Merry Christmas

I have been working a lot of shifts, so I haven't even had time to write a Merry Christmas to all my friends and family and readers.

Wishing every blessing from Heaven Above.


MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS

Theresa and Andrea's Birthday Party

I am behind the eight ball on this blog!

We celebrated our last two "group" friends birthdays last month!  Actually four from our group were born in November, but Andrea and Theresa were the last two to turn 50!

We went out to dinner to celebrate and then to Cindy's to finish off the evening with cake and more wine!!  (Wine seems to be the prevalent theme!)

Naples

We had never been to Naples in December and there really is a lot to do with the holidays and great weather.

We went to a tree lighting at Mercado!

These are the before and after pictures of the tree lighting.  The whole area was crowded with people and families, but we were able to get into a new burger restaurant called the Counter (build your own burger!), which was really delicious.  The tree was literally out the door of the restaurant, so we got to see the whole lighting ceremony.  

This photo was taken at another new restaurant we tried on the water at Tin City called Pinchers.  We ate outside and enjoyed the view of the boats coming in and out.  We find out where we could take a sunset cruise and see the city of Naples from the water.

We also went to a Christmas walk, where they closed the main street (5th Avenue in Downtown Naples) and they had another tree lighting ceremony there (below is the tree in front of the theatre!) and lots of things for kids to do.  We ate at Cafe Luna that night, as hubby likes it there!

We tried a new beach on Marco Island called Tiger Tail.  It was quiet.  For us northerners, a 79 degree day is perfect for the beach.  But those Floridians, prefer it warmer, so we had the place to (almost) ourselves!

And we did have the pool to ourselves a LOT.  It was 75 one day and hubby and I were the only ones in the pool that morning.  Later in the afternoon, more people came to the pool.  They said the morning temperatures were a little too cool! LOL  (This is Bobo below with hubby - our friend from Naples)

And of course, we had to go see the sunset on our last evening.  Beautiful as usual!

Zumba

I had to stop teaching the after school Zumba classes because of the new job (timing wasn't right).

However, while I was in Naples, I received a call from another instructor who was hurt and needed a sub through mid-January!  I accepted as I know I can handle four classes a week now.

And after the Naples vacation and eating out quite a bit, AND the cookie swap, AND the Christmas parties, I am happy to be teaching four classes a week!!  LOL

Let me know if anyone wants a new schedule!

Happy Birthday!

To my brother Damian!

God Bless and I pray you have a beautiful 2015!

Cookie Swap

We had our annual Cookie Swap last weekend with my girls!   We did it a little different this year.

We went to our local museum (which is an old homestead on a farm) and took the tour.  The house is decorated for Christmas and it was truly beautiful.  My sister and I had been many times in the past, but most of my ladies had not seen it all and didn't know the history.  It's funny how you can live in a town for 20 years or more and not have seen it all.  I still find new things all the time!!  

After the museum tour, we went back to my sister's house where she prepared a lasagna dinner with salad and bread and wine!!   It was a feast and then after the feast, came the cookies.  There were seven different kinds this time!  I don't have pictures of the cookies, but I have one of the girls!

Blogging

I have been told by my daughter and wonderful friends that I need to get back to blogging ~ and they are right!!

Life gets in the way, as usual!!

Lots to talk about over the last month!

As you know, I took a job in October after a four month layoff.  After I took the job, I was immediately offered another position (one that I would have loved), but I declined because I had just started the new job.  However, once I realized that it was not a good fit for me at this new firm, I called the person who offered me the second job and asked if it was still available and lo and behold, it was!!!   The starting date wasn't until mid-December though and I figured I should do the right thing and tell the first job that it wasn't working out for me and let them know I would be leaving.  I figured they would walk me out the door immediately.  However, they wanted me to stay....so I stayed until December 2nd.

Hubby and I had booked a trip in June for Florida, so that worked out for us and we just got back from Naples (my happy place).  More on that trip later.

I started the new job as soon as I got back from Florida last week and it is fast paced and fun and hard work and everything I thought it would be!!   So that is where I am at today!

Thank you for asking..I have some blogs to make up for (Naples, cookie swap, Christmas prep, My daughter came home for Christmas!!, etc), so I am going to try to catch up!!