jane dong 

       Little Janes!

 After I met ARTIST Mary Lou Falstreau, she gave me one of her Coloring Books and special permission to make some small quilts of her "Women and the Hourglass” Series for my home and to show on my BLOG.

Once I began designing these quilts, I thought of making them look like a caricacture of myself, so the messages would speak more directly to me.  I also decided to stay with the same style of her art in this series, with the mitten hands and simple feet, and created a sort of “emoji face” with hardly any hair ( like me) and, with each one wearing a style of glasses I currently owned.  Sometimes I did NOT change the clothes from those Mary Lou painted … and sometimes I DID CHANGE the clothes (and/or, at least, the colors & fabric). Sometimes I would swap around the sayings (…or make up a new one), and/or even change the depiction of the concept being shown.  I had a lot of fun personalizing her ADORABLE women for myself.  I made them to remind me daily of her WONDERFUL MESSAGES!  I also purchased MANY of her prints which I have displayed interchangeably in several rooms!

Every single painting in Mary Lou Falstreau's “ Women and the Hourglass” series is ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS and every message MOVING.  I purchased almost every one of her greeting cards so I can look at them and share them with others.  I have also purchased several of her 8.5 x 11 prints which I love because they are a perfect size!  I also have the affirmation card decks!  Love them!   I pull one out whenever I ask myself what I need to be reminded of … (horrible grammar.) Made my own special zipper pouch to hold them!  Next I’m going to PAINT in my “ Women and the Hourglass" Coloring Book!  THANK YOU MARY LOU FALSTREAU…I LOVE ALL YOUR WORK!!!!!

All of her Greeting Cards, Prints, Affirmation Cards, and Coloring Book from her Women and the Hourglass Series are FOR SALE on her website at  mfalstreau.com  You can also see some of them right here under the Blog entry “Happy Art!”  Every single painting is FABULOUS!  Thank you Mary Lou!  I LOVE them ALL!

DO NOT REPRODUCE IN ANY FORM ANY OF MARY LOU FALSTREAU'S ART PRINTS WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST!

     STAR BRIGHT!  

 Mark and I took our FALL CRUISE to the Mexican Riviera from October 13th - October 20, 2018 on the STAR PRINCESS.  It was STELLAR!  What a ship!.  It was completely refurbished in beautiful colors and the latest in handy electronic enhancements.   Definitely, STAR BRIGHT!

One of our favorite things on this cruise was being assigned a window table every night with our favorite waiter!  This is unusual since these tables are always tables for four, but there must have been less groups of three or four on this particular cruise!  The bad news was that I had an eye condition that forced me to avoid light.  That was funny.  So, in almost every photograph I am wearing sunglasses.  I am pretty sure this will be a continual thing, since the condition is not a new one.  I’m so glad I got NEW cute sunglasses!

There was always beautiful looking and great tasting  food!

We visited all the major ports of the Mexican Riviera, but our favorite was Cabo San Lucas!  The weather was fabulous!  It always is!  The new port entrance is easy to get into and a much more direct route.  And now that we have ELITE status, we get to go on the tender whenever we want!  No waiting!  I got a white hooded jacket there that says Cabo San Lucas down the sleeve!  LOVE IT!

We also enjoyed eating at the Crown Grill!  We are fortunate enough to get a free meal there included with our last few cruises and we love the BISTRO atmosphere.  The food is ALWAYS fabulous and it is much darker in there than anywhere else!  (But I still wore my sunglasses.)

 

The other favorite thing we enjoyed on this cruise was dancing to THE INSIGHT QUARTET!  Mark created a little highlight of our dancing to their WONDERFUL music.  Katerina is the beautiful singer.  They are all from Russia, but speak English.  They have worked together on many ships over several years.  Of course, we went there almost  EVERY night after dinner.

We are so grateful for our fabulous cruises and each other!

Our 30th Anniversary!  

 Mark and I took two (2) "back to back” cruises on the RUBY Princess from Los Angeles, CA to Mexico: one, a 5 day cruise from February 26, 2018 - March 3rd  to CABO SAN LUCAS, and, second,  a 7 day cruise from March 3, 2018 - March 10th to the MEXICAN RIVIERA.  We got a SUITE for our 30th Wedding Anniversary!  It was FABULOUS!  

  

Dining on the Balcony!

Our favorite part of the SUITE was the dining on the balcony every warm “At Sea” day and evening.   We had early afternoon snacks of guacamole and chips, italian meats and cheese, and/or other appetizers outside on our deck!  It was magical!  By 6pm, our dinner would arrive and we would eat as we sailed, watching the sunset.  It was beautiful!

        It Was COLD!

No one told us how COLD the trip to Mexico could be in late February and early March.  It was FREEZING!  I insisted on taking a light coat and other warm clothes, just in case, which, luckily, I layered up to keep me warm.  Sitting on the Promenade was almost impossible on certain sea days due to the cold winds, but we still enjoy walking all over the ship to get our exercise, including all around the Promenade. 

   Dinner at CROWN GRILL!

We also had a couple of FREE dinners at one of the specialty restaurants included in this cruise, (those also came with the SUITE) and we always choose the CROWN GRILL.  It was GREAT!  Best Food!

     CLUB CLASS DINING!

 We were also given CLUB CLASS (CC) dining with the SUITE!  So, we got to enjoy our small table for two in the special CC Dining Area.  We had two wonderful waiters, Hugo and Frances!  

    DANCING!

Sometimes, on cruises, you are lucky, and there is a nice person or a duo playing ballroom dancing music in the Wheelhouse Bar…sometimes... NOT.  We were VERY fortunate to find IGOR KISIEL!  He was a solo pianist with a synthesizer who played beautiful piano music with popular songs.  He was amazing!   Just heavenly.  You can hear him yourself, below, in this short compilation we made from dancing videos we recorded of us dancing to his music. He was wonderful and we wanted to always remember it!  It was like dancing in a dream.  

      

We are EXTREMELY fortunate to have each other and grateful, every day, and every year, for the time we get to spend with each other.  Thirty (30) years feels like a blink, unless you think of our families…ha ha!  The only thing we've noticed as the years increase, is how much larger we've become with less hair and less energy!  Otherwise, it is all the same!  Crusing is still our favorite place to relax, our favorite place to dress up and go out to dinner, and the ONLY place we can go to dance! 

CLUB CLASS!  

 Mark and I took a two week "back to back" cruise from Vancouver, BC to Mexico from September 24, 2017 - October 8th.  We got a CLUB CLASS Mini-Suite.  It was FABULOUS!  Our favorite was the CLUB CLASS Dining.  

We had delicious meals and desserts, with extra “off menu” offerings EVERY night!  Beautiful special  grey monogramed linens, dedicated wait staff, any time dining, special entrance to the dining room, and absolutely NO WAITING!

       VANCOUVER, BC

But, let’s start at the beginning of the trip!  We left out of Vancouver, BC.  We flew to BC the day BEFORE the cruise started and stayed at the Westin Bayshore Hotel!  Fabulous place! We were taken to the port, boarded the ship and stood on the back of the ship as it sailed away from Vancouver.

EMERALD PRINCESS

Our ship was the EMERALD PRINCESS.  A very nice ship.  In the first half of the trip we travelled the California Coast.

Beautiful weather and stops in Oregon, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara.  Then, in Los Angeles, the ship boarded NEW passengers and it was off to Mexico!

     PACIFIC COAST

We got off in San Francisco and Santa Barbara.  It was beautiful weather and beautiful stops!  The coast was easy cruising in September/October.  A delightful trip!

              MEXICO

With all new passengers, we were off for another week to MEXICO!  BUT, it was sooooooooooooo HOT in Mexico!  117 DEGREES (combining temperature and humidity) - OUCH!  Couldn’t stay outside long…honestly, you couldn’t breathe...everyone ran back to the ship!

My first necklace in 68 years!  I never wear jewelry.  But Mark got me two (2) necklaces (the big discount was on the second one)!  This one is made of deep blue SWAROVSKI CRYSTALS.  The other is clear SWAROVSKI CRYSTALS in a small & large circle, we call “The Big Hug,”because I wore it with criss-crossed shoes that look like X's for kisses, and the O’s were the necklace - hence “hug.” Also, my glasses…since we got it on the last day, I wore it on the last night.

 Good bye to all our favorite foods…and one of our favorite ships.

I will add a little video at the end putting together various clips, if possible.  Until then, I will preserve the space with this last photo.