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I saw this over on my friend Julie's blog. Man, I thought driving to Illinois and back was far, but Atlantis took on a 5.8 million mile journey. How incredible is that? What's even better is they've returned safely. One of my friends, Sindy just had lunch with an astronaut. She did a special lunch with one of her children and she said it was a rewarding experience.
My skin took a beating this week as I took on a fun sunburn on Sunday while playing in the ocean. Yes, I was wearing SPF 30, but I guess with the reflection from the water, my face and chest felt the need to remind me I was out in the sun...After the healing process, my skin was left feeling a little rough, so I made a quick fix exfoliant, since I didn't bring any with me. What did I do? I took a little lotion with olive oil and a tiny bit of salt and sloughed off that tired old, dry skin. I was left with a smooth complexion and felt much better!
Here I am, one week later and peeling like crazy!
My mom has this thing for cruises. She loves them. I have another friend who loves cruises, and they've not really held that passion for me. Okay, I confess, maybe it's more the being at sea thing without seeing land. My mom promises it won't bother me once I get out there, and the ship is so big, and there's so much to do, I'll fall in love with cruising. What do you think? Do you love going on cruises?
I was reading some of the cruises that leave out of New York and New Jersey, and they do sound maginficent. I like that you can do short weeks as well as longer ones. With a 3 or 4 day cruise, you can have a long weekend and still feel like you took a vacation. Maybe it's time for me to actually give it a try. We'll see....there's a website called CruiseCheap.com which is a great place to start looking!
It's okay to be jealous. You'll be at work, I'll be sitting on the beach. Go ahead, get it out of your system....I'll be back soon enough, and then it will be your turn to vacation. But as it stands, it's my turn, and I'm heading out tomorrow morning. Enjoy the week, miss me a little, and I'll see you when I get back. Heading to the beach, and I'm so ready to dig my toes in the sand and play in the ocean!
I'll see you next week! Beach time in New Jersey :)
Yes, that's right, I'm a supinator. That's not quite as exciting as say, Superman, Spiderman, or heck even Speed Racer, but it's a fact of my life. I tend to roll out my feet and lean on the outsides of my feet. When I walk, I roll outwards as well. It's not obvious or something that one would notice immediately, but I had to face the facts.
I switched walking shoes today, and what a difference! I then had to drive my dogs to the kennel, and while I was in the car, I was falling into that habit I have of rolling my feet to the sides and resting on the outside of my foot. Only this time, my shoe wouldn't let me! It was holding me in a neutral position, a regular gait support, and I couldn't easily roll out my feet. Do you know how frustrating it was to me, that I had to keep my feet up straight! It's better for me, and it's getting used to doing it, but it's one of those things I just didn't have to think of for awhile. When I used to run, it became apparent as well, because you feel it when you don't have the right support for your gait.
Now, my legs are feeling all funky, because walking up and down those hills, now a different part behind my ankle is getting used to the feel! Oh, this is the part of my leg that was supposed to be sore last week. LOL
I head to the beach tomorrow, and I'll be kicking back in the sand, splashing in the water, dodging some waves, and having some fun with my family. We're taking a week to have some fun in the sun, laughter and good times. I may or may not check in tonight or tomorrow before leaving, but I wanted to explain the gap in posting next week!
We were driving by a small carnival, and my husband remembered they were going to have a small firework display....tonight. We decided to pull over in a nearby parking lot because they would probably start sometime soon. We turned the engine off and sat quietly talking while we waited. We had about 15 minutes to wait. After 15 minutes came and went and no fireworks were there, he remembered..."Oh darn, it's tomorrow night". We went on our way home, and within 2 minutes we hear them...fireworks! We quick did a turn around, went back to our original location and watched some fireworks. :) You're never too old to enjoy them. Each and everytime I see them, they bring a smile to my face. The big display will be on Saturday night, but we'll be down the shore, so we'll miss that display. July 4th isn't too far behind, so we'll get to see them again soon enough!
I'm so excited! I'm going to have a personal painting done of this actual picture. Isn't that cool? What I'll be doing is sending this picture to CanvasOnDemand.com and in return, I'll get a painting of this gorgeous shot! I can't wait to see the results and have it framed. I took this picture of a local spot, and just love the coloring in it. I'll end up turning a photo enlargement into a piece of art! When it's all said and done, I'll have a 16x20 painting of a picture I took!
What you can do is take a picture, and turn it into a work of art. Whether you want a picture of your child, a wedding picture, a landscape or maybe your pet, you can have it turned into a personalized piece of artwork!
I love that they have a customer showcase that lets you see what others have chosen. It's a great example of their work. You can choose the size you'd like the picture on, and the thickness ofthe canvas as well. If you click on the pricing, you can see the frames that are offered in different styles.
They also offer different techniques to choose from, such as brush stroke and sepia. With so many choices, you'll have a one of a kind piece of artwork from your very own picture! They can even retouch work or change backgrounds! Get the picture you want, the way you want it.
When I get the painting back, I'm going to take a picture of it and share the results with you so we can see the outcome! I can't wait!
They treat me like a dog....is something different in my house! Yes, they've claimed the leather sofa as their dog bed. It's a tough life, eh?
Actually, they are good company when I'm sitting at my desk. It's a dog's life, but that's not so bad in this household!
I was at Target the other day and noticed a new cola being advertised. This one was Diet Pepsi Max. I always like to try the new things, just to see if I like it, or if there's an after taste and such. Actually, since I started blogging, now I think, ooh, I need to try that and mention it! LOL
Anyway, when you first take a sip, it generally tastes like Diet Pepsi. It doesn't have an aftertaste, and I didn't notice a noticeable difference in flavor. If you note the bottom of the ingredients at the bottom of the second picture, you'll see they've added Panax Ginseng Extract. Being the last ingredient, we know it's got to be only a tiny amount, but I'd be curious to know what that amount is. They do curiously mention the caffeine content below that at 69 mg for the 12 fluid ounce bottle. A 12 oz bottle of regular Diet Pepsi would have 36 mg of caffeine. I'm personally not thinking I need Ginseng in my soda, but hey, to each their own, and with Diet Coke Plus on the market, I guess it's the "we must all do things similar" mind frame.
1. Have a voice, and know what you want to say before you write a post.
2. Read and comment on other blogs, to understand conversational value of blogs
3. Decide if you want a niche or a general blog. Have a plan with a goal.
4. Know which blogging software or program will work best for you: Wordpress, Moveable Type, Blogger, Vox, or any of the others.
5. Decide who you are writing for, and what kind of audience you want to target.
6. Read other important blogs in the blogging world that offer tips, Problogger.net, Copyblogger.com, DoshDosh.com , SEOBook.com
7. Network with other bloggers, there is strength in numbers
8. Find a pattern of writing posts and stick with it. 20 posts one day, 2 the next and then nothing for a week may confuse your readers.
9. Link out to others freely. Don’t expect things in return.
10. Write fresh content, don’t just rehash what everyone else is saying.
11. Have a unique angle if you’re writing a topic that’s well covered.
12. Add personality to your writing. It keeps people reading.
13. Find plug-ins/add-ons that are helpful to your blog, like tagging.
14. Write for people, not search engines.
15. Offer a way to subscribe either by RSS or by email.
This was a cool McDonalds in Indianapolis even if they did screw up my order! I snapped this picture while in the drive-thru line. I thought it was cool they had a DVD kiosk right there! I never saw that before. Then the line splits in two like a Y, and there's two order things, then you merge back together and voila, there's your food. Stupid merge, I ended up with a fish sandwich and a coke. Wrong order, but I didn't stop to check since there was so much traffic. They actually had a cop directing traffic OUT of the McDonald's! This was in Indianapolis, Indiana. Then I went a block down the road and paid $3.38 a gallon for gas!
While I was on my road trip last week, I happened to pass a truck featuring Team Tylenol. The funny thing about this, is it's NASCAR racers endorsing a rapid release product, but there's no actual racing team. I thought the truck was fun to see though, so I snapped a picture. Hey, when you are driving 2200 miles, you take amusement where you can! ;) This picture was snapped in West Pennsylvania heading out towards the Pittsburgh area.
It would seem I have too many bookmarks. This is only one itsy, bitsy teeny, tiny section of my bookmarks. My husband asked me a question and was standing behind me, as I scrolled through my bookmarks...his response was "Good Gosh, how many bookmarks do you have?" See, the thing is, I don't clean them out quite enough. This is just a tiny piece of my Firefox bookmarks, I have hundreds in my IE too, and they are all different! LOL
So here's a peek at what I have to scroll through, and some comments along the way. Do you do this? Save things for later, then forget about them? What about bookmarking the same exact thing twice because you forgot if you did it. Yup, overwrite it or change the name, just in case. That Theme Generator I'll probably never use, but I sure like knowing where it is!
Wallhogs.com is saved because I thought I might get something for my son's room....later. Amazon, somebody recommended a book. Maybe I'll go back and get it at some point. The computer one for Dell's Inspiron, I guess I can get rid of that one, because I all ready bought my Compaq Presario! Hmm, some plug-ins friends have mentioned, not sure if I'm using them or not, but I want to look at them....later.
Love th WikiMatrix.com where you can compare them. Notebook Dummie guides, once again, I bought the laptop so I guess it's time to scan them and see if there's anything I need in there and print it out. There are a few articles, again, another computer mention, the wal-mart facts goes to NJ facts, which I couldn't bookmark on my reader because it was down, but that's now bookmarked, so I can delete that...so you see my dilemma? I'll delete them later, eh? Vista, not having problems with, so I really don't need those communities, and I can just pop that in a search engine if I want to find it again. Ahh, that audio player, that's something I was looking for!
Anyway, here's another peek at some of my bookmarks. What are you bookmarking?
I found this a little amusing....the rest area at one particular stop in Illinois was called the Pride of the Prairie. Hmmm, your restroom is the pride of the prairie? To add insult to injury, if you had an emergency, their EMERGENCY call box was, oops, OUT of ORDER! I thought Illinois was a beautiful state, the area I went through, but couldn't help getting a giggle out of this quick stop.
To describe Ang, the first word that came to me is WHOLESOME. I don't know which other word to describe. She makes me think of woman, mother, wife, friend, and there's not another way to say that. It was great to finally give her a real hug in person, as opposed to a virtual hug. Ang made me lunch, and the 6 of us (Ang, Me and the kids) laughed and shared stories as we ate. We then went out to see all the animals. She has a horse, chickens, randy roosters, cats, kittens and a sweet dog that is just as gentle as can be. We took a drive to the river, and when I asked which river...The Mississippi, I suddenly remembered I was half way across the country! That central time zone difference of an hour threw me off 2x in one day! After strolling along the river and talking, we went back and sat outside talking and laughing, amazed that this conversation was now in person, rather than over the internet. It was hard to leave, but I knew that this friendship was special and worth the drive. I was right.
Two things for Angie: Quincy is like my Phillipsburg(where I shop/movies,etc) I drove through it....and I knew I'd like Tom the minute I saw the John Deer. I went, he's a cool guy and laughed.
Great experience, great friend, and great seeing such beautiful open space. Where Ang lives is like an open field paradise, and I loved it. (I'd miss the beach and ocean, but loved the feel of the area) Thanks to Angie for allowing me to spend time with her and her family.
What an incredible journey I took this past week. I've spoken of my road trip, but now you'll get to see and hear more of it. When you talk to people every day online, you form connections, and some of those connections just come through stronger than others. There's no simple way to explain it to those who haven't experienced that process. This picture shows three women who enjoyed meeting and talking in person, but it started long before with conversation online through blogging, comments, and general chatter. Not everyone understands those bonds that form, but that's okay, they don't need to. My husband knows a particular group of people I'm very close to, and having the chance to hook up with them has been important to me. This time, I headed west and got to come face to face with my good friend Marisa. Her neighbor and fellow blogger Tammie was there as well! How cool to get to meet them both. Marisa is on the left, I'm in the middle, and Tammie is on the right. In the picture below, Marisa is on the left, me again on the right.
When I came face to face with Marisa, there was no awkward silence, it was like sitting and talking to a friend I've had for years. It was fresh and fun, laughter and chatter. Tammie and BJ joined us, and we all enjoyed some lunch. I had some Veggie Wedgie (thanks Maggie and Amanda), sausage sandwiches and yummy dessert. It was women laughing and sharing stories over lunch. It was more than that. It was saying that yes, you dear friend are just as important to me as a friend who lives in New Jersey, even though you live states away. I was traveling through and wasn't able to stay long, and the hardest part was leaving. Marisa is the kind of girl you want to get in your jammies, curl up on the sofa and talk to for hours. She is a spark of energy, bursting with life, and I just adored her so much. I wish she didn't live so far away. When I thought I might be able to stop on the way back, I was happy at that thought, but the final day of driving ended up being a long one, and I didn't make it the second time. I'll get back there at some point so we can continue our conversation well into the night. If you have the chance to meet Marisa, grab it, and you won't be sorry. You just can't help but love her. What a great experience, and one I can't wait to have again. Tammie is wise and warm, BJ's eyes lit up when we shared coaster stories! I teased her, because a true roller coaster fan's eyes light up and the adrenalin goes when you're talking about a great coaster! I know, I'm a big fan too! Tammie and BJ, what a great joy to meet you both as well. I loved the afternoon and sitting talking with the three of you made it all so special.
Ok, so I have over 50 pictures from my trip to edit, and I've got things to tell you about! Most of it will be here on this blog, though the driving pictures will be on my Travel blog. That's over at Travel.TwoDogZoo.com.
It will take me a bit to get them all up, but I'll be doing pieces through out the weekend. Look for them later tonight and tomorrow to hear all about it!
I have pictures to share and stories to tell. I had a long drive today, so there won't be much story telling tonight. I'll get to it all this weekend and fill you in on my weekday trip out to Central Time Zone territory! I got to see a couple of friends and I can't wait to write about that, some beautiful country, pics to share of that, and stayed at a few hotels along the way. All the same chain, and all three rooms, completely different, though similar.
I added an extra hour to my drive today, thanks to some fun construction merges, both in Pennsylvania! I was getting close, I could feel home around the corner, but my patience was being tested! I'm home and happily doing laundry and other stuff. I'll fill you in soon enough. It's nice to be home!
I just realized I crossed into the Central Time Zone today. I'm ready for bed and it's all of 7:30 here! I was driving for 7 hours today, so I'm pretty beat. I did about 9 hours or so yesterday. I'm enjoying my time on the road, and got to visit with a friend yesterday. I'll see yet another friend tomorrow. I just wanted to send a hello out and let you know I'll write about my trip when I get back. I have pictures too, but not a media card reader on my laptop. No biggie, I'll post them when I get back home.
Cheers from Illinois!
These are from the Long Valley area (NJ) where we were driving yesterday. I'll be traveling this week, so I'll leave you with these pictures. If I'm able to get on and write, I will. Otherwise, I'll see you next weekend. I should be traveling from Monday to Friday of this week. Here's the side shot of the same barn. I didn't realize how long it was at first, because I saw the side view first.
A quiet post office on an early Saturday afternoon.
A new firehouse in Oldwick...with so much growth, it became necessary. They did a nice job though, it's beautiful with the stone front.
That's all you see now, stand alone drugstores. Remember when they were either in malls, or next to the grocery store? Now they get their own building. This is the new one in Califon, having a grand opening.
A tree farm...it just goes on and on in rows and rows of trees.
Passing the Tewksburry Inn...All the times we've passed it, I've never eaten there.
This is on a back road in Central Jersey, Hunterdon County. I thought it would make a nice picture to share. I took a bunch of pictures today while we were out for a drive. We went up through Long Valley, Califon, Bedminster, Oldwick and more. It was a gorgeous day for a drive. I'm going to put a few pictures up behind this....
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause. I mentioned it was "Click It or TIcket" week, and my son asked me if that was a real thing. When we drove by the banner, he believed me. Oh yes, this week has been seat belt check and are your papers in order check week. They are wrapping it up today, I think. Welcome to New Jersey!
I spoke of the bird's nest in the cherry blossom tree yesterday, and I wanted to put the picture up. I finally pulled the pictures off my camera this morning. It caught my eye as soon as I walked out. I don't know if there are eggs in it, or if it's just a residence, I didn't want to disturb it.
I’m hoping my farm stand is open now. I’d like to go up there this weekend and pick up some fresh cantaloupe. Last time we went up that way, they still weren’t open. They also have orchards where you can pick some of your own fruit. I think they have peaches and apples. For some reason I want to say cherries too, but I can’t remember if they do. Last year we got this one giant cantaloupe we called the Monster Cantaloupe! In the beginning of the season all the good ones are there…you can always tell when the end of the season is coming, because they slowly start to change. I’ve waited all winter, I’m excited to have fresh cantaloupe from the farm again!
WoW! Congratulations to Tammy Alexander. Did you hear she won the FBI Director's community leadership award? That's quite an accomplishment and something to be proud of. She is actually a student at the university I've been telling you about, capella university. She's working on her Master's Degree. She is working on a degree with an emphasis on education, and is specializing as well. That's awesome news! Capella University was founded in 1993, and is an online university where you can work on various degrees on numerous subjects. They just recently added more, as you'll see in one of my previous posts! This is a school I just can't stop talking about. Again, congratulations go out to Tammy Alexander!
I’m getting stiff and old. Man, I used to do gymnastics when I was young for a short while, and I was limber as anything. I’m not sure what happened to the days of bending over without getting a crick in your back! Maybe it’s time for me to take up Yoga and do more stretching so I can get some flexibility back. Readers’s Digest once said the key to youth are flexibility and lubrication…
I was listening to the radio on the drive home today, and Nuttin But Stringz was on Jersey 101.5 with Craig Carton. They were doing a blend of a hip violin sound. They are playing over at the War Memorial tonight. What surprised me more than anything was hearing how much they’d make playing subway station. They’d set up, start playing, and they could do $300 a day. Around the holidays, they said they made $1500 one day! Maybe people at the subway station aren’t needing those dollars as much as you think they do!