POTD - Come On In

POTD - Come On In

This is the entrance to a church that was just a few blocks from our apartment in Rome.  There were just so many entranceways all in a row.  I thought it was very interesting looking.

Enjoy!
Kristin


UPDATE - I made my very first Etsy sale on this photo - just hours after I posted it.  What a thrill!!  The sale went to a friend I went to high school with, but haven't seen since then.  She saw my POTD post on Facebook and asked if she could buy it. 

Good Night

My friend just called and reminded me that I need to get up early early early in the morning.

Well, she called to ask if I could come 15 minutes earlier than we had planned.

I'm taking her to the airport and she hasn't flown in awhile, so she is a bit nervous about getting there on time.

Her flight leaves at 6:15am and she wants me to pick her up at 4:45am.

It's only a 20 minute drive to the airport from her place.

I will.

But she will be really really really early.

I'll do it.

This means that I need to get up at 4.

Since I went to bed at 2:30am last night, that means that I have to go to bed incredibly early for my current sleep cycle.

So I need to do that.

Now.

I hope I can sleep.

Good Night!
Sleep Well.

and if I can't - I'll come back home in the morning and take a nap :)

Kristin


EDITED to add --  I didn't get to sleep until around 1am and I got up at 4.  She wasn't totally ready when I arrived, but she moved quickly and we got her to the airport  50 minutes before her flight was to leave.  Since I haven't received a phone call, I'm assuming she got on the flight without delay :)  Have a safe trip Deb!  I'm going back to bed.

POTD - Side 2

POTD - Side 2

After they had already left for home, my sister sent me a text and asked me to take a photo of one of the records in the record stand at the Gulf Shores house. I ended up photographing all of the album covers because they were a bit unusual. (I'll be blogging about that in a day or three)  The one record that caught my eye was the Beatles White Album.  I decided to take the records out and photograph them.  I do miss albums.  I always enjoyed looking at the rings of each song because it reminds me of tree rings.  Here is Side 2 of the White Album.

Enjoy!
Kristin

POTD - Hydrangea

POTD - Hydrangea

This white hydrangea is actually white, yellow, blue and green.    I found this little bloom behind the Gulf Shores, AL condo.  It had a friend near the bottom of the plant that was brilliant blue, but all the rest of the flowers were white.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Friday Fragments

Friday Fragments!  I'm in on it this week.  I'm so happy.  Mrs. 4444 hosts this wonderful weekly event where we can talk about anything that needs to be said, that might not be a full length blog post.  It's one of my favorite places to go to find new blogs and to read some very funny stuff. 

I was SO late getting my Friday Fragments up last week (and the two weeks before that, come to think of it) that I decided to just post them when I got them together.  So last week my Fragments were on Sunday.  If you'd like to read them - head on over here. 

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The very last entry in One Pretty Thing's Daily DIY is a How To from Etsy - Kraft Paper Rubbings I want to do this. Funny thing is that I saw something yesterday that I thought would make a good rubbing and I immediately dismissed it because I'm forever collecting things to use as a craft project. My house is already full - but... I already own silverware and kraft paper! I could do this!!

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Do you ever take a vitamin or aspirin with plenty of water, but it still feels like it's stuck in your throat?  I hate that!  I took my evening meds tonight and it was over an hour before that feeling went away.  I even had a bite of bread and it went down easily - no pills got in the way!

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I have a great love for food storage containers that are all the same size, all the lids work on all of the other containers and are stackable.  My very favorite containers are actually the take out variety from our local Maggiano's Restaurant.  It's been over a year since we've gotten carry out and I was down to my very last container!  I dropped two of them last week and they didn't survive the fall.  I was getting desperate, so tonight we ordered carry out.

I asked the very nice carry out guy, who called me Miss Kristin (I loved that), if they still used the black containers and said yes and he mentioned that I wasn't alone in my love for them.  Well, that was a relief :)  He even tossed in a few extras and suggested that next time we come to Maggianos, we could eat inside! 

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I saw a new doctor today.  I'm already very very happy.  He's nice, thoughtful, insightful and we discussed my diabetes, my neuropathy in my feet, the weight gain from medication, my allergies and so many other things.  I told him that we were not going to talk about lap band surgery and he agreed.  He passed. I'm having blood work in two weeks and I'm trying out a new allergy medication.  We'll see what happens in a few weeks.  So far I'm very happy.

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My friend, Lori wrote a wonderful blog post about a sign in Michigan that was revealed when a building was torn down and what that sign advertised.  It's a ginger beverage called Vernors.  It's Deliciously Different!  Have you ever heard of Vernors?  Well, go on over to Lori's blog please and read about that sign.  (I was living in Lansing at the time and got a chance to see it.)

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I hope that you have a wonderful weekend.  Since I played in Gulf Shores for 6 days, I'm going to have to work this weekend and get everything back on track.  Thankfully the laundry is done!

Head on over to Mrs. 4444's place to visit more of the Friday Frageteers!  One for all and all for one!

Kristin

Whew!

It's been a very very long day.

I'm actually so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open.

I don't have a photo of the day for tomorrow yet, so expect to see that sometime in the afternoon.

My friend Deb and I cleaned up one of my rental condos today and actually got it completely finished before the new tenants arrived. It was quite a feat but we did it. My feet hurt, my back hurts, my car is full of stuff, I ate precious little today and am now watching the Survivor episodes that I missed while I was away. I just realized there is another hour left - sheesh, I don't think I can make it.

I have a doctors appointment at 10am and it's a new doctor, so I'm looking forward to it. If he mentions lap band surgery I'm going to walk out the door. I hope he can help me figure out how to help me live with my painful feet. Maybe we can find a way to make them less painful :) That would be very nice.

OK, I'm going to go to bed.

Night!
Kristin

POTD - Seafood

POTD - Seafood

 When my Sister, Alison, saw the Big O Seafood in Gulf Shores, she asked me to take a picture of it just for fun.  You see her husband's record label is called Big O Records.  So she's been taking pictures of the Big O's that she sees.  I think she found a Big O lotto store on the way down.  Well, this was a cool picture, not to mention that I love that they have monster burgers and snow cra blegs haha!

Enjoy!
Kristin

Writing in the sand

I wrote I Love You in the sand and then watched as the waters of the Gulf of Mexico lapped up and erased the words. Depending on when you look at the mini slideshow, you could be witnessing the waters revealing the words I Love You!

It's all in the way you see it.

I'm back home from my trip to Gulf Shores and I had a great time. I've got a rental condo to clean in the morning and new tenants arriving in the afternoon, so it's going to be a real busy few days. I usually don't cut it this close! The next thing on the list is to clean my place. Goodness.

I should watch the water again.

It's soothing.

lapping

lapping

lapping

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Washed Away

POTD - Washed Away

This roadway looks like it was probably undermined during one of the recent hurricanes in the Gulf region.  The road goes to a gorgeous stretch of beach near Fort Morgan in Alabama.  I parked far back on this road as I didn't want to have to get a realignment on my car before I drove home, but from the muddy tire tracks seen here, it looks like some folks brave the rough road anyway.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Century Plant

I was informed before I arrived in Gulf Shores that a Century Plant had started to bloom and I should find it and go see it.    It was in the community where our condo is located, so it was a sure bet that we could find the plant.  My Mom sent me the condo number, but it took us three days to remember to look up the number in the email before we left the house, but we did finally see it.

I left all of the photos in giant size, so go ahead and click on each one to see the big version.

It was almost in these peoples back yard, but since the information on the plant was in the little newsletter that went out to all of the residents, I took that to mean we could go into their yard to see the strange plant. 

The giant Jack and the Beanstalk stalk looks like a large asparagus spear!  The giant stalk with the flowers can reach upwards of 25 feet. 

The spikes on the end of each of the leaves are sharp as can be.  I swear these must have been used as weapons at one time.  Can you imagine the damage that could be done with one of those giant leaves?!! 

I found a website, the Longwood Gardens, and they documented their Century plant that grew in 2007.  Go on over and take a look.  From what they say, this Century Plant should continue to get a bit taller before it starts branching far and wide at the top.  Then the blooms will open up in a few weeks and last all the way into August, if nothing happens to it. 

It's called a Century Plant because it used to be that these plants only bloomed once a century, but according to a couple of sources that I checked, they said that the newer cultivations only take about 10 years or so for them to bloom. One of the very interesting things about this plant is that it uses up all of it's energy to bloom, so when it's all done the plant will die. Gasp! Can you believe that? All that work and it dies soon after. Amazing.

So that's the big news here in Gulf Shores for today.

Hope you're having a great week so far!
Kristin

POTD - Jerry's

POTD - Jerry's

I spotted this sign when I was in the car with Jennifer.  I loved how crooked the sign was and how incredibly faded the coke sign was, as well as the lettering for Jerry's shop.  Usually I'm having to straighten my photos, but this one was perfectly straight - it's the sign that leaning.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Friday Fragments on Sunday

Photo taken in the sculpture garden in Daphne, AL

I have missed several Fridays in a row for my Friday Fragments, so I decided to pull out a few things that I had been saving and do a Sunday Fragments!


I'll start with the current conditions --- It's pouring rain here in Gulf Shores, AL.   I looked at the weather radar hour by hour and one of the hours said 100% chance for rain.  Hmmm, I think we are going to get wet today.  I'd like to take a shower inside before I get soaked outside, but I can't shower when there is a lightning storm, so I'm waiting. 

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Photo taken in the sculpture garden in Daphne, AL

Raise your hand if you are a fan of grilled cheese sandwiches!  me me me!!  I stumbled up on this beauty a few weeks back.  For the true Cheese and Bread only crowd this might be pushing the envelope a bit, but if you like to experiment the Grilled Cheese Academy may be a wonderful adventure! Enjoy!

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My mom has had this quote as her signature in her emails for the past year.  It makes me laugh each and every time!  

"I went to a restaurant that 'served breakfast anytime', so I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance." Stephen Wright

"¨"°º¤ø„¸   ¸„ø¤º°"¨"

Can you imagine?!!!

Yellow Curved Fruit

"¨"°º¤ø„¸   ¸„ø¤º°"¨"

Free Printable card - Just because... from Suzy Jack via Creature Comforts

Let us lay in the sun - found over at It's Mary Ruffle

Sliding Clock

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Have you ever gone to Amazon.com and looked up something silly or searched for a gift for someone in your household and then when you came back to the site days later the Amazon site gives recommendations based on your last searches???

Maybe you don't want your kids to know what you got them for their birthday and they are on Amazon and see your previous searches.  Well Dave over at Ask Dave Taylor answers the question -- How can I remove that information?  It's something very good to know and really quite easy.

"¨"°º¤ø„¸   ¸„ø¤º°"¨"

Have a positively wonderful Sunday or Monday or Tuesday...
Kristin

POTD - Shark Tales

POTD - Shark Tales

One of the shops in Fairhope, AL has two kitties that live there.  This little kitty in the background, had an iron bed with an antique bedspread that was the perfect little cat bed.  It looked like it was well loved by the kitty, too, even though she wasn't in it at the time.   What struck me the most though, was the little toy shark on kitty's pillow.  He looks fierce!

Duh dum

Enjoy!
Kristin

The Baby

So enough with the roosters and art sculptures, Kristin.  Show us the baby!

Alright, alright.

Here she is :) 

I've actually taken only a few photos of her.  I'm going to have to really get on the ball tomorrow and get some glamor shots of her in all of her 7 month glory, because she truly is a cutie.

She also has some of the sweetest looking elbow dimples :)  I'm a gushing Auntie, I am, I am.

Kristin, Hillary, Alison and Scarlett

We spent the afternoon in Fairhope, AL today and invited Jennifer and her daughter (oldest daughter) along as well.  I can't believe that I didn't get a photo of Jennifer and her daughter!  But I did get one with Jennifer and the baby.  She said that we just don't understand the way Southerners take to babies.  Oh, I think I figured it out real quick.  Thanks Jennifer for suggesting taking this photo!  I love it :)
 

I took a few photos of Jennifer and the baby, but I was concentrating so hard on getting Scarlett to look at me, that I nearly cut Jennifer out of the photo!  Ooops!!

Here we are this evening just hanging out.  Hillary is playing with Scarlett while Alison gets a few moments to catch up on the computer.  Hillary played with Scarlett so much that she (the baby) was truly exhausted when she went to bed tonight.  It was an awful lot of fun though.  She smiled and laughed and giggled.  It was great. 

Alison and Hillary are at the Music Fest tonight watching John Legend perform.  My feet were hurting me, so I decided to stay home and rest up for tomorrow.  Alison put Scarlett to bed before she left, so that was nice.  This way we weren't screwing up her sleep schedule two nights in a row.  Tomorrow however, we will all be out at the music fest for many many hours.  We've got "OK go" and "Ben Harper" to see for sure, as well as a few other artists. 

This weekend has really been a lot of fun.  I hope my Mom and the other two girls are having fun, too!

Kristin - The Goat

POTD - Country Rooster

POTD - Country Rooster

I took this in Gulf Shores last time I was here because I was afraid it might not be there the next time I got back into town - and guess what?  It's not there!  The square sign is still there, but Mr. Rooster with a cowboy hat is completely gone.  I haven't gotten a chance to find out why it's gone, but I'm sure glad that I took the photo when I did.

Enjoy!
Kristin

The Hangout Music Festival

The Hangout Music Festival is very cool.  It's taking up much more of the beach and the roads than I ever imagined - I seriously thought this was going to be just a little music fest.  Tonight we saw The Black Crows and Alison Krauss and the Union Station.  Excellent!!

The food is so diverse - I'm excited to see so many unusual things.  It's not just a $12 hot dog - there is a place called The Grateful Belly which was a vegetarian place (I had a cheese quesadilla there that was delicious!) and Greek food and pan fried soba noodles and real nachos with refried beans and freshly grated cheese.  There are also beer tents and fru-fru drink tents and corn dog vendors and you can buy a funnel cake or three if your heart desires it.  I don't think I've ever had a funnel cake, but I digress :)

My type of camera was not allowed into the festival so I was using Hillary's camera.  Turns out she didn't bring the cord, so no photos from me tonight or this weekend, from the festival.  Oh well. 

Scarlett is just a joy.  We've had a good time with her and she's certainly getting plenty of attention.  Even at the music fest, when she was obviously very tired, just passing her from one to another was enough distraction that we probably extended her crabby time for an additional 90 minutes.  She finally gave up the niceties around 9:30pm and we had to go home. 

I don't have the pictures of her at the moment either.  I'm all of a sudden so tired that I'm just going to have to finish all of this tomorrow.

So goodnight.  Sleep well.  Enjoy your families and your friends and by all means, listen to good music.  I've heard a lot of good music tonight. 

Eyes droopy, must sleep.
Kristin

POTD - Saturn

POTD - Saturn

This is a close up of a sculpture found in a little art park in Daphne, AL. There's actually not much else to this piece. These round disks (which reminded me of the planet Saturn) were at the very top of a ten foot pole and then it had an antenna of a foot or so on the other side. It is a very simple piece, but as it's weathered in the elements it has become gorgeous and delicate looking.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Out with Dust Bunny Hostage

I visited with my sister today.  Well, she isn't really my sister in the sense that we have the same parents, but she's become like a sister to me...with a southern accent.  It was none other than Jennifer, Dust Bunny Hostage.  Funny thing, her kids have a southern accent, too!  I gave a little giggle when they started talking :)  It's funny, they must have been raised in the South!

Well, anyway, I got Jennifer to take a ride with me in my car today and we went on a tour of her city and the surrounding area.

This photo was left in GIANT size so it can be clicked on to see the city in the background.  This is Mobile Bay just behind the Original Oyster House restaurant, where I asked to be taken for lunch.  I was quite demanding when I arrived as I was terribly hungry.  People who know me in real life know that when I'm hungry I must be fed :)  She learned quickly and she survived.

After lunch she took me to see some pieces of sculpture that she sees all the time as she's driving by but has never stopped to take a look.  I'm guilty of that too in my own town.  This time though it was our mission to stop and take pictures.  The photo above is only a portion of the story, but you'll have to come back in a few days to see all of it.  This is just a teaser.   I will tell you that it's a basketball player and a basketball hoop.

Then we found this very interesting sculpture garden inbetween two roadways.  At first I thought it was a park, but it wasn't.  It was all kinds of interesting pieces of art.  Some was very cool and some were just odd.  I didn't get the 10 foot high rectangles.  Oh well.

I did like the keyhole and Jennifer and I took turns getting our picture taken in it.  I can't believe I wore my sunglasses in the photo - I rarely keep them on for a photo, so it's just odd to see me in them. 

I made Dust Bunny lean into the keyhole, too.  She tried the peeking around the edge type of photo and I took that picture, but I wouldn't stop nagging her until she stood in it just like me.

OK, so I didn't really have to nag, I pretty much just said "Do it!" and she did.  She's learned to listen to her older sister :)  ahhh, I'm teaching her well.

As I was leaving her home, many many hours after I first arrived, I just had to snag a photo of the gorgeous succulents that she has in her front entry.   The hens and chicks came from her grandmother I do believe.  I've never grown any in Florida, but the ones that I had growing in Michigan were always very pathetic looking.  These look like their much more sophisticated cousins!   

Jennifer has this gorgeous little turquois bench, no bigger than a few feet, in her front garden.  I loved it!  I think she said she found it at a thrift store, but we got interrupted and I honestly can't remember where she said she found it. 

What a great day I spent with Dust Bunny Hostage.  I feel very very fortunate to have been able to meet up with her several times in the past year.  In the next day or so she's going to come to the condo where I'm staying and she's going to meet my biological sisters.  I'm actually going to introduce her to the family! :)  It should be a lot of fun.

Have a wonderful weekend! 
Kristin

POTD - Gulf Shores Souvenirs

POTD - Gulf Shores Souvenirs 

I always like to photograph snowglobes on the shelves of souvenir shops, but the day I went looking for some here in Gulf Shores all they had were upscale snowglobes.  I was disappointed.  I wanted tacky.  When I ran across these little bottles of colored glass and sea shells in all the modern deco colors, I knew this is exactly what I was wanting.  There were so many colors that you could have had one for each room in your house :)  Oooh, the joy!!  I loved it.

Back to Gulf Shores

What fun!

I am taking another little vacation back to Gulf Shores, Alabama.  My sisters will be joining me in the evening on Thursday.  I decided to come out the day before them so I could open the condo up, make sure everything was working, get some food in the fridge and run up the road and meet up with Dust Bunny Hostage :)  I'm going to see her in about 11 hours from right now.  I'm excited.

The drive over was so easy.  I had a book on CD - I can't remember the name of it... lets see if I can Google it and get a name.  Yep!  I sure can.  The book is called "Time is a River" by Mary Alice Monroe.  Honestly, I have to say, that this book is probably furthest from any book I would have chosen, but it was one of the only unabridged books in the Cracker Barrel CD book rack.  I rarely get an audio book that's abridged.  The story moves along far too quickly and I find that what gets cut out of the story is the vision!  and on this stretch of Interstate 10 that is long and straight and flat, I need to be able to have a vision of something else.  

On the authors website, a USA Today article gave a real good synopsis of the book, below.

"Mia is the main character in Monroe's new novel, Time Is a River (Pocket Books, $25), the tale of a 38-year-old breast cancer survivor who, after finding her husband in bed with another woman, heads to the mountains of North Carolina to find herself. Little does she know she'll also find herself knee-deep in water, fly-fishing."

If you know me at all, you know that I'm not a water person - so a book about fly fishing is pretty far off my path.   I usually try to stay away from survival stories like this one because I live and breathe the transplant community and would like a break from it at times.   I had a feeling, though, this was going to be a bit different.  I was right.  I am completely in love with this book.  I may just have to read (on my Kindle of course!) one or two of her other books.  The audio book is read by the author, so that's fun and interesting to be able to actually hear the voice of the person who penned the book. 

The photos I've posted are all from the trip down I-10.  There was a 10 mile stretch or so where the wildflowers were just spectacular.  I didn't have an easy point and shoot camera so I just held up my big one and just clicked without looking through the viewfinder.  I couldn't stop the car, so I did the next best thing.  When I got to a rest area, I checked the photos.  I took a lot of pictures of the tops of the trees - but I did manage to get a few shots of the wildflowers through my dusty windows.  Ahh, this is talent folks!  I didn't even edit them since I don't think editing would improve them.  I do like them though because they show the wildflowers that were so pretty.

I hope that some sunshine has been able to creep into your week.  I have a very sunburned arm from my drive today.  I have tinted windows, but I guess it didn't help at all. I have a real doozy of a farmers tan now!!  I'll have one of my sisters take a picture of it - it's pretty funny looking.

Have a wonderful delightful day!
Kristin

I just had to include this photo - it's one of the mistakes, but how interesting that I caught the sideview mirror and the trees in the mirror.  Very odd.