We’re on another road trip to Florida; this time to Orlando to see our favorite mouse.  The problem is, everyone has the same idea and traffic is ridiculous.  If you follow me on Twitter, you would see that I’m not handling it too well either.  The kids, they’re fine; it’s me who’s going crazy.  So in an effort to get my mind off the fact that we have traveled five miles in one hour, I made a video and did a Skirt! 24/7 interview.

Road Trip Beats

24/7 with Funkidivagirl and Family

Skirt! is one of my favorite monthly newspapers; I always read it from cover to cover and I particularly enjoy the 24/7 page.  I have known a couple of people featured: Gretchen Hollingsworth of Paddywax Candles, Britt Menzies of StinkyKids, and I was happy to read about my Twitter pal Tami of Talking With Tami in the latest issue.

But since I have yet to be featured on the 24/7 page, each moth I interview myself.   While stuck in the car, I thought it would be fun for all of us to answer some of the 24/7 questions.  (”All of us” means me, husband James and 7 year old Girly; The Boy was being all “teenage-ry” and didn’t participate.)

Words I live by:

James: “The difference between me and you is that I make this look good.” -Will Smith, Men in Black

Me: “It is not enough to do your very best; you must do what is required of the situation.” –Cathy Hughes

I can’t live without:

Girly: Marcus (my stuffed dog)

James: music, my iPhone

Me: sunshine, sleep, Eboost

One thing I never want to do again:

Girly: be sick in the hospital

James: leave for Florida during Spring Break late in the morning

Me: be a teenager (although it was much easier than being a parent of a teenager!)

If I could be totally wild:

Girly: I would stand on my head all day

James: quit my job and coach AAU high school basketball

Me: be a beach bum in St. John

The most important thing I ever lost:

Girly: the cutest dog (Tiger Lilly, a therapy dog who helped me when I was in the hospital)

James: my Grandfather’s WWII uniform

Me: my trust in people

I’d like to learn to:

Girly:  knit

James: speak Portuguese

Me: play the guitar

I wish I’d known:

Girly: Funkidivagirl before I was born

James: that Google was going to be so big (I would have bought stock)

Me:  that I might have wanted a third child

Something most people don’t know about me:

Girly: that I can dance really good

James: that I am irrationally afraid of birds

Me: I spilled my guts already

My first job:

James: a paper route for the Oakland Tribune, as a teenager I worked in a deli and my  first “real” job was for Wild West records

Me: a Keebler Elf, as a teenager I worked in a candy shop and in college as a Teaching Assistant

Never…..

Girly: forget to Twitter once a day    *(now that’s funny..is she our kid or what?)

James: start the day without a game plan

Me: be afraid to speak your mind

I’m guilty of:

Girly: eating too many sweets

James: keeping my phone on during the whole airplane ride

Me: speaking my mind maybe too much

If I were a super hero/heroine I would:

Girly: be Animal Girl and translate animal talk

James: go inside people’s minds and look at their motives

Me: be Funkidivagirl and save the world from mediocrity.  Oh wait…I already do that!

And now, for the rest of the car ride–QUIET!

We finally made it to Disney World after a very long drive.  You can read all about our vacation in How To Do Disney World Like Funkidivagirl.

© 2009 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

*I’ve posted the following paragraph and video before–while we were actually on vacation–but if you haven’t seen it, take a look (a little long at 9 minutes, but worth the time).   If you’ve already seen the video, skip down to the (more traditional, sane) review of our experience in Savannah.

This was supposed to be a simple road trip to Savannah; a mere 4 hours away from Atlanta.  Our goal was to leave about 8:00 a.m, but since I was wiped out from Christmas, I didn’t even finish packing until about 10:00 a.m.  We started loading the car about 11:00 a.m. and that was when our road trip comedy of errors began–our rental car was too small for our luggage.  What do we do?  Watch and see:

After that crazy trip, we did manage to have a good time in Savannah.  I had been there before on a solo vacation and I was eager to show my family some of my favorite things and experience new things as well.

Since Savannah has such lovely architecture, we didn’t want to stay in a traditional hotel, but in a neighborhood.  The last time I went to Savannah I stayed in a lovely B & B right on a square, but many of them don’t allow children.   The Mansion on Forsyth Park seemed like a good compromise.   I had heard good things about it and since I found a good rate on travelzoo.com, we decided to give it a try.

The room décor for some could be over the top, but for us, it was fun.   (more…)

© 2009 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

The day after Christmas my family took a vacation to Amelia Island, after a couple of days first spent in Savannah (read our adventures in Savannah in another blog post).  This was our first time on Amelia Island and really our first family vacation in Florida that didn’t include The Mouse.  The weather was really nice, most days there was a high of 68 degrees; jeans, a tee shirt and a hoodie were our everyday attire.

The Ritz-Carlton, Ameila Island

We stayed at The Ritz-Carlton (we are brand loyal fans of The Ritz), which is right on the beach and very casual.  Our room was very comfortable; the closet and drawers were big enough to hold ALL of our luggage and clothes (if you saw the video from the Savannah blog post, you would know that’s a big deal).   I found the beds comfortable and there always enough towels.  The bathroom was large and accommodated all of our toiletries.   We started off with a coastal view room of the dunes and the ocean around the corner, but we were upgraded to an ocean view room and it was very nice (we could see the sunrise).  Every room has a balcony with a table & 2 chairs.  There is a mini-bar in the room (that we didn’t use).   I’m not sure if there was a dvd player because we barely turned on the TV.  There was space near the terrace door for Girly to play on the floor.

The the rest of the hotel was just beautiful and decorated to evoke an elegant, yet relaxing atmosphere.  Because it was Christmas, all the common areas were  beautifully decorated for Christmas with greenery, lights and a Christmas tree; there was even a HUGE gingerbread ship in the lobby.  Unfortunately the decorations were taken down without warning overnight on Dec 30^th and we didn’t get to take any photos. The hotel had 2 pools, 2 hot tubs (indoor and outdoor) and a kids’ pool with a rain umbrella.  There was also a playground near the pool.    Outside of the lounge on the patio was a big firepit surrounded by sofas.  Beyond the patio was a lawn perfect for playing and used for various programs.  Surrounding the green space were lawn chairs and fire pits.  We really enjoyed sitting by our own fire pit each evening talking and gazing at the stars.

There are 2 restaurants on site and food could be ordered in the lounges and at a poolside grill as well (the poolside grill was closed for the winter).  We ate at the lobby lounge a couple of times; there is a limited menu of burgers, cheese plates, salads and chicken wings.  We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at Café 4750 and it was very good, if expensive.  The breakfast buffet was the best!   The lunch and dinner menus were similar, so  it was good that we were able to eat outside the hotel for variety (and less expense).  We did not eat at Salt, the 4 diamond restaurant, although we heard it was very good.  There was also an adult sports bar with a pool table.  We didn’t go in there because of our kids, but we did poke our head in; it was very nice and had a more contemporary vibe than the hotel lobby bar.

This Ritz-Carlton is very family-oriented.   (more…)

© 2009 – 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

This was supposed to be a simple road trip to Savannah; a mere 4 hours away from Atlanta.  Our goal was to leave about 8:00 a.m, but since I was wiped out from Christmas, I didn’t even finish packing until about 10:00 a.m.  We started loading the car about 11:00 a.m. and that was when our road trip comedy of errors began–our rental car was too small for our luggage.  What do we do?  Watch and see:

The vacation adventures continue in Amelia Island on American Beach when my husband has to use the bathroom; oh boy!

I hope that you had a good laugh.  Family–you gotta love ‘em!

*I finally wrote blog posts about our trip (the normal parts) to Savannah and Ameila Island.

© 2008 – 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Volunteering in my daughter’s classroom a few months after Christmas, I overheard this conversation:

Girl 1: What did you do over Christmas break?

Girl 2: I went to The Ritz-Carlton in Puerto Rico

Girl 1: Oooh, I love The Ritz-Carlton!

My Girly: Me too; it is the best place to stay!

Several other kids in the class chimed in that they too had been to several different Ritz-Carltons around the world and they all agreed that it was the best place to stay.

We are creating monsters.  No Holiday Inn for these kids!  As we often tell our son (who has champagne tastes on a $10/week allowance), plan a lucrative career now to support yourself because this gravy train stops soon.

But really, you can’t blame the kids; Ritz-Carltons are nice.  Recently we went to The Ritz-Carlton Lodge at Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee.  It’s here in Georgia, about an 1 1/2 drive from the city of Atlanta. This was our second visit there and once again we had a wonderful time.  True, we had to get over the fact that the resort has plantation in it’s name (which is why I think my husband “accidently” calls it Reynolds Town instead of Reynolds Plantation) and an incident during this last visit did remind us that we were indeed in Greensboro Georgia, but still it is a wonderful place.

Our first visit was taken in December 2007 a couple of days before Christmas.  We just wanted to relax and reconnect as a family before the hustle and bustle of Christmas fully descended upon us.

This is a review of our first experience at The Ritz-Carlton Lodge:

The Atmosphere: The hotel looks like a lodge; it is new, but it was built to look old. The lobby is huge and was decorated for Christmas with a gigantic (real!) gingerbread house and several Christmas trees. There are also Christmas trees throughout the whole hotel. We loved the atmosphere in the lobby lounge and spent most of our time there on the sofa right in front of the huge (real wood-burning) fireplace. There is also a terrace outside the lobby lounge with rocking chairs that overlooks the grounds and lake. Outside at night thousands of white lights twinkle from the hotel and on all the trees. We went for a walk in the night just to see all the lights. The bellhop told us that the Ritz deliberately has “smells” piped in all over the hotel and it did smell wonderful everywhere.

The Room: We stayed in a standard room and while it was not very large (460 square feet), it was very well appointed. The beds were incredibly comfortable with feather toppers, fluffy pillows and down comforters. We had two double beds, an arm chair by the terrace window, a desk and chair, an armoire with the TV, dvd player and drawers for clothes and a huge closet. In addition there was a unique coffee and tea maker and a honor bar (that we didn’t use). The bathroom was beautiful and spacious with a separate toilet, marble shower and a huge tub. There were 2 adult robes hanging and when my son tried to wear one, I noticed a note saying that housekeeping will deliver child-sized robes upon request. Right away they brought a robe sized for my daughter and another one sized for my son to our room. A request for more towels was met immediately as well. Sliding glass doors opened up onto a small patio with two chairs. (more…)

© 2008 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.