Girls Weekend 2014

Girls Weekend 2014  CLICK ON LINK FOR VIDEO

The girls weekend with my girlfriends that I've known since grade school was a huge success.  Already looking forward to next year. :)


There is something to be said about old friends. I grew up in a small town in Missouri. The same town that my parents and grandparents grew up in. There is something quite wonderful about life long friends that know you...really know you. These women that I adore so much knew me from girl scouts, from St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, from playing on the DoubleCola softball team, from  first loves, broken hearts, school dances, and all the other memories that come with knowing someone for your whole wide life :)

Not everyone made it this year to Florida but they were there in our hearts. Some will never be with us again but their memories are always part of our conversations and they are loved just the same..never to be forgotten.

I am feeling so blessed to have known these women.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 
― Maya Angelou

Day 4: My Job

On this 4th day of my 30 Thankful Days I am thankful for my JOB.

I am very blessed to have a job that I love and to be able to work with my partner, her son and my family. I am an office manager for Home & Condo Rentals and Property Management Inc. in Siesta Key Florida. My older sister is the Broker for the company, my mother is her partner and is a property manager in our Venice office. My brother in law handles the maintenance department. My Partner and her son are the agents in the Sarasota Office. We all work very well together and enjoy what we do.

I'm very fortunate to have almost always loved my jobs. I truly believe that life is too short and you spend too many hours at work to be doing something that you don't enjoy.

St Pete Pride 2013

St Pete Pride 2013

Thanksgiving Crab

This Thanksgiving was very different from any other that I've experienced in my 44 years. We didn't have games before dinner, we didn't have turkey, dressing , noodles or even my moms famous 7-up salad. She always told us one day we'd be sorry that we teased her about it every year and we'd miss it....yep..I missed it!!

My older sister and her family went to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving with her husbands family this year. My dad moved to TN a few years ago and doesn't come back for the holidays. My younger sister spent the day with her boyfriends family. Vic was home sick in bed. So I went up to my mom and Greg's (her significant other) house. Two of their tenants  joined us and we had a crab boil out by the water (which is also their front yard..so it's pretty cool)  I think it was almost 80 degrees out and everyone walking by had on shorts...so it was a beautiful day to be outside saying thanks to the spirits for all that we have.

We had crab legs and shrimp, sausage, potato's,carrots and onions, chocolate sheet cake, pumpkin pie and corn on the cob (mom cut my corn off for me because ever since my days in braces I have not eaten corn on the cob....I love that she spoils me this way even at 44 years old!)  Dinner was yummy, the conversation pleasant and the view ...priceless.

I left just in time to catch a beautiful sunset on the beach for my drive home...A very different Thanksgiving but one I'll always remember. I hope that your holiday was just as memorable and spent with those that mean the most.

Google Earth

Lately I've been exploring Google Earth. I saw several posts on facebook and twitter that the google earth car has been driving around Sarasota again.

Last night I went back to Missouri (via google earth) and drove by my grandparents houses. It was cool to see the familiar sights but kind of sad to see the houses as they look now. I missed the porch swing on Grandma Ethels house and grandma Dunnys porch was gone entirely ! There was however a new garage along side the house with people standing outside talking. The people were blurry but I let my mind wander to the conversations that had been held in that exact spot by my family members.



Then I came back to Florida and drove by my dads old house.It was kind of neat because they have not updated google earth in a while I guess because dads red truck was in the drive way and his flag was flying on the front of the house. For a moment or two it was almost as if he was still here just across town from me.





Do you ever go visit places on google earth?

Day Trip to Ikea

Vic and I have been planning on going to the new Ikea in Ybor for a long time now. In fact I think it's been there long enough that it is not even thought of as the "new" Ikea anymore. But anyway....today we made our plans! We printed a map...Ikea is about 72 miles from us..

We filled up...Gas has actually gone down to $3.85 a gallon, vs $3.88 that we paid last week. The trip didnt seem to take long at all.

There were lots of people at Ikea today, but we were lucky and found a parking place right up front!
Here are a few more pictures from our day. We ate at the restaurant inside. Vic had the meatballs, I had chicken and pasta (bland) and we tried some dessert called Princess cake..it was delicious and very light.

We found a perfect toy for dexter! A very long alligator with a baby in it's mouth...We could just see him trying to drag that thing around the house!

We did pick up a few things we needed for work and got everything packed in the car and then the skys turned black and the wind picked up.....Scary drive home!!

Saturday Adventures

  Today we bought two car seats for our miniature dachshund's. Dexter loved his. DJ ...not so much. I think he broke his. We live just a few minutes away from the dog park and had to stop in between to catch them from trying to get out of their new seats. They were worn out on the way home so it was not an issue.

We also stopped by Sharkys for a bite to eat. The weather and beach were beautiful! It was an  hour wait..welcome to season!

Parasailing above Siesta Key

Sorry I've been MIA lately, we are enjoying our company from California and will have lots to blog about next week!

Tried parasailing for the first time yesterday. I screamed my head off for much of the time but towards the end started calming down enough to sort of enjoy it! ha!