New Years Eve 2016

This year, for what may honestly be the first time this century, Lisa and I headed out alone for New Years Eve. We signed up to do another painting at Splash Studio to ring in 2017. 

Look how purty we are!

The project started out with a yellow disc.

Then, a white ring around the disc. 

Then teal around that, and a bunch of blending. 

Starting at the corners, you being to fill in the background with dark blue arcs. 

Being veterans, Lisa knew to paint the sides of the frame. 

You draw in the moon. 

And shade it properly. 

The trees .  . . oh, don't get me started. I found the trees a pain in the butt. LOL

2017 was nearing . . . 

Once we added snowflakes to the painting, it was done. 

We each signed our respective halves. 

Then midnight came, and we kissed, had champagne, and danced before heading home. 

Happy New Year Everyone!

Bullitt

This was the first time I've seen the 1968 classic, and tbh I wouldn't rank it as highly as its reputation demands. It's a realistic police procedural, for sure, but that works against it, as you spend a fifth of the time wondering why everyone did everything so half-a**ed in '68- and I for one didn't need to spend a full thirty seconds watching an antique fax machine churn out a single document. "The Chase" though - my, oh my, "the chase" lives up to its billing.

Masterminds

 Pleasant and funny at times. - with Lisa

Whoo-hoo!

Smiley just beat Pokemon Moon!

My Apologies

A lot of people, myself included, have posted about how Debbie Reynolds died of a broken heart, unable to live without her daughter. Putting aside the fact that she was 84 and the stress of the week, not a "broken heart," killed her, I need to apologize to her son. 

He lost his sister and his Mom on back to back days.and in reply the internet basically says he was so irrelevant his life wasn't worth squat to his Mom. 

Well done interwebs, we done screwed up again.

Debbie Reynolds

Shocking news; she must really have loved her daughter. Carrie's death broke her heart. RIP

My Thoughts - Profanity

I don't mind obscenity and vulgarity, but I won't tolerate profanity. If that's confusing, put it this way: "F you" and "Oh s--t" are cool with me, taking the name of the Lord in vain, or even just saying "OMG," [the full version, not the abbreviation] is not.

Congrats!

 Congratulations to to my sister LuLu for getting into Milwaukee High School of the Arts! - YaYa

Very True

Dean Martin was better looking than, and had a superior voice to, Frank Sinatra. Discuss.

My Thoughts

I'm against legally mandated compensation for the wrongfully imprisoned. If there is evidence of the system suppressing or manufacturing evidence then a lawsuit will bring them their reward. But if they are arrested, tried, and convicted in what was an honest and fair effort to enact justice, what (legal) wrong was done to them? None at all.

Christmas Music

From Thanksgiving on I only listen to Christmas music on the radio, but I've grown dissatisfied with 95.7 and their repetitious secular classics. So I've switched to 93.3. Many of the same tunes, of course, but a fair number of classic carols too.

Criminal

This atrociously mistitled film is a great spy thriller with a sci-fi twist. Kevin Costner was excellent and I highly recommend it.

Szarlotka

I made szarlotka (Polish apple cake) from scratch tonight. It didn't turn out as pretty as the picture from the recipe I've posted here, but it was darn tasty.

Green Room

A touring band becomes locked in a Neo-Nazi club after witnessing a crime. Highly recommended.

Pirate Night!

Pirate Night on day three.

The Nutcracker and Dinner at the Water Street Brewery

Yesterday LuLu and her pointe class went to lunch at the Water Street Brewery (they had reservations at Bucca, but a pipe burst there) then had a backstage tour at The Milwaukee Ballet before watching the Nutcracker. What a great opportunity!

 

Moana

On day four Lisa took Smiley and Junie to see this on the ship. Junie loved it, Smiley thought they introduced too many characters and lost focus.

Some Vacation Pics on the Disney Dream

Disney Dream 12/12-12/16

Good Taste

In the last week Junie has had duck confit, leg of lamb, and mussels; Smiley had duck breast, crème brule and sushi; YaYa had one of my escargot; and I had lamb shank (I haven't had lamb in maybe thirty years). I'm glad the kids taste buds don't start and end with chicken nuggets.

Junie and the Disney Selfies

Junie made a habit of taking a selfie with the Disney characters she met on the cruise.

Our Stateroom Door

The door to one of our staterooms. Lisa had the decoration designed for us. 

Now and Then

The first photo (with the white shirt) is from Cruise #2, in 2014, and YaYa asked to recreate it this time around. (click on the pictures to see how close we got). It was *much* harder than it looks, because the bright Bahamian sun was in our face and we couldn't see the camera screen at all LOL.

An Iconic Photo

The picture with the 3 year old Olivia is from our first cruise, back in 2006. In honor of its tenth anniversary, we recreated the picture on Day Four of this trip :)