Real sailors have tattoos

You're not a real sailor until you have a tattoo, or two or three....so they say, anyways. 

Normally, we would never even consider a tattoo, but then we thought, "when in Rome"! 

And so, we thought short & soft{that's long & hard 2nd cousin} about it and decided we would just do it! 

We like Kenny Chesney's Pirate Flag song so much, that we used that for inspiration....plus, it's so fitting with our liveaboard lifestyle!! 

So....Joe got this pirate flag tattoo {sorry it's blurry, hard to get a still photo on a boat}

I was going to get a cute little island girl tattoo, but I decided I wanted something more low key, so I got this Palm tree instead{it's still islandy} :)

Nah, who are we kidding....we know you don't put a bumper sticker on a Rolls Royce!!!! :} 

No discrimination to those of you with tats....it's just not for us! 

{breathe parents, breathe....I can't believe you actually thought we got tattoos} 

:)

We've Gone International!!!

Our blog audience is international {as seen by the light/dark green shaded areas on the map above} and our facebook page is sitting at 100 likes!!!!

{technically, we have over a 100 likes, but FB only counts people likes & not likes by other pages....I however, count them all :} 

These are 2 major milestones for us and we are so happy and thankful for all our readers/followers!!!

Many, many thanks ;)

Oh and, Happy Halloween....if you're in to that sorta thing! :)

Simple living and a lot of work

 

I love this saying, and that's what living on a boat is all about! .....it's even more apparent now as I sort through my clothes, again! 

The rod in our hanging closet broke last week and ever since then, the inside of the boat has been in shambles.....and driving me cRaZy! Though, I'm glad it broke, because that gave me the perfect opportunity to convince hubs to turn our hanging locker into a more user-friendly,  use of space, that can accommodate rubbermaid bins full of clothes, shoes, purses, etc....basically, whatever my little heart desires! ;) 

Currently, our boat looks like this:

See what I mean?? It's a wreck!!!!

Even the cockpit is a mess, while we try to figure out what bins we want to keep and what can be donated. 

So today has been a day full of cleaning, organizing & building. I've been sorting out what we really need to keep on the boat while Joe works hard at transforming the closet. 

It's coming along...

And, we're back to an organized life!! 

I love it.....thanks hubs!!!!! 💜

And hubs says, you never really know how hard it is to remodel when there's no flat surfaces & nothing is square.....it would be like, building shelves in a bowl. :/

Fall isn't in the air{which is fine by me}....but it's here

Halloween is almost here and Thanksgiving is right around the corner which means, it's time for me to decorate for fall! Yay!!! Though, decorating on a boat is slightly more difficult than decorating your house. Good thing I can think outside of the box....my sis' has long referred to me as a crappy crafter, so I put my crappy crafting skills to work yesterday and came up with this!! 

There may not be room for all the decorations I would have used at my house, but there's always room for a wreath! :) and, I think it turned out pretty good!! 

I have never been one to decorate specifically for Halloween, I prefer to just do a fall/pumpkin/turkey/maple leaf theme and that way it can stay up for October & November! :) 

I think my homemade wreath {by moi} looks exceptionally beautiful on our handmade companionway doors {by hubs}!!! 

Not at all bias, I know!! ;) 

What made us decide to live on a boat? Part two:

If you missed part 1 of this story, you can read it here.

So, we had made the decision to buy a sailboat, now we had to narrow the search down to size, layout, and functionality. 

As a full-time liveaboard, we knew we would need more storage than if we were just planning on being weekenders. We really liked the layouts of Catalinas and they seemed to have the best use of space {for our budget, anyways}. After Joe searched 100's of different boats and more brands than I could count on my fingers & toes combined, our researching always brought us back to a Catalina. 

Of course we wanted {and still want} something bigger than a 30 footer, but at the time of purchase, and because we wanted it to happen quickly rather than waiting longer to afford bigger, we went with a 30' Catalina. 

Everyone says, you won't find a bigger 30 foot with any other brand than that of a Catalina sailboat. I know it sounds small, especially when we came from a 2,200 sq ft house, but any boat will sound small with that comparison. 

We kept close tabs on  the broker's websites and when a Catalina 30' {within budget} became available we made an offer and it was accepted! 

Now, was the hard part, for me anyways. I had to move away from my family and a job that I absolutely loved! Hubs was fortunate that he was able to transfer down here with his job, but that wasn't an option with my job. :/  I was a nanny for 2 of my nieces and walking away from that job was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It goes without saying, that I had become seriously attached to those girlies and their momma, {one of} my sis! Then there's my parents, whom I have always lived within a hour from. I don't think you ever truely realize how big Texas really is, until you can't just hop in your car and be at their house in 30 minutes......miss y'all every day! ;) 

Despite how hard we knew it would be to make the move away from family, friends, & my dream job, we knew this was to be the next chapter in our lives. So, we did it! We said goodbye to a life we knew and people we loved and moved aboard our Catalina! 

For just the two of us, Irie has made a great starter boat! And, we couldn't be happier with our decision and our new life afloat!! :)

Finding a place for e.v.e.r.y.thing

When you go from a 2,200 sq ft house to a 30' boat, you have to get creative in all things storage-wise. Good thing we were both really great at tetris....{and our mom's always said we spent too much time playing video games}. Little did they know, we were prepping for our life afloat, long before we even met! ;)

Not everyone can say they have pantry items stored behind their couch cushions. Actually, you'd probably be admitted for an eating disorder if you lived anyplace other than a boat or RV and you had that. :/ 

A seemingly normal settee {couch} on the starboard side {that means, the right side}:

And now with the cushion removed:

Yes, I reorganized it before I took the photo. But, that had more to do with, Joe putting all the food in there haphazardly, last time....and my odd, OCD to have my pantry look nice & neat and all the labels facing forward. :) 

And, the lovely port {that's the left} side...

{yes, I have a hazelnut coffee creamer addiction that fits into a Rubbermaid bread box. and, that's not the only place it's stored :) don't judge}

I've got to admit though, it does have it's advantages and probably disadvantages to having most everything within arm's reach. On a few occasions I've been able to grab something from the "living room" while simultaneously, cooking in the "kitchen" which is helpful. The flip side, however,  is, it's incredibly hard to avoid the sugary and/or salty snacks when everything is so close. Two edged sword my friends....two edged sword! :/

We are lucky to live a life, that most people only ever dream about living! It's not all fun & games though, it's hard work fitting a house into a boat, but we're  happy to make that sacrifice!! ;)

Long week

All this working has left me no time for blogging. :/  So, it's not as bad as I make it sound, but still. When you go from a job you absolutely love, to not working for 3 months, to working a job 4 days/week....you lose a lot of spare time, that I had really gotten used to!

When hubs and I first arrived here, 4 short months ago, we were {real-life} friended, by 2 great couples that we have become really good friends with!! One of those couples, up and left us this week and the other couple is leaving in two weeks. :( No, it's nothing we did. This is all part of getting used to the cruising community. Meet new people, make friends and then someone leaves....one of these days, it'll be us leaving and oh, what a happy {and for moi, an anxiety-ridden} day that will be!! So for now, we will be excited for our friends' new journeys and impatiently wait our turn! 

This week we said Bon Voyage to Sailing Saga Sea, better known as, Steve & Tracie{the couple standing, on the right side of the pic, below}. They are currently somewhere between Galveston & Isla Mujeres. We are definitely going to miss hanging out with them! 

 {the couple, seated in the above pic, is Mike & Joyce from s/v MiJoy}

 In a couple of weeks they will be headed towards the Bahamas!!! Joe joked about being stowed away on Saga Sea, but I might actually hide myself on MiJoy & go to the Bahamas with them! ;) 

 

Those two ladies {in the above pic} made my move, away from family {for the first time, ever} a little easier....They took me in and taught me so much about living aboard and the life of a sailor's wife....and to never bring any cardboard aboard!!!! ....you don't realize how much cardboard you have in your home until you cannot have a.n.y. on board, with you!  

Beyond work & hanging out with friends, we have had cooler fall temps arrive. It would be fine if the weather stayed like this, but I know this is just the start of the bitter-cold temps that I loathe.....clearly, I am not a fan of winter, but we all knew this. :]

We ended the week with brunch at the club. It was nice being able to sit outside and it not be humid, for once.  We went and watched a movie {for the 1st time in....I can't even remember when} and we did more organizing, re-organizing & throwing out what we really don't need....the story of a liveaboard's life. 

This life really shows you, that things are just that, things. What's really important in life, is the people you surround yourself  with, on a daily basis.