All my kids love wristwatches. A few of them have cell phones, but they still wear their watches. Problem is, the watches they have had are the “discount” watches from the local Wally World. Needless to say, I usually wind up (pun intended!) purchasing a new watch for each kid because the watches are so poorly made. 300 years from now, will museum visitors be treated to the junk from our landfills? Ugh.

It would have been better if I’d paid a little more and just purchased Citizen Eco drive watches for the children. Seriously, I could imagine George Washington wearing one of these watches, especially if it has a barometer or calendar. He and Thomas Jefferson were avid weather watches, I hear. You think this watch with its “perpetual calendar” would go over well?

P.S. My son saw me going through the BlueDial.com website and he came right over. “Wow, watches!” he said. I told you, my kids like watches!

Check out the store for some of the most beautiful watches you’ve ever seen. Truly, these are elegant timepieces. And who knows, maybe someday YOUR elegant timepiece will sit behind a display case in a museum.

A wristwatch can be a beautiful thing, too– a work of art and a timeless heirloom. A watch can last forever, too– I know because I’ve been in enough museums and seen enough really, really old ones! That’s why you should consider beautiful Citizen Eco drive watches if you are looking for the perfect gift or one-of-a-kind heirloom to pass down to your children. They are simply gorgeous and built to last. Who knows– maybe YOUR watch will make it in the museum someday! You’ll never know unless you get one!

Merry Christmas, friends!

Seriously, I do like my Zenni glasses. I really had no idea how they would turn out. I require a very strong prescription and I had a few doubts that a company who never saw me could make them just right. But Zenni did!

The frames selection is very nice, very diverse. The plastic frames are the most whimsical. You can get them in all sorts of colors and styles. I love these. They are red (yes, I have this thing for red!) with white swirls. I think they look very Christmas-y. Zenni sells their glasses so inexpensively, you can get three or four different pairs and they will all still be less expensive than the “store bought” glasses at the eye center. You could even order a few for your pals or family members. All you need is their prescription and pupillary distance measurement! Definitely check out Zenni. I am so pleased with what I got and I am definitely ordering from them again. Although, next time I may go with something pink or green… or lavender….

Just this week I went to my eyeglasses store. The frames I purchased six months ago (for a whopping $250!) have deteriorated. The bronze color coating is flaking off, the metal is rusting and the frames are causing my skin to react in blisters. The store told me that they were awfully sorry, but they can’t do anything. I could order a brand new pair of glasses and pay retail or they could locate another pair of frames exactly like the old and pop in the old lenses. But the insurance will not pay for a new pair, and there is only a 30-day guarantee on new pairs. Problem is, the replacement frames are $80!! I’m not paying $80 for another pair of defective frames that I will only have to replace in six months. :-p

The eyeglasses store told me that my new insurance only pays a total of $39 every 2 years for glasses. Oh my gosh. That is AWFUL. I was flabbergasted, especially when I see that the insurance company has tons of coverage for mental illness, alcoholism and family planning. For many people, glasses are a medical necessity. Because my prescription is currently so high, my glasses cost about $200 to $250. Why are glasses SO expensive?! And why are insurance companies so stingy about the coverage??

Well, thank God there’s another choice. Zenni Optical. What you see is what you get– quality frames, quality lenses, good service– and no middleman or insurance paperwork hassles to mess everything up. I’ve heard about Zenni for a while now, but have been balking about ordering new eyeglasses. I think I’m going to check into them. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I’ll no doubt do a review about my experience in the near future!

UPDATE: Well, I just ordered a pair of glasses from Zenni! I did a little comparative shopping and Zenni was the only company that makes glasses stronger than -10 OD/OS! My prescription is -16 OD/OS so we’ll see how the glasses do for me. I can’t wait to get them!

We also intend on going camping for a bit in the Adirondacks (going to need plenty of bug spray for that). And we’ll be taking a few adventures out of state, too. We visited my brother in Virginia a few weeks ago– what a wonderful trip! I also visited Hill Cumorah and the old Joseph Smith homestead in February (I’ll have stories about that posted very soon). I’ll be going to Indianapolis this summer, and we do plan another trip to Virginia sometime. Not to mention all the amazing things we’re going to do in New York, like (hopefully) see a Civil War enactment in Peterboro and get to Saratoga to see Freeman’s Farm and Fort Ticonderoga. Of course, if any of you have suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

In celebration of all this new activity, I’ve developed a “brand” for the blog, replete with t-shirts and car magnets! What do you think?

I’m planning on updating the blog theme, too, to reflect the new logo. This may take a little time, but I’m hoping that with the onset of a new year, New York Traveler will have a new look!