November 13, 2016 - Holiday Trains and MORE!

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: STILL DECIDING

Vacation by Zodiac

HEY!!!

Wow, yesterday I was running around like a maniac taking advantage of the alone time since my girlies spent the entire day with their friends at the barn. And thanks to my friend, who acted as chauffeur, it was a productive day.

There is nothing better than female friends who you can depend on to work together!  Next time, I'll take on the whole day and give Marta a break!! We girls have to stick together!

Boy, did I run around like a crazy woman.  I accomplished a great many errands, did some organization at home and some cleaning as well.

​When I got home I was bushed!!  

The excitement in my girls was palpable when they got home.  Not only did they have a round trip rides with their sister friends all day, get to ride their beloved horses and hang at the barn all day, BUT, they also went to Dover Saddlery!! Their favorite store in the world!!

My wonderful friend, took all four girls shopping after a long day with the horses, so they could do some shopping.

My kiddies were so excited to show me all of their purchases!! Gianna totally takes after her mama and is the little princess (I'm the queen) of sales, coupons and deals and got a few items she will be needing for next year's shows because they were on sale now!! She learned well!

I'm not quite sure what happened with our blog yesterday, but, it may not have been emailed - it might have been a server issue - either way, before I go any further, I wanted to post it.
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November 12, 2016 - Kristen Chenoweth Broadway AND Muzeo

Tanya certainly had some yummy eats yesterday!!!

WELL, BACK TO TODAY...
Can I tell you just how happy I am that I don't have much going on today!!! Yes!! I plan to go for a super long walk; make a deeelicious pot of sauce for our usual Sunday pasta feast; and work on my "Dream Boards."

You may be wondering what this is. Well, every few years, I sit down and do some poster sized "boards" featuring all the things I want to become reality.  I use photos, pictures, inspirational sayings, etc.

Then I make a sort of collage on poster board and when it's all completed, I frame them and hang them in a place where I can look at them all the time.  It's a great way to make your dreams a reality, especially if you use photos of yourself and your loved ones in the things you have yet to do.  You know, as if you have done it already - making it a real reality!!

Here is a picture of my previous dream board from a few years ago - now, I haven't done everything on this one, but, I'll just carry over those things to my new one!!

You can see that I have an image of a GORGEOUS barn - yes folks, I want to OWN a horse barn some day!!

And of course, you can see that my Dream Board also includes my hopes and aspirations for our blog as well!  We have big plans for Travelin' Cousins!

I was emailed this cool article from Travel & Leisure yesterday and I thought it would be fun to share with you...
Where To Travel Based On Your Zodiac Sign
According to Travel & Leisure, "Astrological personality traits can make or break a dream vacation. For example, what if you’re a well-organized Virgo traveling with a dreamy Gemini? Or heading on getaway with the two most stubborn signs—Leo and Taurus—and no one will budge on where to rent a villa? Or consider the Pisces who is yearning to wile away vacation days daydreaming near the water, but is stuck traveling with a Leo who is more concerned with snapping selfies?"

I thought that was a very clever idea for a travel article, so, I've summarized the article here for all 12 Zodiac signs and their respective "ideal vacation":

Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 19)
Build a house in Hawaii with Habitat for Humanity; Ritz Carlton Giveback Getaways; or a family vacation in a big house in Big Sur or the Adirondacks.

Aquarius (January 20 - February 18)
Brazil’s Iguaçu Falls; Bolivian salt flats; Northern Lights spotting in Finland; museum tours of Madrid or London.

Pisces (February 19 - March 20)
Meditation retreat in the Berkshires; overwater bungalow in Fiji; or Plitvice Lakes in Croatia, Maui.

Aries (March 21 - April 19)
A tour of the villages on Bulgaria’s Black Sea; a guided tour to North Korea; the thousands of temples in Myanmar’s valley of Bagan; or a solo adventure to Guatemala’s Tikal.

Taurus (April 20 - May 20)
Willamette wine country retreat; Mustique beach vacation; the Ocean House in Watch Hill, Rhode Island; or Teton Mountain Lodge & Spa.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20)
Island hopping in Croatia or a long weekend in big city like Berlin or Rome.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22)
Rent a lake-side Italian villa with friends, take a family trip to Maine’s vacationland, or retreat to a lodge in the Pacific Northwest (or Wyoming) woods.

Leo (July 23 - August 22)
New York City, yachting in the South of France, hitting the clubs in Los Angeles, or party hopping in Ibiza.

Virgo (August 23 - September 22)
Bike tour through Southern Italy, Paris walking tour, or one of America’s best dude ranches.

Libra (September 23 - October 22)
Yoga retreat in Mexico, renting a cottage in the Cotswolds of England, or a peaceful coastal retreat like Edgartown in Martha’s Vineyard.

Scorpio (Oct 23 - Nov 21)
Glamping in Tanzania, the Aman outpost in Jackson Hole, Crater Lake Lodge.

Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21)
Istanbul’s Blue Mosque; Mongolia; Taos, New Mexico; or Iceland’s eastern fjords.


So what do you think?? Does T&L's suggestion sound good to you?  Well, I'm a Libra - hmmmm, not sure about their analysis but a peaceful vacation does sound nice right about now!

Well, on that note, I'm going for my peaceful morning walk!

Enjoy your Sunday!!

-E
xoxo
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Tanya's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 2 DAYS

Variety is the Spice of Life

Helloooooo and Happy Sunday to you!

For starters let me tell ya that we are sorry about yesterday's Daily Scoop - for some reason the photos all got a bit WONKY - switched around, deleted, etc... Weird.
But it is all fixed now as of this morning. 

We are getting ready to head on out on a fun little day trip to Catalina Island - so just a wee little heads up that today's SCOOP will be a wee bit on the short side.

Yesterday was a day of much variety and as the saying goes "Variety is the Spice of Life!"

Dave and I had started the day out by hitting Steinmart (which btw was rather crowded), the crowd was effecting my shopping experience and so at first I was kinda rushing through the store in hopes that something would just jump out at me.

​Well nothing actually JUMPED out at me, but I did spot a beautiful dress that would eventually weigh on my mind throughout the rest of the day - however I continued to browse and in the end both Dave and I did find a few nice gifts to purchase.

Next we were off to pick up the kids and take them to their performance call time at Muzeo for the Grand Opening of Muzeo Express: Holiday Model Trains​.

Once the kids had took to the stage it was nothing short of magical - not like I haven't seen these kids perform dozens upon dozens of times, but when you sit there and truly listen to the lyrics and feel the music these kids (who are ambassadors of peace) can give you serious goosebumps, send a shiver down your spine and have you crying tears of hope and joy! 
The world can definitely use more kids like these!!

Then after the performance I was so glad that we had enough time to stroll through the exhibits at the museum - which were quite lovely.

From the History of Anaheim exhibit (c)travelincousins.com

This rather unique cube was amongst the Ceramic displays (c)travelincousins.com

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And I especially enjoyed the HOLIDAY MODEL TRAINS - 
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Dominic, Dave and Myself (c)travelincousins.com

After a very nice visit, the variety of the day continued as Cosette changed and we headed to the stables for her horseback riding lesson - at this point is when Dominic decided that he would prefer to stay home and chill out (doing chores rather than run around with us)..

Cosette did great!! And we were treated to an amazing firey sunset - although I didn't quite manage to capture it and take a picture.

Following her lesson we headed to pick up some sandwiches (for today's lunch, as Catalina Island isn't quite full of vegan options) at my favorite San Francisco based sandwich shop which has recently expanded down into Orange County - I'm one lucky girl!!!

Next we were off to South Coast Plaza - my favorite mall - and to look for Christmas outfits. The color of the year is Green and I found 2 adorable dresses for the girlies...now only if their mom's approve (my fingers are crossed!)

Cosette found a few gifts to pick up and then it was time for us to head over to Cafe Gratitude for dinner. Dinner was delicious and I really should do a future FOODIE FRIDAY review on this place... we shall see.

So you'd think that our day/night was finally over. But nooooo, I still wanted to run into Mother's Market and go back to Steinmart to go pick up THAT dress!!!

And finally when we got home we all sat around for classic movie night and watched Jaws.

Speaking of movies, once we get back from Catalina Island today and after our big Italian Sunday night dinner, we'll be heading out to go see Dr. Strange.

I'll fill ya in on all of today's SCOOP tomorrow.

Now, we've gotta boat to catch,
​-T