not wearing flip flops in irma, just flip flopping

ok, time for one more...last night we packed it all up and stayed at shea's. we got our place as ready as we could... we were up pretty late last night, watching an episode of bloodline (which is so cliche-it's about a family resort in the keys..., but to be fair, we had started watching this way before irma decided to grace us with her presence..), and then we had to catch up on the weather... i slept fine-only woke up a couple times, as i knew it'd be a marathon today.

lots of texts, lots of messages. shea made eggs, bacon and hashbrowns-great breakfast, and then we sat and watched the updates. then at some point in time-i'd say around noon, shea got a text from a concerned friend, who works at IMG, in essence, asking her to come up to the school, because she felt it would be a safer haven than shea's house. so here's the deal, the school is in a voluntary evacuation zone, (which basically means-avoid the ocean surge)...so the kids did not stay, they were evacuated to a shelter, just for liability's sake, even though it is probably the safer place to be, as it is rated for cat 4  hurricane winds. i think at that point there was some uncertainty as to what to do about sheltering, so when they asked her to come, we did the smart thing, and she called her dad to ask for wisdom.

so i switched out of the flip flops and into chacos, and we are now in a classroom at the school, the boys are set up, we have a couple mattresses set up, and they have local cable in the classrooms-so we are able to watch the local updates and emergency center. there are other families in the bldg with animals as well, so the boys are reactive to other noises. hopefully they will chill out.

 the wind has been picking up, it is only 4:18, and the worst is expected to come around 2am-ish (i guess that looks kinda' like amish, and i'd be okay with that if it meant pies and home-baked goods and such)... so it could be a long night. i need to go down with shea to visit the sugar gliders, because one of her friends down the hall has a few, and they are adorable!

the lights and electricity just went out for a minute, but then either they came back up or the generator kicked on...that's a plus of being here. alright, well, i think i'll be signing out so that i can actually get this posted. we may slip next door to help the neighbor dispose of some ice cream momentarily!

shea is documenting, so we are getting a play by play on the evening...that should be interesting and fun-

alright. praying for everyone who is impacted. 

julie

strange place, new ideas

insecurity.

even just writing the word...i'm really hoping that it's just that time of the month, and i'm overly sensitive, because i can't handle it. that intense gut-feeling that all is indeed not right. it's a strange place to be. please tell me that i'm not the only one who experiences this-i hate it... and if you do, i am so sorry.

i don't have any real details to share here, i just know that when i am unsettled, i tend to do more exercising (i felt this way at hearlight during my last few months), and walking, running, exercise seems to be the only real distraction... #whatswrongwithme. today it was pretty intense, and perhaps it's just a kick in the face from satan, as the sermon last night was excellent, and i've been given a commission for the new year to LOVE well-that can't be a good thing. today was rough. it's ok, tomorrow school starts and it will be better. 

Christmas was great, coming home was fine-i was able to get two dental appointments knocked out...new year's was good (which i've already spoken of)...and i was able to meet with jo anne, my former principal and mentor. I wish now that i'd started what i should have back when she was at our school. and after speaking to her yesterday, i have begun the process to begin moving forward on that path.  if i do this, it could lead to a longer dallas stay..sorry so vague, i'll feel better when i have everything in order.

the original plan was cindy's, but they had a gas main leak, so ihop it was! i wasn't disappointed (although i would've loved to try cindy's!)

i appreciate jo anne more than i can express. she is thoughtful and really sees the potential in me and lets me know-that means a lot. she is a busy woman, so the fact that she finds time for me, speaks volumes. 

- but i have not stopped looking at img in fl, as i am desperate for the beach and shea is certainly in a special category as far as friends go, and to be able to hang out and adventure with her is enticing!

i just made this dish:

it's a special fried rice recipe i found with cauliflower- i was pleased! i will have plenty extra- looking at you, andrea and jeri-i'll bring a taste tomorrow! 

i was excited to try something new with cauliflower, and i was not disappointed.

 not much else to tell-it will be good to get back into the swing of things and see everyone tomorrow! life is better than we perceive-be content tonight-if you are at a point of frustration, remember to look at others in the image of God-

julie

last day- it's still all about the food!

did i mention that shea ran out of toothpaste just before we started our weekend adventures? no worries, because i had plenty! i don't know that this is important, but i thought it was funny-so on monday i decided that it would be an excellent parting gift, so that she didn't have to use all of lily's person's toothpaste during the week! it's true.

monday morning, shea went to work and it was not a beautiful morning-i had thought about getting up and going to the beach, but it was raining, so instead, i got some stuff done and took a quick trip to for some items for the flight attendants (if they so happened to be amazing), and so it was that i met hobby lobby and target of bradenton. while i was at hobby lobby, i got a txt from shea-that meant she was free and ready for lunch. so i set WAZE to take me to IMG to pick her up. she gave me instructions for the gate and where to go after that. the only problem, was that WAZE took me to the back entrance. so the gentleman at the entrance looked at me like i was an idiot using some directions app and said, "well, the HR dept is actually on the other side." i wasn't sure because i saw the 'blue tent' that shea said she'd meet me at...but i followed his instructions and turned around anyway to go to the main entrance...it made sense.

i took his instruction and i went to the front gate and the lady there made a little tag for me to put in my window and sent me around to round-about and..i couldn't remember...did the lady say take a spot in the reserved parking area, or did she saygo to the blue tent is in front of the reserved parking area. i opted to pull into a spot, not being certain. then i worried that i was going to get in trouble for parking in someone's spot...and if i was pulled into this spot, how would shea recognize the back end of this rental car? so i decided to pull out and just wait in the loading zone by the blue tent, but i wasn't sure if it was one way or not, and i didn't see any signs. so i sent a txt to ask shea, then i got tired of waiting, so i backed out, and that's when i saw the ONE WAY painted on the pavement. so i pulled out and drove around the parking lot to get back to the bus-loading zone. while i was waiting, i watched a mother saying goodbye to her kids-she must have been leaving them for sports camp. she pulled away, so i pulled forward and waited. within minutes, my thoughts were disrupted by a little tap at the window and a, "look what i found! someone you might know!" when i looked up, there was morgan! (no, not morgan freeman, i know, popularity has it's benefits, but even better, it was morgan, a kanakuk gal!) we had a very brief greeting, then we had to take off so that shea could get back for her appointment.

like 'cheers' only better! 

one of the joints i'd been wanting to eat at was the starfish- a small cash-only, dock restaurant, it doesn't get any fresher than that! so we got a little sampler with shrimp and scallops with hush puppies and an order of calamari. then we found a spot under the roof, as it was still a little wet with possibility of more rain. while we waited, we went around to the little shop up front and i got to see where they sold their fresh fish, and some other fun little ocean-type art and knick knacks.

we got there at just the right time, because it started to get busy right after our food came. fresh sea food! it was delicious! i enjoyed every piece! sadly, i had never enjoyed the calamari and scallops i'd previously had, perhaps due to the fact that it had not been fresh...my take on these items is that they were just naturally rubbery. i am so thankful that i finally got to taste each of these items exactly as they were meant to be! and in the atmosphere it was meant to be eaten in, as well!

the view out-where the fishermen are!

the view in- where the consumers are!

old-man bird

from there, we had time to stop at the sea hagg. this place will surprise you! looking at it as you drive by, which we had done many times, it seems like a junk yard of crazy. shea knew better-she'd been there before. so when we went in, it was like a salvage yard along with some artsy sea-faring type decor. definitely the place to go for unique pirate/mermaid/ship-faring decorating ideas.

medusa mermaid? coral peacock hair...#mermaidproblems

yargh! a pirate's life for shea!

oh my...what's a girl to do when the shark jumps over the bridge to maul your arm? 

you can barely see the scratch gouge from the ripped flesh anymore, but trust me, it was there!

 some stuff was inexpensive, while other items were quite pricey. shea was eyeing some great ship wheels (the steering mechanism), which would probably rip the plaster and dry wall right off the studs if you tried to hang it-they were heavy, but beautiful! and they pics of mermaids that made me blush-apparently not all mermaids are as modest as ariel. #mermaidproblems

we didn't purchase anything, but shea found a back scratcher-tried doing creepy baby hands with it, but the skin type wasn't an exact match...

baby-hands are much more convincing without the pricetag...and when the skin color matches...but i still think it'd be a great item to have available in the office!

we went back to IMG, because shea had to get back to work and i had to make my way off to tpa airport. we stopped at her car and i grabbed 3 shark teeth to prove that yes, we'd really gone hunting! i'd kinda' like to take one in when we go for the boys' teeth cleaning in a couple of weeks and tell the new vet (who i've not yet met), that bruno lost a tooth, and i just wanted to make sure it didn't alter his ability to rip flesh....thoughts?

anyhoo, i drove up to tpa in the rain and i was beginning to miss it already. WAZE was kind enough to spot the traffic and reroute me around it, but i still got to the car rental place about an hour later than i had originally rented the car for-thankfully, the little guy didn't charge me!

if you look closely, the drops on the windshield-they are not rain...they are tears from the angels wishing i didn't have to leave..they know...they feel my pain!

as i got into the shuttle, there was only one other lady, and as i sat down, my google hangouts video called, but i somehow got cut-off and decided against calling back. the gal and i ended up conversing a little about the area and before you know it, we were at the airport and the skycap got me all checked in.

that night, i received the best text ever! i'm pretty sure i got it while i was in stl on a layover, and i laughed! so i must share it- the time lapse! hopefully it will play with the music! (boo- it wouldn't load)

 i guess i'll just have to add this one-just for fun because i found it on my drive!

officially it was over. i knew it was so when the airplane pulled into dallas love, and it took 20 minutes for the baggage to arrive...and i called the lyft driver to take me home at 20 past midnight.

so yes, it's all about the food, but let's be very clear-the food isn't nearly as good nor as fun without the friend/s! having the opportunity to eat and laugh and play with this amazing friend of mine convinced me that perhaps bradenton, fl needs me.

sigh. ready for the next trip!
julie