The last couple of weeks my son, Robbie, and I have been on several college tours. Robbie is a junior and just recently, has shown interest in the whole college process. Last month he had met with his guidance counselor and had a chat about what he wanted to study. Now, up until this point, he had shown very little interest in college, at least to me. He mentioned 3-4 schools to his counselor and said he wanted to study sports management. After doing some research, we narrowed the list down a bit and made some appointments to see the schools.
Since mid-April, we have seen four schools and have three more on our list. This past weekend we were at a university up in New Hampshire for an open house and tour. It is a bit further away and slightly bigger than the other schools. However, from the moment he stepped on the campus, he seemed to fit in. He walked over to the mascot and had his picture taken.
He was engaged during the tour and had a great conversation with members of the sports management department. During our lunch, I asked him what he thought. He told me that this school is now his number one choice.
As we were walking back to the car, I could not help but smile and be excited about what lies ahead for him. At the same time, my eyes filled with tears and my stomach felt like it was in knots. You see, whether he attends this school or another, in a little more than a year, he will be gone. He will be off on this new adventure. It is was at this moment it became clear, he was never mine, to begin with, he was only on loan. I also realized the one thing no one told me when I became a Mom.
It is an exciting time ahead, but there will also be some tears along the way.
Each year I struggle on what to get my husband for his birthday, Christmas and Father’s Day. I, on the other hand, have a running list. LOL! Last Spring was no different, as Father’s Day was coming and I was fresh out of ideas. Then an ad came across my Facebook page. It was from Rail Explorers of America. Their tag line is “Experience the magic of the railway”. I was intrigued. I clicked on the ad and immediately knew this was the perfect gift for Bill.
Rail Explorers is a scenic ride along Aquidneck Island and beautiful Narragansett Bay on custom built pedal-powered vehicles. This particular location offers a couple of different tours. There is the Northern Ramble and the Southern Circuit. The Northern Ramble is a six-mile trek along the bay leaving from Portsmouth, RI. It travels up the island, passing waterfront homes, golf courses, the Newport Preservation Society Topiary garden, and the Audubon Society nature preserve. It is a 2-hour tour. Please note, it is one way. A shuttle bus will bring you back to the station after your ride.
The second tour is the Southern Circuit. This is a six-mile round trip tour. It also starts at the Portsmouth Grove Station and travels south to Bayside Station. Bayside Station is a waterfront picnic area. The trip is 3 miles down and 3 miles back. This is one we chose to do.
So, how does one ride the rails? You ride our own rail explorer of course!
Rail Explorers are pedal-powered rail vehicles. Since 1850, these vehicles have been used by maintenance workers to transport crew and materials along the rails. The tour offers a quad explorer and a tandem explorer. Since we are a family of 4, we chose the quad. The vehicle runs smoothly down the rails. It does take a bit of effort to pedal, but nothing too strenuous. There is a basket to put your belongings. We were not sure what to expect, and it had been raining, so I left my SLR camera at home, nor did we choose to bring a picnic. Though, I was happy to see there was enough space to store these items.
As I said, the ride down was three miles. You are led by a guide and asked to keep 500 feet in between your vehicles. I believe there were ten vehciles in our group. This allows for more a leissurley ride. We were able to slow down, so I could snap some photos.
The weather was less than stellar. It had rained all day and it was a cloudy evening. The views would have been better, had the weather cooperated.
Once at Bayside Station, we exited our vehicles and spent about 20 mins or so enjoying the views. There were Adirondack chairs to use for our viewing pleasure, along with picnic tables to sit and enjoy a picnic dinner.
After about 20 mins, we got back in our vehicles and headed back.
Despite the weather, I highly recommend this adventure. It was a great way to see some of the Rhode Island coast. The price was decent. It was $135.00 for the 2 hours. The whole family agreed we would do it again. This summer we are going to try the Northern Ramble. The company also offers special events. There is Fireside Friday. This a lantern-lit trip, along the Southern Circuit, featuring a bonfire, s’mores and hot apple cider. The cost is $150. 00. Also, featured is a brunch tour with mimosas. Again, you make the trek down to Bayside Station, where you enjoy drinks and pastries. The cost of the brunch is $175.00 for 4 people or $180 to ride tandem.
After our ride, we drove around the corner and had dinner at a local seafood restaurant. It was a perfect way to cap off a great evening.
Not local to Rhode Island? Rail Explorers has locations in Las Vegas, Nevada and The Catskills, NY. I highly recommend checking these out.
Happy Exploring!
Two summers ago, we were fortunate enough to take an Alaskan cruise. We sailed on the Disney Wonder, leaving from Vancouver, British Columbia. To date, it has been one of our favorite vacations. The cruise sailed to Dawes Glacier, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. In each port, we did some fantastic adventures, but by far our favorite was the Yukon Discovery and Sled Dog Excursion.
In researching excursions for this trip, I found it was a better deal to book directly with a tour company, rather than through the cruise line. There was a significant price difference, and we traveled with a smaller group. I did my research and ended up using Frontier Excursions and Adventures. We were not disappointed. Our driver met us at the dock and escorted us to a minibus. There were a total of 12 people on the bus. It was perfect. Our guide handed us a map of the road we would be traveling and a list of points of interest we would see along the way. We would be following the Klondike Highway, all the way to Emerald Lake. The road passes through three different provinces/states (Alaska, British Columbia, and Yukon). We traveled from Skagway, drove over the White Pass, went alongside the White Pass and Yukon Railway, drove by lakes, mountains, waterfalls, wildlife, and more. We drove through the rain forest, the tundra, and a desert. We made several stops along the way for photos.
The White Pass Summit is located at the U.S./Canadian border. Our guide pulled over (on our way back to Skagway) and took a photo of each family in front of the Welcome to Alaska sign.
At about mile 15, we crossed the border into British Columbia, Canada, and the landscape changed drastically. This area is known as the Tormented Valley. It is unique, and our guide pointed out that it looked lunar.
As we continued, the road took us around Tutshi Lake for almost 10 miles.
At around mile 50 we crossed over into the Yukon. Once in the Yukon, we drove along Windy Arm, which is part of Tagish Lake. We stopped for photos at Bove Island Viewpoint.
After about 2 hours we made it Emerald Lake. Emerald Lake is the most photographed lake in the Yukon. It is affectionately called the jewel of the Yukon. It was gorgeous. The bluish-green waters are the result of light reflecting off layers of marl (a mixture of calcium carbonate and clay) at the bottom of the lake.
After our visit to Emerald Lake, we headed back down to Skagway. However, we still had a few more places to visit. First, we stopped at Caribou Crossing Trading Post. Caribou Crossing is a great place to visit, have a delicious BBQ lunch, take a dog sled ride, pan for gold and more. Dog sledding was the highlight of the day for this dog loving family.
We enjoyed a delicious BBQ lunch, along with the famous grandma’s donuts. After lunch, we were escorted over to attend a Sled Dog 101 presentation. We learned about the history of dog sledding, the athletes and even met a dog or two.
Then we were off to experience our own dog sled ride!
It was a bumpy, but fun ride. These dogs are eager to please and work extremely hard. The ride lasted approximately 15 minutes. Once done, we had a little bit of free time and wandered the property. We played with some puppies and took in the sites. Bill and I spoke to a gentleman about his life in the Yukon. He had moved here from Calgary and loved every moment of it.
Our second stop on the way back to Skagway, was the smallest desert in the world, Carcross Desert. It actually isn’t a desert, but the bed of a glacial lake. It is approximately 1 square mile.
After leaving the desert, we stopped at one of many waterfalls and filled our water bottles up with fresh, cold spring water.
Our last stop before heading back to the ship, the Welcome to Alaska sign of course!
Overall, the journey lasted about 6 hours. Our guide was terrific, and we had great people in our group. I highly recommend Frontier Excursions and Adventures.
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Hi y’all, it is finally SPRING!!! Can you believe it? The weather here is still a bit wonky, but we are getting there. So today I am doing my monthly goal check in. As I mentioned, by me sharing my goals with my readers, it holds me more accountable. I also strive to help motivate you to make some goals, write them down and smash the hell out of them.
My March goals were as follows:
- Organize the kitchen cabinets – Yes
- Organize the linen closet- No
- Run 65 miles- CRUSHED IT- ran 78 miles
- Become certified in a second nutrition program- Ultimate Portion Fix- Halfway there
- Implement a morning routine- Yes
- Read one personal development book and one book for pleasure- Yes
- Grow my blog audience- Yes
So as you can see, this month was a mixed bag. Since I have quite a few races coming up, the miles had to take priority and they did. My kitchen cabinets were driving me nuts, so that had to happen. The linen closet, not so much. Perhaps this will happen on the next rainy day. I was putting most of my free time into this blog, so the certification in my new nutrition plan fell by the wayside. That is okay. I plan on diving head first into it, once I am back from Disney. I did implement a morning routine, but it is not the one I set out to do. Starting next week, my commute is shorter, so I will have more time to get things done without having to get up at 4:00am! As far as reading, I finished the book Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. If you are looking for great goal setting book, I highly recommend. Rachel is funny and has some great advice, tips and tough love when you need it. For pleasure, I read Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter. If you like mystery, murder books, this one was good. I highly recommend all her books.
As far as my blog, I did a ton of work behind the scenes on this. I am in the middle of a travel blog course and a content creation course. I want to make sure I providing you with quality content. I did grow my blog and I want to thank all you that have shared it. Please, please continue to do so. I really appreciate it.
Now, on to a new month, with new goals. April is going to look very similar to March. I am adding a couple of things and really buckling down on my own health and fitness. I need to get back to strength training and better portion control. With that being said my April goals are:
- Finish my travel blog and content creation course. *
- Grow my blog by 20%.*
- Become certified in my new nutrition plan Ultimate Portion Fix and be a product of the product.*
- Date Night with the hubby, at least once this month.*
- Try a New Spring Adventure with the kids.*
- Organize my new office space that we are moving to.*
- Run 75 miles.*
- Strength train 4 times a week.*
- Lose 5lbs.
- Read 1 personal development book and 1 fiction book.
- Get at least 5 scrapbook layouts completed.
The list is a bit long. However, I have divided it into two. The goals with the asterixis are a MUST. The others are things to shoot for, but not going to stress over it. Notice how the weight loss does not have an asterix? I go by more how I look and how my clothes feel, than the number on the scale. That is simply a tool and does not define my journey.
I would love to hear how you did last month or what you have on your list for April. Drop me a comment below if you set goals last month and any struggles you face in accomplishing same.
Have a great Monday!
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Happy Friday! I hope you all are having a great day. Welcome to this edition of my Love of the Week. This is where I talk about something I absolutely love. This week I am showcasing two more hair products that I love. Yes, I know last week’s love of the week was about hair, but I can’t get enough of a good hair product.
The first product is called WOW and was recommended by a friend’s hairdresser. We were down in Florida last Fall, I was complaining about the humidity and my hair curling up on me. She lent me this product and I fell in love. The beauty of it, you spray it once, but get multiple washes out of it. Love, love, love it. I bought this bottle last October and still have a quarter of it left.
My second love of the week, goes hand in hand with the spray. It is a new shampoo and conditioner I discovered about a month ago. My hair tends to be dry and these products, really help repair any damage to my hair. The shampoo is called Maui Moisture Heal and Hydrate Shea Butter Shampoo and the conditioner is called Maui Moisture Heal and Hydrate Shea Butter Conditioner. Each contains shea butter, coconut oil and macadamia oil. These are also sulfate free. I was so excited when I found travel sizes.
So these are my loves of the week. I did pick up a couple of new products to try down in Disney. One is a sunscreen for the scalp. I hate wearing a hat, but really need to do better with my sun protection. I will let you know how I like it.
Until next time,
Heather
Today, I head down to Disney to participate in Disney’s Star Wars Race Weekend. However, before I have another trip to write about, I wanted to do a write up on our 10 day trip we took back in February. Despite being there many times, there were a few firsts and overall it was a different experience than our previous trips.
Our winter break happens to coincide with Disney’s Princess Race Weekend. I figured since I was running, why not make it a family vacation. Unfortunately, Bill could not join us, so it became a Mom and son’s trip, and we had the best time. There was little fighting between the boys. They went with the flow and did not complain about the go, go, go pace I have while at the parks. This was more likely due to how I approached this trip. I scheduled some downtime, which is NOT something I tend to do. However, it worked to my advantage, and we honestly had the best time. Now, I am not going to do a day by day breakdown for you. This is going to be a high-level report of some of the highlights and the new things we tried over the ten days. Are you ready?
The first thing that was new and different for us, was a split stay. We spent half the week at the Polynesian and half the week at the Beach Club. We stayed in the DVC section of each of the resorts. Both are amazing resorts and have their advantages. I love the feel and smells of the Polynesian. I love how it is a monorail resort and its close proximity to the Magic Kingdom. I love how the rooms have the split bathrooms. One is rather large with a toilet, sink and bath. The other has an awesome spa-like shower, sink, and vanity. The room also sleeps 5, which is very nice. We have stayed at the Poly many times and is usually our go-to resort. On Wednesday of that week, we headed over to the Beach Club. I loved the proximity to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. The room also sleeps 5, but we did miss having the two bathrooms. The pool was amazing. Of course we love Beaches and Cream and the boys had to try the cupcake milkshakes. If I had to pick one, I am still thinking the Polynesian. Nothing beats the view of the castle!
This trip, I wanted to try some new experiences or revisit a couple of old ones that were a hit or may have changed. We attended two dessert parties, Early Morning Magic at Toy Story Land over at Hollywood Studios and Disney After Hours at the Animal Kingdom. Each event had an additional cost on top of park admission, but I wanted this to be a special trip and in my opinion, each event, but one, was worth the extra money.
The first event was the Happily Ever After Dessert Party at the Magic Kingdom. The party is held at the Tomorrowland Terrace. The cost is $69.00 per adult and $41.00 per child. The price includes all you can eat desserts (we skipped dinner that day), juices, water, soda, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate.
There were trays of desserts like the ones above. They also had some hummus, cheese, and crackers. They had cookies, brownies, ice cream and make your own s’mores. If you love sweets, this is the place for you After you are done eating, you may, at your leisure, ask to be escorted down to the viewing area. We had seats in the hub area of Magic Kingdom. The viewing area for Happily Ever After is why I spent the money on this event. There is no fighting for a spot. One does not need to arrive 2 hours ahead of time for a good view. The spot is amazing and with a view like this, why not??
We also happen to do the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party at Hollywood Studios. We had attended this back in 2017, but it loved it so much, we had to do it again. I am glad we did. They made some changes to improve the event when I didn’t think the improvements were needed.
The party takes place inside Star Wars Launch Bay. At check-in, you receive a lanyard. The lanyard admits you and your party into the roped off area inside. Once inside, you are assigned to a table. The tables have numbers and under that number is an invitation. Okay, not so much an invitation, more like a demand. 😉
For those of you not familiar with the Stars Wars movies, the Commander would be Kylo Ren. He is a bit intimidating in the movie and here at Disney!
Storm Troopers roam about and interact with the crowd.
The Star Wars Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party includes something that the Magic Kingdom one does not, alcohol. For the price one pays to attend these events, after a long day in the parks, alcohol may be a must for some. Speaking of price, I believe this was the same price as the one in MK. Unfortunately, I did not partake in an adult beverage, as I was running the next day. However, I recall from 2017, and it was delicious. It is the same layout as the one at the Magic Kingdom. There are plenty of desserts, cheese, crackers, hummus, ice cream, and more. The party included soft drinks, coffee, tea, and alcohol. I found this party included a bit more, and the choices were better.
In addition to meeting Kylo and eating to our heart’s content, we were free to explore Launch Bay and see props and memorabilia from all the movies. At around 7:45 pm, we were escorted outside to our reserved seating to watch the show. As we were leaving, we were given a plastic mug, in the shape of Darth Vader’s head. The reserved seating area was fantastic. It had changed from 2017, and it is a much better view. I highly recommend this party, even if you are not a Star Wars fan.
Another first, Early Morning Magic at Toy Story Land. I knew there was no way my children would wait for 2,3 or 4 hours for Slinky Dog. I had heard the Early Morning Magic was fantastic. It includes a hot and cold breakfast and an hour and a half in Toy Story Land with access to all the rides. It was worth every penny. We rode Slinky Dog, Alien Swirling Saucers and Toy Story Mania many times. We also had our photo taken with Woody and Jessie. Around this time, the park had opened for the general public and crowds descended upon us. All I can say, purchase the Early Morning Magic, stat!!! The price for this event is $79.00 for adults and $69.00 for kids.
We did one other special event and that is Disney’s After Hours at the Animal Kingdom. The cost of this event is steep, $125.00 each. The event is from 8:00-11:00 pm certain nights of the week. Both rides in Pandora are open, Dinosaur, Everest, two showings of Rivers of Light and the Tree of Life Awakenings. There are snacks served around the park. The rest of the park is closed. This is a bit of a disappointment, but we knew that going in. The boys mainly wanted to go for access to Flight of Passage. We were able to walk right on that ride several times, as well as all of the other rides. However, we were only there for about an hour, when my youngest started to feel ill. It had been a long, hot day and he was done. Overall, the event was okay. I probably would not do it again due to the lack of areas in the park being open. Next trip, we do plan on doing the after hours at the Magic Kingdom. There is simply more to do.
During the ten-day trip, we had a couple of new character meet and greets. First, we met up with Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters over at the Magic Kingdom. This was by far, our best character experience. They spent at least 5-7 mins with the boys. They even set a wedding date!
Over at the Animal Kingdom, we met Scrooge McDuck. It was a great new photo op.
Though we did not get our photo with her, we did see the famous Kevin, from the movie Up. She was roaming around the Animal Kingdom most of the day.
The one we were most surprised to see was the Evil Queen. She rarely makes an appearance. However, a source close to the Queen said when they are new to the role, they go out and about to meet people. A practice run more or less. I was thrilled to meet her.
We also attended the Festival of the Arts over at Epcot. This is a fairly new festival to Epcot and we enjoyed what we saw. There was entertainment, such as the Disney Broadway Concert Series, seminars and demonstrations and 13 food studios with lots of delicious treats such as this Mac & Cheese Lobster in a cone. It is like a mini Food and Wine.
What I loved best about the festival, all the different photo ops. I know there was so much more to do and see, but I had teenage boys with me. Seminars and demonstrations, are not their thing. However, they were good sports and took some photos with me.
I am looking forward to experiencing it again next year.
Though, we had done this next experience before, it had been a while. On Sunday, we spent all day and night at the Magic Kingdom. It was very crowded and we had some time to kill while waiting for our Fast Passes. After riding Pirates of the Caribbean, I was looking around and thought, hey it has been a while since we were on Tom Sawyer’s Island. The kids and I jumped on the raft and headed over.
The island is on the banks of the River of America in the middle of Frontierland. It has some great views of the Haunted Mansion and Thunder Mountain. It is a self-guided tour, with maps, signs, bridges, caves, mills and more. It is inspired by the writings of Mark Twain. It has been years since we checked it out. At first, the kids were not too keen on doing it. However, once we started exploring, they had a blast.
Finally, the last ‘first” we experienced on this trip, was Nicholas’s 1st runDisney race. He and I ran the 5K together. I will never forget the look of joy as he crossed over the finish line!
There is so much more I could write about this trip. However, I am going to leave it here. There are many more Disney trips on the horizon for us. Be sure to check back to look for my review of the Flower and Garden Festival and the Star Wars Races. Both of these are new experiences to me. What I love most about Disney, no matter how many times we have gone, there is always something new to see and do.
Until next time, lots of faith, trust and pixie dust!
The last two weeks have been hard. Hard in the sense, I can’t get my act together when it comes to healthy, clean eating. I was doing great, down 7lbs and boom, something happened and it has been downhill since then. Well, I have to stop. I need to get back to my good, healthy habits. Not only does it help me lose weight, but more importantly, it makes me feel amazing. I have so much more energy. My running is better. I feel more confident in my clothes and myself. So, I sat down and sketched out what I need to do to reach this goal. I am going to Disney this weekend, and I would by lying if I said I was not allowing myself treats. I make this a lifestyle and not a diet. It needs to fit into my life. With that being, I still like to eat clean 85-90% of the time. In order for me to do that, I HAVE to meal prep. This is a non negotiable. If I don’t meal prep, then what has been happening the last two weeks, will continue to happen. So, off to the grocery store I went and stocked up on some things.
Now, you are probably thinking, I don’t have hours to spend in my kitchen, on a Sunday, prepping all my meals for the week. Well, neither do I, nor do I want to. I have plenty of other things I want to be doing, so here are my hacks to meal prep
- Cook batches of food, like chicken, turkey, pork or lean beef to have during the week as your protein. For example, I cooked a turkey breast in my crock pot for dinner this weekend. There was enough leftover for two meals. This, along with a bagged salad, will be my lunch for the next two days. This week, I plan on making a pork tenderloin in the crockpot. Leftovers will be used for lunch and probably one dinner. The same thing can be done with veggies or a carbohydrate. I will make a batch of butternut squash, roasted broccoli and roasted brussel spouts to have with the pork. Again, there is enough for 2-3 meals.
2. Buy your veggies and fruit already cut up and ready to go. Yes, it is more expensive, but time is money. These make great grab and go snacks. Throw in some dip or hummus and there you have a healthy snack.
3. Have the same breakfast during the week. This way you are only prepping one thing and it is ready to go. I have 2 go-to breakfast ideas I use through the month. My first is non fat Greek yogurt, with a tablespoon of chocolate hummus and a tablespoon of granola. Quick and easy to pack in my lunch bag. My second favorite requires a bit more work. I make egg cups on the weekend and portion them out for each day I will be eating them. I usually eat them for 4 days and then have yogurt on the 5th day during the week. I freeze the remaining egg cups and use within the next couple of weeks.
4. Have other convenient, yet healthy things that don’t take any time at all to cook. For example, frozen turkey burgers, chicken apple sausage, rotisserie chicken, hard boiled eggs, etc. These make great, quick meals. Add a side of frozen veggies and you are good to go.
5. If you eat out during the week, even the healthy options tend to be HUGE. Immediately ask that half of the meal be wrapped up and put in a box. Viola! You now have two meals.
6. Have meals you like and keep them in your rotation. Then it becomes second nature when planning your week ahead.
If addition to these 6 hacks, I thought I would share what my meal planning looked like for this week. This will help give you an idea on how simple, yet effective it can be.
Breakfast- Monday-Thursday: Non Fat Greek Yogurt with hummus and granola.
Lunch- Monday-Wednesday (Leave for Florida Thursday afternoon) Monday & Tuesday will be left over turkey with a bagged salad, Wednesday: left over pork tenderloin with left over veggies and whole wheat couscous.
Dinner- Monday- Flank steak and roasted broccoli. Tuesday- Pork tenderloin and roasted squash. Wednesday- Turkey burger on the grill with brussel sprouts.
I hope these hacks are helpful. I know I need all the help I can get when trying to get back on track. I have a big goal I am trying to reach in terms of my health and fitness and would love for you all to help keep me accountable.
Last Mother’s Day, the 4 of us went out to breakfast and then headed to the Wicked Tulip Farm in Johnston, Rhode Island. It has more than 600,000 tulips and is the largest u-pick tulip farm in New England. It is open late April into the middle of May. Mother’s Day weekend is generally the last weekend to go, but there was still plenty to see. There is an entire section of tulips for show only. It was magnificent. The rest of the farm is for picking. The event sells out each year and it is required you purchase tickets ahead of time, online.
When arriving, you are given instructions on how to pick and a basket to carry our blooms in. The tulips are $1.00 a stem. Pictures are encouraged and you may even have a professional photo shoot. Obviously, this needs to be scheduled ahead of time and if needed, they have a list of recommended photographers you can use. If I had known about this when the kids were little, I would have been all over that. Once you are done picking, there is a self -service wrapping station. Then you are on your way.
I was just reading they offer yoga among the tulips. If we lived closer, I would give it a try. This summer, I want to try sunflower and lavender picking. Great things to add to the summer bucket list.
If you live in the New England area, I would highly recommend visiting the farm. If not, try looking for one near you. It will not disappoint. Happy Spring!
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Welcome to another edition of my Love of the Week. This is where I talk about something I absolutely love. Today’s love… dry shampoo!
I don’t know what I would do without this product. It has to be one of the greatest inventions! I have naturally curly hair that more times than not, I straighten. I also have very thick hair. For me to have to wash, blow it out and then straighten, it can take more than an hour. That is a lot of time and time is never on my side. LOL! However, this could pose a problem for someone who works out six days a week, with at least 4-5 of those days consisting of running. As one can imagine, the sweat does nothing for my hair. Sweat leaves one with greasy, limp hair. So not the case with Not Your Mother’s dry shampoo and Batiste dry shampoo. Each one of these products leaves my hair feeling soft, smelling good, and full of body. I have been asked if there is any build-up of the product in my hair. My honest answer, eventually. If I use it so many days in a row, by the 5th day or so, I feel some. However, by then, I am rewashing my hair. Though I do have a confession, the picture below was taken this morning. This is day 7. I have been putting off washing my hair until after my long run today. I always wash my hair after a ten miler or more. I sweat too much!
As you can see, my hair is not greasy and is still full of body. It doesn’t feel too bad, either. So why don’t you give it a try? I would love to know your thoughts.
Happy Friday!
Our second to last day of this European adventure takes us to Naples or Napoli, as the Italians say. A few facts about Naples. It is the 3rd largest city in Italy, after Milan and Rome. It is the birthplace of pizza. Mt. Vesuvius is located 6 miles from the city and is still an active volcano. Naples is also home to Pompeii. Pompeii was once a thriving city that was buried under the ash and pumice after the volcano erupted in 79 A.D. From what I understand, there you can visit the volcano and hike up it. However, our adventure took us elsewhere. Today, we visited Sorrento and Capri. Absolutely amazing.
In Sorrento, we arrived at Agriturismo Galatea. It is mainly an agricultural farm, established over four generations. Once at the farm, we were greeted with a snack of Italian meats, bread and olive oil, all of which are made right there. We watched a demonstration on how mozzarella was made. The kids even got to play with it. They loved it!
After the cheese demonstration, we were given aprons and hats. We were brought into another room with a brick oven. Here, made our own personalized pizzas. Let me tell you, once you have this pizza, you will never want a piece of pizza back home again. Americans put so much crap on pizza. Here is it very simple. We used a cup of cup of sauce, a handful of cheese and some pepperoni if you so chose. The pizzas were cooked in brick over and done in 5 mins! It was out of this world.
After a delicious pizza lunch, we had lemon cream puffs and Limoncello. I have never eaten so well on vacation.
After lunch, we had a little bit of time to explore the farm and see what it had to offer. There were all sorts of farm animals, lemon and lime trees, olive trees and more.
Soon it was time to leave our gracious hosts and set off to catch our ferry to Capri. Once we arrived in Capri, we had time for a gelato (of course!) and to shop. Such a gorgeous island. Capri is known for rugged landscape and high end shops. It is also home to the Blue Grotto, a sea cave, where the sunlight passes through and creates this amazing blue reflection. After gelato and shopping (Capri is known for coral as well), we jumped on a private boat and went sailing around the island. We sailed around looking at the coral in the ocean.
As you can see above, those are the Faraglioni rock formations. The one in the middle is the smallest and has an arch. Our boat took us through the arch. Legend has it, couples need to kiss while going through it. Guess what what we all did. 🙂
By far, this was one of my favorite days. It was much more relaxing than some of the others and I conquered a fear of mine, deep water. I jumped into the sea and really enjoyed floating around for a while.
Have you been to Sorrento or Capri? I would love to hear all about it.
