Five Years Ago ...

Our first solo sail ... on Lake Pontchartrain, 2010

Five years ago today, I turned 43.  Five years ago tonight, we saw our sailboat for the first time and made an offer on her ... what a birthday present!  

I'd found her on Craigslist that morning, and knew she wouldn't last long.  I told Ken that all I wanted for my birthday was a trip to New Orleans to see her.  After work, we picked up our friend, Ted, and headed to New Orleans.  Ted's been living on his sailboat for years, and we wanted him to come along to give his opinion.  I knew I was gonna want this boat!

After the deal was made, we celebrated at Margaritaville in the French Quarter.  It seemed the perfect place for birthday/sailboat purchase celebration.  

Ken and Hudson, the guy who sold us the boat, sailed the boat from the South shore of Lake Pontchartrain to the Northshore, where our house was.  I don't think Hudson planned on sailing that day, but we'd never sailed before!  I drove Ken to New Orleans to sail the boat home, and drove back to Slidell to meet him and Hudson.  Below (and above) are pics of our first sail on our own.  Our friend, Ted, took these pictures from his sailboat.  We weren't going on the lake without nearby support, but we survived and had a great day.

I can't believe five years have already gone by since we purchased Nirvana.  Since then we've changed her name, fixed a bunch of blisters, painted her hull & bottom, replaced the ports, renovated the hatches, soaked & cleaned the heat exchanger ... and all sorts of other fun things.  Notice the peeling & dull paint job in the pictures ... she's come a long way.  

Six week haul-out in April, 2010

New ports

We've got a lot of plans this coming year for Nirvana.  The electrical and plumbing systems need some attention, and we need to add some things for cruising.  It's gonna be another crazy year!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!

Hola, Mexico!

View from our balcony ... loved drinking our morning coffee to this sight!

I can't believe we've been back for five days already from our getaway to the Riviera Maya in Mexico!  This "escape" was long overdue.  In just the past two months we attended (and worked on for 2 months prior) our daughter's wedding, played tourists in New Orleans, participated in the "World's Largest Crawfish Boil", attended our daughter's graduation from LSU, rode bikes through the streets of New Orleans for a good friend's bicycle wedding, evicted a tenant from one of our rentals & dealt with the filth they left behind, and have been dealing with the on again/off again (on when we left, off right in middle of our trip, and back on for now) sale of our largest rental.  (I hadn't mentioned too much about this, because it's been very stressful and very unstable.  It would be a huge step towards cruising).  This was all while working 5-6 days a week!  Our minds and bodies needed this vacation.  And, we were also celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary a little early ... it's tomorrow!  In some ways it doesn't seem like we've been together for most of our lives.  We're glad we're able to celebrate so many years together, and the future looks pretty exciting.

With thinking (that always gets us in trouble) that the real estate deal was "sealed" and just waiting for closing, we left everything behind for paradise.  On the evening of Thursday, May 29th, we arrived at the all-inclusive "Catalonia Riviera Maya" resort in the gated community of Puerto Aventuras.  It's just South of Playa del Carmen and North of Tulum and Akumal, which was the perfect location for exploring all three areas.  It's also just across the Gulf of Mexico from us, but for some reason we had to fly from New Orleans, to Houston, and then to Cancun ... all day.  Where's the direct flight?!

The grounds of the resort were beautiful ... very lush and tropical!  There were five pools, a swim-up bar (a must for us), free bicycles to tour the area and check out the nearby marina, about seven restaurants, and free sails on Hobie cat sailboats!

Ken walking to the main lobby ...

Another view from below the lobby ...

We found this nice welcome for our anniversary ...

and this cute little lady!

There were several areas to lounge and enjoy the views ...

and we spent a good bit of time at the "Pure Chill Out Bar".

This was our view from our chairs ... perfect for "chillin' out"!

The first morning we grabbed some bikes and rode about five minutes to the marina.  It was very pretty and quiet, with a lagoon that had dolphin and manatee.  While we wouldn't pay to swim with either, it was fun to check them out.  We also went to the marina's office to see how much they charge for liveaboards ... for our 30 foot boat it would be $600 per month.  We didn't think that was bad for such a nice marina in a resort area.  The clerk asked what date we wanted to book our stay ... I wish we knew!

We then returned the bikes, had lunch and then hung out on the beach for most of the day, while waiters would bring us cocktails and snacks ... heaven!  We also started saying "Hola" ... the Mexican greeting.  I swear we must have said it about twenty times a day.  Everyone was so friendly.

This is an overhead view of where we hung out that day ... the "Pure" lounge area by the beach.

and this was the entrance, with the bar to the right of the picture.

While waiters attended to us, we weren't far from the bar!

This was our view!

Later in the day we moved to the pool ...

and the pool bar.  There's Ken sitting at the end, on the right ... his favorite spot!

It took a while, but by the end of the day we could feel our worries melt away.  The next day (and next post) ... the Mayan ruins in Tulum!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!

Two Thirds Of Our Life!

Ken's surprise 18th birthday party!

When I thought about our 24th wedding anniversary today, I thought how scary it is that time flies so quickly.   Some days it seems like just yesterday that Ken and I met, and other days it seems like a lifetime ago.  I started thinking about how we've actually been together for 30 years ... six years before our wedding.  Then things really seemed crazy when I realized that at the age of 46 ... we've been together two thirds of our lives!  

When my best friend, Donna, and I scheduled a wood-working class in our junior year of high school we hoped to meet some cute guys.  Who knew I'd meet my future husband in that class!  Ken and I became instant friends that year, and started dating that summer ... before our senior year.

Ken and my best friend, Donna ... junior year, 1983

Ken and I went on to college together at Southeastern Louisiana University and each received a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management.  One month after college graduation we got married ... June 11, 1989.  

Our wedding night, after I changed clothes.  Maybe next year on our 25th anniversary I'll post our 80's wedding picture with my big dress ... and my big hair!  What was I thinking?!

Within a few months Ken and I purchased our first house. 

A couple of years later ... we planned our pregnancy and had a baby girl, Erica.

Erica's first birthday!

When looking back, we were just babies when we got together.  It hasn't all been easy, but it's been worth it!  I'm so glad to share a beautiful, intelligent daughter with Ken and I can't wait to share our "golden years" together ... experiencing the world on our sailboat!

What will we do tonight to celebrate?  Well, the practical and frugal part of us says not much.  Maybe we'll go to the local "Happy Hour", maybe we'll check out the new "Hooter's" that opened up last night (every town needs one of those right), or maybe we'll just hang out at home.  It's a work night and we have a tight budget for our cruising plans, so we won't be doing anything extravagant.  Next year is our 25th anniversary ... I'm really hoping we're living on Nirvana by then.  To us, that would be the greatest gift for that milestone.

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!

*By the way, several of you have asked how Ken's doing ... thanks so much for your kind words and thoughts!  With what seemed to be a fractured left wrist, a sore right wrist, and bruised ribs ... it's been a slow recovery.  Ken's been working long days, trying not to do too much.  But, that's easier said than done when the bills need to be paid.  Luckily, it seems the worst is over and Ken is almost feeling back to normal.  A false sense of recovery can be dangerous, so he's still taking it easy and itching to get back on our sailboat.  We're hoping this weekend may be good for cleaning Nirvana.  

Hawaiian Flashback!

Our first view of Maui

Three years ago today, Ken and I were on the beautiful island of Oahu, Hawaii with several friends.  We were celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary, and all of us were renewing our wedding vows on Waikiki beach!  I can't believe how fast time has flown and that we're already celebrating our 23rd wedding anniversary.  Ken and I have been together since high school ... 29 years.  Wow, that makes us sound so old!  We've spent a lot of years together, but we still have a lot of amazing plans for our future!

Here are a few pics from our Hawaii vacation and vow renewal in 2009.  Shortly after this vacation we started our cruising plan and purchased Nirvana 5 months later.  I guess that's why the past 3 years have gone by so fast!  

Scenes from Oahu and Maui, Hawaii!

Our 20th Wedding Anniversary Vow Renewal on Waikiki Beach!

View outside our hotel of Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head

I've created a Hawaiian playlist that puts us back on the islands.  You can listen too through Spotify ... I think you'll enjoy it!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!

MLC's Birthday!

It's late afternoon, and I just realized that today is somewhat special!  Two years ago today, Mid-Life Cruising, sometimes referred to as "MLC" was born!  I can't believe two years have gone so fast!  While we're no big web site, we're happy with over 79,000 views.  We should hit 80,000 by this weekend!  We are so thankful for your time and your comments.  We love hearing from you, and it makes this tough journey towards our cruising dream much easier.  It also makes us much more accountable ... LOL!

Ken and I have come so far with our cruising plans, yet we have quite a ways to go!  Here's our very first post, called "Mid-Life Crisis"?!

Mid-Life Crisis?!  That's the question my 18 year old daughter was asked by a friend of ours the other day when told of our plans to sell everything and sail away.  Not an unusual response!  It's interesting to watch a person's face when we tell them of our future plans to live on a sailboat and travel.  Their eyebrows raise and they're thinking we've lost it.  We've been told that there are pirates our there and it's dangerous, or that we'll be back in a few months because we'll get bored or tired of always being inside a sailboat.  We grin and try to remain polite as we're thinking this person obviously has no clue of the vast cruising grounds and community that await us.  We can not wait!  So, we've started a Facebook page and this web site in order to learn from other cruisers and sailors as well as educate those that are not familiar with cruising.   Also, we'd like to share our experiences with those that hope to live the same dream as ours.  Continue to follow, as we have a lot to learn.  We're familiar with boats, but are just learning about sailboats and how to sail and just purchased our own sailboat.  Hasta luego  ...until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!

So, that's our very first post with a picture from our 2009 Hawaii vow renewal trip.  Two years from now ... we should be in the Caribbean!  Doesn't seem that far away now!


I mentioned earlier today that we have some exciting news ... what a great way to celebrate MLC's birthday! We couldn't have planned it better!


Hasta luego ... until then.   Mid-Life Cruising!

Forty Five?!

Yes, today I am forty-five years old!  I can't believe how the time has flown.  It seems like just yesterday I was sixteen, hoping that when I turned thirty I would still be feeling young.  Thirty seemed so old at the time.  Now I'm 45, and 65 doesn't sound old ... or that far away!   Luckily my fears did not come true, and I don't feel any different than that 16 year old.

Today also marks two years since Ken and I became the proud owners of our sailboat, now named Nirvana!  Yep, we made the deal for Nirvana on my 43rd birthday.  Needless to say, that was a pretty awesome birthday!   Although we're not as far along in our cruising plans as we thought we'd be after two years, we're pretty happy with the progress that we've made on our sailboat.  Part of the fun of cruising is getting there, so we're trying to be patient and enjoy the journey.

We're big fans of "Kid Rock", so I thought I'd share a funny little song that he sang about getting older, called "Forty!".   We first heard this song at this year's New Orlean's Jazz Fest and loved it.  I think you'll enjoy it too!

I'd say we have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  We hope you do too!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!

A Polar Weekend!

No, this past weekend wasn't cold!  I call this past weekend "polar" because it was both carefree and somber.  It started out carefree, then ended on a more somber note. 

After a wet four-day weekend over Labor Day thanks to a visit from "Lee", Ken and I were ready to get out the house after a hectic work week.

The weather was perfect and we started the weekend with a visit to the French Quarter on Friday night.  We love a good bargain, so we stopped at the New Orlean's House of Blues.  Every Friday night they have live music and a great happy hour with half-priced drinks and appetizers.  The band played the "Blues" on the back patio (Voodoo Garden), and they were really great.  We love the blues ... lots of guitar!

Afterwards, we roamed the streets of the French Quarter and took in the sights.  I've said it before ... the French Quarter never gets old!

The House of Blues wolf lurking in the "Voodoo Garden"

The band and outdoor bar

Mural of the Voodoo Priestess ... in the Voodoo Garden!

Since Ken and I longed to continue to be around people outdoors and our daughter was in town, we were back in the French Quarter on Saturday!  We were easily amused walking around in such beautiful weather, and enjoyed a late lunch at Margaritaville.  This was another bargain with our 20% off "locals discount".  (We're always living frugal for the future!)

The crazy sights in New Orleans ...

and the beautiful sights in New Orleans ... the St. Louis Cathedral!

Sunday was the somber ending to our weekend, as it was the 10 year anniversary of  9/11.  We spent the morning watching the television coverage of the ceremonies in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania.  The New York City memorial was beautiful, yet so sad.  Seeing the fountains where the twin towers used to stand, and the names of the victims etched along the side was really moving.  Then there were the faces and words of the families that lost a loved one that really brought the emotions back.  My dad is a retired New Orleans firefighter, which makes me realize that this could have been my town, and my father.   As Americans our lives will never be the same, yet those that lost a loved one have been affected in ways that we'd never want to endure.

After grabbing lunch Ken, myself and our daughter spent the remainder of the day sitting out back and enjoying a peaceful day on the water.  We listened to classical music that was part of our daughter's homework assignment, and Ken kept an eye on a pork butt that he put on the grill.  Thoughts of the victims and their families entered my mind throughout the day, and I was so thankful to be spending time with my family.

Ellwood, our daughter's addition to the family!

While the food finished cooking on the grill, Ken and I took Nirvana out for a quick ride along the canals.  We brought along Ellwood, our daughter's dog, and wished we could have stayed out longer.  But, Ken had a butt that he was keeping an eye on so we reluctantly headed back home.

We wrapped up the weekend with a great meal before our daughter headed back to college for the next week or two.  We will never forget where we were and what we were doing on that fatal day 10 years ago.  I was in our bedroom getting ready for a new job while watching "Kelly n Regis".  I watched the twin towers go down in flames on television with those two guys.  Since I was headed to a new job, Ken was bringing our daughter to school on his way to work.  He and our daughter heard of the news together on the radio.  I remember calling him in disbelief and listening to the radio in a daze during my hour drive that morning as more bad news continued to come regarding the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.  I could not wait to get back home later that evening to be with my family.  We will never forget!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!

Dock of the Bay!

The "Dock of the Bay" ... on the bay, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

Not much exciting happening with us.  We spent the past week working and recuperating from Ken's birthday celebration last weekend.  Before we knew it, another weekend had come around!  As most of you know, this past weekend was very exciting for the US East Coast.  They were visited by Hurricane Irene, and she was not a welcome guest!  However, it appears that although there was damage and a few unfortunate fatalities, Irene wasn't as mean as expected.  We hope that all of you reading this from the East Coast are well and did not experience much of Irene's wrath.

Even though Irene was far away from Louisiana, it brought about a lot of talk and memories of hurricanes here in Louisiana.  That's because today is the 6 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina!   Six years ago this morning, Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.  In some ways it seems like just yesterday, and in some ways the destruction seems a life-time ago.   We had our fair share of  loss during Hurricane Katrina, as did our family and friends.  I can tell you that unless you were able to drive around and see the damage for yourself ... you just can't imagine the widespread destruction!  It spanned across several states and with the lack of street signs and landmarks it was very easy to get disoriented.  We are happy to say that our town has made a full recovery!

One nearby area that is still recovering from the massive damage is the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  Since Ken and I had not visited the area in about a year, we decided to take the 30 minute ride to this area and check out the progress.  Saturday was a beautiful day for a car ride and we rode along a portion of the beach in Waveland and Bay St. Louis.  While we saw some beautiful new fishing piers and docks, we also saw an amazing amount of vacant lots.  So many beautiful homes have yet to be rebuilt.

We stopped at one of the docks on the bay and soaked up the sun while watching the boats, fishermen, and beautiful views.  We then headed over to the nearby casino for an all-you-can-eat buffet of crabs and brisket with all the fixings!  We'd been craving this for a while now, and with our frugal selves we finally treated ourselves with a "buy one, get one" coupon!  To make things even better, we had a coupon for a $15 chip at the blackjack table.  Ken put the chip on the table, and in one play he got a blackjack!  Woo hoo ... dinner was free for both of us! 

I can eat my weight in crabs!

I won't bore you with the details of our sad Hurricane Katrina story, but I will say it was miserable and exhausting!  It took a very long time to get our life back to "normal".  However, going through such a catastrophic event reminded us of what's important in life.  It all fits in a car (or boat), cause what's really important is carried in our heart and soul!

On a lighter note ... when riding around the coast, we found ourselves on "Vacation Lane"!   This is the closest we've been to a vacation in a long time.  We really need to get movin'!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!

Relaxing After the Drama!

Losing my shoes and my worries in the cockpit!

We can't believe it's been 3 weeks since our last post!  In fact, some of our followers have wondered if we fell off the boat!  Well, we're still here and we didn't fall off the boat.  However, we felt like "jumping ship" a few times during the past couple of weeks.

To keep this post from getting too long, let's just say that we had rental "deja vu" and it has kept us really busy (and stressed) lately.  For those of you who have been following our blog for a while, you know the problems we've had with finding good tenants.  We had hoped that the rental "drama" was dead for a while, but unfortunately we were wrong.  Once again we found ourselves knocking on the door of our rental when the rent check never came and our phone calls were ignored.  Once again we found an empty and filthy house!  Did I mention how much I hate cleaning other people's filth?!  All I can say is thank goodness for rubber gloves!  So, without having time to spare on feeling sorry for ourselves we rolled up our sleeves (while I shed a tear or two), cleaned and painted the house, and found new (and hopefully better) tenants for July 1st.  It is appearing more and more to us that trying to maintain rental property while enjoying the freedom of cruising on our sailboat is not going to be easy.  Once we get our personal home sold we're really going to have to think about whether or not we want to remain landlords or invest our equity somewhere else.  I guess it will also depend on whether or not our tenants are living up to their own responsibilities.  Without going on a rant, I will just say that it's scary how hard it is nowadays to find responsible and conscientious people!  We've run a credit check, verified employment, googled, called prior landlords, and even visited the tax assessor's web site to make sure that the prior landlords really owned the rentals and weren't fakes.  I guess that's all we can do and we'll keep our fingers crossed that there is no more rental drama in our future!

During all of this drama Ken and I also celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary!  It was June 11th (a Saturday) and after running errands all day we finally stopped that evening and took a break from our life and its responsibilities.  We decided that we would TRY not to think about the rental again until that Monday.  We figured we'd start with drowning our worries with drinks and appetizers at the local Copeland's restaurant and bar.  This is one of our favorite places, with great drinks, New Orleans style food, and a lively atmosphere.  This was a great way to start our "escape",  and we slept really well that night!  We woke up early Sunday morning for the real "escape" and anniversary celebration ... a day of sailing on the lake!

I tell ya, there's no better way to relieve stress than a quiet day on the water with the sails full and our favorite tunes playing in the cockpit! It never gets old, and it never loses its magic! We could just feel the stress leaving our bodies and spent hours on the lake, forgetting all our worries and reluctant to head home.

While on the lake we grilled some burgers while talking about how cool it will be when we're in the blue waters of the gulf headed South!  Times like we've endured lately really make us antsy!  In fact, Ken and I had planned on using an opening in our schedule to finish up the projects on our house required to put it on the market, but instead we had to use that time on our rental.  We hope to find some time again in the very near future to dedicate to our own home.  At least we already have our sailboat to escape to in the meantime, even if it is only for a day or two at time.

After sailing on the lake Sunday, we were back to reality on Monday.  The week was a blur and before we knew it, it was the weekend again.  With the rental clean, the lease signed, and the deposit and first month's rent collected we were exhausted!  So, this past weekend we pretty much did nothing!  Ken visited a friend for a little while on Saturday, but I just didn't have the energy.  The sofa was my friend!  Yesterday was Father's Day, and my wonderful dad understood my exhaustion and told me to rest.  (I am looking forward to lunch with him this week).  Both Ken and I spent most of Father's Day on the sofa, in the air conditioning, watching tv and relaxing.  Our daughter and her boyfriend visited for a while and gave Ken a couple of really cool flashlights, a soft tool box, and a Jamaican style ash tray for Father's Day.  All of these things will be great for the sailboat! Ken hopes to quit smoking soon (it doesn't work too well with our cruising plan or budget), so the ash tray will make a cool coin dish for Nirvana.

So, that about catches us up on everything!  Hopefully there will be no other drama in the near future to keep us away from blogging and sailing.  We lost some time (and money) thanks to the rental, but we keep telling ourselves it will pay off ... right?!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!