Doing the Harlem Shake

Work has been super busy lately but every office needs a little time-out to keep balance.  One of our superintendents had the idea of doing the Harlem Shake.  I had to get an education because I was out of the loop on the latest dance craze but after a little YouTube searching I found lots and lots of videos.

When I talked to my co-workers they were so excited and we got right to planning.  The video is hilarious.  We had a videographer do our edits and it came out so funny.  Too funny not to share.

Here are a few pictures from us getting ready.  That is me in the wedding dress.  I don't have many costumes around the house and was excited to put my dress on again, after nearly 12 years.  My veil was slipping off during my dancing but other than that, all went as planned.

and here is our video.......

Gone Fishing

This week I went on my first ever fishing trip.  My family is not exactly wired to sit in a boat for eight hours and wait around for a fish to bite so I have never had the fishing experience.  People were surprised to hear that because I grew up on lakes, rivers and beaches living on the coast but the only time I really spent on the water was for weekend ski trips on mostly fresh water lakes.
This trip was more of a corporate outing and we went to Mosquito Lagoon in New Smyrna Beach, about an hour away.
We got to the docks just before 7:00am which is waaayyy too early in my opinion but I didn't get a vote in it.  Nonetheless, we all went out with our guides and shortly thereafter I was learning how to throw the line in the water and reeled in my first catch.

All in all I caught three fish and we were back at the docks for lunch.  We had a great time and my first fishing trip was a success.  Here is my first official fishing photo. :)

 

Officially a Swiftie!

Taylor Swift!
Last week a friend gave me two tickets to the Taylor Swift concert in Orlando.  The first person I thought of to use the second ticket was my niece, Payton.  She is eight years old and loves Taylor Swift.

She is shy so I wasn't sure how'd she handle the tens of thousands of SCREAMING fans but she did great.
Our tickets turned out to be in a suite so we weren't so much in the hustle-bustle of everything.

I left a Taylor Swift fan all the way.  Taylor is very encouraging to everyone, especially young girls growing up.  Her songs are written right from her heart and I really felt sorry for her that she was bullied growing up.
The show was great.  She had fireworks, moved around a lot to different stages and put on a great concert.  If you have the chance to see her live, do it.

Here are a few pictures from the show.

Easter Bunny makes a visit

What would Easter be without a visit from the bunny?  One of my friends owns some local Hallmark greeting card stores and they happen to own a couple Crayola bunny costumes.  With my youngest niece being three years old, I decided this was the year the kids were old enough for a visit during the egg hunt.

It went off without a hitch.  The kids were very curious and luckily no-one burst into tears.
It was really fun to surprise them and they never knew it was me in the costume.  My Dad had more than 100 eggs and the kids explored around picking up all they could.

Simon was home for the weekend so it made the holiday that much better.  Here are a few pictures from our Easter.

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. :)