Is summer really almost over?

Wow.  August is in two days.  Where has the summer gone?  Seems like Memorial Day just passed and now fall clothes are in stores and the kids are heading back to school in just a few weeks.

My schedule feels as full as ever.  I am playing soccer, kickball, racing, working and coaching soccer starts in a couple of weeks.  I also started a mini-garden and have three pots of tomatoes and some green peppers growing.  I am really enjoying come home each day to water my plants and see if there is anything ready to harvest.  They are growing so quickly, I am amazed.  I have begged Simon to dig me a place in the yard to expand my garden growings but so far, to no avail.  Here is a picture from a couple weeks ago.

 
So with the blink of an eye, my tomatoes are all grown up and summer is gone.  I plan to really make the most of the next few weeks and soak up the summer sun as much as possible.

Welcome Back

It's been a while since I have been online.  I have been out of town travelling a lot and hadn't taken the time to hop on here.
It is summertime, one of my favorite times of the year.  It has been so rainy here.
We have done the best we can to maintain our family tradition of boating on the weekends but have spent as much time inside my dad's motorhome as we have laying by the water.  Here are a few recent photos.

I am working to plan a mini-vaca with my oldest niece and nephew.  I am also planning my first trip to Ecuador to visit one of my best friends.  In the mix of that, I am racing nearly every weekend and trying to find time to go to Atlanta for a quick trip with my husband.  Before we know it, cooler temps will be here and my tan will have faded away.

Hope you are having a great summer.  :)

Tiger wins at TPC

Growing up a soccer player, golf was never in my future.  When I started a career in home building all that changed.  Turns out, golf is really popular for those in construction and banking alike.  I first learned to golf in 2005 and really enjoy it.

Five years ago I got the chance to go to my first professional event, TPC (The Players Championship) in Ponte Vedre.  It was amazing.  The facility is manicured to perfection and there are no other sports I know of where you can get THIS close to the professional players.  Well, five years later it is still one of my favorite annual events.

It starts on Thursday and runs through Mother's Day.  I have been twice on Sunday and this year marked my third Thursday visit.  A small group of us from work went and I snapped a few photos to share.  I watched the final round today on TV and Tiger finished with the win, on his 300th start.  It was pretty neat I was just a few feet away from him on opening day.  

Clockwise: Tiger Woods (orange), Phil Mickelson (white), KJ Choi (blue)

Florida Resident Perk: Theme parks!

I have a couple friends that work at theme parks in Orlando and Sunday we were treated to some passes to go to Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure.  My friend Rob is building the new Transformers ride and got tickets for my nephew Shane and I to join him and his son for a day of park-hopping.
My stepsister Mariah has annual passes so she joined us and since she is an expert, she was the navigator.

We had a fun day but I was quickly reminded why I don't go too often....the rides make me sick.  :(
What a bummer.  The weather was perfect and I was excited since we don't go very often (and we live less than an hour away) but after going on a few simulated rides I wasn't feeling very well.

We did manage to catch a quick Blues Brothers performance, eat some caramel apples and hit the scariest roller coasters and make our way through two parks in eight hours.  Our last stop was the new Harry Potter area and it was really neat.  I had high hopes of trying the Butter Beer but that ride was the toughest of the day for me and I wasn't feeling up to it once the ride ended.  After the day I have reconfirmed that I am best suited for the night life Universal offers and will keep my visits limited to the nightclubs.  :)

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.