Appreciate What You Have

Another Myrtle Beach week has come and gone (no relation to shark week). However, this year was extremely different for many reasons. For starters, our usual condo is under repair. The condo company set us up in a different location in North Myrtle Beach (we usually stay in the Surfside area). Our regular condo is nothing fantastic but compared to the NMB place it is freakin' Shangri La. Within a matter of seconds I discovered a deep and profound appreciation for our Surfside condo. The NMB condo was teeny tiny. It still had two bedrooms and two full baths like the other one but everything was so small. The place had no storage and most disappointing of all; no balcony. I consider a balcony to be essential at the beach. The NMB condo did have a pool area but this turned out to be another draw back since we could hear people partying at all hours, mostly screaming kids, and DJ Disco Wednesday. The other major difference on this trip was the rain. It rained every. single. day. This presented some complications as to how to fill our days. We did lots, and lots, and lots of shopping. My dad hates to shop. He only got to play golf one day and we could only play miniature golf one night. It looked like this trip was going to be the only one without any mini golf but the rain finally stopped on my last night there and we played in the puddles. We also only had one day on the beach. I managed to get sunburned and attacked by the waves which means I fit in all the normal beach visit requirements in one day. I was able to run every morning and walk on the beach each morning but the rain usually started around 9am and on into the evening. The food was great, as usual, and I enjoyed shrimp and grits, salmon, mahi mahi, an oven baked pizza, and plenty of hush puppies (not all in one meal though--I do have some self-control). Anyway, enough talk and onto some photos. One cloudy morning we did make it to the Alligator Adventure at Barefoot Landing. I have to say this trip was the highlight of the whole week. When you first walk into the park you are greeted by this sight, at least a hundred Juvenile American Alligators. They didn't do much.

Just lying around looking lazy. 

Or lying on top of each other.

These birds are Laughing Kookaburras. They had interesting beaks and pretty blue feathers.

Notice anything interesting about their diet? They are carnivorous. I know owls eat mice and such but these birds didn't look like they ate more than berries and such.

The tortoise pen had a few very large specimens. This big guy in particular was very entertaining. He came out of the house at almost a gallop speed.

Here's a shot of him next to Ralph. This tortoise was gigantic and very friendly, he even let you touch his shell.

This big croc/alligator (sorry reptile experts, I don't know which is which in all my pictures) was all my himself except for the boat.

We watched a feeding demonstration. I took some video of this scene as well. They were feeding them chickens (grocery store kind) and the noises their jaws made was intense. The crowd really liked the show.

The park had two albino alligators and they were in a fairly dark and dank exhibit.

You can see the pink eye in this shot.

This little one was named Bob, short for Bobbette. It's a girl alligator born without her tail. This is the number one birth defect for alligators. Without their tail the percentage of survival is zero. Bob is only 4 ft long and weighs 80 lbs.

Living on the lake allows me the chance to see plenty of ducks, geese, and herons. I've never seen a duck with this kind of coloring before so I had to take a picture.

The park also had two tigers and two bobcats.

They had plenty of iguanas, frogs, and lizards to see as well. This one is the Rhino Iguana and it was huge.

Shortly after the feeding demo the rain started again, and didn't stop for the rest of the day. It was really pouring.

See the alligator shaped gables? This park was very detailed and all the kids (including myself) really enjoyed the place.

The juvenile alligators were extremely active in the rain. We watched them swim around and get into minor fights.

Those were the highlights of the park visit on Thursday. On Friday we went to see a movie (ParaNorman, it was cute and little weird). The rain was still going after the movie was over so we shopped in the mall which included a Bass Pro. They're selling a gun called the Zombie Eraser. I had to take a picture for Jeff.

Myrtle Beach is known for many things: the beach, the shows, the golf courses and...the gentleman's clubs. I think we found the smallest one in the whole area of Myrtle Beach up the street from our condo. I took a picture while playing mini golf. I bet there's only room for one dancer and she probably mixes and serves the drinks and runs the place too.

Our first mini golf visit was at Hawaiian Rumble. It wasn't great but we had a fun time. The volcano emitted fire every ten minutes.

The second mini golf place we tried was Mutiny Bay. Michanne and I tend to favor the pirate themed courses. I think this one was more enjoyable that the Rumble. Do you see the alligator in the water? Those guys are just everywhere in Myrtle Beach.

 So, that raps up the trip. I probably won't be able to go next year but hopefully our Surfside condo will be ready for business so my parents can enjoy it.

A Lot of Help...

and a little blood. That's what it takes to make this cutie pie bag.

Jeff's mom came down this weekend. I was in Atlanta shopping with Barbara on Saturday but on Sunday I forced Virginia to help me make this bag. I've had this fabric since last December with the intention of making a new gym bag. I have two gym bags. One is for my clothes and shoes and the other is a smaller bag I take into the gym with my towel, water bottle, bleach wipes, headphones, iPod shuffle, MP3 player and chapstick (I know, I'm high maintenance). This is my old 'take inside gym' bag. 

Very handy but I think I'd like to use it for quick grocery store visits instead. So I checked out this book from work, traced the 'city tote' pattern a week ago and purchased the lining fabric and interfacing fabric (what, what?) yesterday.

It was now or never so I worked steadily for about 4 hours. Virginia got me started on the more difficult techniques and supervised the rest. I've never sewn darts before.

I stuck myself multiple times and got tiny bits of blood on the fabric.

It was all worth it because I love it. It even has a pocket!

I really like the fabrics. Michanne bought the same blue ikat in December and I went back the next day and bought what was left. 

The fabrics make a nice pair. Now that I've made the bag I could make another with less confusion but I feel more confident just making pillows. If Virginia hadn't been there to help I'm certain my sewing machine would be at the bottom of the lake by now. Oh, and here are some cute puppy pictures.



This is mostly what Remy and Sandi do when Jeff is gone. I'll be leaving for Myrtle Beach in a couple days so I'm sure the trio will be living it up while I'm away.

TLC Shame

I'm not really one to watch reality TV. I've never seen an episode of the Bachelor, The Amazing Race, Big Brother, The Biggest Loser, and I've never watched an entire episode of Dancing with the Stars. I do watch cooking shows and DIY shows so I'm not sure if they count as reality TV. However, I have been watching TLC's What Not To Wear for many years and I think it is considered a reality show.

The format of the show has changed the past two years. It seems the goal is to make the make-over subject cry as much as possible. I liked the show better when they just cut them down with snarky comments about their lack of style. WNTW segued into watching 19 Kids and Counting. I was pretty addicted to this show for a while; even DVR-ing new episodes.

I quit cold turkey last year and I haven't seen any of the new season. I consider it proof of my will power but then I moved on to Sister Wives, Hoarding: Buried Alive, and Toddlers and Tiaras.

I've only seen a handful of Hoarding and Toddlers because I can't stomach more than that but I think I've seen every episode of Sister Wives. The worst part about watching these vacuous programs is the bad dreams I have afterwards. They're very creepy, just like the shows which make me feel bad about the human race. Next up is Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (airing this Wednesday night).

All the shows are like train wrecks, I can't look away even though I know it's wrong to linger. Now that I've confessed my reality TV shame it is obvious that I do actually watch reality TV, the really trashy kind.

I Go Out Jogging...

Before the sunlight, out in the twilight. If you're not a Patsy Cline fan my lyrics might not make sense but I bet my mom appreciates the reference. For the past month I've been able to jog in the mornings before work because of the longer summer days. However, the days are clearly getting shorter. I waited until 10 after 6 this morning to jog and it was still pretty dark. I took my flashlight with me to walk the driveway and then put it in my mailbox. Most of the people in my neighborhood don't pay the power bill for the street lights. There are 3 houses on the whole street that have their street lights on. So, I'm jogging along and out of the corner of my eye I see this big black thing coming toward me. I yelled ahhhh and then realized it was a dog. He's at least 40 pounds and is some kind of pit bull mix. I have no idea who he belongs to. People in my neighborhood just let their dogs roam free. A few weeks ago he interrupted a weekend walk by jumping all over me while he was soaked and muddy. This morning he just kept running in front of me and next to me and behind me. He was a nuisance but I was kind of glad to have him along. He wasn't hurting me and would probably scare off anything or anyone that came near. Another dog inside some one's house went crazy as I jogged past so my companion abandoned me to investigate. I also saw a deer run across the road at this time. I usually see deer, rabbits, chipmunks and foxes on my morning jogs and sometimes during my evening walks. By the time my jog was over the sun finally made an appearance. I may need to get some appropriate jogging apparel if I continue with the morning jogs because the drivers in my neighborhood do not share the road. Hitting the gym at 5pm is not ideal for me so I'd like to continue the morning jogs a while longer.