Tales of The Traveling Totes #27

Welcome to our June 2021 Tales of the Traveling Tote adventure. 

Join all of our lovely ladies to see where there totes 

have gone in the past couple of months.  It is summer, and it 

comes and goes so quickly, so I hope you have some fun things planned. 

 

As you know Miss Madi K and I have traveled back and forth 

to Cabo quite a bit this past year, as our house down there 

got finished, so this was the first trip we did besides Cabo.

Our 42nd anniversary was coming up in May and we 

decided to return to the Atlantis in the Bahamas to celebrate.  

As my Lunch Bunch friends and I were planning out our year 

of fun, someone mentioned going to the Atlantis. 

 Not everyone had been, and one lady 

had only stopped there on a cruise, so we decided to 

join our trip with theirs.  One of the five couples couldn't 

make the trip because of a death in the family, so we 

were a party of 8. 

We think the place is just magical in every way, inside and out, 

and they had a bonus of newly remodeled rooms in the 

Royal Towers.  Miss Madi K and I are checking out the 

reception area, which just takes your breath away.

Looking down from the foyer you can see window after 

window of their aquariums, which are called The Dig.  

You enter The Dig and are transported in a 

Disney-style experience as if you are part 

of the archeological dig to uncover the 

lost city of Atlantis, complete with sounds 

of archeologists digging.  

The aquariums are massive and you can even arrange 

for an opportunity to snorkel in them.  The tunnels of 

The Dig  are fun to walk through both day and night, 

and on occasion you may see a diver in amongst 

the fish.  

This iconic temple at Atlantis houses several slides.

Two of them go through shark tanks.  Don't worry, 

you are well protected in a plexiglass tube. 

The pools are open every day, but with Covid, the slides 

alternated days, except on the weekends.  

We were there for a week so that worked well for us.  

We weren't sure about how many restaurants would 

be open, but there were plenty to choose from between 

the resort and their Marina Village.  

We all love the ocean, pools, slides, sun and good eating, 

so the Atlantis is a perfect place for us.  

The weather looked like we might have thunderstorms 

every day, but we ended up having perfect weather.  I 

threw in a couple of decks of cards because I was 

worried about the weather, and we ended up playing 

King's Court every night.  We also ended up at the 

Ben and Jerry's store every night.  

They have a beautiful beach beyond their multiple pools.  

The water was incredibly warm so we were able to 

have fun playing and swimming in it.  I am cold blooded, 

so I don't like to play in the ocean if it is too cold. 

One of our favorite things was eating poolside.  These 

amazing shrimp were a dish they served at the pool.  Again, 

we didn't know if they would have food at the pool, as 

my friend had gone to Hawaii and their pool and hotel 

had no food.  They went across the street to an ABC 

store for breakfast and lunch!!  We were thrilled with 

the food and variety that were available.  Of course, we 

didn't know for sure, so we all brought snacks in our 

suitcases.  

Behind us is the Royal Towers section of the hotel.  We 

were on the 18th floor, the top floor of our section and 

had amazing views of the entire property and ocean. 

Because of Covid restrictions we ended up not leaving 

the resort.  We were required to get an additional 

Covid test at day 5 free of charge, but that wouldn't 

cover our required test for our flight home.  The kind 

lady at reception said they would give us a one day 

grace period, so we used that and were able to use 

that test for returning to the United States.  To leave the 

property and go into town you needed a current negative 

test which we had the last two days of our trip, but 

everyone said the town was only half open with no cruise 

ships coming into port, so we didn't mind staying on the 

property.  

Give me sun, water, food, friends and of course my 

dear husband and I am one happy lady.  And that 

Miss Madi K is sure one spoiled lady - she gets 

to come along everywhere!

Happy 42nd anniversary honey.  

All in all, it was a marvelous anniversary with 

wonderful friends in a very magical place.  

The Bahamians are some of the friendliest 

people I have ever met, and they were so thrilled 

to be able to work again.  They made us feel so welcome.  

We all agreed we will have to make this trip again.  

Now for the MacKenzie-Childs giveaway:

Ricki Jill and the Countess de Monet

at The Sketchy Reader are giving away this adorable MC 

light switch.  The giveaways are always so cute, 

I always wish I could win.  

Visit the rest of our ladies to see where they 

have been off to this quarter.  I know a lot of travel 

has been opening up, so it should be fun.  

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women 

And then see how we enjoyed those short summer months, 

when we have another edition of Tales of the Traveling Tote 

in September. 

 

Fun in the Sun Tales of the Traveling Totes

Welcome to a special edition of

Tales of the Traveling Totes

Fun in the Sun.

I am a sun girl!  I always say I was dropped by 

the stork in the wrong state - I was meant to go 

to Hawaii, or someplace tropical, not Wisconsin! 

Sun is in my blood and I am happiest when I 

am somewhere sunny.

As many of you know, we had a home in 

Cabo, which we tore down two years ago, 

and it has been under construction since then. 

There is nothing fast about building in a 

foreign country, but we have tried to make it 

fun by staying in a lovely place when we go 

down to check on construction.

Miss Madi K is always invited along for 

the plane ride.  She quite enjoys the sun too.  

We lucked out by choosing Villa La Estancia on 

Medano Beach in Cabo.

 It is 

beach front, which is easy to find in Cabo, but it 

looks out at the famous arch and is convenient to 

our construction site.  What we really love about it 

though is that it is a fractional ownership resort, 

so it isn't overrun by timeshare owners.  It never 

seems crowded, and they keep the pool at a wonderful 

90 degrees! Nobody does that.  I love it.  

There are three properties right next to each other 

that make up The Villa Group, and we have checked 

out all of their pools - the other two are much colder, 

and they are much more crowded.  They are both 

timeshare properties.  

Hubby beware - because I have gotten used to 

someone else taking care of me, rather than me 

taking care of a houseful of people, and I really, 

really, really like it.  There is something magical 

about swimming up to the bar, or motioning over 

a waiter and having delicious shrimp nachos 

served to you.  There is no making the pico or 

guacamole, grilling the shrimp, shredding the 

cheese, or blending the smoothies!!! 

I could get used to this kind of life down in Cabo!!! 

Every room has a view of the ocean, which we love.

I just couldn't resist creating a tablescape

with a view like this!

I just grabbed the tableware and table decor

 in the condo

to create this fun summer table. 

Of course Miss Madi K wanted in on the party!

Notice the checked ball on the table; that looks 

a lot like Courtly Check.

Imagine my surprise to find this cute ball 

in the condo that coordinated beautifully with 

my traveling tote.  

Even the plates coordinated perfectly with 

Miss Madi K.

This is the view from our lot!  It still takes my 

breath away, and I am sure 

it will end up being worth it.  

Here are a couple more sneak peaks - 

this is the garage.

This is part of the slide.  It is being covered 

with rocks and steps are being added to

reach the top.

Although the construction has been painfully slow, 

we have had fun along the way, and 

Villa La Estancia has made it a great journey. 

Of course, several full weeks of our summers are spent 

in the sun down at Lake Powell, and Miss Madi K 

always gets invited along.  She really loves to 

carry so much for me!!!

But we are getting ready for a backpacking trip 

to Havasupai in Arizona, and she just doesn't 

qualify weight wise for backpacking, but I 

might be able to sneak along a MacKenzie-Childs 

mug, even though it weighs a lot more than my 

backpacking cup - we will see.  

My pack is getting heavier by the day.  

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, as it has 

become almost impossible to secure a permit 

to hike Havasupai, but we were lucky enough to 

get permits, but I won't be back in time to 

include it in this post.  Stay tuned for more 

Fun in the Sun!  I hope you are having lots of 

fun in the sun!  Summer always passes too quickly.

Visit the rest of our fabulous

Traveling Tote Group 

to see what fun they have been having in the sun.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Katie with Miss Daisy @ Preppy Empty Nester

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Linda with Miss Rosie @ More Fun Less Laundry

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 
Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women  

Come back again on September 1st 
for our next adventure of 
Tales of the Traveling Tote
and a fun MacKenzie-Childs giveaway.

An Elegant Adieu to Summer

Oh, to see the sun, fun, and warmth

of summer leave is just too sad for me

and we have had the coldest, rainiest 

August, so it just seems too soon.

So in honor of the last week of summer,

and since we ran off to St.George where

it is much warmer, I am creating this

Adieu to Summer

tablescape.

It was fun to just "shop around" the

condo to put together this tablescape.

I love the weathered wood table for

this.  It reminds me of driftwood and

makes a perfect base for this

end of summer table.

The dark aquamarine chargers

and glassware give the beauty of

the summer ocean to the table.

I started with these plates that

are bordered with dimensional shells.

I purchased these almost 20 years ago

from Spiegel, back when they had the

most beautiful home goods.

The shell border dinner plates are topped 

with a more recent purchase, these star fish

salad plates from Home Goods.

The stack is finished with these shell

bowls which were also purchased at

the same time from Spiegel.

Their off white color sets off the

aquamarine perfectly, like the shells are

floating on the beautiful ocean water.

I used the only flatware I have 

down here in St. George.

A cream napkin is tied off with

this rope like napkin ring.  I can almost

hear the waves.

Cream and silver placemats

go nicely with everything.

A little fish will be perfect for a

roll and a pat of butter.

I love the punch of aqua in the

room with all of the soft neutrals.

Aqua glasses that I purchased a few years

ago from Tai Pan match the candleholders

from Z Gallerie.

I love the simplicity of the five

candleholders for an elegant

centerpiece.

Hopefully warm weather will return,

but summer is officially done.

It always goes too fast for me.

Hope you enjoyed your summer!

Thank you for visiting

Purple Chocolat Home.

No, I never finished posting our

remodel of our St. George condo,

but I promise I will finish taking

photos while I am down here and

get that done!

I will be posting with

Cuisine Kathleen

and

Tablescapes Thursday.