October 2

October 2 - Portland, Maine

Our first port!  After seeing some of the views from the ship, we were excited to begin exploring the town!

   

 We had planned to walk around, but as we got off the ship we discovered Portland as a FANTASTIC Deal - a hop on/hop off pass for $5.00!!!!!  So of course being the wise women that we are (wise women = Charlene, Lori, Maurene, Wendy & me!), we purchased tickets!  We rode the complete loop and noted the places we wanted to go, then started the loop again until we got to the first stop we wanted to explore!

One of the first places we explored was a used bookstore which happened to contain the Cryptozoology Museum!  We didn't pay to go into the museum, but one of it's "residents" stood guard over the bookstore so we took advantage of him with a photo op!

Bigfoot was kinda bored and was looking towards the door, maybe he was thinking about running away! lol 

After we left the bookstore we wandered around some, shopped a little, took in the sights.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow statue

Then is was time for lunch.  The bus driver and a guy at one of the giftshops we visited suggested DiMillo's Floating Restaurant.  Since we didn't know any better, we headed that way.   Thankfully they had a menu posted outside and there were some crafters (not from the cruise) with tables set up nearby.    We all decided we did not want to spend $25 plus for lunch.  The crafters suggested J's Oyster.  One of the shows on the food channel had featured J's in the last couple of months!

It was a beautiful day and we were lucky enough to get a table outside, but we had a few rules to follow!  Since none of us had our kids or dogs with us, we were OK! lol 

After lunch we did a little exploring near the water front.  I "made" Lori and Charlene walk down a couple alleys/piers but I think we found some great pictures (I am only sharing about 10% of the photos I took in Portland!) and at least I didn't make them pick up some gross stuff for our collections. (On the first day of class Tim told us to look for little "treasures" about 2" or less while we were exploring all the ports.)   And you wouldn't believe some of the stuff some people were collecting!  Does anyone know if they used the "gross" stuff?

If we lived nearby, I know where I'd do some shopping for dinner!  Do you see those prices?

All too soon it was time to head back to the ship :(  Once back on board we headed up Deck 12 to have another look around and watch as we left the port. 

Portland Observatory as seen from the ship

 

Taxi anyone?

Charlene & Lori

Wendy & Maurene had the same idea, they were on the deck above us.

This is the "baby" lighthouse

 This is the "mama" lighthouse

This is looking back at the "mama" lighthouse as we left port.

Fort Gorges

And a few pictures of the "papa" lighthouse aka Portland Head Lighthouse

Since we were heading into open waters and the sun had set, it was getting cold so we headed in to the Windjammer for dinner.    Not sure what else we did because pictures for the day ended with the lighthouse and the written journal I was keeping has disappeared.  Even though I thought we left Roger in New Jersey, he may have paid me a visit and taken the journal, because he is sneaky like that! lol  (I will tell you more about Roger in a later post!) 

If you haven't checked out Joy's blog, what are you waiting for?

Hope you have a fabulous week!

Just a quick post for CCC #17

Just a quick sample for my Compendium of Curiosities Companion book I am creating as we go through the challenges!  My sample will go in my book as is but I will be showing off another project later in the week that uses this technique!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Linda

Edit: Unfortunately, that is NOT Tim's new seasonal paper. It's Graphic 45 "Letters to Santa" from last year.

October 1

October 1, 2010 was a day of "firsts" - There's the obvious, the first day of October.  One of the first things I do every morning  when I am cruising is to get a picture of an elevator floor. It really is a useful picture, because after a day or two on the ship I tend to forget what day we were in! lol It also lets me easily (at least before I upload photos) tell when a new day starts in photos because the days all start to run together.

It was also our first full day on the ship, first day at sea and FIRST class with Tim on our adventure!!  There were 2 classes with approximately 80 crafters in each class.  Charlene and I,  as well as many other friends, were in the first group!  

The first class started at 9 a.m. but the store opened at 8 a.m.!  I had great plans to be there before class.  It didn't work out so well.  I walked in the store about 10 minutes before class, but there was a huge line, so I just went to the classroom instead.  It was probably a good thing, at least for my checkbook!  I did make it back after class and got a few things that only put a medium sized dent in the ol' checkbook! 

If you are wondering how Tim is able to have so many in a class, he uses PowerPoint, we had 2 screens  and a microphone.  He also had Michelle, Karen and Joy helping out!  We each had a kit in our work station with most of the supplies we needed as well as complete written instructions!

As I mentioned, most of the supplies are in are kits, but there are some things they save to hand out during class, such as the paper you can see spread out in the upper right as Charlene is working on her cover.

Apparently I was either still sleeping or Tropical Storm Nicole bothered me more than I realized as I only took 3 (yes, three) photos before/during class and one of those were deleted.    I didn't even take a picture of Tim's journal as it made its rounds.  If you would like to see his, he has it posted on his blog here!

Here's my journal, at least the part that you get to see right now. . .I still have a lot of work to do on it before I am ready to show off the inside.   I did not work on my after class, I was too busy doing other things! lol. 

October 1 was also our first formal night! 

Linda and Charlene

Edith and Barbara

That was it at our table, just 4 of us.  Barbara is a fellow crafter and Edith is her non-crafty friend.  We had a delicious dinner (not sure what we had because once again I failed to take photos but all the meals were fabulous so I know this one was too!)  When dessert arrived someone said something that had me remembering to grab the camera and take pictures. 

I have no idea which one was mine and which one was Charlene's but I know they were both yummy!  After dinner, Charlene & I went back to our cabin, changed clothes and made our way to the theater for the first production show - Invitation to Dance!

While we were waiting for the doors to open, we ran into Lori, Maurene, and Wendy, so enjoyed their company while enjoying a drink and the show!

Wendy, Maurene, Lori, Linda & Charlene

After the show, we headed back to the cabin and to bed as the next day was our first port! 

If you want to read other versions of our cruise, here is a partial listing of cruise blogs. . .

Tim - includes a video and all the projects in one stop!

Lori - She's a couple days ahead of me on posting

Eileen - She's also a couple days ahead

. . . if you have a blog you are recapping the cruise on and I don't mention you here please add a link in your comments and/or send me a note and I will add you to the list.

Thanks for dropping by and sharing my adventures!

If you are in Northern California

did you see this? or this?   Yes, I will be there! I KNOW, I just got back from a cruise with Tim. . .but really can you ever have too much Tim?  I didn't think so!   lol Hope to you see you there!

Slowly easing into reality (& 100th post!)

Is it really Thursday?  Where does time go?  Charlene and I made it back really late Monday night.  I am slowly making my way back into reality! lol


We had a FABULOUS time on THE cruise and staying with Chris and her family after the cruise!  I took a "few" pictures, but don't worry I won't share all of them - there were 1,747 before I started deleting, now I think there are 1,741! lol  (I've only deleted a few I found as I was showing my kids a few pictures I took with them in mind, still have a lot of deleting to do. lol)

To quote Lori "I'll try not to bore you with every little detail, but this blog is my journal", so be warned! lol

We (Charlene & I) left home at 6:00 a.m. (PDT) on Wednesday morning (9/29) and were met at the airport by Gloria A.  Nancy M joined us at our LAX stop.  We were picked up at LaGuardia by John at A Car For Hire.   He was a sweetheart and took us to Little Italy (in NYC) to pick-up dinner (there are pictures of the four of us waiting for our dinner, but my camera was packed so maybe Charlene, Gloria or Nancy will share) and then off to our hotel in New Jersey. 

We made our way to the ship early Thursday afternoon under cloudy skies (because of Tropical Storm Nicole).  (John picked us up at the hotel and dropped us off at the ship)  

First glimpse of the "boat"!

Getting closer!

I actually put the camera away as I madly texted family and friends to say "bon voyage" before we got on the ship and then I was too excited to remember to get the camera out again until we were on board! lol

Our rooms weren't quite ready once we were on board so we made our way to the Windjammer Buffet -

  Then we went on deck to see some sights -

Charlene with the Statue of Liberty in the background (she's really small in the center of the photo) and yes, it was just a bit windy too! lol

Me!

Lady Liberty
(I didn't really get a good picture of her.)

9/11 Memorial at Bayonne's Harbor View Park as seen from the ship.

As soon as our luggage arrived at our room, the first things Charlene & I unpacked were our door signs!  We made 2 so we didn't have to decide who got to keep it!  Charlene's has the red rose, mine the blue!  If you notice the Umbrella Man looks a little bare, it's because we needed Tim to add the finishing touch, his autograph!  He graciously agreed when we asked him! He is the best!!!  

After unpacking,we went to dinner then it was time for the welcoming gathering with TIM et al.  (Sorry no pictures of Tim, they didn't turn out well at all.)  We also picked up our name tags, preordered t-shirts and bags as well as traded ATCs and charms.  

So there you have our first 2 days of  fun!  More to follow in the days ahead including our projects.  Hope you enjoyed the trip so far!

Only one more thing before I go!  This is my 100th post!  You know what that means!  Prize time!   I will make it really easy for you, just comment on this post before 11:59 p.m.(PDT) on Saturday, October 30, 2010!  Only one post per person please, and make sure I have a way to contact you (if you don't want to include your e-mail in your comment, you may email it to me after you post your comment.  There's an e-mail button on my side bar.)  If I get more than 50 comments I will add a 2nd prize package, so go tell your friends! I will ship worldwide so everyone is welcome to comment.

       

The prize includes:

1 pack Ranger 7 x 10 Gloss Paper cards and envelopes (10 ea)

1 pack A4 lavender cards and envelopes

~ 1 yard of peach lace

15 #8 tags

1 each #3 tags die cut with Tim's new Sizzix mover & shaper words
      (Hope, Joy, Love & Wish)

1 Sizzlits "ticket" strip die

1 pack BoBunny Napa Valley Die Cuts

1 pack BoBunny Tuscany Die Cuts

1 pack Cosmo Cricket Jitterbug Collection

1 pack buttons

1 empty vintage "medicine" bottle (from Mario's store on the ship)

1 bottle "perfect pearls mist" - perfect pearl

1 bottle ea red, green and gold "stickles" (these came from the Ranger

       warehouse sale)

1 Ranger Pigment pen (slate)

1 box Hero Arts Vintage Gentlemen stamps (3 stamps total)

1 Ranger Scrubbie (not pictured)

Good luck! 

Linda

Post 99

I am so glad you dropped by!   Most likely while you are reading this I am somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean, but I wanted to give you a sneak peek of the prize for my 100th post when I get home!   

This is only a small peek of the prize package, there will be more!  And since I am spending 10 days with Tim Holtz (and 160 other people) I will bring home something from the trip especially for the prize package.  So watch for my 100th post sometime in mid-October. 

Oh, if I have a hundred followers by the time I get home, it will be an even BIGGER prize package.  I will give you all the details when I get back!

Linda