Back from my week off...

Hey folks,

Well, I was true to my promise to the Doc and my wife...no cell phone or laptop for a week during our trip. Although I was tempted to check in, I resisted.

Christi and I decided to use the time to the max benefit and with some friends of ours, made a mad dash to St. Maarten's for the time away. I'm not much of a beachy kinda guy, preferring more active or adventurous time off, but it was a good break none the less.

Spent the first two days thinking of all the stuff I should be doing, realized I really did not have any capacity to change it for a week, then just plain chilled out.

Welcome to the ocean...dang, that guy could use some color!

I took the opportunity to do one thing that I rarely have time for anymore, but do love...cooking. I had the time to prepare about 8 meals for the four of us and enjoyed the time in the kitchen using some creativity and local ingredients.

How about some Nutella and banana stuffed cakes with hand whipped cream?

Suffice it to say, Nutella, a chocolate hazelnut spread, was a big hit with Christi, so we hooked up with some of that to take home :)

The scenery was not too shabby either, sunset on Baie Longue on the French side...

I do enjoy exploring some of the local culture and small shops is one outlet for that, so while the girls were shopping, I did some exploring of my own.

Two great finds were the Afro Pick and Juggies place...

Everything Hip Hop and bling you could ever wish for, and attitude to boot ;)

and although I do not drink or smoke, this was a killer deal (shitters are free too!)

So, good to be back, although the 10 inches of snow and 20 degree temps are quite a departure from the last week. I wonder what it would cost to move the shop to the Hawaiian Isles?

I'll be catching up on email and voice mails today, gonna stop in the shop to get things warmed up, and started again for the week, and should have some new stuff for ya soon. Thanks for the time off folks, I'm ready to start cranking out some cool stuff again.

rody