Adventures in Philadelphia.....

Not a lot of traveling during my trip to Philadelphia to spend Christmas with the BF but I have done some interesting things. I finally made it to Geno's Steaks one evening for a true Philadelphia cheese steak sandwich. I was less than impressed and I know I've had a better sandwich in good ole Tampa.

Day out to explore.....

The Shops at Wiregrass

On Thursday my friend, Paddy, and I did a little traveling up to the new Shops of Wiregrass in Wesley Chapel. It's an outdoor mall concept. It was a beautiful afternoon but we said that we could not see ourselves shopping there during the hot days of Florida summer. We ate lunch at the Cantina Laredo that describes their cuisine as "Gourmet Mexican". It was all very good. We decided that the fact that they put the rice on one plate, the beans on another plate, and the tamales on a third plate is what means it's "gourmet" and allows them to charge $4 more for an entree than good ole Miguel's in Tampa. It's always fun to try someplace new.

A Chilly and relaxing Sunday.....

It seems like Sundays are my days to post on my blog......I've been busy handcrafting new key rings to put up on my website. Here are a few of the new Cherry designs that I have there. They Retail for $10.00 each and measures about 5 1/2 inches log. I'll be posting the Strawberry designs on Etsy.com.

Another beautiful Sunday.......

I just love Sundays! A cold wave has come through Tampa, again, so the weather was just perfect for firing up my torch and working on some beads out in the garage this afternoon. It was so much fun working with my glass, again.
I came inside around 5 p.m. to find a message on my answering machine from my neighbor Paddy. Her son, Jason, was making Chicken Alfredo with garlic toast. Yum! They were so gracious and invited me over for dinner. Lucky me! This was the homemade, artery clogging stuff that was oh so delicious with some white wine to drink. It's always nice to share a meal with friends.

A week later......

New keyring charms arrived this morning....I'll have pink martini's, pink flip flops, more flowers, more cherries, new strawberries, fish and hearts. I'll put some up on Etsy and I'll need to redo the keyring page on my website. Hopefully, I'll have it done over the weekend. Check back!

Hot Sellers.....

The Beaded Key Rings have been a hot seller this month....nice teacher's gift or a gift for a coworker especially at $9.00 each. Thank you Eva for the order of 18 of them. I guess I will get busy and make more for the holidays.

Cherry Chick Slideshow.....

A Lovely Lunch....

My friend Paddy, she's from Texas, and I found a great Mexican style restaurant to have lunch at this afternoon. Miguel's has been in Tampa since 1992 their website states. We enjoyed everything and we plan to return. She wore her very appropriate Southwest style silver and turquoise jewelry. Her new turquoise chip watch fit perfectly with it. It's always fun to dine with friends and I'm hoping to go back with the BF when he returns at Thanksgiving.

I'm almost finished with the very PINK "Bump in the Road" beaded bracelet that I've been working on lately. Once I affix the toggle on it I will take a photo and post it here.

A beautiful Sunday.......

We have a little cooler weather rolling through Tampa today and it's been just a lovely day. I finished making this turquoise chips watch this weekend for my friend, Paddy, who loves turquoise stones. Now I just hope that it fits her wrist as well as it fits mine.

Bead Babes @ the Tampa Bead Cafe tonight.....

This evening my neighbor, Paddy, and I went to the Tampa Bead Cafe to work on some jewelry for her and share in the friendship of other beaders. It's always a fun time and a wonderful place to take instructional classes as well as shop for beads. They are always so helpful there and Debbie even offers free bead clinics to help you with your projects! It's a great place to shop.

Video & Slideshows from "Leaf Peepers" trip to the Adirondack & Philadelphia...

Please join us all at Happy to Design to see our Sunday Favorites. We share our favorite post from the past. A big Thank You to our host, Chari.

This week I'm reposting my "many" Smilebox presentations from the trip I took in the Fall of 2008 to upstate New York & Philadelphia to see some Fall colors. You might have seen my recent "Rednesday" post of Christmas at Longwood Gardens in PA. Now you get to see what the gardens looked like in the Fall.

I finally finished editing all the pictures and put together the slide shows along with a small video from the Ausable Chasm in New York that allows you to hear the sounds of the river. Enjoy!

Back home....

Wow......where does the time go! I can't believe it's been a week since I posted here. It was very difficult but I returned to "reality" and came home on Sunday from my trip to see the Fall colors with the BF. I had great flights going up and coming back on Southwest Airlines.

The first picture above is of the giant pumpkin being carved at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA (south of Philadelphia) http://www.longwoodgardens.org/ . We did a quick tour of the gardens on Saturday to see the Fall Fantasy in Glass (second picture) made at the Cohn-Stone Studios in California http://www.cohnstone.com/ and the 1st Annual Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off. The gardens were just beautiful! I'm still working on the slide show presentation of all the pictures that we took but I hope to have something here soon. The third picture is of this way too yummy restaurant, Hank's Place, http://www.hanks-place.net/ that we had dinner at on the way back home. We had noticed it on our drive down to the Longwood Gardens so we stopped because of the festive decorations and both enjoyed a wonderful meal as well.

I had a wonderful time with the BF and as always it was very hard to leave and come home.

Chilly in Philly......

Ahhhh.....it's a lovely 45 degrees outside this morning in Philadelphia. We had a wonderful time this weekend up in the Adirondacks. It was just beautiful.....I'm working on the slideshow of the millions of pictures that we took of the fall colors. We might have been a week too early for the peak colors but it was still just beautiful to this Floridian.

It was a long five hours drive but the BF was a road warrior and got us there safely no thanks to the maniac turnpike drivers in New Jersey. It was a wonderful surprise when we awoke in the morning to see the fall colors by daylight. We took a nice walk from the cabin down to Lake George that proved to be longer than we thought. Lots of pictures from that view.

Around noon we headed up to the Ausable Chasm, http://www.ausablechasm.com/, about an hour north of where we were staying in Bolton Landing. It was the most beautiful day! We took the 2 mile hike along the chasm and took another million photos. Saturday evening we went into the charming little town of Bolton Landing, http://www.boltonchamber.com/, and got takeout dinner from Fredericks, http://www.fredericksrestaurant.com/ , to eat by the fireplace in our cabin. Neither of us had every made a fire before so after our first attempt failed we called Mike, the Candlelight Cottages owner, http://www.candlelightcottages.com/ , and he was kind enough to come down to the cabin and get it going for us. It was wonderful and the BF loved the heat from the fire. He got a little carried away with the wood so the cabin got pretty smokey. I washed all of clothing Monday morning to get rid of that smokey smell. We had a great time!

Sunday morning we packed up and headed to Lake George to take a Champagne Brunch on The Lac du Saint Sacrement cruise ship http://www.lakegeorgesteamboat.com/ . We had the perfect table for viewing the shores of Lake George, the food was delicious, and the two hour trip was just beautiful. We were able to take pictures of the Sagamore, http://www.thesagamore.com/ from the lake view. We had stopped there late Saturday afternoon to see the historic old resort. Now that would be a lovely place to stay at even though it originally opened in 1883!

It was a dream come true getaway and we had a wonderful time. I'll work on the "picture show" today and hopefully have that up soon.

Leaving on a jet plane.....

I'm really looking forward to my next adventure with the BF. I leave Friday morning for Philadelphia and then we will leave Friday afternoon for the Adirondacks. We'll be staying in a log cabin with a fireplace in Bolton Landings near Lake George, NY. Nothing like going from the 80's in FL to 30's in NY. Tomorrow I will try to figure out what to pack.
I went to see Nights in Rodanthe with my friend Kristi this evening. Pretty boring acutally and I so loved Richard Gere and Diane Lane in Unfaithful. This movie just didn't do it for me.
I hope to have pictures of fall colors posted early next week!

Thursday Outing......

I made quiche this morning and I had my friend Paddy over for lunch. We enjoyed the cool breezes that have finally made there way to Florida on my front porch. It was really nice to hear the birds singing in the trees, too. After lunch, we went to the IMAX theatre at the Museum of Science and Industry, here in Tampa, to see the movie "Grand Canyon Adventure". I've included the link to the movies website here (Thursday Outing...). It was an awesome movie! Watching it on the IMAX film was amazing....I had to close my eyes sometimes when I felt like I was getting motion sickness but it was so cool and beautiful. Robert Redford narrates the movie and the Dave Matthews Band plays the music, again, so cool! It was a fun afternoon and nice to be out and about.

Lunch with Paddy......

My neighbor, Paddy, and I went for lunch today in South Tampa. I was in need of getting out of the house for awhile today so we went to Pane Rustica for lunch. Link to there website via "Lunch with Paddy....above) .She graciously bought me lunch since I had driven and we both ordered one of the lunch specials "All natural wood fired burger, provolone, buttermilk onion rings, marsala glazed exotic mushrooms, spinach, roasted garlic aioli" Does that not sounds delicious? We were so full neither of us had any room for their yummy desserts. It's the best place and everyone is so friendly there.

After lunch, I took her on a little driving tour of south Tampa along Bayshore Blvd. She's fairly new to town and hasn't ventured too far from our neighborhood but I think as she becomes comfortable with where places are in town that she will venture out some more. We still need to find an authentic Tex-Mex dining experience for her.

Dog Sitting....

So I've been staying at my friend Krisit's house to dog sit with her "sweety" Zamboni while she's been out of town on business. He likes to snuggle up with me on the couch. I think he likes me...even though I am a "cat person."
This afternoon Zamboni was just chillin' on the sofa basking in the skylight from above. Makes you wonder what he was thinking...huh?

I saw this quote yesterday and I thought it was pretty funny..."Cats are just tiny women in cheap fur coats" :-) Made me smile

Some of my Jewelry Designs

from my website......

Lampwork Beaded Necklace

Spiral Beaded Floral Necklace

Lampwork Beaded Bracelet

Lampwork Beaded Bracelet & Earrings

Here are a few of my Cherry Designs............


Spiral Beaded Necklaces

Lampwork beaded bracelet

Cell phone charm

Bead Lampwork Keyring

Still setting up my blog......

Today I'm joining Chari in her "Sunday Favorites" , it's a Sunday meme designed to give bloggers a chance to share a favorite post from the past!!!

This was my very first post to my blog back in 2008...lol....now that I look back it actually was pretty nice. I was wondering what I was ever going to have that was interesting enough to blog and share with the world. Now I think I have the hang of it. Please enjoy the photos and the relaxing music on this My Favorite Day....Sunday...and please go over and see the other "favorites" on Chari's blog Happy to Design

I've spent the evening figuring out the bells and whistles....I'll work on posting tomorrow

Heres's a scrapbook of pictures from my recent visit to the Morris Arboretum near Philadelphia, PA... and my visit to Hershey, PA to the Hershey Gardens.....