What a week!Hello there! Can you believe this week is almost over?? It has been a full week of lots to do each day!  Personal Accomplishments: On the personal front, lots going on! First, Gianna had a badly pulled muscle on the right side of her body and around her rib cage that happened last week. She was in a great deal of pain over the past weekend and throughout this week and so I needed to keep her home for several days to recuperate. I also decided to dig in to my Fall house cleaning and managed to haul tons of stuff that was just taking up space and collecting dust throughout several rooms in my house. Focusing on my den, I tackled some redecorating and ordered a new carpet, throw pillows, new window panels, an entertainment center and arranged for my television to be moved to fit inside the opening of the new unit. Whew!!! Next week will bring more closet organizing, sorting through old clothing for me and the girls as well as attacking my home office to hang much needed framed artwork of the girls. Traveling Accomplishments On the traveling front, Tanya and i both made some strides with our individual trips as well as those we are taking together. - Yellowstone Cousins Trip (April 2015) We decided that we would do a private rental and even settled on one that we liked very much. Yay!!! One aspect of the trip finalized!! Airfare-wise, these flights are still a bit high and require connections (have I mentioned how much I HATE connections???!!) - Eastern Europe Cousins' Birthday Trip Tanya and I finally spent a block of time chatting about this trip! We didn't quite finalize anything but put out a number of possibilities for the cities to visit. We had planned for a while that this will be a trip we will do by rail. So, here are the three options for itineraries, which we need to decide which one to select OR come up with a fourth option by adding or knocking out specific destinations. The issue is that we only have 16 days and we want to do it all! So, we realized this week, that less might be more in order to truly enjoy each place. Option 1 * Budapest, Hungary * Prague, Czech Republic * Vienna, Austria * Krakow, Poland Option 2 * Prague, Czech Republic * Budapest, Hungary * Split, Croatia * Zagrab, Croatia Option 3 * Prague, Czech Republic * Budapest, Hungary * Bled, Slovania * Split Croatia It's going to take some self control to limit this one!!! But, we clearly do not want to rush through any one place because of over excitement to see it all! Last night, Tanya texted me to tell me the coolest news!! She received a call from CBS Los Angeles -- check out her column to find out why!!! --->>>>> I know that we jam pack The Daily Scoop sometimes, but we do hope you are able to take the time to catch up with both mine and Tanya's news!! Here's to fabulous Friday!! -E  | It's been a Go Go Go type of week!As you know it's Foodie Friday, and if you are anything of a foodie like this family is then this is one of the days you look most forward to on Travelin’ Cousins! Later today I'll be publishing a review on Seabirds Kitchen located in Costa Mesa, California. And whether or not you are from SoCal or anywhere near SoCal, you are not gonna want to miss out on hearing about this very tasty dining establishment and seeing the mouth watering pictures that I’ve been taking since my first visit!  This morning and afternoon I’ll be out there running around like a chicken without a head! I’ve got so much to do and so many stops to make... But on a wing and a pray I will be all finished, been productive and feel very accomplished by 5pm, then it'll be time to take the kids to their choir rehearsal. During their rehearsal, I think Dave B and I will heading to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for a much needed Tea-Time! It’s definitely been a very busy week! And I haven’t really had a day or night off. My first night off is gonna be in New York on Tuesday! It has really been non-stop. So I've definitely been making use of my multi-tasking abilities this week! One of the stops this afternoon will be in Chino Hills, taking Cosette, to the stables to visit her horse ‘Dream’.  Dream is on the left This will be her last time visiting Dream until after our return from this upcoming vacation. Jet and Chaplin will be coming with us today. And, I still have to confirm if we can squeeze in one more horseback riding lesson at the other stables on Monday, otherwise Wednesday would’ve been her last lesson before us coming back. I know that this is one of the most difficult things for Cosette to do without. But since we are going to be doing some horseback riding in Iceland "Viking style" I hope that it eases the pressure for her. I know that I am totally looking forward to it! There are so many highlights for me on this upcoming Epic Adventure! (Gotta take a break and do a little happy dance!) Well, yesterday I finally managed to pretty much finish swapping out our summer for winter wardrobe, in addition to the massive amount of laundry I had to do, and what turned out to be a bit of organizing in the garage, all before even beginning to work on my packing!  While, I was hoping to be all said and done with my packing by now, I am pretty close, but have a few more outfits to put together. Not to mention all the little extras - but I’m not gonna stress over that stuff, and instead I'll spend Monday morning wrapping things up for all 3 of us. Last night, I received an email yesterday from the Editor of CBS Los Angeles BEST OF - they are doing a BEST OF Pet Friendly Restaurants and inquired about permission to use one of my photos from Seabirds Kitchen for this piece! Now, what a cool coincidence that it happens to be a photo from the same restaurant that I am featuring today!! Hope you enjoy & hope you enjoy the rest of your Friday! Cheers, -T  |
