The Four C's

When you think of the Four C's, does a church in Cozumel come to mind?  I'm sure you probably thought of the Four C's of a gemstone - cut, clarity, carat or color. Well in this case I'm talking about the Corpus Christi Cathedral in Cozumel, the island's largest Catholic Church.  That actually may be the Six C's!

I just got back home from a week long cruise of the Western Caribbean and Cozumel was one of our stops. 

I saw the bell towers from the ship and knew that those towers were going to be a destination for me.   Once we got off the ship, I couldn't see the towers anymore, so I had to explain what I wanted to find and after a pow wow with a few taxi drivers, we finally found one who knew exactly where I wanted to go. 

I was immediately struck by the intricacy of the ironwork on the three sets of doors that open up to the body of the church.

I don't know why these plowers were hanging here, but I bet they were just gorgeous a few days ago.  I still thought they looked nice, even with the faded flowers.

The man on left hand side of the photo was praying (and watching me take photos when he didn't think I was looking) the entire time I was there.  He had a picture he was holding in his hands. 

The side windows were the same yellow, green and blue glass, but much smaller and less ornate. 

One of the side isles was decorated for Mary. 

I think the translation is Tender Mother. 

I think I took a picture of every window in the place.  (I was obsessed)

A close up view of the bell tower and one of my favorite types of palm trees.  They have super sleek trunks without any stubble from old palm fronds. 



I hope you have enjoyed a quickie tour of the Corpus Christi Cathedral on the island of Cozumel, Mexico.  For more Sundays in My City, please visit Unknown Mami who always has a lovely party on Sunday.

Have a great day!
Kristin

Returning Home

The Norwegian Sun is headed back to Port Canaveral.  We've had a nice voyage with some rocky seas, some rain and quite a bit of cloud cover.  There still has been plenty of sunshine, lots of activities both on the islands and on the ship and the rocking only made me sleep longer.  Have I mentioned how wonderfully I sleep on cruise ships?  Well, I do. I've taken a nap each afternoon, except for one, for at least 2 hours but most have been closer to 3 hours.   The most wonderful part is that I don't get that groggy-I-should-not-have-slept feeling.  I can pop right out of bed and run out the door. 

I didn't take as many pictures as I'd hoped, but I did take one each day for my 365 Photo Project.  I wasn't going to mess that up!  I just had a hard time getting good shots when I was in a taxi or walking with a group of people.  So many of the people I wanted to take pictures of were the local folks, but if they catch you photographing them, they want some money.  So very very few people photos - sorry 42N!

The buffets, the ice cream station, the outdoor grill, the two dining rooms, the 24hr pizza and pasta station, and the specialty restaurants (Steak, Asian, Brazilian, Italian, Bistro and Tapas) all made for great dining options all day and night.  Speaking of...one of the places had the best popcorn!  I may go grab a small bag before I head back to the room.   I'm sure I missed a dining option in there because there were so many, but all in all we were never without something to eat.  Thankfully, I usually only ate a late breakfast or early lunch (I tried really hard to sleep in late) and dinner.  So many people that I talked to ate way too much.  I know I ate too much, but I went for quality rather than quantity :o)

That's all I have time for right now - I should be back with photos by the end of Saturday or on Sunday. 

Have a great day!
Kristin

Washy Washy Happy Happy

So far so good!
The Norwegian Sun is a lovely ship that's been around for about 10 years as this ship anyway. 
One of the very first things we noticed was the hand sanitizer woman in the skywalk onto the ship.  You couldn't get past her without getting a santizer spritz on our hands. 

At the restaurants before walking in there's someone - "Washy washy happy happy," they say as they hold out the bottle and spray our hands.  As much as I hate sanitizing sprays, I'm fairly happy about it being a ship wide thing.  I bet it really helps keep cold and flu bugs from spreading. 

In the morning we get to our first stop - Cozumel, Mexico.  I didn't bring my computer so no photos from me until I get home, but I expect to take some fun shots.

Thanks for all of the wishes and blessings about my dear Mocha.  I told my husband that I only thought about her 400 times today, but am so grateful that I don't have to worry about her.

My internet minutes are few, so I'm going to scoot. 

We're having a blast!

Hope you have a great day!
Kristin

On the Good Ship Lollipop

On the Good Ship Lollipop.

Well, this ship is called the Norwegian Sun.  This will be my home for about a week.  I've cruised on Carnival and Princess, so I'm really looking forward to the Norwegian line. 

This is going to be our stateroom.  We always have a balcony room when we cruise so we can open the door and get ocean air all night while we sleep. 

There is an internet station, which costs a bit of $$, but I'm sure I'll check in a couple of times, but I'm not taking my own computer.  It's a scary thought to leave my computer behind, but I can do it :) 

I can do it knowing I have access to a computer!

Click to enlarge the map.

My Aunt and Uncle live part time in the Cayman Islands so they are going to come pick us up on Tuesday and give us the nickel tour.  I'm excited to spend the day with them - how fun!

I'm looking forward to the cruise and not worrying about the health of my sweet Mocha.  I think I cried myself out yesterday and the evening before and I hope to just enjoy the vacation with my husband.

I hope you have a wonderful week. 
Kristin

Friday Fragments

It's Friday Fragments Day!!

It's Friday Fragments Day!

It's Friday Fragments Day!

It's Friday Fragments Day!  

It's Friday Fragments Day!

Welcome to Friday Fragments. Usually this is a post full of fun and funnies, but not today. Just fair warning if you care to scoot by quickly, it's OK.

Mrs. 4444 is our lovely host and I am so grateful for her continued hosting of this fun carnival.  For more Friday Fragments finds, please head on over to Half-Past Kissin' Time.  Thanks!

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I can hardly think of anything else but the passing of my kitty.  I've cried gently and I've violently cried outloud into a blanket I just got out of the dryer.  I've sobbed walking into the kitchen and seeing the kitty food dishes.  I tear up just thinking about trying not to cry.  My eyes are so swollen that I'm wondering if I will ever get them to go down before I have to go to sleep.

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She was 15 years old and not well.  It's OK, I know.  It was time.  She was throwing up and not keeping a lot of food in her.  She was literally starving to death before my eyes.  I couldn't do that to her any longer just because I loved her.  It was time.  I have to keep telling myself that it truly was time.

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My husband, who can be so gruff and sharp at times has a super sticky sweet kitty voice that he uses to talk to cats. He adores them.  He complains about having to pick things up from the floor, but will get down on his belly in a second if it's to play with the cat.

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Mocha loved me best.  If I was gone her world was incomplete and she let everyone know it.  If my husband was gone she hardly noticed.  Maggie, Mocha's sister who passed a few years ago, now she loved Tom.  Her life's mission was to get fed and sit on Tom's lap.  Mocha looked at me with such love in her eyes and she never looked at anyone else that same way.  She could look at me for hours, if it weren't for those cat naps!

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At least I can stop worrying about her.  I've been so worried for so long.  I might be crying from that great relief.

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I wrote on Facebook that I was taking the kitty in for a semi-frantic trip to the vet.  By the end of the evening when I told of the passing of my sweet kitty I had received nearly a hundred messages of love.  In a couple of hours I was hugged, loved, consoled, prayed for and blessed.  I thought Facebook birthdays were fantastic, but the outpouring of love for my Mocha, husband and me was amazing.  I am so very grateful for that.  Thank You.

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Not the uplifting Friday Fragments post that I usually have and hardly even a fragment, but I could have gone on for days and this was the perfect thing to keep me fairly brief.

Thanks for being a Friday Fragment friend, or a friend of Mrs. 4444 or a Facebook friend or just someone who stopped on by.  It means a lot to me.

Have a great weekend.
Kristin

POTD - Best Of...Mocha

POTD - Mocha

©2010 Kristin Corlett

It's been awhile since I did a Best Of photo of the day and today I unfortunately have reason to bring back an image from the past.

My dear sweet kitty was put to sleep today (Thursday Dec 8th, 2011) in my arms.  Her sister, Maggie, passed away, with me by her side, July 31st, 2006.
Two beautiful, crazy, loving and totally food obsessed sisters. 
My world improved the day they came into it.  
We had Maggie 10 years and Mocha 15.  


Kristin

Trips and Treats

I have been so busy making treats and trees that I haven't even started decorating my house.  I find that every couple of years I never actually get out my decorations!  It's pretty easy to do since I don't have any children or parties at my house, but the main reason the non decorating happens is because I have a big event or vacation in December that takes up my time. 

This year I have two things - I have the once a month potluck tonight and I've been doing the centerpieces for the tables.  (those paper trees I blogged about the other day)

AND my husband and I are going on a cruise for our 10th Anniversary.  Our wedding anniversary was in June, but a Christmas time cruise fit into our plans a bit better.  So, I've been preparing to go away by getting the cat sitter all lined up and the mail tended and new clothes purchased and stuff mailed out to family and friends and and and -- the list is long. 

Don't worry, I've broken up that  TO DO list by making treats!  I've never made Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods before, but it was very easy to learn and I think they turned out great.  This batch came out better than the first and that's just because I had better "sprinkles" for the outside.  I bought regular sprinkles the other day and the yellow and orange and pink bits just didn't look right.  I finally found some that were all red, white and green and it made for a much more cohesive look.  I love the Chanukah Blues so I always like to add in a little of that when I'm making Christmas treats.  

I made three different kinds of pretzel treats - white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate.  The ones pictured are the milk.  I ended up drizzling a little white chocolate over the top, but I never thought of getting a shot of them.  Hopefully I'll remember to get a shot when I'm at the potluck.

I'm not taking my computer with me on our trip (shudder!!) so I'll probably only get to post a few times while gone - I'm assuming there is a computer/internet station on the ship.  If not, then this blog is going to be very quiet for a few days.

Hope you have a wonderful day!
Kristin

POTD - Snowman and Kisses

POTD - Snowman and Kisses

©2011 Kristin Corlett

I wanted to use the wrappers from all of the Hershey Kisses that I unwrapped for yesterday's baking project, but it was difficult figuring out how to feature them.   I put them into jars and they looked cool, but not when I photographed them.  I realized that they needed to be background.  So I searched through the house and came up with a little wintery scene.  My folded paper trees with my new salt glazed snowman from Eldreth Pottery , and the scattered wrappers made a lovely scene.  I really loved that the glitter on the two big trees gave some sparkle in the photo! 

Enjoy!
Kristin

POTD - Tracks

POTD - Tracks

©2011 Kristin Corlett

I found this location by just driving around and keeping my eye out for something that might be interesting.  The sun was getting pretty low in the sky but no sunset colors yet.  I drove toward an industrial area when I passed over the train tracks and realized that there was a cutaway to a utility road right next to the tracks.  That's the perfect place for me to be able to pull in and evaluate the area without being in traffic.  I really liked this spot and when I saw this view I knew exactly what I wanted to capture.  If you enlarge the photo you can see the train tracks disappear and then come up again over another little hill.  That was what I wanted to see.

Enjoy!
Kristin

 I didn't think the enlargement was big enough - so here is a larger, smaller version :)  Not sure why I got a kick out of that view, but I did.  Do you see that we have some leaves turning?  Yep, it's still fall here in Jacksonville.

Folded Paper Christmas Trees

Something inexpensive and abundant.  That was my criteria for a Christmas project.  I wanted to make the table decorations for our potluck on Thursday, but I didn't have any starting point.  I remembered making these magazine trees and did a little search and found that they were quite popular all of a sudden.    Tutorials were everywhere!  Even Martha Stewart had them on her site.

You start off with a magazine or a dozen magazines :o)

If you do that next step through the entire magazine, it will end up looking like this. 

You can do each step one at a time to each page or you can do the steps all at once.  On the magazines I tend to do one step at a time through the entire magazine.  On the little books, at the end of the page, I found it easier to do all three steps at once.

I cut some of the magazines in half (quite a chore!) and made some smaller trees as well as the big ones. 

I sprayed the big ones with silver spray paint and then covered them with a fine glitter.  I thought it would look more silver, but it just painted the very edges of the tree.  I haven't quite decided if I'm in love with them or not. 

Once I finally thought about it awhile, I realized that I could use a readers digest or a small paperback to make the smaller trees.  I went to a thrift store or two and purchased all of the small 190 page romance novels.  The ones with the women draped in some man's arms on the front cover!  I tore the book in half (very easy!) and took off the cover and back and made these little trees.  I love their color so I won't even spray paint them.   All of the trees - big and small - will be going to my Liver Transplant Support Group Potluck as the table decorations.  I think they are going to look great.

The trees were super easy to make, as you can see from the steps above, and I was able to fold the pages as I watched TV.  That's of course always a bonus!

Hope you have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Parlor Chandelier

POTD - Parlor Chandelier

©2011 Kristin Corlett

The Elizabeth Swain Memorial United Methodist Church in San Marco, FL was one of the stops for the Holiday Open House the other night.  It's a rather small church but one of the most unusual things about it is that just off the sanctuary is a parlor. I'd never heard of a parlor in a church before now.  I didn't get any information on the chandeliers in the parlor, but there were two of them and they were beautiful.  They each contained 24 lights and I can't even begin to count how many crystals.  I thought it was such a lovely space with the crystal chandeliers and the blue-gray walls. 

Enjoy!
Kristin

Holiday Home Tour

On Saturday evening a few friends and I went on a Holiday Home Tour of 5 homes in the San Marco area of Jacksonville, FL.  The very first house that we went to I asked about being able to take photos in the home and I was told no way.  None of the houses allowed it.

So below you will see the unlawful photos that I took - most of them with my cell phone!  I figure the outside photos were allowed, so only the interior photos were illegally gotten.

Please don't tell on me. :o)

This was such a great idea and made quite a statement in the kitchen.

It was a beautiful sunset.

This was such a great idea with the wreaths hanging from old windows.  I have some old windows in my garage - I may actually do this.

This was the house number to one of the featured homes.  It belongs to the ivy covered wall a few photos below.

I thought this was a really cute way to use a white Christmas tree.  The three buttons on the snowman are black Christmas ornaments.

This house had wall to wall pine flooring and the entire place had the smell of pine.  It was pretty cool.  This is the stairway all decked out. 

I would love to have this be the entry to my house!  Oh I loved it.

The last place we visited was the church.  This photo is really grainy but it was such a neat sight with the moon and the stained glass and the clouds.




Thank you for joining me on a mini tour of homes - If I was allowed to photograph inside the houses this post would have had a few hundred photos!  The homes were just gorgeous.


For more Sundays in my City, go ahead and visit Unknown Mami.  Lots of folks link up each week and it's a great time!

Have a great week,
Kristin

POTD - Candy Canes

POTD - Candy Canes

©2011 Kristin Corlett

I have a craft project that I'm going to do this week that involves some candy canes.  I hated to just keep them in the box, so I took them all out and started putting them in some jelly jars that I have in my glass bin.  I hauled them all over the kitchen taking their picture, but the one I like best is the one where I put them in an old fruit crate with just a sliver of light coming through.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Friday Fragments

It's Friday Fragments Day!!

It's Friday Fragments Day!

It's Friday Fragments Day!

It's Friday Fragments Day!  

It's Friday Fragments Day!

Welcome to Friday Fragments!  This is the place where we're able to put little snippets of fun or interesting things together without having to stretch that idea into an entire blog post.

Mrs. 4444 is our lovely host and I am so grateful for her continued hosting of this fun carnival.  For more Friday Fragments finds, please head on over to Half-Past Kissin' Time.  Thanks!

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Today's Fragments are all things that I either read or posted on Facebook this week.
Mostly humor :)
Enjoy!

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My Friend: I've been reading a great book and got to the last few pages. Now I can't find the book nor do I know the title. Sure wish I knew how it ended :(

The very first comment she received said: He woke up and Suzanne Pleshette was beside him.

 If you don't know what this is about, highlight the black line below.

In the Newhart Show, which ran from 1982 - 1990, this was the surprise ending.

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My Friend:  I was trying to have a nice relaxing lunch break in the parking lot up the street from work, all of a sudden train cars are sliding at me and I'm running away screaming like sissy. (She further explained) I was standing right next to the tracks, it WAS like something out of a movie! I had just rang my husband on the phone and when he answered the cars started derailing so all he heard was me screaming, "OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD!"

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Lansing, MI got about 7-10" of snow yesterday morning so there were a lot of snow related posts, but this one got me laughing.

My Friend: ...so apparently amidst my morning drama of waking up late, getting the car stuck and shoveling myself out, I didn't notice that a tree fell on the jeep!

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This list of Adult Truths can be enlarged - just click!  I thought a lot of them were quite funny and true!  It has been shared over 30,000 times on Facebook, so I wouldn't be surprised if you had seen it already.  I still had to share!

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My Friend: When you mistakenly put all your eggs in one basket, is it ok to throw that basket at something really hard when things don't work out?

I said: You might want to take one of the eggs out and put it on the counter before you smash the rest. It's good to have a nest egg.

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Help Portrait information on Photojojo

On December 10th, you can take part in Help Portrait by giving a portrait to someone in need!

With the forthcoming Christmas tree installations and mall traffic, give a portrait to restore dignity, bring smiles and even remind people, many of whom have forgotten, how beautiful they are.

I haven't been able to participate last year or this one, but I have a friend in Lansing, MI who is involved and she loved being a part of it.  Donations are accepted, of course!  They are also in need of picture frames to put the photos into after being printed.  Check to see if you have a Help Portrait group in your area by following this link - Groups

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Mason Jar Pour Spout

I thought this was such a cool idea!  It's just perfect for some bulk items that are easily stored in jars.

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If you only gave yourself credit, for all the things you do that you do not give yourself credit for, you'd be astonished to learn how much you really do accomplish in a single day. Every single day.

That's okay though, because I'm still "counting" all of it.

The Universe (From TUT's Notes from the Universe)

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Last week I blogged about all of the really cool gift guides that I had discovered.
If you missed it, here is the link.  Gift Guides   They really are worth looking at if you've got a few minutes.  The online catalogs are quite nice and easy to read.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristin