"The Birds" and Bodega Bay

The Birds has always creeped me out, but even so, I loved the film.  And didn’t you love Tippi Hedren and her suit? 

Tippi's Autographed Photo in our Cabin

The film left me with a genuine fear respect of birds.

It was exciting to spend a weekend visiting the area where the film was made.  Even more exciting to see such beautiful countryside - the vineyards and the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve.

My imagination always gets away with me when we travel. In the back of my mind I’m always trying to imagine myself living wherever we visit and Bodega Bay passed muster (what is a muster?) in my book.

We spent a long weekend enjoying the coastal area, visiting Ft. Ross, touring a few vineyards in Sonoma County and of course visiting one of the most memorable places from the film, “The Birds.” 

I think I need to add something here about the Bodega General Store. If you are in the area you won't want to miss this place.  We stocked up on delicious dishes for the weekend including crab mac 'n cheese. Yum!

Many times when we travel we’re staying in hotels but this trip we stayed in a little cabin on the bay.  It was an adorable cottage with tons of windows giving us a gorgeous view of the bay. I loved being able to snuggle up in the evenings with a quilt and a book. 

You know, sometimes a perfect weekend getaway is all one needs to get lost in relaxation, daydreams and moonbeams.

Laughter IS the Best Medicine. I Want Some!!!

Carol Burnett & Friends Makes Me Laugh!

Now that the grandgirls are gone the house is so quiet and since their departure I’ve realized something.  I don’t laugh very often.  I know I used to, but what happened?  Children laugh approximately 400 times a day. Adults? Only 15 times.

What is up with that????

Laughter used to be an everyday thing for me but truthfully I’m not so sure that I’m hitting the 15 times mark.  
Are you?

Here’s a true confession. I used to be one of those people who would laugh at inappropriate times and that would make me laugh even more!  Remember the Mary Tyler Moore episode?

Does laughter slow down along with metabolism as we age or are things no longer funny like they used to be?  Or does the stress of life interfere with one's ability to laugh?

 Laughter is a terrific workout for the abdominals and let me tell you, I could use some laughter to help with this middle-age spread!

I love how coconuts are always smiling!

 Some of my funniest memories were really stupid things like turning a fan on a speaker in the midst of a meeting causing the speaker’s notes to scatter across the meeting room.  Or what about the time my oldest son took a laser pen to school on assembly day and shone the light on the principal 's forehead during the entire assembly (okay I should have been mad about that but it was too funny).  I couldn’t quit laughing at the other son’s graduation when during the ceremony he’d orchestrated the release of 30 beach balls during the program.  Once again the principal was mad but the entire graduating class had a blast and it made such a memory.  

What am I doing?  I can't swim!!

Last year when traveling in Italy, this same son decided to join a protest in downtown Rome having no idea what was going on, grabbed onto the banner, marching and yelling, “NO MORE LASAGNE! NO MORE LASAGNE!”  Now this made me laugh!  There he is in the blue shirt smiling at oldest son who is capturing the moment on camera!

No more lasagne! No more lasagne!

Do you laugh frequently?  What makes you laugh? Maybe we need to start a laughter movement! "LOTS MORE LAUGHTER! LOTS MORE LAUGHTER!"
I'm linking up with The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays. 

The Story of the Capsized Canon - A/K/A I Have No Camera

Well, I didn’t tell this story for a while for fear of having to admit the truth – I did something really dumb.  I’ve got a good reason for things happening the way they did so I’ll tell the story and let you decide for yourself whether you might have handled things differently.

For a year or more I’ve been dying to go on a twilight canoe ride.  One of our nearby state parks offers these guided canoe tours periodically and it just sounded so romantic.  I reserved a spot for me and the dear hubby and we marked our calendars and waited for the special date to roll around. It just so happened that I had a Habitat build day scheduled the same day so I got home from the build, showered, did my hair, got all gussied up dressing with a blue and white nautical theme - cute like, you know.  I grabbed my camera and all the other electronic devices one simply can’t live without and we headed to the state park. 

We took the correct exit but...

This is where things started going wrong.  We were using Google maps and somehow the Google confused the location of the state park with a tennis park with a similar name located in another county.  We got to the tennis park and someone familiar with this reoccurring Google map error kindly gave us directions but by this time dear hubby and I were late.  Very late.  The guided tour started at 7:00 on the dot.  We finally arrived to the bait house at the state park and we jumped out of the car with all of our things leaving the car unlocked, windows opened, etc., trying to figure out if we might still be able to go canoeing. By now I KNOW you know what happens.

A nice ranger said the tour finally left without us and they were about 10 minutes ahead of us but if we wanted to try to catch up, he’d pull a canoe off the racks for us.  I’d been waiting a long time for this moment so of course, I wanted to get in that canoe. 

All was calm until we came along

We were doing okay canoeing across the lake and we were actually enjoying the evening even without a guide when suddenly a guide headed in our direction calling my name.  The guide canoe patiently waited for us to catch up to lead us through a tunnel.  This is where the trouble began.  Oh, did I remember to add that I can't swim?

So much fun! Until....

 I’m still not sure how it happened but I’ve replayed the moment over and over again in my mind.  We’ve had a ton of rain this summer in Georgia so the water levels are high and the roof of the tunnel was lower than it should be. When my husband yelled “duck” I ducked.  I think he did too and the next thing I remember is I was underwater and a canoe was on top of me!  We wiggled our way out from under everything and I grabbed my camera trying to hold it above water but it was too late.  My brand new Canon had been submerged as had all of our other electronic devices.  We managed to get to a shore to flip our canoe, get back in and canoe back to the bait house.  By then I had no interest in trying to see the sunset or the moonlight. My husband and I were both sopping wet from top to bottom and I just wanted to get into dry clothes.

So for now, I have no camera for blogging and once again I’ll be saving up to do some camera shopping. 

Oh by the way.  I did manage to take a couple of photos before the mishap and they survived. Thought you might enjoy them.  This summer has been incredibly memorable but his was one excursion I’m happy to forget!!

"You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone"

Yep, my granddaughter was right. I’m missing her terribly now that she’s gone. 

Both granddaughters at the ticket counter the day of departure

In fact my heart aches a bit right now as we just came home from the airport after having the time of my life this summer with my granddaughter.

Isn’t it funny how songs, lyrics and music in general can mark memories?  This song and the cup game will definitely be remembered every time I hear “The Cup Song,”and it is one of many songs that will remind me of the incredible summer of 2013.

Crazy hat moments!

Our summer started out with a family wedding in Greece.  I haven’t had a chance to blog about the trip but it truly was incredible.  (Note to self ... blog about Mykonos).  

There were certain songs we heard constantly while in Mykonos celebrating the marriage of my brother-in-law. 
Here is one of my favorite clips from the wedding night.  My granddaughters couldn’t stop dancing.  In fact we all danced until 1:00 in the morning.  


 It was so much fun in such an incredibly beautiful place and it was an event our entire family will never forget. I mean seriously - how many people get to celebrate a marriage in Mykonos?  

You have to watch this video.  The song and memories stay in my head after watching I only wish I had a fraction of my granddaughters' energy!  Blurred Lines, Radioactive and Get Lucky are songs the girls call the wedding songs. Our hotel played music all around the social areas at our resort in Greece at all hours of the day and night so these songs became our wedding theme songs. (BTW, I haven't known popular tunes in years!!!)

We returned home only to have my granddaughters fly to the U.S. for the summer and my oldest granddaughter decided to stay with us rather than traveling around the south visiting relatives.  Her sister took a road trip and while I'm sad we didn't all spend time together, it gave me so much one-on-one time with my oldest granddaughter.

Krispy Kreme, A Classic Atlanta Moment

For the past month we've spent time with our granddaughter enjoying shopping, girl talk, slumber parties, dozens of rounds of Sorry and Yahtzee, sewing, craft projects, cooking and spa days.  During this time our granddaughter shared information about songs, dances, apps and trends I knew nothing about.  She also listened to stories about how things were when her Daddy was growing up. It was so amazing and wonderful to have so much time to spend with her and it makes me happy to know that I realized the moments were precious and few. Being able to recognize how tremendously special it was to have a granddaughter who actually wanted to be with us, helped me let go of all of the worries of the house and errands and the endless list of tasks in order to stop and enjoy her visit.

Seeing all of these photos as I put together this post made it hard not to get a bit weepy and yet my heart is full just thinking back over the summer and the rainy days that kept us indoors and the many hours we spent just being together. 

 

Today when we got home from the airport I looked around the house and remnants of the summer are everywhere – our bean art project, homemade glitter body splash, numerous art projects and so many other items that wouldn’t fit in her suitcase.

I never had a close relationship with a grandmother but I hope the things we did together and the memories we shared will stay with her for a lifetime. 

My granddaughter practiced singing and “playing” the cups every day so the cup song will be our theme song for this summer.  She was so right, we really do miss her when she’s gone.

Thank you my dear sweet and beautiful granddaughter.  This was truly one of the best summers of my life and it was all because of you. It meant the world to have you with us and I hope this summer was the first of many wonderful summers to follow.

I'm linking up with The Tablescaper to share what I've been doing this summer.

Top 5 Reasons I'm Cravin' Haven

Wow!  I just got home from the Haven Conference and I'm still trying to take it all in!   

 What a great conference and I met so many people whom I'm sure that you know and enjoy like Beckie from Roadkill Rescue and Knockoff Decor and I can't say enough great things about the Shanty Sisters from Shanty2Chic!  They are p-r-e-c-i-o-u-s!!!  And Stacy from Not Just a Housewife is the sweetest blogger evah!

 Truthfully it would be impossible to name some of the more well-known bloggers who spoke and attended the Haven Conference but you can look them up here.

Okay, so besides just recognizing famous bloggers, there were plenty of reasons why I'm still "Cravin' Haven" so here are my top 5.

- It's exciting!  There's so much excitement in every session, during the breaks when you visit with vendors, and after hours when new blogger friends and old, casually visit, dine, shop and more! 

- It's inspirational!  After reading Lean In, it was inspiring to be in a room with 300+ entrepreneurs who are running virtual businesses while they work on renovation projects, arts & crafts, cooking and more while raising their family.  It was especially inspiring to meet blog partner husbands.

- It's educational!  I learned so much and will be going over all of my notes shortly.  If I don't review them and catalog them for reference, I'm bound to lose them....yes, sometimes that happens to me (I really needed to have taken the organization session while at the Haven Conference).

- It's a giveaway!  Wow, there were so many vendors who gave away AMAZING prizes.  I fell in love with Ryobi Power Tools and though I did not win one of their prizes, I did get to try out a number of their tools and absolutely loved them.  I have the feeling Home Depot and Ryobi are soon to be my new best friends.

I'm also going to be following up with GMC.  GMC and Habitat had us all crying with their joint project with bloggers who are furnishing a Habitat home for one unsuspecting (and LUCKY) new homeowner!  

 My first purchase will be from Duluth Trading Company and I can promise you I will be blogging about it when I get my first purchase.  For now I'll be wearing my beautiful new hendley shirt, a gift from DTC.

- It's FUN!!!  Going to the conference alone I was a bit worried that I wouldn't find my spot but with that many bloggers in the room I should have known there were be plenty of friends in the room like A Pop of Pretty.  I've been following her for a while and it was so exciting to meet her...all the way from Newfoundland!!!  Next year seems so far away but we've already made lots of plans for when she and her sister come back to Atlanta. Can't wait!