#LasVegas

Just like everyone else on that early Monday morning, we were stunned, heartbroken and sad.

It was just a year ago that we were THOSE music fans, THOSE people out for a lovely weekend with good friends and good music.
We were them, but without the heartbreak, the pain and the sadness.

I couldn't bear to watch the news. It hurt too much.

Our group of eight had a text thread going that morning about how thankful we were that I'd just had that big birthday and that BIG trip....otherwise we would have without a doubt been in Vegas ourselves on that horrific night.

God bless those who've lost their lives and those who mourn their loved ones.

Something has got to change.

XOXO

Traveling and turning the big 50

I've been talking about my 50th birthday trip since I was.....um, around 46?
We've visited Costa Rica twice before and I knew it was where I wanted to return to for the big 5 0.

We started the trip details back in January along with 3 other couples.
We rented a fabulous house on the beach in Tamarindo; the house had all the creature comforts....ya know, many bedrooms, a gorgeous pool/spa, gourmet kitchen, a chef and housekeeper, a gym and golf carts for us to tool around town in.

 Unbeknownst to me, my friends brought along lovely decorations and more presents than I deserve!

 We even had our own custom made Yeti's for the trip!

We all enjoyed playing in the pool.....just give us a few beers and balls and we're kiddos again.

The view from the chickie hut looking out to the pacific was magical....we saw a few humpback whales while here. That was a first for all of us. 

And this guy visited us daily. Too bad iguana's aren't that cute, but I never let him know this....surely they have feelings too. 

 We had an excursion one day that included a beautiful Costa Rican lunch and then a boat ride along a river where we saw many crocodiles, howler monkeys and lots of lovely birds. Also, we stopped and saw this gorgeous waterfall. FYI: The Coach and I declared this was the most perfect meal...and it was cooked in an outdoor kitchen/grill.

My sweet friends arranged for a birthday dinner one evening prepared by a local Chef; it was
magical!

 They made a lot of these really cute caption cards for us to play with all week.

And they even created these lovely menu cards for my birthday dinner.
Please note, the date is incorrect because we had to move UP the special dinner because of IRMA!

Am I a little angry at Irma?

Why, yes, I am.

Do I love my husband and sweet friends? yes I DO! They made my birthday so special.

This is only the first part of our trip.....It was extended because of IRMA. (there I go, being angry again)

I'll post the second part soon because since I'm getting OLD, I may forget otherwise. 

XO

Hurricane Irma tried to steal my birthday Thunder

Hola!

A quick update.
First, thank you for all of you who've messaged/emailed me about hurricane Irma. We were in Costa Rica celebrating my birthday with 6 other peeps when she was approaching.
We weren't all able to secure 8 flights home, so some of us ended up staying for 12 days instead of 7.

Please know that we are all well. Our sweet little town may never look the same again.....but there were no lives lost in our area.

Our home has some damage, mostly landscaping and some of the newly (one week prior to Irma) installed fencing. Some roof tiles and facia/soffit work and a all screens on pool cage will be redone.
We've been cleaning up and are almost back to 'normal'.

I'm going to miss that tree!

Lindsay fled to GA, The Coach secured our home and fled to the East Coast, Lolo had to put in major overtime and work the entire storm, prior and post.

I'll share photos soon. I just got internet back this morning, so I've got bills to pay and things to do. ;)

Life is good and we are truly lucky. Praying for the people of Puerto Rico and those here who still don't have power.


XOXO

This, That and The Other Thing~ The lightning edition.

Lately if I'm able to get a blog post together, they seem to be best in small random doses.

This:
Linds traveled with some friends recently. Since she and Lolo live together and Lolo works 12 hour shifts, Lo really depends on Lindsay to help her with Max. (Lolo's baby) Well, who gets to fill in when Linds is unavailable?
G'ma and G'pa. Or in this case, just G'ma since G'pa was off coaching softball. Max had 8 days at our house; Callie and Cocoa seemed to enjoy the change of pace.

Max loves us all....but he REALLY loves his Mama!
He couldn't get enough of her when she came to retrieve him.

That:
Speaking of dogs.....we've had some atrotious rain storms with a lot of lightning. I caught the dogs enjoying some front door sunshine one day after a big storm had passed.
*sigh, we survived another one*

The other thing:

Speaking of storms.
On Sunday afternoon it was PERFECTLY clear in our front when a bolt of lightning hit a tree.
I actually saw it out of my peripheral. Scared the bejesus out of me. It started a fire in the tree.....I had to call 911. (my first time!) Luckily, since we've been having so much rain, it went out fairly fast. A deputy was on our street and came immediately followed by the firemen.

The victim tree is in the middle of this cluster.

All is well, but I was shaken up. It's about 30-40 feet from our front door and I was thinking of all the times I'm outside piddling around in the gardens....with not a worry in the world.

It reminded me of when we were on vacation about 10 years ago and came home to a hole (the size of a basketball) in our tile roof and our appliances/tv's were going bonkers. We'd been hit by lightening and luckily our house did not catch on fire.

On Monday a friend was here working on our electronics (lot of issues from the Sunday bolt) when he was walking to his truck something and a bolt of lightening hit just outside of our property.
WHAT? It's like we have a target on our home or something.

So scary.
It blew out our a/c, security system, gate keypad, water system and some home automation.

We're slowing getting everything working again and we know how lucky we are; it could always be worse.

Mother Nature is angry about something and I swear it isn't me!! I'm doing more than my fair share.

Now I'm super paranoid about being outside.....I'm gonna go pasty white and misplace lots of caterpillars.  Woe is me....