Carol Dunnigan Photography: Keeping up with Carol

New Year...Many Changes

2012-01-15T12:00:00.003-05:00

Well, I have REALLY been neglecting this! It's a looooong story that is not photography related. The bottom line is, that our family is going to make a very large move in the near future.

We'll be leaving sunny Florida for the arctic North. We'll be leaving my mother, brother, sister and their families (My brother and his wife are even expecting triplets - I will have to make sure I fly back to take their pictures!) behind.

I will be leaving a job that I love and that I have been working at for 14+ years. I will miss the people there dearly. They are like family. I know many, many people out of the 4,000+ employees. They're a great bunch. They know my quirks and still love me! lol Some keep telling me that I'm not allowed to move. Who will help them? Some say that I am a ray of sunshine and the organization will have a real loss when I'm gone - seriously, some have said that to me.

Thank God for facebook! I'll be able to stay in touch with many of them. I know that there are other forms of communication - the good old fashioned letter or phone call, email, skype...facebook is just so much easier to get a message across to a large group.

The unknown is what is driving this family nuts at the moment. We're not exactly sure which location we're moving to or when. We announced it to our family, friends, and co-workers at the beginning of December. We thought we'd be leaving around this time. We get asked on a daily basis, "So do you know where you're moving?" or "Do you know where you're moving to?" The boys and I are starting to feel a little stupid - I don't know how else to describe it. It's hard to explain to people why we don't know yet. That's another long story in itself. Hopefully this coming week will at least give us the answer to the question, "Where?". Once we have figured out the area, we'll need to start trying to find a place to live for our family - a place to call home (read the oil boom link below to get a better picture of the uphill battle that we will face.).

Why are we moving if I will miss so many? My husband moved to FL 20 years ago for me, so now it's my turn to be supportive. His new job will be in the big oil boom located in the Bakken Formation , driving an oil tanker.

The plus side to this move is that our oldest son is even going to make the move with us. That makes it all better! Both boys are all for it - even our 16 year old who is still in high school. Also, going to a new area, that I have never been to before, will lead to great new photo opportunities!

I will keep you all updated more frequently - even while we're on the road - which should be a big hoot driving cross country with six dogs!

Short stop in Massachusetts

2011-12-11T09:39:00.001-05:00

Once we left VA, we had to head to MA for a trailer - an oil tanker. When we got there, we discovered that the tractors break line wasn't working on the trailer.

We had to drive to the Kenworth dealership in Stoughton, MA to get them repaired. It turned out to be a simple fix, but while we were there for a few hours waiting, we walked to Target and a place to get something to eat.

Now, I'm sorry, some of you may have seen a 2-story Target store before, but not me. I thought it was pretty cool! I just HAD to take some pictures. They have a parking garage located on the bottom and they use an escalator to help with carts. They also have an elevator.

Neat, huh? We were a little nuts. We ended up being loaded down with shopping bags, and having to walk with them. We walked past a place called Page's II which had signs saying that they made subs, so we stopped there to pick up a couple sandwiches, chips, etc. They really were good!

Once again, I got to see a little bit of another one of our beautiful United States. I wouldn't mind going back there either for a longer stay.

Driving through Virginia...

2011-12-03T18:13:00.001-05:00

Boy, did I fall off the grid there for a while, or what? A bunch of stuff going on in my personal life that is finally smoothing out where I can think straight.

My husband and I were basically on a cross country journey, and our first stop was landing in Roanoke, VA. His Kenworth truck was taking longer on repairs than expected, so we needed to stay the night. Before we checked into a motel, we drove around for a bit and had lunch. We stopped at the Greenwood Family Restaurant located in Troutville - not too far from Roanoke. Y-U-M !! They had awesome food at awesome prices. Great service! We even had some milk shakes after our meal! It's a very cozy place with lots of room for customers:

On our way back to Roanoke, and since we were using the Kenworth salesman's personal vehicle, we stopped just long enough so I could take these shots:

We checked in to the Quality Inn Roanoke Airport. What a great choice! The room was very clean and comfortable and had been renovated. The campus was very well kept. They have a really nice continental breakfast with many things to choose from and a great view:

A view from the front of the motel looking out at the airport tower:

The night we actually flew in (we ended up staying two nights) we had checked in to a hotel at the bottom of the hill from the Quality Inn. Let's just say that it wasn't quality, and the service wasn't so great, so we switched locations.

That evening we walked down the hill to a cute Spanish restaurant called El Toreo. It's located at 6617 Thirlane Rd., Roanoke, VA. Tel# 540-265-9116. So bummed I didn't think of bringing my camera to get pictures of how festively decorated it was! I did take a couple pictures of our food with our phones (which - everyone should know - phones don't take great pictures). These pictures DO NOT do their food justice. It was very tasty:

My husband's steak fajitas (literally a steak):

It really did have fantastic food. Don't let my pictures turn you off! :)

Even though it was early October and it was cold (to me - in the 50's) and dreary out, I found that it was a state that I would love to return to when we have more time.

What has eight legs...

2011-09-17T12:49:00.000-04:00

...and is - GROSS?! I took these not long ago. Can't wait until I get a 100mm macro lens!

The under belly...

Isn't this a neat web?

If you could zoom in on this like I could, you would see that the face is like hair! YUCK!

Total Mayhem!

2011-09-05T11:02:00.002-04:00

This morning (this very early morning), I had the privilege of sitting in on a local talk radio shows broadcast. I had met Seth and Dale, of Talk 1430's Mayhem in the A.M. at the Pig Fest in January of this year. We shared a picnic table before they had to start MC'ing the event. I was there to take pictures of the band The Jealous Guys. We got to talking, and Dale asked if I could take some pictures of them on stage since their photographer was unable to make it that day. At that time, Dale had invited me to be on the show sometime to talk about my blog. Ever since then, from time to time, I'd see them around at different events in the community. Each time, Dale extended the same invitation. I finally took them up on it.

Normally, I'm up at 6am and out the door by 8:00am. Today, I was up at 5am, out the door at 5:30am, stopped at Dunkin' Donuts, and arrived at the radio station by 5:50am. What an accomplishment!

Three hours went by fast! Seth, Dale, and Hollywood, make you feel like you're one of the gang. I got a pair of headphones and my own mic to chip in when I wanted (Although I wish I would have realized that when we were talking about Robert Downey, Jr. - whistle, whistle - at his role in Iron Man! I'm talking his role, not the person himself. I don't know him personally.). Hollywood's Mom (who was in town for the holiday weekend), her best friend (who had the day off like me because of the holiday), Seth's neighbor, and the car guy were also part of the show.

Here are a few shots from this mornings broadcast:

Seth Mela, Host

Holly "Hollywood", Producer

Dale Sellers, "The Dale", DJ

Ashley and Dale

Seth

The next two pictures are an inside joke:

Dale and Cindy (Holly's mom)

Seth and Cindy

Holly and Cindy

Neighbor, Ashley, Dale, Cindy

Yours Truly

David Earl Horton...car enthusiast at large.

Hollywood

What a great group of people! I had a wonderful time. Thank you for letting me be part of the show! I think I'll go lay down now...

First Friday...

2011-09-04T11:26:00.002-04:00

Another great time at First Friday in downtown Lakeland. This month's theme was Dog Days of Summer. Here are some pictures from the evening:

Two of Lakeland's Finest...

A few of the Lakeland Shooter's...

To see past posts, pictures, and info from other First Friday events, go to the search bar within my blog and type in "First Friday".

A Weekend At Gaylord Palms

2011-08-28T11:05:00.002-04:00

Exhaustion. Plain and simple. This would not have been a weekend that I would have chosen to stay at this hotel. My husband was supposed to go with me and my son, but he ended up having to go out of town. That's primarily the reason I was exhausted. Our lives had been turned upside down that week and we were unable to reschedule. We'd won a weekend getaway at the Gaylord Palms Hotel from Max 98.3 , an awesome local radio station - but the hotel had an expiration date on the prize. I ended up bringing my 15 year old and two of his friends.

First, we parked waaaayyyy far away. All the way to the back of the property near the convention center. At first I'm thinking it's not well marked. Where we parked it did say guest parking. We enter the hotel through the pool area. Gorgeous! We sign in and they give each of us a key - even the boys get their own. We get up to the room and I have to take a few pictures before the boys "trash" it with their things.

I had just picked them up from school, so they were a little tired - lol:

Our view:

The red banners in the above picture meant nothing to me at this point. I think they're decorations. More on that later.

Two of the boys actually have homework on a Friday night that requires the internet. Now, I'd sworn that I was going to get rest and relaxation this weekend. The only thing exciting me the whole day was knowing that I'd be forced to rest, and that there wouldn't be a computer to check emails and facebook. Guess what? Each room has a computer, but the boys are still unable to do their work. The computers are dinosaurs that are slower than molasis. They say it's because all the guests using them at the same time. I'm told by an employee that soon they'll be taking them our of all the rooms. I think that's a good idea. You shouldn't be on them when you're getting away from it all. If you've got business, they've got a Fed Ex Business Center in the convention center.

I realize that I like the 5-Star setting, until I see the prices on the menu's of their various restaurants. I almost fall over. I am definetly not a 5-Star girl. I hate shopping and I hate spending money. I'm what I would consider a catch for any man (my husband). I look around for a phone book. There are none. I google pizza places in the area on my new smart phone that my husband bought me a couple days before. I call Pizza Hut . No, we are not the first guests of the hotel who have ordered pizza from them. I'm not the only cheap one!

We order pizza, bread sticks, and soda. It gets delivered. We're hungry by then. Hmmmm. I can't believe I didn't ask, but I really can't believe that they didn't offer knowing that we were at a hotel - no plates, napkins, cups, utensils - nothing! Oh, well. We roughed it.

As you saw, our room is on one of the atriums. It's beautifully lit at night. We can hear the soothing sound of the waterfalls... After we're done eating, the boys head out to look around. I, on the other hand, get in my pajamas for an early night. Let the relaxation begin! I've got a book, I'm in bed for the night. Bliss! All of a sudden I start to hear loud music. I get up and go out to the balcony to see/hear this:

(Pardon the video - first time I used the video option on my camera. If you've ever seen any movies I've made, you wouldn't think I shot this lol.)

There was no way I was going to be able to go to sleep early with all that loud music! So what does a photographer do when she can't sleep? She gets dressed and crashes the party. After all, I'd never really taken concert picture before and I'd heard that the lighting plays havoc on focusing, etc. What a great time to play around! Meet Dance Express!

A little earlier in the evening I had found out that there was a Snap-On tool convention going on at the hotel. That's what all the red banners were for. An attendee told me that there were about 5,000 people attending it, taking up three hotels. They were surprised that we were able to get a reservation. That's where Dance Express comes into the picture. They were hired by Snap-On to give a concert - and what a concert they gave! I'm not one to move my body to the music, but I was tapping my foot and singing aloud (quietly) with them!

As I'm crouching down at the foot of the stage, trying to hold my camera in front of my shirt so that they couldn't tell I wasn't wearing a lanyard for the convention, this nice man starts to talk about the convention. I kind of felt out of place at that moment!

And then he introduces the President of Snap-On who goes on to say that there are 6,000 (THOUSAND!) in attendance!

It sounded like a fun company to work for. You could tell that everyone was having a blast at the convention. Many of them even had their families with them. I hung out until I had taken enough pictures. I honestly could have stayed there the whole time (if I was actually invited lol). The band was fantastic. They were playing all sorts of songs that I knew. Here are more pictures from the evening:

AWESOME, AWESOME BAND!

I met up with the boys at the pool and we went back to the room to watch a little bit of a movie and then crashed. Now, I'm not a heavy sleeper. Being in a new place sometimes keeps me up, but I happened to be so tired, that I fell asleep pretty fast - just to be woken up even faster. There were a bunch of drunk people out on one of the balconies next to ours. Maybe one floor up. They went on and on. 1 a.m. is when I finally got out of bed to call the front desk. I'd been laying in bed for what seemed like forever listening to them. And it was a big deal. Our balconies were next to each other on a corner. It sounded as if they were in the room with us.

The next day we woke up unbelievably late - 10 a.m. By the time we got ready, we ended up going to Denny's for brunch (and that was a good thing for me - saved $ on a meal). We ran to Publix to get a few things for the room. When we got back to the hotel, we parked where we thought we were closer to our room. NOT! This is where it would have really been nice to have my husband with (besides having his company). He's like a human GPS. He would have known where to park in a heartbeat. I really think that they need directional signs that say, "St. Augustine Rooms Park Here", etc.

I walked around the hotel to check it out and the boys headed off to find a quiet place to play poker. I really hadn't left our room until it was dark out the night before, so it was neat to see how different it was during the day (obviously). They've got three unique atriums. This one is Key West:

There is actually a treasure hunt game that is throughout the hotel. I found these three playing:

This is what one of the machines looks like:

Welcome to the St. Augustine atrium:

Hand held :(

My son and his friend on our balcony (below):

This leads down into the mini replica of the Castllo de San Marcos:

Welcome to the Everglades atrium:

Hand held again :( My new tripod came in the mail the day we were leaving for the hotel, but my husband had ordered the wrong one on accident.

On our last night, we ate at the cheapest restaurant that they have and still spent a fortune - even with a $50 credit to our room! I actually have a funny picture of my son figuring out the tip on the receipt. The service was great - our math just sucks. It's got about 6 scribbled out amounts on it because he kept changing it. It was funny - you had to be there! And after we walked away, I figured that he still hadn't given her enough, so he went back and gave her cash too! lol

Reflection. Just before we checked out, I stood on the balcony looking out over the atrium. I'm reflecting on the weekend. Yes, I really wish the expiration date on our weekend wouldn't have been only a month after I'd won it. This has just been a really crazy, stressful time in my life and I wasn't able to really enjoy it. I didn't get sleep like I thought I would. I didn't even sit out by the pool. I walked around, took pictures, read my owners manual to my new smart phone, and read very little of my book. Even though the Snap-On employee's were extremely nice, there were a lot of them. With my clausterphobia, at peak times it took a while to be able to catch an elevator that wasn't packed. If I ever make it to another 5-Star resort in my life, I will make sure to ask during the reservation process, "Are any conventions being held at that time?"

Still reflecting, the hotel had some great ammenities - an arcade which the boys and I paid a visit to, movies in the evening by the pool, two swimming pools (one was closed down for renovation), shops, restaurants, Haagen-Dazs ice cream (which we had late Saturday night), live music/entertainment, a spa, great atmosphere, friendly staff. It would have been a dream of a weekend if it had just been some other time for me.

Islands of Adventure Through My Eyes...

2011-08-18T17:41:00.008-04:00

It's been literally almost a decade since we've been to Universal Studios, and right in our back yard! Want to know the reason? I don't do theme parks. I don't do rides. I get sick. Because we had a guest in from out of state, I was a trooper. I really had to sacrifice. I took pictures all day. Poor me!

We ended up at the Islands of Adventure park. Tickets had been bought ahead of time. Yea - we'll get right in! NOT. We still had to stand in line with everyone else so that they could verify our residency. I'm not sure why they don't let residents do that by the ticket taker.

Below, you'll be able to see the park through my eyes (a non-rider):

This next one might just be my favorite:

Or maybe this one:

Our guest - we had a nice time with you Carly!

I don't know. I like this one a lot too...

Nice candy lady! :)

Busted! You'd think that they would have stepped around to the corner, literally - at the edge of the picture - where no one would have seen:

This was actually animated - cute:

My son in the middle:

Had to take this for my husband. He LOVES watching the old Blondie shows!

Hand held, thank you very much!

Besides the very uncomfortable heat during the first half of the day (it got cloudy with the threat of our usual summer storms, but it missed the park), it turned out to be a good time.

A Wonderful SPCA Event

2011-08-07T11:33:00.006-04:00

This past Saturday was Paws to Read. It's a wonderful monthly program sponsored by the SPCA in Lakeland. It's held the first Saturday of every month at the Bruton Memorial Library in Plant City, FL. A past link of mine describes this wonderful program in it's entirety.

We brought Murphy with us this time. He's three years old. He's an absolute sweetheart and was great with the kids as you'll see in the pictures. He doesn't do well around other dogs. He's available for adoption!

Here are some pictures from this past Saturday:

Don't forget! Visit to SPCA to adopt a dog or cat TODAY! They're always looking for good homes.

Another First Friday

2011-08-07T10:44:00.000-04:00

What a week and a weekend. And I still had another event to do after this one!

This month's theme at First Friday (I thought) was supposed to be Dog Days of Summer. Someone mentioned that due to the heat, they had postponed it until September.

We brought the boys with us this time. I don't think the girls could have handled the heat - at least not Ruby (our largest Old English Mastiff). Although we try to make it a habit to come out every month with some or all of the dogs, this month had an extra draw for me. I'd recently joined The Lakeland Shooters which is a Polk County photography & modeling club, and it turns out that they also meet up at every First Friday event.

I took some of my usual people shots, but I was really playing around with my off-camera flash, so I didn't get as many people shots as I normally do. AND, I'm such a loser! I hardly got any info on the people who's pictures I took. I have nothing to link them to! If you happen to see a picture of yourself and you belong to an organization or have your own business, please contact me by clicking on my website link (upper right), and sending me a message with your info. I'll gladly update this post with a link to your site.

A few of The Lakeland Shooters

The Lakeland Shooters

I told this woman that she looked very scholarly. She said, that was because she was. I'm so smart! lol

Radio Disney had a bunch of fun activities and contests going on. Can you tell that this girl was trying to stuff a pillow into a pillow case with Micky Mouse hands? Love her expression in the middle picture!

This little darling is in need of a home. I hope the company contacts me so that I can get the information out!

Are you registered to vote?

Just Dance a subsidiary of KLG

One of "Lakeland's Finest" Officers

"The Boys" resting in the nice cool grass before we left.

Hank and Paul - that's it. They said they just do this for fun!

I've got many other First Friday events in my posts. Just go to my search bar (in my blog) and type in: First Friday. They should all pop up.

Another Good Dog Beach To Visit

2011-08-06T20:44:00.021-04:00

One of the few dog beaches that we hadn't hit yet, was Davis Islands Dog Beach. It's located in Tampa, FL, right near TGH (Tampa General Hospital). A couple of nights ago, the family, dogs and a couple of the boys friends "ran" over there for a swim.

OK. We're blind. We passed it up. When we saw a guard by the yacht club, we asked if it was located by the port-a-potty we had just passed. Affirmative. So we turned around and parked by the boat ramp with all the pretty boats in our line of vision. Now, having looked up pictures of the beach on the internet in the past, I wasn't feeling too positivhat that we were in the right place. We should have been facing an industrial area instead of pretty boats.

As my husband was setting up the first umbrella, I headed across the street to the port-a-potty. Don't knock it! At least it's some where to go. And it's one of the nicer one's - one that's for handicapped individuals. It's got a concrete floor and is nice and large. When I emerge, I check out the fenced in dog park that's right behind it. I looked to the right of it for a beach. I see workmen on the left and yell out to them, "Do you know where the dog beach is?" They point behind them. It wasn't where we were setting up. It was across the road from it. I head back to the group and we re-pack and move to the correct location.

The only real thing this beach has going against it is the scenery. But it was still pretty cool. It's located right in the Port lane where cruise ships pass through! While we were packing up across the street, we saw a Carnival Cruise ship pass right by!! Look at this next picture. See the red ship? The Carnival ship passed right between that and the beach!

How cool is that?! It would have been really neat if I could have gotten a shot of it passing by as we were swimming right near it. Speaking of swimming, I noticed that we were the only people in the water. And when I just looked on-line for the park information, I noticed that there were no people in the water in them either. What's that about? People swim at other dog beaches. Oh well. We had fun!

It's got a few palm trees for shade. A couple of picnic tables. Drinking fountains for humans and K-9. A hose to rinse off. The one feature that this park has that I haven't seen at any other dog beaches so far, is it's fenced in. That's a nice feature. You don't have to worry about our dog running off. Now, swimming off - that's another matter, but you get that at any beach. And I've never heard any stories about dogs that make a swim for it! lol

If you plan to go into the water, swim shoes aren't a bad idea. A friend suggested we keep to the left, away from the dog wash station. At high tide, there are rocks hidden under the water that the dogs can cut their paws on. We were well away from there, but because we (people) can touch the ground a lot further out, a few in our party got little cuts.

Here are some lucky doggies having fun:

Another neat/strange thing about this place - it's RIGHT next to a small airport - the runway is almost right next to the fence. AND it's right near MacDill Air Force Base, so there were some cool planes flying right over us:

Some fun shots...

As we were leaving the beach, this is what we saw...

If I took pictures of your dogs, please contact me by clicking on my website link (upper right) and going to Info, then Contact. I'll email you the rest of them.

Crave Chocolate?

2011-08-06T19:40:00.010-04:00

Last week, my husband, mom and I checked out a new candy store that's in our area. Got Candy has been open for six weeks now. Lea Williams is the owner. She's got some great plans for the place!

Lea was excited when she was telling us about some themed, on-going events, that are in the works: Ladies Night Out, Play Date, Date Night, and Birthday Parties.

Ladies Night Out will cost $20/person. There will be a chocolate fountain with dippable items.
Play Date will be for 2-3 year olds. They will be able to dip items. It will be $5/a child.
Date Night/Couples Night involves chocolate and carmel fondue. The cost is yet to be decided.
Birthday Parties will be $10/child no matter how little or how many there are. They'll get a pizza with four toppings and three dippables.

What made me happy? She's got milk as one of the drinks you can purchase. I've got to have milk when I'm eating anything sweet! There are some tables and chairs set up inside and outside for your comfort, if you're so inclined to relax a spell, while you enjoy your treats.

There are also items for sale. If you're looking for a gift, this is a great place to go. You can personalize your gift in almost anyway that you can imagine. Lea can get her hands on many types of molds. While we were there, a man came in to buy his wife an anniversary present. Chocolate would be good for party favors too!
Check out this blackboard wall for kids and/or adults to show off their artistic ability:

Stop by and say hi! Got Candy is located on the North side at 2973 Duff Rd., Lakeland, FL. Tele: 863-853-9999.

THANK YOU

2011-07-20T03:52:00.005-04:00

Keeping Up With Carol has just hit 10,000 (TEN THOUSAND!) page views! It's all thanks to you. Whether you Follow me, Subscribe to my blog, stop by from the link on my website, or find me from a search engine - thank you!

It's always exciting to see my blog get readers from all over the WORLD and to hear your comments. Please continue visiting, and tell your friends about it!

Fun Time at Bark in the Park!

2011-07-16T19:07:00.009-04:00

Last night was the annual Bark in the Park Lakeland SPCA fundraiser event. It was held at Joker Marchant Stadium (Tiger Town), home of the Lakeland Flying Tigers and the Detroit Tigers Spring training camp. We had plans to attend, but with the clouds darkening up, and a light drizzle starting, I wasn't so sure that we should go. Watching our local radar showed that it wasn't too bad in our area, so we headed out. We were supposed to take "the boys" (our German Shepherd and Great Dane), but our shepherd's not too keen on storms, so we only took the big boy with us.

When we arrived, we saw lots of loving "parents" with their four-legged family members. I just can't tell you how that makes me smile! I just wish there were more dog-friendly events/places out there where we could bring our dogs. After all, they are part of the family too! If you happen to know of a dog-friendly place in our area, please mention it by adding a comment below!

Not only did the SPCA have a couple tables set up, but there were a few other businesses too. The SPCA volunteers were passing out doggie treats to the dogs that attended and they also had water bowls set out in many locations. Some of the dogs that attended were actually one's that had been adopted from the SPCA! That's awesome!

Here are some pictures of some of the attendees and their families:

"Grrrrrr...." :) Daddy knows what I'm talkin' about - lol

I remember for sure that this lucky doggie was adopted from the SPCA:

The mommies and daddies of the dogs in the next two pictures only wanted their well loved dogs to shine. To get the attention of both of the shepherds, their parents told me to say "ball". It sure worked! We used to have a shepherd like that too!

An SPCA volunteer with two people from Magnify:

More fantastic SPCA volunteers:

This picture is a hoot! Notice the hand commands coming in the picture from both sides! These two sweethearts didn't want to sit still for long. They wanted to go have some fun. They were both adopted from the SPCA. One of their neighbors and her dog is also in the picture

This little pup stayed through the whole game, but I caught it dozing in mommy's lap!

This sweetie was almost literally in my lap for me to get this shot!

Go Cubs!

This is my crew at the game:

Me and the big guy during the rain delay (my son took this picture):

My husband took the next two shots:

Prince absolutely LOVED going up and down the stairs (he never gets to do that)!

Some pictures from the game:

My son and his friends:

The National Anthem:

What a great night! Can't wait to attend next year - we'll bring all of our four-legged family members. That should be chaos!

Remember, there are always new dogs and cats available for adoption at the SPCA, all ready to go to their forever homes. Please keep them in mind when you're looking for a new "family member".

My wish list - a longer f2.8 lens and a tripod that will support my larger camera. My birthday is coming up! lol

Another Pets on the Patio Event

2011-07-03T12:48:00.001-04:00

We took a quick run out to Gaspar's Grotto in Ybor City yesterday. They had their monthly event Pets on the Patio. One thing that I think is new besides the umbrella's that I've told you about a few months ago, is that I noticed there are now mister fans blowing from all angles to keep you cool! You can read more about this event from one of my earlier blogs.

Here are some of the dogs that we saw:

"I'm begging. I'm begging. Does she see me?"

"Hmmmm. Maybe I need to try a different tactic."

The musicians who play here are very understanding when it comes to the groupies jumping up on the stage:

This is Mario Carranza and he's a member of the Derek Jive Band in Tampa, FL:

He's pretty funny too! Great sense of humor! Made a great comment about the dogs on the stage - was something like - "My band is growing by the minute!" What he said was funnier though!

Another great day at Paws to Read!

2011-07-03T11:55:00.000-04:00

This was our second time volunteering for Paws to Read through the Lakeland SPCA. What a turnout! Today we brought Tessie and Carla to see the kids. You can click here for more information about the excellent program and to check out our first visit there.

Here are some pictures from the day. Carla is being read to:

This little boy is reading to Tessie and a group of new friends:

Tessie:

Carla:

Tessie:

This family really fell in love with Carla:

Carla:

Carla saying hello:

Winding down at the end:

Carla and Tessie playing around:

Tessie

Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute!

The world's youngest photographer:

Carla:

I actually think Tessie has been adopted, because I don't see her on the SPCA website anymore. Now, Tessie was loved - she was a cute little puppy, but Carla - Carla is the most LOVING, FRIENDLY dog who needs a forever home. Please visit the SPCA so that you can fall in love with her too!

Celebrating the 4th of July Early

2011-07-03T09:59:00.001-04:00

This past Friday, the boys and I took two of our dogs to the Red White and Kaboom, First Friday celebration. Being a photographer, believe it or not, I had only taken pictures of fireworks once before.

The first time was a last minute thing. I didn't know there were going to be fireworks where we were, so when it came time, I used my knees as a tripod.

This time, I went equiped with a tripod - albeit one that really isn't built to support the weight of the camera that I had with me (I need to get a new one!), and I hadn't thought about bringing my lens with a wider angle. I ended up having to put my elbow on the cross-bars of my tripod to support the weight of the camera. I would have absolutely DIED if it would have fallen off!

We sat pretty close to the display, so my 24-70mm lens didn't make the cut for the shots that I really wanted to get. The lake that they were on, has a beautiful setting. I wanted to get the water, lights, fountain, and fireworks - the whole shabang - all in the shot. With my first picture of the night, I was able to get all of these components in the shot - not how I'd like it - but you can get the gist of what I mean:

Can't wait until I can try this shot again with the correct tripod and a wider angle lens! Woo Hoo! That'll be cool.

Here are more shots from the night. This next picture is a shot from where we sat down for a little rest (Our mastiff looked like she needed a little break! She's a big girl - lol). We had gotten there about an hour earlier and walked around the lake a couple times - it had been drizzling too.

Here are the best shots from the night. Now that I look back at them, they didn't turn out too bad considering!

This next picture actually has major camera shake - I was laying on my back using a slow shutter speed. The man in this family actually works at the same place that I do. Wider angle and better tripod...could have been a masterpiece!

A Circus Atmosphere

2011-06-29T20:34:00.002-04:00

My husband and I were in Orlando today, so we stopped at our usual place for lunch while in town. This is the only place that we have found that can make an Italian Beef sandwich, among other things, like they do in Chicago. Why? Because the owner's are from Chicago and they get their food shipped from there. Yum! I'm talking about Italian Beefstro. You may remember me writing about it a couple of months ago.

ANYWAY, after lunch, we headed downtown. I wanted to check out that area since I'd never been there before. The first place I wanted to stop was the courthouse where they were having the Casey Anthony murder trial. I didn't choose that to gawk - it's a very sad case. I actually wanted to go to take pictures of the media and the circus around it. I was told by someone we know that I could get shots from the top floor of the parking garage and from the 8th floor inside the courthouse.

We first drove up to the top of the parking garage to get a birds eye view:

Ever hear of someone named Nancy Grace? Well, I hadn't. And people seemed to be surprised about that. See the largest, white tent below? The double-decker, air conditioned one? That's hers:

Here's a shot of people actually waiting in line, to try to get a ticket, to view the trial live. I'm glad there wasn't violence like they had the other day when a lady punched a guy:

My husband and I were about to go into the building. I was wondering if they'd allow me to bring my camera in. Amazingly, camera's were not on the list of things that couldn't be brought inside. We stood in line to go through the metal detectors. They actually had hard plastic dog bowls as containers to hold your loose items!

My husband got into the left line, and I got into the right. We knew that he would take a bit of time to get through since he had a metal knee brace on, and he had steel toed boots. I should be done first right? Nope. He went through, and I had to wait while they were checking out something on the x-ray viewer that belonged to the person in front of me. While they were waving him down with the wand, I yelled out - "Hey! I want to bring my bowl to the other line!" The guard in the other line smiled.

After I got scanned, I waited for our dog bowl to come through the conveyor. I had perched my camera on top of our pocket possessions, and wanted to make sure it was ok. As our stuff was coming out, I overheard the guard tell the other guard, "Be careful with this." And I'm like, "Yes, please be careful with it." - with a smile of course :)

At the information desk, I ask about the 8th floor. I "assume" that there is some sort of atrium inside that spans the whole height of the building. I thought I could get a great shot of the press there - again, assuming they'd all be in this area. The information people said that the trial is on the 23rd floor - that they don't know anything about the 8th floor. So we head to the 8th floor anyway to check it out for ourselves. Nada. Then, just to see if we'd be able to go that far with a major trial in session, we took the elevator to the 23rd floor. It was kind of weird. I'm not sure if it was the back hallway or what, but we saw just a small hall and a security table with a guard outside the courtroom door. No one else. I asked him if he knew the place that I was looking for. He said, no, that all he knew was that if we went to the 8th floor, there's a window that overlooks the press area outside. What I had envisioned, didn't exist. I had given it the old Girl Scout try.

A shot of the outside of the courthouse:

As we walked around downtown, it started POURING! This is a shot that I got of water rushing out of a drain. I think the slow shutter speed would have been better suited for a waterfall. This is one version.

This is version 2:

That's it. The rain wouldn't let up and my husband's shirt was SOAKED. I'm not sure why. We were sharing the same umbrella and I was dry as a bone. lol

If you like one of the above drain pictures better than the other, please let me know by commenting below! I'm curious which way people are leaning!

A Day in Lakeland

2011-06-18T18:06:00.002-04:00

For several weeks now, my mom and I had been planning on going to the Annie Leibovitz's WOMEN exhibit at the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland. We finally got around to going this morning. We also did lunch and visited a couple businesses along with doing a little window shopping on our way back to the car. We had a very nice time.

I brought my camera, I almost always bring my camera everywhere. I knew that I wouldn't be able to take pictures inside, but I was hoping to get a few pictures from their outdoor patio area. Maybe another day. I was very politely told (by the nice young man behind the counter) that he would hold on to my camera for me while I was inside. He did say that it would probably be ok to take a couple pictures on the patio, but besides the Leibovitz exhibit and the usual exhibits, there was a book signing going on. I didn't want to get in the way, so like I said, maybe another day.

The museum is always hopping with activities. They've got a Summer Art Camp for kids 5-13, they've got classes, workshops, and so much more. Be sure to check out their website!

They're located directly across from the main branch of the Lakeland Public Library, right near Lake Morton - the bird lake. Here are some shots of the outside of the museum:

We then drove over to Munn Park and......parked. I wanted to go to Arts on The Park to check out a few pictures that a friend had on display there. I also got the information that I need on how to display my own photography. That's my plan - one of these days!

Arts on The Park is a great place for local artists to display/sell their art work. They also hold classes and events:

We then walked to lunch. We went to Fresco's Bakery & Bistro. My mom had been here a couple times before, so she knew the food would be good. They serve breakfast and lunch, have blue plate specials, homemade soups, "hand crafted spuds", salads, custom sandwiches, quiche, homemade granola, custom made desserts, and they cater.

I had the Chicken Caeser Wrap and my mom had 1/2 a Veggie Panini and 1/2 a Stuffed Veggie Spud. When she got her lunch, she questioned the waitress - she had ordered a 1/2 spud and got a whole spud. The waitress said that their whole spud is actually 2 spuds put together. They definately have good sized servings of their food!

While we were eating, my mom was telling me about the historic walks that Lakeland now has once a month on Tuesday nights (8:30pm) near Lake Mirror. A guy dresses up in old Victorian clothing, walks around carrying an old oil lantern, and talks about the history of Lakeland - he even shows a slideshow. The walk lasts around an 1 hr 15 min. To reserve a spot, you can contact 863-834-2280. In the nicer months (Spring/Fall) they have walking tours on certain Saturday's during the day.

After lunch, we walked across the street to check out The General Store. It has been there since 2007. Who knew?! Not me! Even though we walk around town during the First Friday events - I had NEVER seen it. Tunnel Vision.

C-U-T-E! They've got two rocking chairs outside with a barrel in between them and a checkerboard on top of that with magazines. People are welcome to stop by and play a game of checkers. There's a screened door that bangs shut nice and loud. There's a cute window display where you might even see their CFO resting. Yes, their CFO (Chief Fuzzy Officer) - Sparky. They say she's Downtown's 4-legged therapist and security officer. Sparky has her own apron and a little dog house shaped door that leads from behind the counter to the front window.

You'll find books from local authors, Nehi soda, Smith Brother's cough drops, and old games. Items you would find in a general store/convenience store. Check out their website above to find out more about them and to read articles from Terisa, the owner.

This store has been in the Lakeland Ledger and Charley Belcher from Fox 13 News in Tampa did a story on them.

While window shopping, I saw this outside a store on a table:

It's a record store! When was the last time you've seen one of those? It's called Evolution and they've got live music:

My mom brought me back to my car and that was the end of our nice day in Lakeland. Their downtown is booming! Always nice to see. I get sad when I see other downtown area's that aren't thriving any longer. If you're ever in the area, make sure to stop by Lakeland's downtown. There is a lot to see and do!

Fun Reading to Dogs

2011-06-05T09:03:00.005-04:00

We are now volunteers at our local SPCA in Lakeland. When my son signed up to volunteer for community service hours, I noticed that there were more volunteer opportunities than just dog walking, etc. I already knew that I'd love to be one of their photographers, but another position piqued my interest too. It's called Paws to Read and it sounded right up my alley - I've coached soccer, chess club, and taught Sunday school in the past. I love to help kids and dogs.

Paws to Read is a wonderful program. The first Saturday of every month, SPCA volunteers bring a couple of the dogs to the library. Then, between the hours of 10:30am to 12:00pm, children read to the dogs and socialize with them. This is a great chance for children to not only interact with dogs, but it also reinforces reading in a fun way. Some of the dogs are even lucky enough to find their forever home! I'm not sure the outcome, but one couple that we saw yesterday as we were packing up, ended up at the SPCA when we got back there. They had their eye on Bubba, but were also looking at another dog.

Currently this program is only held at the Bruton Memorial Library in Plant City, and what a fantastic library it is! They are truly dedicated to the children and to the dogs. An upbeat woman named Carol runs the children's program. She has a jam-packed schedule of activities for kids during the summer. You can learn more about this library and their programs by clicking on the link.

You can learn more about the SPCA, see the animals that are up for adoption, learn about their programs, and the many volunteer positions that they have available by clicking on their link above.

The two dogs that we brought there yesterday received lots of attention from the kids. Check out some of the pictures below.

These kids are in front of a display board that showcases the program and some of the dogs that have been adopted by their having visited the library:

Some of the kids asking a volunteer questions while Bubba gets a belly rub:

Lilly has no problem around kids! Look how she's soaking up the love:

Carol from the library, a couple of SPCA volunteers and Lilly (the dog), listen to the story that this little girl is reading to them:

Who doesn't love doggie kisses? And I think they're all from Lilly!

Bubba says: "Give me a high five!":

Volunteers even get something out of this experience:

Bubba (He's a one year old Basenji/Japanese Spitz .):

Lilly (She is a one year old Retriever, Labrador/Border Collie mix.):

Bubba:

Lilly:

Bubba says: "Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. Then what happened?":

Now as of yesterday (6/4/11), Bubba and Lilly were both available for adoption. I'm not sure if they've since been adopted as you read this, but if you're interested in either of them - don't wait. Contact the SPCA right away! The SPCA of Lakeland has many, many wonderful dogs and cats that are looking for loving homes. Will your home be the next forever home for one of them?

On a last note, besides adoptions and volunteering, the SPCA gratefully accepts donations (monetary or other). They are a not-for-profit organization. If you see the ASPCA commercials on TV asking for donations THAT IS NOT THEM - they are in New York. Do not think that you are donating to our local shelter. Contact the Lakeland SPCA shelter directly or go to their link above.

I will be posting more pictures of pets that are available for adoption and more pictures from this monthly event in the future.

New Life

2011-05-24T21:20:00.006-04:00

I got a call from my mom the other day, telling me about a big swan's nest that's by Lake Morton in Lakeland, FL. She was telling me that I should go there and take a picture of it.

Now, yes, I'm a photographer. But I like to take pictures of things that inspires me. Not of something that inspires someone else. Trust me. I've got a whole lot of interests! Just go with me when I'm on a trip or when I'm out at some event. I rarely put my camera down. If I do, I usually pick it right back up. But I still hear from family members, "Oh, check that out! Take a picture of it." Sigh. My response, "You have a camera - you take a picture of it if it interests you."

Don't think I'm harsh. I do play along and take some shots I'm requested to. But after a while...that's the response they get. I played along this time too. Heck, I couldn't pass up a chance to see a swan sitting on her eggs in her nest! Also, I usually can't say no to taking pictures of the beautiful nature we have around us.

What amazes me is how much faith this swan has with the human race. She built her nest right next to the road!!

I swear this female Blue-winged Teal was guarding the swan and her nest. She never left the area. If I'm incorrect on the species of bird, please comment below this post - If I'm right, I'd like to know that too :)

Isn't she beautiful? What a good mommy!

You should never interfere with nature - especially when it's a mother sitting on her eggs, or when a mother is with her babies. I took a few pictures from a distance and then left her alone. On the way back to my car, I took a few more pictures.

I thought this was a funny one! This swan looks like it's at a fast food counter placing an order!

I had to take a second glance with this one! It looked like this goose was giving birth standing up! I know. I know. But that's what it looked like:

Now mommy looks like she's saying, "Oh, when will this kid shut up?" (It actually didn't make any sound):

Our Day In Fort Meade, FL

2011-05-15T18:43:00.012-04:00

All things considered, it was a beautiful day! It started out warm, but then a few on-and-off showers came through, and it wasn't too bad.

We were heading to a festival in Fort Meade, FL . It's a small town that can proudly boast they were the first town in Polk County. The Peace River Folk Festival is a new, annual event for the town. (Next year the dates are January 27-29, 2012 for the Battle of Bowlegs Creek Re-enactment, which will include the Peace River Folk Festival on Sat., Jan. 28th - it'll be right after the Alafia River Rendezvous in Homeland.) It's held for three days and we attended on the last one.

We arrived around 11:30am. It cost $5 to park - free entrance fee. There wasn't a whole heck of a lot of people here at this point. We first went out to the Heritage Hill part of the event where the Living History and Exhibits were. The booth for the Fort Meade Historical Society was filled with information and pictures from the old days. There was also a very interesting booth that had a display of old African instruments, games and masks - all carved from wood. The woman who ran this booth had a cute little boy helping her. He did a great job of explaining to me what the items were on the the table and demonstrating how the instruments worked.

We then headed toward a tent that was set-up:

I spoke to this woman for a few minutes. Her and her husband came all the way from the FL/AL border to attend this festival This year they even brought their two grandchildren with them. She had mentioned that there were a lot more exhibitors last year. That the other's were probably under the assumption that last year was the only year that Fort Meade was having it. It had been to celebrate the counties 150 years of existence. The only reason that they were there this year was because someone at the Alafia River Rendezvous had asked her if they'd be back in May for the Peace River Folk Festival. She thinks that is why there weren't that many vendors here this year. Many others probably assumed that last year was the only year. Since it's going to be an annual event, I'm sure that the word will get out at next year's Rendezvous, which is held down the road in January, and more exhibitors will be back.

We then stopped by this lean-to that belonged to an Indian. He knew a lot about the Indian history from this area:

And this tee pee was nearby:

This man was explaining the tools they used for cultivating the land:

This man carves all sorts of things out of wood. When I met him, he was carving a canoe. He said he just hands them out to people with a pair of small paddles that he makes for them. He told me that he'll see a child at a gas station, or somewhere, and he'll ask the parents if he can give them one. He just makes them for fun.:

This man was cooking up some good looking food!

They had a Ladies Tea where they gave out samples of all sorts of items that would have been served at a tea. They had cucumber sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, pineapple and cream cheese sandwiches and scones, In place of hot tea (it was so warm out), they served lemonade, water and a juice drink they made up. Everything was free - and good!

See this woman on the left? Look for her later at the Confederate camp. I'll point her out!

This woman is with her four month old Chihuahua and Daschund mix. She made the delicious scones and possibly even all of the food - but I'm not sure about that:

How sweet! You'll see some pictures of him later with our Great Dane:

They also had all sorts of wonderful live entertainment on the stage in the shelter area:

Rich Mistretta

Square Dance Caller

Orpheum Circuit Barbershop Quartet

It had rained a couple times very briefly. The kids were taking advantage of it:

Here are some pictures from the encampment area:

Remember the woman at the tea? Here she is again, looking a little different!

This young man in the picture below had come from out-of-town to write a school assignment on the event. One of the re-enactors invited him to join in. Notice the black smudge on his face? That's their initiation for first-timers:

One of the Confederate soldier's wife's:

Some pictures from the "Battle of Bowlegs Creek":

Up until now, I'd been taking pictures with my Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens. During the battle, I started talking to a photographer for the Lakeland Ledger and he let me try out his Canon 300mm lens while he was using another lens.

Nice toy (the lens)!

After the battle we listened to the barbershop quartet (picture displayed earlier in post) and then headed out. On our way out, we ran into this cute little guy and his mom again:

We had a great time at the festival. As I usually find, everyone we ran into was nice. I love meeting new people and enjoy learning about them.

We were hungry for an early dinner, so we headed in to town to see if there was any restaurant that was dog friendly (somewhere with outdoor seating since we had one of our dogs with us). We drove into the downtown area. It was around 3pm and it sadly looked deserted, even though a few places were still open.

We went to the main road and planned on heading home when we spotted a drive-in restaurant called John's Miner's Den Drive-in Restaurant. It's located at 17 N. Charleston Ave., Fort Meade, FL. Telephone# 863-285-9680. A nice down-home place. It's a perfect small town fit.

Like I said, we were here between 3p and 3:30p and they had business. By the time we left, they had lots of business and it was raining pretty good by then.

My husband got a pretty good sized burger w/fries:

I got the gyros (for those of you who pronounce it wrong, the 'g' and 's' are silent) w/fries:

My mom got the Southern Stir Fry which came with corn and she also got the salad bar. She was surprised that the food on the salad bar was so fresh and crisp for the time of the day that it was:

We all enjoyed our meals. We all agreed the fries were excellent. I usually only like McDonald's french fries, but these were really good. Good food. Good service.

I had noticed a fire department was right next to the restaurant. While I was waiting for our food to arrive, I ran over to take a picture of the local firemen. I can never resist honoring a bunch of courageous guys this way. I've taken pictures like this in other cities/states:

It turned out to be a beautiful day - it started out a little warm, but it got overcast and kept the temperatures down a bit. I'm glad I got a chance to go to Fort Meade to meet some of the great people who live there. I hope that they have much success in their future festivals.

IF I TOOK YOUR PICTURE AND GAVE YOU A CARD, AND YOU DO NOT SEE THE PICTURE HERE, PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTACT ME.

Music, 5K, Fireworks and Good Company

2011-05-08T12:32:00.004-04:00

Last night we attended the 2nd part of the day's Mayfaire event, Mayfaire Saturday Night/Festival of Arts & Athletes . "It's one of the largest and oldest outdoor festivals in Central Florida" and is held every Mother's Day weekend at Lake Mirror in Lakeland, FL. This part of the day is from 5pm-11pm.

They had live music, vendors, a 5K run which was enjoyed by young and old alike. All on beautiful Lake Mirror. It was topped off with a great display of fireworks, which, I forgot they were having. Not good for us, specifically one of our dogs. We had all four of our dogs with us and our German Shepherd is TERRIFIED of fireworks. He hopped on my sister-in-law's blanket and stayed by her until they were over.

Here are some pictures from the evening:

We found a nice grassy area under a tree to sit under. My brother spread out a blanket. We enjoyed fruit, cheese & crackers, salsa & dip, some played a board game, and we enjoyed conversations with people who stopped by to pet the dogs. We also were sitting close by one very important thing - and if you Keep Up with me, you'll know what I'm referring to - a port-a-potty!

I started to get "antsy" and wanted to take some pictures. I don't have a tripod yet that will support my camera and lens, so I was going all out hand-held in the dusk/night shots. Crazy! My settings were all off so that I could hold it as steady as possible on my knees as I sat on the ground. ISO and shutter speed were to high, aperture was off. All in all, I think they came out pretty decent and the shots of the fireworks had some pretty neat light streaks:

Celebrating Public Works Week

2011-05-08T10:06:00.003-04:00

This past First Friday celebration in Lakeland was dedicated to National Public Works Week (as it's annually celebrated at this event). When I first read that this was the theme for the month, I wasn't exceited to go. Public Works. How interesting. Hmmmmm.

Outstanding! Huge turnout! Fun! When we first arrived, we walked through the car show. The night was just starting, so there weren't that many there yet. We headed towards the displays that were set-up. There were many informative and interesting one's. They had one that was set-up like a gameshow where a utility worker would ask questions:

This woman talked about neighborhood stabilization:

There was one that displayed info on a smart meter and gave away free yellow bags:

They were giving out free snow cones. I really wanted one, but I had a dog leash in one hand and my camera in the other. I showed great restraint.

You could register for door prizes. All you had to do was visit each exhibit and get a piece of paper stamped, then turn it in for a drawing.

Here's a display that I'm passionate about! These are over-sized road signs. My question to them: "Why aren't they really this large on the roads? I'd have no problem seeing these and there would be less tickets given out to people who don't see a sign. There's no way they'd miss these!" - HOLD THE PRESSES! My husband is telling me that this is the normal size. I'm going to go stand next to one today! If I'm wrong, I'll always admit it.

There was a display of different size garbage cans. If you're a homeowner who has your garbage collection fee on a monthly bill, the smaller the can, the cheaper your cost. If you usually use a really large can and don't recycle, see what you can put in a recycling bin or two (or more if needed). Maybe you'd be able to use a smaller one and save some money.

This guy was handing out free frisbee's at his display:

There were also food vendors, a bounce house, and some art/jewelry vendors, and street musicians. There were representatives from Central Florida Speach and Hearing, Peace River, Campfire USA, and other organizations.

Lakeland now has a roller derby team - the Lakeland Derby Dames. A cute little boy was at this event passing out flyers and trying to recruit members - me included. I thought he was teasing, but they are recruiting for more skaters. I said that I'm a little too old, even though I grew up skating at our local rink in my hometown, I'd probably hurt myself. It turns out there's actually a skater older than me. More power to her!

I didn't know anything about them so I checked out their very informative website. Not only are they looking for recruits, they're also looking for sponsors.

Some of the skaters took a moment to pose for a picture:

I could never be the operator of this machine. The way it was moving and jerking - I'd "lose my lunch" and anything else that might come up!

Not only did they have large vehicles there to view...:

...but they also had a little kids area where they could play in the sand and/or pretend they were driving a bulldozer or steam roller :

They were also giving out free "hard hats" to the little one's. They take their play so seriously. A friend was telling me a cute story about her son. He was telling other kids (I can't remember her exact words) "you have to have a hard hat to drive this". He was very serious. : )

More pictures from the evening:

Now, there's one other item I must mention that I'm passionate about - bathrooms! Albiet even a port-a-potty. Where were they?? One of the vendors made a funny joke when I asked her where they were. She said, "Ask the city, they're all here." I thought that was pretty funny. I then did ask two of the guys. My answer was, "Go to Harry's!" Harry's is a local restaurant that was right across the street. I'm sure they'd love that!

On our way out we hit the car show. It was dusk becoming dark very quickly. I had a request to photograph my husband's favorite old car in the whole wide world - the 1968 Dodge Charger:

I'm so glad I went and didn't let the theme of the event stop me from going. Themes are deceiving :) It was a beautiful evening. There was lots of great information and great entertainment. We met lots of nice people - LOTS of dog lovers too! We had the "boys" (K-9) with us this month. Let's just say, that with all the attention they received, they slept very well.

Chicago Italian Beef Sandwiches In Central Florida!

2011-04-30T09:43:00.002-04:00

Several days ago, my husband and I spent the day in Orlando. When it came time for lunch, we were discussing what our options were. Unfortunately, we decided on a fast food place as always. Me, I like to try new places. Preferably one's that are not part of a chain - I like to give mom and pop places my business. We were headed towards the restaurant when a guy we were with mentioned that there was a good sandwich place down the block. We took a leap of faith.

We went to a place called Italian Beefstro. It's been open for about seven or eight months. It's located literally a block away from the back of the old Amway Arena where the Orlando Magic used to play before they built the new one (which is also right off of I-4). A couple from Chicago opened it up with a lot of TLC.

OMG! Heaven! We have found another restaurant that serves food just as good as they do in Chicago (and that's very rare down here). They get all their meat shipped from there - you can't get any more authentic than that. The guy we were with got an Italnia Beef Mini Sandwich (which I guess is his usual), my husband got a Combo (Itlanian Beef and Sausage), and I got a Chili Cheese Dog (100% Vienna Beef baby!). I didn't have time to take pictures of our food, but below you can see some food in some of the pictures.

I got to talking with Rich for quite a while. What a nice guy! We talked about the old days in Chicago, the great places to eat there, and he told me about the nice little touches he put into the remodeling of the building which is now the Italian Beefstro.

Here is a picture of their outdoor patio. This is the side of the building. The parking lot is to the right and the entrance and street are on the left. Rich is/has planting a plant which he hopes will grow tall and hang over the patio like a trellis.

Here's Bunny (one of the owner's) making some sandwiches (which can also be bought as mini's):

Here's one of the nice little touches that they put in. There are hooks underneath the bar so that women can hang their purses (instead of hanging them on the back of their chairs or placing them on the floor):

One of the owner's (Rich) mentioned that the salad's are large enough for two people:

Check this out! They even put TV's in for people who are by themselves or have children:

The owners, Rich and Bunny:

Notice the hooks on the ends of the tables? Those are for purses too:

I couldn't resist taking this picture of the back of the old Amway Arena which was only a block away. It was a gorgeous day:

When you're in Orlando, go check out the Italian Beefstro. They're located at 705 W. Colonial Drive in Orlando. Their phone # is 407-601-7444. Directions: 2 Lights West of I-4 on Colonial Drive (Hwy 50). They're open Monday-Friday from 11am-6pm and Saturday's 11am-5pm. They also offer catering and stay open late for special events. They also sell Italian Beef by the pound.

If you get a chance to go there, tell them that you heard about them from me!

Day 6 - My Trip to Mexico City and It's Surrounding AreasTraffic / Pictures From the Air / Parking Woes

2011-04-17T15:44:00.007-04:00

It's best to read about my trip in order so you don't miss part of the "story". If you haven't read the previous posts, go to the sidebar on the right and in the archive section, start at Day 1 in April of 2011.

Sniff. Sniff. I gave our hostess a heads up that I'd probably get teary-eyed the day I had to leave. She must think I'm nuts!

We're saying goodbye to our host and hostess. Our host will lead us to the main road which will take us to the airport. He tells us that our departure terminal is number two (Hey! I see a pattern here. Just two blocks. Just two minutes.....).

Here are some shots of traffic at 7am on the way to the airport. And this isn't even rush hour yet!

There was one shot that I truly regret missing. I think it would have been pretty cool. I noticed on our first night, when we were trying to find our destination, that the elevated bus stops looked neat - how people waiting would lean out to see if a bus was coming. I could have caught the shot while sitting at a traffic light. It would have looked great at night. Every day after, I had my camera ready, but we'd never miss the light.

We get to the airport and thankfully my brother parks. They plan on walking in with us. I'm not afraid for my safety, but we are in another country where not everyone speaks English. I was a little nervous.

We look all over Terminal 2 for something that says American Airlines. We don't see any. My sister-in-law asks one of the security guards. He says we need to be at Terminal 1. Great start to the day. Security is guarding the entrance to the train area that would take us between the two terminals. My sister-in-law is asking them if they could accompany us to the other terminal. Panic is rising in me. I keep telling her to let them know that we'd be lost without her help, and that we need her to go with us. My brother and my mom keep saying that if they can't, they can't. To basically shush. I'm wishing I would have taken my panic attack pill (the one which I take to get me on the white flying rocket) a little sooner.

My view is, if you actually take the time to explain things to people, most will understand where you're coming from. You don't know unless you try. I can't stand people who just assume that no is no without trying. They think asking one time is enough. Sometimes explanations are needed and people are human.

In the end, they're able to take the train with us to the other terminal. They just need ID to get back through. We were going to have breakfast with them, but by now, we're running a little late and need to hurry through customs. We say good-bye to my brother and sister-in-law at the check-in area. They're staying for one more week. We panic for a brief minute when we think my mom might have to go to immigration to fill out a form that she may have thrown out last night while she was packing. I'm so thankful that she off-handedly mentioned to me that she was getting rid of her paperwork from the flight out to Mexico City. I told her I never throw anything away until after the trip. Luckily it worked out and the woman behind the counter had the form - she just didn't make that clear.

We're at the x-ray area now. We were never questioned about anything in our carry-on's - let me rephrase - I was never questioned about anything in my carry-on's at any point in the security process when we flew over. This time the woman was pointing to my backpack. It had 14 pounds of camera equipment in it. I pretended I was holding a camera and pointed to the bag trying to explain what's in it. She was gesturing that she'd like to look in it. No problem. I mean, it was pretty heavy. What the heck could someone be carrying that was that heavy?! She's satisfied and clears me. My mom gets searched because of her half empty shampoo and conditioner bottles. She gets cleared to go. The only part that I couldn't believe, was that not one person there spoke English.

We get to the gate only a 1/2 hour before our boarding time. We hadn't had breakfast, so we look around for something quick to eat. There was not much to choose from that I would consider breakfast food. I choose an ice cream sugar cone. My mom chooses a croissant sandwich. We go to pay. Here's where I wish I had my interpreter that I had for the past week. We're told it was such-and-such pesos. I had it, but didn't want to break the paper bills up. I'm bringing these home as a souvenir for my husband. I asked if they took American money. Yes they do. I also am missing my currency exchange rate person (my brother used his I Phone app) - even though I lovingly told him that I was happy to be leaving him. We were getting on each other's nerves a little that morning. He's a person who will arrive 5 minutes after movie previews start. I am the kind of person who likes to get there early enough to see the previews. I couldn't light a fire fast enough under his butt this morning. He actually got out of bed five minutes before we needed to leave for the airport - correction - five minutes before we left for the airport. We had planned on leaving a few minutes prior.

For some reason, my carry-on suitcase didn't fit in the overhead compartments as it had when we flew out there. I had to take my lap top out each time and stored it in the pocket in the seat in front of me. I was able to lift my big load of bricks (carry-on) with the help of nice male passengers on the flight. When I had to struggle and take the lap top out of my suitcase, I said to the guy behind me, "Here. You hold this." and the guy in front of me helped push the bag in the storage area.

Here are some shots from the air over Mexico City. Goodbye Mexico. I'll miss you and my new family...

Over Mexico City:

We arrive at TIA and get out of the terminal with no issues. We walk out to the parking garage. My mom has a piece of paper with writing on it that says where my brother parked. Don't forget, he and my mom had to leave to go get her passport. So we originally park in the Long Term Parking garage. My brother and mom come back and park in Short Term Parking. We spend at least one hour searching for the car in the wrong garage. I'm trying to phone Mexico to ask my brother where the heck he parked, but my cell phone provider says they can't help me get service to call there. I call the airport personnel from the "help" phone in the garage and they confirm that we're in the wrong garage. We get to the Short Term Parking, find the car, and the rest is history.

I'm so glad that I didn't chicken out about going on this trip. I was a bit freaked out before I left the states because of all the things that people had been saying to me.

If we lead sheltered lives, we'll never grow. I'm not saying travel like you're driving to the next town over. Although even then, you lock your car doors as a precaution, right? Why do you do that? Because there's a CHANCE that a bad person might steal something from your car, steal your car, or steal you. Bad things happen all over the world, even in your own backyard (figuratively speaking).

The U.S. State Department has wonderful information on their website about traveling abroad. Check it out if you plan on traveling. They keep it updated with warnings of area's that should be avoided or kept a close eye on. They even have a form that you can fill out online so that they know when you're traveling, with who, and your destination in case of an emergency. They also offer traveling tips.

The net is a wonderful tool. I was concerned about my camera gear. I got TONS of great tips from other photographer's who travel.

I (we) had a fantastic time on this trip. I have many specials memories and met some very nice people whom I hope to see again. Mexico is a beautiful country which has great food, it's filled with a lot of history and has some (a lot) of beautiful architecture.

So what's next for me? I'm not sure, but hopefully I'll have a fun adventure in the near future. My passport expires in 2016. Hopefully I'll be able to use it again before the expiration date! Whether I do something in this city, state, country, or another country, you can be sure that I'll share it with here.

Thanks for "Keeping up with me". Be safe. Have fun. Get out and travel!

Day 5 - My Trip to Mexico City and it's Surrounding AreasCathedral of Mexico / La Condesa / Neve Gelado / La Casa de los Azulejos - The House of Tiles

2011-04-16T15:40:00.020-04:00

It's best to read about my trip in order so you don't miss part of the "story". If you haven't read the previous posts, go to the sidebar on the right and in the archive section, start at Day 1 in April of 2011.

Tomorrow we leave :( but today is another busy day! While we're getting ready, our hostess is in the kitchen cutting up more fresh fruit. Today she's cutting a papaya. It's a feminine form of the fruit because of the seeds. My brother just HAD to have me take a picture of it - even if I'm half asleep and all:

When we're ready, we start our day by going to have breakfast at my sister-in-law's sister's apartment (the one we went to last night). Her sister and brother-in-law live in Texas, and the brother-in-law wanted to make everyone an American breakfast to thank them for letting them stay with them while they were in Mexico.

On the way there, we stopped at a flower market so that my mom could by the hostess some flowers.

This picture shows an action shot of a woman watering the flowers:

When we get to the apartment, I check my email really fast to see if my family got my messages. But first another little background info on me. When I'm on vacation, I could care less if I have contact with people back home. I could live without the internet and phone service. I don't understand people who go on vacation and spend the whole time calling their friend's or sending messages, etc. Well, let's just say, the rest of the family doesn't think like me (with exception to my brother). Back to me checking for a message from my husband. He did get back to me and let's just say he was EXTREMELY worried by the tone of his message. I know that because when he's worried, he gets angry. That's how he's been for 23 years. He doesn't know how to show it like normal people. Now I'm upset. More on this later.

We all sit down to a fabulous breakfast. Here's a picture of it which consists of eggs over-easy, fried potatoes (which were supposed to be hashbrowns, but he couldn't find a grater - the person's whose apartment we were at was at work), french toast, fresh fruit, juice, coffee and bacon. Yum! He even went out of his way to look for American ketchup - he said it wasn't easy.

We visit for a while and make plans to meet up for lunch in downtown Mexico City. We plan to take a double-decker bus tour of the downtown area, but first I want them to keep a promise they made to me the night before. On Day 2 we had seen a really neat sight of colorful houses built up onto the hillside. I wanted a picture of it. They promised me to try the next best thing. Not far from where we had breakfast, there was an area that is in a valley that has colorful houses. We were told by "Just Two Blocks" that it was just 2 minutes away (Get it? LOL).

I mention this as we walk outside. My sister-in-law say's no, it's too far. Over night she got amnesia. I get a little emotional. This happens on every trip we go on. Just like in the UK. I didn't ask for much. I just wanted to go to Harrod's to say that I was there. But they said we didn't have time. This trip, I just wanted to take pictures of the houses on the mountain. Now I'm being told it's too far even though the night before we were told it was just 2 minutes away. I wouldn't say I got hysterical, but I did exchange a few words with my brother saying I never matter. My emotions were compounded because of my husband's message.

We work things out - their amnesia clears up a little. Two minutes later, we're at the valley. I took pictures for less than five minutes. Carol (I) wasn't asking for that much! I'm never that unreasonable. I just want my requests to matter. As a joke my brother said we'd take a trip sometime that would just be places that I want to go to. He said it would be thousands of dollars because we'd have to go to many places, but we'd hit Harrods, the houses on the mountain, etc. Hardy, har, har, har.

When we pull up and get out of the car, this poor little thing immediately lies in the shade of the car:

Here are a few pictures from the valley:

I was told that the homes on the right are the poorer homes. You can tell because they aren't painted.

We head back to our hostess's condo to get our stuff together for a day out. I notice my mom is on the phone - turns out she used their phone to call my sister so she wouldn't worry. I'm not sure why, we're to return home the next day. But woa! My mom holds the phone away from her ear and passes a message on that my sister relayed to her, "On behalf of myself and the Dunnigan's, piss off!" Hmmm. I guess she's upset too. I get my mom to hang up and then call my husband. After about two minutes of telling him that we were totally fine, having a blast, reminding him that we had no internet or phone (I know - why was I using their phone now?), we had a very nice couple more minutes of conversation where he say's, "We're never going to be apart again. We go everywhere together from now on." I feel better. My day is looking happy again. We head out for the day.

We walk a few blocks. This is the Rain God:

My mom, sister-in-law and hostess are intending to go to a museum of anthropology and my brother and I to walk around and take pictures. Turns out the museum is closed on Monday's. We get on the double-decker bus and drive around for a while seeing the sights. These were taken from the bus:

This is the girl who was sitting in front of me looking at a map:

My brother said, "Look up." These are ear phones on a wire hanging over the street - they're from the tour bus:

Everything is very clean wherever we go. At each stop on the route, this woman is cleaning the bus:

This is their equivalent to our State Department:

It was weird seeing goth. He was selling newspapers:

I caught lots of romance in Mexico!

When we get off, it's lunch time. We head for a beautiful restaurante that we photograhped a few days before. This is the La Casa de lo Azulejos (The House of Tiles) that we have lunch at. It's actually a chain, but in all different types of buildings. This is the most historic building.

This room is more like a diner:

This is under the main staircase:

Here are a couple of pictures I took from the inside looking out:

And an interior shot where we have four tables set up to hold us and many members of my sister-in-law's family:

Here's what my brother and I ate:

I had tacos dorados

My brother had enchiladas suizas

After lunch, we walk around some more, and we're joined by the family that lives in Texas. This is Mexico City's gold district:

When we're on our walk, I glance off to a street on the right. I see Chinese writing. I ask if that's a China Town. It is! Who would have thunk it! China Town in Mexico! I know, New York has one, many places have one. It just threw me off. I would have loved to check it out, but we just had too much of the real Mexico to see.

I kind of feel like I'm in Key West with all these characters around:

Too much going on! One minute I'm taking a picture of a beautiful building, the next I turn around and see this, but I don't want to miss the moment, so I'm stuck with the settings that I used for the building:

My sister-in-law gets a phone call that they have found the last two suitcases and that they'll be delivering them today! We now visit the Cathedral of Mexico.

Where you do your penance:

They had a bunch of these little chapels, each dedicated to a patron saint:

We walk outside to meet up with the rest of the family that we left behind at the restaurante, and I snap a few more shots off of the area:

Policia Federal

My husband would love the fact that the car's are American made and not imported from Japan:

We separate from the larger part of the family. Now it's my brother, sister-in-law, mom, hostess, me, and the couple from Texas. We pile into two taxi's and head to another market (still looking for souvenirs). I finally did get the boys some t-shirts. There were a few kids playing around. They were so cute!

And another couple:

The motorcycles make their own lanes:

We jump into another taxi and head to the neighborhood of La Condesa which is my sister-in-law's favorite neighborhood. We're heading to Neve Gelato to have some ice cream:

Bad, bad picture, but I just wanted to show you how they have service attendant's at their gas stations. I was told that you're unable to pump your own gas ...

We pile on a small bus and head to an area where we could split up. The sister and brother-in-law from Texas are going to a movie and our hostess is walking them to it, and we get into another taxi and head back to the condo for our last night.
When we arrive - yea! The last two suitcases are waiting downstairs for us.

Tomorrow is Day 6 and the day we travel back home. I'll post a few pictures and tell you about our woe's when we get back to our airport.

Day 4 - Part II - My Trip to Mexico City and It's Surrounding Areas Coyoacan / Museo Frida Kahlo / Museo Casa de León Trotsky/ La Vienet / Hippie Market / Cathedral of Coyoacan

2011-04-14T19:45:00.010-04:00

It's best to read about my trip in order so you don't miss part of the "story". If you haven't read the previous posts, go to the sidebar on the right and in the archive section, start at Day 1 in April of 2011.

Sorry about having to seperate it, but four hours is my limit when I put a post together! This part of the day, I'm going to admit to one of my few flaws. Keep reading!

So we left San Ángel and headed to the Coyoacan neighborhood to go to a couple of museums. But first, on our drive we saw this guy:

I'm not the perv! I think it was my mom who pointed him out. Not exactly sure what he's doing.

This place is across the street from the museum we went to next:

We went to Museo Frida Kahlo. This is the museum of a very famous Mexican artist. Now, I'm not the kinda girl who really is interested in museum's unless I know my subject. I'm sorry to say, I knew nothing about Frida. I'll admit there's probably a lot about the U.S. that I don't know. I suck at history! It goes in one ear and out the other. My eyes glaze over. The information goes over my head. Just ask my family! For a VERY brief moment, I thought my dad had been in the Civil War!

Here are the only pictures I took at the museum:

Here is our tour guide/host explaining a little about Frida:

You first walk through an art exhibit of her work and some photograph's that her photographer father had taken. The parts of the museum that interested me most were the movie that was in Spanish (which I couldn't understand, but got the gist of) and walking through her home as it was when she was alive.

This was a very nice museum. They had facts posted in Spanish and in English. Here are two interesting links you can go to read more about Frida: http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1379-the-frida-kahlo-museum and http://gomexico.about.com/od/sights/p/casa_azul.htm.

Now, another thing you need to know about me if you don't already - I throw myself into learning about things when I want to. I kind of get obsessed. When we got back home to the states, I rented the movie Frida on netflix and watched it. Now I'm ready to go back to the museum because I know more about her. When we had gone to the UK in 2005, I had come home from that trip and watched everything I could find on my DVR box about the area and Henry the VIII. I watched that stuff for MONTHS.

When we left Frida's Museum, we walked a few blocks to the Leon Trotsky Museum. Here's a a few pictures from our walk:

This is a house that we saw on the walk. It points the direction to the Frida museum:

A man driving his truck around selling fruits and vegetables. He uses a megaphone:

We get to Museo Casa de León Trotsky, I'm even more bored than I was at Frida's - BUT THAT'S JUST ME! I know nothing of the man. He's political (even worse in my book as far as history goes). There are a bunch of black and white pictures hanging on the walls. They've got Spanish and English translations next to them. When we get outside on the grounds, it's pretty. My interest is a little more piqued. You can go through the rooms he and his family lived in - they're decorated as they had been when he was hiding out from....? Read about it and let me know! :) Anywho, it mentions Lenin and Stalin at the museum also. And not John Lennon as I had asked my brother. I guess there's more than one! LOL

Here are some pictures I took in the courtyard:

But my mind tends to wander when history is involved...

My sister-in-law's eyelashes.

Here are two links that talk about the Trotsky museum: http://www.trotskyana.net/Leon_Trotsky/The_Trotsky_Museum/thetrotskymuseum.html and http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/720-the-leon-trotsky-museum-murder-and-marxism-in-mexico-city . We take a few more pictures and leave the museum for...dinner! Here are some pictures from our walk to the restaurante. And we're told it's just "two blocks"!

This restaurante was also a contender in the choice of places where my brother and sister-in-law would have their wedding reception. It's a very nice place, but I'm glad they ended up where they did. This would have been a photographer's nightmare. It's very dark upstairs. The place is called La Vienet:

This is a cute little room up front. It's got four tables in it:

This is something I saw painted on a wall of a building as we were driving by:

This whole afternoon we've stayed in Coyoacan. This is the downtown area:

They have parking areas like this to save space. My sister-in-law said she's had her car parked here before:

Know what this is?

A gum tree. My sister-in-law leaned against it for a picture, then my mom said to her, "Oh my God it's gum!":

We're at a "hippie market" as our hostess calls it. I was trying to find souvenirs for the boys. Leather bracelet, t-shirt with dirty stuff on it, but in Spanish so no one knows what it says/means, etc. (all my ideas - I didn't necessarily see a t-shirt like that - and I didn't). These guys are making jewelry:

I asked this guy if something he was selling was a bong. He said yes, and would I like to buy it. I told him no, but would he pose with it in a picture for me:

I'm sorry I got my sister-in-law into a conversation with this guy. I was just curious how much the mocassins cost. Then she couldn't get out of a conversation:

We went to the Cathedral of Coyoacan next. It was right next door:

I asked them if I could take their picture. The guy in the middle said it would be fair if I gave them a coin. I gave them two. You can see their friends off to the right. After I took the picture, they ran over and jumped on their backs. You can already see them starting running:

Mind you, this is Part II of our Day 4! We're not done yet. What a jam packed day! We leave here and head to one of my sister-in-law's other sister's places. Her parents are still in town and they are leaving tomorrow, so we go for a visit. There's about 12 of us there. Can I say this again? Nice, nice, nice people!

I have one more picture to share from this day. Look at it and figure out if you can see what I noticed:

Isn't Cheerios a General Mills product? Or are they the same company? One of my cousin's who works for GM just confirmed they're owned by the same company. It's GM for American brands, and Nestle for brand's outside of the country.

Oh! I almost forgot! I mentioned how we had no cell service or internet service. Well, I jumped on the internet really quick when we got to her sister's apartment. I sent my husband and son's an email and then jumped on facbook and sent the messages saying that I sent them an email. When I lookd at my husband's facebook page, there was a status update that said, "My wife went to Mexico with her family. Haven't heard from her in a few days. Starting to worry." More on that on Day 5.

Oh - and still missing two suitcases!

Day 5 may not be published tomorrow. I may actually go to a movie with my family! I'm forgetting what they look like. There's only two days left of our visit and Day 6 is our travel day, so it won't be very long. Hope you stick around to see the end! I should have it all done by Sunday night.j

UPDATE - 05/01/11 - I have gotten the documentary, "Trotsky", from Netflix. Now I know a little bit more about him too!

Day 4 - Part I - My Trip to Mexico City and It's Surrounding AreasSan Angel's / Templo de San Jacinto / Chucho El Roto / Convent of El Carmen Museum / Chimalistac / Plaza San Jacinto

2011-04-13T20:07:00.007-04:00

It's best to read about my trip in order so you don't miss part of the "story". If you haven't read the previous posts, go to the sidebar on the right and in the archive section, start at Day 1 in April of 2011.

Ah. Day 4. Our busiest day! This one will be mostly pictures. Since the wedding was yesterday, and our host and hostess slept at the mother of our host (keeping up?) we knew it would be a big day, so we had cereal and fresh fruit for breakfast.

Our first stop was a beautiful neighborhood of Mexico City, San Ángel. This is actually a link that will tell you more about the area.

Does this look familiar to anyone? Just a little smaller?

There were actually a few American chains that I saw. Kinda bummed me out. When I'm visiting another area, I like to forget all about where I'm from and just want to see local sights/resteraunts. I also saw a McDonald's, Burger King, and KFC. They actually have delivery men for KFC that deliver on bicycles! The bikes have huge baskets which is really a box with the KFC logo on each side. I wanted to take a picture - it was pretty cool - but my brother wouldn't drive around the block. We even ordered pizza from Pizza Hut our last night.

They were making ___ (I'll fill in later) on the sidewalk and our host just had to stop to buy one. He let us sample it. Mmmmmm. Got a little kick to it though! The other people were also buying them.

We stopped at Templo de San Jacinto. When we first walked onto the property, we saw these nuns selling items to raise money for charity.

What did I have to do? Go to the bathroom. Now, at the pyramids I paid a woman in the bathroom for folding a paper towel and handing it to me after I washed my hands, but this bathroom you actually had to pay to use.

There was a man inside the gate handing out folded paper towels and folded strips of toilet paper.

I actually did point to my camera asking if these women didn't mind if I took a picture of them. This first woman was nodding with a smile. She told the other's. I "assumed" they all thought it was alright. Then, when I had the pictures on my computer screen, I noticed that all their faces were turned or covered except the one woman. They're outside the church waiting for mass to be out. They have small bowls to collect money. Our host said that they have no head of the house to take care of them, so they have to get money on their own. They basically panhandle.

My sister-in-law couldn't pass up this lady making ______ (will fill in later) with green corn meal.

Mexico City is very dog friendly. These two guys were sitting at a restaurante with their dog. The owner took the time from his meal to stand up and stood beside me to get the dog to look. He even had the dog stand on it's hind legs for me.

We ate at a restaurant across the street.

Like I said, so many things to take pictures of! I was taking one picture and I almost missed this dog! I wish I would have got him coming instead of going.

We had lunch at Chucho El Roto. When we had walked by here in the morning, we saw a Mariachi playing to the patrons:

This is what my brother had. I'm not sure what it was. I think tacos.

I had sopes and they were sooooo good:

This was my sister-in-law's appetizer - Pancita (cow's stomach). You can always count me in to try something new at least once. The taste and consistency was like clams.

Saturday art market in Plaza San Jacinto:

Now we're at the Convent of El Carmen Museum which was a convent for Carmelite nuns:

This is actually at the upper left corner of a doorway:

I was told this is basically one of the prison "cells" that nuns had to stay in when they did something wrong:

The hall way of "cells". There are numbers above every door:

Mummies:

You're unable to use flash with photography in the convent, but a guard told me and our hostess that we were unable to take pictures in this room. Well everyone else didn't get the message, so I took pictures too. I did ask someone in our group if I'd go to h-e-double toothpicks for it:

"Between 1917 and 1918, troops ransacked the convent, looking for treasure. What they found in the crypt area instead were a number of well-preserved, naturally-occurring mummies. The museum has 12 mummies on display in the crypt area, however, many are in deteriorating condition because they are not in hermetically-sealed cases."*

We're now heading to the beautiful Chimalistac which is a small neigboourhood in San Ángel:

When we pulled up to this beautiful park in this equally beautiful neighborhood, we heard vicious dogs. It turns out this policeman guards the neighborhood with his three dogs:

What a beautiful pose!

It's not the end of our day, but we're heading out of San Ángel. I'll see you tomorrow for the 2nd part of our day 4.

p.s. Still missing two suitcases.

*taken from Wikipedia