Skip to main content

Paradise is Not for Weenies #1










We just spent our quarterly time out (thank you Joe Wagner :) at Langkawi Island in Malaysia. Amazing. On these trips it's our habit to do "best of" comparisons of all the beaches we've been to in Asia --done while sipping our umbrella drinks at sunset; i.e., best of...sand/best of...pool/room/food--you get the idea. This was best all around. We booked a boutique resort, the Casa Del Mar, with only 34 rooms--each about 30 yards from the ocean. The room was exquisite--complete with cinnamon soap and turn down service! Every mid morning, carts went around to all the poolside & seaside loungers delivering pitchers of ice water (with lemon). A bit later came cold wash cloths (it was hot & humid you know :) only to be followed later with plates of sliced watermelon.
We made new friends. We gorged on lobster & crab morning, noon & night. We swam in the sea at all hours. We walked the sleepy beach town of Cenang most every day. Oh! And we had massage--picture gazing down through the massage table to bowls full of orchids--ahh. You in the States need to know that this week cost close to what a week's stay at Best Western in USA would cost. Hawaii---why??? We have found the beaches of Asia to be drop dead gorgeous and sooo affordable!
Lest you think we turned into total beach slugs, stay tuned for our Mangrove Rain Forest trip!







Posted by Picasa

Comments

BJ said…
Waa, waa, waa!

Just kidding. Glad you had a wonderful time enjoying God's creation and comforts. Was the best part about it the fact that you had electricity and running water?
Can't wait to talk with you.
Jana

Popular posts from this blog

Bloggers' Quilt Festival!

I'm so tickled to be a part of this year's Bloggers' Quilt Festival !  My entry was done in Outer Mongolia (literally!  --read on).  This quilt is one of my favorite recent projects that I named "Renegade Geisha's" --renegade because two of the geisha's don't conform to the rest (mainly because I ran out of coordinating fabrics!).  Can you find the two renegades?  ;)  The quilt incorporates fabric origami and the quilt itself is from  Fantastic Fabric Folding  --many projects from this book were a big hit with the Mongolian class pictured below. Due to my husband's work, we live in Mongolia; and I was privileged to teach classes at a local quilting studio.  I've included a picture of the class where we were working on the geisha blocks.  The students spoke almost no English and I speak what I call Monglish--a lot of English sprinkled with Mongolian.  Regardless, we all had a blast!  ...and, I'm very pleased with this quilt of mine!

A Stitch Sisters Kimono for Dubai

My husband had meetings come up quick in Dubai and of course I tagged along!  We were going to be there a week and I wanted a lightweight kimono-type pullover for the pool and getting out of the shower.  I had snagged a gorgeous white linen/cotton (guessing on this) here in UB that was perfect.  My inspiration came from Lisa's over at  Lisa's Carolina | Handmade .  I'm not good at pattern drafting and this was a quick FREE measure and cut tutorial of Stitch Sisters--find their Patternless Pattern Link  here .   I'm so happy with this!  It basically took me an afternoon.  The directions are great--and they include 5/8" seam allowances--yay!--as I wanted to turn under and top stitch them since I don't have a serger here.  I left off the ties.  Shapeless worked for this.  I also raised the neckline by about 1.5" The neckline was a little trickier as I didn't have any bias on hand and there is no "running out" anywhere here.  So, I used

Much Needed New Winter Robe - Vogue 9232

Last spring I chucked my 20-year-old bathrobe, giving me no choice but to replace it come winter.  Granted, I never took it to Mongolia, so it only got worn when I was home in the US.  But still.  For summer I made several light weight robes, but I knew I liked the style of my old RTW one.   When I saw reviews for Vogue 9232--on PR (all 3 of them), I knew I'd found my pattern.  Interestingly enough, the pattern is actually for a caftan-type dress; but all 3 reviews were done up as a robe.       Sham's review   in particular had great tips.   On a trip to Colorado Fabrics  in early summer I spotted a beeeuuutiful pink sweatshirt type fabric.  The outside is more like a thick knit and inside is dreamy soft.  And it's baby pink!  Which is hard to tell in the pics as we in Colorado have had lots of rain and no sunshine. And OK, I'm no photographer.  But seriously, this is like stepping into a pink cloud.   I made a small through the neck, shoulders and sleeves