2015 Year-end review

  **Click here to read last year's year-end review.

•sailing jargon I think I'm finally learning the terms of sailing {about time, I know}. As far as the actual art of sailing goes, yeah, I still have a lot to learn!! Better watch Captain Ron again! {I'm not kidding}

•it's back to the v-berth Oy, this ought to be interesting! We've been sleeping in the aft cabin ever since we bought the new boat, but hubs swears this v-berth is bigger than our last one. So, we're going to give it a whirl.....to be continued. 

•Houstonion Drivers are the worst! Bless their hearts, they don't know how to drive to save their lives. I figured this out last year, but I thought I better give myself more time, before I judge their ways. All my life, I've heard how the traffic is the worst in Houston and I now know why. A few examples: 

A.) it's not uncommon to have a five mile, bumper-to-bumper backup for a slight curve in the road. Seriously? 

2.) they constantly block intersections...and nothing is ever their fault 

D.) they don't understand the concept of little road yields to big road....it's a free for all, I tell ya! 

These people would never make it in DFW...Never. I could seriously write a whole post on this, but I will spare you any more pain {lucky you}!! 

•easy-bake oven I have finally become more comfortable cooking with my mini-oven. I even know how to light the pilot light and I will now cook even if Joe isn't here....that never happened with our other boat. 

•appreciate the little things our brief stint of being homeless {between boats} greatly reminded me to never take the little things for granted....like an easy-bake oven and everything else! 

•our nameless boat remains unnamed. Our poor boat will start off the new year with no name. It's sad, really! We actually have a name for her, but our graphics guy....well, I've already been on one soap box this post so I'll just leave it at that. 

•Movie reference Did anyone catch the movie reference above? Joe and I might have a small problem....you see, we incorporate movie/tv quotes into our conversations on a daily basis. True dat, Ernesto! See, it just happened again! 

2015 sure has been an interesting year....I  wonder what 2016 will bring for us!!!

Thanks for following along with us {another year} on our life afloat!! Oh, and Happy New Year!!! 

Where have we been?

This last week, the crew of Irie {i.e. hubs and I} flew to the Bahamas to see our friends and fellow sailors, on s/v MiJoy!!! It is good to have friends in pretty places! :)

And oh, what a pretty place this is!!!!

We first met Mike & Joyce when we moved to Kemah and quickly became good friends, really more like family! 

It was so very nice of them to share their boat with us.....and yes, we still want to go cruising ourselves! 

We did so many fun, new & interesting things....I'll try and recap everything from the last ten days! 

Let's see, there was, 

• Ocean/transom showers

• Swimming, standing with stingrays

 

• Island hiking 

• Attended beach church with sandy toes 

• Explored a deserted island 

•{attempted to} blow a conch shell & picked up a few other shells, as well

•Played lots of beach volleyball 

•Slept on a trampoline {at least that's what it feels like when you're at anchor and there's strong winds}

•Sailed to Lee Stocking Island & back to Elizabeth Harbor

And saw some amazing sunsets

 And even a moonrise (I don't know why there's not moonrises & moonsets)

 

Yep! I'd say it's safe to say, we had an unbelievably incredible trip and can't wait to go back! Maybe our next visit will be on our own boat....that's the goal, anyways!

 

Who wants to come see us, when we're out there cruising the islands?

Year-end review

It has been 7 months since we moved aboard our floating home and this is what we have discovered:

• V-berth disputes continue

Hubs still thinks I take up most of the bed and hog all of the covers, whereas I know that that is incorrect and I have pictures to prove it! ;)

• Projects have come to a halt 

We have been talking about trading up to a bigger boat. So, we are at a standstill with all boat-related projects. No need to keep putting money into this boat, if we are going to turn around & sell it in a couple of months. By the way, did you know the word boat is actually an acronym for, Bring On Another Thousand? 

Well, now you know! =}

• Living without 

I think we have learned what we can and what we cannot live without. 

For example, we have {somewhat} peacefully lived for almost a full month now, without a microwave! Yeah, I'm just as shocked as you are. :) 

• Sailing

Hubs still knows way more than I do and

I still have so much to learn, but what else is new?  And although, I was more of a motor yacht girl {my heart beats Meridian} when we started,  I do see the beauty in sailboats, sailing, etc.. And I do love sailboats a little bit more now that I've lived on ours! ;)

• Plan B & sometimes C, D & E 

This mostly applies to cooking{like when you get halfway through cooking dinner and you run out of propane}, but I've learned it's good to have a plan b for most anything boat related. Whether it be due to rain, lack of propane, or just about anything you can think of. :)

• Cat-like reflexes

I still may be somewhat of a clutz, but boat living has definitely taught me to have more cat-like reflexes! Hubs has even said, {on more than one occasion, I might add} that he was surprised that I caught whatever was falling, whether it be sunglasses, phone, remote or even myself. =)

• Quarter shortage 

You can never have enough quarters! Now that we use a laundromat to do our laundry, I've found that there is always a shortage of quarters! We have a designated quarter bowl on the boat that is only used to collect quarters for laundry. Just when the bowl starts filling up, the hamper overloads and our stash is depleted, again! My mom had asked what we wanted for Christmas....she wanted to be sure it was something we would have room for and something we would use.....I told her to get us a roll of quarters!  I don't know why she didn't go for it!! ha ha ;) 

Happy New Year!!! 

Thank-you for following along with our life afloat! 

See you next year!