Fun Weekend in St. Pete

Today, we visited the weekend street market in down town St. Petersburg. St. Pete is a very dog friendly town, so we loaded up our all too eager dogs and headed out. Along the way, we passed some picturesque views of St. Pete waterfront.

You can find just about anything at the street market, from plants for your garden, herbs, pottery, gourmet dog treats, imported teas, upscale quality bakery items, orchid stems, bamboo stems, fresh squeezed orange juice, and freshly cut pineapple. On the way to the market, Josh picked up a scent and became serious about his driving.

Upon arrival, it was confirmed that his nose served him right. It was Thai food! Josh was a very happy man when he sat down to eat his lunch. I wasn't hungry, so I enjoyed a glass of wonderful Thai Iced Tea instead. Ben, Ty, and Joe were happy to eat the ice from my tea. And, yes, I took a picture of Josh's food. lol

After finishing up at the street market, we took the dogs to a dog park. There were no dogs at the down town dog park, so Josh and I made a quick stop by Starbucks, and then headed to another dog park. Thankfully there were dogs at the second park. Ben, Ty, and Joe had quite a long and exhausting day. Here is Ben in the car, ready to go home and take a nap.

When we finally made it home, the animals crashed out on the couch with me. Quagmire, the guinea pig was content to cuddle with me, after I bribed him with a carrot. The dogs, guinea pig and I were happy to settle in for a relaxing evening on the couch.
And then Joe had to get some love from "Daddy" before settling in for a long nap.

The night ended by joining the neighbors for dinner, and going for a walk, so now we're ready to crash like Joe.

Ready for a Weekend

I've had a crappy string of events unfolding in my life since last night. I thought you guys might be humored by these incidents, so here we go:

Last night, Josh and I were supposed to pick up a chase lounge that someone was selling. The seller agreed to hold the lounge for us, so we made the long drive to pick the item up. Upon arrival, no body was home. I called the phone number the seller had given me several times, only to be forwarded to voice mail. So, Josh and I decided to head down the road to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. During what turned out to be a 30 minute wait for our food to get to our table, I finally got in touch with the seller of the lounge, who informed me he had "just sold the lounge". The butt freak didn't even have the common sense to notify me before the long drive. So, I tried to brush off ill thoughts of wasted gasoline, and get back to sitting there waiting for our food for the rest of eternity. We finally made it home around 8:15 pm. I thought that was just one strange event....little did I know that string of "luck" would follow me into the next day.

This morning, I put in my Tae Bo workout DVD. I was pumped, and had my heart set on a good workout. 11 minutes later, I just had to stop the workout, because it's not a good time of the month. Certain objects on my chest hurt too bad to continue the workout. Ugh! Frustration! Today was the start to my least favorite time of the month. It took me longer to select an outfit for work, since I didn't want my little bloated tummy to be showing. After picking what I thought to be the perfect outfit for today, I decided to make the best of my time by going to the farmers market. I've been needing to restock our produce for a while. In a moment of insanity, I took a picture to illustrate how important veggies are in our diet.

I told the dogs we were going on a car ride to the farmer's market. They got very excited, and started barking and jumping around. I dug through my purse for the car keys and couldn't find them. A sick feeling of dread began to grow, as I considered where the keys might be. I walked outside, to the locked vehicle only to have my suspicions confirmed. The keys were in the cup holder, inside of the locked vehicle, as you will see.

This was especially a pain, because I needed to use the car to drive to work. As I was standing outside, looking at the car, trying to figure out how to break into it, the neighbor approached me. Just happens they were going to the area of town I work in. So, seeing my predicament, they offered me a ride. After deciding upon a time to meet at their house, and head out, I then went into the house to try to find shoes that matched my outfit. I pulled out the pair I had planned on wearing that day, and the buckle was broken.

So, I pulled out the next best pair to match my outfit and discovered that the bottom of the shoe was peeling off. What to do? Hmmm..... maybe glue would be my shoe's salvation. Would Elmer's Rubber Cement do the job?


Nope. Didn't work. The next attempt would have to be something better....


With thumb tacks, I created my own pair of tap shoes. The tacks wouldn't stay in place, so I ended up wearing black shoes with a brown outfit. Yeah. Times are rough for my shoes....

So, I loaded up in the van with the neighbors, and their 2 yr. old grandson. It was an awkward drive, because on the way down they needed to pick up their daughter in law. So, I introduced myself to their daughter in law as the neighbor who had to bum a ride. Also, the 2 yr. old boy kept trying to talk to me, and I couldn't for the life of me tell what he was saying.

Finally, I arrived at work, for the rest of a semi-normal day. Josh was supposed to get off work at 3:00, and come pick me up, but ended up having to work until past 4 pm. Needless to say , I had to hang around after work for him to show up and take me home. Thankfully, by the end of the day I was reunited with my beautiful car keys.

I am so ready for a relaxing weekend!

So Long Vacation

Today, I woke up earlier, exercised earlier, and started going about the tasks of life earlier than usual. All of this, was done in preparation for my first day at my new job. The thought of getting a paycheck once again makes me smile. I welcome the opportunity to challenge my brain, which has seemingly digressed into a million pieces from not having been used in a while.

Everything about today, sends off the unmistakable message that vacation is over. While I could view that as disappointment, I feel anticipation instead. Anticipation to get back to the task of pounding out another billion miles on the treadmill, taking care of the house, doing laundry and all that stuff. I find comfort in knowing that I'm working on what God gave me. A satisfaction that horribly lazy people will never understand is the feeling of effort, rewarded.

Every good thing in life takes effort to maintain. Thank you Brit and Steve for putting forth the effort to come visit Josh and I. I am left with many happy memories, and am looking forward to next time.

Tarpon Springs

Tarpon Aquarium

Steve, Brit & Kate at Crystal River

Gator's

Sister Time on Reddington Beach

Josh and I at The Hut

Kate being Kate

Family Visit

Today was the last day of my sister, bro in law and niece's visit . We had a really great time. The trip, however, would not have been complete without a stop at The Hut. It's a restaurant on the water complete with a massive, steaming "tiki god" holding 2 bottles of beer.

Me and "Thither"

We took so many nice pics of our trips, including Tarpon Springs, Crystal River, Reddington Beach, Madeira Beach, and Venice Beach. I could sit here and post nice pics, and make a nice blog, but that's not nearly as fun as what I'm about to do :) I decided to elaborate on the not so good pics. Much more entertaining. I'll save the good pics for another post.

The picture above is Josh's brand new razor phone, and wallet that took a dip in Crystal River. The phone never recovered, but the wallet made it out of ICU. It turns out that ruining razor phones by going into large bodies of water with them, is a genetic defect. Like father, like son.

Yes, this is what it appears. We had to stop the pontoon boat to let Britany contribute to the water levels of Crystal River. No wonder we couldn't find any manatees. No one wanted to reach in to pull the ladder up, either.

This ice cream went in blue, but came out florescent green. Very strange and yucky.

Hmmm.... I hope Steve isn't lactose intolerant.

The Lion King's "Circle of Life" Debut.

A really strange dog napper

This is what happens when you tell Brit and Steve to look happy after a stressful morning of packing.

Here is Kate, chowing down on Gator Nuggets. If she knew it was alligator, she'd be pretty upset. We spent forever convincing her that our gator head came from a gator whose head had just fallen off. Silly gator. lol

Let my arm pit serve as a prime example of what happens when you let Josh have the camera.

My beach bathtub.

That's all for now!

My Best Friend

The thing on my mind today is my husband. We've recently undergone a time of transition in our lives, from moving to a new state, separating from the military, to both of us stretching our skills to get good jobs. Seeing how my husband has handled so many tense times and situations has caused my admiration of him to grow in leaps and bounds. I'm realizing to a deeper extent just what an incredible man I married, and how God gave me even better than what I ever knew to pray for. Josh is truly my best friend. He has seen me at my very worst, and still loved me in spite of it. My heart still feels happiness every time I look into his eyes, and I know that I am blessed.

I didn't think it possible, but I'm more in love with him today, than I was the day I married him.
He is a good provider, and he makes me proud of who he is. He is gentle with my heart, and very thoughtful. Even in the midst of a crazy, busy schedule, he still makes sure I feel loved and appreciated in big ways, and small ways. I could not have been given anyone better to spend my life with. Thank you, Josh, for being everything you are to me. Thank you for still making me smile.

Venice Beach & Pool Party

The first item on the to do list for today, was a trip to Venice Beach, which just happens to be my favorite beach that I've been to in Florida so far. We had plenty of fun, and lots of beautiful sunshine. When we jumped in the water for a quick dip, we were greeted by a large school of silver fish that swam near us, undisturbed.

Here are Steve, Kate, and Britany enjoying the beautiful, blue water.

It was soon time to pack up and head to Pam's house (our landlord and friend) for a pool party! But, on the way back to the car, Josh and I couldn't help but stop for a "romantical" moment....

And then, we arrived at Pam's pool party, which was the most awesome pool party setup I've ever seen. Complete with fruity drinks, a hot tub, and everything you could want. Josh was one happy camper.

Britany, Pam, Pam's Husband ( I forgot his name ;) and I

Kate and I played, and played, and played some more....

While "Mommy" chilled in the sun.

Half way, through the day, Josh and I had our brains so fully cooked by the sun, that everything, at least to me, seemed pretty funny, as you can tell. I am writing this hours after this picture was taken, and I feel even more out of it. So, if this blog is strange, blame it on too much sunshine and exhaustion.

Family Visit- Days 1 & 2

Yesterday, I picked my sister, her husband, and daughter up from the airport. We emerged from the airport, luggage in tow, ready to head into St. Pete, and get the vacationing started. This process was somewhat delayed, however. You see, I thought I had parked on level six of the parking garage, when I had really parked on level seven. A true blonde moment. I looked and looked around level six, and took a few moments to ponder the possibilities of my car having been towed... or if I had just lost my mind, altogether. At long last, I finally found my car on level seven. At least losing your mind is free, as apposed to having to pay towing fees, so hey, it can't be that bad, right?

We made it to the house, soon after that. We had a nice fish dinner, coconut rice, and grilled veggies, and then settled in for the night.

And then.... the sun rose, and it was BEACH TIME!!!!

(Left to right: me, Britany)

I really enjoyed being on the beach with my sister again. It reminded us of many family visits to Corpus Christi, in Texas. (although the water is prettier here)

As we were having fun in the sun, we spotted a manatee coming near the shoreline to feed. Or maybe he was lost...I have no clue what he was doing, though he seemed pretty content to hang around the shoreline for a while.

Kate

Kate had a lot of fun playing with her sand toys, making turtle and crab shapes in the sand, only to stomp them into unidentifiable bits. Then she became consumed in a game of chasing a sand piper all of the beach.

Later, she and I sat in the water, to let the waves to splash us pretty good. We both got loaded down with sand in our drawers. Thankfully the camera wasn't around for that.


A highlight of the day was when Kate accidentally called Josh "Auntie Josh" instead of "Uncle Josh".

Britany & Steve

After our beach visit, we went to John's Pass (a popular tourist attraction near the water) where we ate the most expensive ice cream ever, thanks to Steve.

Continuing our journey, we came across a fishing boat that had just docked. The fisherman began cleaning their fish, and throwing the left over fish parts to Pelicans who were eagerly awaiting their daily feeding.

Then, we had dinner at the Green Iguana. Kate had fun with "Uncle Josh", watching ducks swim in the cove below the pier. She fed them lots of tortilla chips.

Then we ended our day with a trip to the park. Britany really enjoyed it.


That's it for now. More to come soon!