Skip to main content

Life Lately From Coast To Coast

Things have been crazy since my last Life Lately post. Let's see. . .when I last left you it was the end of November. What's happened lately since?

After all of the Thanksgiving festivities, we tried to cut back on pigging out so much, but then we went for Ethiopian food in West Palm Beach. How can you not pig out when you're eating delicious sambusa, doro wat and miser wat? We took a bunch of people with us who had never eaten Ethiopian before. Thankfully, they loved it. Or, at least they said they did.


Then I took off for Portland, Oregon to visit my family (mom, sister, and two nieces). I made it out of the Charlotte airport in the nick of time before everything shut down due to a winter storm. Thankfully, I had packed lots of socks, mittens, and a hat. Once you get out of southern Florida, it's pretty darn cold.

We went on several fun excursions, including one to the Mt Angel Abbey and Seminary. If you're ever in that neck of the woods, definitely go pay the monks a visit cause there's a cool library, a fascinating museum, and the brother who works at the gift shop makes a seriously delicious mocha.

When your sister is a library person, this is what you do when you visit. Take a tour of a library. This one was designed by the famous Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto. We also toured the Portland Central Library and saw what happens behind the scenes.


The monk leading the tour, Brother Simon, really talked up the book sale they were having. So we bought a book plus a tote bag with the Abbey logo on it. I thought it might come in handy for my sister to take to work or the grocery store. Instead it's become a very coveted cat bed.

That's Georgie about to pounce. I think she was trying to make it very clear to Sebastian that it's her bag, not his.


This is Sebastian. He had to settle for napping on the bed. Yes, I got my Crazy Cat Lady fix while in Portland.


My nieces are seriously talented. My mom and I picked up one of them at her school. Miranda has been painting these great murals on the walls. Why didn't I go to a fun high school like that where they encourage you to turn boring white walls into artwork? Here's one she did with some friends, Kale, Sophia, and Taesha, last year.


And here's one she's working on by herself this year. Notice the underwater theme? Maybe she'll want to come sailing with us one day.


Miranda is also a published writer. I think her sales are probably better than mine. {grin} My other niece, Simone, is an extremely talented photographer. Check out her Flickr page. And they both get great grades and have gorgeous hair. Nothing like my high school days, that's for sure.

I also spent a lot of time visiting my mom at her new digs. She lives in this awesome building with really nice, interesting, and super active seniors. They're so active that I ended up doing back-to-back exercise classes with my mom one morning and couldn't keep up with the 102-year old lady next to me. You know someplace is a great place to live when they have a Crazy Cat Lady & Gents Society. The members get together once a month, drink wine, and talk about their cats. Sounds like my kind of place.


While I was away, Scott hauled out our sailboat on his own. Well, not exactly on his own. So many of our wonderful friends pitched in to help. Yay for wonderful friends! Tickety Boo is now in the workyard for repairs. But let's not talk about that anymore, shall we? It's all too depressing. {Photo credit: Tina Riley}


 
What's been going on in your life lately?

Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi!


The latest Mollie McGhie cozy sailing mystery is now available! Pick up a copy of >>Bodies in the Boatyard<< at:

Amazon (US) | Amazon (CA) | Amazon (UK) | Amazon (AU) | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple iBooks | Google Play

Paperback available at: Amazon

Find out more at ellenjacobsonauthor.com 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Five Decidedly Unfrugal Things | August 2018

From time to time, I post about five frugal things we're doing to save money and keep our cruising kitty happy. {By the way, that's not the furry kind of cat, but rather what sailors call their savings. So cute.} Those posts are inspired by Katy at The Non-Consumer Advocate who regularly posts about five frugal things she's done. Some things are big, some things are small, but they all help keep her spending down and her savings up. Today, I thought I'd shake things up and share five decidedly unfrugal things I've done lately. Embracing a frugal lifestyle is about making conscious choices regarding where you spend your money. Sometimes those choices involve "splurging" on something. As you read my unfrugal things, keep in mind that what might be a splurge for one person is a normal expenditure for someone else and vice versa. 1 - Coloring Books & Markers Someone gave me an Amazon gift card and rather than spend it on something practical for the boa...

Saturday Spotlight | Sailing Book Reviews

In addition to the usual blog posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about our eccentric travel adventures and day-to-day life living aboard a sailboat, I also occasionally post on Saturdays, focusing on things related to writing such as cover reveals, book launches, reviews, interviews with authors etc. So if you're a bit of a book nerd like I am, check in on Saturdays - you never know what might pop up. * * * Today, I'm featuring three sailing-related books focusing on quitting the rat race for a simpler existence living aboard a boat. Even if a sailing and cruising lifestyle isn't for you, you may find inspiration in these books to make changes in your own life and lead a life less "normal" and more fulfilling. LEAP OF FAITH: QUIT YOUR JOB AND LIVE ON A BOAT by Ed Robinson The author describes himself and his wife as carefree boat bums and beachcombers and in this book he tells you how they went about achieving a simpler life. He walks the reader thr...

Month In Numbers

Clockwise from upper left: (1) The coolest gift ever - a Lt Uhura finger puppet!; (2) Courtesy flags; (3) Paperback proof copies from KDP and Ingram Spark; (4) A gloomy day at the marina; (5) Hurricane season starts early with TS Alberto; and (6) Our friend Ted with some of the cute boat kids at the marina. It's time for the monthly recap in numbers, a collection of odd tidbits that popped into my head as I reflected on the month past. As usual, the month just zipped by. It's hard to believe that 31 days can evaporate so quickly. If I had to pick one word to characterize May, it would be >>rain<< . Lots and lots of rain. And that can only mean one thing. . .lots and lots of leaks. I had towels and bowls placed strategically around our boat. The bilge pump seemed to run constantly. {One of life's unsolved mysteries continues to be the source of the water draining into the bilge.} There were a couple of boating milestones during the month - one set of friends spla...