Bubble Blowing Skirt and Top GIVEAWAY!!!!

Bubble Blowing Skirt and Top GIVEAWAY!!!!

I was just checking out some different blogs and saw this. For anyone with a little girl...it's adorable!

The best nephew in the world...

Is already FIVE years old! Pascal turned five on Monday and I wish more than anything that I could have been in Minnesota to celebrate with him. I cannot believe that he's already been in my life for five years. I remember when he was a bald, chubby little baby that everyone fussed over and spoiled. I guess the only thing that has changed is he's now tall and skinny with a ton of blonde hair. He still makes me smile and laugh everytime I see him. He is one of the smartest kids I have ever know and he will probably make my heart melt even when he's all grown up. I love him more than I ever thought I could and can't wait to have a late birthday celebration in New Hamphire in July!Happy Birthday Pascal!

Nightime at the Ocean

We decided to check out the ocean at night. I could not believe how different it was than during the day. It was kind of erie. It was VERY dark. And it was soooo quiet. We all wore head lamps so we could easily see what was right in front of us. We saw lots of dead 'man-o-wars'. Come to find out, these can be lethal if they sting you with their tentacles. We've seen lots of warnings about them lately when we go to the beach...and now we know why! We also saw a giant sea turtle! He had just got done laying eggs and was heading back into the water when we spotted him. I got pretty close and actually got a decent picture of him.

I think this nightime beach experience was enough for me for awhile. Too many sea creatures way too close to shore for my liking! You never know when a giant could be lurking by shore!

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear DADDY! Happy Birthday to you!!!

I love you Dad. You'd better make those business friends of yours take you out and sing you happy birthday in Washington D.C.! Wish I could be with you today. Love you SO much!

xoxoxo

First Introduction...

The 30 Day Shred

Shanna...I checked out your blog this morning and you inspired me. I started The Shred today. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's Jillian Michaels' (trainer from The Biggest Loser) work out DVD. It's 20 minutes a day for 30 days straight. The average results are 10 - 20 pouns lost. It's 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs...three times in a row. I was skeptical about it...but wow, is it a work out. I was sweating 2 minutes into it. I'm excited to get shredded!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We found a great club that's outside...right by the beach!

Matt & I were quite excited.
Melissa and I were laying on the beach and realized this could be a cool picture. This is my first attempt at creative photography.
Cartwheels on the beach!

I did not use zoom for this picture. This guy was literally right next to my car. Along with many of his friends.

These rhinos looked like they were about to get into a fight.

Thankfully, they never did.

Sorry I haven't posted for so long. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Cory and I just realized that we've already been living here for 3 weeks. I cannot believe how quickly the time has already gone by. We've met some great people, ranging from bartenders, real-estate agents all the way to full-time golfers. (Dad, I've already got a crew of guys you can go out on the golf course with!) We've explored lots of cities. Ft. Lauderdale, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Plantation, Hollywood, etc. I haven't made it down to Miami yet but I've been told that it's basically just more traffic and even more expensive restaurants. We are definitely hoping to make a trip down to the Keys sometime soon. It's only a 3 hour drive to Key West...about 1.5 hours to Key Largo. Even the Bahamas are close...just a 30 minute plane ride!

We've already had some visitors from Minnesota! My good friend Melissa and her boyfriend Charlie came down just a few days after we got here. They stayed with us Wednesday through Sunday and we had a great time! We went on a safari at Lion Country Safari. You actually drive your own car through the safari and the animals can get as close to the car as they'd like. It's pretty strange having to stop the car to let a rhino cross the road. We spent Easter at Rapids Waterpark and had a blast. I felt like we were 10 years old. Some of those rides got us pretty excited!

The day after Melissa and Charlie left, Cory's mom came down for 5 days. We had a blast with her. All she really wanted to do was lay at the beach so she wasn't too hard to entertain.

It's funny to me that I couldn't get people to drive 4 hours to Iowa City for a visit...but now everyone is hoppin' on a plane to come down here. I guess that's how it works when you live somewhere with a little more atmosphere than corn, cows and bars.

Our new townhouse

Although we've lived here for a week and a half already...there is definitely still some decorating to do. We have barely been home at all. It's way too hard to sit inside and clean and organize when a pool is 100 feet away and the beach is only 3 miles. These pictures are mostly for my Mom...I know she wants to see exactly where we're living! ;-)

Since our apartment is technically "The Office" for the summer for our reps and techs, our main level has been somewhat converted into a meeting room. We did get a sweet projector out of the deal and can watch movies on it! But at this point...I've really only spent time in bed (barely), the shower (whenever the sea salt starts bothering me too much) and the kitchen (making salsa!) Our place is two levels...the main level is a kitchen, half bath, dining room, living room and walk out patio. The upstairs has three bedrooms. One is another office...computers, printer, etc. The other is a guest bedroom, all set up with an airbed for whoever would like to visit! Another full bath. Washer, Dryer. Storage closet...for all of Cory's toys. (surfboard, longboards, etc.) And our master room has a full bathroom also. Pretty nice when you consider we don't pay rent!

The kitchen...featuring Pascal's drawing of Cory & I on the fridge. :-)

This is "the office" - where we'll have our meetings each morning. Note the motivational posters on the walls.

Our big closet...already too full!

Our bedroom...we still need to jazz up the walls a bit.

Sun, Sand & Lizards!

The BEACH!

One of the many, gorgeous houses on A1A (the road that goes along the ocean all the way down to Miami)

We bought snorkeling gear! We didn't go out to any reef at all but we did see some pretty fish and we even saw a stingray!

This little guy was our first visitor shortly after we moved in! So cute!

Well we've only been in our new home for two days...but so far, we love it! We've been to the beach twice, met lots of great people at the beach bars and taken some nice drives to discover everything surrounding us. It's been around 90 since Friday and it's not too humid yet. And there are no mosquitos!

I never want to sit in a car again...

Well...that's definitely not a possibility, but I am VERY sick of the car. We left yesterday morning at 8 a.m. and drove to Memphis. With 4 stops and lunch it took us 12.5 hours...which was better than we expected. We had a great time in Memphis with Marian, her sisters and some other friends. I lived with Marian in Prague and have only been to Memphis once to visit. It had been over 2 years since I'd seen her and I had missed her SO much! We went to the Flying Saucer...a restaurant with an awesome beer garden. For the second night in a row, we got about 4 hours of sleep and hit the road again. We planned on driving straight through to our new home. However, the storms down here are insane and we just couldn't drive anymore. The rain was so hard that almost every car had their flashers on and was going about 30 or 40 on the interstate. People were in the ditches from hydroplaning and the lightening was so bright that it was almost blinding. Not gonna lie...I was crying and shaking in my car. So now we're sitting in a hotel about 6 hours from Delray Beach. Time for bed so we can get up at 3 a.m. and get to our new home!!! (and we both desperately need some beach time and a tan)