It’s All About .METhe Life and Times of Carrie Hill

I grew up in a family where holiday meals were the “get out the good dishes and go all out” type of affair.  I married into a family that ate easter or christmas dinner on paper plates.

Needless to say, it was culture shock for sure.

I’ve relaxed a bit – and most nights we eat on paper plates because i dispise the dishwasher more than i relish tradition…but holidays are NOT eaten on paper in my house…even when we had 18+ around the table.

This Easter finds us alone – just the four of us.  My parents are just divorced and doing their own thing, and Todd’s parents have been done from us for a few years.

I’m not complaining – i like laid back days when i just need to cook and not worry about entertaining and making sure the bathrooms have toilet paper and the 8-yo didnt destroy them.

The moral of this tale is this – I’m still standing here cooking for an army, although there’s only 4 of us.  Why?  Tradition.  We always had a big ham, potatoes, veggies, and the wierd easter jello thing every easter – and I’m not ready to give that up.

I’ll take some to the neighbors, Janet just had surgery and wont feel like cooking – and we’ll have ham and cabbage tomorrow – hubby’s favorite….so its not like the food will go to waste.

I just found it ironic that i’m cooking for 18 again…old habits die hard.

This thing is cool! Slated to set sail mid-January 2011, the ship has a water coaster that spans 4 decks!!! So cool!

Check it out -the AquaDuck Aquacoaster: http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ships-activities/ships/dream/pools/aquaduck/

stay tuned for something less annoying

#thatisall

A quick post to let you all know we’re doing a mangrove tunnels kayak trip today.  I’ll try to post photos later today it sounds like fun!

Yesterday was great, more on that later, also

Hello there interested readers, aka “Hi Mom!!”

Its the start of our 3rd full day on Anna Maria Island.  Yesterday was good in a mellow sort of way.  After a morning playing in the surf and walking the beach, Todd & I had lunch at the condo (leftover spaghetti,mmmmm) and tried another mall in Bradenton.  For those of you who ask why we shop while on vacation, Todd and I love shopping- and shopping where we live sucks, so its nice to try new places while we’re traveling.  Generally we find some good buys.  Unfortunately the DeSoto Square Mall in Bradenton was a bust.  I think this is where the bluehairs go before the early bird special at Dennys.  Wasn’t supremely eventful but did find a cute pair of Capri’s in Sears and a few tshirts for Maddie at Aeropostale.

We headed back to the condo and I took a nap, one of MY favorite vacation passtimes.  Then we headed out to meet my friend, Larry for dinner.  We toured the island in the convertible a bit and went to Rod & Reel Pier for dinner.  This place is what Larry called “old Florida” and I think back home we call them ‘greasy spoons.’  Todd is pretty sure he saw a dolphin break the water (a dolphin that looked like a shark) and i stuck to my chair, but other than that it was a pretty good meal.  Grilled Grouper for me again, could have used a bit less oil/butter in the grill “sauce” but other than that was a good meal.  Great french fries!

We drove around the island a bit more with Larry then parted ways.  I have known Larry over the phone and online for about4 years, was nice to put a face to the name.  We no sooner dropped Larry off and put the top up on the convertible and it started raining.  I’m not talking sprinkling, I’m talking torrential downpour.  We stopped at Publix and bought some Talenti Gelato from the freezer section (ZOMG heaven in a cup) and headed back to the condo for a lazy rest of the evening.

Today is more of the same, beach, shopping, dinner maybe a movie.  Pretty mellow here, we like that slow pace.

Well yesterday was eventful – after sleeping in and having a lazy breakfast in the condo of toast and jam – Todd and I hit the ocean.  We swam for about 3 hours and took a walk on the beach.  The water in the morning is definitely cooler than the afternoons, probably because the sun hasn’t warmed it up yet.  That being said, it was like 2 degrees cooler than comfortable bath water, so its not like the temperature kept us away.

AOne thing about the water here, the surf is a bit bigger than it was in Treasure Island/Clearwater last year.  It’s not unbearable, just not as calm as it was there.  I just think the wind blows a bit more here.

For lunch we headed to the northern tip of the island to a great little place called the Waterfr0nt Restaurant.  Its right across the street from the City Pier and the food was phenomenal!  I had a grilled grouper sandwich on a fresh roll that was the best Id ever had.  Todd had pork carnitas, and you could tell everything was super fresh and made right when you ordered.  Well the carnitas were slow cooked, but you could tell from the meat it was made on-site and not brought in in a box.

After lunch we went in search of shopping. On the island you’re limited to tourist kitsch, so we headed south to Sarasota.  Driving with the top down on the convertible was comfortable and sunny (just a tiny bit of sunburn) and the road through Longboat Key was beautiful.  Huge houses that make you dream of winning the lotto or blackmailing Bill Gates.

Our misfortune was the Sarasota Powerboat races, downtown Sarasota was PACKED!  We walked around a bit and strolled through the Wyland gallery.  I love his marine life paintings, but none of them would go in my house…well that and a lithograph is over $900 – pretty to look at, not to buy.

I dug out the GPS and found a mall a few miles away, an indoor mall!  We strolled around until they closed at 5:30 and it was nice to be in out of the heat.  The mall had great high end stores like Macys, Coach, William & Sonoma.  Todd bought me the awesomest Coach bag – looks like this one:

Super cute - I’m a lucky girl.  We had dinner in the condo last night, then walked on the beach past sunset and swam in the pool here at the condo fora bit.  We talked about plans for the week.  Looks like kayaking through the mangrove tunnels (dolphins & manatee on that one), parasailing, and Epcot one day.

We’re having dinner with my friend Larry at Island Real Estate tonight (I told you about them yesterday) and a tour of the island.  That will be fun!  Not sure where we’re eating, I’ll keep you posted.  I think the battery on my camera is finally charged so I can begin trying to figure out how to get pics from it to the computer without the cord, because I forgot the damn thing!