Catch a Tiger by the Tail

I snuck a peek of Walter holding Noe's tail this morning. She didn't seem to mind.

Art at SFO

My absolute favorite spot in all of SFO is in front of this incredible oil painting by Wayne Thiebaud. It is in the new United Terminal, across from gate 61.

Whenever I fly in/out of SFO, it always makes me happy to see this beauty.

Last night fun!

Fun at the Beach

Angus has arrived!!

A Stroll around Town

Some photos I took this morning during our walk around Puerto Vallarta.

Simple Pleasures

This one's for my Mom...

One of the really nice things about the villa in which we're staying it its proximity to town. We are a short walk to the main strip of Puerto Vallarta, which we didn't see that last time we came. We've walked into town each day (the first day to meet Jason for breakfast, but the next two days to see the town and get in our steps).

We went a bit further out today. I was warming up (but not hot) and I had a craving for some ice cream. Then I thought I wanted a milkshake. Then I realized that what I really wanted was a Cappuccino Blast from Baskin Robbins.

I figured the chance to passing by one here was slim, so I didn't give it another thought. There are plenty of Starbucks here, so most people would have one of their Frappachinos, but I don't drink coffee.

Imagine my delight when I spotted a Baskin Robbins! It was one of those rare moments when you have a very specific craving, come to terms with the fact that you won't be able fulfill it, but then you are surprised to be able to!!

A Cappuccino Blast never tasted so good! :)

Private Dinner for Two

The whole crew went into town for dinner tonight, but Dick and I decided to stay at the Villa. The staff treated us to an amazing dinner for the two of us.

How I spent my afternoon...

I'm pretty sure that this is what the next three days will look like, too.

Jason's Birthday Breakfast in Puerto Vallarta!!!

Magical encounters can happen at the most unexpected times.

In one if the best random coincidences in recent memory, I got to spend the morning with my very dear friend, Jason Heidemann, who is also visiting PV on vacation from Chicago. His hotel is a 10 minute walk from our villa!

Today is his Birthday and Dick and I had the great pleasure of sharing a leisurely breakfast with him before he flies back to Chicago this afternoon.

Happy Birthday, Jason!! I'm so thrilled to have spent part of your special day with you!!! xo

First Puerto Vallarta Sunset

I can't imagine it gets much better than this.

Greetings from Puerto Vallarta!

...where lemons (and really, limes) turn into Margaritas! :)

Off to Puerto Vallarta!!!

Yay!!

After a few drinks late Friday night, we decided to buy plane tickets to Puerto Vallarta!! Our friends, Eric and Sam rented a villa for a week, and very graciously offered for us to join them.

Our flight from SeaTac left at 5:15am this morning with a layover in SFO. We just boarded our flight from SFO to PVC!!!

WooHoo!!

Cheap Safeway Gasoline!

I love Safeway gasoline rewards. We bought a bunch of gift cards as Christmas gifts last month, which give you extra gasoline rewards. We got 60 cents off per gallon, which made the cost of gas $1.96 for Premium!! So awesome!!

Hello Kitty at the EMP

We really enjoyed the Hello Kitty exhibit at the EMP Museum today! It was a fun walk down memory lane for all of us. Lots of vintage products and lots of art.

A Day out with the Girls!!

We had a girls' adventure day today!! We decided to forgo the glassybaby seconds sale. The morning was cold and rainy, and all reports I saw from the sale said that the line to get in was long. None of us really "needed" anything, and we really didn't want to wait in the rainy cold.

Instead, we took the bus from Downtown Bellevue into Seattle. There's a "Hello Kitty" exhibit at the EMP Museum that we all wanted to see. Shockingly, none of our husbands were interested to see it. ;)

After the museum and some light shopping at the gift shop, we hopped back on the bus to the Convention Center. Paula and Nicole hadn't been to the Starbucks Roastery, so we went and had lunch at the Serious Pie (Pizza) in the Roastery. So yummy!!

This was Paula's first experience on the bus in Seattle, and she really enjoyed it, and appreciated the convenience. It was a very fun day!!

Cheers

When life throws you lemons, make a couple of cocktails.

Cheers to changes and new adventures.

Starting new painting: Pool 2016

I decided to start working on the large 48"x48" canvas that I primed last year. Here's what I've got so far. I've been wanting to do my Pool Painting from 2013 at a much larger size. The composition is slightly different from the first one. I forgot how much fun it is to paint on a large canvas!

Roly-Poly Kitty

I snapped this picture in all her fuzzy-cuteness last night. We call this "Roly Poly Kitty". She's been doing this for year, and it's oh-so-cute! When we get home late in the evening, she can usually be found rolling around on the carpet just inside our bedroom. She'll roll back and forth on her back, exposing her fluffy tummy. :)

Dinner with the Gang

We've been on a great roll of getting together with this great group of friends once a week for the past 3 weeks!

Tonight, we went to one of John and Gina's favorites: Bizzaro Italian Cafe in Seattle. Dick and I had been there once before with them and loved it. Sunday night's special is Spaghetti with Meatballs. They look amazing (and many people at our table ordered it) but I can't resist a good lasagna!



After dinner, we went to Hot Cakes in Capital Hill for dessert. I was pretty full at this point, so only ordered a cookie. :)

We made a night of it by going back to Paula and Reeves' house after to watch a movie. They recently installed a new Theater system complete with a 110" screen! In honor of the late Alan Rickman, we watched "Die Hard".

Lululemon Seattle Warehouse Sale

Gina and I braved the crowds early this afternoon and went to the Lululemon Seattle Warehouse Sale.

Apparently, they only do a few of these a year, and in different cities. I'm not sure if it has come to Seattle before or not.

The prices weren't great, but not bad, either. This is Lululemon, after all, and their stuff is pricey (but good quality!). We had seen the price list before we went, so we knew what to expect. I bought two items for myself (a fleece vest, which I've been considering getting all Winter, and a workout/beach/tote bag) plus I got a nice blazer jacket for Blane, and a hoodie for Nicole. Two of the more pricey items that I bought (my vest and Blane's jacket) were at least 50% off original price.

Gina found some great deals, too! She bought a couple of jackets, and was able to take advantage of a special 1-hour sale they were having: two for one scarves and two for one girls sweaters for her nieces.

Overall, we were very happy with our experience today! The sale started at 8:00 this morning (doors for the lines opened at 6:00am). We intentionally decided to wait until late morning, hoping the crowds would die down. It worked! I had seen on social media that it was at least an hour wait this morning, but when we arrived at 11:30, we only waited 30 minutes, which wasn't bad at all.

The sale was in Seattle by Pier 91, where some of the cruise ships depart from. Parking was available for $10, then they arranged for shuttle buses to the main terminal. It was all pretty well organized and ran smoothly for us.

The selection was pretty huge. They certainly had more selection in some of the smaller sizes, but that wasn't a huge surprise. They also had a decent selection of mens and girls clothing.

The sale will run through Sunday evening. Hours are 8:00am-8:00pm each day.

Gina and I had a great time, and are happy with the merchandise that we found. It certainly helped that we already knew what size we were (there was a short line for the dressing room, but we didn't need to try anything on) and that we knew prices, and our budget before going in.


prices


Gina boarding the school bus/shuttle from the parking lot en route to the main terminal!


We're on a school bus! Haven't been on one of these in a few decades!


the line when we entered. We got through this in just under 30 minutes. We were very pleased that the line was all indoors! It was chilly and wet outside today. They also had music playing, and random contests to help keep the crowd entertained.


The crowd once we got into the warehouse sale


Racks and racks of merchandise


The puffy, fleeced-vest that I bought. There weren't mirrors in the warehouse (except in the fitting room) so we had to take photos of each other so we could see how the jackets looked!).


Gina's cute jacket!


more inventory - these were full of water bottles, socks, bags, leg warmers, scarves, etc.,