Friday Favorites #13

Whoa, it has been awhile since I posted one of these, but now I am back with lucky #13 for you all and also a few fun Christmas ideas (even though Christmas just passed), maybe you can stock up for next year!  I am just feeling all kinds of festive!

1. Buddy the Elf Pillow ($22): I stumbled across this because of another blog I follow and I was in love, not only is Elf my FAVORITE Christmas movie but that line has to take the cake!  What a wonderful way to spice up your holiday decorations
2. Holiday Metallic Earrings ($5): These would be super perfect for New Year's too, just saying!
3. Virginia Tech Ornament ($22):  I got this one this year from a friend and I am in love with it!  It has been on my wish list for like a year now and it says "Happy Hokie New Year" on the back--how cute!
4. Red Tank Dress ($12): I could not believe the price on this little number and it is perfect for all those holiday parties!
5. Merry & Bright Printable (free): A cute and easy way to bring in Christmas decor to your already existing frames!  I always love a quick (FREE) fix!

I hope you are enjoying the wonderful time with family and friends this holiday season and I wish you all a safe and happy New Year!

Cruise Port 2: St. Thomas

Well after the Bahamas, we actually had a day at sea before we made it to St. Thomas.  On our very first cruise as a family, we went to St. Thomas and did a half day snorkel and booze cruise (which left most of the King family hung over) so we opted for something a little less crazy and just did a beach day complete with a complimentary drink!  It was an overcast day so the tanning was not all that great, but Bons and I both got some reading in and enjoyed the scenic drive!

It is easy to see the Dutch influence!

Beautiful water--I love all the shades in this picture

On the way back to the ship we got to enjoy a scenic drive on Skyline drive and a stop at the overlook.  It was beautiful to get a view from up high!

I think there were 4 ships (or more) in port that day!

And because it never gets old, here is a picture of our ship next to another ship in port!

We enjoyed the sun and sand while in St. Thomas and really enjoyed all the relaxing that we were afforded while on this cruise!  Stay tuned for Port 3: St. Martin...

Cruise Port 1: Bahamas

Our first port of call was Nassau in the Bahamas, since my mom and I have both spent a week in Paradise Island, we did not book any excursions and instead just did what we knew best--took the taxi boat over to the island, looked around and got our go to ice cream at Ben & Jerry's!  

Our ship (left) compared to another one in port!  

Atlantis

Love the Palm trees there!

Glass Sculpture inside Atlantis

Traditional Ben & Jerry's cone!

We had a beautiful day but an early port and an early departure (2pm!), so we made an early day of it and headed back to the ship for lunch and to see the play, Cats!

Our ship is far right in this photo, there were a LOT of boats in port that day!

The stage of Cats

At intermission, they had one cat stay on stage so people could get pictures with him.

Since it was such an early day and an early play, we made it out in time to see the beautiful sunset!  In my opinion nothing beats a Caribbean Sunset!

Stay tuned for Port #2: St. Thomas!

Christmas Crafting

I love the alliteration, but even more so, I love the act of crafting at Christmastime!  Which is why I have been trying to make cute little ornaments for friends for the last couple of years.  It has been a fun way to think about them, while also creating a handmade gift!  Today, I have a quick tutorial on my most recent Christmas Craft Project:

Step 1: Acquire all supplies; embroidery thread, paint, embroidery hook, ribbon, heart shaped buttons and paint brush.

Step 2: I chose to paint my hoops in red because its was meant to be a Christmas ornament and I wanted to use green thread and ribbon to tie in the two colors.

Step 3: Once the hoops are dry, put a piece of cross stitch fabric into the hook and screw tight, it is okay if the edges are hanging out a bit soon (you will see how i fix that later)

Step 4: Find the size and shape of what you want to cross stitch, I wanted to do the state where each person lives (so for most friends that was Virginia, but for some it was other states)

Step 5: Using a pencil, trace the shape onto the fabric, I just put it behind and held it up to the light to trace it.

Step 6: Begin stitching

Step 7: Finish the entire object (in this case, Virginia):

Step 8: If you are anal like me, you want the back to look just as pretty as the front (I think it is nice in case it turns around, but this step is totally not necessary if you are a messy stitcher)

Step 9: Acquire cute buttons, I feel in love with these heart shaped ones before I even had a use for them and now I have gone back and bought them multiple times over!

Step 10: Stitch on the button to symbolize the city (or approximate) area where the person lives--in this case, Richmond, Virginia!

Step 11: Simple trim the excess fabric with sharp scissors, I left a small edge but its not visible from the front.

Step 12: Select coordinating ribbons, I used one skinny one (this will be used to hang it) and then a wider one, this is for a bow!

Step 13: Use the thinner ribbon as a hanger:

Step 14: With the wider ribbon create a bow and VIOLA an easy, cute, homemade Christmas gift that any friend would love (or will at least pretend to love because they love you!)

Merry Christmas!

Cruise Day 1

So I have really left you all hanging from my last post like 10 days ago!  Well we boarded the Oasis of the Seas on November 15th for our 7 days aboard our new home!  Obviously we spent the first day going from floor to floor to see what the ship had to offer and needless to say, we were impressed.  Feel free to live vicariously through my pictures:

Bonnie's favorite part of the ship was The Boardwalk, complete with a small carousel (which she then wanted to go on all the time)...

The carousel with all the balcony rooms in the background!

Also on the boardwalk was a Johnny Rockets restaurant--Mom's favorite, can you just see the glee in this picture:

One of the 7 distinct neighborhoods was "Central Park," not nearly as big as the real life one but equally as leafy :)

Around 4:30 that day was the "Sail-away," which we celebrated with some drinks and watched the 7--SEVEN!!!! ships in port leave one by one, I think we were 5th in line, so we saw a few go out before us...

The boardwalk was also home to the water show, which we had reservations for our first night on board.  The show was called  "Oasis of Dreams" and featured divers, synchronized swimmers and acrobats!  In the picture below, those two high points near the top of the anchor were platforms that divers dove off of into the tiny pool below, a whopping 60 feet (while the boat was moving no less)!!!  I found a video that someone else recorded of one of the divers making the dive!  It was an incredible first day!

Next up: Port #1 (Bahamas!)

Simple reminders

Okay, so I owe you all a vacation update, and trust me, I will get there!  But in this beautiful Christmas season, I was humbled by my 4 year old nephew on Sunday, it went a little something like this:

Me: Corbin, what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?
Corbin: the Cabbie plane
Me: (knowing it was only like $15, so there would likely be more than one gift): If Santa was gonna bring you 4 presents, what else would you like?  (Auntie code for give me some ideas kid!)
Corbin: All I really want Santa to bring me is Cabbie
Me: But if he brings you Cabbie, what else do you want?
Corbin: Nothing!

In this season, it is so often about how much we can get and Christmas wish lists, its nice to be reminded every once and awhile that a child that could have the whole toy store wants just one toy and that is it!

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Christmas season!

Vacation Teaser

So you may remember back in May when I gave my mom this coupon book, well then there was this one where she found out the ship!  Once all the surprises were over, it was time to actual go on vacation.  We started a day early, heading down to Fort Lauderdale and spent the day and night in a hotel before heading to the ship the next day.  We took advantage of the sun and sand and went for a walk on the beach and enjoyed being in the warmer weather while Richmond was experiencing its first real taste of winter!

view from our hotel room

 We ended the day with pina coladas by the beach and watched the sunset!  Seriously, I am not sure it gets much better than that!  Stay tuned for updates over the next couple of days!  I hope everyone enjoyed a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend!