Bag Pipes and Men in Kilts

Yes that is how we spent the evening.  A trip to Richmond's Carpenter Theatre and a show of The Pipes and Drums of the Black Watch 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiments of Scotland and The Band of the Scots Guards.  I am in love with this Theatre, so getting to go for the evening was a treat.  Add to that getting to watch men in kilts :) 

Sadly the pictures weren't great.  This is a place much more beautiful in person.   



I call this the Mini-Tessa look

Fun night.  Looks like a little snow this weekend.  No big adventures planned so I suppose a little of the white stuff would be ok.  Maybe it would give me time to catch up on a few things around the house....haha.  Who am I kidding?!?!?!?!

A Whale of a Tail

Not to be mistaken for a whale of a tale....Saturday Mark and I took a little trip to Virginia Beach for some whale watching.  We hopped on a boat and within 30 minutes we were sighting whales off the coast of Virginia.  What?  You didn't know you could go whale watching from Virginia?  I didn't either.  At least not until I was researching adventures and found a link to The Virginia Aquarium.  I think I found the information during the summer so I've been patiently (yea right) waiting for the winter months. 

The Virginia Beach Fishing Center is located at Rudee Inlet, 200 Winston Salem Ave,

Virginia Beach. 

The excursions are only offered December through March.  A boat goes out on Thursdays and Fridays at 2pm.  Saturdays and Sundays at 9am, 12pm and 2pm.  Trips are 2 hours long.  Adults are $28 a piece.  Prices for children and seniors are listed on the website. 



This is the boat that takes people out on summer tours.



Waiting on the pier to board





Sitting on the top deck you are out in the open



Our tour guide giving some instructions
as we leave the inlet




Heading out into the ocean



Calms seas and sunlight
made for great viewing





Not the first sighting but the first one I could
get on my camera.  The picture
is through glass so there is a reflection.



You can see we're not that far off the coast



A tail shot!



This one got close to us!

Same whale only his back and then.....

Tail shot!

One more before we headed back in



Surfers....yes in January

Just before we got back into the inlet we saw a few dolphins.  And yes surfers in the winter water.  NO Thanks. 

We did not take Emma since we didn't know what to expect.  And I'm glad we didn't.  It's hard enough trying to catch a glimpse of them for yourself.  And much harder to try to get a three year old to cooperate.  Plus being so small we would of had to held her up which would be hard on a moving boat.  Maybe when she is 6 or 7 years old. 

It was an exciting trip.  I can't say watching whales has been something I've always wanted to do.  But now that we've done it I am excited to say I've seen them.  The guide counted between 6-8 whales.  There were multiple sightings of them....I lost count after 20.  And there were two types-Fin and Humpback.  Fun and educational :) 



Monday Love

Fantastic Weekend.  A date night, an adventure and even a little down time.

Blue Bunny Ice Cream with Pecan
Pralines....and carmel. 





Yes that is the tail of a whale....



Finally got the last of the Christmas
decorations down





Started a new project

The date night was at Carabas, we had a great dinner and even more amazing dessert :)  The adventure was a Whale Watching excursion in Virginia Beach and down time is more like catch up time.  But a lot got done so it's all good.  Happy Monday to you all.  Hope you had a great weekend and are getting the week started off right.




Chihuly at the Virginia Fine Arts Museum

Yesterday I told you we visited The Virginia Fine Arts Museum to see the Chihuly exhibit.  I also told you if you didn't know who he was you should Google him.  If you still don't know who he is....well I'm still not going to tell you.  But I will share some pictures of his amazing work. 



Hanging in the atrium is this piece.  HUGE. 
Think I could get it to fit over my
kitchen table?





These pieces are in the ceiling as you walk
through









Outside the museum in the reflecting pool

It was a gorgeous show and I'm so glad we could go.  All the pictures were off my phone so you know in real life they are just that much more amazing.  And before you ask, no we did NOT take the baby.  I didn't want to have a mini stroke each time she reached for something pretty and shiny.  If you want to check out the exhibit do it fast.  It's only at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts until February 10th.   Admission to the show is $20 unless you are a member of the museum or a student.  Either way it's well worth the visit.

Monday Love

The weekend kicked off with a night at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  It ended with us both collapsed in bed watching an awards show.  In between we spent time with family, played with fire and ate some of the best cake ever!

If you have never heard of Chihuly....well then you don't know what you are missing!  Google him.  His work is amazing.  Saturday we went out to my parents house and made a little fire.  Ok it was a big fire.  But it was chilly out and the fire kept us as warm and toasty as wearing a snuggie in Florida.  We ate chili before going out and followed it up with a cake that tasted like an orange dreamsicle.  I can promise I will be getting that recipe ASAP!    More on the Chihuly exhibit tomorrow.  Busy week ahead.  It's a 56 hour work week for me and my calender is already busting at the seams!

Winter Mittens

After all the Christmas decorations are put away the house feels so.....normal.  And I can't stand that :-/
So after the Winter Tree was up I started working on some Winter Mittens to hang as decorations.  I used craft store felt, some paint, yarn and some mini-clothes pins I already had.  It took me a couple nights but only because I would work on it then go goof off and come back and work on it then goof off again. 

I couldn't find a template online for the mittens so I just drew one myself on a piece of paper.  Then I traced it onto the felt.  There is no picture of me putting the paint on because Emma was climbing all over the table I was working on and all over me.  So taking pictures took a low priority so that I could avoid paint all over the place.  I played around with the paint on a scrap piece of felt before I actually put it on the mittens.  It took me a few times before I decided on a final look.  I hung them with mini-clothes pins on a piece of yarn that I attached to the self.  With these hanging around I do feel like winter has arrived....despite the 60 degree weather we're having :)