Tuesday, November 24, 2009

We had an awesome trip today. I cannot stress enough the amazingness of the Vallarta Adventures crew. They totally make each and every trip. We did the Yalapa tour, which was a bay cruise followed by snorkelling and a stop at a Mexican town only accessed by boat (Yalapa). The snorkelling was the best we have ever had on the Pacific Coast, and the crew was undescribably good. We have loaned out our water-soluble camera (the one with the underwater housing), so we have no pictures...but two different couples took our pictures and promise to send them...so we shall see. Awesomeness. We had seafood (Ethan) and Mexican steak for dinner, and are in our room for the night.....

Lots of ocean swimming on the docket for tomorrow...

couple 'o pics o tide you over...



Sunday, November 22, 2009

Back from our excursions, VERY full of a wonderful Mexican dinner on a patio steps from my building, and a stone's throw from the beach. Back to the room now for Sunday Night Football (yes, we are *those* people...), then to bed late tonight and up for a full day of sun and water.

We have arrived in Puerto Vallarta



As soon as they get our toilet fixed, we are off to purchase food/drinks for the week. We always bring Uncle Dan's Original Southern dip mix, and buy cheese/crackers/sliced meat to eat with it for snacks (to skip purchasing lunch), and eggs and cheese for scrambled eggs to eat for breakfast. And a variety of adult beverages.

Off to explore this gorgeous, HUGE resort after that!!

Monday, November 16, 2009

This is a mixed up album--all the pages are different sizes and shapes, only the covers match.







Okay, that last post was wrong. THESE three layouts are from the scrap strips class, using up your stash. Not sure about those other ones, now...



Pic #4 and 5 are also from the photos first class, and are meant for 9 pictures each..


Pic#3 and 2 are from a scraps class (I think...), and pic#1 is from the Basic Grey latest and greatest class (I think...)




Just for Davinie....

Some of the projects I have yet to finish....white areas are where pictures go.

Fifth picture (if I uploaded these right...is of a 6x6 mini album...

Fourth picture is another 6x6 album--this class was called Core-dinating elements, because we were going to use paper that had a different colored core, so it added dimension when you sanded it a bit. If you look VEEEERRY closely on the far left piece, there is a 2x4 inch piece of this paper. That is all we got. And there was NO mention whatsoever in the class about this paper, other than look for paper that has been already cut to this size, and glue it in place. I LOVE the blue papers they gave us (not the special core ones), but this class sucked, other than that.

Picture #3 and 2 are from a class about using shaped papers. Got some good ideas in this class, and bought some shaped papers to use later...

Pic#1 is from a photos first class--white areas are for 9 little pictures that I have not yet figured out...




Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Because I am such an avid blogger, I started a travel blog over at travelpod.com. So as not to clutter up THIS blog with travel info...

Monday, November 02, 2009

Slightly stale....

I totally forgot to post pictures of this lovely cake I made. Please excuse the messy countertop and the slightly obnoxious green color of the final cake. Let's just say I need a bit of practice...

I made the marshmallow fondant from scratch (my first attempt at that...but it was much tastier than regular fondant is), and I made a massive bowl of buttercream frosting from scratch. The cake is almond vanilla flavor, and I cut fresh strawberries to put between the layers on each cake level. It ended up being tasty, although it *does* bear some resemblence to those ghosts that always chase PacMan around...

I had a bit of an obession with some of those cake shows, and wanted to try my hand at it.

What I learned:
I have no patience for the little details. I am more of a 'meh, it is close enough' kind of person. This shows when rolling out fondant, fyi.
I REALLY need to remodel my kitchen for more counter space before I ever try this again.
Color mixing is not my strong point. That was supposed to be sage green.