puerto vallarta...part iv - sea safari...paradise and perspective

Here is the last post relating to our trip to PV. This was one of the highlights for sure!

The Sea Safari was a day travelling around magnificant Banderas Bay (triva fact - third largest bay in the world).

After a short bus ride to the marina, we boarded a 30-person zodiac and headed down to PV, where we picked up our guide and some additional passengers.



There was only about 20 of us in total, so we had lots of room on the boat. Once we were out in the bay, our fabulous guide Carlos says, "Welcome to my office!" I think we were all thinking the same thing..."I wish I had his job."

(One of the things we noticed during our stay, is how passionate the various guides were about their country.)

The water was calm, the sun was shining and the vistas were fantástico!

We travelled along the waterfront of PV and then headed out for some whale watching. It didn't take long before we were watching in awe as a momma humpback whale floated along and her new calf frolicked all around her. Amazing!



Next, we travelled south and came back towards the coast and passed several boats loaded with scuba divers, snorklers and partiers.




We passed large rock islands that were home to hundreds of pelicans, friggits and blue-footed boobies.

We were taken to a private beach at the south end of the bay. This area is only accessable be sea, and the locals have to bring in all of their supplies by boat.

Some of the gang went snorkeling while the rest of us lounged on the beautiful white sand.










We were treated to a delicious lunch and beverages from the open bar. Coco-locos were served fresh. Stephen was brave and decided to try one. Stephen liked it but I had one sip and thought, "Uck...cough syrup." Take a coconut, hack off the top, add grenadine, rum and water to the coconut milk and viola (I still say 'uck').

After lunch we played volleyball. There were four gals from Red Deer, Alberta who obviously had played before (in college as a matter of fact). It was so much fun!

Before heading back, Carlos took us into one of the local homes where we were shown how tortillas are made, from grinding the corn on a stone that had been passed down through four generations, to cooking them on the limestone/mud stove.

The people in this area don't have much, but in other ways they have everything. This is where the perspective comes in. Carlos told us the last person they buried from this little village was 102 years old and when he died, he still had all his own teeth and walked without a cane. I guess living with less also means living with a lot less stress. And living in this tropical paradise can't hurt either.

We zipped across the bay on the return trip. At one point, we had a pod of dolphins swimming along beside us. What a sight to behold!

Other than a sunburnt ear, lip and legs (even with our hats and sunscreen) fue un día IMPRESIONANTE!

happy birthday!

19 years ago today, our precious son was born.

Happy birthday, Wesley!

puerto vallarta...part iii - juan helluva night

After having learned my lesson from Sunday night, I was better prepared to handle the "juan helluva night pub crawl" on Tuesday night. Along with fellow JACK members, Robin & Darren, Tammy & Sean, Sharon & Chris; as well as, Megan & Nathan and about ten others, we had a tequila toast with our Signature rep, Pete before heading into PV for our outing. We stopped at two resorts along the way to gather a few others, including Winnipeg-Chris (more about him in a bit).

We had been warned about the 'tequila-girls' (TG) in the bars before we left our resort and also advised that they were not included with our all-drinks wrist bands. We learned why rather quickly at our first stop, Carlos O'Brien's. There, a clown made us all balloon hats. Flowers for the girls and well, check out the pic for yourself to see what the boys got.



On one of our stops, we picked up a couple from Iowa. They, obviously, had not been warned, so when the TG came by blowing her whistle, they decided to go for it. Three quick shots of tequila later, his head was being rubbed in TG's boobs. Next up was the Mrs. She also received the head-in-boobs treatment, but she got something extra. TG then took her hands and gave Mrs. a good ol' boob rub...first outside her top and then underneath! OMG! It was funny, yet disturbing at the same time.

Next stop, Senor Frogs...that is where Winnipeg-Chris thought it would be fun to get a henna tatoo. The one on this back looked pretty basic...then, with the help of his buddy, he ended up getting another on his stomach. As I saw his buddy draw the outline for the henna guy, I thought to myself, "No...he isn't really going to do that. OMG, yes he is!" Hey, to each his own. Made me laugh out loud, and I can honestly say, I wasn't the only one. In order not to offend anyone, I have censored the pic. If you can't figure out what the tat was, let's just say, his new nickname was 'dick-boy'.

Now, as you can imagine, this tatoo garnered its fair share of attention. Next thing you know, Chris is up on stage with two other contestants for a banan-eating contest. The rub was, after they blindfolded all the contestants, they took the blindfolds off the other two leaving Chris sitting in the middle of the stage with a banana in hand. He's thinking he's in a competition and pounds back the banana. The MC announces there is a tie between Canada (Chris) and the US fellow. So they hand him another banana. At this point, I start recording this little event, which I shared with Chris at the conclusion of the contest! Thanks for the great laughs, Chris!

If you are interested, you can find it here.

Our final stop was Mandala, a new disco that had opened about a month earlier. There we danced, sang and partied until it was time to hop back on the bus.

It really was Juan Helluva Night!!

Next up...our Sea Safari.

puerto vallarta...part ii - downtown

Due to, what I refer to as, being 'bitch-slapped' by tequila the previous evening (we did have a REALLY fun time in the pool with Megan & Nathan from Medicine Hat and Dave & John from Calgary), I was unable to join Stephen on the tour of PV. I tried, but there was no way I was able to make the 8:00am start time.

He enjoyed the day and took lots of pics for me. After visiting a marina and downtown, they also went to a silver factory and Mr. Tequila tequila factory. Here are a few of his best shots.

Next up...Juan Helluva Night!

puerto vallarta...part i - meeting the other JACK winners

I can't believe that only a week ago we were flying home from our fabulous trip to Mexico, courtesy of JACKFM!

It was incredible. The Palladium Vallarta resort, the scenery, the sun AND most of all, the wonderful people we met during our stay.

As we waited to board the plane, Stephen and I were looking around trying to figure out who else won their trip. Could it be the fellow with the mosaic cut/coloured hair cut? What about the couple packing a big plastic penguin? Penguin? Yes, penguin...more on that later.

The flight down on Skyservice was terrific. We were a little leary, considering it was a charter flight. Although there wasn't a ton of room, it was fine. We even got food! We decided to get things started with a mimosa...m-m-m! Nothing like a little alcohol at eight in the morning...after two and a half hours sleep the night before (we were at the Bare Naked Ladies concert -- great show, as always).

Next we were treated to a full breakfast including a breakfast sandwich, juice, yogurt, cheese and crackers. Later in the flight we were given champagne and tropical juice. Oh, and would be remiss if I didn't mention that before our meal we were given a moist towelette (from a tray, not a package) to freshen up. Nice little touch, I thought.

Before we landed, we were warned about the gauntlet of time share reps that would be waiting for us. We were told that our actual travel rep would be waiting beyond the doors and DON'T stop to talk to anyone else! Great advise! They were merciless! "Oh, you're with Skyservice. This way." or "Signature Vacation? Have you received your welcome package? This way."

We made it through and while we were sitting on the bus (for the 45 min drive north to the resort) we thought maybe we should just shout out, "Who's with JACK?" ...but I couldn't muster up the nerve. Not like me, really. As we would find out later, others were thinking the same thing.

As it turns out, an orientation was scheduled for the next morning and that is where we all met up. It was very exciting for those of us that won. And remember the penguin I mentioned earlier? It was there too! Bernie, Brian (and 'The Traveling Penguin') were one of the winning couples. Pop over to their website to check on some of the cool places it's been and people it's met.

After the orientation, eight of the nine winning couples got together for a Penguin picture.

Before we went down, we decided to upgrade to the Royal Suites. Glad we did. We were on the adults only side of the resort, which had its own pool, bars and restaurant. We also had free high-speed internet access on two computers in the lobby bar, which made staying in touch with home easier, as cell reception was limited to a couple spots on the resort.

We met more great folks hanging around the pool. Chris and Mary from Wisconsin, Dave and John from Calgary and our pub crawl pals, Megan and Nathan from Medicine Hat. I should also mention Robb (who we just seemed to run into every time we turned around...fun guy!).

Here are a few pics of the resort...

lobby bar (main resort)

gazebo (main resort)

main pool (main resort)

royal suites pool

royal suites pool - late afternoon

The sky couldn't have been bluer. Next up...a day in Puerto Vallarta.

happy saint paddy's day! (a wee bit early)

Just back from our trip to Puerto Vallarta (more on that to follow soon) and I am spending a little time catching up on some emails. I see Lisa Vollrath has created another one of her wonderful countdowns at ten two studios...this one covers St Patrick's Day to Easter. You can download some great freebies for personal use by clicking here. Remember, all Lisa asks is that you provide a link to her site on your blog or website before downloading.


St. Patrick's Day

Oh, my mother isn't Irish
And my father isn't too,
But today I feel as Irish
As the really Irish do.
For today I wear a shamrock
That is green in every way
And though I am Canadian,
I am Irish -- for today!

- Aileen Fisher

scavenger hunt!

The gals of the studioWERX street team are having a wee scavenger hunt for some cool freebies using the fabulous offerings available through digiWERX.

I used quite an assortment of goodies including Pharmacie papers, Polaroid Image Transfer Brushes, Sketchy Evidence; Shabby Chic: Textured Cardstock, and digiWERX embellishments - Polaroid Slide Holders.

My contribution can be found here.

NOTE: The lime green that appears in the picture on 4shared is actually transparent. Not sure where the green came from, but I have tested it and once downloaded, it appears as transparent.

If you want to continue on the hunt, head over to Becky's blog next.

Enjoy!

happy birthday, soyun!

This is a little necklace I made for a sweet friend of Wesley's. Happy birthday, Sweetie!

happy valentine's day!

valentines goodies

...courtesy of Lisa Vollrath...thanks, Lisa!

Another countdown of free goodies. You can find them right here.

art book and new digiWERX papers

If you are looking for some nummy eye candy, Christina has published a book of her mixed media collages.

As Christina describes it, "It's an 80 page, full colour book, measures 7x7 and is crammed with full colour versions of all my mixed media collages." I got my autographed copy today, get your's here.

She has also created some new fabio digital papers that you can find here.

Take a look and see for yourself. I think you will agree.

snow day!

A few of pictures from today's snow fall.

much too young

Heath Ledger 1979 - 2008

It was such a shock to hear of Heath's passing last Tuesday.

A fabulous actor, and one of my favorites, I can only imagine what else he could have offered us in the way of his talents. Seeing him in the upcoming 'The Dark Knight' will be bittersweet indeed.

My thoughts are with his family.

art du jour

This is a little book I whipped up for my work friend, Kim. She is a big fan of paper art and I have been meaning to make something for her for quite some time.

Even though the grungeboard 'k' sticks up beyond the top of the book, it is so flexible that it can be folded over without damaging it. It really is fun to work with. I punched holes in it and sewed it to the cover, adding beads along the way.

another blast of winter

They were calling for 4-10 cm (or 1-4 inches for you non-metric types) of snow starting Saturday afternoon. The snow started late Saturday, but stopped after a light dusting. We woke up this morning and the snow had started up again. The the big flakes came...and they kept coming for the next three or four hours. By the time the clouds started to clear and the sun came out this afternoon, this is what we actually ended up with. More in the neighbourhood of 20 cm.


Doesn't really matter that we shoveled our portion of the driveway when we have to drive through the rest of this. Looks like public transit will be the mode of transport for the three of us tomorrow morning. (I know those of you who actually experience the true force of winter, for longer than a couple of days two or three times over the season, probably think we are wimps and this is nothing more than a drop in the bucket, and you would be correct...we are, I'm not ashamed to admit it.)

I have to admit, it sure is pretty. :u)

Was visiting Angel's blog and I saw this...had to give it a try. Here's the result...

the recipe for deb

3 parts Craftiness 2 parts Devilry 1 part Fun Splash of Charisma Serve over ice

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

silver lining...

...got word last Thursday that, just a couple weeks after celebrating my 10th anniversary with my company, I was going to be one of 115 people effected by the latest restructuring. Not the best day for sure. But, on Friday morning, I got a phone call...

We are going to Mexico!! Margaritas here we come!

too cool...

First of all, I would like to wish everyone a very happy new year. I can't believe we are half way through January already...crazy!

I went out to visit Haroldine at 'Be Creative' (you locals know who I mean). It was demo day and the products were Tim Holtz's grundgeboard and distress paints. Now those who know me, know what a fan of Tim's I am. OMG! Grundgeboard rocks!! If you don't know what I'm talking about, check this out on YouTube. I just love this stuff!

After the demo, I came home with my new treasures and sat down and played. The following are the results of my playtime.

Yup...inspired by Tim on this one...loved the look.