low key but lovely!

A friend said this morning that she missed my blog. My reply was that i didn't want to bore people with.....I went shopping, and i got my hair cut...cause we've had a quiet couple of week ends. But my friend assured me she wouldn't be bored! It has been a quiet week end by the Ivans usual standards....resting up and conserving energy for all the fun stuff we have planned for April and May! yesterday we headed in to Burton to do all the usual Saturday stuff like the food shopping. I did however have a walk down to the library as i had decided to sign up. Its a fair sized library but i was disappointed by the selection of books. The travel section was a joke. Firstly  it took forever to find it, as it was under a section labelled Genealogy  The selection of books left a lot to be desired. The same can be said of the Teen Fiction section downstairs. Alas, i came away empty handed. We did have a cappuccino in their cafe and that was lovely. 

Today we headed over to the big Dobbies garden centre in Mancetter, we haven't been there in a while. They seemed to have moved a lot of stuff around, and there seemed to be more fun stuff to look at. Paul bought me an unusual Wish Pearl necklace. You prise open the clam (is that what it is?) to find your pearl. Mine is a lovely cream colour - for happiness and emotional calm. Pearls are my birth stone, so its even more special to me. Paul's popped it into the necklace for me, its lovely!! We had a lovely time wandering around the garden centre, we even went outside to look at the plants, sheds, conservatories etc.They have a selection of rabbits, birds and fish too. The zebra finches were so pretty, and the bunnies were cute too. 

Its been a very pleasant weekend, pretty low key but i got to spend it with Paul, plus I've had a chance to read more of Anna dressed in Blood, write to friends and watch TV too. So what more could i ask for!!

Feb 21st - Parting is such sweet sorrow!!

Alas Feb 20th was the last day of our holiday, and I woke up with a heavy heart. We woke quite early and got ourselves up and ready. The cases were all packed, and we had time to sit on the balcony and enjoy the sunshine and beautiful view. Robin had warned us that the housekeeping team were pretty keen and sure enough they were knocking on the door around 8.30am!! Luckily I was prepared, I answered the door and told the housekeeper we would be checking out at 9.30am. However, she seemed reluctant to leave. I half suspected she might wait at the door – just in case we vacated the room earlier than expected! We were collect later on by one of the bell hops (love that term) and driven back to reception to drop our bags off. Then the rest of the day was ours, well till 2.30pm anyway!! So we decided to head to Downtown Disney and spend our last few hours there. It was a lovely day, so warm and sunny! We took the boat from the Old Key West to Downtown Disney  Our boat docked opposite Circe de Soleil so from there we walked all the way to the Earl of Sandwich for breakfast. That was so good!! And then we went for a last walk around. I found another lovely Alice themed necklace in Something Silver which I was delighted with. There is a lot of building work going on, and major changes are afoot at the Downtown Area, which by 2016 will no longer be downtown Disney.

At lunch time we decided to try somewhere new, and headed to the House of Blues. I had been wanting to eat there for a while. So glad we did as it was fun, the food was lovely and the atmosphere was good. Our server was a lovely lady, who was fab at her job and certainly knew how to handle idiot customers! After lunch it was sadly time to take the boat back to Old Key West, where we collected our suitcases and waited for our transfer bus to the airport. That last hour or so is always the hardest, you feel so sad! Once back at the airport we cleared passport control and then it was a case of waiting for our plane to start boarding. The flight home always feels longer, though actually it is shorter. But it’s a night flight, and who really wants to fly home – especially when you are leaving that beautiful Florida sunshine. But you know we landed in Manchester at 7am on the 21st and the sun was shining – made coming home a little bit easier!!

To those die hards that have been reading this blog, thank you!!! It’s nice to know I am not along out here in cyber space. Normal service resumed now, though be warned we have some great plans for the coming week ends!!

Feb 19th - Goodbye Rosen - Hello Disney

Feb 19^th was our last day on International Drive, oh how the days had flown by. We had our breakfast, and then sat by the fountain with a coffee. Our last chance to do that before moving on! We’d already done the packing and the cases were sitting by the room door ready to go.  We went for a short walk along I –Drive, but it was already hot and we didn’t have time to go too far. Robin came and collected us at 11am, and we waved good bye to the Rosen Inn International. We’ve stayed there many times over the years, but this was the first time since the refurbishment was completed and the hotel became part of the Rosen Empire. The hotel is looking good, and really is in a great location. But really for us it’s somewhere to sleep and change! We didn’t eat in the restaurant or frequent the Topsy Turvy bar. We did like the Den, it was a great place to hang out and chat with Robin! The only negative thing I can say is I hate the colour they have painted the bedroom walls. In the grand scheme of things, that’s really not much to worry about!

We headed straight out to Disney’s Old Key West resort, where we would be spending our last night. Luckily we were able to check in straight away, and were able to head out to room 3024. I absolutely loved the way the place was laid out, so pretty! Unfortunately we couldn’t get into the room when we got there and Robin had to call reception. They sent someone our on one of those little golf car things to come and sort us out. The room (once we could get inside) was lovely, and even had its own little balcony. We dropped our suitcases off and then went to Olivia’s for lunch, a charming on site restaurant.  Lunch was good, and so was the key lime pie!!

After lunch Robin took us out to the Port Orleans/Riverside resort and we took the boat ride to Downtown Disney, that was lovely and very relaxing.  It was extremely hot when we arrived at Downtown Disney, but we went for a wonder around the shops. I had to pop back into Little Mismatched for more Alice in Wonderland socks! You can never have enough Alice socks!! We also stopped by Basin, the Disney version of Lush. I treated myself to a bath bomb and some bath salts. Everything smelled so good. Finally we got the boat back to the resort and had a drink in the food court.

We had dinner at BJ’s in the evening, more mini beers and some very nice food – Santa Fe spring rolls and sliders...yum! The service wasn’t so great this time. The place was busy, but it’s really no excuse.  We did decide to share a Pizookie for dessert....ooh, so lovely. After dinner we wondered over to Books a Million, risky move! I somehow managed to limit myself to one book. What restraint!!

At last we headed back to the hotel, Robin came up to the room for a while and we were able to watch the fireworks from our balcony. They were beautiful! Alas all too soon it was time to say a very sad farewell to dear Robin.  It was horrible saying goodbye.

Before calling it a night I decided to have a nice relaxing bath and use the bath bomb I had bought earlier in the day. It was a princess treasure, and inside the bomb was a simple gold ring. It’s very pretty and I have been wearing it ever since. We didn’t get to bed till very late, I just didn’t want out last night to be over. We’d had such a wonderful trip, and I cannot thank Robin enough for everything she did for us....she went totally above and beyond! 

Feb 18th - A little trip to Bass Pro

I woke up this morning wondering how the holiday could have flown by so fast! We had a bit of a lay in, but then set off for Bass Pro. I know its strange, but we both love it there! The journey there took forever as the bus had to stop to load a wheel chair! Now i have no issue with that other than the person got off at the next stop!! Which was not that far away, and she was with family that could possibly have wheeled her there much quicker. Once at Bass Pro we had coffee in the cabin, ambled about the store and bought a huge bag of taffy for Paul to take to work.  When we left Bass Pro we walked over to Premier Outlets, oh my gosh it was so hot. Over the last few days of our holiday the temperature had hit the mid 80's and i thought i may melt. It was nice having a look around the outlet centre, but my quest to find a pair of boots failed miserably. I guess it wasn't meant to be, c'est la vie!

We headed back to the hotel for a rest and then met Robin in the lobby at 3pm. We went to Barnes and Noble to have a look around. Oh my word, its fatal to let us loose in a book shop. Its almost impossible to leave without buying something. I ended up writing down a long list of all the books i would like, and in the end managed to leave with only one. i bought the totally amazing Splintered, which i am currently reading.

Next stop was the Florida  Mall - there's always time for one more visit to the Mall! And then we had an early dinner at a Thai restaurant. Really nice place and the food was lovely. Following dinner we walked over to Dollar Tree, this is probably the most visited store of our holiday. I cannot resist the lure of things that are priced at a dollar. Robin took us to get ice cream next, even the small one was too big for me and the thing was melting quicker than i could eat it. Paul selflessly came to the rescue and ate half of mine as well as his - what a man!

When we got back to the hotel we hung out in the Den for a while with drinks. Its always a lovely way to end the day. But we had to head back to the room before it got too late as we had to pack! Cause the next day we were moving locations!!