Traveling ~ Recycle, Renew, Reuse by Donna Fasano @DonnaFaz

Years ago, I traveled to the south of France with my husband. We visited Antibes, Nice, Menton, La Grande-Motte, Montpellier, and other lovely little towns along the Mediterranean Sea. I have visited several towns and cities in Italy, and I’ve also visited the UK and Brussels, Belgium. One of the things that struck me on these travels was that everyone brought their own reusable shopping bags when they went to buy groceries. I wondered why we didn’t do that in the US. So when I returned home from that very first trip, I started taking reusable bags with me to the grocery store. Back then, cashiers didn’t like it when customers brought their own bags to the store because it slowed them down. I can’t tell you how many annoyed looks I received back then. But I’m happy to say, this attitude is changing!

Sandia Mountains, New Mexico

I visited Albuquerque, New Mexico last month. (I rode an aerial tram to the top of the Sandia Mountains. What a stunningly beautiful place! Please see the picture to the right.) I learned that the stores in Albuquerque charge 10¢ for each bag that is provided by the grocery story. I was very pleased that businesses in the south west are strongly encouraging customers to bring in their own bags. I am hoping businesses all over the country will soon do the same.

Did you know that there are some reusable bags that are made of recycled soda bottles? I love these bags I found on Amazon. You can even find light-weight reusable produce bags. How do you feel about recycling, renewing, reusing? Would you consider bringing your own reusable bags when you go shopping?

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Christmas is coming! To celebrate, I’ve put all three of my Christmas books on sale for 99¢ each. These heartwarming stories are sure to fill you with the spirit of Christmas. The Kindle prices are good worldwide and the links below should take you to your area Kindle Store. Happy Holidays!

Her Mr.Miracle  ~  An Almost Perfect Christmas 
Grown-Up Christmas List

As an Amazon affiliate, Donna Fasano earns from qualifying 
purchases. This blog may contain paid links.  

Are you a collector?

Some people pay a fortunate to collect art pieces. 

Others like me enjoy more humble collections. Every time I travel to a new country I buy a souvenir, most of the time a mug for my morning coffee. Without even realizing it I have amassed a colorful series of more than fifty mugs. While sipping my coffee, I never miss looking at the picture on my mug and remembering the fun time I had in the country it came from. 

When the foreign mugs filled more than two shelves in the kitchen cabinet, I stopped buying mugs. But I needed  souvenirs. So be it. I shifted to oven gloves.

And later to salt and peeper shakers.

Do you like to collect particular items?

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 Mona Risk is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author. WEDDING SURPRISE is her most recent release.
http://amzn.com/B00T24CULM

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The Summer of Vacations by Kristin Wallace

Sunset cruise

More accurately, this is the summer of packing & repacking for me. First, there was a family vacation in the Florida Keys that included my parents, brother & sister-in-law, and my niece. The Keys is all about the water. The beaches are okay, but the real draw is water sports: snorkeling, diving, fishing, jet skis, paddle boards, etc. We managed to do most of those things. I even got up close and personal with some dolphins. We got in the water and were able to touch them and see how they’re trained.

Made a few new friends

This week I head to Orlando for a few days of R&R as well as a Type I Diabetes Conference. In two weeks it’s northward bound for the Romance Writers of America (RWA) national conference. This year, the conference is in New York, which I love. Such an exciting city and it’s a chance to catch up with people I only see once a year. Plus, there is always the chance I could wind up in an elevator with Nora Roberts or Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Oh yes….and fabulous writing workshops, networking and so much more.

I fly home from the conference and take off the next day to Atlanta with my mom to visit my aunt, uncle & cousins. Literally, the next day! For someone who is a homebody, that’s a lot of traveling. Most of it I probably wouldn’t be able to do except that I am now SELF-EMPLOYED!!! That’s right, it’s been about a month and a half since I left my ad agency job and I am SO HAPPY!!! Since I no longer have the day job I can take off whenever I want…and if I have to get in some work I can do that too with this nifty device called a laptop.

I’ll be sure to post from pics from the upcoming trips in my next post on August 8. I think I might be done with the traveling by then!

Kristin Wallace is the USA Today Best Selling Author of inspirational and contemporary romance, and women’s fiction filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”. She just released her fifth full-length novel, the first in a Women’s Fiction/Romance series set in Florida. Visit her at Kristin Wallace Author

Christmas Cruising - A Yearly Tradition

Nearly every year my husband, Steve, and I take a cruise in December. It’s our Christmas present to each other. We usually settle on a five-seven day cruise in the Caribbean, but this year we decided to do something different. We went to the Panama Canal and South America on the Island Princess.

The trip included five days at sea and five ports of call—Aruba, Cartagena, Panama Canal and Colon, Limon and Ocho Rios.

Our favorite stop was the Panama Canal and a trip through the Panamanian rainforest. Early in the morning, special canal pilots boarded the ship to steer it through the locks. As our ship entered the Gatun locks (there are three), Steve and I stood on the balcony of our room and watched the process while the sun came up. It was an interesting scene. The canal is 50 miles long, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Isthmus of Panama, but once we went through the locks, our ship only traveled as far as Gatun Lake. The port lecturer on the ship provided a running commentary over the loudspeaker as we passed through, giving us plenty of detail.

Once we entered Gatun Lake, we left the ship and were tendered to shore to meet our tour bus for our trip to the rainforest. This is a view of the Gamboa rainforest (inside the Soberania national forest) from the main balcony of the Rainforest Resort, looking out at the Chagres River. We stopped there for a few minutes on the way to the aerial tram that took us across the jungle canopy (where we saw sloths sleeping in the trees and listened to toucans calling each other). The view of the rainforest is amazing! Panama has set aside one quarter of their country as protected lands so there is plenty to see.

At the end of the tram ride through the jungle canopy we encountered a visitor, just hanging around, waiting for nice tourists to provide free treats.

This little guy is a “Coati,” a mix of raccoon and anteater. He was quite the little extrovert, standing on his haunches to reach up as I fed him a chunk of banana.

By the time we finished the tour, it began to rain steadily. I grabbed my umbrella and spent a couple minutes just strolling around. I figured I might never experience a shower in that rainforest again and I wanted to enjoy it while I could. Perhaps one day I’ll be fortunate enough to see the Amazon rainforest. I certainly hope so.

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 Denise Devine is a USA TODAY bestselling author who has had a passion for books since she discovered Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder in second grade. She wrote her first book, a mystery, at age thirteen and has been writing ever since. Merry Christmas, Darling is a light romantic comedy and the first book in the "Counting Your Blessings" series. She's currently hard at work on book two. To find out more about Denise, please visit her at www.deniseannettedevine.com