Bouncing from One Big Storm to Another...

I read long ago that all predictions pointed toward an active hurricane season, and they just might have nailed it this year...

The latest update on Hurricane Central boldly states:
"All interests across central and southern Louisiana should prepare for deteriorating conditions during much of Monday. All measures to protect life should have already been taken by this point."

Scary. I sincerely hope Louisiana is able to fare better this time around. This only reinforces the fact that I need to get over to experience New Orleans sooner than later!

Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Tropical Depression Fay

Thanks to The Weather Channel for this cool find:

Timeline of Fay

Fay was a truly remarkable storm, and is not quite done for the rest of the States, though I think we are finally in the clear. Days of rain, wind, thunderstorms, then a rampage of tornado threats - thankfully, none of which effectively materialized. (!)

And, poor Florida! Look how it was picked on - I've never seen a storm stay so focused on one state...amazing.

College Hill Corridor

Sounds like some really cool things are coming our way, and we couldn't be happier!

Not only are there bicycle & pedestrian friendly initiatives to this project, but the yummy promise of a Jittery Joe's that just can't get here fast enough.

Go Macon! :-)

Living on the Edge of a Tropical Storm

T.S. Fay has been quite an interesting storm, and it is far from over.
We've been fortunate and safe so far with just a few rain showers and some wind, but there is surely more to come tonight. Yes tonight, when we are supposed to get all dressed up and go to MSC's "Welcome Back" cocktail buffet party. I think it rained on us last year, too. But in all seriousness, best of luck and safety to those south of us. It's been a long week for them, and not over yet. Two of my close friends, E & J, recently moved to Orlando, and barely had two weeks to settle in to their new apartment before this storm was on top of them. I think they have now been officially initiated, Florida style. You guys are in our thoughts!

In other news, this Bigfoot hoax is just getting sillier and sillier. Of course they were Georgia boys, too. Way to go guys - I think the grossest tidbit of news came out today. The costume was actually stuffed with roadkill. Somebody had to put it in there, right..? Ew.

Happy Birthday to J!

YAY! :-)

No A/C in August?!

Today's Forecast:
Today: Mostly sunny. A stray afternoon thunderstorm is possible. Heat index near 110F. High 99F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.

Yeah, you saw it with your own eyes: 99+ degrees outside and we have no A/C upstairs! Yesterday afternoon our air suddenly decided to start blowing out hot air instead of cool air, and the entire second floor quickly became a sauna. We called our A/C people right away, and have an appointment today., but the technician just cannot get here fast enough, please please please hurry!!!

Oh, and the best part of this story? We finally splurged on that Tempur-Pedic mattress we'd been pining after for months, and it was delivered yesterday at noon, only moments before the A/C quit and prevented anyone from enjoying it last night. How sad is it to sleep on the couch knowing there is an amazing, soft and heavenly, brand-new Tempur-Pedic waiting upstairs? Life is so unfair sometimes!

Wish us Luck :-)

Too Much Togetherness

How could this be possible, you might ask? :-)

Now, don't get me wrong - I love my hubby and I love to share nearly everything with him. But he is being much too generous lately, and has passed his germy bugs right on to me. Not only have I never had a cold in the summer, but my symptoms have now officially outlasted his. It's just enough to be annoying, and it seems we have had exactly the same thing, whatever it is.

It all starts out with a little tickle in the throat, followed by a full-blown sore throat, then sniffles complete with a simultaneously stuffy and runny nose. Lovely, huh?

Ick. Blah.

On a happier tone - today was a good day. J's iPhone arrived in all its glory, and it is just as amazing as we expected. Worth the wait to get the best one, for sure. I went shopping with my mom, my aunt successfully completed her first chemo treatment, my grandmother won a quarter playing bingo (too cute!), and we celebrated Sarah's birthday in style at the yummy Bonefish Grill. See - I can't complain forever when I am this fortunate :-)

New Addiction

Now I am fully covered - XM for home & car, and now Pandora radio for my computer!

Thanks for the intel, J. Like I needed something else to vie for my freetime ;-)

We Got New Bikes Today!

In a flash of Jerry-inspired hype, we purchased two awesome Trek bicycles from
The Bike Store and the guys rocked - they built our bikes in record time, included deals on helmets, water bottles, future services, info on group rides, the works - even a sweet little bell to make my bike complete! :-)

We found this resource so far, and look forward to getting used to our bikes and then getting involved in some of the local cycling adventures. I am always afraid for the street bikers safety (I am an ortho trauma nurse, after all) but now I think I might want to be one of them. How'd that happen? :-)

Busy week - we had overnight company and hosted a fabulous Cocktail Hour on Thursday with lots of great food, beverages, friends, and laughs.
Good times!

Two Points for Fruit!

Hehe - check it out:

Watermelon may work like Viagra.

Today's top news story, for sure. :-)

Funny Stuff

This is awesome! :-)

Award for Parked Car

Totally how I parallel park...even in my tiny car! Luckily, I have J's AWESOME directorial skills to rely on when this type of parking is absolutely necessary...well sometimes. ;-)

(Found on Reddit via Google Reader)

Oh, TV. I Shouldn't, but I Love You.

My new favorite show! Well, in addition to this one. :-)

Thanks to my beautiful long weekend of six days off from work, I have allowed myself to lounge around and watch marathons of TV both with hubby and without. It's great. We've also spent time with friends, time with family, and time together. Swoon.

My Girls!

I love these ladies!
Felicia visited her Georgia family, and the three of us enjoyed a long-awaited reunion.
Life is good and lifelong friends are amazing.
June 2008.

Heavy Weather

Hard to believe that only one hour before this happened I was sitting at this very table enjoying the afternoon sunshine. A crazy-quick storm blew in out of nowhere and wreaked havoc on our poor little patio, mangling our umbrella beyond repair, toppling our table and chairs, and shattering flowerpots and candle holders.

We think the table will be fine once it's bolted back together...and hopefully our water will be back 100% soon. Yes, we'd never heard of losing water before either, but this is the second time it's happened this year due to storms. Why can't it just rain anymore, without all these threats?


J started reading Heavy Weather during our vacation, and I'm next! Seems scarily fitting, huh?

Felicia's Visit

We had a blast, as you can see. :-)
Lifelong friends ROCK!
June 2008.

Let's Go Back

Missing the beach already...

Sweet Siesta Key, FL.
May 2008.

Day Five: Home, Sweet Home

Made it home safe and sound, pulling into the driveway around 3:00 pm. We shared the driving duties, traded off iPod time, and traveled under a cloudy gray sky for the entire 350 miles home. That type of icky weather made it a tiny bit easier to leave Florida behind, but already I am accosted by calls from work with scheduling questions, have unpacked us both and started a load of laundry, and J washed the car. Blah - we're back to reality. But it was a BEYOND SWEET trip and we are always thankful for safe travels. I already can't wait to get away again soon, but it's nice to be back to our own bed for now. We enjoyed lots of amazing seafood, fine adult beverages, beautiful beach memories were made, and we discovered Siesta Key together, which is now officially on my list of top beach destinations. It was truly swoon-worthy, refreshing and recharging. And now we are relaxing on our couch catching up on the American Idol season finale: home, sweet home. The End.

Update: Yaaaaaay, David Cook! We were so sure this finale was not going to go the way we hoped, but it did! :-)

Day Four: Early Morning Sunshine (of course)

I set our alarm to go off early so I could run down for one last visit with the beach, weather permitting. Of course the sun was shining brightly since it was our last day in Siesta Key, but I couldn't feel too betrayed since it also meant I could squeeze in one more hour of tan time, water time, and general frolicking on the beach time. Besides the hardcore deeply-tanned local beach joggers, I was one of the first people on the beach, snagging a beach chair and a prime spot to enjoy the panoramic view of the ocean. I finished my book, snapped a few final pictures, and collected two of the most perfect shells I've ever seen - they washed up right next to my beach chair, so really, they found me. The water was more clear today than ever before, and I waded around before returning to my chair to bask in the sun until the last minute possible. I took it all in and then returned to the room to find Starbucks waiting for me while I packed. (Thanks, hubby!)

We leisurely made our way up to Tampa and stopped in at the International Plaza Mall, which is my new favorite! Lunch at Champp's and shopping at the Apple Store for J, Forever 21 for me. Let me just say I scored majorly in the fashion department - yay! :-) We checked into a hotel for the night and took in an IMAX movie at MOSI, Roving Mars = way cool. We ventured down to Ybor City for beer and some of J's all-time favorite fabulous pizza at Demmi's Market on 7th. After returning to our hotel to doze along with the HBO movie channel and reading in the cabana by the pool, we hit Bennigan's for a late dinner to split a sandwich and dessert - no less than Death by Chocolate to serve as our vacation grand finale meal, oh yes. Then we cozied up and watched Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer...predictable, but decent. Tomorrow brings the journey home, whether we are ready or not.

Day Three: Rain and More Rain

Anniversary Day!

Our anniversary started off with a fantastic breakfast of eggs benedict at First Watch, my first visit to Whole Foods, and some shopping in downtown Sarasota - used books for J and special anniversary earrings for me - our tradition. :-) We drove through St. Armand's Circle, but it wasn't as easy to appreciate it's bevy of beauty through the torrential downpour. We circled through, pointed out all the things we would have liked to see and do, and turned back toward Sarasota. After an enjoyable and extended pitstop at Borders, we left with a sack full of books and got soaked outside once again. A light lunch at The Hub/Baja Grille with draft beer, salad, chips & queso was just what we needed as we waited the rain out, and now we are back to the room where I am ready to hit the beach despite the little rumble of thunder that just sneaked through our hotel walls.

Just like the day before, the clouds parted by late afternoon, and I spent the rest of the day soaking up the sun until it was time for it to depart. I lounged on the beach for hours, walked with J to the rocky point at the end of the shore and collected more shells until he grew jealous of my seashell obsession (indeed, it's a new favorite thing of mine!!) and retreated inside to clean up for dinner and read books. I stayed outside a bit longer, checked out the pool for a few laps, then showered up for our nightly ritual of cocktails and sunset appreciation before dinner. The clouds that had rolled in parted briefly for some final pink sun rays and then the hazy and lazy neon-glow gave way to the gorgeous full moon that accompanied our entire trip, and we made our way back to St. Armand's to dine al fresco at The Columbia, which never fails to wow. We split a famous "1905 salad" with the mythically tasty crusty cuban bread, tapas for two, and a side of Valencia rice. This "light" alternative to full entrees was far more than enough food for two people, and we made a pact then and there to share more food since it's often wasted with the gigantic portion sizes that are the unfortunate norm. We strolled the circle and stopped in at Kilwin's for a cone of banana-fudge-pie ice cream that rocked my world before heading back for one final night at our beloved little beach resort. This area of Florida intrigues me - we've run into families today from both England and Germany, and our hotel neighbors have interesting European accents that I can't quite place. And I thought our drive was a long one... :-)

Anniversary Trip Journal - Day One: We Made It!

(To catch anyone up to speed who doesn't already know, J and I are celebrating our second wedding anniversary in Siesta Key, FL.)

Loooong drive for us both, due to my lack of sleep and the fact that J's drive actually started in TN, making it a 12-hour trip. Still, we enjoyed the ride, shared the driving duties, and are digging all the space in the CRV.

We stopped by ABC for some goodies before arriving at our destination, the lovely gulfside Tropical Shores around 7:30pm catching a couple of sunset rays on the way to check in. It's beautiful here! Our room is nice and clean, very cute with it's little kitchen and lighted cabana out front, complete with a giant grill, table, and decorative jungle setting. I highly recommend this place - great rates and a great place to stay. Yay! :-)

Dinner took us to Captain Curt's for Crabby Red draft beer, crab cakes, fried shrimp for J and a yummy Cheese-Snapper-in-Paradise sandwich for me. Cute atmosphere, and within walking distance. After dinner, we walked down to the beach and J laughed at me as I snatched up beautiful seashells. Tonight we greeted sleep early and eagerly, in preparation for the fun to come.