Alaska Cruise Trip - Day 2

        Day 2 of our trip was embarkation day for the cruise!  We were very excited about getting to the ship but we had some time in the morning so we decided to go to the Pike Place Market. Our hotel was only a few blocks from the market so we took a walk down there to check it out.   Once we got there we had about 25 mins to walk around before we had to head back to the hotel to check out.  The market has a very fun energetic atmosphere and I would definitely recommend going there if you are in Seattle. 

The Front of the Market

The Famous Pike Place Fish Co. where they throw the fish around

We stopped by the Daily Dozen Doughnut Co. to get some tasty fresh doughnuts.  This is also a fun place because they toss the doughnuts in the air and into your bag. 

        After we got back to the hotel, we got our stuff, checked out and went out in front to wait for a taxi. There were quite a few people waiting to get taxis to the ship but we weren't concerned because we had until 3pm to get there.   The taxis were all tied up for a few minutes so the hotel's taxi coordinator put us into an SUV to take us to the dock. That was pretty nice considering it was the same price as a regular cab.  It cost 20 dollars to get to the dock.  Princess is located at Terminal 30 which is the furthest south of all the docks. Don't try to walk there from downtown- you will end up having to get into a cab at some point. 

         The check-in process for Princess was not bad at all. We waited in line for about 10 minutes and dragged our luggage till we got to the door. That was probably the hardest part of checking in (which isn't really that hard).  Once we got to the door they took the big luggage and we went into another line to get our cruise cards.  On Princess and I think all cruise ships they give you a cruise card which serves as your key to your room and your payment for everything on the ship that you buy. (things from the shops, any alcohol, and any special things like wine tasting you might participate in)  That line went very quickly- about 10 mins and then we were off to the gangway. All together it took about 30 minutes to go through the whole process and be in our room. Pretty impressive! Princess definitely has streamlined that process. 

         Once inside the ship we decided to walk around and see everything since we had time. In the middle of our walking around we ran into the start of a tour of the ship. It was lead by one of the cruise entertainment people  named "Boogie".   We decided to take the tour and learned a lot about the ship and found out where everything was. That was very helpful.  We continued to run into Boogie the rest of the trip and he was always very friendly and seemed to remember us. 

This is the indoor pool with the glass roof

After our tour we went back to the room and our luggage was there waiting for us. yay!  We unpacked a little bit and then went up to the top deck for the Sail Away Party.   They had a band and the atmosphere was very fun. 

The Sail Away Party

As we left Seattle, the views of the city were great

      We had our first sit down dinner at 8pm in the Amalfi dining room that night. It was a casual dress night so that made it easy.  We met our table mates who were two older ladies who were best friends. Very cute and fun to talk to.  There were two other seats at our table but no one ever showed up for them.  For dinner that night I chose the spring roll appetizer, the salad, a pasta dish and some struedel for dessert.   All the meals were wonderful and consisted of an appetizer, soup, salad, main course, and dessert.  Each course had at least 3 selections to choose from. 

       After dinner we went to the Sail Away show at the Princess theater. There was singing and dancing and introductions of the major department heads on the crew.  It was fun but it felt kind of weird because the boat was rocking quite a bit.  That evening was the choppiest of the entire week with 4 foot swells - probably because we were in open ocean.  It wasn't bad though and we didn't get seasick at all.  

The Princess Theater is the largest theater on board the Star Princess

       We went to bed pretty late that night and were looking forward to a relaxing day at sea the following day.  At dinner we signed up to attend a wine tasting the next day and that was the only thing we had planned.

Flowers and Savings!

I have a couple of fun updates. First of all I want to share that my loving husband surprised me with flowers tonight and it was such a treat! He picked pink which is my favorite color and bought them to show his love. What a lucky girl I am! :-)

And second, I wanted to share my latest grocery game news.  I know I have been talking a lot about it lately, but it's so great,  it's hard not to talk about it.  :-) I wanted to show a photo of the items I got with my coupons tonight, so you can see that it is brand name items that I am getting for the great prices.  I saved 106 dollars off of a bill that would have been 216! I got a lot of toiletry items which are on sale now so we are now fully stocked on soap, shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, mouthwash, etc. We are set for months! How fun is that! :-)

Grocery Game Update

After a few weeks of using "The Grocery Game" I wanted to provide a little update on the progress. I am still extremely happy with it and here are some quick facts and things I have learned so far.

• In the last three weeks we have saved more than enough money to pay for a pantry to keep our stock pile in.
• Out of 340 dollars in groceries, I have paid 155 dollars!
• A vast majority of the products I have purchased are name brand items.
• The 4 week trial period only costs a dollar, and after that it's 10 dollars every 8 weeks.
• There are many sales on the list that aren't advertised.
• Home Depot is a great place to get an affordable stand alone pantry. I think if/ when we get a house with a garage, we will get a couple more and line them up in the garage.
• For Ralphs, it's important to shop on Sundays because some of the sale items are gone by Monday evening. The sale period may differ for each store but for Ralphs it's Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.
• The Grocery Game has changed the way I shop for food and it's given us the gift of extra cash in our bank account.

My first try at "The Grocery Game"

Tonight was my first try at "The Grocery Game" and I'm thrilled with the results! (and so is my wallet)  For those of you who haven't heard of it, "The Grocery Game" is a website that a woman created to help other people save money on groceries.  She created this huge database that keeps track of all the coupons and sales the happen at the major grocery stores.  Each week all you have to do is clip the coupons out of the L.A. Times or other major paper, and hold on to your coupon mailings.  On the weekends, "the list" is published which tells you what is on sale for that week. At Ralphs where I shop, the sales happen on Sunday,  Monday and Tuesday.  The list is color coded. Blue means it's time to stock up on an item because it's at the lowest price. Green means that you can get the item for free. And Black means that the item is on sale, but you should only buy it if you need it or want a treat.  That information, combined with the coupons that she tells you to use, add up to huge savings. And the philosophy is that you would only buy items when they are on sale, stock pile those items, and then go to your own pantry to go shopping once you need the item.  Tonight was my first time trying out this system and I was so happy to see how much I saved!  The bill would have been 106 dollars, and I paid 53!!!!!!  I'm a grocery game convert now and will definitely be using it to save money from now on. :-)

A kid in a sewing machine shop

The final piece of my quilting puzzle arrived in my hands yesterday. A brand new Viking Emerald 118. The Viking brand comes highly recommended by several quilting and sewing friends and there just happened to be a Viking Dealer 2 blocks from my office. The dealer is called the Sewing Arts Center and everyone there sews on Vikings. They also offer a free class to learn the machine, and an extended warranty. It didn't take long for them to show me several in my price range, and I decided on the 118 because of the extra stitch features, needle threader (which is awesome by the way), and the height that the foot lifts up to (to fit quilts under it). The sales person gave me a discount so I paid the price that the 116 (one step down) would normally go for. The box had been opened at the factory so that's why I got the discount. But the salesperson explained that it was probably to teach someone how to thread the machine.

Anyway, I am so excited to start sewing on it and spent the evening learning the machine, threading it, and experimenting with stitch length and tension. I can't wait to work on my project!

Bed Bath and Beyond Class Action Lawsuit

If anyone is looking for proof that America is lawsuit crazy, here is some interesting news. There is a class action lawsuit against Bed, Bath and Beyond that claims that the company misrepresented the thread counts on their sheets. It states that the company listed the number of threads per square inch of fabric instead of the number of yarns. The company denies any wrongdoing and has come to a settlement that gives customers who bought certain sheets from them the right to get full refunds or to get gift cards.

I found out about this through an e-mail that they sent out to their customers. I don't remember ever buying sheets there but even if I did I probably wouldn't go to the trouble of trying to find a receipt for some sheets I bought up to 7 years ago (that's what the lawsuit covers). I am curious to find out who the people wronged by the sheet scandal are. Do they have thread counting microscopes at home? :-)