Emily Bloss

And we only have to go to Orlando to get it! We went over to visit Bleys and ended up discovering Agave Azul.

The food was delicious! I had a combination plate with chile relleno, chicken enchilada and picadillo taco. Trav had beef fajitas and Bleys had chicken fajitas, which they said were good. The homemade tortillas were very tasty and with the appetizer chips they served a yummy ranch-based dip.

The restaurant is beautiful. The entrance has a fountain of stone wall with a curtain of water and the decor is of soothing blue and earth colors, with nice tables and cushy, comfy booths. I can’t wait to go back! I’m going to get the Mole de la Casa next time. Mmm!

Tonight we went out with a bunch of friends from dance class. First to Pape Kibo’s for dinner and a fantastic flamenco show with Gypsy Star, then on to Sam’s Hudson Beach… a little place right on the Gulf, perfect for watching sunsets.

We had a group of 12! Thanks to all who showed up.

It was a good sunset, too! I like this picture Trav took (I adjusted it just a little).

I wish I had taken pictures of the show at Pape Kibo’s. They had a flamenco dancer who was very good – dramatic – dancing to the music of a 5-piece band. The lady doing percussion was very entertaining, too. My favorite part was the dancer, in her fiery red ruffled dress, castanets  expertly wielded in her fluttery hands. Amazing.

We had a fun and delicious Easter celebration this year, at our house. It was so good to see everybody. Here are the pictures!

My niece and her boyfriend came to visit Florida for spring break and while they were here, we got to see them! We all went up to visit the manatees at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.

The park serves as a rehabilitation center and refuge for endangered West Indian manatees that have been orphaned or injured in the wild and also for manatees that have been born in captivity. In addition to the manatees that live in the park, we got to see a few wild ones, including one with her baby in tow.

The spring is the headwater of the Homosassa River, pumping millions of gallons per hour of crytal clear water.

We had a really great time at the park and Adrianne surprised me with a stuffed manatee! He lives on my desk and I take him into my lap for patty-pats now and then. He is so soft and I just love him.

After the park, we took the scenic route to a little place called Pape Kibos, for dinner. Along the way, we got to see the Gulf, lots of sawgrass marsh and palm trees.  We also spied a redneck taking his dog for a walk… the dog was going along the road, and the redneck was in his pickup truck, staying alongside the dog. Too funny!

Pape Kibos was a nice place for dinner… we plan on going back there again. The food was unusual and very good. I had a dish called Scallops Al Duko, which was scallops sauteed with black olives, capers, white wine, tomato and overfried spinach. The spinach was really good – it was like tissue and it melted in my mouth. Trav had a chicken ceasar salad. Adrianne had Chicken Grandma (with white wine garlic sauce with capers, black olives, artichoke hearts and asparagus) and Phillip had Snapper Bobo (with grilled asparagus, tomatoes, capers and oregano bread crumbs). It was all very yummy.

Then we went for ice cream – Phillip’s treat. Thank you very much, Phillip!! After dessert we went down to the Hudson marina to see if we could catch a nice sunset. It was really cold and windy down there! But we did stay long enough to see the red sun dip below the horizon.

In all, a fantastic day. Thanks for coming to see us, guys!

The prom must have turned on some kind of girly switch in me… I discovered it’s fun to paint my nails! Here’s a design I did a couple of weeks ago – my first attempt at fingernail painting.

I actually kind of like this one – it reminds me of the Barbie dune buggy from my childhood. I’ve been getting inspiration from the designs at Schmucknagel.de – there’s some really cool stuff on there!

On his birthday this year, Trav took me to my very first prom. It was the Senior Prom, sponsored by the YMCA. We were the chaperons because we’re under 50… someone needed to keep all those senior citizens in line! Here we are, dressed for the occasion (you can click any picture for a larger version):

See that grin on my face? It was there from the time I got my hair done until way after we got home. The prep started with getting my hair styled in an updo by Sofia at Kurl Up & Dye in Spring Hill (her number is 352-836-2012). Thanks, Sofia! Everybody really liked it.

On the way home from the salon, we picked up some of the new Dominos pizza and it turned out to be pretty good. We enjoyed our simple dinner of Hawaiian pizza & beer. Then a little later we got ready to go. Here’s a closer-up shot of the happy couple! Trav is so handsome and he looked quite dapper that evening.

I felt like a princess! Trav got me a lovely corsage from Sherwood Florist. And Trav’s mom gave me some very pretty press-on nails and lovely blue earrings to wear. Plus she supplied me with some really cool nail polish for my toes.

The prom was a lot of fun. We got to hang out with a bunch of people from our dance class and nibble on cookies and punch. Trav’s name was drawn and he got to serve as one of the princes of the prom, to stand up with the king and queen as they were crowned. And we danced and danced and danced!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday filled with love and joy.

p.s. It’s a little late for this year, but I would love for you to participate in the new poll (see the right sidebar). Thanks!!

What a fun day! We were invited to a party, so we made penguins for a snack… they got to dress up, too! They were a hit at the party – people were taking them home to show and stuff. We had a lot of fun making this batch.

Also see my new page about the penguins… it has a flipbook of the best costumes.

I’ll try to get more pictures of Halloween. Here’s a good one… Trav & his mom. Isn’t his mask creepy!!?!

And here’s one of the many awesome decorations.

Best of all – WE DANCED!!! East Coast Swing and a couple of slow dances, and I practiced the cha-cha a little bit at the table. There was a lady dressed as a princess and she danced a lot and was very good at it. She was having a blast, even if she was the only one on the dance floor. I was thinking on how I admire people who will go up and dance if they want to and then realized – we were those people!

Her name is Calico, isn’t she cute!?!! She’s very sweet. It’s hard to get a good picture of her, though. She’s almost always on the move.

One of our recent projects was to replace the leaky sliding glass door. Water started coming in and managed to ruin part of the floor. Here’s what was there:

Trav & Terry got the old door ripped out and started repairing the floor (cutting the damaged part out and putting in new plywood).

After the floor was repaired, we got the door in. And then the fun started, trying to get it all level and closing right. The actual fun part was squirting in Great Stuff around the edges, to seal it up. Here’s the final result:

We really like the new door because it’s highly energy-efficient, and the blinds are sandwiched inside the glass, so we never have to dust them! It uses a magnetic system to slide the shades up and down.

Next project: 18′ x 18′ concrete pad – the start of our porch!