Determined to Finish

The past few months have been a little nutty. My previous post was about chaos and dust, and grandkids visiting before the big estate sale...and thank goodness all of that is over. I have survived the grandkids - sofa was again adorned with plenty of drool from the teething 11 month old cutie pie, the house has some marks and bruises, but repairs are easy. Sort of. At the time I didn't chuckle, but now I can....the older kiddo was upset and he took his truck and banged it into the wood:

Since the wildly successful estate sale craziness ended July 21st, I have been tirelessly working on home repairs and renovations - finishing up all those little projects that were 'not quite done' - why are there so many??? What I thought would take only a few months has stretched into a much longer timeframe. We have a decent size house (about 2800sf), and I am determined to finish these projects!

The upstairs bedroom that at one time was my older son's/turned into a guest bedroom: ceiling was popcorn, I had started to scrape it. and then somewhere along the way that project got sidetracked. I think it was between the time my kiddo went to college and when Ken moved in his bedroom set when we got married. Well, that room is now done--all walls painted. Before it was taupe and black now the walls are crisp grey, clean white ceiling and white trim. The other upstairs bedroom is freshly painted and ready to go as well.

Every room in this house needs a touch up paint job - not the whole wall type thing, but definitely the baseboards and trim need some sprucing up. It is so much easier when there is no furniture to move!

My closets are empty except for the clothes we are taking to Ecuador; my cabinets are empty, except for must-have items like a few (seriously only a few!) glasses, plates and bowls, one (yes, ONE) serving dish, and my pots and pans and favorite utensils. Only the things we are taking to Ecuador made the cut, except for the glasses and plates. My older son is awaiting those gifts.

Outdoors - finished stucco-ing the large 6' + concrete block wall in my backyard....once it cures (takes 30 days) I can paint it. That project is set to start Sept 29th. Hopefully done that weekend! Otherwise the landscaping is done, just regular maintenance.

Kitchen and Master Bath - the only two rooms that have not been renovated yet, due to cost. Still pondering whether or not to renovate or sell the house as-is. Do I have a rich relative somewhere that has left me with a large inheritance maybe? Don't think so.

We are on the tail-end of the home renovation projects.....my goal is to have this house in perfect shape by October sometime, and then it will hit the market. With any/lots of luck, it will sell fast. I have plenty of wine, I can get through this!

Hasta luego, cheers and all that good stuff,

Tami

Chaos, Craziness and Dust

Last post was all about selling 'stuff.' The blog I created to help with the selling process worked fairly well. Lots of calls and texts, and emails. Lots. Asking me to "send me another picture", "what are the measurements-again", "is it really gold gold, or more of a yellow gold, or does it have green in it?"  Seriously? To some of the responses (mainly text, after the 3rd one usually) I would type "just come by and see it please."

It was exhausting. My living room was filled with tables of stuff, and invariably when someone would come over to look, they would ask "what else do you have?" - and I would tell them that I could only get so much ready at a time because I had to clean the item, take pictures, post it etc.....and some people would ask to go through my house!! What?

So I posted earlier this week about contracting with an estate sale company. I'm still very happy about the decision to contract with them.

They will arrive July 9th and work for 10 days straight to get everything staged and ready for the sale. My estate sale will be held July 19 (my 49th birthday OMG) thru July 21. So that means any and every item I do not want sold must be put away, hidden. Since we are not selling my master bedroom furniture, we decided to keep that room off limits. Unfortunately, the sitting room part of the master bedroom WAS my staging area for items I was getting ready to sell, so it is full of stuff that I need to move OUT of the bedroom. Augh. This is embarrassing, but I am posting a picture of what it looks like this morning, even though yesterday I removed many many boxes of stuff:

As soon as they leave on Monday I start emptying out the sitting room. Oh crap, I have to clean out the drawers of the antique dresser that's in there, and sort through ALL the craft items I put in there, and..... the Lane chest filled with blankets and quilts. Chaos.

Tuesday thru Thursday I spend removing photos from frames. Dusting off the frames. Getting sick from all the dust. Cough cough. Going through old photos and removing the ones I want to keep and giving the rest to the children's father. Most of the photos are copies, and the rest are in 30+ photo albums, many which are 'scrapbook style'. Yikes! More craziness. I decide to bargain with my ex - he scans the photos for me, he gets to keep the albums. He accepts the offer. Albums are stacked up and ready for him to take. So is the gigantic box of photos, negatives and other stuff. More dust, some of these albums haven't been looked at since I moved in the house 8 years ago. Cough.

Dozens of board games are stacked in one corner of the man cave/bonus room. I stirred up the dust on that project, as many of the games have been sitting for a long time, some of them are little kid games and my kids are 18 and 24 now. That's lots of sitting and collecting dust!

What the heck are we going to do with all those CDs? Covered in dust too.... cough.

Kid's rooms - my older son's stuff that he still has at my house. Guess what? His father can take that! He doesn't know it yet, but it will be waiting for him when he gets the albums.  Since Alec is going off to college in a few months, he won't have room to store things, so maybe I can get his stuff over to his dad's as well.

All this has to be done before June 23rd - this is where the craziness part comes in: Ken's daughter and her two boys, ages 4 and 11 months, are coming to visit for 5 days. YIKES! My house is not, and has never been childproof. Now it is a complete hazard, a serious danger zone. I pray the children don't get hurt. They may need hard hats. I will need more than wine to calm my nerves, at least I have plenty of vodka.

For those of you who have decades of 'stuff' just collecting dust, get rid of it NOW. Do it years before you move. If you think it will only take a month, triple that.

Today I am heading out to get medium weight drop cloths to put over the white living room sofa which we are not selling right away. Then I can stack stuff on top, move the rest of the items out of the sitting room, and the suitcases that are blocking half the master bath can take their rightful place on the floor, to be filled with Ecuador bound items. The Space Bags are at the ready, waiting to be filled.

It's really happening. Cough cough. Soon, the dust will settle, the craziness will turn to calm, and all the chaos will have been worth it.

Hasta luego, chao chao, and all the good stuff,

Tami

Estate Sale is ON!

Alrighty, yet another twist in my endeavor to sell all our stuff.....just this morning I contracted with an Estate Sale company to take over. I was not woman enough for the job. Drove me nuts sorting, pricing, taking pictures, answering STUPID questions from buyers about all the stuff, etc. It was just too much and I surrendered!

So 'Loose Ends by MJ', a group of ladies that come in and do it all for you, are coming in and doing it all for me! They are charging a $600 (not to exceed) set-up fee and for expenses, spending 10 days pricing and sorting and setting up the house, and then taking 25% of the sales price as commission. I think it is pretty darned fair! Most companies charge from 30-35% and their set-up fee/expense charges are a lot higher.

A contract is signed and all we have to do is remove anything we do not want sold. I have 1 month to get those items packed and put in the bedroom. The bedroom will be our safe haven! First though, I have to remove all the 'stuff' I want sold FROM the bedroom.

Everything we are not taking with us to Ecuador will be sold, except for the basic sofa, bed, dining table stuff needed to stage the house. Ken and I are both feeling a bit liberated already....that is, until we walk into our living room and see tables FILLED with 'stuff' and then we wish it was already July 19th. Or better yet, July 25th, when I get the check from the sale!

Interesting note: when the ladies came in this morning, the first thing they told me was another couple from Huntsville is also moving to Ecuador! They did their 'estate sale' last weekend. And everything was sold. Wow, great news! Hope our sale goes as well as theirs!


Hasta luego, chao chao, and all the good stuff,

Tami

Selling 'Stuff'

This past week has been a whirlwind of activity. Today it has been one week since I resigned from my crazy stressful job. The resignation was immediate, and since then I have put in some serious hard work! Every day my goal is to clean out at least a couple of drawers or a closet, throw away or donate 'stuff' and post items to Craigslist. This is a LOT of work!!

I have started another blog called 'BuyMyStuffSoWeCanMove' ---the link is here:
http://buymystuffsowecanmove.blogspot.com/

Posting items on Craigslist is a pain when you have a lot of things to sell. It was getting old, having to repost and re-write listings, finding the pictures, etc. There are so many new listings every day, and once your listing has been up for a week, it gets lost in the mix. Too many items to look at! So, I thought, why not create a blog, with descriptions and pictures of my items. I will post my blog link on a Craigslist ad, and put up a new 'ad' each week so it stays fresh. Putting up one new ad is easier than reposting dozens upon dozens of pictures!

Once the item sells, I remove the picture from the blog. Each day I will add more items, and I am really hoping each day I remove pictures = cash in my pocket.

Having a garage sale is in the works, but I do not want to put my nice crystal out on the lawn! Not to mention my silk drapes...the birds would have a field day, lol.

And as always, I will be donating a TON of items....already have boxes upon boxes filled to the brim with nice brand-name summer clothing....will be adding more each week to the donate pile!

Hope this helps my fellow wanna-be expats - I always want ideas to help me get rid of 'stuff' - if you have any please comment and share your tips.

Hasta luego, chao chao, and all the good stuff,

Tami

Guayaquil Adventures First Day

We landed in Guayaquil late on a Friday evening. Easily caught a taxi, negotiated the fare to $3 (I feel like a pro) and got to our hostel (Hostel Murali) ready for a good night's sleep.

Don and staff greeted us with smiles as we dragged our weary bodies inside - they quickly grabbed my heavy suitcase with a motion of 'I got this, let me help you.'

Side note: I love being a woman in Ecuador, all the men seem so eager to help with heavy items, opening doors, pointing out possible dangers while stepping off a curb, etc. How nice! Too bad the guys here in the States sometimes run into 'crazy women' when they try to be a gentleman. I'll take chivalry any day!

Back on track: we are registered, paid, and with a cold water bottle given to each of us, shown our room. We have a large room facing the street. The room is quite clean, the large bath is rather old, but clean and the best part? No electric/death shower head! (Yesss.....score!)

The air conditioner is already running, the room is nice and cool on this muggy evening. The sounds of the neighborhood are fun sounds, nothing too loud or crazy. Music is playing, people are talking, the normal sounds of a Friday night, and the air conditioner hum covers most of the street noise. We are so tired, we quickly fall asleep.

"MARLENA! MARLENA! Mi ESPOSA!"  I open my eyes and yes, the sound I hear is real, not from a dream. "MARLENA! MARLENA! Mi ESPOSA!"  Over and over. And over. And....you get the point. Up and down the streets this poor guy is shouting at the top of his lungs. Did he screw up and have to shout out his love for all in the barrio to hear? Or was he looking for his wife? Was SHE the party girl? Hmmm.... and all this around 5am. Couldn't really read my phone clock, at least not at THAT hour....(yawn).

We get up, get our 'stuff' together and I go downstairs for breakfast. Ken is upstairs still getting ready, and I end up chatting with some expats, chatting (sorta kinda) with the staff, and enjoying my very strong, very black, very yummy coffee. The staff was acting surprised I didn't want leche or azucar. The gal who brought me breakfast gave me this HUGE smile when I took a sip of black coffee and liked it. I guess many Americans like their coffee with lots of sugar and cream. After a few cups of coffee, I was ready to tackle the adventures of the day....

One of the guys tried to fix my luggage handle that LAN broke. Yep, went the entire week without rolling luggage, poor Ken, he ended up dealing with that and many times his bag, too. Glad I married a hunky strong guy! When he heard we needed a taxi to the bus terminal, he literally took our bags, and put them in his car. We were at the station in minutes, and he charged us $2. So far, so good.

Terminal Terrestre - Crazy! Busy, that is. While I waited for Dan and his girlfriend Priscilla, Ken went scouting for the Reina ticket window and bus departure times to Manta. The terminal has many stores, it looks like a mall when you enter, and it is HUGE. When Dan and Priscilla arrived, we headed to the Claro store to get a phone since Ken's phone took a mini-sim card and the store didn't have one. We needed to buy a phone. Oh well, now we have an Ecuadorian phone and number, and it's registered.

Now on to get our bus tickets. Priscilla is awesome, she is making sure the tickets we buy are for the air conditioned executive bus to Manta. She repeats in Spanish several times and makes the woman at the ticket counter confirm the right bus. Once we get the tickets, we literally run, across the terminal, up the escalator, and down the hall to the correct 'gate.' Poor Dan is carrying luggage, running (yes, running!) UP the escalator. What a friend :)  The bus is supposed to leave and Priscilla says they usually leave on time. That seems like quite a contradiction because nothing leaves on time in Ecuador, right?

We give our 2 bags to the guy who puts a tag on them and gives us a matching tag, and the lady at the door (bus assistant) looks in my carry-on bag, and pats Ken down, even though they do not take away our knives. The knives were not hidden, but they were not loose either - they were in the pockets of our 'day packs.'  I notice one guy getting on the bus, and the assistant hops onto the bus after him and makes him get off and pats him down - a real pat down - and all the while lots of chattering and bickering and the guy isn't happy, but she got her way!

And we're off to Manta.....

No time to see the sights in Guayaquil today, but on our return we will be meeting up with Dan and Graciela.....

Hasta Luego, Chao Chao, and all the good stuff,

Tami

Manta Street (and Beach) Scenes

It is so easy to walk all over little (and big) towns in Ecuador. Be mindful of your steps though - sidewalks can have (doggie) bombs, and plenty of holes, as well as rebar/wires sticking up and hanging down! So with the standard warning, let's have a tour:

Playa Murceilago Hotel - nice hotel, walking distance to the beach, in a very nice area. Close to restaurants, shopping and main streets. This is where we stayed in Manta:

We had so much fun walking, walking everywhere from the Supermaxi, to the beach, walking down side streets to see the vendors out early in the morning with large crowds eating ceviche....for breakfast. I opted for a warm cinnamon roll without icing and Ken had a huge croissant, along with our cold beverages, to start our big hike through the city. After stopping for breakfast, we headed towards the beach:

Delicious lunch at Mediterraneo, on Flavio Reyes, just a few blocks from our hotel:

We walked down lots and lots of stairs to get to the beach. What you see here is barely scratching the surface! There was another set up higher, and one to the left. Whew. 

After the long long walk on the beach, we are starting up another set of stairs, this time closer to the Malecon (Murceilago) where there are plenty of vendors, and restaurants.... 

We explored many streets hoping we were headed in the direction of our hotel (we were); we even stopped by the Fybecca to grab a couple of cold drinks. It was hot outside, but not unbearable. Living in the South, we are used to it. Now I see a reason for me tolerating the outrageous humidity in Alabama! Yes, it was/is to prepare me for the move to Ecuador!

Ken posing in front of what we called the Gringolandofshopping:

Manta was a fun city to explore by foot. We walked quite a bit, and we better get used to it if we are going to live in Ecaudor!

Hasta luego, chao chao, and all the good stuff,

Tami

Sea-foodie Heaven Part II

Ken's favorite dinner was at Mama Rosa's in Manta (Playa Murcielago area) - he had the swordfish, grilled. Yes, that was one delicious piece of fish. He let me have a bite or two:

Very buttery, garlic seasoning, it was YUMMY. Whole swordfish meal, about $8.

I had the 'sweaty' (steamed) swordfish with grapefruit. It was very good, but Ken is right, his was better.

We walked to Mama Rosa's from our hotel just a few blocks down the same street (Flavio Reyes), and even though it was dark (the horrors!) we were just fine. There was a security guy outside one of the buildings on the street, and even our hotel had a security guy at the door. Saturday night in Manta, whoo!

Anyhow, we arrived at the restaurant, and were greeted very warmly by our server, who said we could sit wherever we wanted. We picked a table with a birds-eye view of the entry, and also to take advantage of the breeze. Nice atmosphere, a tad dark for my old eyes but we managed just fine....hey, I got the sweaty swordfish, right?

The server took our drink orders, and almost immediately brought us a champagne glass with a sparkling cocktail - how sweet! It was gratis, and that set the mood for some fun:

Me after a glass or three of wine.....

Fantastic fresh meal, highly recommend Mama Rosa's, not for the Italian food, but for the fish. Service was spot-on, nice bar area, pretty decor, has a note of elegance, enjoyable music. Would be a great place for a big celebration or a quiet romantic dinner.


MY favorite dinner: Rocka's in Salinas. I know, I know, it isn't seafood, but wow, the meats have this wonderful smoky flavor, and it was a nice change from ceviche and fish, which of course I could eat (and did eat) every day. They are located on a side street, ask a local and they can point the way, or better yet, follow your nose. I'm serious!

Really really (really) good grilling skills these guys have:

Grill master on the right, he was so nice and explained each item

Pappas y Carne pictured above, smothered in queso, below is the mixed grill of chorizo, beef and chicken with two dipping sauces.

 The potato is so freaking good!!!!

 Ken's chuleta - thin piece of pork grilled to perfection, he liked the chimichurri type sauceThe corn - ahhh, sweet and I could eat several!

 Above left - chuleta on the grill, right, the grill master's assistant

Plaintains with queso - the one thing we didn't try!

Food was kept under wraps - nice touch!

Rocka is only open for dinner, the restaurant is open for lunch but not the grill. Go for the grill!! When we arrived, it was a Friday night, and the evening was young. Maybe around 7. Disco and 80s music playing, I was 'chair' dancing and the gals by us started giggling. Hmmm. Well then they started moving a bit, the music was fun, and you HAD to dance to it! And....it was in English. The place started filling up and filling up quickly, with locals. Plenty of families, young couples, and the atmosphere was fun and friendly.

Rocka is a bit different from most places. It is outside, and the grill and caja (cashier) are on opposite sides, with the tables all in between. Snag a table, then go to the cashier and place your order and pay. Take your receipt to your table, and the server will go to the grill and get your food. Service is super quick, and we placed several orders, wanting to try many things. Their homemade aji sauce had a nice kick to it, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but their chimichurri sauce was super yummy! 

They have a reputation of running out of food (because they are so popular), so I am glad we were able to try most items - I think we tried too much because we were SO FULL!! And, our dinner was around $11 for two of us, including our drinks (beer, soda). Very affordable. We slowly made our way back to the hotel, hoping the long walk would help digest the enormous amount of food we consumed! We WILL go back.

Hasta luego, chao chao, and all the good stuff,

Tami

Sea-Foodie Heaven-Part I

Seafood galore on the coast. Fresh, too. Out of all the meals we had, not one dish had 'old' seafood. Nothing 'fishy' going on here except the freshness of it.

We had fabulous and/or just plain yummy meals in Manta, in Bahia, Puerto Lopez, Jama, Salinas and Guayaquil. For this post, I am selecting just a few of my all time favorites, meals I would eat over and over again.

MY favorite meal was ceviche camerone at El Muelle Uno in Bahia. Top dog, could PIG OUT all day on this stuff:

They serve the delicious plantains with these awesome(!) sauces:

The green one was a pesto mayo type sauce, great for dipping the perfectly crispy plantains. The aji had tomato, onion and some peppers - very spicy/picante, and my favorite. The other sauce was a slightly sweet sauce, a cross between a BBQ and a sweet & sour sauce. It would be good on meats. Or for those that are not into spicy.

Our (Ken and I are in total agreement on this one) favorite almeurzo/lunch, hands-down was in Puerto Lopez at a little place called Dona Elsie. It is run by a Colombian family, and we ended up eating there twice, it was that good!

 For $3 each we got: a pitcher of fresh juice - I watched the son make it in the blender, and each day it was different. Soup with dorado and yuca, and our secundo was a tun (tuna) in coconut, mildly spiced, yet very flavorful. The sides were typical of an almeurzo - rice and a salad.

Fresh hot soup, I put homemade aji sauce in it, yum yum yum:

Fresh squeezed juice:

And, our secundo:

Who says Ecuadorian food is bland? Some of it, yes, just like in the US (mushy veggies, yuck). We found the food to be very flavorful, and if you like heat, like me (love spicy anything and everything), most places have plenty of hot sauce, all the places we went to except one had homemade aji and it was fun trying out different versions.

If you are a seafood lover, you will be in heaven on the coast. Everything is very fresh, caught that morning fresh, and the families are proud of what they serve. When we complimented a dish, usually the cook/chef heard it, looked up and smiled. We were treated very well with gracious service, the bills were accurate, and many places did not charge us the tax (service charge yes, but not tax) - we were paying with cash, small bills please, and they appreciated that.

Go to Ecuador with an open mind and empty stomach. The foods, just like the people, are beautiful.


Tune in next time for......Part II
Our favorite dinner was at Rocko's in Salinas - hands down the best grilled meats, pappas stuffed with carne, and the corn........


Hasta luego, chao chao, and all the good stuff,
Tami

Found our Future Home

This post will be short, due to the extensive travel over the past week or so. We got in last night, er, um, this morning around midnight, we both went to 'work' today, and bottom line, we are exhausted. Long drives, long flights, and an amazing trip to Ecuador....well worth the hassle of travel.

Last year we took a trip to Salinas and visited surrounding areas. Loved it. Had a blast. This trip, we wanted to explore some other areas of the coast before deciding exactly 'where' to plant our feet. And, we decided to try using public transportation, to see if 'we could do it.' Crazy, yes. But, even though it is a pain to take the chicken bus, and dangerous according to some, it was a great adventure, and we are even more confident next time we are left at the side of the road in a strange city...that we are SUPPOSED to get off here and find another bus to get on, that will eventually take us to our desired destination." Yes, that sounds about right.

So, after traveling to: Guayaquil, Manta, being dropped off in Rocafuerte (didn't know where we were until we asked, lol....story coming later, it's a riot)....Jipijapa (pronounced hippy-hoppa-SERIOUSLY), Bahia, San Vicente, Puerto Lopez, Las Tunas, Canoa, Jama, all places in between, and Salinas....then back to Guayaquil.....we have found our future home.  

Drumroll please ------- Bahia. Yep, that little city between the Pacific Ocean and Chone River. New bridge that connects Bahia to the northern coast..... little sleepy Bahia aka Mayberry. Yep, both of us actually agreed on a city!! Lights, camera, action, we need to get this documented - we BOTH agree where we want to move.....and of course we are not in agreement as to when. Me, I want to move NOW. Ken, he is more patient. Of course. He is the model adult, I am the pain in the ass 'want to do it now' kind of gal. We are perfect together :)

Future posts, complete with pictures, will follow. Soon. Right now I need more (really good) wine, and relish in the fact I can #1 = brush my teeth with tap water instead of 'clean water' from a bottle, and #2 = flush my TP down the toilet. Oh, the little things we enjoy in life, heeeheeeheee.

Hasta luego, Chao chao, and all the good stuff,
Tami

Reservations, smeshervations...

As soon as we stepped foot back on US soil, Ken and I were already planning our next trip to Ecaudor. Flights were booked and confirmed, AND paid for before the end of 2011. Did I say PAID for? Yep. So imagine my surprise....

I had this nagging thought late one night - did I have seat assignments done on both flights? Hmmmm. I'm pretty sure I did that way back in December. I checked the printed out itinerary, and yes, I had. Nice. Now go back to sleep, Tami.

The next day went on as usual, but when I got home that evening, I still had this weird feeling I had better check our flights. Went online and typed in our reservation code. What???? Arriving in Quito? What???? Oh, there's Guayaquil, but what the heck - arriving late at night? What happened to arriving in the late morning? I was having a come-apart as they say in the South. Ken!!!!!!! He got on the phone with LAN, and of course there was 'nothing we can do, sorry."

For those of you reading this that have not yet traveled to Ecuador, or Latin American country, let me explain why this arrival time was so bothersome.

Reason #1 Traveling at night is a dangerous sport. I would rather go rock climbing and I am terrified of heights. Not only do busses get robbed at night, those drivers have a tendency, uh, to have a drink or three before their shift. They also have to dodge cows, pigs, rockslides, and all this on unlighted streets. So no thank you. I will travel during the day, and take pictures of the livestock roaming the streets.

Reason #2
We now have to spend the night in Guayaquil. More $$$ down the drain. This is really the pet peeve of mine. We do have reservations at Hotel Murali just a few blocks from the airport. So taking a taxi from the cooperative (taxi line at the airport) to the hotel will be fine, as we know where this hotel is, and if it were daytime we could walk, but alas....

Not everything is sour news though. Crap happens, it was just bothersome that the airline didn't notify us!! Glad we had time to make adjustments in our schedule. I cannot wait to embark on this journey, every step we take is one step closer to realizing our dream.

Our Route:
Our trip is extended by 1 day because of the flight mess. We are traveling up the coast from Guayaquil to Manta to Bahia, and back down to Puerto Lopez, possibly Montanita to visit friends, and then to Salinas for one night, and then back to Guayaquil. All of our travels will be by bus or taxi. We need to know if we can get by without a car, and this will also help our Spanish. Which sucks rocks, btw!

We have reservations at Hotel Murali, and from what I hear it will be a good experience. An expat friend recommended it, so glad she did, because I didn't want to take a taxi across town late at night. They will feed us breakfast the next morning, and we can then take our bags and walk to the bus terminal if the weather is nice outside. Off to the coast we go....

We are taking the executive bus (who knows which one, we will figure that out once at the Terminal Terrestre). We don't yet have reservations, but there are plenty of hotels in Manta, we will figure something out....living on the edge, love it (LOL)

I am very excited about the Bahia part of our trip, we will be staying in a nice B&B called Casa Grande. One of the expats made the reservations for us, which was such a help. I can't wait to dine at Puerto Amistad, the owner and chef is also from Alabama, and I look forward to hearing about his experiences living in Bahia. That, and enjoying fresh seafood and good wine.

We also have reservations at Hostel Mandala in Puerto Lopez., which is south of Manta. We will be there for two nights enjoying the beach. This will be the relaxing part of our adventure. In their pictures I noticed the mosquito netting over the bed. So no air conditioning, which is just fine by us, it will remind me of the Banana Azul in Costa Rica.

On our last night in Ecuador, we will be hanging out at Will's - Hostal Aqui, and enjoying the great food and friendship at Score Sports Bar. Wendy and I have a bottle of wine we need to consume! Oh, and their margaritas.....

The other nights we haven't planned out, we will fill in those blanks when the time comes.

Only a few more weeks.....getting super excited!!

Cheers, Tami

SOLD!

An interesting thing about changing ones life, at least for me, is not bringing my old life "stuff" with me. I am reading on various forums about how people MUST have their ALL things, they just can't depart without their whole house of furniture, pictures, knick-knacks (I call them crip-crap), and yes, I have a few of those crip-crap items too. I am NOT knocking their decisions. I am NOT thinking they are silly. But reading their posts and comments over the past year has got me thinking about what I am going to do with all my 'stuff.'

Last year we had researched getting a small container. Then maybe just a pallet or to share a truck or something with another couple. And now we are down to carrying a few footlockers along with our suitcases. Keep a few things in storage in Florida and we can (if we still want) pick up items on return trips to the US. Or make the kids bring them to us when they visit. It's interesting how perspectives change after making an exploratory trip, and then actually planning the move.

I do plan on bringing some items from my kitchen. I love to cook. Things many of you out there on the forums and who are already living in Ecuador have recommended to bring. Small appliances like my Vitamix, food processor, small food chopper, and some of my nicer cookware. I plan on selling pretty much my entire kitchen except for the small appliances. Hopefully they have plenty of wine glasses there in Ecaudor!

A select few photos are in the keep pile. Pictures of our travels to Costa Rica, my favorite is the collage of feet, yes our feet, that my husband gave to me a few years ago for my birthday. Pics of our feet all over Costa Rica, perched up overlooking the Pacific ocean sunset, buried in the black sand on the Caribbean, etc. Love that collage! Here are just a few:

Now, isn't that more interesting and memorable (at least for us, haha) than looking at a picture of a piece of furniture? Furniture can be replaced. Memories, priceless.

And of course a collage of our wedding in Barbados!

And pics of the kiddos, right now at 4 kids, 2 spouses and 3 grandchildren. 2 babies born last year alone. But I may sell the frames and buy those in Ecuador. I have seen some pretty frames there, and of course the prices are so much lower than in the US. Thank goodness for digital photos, my next big project is converting all our old prints to digital.

But what am I NOT keeping? My entire room filled with stamping supplies. Which brings me to the title of this post. SOLD! I sold ALL of my stamps. I had hundreds. Yes, every one of them! How freeing. Now I can post more items on Craigslist and my kitchen reno fund gets closer to the magic amount needed.

Christmas items. Sold a TON last year. Sold some more this year. I now have them all separated into what I am keeping (a small Rubbermaid box), versus what I am giving away to my kids or selling (several Rubbermaid containers!)

Not keeping: furniture. There's plenty in Ecuador. Closet filled with gorgeous designer (the good ones like Nicole Miller and Betsey Johnson) dresses. I'm going to take a few, just in case, but only a few. Taking over a dozen to the consignment shop next week! Crip-Crap. Many items are on Craigslist now. What the heck am I going to do with Swarovski crystal figurines. Really?

Just looking at the pictures above brings a smile to my face. I am so looking forward to the day I can not only snap a pic of us on the beach in Ecuador, but wake up to the sounds and sight of the beautiful ocean every single morning. Now, that's a memory I can't wait to make!

Tami

Here's to 2012

Had a great Christmas with my hubs and both boys, Alec (17) and...Christopher (23).  He lives in Richmond VA and flew down Thursday before Christmas and stayed until Monday late afternoon. I only get to see him a few times a year, so him coming 'home' for Christmas was a special treat. The fact he is in the hospitality industry (Chef) and he was able to get a few days off, wow. I know how hard it is being in the service/hospitality biz 'cause I rarely get a day off! And with Christmas falling on a Sunday, the next day it was back to work. Augh.

Usually on New Year's Eve I am helping out at one or two of my retailers, and helping out at night at one of my restaurants (I'm good at taking drink orders, haha). However, I decided that I needed some down time after busting butt for the last 5 weeks (I sell more wine and beer during December than in any other month). So NO deliveries until Friday this week...customers will just have to 'deal.' Wine Diva here needs FRIEND time!

For the first time in years, and I mean YEARS....I celebrated New Year's with friends. Normally I am so tired on New Year's Eve, I just crash. Not this year. We joined some close friends (we are known as the 'Blings') at a very nice country club (literally up the hill from where we live) and we rang in the New Year with fabulous food, great entertainment, and a classy environment to boot! No large crowds of drunks, just a few silly society women who had too many martinis, lol. I said there was good entertainment, right? :D My hubs was designated driver as always, and we all got home safe.

David (aka Zsa), me (aka Bella) and handsome hubs Ken (aka Armand)

Dave (professional Sinatra singer-very talented guy!), his wife Ginny, my best guy friend David and Fran (aka Kiddy)

Valerie (aka Coco), Ken, Becky (aka Bubbles), Joe (aka Dom) and Fran



Joe (aka Dom)

 Best Friend Wendy!

New Year's Day was fun, had a few friends over for traditional foods - gotta have those black-eyed peas and collard greens! I decided to get creative and made a few fun sauces: used home-made pear preserves blended with crisped bacon, sautéed onion and garlic, added a bit of dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar and bended it all then heated it. Served that with the herb crusted pork tenderloin. Made a second chutney/sauce with some home-made cranberry strawberry preserves and added balsamic vinegar - lovely with the smoked ham. A sweet-potato 'hash' with diced apple, onion, garlic and bacon was delish. We all had too much to eat, and spent the rest of the day and evening sitting by the fire drinking plenty of good wine and chatting. Such a lovely day!!

Today - catching up on chores, putting away rest of Christmas decorations, hanging out with my handsome hubs, playing with my new iPad2, and gearing up for the work week that starts tomorrow. Back to the grind!