A Gondola in Florida????

I've already admitted to being a Groupon junkie and I had a surprise for my hubby....a pretty cool date night....that.....yes, included a Groupon. This time it was for a Gondola ride right next to one of our favorite restaurants....so, I made both reservations and off we went.

First...a wonderful dinner at The Table.....it sits right on Phillippi Creek, lovely view and the food is wonderful. The sea bass was delish. Then we headed to the other end of the parking lot to catch our boat ride. In and settled and off we go........

The Gondola will hold up to 8, so glad we were the only ones on it....

An "usey" with our Gondolier, Boris behind us.

I think Denny enjoyed his surprise!!!

In Italy when you cross under a certain bridge you have to kiss...for good luck. OK, we weren't in Italy, but maybe it will count...we'll take some good luck!

Boris was wonderful........he truly loves being a Gondolier.

He even sings....

Some neighbors were eating at The Table and I ask them to take our picture when we rounded the corner....thanks Cheryl!!!

It was a wonderful evening.....but I do recommend getting the Groupon....otherwise, it's a bit spendy for my blood!!

Here's his site...  Sarasota Gondolier     if you are ever in the area, it's something fun and different to do.

Thanks Boris....it was delighful.

Ladies Luncheon....Southwest Christian Church....Atlanta

My family has been members of this church many years. It's a wonderful, warm inviting place, and holds lots of good memories for us. However, it is time to move this church to Newnan...as we all know a church is a body of people, not a building.....but the building has become a wonderful place to go. So...with the fact that it is about to relocate the ladies were doing one final luncheon....The Legacy of Southwest....I wanted to go. The flights looked rough but I made it, Mom and Shea picked me up and we headed to Deb's house. We had a light dinner and played Canasta....Mom and I won, but just barely.....they'll get us next time....it was loads of fun.

We headed home to crash, had to roll early on Saturday morning. We were at the church in plenty of time...Mom and Shea were table hostesses and they had some extra duties. We all had name tags that had their Women's Ministry logo....JOY....Jesus first, then Others, and Yourself last....good thing to always remember...and their moto...Bringing Hearts of Women Together.......very nice.

There were 15 tables all set differently, they were fantastic, each hostess explained her theme and why she chose it.

My sister explains her table.....

 I ended up helping with the dessert table...it was done very uniquely. Different ladies brought in cakes from the 5 different recipe books that this church has produced over the years. It might be their own recipe, it might have been their Mother's or Grandmother's....what a great (and very yummy) idea.

This cake was the recipe of a woman that now lives in Heaven, but her granddaughter made it....what a legacy......even the cake table held to the theme.

Once we were all seated Debbie H. had a welcome speech, then we enjoyed some wonderful music by brothers....Ken and James....they are soooooo good...thanks guys.

Then my sister Debbie lead us in a short game that emphasizes that we are all connected...neat game to prove an important fact. Here's our table showing we're "connected".

Next it was lunch time....first we had a nice veggie tray...then a lovely salad plate. Was very good, dessert was self serve and the chocolate was amazing....I tried several!!! 

Then we had a woman speak who's family help start the church, several generations of them have attended. She helped with cookbooks and a church history book. It was neat to hear all the history. Finally, 4 women were honored for their 60+ years of service.....wow, I hope someday I can say I've served a church 60+ years. This was Rose Harper saying just a few words....what a wonderful woman.

And Gladys Crowe was being helped by her son Ronnie....wonderful lady.

What a delightful day with more good memories, but alas I had to get back home, I had church duties of my own...so, I zoomed back to the airport and back to FL.

Thanks everyone, it was a quick trip, but a really fun one.

Time for a break from yard work......Wine Time

Denny and I have been doing lots of house projects...earlier this year was inside stuff. Since May 1 has been outside...painting the house and with that comes lots of other stuff. As it is finishing up it's been time for us to get the areas close to the house back in shape. Like, we spent lots of time unburying down-spouts and moving a brick border....whew....it's looking good, but time for a break.

Once again the Groupon in me was ready to go....this time to a winery in St. Pete.
We talked Dan and Cheryl into going....they picked us up around 11a and we headed north....was an easy 1hr drive. All the wine here is made from fruit juice not grapes....interesting.
They did have one grape wine, muscadine...not my fav. They had a few dry wines, most were on the sweet side. They offered sparkling and something we'd never heard of...wine slushie!!
We started with a tour. They don't juice here they juice in another location and bring it here to be put in stainless steel barrels for "making". Unlike grape made wine, they don't want the wood taste of wood barrels...so they use stainless. We were not allowed to take pictures on the tour...sorry. After the juice is wine....they also bottle at this location. We learned this had started as a fruit and juice stand. The owners had one customer that would come and buy LOTS of juice...they asked him why, and he said to make wine....they hired him...and the wine business was born. The couple that owned it happened to be there and it was a delight to chat with them. Turns out they come EVERY day....dedication....but they have a great business.

After the tour we moved on to the tastings......

A really cool way to keep the bubbly in the sparkling and keep it cool.....

Dan and Cheryl waiting on the next tasting choice....

We got 2 wine glasses....one was stemed the other was not...the bottom says..."Finally wines that taste good".....too funny.

I'll admit I enjoyed these, but not giving up the grape wines.....no way!!!

I really enjoyed my tastings...which lead to several purchases!!!

Pondering...what do I try next???

Part of the Groupon was a glass of wine or a slushie at the end....we were split on what we got, and we enjoyed both. 

Next was the shopping....though the Groupon got us several goodies, incuding a bottle of wine, we still bought a few more, had to have the ingredients to make those wine slushies!! Add just maybe we'll add a little rum...we'll see. 

We were all hungry so was time to head for John's Pass area....a great boardwalk and shopping area on the water. We decided on Bubba Gump's for our late lunch, early dinner....otherwise known as Linner!!

We enjoed the gumbo and their version of a hushpuppy...had crabmeat in it...to start. Then my shrimp dinner was great...and the others seemed to enjoy their's as well. We sat outside, was delightful.

Thought we needed this glass for our collection....I think a wine slushie would be yummy out of this!!!

We headed back home, but decided to cruise an area called Pass-a-grille.....a small area, somewhat old Florida with a twist of new mixed in. Enjoyed seeing an area we hadn't seen before. That's what exploring Saturday's are all about.

Got home about 7p and relaxed on the couch....thanks for a fun day guys, we'll do it again. Next time, maybe head south to our fav.... Captiva!!!!

And....I always have a new Groupon to try!!!! 

Vase making.....sort of!!!

Well....I've become a Groupon junkie....they have such great deals if you really shop them and then if they are offering an additional % off, it's really a good deal.
I'd seen a Groupon for a Super Swirl Glass making class... so I asked Cheryl if she wanted to go. She's very crafty, I'm very NOT...but I was curious....so off we went.

I picked her up and in 15min we were there...we soon discovered the process....you start with a flat piece of swirled color glass, then you add other glass as color if you wish. That flat piece has to get fired to fuse all the glass together....then, the teacher "slumps" (shapes) the glass over a mold while it's hot and pliable..and you end up with a vase....

The green swirl is part of the piece of glass...all the other colors you see...red, yellow, black, blue are all glass in different forms that I added. The red pieces are called straws...the yellow and black are chips/dust....and the blue are just broken off pieces from s large piece...it was really pretty cool.

Cheryl is working very hard on hers....

Cool glass butterfly........

And.....my finished product....I had nothing to do with the shape, but the colors turned out pretty cool. Not that I'll ever put flowers in it, but it's a nice piece to sit around...and....I made it...sorta!!

It was fun, curiosity is satisfied, but at $40 a pop, not sure I need to do it again....but was fun one time.

 

Magic Water.....Warm Springs....

Denny has still been having some pain with his legs, so he was ready to try some new answers. So, he was trying acupuncture and we'd heard some good things about the Warm Springs down near Nokomis....so, off we went.....a Saturday trip a little south. We went past The Springs first into town to get some lunch....found 1 place that looked ok, and that was about it...it was ok....but it worked since we were hungry....we thought we might find somewhere cute and different...lesson learned on our part....NOT. We had stopped at a place in the water coming down the road, but we didn't really care for their menu, so we kept rolling. But, we didn't do much better where we ended up...oh well, every meal can't be a culinary experience.

After arriving and learning what "to do" and that it cost $15 to swim...I decided I'd take a nap in the car after getting a few pictures.

Interesting facts.....

Perhaps I should have gone for a dip....The Original Fountaion of Youth....hummm, maybe next time.

Folks get in the "pool" and stand, swim, float..whatever works for at least an hour each trip. One very interesting thing is there were LOTS of Russians here. We learned this area was nicknamed Little Russia because there were so many...they come just for this and come EVERY day....wow, good thing they sell a season pass. 

Denny has been back 2 more times and plans to go more and it seems to be helping....whatever works.

We headed back home stopping at a Farmer's Market. This was really 2 buildings, one side was the market food area, the other was furnitute....and lots of it, and all kinds. There was going to be an auction that night, we thought about staying but decided the only thing we really needed was maybe a lamp, so we moved on. 

Another fun day full of adventure......

Atlanta trip...with lots on the schedule...

Three days after Disney we headed to Atlanta...the schedule was full. A special music program for The National Day of Prayer, Denny's birthday....the twin girls Vivi and Gwyn's 1yr birthday, Chad's basketball game, Mother's Day and some tough work days for me. When would we sleep....oh yeah, we don't!!!

Ken White produced The National Day of Prayer program at the Christian City Chapel..what a treat.
The chapel is lovely and the bagpiper was great...as different people walked us through the meaning of The Lord's Prayer, you did have to stop and reflect. Then...our treat at the end was a solo by Ken White. He sang The Lord's Prayer....WOW....I get chills everytime...he's amazing. A wonderful end to a really busy day.

I had to go into to the office on Denny's birthday, but after work we went to Hal's in Buckhead for dinner...very yummy, best filet EVER....just a bit spendy, but, it was his birthday. Mom, Shea, Brad and Cindy went too...was a nice dinner. Then we got to go back to Brad and Cindy's for birthday dessert and to see their house....thanks guys it was great.
I didn't get a picture of the birthday boy....sorry, but he hasn't changed much in a year!! LOL!!

Next morning we're up and rolling...wanted to see Chad's basketball game...well done Chad, you played great and congrats on your team making it to the playoffs...sorry no pics, I lost my mind and forgot to take any..bummer. Hope you do well in the playoffs...

 Next stop...Brooke and Dave's house for the twins 1yr birthday party.....which started with this very fancy invitation

and was catered by none other than.... Waffle House....wooohoo....who knew they catered!!???

Scattered, smothered, covered, chunked, diced.....what's your pleasure???

It was YUMMY!!! 

Brooke had done a wonderful job of decorating....it was "pinked" to the max

Being socially correct, and thanking folks for coming...

The Little Princess's Thrones....awaiting their arrival

Aunt Britt helps her namesake...

After some breakfast, it was time for the "cake smashing"

OK....we're ready!!!

Humm....what is this....Mom is letting us have a whole cake each....WOW!!!! This is COOL!!!

Oh YEAH.....Loving this, can we do it every Saturday???

YUM-O!!

Want a bite big brother??? Thanks for the kiss!!!

Daddy that tickles.........

Hey Vivi...I'm glad Daddy wanted your cake.....

OK Mommy....Vivi shared with Daddy, I'll share with you...

Even Uncle Denny wore a hat with bows and pink.....thanks Uncle Denny

Wow that was fun, but we needed a bath...thanks Aunt Cin for helping us clean up

But we're not sleepy....bump the nap, we saw that pile of presents...let's go see what we got!!

Let's keep this party rolling!!

Oh Ms. Kaitlyn...thank you so much....you got us so much.....we love you!!

Aunt Nanny and Aunt Kelley know we want to go to Disney one day.....we want to meet Mickey and Pooh!!

Hey Shea-Shea....we didn't get any presents, let's go somewhere and play!!!

Finally something to play with Gwyn...and not just clothes!!! Puzzles!!!

However, I'm loving these purple shoes Vivi.....WOW!!!

Hey Dylan...I love this table we can crawl on....and that's a cool crane..

 
Grandma and Grandpa gave us our pearl necklaces....we'll look fancy in those!

Thanks....we really like them.

Wow...those dresses are really cute....we're gonna be stylin'!!!

Oh Shea-Shea....WAGONS....we love toys and now we have something we can put our toys in and take them with us all over the house.....thank you.

HUmmm....maybe we should sit in them and let big brother pull us.....

Hey Jase can Muma have a kiss??? I know, these girls got lots of girl stuff....but we can play and watch....

PLEASE.....right here on my cheek....

Thanks sweet boy...........love you bunches!!

A playhouse....oh boy...oh boy....we have our own house, but Mommy and Daddy still pay for everything...very cool

Muma...you always have the BEST cards.....

Oh Mommy....it's soooooo time to go meet Mickey and Minnie (and Pooh)!!!

Do you think I'll look like Minnie???

Thanks everyone for all the cool presents.....

Grandma, can you help me get a yogurt cone...please??? I was a really good boy while my girl cousins opened all those shoes and dresses.....yuck!!!

Finger lickin' good....yummy in my tummy!!

 Thanks Grandma...this is really good.....I guess girl parties are not all bad!!

It had been a wonderful party....well done Brooke and party planners!!

Denny and I had to get back to Mom's for me to work...had been a busy, fun day.

Sunday was Mother's Day...we really enjoyed church, then a great lunch at Due South. Kelley and gang, Brandon, Shea, Mom, Denny and I really enjoyed it. Kell and gang had to head home, Brandon had to leave town on business, the rest of us headed back to Mom's. Brad and Cindy and Brooke and Dave and gang were heading to the house to swim and hang out. That evening we had some great soup we got from Ursula and good ole' "Sunday Night Sandwiches".....yum. Had to be a bit more simple this year since I had to work, I couldn't cook...but next year....back to grillin' and chillin'!!

I had to work again on Sunday eve. Monday after I worked we flew back to our palm trees. Had been a fast, furious 5 nights.....we had a blast and hope you enjoyed Mother's Day Mom...we love you!!