The Right Stuff ~

Sometimes I read cruising blogs and see that the bloggers (or their families) are winners. Winners of contests...trivia...whatever. My sister and I are smart. We know things. So, why haven't we won something?

Yeah, why? Because we never did it right. So as we boarded The Carnival Magic on Feb. 12, we vowed to do it right.

What is right? Right is teaming up. Right is looking over the schedule to see what we want to play. (Bean bag toss, no...hairy chest contest, no....country music trivia, yes!) Right is arriving early enough to get a good seat, an answer form, and to scope out the competition. Right is a sip of diet coke. Husbands are considered good luck, too.

Check, check, check and check.

FYI...the trophy (fondly named Ship-On-A-Stick) may be made of gold plastic, but they are very prized by all. They actually have the name of the ship on them too. Our first win was Famous Faces Mash-Up. (ex, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise).

Our second was for Famous Movie Quotes. ("You want answers? You can't handle the truth!") So we won a total of two each.

Were we proud? YES!!!

But still, you always remember the one that got away. We were one point (we had 37 out of 40 possible) away from a win in Country Music Trivia, a category that should have been a cake walk for us! What the heck?? How is this possible?

OK, so we're not infallible. Now, we will never forget that Dust On The Bottle was a hit for David Lee Murphy. We had the song title, just couldn't come up with the name.

The sisters. We've got it.

The Right Stuff!

Find the perfect shoe, then come out and play

This is not becoming a shoe blog. I promise. But sometimes something grabs you and you just have to beat the drum, form a circle around the campfire, grab a guitar and sing "Bye bye love, bye bye happiness, hello loneliness, I think I'm gonna cry..." OK, I digress. The topic is shoes.

Here it is: Keens

I'd heard about Keen Shoes for many years now. My bro-in-law Charles is quite fond of his. My sister Lou Ellen loves hers. I wasn't buying the whole camping, hiking, water shoe that you can wear in the woods. I don't hike, I don't camp, I don't get in the water except to take a bath or get in the hot tub.

Then something crazy took hold of me and I wanted some. Right away. For our cruise. I figured that if I used Amazon Prime, they might make it in time.

They're crazy good. Here's the ones I bought, the Keen Venice H2, in Raya Blue.

No better time to take them for a spin than around the deck of an ocean-liner, exploring foreign ports, and shopping.

I'll let you know how it goes. But it's looking pretty good so far.

I'll have Fryes with that ~

If you can love boots, I do love these. This all started about 4 years ago, when we went to Park City, Utah for the first time. Sundance. Cool stores. Western art. Rustic home decor. Handcrafted handbags. Fringes, boots, leather. I haven't been back to Park City since then, but I bet I'll go again. In the meantime, I started scanning catalogs and looking at boots. After much thought...MUCH thought, I decided on these, the Veronica Slouch, by Frye Boots. They have a soft shaft (not tight on the calf) a small heel, and the leather smells good.

Pricey yes, but oh so gorgeous. I figured I could blow some of my sock drawer stash (birthday money) and order them. They're not sold anywhere near me so I couldn't even try them on. I was a little intimidated by the procedure for breaking them in. Thought I couldn't do it. I even considered sending them back. But I soldiered on (it was love) in a Sundance-induced fog.

It's been a week. They're so much better now. I'm keeping them. Here's a link to the maker:

The Frye Company Lot of celebrities wear Frye boots. Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) wears them and even gives them away from time to time on her site. This weekend, if you're out at the movies and see "One For the Money" with Katherine Heigel, she is wearing Fryes (saw an ad, Bloomingdales has a give away to tie-in to the movie). Me, wearing my Fryes. Handsome, awesome. And they keep my feet warm.

Love. Utah. Park City. Boots. Fryes. Love.

4 Gifts

Even though it's January, I'm still thinking about Christmas. So I'm just doing a short post here, with a link and an observation.

And this is what I think: most children (certainly not all) get too many presents at Christmas. And some barely have time to register what the gift is, before they go on to rip open another one.

Getting too many things doesn't make a child feel loved. In my experience, it usually does the opposite and makes them insecure and envious for what they didn't get. And spoiled. No one likes a spoiled child. And spoiled children grow up to be entitled adults. It's not a good way to be. To live.

I like this blog and the ideas she expresses in this post:

August Fields: Christmastime

In the post above, I think it's perfect that each child gets only 4 gifts, (plus stockings):

1) something they want

2) something they need

3) something to wear

4) something to read

Yes, we did do Santa in our house when our kids were growing up but if I had to do it all over, I think we'd do things differently. After all...Santa is what he really stands for, the spirit of love.

That's my opinion. Peace out.

How do you know?

So...10 days until Christmas. So far there are no presents and no Christmas tree either. We've got a project going on here...construction, on a small scale. Hardwood flooring, painting, and molding. And right now, some electrical switches going in.

So how do you know it's Christmas without the usual decor? For one, music, that's a given. And Christmas movies. Who doesn't love Christmas movies? Scrooge-people, that's who. The king of animated movies is and always will be, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

But my favorites are non animated. Here they are:

Home Alone. Love the story, love the house, love Macaulay Culkin, love the music!!! Darling. John Hughes wrote a winner and it cannot be beat. Catherine O'Hara as the mom and John Candy as the polka guy were awesome.

A Christmas Story. Some people call it the Red Ryder BB gun movie. I threw this one in because my kids love it so much. I've only seen bits and pieces of it, never from start to finish, but I will.

You don't usually find This Christmas on anyone's must see list, but I don't care...this is a fun movie. Loretta Divine is always good. Chris Brown is part of the ensemble, of course this was filmed pre-Rihanna.

Four Christmases. Maybe the plot is cliched but how can you not like this? Reese is darling. And Vince Vaughn! Cracks. Me. Up.

Christmas With the Kranks. This was based on the novel by John Grisham, Skipping Christmas. I laughed. Heartfelt.

Oh I love this one. While You Were Sleeping. Sandra Bullock is precious. Especially in this movie. Bill Pullman is perfect. The grandma, Glynis Johns. (remember her from Mary Poppins?)

The Holiday. Cameron Diaz. When she looks back at this movie, she'll always be happy, she's just gorgeous here. You HAVE to root for her and Jude Law to get together. The scene where she meets his daughters...precious. Kate Winslet and Jack Black are darling.

And here it is...my favorite Christmas movie. I don't just want to watch The Family Stone, I want to be them (minus the liberal politics). I want to go home for Christmas somewhere in a house like that. Diane Keaton is fabulous. Claire Danes. Craig T. Nelson too. Rachel McAdams is just a doll. And the guy that plays her love interest...the EMT guy, he's so good! Even though one of my least favorite actresses is in this (Sarah Jessica Parker)....even she can't spoil this film for me. Luke Wilson nails his part. Charming. He steals Dermot Mulroney's thunder. The Family Stone. Love.

The best thing is that even without a tree...these movies make me feel good. And that's what it's all about. What's your favorite Christmas movie?

Ghost Riders in the Sky

We've been the happy owners of our red Honda Pilot for nearly nine years now. We've seen good times, tough times, Keith Urban times, cruising times, hurricane times, fun times, and some all-around we ROCK this Pilot-times.



But today it was goodbye time.

And after nearly 17 years of driving a red vehicle (the Accord, then the Pilot), mama's got a horse of a different color.


A brand spanking new WHITE Honda Pilot!!

It's fancy. Frisky. Fantastic.

Big Daddy likes it too.

It's fun. Now we just have to figure out how to work everything.

Ghost Rider:

Ghost Rider, the pattern is full. (name that movie)




I don't think anyone will know it's me in a white vehicle. I might lose it myself in a parking lot.

Say it with me now, "White, white, white!"

October Skies

Well this month is just blowing by. Why can't August go this fast?? I love October...it's my 2nd favorite month of the year, after November. Yes, this IS my happy calendar time! And Don's too, deer season has begun.

I love everything about fall...football, a north wind blowing, leaves flying through the air, cinderella pumpkins, baby pumpkins, gumbo, and oh yeah, did I say football??

We've mostly watched these guys, while we cross our fingers for their coach Jason Garrett (who I have a slight crush on) to perform a miracle before Jerry Jones fires him. Or gets another facelift, whichever comes first.

And while the Cowboys are having a rough year, it sure helps to watch this coach, Eric Taylor, and his Dillon Panthers on Friday Night Lights. We're making our way through each season on Netflix. Seriously, it's good. Coach Taylor is played by Kyle Chandler. I have a little crush on him too. (Texas forever)

When I'm not in the middle of a football game (real or imagined) I spend a lot of time talking about this ship. She's beautiful, isn't she? In this case talk isn't cheap. But sail, we will. Do you believe in Magic??

Galveston, oh Galveston...


And my other hobby of late, shopping for wood floors, hopefully to get installed before the end of the year. After a lot of looking (virtual and in person), I've picked this one, by Shaw. It's hickory, pictured here. I love it and I hope it loves me back.

And last but not least, I've thoroughly enjoyed watching these guys go at it. Debates are awesome. So. Much. Fun. I'm learning a lot about these candidates. And the good thing is....we all participate. By reading, watching and by voting. Did you vote today?? My sticker says "My Vote Counted".

Make yours count, too.