All Things EARTH... part 2

[laurspag]

I have no skirts at all right now, and no dresses that I can make work. It isn't snowy here, but it is cold. I think it's about 35 right now.

 

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[laurspag]

Right now I'm working around these items with either boots or booties. I'm trying to decide on one of the scarves or the necklace.

 

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[laurspag]

Thoughts?

 

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[Sailor_Sally]

Laurie that outfit looks perfect . I would wear the necklace and a scarf .

[Anita Latte]

Ditto. Necklace and scarf. Judging on pattern alone, I prefer the one on the right, but both look nice, so whichever one you feel looks best.

[laurspag]

I'm feeling pretty content with this. I think it will work out well. I'm going to try on each scarf and just go with whatever one seems best. One of the thoughts behind the 2 options for scarves was that I tend to overlook these particular ones and when I was trying to figure out what to wear, they were good options. I think I will feel pulled together.

 

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[6jsgrandma]

Looks great. Wish I knew fashion like that. Lol

 

 

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[MJC]

I'm back! We got home about 1am last night. What a wonderful cruise. :D

 

Big thank you to Laurie for the weather advice. I had just what I needed for the cooler days, and I can't tell you how many people I heard saying that they were cold and wished they'd brought some warmer things on the first and last sea days.

 

Another big thank you to Melody for her advice to choose clothes for comfort and relaxation. A majority of passengers were from the west coast and it was a tshirts and shorts kind of crowd. Very casual on sea days, and tshirts or beach wear in all the ports but San Diego. I wore my skorts with a T and flip flops most of the time. With matching earrings, natch. :) In my experience, Princess continues to be quite dressy on formal nights, and we fit right in with a cocktail dress for me and a dark suit and tie for DH.

 

I only have a few pics of me, but here is embarkation day. It was about 65 in LA when we boarded. We had a starboard mini that was only four cabins from the end of the hall. We loved it back there, it was very peaceful and quiet, and we hardly ever saw our neighbors.

 

[awhfy]

Margaret you look wonderful,

 

We also got home late last night. It was 50 in Miami & 55 in Colorado...strange. Les is busy downloading pictures from our 3 cameras (he’s just humming away) & files that the tour directors took in Bonaire & our paddleboarding in Curaçao. It was a wonderful cruise & we’re disappointed that Celebrity won’t be doing 14 night cruises after 2018, 12 night the longest. This was our 4th time on the 14 nighter to southern Caribbean & it really fits us. We had our favorite Solstice class cabin (2107) aft portside on the hump (2 doors from stairs, elevators & pool)

 

I didn’t get pictures of all my outfits but we did get the photo package & will cull out some of the 200 (!) photos from it. Melody

 

 

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[Sailor_Sally]

Welcome Back and just in time . The temperature dropped yesterday and it is supposed to be cold the whole week.I am moving ahead on my Cuba cruise . We booked a private tour to cover everything .It is a little odd with the new restrictions but manageable and I really want to see Cuba .

[awhfy]

My Christmas present to myself from Mr Tablecloth in Curaçao . Melody

 

 

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[MJC]

Beautiful, Melody.

[MJC]

Our first night we expected to have a comped dinner in the steak house, but it was not to be. Apparently Princess has discontinued that perk with AmEx. So, I went off to the MDR in my boarding outfit, just changing from sneakers to my black platform peep-toes. Most people were dressed very casually that night. We usually request a table for eight because we like to meet new people and get to know them over the week, but we were surprised and a bit disappointed to be shown to a two-top. It turned out that we were happy with it in the end, mostly because our days were so full that we were to tired to be entertaining conversationalists by 8pm, except to each other. :)

 

We didn't have a proper sail-away, which was disappointing. Normally the ship departs LA at 4pm with all the hoopla. We had a mysteriously delayed departure at 8pm. Mystery solved when we were out on deck before dinner and beheld the Goodyear blimp flying overhead for quite a while, apparently filming the ship all lit up.

 

Our first port was San Diego, where we rented a car and took a scenic drive that I had found online. It was a bit cool, overcast, and misty/foggy in the morning, so I was glad to have a sweater. By the time we had lunch at the Del, it was quite warm and I actually got a little sunburn just from lunch.

 

Here I am at the Cabrillo National Monument, which has a spectacular view of the harbor and downtown. The mist made my hair incredibly curly. On a clearer day we could have seen all the way to Tijuana:

 

 

At the Del, it was so sunny, I was trying to hard not to squint (the drink is called a Berry Smash and it was delicious):

 

[awhfy]

Margaret you look so relaxed

 

 

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[MJC]

Thank you, Melody. I think it's the most relaxed I've been in four years.

 

 

One fun place we visited was Ocean Beach. It has a hippie/punk/goth/surfer vibe that was really fun. We just wandered around and got a snack. This is my favorite picture from there:

 

 

 

 

After we left San Diego, where we had the most glorious orange sunset, I wore this blouse with my black pants and sandals for dinner. I love it, it's very comfortable yet a bit dressy:

 

 

The next day was a sea day, and our first formal night. I wore my brown sequined dress, but I didn't keep any of the pictures. That dress doesn't photograph well because the underlayer always shows through with a flash.

Edited December 13, 2017 by MJC

[MJC]

from San Diego Harbor, with Point Loma on the right:

 

[Sailor_Sally]

Margaret , You look great and that trip looks like so much fun .

[MJC]

Thank you, Sally. It was a lot of fun! And it was nice to have four sea days for relaxing. I'm glad you are re-booking your Cuba cruise, I think it sounds fabulous. If you ever watch The Voyager with Josh Garcia (it's on Saturdays here), they did an episode on Cuba just before we left, and he rode in a classic car like you had planned.

 

I'm watching the weather in your neck of the woods because we will be visiting my sister for Christmas.

[MJC]

Our next port was Cabo San Lucas, and I got up early for the sail-in. I was up early every day anyway because of the time difference. The sunrise was spectacular, and I saw some whales in the distance just before we got to El Arco.

 

 

We rented a sailboat for the day with another couple. We sailed around El Arco, past Divorce Beach, and around the harbor. After my first Tequila Sunrise I was very relaxed and happy! They served a snack of veggies, dip, and fruit, and then we anchored for a private swim at a tiny beach.

 

 

After our swim, they made a lunch of fresh guacamole, chips, salsa, beef and chicken burritos, and more drinks. There was a sailing race in the harbor, and lots of harbor seals and sea hawks to watch. Such a pleasant day!

 

Mark got this great shot of the Ruby Princess:

 

 

We tendered back to the ship about 3pm and took a long nap.

[Sailor_Sally]

Margaret , It is chilly this week but will return to normal soon . Of course our chilly is high 60's .Normal is high 70's for this time of year .

[Anita Latte]

Ah Margaret, you DO look so relaxed and happy! Looks like you had wonderful weather too! So nice. Loving the photos!

 

We went to the Nutcracker tonight. It was a very different choreography than I have seen in the past and I have to say that it was probably one of the best Nutcrackers that I've ever seen. So fab. We had a high today of 42, so definitely cold. The venue is one that was originally built as a silent movie theater; the seats are TIGHT. Like really, really tight. I've never noticed a coat check, but it's one where I can't imagine not having one because there'd be no room to do anything with your outerwear if you were wearing outerwear. My cold weather outfit plan came to fruition and it worked out very well for me tonight:

 

 

These are those new pants that I just recently purchased from Soft Surroundings. The shirt is actually a tank top that I've worn several times before...it happened to match the pants perfectly and it has a bit of sparkle to it. The sweater coat is my recent Target purchase. The shoes are those bronze oxfords that I searched so hard for before the TA cruise with Mom and Dad. In fact, I wore these shoes, this tank, and my lace skirt on that TA cruise! Anyway, IRL my outfit feels like a lot of textures and tone on tone, and the sparkle is more noticeable. It's kind of flat in the photo...

 

 

Not a great makeup shot at the end of the evening here. I was missing Mom and Dad tonight; the music brought back so many memories and I was a bit emotional. But I was actually wearing jewelry! The necklace is amber, inherited from my Grandmother, with matching earrings which are really hard to see, but the shape is like half of the bead. Mom gifted me with a new makeup compact too...and it is FAB for a warm toned lady! Tarte's Toasted palette. HIGHLY recommend!

 

Laurie, how did your cold weather outfit turn out?

[MJC]

Anita, you look wonderful. You look so you. Love the mix of textures, and the bit of metallic is perfect.

 

We came back to 30 and snow, and it's been cold all week. I hate dealing with all the layers of clothing it requires.

[MJC]

Back to Mexico... our next stop was La Paz, for swimming with the whale sharks, which was the whole reason we booked this itinerary.

 

At the port, which is a 1/2 hour ride from the town, there were some market stalls set up. I really loved the bowl with the turtles, but I restrained myself:

 

 

DH and I took a private excursion. Glad we had our rash guards because the water was just warm enough for a short swim, but I was in and out three times (a lot more than I expected):

 

 

I was lazy and just took the bathing suits and tops that I had, even though they are more functional than attractive. When I saw some of the really nice beach wear some of the women had on the cruise, I wished I had shopped earlier in the year for some nicer things.

 

On my third swim, the shark started swimming away. The guide grabbed my hand and pulled me along, helping me swim alongside (the sharks are reeeaaallly fast swimmers) so I had a free hand for pictures. I was kicking as fast and as hard as I could to keep up. I took this picture and I actually had to zoom out a bit to get the whole head in the frame. I would guess it was about 25 feet long:

 

 

At one point I just pointed the camera backwards and this is what it caught:

 

 

You know, it's always a choice in these situations to go for the photo or just live the experience. I think we swam along like that for 10 minutes or so, and it was the most incredible thing. I can't even describe it. I couldn't even tell you what I did for the rest of the day.

[awhfy]

Anita you look fabulous. Good choices in the textures

 

Margaret! What an experience! Huge creature!!! I got some amazing turtle shots in Bonaire, just downloaded all the pictures trying to get them to transfer to my iPad.

 

We woke up to snow & 20s today, finally feels like December! I’ll start my baking tomorrow. Melody

 

 

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[Sailor_Sally]

Anita , Cute outfit and it really does look like you . I think you have your style down pat

 

Margaret , Are whale sharks harmless ? I swam with sharks in Bora Bora and it was scary but fun.