Graduation Time

There were a lot of graduations around us this year. Chris had a few cousins graduating both college and high school. My pseudo-sis Megan finished as UCF and my brother John recived his BA from FSU in Tallahassee.

Megan walked and we had a nice dinner to celebrate. John didn't want to walk but we wanted to celebrate with him. John chose a small family vacation. Mom found a vacation rental in Hudson, FL which is about 20 minutes from Tarpon Springs, FL which has a high Greek population, sponges, Greek food etc. (for perspective, Tarpon Springs is about 45 min north of Tampa).

Tarpon Springs wound up being really touristy and cheezy, but we did find some good food. The house was sweet, it came with a hot tub, paddle boat, fishing poles, a golf cart and more. It was relaxing.

The last night there we had a little family style graduation ceremony for John, awarded him sashes for his accomplishments etc.

Pictures are up on Flickr - here.

Prius Commercial

Now that we have a DVR I don't really watch many commercials, but one was so intriguing, even when fast forwarding over it, that I actually went back to watch it. I have to say this is one of my all time favorite commercials, it even beats out the baby who talk about trading stocks. The beauty of it is that it's beautiful, has a great message and that the two actually intertwine so much that you remember it.



I was so intrigued that I went on a quest to find out how the commercial was made and I found allaboutprius.com which had a link to this which I think is worth watching:



So, forgive me if I seem like an over-excited tool of a consumer, but I want to go test drive a Prius now :)

Back in Town

We all made it back from our trip, though some later than others :) - all the details are on our travel blog here.

I was able to get all of the pictures up on my Flickr, you should check them out. There are also videos on YouTube here.

While there are lots of pictures of the cities and sites, I also enjoy taking candid shots of people while we travel and since kids do the darndest things....here are my favorites:

Private Flight

Are you still there?
He's still at the age where as long as he can't see you, you can't see him.

Dancing in the Rain

Away Message

Hi,

Thanks for visiting my blog, but I'm not posting here right now. I'm on a European vacation, you can learn all about it at my travel blog, here. If you would like to leave a comment you can do so after the beep.

Prague, Czech Repulic

Munich & Hamburg, Germany

Dublin, Ireland

Thanks, and have a great day.

Beep.

European Adventure

I know what you're thinking "what? away again? in europe, again!?". Yes, it's true. We're using Chris's benefits as much as possible. This time we're taking my parents along....it's hard to believe that this time last year we were all in Greece. This year we're going somewhere a lot less tropical, but hopefully equally enjoyable. If all goes as planned we're going to start in Prague, Czech Republic, then we're going to Germany to visit Munich and Hamburg where I have family, finally we'll spend one night in Dublin Ireland before returning home.

Chris just got home from work, he's very excited to be off for the next two weeks. Things have been especially frustrating and stressful for him at work, so this vacation is much needed. We have tomorrow to finish up the last minute stuff, pack etc. then on Friday we're off!

Watch for my away message in the next post, as usual, I'll be checking email while gone if anyone has any photo/souveneir requests, etc.

Piglet Flu

Thought this was funny considering my view of the whole swine flu craze.

Swine Flu Craziness

By now everyone is hearing all sorts of media-frenzied stuff about the Swine Flu. I have yet to hear the same numbers twice, I hear 2 deaths, than 150, than 6 - know one really knows. Never bother that way more people die from the normal old flu. The worst part is that there is really no way to get the really story because all sources are influenced by the absurd media.

Needless to say I'm not too worried about it, however my husband does work in airports and planes etc so I figured it would be wise for him to bump up his game. We went to multiple pharmacies to pick up some Anti-Swine-Flu Goods, Hand Sanitizer, AirBorne, Zinc and Zycam...they were all out!

I'm shocked.

People need to chill out.

Ducks & Gators

Went looking for gators with Rick this weekend. He'd never seen one in
person, much less in the wild. We went all over and finally found
a gator swimming in Lake Adair.

In addition to the gator I spotted this very awesome duck mamma. These
ducklings were pretty old, they'd already lost their fluffiness, and
there were still 11 of them. They swam up and then came on shore to
say hi before swimming away.

-posted from my iPhone-

Celebrating Exotic Cars

There was an exotic car show over in Celebration, FL today. C and I
went together, it was well organized with a great turnout. A nice way
to spend our Saturday together. Plus C had fun calling buddies to
brag. ;)

The picture is of a line of Ferraris.

Overeaction/Heros

I am back, with no interesting thoughts to share that don't relate to travel so instead, my favorite post secrets from this week:

I'll come up with something else cool to post soon. :)

Away Message

You've reached my blog. I'm sorry, but I'm not here right now. I'm in Italy with my Mom - you can find us here. Otherwise you can leave a comment after the beep and I'll get back to you.

Beep.

Moving On

We're pretty much settled in. We're still shopping for a few things, I need a comfie chair for my office, hoping to find a comfie futon but we'll see...We are going to make curtains for the living room. I found the fabric and Old Time Pottery of all places. Other than that we're in. I just have to get used to it all now.

I leave for a trip to Italy with Mom on Thursday though, so it's time to switch gears. Keep up with me while I'm in Italy just hop over to the travel blog.

New House Facts

Fun facts about our new house:

- the trains blow their horn a lot, it's comforting
- our bathroom has no door seperating it from the bedroom, curtain hung
- there is a lot of pedestrian and lake traffic out front, more to watch
- wood floors hurt my feets, slipper shopping
- we are under the hospital helicopter traffic path
- our attic space is huge and yucky and dark
- roger can get to the attic from the laundry room
- roger likes to play peekaboo from the attic with people who are below
- if left alone in the attic roger will nap, with all the insulation, bugs and dust
- roger does not like post-attic bathes
- roger has a short memory and will forever try to sneak back to the attic
- we have a lot of windows, that's a lot of window treatments needed
- merging traditional and modern is tougher than I thought

Update:

- the sprinklers go right over our bedroom windows - must close windows on Wednesdays...

Spider Payment

A co-worker sent this to me.

It gets a bit out of control, but it is funny. :)

Moving

We're moving next weekend (anyone who wants to help...) from our current apartment on the East side to a house on Lake in Maitland. I got the keys yesterday and spent the day painting.

Pictures of the house and move etc will come.


In the dining room I wanted to do something different, some type of geometric design. I got Mom to design it for me and we go it up on the wall today. I think it's going to be cool, but it will be hard to tell until we take the tape down.


Check out the process here.

She Skydived & Survived!

My pseudo mom, Velma, wanted to skydive for her birthday. So we all
pitched in and came out to watch and support her.

She was do psyched when she got back that she giggled for three
minutes straight. Says she'd do it again in a heart beat.

I'm very jealous and VERY proud of her.

Random City Crop

This is a vacant lot in college park. The owner has planted a crop of
something. We drove by and they were sitting out watching the
sprinkler water the crop.

Totally random. It felt like a setup for a movie or a candid camera.

Rapping Actor

Chris sent this to me and it caught me off guard. Did you know that Joaquin Phoenix is now a rapper? The same guy from Gladiator, who played Johnny Cash is a rapper?

What?!?

Apparently he's not very good at it.


Check out the story here.

This makes me sad, because I like him as an actor...

Movie Reviews

I'm a bit behind on my movie reviews. Alright a lot behind. So I'm just going to hit those I've seen in the past few weeks.

Slumdog Millionair : It was on my Netflix list long before the Oscars but after it did so well with the awards and was highlighted in the talk shows, I was even more curious. It was a lot more raw than I expected, I think I would have been impressed if I hadn't gone in with high expectations after the awards. I know, I shouldn't listen to the awards....It was good though, entertaining, original, I definitely recommend renting/flixing it. Makes a good date type movie.

He's Just Not That Into You : I knew nothing about this before seeing it. I was looking for a chick flick to see with a chick buddy and it seemed to fit. The cast was full of very familiar faces which was suprising since the two leads were the least well known. It was definitely a sappy, cheezy girly movie. But you know any movie that can make me smile, laugh, embarassed, uncomfortable, suspensful and sad all in one - well that's entertaining and worth watching. Worth a rent/flix.

That's all for now.

Lent Fast Food?

It's getting to be that season, where little girls where frilly dressers, little boys where bow ties and vests, purple and orage egg salad is found at lunch time and rabbits especially cute. Easter is coming.

I'm always reminded of this by the seafood commericals on TV, suddenly everyone from Wendy's (a burger joint) to Popeye's (a chicken joint) is pushing a seafood dish. It must be Lent season.

Last night, though, I got to thinking about this....Lent - "The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial—for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus." It is most common to give up red meat during lent, especially on Fridays, this satisfies the "self denial" part.

So around this time of year we see commercials for the juicy, delectible seafood options in fast food restaurants.

Isn't this a bit self defeating? I will deny myself the pleasure of red meat but then as a substitute I will eat this deep fried, yummy peice of fish? The fast food joints are making a killing off of successfully enticing devout, lent practicing Christians into enjoying a meal when they're supposed to be in self-denial.

I know, a bit extreme, but I still found it ironic. If I ate fast food I'd be in heaven, this is prime pescatarian (vegetarian + seafood) season in that market!

PS - while I do not participate in any of these religious traditions, I respect those who do, so please don't take this offensively, it's the fast food industry I hold at fault, not the un-suspecting lenter.