Sign Me Up Sunday: Gozo

It's possible many of you have heard of the Maltese Falcon, but how many of you knew the Maltese islands were not only an actual place, but also quite a desirable destination and in a wonderful location?

photo credit: Gozo via photopin (license)

The Maltese islands are located very near the center of the Mediterranean Sea. The Maltese archipelago is comprised of three islands - Malta, Comino, and Gozo. I first became aware that Gozo existed when searching for dive sites in the Mediterranean. The first couple sites that mentioned it were vacation rental sites offering week long stays in luxuriously refurbished historic farmhouses.

Fun Fact Friday: Turtles, Tortoises, & Terrapins

It's time for Fun Fact Friday, where we share random fun facts. :-)

Turtles, Tortoises, and Terrapins

Do you know the difference?

We Make Our Own Soda

And we're not talking about a SodaStream.

A few months ago, Jeff did some research on high fructose corn syrup and decided we should cut back on the amount of soda that we drink.

Image courtesy of Iamnee at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Not as much of a problem for Clarinda, since she mostly drinks water and only the occasional soda. Jeff, on the other hand, got most of his water intake from Coke.

In an effort to cut back, we started stocking more fruit juices as an alternative to straight soda.

But we continued to stock Coke as well. Sometimes, Jeff would mix the Coke with juice and water to help cut down his soda intake, but often, he would still reach for the full can of Coke.

A Fun Surprise: Jeff's POV

Before you read this post, you should read this one first.

So, I wanted to try and surprise Clarinda with a day out of hiking and a picnic–which, if you know anything about the closeness of our relationship, is damn difficult to do. We spend most of our free time together, share most everything, and are regularly thinking the same thing–to a spooky degree at times &#9786

The surprise was not so much going to be the day out hiking–after all, we do that often enough. No, the surprise was going to be whether or not I could actually surprise her; of course, I threw in the picnic to add a bit of romanticism to, what I hoped would be, a job well done.

The Plan

• Pick a location to which we’d never been
• Come up with a feasible deception to get us there–or at least in the ballpark
• Figure out how to put together the food and accoutrements for a secret picnic
• Squirrel all the gear away the night before in Roxie’s hatchback area
• And, do it all. without. Clarinda. knowing.

Though the stars aligned and most things came together fairly simply, Clarinda did her best to thwart my efforts at several junctures.

A Fun Surprise: Clarinda's POV

A couple weeks ago, Jeff surprised me. Big time!

Thursday and Friday, he mentioned how he really wanted to go running at Desert Breeze park on Saturday. Now, I'm a runner, but I just wasn't really feeling it. Plus, we'd never run at this park before, and I wasn't sure what it would be like.

You could say I was hesitant about this idea.

Me: Why do you want to run so badly on Saturday?
Jeff: Because we haven't been getting in our runs together, and I really want to do some running with you.

How could I say no to that?!

Peanut Butter is a Liquid

Welcome to Travel Talk Tuesday, where we share travel stories, tips, or anything else related to travel!

Today, we'll be going back in time to January 2010. We planned a lovely trip to the US Virgin Islands to celebrate our 5 year anniversary, which was in Dec 2009.

We hadn't flown in several years, and this proved to be a bit problematic when we got to the airport.

"Seguridad" by Daniel Lobo is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Because we were staying at an environmental campground, to save a little money we decided to bring as much food as we could with us to limit the money spent in grocery stores once there - island prices and all.

What didn't fit in our checked bags, we put in our carry-ons. We had ramen packets, canned soup, peanut butter, crackers, chips. We also had a couple water bottles.

What we didn't have was knowledge of the {new-to-us} 3-1-1 rule.

Sign Me Up Sunday: Italy

Ever since I was a young girl, I've wanted to go to Italy. I'm not sure what the exact draw was. Perhaps it was as simple as my love of pizza and pasta. :)

Image courtesy of cescassawin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There wasn't ever a particular place or thing I wanted to see, but it was more of a feeling that I knew I needed to go someday.

I've never really thought of making it a reality, but since today is Valentine's Day, and Italy is known for being romantic, it seemed like a fitting place for our first Sign Me Up Sunday post.

I think I'd start a trip to Italy with a visit to Venice. We'd spend a few days exploring San Marco (the basilica, the art, the music), eating gelato, and, of course, taking a trip down the Grand Canal.

If you've read our Who We Are page, you know how much Jeff and I love road trips! So, after leaving Venice, we'd take a road trip through the country.

A Healthy Heart

Since February is American Heart month, we thought heart health would be a perfect topic for our first Wellness Wednesday post.



Obviously, this video is ridiculous in its absurdity. Processed food stapled to trees still isn't a healthy option. :)

While processed foods might seem easier, in reality, healthy eating can be just as easy.

Welcome to Turtle Vida

We are Jeff and Clarinda. And, our little pup, Sallie.

We're super excited to have you join us! And, we can't wait to start sharing our adventures, dreams, and stories with you.

Turtle Vida is all about slowing down the pace, discovering more pleasures, and living an enriched life.