Long time no blog ;)

Received this text pic from my brother Chris of my little Nephew Ian saying "HELLO FROM FLORIDA!" First time on the Florida beach and he loves it. Yep, he and Tina left Tuesday morning - this was Ian's first plane ride and he had a blast! Chris has been in Tampa for about 2 weeks now and is very happy to have them home - their new home that is. We go to visit them in December and I can hardly wait!

So what has been up? Gosh... where to even start. Obviously I'm not blogging much. Okay, haven't blogged in about a month to be exact. I'll probably only post once per week for the next few months as I'm super busy in all areas of life. Have had some ups and downs, but such is life and life is good.

Went on our 1st 3 day cruise. This is us - well, part of us - as we're leaving port. I'll leave this one alone for the most part as I ended up horrifically sick more than half the cruise due to being served the wrong meal in the dining room. I'm allergic to wheat & dairy and my meals were preplanned (Carnival offers this for food allergies). However they messed up on one of them and I ended up in the Infirmary and spent the rest of the cruise in bed. Now I understand cabin fever.

Mark was really sick for a while and ended up with bronchitis. Luckily he got over it in time for the U2 concert we went to Tuesday night. He still has the nagging cough though. I've been fighting from getting sick, but mine is from lack of sleep and my crud trying to kick in.

My shop has been keeping me real busy and I've been making more finished pieces as well. Like my new Curly Q earrings above. I made me a pair to wear at the concert and decided to make another for my shop. I have other styles coming soon.

Oh and my new Simply Sweet Hoop earrings. Made with Fine Silver and am offering these in an oxidized & bright finish, as well as in Copper.

Well, that's about it for now. Need to get into the studio as I have another busy day. Hope everyone is well and healthy.

Happiness,

Rocki

Today's Whale Watching Cruise

Another sort of quickie post of today's vacation events:

Above is the boat we went on for the 3 1/2 hour whale watching tour. Notice the name of it? It is my youngest brother's name (who lives in Arizona as well). Chris is the one who suggested we go on a whale watching cruise as this is the season for it and lots of whales are seen daily. There are many of these tours around, but how ironic that the one we called happened to have one of their boats named "The Christopher" - too funny!

Okay, not that funny I guess as our 3 1/2 hour cruise was cut down to about an hour due to one of the two engines died about an hour into the trip, but it was still very enjoyable. Plus they did issue us a free pass - so we will be going another day this week - probably Wednesday as tomorrow is Knotts!

Oh yes, we did get to see one small whale called a Minke - about a 20 footer. How did we spot the whale? Whale... er, I mean well, here's the story... The captain explained a few things and one of them was that if you spot a whale then you point and holler "THERE SHE BLOWS" and the direction (12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, etc.) Who was going to be the silly one to holler "THERE SHE BLOWS?" Whale, I mean well - that would be me!

Yep. I was looking off into another direction while everyone else was looking some place else. And there it was. I was a little hesitant at first - in case I was seeing things, but then when it popped up again off I sounded "THERE SHE BLOWS 9 O'CLOCK!" I kind of felt like a celebrity afterwards, but no autographs were given out.

Whale, I mean WELL... time to get some shut eye as tomorrow is another fun filled day. We're having a blast and now thinking about a bigger cruise to take on our next vacation.

Have a whale of a day,
Rocki