Spring Break!

When my nieces and nephews are on break, it's our little tradition to take a short vaca together.  We have done theme-parks, snow-tubing trips, hotel stays and everything in between.

It can be tricky to coordinate their schedule with their parents, grandparents and my work schedule but we always find a way to get together. 

Last night Shane, Payton and I went to the port and had dinner where Jessica works.  It's a really nice seafood restaurant right on the water where the cruise ships are docked.  We of course had appetizers and desserts (that is what auntie dinners are for!) and got the chance to snap a picture as a ship was pulling out.  

Today we went to Brevard Zoo and went zip-lining.  We spent part of the day wondering around the zoo and a few hours over in the Tree Trek Adventure side.

Payton wasn't able to go on the "big kid" part, she missed it by about two inches so she and I went to the area for the little ones.

She did really great going through the trees and had a blast on the zip line.  Here are some pictures.

I had a fender-bender in my go-kart last Saturday so I wasn't able to go on the zip line tour but they did let me follow everyone around so I didn't miss out.  We all had so much fun and Payton has already declared she is coming back once she grows a little more.  I wish I had a couple more days to hang with them but we are super busy at work so back I go tomorrow.  I will get to see them all in a few days for Easter and can't wait!

Feeling the love in St Pete

I love weddings! We got married in 2001, which seems like a lifetime ago.  Simon and I cruised over to the west side of the state and went to our friends, Bryan & Erin's wedding.

St. Petersburg is just over two-hours from where we live.  I wish we had gone over a day earlier to really explore the city. We stayed in the downtown area and the wedding was walking-distance from the hotel.
Check out this adorable bag of goodies we got when we checked in.

The wedding was in the Museum of Fine Arts and the museum is right on the water.  It was really beautiful.
I didn't get many pictures on this trip but I found a picture online of what the back terrace of the museum looked like.

We got to see lots of old friends and I smiled all night.

Simon and I talked about having a 10-year anniversary party (missed that by two years) but I really get it back on my mind as we go to such great events like last night.

So, congrats to Bryan and Erin Adams, we wish you a lifetime of happiness.  xoxo

Was I saying I had free time?

When I started this blog I felt like I had so much free time.  How quickly that has changed.  I am really busy at work and my personal life needs it's own 40-hour schedule these days too.

I am playing indoor soccer Monday nights.  It is a co-ed league with a couple of long time friends on the team and several new friends.  Our games are an hour-long and the sport, especially indoor is really good for staying in shape.  We've played three or four weeks already and each Monday night I come home and crash afterwards.

Tuesday night is soccer practice for the youth team I coach.  My high school friend, James and I have been coaching several seasons together.  We coached in high school and my niece Payton needed a coach a few seasons back so my sister Holly wrangled me in.  I called James out of the blue and he agreed to help coach too.  Neither of us have kids but both of us have played soccer for a long time and have enjoyed being a mentor to the little ones.  We played yesterday and won 6-1.  The kids were over the moon.  We snapped a photo yesterday at half-time. (James couldn't make it to the game)

My sister Jessica was home sick this week so I didn't play kickball with her Wednesday.  Thursday night I went to my Dad's to get go-karts set up for the weekend.  Luckily he does most of the work on the kart but he does need me to sit in the kart so he can make final adjustments.  It takes an hour or so and then we load everything up in the trailer so we can just pull right out on Saturday.

We had 8:30 games Saturday (my younger niece Logan plays too) and I had just enough time to come home, feed the dogs, change clothes and head to the track.  We ran at Volusia County Speedway which is about a 90-minute drive.  We both had good finishes and got back home at 11:00 last night.  

I woke up this morning, went back to my Dad's to clean-up from last night and finally got back home this afternoon.  Time to do some laundry, tidy up the house and get ready for another busy week.  

Lots going on at work next week, I have another model home to decorate, am being published in two local newspapers for some local home-building news and am headed to a friend's wedding for the weekend.  I bought my first new bathing suit for the season so I am hoping to find a few minutes over the next several weekends to lay by the pool and soak up some Florida sun.  It's been unusually cool so far this season so I am hoping with the new bathing-suit I can trick mother nature into giving us some tanning temperatures. :)     

Hello Book Worm

So I have been working on a side project in my spare time and have made enough progress to share with the world.  I am excited to show a peek.
My title is High Ambition in High Heels.  My target reader is the young professional female in her 20's to mid 30's.  It will be the first in a series of books filled with success tips based on the things I've learned along the way.  I am still working on edits for the front and back cover but this will show the overall look I decided on.

I used a company I found online, www.99designs.com.  I received more than 200 designs from artists all around the world and used a couple polls to get opinions from friends and family.  It was a fun process and I am pleased with how it came out. 

See ya at the bookstore! :)

  

Model home decorating: A little old, a little new

Working for a new home builder means building new model homes for visitors to tour.  We usually add a few new model homes each year and last month we finished the first new model home of 2013.
We owned some of the furniture and added some new pieces from Ashley Furniture.

The Adams Homes 2,430. 4 beds + 3 baths 

We owned everything in the guest bedrooms.  

The master bedroom is mostly new from Ashley Furniture.  

The formal living room is all new.  We opted for an upholstered bench instead of a traditional coffee table.  We owned the formal dining room set and added an accent wine rack to keep it modern.

Both seating areas ended up with new furniture and both got a neutral sofa with a mix of floral and striped pillows.  We chose an oatmeal colored sofa set but mixed and matched the end tables so it wasn't too matchy-matchy.  

We combined modern and traditional in the kitchen accessories to keep with the flow of the adjoining formal living room and family room.

I just ordered new furniture for a new model home in Sebastian and we'll be moving in the next couple of weeks.  I'll post some more pictures once we get it put together.