Tim Holtz Caribbean Cruise Day 1, September 25 2011 - Set Sail at 4 PM

Sunday we take a 10:45 shuttle from Hampton in to the port where we can board our ship, Freedom of the Seas (Royal Caribbean). We can't get into our staterooms until 1, but we can have lunch in the Windjammer first. Off we go, having Fun already! Marilyn & Bev. :-)

Ahhh, WAY too much luggage for me! Bev brought 1 suitcase and a backpack. I brought 2 Large suitcases which were Supposed to be 1/2 empty each so I could bring things back. Before I left, I managed to fill them both to 45 pounds, Plus I had a rolling carryon and a bag for my 2 carryons. Ahhhh, I'll Never learn to pack reasonably! :-( But Somehow, I made it home only checking 1 extra duffel bag. Even I still can't figure out how I did That! LOL

Bev's legs & knees hurt quite a bit from "the spill", so she opts for a wheel chair, getting on the ship. A Great idea! I think what Bev missed Most was running up & down the stairs which she Always does! We can't bemoan Too Much though about not getting to the workout room (which was Amazing!!!) though............this cruise was going to be the one where we actually Did that. Nope. Didn't happen.....LOL

The map of the ship by each elevator. Even on my 3rd cruise, All on Royal Caribbean which are all similar..........I Still end up at the wrong end of the ship at Least 1/2 of the time! And I need to refer to this map Often during the cruise!

We follow a Carnival ship out of Port Canaveral. There is a Disney ship that will follow us out. I took a picture from the ship below of Grills where we had lunch. And also, a picture of the Canaveral lighthouse which is not accessible by land. It was hardly visible from the ship............but I took this picture with my new Canon SX230 which has a 14x zoom and image stabilization. This was fully zoomed and I can't Believe how clear the image really is for that much magnification. I Love this camera!

Once on the ship, we have the buffet lunch in the Windjammer, then walk around the upper deck to the other end of the ship where our room is, 8th deck, room 8556. There is a kids water fun pool at one end, the middle section has 2 pools, several hot tubs, and at the other end, the adult pool which is much deeper.

Above are the pools around 1 when people were either still not boarded, or still in the Windjammer. Below is the Real feel of the pools! Crowded! I have met more interesting people in the pools however. It is intimidating at first, but once you go ahead & take a loung right next to someone and/or get into the pool, people are friendly & it's fun to meet new people. :-)

We have a 5 PM Welcome gathering with Tim & everyone to meet, swap & kick the week off. First picture is Jim when I pointed the camera at him below:

Mario, Monica, Richele, Joy, Tim & Jim. My pictures in Pharohs Lounge didn't come out well. I hope someone else posts some more clear ones.

Andrea, Got Ya!!!! ;-) I just snapped my camera when you walked by (like U Do!) and it came out ok! I'd Love to see some of your pictures! :-)

We had a new dinner table on this cruise. Bev & I knew Lonnie & Marilyn would be at our table, but we did not know the other 6 people. And What a FUN Table it turned out to Be!!! I was not going to go to many dinners in the dining room....I was going to watch sunsets and spend evening time in the pool. But our table was so much Fun I was drawn to dinner. And Then.........this cruise, the dinner did Not take an hour and a half with 1/2 hour in between courses! That was just Too Long to sit at a table for me on the past 2. Things moved at a reasonable pace and that was wonderful too! I missed only one dinner in the dining room. I enjoyed the dinners Very Much! :-) Pix of our table below:

Martine and Christina, both from Australia. They had Horrifically LONG flights to get here to take the cruise! But buffered them a bit with an early stay in San Francisco for a couple of days, then a couple of days in Los Angeles before flying home. I am posting on Tuesday after the cruise returned on Sunday. They won't be home until Next Monday! Whew!!! This is why I haven't travelled overseas at all. I don't know How they Do It!

Lorraine & Pat, from Vancouver & Scottland, were also Much Fun! They have known each other for Many Years but more recently found they are distantly related! How Fun is That!? :-) They disembarked from this cruise, and the same day, boarded the Carnival ship and took another 4 day cruise in the Eastern Caribbean. We did the Western. I can't wait to hear their review of the other ship & cruise! What fun to have spontaneously have decided to do that!

Lonnie & Marilyn who I have known since the 2nd cruise to Mexico and last years cruise to Nova Scotia. Very Nice people and I had Much Fun getting to spend more time with them on the cruise!

Donna, Terrence & Christy. Most of my pictures of Donna & Christy didn't come out well. But it just seemed Fun that the one with Terrence (our head waiter) in it as I think he was in Love with Christy! She put him through hoops, didn't you Ms. Christy!? ;-) They are both from Boca Raton (??? Darn, I remembered which city all along, now that I am typing, all I can think of is N'Orlanz. ;-) How Much Fun we had with them! All Unabridged and Impossible not to just Laugh & Laugh. Yep, we were the loud laughing table! And I was the Only one at our table who drank! I wanted my evening Wine! Noone else had a drink that I saw until the last night! A tribute I think to the wonderful melding we did of people and personalities from all Over the world..............and I'll have great memories always.

Here is a picture of Christy and Donna at the final night farewell party. This is more clear than the ones I took in the dining room.

This picture below was just too much fun to not take. Lorraine ordered two desserts. We all Wanted to order 2 of Everything! LOL The food was Wonderful on this cruise!

Ahh, Juliana. And her boyfriend. :-) She started out so stiff & we thought she wouldn't be much fun. Then she Blossomed! She was so much Fun. And when we left the last night........she was right there hugging us all as we hugged each other. She would be a great person to be part of our group. But off she went, the day we docked, on her next hard working tour. I am Amazed at what those people who work on the ship manage to accomplish! It is Hard Work! Some present themselves as "Wanting to do Everything for you" in a tone. Others, like Juliana, let her personality come out She participated, and didn't just read the requirements of RC. She was (is) a special person.

And although this sunset picture is out of order, since the sunsets were During dinner...................it seemed like the perfect picture to end a perfect day.

Tim Holtz Caribbean Cruise - Cocoa Beach

Bev & I flew in 2 days early into Orlando, then took a shuttle to Cocoa Beach where we stayed for 2 nights at the Hampton Inn. We had a room with a balcony & a very nice view. The beach was very close so we enjoyed some relaxing beach time before boarding the ship on Sunday morning.

We walked down the beach to the Cocoa Beach Pier and had lunch at "The Boardwalk" restaurant on the pier.

Then some relaxing time on the beach. Bev gets some reading time and I spend most of my time in the water.

The next day, we walked on the beach in the morning and at 10 AM, we rented motor scooters from Skip, at Beach Classic Scooter rental in old downtown Cocoa Beach. We rented them for 6 hours.

Helmeted up and off we go on our "hogettes" :-)

We headed off to a restaurant Skip recommended in Canaveral called Grills. We ate on the patio near the water. Great place!!!

After lunch we headed to Lonnie & Marilyn's hotel to see if they were there & wheat they were up to. They were out, so we continued towards the cruise port to see the ships that were in that day.

Oops, 2 pictures out of order. I give up on moving them. I'm 2 hours into this post now. I need a Blog Class!!!! This is the water off the pier at Grills. There were many turtles & jelly fish in the water. Jelly fish had been brought in by earlier storms and were in the water later in Coco Cay also!

Leaving Grills, also out of order. ;-)

Meanwhile, back to viewing the ships.

We had Great FUN on our hogettes. And we covered a lot of ground. Those puppies went 50 mph. Most scooters or mopeds for rent are regulated to 35 or 40 as over that usually requires a motorcycle license. Or so I've heard and experienced. These were Great!!!

Then, The SPILL! We had been out for 5+ hours having a Great time. There is only 1 way back through Cocoa Beach and that is the main road. Since these go fast enough for the speed limit, we were fine, even with much traffic. Not too far from the rental shop, Bev who was ahead of me, signalled & went to turn into the right turn lane. There was road construction what was not marked and a 2" difference in asphalt level between the lane and the turning lane. Bev's tire hit that rise and Down she Went! I wathced her fly off & hit her head & get drug across the asphalt! All we both can say after that experience is, WEAR A HELMET!!! Her head hit the ground & was drug across the pavement. If she had not been wearing a helmet, we fear how badly she would have been hurt. As it was, she was very cut and bruised and it Did curtail much of her activities on the cruise. She was Very Upbeat about it however, and said she would Definately do the scooter again! Trully it was not her fault. That pavement should have been marked. So it was an unfortunate accident which can happen to anyone. The Best thing that happened is when we talked to Skip when we returned from the cruise, he had made up forms that people now Must sign and they Must wear helmets, even though Florida does not require them. This might save someone else along the line! Thank Goodness we Chose to wear them! The benefits to being older & apparently wiser. LOL

The scene of the spill. A cop stopped, but wasn't very helpful. Bev was bleeding all over the place & asked if he had a towel or something. He said no & left. ???? So she went into Wendys to clean up in the bathroom. Then, the troooper she is, we jumped back on the scooters & headed back to return them. We did have a Great time, other than this incident.

Tim Holtz Caribbean Cruise September 2011

It is hard to Believe it has been nearly a year since I posted to my blog! Not long after Last years Tim cruise! And I just returned from another, this time to the Western Caribbean. It was A Wonderful Cruise and so Great to see Tim, Mario, Jim, Richele, Joy and Monica, and see again friends I have made from the past 2 cruises. This was a 7 day cruise and working my way back into blogging, I will just include pictures here of the carpet showing the Days of the Week in the Elevator! I plan to print these out & use them in the wonderful journal we made in class. :-)I'm posting in case anyone else missed any days and/or didn't think of taking pictures and might want to use them also. :-)

Wow, a year lost me ground in posting! I spent over an hour, just trying to get these pictures in order! :-( Hopefully my next posts will start getting easier! I hope to have the whole trip posted by Saturday.

Tim Holtz classes in Elk Grove CA November 2010

I took 2 classes from Tim this past weekend at Stampers Corner in Elk Grove CA. It is over 1 1/2 hours from here so it was a Long weekend! But Tim's classes are Always worth it!

Both of these projects are ones we did on the cruise (more cruise pix to come). But these were decorated for Christmas. I knew I wouldn't make them on my own, plus it's Much more Fun to work with other people in a class.

We did a Christmas journal. I had a hard time with grunge & bling together, but finally think I'm happy with the cover. And the inside pages were all fun.

The Sunday project was a shadow box using fun Christmas items provided by Tim. The most FUN thing about this project was.........we Made printers block letters. I have "joy" in the upper left hand corner. I can see making a Lot of these for use in a shadow box. I Loved the technique! They look authentic tucked into the box. This box is also designed by Tim with removable compartments so you can make them in any configuration you want. There are 4 sizes & of course I Had to have More. Hope someday to do another. :-)

Heart Swap for Carol Sweeney 2010

I am posting in between cruise pix now.....as Embarassingly, this was a swap that was Due, July 31!!!! I am SO Late. It was a one for one swap in a group I belong to. When I found out who my swap would go to, I had an idea. My friend Carol is a Prolific artist! Not to Speak of her Blog! As she tries more & more new techniques, she always posts all of her steps to her blog. I'm always Amazed!

I wanted to do something for her that would lead her maybe to something new to find different new techniques. So I decided to make an altered book. I had stumbling blocks along the way...........figuring out how to cut the book on my new scroll saw Dave got me for Christmas Three Years Ago! This was the first time I used it. And I LOVE it!

Then I painted it..........the gesso I first used wouldn't cover. I finally Borrowed Golden Gesso from my friend Debbie so I could continue. Then.......I painted the covers & didn't like the colors. I finally adjusted them enough I did like them.......then my mind just went Blank. The book sat for weeks.

I have to say I am SO Happy to finally have it finished. I did the front & back covers and inside both. Now it is up to Carol to play with altering the inside. And/or for that matter, changing the covers completely. I wouldn't mind that. I did make one for myself also so maybe she & I could motivate each other to add to them. :-) So it was kind of a Challenge swap. ;-) I do hope she likes it.