A Day of Travel

I spent part of today driving and part riding. I have ended up in Northern Arizona with my sisters. While chatting on the porch where we are staying several of the animals you see below wandered by. I think these are some of the first deer I have seen since leaving Wyoming.

Back with more again soon. 

Take care and stay cozy! 

Planning Ahead

I have a husband who loves to travel a lot more than I do. I do like to see new places and the recent road trip was a wonderful experience. Now that my Mom has passed, I don't feel so bad about being far away. With that said, we have been discussing the possibility of more overseas trips. Australia, Southeast Asia, Scottland and Iceland are just the beginning of our bucket list. Not as many trips as he would like maybe but enough to keep him content and me, the homebody, sane.

So, I have started to research travel wardrobes, fabrics and packing recommendations so that what I take is lighter, more useful and easier to handle. Quite a rabbit hole I disappeared into this morning. Some of the retail pricing for "travel" clothing seems pretty outrageous to me. Sewing an easy to wear and pack wardrobe for myself might take some time but may be worth the work. Still trying to figure it out. Maybe a combination of both retail and handmade would be best. What I want is a set of clothing that can be combined into many outfits that I can just dump in a suitcase and know I've got the trip covered for wherever we go with adjustments for seasons and weather if I find myself in Iceland or Vietnam. Too much to ask? 

Back with more again soon. 

Take care and stay cozy! 

New Travel Bag

This post is a personal recommendation but you should know that pictures linking to the bag are affiliates. If you click and purchase it costs you nothing and I may get a few pennies for yarn.

I think for me the perfect travel bag has been found. I wanted something to get me through airports easily and hold my tablet and camera. Finding a crossbody bag to hold a tablet is easy but finding one with enough depth for a camera with room for wallet, keys and other necessities is a lot harder.

I bought the color nutmeg with a turquoise lining of this bag sold by Tavelon on Amazon. The color is just enough of a blend of gray and brown to go with everything. The lining is bright enough that things are easy to find.

The camera I travel with (Nikon Coolpix P500) fits in the main compartment. My tablet  (Samsung Galaxy Tab A) goes into the back pocket. Two outer side pockets unzip to expand to hold drink bottles. A front zippered pocket can hold my phone and the small memo pad I carry to keep my shopping list handy. The front pocket and main compartment have zipper locks. A small clip on the inside of the main part can keep your keys handy and has a little button flashlight in case you need it. If you are very security conscious there are RFID blocking pockets for your passport and credit cards. I have used my new bag for about 2 weeks now and the strap is wide enough to be comfortable and is supposed to be slash resistant.

I have some summer travel coming up so by Labor Day I will have given this bag a pretty good trial period. I hope is holds up well. If I remember, I may post another bit about how well it did later in the fall.

My issue with this purchase and I do have one is not with the bag but with shipping. The shipping was quick and free but what the hell did the carrier (UPS) do to this box on its journey to me? The box was pretty much held closed by a few threads in the packing tape.

Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!

UPDATE- After tweeting this blog post UPS customer service reached out to me to ask if there was anything I wanted to contact them about. I was surprised and impressed!

I'm really sorry to see the package arrived like this. Were any of the contents missing or damaged? Please send us a DM if you have any questions about this or if there are damages. Include the tracking number, delivery address, and your phone number. ^DK https://t.co/wKJHDXWGRQ

— UPS Customer Support (@UPSHelp) July 12, 2019

Hello There!

Well hello there. It has been awhile since I last posted. The month of October had lots of travel in it so I didn't pay attention to this blog but I am back now.

I got to spend time in Utah last month to see some of the family there. From Salt Lake we drove up to Jackson WY and spent a few days exploring that fantastic little town. We also went to Pennsylvania and saw a lot of Jim's family and see a bit of the fall color which I was told was past its peak but still looked pretty to me.

There were some firsts for me on this trip. I got to see New York City and the Hudson River. It was from an airplane window on the way to landing in Newark to make a connection to Scranton. I had never been in New Jersey either. Does the airport count? Coming home we went from Scranton to Detroit to Phoenix. Have you ever been in the Detroit airport? I was very impressed. The coolest part was a long walkway that had a light show and music. Going through it you felt calmer with every step or at least I did. The pictures I got aren't the greatest but will give you an idea of what I saw.

Until next time.

Today's Frustration

So I am working on a summer wrap idea crocheted with size 10 cotton thread. I think this would be a lovely way to cover your sun kissed shoulders as the sun goes down. My problem is that I found a mistake several rows back as I was working on it last night. Can you see right in the middle where I missed the top of a column of stitches? The thought of having to take out all those stitches and redo it makes me want to chuck it in a corner and just cruise the web looking for travel deals. I will have to do it though to have the number of loops for the scalloped edge I have planned to come out right on both sides of the triangular wrap. Grrrr!

In Utah

We are in Utah having arrived yesterday and I have some cute travel pictures of the kids to share on my camera. In typical Cozy fashion however I failed to bring with me the cord to connect my camera to the computer to share them with you. I guess that will have to wait until my return home.

Over The Weekend

Jim and I were in Utah this weekend. We left Phoenix on Thursday afternoon and came home on Sunday evening. While we were there we got to see all our kids and grandkids. We went to be part of the celebration of a preschool graduation and a second birthday. We also got to see a couple of the grandkids play soccer games. This is Hunter's first year playing soccer and in his game on Saturday I watched while he scored three goals. He was so happy after the first one that he skipped down the field to rejoin his teammates. We also got to spend some time with the newest grandchild who has his first tooth. He is such a sweet baby and fun to be around. I will follow this all up with pictures when I get a chance to get them off the camera.

AZ to UT to CA to UT to AZ pt 2

Part 2 and the final part of this trip. I got to spend a day in Utah with all my kids and grandkids before heading back to Arizona on Saturday the 23rd. The grownups in the group tend to be more serious and sometimes downright grumpy when I come around with a camera. The grandkids however are not a problem. Playing with them and taking pictures is a lot of fun. The point and shoot camera I was using gave me a lot of problems with red eye and without a tripod focus was sometimes an issue. In these snapshots I am collecting memories rather than trying to be a great photographer.

In case you can't tell below are the grownups not wanting their pictures taken.
Now on to more cheerful faces and examples of the joy of visiting in Utah.
Kaleb, the youngest, born in October and doing just great!
Kaycee, the oldest, hard to believe 4th grade already. She keeps busy with school, gymnastics, basketball soccer and now piano lessons.
Posey who lately has decided that anytime anyone is going anywhere she should be going too.
Jordan who is doing fantastic his first year of school.
Hunter, also known as Buddy by his parents and sister, who loves all things about trains.Tristan with one of the sweetest smiles and attitudes of the bunch. He loves to play with anything with wheels and of course makes the appropriate engines noises when doing so.

There you have it. A fun trip with lots of food, visiting, miles in the truck and coming home to a warm place with dog and husband that I was really starting to miss.