Stores that carry "FIRE" season clothing

Melody, that is really nice! I received the pattern you sent me, but I just haven't been able to get started. Life gets in the way sometimes!

I like how it seems you could add extra rows if you wanted to for a larger size, or take away rows if you wanted.

I started the pattern, but realized I was using the wrong type/size yarn and abandoned the project. I realized it was going to look like an afghan if I continued. Melody, what type yarn did you use and what size hook? --Debbie

Debbie, I used Vanna Glamour yarn & a 1.5mm hook. Any cotton yarn will work as well (thinner). Baby yarn would probably work as well. Regular 4ply will be too thick. Melody

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Thanks, Melody! Yep, I was using 4-ply. It was pretty hideous.

This is the Vanna yarn. The green was done in cotton. I'm finishing up a silver one right now. Melody

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So nice to read all of the different discussions going on here :) I wish I could type as quickly as I can speak! I would have much more to say than I do if only my fingers would fly like my talking does:eek:

I've been a bit quiet for a few weeks as I decided to stop working. Not really retiring but, not working right now. I worked because I enjoyed the time out of the house and extra money but, after 7 1/2 years there, the office politics took over and outweighed the benefits of the job :( It was a little bit hard leaving as I loved what I did but, enough is enough and off I went. I have a long list of things I want to accomplish over the next few months, we'll see how it goes.

I've enjoyed reading about the packing differences and Pam's woes on her last trip and the knitting, wait, is it knitting or crocheting that Melody does? And, the travel tips getting passed on. Such fun discussions!

Jobs, crocheting [emoji6]

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Jobs, crocheting [emoji6]

 

 

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Thanks, Melody:D

My crazy family for DH bday & Easter . Melody

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Fun photos, Melody. Looks like you all had fun!

We always do Kim!

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Kim, I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner. Life and Easter took over my life and I've just now resurfaced. LOL

It's been a long while since office politics reared its ugly head around me, but I remember it well. Sorry you experienced it. The way it shaping up, I may escape office politics for the remainder of my working career. I sure hope so!

HELP!! I'm struggling with an upcoming work fashion conundrum. I have a mandatory two-day conference to attend. I have the daytime stuff worked out. Wear Eileen Fisher; sit quietly and keep my mouth shut.

The nighttime event has been labeled as: social event from 6-11 p.m. at (Distinguished Historic) Mansion, overlooking (other historical National Register buildings). Attire is casual and all are encouraged to wear dancing shoes! Don’t miss out on the great (60s-70s rock and roll) music provided by (associate office boss and his band).

Now, I know they don't really, really mean casual. This time of year, casual to me is t-shirt, jean capris and flips. Can I assume if I wear a sundress, pack a sweater in case the air-con is freezing where guys normally wear suits, and wear cute shoes, I will be ok? You know--what I'd wear to the ship's dining room any smart casual night? I'm actually thinking about the lime green dress and bright navy open cardigan that I wore the last night of our cruise in January. I don't want be the only one in a dress if everyone else IS actually wearing jeans, but I don't want to show up looking like a slob compared to others. What would you do?

Deb, your sundress would be perfect. The old saying dress for the job you want not the one you have was the adage I always subscribed to

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I'm with Melody. No matter how casual it is still a work event and unless you're the president of the company I'd rather be more dressed up than average than the opposite. Your look sounds fun but still pulled together, and better yet -- good for dancing. :)

Me three. It is still definitely a work related event. The sun dress is the way to go.

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Based on the context..."casual" dress for the social event in the middle of a work conference indicates to me that the expectation is that people will have time to and will change out of their work/conference appropriate clothing from earlier in the day. Casual...the expectation being that when you change, you don't have to wear "cocktail" attire or anything resembling formal or semi-formal dress.

It's casual, but still in the context of a work event...which translates to me as something along the lines of "work-party casual". KWIM? Because they say "dancing" not lake front BBQ. So "evening work-party casual" which I concur, probably looks a lot like a "smart casual" evening on a cruise ship.

I checked out the pictures again. I think your lime dress with the blue cardigan would be perfect. That dress has a nice vibe to it...adaptable to evening as well as brunch...so a very good choice.

I am beyond thrilled for the quick replies. Thanks, y'all! I thought I was right, but beginning to stress over the "what ifs" that cloud my judgment at times. Now I can move on to bigger and better things--like worrying that I won't manage to keep my head down and my mouth shut. Such a struggle!

Great choice, Debbie! I'm with the rest of the crowd :)

I am back and in a super chatty mood.

So, Debbie and Kim.... you are in for such a treat! The Navigator's itinerary is absolutely outstanding. Here are a few tips:

1. Labadee. Have you been there? This is a private island for Royal Caribbean and is done nicely. Don't stop at the entrance to the whole thing, named Dragon's Cove or something like that. There are 4 different places to eat here and lots and lots of loungers. A lot of the water entrance is very rocky and these rocks are quite sharp. They can be hazardous so water shoes are nice to have. But, if you enter the area and start walking to the right.... for a little bit of a way... you'll encounter the arts & crafts area (and, yes, they can be pretty aggressive in their sales attempts)...you'll see an Artisan Market, etc. Anyway, continue on through this area and you'll come to another part of the island with a sandy beach entry to the water, very protected, very pretty, very pleasant.

2. Nassau, Bahamas. You really need to have researched and planned for this stop. There's some nice beaches, etc., but "winging it" here just isn't advisable because you'll waste so much time. We got taken to Cable Beach, which is a nice enough beach... but we got dropped off at an area that was really quite far from anything. The beach that is within walking distance of the ship is extremely crowded and not as nice as the beaches you can go to by taxi. In a nutshell, just look and plan a bit for this port.

3. Aruba and Curacao are fabulous and easy, peasy to just walk out to the pier and grab a waiting taxi to take you to wherever. The most popular beach on Curacao is Mambo and that's really easy and affordable. We went to Bay Beach which is quite a bit further; turns out it is a country club type of development and it's pretty nice. The loungers have seen better days and there's some bird "activity" on them, if you catch my drift. The water entry is, again, rocky and water shoes would be nice to have. We went to Nikki Beach on Aruba (might be renamed Reflections but the locals still know it as Nikki). The taxi drivers don't want to take you there because it's so darn close and only gets them $10 for the taxi, but it's worth the bit of argument. They want to take you to a "nicer" beach, but I sure didn't find anything to complain about with this one. When you arrive you can rent a lounger for $8, an umbrella for $8... or you can rent a covered lounger that seats two for $25. There's a restaurant there, and the restroom facilities are extremely clean and nice. The water entry is gently sloping sand and the water is shallow for quite a distance from the shore. I was able to get really far into the water and was only at waist depth. The music is fun; I was dancing in the ocean! Great spot!

4. Bonaire. Again, this is an island where you need to plan ahead. What I wanted to do... which is rent the golf carts... I couldn't because I didn't request one with enough notice so they were sold out. We ended up walking around a bit, with a stop at the open air flea market/farmer's market area. They had nice offerings of some of the sea salt and aloe lotions, etc. It was a nice, relaxing day... BUT... I wasn't able to find out much about the flamingoes. There is a resort area called Sorobon Beach Resort. We were told to go there by a couple that had been on the cruise right before ours and they said it was FANTASTIC. The flamingoes were so tame that they ate out of their hand. We thought we were going but found out that you had to make advance reservations. I'm not quite certain about these details because I wasn't involved with the planning, but from what I can gather this is the best flamingo possibility on the island, Debbie. The only other information I found out is that the northern route of the island has the most probability for actually seeing flamingoes. That's the best I can do with that information! Sorry!

I'll be back with my thoughts about my reduced luggage weight and wardrobe possibilities.

I'm editing because I need to explain about the golf carts in case this seems like fun to you. Even though they say that the cart seats 4... that is 3 adults and 1 child... it does NOT accommodate 4 adults... so you'd have to rent two carts if you both wanted to do that. FYI.

Thanks for the nice info and tips, Pam. Glad you had a good time! The itinerary seems like a great one--something for everyone and just a little different than the usual Caribbean itinerary.

We have never been to Labadee. From photos it looks lovely and like a great place to spend a lazy beach day :) I think that's what we have planned there.

You stopped in Nassau? We don't have that on our itinerary and I'm glad. I've been there once before and we went to Atlantis for the day. It was nice as my sister and I were traveling with our Mom who used a wheelchair. But, I really don't like the Bahamas :(

I have been to Curacao 3 times and always dive there. We are going to dive there again on this cruise and Debbie and DH are going to snorkel/lounge while we're diving. After that, I think we'll wander around town. It's a fun town and I love the colors there!

I have been to Aruba twice before also. There I "think" we're going to Renaissance Island for the day. It has resident flamingos and is a really nice place to spend the day. if that doesn't work, I "think" we'll go to Palm or Eagle beach, I can't remember which one is further down and more quiet. the city bus is a great way to get around to the beach. I think we paid $2 RT/person last time.

Bonaire is a new one for us. We are going to dive there also. Debbie and DH are going to rent a golf cart and self drive and search for flamingos :)

What did you think of the ship, staff, food, etc.? It will be the largest ship my DH and I have been on. I hope we aren't overwhelmed.

Photos??? :evilsmile: So nice to see you posting!

OK. I messed up with the itinerary.

What I did is a B2B; the first leg was only 5 nights and it went to Nassau and Cozumel. The second leg was the 9 nights going to Labadee and the ABC islands.

The Navigator of the Seas is undergoing some type of refurbishment, I think. Our first leg we were starboard side on Deck 9, and our room was beautiful and looked really refreshed; i.e., the balcony didn't have any rust spots or chipped paint. When we moved our stateroom for the second leg, we went port side on Deck 9, and it was like we had moved in time. There were lots of stains on the sofa, and the balcony was in sore need of some attention. Our room attendants were both wonderful so it wasn't that one attendant just didn't pay attention to his duties. We encountered a "musty" smell and finally felt like we had to call attention to it. Our attendant said that smells were the worst thing for them because they got so used to the smells that they really couldn't detect them readily. I know how that can be with the nasal passages adapting, etc. He did get maintenance involved and they did a light shampoo of the carpet in the room which made a huge difference to us. Just FYI on that one. I don't know how the other decks are in relation to their condition vis-a-vis starboard vs port, but I can tell you about Deck 9!

The ship is really, really nice. Yes, the promenade area is super crowded but we were sailing at a Spring Break time (obviously) and there were a number of kids onboard. Not a problem, just an increase in elevator wait times, etc. Leave it to a teenager to help me out with the elevators! He told me that if I just stood there with my finger pressed on the call button that the elevator would come faster. Darn it... I think he was right! Every time I was alone in the foyer area, I pressed the elevator button and held it and the elevator came pretty quickly! Otherwise, it could be a 5-minute wait. Several times the elevator overload buzzer sounded. I've never had that happen before. I can't believe that we exceeded 1500kg, but the buzzer sure thought we had.

Are you doing Traditional or My Time Dining? You know it's hard for me to evaluate food because of the soy allergy and having to deal with chefs regarding that special need. It was something of an issue for me this particular cruise mainly because I kept getting different information than my friend who was traveling with me. She has a more severe allergic reaction to soy, as well as to processed oils like canola, etc. She had some real issues on board and I ended up being her advocate at Guest Relations. That's a long story and worthy of telling over a glass of wine, believe me.

I think Royal Caribbean staff are super good. I have no complaints.

There were 2 formal nights. The first one was the usual suspect, the first sea day. The second one was the day after Bonaire, so the first sea day on that run back to Miami.

Disembarkation was a zoo. Not the fault of the cruise line. There were only 2 customs officers dealing with processing the load of passengers. People who disembarked early apparently didn't have the issues of those trying to disembark around 8:30am to 9:00am. There were some people who were anxious about getting to a 2:00pm flight from Miami! It was stupid on many levels. We didn't care about getting off and weren't in any hurry, but it was the typical "get your butt off this ship!" attitude around 10:15am. Cause there were a lot of Zumba people lined up and waiting to board, of course. Zumba charter was coming on after we all got off.

They closed down the disembarking gangway because they wanted to use it for embarkation. And they had us all leave by the dining room area, opening up a different part of the ship. They just crowded us all into the area before customs and we were stopped there and had to wait in that area for almost 30 minutes. The port authority held us up from getting onto the escalator and then only allowed about 30 people at a time. Like I said, a zoo. Ultimately I think we were only about an hour and a half longer than I thought we would be, but it totally messed with my plans. We were going to grab a rental car and go to South Beach and do a bit of shopping, grab lunch, and head to Ft Lauderdale for our 5:40pm flight. We ended up just having enough time to get the rental car, drive to Ft Lauderdale for a quick lunch, and go on to the airport. No fun!

The good thing was that the Cafe Promenade stayed open until 9:00am on the morning of departure so I had enough caffeine to keep me from being really, really annoyed! But, as always, YMMV.

Just had to share. This was worth every penny on Labadee. Great sun cover, and a true R&R feel.

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Good info, Pam! I WISH we had a balcony on this cruise but, alas it's an inside. But, better inside than landside:D We will be on deck 9 and inside starboard-hopefully nice cabins.

We have Early Traditional dining. The Early Seating is too early and the Late Seating is too late but, I don't think I would like My Time Dining? I like the idea of the same table, same waiter and if we are with other diners at a large table, we have always been lucky to have good tablemates. No food issues with DH or myself--just curb the appetite :(

We don't have our flights yet but, would suspect they will be out of FLL due to us having more voucher credit with SWA.

She had some real issues on board and I ended up being her advocate at Guest Relations. That's a long story and worthy of telling over a glass of wine, believe me.

Let's have that glass of wine (or bottle!). I would love that!!!

Thanks again for the comments and suggestions, appreciated.

Oooohhhh, Laurie, that sun bed looks so inviting! Were they expensive? With the money we are paying to dive in 2 ports and Renaissance Island, not sure I want to spend much at Labadee:(

Laurie will have to answer the question about the sun beds. I do know that there were a couple of "less fancy" sun beds that would accommodate two people for $45. And those floating rafts laying against the side of the sun beds are $19 each (but my friend charmed her way into a price of 2 for 1).

Kim, have you ever used Uber? We used Uber for the first time on this last vacation. We stayed the night before in Miami at the Marriott Key Biscayne Bay. Beautiful. I asked the hotel valet what we could expect from the cost of a taxi to the port. He said to expect from $20 to $25, which I thought was a bit much to be honest. We decided to try Uber and the cost for a shared ride was $3.25! Rock on, Uber!

On the flight home (SWA), I sat with a couple of young ladies from Phoenix who used Uber on disembarkation day from Miami to FLL. They said the cost of the ride was $30 that they split. So, I would recommend you look into Uber, if you feel so inclined.

We got a shared shuttle from FLL to the Miami hotel and it was $58. The SAS shuttle doesn't run from FLL to Miami if the flight pickup is after 3:00pm. FYI. It cost us $53 + gas to rent a car from Alamo from MIA with a drop-off at FLL. There is a free shuttle to MIA from the pier if you have an Alamo, National, or Enterprise reservation (that I know of... may be others). There's a lot of discussion on the Royal Caribbean area of cruise critic about the terminal crowding problem and disembarkation woes for the Navigator. Again, FYI, for your flight times.

Those were $125.00 And it came with an attendant. It was such a blissful day. I can't think of a better way to describe it. Just wonderful!!!!

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