A Picture That Makes Me Smile: Drunken Squirrel

This past weekend I was researching new places to go camping this summer, and for some reason, this photo popped into my mind:

(Squirrel tasting some Mike's Hard Pink Lemonade residue, taken by me at Clear Lake, CA, in 2009)

With a little zoom you can see that his tongue is really in there!

It's no "Photo-Crashing Squirrel," but it still makes me smile, and makes me look forward to another camping season!

Is anyone else itching for summer to start already?

OMFG!!!

I got a camera, I got a camera, I got a camera, hey hey hey HEY!

Last night after work, I innocently changed out of my work clothes, and was carrying a sweatshirt out to go sit on the couch. I wasn't really paying attention, and so when I went to sit down, I almost squished a box that was hiding under our throw blanket.

And inside the box was this beauty, along with some other goodies, like an extra battery, carrying case, etc!


My husband = awesome!

As soon as I got the battery charged enough to use, I had to try it out on the cats. And the results were SO much better than my last attempt at cat photography (although getting them to sit still, or not be in awkward mid-yawn or licking poses is still a challenge).

Here's the best of my 15 minute session with the cats, on the automatic, no flash setting.


I would love to continue learning how to use the manual settings (I'm finding the camera basics tutorials that Mrs. Bee has been posting to be really useful!), but instead I'm headed out to have a productive day, to have lunch with my parents and help them move some things.

But I can't wait to play around some more. This is going to make our upcoming vacations even more fun, now that I have a good camera to play with!

Does anyone have any good online resources for someone who is new to DSLRs?

P.S. If you're only reading this in Google Reader, be sure to check out my new blog design, done by How Joyful Design Studio (aka Mrs. Poodle on Weddingbee). She did an awesome job!

Port Wine Is Great On Chicken and Pasta Too

We're not big port drinkers, so last night when I realized that we still had a whole lot of expensive port left over from our fancy Valentine's dinner, I scrapped my original dinner plans, and made more of the amazing port syrup to drizzle over broiled chicken.

After prepping the syrup,I still had about a half a bottle of port left, so as a way to use more of it up, I added some to a pasta sauce, and it turned out really good! It gave it a slightly sweet, richer flavor, and was pretty dang good, if I do say so myself.

Here's what I did for the Port Pasta Sauce (I made this up as I went along, so the amounts are approximate):

• Saute 1/4th of chopped onion and 3 chopped garlic cloves in olive oil.
• Add 1 can of fire roasted diced tomatoes to the sauteed onion and garlic, heat for 2-3 mins on medium.
• Add about 1/4th can of chicken broth, about 2-3 tablespoons of EVOO, about 2-3 tablespoons of heavy cream (to thicken the sauce), salt, pepper, basil, and parsley to taste, cook for another 2-3 mins.
• Add 1/4th cup of port wine, cook yet another 2-3 mins, and by now your pasta should be about ready, so combine the sauce with the pasta and enjoy!

Now if only I could stop being inspired to cook things with so many dang carbs in them, I might actually be successful at dieting someday. Delicious, evil, carbs....

Have you tried cooking with wine before?

Busy, Busy, Busy!

You know when you have a whole bunch of ideas for blog posts, but you're too busy to actually get around to writing them and uploading photos for them?

Yeah, that's me right now!

I've got a ton of posts in draft form right now, but they're all incomplete at the moment. I thought I'd have a chance to get caught up with yesterday off of work, but instead I spent the day running a ton of errands and cleaning and organizing our kitchen cabinets. My husband never seems to put things back in the right place, so I had a lot of crawling back and forth between our under-the-counter cabinets to do!

We've been super busy continuing on with our mission to de-clutter our house, and we've set a goal for ourselves. By the second week of March, our house needs to be clutter-free. We're scheduling another special garbage pick up for then, so we need to be ready. We've already done one pick up, for a pile of junk that was 8ft wide x 4ft deep x 4ft high (the max they'll pick up), and I think in the next few weeks we'll have that much stuff to get rid of again. And that's on top of all the clothes and shoes we already gave away!

But it feels good. And I think I want to make this a habit. Every year I want us to go through our house and get rid of things we're not using, or are only saving out of guilt (sorry, Christmas gifts from 5 years ago that are still in their package).

In other news, I've been hard at work planning lots of upcoming travel. You know by now how much I love travel planning, but because I'm so thorough (and love researching every possible option and making detailed itineraries that include fun photos to look at), it's pretty time consuming. Coming up, we have a trip to Florida in March with my in-laws (which we're cutting short to spend a few days on a detour further north up the east coast). Then we'll be headed back to our detour spot sometime either in early or late April. And oh yeah, I've also spent a huge amount of time planning and organizing a trip for about 30 people to New Orleans in mid-April. Not to mention that our 1st wedding anniversary is coming up in early June, so I need to figure out where we're going for that. And finally, I need to start researching and booking our summer and early fall camping trips, and put together our summer calendar of all the stuff we'll be doing every weekend.

Boy, that sounds exhausting! But I do like doing things and going places, and I love well planned out trips, so I know it's worth all of the work.

And finally, my husband and I are working on a huge home project, but I probably won't be ready to share it for another month, once it's closer to being ready. We went to Home Depot this last weekend for a bunch of supplies, and are already making good headway. But wish us luck, because I anticipate lots of wanting-to-pull-out-our-hair before it's done!

All of this is to say, posting is probably going to be a little lighter than usual for the next few busy weeks. But I do have plans for another giveaway in March, my blog design is getting an overhaul soon, and I hope to carve out some time to finish up my draft blog posts in the not-t00-distant future. I definitely need to find time to do my Vlog of The Month in the next week too. And I promise, I'm still reading everyone's blogs, even if I'm not commenting as much as usual. When time is tight, Google Reader is my friend for getting my blog fixes, but not for easily commenting. Love you all though, and when I get a little caught up, I promise to be back and spreading my comment love to you--I know just how much getting comments means to all of us bloggers! :)

And since I can't end a post without a photo, here is my youngest cat, Rascal, when he was about 10 weeks old. I don't think I've ever shared this picture before, but can't you see why I just had to keep him?

(He's sitting on a ~6ft high x 7ft wide kitty jungle gym that we built about 6 years ago. It's seen better days though, and soon we'll be scrapping the old jungle gym and building them a better one. Yet another project!)

And for good measure here's a pic my other two, all crazy-eyed from the flash.

Does life ever get in the way of your blogging?

My Dream Vacation Itinerary: South Africa, Part 2

Catch up on part 1 here! We've already checked out Cape Town, watched the penguins at Simon's Town, cage dived with great white sharks, saw whales from our hotel, driven along one of the most beautiful stretches in South Africa, the Garden Route, and stayed overnight right next to hippos.

Itinerary Day 8

Wake up before dawn, and observe a meerkat family at their burrow as they wake up (Just like Meerkat Manor! I'm not sure if that show is even still on, because I had to stop watching after Flower died trying to save her babies from that snake. Too sad. But to see them interact in real life would be so amazing!).

{Source}

{Source}

Tour Cango Wildlife Ranch, which is kind of touristy and cheesy, but you can cage dive with crocodilesthere. (Yes, I am going to be OD’ing on cage diving, but I can’t help it—it all sounds so awesome! I will definitely be bringing my waterproof camera case!)

{Source}

Drive to Victoria Bay, check into The Waves B&B, and relax at the nearby beach in the late afternoon.

{Source}

{Source}

Cost: $120 for the meerkat observation, $120 for entrance to Cango Ranch and croc dive, $170.90 lodging for 1 night at The Waves B&B

Itinerary Day 10

In case the meerkat encounter was canceled due to weather the previous day, do it this day instead.

But most likely spend the day driving to Plettenberg Bay, and relax after checking into the UH-mazing Tesla Treetop Lodge (based on reviews, suite 7 is the for best monkey viewing). This lodge is crazy-expensive, but so freakin’ cool that it is worth it (and hey, this is my dream vacation, splurges are almost required)! You get your own private luxury tree house, connected by treetop paths to the main lodge, with a private plunge pool on your deck, and you can watch monkeys swing through the trees right out your window. Seriously, their website is worth a look, if only to drool over the accommodations!

{Source for All Tesla Pictures}

Cost: $2,847.60 for 3 nights lodging at Tesla (includes breakfast)

Itinerary Day 11

Do the Animal Day at The Crags, at the foothills of the OuTeniqua Mountains. From the website:

“Get off to an early start at 7.30am and walk with the Cheetahs of Tenikwa through indigenous forest and Cape Floral Fynbos.
Join a guided safari through the world's first multi-species free-roaming primate sanctuary at Monkeyland Primate Sanctuary.
Thereafter work up an appetite as you wander through the world's largest free-flight aviary at Birds of Eden.
Luncheon under the vines at The Crags very own Vineyard, Bramon Wine Estate.
End off the day with the Elephant experience, as you join them for an Elephant Brushdown at The Crags Elephant Sanctuary.”

{Source}

{Source}

{Source}

{Source}

{Source}

Um, yes please! You can’t fit many more animal encounters into one day than that! And I love that all of these places promote the conservation of animals and animal education.

Cost: $215.60 for a day of animal encounters

Itinerary Day 12

Relax at our luxury hotel in the morning, then go on an afternoon cruise on the Keurbooms River.

{Source for both River Cruise Pictures}

Cost: $31.56 for the river cruise

Itinerary Day 13

Drive to Port Elizabeth, stopping at Seaview Lion Park on the way.

{Source for both Seaview Lion Pictures}

Check into the Courtyard Port Elizabeth (nothing special, but cheap and in a good location), and check out downtown Port Elizabeth and the Oceanarium.

{Source}

{Source}

Cost: $13.14 entrance to Seaview Lion Park, $166.51 lodging for 1 night at the Courtyard, $10.50 entrance to the Oceanarium

This is the end of the driving portion of the trip, and so far, this is the route we would have driven, all on the left side of the road:

{Source is Google Maps Screen Shot}

Itinerary Day 14

Fly out in the early morning from Port Elizabeth to Kruger National Park, the best place in South Africa to go on safari. Check in in time for an evening safari ride at Lion Sand’s Ivory Lodge. This is the ultimate in luxury and privacy safari lodging, with only 6 private villas, each with it's own plunge pool. It’s the only reserve in the Sabi Sands area with a full time ecologist, and you’re guaranteed never more than 6 people on your safaris

{Source for All Ivory Lodge Pictures}

Cost: TBD flight to Kruger, $7,410 for 3 nights lodging at the Ivory Lodge (includes all meals and safaris)

Itinerary Days 15 and 16

Sample days from the Ivory Lodge’s website:
5:30 am, Morning Game Drive: Guests are waking up for their morning game drive.
7:45 am, Coffee & tea: Guests are enjoying coffee and tea in the bush.
9:00 am, Breakfast: Guests are returning from their game drive for a hearty breakfast.
11:00 am, Activities: Guests are enjoying an interpretive bush walk.
13:00 pm, Lunch: Lunch is served on the wooden viewing deck.
14:30 pm, Rest & Relaxation: Enjoy a massage on the deck of your suite or relax in your private pool.
16:00 pm, Evening Game Drive: Guests are enjoying high tea before evening game drive.
17:30 pm, Sundowners: Guests are sipping cocktails in the bush and watching the sun set.
20:00 pm, Dinner: The fires are lit in the boma for dinner under the African stars.

{Source for All Safari Pictures}

Itinerary Day 17 and 18

Check out of the Ivory Lodge, fly home to California.

Cost: TBD flight home

Now, I do have an additional 3 days planned, with flying to Livingstone, Zambia, and staying by Victoria Falls (one of the 7 wonders of the world), with a helicopter ride over the falls, a lion encounter right across the border in Zimbabwe, a sunset cruise on the river, swimming at devil’s falls (see pic below, you can swim right at the top of Victoria Falls during certain times of the year!), and visiting Gwembe Crocodile Park. However, this little side trip adds about $7k to the total trip cost, so I’ve given it up for now. :(

{Source}

Additional costs, not included in the itinerary:

Food and drinks for 15 days (since the safari days are all inclusive, and breakfast is included in some of our lodging). I budgeted $150 per day, since I haven't researched restaurants yet, but we aren't foodies, and we usually only eat 2 meals a day on vacations. Cost: $2250

Misc expenses, checked bags, rental car gas, etc. Cost: $800

Souvenirs. Cost: $200

Grand Total, excluding airfare: $17,397.98

Yes, I know that is a LOT to spend on a trip. Yes, I know I could easily cut down the cost by staying at cheaper hotels. Yes, I know I probably over-estimated the cost of food and misc expenses, since this is what I usually estimate for trips, and it's always over.

But no, I don't want to change anything! This is my dream vacation we're talking about here. And I don't want compromise on my dreams. So it will probably be quite a while before we can take this trip. But in the meantime, I'm really glad I put together these two posts, because now I can easily go back to look at all the pretty pictures, and keep dreaming about someday, someday when we can take this trip of a lifetime....

My Dream Vacation Itinerary: South Africa, Part 1

I am obsessed with travel planning. Even though I still haven’t managed to travel all that much yet (I need more time + money!). But I think I must have been a travel agent in a past life, because there’s not much that makes me happier than scouring the internet to find the most unique, most adventure-filled, awesome vacation locations and activities.

And the holy grail of all vacations on my list? South Africa! I love, love, love seeing and interacting with animals, and it’s been a dream of mine since I was a little kid to go cage diving with great white sharks, so naturally, South Africa is my “I can die happy once I go” dream vacation.

So when Hannah forwarded me this amazingly inexpensive vacation deal to SA (hello, $2,500 per person for 10 days!?!), I was SOOOO tempted (I believe my actual response to Hannah was "holy freakin' crap!"). Unfortunately, the deal is only valid for travel in March and April, and we’ve already got too much going on this spring, so we can’t take advantage of it.

But it got me thinking, maybe we can do my dream vacation for less these days. Last spring was the last time I’d priced out a trip to SA, and the cost of flights was just crazy. Over $4k per person just in airfare, bringing the total cost of the trip to well over $20k. But if there are deals out there these days that can bring the price of flights down, maybe I don’t have to sacrifice the other stuff I want to do?

So, to document the amazing, animal-viewing-maximizing trip I’ve planned for my husband and I, I decided I’d share my dream trip itinerary with you all. And since this is the product of hours and hours of research, reading other people’s trip reports and asking lots of questions on travel forums, maybe this will be useful to any of you if you decide to visit South Africa (just please take me with you if you do!).

I won't go into every detail I've gathered, because that would just be too much, so I'll share just a daily overview of the itinerary. The companies and hotels I'm linking to are the best, based on my research, and all prices I’m listing were from last spring, and calculated using Google’s currency converter from the South African Rand to US Dollars. I’m just going to hope prices haven’t changed much since then, other than airfare.

Itinerary Day 1

We would start our vacation in late October, and into early November. That's spring time in South Africa, but the water is still cold enough for there to be lots of great white sharks, and it's not too rainy then. On day 1 we fly all day to Cape Town (depending on your layovers, the flight time from California is between 26-29 hours at minimum).

{Source: Google Maps screen shot, edited by me}

Cost: TBD for airfare, and I'll account for the cost of food and other misc expenses at the end

Itinerary Day 2

Arrive in Cape Town late in the afternoon, rent a car (this trip is a partial road trip!), check in at Auberge du Cap, which is located in Camp’s Bay, about 10 minutes from Cape Town’s city center, but with gorgeous views and a little safer of a location than in the heart of downtown).

{Source}

{Source}

Cost: $967.53 for renting a car for 12 days (including taxes, fees and insurance) and $473.30 for 2 nights lodging at Auberge du Cap (includes breakfast)

Itinerary Day 3

Tour Robben Island, where many South Africans, including Nelson Mandela, were imprisoned for decades during the apartheid era.

{Source}

{Source}

Take a cable car to the top of Table Mountain, hike around to see the amazing views and the wildlife.

{Source}

{Source}

{Source}

Explore the city of Cape Town.

{Source}

{Source}

{Source}

Cost: $52.60 for the Robben Island tour, $42 for Table Mountain

Itinerary Day 4

Check out of Auberge du Cap. Take a guided 2 hour hike into the local Baboon’s natural environment on the Cape Peninsula, to view them in their natural habitat and learn about their conservation.

{Source}

Drive to the other side of the cape and check out Simon’s Town and the penguins at Boulder Beach.

{Source}

{Source}

Check into Boulders Beach Lodge, which is nothing fancy, but is right on Boulder Beach, and where penguins wander the courtyards of the hotel.

{Source}

Cost: $77.58 for Baboon hike, $402.32 for 2 nights lodging at Boulders Beach Lodge

Itinerary Day 5

Visit and go hiking around Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope (neither of which is the furthest southern point of Africa, although many believe them to be).

{Source}

{Source}

Spend the afternoon hanging out at Boulders Beach watching the penguins.

{Source}

Cost: food and gas, which I’ll account for at the end of the itinerary

Itinerary Day 6

Drive to Gansbaai early in the morning and do a snorkel cage dive with great white sharks. Eeeeee! I can’t wait for this day, I’ve wanted to do this since I was in elementary school. I think it’s because my dad let me watch Jaws when I was about 4 years old, and to this day I still get excited when Shark Week is on the Discovery channel.

{Source for all Shark Pictures}

After the shark dive, drive to Hermanus and spend the afternoon whale watching from the Windsor Hotel.

{Source for All Windsor Pictures}

Cost: $354.98 for the great white cage diving, $163 lodging for 1 night at the Windsor Hotel

Itinerary Day 7

Option 1 – Drive out in the early morning to Oudtshoorn via the Garden Route, stopping at viewpoints along the way.

Check in to Bufflesdrift, just outside Oudtshoorn (based on my research, the #9 superior tent next to hippo waterhole is the best air conditioned tent for animal viewing), and do a sunset Elephant Walk Safari.

{Source for All Buffelsdrift Pictures}

Option 2 – In case the weather on day 6 is too rough to do the shark cage dive, we could leave Hermanus later and do the shark dive this day instead, skipping the Elephant Walk.

Cost: (assuming option 1) $75 for the Elephant Walk, $433.86 for 1 night lodging at Bufflesdrift


To be continued tomorrow with part 2!