it was fun! What we probably did more than anything was walk. I wish I had my Fitbit for this trip, but I do miss the walking. It was gradual enough that we covered a ton of ground, but didn't really feel sore until the super end of the day. Then coming home to winter and snow and ice has made us get creative to get moving as much. Our elliptical is getting a good workout as long as it holds out (it's dying a slow painful death and we need to replace it), but we're still moving which I'm proud on because it's so easy to be lazy and sit on the couch this time of year.

Well, that was our trip. Now it's back to reality. And winter. And snow... I'm trying not to complain, but I wish it was a bit warmer... That's all.

Have a great weekend!

-Rebecca

Vacation!!!

In the midst of all of the craziness that this time of year is (quilting show and Christmas quilts, Christmas in general, snow, Quilt Market, etc.), Ben and I decided to run away and go on a cruise. It was a much needed week of relaxation.

 We started our trip at Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas. It's wonderful and I highly recommend it.

 You just may not want to take along a travel companion that's such a dork as my husband. Love you, Ben! (He is quite entertaining however!)

 We saw sharks and fish...

 And finally saw the area you "lazy river" through the shark tank. It was awesome! I would consider doing this in the future!

 The sunsets were wonderful...

 In St. Thomas this was my view for the day!

 Our boat!

 St. Maarten and Maho Beach welcomed us back (along with 5 other ships of people, I've never seen so many people in one port before!)

 The interesting thing about Maho is it's literally beach, this road, fence, International Airport Runway...

 This plane was actually much further away from the end of the runway than many of the larger jets that take off.

 At the Sunset Bar & Grill you can get this amazing pizza that'll CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!! It's shrimp and garlic with a pomodoro sauce on this amazingly thin coal fired crust. I have yet to find it anywhere else. All of the seafood pizzas around here either come with white sauce or no sauce... They need to make one of these around here!

And I still cannot get over how blue the water truly is in this region. This was the view from our room and I spent many hours on this balcony watching the flying fish and just relaxing.

And I'm proud to announce this is the first vacation in years I didn't work one single second of my trip. I took stuff with me (figuring out patterns, doing math, etc.) but I didn't touch it once. It. Was. Wonderful.

Now today it's snowing and cold and I'm wanting to hibernate, but the cupboards won't fill themselves if we don't go shopping, so I better get going. I'll be back with more posts soon! (I'm going to try to play catch-up with all of the things I've been wanting to share!)

I'm Stranded on a Mysterious Island!!!

Guess I should consider myself lucky that I seem to be stranded with a good bunch of people and this island has power and all of the Moda fabric you could ask for!

Head on over to the Moda blog (click here) to see what notions I chose to take with me and my one special request :)

Now thinking of this kind of tropical paradise makes me think of my days spent here:

 Which just so happens to be where a cruise ship is stuck at this moment (St. Maarten)

 But if I were stranded here watching these planes land, I'd be just fine with that.

 Did I mention I also had the BEST PIZZA EVER here?! It's the shrimp & garlic pizza at the Sunset Bar & Grill at the end of Maho Beach. Try it, it's sooooooo good.

 Here would be nice, St. Thomas was nice.

 We spent our day here at a resort...

Surrounded by ocean, awesome pools and iguanas (don't worry it's really cool and not scary). Any of these places seem really good right about now seeing as I'm typing this drinking coffee to get warm while I'm in my fleece pants, slippers and really warm hoodies since it's only in the 20's outside right now....

And to think earlier this week I actually drove with the sun roof open on my car... But that's Northeast Ohio for ya!

So, where would you choose to be stranded if you could choose and have all the fabric and notions you wanted?

Last Cruise Port

So on our last day in port we were at St. Thomas. Ben found this amazing all-inclusive resort where you can get a day pass and enjoy all the perks of the resort. All the food and drinks you could possibly want were included.

 When we docked in St. Thomas, the view from our room on the ship was picture perfect!

 At the resort, there were several cranes flying around, but to a bunch of us they looked more like Pterodactyls!

 The lobby in the resort was gorgeous and just a hint of what was to come.

 I liken St. Thomas to a tropical West Virginia. If it's not on the top of a hill or at the bottom of a hill, it's in the hill. To get to the pool from the main lobby you go to the next building, go down 2 floors in the elevator and then go down these 99 stairs...

 The really weren't that bad though. They're gradual and it's not all a straight shot either.

 See what I mean about the hills?!

 Oh yeah, and there's a ton of iguanas roaming free around the beach and the pool...

 They're so used to people they're not bad or creepy at all, just don't try to pick one up.

 We had access to the beach...

 The pool had this amazing grotto...

 Ben was trying to get cozy with an iguana... Nice try, hun!

 But it was amazing and I would go back in a heartbeat. The food was great and the swim-up bar was fantastic! But the day came to a close and it was on the ship for two days at sea on our way back to Florida, but wait!

There's this rock in the middle of nowhere that we saw on our first day at sea back. Nothing else around for miles, just this gigantic rock.

We made it back safe and sound, just in time for the temps to dip into freezing temperatures at night and a high of around 50 during the day, but it makes those warm days that much nicer. Aaaahhhh, vacation. Now where to go next?!

I'm still getting settled in here and working on all sorts of quilts so I will have pictures to show soon!

Cruise Port #3 St. Maarten!!!

Just saying, if you didn't notice by my ancy demeanor in putting up the video from Maho Beach shortly after we got home, this was my favorite port for this cruise. Ben and I had heard of Maho Beach before since it's been featured on the Travel Channel in a few of their countdown specials. Even seeing it on TV did not prepare me for the day we would have.

 We left the port to head over to Maho Beach. Mystical wonderful Maho Beach.

 We got there just in time to see the updates for the flight schedule for the day.

 It's right above this beautiful stretch of the beach...

 And just happens to be across from this sign (there are several of these signs, FYI)

 I found some shells on the beach along with the other girls we were traveling with. No matter what type of shell, they are almost all white. The water is so clear that the sun is able to bleach the color out of them all.

 But the sun was hot and food sounded good so Ben and I headed to Sunset Bar & Grill.

 Where this was our view for the afternoon.

 The drinks were cold, the food was good. Oh, the food! We had the most amazing wood fired pizza. It was all hot and bubbly but it was sooooooo good that even though my mouth was being scorched, I couldn't stop eating. It was a shrimp and garlic pizza on a pomodoro sauce with lots of cheese - Yummy!

 The views were great and I have NEVER EVER seen water this color before. Granted the color of the water in the Caribbean is gorgeous no matter where you go, but this was incredible.

 It looked like it was glowing. I couldn't stop staring! So I'll let you do the same over these next pictures.

Did we "see all the sights"? Nope. Did we go on an adventure? If you consider taking a cab to a beach near an airport an adventure, then no. Was this my favorite day of the whole trip? Yes Yes and Yes. I want to go back already... I probably would be a beach bum hanging out at the local bar from dawn til dusk, but it's paradise... One last port!

Cruise Stops 1 & 2

So down to Florida we went to hop on a ship and travel to the destinations of Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Maarten & St. Thomas. It was a wonderful time, but it reminded me how quickly those of us that live in Northeast Ohio (where you can experience all four seasons in a single day) forgot about humidity. That was until I got my camera out and tried to take some pictures. This was the first one:

 Just a bit humid is all...

 We spent the day in Grand Turk soaking up the sun at the Margaritaville pool. This was my view for the day.

 Then before we knew it, it was time to get back on the ship. But isn't the water absolutely gorgeous???

 And when we left, more humidity fogged up my camera again...

 A quick fix and it was all better. On to the next adventure, San Juan, Puerto Rico!

 While we were docking we stirred up quite a bit of silt from the bottom of the dock.

 Which made incredible fishing conditions for a few dolphins!

 While we were waiting for the clearance to get off the ship, we had this amazing view of Old San Juan and the Fort (I can't remember it's name, sorry!)

 The buildings in Old San Juan are interesting. They resemble many of the buildings from certain parts of Paris that we saw back when, but they're definitely Caribbean. The colors and open windows make them old with flair, Caribbean style.

 Did you notice anything interesting though? Like how the utility poles are all on top of the buildings? This was something I had never seen before.

 Ben and I found this amazing cafe (much thanks to the cop that directed us here!) where we decided to try mofongo. Our typical Friday night consists anymore of us crashing on the couch with a bowl of popcorn watching hours of Diners, Drive Ins & Dives. This show led us to ask a cop where the best mofongo could be found.

 And here it is, Cafe Puerto Rico!

 They had amazing mojitos. That or the 91% humidity paired with 95 degree temperatures and no clouds or wind made anything cold taste good... But I'm pretty sure the mojitos were awesome!

 And then the mofongo came out. We had stuffed mofongo made of a plantain shell filled with chicken in a garlic sauce with white rice and a salad. This plate took up a large portion of our table so Ben and I were thankful we opted to split this meal (we barely finished it between the two of us).

 And the mojitos disappeared in no time.

And then so did the food. Back onto the ship we were for the next leg of our journey, St. Maarten!