Fantasy Destination: Cruising the Open Sea

I've never been on a cruise. The most time I've ever spent on a boat is a few hours. I've always been a little nervous at the thought of going on a cruise. What if I get sick? What if there's a storm? What if I'm totally claustrophobic at the thought of being way out in the middle of the ocean, with no land in sight? However, just about everyone I've talked to who has been cruising loves it. Maybe I could be persuaded to take a cruise vacation. I like the idea of being out on the open sea, and getting to visit different ports. I also hear the food is pretty much amazing, and that the entertainment is great.

Although I have never stepped foot on a cruise ship, when I think of cruise vacations certain names come to mind, like Carnival Cruises. I think of The Love Boat (do you have that song stuck in your head now like I do?), deck pools, ladies wearing fancy beaded dresses, endless buffet tables, and rows and rows of lounge chairs. I have to admit, it does sound pretty fun and relaxing. I love the ocean. I love getting dressed up. I love food. I love laying out in the sunshine, preferably with a good book and a cold fruity drink. And I love seeing new things.

There are a few aspects of cruising, such as with Carnival Cruises, that are particularly appealing to me. 

• I'd love the port excursions. Snorkeling, beaches, shopping, swimming with dolphins, horse back riding on the beach...all of these activities sound like so much fun. Well I don't know about the horse back riding one. It totally looks like fun and sounds like fun, but I don't think it's any big secret that I'm a chicken. I went horseback riding with Bethany for the first time in my adult life last summer, and I'm not so sure I want to do that again. Ever. But throw in the beach element and there is a remote chance that I could be talked into it.
• My children would really enjoy the kids activities that many cruise lines offer. As long as none of them are in clingy moods. But that never happens. I really do like the idea of getting to be on a family vacation, yet having opportunities to spend grown up time with my husband.
• Since I love live entertainment, the shows would be great fun to watch.
• I would love having lots of choices when it comes to meal time. Different options for dining venues, as well as many menu items to choose from (or pick from a buffet), and being able to eat pretty much whenever I wanted without having to hand over my credit card - all of this is appealing to me.

I'm not sure where I'd want to go on a cruise. Except that, since I want to go pretty much everywhere, I'd probably like to cruise just about anywhere. Ship lines like Carnival Cruises offer many option when it comes to destinations. Would I choose the Caribbean, or Alaska, or Europe? 

What about you? Have you ever been on a cruise? Where did you go, and did you love it? Would you do it again? What was the best thing about it? Comment below and tell me all about your cruising experience!

This post has been brought to you by www.cruisevacationcenter.com.

EvoraPet Winner!

I went to random.org to generate a winner for the EvoraPet giveaway! And the winner is...

Lorialcorn2006!!

I will contact you directly! Congratulations and thanks for everyone everyone! Don't forget I have two other giveaways going on right now:

EvoraPlus: Teeth whitening/oral care product for humans

Lilla Rose Flexi Clip hair accessory

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

Sometimes my life starts moving at a frenetic pace. Sometimes it's all good, and sometimes it's so crazy I just want a minute to breathe. I love to stay busy, and to do lots of things. And with four kids, and their friends and the rest of our family, we just simply always have stuff going on.

I crave change...whether it's re-arranging the furniture or a change of scenery, I like new, I like different, I like variations. Of course traditions are also great, and doing the same things many times until you know them well and are totally comfortable with them. But my whole life I have had this yearning to go. And I really really love to travel. I'm fortunate and ever so grateful for the traveling I do get to do, but there are times when I just want to be someplace really far away, or exotic, or to just experience something I've never experienced before. And maybe to try to, just a little bit, satiate those yearnings, I enjoy lots of outings with my kids. And activities, and so forth. And sometimes when things reach that frenetic pace (which is not all my own doing, as I said we simply have a lot to do to begin with!), something happens to remind me to slow down.

Often what happens is I get sick. I don't get sick often, but now and then I just reach a point where I simply can't do anything but lie down all day long until I feel better. Or else I'll suddenly have to really watch my spending (more than usual) and find that I don't have the spare money to do something I wanted to do. Or else, like happened on our recent trip to Ohio, one of my kids gets sick. We were on the tail end of a couple supercalifragilistically fun-filled weeks. Lots of late nights. Lots of sleepovers. Lots of parks. Lots of swimming. Lots of activities. Lots of sunshine. Lots of go-go-go. And truly it was all fun. But I sensed we needed to slow down. I planned on a slow down, just not until the day after Lucy got sick in Toledo. So our slow down came a day early, and there was some disappointment, but we all dealt with it.

I guess my point is that I'm learning to read the signs and heed them. Slow down. There is pleasure and comfort to be taken in days spent at home, relaxing or cleaning or just getting things done that need to get done. I'm learning to pay attention. If I don't slow myself down, the universe will take matters into its own hands.

Win a Beautiful Lilla Rose Flexi Clip

I have a mental deficiency when it comes to doing my hair. I have kind of difficult hair and can never figure out how to do anything with it. Thank goodness for flat irons and those nifty heated curling brush thingamajigs, both of which have helped me tremendously. But aside from that, I like to put my hair up a lot which basically means regular old pony tails because I can't do anything else. (What a sorry excuse for a mother of 3 girls...). I can't French braid, I can't French twist. Plain pony tail. B-o-r-i-n-g.

Then I heard of this cool product called the Flexi Clip, made by Lilla Rose. Flexi Clips are just how they sound - flexible hair clips. There is a large variety to choose from, some beaded, some with little charms, and several different colors and designs. Since the Flexi Clip comes in different sizes for different hair types, it's a good idea to go to www.FlexiStyles.com to see style videos and sizing suggestions before you make a purchase. I got the Open Flower Jet Black in medium (item #2-1262). 

I couldn't wait to try my Flexi Clip. I got the medium because I have fairly thick hair and wanted to be able to get all of my hair up. I've tried a few different styles so far. What I've discovered is I want more of these! I've used the Flexi Clip for a pony tail, and it just makes it look a little nicer than an elastic. It holds, and I often have a problem with hair things staying in, but I think the next one I get will be a size small. These things really hold a lot of hair. Even though I've also used the medium Flexi Clip to put half of my hair up, and it worked and didn't fall when I went out for the evening, I think a smaller size would have felt a bit more secure. However, I'm not disappointed that I got a size medium because I've tried a sort variation on a twist (I'm still mentally deficient when it comes to doing my hair, although this clip does make it easier on me!) and the medium is just right for that.

The Flexi Clip feels nice and sturdy. I love all the different designs and beading. It feels secure in my hair. I love it! You should definitely go on over to the Lilla Rose website to see everything they have to offer. And if you think you might want to try a Flexi Clip yourself, then you should enter my giveaway! Lilla Rose consultant Tara Funair has agreed to provide one lucky winner with a coupon good for one Flexi Clip valued at $15 or less, your choice! You have until July 31, 2011 to enter, U.S. residents only.


Here's what you need to do to win yourself a beautiful Lilla Rose Flexi Clip. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. MANDATORY Leave a comment below with your email address.
2. "Like" Lilla Rose rep Tara Funair's Facebook page.
3. "Like" MichiGal on Facebook (if you already do, just leave it in a comment & it will count as an entry).
4. Follow MichiGal on Twitter (if you already do, just leave it in a comment & it will count as an entry).

Good luck! 

 

A Little Office Space of My Own

Sometimes I think it would be perfect if Chris and I could come up with a business idea to create our own company and be our own bosses. What kind of company that would be, I'm not quite sure. Which is probably why we haven't done it yet. And really, I don't have much of a mind for business. I'm sure I could learn though. I just need some inspiration. I think we're both pretty sick of dealing with issues of employment and finance, and maybe we'd have more luck in the world of entrepreneurs.

Other people we know who are business owners do seem to have an issue with working a lot of long hours. If it were a labor of love, that wouldn't be so bad, but of course we have our family to think about. And staying organized, which isn't, ummmm, our strong suit to begin with. No matter what, we'd almost certainly be working out of our house. Even though our "new" house (that we've lived in for 2 years) is much bigger than our old house, there's a lot of us and space is a bit limited. There are no extra bedrooms. We'd have to get creative with use of space, but I'm pretty sure we could come up with something in the basement or family room.

A few things we'd need to think about in a home office:

• A dedicated phone line, maybe even a 1 800 number. I think this would be better than just using our cell phones all the time because then we could have separate voice mail for our business. And we could always have calls from our 1 800 number forwarded to our cell phones if necessary.
• Some desk space, including a computer to dedicate primarily to business purposes and some kind of filing system.
• Keeping our kids away from our home office space because for some reason they think they own pretty much every inch of this place.

Whether Chris and I ever start our own business or not, he did some re-arranging in our family room last week which will enable me to have some of my own space for doing stuff like sewing or writing or whatever the heck I feel like doing. I still need to organize everything, but I'm pretty excited to be able to maybe not have to do everything while sitting on the couch with a lap desk or taking over the dining room table.