tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43263978076220706182024-10-03T02:43:12.837-05:00Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-30597773062186545572012-09-16T14:39:00.000-05:002012-09-17T10:56:11.458-05:00

We woke on our fourth day in Bayahibe at 6am to prepare for our day trip into Santo Domingo.  I hated having to get up so early because I hadn't slept much the night before, but I was looking forward to seeing the city.  Our bus was to arrive at 7:45am, so we hurried around to get ready and grab breakfast.  We grabbed croissants and headed to the lobby.......where we waited and

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-45917391020681261712012-09-10T19:06:00.002-05:002012-09-17T10:51:01.290-05:00

Our first day at Dreams La Romana started with a delightful breakfast of eggs, fresh pineapple, and a croissant filled with chocolate.  Yum!  We were scheduled to meet with a rep for orientation and to confirm our return transportation to the airport, so we had breakfast at the buffet.  Breakfast was definitely the meal that the buffet did properly. The rep didn't show, so we

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-26055125734180454532012-08-26T14:27:00.001-05:002012-09-17T10:57:16.741-05:00

We woke at 4am on Sunday, July 29th to head to the airport.  Our flight was scheduled for 5:50 am, and we were supposed to land in Santo Domingo, DR at 1:20pm.  From my research, I anticipated that we would arrive at our resort by 4pm.  I looked forward to hitting the beach or pool right away and relaxing before our first night's dinner, but this was not how things would turn out.

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-46393705756632118452012-04-16T09:22:00.000-05:002012-09-17T10:58:48.684-05:00

So I've been looking for a fun new handbag for spring for a couple of months now.  What is it that I'm looking for?  I started with a camel colored satchel style bag, but after I began looking around my list changed a bit. I'm a bit frustrated by the amount of bags that are being imported from China.  I knew Coach to be an American company, but recently read the print on the

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-38416796756369378242012-01-17T07:51:00.000-06:002012-01-17T07:51:00.981-06:00

I'm going to be on the radio.  Yep, dad and I were interviewed this morning for an upcoming segment on "Arkansas Cooks with Mary Twedt".  Are you familiar with this program?  If not, check out her webpage here.  I've gotta say that when she put down that digital recorder on the table this morning, I immediately began to fear that the sentences my brain would put together

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-86380247507099620772011-12-19T18:23:00.000-06:002012-09-17T11:00:36.989-05:00

We were up bright and early on Day 7.  It was time to go home. We arrived at the airport two hours before our departure time.  Our itinerary listed our flight as through Air Italia, but every ticketing agent we tried to work with told us that they couldn't help us.  Finally we found a lady that told us that Delta had cancelled our reservation, and that she was going to have to

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-35511511523607830512011-12-18T10:40:00.000-06:002012-09-17T11:02:33.121-05:00

Day six we slept past breakfast.  I was beginning to feel a bit congested due to allergies.......and perhaps due to walking around in the rain our first day in Rome.  That said, we got ready and headed to the train stop first thing. We stopped for lunch at Ristoro della Salute dal 1920 before heading to the Colosseum.  We must have been well ahead of schedule for lunch as we

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-13063409822628095922011-12-15T21:21:00.001-06:002012-09-17T11:04:14.935-05:00

Day five began with our free continental breakfast at Hotel Taormina.  The offerings in Rome were not quite as good as what we had in Paris.  Each place setting had three rolls that were what I normally would have considered dinner rolls if I were at home.  There were a few soft cheeses to choose from, crackers and more bread.  We ate quickly before heading out to

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-72557634137431366972011-12-14T18:48:00.000-06:002012-09-17T11:05:10.352-05:00

We woke early on the 23rd to catch the shuttle at 6:15.  We had learned our lesson with cabs in Paris, and opted for the economy shuttle back to the airport.  Breakfast wasn't supposed to be served until 7am, but our friend from the front desk had started baking the croissants early and we were able to have a quick breakfast before hitting the road. The flight to Rome was only an hour

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-90203296003421924502011-12-04T13:35:00.000-06:002012-09-17T11:06:15.941-05:00

We began day three with the same breakfast as the day before.  Warm croissants really are wonderful.  The yogurt was a bit different than what you get at the store here, but it was not bad.  The weather outside was great, and we were out for an early start looking for the RER line C train station.  This was the day we were heading to Versailles! The RER line was not easily

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-46747197738136441162011-12-03T15:21:00.000-06:002012-09-17T11:07:43.914-05:00

We woke early on Monday, November 20.  After a quick breakfast of freshly baked croissants, yogurt, cheeses, juice and coffee, we headed out to see the Louvre. Not sure why this guy is hanging out of the window at the Louvre I knew that the museum would be big, but I have to say that I was still surprised by the size when we got there.  There are three wings to choose from. &

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-1154731885657265592011-11-30T20:24:00.001-06:002012-09-17T11:08:59.621-05:00

We arrived in Paris at 6am on Sunday, November 20.  We were both lucky enough to sleep a bit on the plane over, so we were ready to hit the ground running.  We gathered our luggage, exchanged $80 for Euros and went looking for a cab.  It took roughly an hour to get through the line of people waiting for a cab and to get to the hotel.   It was approximately 8am when we

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-41347060871836501752011-10-04T11:36:00.000-05:002011-10-04T11:36:49.053-05:00

I've begun doing something I never thought that I would do.  I am attempting to grow my own herbs.  I started with cilantro, rosemary and oregano.  These are three that I use frequently, so I thought that this plan made sense.  Everyone told me that the rosemary would grow like crazy, but it's really not taken off just yet.  My cilantro is growing like crazy though! &nbsp

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-5474234803729382642011-09-15T20:11:00.000-05:002011-09-15T20:11:18.261-05:00

That probably should have been walking on air, but you all know that blogging again is much more appropriate for this girl.  That said, two blogs in three days..... watch out!   Gone are the days of catchy theme songs from your favorite television shows.  What happened to them?  Do we really get that much more per episode by eliminating the opening theme song?  I

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-77219441524451482382011-09-13T17:01:00.000-05:002011-09-13T17:01:46.525-05:00

I might be the worst blogger in my family, but I don't really care.  I've just gotten news that I've made $.38 from this pitiful little blog.  Imagine the possibilities if only I were to post on a regular basis.  I could retire early and live off of the earnings that my posts bring.  I think that I need to get myself a muse.  Where do you find one these days?  Maybe

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-84641205437338746502011-07-26T15:43:00.000-05:002011-07-26T15:43:27.448-05:00

Last night I prepared a roasted pork tenderloin.  I had never cooked an entire pork tenderloin before, so I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with the one I had purchased over the weekend at Kroger.  I decided to first look around online for ideas, but nothing really sounded like anything for a beginner.  There was one recipe that involved mushrooms and blue cheese, but

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-37198496803590460032011-04-21T08:39:00.000-05:002011-04-21T08:39:40.787-05:00

I've gotta say that I'm pretty tired of severe weather warnings.  It was last Thursday that the the tornado hit my street, and since then we've had a couple more tornado warnings, hail, and LOTS of rain.  In fact, my phone tells me that we have no sunshine headed our way for a while.  Boo! Dislike I can't remember if I mentioned this when I last blogged, but I finally talked to

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-75465105010735518222011-04-18T08:48:00.000-05:002011-04-18T08:48:22.955-05:00

Orange cones must be a sign of progress, right?  Too bad they're on the wrong side of the street! I called Entergy's emergency outage number this morning and found out that power should be restored to my house by 3pm today.  I really want to be optimistic about this, but yesterday they told me that their estimate was 6pm and there were others before that.  The big difference is

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-59795060905872290232011-04-15T11:04:00.001-05:002011-04-15T12:18:42.908-05:00

So, last night was my first Italian class. It was a lot of fun, and I'm thankful for my limited Spanish background which seems to make Italian words a bit easier to understand when not in sentences. Ha! Looking forward to seeing how much I can actually learn from this Dutch man that grew up in Italy. A picture my dad took of the back of my house earlier this morning. We woke up around 2am

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-50958157100379954272011-03-18T09:43:00.000-05:002011-03-18T09:43:48.665-05:00

Mk's birthday is coming up next week.  When I asked her what she wants, she replied new Tom's and iTunes gift cards.  I can't imagine that my list were that short at the age of 12!  She brings up the subject of Tom's to me at least once a day for the past two weeks.  She spends time on the Tom's webpage looking for just the right pair.  She talks on the phone with her

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-46837754423119895152011-03-03T14:20:00.000-06:002011-03-03T14:20:35.756-06:00

In early 1998, Matt and I drove with our friends Ken and Kristi to Malvern to look at some puppies.  I had been checking the paper for weeks looking for a Yorkie puppy, but quickly realized that a $400 puppy wasn't really in our budget.  I had found an ad for Yorkie/ Shih Tzu mix puppies for $75, and was thrilled to learn that one of the little girls was tan and resembled the mom more

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-20532664839723218502011-01-24T17:11:00.000-06:002011-01-24T17:11:54.722-06:00

I was discussing dinner options with Mk this afternoon, and we agreed to spicy baked chicken strips for our entree tonight.  This was good news to me since I did not want to stop at Kroger.  I announced that I was fairly certain we had a bag of frozen veggies in the freezer that we could eat with our chicken.   "Like cauliflower?" asked Mk. "Sure," I said.  "We might have

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-51097673029410647612011-01-02T20:26:00.001-06:002011-01-02T20:26:59.843-06:00

It's been weeks since I've posted anything.  I just haven't taken the time to update this site with any news........ so here is a brief summary of what's been going on in my life. I guess the biggest news is that my sister Eve had her baby on Christmas day!  Her due date wasn't until mid-January, but he's a healthy boy.  In fact, he weighed over 9lbs when he was born.  He's

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-91641147715777632922010-12-12T16:34:00.000-06:002010-12-12T16:34:26.948-06:00

I gave Mk my old iphone 3g yesterday to use for apps and as an ipod.  It doesn't have phone service, but she clearly explained that it was basically an itouch if it doesn't have phone service.  It was quite entertaining to listen to her explain something I already knew and had in mind.  I asked if she were trying to hint at anything, but she said no.  When I handed her the

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4326397807622070618.post-9081888906587422322010-11-22T11:46:00.000-06:002010-11-22T11:46:07.045-06:00

Since getting my hair done on Saturday, I've heard the following comments: "I love it!" "It's not as dark as I thought it would be." "It's very fall-ish" And my favorite: "Wow!  It's soooo much darker.  It'll take you a while to get used to it, but you will.  I liked it better blonde, but you can always go back to blonde in a few months." There have been a lot more "love its"

Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00281905918263663465noreply@blogger.com2