It's Officially Christmas Time

Christmas Countdown in Holiday Hills

Busch Gardens Christmas Town is open!

This year Busch Gardens opened Christmas Town a week early.  Unfortunately due to my sprained ankle I didn't get to go to opening weekend.  But hubby and I did go on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Probably not the most convenient day as it was one of the $12 discount days.  The place was packed.  It took us forever to get in the park.  The traffic was lined up on all roads leading in.  I even heard later that it took someone almost 2 hours to get in.

You could definitely tell there were a lot of newbies in the park.  They had that totally lost look about them.  And for some reason they always want to stop right in the middle of the path and block everything up.  Somewhat trying to my patience.  But since I was nursing my bum ankle I wasn't exactly sprinting through the park anyway.

Dasher's Diner Buffet

We decided to give Dasher's Diner a try.  It's a buffet that's located in the Holiday Hills village.  In all the times we've been to Christmas Town we have never eaten there for some reason.  I kind of think it was due to Hubby's penchant for Festhaus German sausages.  But I persuaded him to step out and try something new.  I will say that Dasher's Diner is my new favorite place.  I started out very modestly with a salad, roll and chicken leg.  Then I moved on to chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes and gravy and grilled vegetables.  Very yummy.  On my next trip I got Swedish meatballs (on Hubby's recommendation), more mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables.  The vegetables make everything OK don't they?  I definitely think they do.  There was also a dessert bar.  I chose cherry cobbler.  All in all a very yummy and satisfying meal.

The Festhaus all decked out with lights

The park is beautifully decorated.  At night it's really stunning.  If you can stand the height I recommend going up the Nacht Tower.  I did it one time.  Beautiful but scary.  You really can see the whole park from up there though.

Each country has a different theme.  My favorite village is Holiday Hills.  I love that retro American style.  It really screams "Christmas"!  I also like France.  It's so pretty in blue and white.  OK, now that I think of it I love it all!

German village

There is a new show this year called Scrooge No More.  In my opinion this show is worth the admission price all on it's own.  I think this is the best show Busch Gardens has ever had and I have seen them all since the late seventies.

The sets are beautiful.  The special effects were top notch and the talent was way above what you normally find at an amusement park.  You don't want to miss this one.  I hope to go back soon and get better pictures.

Sharon

#ChristmasTown, #WilliamsburgChristmas, #BuschGardens, #Scrooge, #holidayfun,

New Toy Before Christmas

I Love A Great Deal

For the past few months I've been thinking about getting a new camera.  I have a Panasonic DMC-LX5 that I keep in my purse.  It's my emergency camera.  You never know when you'll need to snap a photo of a crazy accident.  I seem to come across those quite often.  You look at the aftermath and wonder how in the world the cars ended up in those positions.  I've even seen an accident  happen right in front of me and still couldn't figure it out.

I also take photos of food sometimes.  I am Filipino after all!  But I don't take a photo of every meal I eat.  I'm usually way to hungry to fool with that.

But anyway I keep a camera in my purse.  I also have my Ipod that I'll use if it's handy, but I'm not too happy with the photo quality.  It's ok for web use but I prefer a real camera for printing.  For most of my photos I use my Nikon D5200.

My Panasonic has been a real nice compact camera.  But a few months ago one of the knobs stopped working.  It's kind of an important knob.  It is the one that adjusts the shutter, exposure and aperture.  So right now the exposure is stuck on +2.  As you can imagine it's difficult to get a photo that's not overexposed.  I did find a workaround but it's a pain.

So I've been casually shopping for a replacement.  I had my eye on a Samsung that has a pretty good zoom.  Gotta have that to get the action shots!  It was about $300 which was more than I wanted to spend for a compact camera.  But last week I was in Sam's Club and the Samsung WB350F was on sale for $149.  I just couldn't pass that up.  This bundle also included a case and Micro SD card.  What a deal!

I've been so busy finishing up custom orders and getting ready for Thanksgiving that I haven't even had time to play with it.  I'll give an update after I take it for a test drive.

My old Panasonic will now be the video camera for my studio.  It actually does pretty good videos.  I'm finishing up some projects and will be posting photos and a video soon.

Sharon

Santa's Whimsical Sleigh

Santa's Sleigh Shoe - Second Model

Here is the sporty version of Santa's Sleigh.  This a sleep beauty, built for speed!  The whimsical paint is reminiscent of swirly snow drifts.  I'm really happy with how these shoes turned out and I'm definitely in the Christmas mood now!

This shoe is now available at sharonstrouddesigns and my Etsy Store.

I just have a few projects to finish up.  I'm hoping have everything wrapped up by Thanksgiving weekend.  Then I'm free and clear to enjoy my Christmas.  Of course I won't totally stop working.  I have a tendency to get lazy if I take time off and then I have a hard time getting back to work.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who has that problem.  So I will spend my time working on some fun projects and thinking up new ideas for the coming year.  If you have any ideas please feel free to share them.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Sharon

Santa is on his way with a new classy ride!

Newest Sleigh Models for 2014

Santa's new ride is fresh off the showroom floor and ready to take a spin.  There are two versions available.  The first one is called Santa's Monogram Sleigh.  Santa takes this one when he wants to make a statement.  It's a luxury model with just a touch of sporty pizazz.  The glittery gold runners provide stability as well as superb handling.

The second model is called Santa's Whimsical Sleigh.  It's has a custom paint job that showcases whimsical swirls.  This model is just perfect for frolicky fun!  I will post photos soon.

The Santa's Monogram Sleigh is now available on my website and Etsy store.

http://www.sharonstrouddesigns.com
https://www.etsy.com/listing/212624526/santas-monogram-sleigh-altered-art-elf?ref=shop_home_active_1

Appalachian German Kriskindlmarkt

Busch Gardens Christmas Town

Let the Christmas festivities begin!

As Busch Gardens is busily preparing Christmas Town for opening day, I can almost taste the peppermint fudge hot chocolate.  Much as I would like it to be 75 degrees, the steam rising from a mug of hot chocolate is heartwarming as well as traditional.

Next weekend is the grand opening.  Busch decided to open a week earlier this year.  Since I sprained my ankle last weekend I hope I'll be ready for it.  Maybe I can get a nice fellow to push me around in a wheelchair?  Nah, never happen.

I came across a new Christmas festival that looks interesting.  It's about 3 hours away but might be worth the trip.  I've already missed the cutoff for dinner reservations so I'd just have to setting for the traditional German festival food.  I will not mention this festival to Hubby until I definitely decide to go.  At the mention of German sausages it will be hard to live with the Sausage Crazed Madman!

They call it Kriskindlmarkt III.  It's going to be held next weekend, Nov. 21-22.  I suppose if I'm not up to walking Busch Gardens Christmas Town I could head up to Clifton Forge for this festival.  It couldn't possibly involve as much walking. And I have until the end of the year to go to Christmas Town.  I'm blessed to live in an area where there are so many choices!

Sharon

 

Christmas Fireplace Box Series

I'm having so much fun making my fireplace boxes.  And I love every one of them.  They all come complete with fireplace logs and handmade stockings that can be personalized.

The White Brick Fireplace is so much prettier than it photographs.  I guess I need to work on my photographic technique.  I really love the white and icy blue color scheme for Christmas.

White Brick Fireplace Box

The Red Brick Fireplace seems to be a favorite with men.  It's very realistic and rustic. And it looks really great when accessorized.  I haven't had time to take those photographs yet.  Hopefully this weekend...

Red Brick Fireplace Box

Brown Stone Fireplace Box

I almost want to say the Brown Stone Fireplace might be my favorite.  But this could simply be because it's the last one I made.  I guess you could say it's the baby!  We'll see if I feel the same when I finish the next one.

These boxes are all sized to fit one of my 5x7 mini scrapbook albums.  The ones I have available right now are the Fa La La and Bright and Merry scrapbooks.

Fa La La Christmas Mini Scrapbook

Merry and Bright Christmas Mini Scrapbook

The boxes would also be a great place to store your Christmas cards and memorabilia.  If you can think of any other uses please leave a comment.  I look forward to hearing your suggestions.

Sharon

#christmasgift, #miniscrapbook, #scrapbookset, #fireplace, #premadescrapbook

Pinnacle Rock State Park

Heaven!

The first morning of our vacation started off with a beautiful view of the fog in the valleys.  Our room at Pipestem State Park was the best seat in the house, so to speak, to watch the show.  It was definitely worth the extra $10 for the gorge view room.  There is a house on the opposite mountain that has this view every morning.  How lucky!

Morning Fog

Fog lifting from the valley

We wanted to fit in as many sights as we could in our short weekend trip so we hit the road early.  First on our list was Pinnacle Rock.

The last time we were here on vacation we attempted to go to Pinnacle Rock.  Unfortunately our GPS led us to the wrong end of the park.  I knew I should have used a map!  We drove quite a ways into the park before I finally did bust out the map.  As far as I could tell there was really no way to get from where we were to where we needed to be except to turn around and leave the park.  Then we would have to continue on the main road to get to the other entrance.  As it was getting late we decided to call it a day and try again some other time.

This time I made sure to get real directions and not depend on the GPS.  It still was a bit confusing to get there but we made it.

You have to climb the hill to find the start of the Falling Rock Trail.  It's a beautiful walk that's not too strenuous.  I have been on flat land so long it was like heaven to me.  There was a notice that said you can't do any climbing without permit.  We had no intention of climbing those rocks anyway.

This looks interesting!

Daring a rock to fall on him

Up to the Overlook

Just had to have a look inside

View from the Overlook

Now that's a view worth the climb

It was a lovely day and definitely worth the trip up to the Rock.  I highly recommend it.  We left Pinnacle Rock and headed out to the New River Gorge.  But that's a story for another day.

Sharon

#westvirginiatravel, #pinnaclerock, #mountain