Ride to Winter Garden

On Sunday, May 23rd Victoria led the Divas on a ride to Winter Garden.  We headed out from Panera Bread at 9:00 while the weather was still nice and cool.  We took some beautiful roads through Mont Verde and Ferndale, stopped on top of Sugarloaf Mountain and had a tres delicious breakfast at Sweet Traditions French Bakery & Cafe in downtown Winter Garden.  We all got home around 1:00.  By then the temperature was soaring.  We were all happy to have had an early start.  Great morning ladies!



View of Lake Apopka atop Sugarloaf Mountain.

 



Downtown Winter Garden

The food at Sweet Traditions was a hit with all the Divas.

Tampa Bay Women Riders Day

Divas Debi, Chris and Sharon got up very early this morning and headed out to the Women Riders Day Event at Brandon Harley Davidson in the Tampa, Florida area. 

The ladies-only event included seminars by Genevieve Schmitt, motorcycling journalist and founder of WomenRidersNow.com.  Her first seminar was "Making The Dream Come True:  How To Get Into Motorcycling" for the non-riders of the group and the other was "Making More Saddle Time," in which strategies were given for how to make more time for yourself and your motorcycle. (No, women never put themselves last...)  

Genevieve giving a seminar to those who are on the fence about riding on their own.

There were also 15-minute clinics on customizing your bike, caring for your bike, packing for a trip and, as much as we hate to think about it happening, picking up a fallen motorcycle. There was also a ladies ride, a fashion show of Harley Davidson's women's summer line of clothing, giveaways, and a nice lunch was included. 

There were also quite a few -- 20 or more? -- vendors that had set up booths for products, clothing, jewelry, etc. geared specifically for women riders.  The Orlando Chrome Divas also had a booth set up and ended up speaking with a woman who is now interested in starting a Tampa chapter.  We'll look forward to partnering up with them in the future for rides and events!

Yes we do!

April Diva Meeting

The meeting in full swing at Bubbalou’s Bodacious BBQ on Kirkman.

Today also happens to be Chris's birthday.  (The tiara suits you Chris!)

A special gift from Bubbalou's.

We did our raffle in the form of a Chinese gift exchange.  Lots of fun!  The Chrome Diva patch was the hot item of the night.

The whole gang with their winning prizes.

The Divas Do A Little Farming

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."   - Helen Keller

Last month Diva Keri was watching Channel 6 News and saw a segment about GrowGreen4Women, an organization that provides fresh produce from their small eco-friendly farm to residents of domestic violence shelters in Central Florida.  When Keri saw in the segment that Sarah and Nancy of GrowGreen4Women needed help in getting the spring planting underway, she knew that this would be a perfect fit for the Chrome Divas.  We had already done quite a bit of charity work with SafeHouse of Seminole, one of Central Florida's domestic violence shelters, so this was right up our alley.

On March 29th, Keri and Taz headed out to the farm in Eustis to assess the work that needed to be done and report back to us.  On Saturday April 10th, we traded our riding gloves for gardening gloves and headed out to the farm.  There were five Divas, 1 Divo (Sharon's husband Rob), and a truck bed full of landscape timbers that Keri had personally donated.

When we arrived, there was much to do.  Sarah and Nancy figured that if we worked most of the day, we would get a good start on it, making whatever was left once we were gone a little easier for them to handle.  They underestimated DIVA POWER.  By 2:00 we had dug up all the shrubs where the new beds were to be built, tilled the soil, cut the timbers, built the beds, and filled them all with a truckload of compost.  And that's after stopping for lunch!  It was all done.  Okay, even we had underestimated DIVA POWER.

The "Before" picture.

The Divas with Rob and Sarah.  Ready to get started. 

Bunny modeling her pink gardening accessories donated by Keri and Joni.

Hard at work removing shrubs and roots from the land.

Thank goodness Fireman Rob brought his trusty axe.  These roots were tough!

A little surprise waiting for us when we removed some of the stacked timbers! Sorry you two; we didn't see a "If this stack's a rockin'..." sign.

Beds are laid out.  Now the tilling. There may have been singing of the Green Acres theme song  around this time...

Applying beer therapy to Keri's tilling injury.

Perhaps this is no place for bunnies....

Um, Rob, is now really the best time for personal grooming?

Rob and Sharon cutting the timbers to size.

Okay, you guys didn't think I would post this one, did you?  Yes, that is Bunny shoveling poo.

Filling the beds with compost (aka POO.)

Lunch break.

All finished.

The "After" picture.  A job well done! (There's also another bed that isn't shown in the picture.)





Bowling Party

On Saturday, March 27th, the Divas gathered at the Altamonte Lanes Bowling Center for our first non-riding social event...

Taz, Julie and Gail  (Not sure if the group was aware yet that Taz comes from a bowling champion background!!!! No wonder she looks so confident!)

Chris and Debi enjoying the all-you-care-to-eat pizza.

Gail and Sharon with Sharon's son, who came out to knock 'em down with us.

Chris, Julie, Melanie and Sharon

A big thanks to Melissa who "thunk it up" and planned the event!  Let's do it again SOON!!  (And, by the way,  how did you manage to avoid the camera all night, Melissa?)

Chrome Diva Ride - March 7, 2010

Hmmm... where did the Divas head out to for their March ride?

Yep, Daytona Beach! Debi, Chris, Melissa, Lisa, Sylvie and her friend Maria, and Bunny met up at Panera Bread this morning and headed out to the coast for Daytona's 69th Annual Bike Week.

 Before heading over to Main Street, we stopped in at Caribbean Jack's for a little lunch on the deck overlooking the marina.  Great seafood, weather and view!  We had a nice surprise when Diva Lynn dropped by and visited for a little while as we ate.

At Caribean Jack's

Afterwards, we hopped back on the bikes and joined in on the Main Street festivities.

                                     

We checked out all the vendors...

 

and concessions...

costumes...

and interesting bikes...

And of course we had to get in the sand!

 

Headed to bikes to go back to Orlando. 

Lisa, you're looking a little "shopped out" here.

So to summarize our day, good friends + nice ride + beautiful weather + day at Daytona Beach in the midst of all that is Bike Week = a perfect day for a Diva! 

See ya at the 70th!

Chrome Divas Annual Meet & Greet

The Orlando Chrome Divas headed out to Daytona this beautiful Saturday to Caribbean Jack's Restaurant & Bar in Daytona for the annual Meet & Greet with other chapters.  The Chrome Divas of Jacksonville Beach, Ocala, New Smyrna and Gainesville and 2 Rivers, Kentucky also made it out.  What a great tradition and what fun to reunite with old friends and meet new ones.  The Orlando Chapter looks forward to next year's event!

A whole lotta Divas!

(Click on image to enlarge)