A very merry Christmas

This year we took a more subdued approach to Christmas and presents - our house was our real gift to ourselves and cutting the last check to our contractor two days before Christmas also made for a humbling financial situation. We're happy to officially be done with the major hired work on the house and will now enter the "we're homeowners and have a list of projects longer than Santa's naughty list" phase.

But we tried to put all that aside and just appreciate having our first Christmas in our new house. I think we definitely succeeded!

On the 21st we have Dustin and Katie over for an early Christmas dinner of shepherds pie then we had cocoa and watched Elf - my favorite new "classic" Christmas movie, and in my opinion, Will Farrell's best movie. Ever. It was fun to start the celebrating early with them before they left to visit family in Alabama.

This year we jokingly created a new holiday by celebrating Christmas Eve Eve. My Mom and Larry came over for dinner on the 23rd, then I chauffeured everyone around the neighborhood to look at lights and envy the historic homes (we even saw people looking at lights via horse drawn carriage!), before coming back watch The (original cartoon) Grinch while enjoying pop corn and hot cocoa. After that we went to bed with a feeling of it being Christmas Eve. We woke up the next morning, made a big breakfast (including our version of figgy pudding with cream cheese icing), then opened our presents to each other in our PJs. It was fun knowing we'd get to do it again the next morning too. :) After Mom and Larry headed home, Wade and I dove into a few of those projects on our list - touch up caulking in our bathroom and painting the shutters on the house. Currently the shutters are black and it makes me nuts, I hate that fact that our house is black, grey, and white and devoid of color. So Wade took all our fake plastic shutters down, cleaned them off, then I started priming and painting them. Once he joined in the painting it went pretty quickly, but we ran out of time and couldn't get the second coat on before heading to our neighbors house for their Christmas Eve party.

That night we got to know our neighbors a little better and enjoyed a large party that was mostly their family and coworkers. After a few hours though, it became clear that the wine was taking a toll on Wade and his bottomless cup was not a good thing. We headed home, thankful that we only had to walk next door! We watched something from Netflix, and finally went to bed with Wade only feeling hung over rather than spending the night in the bathroom. :) That night the cats were allowed to sleep in bed with us (one of my Christmas present requests) but all four of us awoke with a start when some of the neighborhood cats seemed to be fighting in the alley, then we realized they were under the house. The noise seemed to be coming from everywhere since they were under the floor, so our cats freaked out and clearly we couldn't sleep. I fantasized about taking a hose under the house (our house is set up on piers) to flush out the cats, but it was so cold out I couldn't bring myself to actually get out of bed. They finally knocked it off after an hour and we all settled back in for some sleep.

Christmas morning came late - we were tired from the midnight cat madness, and Wade was definitely hung over. We finally got up, fed everyone breakfast, ate some cereal, then opened our presents. We did the pets stockings first and they proceeded to be entertained for the rest of the morning with meaty bones for the dogs and ping pong balls for the cats. We also leave all the wrapping paper in a giant pile that the cats tunnel and dig through for endless entertainment. We had another first this year - Wade and I got each other the same gift (a Wii game), which was pretty funny and a source of debate about how we got the lines of communication crossed on that one. After presents we ate, threw together a simplified version of eggplant parmesan for dinner and took it with us to Mom and Larry's for Christmas dinner with them and my aunt Cindy, uncle Rick, and cousins Curtis and Ericka. It was good to catch up with them and the best part of the night was the guys watching a movie while the girls played Rummikub. At one point, my cousin Ericka started laughing so hard that it became contagious and all the women burst into that delightfully uncontrollable laughter - you know, the kind that hurts and makes you cry. The men were thoroughly confused as to what was happening, but we had a great time... even if I did almost pee my pants.

The day after Christmas we met up with Robin and Chad and Kaitlyn for lunch at Peach's. It had been a while since we'd seen them so it was really good to catch up and hear about their new life in North Carolina. We did not envy the amount of cold and snow they were having to adjust to though - I can barely handle Florida "cold" let alone snow and ice! After we said our goodbyes to them we headed back home to do some more caulking in the guest bathrooms before heading to Megan and Jimmy's for dinner. We made it over there early to spend some time with them and their boys before dinner. It had been a while since we'd seen them too, so it was fun to see how big the boys are getting and to hear of their adventures in parenthood. By the end of the night everyones eyes were getting droopy so we headed home dreading work the next morning.

Today we got our last Christmas present to ourselves - insulation. We had some rodent damaged cruddy insulation in the attic, so we're replacing it in hopes it helps our little house keep it's temperature more constant. Today they ripped out the nasty batting and installed new batting on the knee walls in the attic and living room. Tomorrow the second crew will come in with the blown insulation to recover the ceilings. Thankfully, we're getting this done just in time to qualify for the tax break this year, but it'll only be a little kick back. One thing is for sure, our taxes are going to be a lot more complicated this time around and I am definitely dreading it (I get to do the family taxes).

Feels like home

Thursday night we made vegetarian shepherds pie to share with a neighbor. The mom had back surgery two weeks ago so the neighbors have all taken turns making dinner for the family over the last two weeks. It's been a pretty incredibly thing to witness - we thought our neighbors in Sarasota were nice for making cookies the day we moved in, but the level of support and friendship in our neighborhood has been really inspiring - we've already been invited out for guys/girls nights out, a dinner party, a Christmas Eve party, and a New Year's Eve party. It seems like icing on the cake - we love our house and we're just now being able to appreciate how much of a community actually exists in our neighborhood. Makes a house feel more like a home.

The fun continued this weekend when Jason and Rachel came for the weekend to visit. Friday night we went to a Christmas party at Wade's boss' house and I finally got to meet more of his coworkers who were all really nice, fun people. I am still amazed at how many people our age we've been meeting, so it's exciting to be making new friends. We left the party early to meet Jason and Rachel at our house. We unloaded their stuff and hustled over to catch a game of shuffle board before the courts closed. We had a lovely time - the guys enjoyed some winter ale while the girls sipped hot cocoa in the cold. The courts were pretty packed - there was live music, snacks and drinks for sale, and a party atmosphere. Apparently it was the last Friday of the season (the others are holidays), so they were making quite a night of it. We closed down the courts with a second round then headed home to give our guests a tour of the house. Finally we made their bed and we all crashed for the night.Saturday morning we awoke to rain so we had a slow start and all enjoyed sleeping in a little. Once we finally got moving we headed to the farmer's market to pick up our CSA share and kick off Jason's food vacation by eating our way through the food booths. We had a hearty breakfast, followed by a pastry, then picked up our veggies, and some extras at the organic farm stand. After that we strolled downtown, took a few gag "family" photos in a monster banyan tree, had some fantastic tea at Hooker Tea Company, and found the perfect BBQ spice blend at Savory Spice Shop. We also managed to run into quite a few people we've met over the last year, so it was pretty surreal being out in public and actually seeing people we know (that almost never happened in Sarasota). After that we cruised a few of the artsy places for Christmas shopping for Jason and Rach and finished at Milagros, the soap shop, for me to pick up a few more bars. That night we made big farm-fresh salads, corn on the cob, and quinoa for dinner followed by Wii for the boys while the girls made cookies. Unfortunately, our cookies bombed, but we had a great time making them! We all played a few board games then finally crashed into bed.

(Below is our annual running joke of our family photo - find a scenic tree and pose like we're taking a professionally posed family photo. Half the fun is getting ourselves posed and seeing if we can beat the self timer on the camera)

Sunday we slept in again and enjoyed it quite a bit. We made a big breakfast of pancakes before setting out on a walking tour of the neighborhood. We walked along the water, pointed out our favorite houses, talked about the interesting and unique architecture in the neighborhood and even walked all the way down to Old Northeast Tavern for a late lunch and beers/cider. On the way home we talked about the new boat Jason and Rachel had just looked at and might buy and it was exciting to hear about their hopes and dreams for it. We are also looking forward to bribing our way on to said boat when it's in the Caribbean some day. ;) But, we won't give up our quest to get them to St. Pete and made sure we showed them how lovely the local marina is for people wanting to live aboard their boat.

We were sad to see them go, but look forward to seeing them again in the spring before they set sail. We miss you guys already!

Having them in the house for the weekend was really wonderful and it cemented our feeling that Miss Magnolia is our home, and not just a house we've been blowing all our money on (haha). It was also good timing to soften the blow of our final bill from our contractor - which was pretty brutal and a painful reminder of why we needed to keep Christmas to a minimum this year.

Breaking in the house

Kellyn's impending visit spurred us to get into the Christmas spirit. Her Christmas last year was crappy - she was really sick and almost didn't make it home from the climate meetings in Copenhagen (which also sucked) due to awful weather. So, we decided our mission was to over compensate by making this the best Christmas ever. ;)

This was also our first test run of entertaining guests for the weekend, so we were excited to see how Miss Magnolia would perform. We spent the days before Kellyn's arrival decking our halls and hanging Christmas lights outside. We kicked off her visit with the 5k before her work meetings during the week, then she came to stay with us for a weekend of fun.

Friday night we met Mark and Annette at the Old Northeast Tavern for dinner and beer and cider on tap. We had fun catching up with them and hearing about the adventures of parenthood and the holidays. After dinner they headed home and we headed to a hallmark of Saint Petersburg - shuffleboard. St. Pete is home to the world's largest shuffleboard courts and the Shuffleboard World Hall of Fame. The complex was started back in the 1920s to give the growing vacation destination a social scene. They also hosted social events, card games, dances, lawn bowling (bocce), chess tournaments, and who knows what else. Over the decades things have changed, but the shuffle board, bocce, and chess still remain in the little stucco buildings near downtown. To bring in more people they offer free play and instruction on Friday nights and sometimes have drinks and live music (but iPod driven music at the very least). We got there early and after looking around and dropping a donation in the bucket, realized we had no idea what we were doing. So, we found someone who looked like she knew what she was doing and asked for help. She turned out to be one of the officers of the club and also someone pretty darn good at shuffleboard. She taught us how to play and what the terminology was then she played a round of doubles with us - Wade and I against Kellyn and our new friend Mary. We had a great time and enjoyed the ambiance - Christmas music, twinkle lights, and nice people. By the time we were done (and freezing), we looked around and noticed the huge complex was filling up - mostly with people our age (a shocking change from Sarasota!). It was a really fun way to spend a Friday night and I'm sure we'll be doing it quite a bit.

Saturday morning Kellyn and I headed to the market to grab veggies at the farmer's market and do a little shopping while Wade stayed home to plant some rye grass seed. We found some excellent veggies at the organic farm stand (it wasn't our CSA share week) and discovered some delightful gluten free jam cookies. We headed home with our treasures, had lunch and cookies with Wade, then headed to the local handmade soap store, Milagros, to buy Christmas presents for friends and family. It is my new favorite place to buy gifts and soap. :) Afterwards we strolled down to Sunken Gardens from the house to check out our local attraction. It proved to be an excellent excuse to lounge in the sun for some vitamin D and we also thoroughly enjoyed watching the flamingos dance and flap at each other. That evening we had Katie and Dustin over for dinner and made Mexican food - lots of farm fresh fajita veggies, refried beans, my homemade salsa, tacos, and guacamole. We polished dinner off with Katie's tasty no-bake cookies then headed off for our Christmas event of the evening: A Trans Siberian Orchestra Christmas concert. Wade and I were TSO novices for certain and we still can barely describe the event using words. If you were expecting the usual Christmas concert, (which I think a lot of folks were) you instead were ambushed with and 80's hair band version of Christmas. Seriously. Imagine Queen playing a Christmas concert - but with the synchronized head-banging flair of Van Halen. They did rocking renditions of Carol of the Bells and the Nutcracker melody that were my favorites. Oh, and did I mention they were all in tuxes with tails - even the crazy violin player who head banged while in a power crouch? Or that there were pyrotechnics, flames that changed color, lasers, flying stages, and heat we could feel in the nosebleed section? Words. cannot. describe. it. What I can describe is the incredulous reaction all 5 of us had - hysterical laughter afterwards (and during). It was an adventure to be sure and one I don't think any of us will ever forget. If the curiosity is killing you do a little snooping around on You Tube... :)

Sunday morning we all were a little slow going because we got home so late from the TSO concert. We finally rallied and had some breakfast before Kellyn and I headed out to do a little more shopping before Michelle came up to join us for the afternoon. We broke out all the cookie cutters and sprinkles and spent the afternoon making Christmas cookies. We had fun catching up and eating and obscene amount of cookies. Once we were thoroughly sugared, we walked to dinner at the local "better for you" fast food place called Evos before Michelle headed home.

(Below the former EDF office mates: me, Kellyn, and Michelle, with Carmel horning in)

Monday morning came faster than we were expecting and I took Kellyn to the airport. The pets were sad to see her go, and so were we. Now we're hoping she'll come back in the spring with Conrad (her fiance) so we can have more fun when it warms up.

Miss you Kellyn!

JingleBell 5k

This past Wednesday night we started a new holiday tradition - running the annual JingleBell 5k in downtown St. Pete (they shut down some of the streets downtown and lay luminaries along the 3mile path). Well, let's be honest, it was some running and lots of power walking on my end, but Katie, Dustin, Wade, and Kellyn made quite a showing. After the first quarter mile I was already sweating so we stopped to remove layers and take a photo op (below). Wade was a wonderful husband and offered to carry the extra layers for me without even so much as an "I told you so".

You may notice we look a little festive - that's because the 5k is a fun run - there were musicians along the way playing Christmas music, families with dogs and baby strollers, people in costume, and Santa listening to what the kids wanted for Christmas. For our part we wore reindeer antlers, santa hats, tinsel belts, neon necklaces, giant jinglebells, and red and green clothes. But it was freezing out so we had to wear enough layers to keep our teeth from chattering. The girls ran together while the guys forged ahead - we enjoyed the show along the way - buildings, dogs, and people wrapped in twinkle lights and a group of girls in elf costumes. Towards the end it started to rain so we hustled to the finish to find the guys and head to dinner. I made a power finish and ran as hard as I could for the last few hundred feet to make the finish line which I actually really enjoyed... too bad I can't always run that fast!

To celebrate our success (and lament the fact that we should actually do some training for next year) we headed out to dinner in downtown afterwards. Our first choice was packed so Dustin and Katie headed home while Wade, I, and Kellyn met up with a friend of hers from work (Kellyn is in town for a work meeting and staying the weekend to hang out and see Miss Magnolia). We found a new place to try and had a fun dinner before heading home to clean up and pick up Mom and Larry from the airport. They had a late returning flight from Texas so they stayed the night - we had a full house and it was a lot of fun! The cats really enjoyed snuggling Kellyn in bed in the attic and looked pretty put out when she left for her meeting the next morning.

The house is decorated full tilt for Christmas and the JingleBell run was our first holiday event - we now officially feel ready for Christmas and feel like residents of St. Pete. :)

Thankful

As first time homeowners, we found a few new reasons to be thankful for Thanksgiving this year...

1. A four day weekend to get things done!

2. The new kitchen we designed passed the biggest cooking test of the year with flying colors!

3. Thank heavens we have family to help with #s 1 & 2!

Wednesday night our contractor came to install our kitchen shelves so we could get our final unpacking of the kitchen done and once he was done Wade and I scurried to convert our home from job site to homestead. This included rolling up the brown paper on the floors, hiding all the tools and paint cans, cleaning counters, finishing caulking the backsplash, sweeping the floors, and trying to ignore the painters tape covering half the trim in the house. That night I broke out the Thanksgiving decorations and decorated the dining room and table - it was the best we could do, and frankly was better than Halloween since we missed it entirely.

Thursday dawned and we did not wake up to the smell of turkey (something I frequently remember growing up) - and it was glorious. :) I think this is our 4th Thanksgiving without meat and frankly they get better every year - we definitely do not miss getting up at the crack of dawn to prep the turkey like we used to. Instead we had a leisurely morning stressing about the fact that the caulk on the backsplash hadn't dried yet and touching up areas that didn't get enough. Lovely. Since we don't have cable, Wade was able to ferret out a website that streams live TV so my Mom could watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (her favorite tradition). Although it wasn't the best picture, I'd have to admit it was pretty nice having my laptop on the counter to listen to and watch while we prepped and cooked - it felt like a party in the kitchen. :)

Part of the remodel of our house was redoing the kitchen, and I don't just mean the stuff you look at. We spent a lot of time thinking about how to lay it out - appliances, drawers, cabinets, etc so that we could maximize the space and storage of our small galley/L-shaped kitchen. To me there is no better test than Thanksgiving since it is one of the few holidays solely about food. And the kitchen passed with flying colors! We had Wade, my mom, and I all in the kitchen prepping and cooking and Larry buzzing in and out and we never collided or felt crowded - a true first in any house we've lived! It was a huge relief and helped us truly appreciate the work we've put into the house. I was also happy with a personal first - I made caramelized brussel sprouts and green beans with shallots and they were great! I was a little fearful that taking my first stab at brussel sprouts for Thanksgiving was tempting fate, but I succeeded. We also made stuffed squashed (I have to admit I love my stuffing), corn casserole, cranberry apple sauce, Wade's sweet potato goodness, vegan butternut squash soup, Ikea potato cakes, and a fabulous vegetarian shallot gravy... I think it's safe to say we've finally mastered a gluten-free vegetarian Thanksgiving and we don't miss a thing!

(Our Thanksgiving spread)

After dessert, reality set in that Wade and I had an obscene amount of painting to do in the house. We still had to fill holes, caulk, prime, and paint most of the trim in the house which was a horrifying and daunting thought. In a moment of pity Mom and Larry decided to stay the night so the next morning the guys could get to work early while the girls did some Christmas shopping.

Friday morning we had breakfast and headed out to shop while the guys got all the paper and painting tools back out. They filled holes and primed while Mom and I headed to Tampa to see if there was anything special about Black Friday. Normally I avoid going out on that day as a rule - I really hate crowded places - but we needed to get something at Crate and Barrel so we decided to see how bad it was. And shockingly, it wasn't bad at all - like any other shopping day, but with better sales. :) So we felt brave and tried Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, and Anthropologie - same results, but less sales for sure. Seems like Black Friday isn't something those stores really do, so there weren't crazy crowds, and we were relieved. Once we got back to the house, Mom and Larry headed home. I was relieved to see that almost everything had been filled and primed and was ready for caulking or painting. That night we finished the prep work then called it a day and watched a Netflix movie because we were utterly fried.

Saturday we started the day early with me painting the trim around the front door (our new front door is finally in!) and trying to keep the cats from rubbing against it. We continued in the back half of the house until we finally broke for a late lunch. After lunch we got a surprise visit from my dad, step-mom Susie, and my Grandma. It was nice to see them and be able to show them the house. After their visit I dived into caulking while Wade began painting. It was beginning to feel like we'd never get it all done because there are so many steps in the process of painting raw wood trim - prep the area, fill the holes, sand the filling once it's dry, prime, caulk, paint, apply second coat of paint, let dry, remove painters tape edging, get super pissed off when tape sticks and rips off wall paint it was supposed to be protecting... Whew.

Sunday morning we slept in, but by lunch time we had declared victory on the guest bathroom and front door. By dinner time we had finished the trim in our bedroom, laundry room, and breakfast nook. We still have touch ups in the other rooms where the sellers did a crappy job on the doors, but the house now looks to be in some semblance of order. To celebrate we watched another Netflix movie and rejoiced in being able to lay down.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and safe travels!

Orlando

This week I headed to Orlando for more work meetings. The upside of this was that I was able to catch up on my blogging after I checked into the hotel, the obvious downside was that it was more time away from home when we have a lot to finish up before Thanksgiving (omg, where did November go, it can't be the holidays already can it?!).

On Thursday I attended a day of presentations and discussions that was organized by a budding group of public aquariums and aquaculturists trying to make advances in captively breeding coral reef fish for aquarium use. (Currently, 95% of the coral reef animals you see in a pet store or an aquarium shop are wild caught, and usually in a horrible way that's bad for them and coral reefs) This was their first meeting as they try to get themselves organized and create a strategy to increase the number of fish species that can be captively bred. These are people that could (and should) be supportive of our push for new legislation to create standards for the trade in coral reef wildlife. But most people involved in the marine aquarium industry are leery of environmental NGOs (non-governmental organizations) like EDF and think the industry doesn't need regulation (current there is none - unheard of in any other pet trade!). So there in lies the problem - I needed to spend 2 days with a lot of people I needed for my work who likely wouldn't trust me and already know each other (and quite a few had a reputation for being stubborn). While my colleagues in DC pushed me to plan and prepare what to say and ensure I was dressing in a more formalized way, I decided that a meeting in Florida with these kind of people were more my expertise... so I packed my flip flops and sense of humor and prepared to do my best to win over some salty folks. (This was not all that different from my days as a park ranger in Everglades NP working with fisherman...)

By the end of day one, I felt accepted by the group - I mostly listened to the group and chimed in rarely - only when a topic of discussion seemed to bog down on an issue that our coalition has already had to work through. By the end of the group dinner that evening I felt a part of the group for sure, and a number of people came up to me to thank me for being there to contribute.

On Friday we did tours of some of the local facilities - SeaWorld, Florida Aquarium, and a research lab affiliated with the University of Florida.

Above is the ray tank exhibit at SeaWorld that is part of the Manta roller coaster ride. They even have Eagle Rays that were bred in captivity (bottom picture)!

Above is inside the Florida Aquarium - one of my favorites! They have a real mangrove forest growing inside, complete with native birds floating and flying through the exhibits! I hadn't been to the Florida Aquarium in over 13 years since they first opened, and I had forgotten how much I loved it.

It was a little like a blast from the past when one of the Florida Aquarium guys and I realized we had worked at Mote Marine Aquarium at the same time together, over 13 years ago. I really enjoyed all the tours since I was able to get behind the scenes at the facilities to see if they were actually living up to the standards they say they hold themselves to. Again, I did a lot of listening and asked some questions, and by the end of the day I felt that I had genuinely earned the respect of the group for "holding my own" for two days. It was good to get to know some passionate hardworking people and hopefully I was able to get them to open their minds a bit. They were a gregarious group of people, so it was also a genuinely fun meeting filled with a lot of sarcasm and humor, so thankfully I had plenty of that stored up to keep up with the group. :)

While making some new and unexpected connections was rewarding for my work, I was even more satisfied by the fact that I followed my instinct on preparing for and handling the meeting, and I was not only right, but incredibly successful. It's nice to be right once in a while. :)

Egmont Key

Friday and Saturday after my DC trip I spent working in the house. We have a lot of wood trim inside that needs to be painted so I attacked the kitchen windows and the baseboards in the master bedroom (where the dresser needed to go). I was successful and we were finally able to move our dresser into place and put curtains on the kitchen window that can see (from a long angle) into our bedroom. We also managed to get curtains up in the living room, den, closet, bathroom, and breakfast nook, so we have a shade more privacy now. However our old termite-ridden front door (soon to be replaced) is glass and gives everyone a fair look into the length of our house. Which means no midnight runs to the kitchen in our undies for a glass of water - yet.

After making good progress on the unpacking and trim painting, we rewarded ourselves with a day off by having an outing to Egmont Key. The local friends group was hosting a big event on the island to bring in visitors and raise money for the key. As a kid I made many trips to Egmont to go shelling, explore the brick street ruins, and snorkel the fort ruins in the water. I always have had a soft spot for the island as I remember eagerly exploring the island feeling like a castaway on a remote tropical island. It was exciting and beautiful at the same time. It's been nearly a decade since I've been to the island, and with all the travel and moving stress it seemed like a fitting occasion to get out to a deserted island. Katie and Dustin were up for some adventure so they picked us up on Sunday morning to head to Ft. Desoto in St. Pete where the ferry leaves from. We had a perfect cruise out to the island (complete with Jimmy Buffet tunes) - the sun was shining, the water was calm, and the air was balmy.

We got to the island and ran into a friend from sailing who volunteers there so we stashed our coolers and did a loop around the island. We learned about the history of the island (complete with Civil War reenactors), saw inside some of the usually closed military structures, and learned about the native plants (one of which will numb your tongue - they guys even tested the theory!).

(Dustin and Wade get a musket demonstration from the Civil War reenactors - and yes, that's a giant bayonet on the end of the muzzle!)

Wade checking out the 100+ year old ruins.

One of the endangered Gopher Tortoises crossing the old brick road on the island.

The island is half state park half wildlife refuge - but contains the ruins of a military fort (brick roads and all), coast guard pilot station, and 100+ year old lighthouse that is still in use. After learning about the island we had a nice picnic then wandered out to the beach to do some shelling (here is where I admit that we took the long route to the beach by accident because of my over confidence in a bad map).

But we found the beach and it was Caribbean worthy - clear sparkling turquoise water, shells, white sandy beaches that were fairly deserted, and spooky dead palm trees lining the beach. So that last part wasn't Caribbean-like, but it definitely gave the beach character, but sadly alluded to the fact that increasing water use in Tampa Bay (that draws down sediment-laden rivers) paired with too many seawalls and coastal construction is slowly starving the island for sand. So, the island is shrinking on some sides and on the West side has lost hundreds of feet - so where the palm trees used to be part of the inner coastal ridge, they are now dead toothpicks on the beach. It was a bittersweet reunion to be sure, but we enjoyed it none the less. A special treat was that we were able to see one of the few pairs of Oystercatchers on the island - a beautiful and threatened bird in the area. And I was sure to bring home a pocket full of hand-picked shells to add to my collection.

A nice artistic shot of the ruins and the endless shells.

By late afternoon we were all pooped from the sun and so much walking and we headed back to the ferry. After that we headed for an early dinner and stuffed ourselves with Mexican food. Funny how a day outside in the sun can make you so hungry! We had so much fun with Katie and Dustin and I really enjoyed being able to share a place from my childhood with them and Wade.

(Thanks to Dustin and Katie for providing the pictures since I left my camera in the car like an amateur!)

DC

Right after moving I hopped a plane for DC, yet again. A small but measurable improvement this trip was that I must finally have enough frequent flier miles with USAirways that I'm allowed to sit in the exit row now which means early boarding and more leg room - hooray! It's the little things in life really... :)

This trip was for some meetings, which went pretty well, so that's good. Otherwise, I tried to fill the week with friends - I had dinner with Preetha one night at our favorite vegetarian Chinese place, the next night I went home with Ayelet for dinner and to meet her baby - and I got to read him the book I gave him, which he loved - we also watched him trying to teach himself how to roll over!, and I was able to cram in breakfast with Whitney (who had been in Tampa for meetings that week) and lunch with Glynnis on my last day in DC before coming home. It was great to see everyone and catch up. Although it was relatively warm in DC this time around, I could tell winter was waiting in the wings. I had to don my first socks and "real" shoes of the season which also meant my first angry blisters of the season. Lovely. I also had to bring my summer suit home and will return in December with my winter suit.

The week was definitely a blur and it was a huge relief to be home to tackle more boxes and start painting all the trim on the house.

Settling In

We finally moved in at the beginning of November - hooray! You can see a few pictures of the chaos on our Picasa site.

Friday the floors in the back half of the house were finally dry from the sanding and refinishing so we were able to carefully move some things into the back rooms. We started trying to assemble our IKEA closet set up and were soundly defeated by it. We stayed up late trying to prep for the next day of moving and by the end felt like we hadn't accomplished a fraction of what we needed to before heading back to the island.

Saturday, Nov 6th finally arrived and we had a slow start that morning while we packed the cars with all our remaining clothes and stuff while the kids were left on the island for the day. As our caravan pulled up, Mark and Annette met us out front with our first CSA share of veggies - they were angels and picked it up for us then delivered it to our door! We entered the house and found the cleaning crew working to tidy things up (you would not believe how much chalk-like dust and sanding wood dust gets all over EVERYthing - it leaves a nasty thick layer everywhere). It was a huge life-saver to have the cleaning crew there so we didn't have to deal with cleaning and moving. We unloaded the cars then got to work - Wade and Larry attacked closet assembly while Mom and I unpacked the kitchen after Steve had finished with the pressed-tin backsplash. We beavered away until lunch time when we ran a few errands for things we needed before getting Thai food, then came back for more unpacking and assembling of closets until dinnertime. At that point we sent Mom and Larry home to check on the kids while Wade and I finished assembling our new bed and hung privacy curtains in our bedroom. We were determined to sleep there that night, but clearly had not accomplished a fraction of what we wanted to. Sigh. So we headed back to Anna Maria to meet Mom and Larry for sushi on the island before packing the kids in the car. We made it back to St. Pete pretty late, and spent the next few hours tidying up and getting the kids settled in. We went to bed around 2am and left the bedroom doors open for the cats to find us. After a night of exploring they finally came in to snuggle in the morning.

The next morning we were up early orienting the kids to their new home. The cats were particularly enthralled with the idea of the spiral staircase and the attic and took to chasing each other up and down the stairs. They also seemed highly entertained with all the boxes and packing paper scattered around the house. The dogs were enjoying their new yard and particularly the neighbor pug dog that wiggles between the fence to sneak into our yard. Our dogs took to her immediately and proceeded to wander the yard with her while they sniffed each other and peed on things. After breakfast Mom and Larry showed up for round two. I was so relieved I could have cried. Larry assembled some shelves for our clothes and linens while Mom and I continued to plow through the kitchen and dining room boxes. For lunch, we walked to the local "better for you" fast food place, Evo. It was a lovely break being able to walk to get lunch and enjoy the beautiful day. A nice surprise was running into an old friend I grew up with, Brett, and his wife Meaghan and their baby Evelyn. They live in St Pete too and we've been trying to connect with them so it was funny to randomly run into them. We love how St Pete has big city amenities, but can feel like a small town when you run into people you know! After lunch we kept plowing through boxes until Mom and Larry went home. At that point I began packing my suitcase for my flight to DC the next day. It was really difficult to leave with so much of the house in disarray, but I didn't really have a choice - my work travel seems to have a knack of butting up against my personal life. Ugh.

A St. Pete Halloween

Halloween weekend was filled with a flurry of activity this year for us - sadly, none of it involved us having our yearly Halloween party (snif).

However, on Saturday we did get our big IKEA excursion in, and introduced Mom and Larry to the wonders of IKEA (including their food). We now have an absurd amount of large boxes of stuff that will hopefully this weekend become our linen closet and our master closet (hooray!). Thankfully Mom and Larry brought their car or else we never would have gotten it all home (seriously, we barely made it with two cars... darn those long heavy boxes!).

Sunday brought the final day of the Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure, a 3 day walk a thon (of 60 miles!) to raise money and awareness for the cure for breast cancer that our friend Katie was participating in. (I spent Saturday afternoon creating a motivational glitter poster for her and her sister who was also walking - lord, I love glitter pens) Her husband Dustin came to pick up Wade and I on Sunday morning and when I went out to great him I barely recognized him - he was dressed as Hulk Hogan - blond wig, blond trashy mustache, tight pants and all. Once I realized it was not some strange woman in front of our house I laughed so hard I snorted. One thing I should mention is that Dustin is tall and lanky, so he looked just like the Hulk - but possibly as a meth addict. :) Dustin had been cheering on the walkers all weekend (there are cheering stations to help keep everyone's spirits up) so he knew the drill - we needed a sign: check, we needed costumes: um, sort of, we needed pink: hmmm.... Wade did his best to locate our stash of halloween costumes, but we only found the bits that were entirely too hot to wear outside in the sun. What to do... So, I dressed in my beach bummiest clothes, hat, and glasses, added shell jewelry, and my giant sparkly pink fairy wings to meet all the requirements as the Beach Fairy. Not my best, but it was convenient. :) Next we turned to Wade... even the stringbean-Hulk was wearing a pink feather boa, so we needed something pink for him, despite his severe aversion to the color. (During the 3 day race all the walkers, support vehicles, and volunteers are dressed in the trademark pink and most have crazy costumes, especially this year since it was Halloween). So we hopped in the car on a mission to find Wade a costume and something pink. You gotta love Walgreens because I was able to piece together a nice little number in just a matter of minutes....

We finally made it to the cheering station, got our costumes on, grabbed our signs, and found a spot to cheer on the worn out walkers (they were at about mile 52 I think) - every time a pack of beat-down people passed us (mostly women, but some men supporting wives or sisters or daughters) they laughed and loved the support. - Now here is where I tell you the sexiest thing my husband has done, possibly ever - his costume was a pink t-shirt, black fairy wings, a pink feather angel halo, and a wand (with his cargo shorts and flip flops). He was a great sport and the walkers loved his and Dustin's dedication to cheer them on and keep their spirits up with humor. So many girls took pictures of them, smiled, and thanked them for the laugh on such a brutally hot day. Once Katie and her sister arrived we cheered extra loud and it was great to be there to support her on such a big day. After they continued on we stayed to cheer until the walkers were gone before heading to lunch. Wade and I de-costumed, but the Hulk stayed in character and the folks at Tijuana Flats loved him. :)

After that we headed home to do some work around the house and prep for our block party. Our neighbors and those up one block all are around the same age, have kids about the same age, and all seem to be generally nice laid back people that actually know each other and hang out. What a totally different story from anywhere else we lived! They actually blocked off our street and we had a pot luck dinner in the street. It was great! We even found out that quite a few of the neighbors are vegetarian or vegan and seem to be pretty open-minded people, so that was a really nice discovery. After we talked and met most of our neighbors they did a little kids costume parade (there were about 25 adults and almost twice as many kids!) and we handed them candy. Once it was dark the families banded together to go trick or treating - yes, they actually walked unlike the other lazy folks around here who won't even leave their cars to walk the block with their kids. At that point we grabbed what candy we had left, turned out the house lights, and booked it for Annette and Mark's house about 13 blocks south of us in the heart of the Halloween hysteria. St Pete, and our neighborhood in particular puts on quite a show - literally. A few blocks away from Mark and Annette's they shut down the street all weekend and do professional quality productions - we're talking hired professional choreographed dancers (Thriller was the big one last year), pyrotechnics, movies projected on the sides of houses, haunted animatronic lawns and houses to walk through, fire dancers, etc. It's incredible. However, this year, we were so pooped, we were happy to just hang out with Mark and Annette until the candy was gone and it was baby Noah's bath time. We definitely had a great day, but were wiped out on the ride home. The 2 hours a day in the car is taking it's toll, but we're so close to being done that it's almost unbearable. Keep your fingers crossed that our flooring folks can get their act together and we can actually get into the house this weekend before I leave for DC.

Home Stretch

It's amazing how one can really take the simple things in life for granted - like toilets or a sink. For example, for the last few weeks I've been working at our St Pete house in my home office while the contractors hammered, cut, grouted, drilled, and trimmed out just below me. While this hasn't been the best thing in the world, it has made things go a little faster when I am there to answer questions. It has been difficult, particularly when we've had no bathrooms, running water, or a kitchen. So I have to take a packed lunch everyday, bring enough water to drink, and use a porta potty (or hold it). I've seen our tile floors, cabinets, shower enclosure, counter tops, trim, and finally watched our toilets, sinks, and appliances go in. I about threw a parade when I could use a real toilet again! We're so close to done, but now we're waiting for a few things to finish in the kitchen and we had a hold up from the flooring folks which are working on refinishing the back half of the house now.

I have also come to really love my attic office - bright natural light, fun colors, and a bamboo shrouded window for a view. I can't wait for the cats to see it - I can imagine them creeping up the spiral stair case and peering over the edge to watch me work. They are a vital part of my work day and they help keep the stress level down, so it's been kind of a bummer not having them around for the past few weeks.

We're missing our Halloween move-in deadline, which stinks, but we should be in next weekend for sure. We are chomping at the bit to do so. This weekend we're hoping to meet our neighbors during a neighborhood block party and do some final shopping at IKEA for our closet system and storage.

So close... yet so far away!

Michigan

We headed to Michigan in mid-October to attend Jason and Rachel's wedding outside of Battle Creek, Michigan. It was the perfect time of year to go - the weather was refreshingly cool and the leaves were turning beautiful shades of red, gold, and glowing orange.

We flew into Detroit on Friday and rented a car to drive across the state to Marshall, MI where we were staying. It was a beautiful and uneventful 1.5 hour drive. Once we dropped our stuff in the hotel we headed into historic downtown Marshall for an early dinner because I was starving. We found a little "Mexican" place - but tellingly, there was not a single person of Mexican descent in the restaurant and there was gravy on the menu. Yeeeeaaah. So we ordered our food with a side of gravy, because "when in Rome"... right? Out came a giant steaming plate with some excellent guacamole, soupy beans, and tortillas fried and buttered. The gravy was brown and reminiscent of Thanksgiving, but it was spicy so it made for the most alluring combination. Wade folded in the towel early, but after practically licking my plate clean, I finally thought I'd have to be rolled out of there. It was definitely not Mexican food, but it was greasy and good and we're certain we have enough fat to survive the winter now. :) That night we met up with Jason and Rach for a drink after their rehearsal dinner. It was great to be able to steal a little one on one time with them, and hear that despite the fact they've been together 13 years, they were feeling wedding jitters, but in a good way.

On Saturday morning, Wade and I relished in something we hadn't done in months - we slept in, lounged in bed, and watched cooking shows on Food Network. It was lazy and it was glorious. We finally drug ourselves out of bed to wander downtown Marshall some more and we explored our first antique shops. Now that we're the owners of an antique house, we have a new appreciation for old things. It was like treasuring hunting as we picked through rooms and stacks of kitchen goods, decorations, and books. We found a few small things, then went to have lunch at a local diner. This time we discovered the beauty of grilled homemade cinnamon rolls (to die for!), and Wade discovered that in Michigan they use bacon as a garnish instead of parsley. Haha. After another greasy feast we headed back to clean up for the wedding.

The wedding was at an herb farm in the countryside - the trees were glowing in fall colors and the flowers were blooming in the chilly air. The ceremony location was in a beautiful little cove of flowers and trees under the shining sun and bright blue sky. The wedding began and I got one shot of Jason before... my camera promptly died and refused to take more pictures. (You are dead to me camera, dead!)

So I am embarrassingly short on a visual way to describe how dapper Jason looked and how radiant Rachel was. (You may remember that earlier this year Rach came to Sarasota to look for a dress and we found the perfect one for her) Rachel was glowing as she came down the aisle and when Wade whispered "Wow, you're right, she looks incredible in that dress" I started to cry. Don't know why, but I did - when did I become a wedding crier?! (Oh right, Marilyn's wedding in July.) It's been so much fun getting to know Jason and Rachel over the last 6 years and to see them finally get married was just wonderful. The ceremony went off without a hitch, the pastor gave a lovely sermon about how choosing to get married after 13 years of being together really says something about the institution of marriage and how love means continuing to say "yes". After the bride and groom sealed it with a kiss, we flowed into the reception area for drinks (including a fabulous hot toddy - did I mention it was cold out?!) and we got to talk to the pastor and meet more of Jason and Rachel's family. Before the reception I slipped into the back room to help Rach change out of her veil and put in the mother of pearl flower I wore at our wedding. The flower looked absolutely perfect in her hair amidst the garden setting and it was so special to be able to share it with her.

The bride and groom kicked off the reception by pulling out the stops on the dance floor to put on a show for the guests with a dance filled with dips and twists. We shared laughs with some of their friends from college and by the end of the night found ourselves swapping stories about the happy couple with their families. Everyone we met was warm and friendly and by the end of the evening we felt like family.

The next morning we headed to the inn the bride and groom were staying at for a farm fresh brunch. We were greeted by teeny weeny fuzzy kittens that made my heart melt. They had that general effect on everyone as we proceeded to pass them around and snuggle them. Breakfast was hearty and we enjoyed the cool air (with a sweater and thinking I should have worn a scarf) while we met more of the other guests and talked to the bride and groom. We eventually said good bye and headed back into town to see a few more shops and have lunch before heading back to Detroit. We arrived early, had some bad airport food and killed time until our flight. We finally made it home very late on Sunday night, and were greeted by the kids at the door. They clearly had a pampered weekend at home with their grandparents - which always makes it easier to travel knowing the kids are in good hands.

Congratulations Jason and Rachel! :)

Progress

So things are moving along, but given my travels in October, we actually had to throw in the towel and... hire the painters to finish the house. We had to wave the white flag of surrender when the plaster walls took two days longer to cure than they were supposed to leaving us no time to paint before I left for TX. And we needed to paint to get the rest of the work in the kitchen and bathrooms moving. In our defense, we did paint the den, dining room, fence, attic (walls and floor), guest bathroom, and we primed the master closet, laundry, and bathroom. But we didn't even touch our bedroom, breakfast nook, or kitchen. It was humiliating, but our contractors handled it with grace when they could see we were beaten, and nicely asked "Would you like me to call the painter?". "Uh, hell yes please" was our response. We were spent. So much for thinking we were handy enough to paint. Sigh. Check out our progress so far here on our Picasa site (the bottom half are the newer pictures).

We have also tried to mix in some fun and right after I returned from TX we went to St. Pete Oktoberfest with some friends for beer (cider for me) tasting. We went with Mark and Annette and eventually found Katie and Dustin too. We had fun drifting between the beer tasting tables with me getting extra cups for everyone, then everyone returning the favor for me when we got to the cider booth. :) At the end of the night we were pretty pooped and headed back to our house to grab the kids (we'd spent all day in town so we brought everyone - the cats freaked out but enjoyed burrowing in the boxes). We were tired, it was late, and we thought we were going to have softball practice the next day... and a thought occurred to us. Let's camp out in the house! So we did - we got out our camping gear and set up the dining room as our campsite (below Marley is checking to see if the bed meets his standards):

So it wasn't the best sleep we've ever had - 2am pee run to the porta potty (ick!) and cats stomping all over us. But, it was technically our first night in our house and it was really fun. :) Camping in the air conditioning is pretty sweet actually.

The next morning we high tailed it back to Anna Maria to prep the house for Mom and Larry's return from NC. We moved back into the guest bedroom and they moved back in. So we're a full house now, but the kids love having the extra attention, and it's made it a lot easier for us to leave the kids at home all day - especially while Carmel is undergoing chemotherapy. And it's always nice to have happy, supportive, loving people around - we need that right now as the house renovations are entering a brutal period of big decisions and flying by the seat of our pants on what is going to look good - cabinets for instance, what the heck do we know about cabinets!? But now we have live in moral support, so that's nice. :)

Galveston, TX

The first weekend of October we broke ground on the house - we put in a new fence and sidewalk which really gave Miss Magnolia a nice face lift. They both turned out beautifully thanks to our contractors so we were incredibly relieved and the house looks so much better. (Thanks to Katie and Dustin for being good sports and helping us paint said fence!)

After that weekend I packed up and headed to Galveston, TX for a work retreat. My co-worker, Michelle, and I flew together, so it was nice to have some company. It had been a while since we'd seen each other (now that we're working from home and not sharing an office anymore) that we also roomed together at the retreat. We had a lot of fun, but admittedly, as Florida beach snobs, we had a hard time getting into enjoying a retreat at a beachside location. After all, we had left warm, clear turquoise waters, glorious sunsets, and sugar white sand beaches. We had been warned by Wade that Galveston would not be what we expected of a Gulf beach (he was there in June for a meeting)... and he was right.

Exhibit A: When we got up early every morning for our work meetings, this was the sight in the distance:

Yes, that's right - those black spots are DOZENS of oil tankers just barely offshore waiting to get into the port of Houston. Um... yeah. We're used to flocks of pelicans and seagulls, not this view. If you look closely, you'll see about 14 tankers, and this was a zoomed in shot - we actually could see almost 50 in the distance - apparently there was a hold up in the port channel, but still, this was pretty shocking.

Exhibit B: When we all went to dinner on the last night at a waterfront seafood bar, this was the lovely sunset view of the water:

Yeah. That's an oil rig being worked on in the center - we were taking in the full view of a working port and it was again, pretty shocking. This definitely made Michelle and I grateful that Floridians have placed a higher value on the natural areas of the state as a basis for a tourism economy rather than letting our beautiful coast turn to this. The best way to describe Galveston was... industrial.

Enough of that, the meetings were good - it's always great to see friends. But, I have to admit, usually I'm a bit... dare I say.... bored at these meetings. The simplest way to explain - I LOVE seeing everyone and hearing what they're up to and getting to know my coworkers better, what I don't love is being the ONE person NOT working on the same subject as everyone else. And no, I am not exaggerating. All 49 of my coworkers focus on fisheries (recreational and commercial) and all contribute to a larger overarching goal. I work on creating standards for the trade in coral reef wildlife. This means lots and lots and lots... and lots of meetings where I listen to lots of presentations and discussions that don't really help me advance the thinking on my work. It gets old, but I like my co workers, so I keep myself going by waiting for the social parts. :) However, this time was a shade different - I was asked to talk for 10 minutes to tell a story about what I do - to 60 people including our VP. This... shall we say, had me crapping my pants. Where to start with a group of people who really don't have a fricken clue what I do (expect my closest coworkers of course)? So I went through a few versions of the story and practiced about a dozen times before giving it - it was pure story telling, no pictures or presentation, which is difficult, nowadays people expect something, but I was to go au natural. I told the story of a big meeting I lead for my work back in August with a senior staffer (ie decision maker) of the most powerful member of the U.S. Senate. I mixed in some humor and during the course of the story was actually able to teach people about my program. And... I got rave reviews. People listened and they actually came up afterwards to tell me they wanted to learn more and were excited about what I do, which was pretty exciting.

It was a quick trip, and I was happy to be home, but it felt a little more satisfying this time around to, even for a little bit, be swimming with the school, so to speak.

Sunrises and sunsets

We are now in the thick of the remodeling of Miss Magnolia. For some pictures of the demo and our progress, check out our Picasa site. This has included repairing the foundation, ripping out the old sidewalk and concrete slab, refinishing the floors in the front half of the house, gutting the back half of the house to the studs and subflooring (part of the master bedroom, the whole masterbath and spare room, part of the guest bath, and all of the kitchen), and redoing the floors in the attic (my office). This has meant that our house has been a hive of activity while our contractors give Miss Magnolia an updating. We've moved some of our things into the house, but are painting some of the front rooms and attic so we're shuffling furniture around as we paint. To pull off getting everything done (buying our plumbing and light fixtures, buying paint, picking cabinets and countertops, picking doors, making the 10th run to Lowes, meeting with other contractors to answer questions, painting, etc) we've been spending long days in St Pete so we can stay after work to paint and run errands (I work on the couch in the house while Wade's in his office).

This was a decent arrangement until 2 weeks ago when we discovered that Carmel's lymphoma (cancer) returned. After beating all the odds and living through lymphoma back in 2005, we're back to chemotherapy and fighting to see if we can buy him a few more years (the normal odds are that they never make it a year, so the fact he's been in remission for 5 years is unheard of, literally). Our first day of chemo had us leaving the house before sunrise to get to the specialist and returning after sunset - that's when it hit me that we weren't "burning the candle at both ends", but we'd taken the candle and chucked it in the fire. Between the house, work, Carmel's chemo, and trying to live at two different houses it's become a little difficult to even remember what day it is anymore.

(What a lovely... sunrise? Ugh, I usually make it a habit not to witness sunrise except from behind closed eyelids)

So far so good with the chemo, but we clearly cann't leave Carmel at home all day given that his side effects last time included losing control of most bodily functions and almost dying from the chemo. So, to keep an eye on him, he has started riding up and staying in the house all day with me. For the last week, Amelie has joined us too so we can stay late at night to paint the house. (This has meant the cats are alone a lot which they are not thrilled with)

The plaster walls went up in the back today and this weekend we'll finish painting the floor in the attic and paint the entire back half of the house before the tile floor goes in next week. My goal is to set up my home office before I head to Texas next week for a work meeting. We're also looking forward to our new front walkway and fence going in this weekend. We had tried to contract those on our own (and were less than thrilled with the results), but have been pleasantly surprised to find that paying a quality contractor like ours to do everything not only saves your sanity, but it actually saves money!

We have discovered that when people ask us if we're "handy" they don't mean "can you build your own field equipment for research, handle and navigate a boat in rough seas, not get sea sick, or plan a diving research trip in a foreign country" - all things we used to consider the definition of "handy" in our profession. No, we have discovered we are completely useless when people ask if we're handy because we've never owned a house and don't have the time to learn to do things ourselves right now. Oh, and we like our work to pass the city inspections which requires a professional, so no, we aren't handy - unless painting counts?! We can do that. :)

Jet Lagged?

Right after our move, I hopped a plane to DC for some meetings. While there I interviewed a new person for our coalition who will be based at Defenders of Wildlife (hooray - I won't be the only full-time person any more!) and we had a meeting of all the coalition partners. The exact minute the meeting ended on Friday I booked it for the airport to hop a flight to Miami. On my way there I repaid some of the kindness we were blessed with during our move by helping a woman figure out how to get to her destination on the metro. I even walked her to the right interchange to catch another metro line to make sure she caught the right train. She was grateful and I told her I was happy to do it because I remember my early days of wondering where the heck I was going in the metro...

Friday night I flew into Miami to join Marilyn and others for Rachel's bridal shower/bachelorette party combo. However, upon landing late at the Miami airport all kindness I had was immediately sucked out of me into the black hole that is Miami. After being confronted with some really helpful and friendly people (yes, that is sarcasm) while trying to find the rental car, I had to call Wade and declare loudly that indeed, I did not miss a damn thing about that city (aside from friends of course!). I finally made it to Jason and Rachel's and managed to get into bed by 1am for some snuggling with their cat Mac.

Saturday morning Marilyn and I teamed up to do some shopping for the party while the other ladies cooked. We were particularly excited to find a pink fedora hat that we added a veil to and declared it the bridal fedora. Seriously, I think we're going to start a new trend b/c Rach looked awesome in it. We finally convened on Kristie's house to decorate and prep. Around dinner time, I picked up Rach (I was the designated driver for the evening) and the fun commenced. There were games, presents of lacy unmentionables, and fabulous food and drinks. Eventually we headed out to the Sandbar in Coconut Grove to let the bride strut her stuff. ;) We danced the night away and the bridal fedora was quite the hit - especially with the guys! Below, the Bachelorette in her full glory, me, and Marilyn lettin' it all hang out at the Sandbar.

For me, it was particularly entertaining because I haven't been to that bar in quite a few years, and I could remember my undergrad days of sneaking in with a fake ID. We were all laughing at the fact that most of the UM students there looked to be about 10 years (or more) younger than us and we played the "fake ID" game guessing at who was likely there on a fake ID and who wasn't. After dancing the night away we packed it in and headed back to the house for leftovers. After another round of "dinner" we finally headed home and crawled into bed around 4am.

Sunday morning we slept-in and headed to brunch before I packed up the rental car and made the trek back home to return the car at the Tampa airport. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for Miami, it really was wonderful to see old friends, celebrate Rachel, and have some girl time.

Monday morning we got up to head to the house to get some work done and it struck me that I was jet lagged?! Too many late nights and flying in and out of different airports then driving home apparently was just enough to throw me out of whack. I had to laugh - I was jet lagged and hadn't even left my time zone!

Kindness

We have survived the big move - and we did it entirely bythe grace of God and the kindness of family, friends, and strangers. The last few weeks leading up to the move have been physically, emotionally, financially, and mentally draining. Work, packing, selecting contractors, budgeting... it's all been coming to a head and this past weekend we found our breaking point. We were though quite literally saved by the kindness of those around us and for that I felt like it was worth giving thanks.

Friday we discovered the true value of a good contractor when the guy ripping out our concrete decided to do things the easy way rather than the right way and now our yard looks like a bomb went off. However, the sense of overwhelming despair over our yard was buffeted by the wonderful house warming gifts we found on our door step that same day from (my boss) Amanda and Eric, Annette and Mark, and Sarah and Evan.

In my rush to get the house prepped to receive all of our stuff the next day, I cracked my head on the spiral staircase which resulted in a bleeding gash and a huge yellow-colored egg on my forehead. It also meant that every box I bent over to pick up resulted in a blinding headache. That night we moved our furry kids to my Mom and Larry's house and we tried to get some sleep before the big day.

Saturday we woke up feeling pretty stiff and sore and went to get the moving truck. To our horror, we discovered it was a LOT bigger than we could have imagined and the deck was really high so we couldn't simply shove things right in - we had to use the steep, narrow ramp for everything. Uh oh. We were also dreading moving a few pieces of the larger furniture that we knew we just couldn't do alone (hello - 10 seater picnic table?!), but couldn't afford movers this time around. However, our guardian angel was looking out for us because my co worker Michelle offered to help, and out of the blue a neighbor we've only waved to for 2 years introduced himself and proceeded to help us move the entire house! Kindest. Person. EVER. Once we hauled the load up to St. Pete (with Michelle's car looking like a greenhouse on wheels), Katie and Dustin also took a few hours to help us unload. Had it not been for the kindness of our friends and a total stranger we never would have survived.

Sunday we picked up some furniture we had repainted, dropped it off at the new house, returned the gigantor diesel moving truck, and then headed to the old house for a clean-a-thon. By the time we got home at 11pm on Sunday night, the furry kids had no idea we'd even moved. This was due to the kindness and generosity my Mom and Larry are showing us by letting us live in their house until our place is done in a few weeks. As far as our furry kids are concerned they're on permanent vacation and their transition has been seamless and painless, again thanks to our family's kindness.

Monday we rewarded our hard work by lazing around the house reading, eating, and snoozing and it was wonderful. We were also very sore, so there wasn't much we could have done anyway!

Kindness is a beautiful thing and I'm going to go out of my way this week on my travels to pay it forward to other folks in need.

We heart IKEA

The first IKEA we ever went to was the new one in Miami just a few weeks after it opened. Big mistake. We had to park a mile away and were bused in only to wait in line to even enter the store. It was complete insanity, and given that neither of us really like crowds, we were not fans of the whole experience and found IKEA pretty overrated.

Fast forward three years and you'll find us staring at our budget for the remodeling work in our house and feeling... overwhelmed and like a spec of dust. After some creative thinking and talking to a new contractor we finally felt like we had a decent handle on the situation - sort of. We've broken things into phases and are doing the essentials for now (kitchen and master bath), but still the essentials don't come cheap. On a whim, we decided to check out IKEA to see what they had. My boss had recently just redone her entire kitchen with IKEA, so we thought it would be worth a look. What we found was the perfect sink, vanity, and medicine cabinet for the master bath that saved us $600. We also found a healthy lunch for two for cheap and friendly people - which was the complete opposite of our experience in Miami.

So, we are now official fans of IKEA and will go back to get stuff for the master closet and some storage for my office in a few weeks. For now, we're getting ready to take down a wall, demo the master bath and kitchen and figure out where to store our stuff until we fully move in in October.

Tomorrow, I move my home office, wait for the internet/phone guy to show (so I can work at the new house when we need to be there to supervise), meet with the builder to notarize our work permit (hooray!), and get the refinishing started on half of our wood floors.

It feels official now that things are starting to happen in the house. We're currently surrounded by fruit boxes and Uhaul moving boxes we've been hoarding, and the cats are in heaven while the dogs look thoroughly confused. Now we're just praying it doesn't rain on Saturday...