some pd after the storm

it was fun to get back into some training after irma. cue up first session back... it was good to get to work with pam and michele. you can't please everybody all the time...and i've learned from experience as a teacher that elementary teachers and middle school/high school teachers are just different breeds. they have different perspectives and needs. makes sense. it's always interesting when one session feels like playing with baby sloths, hedgehogs and kittens and another session feels like hellen keller trying to navigate the fire swamp and fire swamp rats... but we did it with a smile and class.

when they really like the colors so they take your numbers...

sharing out

working through reports-around the world

having fun with alex!

then michele and i were off to miami 2 days later. we had a short flight to fll, and met up with joyce and alicia and headed to the hotel-after poncing on one of the two available suv rentals. we found the hotel easily, and tried to check in, but it was too early, so we left the luggage, and went to grab a bite to eat at a little spanish restaurant around the corner. it was nothing to write home about (mom, that's why you didn't receive a letter). then we took the long way to find the training site (because we missed a turn or two or five...) anyhoo, we found it and then headed back to the hotel to do the REAL check-in!

i think a alicia and joyce took advantage of the pool (or at least they had mentioned it), and i took a nap, because napping is my favorite thing!! then alicia knocked (she and michele were in rooms across the hall), and she showed me some of the great little prize bags she'd put together and brought for our participants. i truly did appreciate that because i just don't have items for give-aways, and the participants really appreciated them!

then we all got together and discussed dinner. we went to the same strip mall we'd been to earlier to try the recommended steak and seafood place. it was also mediocre. the garlic toast before-hand was akin to the bread that i leave out to dry for bread crumbs...the kind where when you take a bite, crumbs spew out everywhere and there's no getting them off your black shirt, don't even bother. then we ordered the smashed plantain tostones, expecting exactly that, but what we received were mariquitas de platano...like legit chips straight from the bag. and when they offered tortillas, alicia asked if they were made there, and the lady laughed and said, "no, walmart!" not even lying. the flan and 4leches were pretty good.

we hit up the nearest grocery store for some lunch items for the next day, because we didn't see anything in the area the day before, and knew we wouldn't have a lot of time to go get anything. when we got back to the hotel, the parking lot and the garage were full, which was strange. so we finally found a spot over the river, through the woods, across the prairie...as we got out and started toward the hotel, someone was coming up the stairs and we asked if there was a special event going on. the young lady looked at us with disdain and said, "it's church." as if we should have know they were having services in the hotel.. she almost said it in such a way that she maybe should've gone back to get more love in her heart for others... so i went back to the car to secure a closer parking spot as people were leaving, because we knew we'd be tight on time in the morning.

the following morning, we were up bright and early, and the restaurant didn't open until 7am...we had complimentary breakfast, so we weren't going to pass that up, as there were no real restaurants on the way. joyce and i walked in, and the lights were dimmed, and we stood there for a second until the manager behind the bar doing inventory acknowledged us and just stood there looking at us. we smiled and said we knew it wasn't open until 7, we were 10 minutes early, could we just find a seat and wait til they were ready? he looked at us without saying anything and so i added, "or would you rather we waited outside?" he (not very nicely i might add) said he would prefer that. so we waited.

alicia joined us after getting stuck on the elevator temporarily-just not a great way to start the morning! when she mentioned it to the fella at the front desk, he said oh, it happens. as if it were a normal thing. for the love. then as soon as the clock struck 7, we were at the door pointing at our watches, it was almost like the runners at the beginning of a race, or shoppers at the door on black friday. we got our food from the buffet and scarfed it down so that we could get on the road.

once we arrived, we found a parking spot at the front of the building and people were beginning to arrive..we waited patiently, alicia and michele had a nice little dance-with alex to an 80s song, and then we saw the coordinator and found our way to the room we were to be working in. we got everything set up and ready, but then we had to wait because after people ate donuts, someone came in from the school with bagels and other breakfast stuff, and everyone from the other training came over and they all had second breakfast. michele and i just grinned and beared it...bared it....bore it...waited. once we were able to get started, it went well-almost everyone was new, and so they were able to see how it would benefit them. both sessions went well, and it was great to have alicia and joyce there for the feedback and to provide additional information!

because sometimes ya just gotta' dance it out

cafecito-delectable!

there was about to be some weather at the end of the day, and we were supposed to end at 3:30, but someone popped their head in and said we had to clear the building by 3:00 (it was a church), and so we had to fast track the ending, but we weren't complaining! this was assurance that we would all make our flights home without having to be rushed.

we bid farewell to joyce and michele, then alicia and i found a great little pizza joint before going our separate ways. it was a good trip.

coming up soon-more florida adventures-
julie

post-irma recap donuts, pizza, and keurigs

i'm blaming irma for some of this weight gain...i bought some foods i never would've purchased otherwise! also, since we blamed irma for so many other things, it just seems appropriate.

irma came and went. the night of, while we were at img, the wind was loud, and there were a couple times i was acutely aware of where the boys were in case the roof were torn away with the wind. that said, i can only imagine how loud it would have been at the house!

the next morning, we all piled out of the dorms, and it felt a little like the last day of kamp during summer, cleaning up, loading up and putting mattresses back in their places.

we went back to check on our homes, and realized that i had locked the front screen door, to which i do not have a key (it's glass, so not really a screen...), and the electricity was still out, so i couldn't open the garage door. oops. the only damage outside seemed to be one screen on the lanai. and so we went to shea's and checked it over. the main damage there was the bushes around the house, because the winds formed a wind-tunnel of sorts around the sides. the electricity was out there as well, but it wasn't too hot yet, so i took a nap, and then we saw that the farmhouse was open for business, with wifi, so donuts were on the menu! we went and got donuts to make a couple stops over on the island to give a little sugar-encouragement to a couple families whom shea thought would appreciate it. it was fun hanging out with them- very congenial!

checking out the neighborhood damage-so many trees with shallow roots blown over-fortunately this one missed both houses.

i posted this little guy on my facebook page (please note the banana down here  that looks nonplussed!)

mini donuts!! #sugarsupport

the branches have mostly been blown off of my tree in the backyard, but at least none of the trees were blown over

on the return, we stopped at one of the beaches on longboat key, and got a little video and pics.

this is on the other side of the dunes before walking out to the beach-you can get an idea of water/sand

dear irma, buh-bye. roll closing credits:

then we noticed that there was a pizza place open on the island coming home, so we stopped in and placed our to-go order. we overheard them saying they weren't planning on opening, they had just come to see if the stoves were working and things were in order, and before they knew what was happening, someone came in and ordered a pizza, they said yes (around 4 p.m. and people hadn't stopped walking through the door since, it was now 8 p.m.). this was exciting, as most restaurants were still not open for business, so i'm guessing they made more cash that day than they've made in a long time! we got our order and took it home-it was smelling pretty amazing (especially after all the pretzels, crackers and beef jerky stuffs)! when we got back to the house, the electricity was still off, so we opened the cross doors to get a little wind-flow and set up citronella candles, and just hoping no one would walk in. we live in a pretty safe neighborhood, and to get to shea's you almost have to get lost, so we felt pretty secure. plus there's bruno and chaco, who, while small, make it sound like there are 15 of them when they feel the need.

now i'm trying to remember...i think i had electricity on tuesday...but not until later in the evening. in the morning, we were hoping for coffee, and thought we'd try to power shea's keurig with the adapter in the car (brilliant, right?) yes, well, unfortunately the keurig requires a little extra juice, so we tried to find a plan b. starbucks was still not open.  plan c. i found my 'survival bag' and got the sterno burners out and started heating up some water. it took way longer than is acceptable for any coffee drinker-how did the pioneers do it?! ugh. finally it was hot enough for me to make some oatmeal that 'passed for edible'...and then we let it go just a bit longer to try steeping the k-cups--i would give it a D+. i mean...it was something, and it was caffeinated. and then we may have gone driving around for a bit just to recharge devices and enjoy the a/c...maybe.

we were SO ready to have this coffee experiment work!!

eventually, one of our neighbors was texting with shea and mentioned that there was electricity at her house, which is on my street, so we checked and mine was on too, meaning we were able to get in and get the a/c going...unfortunately internet was still not up. i'm pretty sure it took days to get recuperated on a good sleep. and in the midst, i was trying to plan for a pd in miami. the issue was that we weren't sure about what was happening at our miami site, because our contact had evacuated. so we were planning as if everything was good-to-go, ready to cancel if needed. we canceled our hotel rooms because of the 72 hour policy, and would book later if it were a 'go'.

while we waited to find out about miami, one of the schools nearby confirmed that despite the damage, and chaos, they were still following through with the pd. and this area pretty much took a direct hit, fortunately all buildings were still intact. so i made sure my colleagues knew about it and tried to keep the others informed as soon as i had information for miami!

next up local training- good times!

thankful that with as big as irma was, the damage could have been worse.

julie

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

last update before irma...i think.

quick update because i still can. it is was early-ish saturday morning, and we are continuing to get updates on irma. over the past 24 hours, irma continues to move west and as it moved into cuba, it may have weakened for a minute, who knows. that said, it will probably swing up the west coast, if it heads along the current projection, the eye may pass over our area, but by that time the strength will have dwindled a bit. still enough to cause a lot of damage, but much less threatening.

i've been stocking up and preparing for the worst (Kamp-WILD, survival instincts, thanks Hank Harmon!) and i pulled out all of the emergency candles, batteries from every nook and cranny, and the list goes on. i filled ziploc gallon baggies and froze them, filled the tub, for necessary flushing (in the guest bathroom), filled a couple of lined trash cans with water in case that gets shut down (for necessary pot-washing..not 'pot-pot', 'pots-and-pans-pot'.) and after doing all that water-prep, looked out at the pool and thought, 'for the love...i HATE YOU, IRMA!'

that said, i do have a few more last things to do, and then we will settle in over at shea's for the impending doom..(there was talk at one point of going over to the school, but it is actually in a lower zone than we are, so, you do what you do-we'll be more comfortable there anyhoo).where i'm pretty sure there will be some pirate shenanigans (you think i'm joking...if you know us, you realize it's no joke). i purchased the disposable doggie pads, so the boys are taken care of; the only issue will be chaco, and his incessant need to let me know that there is lightning, thunder and random sounds outside. fun.

it's great that miami misses the eye of the storm, but still looking at high winds and surf-this is a relief, because i have several friends/former classmates in that area...they keys still look to receive a beating...one thing that makes me sad is that there are still so many turtle nests, and we will probably lose all of them with this storm. #heartbreaking 

we're hoping to get out to casperson shortly after the storm...maybe the storm will bring up some nice shark teeth...#priorities

i'm a little leery of the towering bamboo trees in my backyard..hopefully they will hold true to the ancient chinese adages and bend in the wind...not snap! yikes. by the time irma hits our area, she's predicted to be around 100-135 mph winds-which equate to between an f-1/f-2 tornado, so we'll be hiding from the wind.

i'd include pics, but i just want to get this posted and finish up some last stuffs.

-ju

i like cats-not cat 5, the less knots the better...i hate irma.

(i don't have time to proof right now, gotta get scallops...i'll update later!)

i hate it that i have to write this post, because i still have so much catching up to do, and that was supposed to be next! bummer.

so, i am writing this post because i just wanted to give a quick little update, and it's difficult to update everyone piecemeal. 

after watching the weather channel so closely and following harvey out of concern for my peeps in houston and one of my friends who JUST moved to galveston (which in the aftermath, it was a blessing that she did)..the devastation is heartbreaking. i'm thankful that for as much damage as there was, the loss of life was minimal (any loss of life is too much, but knowing that it could have been worse...). and while the ugly part of harvey is that it will take years to rebuild and get business back to normal, the genuine interaction of humans caring about humans was beautiful. 

then without batting an eye, the reports were rolling in about the damage that the montana wildfires have wreaked. read more about that here ...

and then irma. good ol' irma...she comes on a little strong-mind of her own...(read into that what you will).  as it was turning into a category 5 hurricane, i was leaving for a training in albuquerque, nm. it was rough. i did not want to leave the boys, not knowing if i'd be able to get back in time. i knew shea would take care of them, but it's still an unnerving time, not being there in person, and knowing i couldn't do a thing about it.  i took pics of the boys tuesday morning as i was leaving...just-in-case. 

julie k. called as i was pulling out, on my way to the airport and i am pretty sure that my voice caught a couple of times or that there was an odd pause, because i was afraid that if i talked, i'd cry. anyhoo, the flights were long, but we did it!

we had to make a quick stop at target, where i called mom and dad to give them the low-down and keep them in the loop, and then we may have driven creatively to get to b.j's for dinner..and by creatively, i'm sure it was legal in some third-world countries...and besides, who cares about the curbs?? i mean, pretty sure the rental car agency reps don't check the axle...but MOSTLY because they don't expect that 4 ladies would be doing back-country driving in the big city..IN A MINI-VAN!!!. (just sayin'-not pointing any fingers-and that's just an artistic observation...perhaps i embellish who knows). but it was great, unfortunately we didn't leave room for pizoukis (sp)...and by the time we got back to the hotel, i think we were all fairly wiped. my stomach had been giving me issues since monday, and i'd taken tums, mylanta, immodium...it just wasn't pretty. 

when monday morning rolled around, i was watching the weather channel, and once again, it is difficult to know how to feel when there are so many unknowns, and the uncertainty in the trajectory. and then there was the knock on the door, the 'starbuks knock' if you will. this hotel didn't have complimentary breakfast, so if we're gonna pay, might as well pay for sous vide egg bites and iced coffee, ya'know?! 

we pulled in at the same time as erik, and then it was time to get down to business! thankfully, we had a great regional facilitator-she had come in and set everything up the night before with a colleague, and it was lovely. having people who go above and beyond-priceless. 

the morning session went off without a hitch and the participants 'got-it'. this was a state-level admin training, and it went really well-there were a couple small technology things, but overall, happy campers! entertaining and informative. i was interacting with one lady in the back of the room and she was so excited about using this and the data that was available to her.  

entertaining and informational

at the very beginning, some point during introductions, when it was mentioned that i was from the tampa area, hurricane, etc, i had a moment...and after the smile and wave, i had to take a second out in the hallway to pull it together- it's the same as when you get hurt, or someone passes away, and you kinda' lose it for a moment if it's focused on, but if you can avert and steer the conversation in a different direction, and all's well. 

i was so grateful when sabrina and ju proposed the idea of leaving early if there was a flight that would get me home. i had this anxiety hanging in the back of my mind that i wouldn't be able to get back on the scheduled flight friday...and if i did that there wouldn't be time to get things prepped. it was completely unexpected, but very much appreciated. i was able to find a flight-nonstop that afternoon. FYI there aren't nonstop flights from ABQ to TPA...this was a special occasion-they had canceled the houston leg and made it a direct, i think in order to get the plane there that evening, because of the demand to get people out. umm...there were 7 passengers. i had a whole section to myself, and they were almost begging me to take snacks. i thought about stashing a bunch to bring back for irma.  

it was a long flight, but i'll take long if it gets me home!

 got home around 9:00-ish, and then drove the 50 min home. i decided to stop at walmart-24-7, and see how picked over it was. found some items that i needed...they were out of water (fortunately i am not afraid to re-use the 2-liter diet coke bottles...and before i left, i had filled about 12 bottles- 24 liters.).so i looked and they did have sparkling water...and guess what happens to sparkling water if you leave the cap off for a few hours...it doesn't sparkle as much and you end up with flavored water...there was plenty of that!

finally got home and to bed around 1-1:30 a.m. and as soon as i woke up this morning, i turned on the weather channel again, because i have been getting lots of questions about what is going on and what am i going to do... and i don't mean to be vague, but...information is coming in real time, provided by irma's intentions:

shea (my kamp friend who lives in the same neighborhood and takes care of the boys) and i are monitoring it pretty closely. we will have a better idea what the track will be as it turns between friday p.m. and saturday. if it heads up the EAST coast, we will just have tropical storm strong winds (up to 45 knots), but not too much rain. We are also keeping informed with the local manatee county emergency center. we are in evac zone D (A-E), and they have only suggested voluntary evac for zone A (the island area and trailer court area by beach and the bay). 

this is where bradenton is-near tampa/st. petes/sarasota...

also with the traffic- crazy as it is with miami evacuating, the emergency center highly recommended NOT evacuating if they have not made the suggestion. fortunately we have a place just around the corner literally less than a minute away, and their bldgs are CAT 4-rated, so if need be, we could go there, and they allow dogs for shelter-type situations, so i feel pretty comfortable with that; and they have a stockpile of water and food as well. 

the only issue may be electricity. i know it's a sketchy issue with florida energy, especially if we get a lot of wind impact. i'm not sure if there are generators or not, so internet may be an issue...time will tell​. as i said, we will have more information by saturday morning, i'm fairly sure. so i will do my best to keep the information flowing...

and so, that's what it is. 

irma...why ya' gotta be such a jerk? so freakin' unpredictable and last minute...0 respect.

everywhere she goes, irma's like, "got my eye on you!" HA! 

prayers for the islands, puerto rico, florida, houston, tx, montana...india..oh..humanity in general. 

julie

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

finally january comes to an end, and we can get on with it!

i got the text early tuesday morning, and joined julie to go get our breakfast at starbucks. she needed the extra hands, as sabrina was somewhat incapacitated-so we were looking for some medicine, as well. we got everything we needed, and again saw sketchy activity in the back parking lot near starbucks-pretty sure ju was looking in the rear-view mirror, thoroughly expecting to be followed by a drug dealer in a pick-up truck. no need to worry, we were not gunned down, nor were we followed by any suspicious characters!

we set right to work when we got back to the convention hall, as we were down one. ju took sabrina the meds, and we prayed for a quick come-back! everything got started on time, and without a hitch. sabrina and julie started with the problem-solving process, and set me up to do a quick review of goal setting (settin' a sister up for success)-it went well; although with this big a crowd, the pauses were longer so that folk could get the assistance they required. thanks girls, i really do appreciate the way you set me up for positive successes! you are making me better-

of course, the girls deferred a few questions to lori through the course of the two days, as there were some particular questions best answered by the boss. day two had a smooth flow, as we tweaked it, according to the feedback.

creative cropping- ju said no as i was taking the pic, so i am honoring that request...

we're all just jokers here! (cris, good job setting up the card-collaboration! sabrina had mentioned it, so it was good to see it applied!) 

 lori and i left early, as we both had to get back to dallas (i was to be in waco the next evening). so we got a taxi to the airport, and i don't know if it struck lori as funny or not, but the taxi driver was a hispanic lady in rhinestone blue jeans and an off-the-shoulder shirt...i thought to myself:

 1. she was the wife of the actual taxi driver who was busy in the bathroom and yelled, "hon, can you take the taxi and deliver a couple o' ladies to the airport?" (don't think she lifted a finger to help with the luggage) and the other thought:

2. she reminded me of marissa tomei in my cousin vinny...no matter, we arrived regardless.

we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, so we stopped at the restaurant while waiting. i always enjoy free time to sit and chat, and lori always provides great conversation! at one point the conversation went something like this:
lori: if you could live anywhere, where would you live?
me: well...i'd actually considered moving to florida not too long ago (even last year, before this opportunity with Istation came along). 
lori: oh, really?! (pause, think) perhaps that's something the company might be willing to offer a moving stipend for, as florida is a strategic location to have a trainer on the ground there...if you're still interested, i could have that discussion with the 'powers that be.'
me: interesting...well, yes, check into it and let me know!

FF>> (a week or two) an email arrives to the entire training team. of course i respond, but at this point i still had to talk to some people (to convince myself perhaps), and it took a minute to schedule a conversation with our 401k guy.

 anyhoo, this past monday, i knew it was time to either jump in, or not. so i emailed to let lori know that i was in. and about 30 minutes after that, the 401k guy called to set up a time to talk. funny how things work out. and then we set up a time to talk about the logistics of moving. once that was done, everything now will be going at hyper-speed.

i've begun to do some preliminary packing, and planning. hoping that by the end of the month i will have found a place to live in bradenton...and will be moved there by the end of july. i've been dreaming of this since this trip! (more here and here) ...yes. this is where my heart is, and i am ready for the next chapter!

change is the process by which the future invades our lives. -alvin toffler

so there you have it!

all that said, i've kinda' pulled you up to date, but there are still some fun feb/march stories to tell, so those will be on the way!

julie