Here we are! It's the Fabulous Spirit fun people!

[3dogsrule]

I'm testing out a new dogsitter so that I don't have to truck the dogs to Dallas when I go on vacations, so in order to see how it'd work out I had to leave for the weekend. Darn the bad luck! My bud Joann and I have escaped to Memphis, staying in a little motel two blocks from Beale Street. We're taking it easy tonight, just had a couple of drinks and listened to one band, but we're planning to rest up and tear the place down tomorrow night. Kiya, where are you?? We may need bail money, we gonna get so wild and crazy. We may even stay up to 11pm tomorrow! We be girls gone wild!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Di, keep that porch warmed up for me, I'll be home Sunday! I expect to see the first place trophy you and Lena will get tomorrow night...

[Lena B]

You gotta go hear Barbara Blue at Silky O'Sullivan's. Tell her crazy Hawaiian shirt Dan and Lena from near LR/Hot Springs wish that we were there! It's been waaaaay too long since we've been on Beale Street!

CCCChhhheeeeerrrrrssss!

[Lena B]

And make sure that you stop in at Handy's late! Is Dr. Feelgood still playing? How's the music at the park? O.K. - now I'm salivating for a little Beer, Blues and BB-Q (please tell me that you've compared the ribs at the Blues Cafe to the ones at Rendevous and that you've had a hamburger cooked in grease that hasn't been changed since 1842! The trolley will take you within a few blocks of Interstate BBQ!)

[dr.d]

All sorts of fun travel adventures for my girlfriends going on. Have fun, Karen!

[luddite]

Miss Polly's for breakfast.
Chicken-fried steak and eggs. Right up your alley.
Tell Barbara we said hi.

[alwalaska]

Karen, I hope you have a good trip.

I can't remember when the "girls" cruise is and who all is going - but have a great cruise!

We're getting down to the wire for our trip here. I am really excited. Ron is going to drop Melissa and me at the port because I am such a cruise freak, and then he is going to go elsewhere to park and then "walk" back to meet us. When he gets back on the shuttle with all our luggage, we will tell her we are getting on the ship.

[NewYearsBaby]

Ann, we will be in Galveston two weeks from today. My daughter Laura, Karen and I are cruising together to celebrate Laura's 40th birthday.
Gotta pack! I think we will have time to hear from you, though, before we leave, and I look forward to hearing about your adventure and Melissa's big surprise. I would have loved to surprise La, but for a couple of reasons, it wasn't possible to try to pull it off.

[Holstebro]

Karen, I hope you have had a lot of fun and have misbehaved

Di and Ann: How's your packing going? Count down to cruising is wonderful - it's the unpacking and laundry afterwards I hate

Speaking of unpacking: Preben, Maja and I have just returned from a 3-day vacation relaxing with some friends in a summer cottage in the southern part of Denmark. Yesterday, we went for a walk in the beautiful park surrounding one of the Queen's castles (from year 1759) and I could not help thinking how wonderful it would be to have you come and visit one day so you could see some of the beautiful places in Denmark.

[3dogsrule]

Owww my head. Dang hurricanes. More later after I recover.

Karen

[alwalaska]

Well Karen, I'm guessing you had fun. I hope the dogsitter trial went well also.

Eva, it sounds like a wonderful 3 day retreat. Someday, I will definitely come to your part of the world and will tell you when I am coming. Hawaii, Northern Europe (funny thing is I'm not that interested in Southern Europe), and the South Pacific (New Zealand and Australia and maybe more islands too) are what is left on my bucket list.

I haven't started packing (or even doing laundry). It is going to be a crazy 2 days before I leave for my job this week, then I just have to sit and worry that Ron and Melissa remember everything that I have put on their lists.

Di, I will try to post from our hotel or my phone to let you all know how it goes. We are considering 2 courses of action since we are parking at the offsite location. 1) Telling her at breakfast that there is a problem with our hotel that my job booked for us and that it won't be walking distance to a beach like she thought and that the room would be really small. I would then give her a picture of a cabin like ours, and a Sky brochure and ask her if she thought she could live with that. 2) the other option is for Ron to drop her and me at the port with all the luggage and tell her that is our new hotel. He would then go park and return for all of us to check in. The parking lot is like 10 minutes from the port, so we will have a short wait, but the surprise would be better. We are going to play it by ear.

Have an awesome time on your cruise. I have you pictured as a 30-something - so you can't have a daughter that old - Sorry.

[dr.d]

Karen, I hope your head clears up so you can remember all the fun you had!

The count down for cruise adventures is getting very short. How exciting!

[Holstebro]

Karen, it sounds like you have had a terrific time

Ann, I look forward to hearing which of your courses of action you end up choosing. Either way, Melissa will definitely be pleasantly surprised. As for your bucket list, I would advise you to put Australia/New Zealand at the top followed by Hawaii. 10 years ago we spent 4 weeks "Down Under" but I still hope to be able to go back some day. New Zealand is absolutely picturesque. As for Europe, I still recommend Southern Europe over Northern Europe, but I do hope to see you in Denmark some day.

[3dogsrule]

Ugh, I'm recovered. After the hurricanes I moved to some other drink, I couldn't hear what the tarbender said the name of it was over the loud music, but I did hear "kinda like a grape-flavored long island ice tea". That's the one that did me in. Good thing Joann kept me out of Coyote Ugly, I might have given them young chickies a run for their money. We did hang out in Silky's for a little bit, but what was happening didn't match their music schedule on their website, so I'm not sure if we were listening to Barbara Blue or not; whatever it was was a little too laid back for our mood so we moved on. The park had some great music Friday night but something happened to the scheduled band Saturday (they were supposed to be there by 9pm after playing somewhere else earlier) but they never showed up, so it ended up being some duo from Austin playing old country music that had been playing on a street corner earlier...while they were good, it didn't draw a crowd. We ended up in one of the music alleys and that's when things got a little fuzzy. But we did get to have dinner earlier that night at Rendzvous, it was very good. All the people we encountered in Memphis were very friendly, and we never felt unsafe (even stumbling back to the less-than-4-star motel that night). And best of all, the dogsitter did well, and she's agreed to take care of my babies for the November cruise, yea! Now I just gotta start packing.

Have a great week everyone!

Karen

[Lena B]

Woo-Hoo! It sounds like a great weekend Karen - even though we missed seeing you for the gumbo cook-off. We did manage to bring home some fun wine - We got the big-a$$ed bottle of Uppercut that looks really fun in the kitchen. It's as big as 4 normal bottles - I think it's called a double magnum. We might have to rent a wheelchair to bring it on the ship in February! We did get some yummy wines to bring along and a bottle of one star champagne.

I'm so glad that your dog sitter worked out. Having someone dependable to watch the animals and house makes such a big difference in life.

Ann, your surprise sounds like soooo much fun. I'd sure love to have someone surprise me with a cruise!

Eva, your weekend sounds really wonderful! Have you decided on the 12/12/12 wedding? Shall I throw the keyboard on an airplane and surprise you at the courthouse? We really do need to plan a 12/12/12 celebration in Arkansas. That may be when we open the big-a$$ed bottle of wine - to toast your marriage!

Time to go play with melted beeswax!

[vriecke]

Originally Posted by Lena B

Woo-Hoo!
Eva, your weekend sounds really wonderful! Have you decided on the 12/12/12 wedding? Shall I throw the keyboard on an airplane and surprise you at the courthouse? We really do need to plan a 12/12/12 celebration in Arkansas. That may be when we open the big-a$$ed bottle of wine - to toast your marriage!

Eva, the 12/12/12 date for your wedding is perfect! It also happens to be the birthday of my youngest son, who will be 42. Yikes!!!!
We will definitely be remembering you (and your love) on that wonderful day!
My oldest son, whose birthday is 12/23, keeps saying he's going to get gypped out of a birthday, since it's 2 days after the end of the world, according to the Mayan Calendar. But I bought him a real, ordinary, "Mayan" calendar when we were in Costa Maya in February, and it goes all the way to Dec. 31, 2012, so no worries.

[Lena B]

Thank you, Ginny! I've been so worried! It's nice to know that we'll be able to make it until New Year's Eve - I guess our merry little ghosties will be enjoying that aft of the Star in February. That's a good thing, because I hear that calories don't count in the afterlife....bring on the margaritas! Let's hear it for more creme brulee! You're in a sweet suite - can't you order up endless chocolate fountains from Le Bistro for your cruise buddies????

[dr.d]

Eva, How perfect for a wedding day... 12/12/12! Actually any day would be a good one to wish the very best for you and Preben!

Ginny, Soybean's birthday is Dec. 23 also. He'll be 4 this year and it hasn't bothered him yet that he is doing double duty with Christmas gifts. It's so nice to be so young that every day is its own new adventure and not to be tied to a specific occasion or event. I love being drawn into his world and lingering there.

[Holstebro]

Karen, it sounds like you have had a really fun time in Memphis. Long Island Ice Tea (no matter which version) is, in fac, my favourite drink but the name of it is very deceptive. I still remember having two of them last New Year's Eve - and they finished me off - and on our Baltic cruise in July, they were part of our all inclusive beverage package

As for 12/12/12, we have not done much planning yet. However, I did try out a couple of dresses yesterday in downtown Holstebro, so hopefully I'll be able to find one that fits me and can be used for other purposes, too. I'd love for you to toast me on our wedding day - or even better, to fly over for a surprise visit. Do bear in mind the time difference. Our wedding will be at 1.30 pm Danish time because unfortunately 12 o'clock was already taken when we got our acts together and contacted the city hall.

Ginny, I'd better congratulate your son on his 42nd birthday now because I'm afraid I'm going to forget it in december Hopefully, the Mayans will be wrong when it comes to forecasting the end of the world - as many others before them.

Have a nice weekend everybody. I'll spend most of the time grading English papers and looking out the window where the first frost of the year has taken its toll of my flowers.

[Lena B]

Eva, if it's 1:30 pm on 12/12/12 in Denmark what time and date is it here? I'm serious about popping open something to toast you! If I can't hop on a plane, sending good cheer from half-way across the world might be my only gift, unless you and Prebin can make it onto the Star or the Sun - then I could up the ante!

Everyone, send some good MOJO to Dianne & Tommy's grandson, Zack. He was involved in a 4-wheeler accident this afternoon. They look for a good recovery, but a bit of a head injury and surgery are probably involved. She'll post more when she gets time, I'm sure...meanwhile...sending MAJOR MOJO & hugs from Benton, Di!

Donna, even if birthday/Christmas becomes a squished up holiday for Soybean when he's older, I'm pretty sure that little boy is the best Christmas gift you ever received! It sounds like he's much better than the red rider bb gun or a Schwinn Bike or a Betsy Wetsy...

[alwalaska]

Donna, lots of prayers and Mojo heading out for Zack and the family. Accidents are always scary.