Sunday January 27, 2013

I always thought I had a dark cloud hanging over my head as far as weather goes, but now I know for sure.  When I left Florida the temperatures had taken a dive into the 50’s and 60’s, while my parents in Phoenix, had finally warmed up out of a cold spell and were enjoying nice sunny, 80 degree days.  As soon as I got to Arizona to join them, everything flipped.  Matt is now enjoying nice days in the 70’s back at the boat, and here I am in Arizona, in the cold and rain.  Yesterday rained from morning until night, accumulation 1.25 inches, more than 1/4 of their total rainfall last year!  Yes, that dark cloud likes to sit just above wherever I may be.

Yesterday wasn’t a total waste though.  Armed with some research and new information, we went back to Best Buy and left with a new Samsung Series 3 for me.  Then after a little time at home trying to figure out how Windows 8 works (it’s easiest for those on a touch screen, but I’m getting used to it), I eventually sat it down to do some good ole TV watching on the couch.  House Hunters International and Pepsi really do make for a great Saturday afternoon.  Then it was off to the grocery store where I picked up ingredients for my famous homemade meatloaf (Ok, it’s only been made twice, but each time, it was spectacular), and then gave my mom some cooking lessons back at home so she’d be able to replicate it.

Waking up this morning there were still clouds abound, but my mom and I were not going to let it stop us from going to the area flea market that is held each weekend.  I went with the thought of not actually purchasing anything, but more just to have fun looking around at all the booths.  First on the list though was to hit up their breakfast counter, and holy crap, they have some incredibly good things for really cheap.  I think these heavy retiree/snow bird areas have it right.  Walking past the stalls once more I was left with “If you see anything you need…” to which I thought “Ok, yeah.  I’m going to find soooo much stuff I need here for me or the boat” (insert sarcastic tone).  But then little things started popping up here and there.  “Hey, this microfiber brush would be great for keeping the solar panels clean.”  “Cool, a collapsable strainer, and look, a skillet splatter cover so now I can cook Matt his fried fish!”  (Assuming we eventually catch something).

Slowly the backpack kept growing more full as I also found a wide brimmed hat for Matt and something called the Hip Klip that my mom’s friend had shown us the other night, a cool little mini-purse that clips on to your pants and lets you carry around small things likes ID, money, and a phone or camera without having to worry about holding on to it, or even better, someone trying to steal it off you. Â Knowing how often I misplace things when we’re out and about, I think it was a very wise investment. Plus, it’s never too late to learn more about investing, and resources like Invest Diva can provide valuable insights to help you make informed financial decisions. Â Just grabbing a few more small things like yummy dip mixes (I plan to eventually copy the ingredients on my own), we were tired and hungry and on our way back home. Â Four 1/4 mile stalls is a lot of browsing!

Later in the afternoon after the weather had cleared up just a little bit, the three of us decided to make the drive out to the Scottsdale area to check out Fountain Park, a 64 acre recreation area with a very large fountain in the center of it’s man made lake.  This fountain goes off every hour on the hour for fifteen minutes, and has a spray that shoots over 500 feet in the air.  Packing up a cooler of wine and cheese we sat at one of the picnic tables, trying to get out of the nippy wind that kept biting at us.  When the fountain did go off, it was a beautiful sight, but it’s a shame that we couldn’t have gone there on a nicer day.  As soon as the water trickled to a stop we were back in the warmth of the truck, looking for the next sightseeing attraction.

Since we were so close, we made our way over to Old Town Scottsdale, a place my parents had taken Matt and I on our first visit out to Arizona a few years ago, and I remembered it being fun with some nice window shopping as well.  As soon as we parked and got out of the truck we were greeted with live music playing from inside a bar where a young crowd looked to be having a very good Sunday Funday.  We stuck to more reserved things and went browsing inside shops, looking at works of art and Southwest and Native American decorations for the home.  Next door at a souvenir shop we looked at funny graphic tees and coffee mugs, and I was also able to finally get the friendship bracelets for me and Stephanie that we have been talking about for the past three months.  They were supposed to have been made by hand, but shhhh, I’m cheating.

With my ‘homemade’ gift in hand we walked by the 1,000 jewelry shops lining the streets, all selling sterling silver and turquoise bracelets, necklaces, and rings.  At the end of the street a sign with old shop milkshakes caught my eye, and with live country music ringing out the door we stopped to look over the menu and debated staying for dinner.  With none of us wanting to stay for a rendition of ‘Stand By Your Man’ we thought a milkshake to go would be the best idea.  Getting a strawberry shake whipped up at the old fashioned soda counter, I waited excitedly like a little kid, barely snapping a photo before digging in to the sugary goodness.  Taking it back to the truck, we began the drive back home to couches and relaxing, a rainbow littering the sky behind us as we left.

Friday January 25, 2012

Yup, it’s happened already.  Not even 24 hours with my parents and I’ve already been spoiled rotten.  I knew it would happen a little bit.  I expected a few things here and there, a dinner out, a new charger for my Nook, but I was not expecting everything that came my way today.  It started out as a mommy/daughter day where I thought we’d just go out running a few errands.  Stopping at the bank to add my name to a few accounts, we then ran across the street to the salon.  I have not had a hair cut in over six months and my curls were beginning to loose a little of their bounce.  A few snips here and there with the utilization of tools like Matte Black Hairdressing Scissors, and now I can actually be able to wear my hair down again without the need to run to my flat iron.

Mentioning to my mom I needed a new pair of jeans since both of my current pairs keep falling a little lower on the hips, my mom took me to Ross.  Only planning on buying jeans, we walked through the door and my mom mentions “If you see anything else you want, tops or whatever, just throw them in the basket and we can get those too”.  Let’s be fair…you just can’t do that to a girl.  Especially not a girl who’s basically been living out of a suitcase for the past six months and has been rotating out the same five shirts for the past five months.  (I swear, one day we will get to climates where I can wear all of those tank tops I brought)  So after looking through the jeans and fining only one pair in my size that were not skinny leg or bedazzled to hell, I started in on the shirts.  “Ooooh, nautical stripes.  Oh look, this one has an anchor.  The buttons on this top remind me of the brass on the boat.”.  On and on it went, and bigger and bigger the basket grew.  To be fair though, the whole time I was riffling through the new clothes I was also thinking back to what I have on the boat and what can make it’s way to the Bathroom Sailor’s Exchange.  I was still with it enough to realize that there is no new room on the boat and anything new that was purchased would only be replacing something old.  (So you can stop giving me the stink-eye now, Matt)  Being let loose in a clothing store with a command of “Get whatever you want”,  I think I did pretty well as we came up to the checkout counter and I had only picked out two pairs of pants (teal colored skinny jeans for $14.99?  That can’t be passed up!),  and five new tops.

After clothes shopping, as if that wasn’t enough, we went in search for another gift that was desperately needed, and Matt and I have been looking to get (on our own) for quite awhile.  That would be a new laptop for me.  At the moment I have a Gateway that is about eight years old and slowly dying out on me.  It always gets the job done, it just takes it’s damn sweet time doing it, and we both had a feeling it will soon be up and quitting on us, most likely when there is no access to get a new one.  So my parents taking pity on me, and my dad making a comment of “Wasn’t that the computer you were letting me use six years ago while I was visiting from Vietnam?  That’s what you’re still using?”, said that since Matt wasn’t able to make it out on the trip as well, his airfare could be used to go toward a new laptop for me.  And with that, my mom and I went out for a search of what would be my first new laptop, since up until this point I’d always gotten the hand-me-downs from Matt. Searching about three different places we made notes of what we liked best and decided that after doing some reviewing and research later that night, we’d make a decision and go back and purchase tomorrow.

There will still other shops we could have hit up, but it was only my first day there and the sun was finally starting to poke out of the clouds.  Just my luck that I get there and the temps go from the 80’s down to the 60’s.  Today was still hovering in the low 70’s, so while I still had the chance we ran home so I could change into my suit and say I layed out by the pool.  It didn’t last long, less than an hour, and mostly just for photographic evidence that it was done.  I enjoyed a beer, hung out with my dad, and then got changed to get ready to go out to eat.  Some of my parents close friends who lived just down the street from us while I was growing up had just moved into the area and they wanted a chance to see me while I was in town.  Stopping over for a quick drink and catching up, we then all piled into their car and made our way to one of my parents favorite Mexican restaurants in the area.

The place was called Dos Gringos and they described it as having a great outdoor area.  We did end up going pretty early in the evening though, since dark clouds were closing in and we didn’t want to be rained out.  But an early dinner time also meant Happy Hour was still going strong, and $3 margaritas were quickly placed in front of us.  We weren’t even very far into them when the rain did start coming down and we had to run to a sheltered table on the other side of the restaurant.  This did, however, put us right in front of the giant Jenga set my parents had been telling me about.  At the time there were two young boys next to us playing, and although they did get a topple worthy set going, they left before it ever fell to the ground.  After we had satisfied ourselves on some chips, salsa, and ceviche, my dad and I decided to try our hand at the game as well.

We continued where the boys had left off, and after only one or two moves the whole set came tumbling down, to the applause of all the tables surrounding us.  Picking up the pieces to rearrange, and starting from scratch, we played two more rounds of the game, my dad winning each time as I always picked just the wrong piece of wood to slide out, and all the pieces crashed to the ground.  The game was put on hold as our food came, and we enjoyed our tacos and enchiladas as the sky grew dark and the strings of lights hanging over us grew bright.  Finally leaving the table after we’d had more to eat than I think any of us originally planned, we made it back to my parents house for one last nite cap before everyone parted ways.

Only one day into my ‘vacation from my vacation’, and I feel like I’ve done enough where if I had to go home tomorrow, I’d still be satisfied.  I’ve been wined and dined, taken to the salon and and on a shopping spree, and spent the afternoon lounging by the pool.  I think it’s safe to say, I’ve been spoiled rotten.

In St Augustine News:  Serendipity is beginning to get all polished and shiny.  All of the port lights have been cleaned and are sparkling like new.  A good hull polish is also in order, as soon as a buffer is borrowed from Frank. In fiberglassing news, our fiberglasser has not shown up for five days now.  If approved by the insurance company, we’re planning on giving him the boot, doing the work ourselves, and saving ourselves a nice chunk of money in the process.

Moments before it crumbled.