Stacyverb

Mexico, part 3: Flora & Fauna

You've already seen some of my scenic shots of the Mexico seascape.  Now let's look at some other exotic beauty I saw there.  (As always, click pics to enlarge.)

I'm not great at identifying flowers, but I think these are bougainvilleas.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Confirm or correct me, if anybody knows for sure.  At any rate, they grew all over the place down there.  Lovely.

How about these?  Anybody?  I thought maybe mandevilla, but I think those are more of a vine plant.  These were more of a shrub/bush type of thing.  Again, they were used heavily in the landscaping all around the hotel.

Tropical foliage (or "foilage," as Marge Simpson would say) at a Mayan co-op we visited (more on that in a later blog installment).  Mmmm...lush.

Christy and I were both missing our kitties during this trip, but never fear, we met some felines roaming the grounds of the hotel.  Behold: Los Gatos de Mexico!  These are tropical cats, unafraid to curl up in the wet grass after a hard rain (unlike those wimpy critters we have back home).  This black and white one was a little shy and wouldn't let us get too close.

Her stripey friend, however, was very outgoing.  He really liked me, as you can see, but...

...he LOVED Christy.  Curled right up on her lap and made himself comfy.  Awwwww.  What a cutie pie.

In the feathered friend category, we have these guys.  This man walked all over the resort with them.  We saw him with them one rainy day and he said they didn't mind the rain but, "They smell like a wet pillow."

Less colorful and more feisty were these little birds.  The black ones looked like crows to me, but had a pretty song.  Not sure what the smaller brown ones were.  I like this photo.  The bigger bird is all up in brown bird's face, giving major sass.  Brown bird like, "Um, yeah, whatever.  Talk to the wing."

Moving on to the reptiles, here we have an example of the omnipresent geckos.  They were very cute, but hard to photograph because they're so small and quick.  I managed to get a shot of this one only after several failed attempts.

The iguanas were much less camera-shy.  Here's one that popped out from a ditch at the hotel...

and here's one sunning itself on a rock at Tulum.  Practically posing, really.  Very impressive animals.

Finally, here's a picture that would have been much better if I'd had an underwater camera.  These are some of the fish we encountered while snorkeling.  The best I could do picture-wise was sit in the shallow water and photograph them from above, hoping I wouldn't drop my camera into the Caribbean.  These fish were about 8-10 inches long, and at times I found myself swimming through schools of dozens of them, maybe hundreds.  (Sorry, Brannon, if the thought of that just made you pass out.)  We saw lots more colorful fish in the deeper water, but these guys were definitely a staple of our snorkeling experience.

COMING SOON: Mayans and their ruins!

Mexico, part 2: Food & Drink

As you can imagine, our tastebuds were fully engaged on this trip.  There were so many good foods and beverages to choose from, and they were all included in the price of the package, so we felt obligated to sample as many as possible, as often as possible.  Here are some of the highlights:

Here's a shot from dinner our first night in Mexico.  There are seven restaurants on the property, with many different types of cuisine, but we wanted to start out with actual Mexican food.  La Hacienda restaurant quickly became one of our favorite haunts.  Shown here: Christy, some delicious margaritas, the best damn guacamole in the world, and my left wrist (sporting the I-belong-here wristband they put on everyone at check-in and snip off of you with scissors (sniffle!) when you check out of the resort).

Our new pal, Oscar, who made the guacamole fresh at our table.  Let me say it again: best damn guacamole in the world.  Exactly the right proportions of avocado, tomatoes, white onions, cilantro, lime juice, and mystery spices.  Pardon me as I drool just remembering it.

My apologies to Oscar for not having a better picture of him to post.  He didn't look nearly this sleepy, evil, or stoned in real life.

Speaking of having delicious things made at our table... Fernando, our fabulous waiter at Ventanas restaurant, wowed us with Mayan coffee one night after dinner.  Made with orange slices, sugar, Kahlua, regular coffee, vanilla ice cream and this intriguing honey liqueur shown at left, it was a fantastic dessert in and of itself.  And not only was it delicious, but the preparation was a quite a show.  We loved it so much we went back for more another night, and this time I was prepared and took a video.  Check it out.  It's really cool, especially the last part:

Fernando making Mayan coffee

 As many fantastic restaurant options as we had, we also had 24-hour room service available (again, included in the price of the package--this "all-inclusive" thing is great!).  Here's a typical delicious breakfast, enjoyed on our patio.  Note the tropical fruit, which we ate every single day, and the eggs served with a side of mashed black beans topped with crumbled goat cheese.  Unexpected, and yummy!

Many people have asked for more details about the swim-up bar.  Specifically, once you've swum up to this bar, do you have to swim away with one hand while balancing your drink in the other, or what?  The answer, curious readers, is no.  The brilliant designers have thoughtfully provided stools (sort of a column tiled with standard swimming pool tiles) right there in the water!  Here we see one such stool being modeled by international jet-setter, Christy, while she enjoys her signature poolside beverage, the Bahama Mama.

We partook of many, many (many) poolside beverages.  Luckily they weren't very powerful.  In fact, most of the bars at the resort made drinks that weren't particularly strong, with one notable exception...

 

...the Andromeda Disco. 

Yikes.  You'd never knowing it from looking at this picture, but I was actually bringing sexy back when this was taken.  (At least my hair isn't quite as wide in this shot as it was for most of the trip.)

Un mas mojito, por favor!

Of all the tasty things we sampled on this trip, though, I think the one that left the biggest impression on me was sopa de lima (lime soup).  This seemed to be THE signature dish of the Yucatan Peninsula.  We saw it offered in a Mayan co-op we visited, as well as hand-written signs offering it at little road-side stands.  The one in this photo is from La Hacienda restaurant.  It's a very simple chicken soup, basically, with bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and tortilla strips in a rich, citrusy broth.  Oh. My. God.  First chance I get, I'm going to try to re-create this at home because I just don't know how I can live without it.

COMING SOON: Four-legged locals and more!

What happens in Mexico...

...ends up on this blog.

Yes, dear readers, Christy and I have safely returned.  No one ended up in jail...although we did actually pass by a jail in one village.  (Apparently their primary product was hammocks.  But I digress.)  No one got sick...although I did manage to give myself a black eye our first night there by smacking into a door in the dark.  Smooth!

Anyway, this travelogue will take a while, but judging by how you crazed Stacyverb fans have been bugging me for all the details of the trip (Cleaver, I'm talking to you!), I trust you'll enjoy it.  Let's break it down into a few parts.  (Click any photo to enlarge it.)

PART ONE: The Setting

Our accommodations: the fabulous Aventura Spa Palace, Riviera Maya.  The property is huge.  For ease of finding your way around, they have conveniently labeled each wing with a different musical instrument.  Our room was in the "acordeon" wing.

How was the room, you may ask? It was lovely.  It was a nice room with two big beds and a shower and a liquor dispenser and a jacuzzi and a patio with a view of the Caribbean and...wait, did I say liquor dispenser?  Why yes, I did.  You just hold up your glass and liquor magically comes out of the wall.  Genius!  My constant travel companion, Eager Beaver, is seen here graciously modeling the cabinet.

This was part of the view from the deck outside our building, facing south and...

...facing north.  Gorgeous, no?  Although this is the rainy season in Mexico and we sure did get caught in a few downpours (but whatever, we were on vacation so what did we care if we got wet?), every day the sky looked like this for at least a little while, if not most of the day.

The resort is divided into two sections: the north, where the spa is; and the south, which has the disco, the swim-up bar, and other party-type facilities.  We were in the south side, because we are some of the cool kids.  We did wander over to the north side a few times, though, to have lunch, make excursion arrangements, etc.  We concluded that, clearly, we were on the more fun side (SOUTH SIDE RULES!  Woo-hoo!).  The north side sure did have some nice views of its own, though.

Sunrise over the Caribbean.  I'm no morning person, but I had no problem jumping out of bed at 6:30 a.m. to take in sites like this.  And speaking of mornings...

...I think four days out of seven we ate breakfast at Mundaca, the restaurant that was practically right outside our window.  We would sit on their deck, sipping mimosas or bloody marys, eating our delicious breakfast while a friendly staff (hola, Abel y Eladio!) catered to our every whim.  And here was the view from that deck.  What a horrible way to start the day, huh?  I don't know how we muddled through, but we did.  Aren't we a couple of troopers? ;)

Coming soon: Things really get cooking!

Adios, amigos--voy a Mexico!

By the time you read this, I'll either be en route to or already in Mexico.  Yes, best gal pal Christy and I are taking off for a week of fun and sun and girl time.  Woot!

Perhaps the thought of the two of us on the loose south of the border scares you a little.  Maybe you're thinking of some wisecrack involving AdVerb bailing us out of a Mexican jail.  Believe me, whatever you're thinking, someone has already said it already.  We'll try not to get into too much trouble, but we can't guarantee anything.  This resort where we'll be staying looks full of opportunities for trouble (two words: swim-up bar).

The Stacyverb blog will be on hiatus until I get back next week, and then I'll fill you in on our adventures.
Hasta la vista, readers!

Ten inches too small would be way worse

So I'm working on this skirt project and I think I'm making really good time on it and then suddenly, I realize, wait a minute, this looks kinda big.  But I keep going. 

And then I'm almost done, basically all I have to do is some hand-stitching around the yoke, so I slip it onto the dress form to do this last step and I'm feeling pretty smug and I sort of notice that it's really easy to slip it onto the dress form, when normally a skirt would be a little more snug, like it would on a human body.  But I keep going.

I try it on, thinking maybe for some weird reason the adjustable dials on my dress form got changed, resulting in the dress form suddenly being way smaller than I am, and guess what?  The same thing happened.  I could step right out of this skirt while it's fully zipped.  I wiggle the skirt a little bit, I stick my stomach out as far as it'll go, I try to convince myself that the skirt is just riding "a little low on the hips."  Um, no.  Really it's riding somewhere most of the way down my butt, and it'll only stay there if I hold perfectly still.

Finally accepting that something has gone wrong, I grab a tape measure to see how much I have to take in, thinking okay, a couple of inches off the waist and this will be fine.  A couple of inches?  Try TEN.  I was off by ten whole inches on this thing.  I have no idea what went wrong, or how anything could have gone that wrong.  It's fixed now, after I basically had to sew most of the skirt again.  Grrrrrr.

I do like it, though.  The fabric was another random find from Hancock, a nice green gauze with tone-on-tone embroidery (click photo to see details) in a lovely shade of green.  Lime, maybe?  Guacamole?  It's finished in time for me to wear it on a special trip.  Details tomorrow!

You are liking my veels, ja?

Friday was a happy day here at Boogaloo Acres.  After a long search, we got…[insert game show voice here]…a new car!!!

We are thrilled with our new (used) ride, a 2007 VW Rabbit.  A lot of people haven’t noticed (AdVerb was one of them until just this week), but yes, VW is making the Rabbit again.  We just love ours.  It’s comfortable, it’s zippy, and has a lot of great features like many air bags, heated seats and a 6-CD changer.  And it’s under warranty for 22,000 more miles.  Woot!

Most of all, it’s a car that meets all of our needs, which has been very tough and frustrating to find, let me tell you.  We were looking for something that would accommodate my wheelchair (many of you know him by his first name, Fred), which means having room for him and yet also being low enough to the ground that I can climb into the vehicle easily.  It also had to be not too expensive, yet safe and reliable, as our now-retired car had gotten to the point where it was not, and we were tired of that.

So we’re very relieved that this search is over, and now we can make better use of brain cells that were pre-occupied with car worries for far too long.  For example: our new addition needs a name!  We’ve toyed with naming it after a famous character named Rabbit (Roger, Jessica, Peter), or maybe something German (Dieter, Helga, Ugoff), or yesterday I came up with Hossenpheffer (maybe call it Hoss for short).  

Vote for any of these or make other suggestions in the comments.   I'll check them when we get back from vrooming around safely and speedily. :)

A day at the fair

Today was a beautiful fall day, and AdVerb and I both have Mondays off now, so we took advantage of our only chance to head out to the Georgia National Fair in Perry, Georgia. (Click any pic to enlarge it.)

First stop: sustenance.  What would a fair be without overpriced junk food?  It was yummy, in a semi-disgusting way.

Next up, a visit to the Miller-Murphy-Howard Building to see the fiber arts exhibits.  Loyal readers may remember from this post and this one also that I'd been busy this summer finishing up some projects to enter into the competition.  Did my efforts pay off?  See for yourself.  (The second pic looks wonky because the scarf was in a glass case.)

 

 

 

Yes, indeed!  All of my overwrought Olympic metaphors served me well.  After doing my victory lap around the MMH Building, we continued our tour of the fairgrounds.  We encountered many wonderful animals.  It's not clear in this photo, but this sheep was being vacuumed (yes, vacuumed) after a shearing.  I've often joked that vacuuming the cats would be the most efficient way to groom them, and this pic seems to back up my theory.

 

Last year I was thwarted in my attempts to pet an alpaca.  This year--success!  Meet Blue:

 

This is just a small sampling of the fun times to be had at the fair.  Truly, you could spend several days there and not see and do everything.  Alas, we only had one afternoon to spend, but we had a great time.  The Georgia National Fair runs through October 12.  Check it out for yourself if you're in the area, or if not, find a fun fair near you!

Red room, red room, red room...

As part of our campaign to spruce up Boogaloo Acres, we decided we needed to re-paint our kitchen.  Like many projects, this started out as a casual suggestion, which then evolved (or devolved, depending at which point in the process you ask) into something that needed to be done ASAP, do not pass go, do not collect $200.  Somewhere along the line it became a matter of not just a simple re-paint, but a change of color, and then the addition of a second color.  Here's a sample wall, before:

No major problems, just a non-descript cream color that was last painted eight years ago.  It actually looks fairly white here until you see...

Top of wall: re-painted with "Mosaic White," wainscoting still same old color (now looking dingy).  But now, behold the final result...

Mosaic White with Licorice Twist wainscoting.  Furniture, etc. back in place.  It looks brighter and fresher.  We love it!  It almost makes me want to spend more time in the kitchen.  (Almost.)

Not shown: behind-the-scenes dramas such as a cat who got white paint on her paws and then tracked it all over the floor...minor knee injuries...truly ewwww discoveries behind the refrigerator...and a harder-than-it-should-have-been quest for a bucket of chicken at 8 pm.  But it's all good.  (Meaning, basically, that it's all DONE!)

P.S.  No, this is not how we spent our anniversary!  This was last Sunday's project; I've just been too slack to post the photos until now.

A date of historic significance

Five years ago today, AdVerb and I were legally wed.  In some ways it was no big deal.  By then, we'd been an item for almost eight years, living together for five.  The legal bits were kind of a formality.

On the other hand, it was a big deal.  Family and friends came from all over the country to join us.  Our friend Jim came from Ohio and performed the ceremony under a big tree in Oakhurst Park.  Afterward, we ate picnic food and cake and danced under a tent and mingled with everyone we love.  That's what I call a good day.

This picture has nothing to do with our wedding day, but it's one of my favorites of us.  It's from New Year's 2006, another lovely day when we were surrounded by good friends, good food and good drinks (although really, we are lucky--we have a lot of days like that).  Even though it's not the most flattering picture of either one of us, we are smiling and snuggling and having a great old silly time.  And I think AdVerb might have grabbed my butt right before this was taken.  In other words, we are in our natural habitat there.

Happy anniversary, sweetie!  May we rock the casbah for many more happy years.