More boring home decorating stuff - but I love it!

Have you ever been extremely happy with the majority of your home decor? Me? Not hardly. Maybe one or two spots but generally I always have the feeling "I want to change this or that but only after I change that first..." And it took Mr. Fitness quite a while to realize this is just how life with me was going to be. I move and change stuff around!

So, I'm delighted to say that I'm at a point where I'm happy with the way our condo is set up and decorated! That like totally never happens to me!

I captured it so ya'll can see.

I'm trying to decide...

if I like lobster or not...I got a whole lobster for the first time yesterday and it was uber messy and not a lot of actual stuff to eat....so I think next time I'll just stick to the tail.

I like tail. LOL.

Operation Holy Cow - A Year Later

Holy Cow! Tomorrow will be one year exactly since I left Birmingham and it’s very hard to fathom. I remember when we decided to do this and our friend Dutchie would say “Just give it a year. If you don’t like it you can come back.”

Um. Yeah. We’re not coming back anytime soon. Because we FREAKIN LOVE IT HERE. L-o-v-e with a capital L! Love! Adore!

Mr. Fitness is totally at home and feels like he lived here in another life. I wouldn’t go that far especially since the sun doesn't exactly like me, but I think this was one of the best decisions we have ever made. And, I'm gonna tell you why.

It’s made me realize that there is an entire world out there. A world where I can decide that I want to become this or do that, and if I really want it to happen, it will. I grew up believing that. My parents told me that my whole life – I would ask them what they wanted me to be when I grew up (didn't want to disappoint of course) and they would say “Jamie, you can be whatever you want to be. It’s all up to you.” Somewhere along the journey, I forgot. You get so complacent with life because it’s still a good life. It’s not like anything bad or horrible happened and you made a huge mistake. Side note: even if you did make a huge mistake, that’s ok too, because that’s what forgiveness is for and it’s still up to you to change it and make the steps towards what you really want. Back on subject: Complacency is a bad thing. You think “oh next year we’ll do this or do that”…then the next year is there and did you go where you wanted to go or do what you wanted to do? Well, ya’ll, sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t.

I try very hard to live my life without regret and so far I can say that I have none, well, maybe a few minor ones but nothing major YET. It’s still damn scary. The weekend that Chad and friends brought me to Florida and before Chad left to get on the plane, I had a full blown break down - and also one documented here. What was I doing? How did we let this go so far? I can’t do this. I can’t be by myself. I can’t do this new job. I need my complacent, comfy life back NOW! Then, Chad consoled me and told me I can do this, I was strong. And he was right. The ups and downs only make you a stronger person.

I feel like I can conquer the world after this experience. Will we stay here forever? Who knows. But I would never let it be out of the question for us to move even to Acapulco (another reference to my parents) for that the next step in our life, career, education - whatever the case may be.

A year later and Operation Holy Cow is definitively not a decision we regret. Friends and family, here is my plea to you: if there is that one thing that’s in the back of your head that you always wanted to do or see. Do it. Start making the steps now to make it a reality for you. You will not regret it, I promise.

You can be whatever you want to be. It’s all up to you.

P.S. There is a 2 Bedroom/1.5 bath townhouse - beach access, pools, wildlife sanctuary for your backyard - that is for rent on the island...hint hint....wink wink....nudge, nudge......

Key Largo - CHECK!

So now I can mark Key Largo off my list! Yes! Here are some shots of the trip:

Sunrise before we left:

Vast nothingness on the way there (but I bet there are alligators in there):

Off to our first snorkeling destination:

Before snorkeling:

Gorgeous home on the way at the end of the canal where the boat was parked (parked?):

Argh, matey!

Spending the evening at the Treetops Restaurant:

And the view at breakfast:

We went through Miami and I probably took 100 pictures! We are going for a long weekend in October so I'll blog more about it then, but this is just a hint:

A great, relaxing adventure!

Jaws V

Spent some time on 'da beach today...

Here's a little crabby friend:

And here's a man-eating friend:

Eye-candy friend or as Mr. Fitness calls it "the definition of a banana hammock":

Oh. Wait. Let me enlarge that picture for you:

And in other completely unrelated news, I made the monchiichi a Yamaka:

The. Shark. A guy caught it about 20 yards away from where we were chillin'. It's a baby nurse shark. The guy's wife said her family was here last week and they saw several mommy and daddy nurse sharks in the water.

Did you know they can get up to 14 feet long? Holy Shark Week Batman.

A Happy Hooker I Am!

*Imagine me saying the title of this blog in an Eliza Doolittle accent pre-speech lessons*

That's right. I stitch and I bitch...okay not really. It's a phenomenon that I'm catching the tail end of. Or maybe in the middle of? Typical. Basically, it's a group of people that get together and knit or crochet and talk about life's problems. I'm not in said group as I'm a solitary hooker. Hook. I use a hook. With the yarn. So I'm a hooker. Geez, get your mind out of the gutter people! I'm venturing out and spreading my wings into other hooking patterns like purses and jewelry and the like! But no worries, after I finish the shawl and the purse, I'm going to work on a Zombie Bot!

The shawl I'm working on except in turquoise:

In the beginning....and again in the beginning.....then again (I had to restart this darn thing 3 times!)

And now look how far I've gotten! I ran out of yarn so I had to get more and plan to work on it tonight...I may even finish it! What's that you say? That's right FINISH it....

And the purse I am working on. It looks red in the photo but it's pink:

Dog bot...in pieces...it's so much bigger than it's supposed to be. I didn't have the right hook size but now I bought the right hook size and may just redo it but not before I tackle the Zombie Bot!

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain....

This is my 100th post. Cheers to yer all who have weathered ye storm with Ole Paddy...

Hugs-N-Punches update

We have a drummer! Yippee!

Isn't Joshua absolutely adorable? I think he will be a fan favorite.