Glenn's Bucket List": Seeing Joan Rivers Live March 14, 2014

Glenn has very few things on his bucket list so I am so excited when we can cross one off. Joan Rivers came to town. 

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Funny Side Story: We went to the wrong theater and stumbled upon the L. Ron Hubbard Birthday Party - a huge gathering of Scientology. We knew we were in the wrong place when we saw the fancy outfits, the red carpets and the security men in suits. 

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Back to Joan -  After Glenn and I crammed ourselves into the teeny tiny seats of the mezzaine - Joan's opening act came out it. It was a live singer backed by a 5 piece band. He sang old favorites, jumped into the audience and kissed the hands of the lovely ladies. Both Glenn and I remarked that this must be what old Vegas was like. 

Then Joan came out and she was fabulous! We had to laugh a little that before the show, the stage hands came out and taped huge pieces of paper down with very large writing with her act outline on them. She told some old jokes in new ways. Overall it was a fantastic show! I am so glad we went. 

3.7.14 - 3.9.14 Spring Training and Camping at Myakka River State Park

Friday night we packed and headed down to Myakka River State Park. We left the house around 6:30 pm and had everything set up by 9:30 pm. We had a great campsite 13 in the quiet loop. Overnight it was pretty chilly, but we made it through. Saturday morning was gorgeous. We had a relaxing morning drinking coffee and reading by the fire. 

Around 11:30 am, we headed out to Sarasota for the Baltimore Orioles v. Boston Red Sox Spring Training game at Ed Smith Field. It was nice and sunny! 

The Red Sox had a rough day. We'll blame it on the Split Squad. 

After the game, we headed to a local bar call Beer Box. They had a row of Cigar City on tap and we were really impressed with the knowledgeable bartender. 

After happy hour - we headed to Venice to have dinner with my grandparents. We tried for Sharkey's but the line was 1 hour and a half long so we ended up at the Daiquiri Deck. The food was pretty good and the oysters were great. It was fun getting to see them. 

We headed back to the campsite for wine by the fire. It was a beautiful clear night so we got to see a lot of stars. 

Sunday morning we packed up and headed to Bradenton for the Pittsburgh Pirates v. Boston Red Sox Spring Training. Again, the day was gorgeous. Buckner was pitching so that was fun. We got to watch him warming up. 

The Park was pretty cool. It has a bar in the outfield. 

Overall, it was a terrific weekend! 

3.1.14 Color or Dye Run, Alton Brown and a Day at Disney World

We had a great busy weekend! We started Saturday morning with the Run or Dye 5K! It's a fun run where volunteers throw dyed cornstarch all over you as you run through the course.

 We had a blast and even managed to run a little here and there. We weren't as messy as I had anticipated and most of it came off. 

Glenn and I both have a couple of discolored spots, but nothing too noticeable. 

Saturday night, we went to Alton Brown's Edible Inevitable Tour. They asked us not to take picture so we only have the set up. It was an awesome show - over 2 and 1/2 hours. Alton sang a few songs about food, gave a short version of his speech "The 10 Things I am Pretty Sure I Know For Sure About Food",  but the best was his two inventions: a Mega Bake oven (based on the Easy Bake Oven), and a flash freeze ice cream maker made from fire extinguishers. He had audience volunteers for both and the audience member - Chrissy - for the Mega Bake was a little drunk so it was hilarious. We both really enjoyed - especially since we had no idea was the expect. 

Sunday morning we woke up early and knew it was going to be a gorgeous day so we wanted to get out and enjoy. Glenn threw out the idea of going to Disney World so off we went. We wanted to try using the new Fast Pass+ system, but that didn't work out so well. We were excited Club Cool had new soda flavors. Then we went to the Biergarten German buffet for lunch. It was really good. 

We enjoyed the food and the live band. After lunch, we went over to the Magic Kingdom to meet the talking Mickey. This is a new innovation that Mickey Mouse will speak to you. Usually, the characters are silent. It was pretty cool! 

We also got to see the Celebration Block Party. 

Overall, a very fun weekend! 

2.22.14 Weekend: Movies and an early St Patty's Day

We love the AMC Best Picture Showcase - the weekends prior to the Oscars, AMC theaters show them all in a two day movie marathon. It's so much fun. 

2.16.14 Brews, Bands and BBQ

On Sunday the 16th - we used our annual pass to Busch Gardens to check out the Brews, Bands and BBQ Fest. We were really impressed. For $30, you buy a wristband to sample over 100 beers. A few local breweries were highlighted so that was fun.

Then it was time for the band portion of the event: Gin Blossoms and Mark McGrath from Sugar Ray. 

February 7 - 9 Camping at Hillsborough River State Park

We headed out camping February 7th for a weekend at Hillsborough River State Park. We really like camping here. The campsites are nice and face the woods. The Park has a great network of trails to explore. Plus - it's only 30 minutes from our house. 

This trip was historic because it is the first time we camped in the cold and the rain. Our new tent passed the rain test and we were pretty excited about that. We spent most of Friday night sitting in our chairs inside our tent: 

January 2014: Carnival Paradise Cruise

For MLK Day weekend, we took off on a 4 night Cruise on the Carnival Paradise. This cruise was complimentary since I am travel agent.  This cruise is tough to review. The big memory we will have from this cruise is that Glenn got food poisoning on the first night and we spent all the first day at Sea in the cabin. Luckily, he was feeling better by dinner, but we ended up heading to bed early every night since he wasn't 100%. I also felt a little crappy due to the food so it definitely wasn't one of our best cruises. It's a shame because we loved the ship and spent the first several hours talking about how great the ship was and we should take this cruise more often. There were a couple highlights: