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The Balmoral Visited Martha’s Vineyard!

I thought I’d give you a little island tour this morning! Wanted to show you the Balmoral. Complete with MUSICA, one of my favorite songs! Can you imagine dancing to this aboard an ocean liner?

This beautiful ship, christened “The Balmoral,” left Southampton, England, a couple of weeks ago, on a twelve-day cruise across the Atlantic to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the maiden voyage (sans the sinking) of the Titanic; filled with lucky people, the exact number of passengers that were on the Titanic, many dressed in the clothing of the times, some were even relatives of the original passengers. Here are some of them checking in . . . This is a lot like it will look for us when we board the Queen Mary! So exciting! Our ship is longer than the Titanic, holding more passengers, and leaves New York at 6 pm next Friday night! Are we ready?

No, we’re not!!

Despite that, when Joe and I read in the Martha’s Vineyard Times that the Balmoral was going to dock in Oak Bluffs, here on the island, last Saturday, we had to go see it! We drove out East Chop, to just about the same place we watched that beautiful moon rise a couple of months ago, remember? Coming around the bend, our eyes were peeled, where is it? Will we be able to see it? Will it be big?

And then, suddenly, there she is! Just like a full moon, it would have been very hard to miss this beautiful ship.

We had a gorgeous day to be wandering Martha’s Vineyard . . . From where we were standing we could see three of the island’s lighthouses!

We wanted to get a little closer to the ship so we followed the road around East Chop into the little village of Oak Bluffs.

Even this early in the season, the harbor is bustling because the weather has been so fine.

And there she was! Sitting right outside the harbor opening. See those little yellow lifeboats on the side of the ship?

Look how big they are in real life! Not like your grandfather’s lifeboats! Much cozier than a rowboat! Inspires confidence, don’t you think? They were bringing Balmoral passengers to and from ship for a few hours of island exploration.

Cuddling right up to the dock; step off, and you’re in another world!

It just made us more excited for our own trip! This little excursion away from the house was a nice break in the action for us.

The action being us, getting ready to go!

Watched closely by our faithful and precious pets, here’s Girl Kitty, as always, the lady.

And of course, packing with Jack around is an adventure, he is such a huge help . . . the most adorable thing in the world, he gives me kisses, nuzzles me, is so soft, with a heart of gold, and mischief on his mind.

Every drawer I open, he gets in …

I will have to make very sure he doesn’t end up in the suitcase, you can see it in his eyes, that’s what he’s thinking about. Practicing his hiding tactics.

OK girls, gotta go — tonight my girlfriends (you met here the other day) are giving me a Bon Voyage English Tea Party at 5 pm. I can’t wait!! If I remember, and I will really try, I’ll Twitter a photo directly from the party, so check Twitter if you can, later on — 6 pm-ish, est. There will be a link to the photo on my Twitter page, and you can just click on it.

It’s getting so busy, I don’t know if I’ll be able to show you the whole tea party before we go! (BTW, the darling little children’s tea set in this photo should be back in stock in our web store in June for those who are training-up the next generation!) In case it gets too busy and I don’t update enough, and you are missing me, this would be a really good time for you all to check out this list I made of some of my favorite websites!!! (You can find your way here anytime, the link is right on this page in that narrow column on the right, at the bottom, under “Inspiration.”) I promise, you will be in heaven! The talent, creativity, and charm of what’s going on in Blog World is quite amazing. I am thrilled to be a part of it! Sharing is what it’s all about! ♥

The other thing (thanks to one of our girlfriends who supplied us with this perfect link) you can watch the Queen Mary II leave New York Harbor, live, as it goes out to sea, under the ~~Tappan Zee Bridge~~ that was a mistake, its actually the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge! (Thank you girlfriends!) I promise to wave! Save this link . . . we leave the dock at 5 pm (est.) Friday night!!!

Please don’t worry about me; we’re working hard now, but pretty soon things will look like this ↓! Have a happy day Girlfriends, from my house to yours!! XOXO

A H H H H H. Life; she is good. ♥

A Week from Today!

A week from today . . . we Sail away! I really can’t believe it!

This is a little scene that has been in our bedroom since we came back from the last trip to England aboard the Queen Elizabeth II in 2004. I love having it here because a dress like that should not be locked away; it hangs there like a fairytale and has all the fairytale magic and dreams connected to it. I’m not the kind of girl who’s worn very many dresses like that. Like really, this is the only one. I just can’t hide it away.

The hat, I bought in England, because our good friends took us to Royal Ascot! I think I look a little like Queen Elizabeth in it (which, although she is lovely, is not the look I’m actually after), especially with Joe next to me wearing his gray top hat and a morning coat with tails! This is the dress code for Royal Ascot and you really have to do it!

Do we look like Yanks? Could they tell? I kind of think so! But not one dog attacked us!

I bought the dress that’s hanging on the closet door for our first formal night aboard the ship. It has a scarf too. It goes to the floor, has four layers of skirt; I packed it in tissue paper. I think it was the right thing to do for my first trip. But this time, I’m thinking differently (now that I’m a seasoned ocean-liner traveler); I don’t want to take different evening clothes for each night (six!) like I did last time; that was a lot of packing of things I never needed for the rest of the trip! I was jealous of Joe, who more or less wore the same tuxedo every night and looked adorable. To be honest, I’m not really a formal type of girl (I think pantyhose was invented by the devil); I like corduroy and linen.

I looked around the dining room last time, to see what other women did; there was this elegant French woman who sat at a table near us at dinner; I loved how she handled it. She wore the same classic black pantsuit every night, with heels, and different scarves and jewelry, to change the look. It was so clever; seemed very French to me. What a good packing tip for next time, I thought! So this time I have my own little (non-itchy) black suit all ready to go into the suitcase, and all the accessories to go with it. Just like Joe.

The entire rest of my suitcase is raincoat, cute umbrella, jackets, t-shirts, lots of linen bell bottoms . . . (remember my dancing pants … now they have a reason to dance, they’re going on a trip!) . . .

. . . warm sweaters, and comfy shoes. And art supplies!!! Almost ready!

Yikes!

By the way, are you all on Twitter? I am — I Twitter and send photos there too (I think you may be able to read my page without joining, not sure). A couple of times, when Joe and I have crossed the country on the train, I’ve done this thing called “Twitter from the Twain.” It works really well, because if we’re out and about and only have the phone with us, I can take photos with it and send them directly to Twitter. I’m going to try and do that on this trip, we’ll see what kind of connection England affords our internet connections . . . but I need help. I need a name. So far, the Twitter Girls have suggested “Shenanigans from the Ship,” “News from the Cruise,” and “Blog from the Boat” — all wonderful, but what about when we’re not on the boat? Any ideas? (Playing my cards right, figuring out ways to no longer have to do my own thinking 🙂 )

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!