Bless Your Heart

Living out loud in the Carolinas

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Vacation Consultant 🛳️ Color Street Stylist 💅
Mom to 3 pups 🐾
Lover of all things sparkly🪩 Ally 🌈

May 2026
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  • Florida Fun Day 4!

    Thursday- Day 4 (last day in Orlando):

    Mom & I woke up and had breakfast. We went back to the room where Papa called us to find out where we were. He said “You’re supposed to be having lunch with Speedy.” What?? The night before we had run into one of Papa’s work/conference guys at dinner and he asked us to breakfast or lunch. Well, at the time my Mom had a noon appointment to get her hair cut. I said so. So Speedy said he’d be hanging out around the hotel by the pool or in the lobby so we’d just probably run into him. Well Speedy must have had some wine with dinner cause now all the sudden we’re late for lunch! We were so full from breakfast but we ran downstairs and met up with Speedy for lunch. Mom got soup & I ordered a quesadilla and we both just kind of picked at our food and moved it around while Speedy ate.

    So after lunch we took our stuffed selves and got the car from the valet. I got in and was fiddling around with my water bottle, trying to adjust the seat, etc. when I felt like someone was watching me. I turned around and there was Claudio from the Dominican Republic (said his name tag) still standing there! Poor guy had a nice view of my rear while I was fiddle farting around with the car. Oy. I bet he was wishing he was back in his homeland instead of having to deal with insane Southern women.

    Mom really wanted to get her hair cut. So we spent some time with Goog 411 trying to find a salon that didn’t cost a million dollars for a cut & foil. Not easy in Orlando. Most places wanted $200! Yikes! So we just decided to drive until we saw a salon and just give it a try. In the meantime we came across the most beautiful Walmart we’d ever seen. Now I know Walmart & beautiful don’t normally go together, but this one was just so nice! We went in and ended up spending most the afternoon there. Who knew they would have a huge section of Disney stuff?? Mom got her hair cut & highlighted at the little salon at the front of the store. The girl did a great job. Mom & her new haircut

    We ended up being there past 6 pm, so Papa went on to dinner with this couple friend of his and their little boy. They ended up at Fulton’s so it’s a good thing we didn’t make it back in time (since we’d just spent a mortgage payment there the night before). Mom and I decided to go to the Italian restaurant in the hotel, Andiamo Italian Restaurant. It was really pretty inside, and not crowded at all. Unfortunately they sat us right next to this family with a child who thought it was hilarious to scream for no apparent reason then laugh maniacally. So you know how I’ve been taking pics of our meals right? Well Thursday night was no exception so I whipped out the camera. My dinner at Andiamo. Chicken, artichokes, tomatoes, shells in a cream sauce. yum. The waiter saw me and asked if I was in the food business. Mom said “sort of” and I said I had a website. So we thought maybe he thought I was a food critic. I pulled out a pad and pen and pretended to take notes. It did seem like our service level went up a notch. Well then after dinner he asked if we’d like dessert. We said we’d like to see what you have. He brought us this gorgeous sampler and said with a big flourish, “this is for you”. Dessert at Andiamo Yay! We scored free food critic dessert!  (At first I thought it was the fake sampler some restaurants have so you can choose your dessert, but when I stuck my finger in one it turns out it was real.  The martinis on display out front were real too.  Stuck my finger in the green one).  So there we are all proud of ourselves with our free dessert and fine service.  He brought us the bill and do you know that man charged us $13.50 for that dessert?!?  We didn’t even order it!  And we wouldn’t have ordered a $13.50 dessert!  That’s far outside my dessert budget!  Here we thought we were slick and we were suckered!

    After dinner we ran into Papa & his group so we hung out in the ice cream parlor for a little while while they had ice cream and we digested our humble pie.  We went up to bed to end our last night in Orlando.  Next stop, Longboat Key!

    More pics here.

    ***There are 2 stories I still have to tell you about Orlando, but they will show up under a password protected post.  Email me if you don’t have the password and want it.  heyshanny at gmail dot com.

    ***Also, don’t forget to take pics!  It’s PhoBloDays!

  • It’s time for the Spring Edition of Photo Bloggy Days!!!

    It’s almost time for the Spring Edition of Photo Bloggy Days!

    Take a picture at least once every 2 hours. Photograph everything:
    your breakfast, the inside of your shower, your view when you wake
    up, what you see on your commute to work, your desk, your lunch, you
    get the idea! Things you think are every day and mundane to you are
    interesting to us!

    Post your photos of Friday &/or Saturday 4/18 & 4/19. You can do both
    days to show the difference between work & play, or just the one day.
    I wanted to include a business & non-business day for variety. For
    those of us who don’t work outside the home, don’t fret- there’s tons
    of stuff for you to photograph!

    Join our Flickr PhoBloDays photogroup!

    Take pics of your day then post them later. Like you can take pics
    all day Friday then post them on Saturday or Friday night. Take your
    Saturday pics then post them Sunday or Saturday night or Monday even.
    No need to continually post throughout the day. Although you can do
    that too if you’d like. It’s totally laid back about when you post.
    Just make sure your photos are of Friday and/or Saturday. The main
    goal is to be able to go to different blogs and see what our bloggy
    friends were doing at the exact same time. Like I wonder what Lisa in
    Baltimore was doing while I was having lunch in Charlotte. That kind
    of thing.

    Carry your camera with you all day. Start now to get into the habit.
    Go to sleep with your camera by your side!

    If you’d like to take part remember to leave a comment on my blog or
    email me at heyshanny at gmail dot com to let me know and I’ll link to you on the big day.

    Hope you’ll play!

    xoxo
    Shanny

    p.s. I still have more to tell about my Florida vacation (you haven’t even heard about Longboat Key yet!).  So stay tuned!

  • Florida fun day 3

    Wednesday- Day 3:

    I forgot to add that on Monday night the some of the tvs in the sports bar and ice cream parlor in the hotel were tuned to Dancing with the Stars and people were crowded around like it was the World Cup! It was hilarious!

    So, on to day 3. Mom & I got up and had breakfast then headed out to Walgreen’s again. We also stopped at one of those big souvenir stores that every beach has with a million t shirts and shell jewelry. They were also selling dead baby looking sharks in a bottle. Disgusting! We found a nail salon and had pedicures. It was so nice. My hooves hadn’t seen the business end of a pumice stone in far too long. We went to find a good salad for lunch but with our limited knowledge of where we were we ended up at TGIFriday’s. I KNOW. Don’t even get me started. I don’t like corporate chains to begin with but I HATE going to a chain on vacation! But our salads were really good. After lunch we went back to the hotel and changed in to our swimsuits. We went down to the pool & hot tub. While we were in the hot tub this little girl came over and sat down on the edge and started splashing her legs with some of the water. I told her the water was really hot and she said “That’s ok, I’m equalizing.” She was 3 years old! Saying equalize! So she got in and we were chatting with her and her dad. Lucky girl, her dad works for Universal in NY somewhere and he has to go to Orlando a lot so he brings her and they go to Disney. She’s already been 20 times he said! And she’s only 3! When it was time to get out of the hot tub she said “But Daddy I want to bubble- ize some more!” SO CUTE!

    After equalizing and bubblizing we took a little nap then got dressed and walked back to Downtown Disney, which my mom kept referring to as Disney Uptown or Disney Town, and met up with an old friend of my mom’s and her boyfriend for dinner at Fulton’s Crab House.Fulton's crab house I got the trio: My seafood dinner at Fulton's It was pretty good but man was it pricey! Mine was one of the cheapest things on the menu and it was $39! Mom’s friend’s boyfriend got the biggest lobster I’ve ever seen on a plate: Ginormous lobster dinner our dinner mate ordered. On the way back from dinner Mom & I took some pics of Downtown Disney. Lego dragon in Downtown Disney The rest of my pics are here.

  • Florida Fun Days 1 & 2

    I’m breaking up our trip into smaller segments. SO Days 1 & 2.

    Monday- Day 1:

    CSP drove us to the airport. (Papa was already in Orlando since Friday for his big conference. He started this company that trains bank auditors and this is their big annual conference.) So we got to the airport and of course my CPAP machine caused a big stink. They sent it through the xray machine 3 times, and sent me through the big machine 3 times too. Then they took us over to a separate area and made me unpack my machine so they could inspect it and rub all over it. But we still made it to our flight on time. Whew.

    We had to change planes in Atlanta. We had just over 40 minutes from touch down to take off to make it to our next plane. We booked on down the terminal to the new gate and Mom had to go to the bathroom. So I waited with the bags while listening for them to call us to board. She came back and we chatted for a minute then all of the sudden we heard “This is the FINAL call for flight 300 to Orlando. We will be closing the gate in less than 1 minute.” Holy smokes! We ran over to the lady and just barely made it on board. We were the last ones so you know everyone just loved us!
    View from my seat on the way down to Orlando

    We made it to Orlando and I got so excited because I saw the monorail and thought, shoot, we don’t need to pay for a cab! We can just take the monorail to Disney then the bus to Downtown Disney which is right across from our hotel so woohoo we’re there for free! Yeah, so that monorail is just to get you from the terminal to the main part of the airport. Cab ride to the hotel cost us $65! Mom talked to the cab driver the whole time grilling him on his life. He was nice and from Haiti. We stopped at Walgreen’s on the way since neither one of us had quart size bags so we had to fly with no lip gloss or lotion or purell. The humanity!

    We made it to the hotel and got settled in our room. So nice! They gave Papa a suite with a regular room and a big living room/dining room area. I thought for a second I would be sleeping on the sofa until we discovered the murphy bed. I was so excited! I’ve never seen one in real life. It was so comfy! I want one! My Murphy bed at the Hilton in Orlando We took a nap then joined Papa at his company’s reception for dinner. There was an amazing steel drum band there. Love that music! After the reception Mom & I went back to the room and watched Juno while Papa mingled. Boy did I cry. But I just LOVED that movie. Then it was time for bed.

    Tuesday- Day 2: We woke up and had breakfast. Papa was off working so Mom & I watched P.S. I Love You and had another good cry. Love the music from both those movies. After our movie we walked over to Downtown Disney. We shopped around a little and had a late lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. We were at one really cute shop and my Mom had picked out some wedding shower gifts for a certain someone. We were at the register and my Mom handed the guy a card and he just stood there not ringing her up. She had given him her driver’s license! Turns out she didn’t bring her debit card or credit card from home! So I was her wallet all week. I get the miles so that worked out just fine. But it was funny watching her go to the registers while we were shopping, plop down her stuff and look at me like “come here wallet!”

    For dinner Tuesday Papa made us reservations at Benihana in the hotel. Fast moving chef at BenihanaThe family sharing our table was from this tiny island between England and France called Guernsey. They were a lot of fun. We asked each other lots of questions. They thought the word “faucet” was strange (they call it a tap). And they told us that Friends and The Simpsons were the big hit shows over there right now. They also said that “pants” was their word for underwear so they thought it strange that Americans talked about their underwear on tv all the time. Oh, and they call eggplant aubergines. Love that.

    More pictures here!

  • I’m baaack

    Got home to my mom’s last night around 8pm.  CSP had to work late then he picked me up and we got home home just after 1am.  Have around 9 million emails to get through and 400 or so pics to upload.  Had a wonderful time.  Am already missing the gorgeous, clear water.   Sigh.   But I’m so glad to be home.  I missed my CSP & puggies so much.  And of course, you fabulous bloggy people.  :)

  • Leaving on a jet plane…

    I leave tomorrow morning for a week away.  THANK GOD.  I need a break.  I will have internet access but it will be spotty at best as I will hopefully be spending lots of time in a pool &/or ocean.

    I surely will miss my CSP & puggies, and my bloggy peeps.  But I’ll be a less stressed woman when I get back.

    Ciao for now!

  • Protected: Drama mama

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  • Mishmash, a plethora, a bevy if you will, of slightly related items

    This morning Joey and I went out to breakfast. Joey at the Meet & Greet at IHOP We met up with a bunch of moms from my mom’s group at IHOP. It was fun to see everyone and meet a couple of new people. I tell ya though, I am going to have to buy stock in Purell or something. We went potty twice at IHOP and both times he touched more germy surfaces then you could shake a stick at. Lifting the seat, flushing the toilet with his hand, holding on to the rim. Ewww. I got him all scrubbed up afterwards and purelled the bejeeebus out of his little hands when we got back in the truck. He was so cute the whole time. “I like pancakes Shanny.”Aunt Shanny & Joey out for the day!

    We went by Target before I took him back home. A Chik Fil A was having their grand opening next to the Target and I slowed down so he could wave to the cow. Of course when I dropped him off and we told Sara about our morning she pointed out that I have tinted windows in the back seat. So all the people on the street saw was a crazy woman honking and waving at a cow. Doh!

    Speaking of my mom’s group, one of our members, Christina, just started her own blog. Go check her out and say hi!

    When I got home today I noticed I had lost an earring somewhere along the way. Who knows how long I was rocking the 80’s one earring look?!?

    Oh hey, mark your calendars! The Spring Edition of Photo Bloggy Days will be Friday and Saturday April 18 & 19! Join our PhoBloDays flickr group if you’d like. I’ll be posting reminders and rules later on.

    Also speaking of my mom’s group, I’m really excited because I’m starting some new things over there and people are really responding well. By new I mean I lovingly “borrowed” some ideas from other groups I know about and am using them there. I started a monthly Sit & Knit where we’re going to meet up in a coffee shop and knit & chat. Also a monthly Shoot Out where we’ll meet at a park or some other lovely place and take pictures & swap tips & tricks. In relation to the shoot outs I started a twice monthly theme based photo challenge. Our first theme is Spring and while I do enjoy a nice, cool, overcast day I would like a little sunshine so I can take my challenge picture!

  • Stealth ogre hairs

    I look at my face every day.  It’s right there on the front of my big head, so it’s kind of hard to miss.  And I’m a girlie girl.  I don’t like pimples or anything unsightly riding around on my face.   So imagine my shock and dismay when I found a hair hanging out on my neck just under my chin the other day.  I went to brush it away thinking  it had just gotten stuck there on its decent from my head to the floor.  But it didn’t move.  It was attached!  I was horrified!  It was long!  Well, like a half inch.  But still!  It was long enough to start curling.  You just gasped didn’t you?  Recoiled?  Did you recoil?  It’s ok.  I did.  How on Earth could a hair have grown that long without me noticing??  I yanked that sucker out so fast.  I almost showed it to CSP I was so amazed.  Then I got a hold of myself.  Imagine what a sexy image I would have put in his head.  Hey baby, wanna stroke my long neck hair while we make out?  You can put a bead on the end of it.  Oh yeah.

    Well.  That does it.  Not only am I going to have to hire a personal man servant to unpack, unload and put away things (oh, the bother); now I’m going to have to hire his brother to go over my entire face & neck area daily with a bright light, a magnifying glass & some tweezers.  It is so exhausting being a girl!

  • Someone out there luvs me

    I made it to the WordPress home page again! Thank you WordPress. And trust me, I heart you right back. I’m forever telling people to switch over to WordPress.

    I took a look at my stats the other day and noticed some interesting ip addresses. Someone at Random House is still reading me. Has been for a good while now. So hey, RH employee, if you’re tossing around the idea of a book deal? I’m all for it. I mean, if Stuff White People Like & I Can Has Cheezburger can write books, then so can I! I’ve actually been working on 2 different book ideas for a while now. I’m great with people and would be a pro on my book tour!

    I want to send some luv back out to the internets now. First, I have to pimp out Bare Minerals again. I’ve been using them for a year and a half now and my skin has never been better. I was wondering too if anyone out there has tried their new blemish thingy. Photobucket I wanna try it but $28 is a little steep if it doesn’t work.
    Also I want to pimp out this site I found when I was looking for a spring bag. Mine’s not on there anymore, but I got a super cute white “leather” purse, a pair of sunglasses, and a Coach inspired wristlet Photobucket for less than $40 total!  Fast shipping too.  Go check her out.

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