3 to go!

It's Wednesday and I finished up some last minute cleaning...packing is pretty much set as far as sewing and art supplies....and two suitcases are filled.  Mainly Bob's pants/shirts are left as well as a few of my outfits for the next few days.  So what else to do but GET CRACKING!!!!  And that we did...off to Jan & Larry's on Monday afternoon for their annual crab and shrimp night!

Marilyn had this apron on, which was a hoot!!!

This is our welcome 'gal' - Miller's baby, Rosie!

Jan had her table decorated so cute!!

And our host, Larry...or should I say "server" 

Pat & Patricia before the crab started falling on our plates!

Check out Patricia's plate!!  Although, quite a bit was also on her lap...but I didn't take any pics!!









And this is our beautiful hostess, Jan....what a feast she puts on...we had 'bang bang shrimp along with crackers and white fish...we also referred to it as 'albino salmon'...you had to be there to appreciate this....and that was just the appetizers!  Of course, wine and margarita's were flowing as well.

This was my first plate....and yes I had more than one serving!!!

 And for dessert...key lime and lemon pies...YUM...delicious!!!

Of course we were all stuffed after this feast!!!  John, Ron and Jan

Bob and Patricia enjoying a laugh...

What a wonderful night....I did post pics on FB as well...so you are missing seeing some folks here on my blog.
Last night Bob and I met up with Marcia (one of the ZIPPERS!) and her hubby, Gary for dinner at Harry's...yum...just a great meal and of course, banana foster for dessert!!!
 Tonight, we're meeting Peggy and Sammy for dinner at a local Italian restaurant called Pavarotti's...we haven't eaten there this year  so we're looking forward to a good meal...actually, looking forward to what they call KNOTS...baked pizza dough covered in butter and garlic!!!    You stink for days from the garlic but so well worth it!
Tomorrow is our last dinner with the 'gang' at the club house.  Sad to leave our friends but I'm ready to head home!  And ready to lose some weight!!!  And hopefully to have some home cooking of my own for a few weeks!  Did I really say that!!!!

Countdown is on!!!

Yep...it's that time for sure....packing, eating out, cleaning, eating out....yada, yada....we'll be leaving a week from today!  Hard to believe...one hand I feel like we just got here and on the other hand...it's hard to leave... but I will be glad to get back and see the kids!  And get back to my dye/paint room to "fling some paint" ,this is a common saying from Lynn K!.   I have her new book and I'm so anxious to play!!!

So when I have a few minutes I do work on my leaf!!

 Just in case you forgot what it looked like before I started adding my beads.....see I am making progress and I just might be finished by fall!

Wednesday was our last night for 99 cent margarita night!  Boohoo!!!  We had a fun night with our buds and didn't even bring home leftovers!   Sure will miss this place!

Yes, that's Jerry (far right) trying to be our photographer but I beat him to the punch!





And beside dinner out, occasionally I've eaten lunch out as well...no surprise there, right!  Well, the Zippers met for lunch yesterday to talk about our zipping and what trouble we can get into next year!

Marcia, myself, Nako and Eunice had a great lunch at the Blue Highway...but this time we ate at the restaurant downtown...you're severed on glass dishes rather than plastic plates and cups.  My wine was even in a glass!  Woo hoo!!!  We could get spoiled!  Anyway, Nako and Eunice are interested in jumping from a plane!!!  Marcia and I will take them to the airport and watch the whole process and record the 'event' for them!  Jumping out of a plane is something I will not do!!!  Anyway, that's the plan right now....I have enjoyed my time with these ladies and really looking forward to next year and seeing the trouble we can get into!!!    Like I need encouragement!  

Food Time (again!)

Because I'm SO busy eating out....I had created this post but it never got to be "posted"!  So since I'm busy getting some of our items packed up to head home in May, I might as well post this now!!  And tonight is 99 cent margarita night...may be our last visit until next year!

This was from March 31st!  

Yep...it's been eat, eat, eat...and yes, a few drinks too!  But mainly it's been having fun nights out with friends!

On Monday, we headed out with Howard and Karah to meet up with Larry and Jan then off to the  FREEZER!
In case you are wondering what it says on Howard's shirt...

The Freezer is one of our favorite places to eat...right on the water and no wait staff!  You place your order for steamed shrimp, baked pretzels, clam chowder at the bar!  Oh, drinks are super cheap...

Here are Jan & Larry, hamming it up!

 At the Freezer, I get a Mike's Lemonade Margarita with a plastic cup that has salt on the edge!!  Cheaper than if I would purchase at the local grocery store.  Who knew!  Your wine is also served in a plastic cup!

But it's the best steamed shrimp around!!  You are given your order in a plastic to go box...but who cares...it's the best!!!

And of course, the company is perfect!  Lots of laughs in between mouthfuls of shrimp!

This is one of our empty containers!  Might not look very appetizing but the seasoning on this steamed shrimp is!!!





And last but not least, we always have to stop at another local hangout!  Can you guess!!

Gotta love our adventures at the Freezer!  Of course, Wednesday was 99 cent margarita night, so guess what we did last night!  Yep..another night out with friends!

And tonight was our usual Thursday night with the 'gang' at our community restaurant.  Delicious meal, good drinks and laughs galore!  The best folks are here in Ocala for sure!  Life is good!


NOW BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED POSTS!  At least I hope so!!  

Easter in Florida!

Easter morning started out with a fabulous breakfast brunch at Verna & Ron's...Verna is a fantastic cook so I was certainly looking forward to getting my fill!  Which I did...twice actually!!  Yes, I had two servings!!  wouldn't you??  just check out some of the food...and presentation!!!

Scones, cranberry bread, coffee cake, fruit.......

Quiche, egg bake, salmon, crepes, ham, bacon....

Even chocolate covered strawberries!

And so the line started with Mac, Jan and Harvey

Starting on the right was John, Marilyn, Susan and Ron (host)

My first plate!!!  2nd look the same!!

And our wonderful Chef, Verna!

Bob missed out as he was golfing this morning...so I had to eat his share!  Didn't want it to go to waste.  I can't thank the Newman's enough for a wonderful Easter morning!!!  So, so good!!!  This Florida living is pretty good isn't it!

Let me introduce the ZIPPERS!

THE ZIPPERS!

Eunice, me, Marcia and Nako! 

Off we headed yesterday afternoon to the Canyons Zip Line!  And we did it!!!  We zipped our little hearts out - all five zips!  That's right!!!  We zipped from tree to tree for five, heart stopping zips...loving each minute!!!  It was a blast!!!

I was impressed with the organization and staff at The Canyons!  Just a fun staff and yet very professional and made us feel at ease, even while we stood up on the platforms waiting to 'jump'!!   Yes, we all stood around a platform just like this...except each of ours had a tree in the middle, which is what I held onto!

 Here are our guides, Jamie and Craig!  Jamie would hook us up and give us the confidence to 'jump' and zip!  Craig was at the other end to make sure we didn't smack into a tree or get stuck half way out on the zip (more on that later in this post!), which does happen!

We were also joined on our tour by two other fun ladies.  One of them was over 73 or 75 in age...I can't remember but I give her all the credit in the world.

In the picture below of Nako, follow the zip line behind her and if you look close you'll see where it goes up into a tree...that's where we jumped off of!  Just to give you a little perspective!

Eunice making her way across!

Nako zipping across...but stay tuned....

Yep, that's me!  Lovin the view!

And what or who is this!!!????

Appears someone (Nako!) is so little that she didn't make it to the end of the zip and onto the platform!  So

Craig had to go out and tow Nako to the platform!!  When Nako took off and was about 1/2 way out, Jamie said "she's not going to make it!"....guess they do this job enough to know when someone will 'zip' all the way or not.  This was by far the longest zip....I just don't remember how far they said it was...I just remember the "110 feet from the water below"!

I do give kudos's to each of the ladies...although, Eunice has zipped before...so she was our backbone!  And this is my bud, Marcia, who agreed to zip with me!!!   This wasn't her first choice for an adventure but she was game to do it and I'm so glad she did!  Same with Nako...she and Marcia are friends and Nako is game for anything!

We did have a great time...and of course, after our zip, we stopped for some food and drink....although, it was Karaoke night at the clubhouse and a little hard to talk, but we still managed some conversation and celebration!!!  After all, how many times to you get an opportunity to ZIP!!  If you do, don't pass it up!!!  I'm deathly afraid of heights and hugged the tree at the end of each zip...that was the hard part...the easy part was jumping off and zipping! The views were amazing!!!!  So WOOHOO!!!!  We did it!!!!!  Thanks to The Canyons and their staff (& to Jamie and Craig)  for providing us a memory we'll not soon forget!

Now to plan next years adventure!!!!

More food (go figure!), friends and fun!

Before I show our night at the Freezer, I have started hand stitching on my 2nd GAYG background I made last December.  You can see how I made this background on my post here.
This is the what I plan to  use for my beaded leaf.  I'll attached to canvas, using a gallery wrap the attached the beaded leaf onto both the background and canvas...at least that's my plan.

The first picture (above) was taken with my phone and the gold color looks rather pale.  I think it's more true in color on these next two pics, which I took with my camera.

It's hard to see the black stitching above and harder to see the tan/brown cotton thread I'm using here on the left!

The black shows up well on the red but the beaded leaf will be the main focus so the thread work doesn't have to stand as the main focus.  I just love doing this type of hand stitching.




Here is a picture of the whole piece...

 So now on to food, fun and friends...8 of us headed out early yesterday afternoon to Jan & Larry's for them to direct & join us at The Freezer!  No, we still don't know how to get there.  Of course, the GPS could guide us but it wouldn't be the same without our hostess and host (Jan & Larry!).  And of course we always stop at DQ on the way home!  We blame it on Larry, but secretly we're all glad he wants to stop!

 Of course, we always start our meal out with this huge pretzel!  Yes, I ate the whole thing!   So did Bob and he even ate a cup of clam chowder soup!
The steamed shrimp is the best around and The Freezer has so much atmosphere...just a fun place to dine...but you have to like shrimp or fish!  They do have other 'fish' on the menu but the steamed shrimp is what folks go there for.
We had a great time and most likely this is our last visit for this year,   just too many other restaurants and meeting up with folks to fit in another 'fine dining' experience at The Freezer!

AND TOMORROW IS MY ZIP LINE DATE WITH SOME OTHER LADIES!!!  WE ARE ALL SO EXCITED.  We were suppose to go today but the forecast (& it turned out to be fairly accurate) was high winds and rain all day.  Bob didn't even golf today....so we rescheduled zip lining until Wed.  I'm hoping they take video's or at least pictures...I'll be too busy holding on for dear life to hold a camera!!!