remember when i used to be consistent?

alright, so...here goes nothing.

i realize that i have been remiss in my blogging efforts-oops. i've had a few people give me the 'just do it' speech. the worst thing is that so much time has passed, and so many things have happened, so this will be a picture/comment recap for the most part for perhaps the next two rounds in order to get caught up. and i will try to keep it in chronological order as much as possible!

this was the boys' last walk in our apartment complex before they went to hang out with mom and dad in mo, so that i could get things packed and cleaned up without worrying about entertaining and working around them-it was so strange to not have them around!

one of those times i hang out with nicolette and a short trip to get a mani turns into a full day-not complaining because i got to eat my last nami food truck meal at klyde warren park, and it was a perfect day!

...and what better game to end with, than scrabble!

 then i got to hang out with this group of ladies who make me laugh-so many times we had to laugh so we didn't cry! not pictured: joanne-who had to leave early, but i am SO glad she was able to join us, as she has played such a huge role in my growth while i was at Cabell, and a dear friend after! (i'm certain the boys would go crazy if they could come to your house again!)

after the few choice goodbyes, it was time to travel. let's be real, i was a little nervous about towing the car, but dad said i could do it, so i believed him! the entire time i kept mumbling to myself 'pull through only, pull-through only' to remind myself not to get stuck, because you can't reverse that junk!

truth is, i felt pretty cool parking with the 'big-guys'...until i opened my door and smelled urine in the lot-i'm almost certain there must have been some uncivilized men who were too lazy to go inside to use the restroom and just did the back porch relief....ew. 

the boys didn't get to travel with me, as they were still with mom and dad, but i did keep bruno's moose on the dash (i strategically asked my parents to keep bruno and chaco long enough for me to settle in, so that they could drive them down and fall in love with my area!)

and i pulled 'rattle-a-gator' in from the car to be my guard-alligator. it worked. 

finally i arrived! day one!! 

 the first sunset-document everything, right? it was beautiful sitting on the piling right off bradenton beach.

luckily before shea took off, we did a good walk down coquina beach to the jetty-perfect welcome back!

and a quick visit to the pet store to visit puppies! i think we checked out like 3 or 4 to play with-kinda like a library! shea has puppy fever!

once shea took off for her two week trip to amazing places, i got out to the beach to begin my morning walks routine. i'm working on my identification skills and trying to learn the differences between the gulls and terns, the cranes and the herons, the ibis and the other white birds...yikes. and it's going to get worse in the winter, because of all the migratory birds! ayayay!

morning walk looking east over the bay at the sunrise-you have to walk back into the neighborhood (which is literally 1 or 2 blocks)

this has become my favorite place to go park my car between cortez beach and bradenton beach because you can park and still see the ocean! heart! so i bring my coffee and partake at the beach while preparing for the morning walk. walks vary, depending on my mood. 

love this little entrance to the beach with the ever-popular sea-grape vegetation lining the dunes

when i opt to walk the park, the trail runs parallel to the beach, so i get glimpses as i go, but i can go at a decent pace, as it's a paved path, and on sunday early mornings, there is a fun little booth/market place...

i LOVE our bike racks (we live in manatee county, market, market, market!)

at the south side of the park, there is a small entrance to the bay, and across the channel is the hammock beach...

also at the south side of the park-beautifully landscaped with short palms.

i'm trying to get the timing right so that i don't get caught waiting for the drawbridge! but on my walk i usually cross the drawbridge into longboat key, because the have a great sidewalk-system, for walking!

view south from the drawbridge (hammock beach)

view north from the bridge-the south end of the park

i will say that i am so glad i finally made it to florida and that it worked out to make the move and continue working with istation! my dad was telling me about one of their church friends who suggested that i probably wouldn't like it for long, because of all the bugs, the heat and humidity, etc. i laughed a little. it reminds me a bit of HONDURAS, as the vegetation is similar, we have the pichetes (tiny lizards), i'm used to bugs (although i don't love the gnats and mosquitos, they haven't been as bad as expected this year), the heat-nothing compared to sps! and humidity doesn't scare me...and it has been rainy and stormy since i've arrived-much like rainy season in sps...again, not new, in fact comfortable. i wasn't too excited that two separate storms blew down two separate palm trees that i had to cut up into 4 ft or less segments so that yard waste peeps would haul them off! i was here for about 2 weeks before mom and dad were able to come down to visit and bring the boys to their new home! i will have to share how the move-in went, as it is a 'furnished rental.' start asking yourself how it was furnished...i'll let you think on that and get back to you!

coming soon: summer visitors, summer trainings, summer conference, other fun stuff, and then we'll start to get back on track! thanks for coming back, i'm trying to be better!!

say a prayer and send good thoughts to those on the texas gulf, and the areas inland dealing with flooding...we'll see what the aftermath leaves tomorrow- sad face emoji.

it's good to be back! much love!
julie
jrob
jules
juan
hey you

two weeks of random busy-ness which is ending in a new netflix series

well, april is here. this means that the year is winding down. it has gone by rather quickly, and i know the next 30-some days will fly by! mixed feelings about that, as it is the end of another chapter in my life! let's label that chapter: cabell. it has been a fun chapter, and i will take more time to write a brief synopsis...but today will not be the day for that.

the past two weeks have been busy. but they have been good. last saturday, i woke up and it was a beautiful day, so i went for a short drive-driving tends to clear my mind like walking does (only without the benefits..must begin walking again!), and when i got home, i took the boys out, and then i was reminded in an email that there was a street fair of schools at w.t. white. so i took off to show my support for about an hour. i don't necessarily love going to these types of things, but fortunately i usually see people i know and am fond of-this was no exception; we have some great feeder pattern peeps! stephanie and wendy are among the people i cherish most in this feeder! always encouraging and funny/sarcastic/funny.

the boys-they have loved walking in the late afternoons! 

don't know what i'd do without the witty support of this one!

wendy-i'd pick her to be on my team every game-mvp!

then sunday i spent the day with a friend just getting things done that needed to get done. quality time-check. watched miracles from heaven- if you haven't, i highly recommend stocking up on your kleenex stash! the day was riddled with good conversation-i don't mind small talk with friends, in fact, that's where i learn about some of the interesting facts that shed a little light on people. it's small talk with strangers that kills me. it's been a journey learning about and appreciating the differences in our personalities, styles and even philosophies on friendship-which comes from difference in personality. so many of my friends have been so similar to me, that it has been fun to grow. it's learning to appreciate that sometimes it's the combination of similarities and differences that make life fun. it's the unique perspectives that broaden my horizons and understanding of people.

i had the opportunity to do coffee with another friend after work one day last week, and it was a good chance to just talk about future plans and school-i left to use the restroom and when i came back, the lady at a table not too far from us was talking about how she was the assistant principal at a charter school and finishing up at the teaching trust. it's a small world...and educators like coffee!

shout outs to maria and nicolette for their courageous efforts with the cheerleaders at the pep rally! our students are not super animated and energetic, so they needed some prompting, but by the end, they were getting into it....they just need a little more exposure and practice! (mrs. de la guardia also participated as a cheerleader, and nafia, ms. graves, crystal and rosa were all in a great little skit to pump the students up). takes me back to high school-some of my friends were cheerleaders, and i love them dearly, but i never had the slightest desire to be in cheerleading; i was always on the sports team-basketball, volleyball and one year of softball. had they offered soccer, and four-square, i probably would have been in those as well!

also shout outs to xochitl and olivia for their work with the girls' soccer team! the first game was last night, and the girls put on a valiant effort for only having had one practice-they will get better as they practice!

afterward, we went to trinity groves-first time i'd ever been there, and i loved it-love the area! (note to self, would love to explore the area more). we were out later than i had originally expected, and the boys were none too happy when i got home! but as always, they forgave me! that's what i love most about them.

today i decided that it was imperative that i get some scents from bath and body works to freshen up the place. and since they had a special (don't they always) i went ahead and got several different light/fresh scents to see which one works best for me!

#smellsgood

and as i came back and checked my mail, i had not one, not two, but THREE (count them...3!) letters from friends!! the best part is that they came from three friends from very different periods of my life-one from a high school friend, one from a kamp friend (former kamper), and one from one of my dear college friends. for a letter-writer like myself to receive letters is a big deal! i usually get them few and far between, but when they arrive, it means the world! and did i mention, today i got 3!

and i leave off with the fact that it's a 3-day weekend due to our inclement weather day, which means that in essence today was a freebie! i have been watching netflix instead of t.v. recently (i might as well cancel the cable and stick with local channels and the offerings of netflix, hulu, amazon prime and all that roku offers)...i finished catching up on grey's,  so after one of my friends mentioned parenthood, i remembered how much my friends loved it when it was on primetime...and decided to give it a chance. after watching the second episode, i'm hooked-my friends have good taste.

 hope your weekend finishes strong!

julie

project going strong...just a few days, and lots to do!

this morning was a bit chilly out, but i decided i was going to try to run anyway. i do not enjoy the cold...i was breathing into my sleeve half the way around the park-must invest in a scarf or something like..i don't know, maybe a miniature heater for my face! (needless to say, it was rough going-ready for dallas weather again).

i heated up a tamale and took it with me so that i could eat on the way to my next stop...

courtesy of ms. samarripa's lady who does tamales--they were not bad, not bad at all!

i was going to stop at an antique store to look for some drawer pulls, but unfortunately, they were closed, so i drove down i-44 because i knew that i'd seen a billboard for one the other day. unfortunately it was further than i thought. and they didn't really have what i was looking for. so on the return, i stopped at lowes for some additional materials that i needed ... i asked this one employee if he could help me with some hinges..i should've known better than to ask anyone for help, because the guy came over, looked at all of the hinges, and pulled out a regular old hinge and said, "this should work, you just put it on the inside like this..." i smiled, nodded and thought, 'please leave so i can look this up on google and get it right.' should.have.known. anyhoo-got my things, came home, and mom and dad had already left to go drop of Christmas things for some of the families at the trailer park-church ministry. 

so i jumped right in and got to work on my project. i finished sanding and started painting...i kinda' changed up my original plan and it morphed into something artistic--sorry dad. he put up with these changes, and i certainly do appreciate that he is working on this with me, because i would've gone strictly by: OH, THAT LOOKS PRETTY GOOD...whereas, he, being the perfectionist that he is, and math person, measured everything-fractionated (new word for whatever he was doing with the fractions...don't judge). and then did the major cuts...he was having a hard time envisioning what i had in mind, so i had to do a mock layout for him, now we're on the same page...and i'm a mess.

oddly enough, the colors are not that indicative of what i am working on...i know..weird, right?

had to share a pic of the boys for jo anne, because i couldn't leave them with her (my parents would have been disappointed!)

they are thrilled to be at mom and dad's they cozied right up to the new house.

so after working all afternoon, i ran out of something, so i had to sneak back into town, and when i came out, there was a beautiful sunset, and i'm so glad i didn't miss it! i am a sucker for beauty, and sunrises and sunsets take my breath away!

even at the lowe's parking lot!

i'd be lying if i said i wasn't missing my people in dallas a little...but there are still things to be done here, and time to be well spent! i am going to make my best effort to get down to nixa on saturday afternoon to see the rest of the rees family--it's been a long time trying to connect, so i am going to do whatever i can to make it happen this time! (carmen's family)...i was reminded by chris that they have been storing my flip flops since the last time i was there! i'd clearly forgotten about them, but i am now somewhat excited to be reacquainted with this stellar footwear. i'm pretty sure they kept them hidden away in the back of the closet as a way to tempt me and lure me back...it worked! saturday, it's a date!

and tonight i had the sweetest voice message from my 'lil sis' sheryl...we have been trying get a call together via skype, but timing just hasn't worked out, so she sent the most endearing message. to the moon and back, dear friend, to the moon and back! 

happy Christmas Eve! get to bed, or santa can't leave toys...go! now!

julie

btown, bmayes, b with friends, b safe!

it's ou/tx weekend!! that's why i left! um..ok, not the real reason. actually, a few weeks ago, my friend bmayes shot me a text suggesting a visit to branson. a friend of ours would be getting married, and what better time to visit the ozarks than fall, with the changing of the leaves. so we made plans, but the details were not quite hammered out. it was perfect because it was that weekend that dallas elementary schools have fair day on friday!

unfortunately, as you saw in a previous post, my radar detector went out a couple of weeks ago, and had me feeling naked in my car...like something was missing! so i knew that going on a trip would probably require the comfort and security of a radar detector, but the alarm store where i'd made the original purchase was closed down and no longer there, so i had to look it up on my phone and was pleased to see that best buy sold them. so i stopped in and purchased the new guy.

bff

last week, i got the text that said the wedding was actually to take place at 4 pm on sunday. hmm...that was not good news for me because if you add in the reception, that would put me home WAY late. so, unfortunately as i sit here, i am thinking that i will miss the wedding-because i really want to get home safely. so we decided to drive in separate cars so that b can stay for the wedding.

as i was driving through oklahoma, almost at the halfway point, i knew that i should stop to get windshield wipers, because the ones i had were getting flappy (you know, when the rubber starts to come off and just starts flapping around). um. so when i saw the dark nimbus clouds in the rearview, i decided it was time to stop at walmart in mcalester. and guess what. when i walked out of the store, it was raining. great. so i put my hood up and proceeded to replace my wipers in the rain. i was having a little difficulty, and a young man came over and offered to help. he showed me exactly what i needed to do, so the second one was a cinch! i've been daydreaming about getting new wipers, because i remember getting the new ones for the g-6 and being overwhelmed by the efficiency and the amazing work these things do!

be still my beating heart!

because we drove separately, i was able to leave early and get up to see mom and dad's new place! i had the address, but there was no reception, so when i got to the general area, i turned off to the right on old hwy 5, not realizing that every turn off on hwy 5 is old hwy 5! so when i turned off and drove up a way to see the number on the mailbox, it was too high...i knew i had to go back, but what i didn't know was turn to the right or left. so i started driving and went with my gut and turned on the other side of the highway, and drove up a bit-fortunately i have a good gut-my intuition was right! (it was GOD) i saw mom's car, and when i pulled in, i saw her wind chimes and i knew i was in the right place! i got the nickel tour, and they have quite the property- so i got to spend a little time with them before back-tracking to come back down to toward branson west, where we met up for dinner at dana's bar-b-que! love me some bbq nachos! (if you ever visit b-town, i would highly recommend dana's).

once our appetites were taken care of, we took off to find the air bnb the bmayes had booked. i was following, and we got a little turned around because the directions said to turn in at a time-share complex, and it was a bit confusing...so we came back and took the directions, which led us down to a little road that wound around the complex and into a little mobile home park nestled in a little treed area near table rock lake. the light was on, some music playing and a pumpkin signaling that fall was in the air-so inviting! cozy little place!

by the time we got there, it was probably around 9pm, and i was exhausted from a long day of driving. for some reason, as soon as i got into mo, people seemed to be just driving stupid...passing at their cruising speed, which took them forever to get around semis..this drove me crazy!! driving etiquette folks, if someone is coming up behind you, accelerate, get around the slow car and move yourself on over. it drove me NUTS. i will refrain from revealing my speed, as it was a bit ridiculous. but i digress, bmayes was in the main area room, and i set up camp in the additional add-on space. i figured, since i brought one of my memory foam mattresses (remember how i travel with it whenever i can?), i would take the futon. well, it so happens that the futon was a bit smaller in dimension than mine. this basically meant that the mattress lay sloping on both sides, i tried it-nope. moved it, there was still quite an incline, and i thought it might work, so i tried it.

well, i woke up several times, thinking i should take the mattress and just lie on the floor...i didn't, and i didn't until finally, i couldn't handle it anymore. it was about 6am, so i pulled the mattress to the floor, trying not to wake bmayes in the other room. the best two and a half hours of sleep that night! morning! when i woke up, i was already thinking about breakfast! so i got on yelp and found billy gail's cafe. it sits near a campground, just up the way from silver dollar city. i had seen it several times before, but never stopped. they had great reviews, and when bmayes was awake, she said she'd seen the same thing! so it was a deal!

we drove up to the joint, and as promised by yelp reviews, it was busy-hoppin'! b dropped me off to find a parking spot, and i put our name in-45 minute wait. yes please. i knew i needed a cup o' joe, and then we stood outside with a bunch of other patrons and waited patiently; good chance for conversation! when we finally got sat, we ordered the pecan cakes and biscuits and gravy with a side of eggs to split. wow. it was delicious! good biscuits and gravy make me happy! when we were finished, we were graced with a visit from gail herself! quite the firecracker, this old gal! she and bmayes had a bonding moment, as her granddaughter is named brittany as well.

then we got back to the pad and watched the ou/tx game. sorry tx fans, i cheer for ou, because so many of my closest are from there! unfortunately tx had a lucky day.

after the game, we took off to springfield to get donuts! hurts-thank you! we decided we should take them with us to trish's, as she had offered to make taco soup for dinner that night! yum! so we were able to get the best donuts and back to trish's by 5:30. time with these two is so much fun! we just sat and talked for a couple of hours; i can be very blunt with them, and i know they don't judge me. i am not p.c. around my closest friends. i don't have to be. to be fair i am really not fond of being politically correct anyway. i'm not a politician, so i have no reason to be a hypocrite. if it's going to offend someone, i'd rather just not talk about it at all instead of trying to wear kid-gloves (my hands are much to big and my opinions can come off a little harsh). so i cherish my time with these two, which is why it was a fun surprise when trish invited us back for breakfast hashbrowns the next morning!

we wanted to get some coffee from this cute little joint in hollister, but unfortunately it was closed on sundays. so we went ahead and grabbed our coffee at casey's and made our way to trish's again. we let ourselves in, because it really is home-away-from-home...and grabbed our plates and just kinda' made ourselves at home, because that's how we roll. no one in sight, so we just figured they were getting ready for something or...something. shay came up and was like, "hey! what's going on?! does my mom know you're here?" probably not. so she went and got trish, who just laughed when she saw we'd gone ahead and helped ourselves. like i said: home-away-from-home!

we were going to go geo-caching, but we ended up going to look for shoes instead, and it took awhile, but we finally found something that was going to work well for the dress bmayes had. alas, by the time we left kohl's, it was already almost 1! WHAT?! that basically meant that when we returned, i packed up and took off. the drive home was uneventful, although when i stopped at the rest area, there weren't many family cars, or others around, but there was a man walking around with his cell phone..so i made certain to grab my knife for security purposes-better safe than sorry? i mean...doesn't everybody carry knives with them? or something to protect self?  #ilikebeingalive

never a 'dull' moment!

i picked up the boys the next day, and they seemed to have had a wonderful time with joanne! chaco talkin' all about the backyard, and begging me for one..so i told him when we went to visit mom and dad's new place, he could enjoy theirs.

i can't believe it was just a week and a half ago! which means that a lot has happened since then, and i should be writing up another post in the next few days!

julie