The Princess

Abigail is 4!

Words to describe Abi

fun

loving

happy

party

princess

party

beautiful

entertainer

confident

priss

strong-willed

determined

cheerful

creative

party

smart

opinionated

funny

captivating

bubbly

did I say party?

I can't imagine our family without my sweet Abi.

She has added so much joy to our family.

Happy Birthday baby girl.

MiMi loves you

It's The Great Pumpkin

Nothing better than a fun night

 of pumpkin decorating.

The kids arrived in their jammies.

Ready for bed since tomorrow is a school day.

It all began with dinner.

We ate mummy strips (fettucine alfredo).

Mark makes the best!

We had pond skum (piña coladas with green food coloring).

Sorry, no pics.

Publix provided dessert.

If you aren't from the east coast,

you are missing out on the best grocery store ever.

I considered letting my grandkids carve the pumpkins

but they love to paint so much that 

I decided that would work just fine.

I started by gathering my paints, 

brushes, stickers, markers and whatever else I could think of.

Mostly,

I already had an arsenal of supplies.

We love crafting!

Painting is serious business.

Eli was going for Frankenstein.

The pumpkin below really prefers that iPad.

Technobaby.

I think next year I will attempt to let them carve out their pumpkins.

I love being able to make memories with them.

Hope you are having a happy week!!

"Well, let's face it! 

Santa Claus has more publicity."

(Linus in his letter to the Great Pumpkin)

so true 

Silent Auction

The golf resort we are staying in this week 

hosted a charity event for

The Children's Miracle Network

this week.

We are residing in this hotel because 

my honey is working nearby.

We benefit from the many events taking place.

I'm not interested in most of them but when I heard 

there was a silent auction taking place,

count me in!

After all, it's for a good charity!

Some of the items being auctioned off...

Yankee Candle gift baskets.

2 Southwest tickets to anywhere in the US.

JW Marriott in NY.

Sports memorabilia. 

Home Depot gift cards & tools.

Restaurant gift cards. 

Golf.

Grocery.

Haircare.

Massage.

You see my dilemma?

I started bidding on everything.

Ha!

I started worrying that I would win too many items.

Thank goodness I was outbid on most everything.

The picture below is a gift package for the Red Door Spa.

I was trying to be incognito and my pictures proved it.

We really wanted those 2 Southwest tickets 

but these people were relentless.

It was so exciting to go around the room again and again 

to see if we had been outbid.

I ended up winning a beautiful basket of candy.

My grandkids are the ones who won!

Now to fit it all in my luggage.

Cranberry Festival

You heard me right. Cranberry Festival!

Who knew!?

We just don't have those in Florida.

When the sweet lady from the bagel shop recommended it,

I knew it was something I needed to attend.

Only because of the Ocean Spray commercial

did I know water was involved when harvesting cranberries.

Mark and I headed to Chatsworth, NJ.

We drove and drove and drove some more.

It was cool to see all the cranberry farms.

We finally arrived.

It was huge.
It's the 3rd largest cranberry festival in the US.

Thousands of people.
We learned a lot about harvesting & the use of cranberries.
It made me want to use them more often than just with my Thanksgiving turkey dinner. 

We were told that once the festival ended,

the town would be empty till next year.

We walked around for a few hours.

We sampled cranberries in everything.

Have you considered cranberry chili?

It's not bad.

How about chili hot sauce.

I'm a fan.

The weather was perfect.
I bought some treasures. 

It was a fun event.
Made for a lovely day.

We ended the day in a sports grill which we searched 
high and low for 
so we Mark could watch football.

Dolphins won (finally).

Jaguars lost (again).

Black Mountain Getaway

A couple weeks ago,

Mark needed to do a few repairs at our cabin in Black Mountain

so Abi & I volunteered to tag-along.

Abi made the trip a ball.

She is not your average 3 year old.

Party waiting to happen!

She is a delight to travel with.

Yes, I do sound like a MiMi.

The picture below is the view from our porch.

It was hazy so you can't see the mountains way out there

but you can see a little color was starting to show.

I forgot to bring my camera
so iPhone pics will have to do.

Abi posed for me at my beckoning requests.

 And there were more than a few.

 It is always so beautiful in North Carolina but especially during this time of year.

We did a little shopping and a little hiking 

but mostly just enjoyed being lazy at the cabin.

It was a quick weekend get-away

but I will take what I can get.

I hope you are having a beautiful day!

XO

Delightful Weekend

Early Saturday morning,

Mark & I hopped in our rented car and headed to New York City.

We are staying 90 minutes from the city so we knew we had to take advantage.

He always amazes me (scare the padootie out of me) as he drives down 7th Avenue. Craziness.

We saw 

I've seen it before but not in NY. 

It did not disappoint. 

We always get our tickets at TKTS.

It's the best place we have found to 

buy discounted tickets to all the plays.

We ended up just behind the orchestra.

Perfection!

We did some shopping and ate at the famous

2nd Avenue Deli.

It is one of my faves.

It reminds me of growing up in Miami and eating at Corky's.

Authentic kosher food.

Mark and I shared the best corned beef sandwich evah!

We enjoyed walking through the city

& spending the day together.

The Empire State Building 

is always impressive.

I was amazed how crowded the city was this weekend.

I may be getting old.

Ok, I AM getting old.

I walked around in Macy's for a couple floors 

and felt like a sardine. 

Just too many people so we left. 

It was a lovely day and I have a new appreciation 

for Siri as she guided us to and fro.

What would we do without our faithful friend?