Well HELLO out there in cyberspace. No I didn't die or get lost somewhere. Just returned from a much needed fabulous vacation. Hope you missed me just a little. My 43rd anniversary present was a week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to which we added a short stay in Charleston at the end of our trip. So instead of my usual kind of blog post, I just thought I'd share my vacation with you and get back to business at a later date.

The above picture was one of my favorite “looks” of our vacation. Now by now,you know I'm all about the entire look from head to toe, so you have to know I never pack light when we travel. I want to have anything I could possibly want to use during that time. But I am very organized. For each day's clothing, I picked out all my jewelry accessories and put each one in a ziplock bag. This also included the coordinating FitBit band and clasp cover. I had my pretty little box that I keep all my rings in, and I had all the watches I planned on using in a large ziplock bag. I had one bag that just contained all the shoes and sandals I planned on using on the trip, and two that contained all my personal care items and makeup. We have a bar that goes across the back of the car and all my outfits, bathing suits and sweaters were hung on that. My suitcase contained nightwear, workout gear, underclothing, my perfumes and various other items. And another bag held all my medications and supplements. So although I took a lot it was very easy to stay organized. And then of course I had all my tech things,( cell phone, I Pad, a headset and all the charging paraphernalia). Organization is key to all aspects in life. And being organized and having everything you need while you're gone makes things so much easier and enjoyable. That is one of the abilities God blessed me with. It is rare that I forget something that I need on a trip. It only happens once in awhile ( usually if hubby is hurrying me somehow). Thought you might enjoy this glimpse into how I prepare for a trip. It is the same whether it's for two days or 10 days. I kind of have it down to a science.

I made quite a bit of new jewelry for some of the ensembles I took, including the ones I am wearing in the opening picture. It really looked nice with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bracelet is part of the three piece set I made to go with this dress. You can't tell from this picture, but there are actually three color's in it, the pink color and a dark blue and a dark green. My Blue Lapis ring was perfect and I liked the color of this Fitbit band with the dress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hadn't worn the dark green clasp cover before this, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have always loved this Blue Lapis watch but hadn't worn it much in awhile till just recently. It is a unique piece. It has a twisting face that hides the watch face.

So now onto some stories about my trip. We had a one bedroom condo right on the beach and the view was spectacular. I can't swim but love the ocean. Just waded up to my knees one day and the water felt so nice and loved every time the waves would come in. One of the days I walked three miles on the beach. Funny thing, on the way back I went right past where hubby and the hotel that housed our condo was, actually went quite a ways past it. My husband finally caught up to me and let me know I had gone too far.

Now on this trip I consciously decided I wasn't going to worry about my diet or my weight, but I did make a very concentrated effort to get in my walking and meet my step goal and I managed it all but one day. So I declared that to be my rest day. A number of nights I got hubby to walk with me on Ocean Boulevard. I would go until I made my step count and active minutes, and then we would start back, so I always ended up with good numbers. Loved seeing the ocean close by the whole time. The breeze from the ocean kept the heat from being oppressive and the nights were spectacular for walking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Backing up a bit to the morning we arrived. We got there early in the morning and couldn't check in till three that afternoon. We stopped for breakfast at a placed called The Southern Pancake House where we had a wonderful waitress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here I am pictured with Penny who was just the sweetest thing. Now didn't we look like we had coordinated our color's? LOL!! The morning we left Myrtle Beach we returned there and requested Penny to be our server again. She remembered us right away . They were getting slammed when we got there but she was still her sweet self and hugged me when we left. I am such a people person and love people who are just as friendly as I am.

One of the first fun things we did was the night after we arrived, which was a Sunday night. I had booked two of the three shows before we left. This was the first one. It was called “Pirates Voyage “. It was a Dinner Show that included a four course meal during the course of the evening. When we arrived it had started to rain. As I was making my way from the car to the building a lovely girl in period costume met me with an umbrella and held it over me till we got to the building. That was a surprise. Then another pretty girl greeted us as we entered . I asked her if I could take her picture. This is her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isn't she a pretty little thing? There was a pre show that we saw first and then we were escorted to the venue for the show. We had front row seats. It was amazing. Here's a picture of a portion of what appeared in front of us and where much of the action occurred from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is part of the set to the right of the first one. You can see the first row where people are sitting. We were further to the left kind of in between the two parts of the ship. The food was great and the show was amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the best parts of my trip was being able to physically meet and spend time with one of the founding members when I started my Facebook group “Carol's Inspiration Station”. Meet Barbara Harris Pederson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had such a good time together. It's like we knew each other forever. We call ourselves “Soul Sister's”, along with Di Masin who I also met on another of our trips awhile back. We kept saying , ” Boy I know Di wishes she were here”. I hope someday we can make that happen. If we lived near each other, watch out! We would have a blast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a picture of Barb and my hubby, where we had lunch at The Carolina House. More to come when we get to Tuesday.

Monday night we went to a show at the Alabama Theater called “One”. We had front row center seats for the show. The talent at all the shows we went to was incredible. That was the day I couldn't get all my exercise in because it decided to have a torrential downpour after the show, and by the time we got back to the condo after dinner it was too late to do a workout that would be included in that days 24 hours, so I just declared it my rest day.

Now that brings me to Tuesday night. We met at the Texas Roadhouse near Barb's for dinner. This time it was us ladies along with both husbands. We had a blast. Her husband and mine had a lot in common and they seemed to hit it off right away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had some kind of program going on where exchange students were taking pictures and we received this postcard of the four of us free. We could easily take photos of our own, so we weren't going to purchase any pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we left we had to get a picture of the two of us by our 94 caddy. Barb invited us to see her house on our way to Brookgreen Gardens the next day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's Barb and I in front of her house before we left for Brookgreen Gardens where we got to spend the whole afternoon together. She has a season pass there.

 

 

 

 

A real pretty spot for another picture.

Now there's a story behind this picture. The bag containing my sunblock accidentally was left by my hubby back at the condo. So when we were in the sun too long he put this much to big for my head hat on me.

 

 

 

 

And then we just had to do this funny shot of the two of us. Then before Barb left we had lunch at the restaurant there. Barb didn't realize how nice it was. We had a great lunch, so now she knows they ought to stop there sometimes when they go there. I will cherish all the time I got to spend with her and hope I get to see her again someday.

Hubby and I stayed for the concert series that started just that day. They even provided us with folding chairs and cute fans. The fans were ours to keep. And of course you have to know we would find a way to do some dancing. Think the audience enjoyed it and a few others joined us.

The last show we attended in Myrtle Beach was a show at The Carolina Opry. We purchased those tickets while we were there. We had 2nd row center seats which were perfect. The show was amazing and it included, singing, dancing and some great comedy. Loved every minute of it.

One of the last evenings we stopped at a small club called “The Bowery” where the group Alabama got their start. It was small and had just a really little spot where we fit in some dancing.

We decided to extend our trip to spend a short time in Charleston. We went to a spot there that had a band and danced quite a bit also.

There's a section in Charleston that is a large area where all kinds of venders are found. While there I purchased a really nice silver bracelet and two sets of earrings.

One of the days we went to Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens which showed all the history about the slaves and plantation owners and how they lived.

This is the famous “Avenue Of Oaks” that line the entrance to the plantation. There is still a working farm there that supplies many of the restaurants with the produce they grow there. It includes such things as squash, watermelon, peaches and blueberries to name a few.

 

One of the intersting things we did there was attend an awesome presentation by this lovely lady named Veronica. It was all about what they called “The Gullah Culture”. She talked about what life was like back then and sang and told stories. She had an amazing voice. She even called my husband up to sing the response line which you would be very familiar with, as the spiritual you probably know as “Amen”. It really made me laugh that she chose him because he really can't sing very well. She even did a song about her culture in rap. We had a really nice conversation with her after her presentation.

The last thing we did in Charleston was so much fun. The dinner cruise I had wanted to go on was sold out so we decided to go to Black Fedora Mystery Theater and Bookshop. It was a riot . The one we went to was called ” The Heist”. The characters were the priest, the rabbi, the clown, and a character called the mink. All the rest of the characters were members of the audience. I was one of the first volunteers. I had a small, part but it was so funny that they assigned it to me. My part was called “The Dame”. When I saw what the part was I decided I had to memorize my lines. I had on great clothing for it, but reading my lines with my reading glasses just wouldn't do . You'll see why in a minute. Now I might not have the exact words but it went something like this. The lead in to my lines was, ” Cool leading man, who's in there with you?”

Then it's me:

It is I, cool leading man's sexy ex wife. My only purpose in this story line is to look sexy, and boy can I do that well( purr!) (as in cat)

And as fast as she appeared she was gone, like the wind- a sexy sexy wind! ( me, growl!)

It was such a hoot. Everyone said I was great and people couldn't believe I memorized my part. So you see, how could I look sexy trying to read them with my reading glasses on.

Another intersting thing was that the couple next to us had the same anniversary, which we had to stand for. Theirs was 15, ours 43.

All of us who took part had a picture taken which they put up on their Facebook page. I got star billing. It was captioned, ” A Fun Sunday Night Crowd- That Carol A Banewicz- What A Dame!” I had messaged them to find out when the picture would be up. They let me know as soon as it was up. Now, my hubby never likes to say he like something too much but even he had to admit that it was really fun. Here's the pic.

I'm right next to the priest, the rabbi and the clown. The mink character seems to be missing from the picture. The guy next to me was the husband of the couple who had the same anniversary as ours. It was just such a fun night.

And the next morning we began our long ride back home. I loved everything about this trip and hope you enjoyed my sharing it with you.

Now it's back to the grind. Next time we meet I'll try and come up with something good to discuss. Till next time, God Bless!