21

 1991

The family came together in Ponte Vedra to celebrate Colleen's 21st birthday. There was bonding at the spa, laughter, shopping, purple, reminiscing, champagne, walking on the beach, dinner, presents, cake, and  lots of love.

2012  

Spa Ready 

Relaxing

Funny Man

Sisters

Celebration

It's on the windy and cooler side this a.m. even for northeast Florida. I saw the moon set as I went for my daily Starbucks run and am watching the ocean waves lap at the shore as the sun comes up over the horizon to a cloudless sky. I am going to need my shades in another second.

MiddleAgeWomanProblems

When I look at my twitter feed I see retweets from my daughters and their friends about "whitegirlproblems" or "sororitygirlproblems" so why not "middleagewomanproblems".  My quest is the perfect hair style for the upcoming nuptials of Emily and Kevin. Having been on the move for the past three years, and spending only a few months in any one place, women everywhere can imagine the challenges of finding a salon and stylist that can get it right. On top of that, I have short hair, enough said.  I think I have probably visited 7 different salons, some more than once, in the past 18 months.

The funny thing is (and I chuckle here) that I clearly remember my mother in middle age squinting in the mirror and cutting her own hair. My sisters and I would roll our eyes and wonder why she just didn't leave it to the professionals.

Well now I know -- it is "middleagewomanproblems".

12 Days and Counting

Most would think that a count down at this time of year would be to Christmas. But not for me. I am counting down the days until Colleen arrives home in the good old US of A from her semester abroad studying in Florence, Italy, and traveling all over Europe. She has visited: Croatia, Spain, Germany, France, England, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy (of course), and those are only the places I know about! She left on her adventure in September and I can't wait to get my arms around her for a huge hug!

Colleen says Ciao to her Papa in September.

46 Hours...

...that is all the time we had in San Antonio, Texas. We jetted down Friday night and jetted back Sunday night. It was short, but oh so sweet. We enjoyed two days of golf, the best ice cold margaritas, delicious chips, salsa, and guacamole, and just being away on vaca.

We stayed at the two year old JW Marriott, the second largest in the world with 1002 rooms. Second only to the JW in Indianapolis with 1003 rooms. There were two TPC golf courses, spa, multiple pools with slides and a lazy river, huge conference center. A destination resort for sure.

We only saw San Antonio from the air, and everything in Texas really is bigger! Just look at the size of that TV screen in the sports bar and the number of beers on tap. Yowzer!

Day Trippin

I recently tagged along on a day business trip with Jim to Duluth which is about 2 1/2 hours north of Minneapolis. A pleasant drive on a beautiful morning, even if it was 0 darkhundred. 

Sunrise and ground fog over the MN countryside.

Duluth from the Skyline Pkwy

Duluth sits along the shoreline of Lake Superior whose largesse and beauty astound. The largest freshwater lake in the world it could contain all of the Great Lakes plus three additional lakes the size of Lake Erie.

Lake Superior from the harbor.

The craggy lake shoreline.

The landmark  aerial lift bridge built in 1905 spanning the harbor is only one of two in the world (the other is in France).

Aerial Lift Bridge

Driving along the 36 mile Skyline Parkway highlights included the Chester Bowls park and ski area including two very cool wooden ski jumps.

Ski jump complete with stairs!

I came across birders looking for eagles, hawks and other migratory birds that fly along the parkway on their way south for the winter because they won't fly across large bodies of water. Winter arrives early in northern MN, it was 32* with a hard frost when we arrived and the tourist attractions I wanted to visit were already on their winter weekend schedule for the season. A return visit is a must!

What it Takes

Here's what it takes to spend 35+ hours traveling from Martha's Vineyard to Minneapolis:

2 books: Silver Girl, World Without End
4 magazines: People, More, Elle, and Vogue
4 movies: Bridesmaids, Something Borrowed, Mother, Company Men
1 comfy pillow
earplugs
fuzzy socks
Advil PM
Pandora Radio

Interesting adventure, not sure of a repeat performance though.