just another day at the office

so my boss pops his head in, like he does.  scares me half to death, as i scramble to act like i'm actually doing something productive.  (hey a girl has to take a break between the dozens of yucky sales calls i have to make)

he says: "the snakes are back."

me: "um... what?" 

him: "yah, april is the biggest month for snakes around here because they're all coming out of hibernation." 

(i silently process this, making an urgent mental note to not go outside for the next 30 days). 

he adds: "yah, so encourage people to go outside on the snakey trail... the more people are out there, the less snakes will be apt to be on the trail."

riiiight.   be right on that.  i hope he was being sarcastic.

new developments

rufio will not be joining our family.  he requires a yard & all we have to offer is a patio on the third floor of an apartment.  but we're keeping our eye out for another companion for flo.

we are also going to red robin right now.  which might not sound like a big deal, but really it's a HUGE deal because florida is deprived.  our closest red robin until now is in georgia, like 7.5 hours away.  now it's only 40-minutes... yes, it's worth the drive.  we excite easily.

sunday afternoon

we had an appointment with julian.  this time i came equipped with our camera to take some pix of her beautiful house.  i was too chicken to ask to take pix inside, except when i used her bathroom.  i also snapped a picture of the holly hill gnomes. creepy & quirky & cool all at the same time.  we had an afternoon thunderstorm.  where oh where is spring?  our session was sooo great.  i feel like we made more progress on some issues that are looming over our heads.  she makes me feel so good.  she makes me feel positive & excited & inspired to take on the future.  she reminded me that as important as it is to try to be present in the moment, it's also important to have some short term goals for the next 6 months to a year, so that the daily grind of life doesn't feel overwhelming on the hard days, and the days where you don't feel motivated to do anything that you can remind yourself of what you are working toward.  she gave us the pep talk we needed & the extra push we needed to carry out an adult conversation in our near future.  she reminded us that it doesn't matter if nobody supports us because if they can't accept what is best for our marriage then we don't need their support anyway.  she loved our idea of rescuing two daschunds.  & she even let us borrow one of her dvds, a season of the dog whisperer with cesar millan, who is a renowned dog behavior specialist.  so we watched it all afternoon & it made us feel even more excited about becoming doggy parentals. she also gave us some financial tips & made us feel on top of our financial game. she told me i need to stop buying clothes. zane enjoyed that.  the truth hurts.  she is a fan of suze orman (sp?) so we have intentions of doing some research before our next session in a couple weeks!  she is the best.  a cheerleader/advice giver/financial advisor/sympathizer all in one! 

check out the mini wooden door!

zane made me smile when i came back to the car he said: "wouldn't it be cool if the kids (he means evie & aidan) were here so they could run down the dock & we could snap a picture while the birds took flight?"  i love it when he shares some of his creativity with me.  (there were more birds then this picture shows- dozens were sitting on the railing)  it would have been cool indeed.

this is the neighbors house, it is beautiful too.

this is up the street.  the whole neighborhood is awesome.

satisfaction is...

satisfaction today was brought courtesy of:

-warm sunshiney weather
-energy granted to do afternoon errand running like:
-setting up automatic bill pay for state farm
-finding out about this really cool life insurance policy where you get all the premiums back in 20-years, so basically its like a savings account that doubles as a life insurance policy (God forbid we ever need it!)
-meeting my love for lunch at sonny's
-mailing some overdue things at the post office. 
-finding two perfect fathers day gifts
-finding the perfect baby gift for newly expecting amigos
-new csi: miamis in our mailbox (horatio caine might be a cornball, but the beautiful floridian scenery & colors are worth it ok!)
-a long overdue conversation with my mama
-inspiration to have dinner ready for zane when he got off work
-new magazines with inspiring wonderful springy ideas
-new taylor swift mag with pretty pix
-inspiration to write in spanish
-laughing until tears came out of my eyes while introducing zane to some kendra episodes
-a surprise letter & aidan's newest school pix with a real live bunny!

love the days that feel like a reset button for my brain.  can't wait for the continued feelings of renewal that spring brings. 

happy things

a pretty lavendar hydrangea.  one of my favorites.  makes me happy when i see it on our kitchen table when i walk thru the front door.

hot pink accessories.  a girls best friend.

old skool little boy undies made for big boys & rubber neon sunglass necklace thingies.  things for my brothers 20th birthday.  hey a girl is obligated to keep her little brother humble.

the book zane is glued to every night. learning how to be a good doggy daddy.

raspberry bubbly with real raspberries

chocolate frosted cake

zane's request for dinner last night.  spinach salad with summer fruit.  so fresh & tasty.  plus my new stash of mags full of springy inspiration. 

music

sometimes i just can't help but like a song with a catchy beat, even if it has stupid lyrics... ok, i'm sorry.

& sometimes a day just requires turning up the music so loud that you can't hear yourself think anymore....

i'm currently listening to c89.5fm online, my favorite radio station in seattle.  & i'm hearing a traffic report, and i'm just sooo sad.  hearing about I-5 & 405 & bellevue & seattle & redmond & federal way & issaquah... i miss those places...

wednesdays

i've come to love wednesdays. 

wednesdays are my late days.  i can sleep in til 11 if i want to because i don't have to be to work til 1.  that means i can stay up late on tuesday nights & not regret it the next morning. 

also wednesdays zane has started this tradition of bringing me something at work.  the first week was a bouquet of wildflowers (my favorite).  the second week was a single yellow carnation with pink edges.  the third week was a cupcake with green sprinkles for st. paddy's day.  and today was a publix sub & my favorite chocolate. 

he ate with me in my office.  he's never seen where i actually spend my days at the gym before.  it was fun.

today really felt like spring.  it was 72 degrees. i still wore a coat, but i didn't feel so chilled like i usually do.   and when i left work tonight i got a whiff of "dirt" or "fertilizer" or a combination.  anyway it smelled so good & fresh 

i wore my new all white mini-dress from banana.  it was an $80 dress that i got for $14.  bargains like that make me smile

mini-dresses, stilettos, my freshly straightened hair (with my new hot pink straightener! it's so pretty!) & lots of foundation distracted me from my skin that went all teenager on me this week.

one of my best friends who i consider my sista from anotha motha celebrated her 23rd year today.  i missed her so much i left her two voicemails=)

after work i crossed off FIVE things off my "to-do" list. so satisfying. 

& then i got a surprise text from care bear who is in town for the night unexpectedly.  now i'm anticipating a fun girls night...

yay for wednesdays!

what a day

i took a "personal day" if you will.  i think the PC term is: "mental health day," but the non-pc-version is called: "i-faked-sick-cos-i-didn't-feel-like-workin'-today-day."  actually i truly didn't/don't feel good, but i find that people don't typically appreciate the honesty in details.  so saying i was up all night with the flu goes over way better then "i'm having a really hard time with my medicine, and i feel like i have moi stayerning sickness, nooo i haven't actually thrown up yet, but i might. & i'm cranky."   
this nausea thing is getting old, i can tell you that right now.  i guess i'll have to go back to taking my pill at night, and battling with sleep instead.  you're supposed to pick your battles right?  so i guess i'd rather fight with sleep than nausea. 

the microwaveable breakfast bowl that zane has been raving about haunted me for the rest of the day.  i even had to hide the box in the bottom of our trash can.  just the sight of it sent waves of nausea over me.

i stayed in bed all day.  like i do any day that i don't have to be at work.  i watched like 5 episodes of kendra.  i'm pathetic. 

i baked a cake & ate it too.  literally.  i did that an hour before zane came home at nine.  so the house would smell good for him.  and so i could risk salmonella & eat yummy cake batter. better than the cake itself i think.  the cake batter didn't bother me too much but when i went to lick the chocolate frosting off the spatula i used to frost the cake, i had to spit it out because my tummy started to rebel.

i guess i did do a load of laundry too.  i know, i really pushed myself.

and i did return a dvd to redbox.  zane had brought home new moon (i'm glad we didn't see it in theaters, it wouldn't have been worth $20 & the annoying screaming teenage girls) the day before & i wanted to return it without a late fee. i gave myself 13 minutes & hoped for no lines.  it was my adrenaline rush for the day.   the cake was a little brown & crusty by the time i got home.

i also had a pounding headache from a lack of cigarettes in 24-hours.  a small accomplishment.  everytime i moved i thought my head was going to just explode.

i wanted to drink 8 glasses of water.  i only drank one.

i realized before i closed my eyes to sleep that night that i hadn't even brushed my teeth.  ew.

i'm glad it's over. 

Sunday Afternoon

I temporarily lost my camera battery charger & then my usb cord... so pix have backed up since december of '09.  i know i know, it's annoying to look at christmas pix in mid-march, but it is what it is.  but hey, i actually posted them in chronological order for once in my life. yay

Jacksonville: Part II

a random december night found us in downtown jax.  as you'll notice. i heart the city. 

Fitness One Holiday Party

Miss Carrie hosted the holiday party at her casa in mid-december.  We were asked to dress in costume so i went as a snowflake fairy & zane went as rudolph.  good times were had.  i knoooow.  i didn't get any good pix of our full costumes.  but some of the pieces are in our costume box so maybe they'll make a reappearance.  i gave my cute snowflake fairy-esque shirt to evie, as it was supposed to be a dress for a size 8 little girl.  i figured she'd get more use out of it. :)

December 23rd

take a walk with me... thru our gate & down the bridge over the canal at sunset on a winter evening...

X-mas in St. Augustine

Olde Towne is always lit up beautifully for the holidays, so we took a winter stroll to get in the spirit on x-mas eve.