Monday, March 28, 2016

what makes you feel alive?

what is it that makes you feel alive?

i asked a friend this question the other day, and it made me think about it myself. what is it that makes me feel alive? this made me go back to a journal entry from a few months ago, when i asked myself this very question:

-nature-being outdoors, appreciating beauty and the majesty of GOD! sunrises, sunsets, light breeze, warm sun...
-worship
-connections with friends (preferably in small groups)
-traveling- learning and appreciating history, art and culture
-museums, zoos, theater, musicals
-amusement parks, thrill rides
-climbing, rappelling, caving, hiking
-water-kayaking, canoeing, paddle-boarding, riding in speed boats, the ocean, lakes, rivers
-adventure
-making people happy, helping people, being thoughtful

most of all...LAUGHING

i don't do enough of these things nearly as often as i should.

 sometimes i just get lazy and it's easier to stay home and watch t.v. (finally got through grey's) ...sometimes it's time (too many things to get done)...often it's lack of the right people to to do these things with (not everyone enjoys the same things). regardless, i need to do the things that make me feel alive, because life is so much more than merely existing. it goes by way too fast, and i'd rather be making memories with friends than sitting around wishing i had.

every day? no.

more often than i do? yes.

it's spring, the weather is getting nicer...
all we have to decide is 
what to do with the time that 
is given to us.
-gandalf

time to enjoy the time that is given to us!
julie

Monday, March 21, 2016

left some things in florida...like...my dreams! (take me back!)

the grind. it begins again.

for real though, all-day-training the.day.we.returned.from.spring.break. uf.

yesterday, i was able to clean up the apt. and get loads of laundry done! it had to be done! mom and dad are coming to visit this week-bringing back the boys and spending Easter in dfw. it has been so quiet around here without the boys around! they won't get in until late tomorrow night, because they have to finish some stuff in mo before they leave.

so...every time i go to florida (3rd time in a year-hopefully not the last), i am one step closer to living there. it feels like i already have one foot there. especially since i left my hammock there (along with a few other staples)... and i may have just purchased another hammock, so that when i do move there, there'll be an extra for visitors! thinking ahead. i may or may not be monitoring job postings, as i am not sure what next year will look like--considering all of the best options, can't leave this one out! ...and i have the additional pics that provide the logic behind my thinking:
even the fog is beautiful and relaxing!
more tooth searching-it's like a treasure hunt!
and that guy behind me? he was the one sporting the thong..eek.
not bad for a day's work!
thx go-pro!!
shea selfies with the bird! (bird, bird, bird..bird's the word...)
my 'frolic' is so frankenstein, i need more practice frolicking on the beach!

obviously i frolic better with friends...

can't get kilwins in dfw




"are you sisters?" just bc we both have blond hair, headbands, tanks, sunglasses...
...just sayin'.

after a full day of training, and not seeing anyone back at school, i was in a funk, so when i got home and opened my mail, i had a letter waiting for me, and it was just what i needed! crystal, a former teacher from cabell, who i've kept in touch with sent some written encouragement and it was so exactly what i needed! amazing how mail comes at just the right time!
brightened my week-
it's going to be a great week!
julie

Saturday, March 19, 2016

i wish vacations would never end! tx is too far from fl

so, thursday. shea had to go into work for a couple of hours, and then we rummaged around to get all of the necessities for JAWS PART II...shark tooth hunting. we made the necessary stop at sonic and then off to the beach (fortunately we were traveling south, because the northbound lane was backed up for over a mile). after we found parking, we made our way onto the beach to find a good spot to set up.

searching for jaws...or at least pieces of him!
 we began the scoop and sift process, shea likes to scoop and then sift up on the beach. me, i prefer to stay in the water and sift there. this is due to my dislike for being dirty. i tried to sort through the pile up on the beach, but i couldn't handle it. i need to be in the water in order to rinse my hands and such. i also did my best to keep my back facing the sun, as to avoid getting too much sun on my front side (where i'd gotten an abundance of sun earlier-and was beginning to experience the beginning stages of bubbling-which would start the peeling). i found a few, but we finally took a break and decided to lay and soak up the sun. may or may not have fallen asleep-to great music...oops. when i woke up, shea was appreciating the hummus and salsa chips, so i joined her (i'd eaten most of the previous hummus at the house!). then we decided to walk down the beach and see what we could find.
while we were walking we experienced the viewing of an older european male-in-a-thong...it was a little sketch. and while trying to avert my eyes, shea made sure to point him out! ouch-my eyes are ruined!  a short while later, shea stopped at a fallen tree, where she found a crab and took a little break, while i continued on down the beach, and found a great little spot where the water was leaving a path of shells on the sand...so as i stopped to look more closely, i found several little teeth, when shea came over, she found several as well. and then along came an older gentleman and found 2 fairly good sized teeth, then kept walking. shea decided to run back for the go-pro. it was about a mile back. bathing suit running...she probably played the baywatch song in her head the whole way...wait, do they have a song? i decided that it would be really cool if we had a little robot that could 4-wheel-drive it in the sand to carry the go-pro and a towel down the beach, following us like if it were following us with a tracker. we'll have to get our robotics team on that! anyhoo, we ended up finding a good haul of teeth before we headed back.
special isolated tree-place-area...i'm sure you weren't the only one with this great idea!
when we got back to our spot, one second i was packing things up and shaking sand off the chair, the next, shea let out a little gasp, and when i turned around, there was this beautiful giant of a bird, right behind me! after a selfie, he started to move away, and shea set up the go-pro-we've become quite the bird corrall-ers!
slowly walking around the back side of the bird, it chose the perfect path straight past the camera!
bird-buddy!
such amazing birds-he was probably looking for food
the sun was pretty low, so we decided we needed to stop at the pier at sharkey's in order to get some fun sunset pictures. i am not a professional beach frolicker- i had to practice-about 3 takes later, there were some decent ones that didn't look totally 1980s robotic...but it wasn't pretty. when everything is in dropbox, i will update them! then we turned it into yoga poses and from there, karate. we played until the sun got too low, then we headed back for dinner at st. armand's. we ate at the daiquiri deck-soft shell crab sandwich, mahi bites and sweet potato fries-yum! i was in luck because shea was having none of the eating-of-the-legs, so it was a jackpot for me! (love sharing meals-everything should be tapas style!) as we ate, the live musician had a fabulous playlist, but his tone was a little off-he was flat/ monotone on pretty much all of the songs, which made it really difficult for shea to sing along with-which is not a huge loss. ;) i almost got video to prove it, but not quite. afterward, we stopped at the tourist trap shop, but didn't find the cap we were looking for. also decided against the henna tattoo-opting for kilwin's instead, because we hadn't had our ice cream stop yet! it's probably a good thing that we contained it to one ice cream stop this visit! the cones were perfect! totally worth it, even though we should've probably eaten less at dinner in order to really appreciate the full effect of kilwin's...kilwin's shouldn't be ventured on a full stomach, although, we are brave, and we took the challenge.
shea is a professional frolicker; i'll load more when they're available!
friday morning we got up early for parasailing. i turned on the keurig, and forgot to push the go button=no coffee for me. boo. we got to bridge street, and found parking, then we went in search of 200 bridge street-which was, no surprise, at the top of the pier. so we checked in, and they sent us down to the metal dock to wait for the bright yellow boat. there was a family of four waiting as the boat pulled up. we entered the boat and the captain & parasail pro began to give us instructions. the safety instructions were brief-very unlike kanakuk...we decided we would've felt 100% safer with hank at the helm! i trust his caribiners and ropes! on the quick boat ride out, we did see dolphins, and then we stopped pretty abruptly, because i think they accidentally ran over a crab trap and got something stuck in the engine, so parasail pro had to lower himself into the chilly water to get things untangled and back in running order! this guy was a mix of beach bum and skater dude-with the black leather and metal belt...you can imagine why they didn't inspire much confidence!
parasailing!
more parasailing!
and yes, to parasailing!!
anyhoo, at some point, small talk happened. not on purpose-almost out of habit; i blame this on my dad. i felt like i had to converse-it's not a terrible thing, it opens the possibility of networking...what if it had been someone who could have been helpful down the road? but i did learn that they were from iowa (slater, north of des moines), they are cyclone fans, none of them like seafood, last year they went to san antonio for vacation and their youngest son fell in love with taco cabana...they drove to florida, school ran from aughust 18 through june 6th because of snow days...the oldest boy hasn't finished his SB homework...too much trivia. shea laughed at me-self-inflicted pain; i don't love it, but i do it to myself. boo.

so we went first, and lifted right off. we upgraded to the longer line, so that we could fly higher! it was pretty cool, but we didn't see more...in fact we didn't see any sea-life apart from a trash bag floating below the surface. we couldn't figure out exactly what to do with our dangling feet, and finally opted for crossing them. it would've been even more fun had i not been dealing with the ridiculous burn on the back of my legs! ouch!

once we got back, we decided to walk over the drawbridge to the STARFISH for lunch. best seafood!! the wait was long, but always worth it. all tables were full even after we got through the wait in line. we waited around on the dock for a bit and when a family began clearing up, shea went over to grab their table. she waited patiently and one of the guys at the table even asked if she was waiting for a table, and knew that she was. just as the family stepped away, some man was walking down the steps, and said, "oh! perfect timing!" thinking that he was getting this table, but shea had already staked claim. they guy looked at her and asked, "oh, were you waiting for this table?" YEP! but she told him since it was just the two of us, they could sit on the other side. they guy declined and pouted about it, and he and his friend walked down to the end of the pier where there was a swinging bench. better for us! #notfeelingguilty when our food finally arrived, we had the most succulent scallops-so tender! delicious shrimp, calamari and hush puppies!

QUESTION posed by shea: in a fight, who would win, the heron, or the pelican? i say pelican, because they're tough...their beaks could break the heron.

we walked back to the car and then drove to the sea haag, where i contemplated purchasing some small souvenirs, but my friends aren't really into chachkies...but i love looking around this place. when we got back to the house, i found a place to store some stuff so that i don't have to haul it back and forth when i visit...as this has become my new favorite vacation-visit. and shea slathered up in coconut oil...if the temp had dropped 15 degrees, i fear she would've hardened like the tin man, and i would've had to start chipping away. fortunately nothing of the sort happened. although, all the way to the airport, i kept wishing i had coconut creamer in my coffee... #subliminalcoconutmessages

the traffic was ridiculous on the bridges between bradenton and tampa-ridiculous, i tell ya! but we arrived in time and the security wasn't bad at all. it was a full flight, and the person in the middle seat next to me encroached a little into my space-i found myself being super conscious trying to allow for the space needed..it was an uncomfortable 3 hour flight. and upon arrival, i really wished i hadn't worn shorts, because dallas did not greet me with a kiss of warmth-nope...it was more like a cold sholder...nastiness. ready for sun!

meeting a friend for breakfast tomorrow-love it when friends pass through!
jrob

Thursday, March 17, 2016

chillin' and grillin'...prep for the final quarter of the spring break game!

today was a day of replenishing. shea had a long day today-she had to travel, and i needed to not be in the sun too much-recuperating, because my sunburn is starting to blister a little. oops.

i decided it would probably be wise to take a walk-5 miles-it was nice. then i went to walmart to grab some stuff-veggies for dinner, as we had chosen to grill. we've actually done a good job this visit of eating in such a manner as to not leave me in a food coma!
s'mores
so the walk was nice-it made me think of HONDURAS, actually...when i used to walk through our neighborhood in la universidad, and it was always hot...and i'd always look for shade to walk under. that's what i was thinking about as i walked home--there was shade across the street and in the middle of the street, but no sidewalk...on the sidewalk side, there was no shade...oh, decisions, decisions! i was an idiot for not thinking about this until i was already 3/4 mile down the road; such a rule follower-i had to take the sidewalk because that's what it's there for...grr. motto: don't follow walker-etiquette-rules when it involves being 10 degrees cooler!!

when shea got home, we drove over to take maggie for a walk. now, maggie is a bernese mountain dog...hanging out on the coast! not so much a beach dog, but she rocks the dock!
maggie is a poser-
maggie is so patient!

this one's a framer!
 the grilling was great-amazing steak and veggies! every home in florida needs a grill!
talk to the spatula...yum!
then the issue was what to watch...so the emperor's new groove, it was! light and airy enough to paint the toenails, without missing a beat.
it was the type of day i needed, because today and tomorrow have high hopes for being filled with fullness...
julie

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

SB Part 2: posing at the preserve and beating sea fog at its own game

alrighty then, so sunday i probably got more sun than i realized (and what i mean by probably is definitely!)... and it probably was not the wisest move to lay out in the hammock yesterday...but there's a pool and a hammock and only a few days of spring break! what happened was that i was on my way to the beach to hang out just before noon, and i stopped by the post office first to send a couple of fun notes at the post office. traffic was so bad that i ended up turning around-i'm way too impatient, i need to be here for a longer period of time to get on #saltlife time.

we decided to go to the preserve to walk-always go for the exercise! because usually on the way, there will be opportunity for photo-shoots!!
go pro!
dance party on the bridge!
good friends pose for pics together...great friends block the crotch shot!
titanic/ballet greatness-you decide!
too cool for school, but not too cool for bridges-
because as the hip-hop kids know, even on bridges, you dance-it-out!
practicing yoga, because that's what you do at sunset.
views from the tower
now all we need is our beach sunset pic!
why did the crab cross the road? umm..who cares.  when shea tried to pick him up for a selfie with her hands, he almost ate her (although i did argue that he was pinching, not biting)...
and so option 2: let him do all the heavy lifting! 
i'd booked us for parasailing in the afternoon, but they said there was too much fog, and it was messing up their entire day, but we could reschedule for another time. so i rebooked for friday morning. since parasailing was out, we wanted to find something to replace that. i called the sailing/sunset tour (we were really hoping for a catamaran type adventure). they didn't call back until we were already driving out to the island, and at that point, we could really see the fog over the water-not optimal for watching a sunset, i hear...so when they did actually call back, we backed out.

instead, we found someplace to park and walked the beach around the point and then back through town. it was, as i said before, relaxing and refreshing. then we got to tide tables- they have ruined every other fish-taco experience. we accidentally agreed to first available seating, and they sat us inside-oops, should've sat outside at the bar area! we'll just have to go again! the pier was a little magical and mysterious with the fog! looking for captain jack sparrow...i sat watching the pelicans for awhile while we were waiting for our table. their water landings were like coming in on skis-fascinating!
one of the competing bird gangs on the beach...very stoic.
the pelican of whom i was speaking...stuck a perfect landing-smoother than most plane landings i've experienced!

'this-is-my-life' expression
fog can be beautiful!
the bridge to the beach!
did i mention the fish tacos were to die for?

every day-a great day! weather can't keep us down..no fogging way!
julie