Under The Boardwalk, Down By The Sea

Me collecting sea glass on McAbee Beach

Ok, so we weren't really under the boardwalk.  I don't think Monterey even has a boardwalk.  But we were definitely down by the sea for a lovely little get away. The sea was beautiful and crystal clear!  And nearly freezing.  Well, the marine biologist said it was about 56F.  Too close to freezing for my taste.  The air was much warmer though.  It was in the mid 60's and beautiful!  Just a nice breeze blowing.  Sun was shining with little bits of clouds.

We stayed at the Spindrift Inn which is my favorite place to stay in Monterey.  You can get a view of Cannery Row or the Ocean.  Each room has it's own fireplace.  King sized beds.  Breakfast brought to your room each morning.  Wonderful window seats to take in the view, or to read in...or nap in as I did one day. The best thing is that it's only about a block away from the aquarium.

Oh my!  The sunfish

Speaking of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, we spent a lot of time there.  We renewed our membership, as it is one of our favorite places on Earth.  We decide to go see the feedings that we normally don't go to since we were there on the less crowded weekdays.  Penguins are so cute when being fed.  They are so polite and wait in line and just walk away when they are done.  No pushing or shoving or grabbing fish from other penguins!  The sardines were amazing all swarming the food and then, poof! back to the bottom of the tank the second they were done.  It was so fast that you could easily miss it.  The sunfish also made quite the appearance while we were there. Usually it stays at the back of the tank and you can hardly see it.  One of the days we were there it was swimming back and forth across the tank.  This is the most awesome picture I have ever taken of it, and I have taken a ton of sunfish pictures.

Over all it was a great get away.  Lots of delicious food and the downtime that was sorely needed.  I took some stitching with me, but barely put in 50 stitches.  I did read about 30% of my current book.  What am I reading you ask.  I might be too embarrassed to say.  Let's just blame it on Felicia Day.  She's been talking about "vaginal fantasy" books.  Not as bad as it sounds.  It's fantasy books with female leads.  So I have been reading "Storm Born" by Richelle Mead.  I wanted to see what this "vaginal fantasy" thing was all about.  I can say that fantasy is not my first pick for book genres..which is weird since I love fantasy movies, art, etc.  I am looking forward to finishing though, so I can start the next book on my Kindle line-up.

Brigga with her prey.

Yes, I have crafting as well as vacationing and reading.  I tossed together this little mouse one evening while playing World of Warcraft.  How talented is that??  I can sew and play video games at the same time!    It was super easy. I just cut a heart out of felt, a couple of circles and a long bit of ribbon.  I sewed the ribbon into the middle of the heart. I pinched the circles and added them as ears and I stitched on little eyes and whiskers you cant really see.  I sewed up the edges of the heart shape, stuffed in with batting and catnip and voila! Cat toy!  The cats actually love it.  This is Brigga and her big paws with it.  There weren't many other pictures of it because it was immediately being tossed around the house.  By the time we got home from vacation, the mouse had lost it's ears and has a large hole in it's side.  The cats want me to make more.  Maybe I'll try it with some denim or some stronger material of some kind. I definitely wont waste my time on ears or the cute face.  The cats done care and they are just gonna rip them all up anyway!

Ok, enough for now.  I'll have more crafting stuff to post later.  I have actually been working on my April goals!  There's even a 50/50 chance I might finish all of them!