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.