summer want-to-dos..1 1/2 down, 1 1/2 to go!

so, a lot going on this summer so far! around the middle of june, i decided to take advantage of the weekend and get started on my summer list of 'want-to-dos'. so i found the mangrove eco tour in sarasota, and booked it! thanks, groupon! it's never quite as much fun to go alone, but i would absolutely do it again! first of all, i LOVE kayaking. secondly, going through the mangrove tunnels was pretty cool! i went with a group called: adventure kayak outfitters, and our guide was dan. it was very informative and a decent group. it makes my suggestion list, and i now need to get a kayak.

our guide took us out, and there was a group of girls from new jersey, a girl from panama, a couple from new york, and a mom and her 2 kiddos from somewhere up north...ohio? yep, let's just call it ohio. several had never kayaked before so i ended up being the person in the back- it reminded me of kamp and being the tail person on trip bringing up the rear in order to make sure that everyone made it safely! ha! #naturalreaction 

we took off into the bay and saw three manatee, but unfortunately there were no dolphins swimming through at the time... so we moved toward the tunnels. these were red mangroves. there are also white and black. the roots take the salt water and desalinate about 90% of the water and from what our guide said, the trees have leaves at the top, which he called sacrificial leaves, where the salt is excreted and the leaves fall. anyhoo, back in this area, there were ponds, where the water would pool and stagnate, causing major mosquito issues. in order to relieve the problem, the army corps of engineers cut tunnels through the mangroves, in hopes that it would bring fresh waters as the tides came and went. i guess it didn't really relieve the mosquito problem. (we still have mosquitos). so, even though it doesn't work as planned, hopefully they will keep the tunnels cleared, because they really are magical! 

and because the kayaking was such a success, i decided to start on number 2 on my list. so i went in and paid for the scuba certification course, and started the online portion that day! throughout the week, i was able to finish the course and take the final test. now i need to schedule the pool dives, which he said they usually try to schedule around 6pm, then 2 open water drives, which we do on weekends... perfect, that fits into my schedule! 

it's a little harder to schedule in the summer, because of the storm patterns. but hopefully i can get them scheduled and taken care of! this will be my expensive hobby! it'll be exciting to get out and about and take some video with the go-pro once things settle a little bit (maybe next year! ha! hopefully we'll find a free weekend to sneak down to the keys before it gets cold!)

the final thing on my summer 'want-to-do' list is coming up next in a couple weekends. there's the night bioluminescent eco-tour over near cocoa beach, an hour east of orlando. because it is night kayaking, to see the glowing plankton, it will be late. unfortunately the 9pm and the 11pm were booked, and all that was left was the midnight madness! eek. i may need a nap before we go! but i am super looking forward to it, and found a tour in clear tandem kayaks, so that will definitely add to the excitement factor!

and then  last week there was a little thing we like to call SUMMERCON 18! yes, next up, a quick overview of our summer conference!

a great weekend to all!
julie

and then summer began if 'june know what i mean'

summer for everyone! well, as far as the weather is concerned! and by the way, i made a mistake. the trip to mississippi actually happened in june-the first week...uf. that's why one should record their blog posts as soon as they happen!

the weekend before i headed to ms, we took advantage of the beautiful day to try a new donut shop-5-0...crime scene! it was interesting, but not good enough to trump AMI donuts or the farmhouse, or peacheys (which i was thinking about just this morning...but good thing they are away up north for the summer!).

i didn't like the actual donuts more than others i'd been to, but a quick fix if you're in this part of town!

kind of a fun staging area! 

 so we tried them, then went to check out jungle gardens! there were some animals in cages, i felt bad for the reptiles and felt the animals could've had a better ambiance, but the highlight of course was the flamingos! just hanging out, doing their thing. a sign was up, letting us know that they might be aggressive as it was breeding season. i may be the only one that didn't get bitten. they were beautiful, though! just not very hungry; we were thinking that perhaps they come out and actually feed them shrimp in the mornings, and the crappy-feed from visitors was merely a 'treat' but not a really good treat...more like feeding me a piece of seaweed paper when i really want doritos.. it's amazing the things you see and hear when you observe other visitors. again with the little kids...they were jerks. i'm blaming parents on this one, because most kids are not innately cruel to animals, they are just selfish and think they are the center of the universe. parents, please don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys...or jerks.

a bunch of the flamingos milling around

this one lone flamingo took off and got away from all the others (like he was on an energy drink or something), and he ended up in a completely different area of the park-here he is acting like a giraffe!

the same flamingo from the above pic, he moved even further from the trip and toward the kiddie park in the sandbox!

the verdict is out-a little pricey for petting flamingos, but if that's something you're just dying to do, it's as good a place as any to do it. plus they do have picture times with the baby alligators, and parrots. one of the cool things for us was that someone randomly called out to shea, and we were thinking IMG employee, but no, it was one of her close friends from oklahoma middle school(?) who visits family in sarasota annually! good times!

and actually the same night i returned, another kamp friend was flying in with her toddlers! merce stayed with shea, and they flew into tampa, i flew into sarasota. but we did get together the following evening for dinner! saturday we made it out to myakka and again saw some baby gators, but the water was much higher than the previous visit, so they weren't just laying out on the banks (of the hanky-panky where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky..) anyhoo. we did some muddy hiking with the kiddos, and one of shea's co-workers and her children. good times! we sloshed through some muddy/watery parts of the trail, but knew that it was just a bit further to the end of the loop that led to the parking lot!

sunday was our last hang-out day, so we headed out to AMI and did donuts and a beautiful beach day! there was some boogie-boarding, some treasure hunting...and just instilling the general love of ocean in the babes!

fun floating and looking for waves-of which there really weren't any big 'uns!

the following day i was off to broward for a little training on our spanish product, and it was pretty exciting! a good crowd! and then the following week i drove up to orange county-the orlando area to support our pki/implementation/sales team as one of our sales reps has the unique opportunity to go overseas to begium to teach! while we're excited for him, it's always a chore to get the 'just right candidaes' to meet the needs here in florida!

then about 2 weeks later it would be time to head off to dallas for our summer conference 2018...but just a couple more tidbits before the trip!

great start to a 'booming' week!
julie

may we go back to may? part 3 (didn't realize it was a trilogy?)

like i said, may was a busy month!

shortly after the mock training, i was summoned to help support in ms, which was a good experience as well. i was able to help plan and then be available for additional support onsite. we had a good time, and it was great getting to know ann better!

the uber to the hotel was informative, it was like tourist-guide-ish. then we met that night to go over the presentation, and i didn't realize until after she'd dropped me back off, that my purse was nowhere...i couldn't get back into my room (but worse than that, my license was in there, and i couldn't help but think about my flight home!)...so i called a lyft to return me to the starbucks we'd been at...the hotel clerk offered her car, but i felt a little weird about that, so i waited and prayed! unfortunately the lyft driver had to go down several exits to turn around to get to me (20 minutes later) because there was construction along the freeway! fortunately the area where the starbucks was is in a great part of town and all the other shops in the little area had been closed before we finally left, and my purse, being black and sleek, was still hanging there, patiently waiting for me on the back of the chair out on the outside seating area.

our ticket out of the training!

the training went well, and i was off to the airport again, a good 6 hour wait for the next flight. ew.

then the following day one of my great friends from kamp came to visit! the great thing was that she has a job that allows her to work from home, so we were both able to work on friday, monday and tuesday before i took wednesday and thursday off! and since shea was also working, we played in the afternoons, and it worked out well!

fields of gold

old tree photo shoot

wembley photo shoot

lido beach waiting for...

hammocks on the beach, sunset pics, myakka park- we did see alligators, and the 'sea of gold' flowers were in bloom, which is seasonal, not more than two weeks later the entire meadow was under water... we got over to st. armands, lido beach, obviously we had to introduce her to the farmhouse donuts (the biscuit and gravy twist), fish tacos, nascrab races at a local favorite...then wednesday was our early morning and off to animal kingdom!

i decided at shea's suggestion to go ahead and get annual passes for the parks, and when we decided to parkhop to magic kingdom, i determined real quickly that it was so worth it! for parking, hopping, the pics, etc, it will pay itself off quickly enough! and to be only 2 hours away, it's an easy day trip. plus a great excuse (not that i need one) to go hang out in orlando with brandy, and not feel rushed at the parks! so yes, we went we conquered! we stopped to meet and greet pocahontas, walked through to see all sorts of animals, we caught the safari ride, everest, etc, then we wandered around a bit, we wanted to do the avatar ride, but the line...ohhhhh....the line! (although, in hindsight, i understand it may have been worth it, note to self, will have to return! even if only for this ride!) we ate in this land and loved it-such interesting burger pods and hot-dog bites and very unique drinks! it was almost a given we'd eat there, as we had prepped by watching a couple nights earlier with homemade ceviche!

at some point we decided that we would spend the second half of the day at the magic kingdom. we arrived as they were recognizing a veteran, followed by a small parade, which shea almost interrupted (oh the scolding)...

anyhoo, we took advantage of every photo op available! we did some of the smaller fun rides, as the lines weren't too ridiculous...probably the longest line was our meet and greet with ariel! yikes! but she did pull out the dinglehopper and combed shea's hair, so that was worth it! as was the fast pass on splash mountain!

celebrating our mentor, TRISH HELSEL's bday (who knew she'd just gotten proposed to!?!)

these are the pictures we love!

we caught the light show from one of the small diners, then tried to get to space mountain, but the line was ridiculous! we did end up doing the winnie the pooh ride, which i believe was our last of the night, and we took the ferry back. #productiveday

the following day, which i also took off, we did a little siesta key factory tour, and beach, then when shea was off, it was a little rainy, so we went down to the tiki-hut (we'd been wanting to try the food there to mark it off the list). it wasn't amazing, but it wasn't terrible, either. i'm pretty sure bmayes got the best option- hard to go wrong with coconut shrimp! eventually the little downpour passed by, and we made our way to a little ledge where you could sit and watch the sunset-which was pretty much set-still beautiful. and the lights were turned down because: turtle nesting season.

the following day, we got some more work done before taking bmayes to the airport for the late flight back. the issue on that 7:00 pm flight is always either traffic, or weather! fortunately we made it in a timely fashion, and despite all the other cancellations due to wx, hers went well!

and after that, i slept!

may we go back to may? part 2

not long after the manatee fun, i'd been working together with a couple of experienced colleagues on a new kind of work adventure; we were going to do a mock training at the main office, so there was a lot of collaborating going on! which was necessary, as we are all so spread out! we spent our due diligence working via webinar, and conference calls, and we brainstormed, and we changed directions, and we cut and pasted and edited and laughed, and hopefully there were no tears (except those of laughter)...

alicia and joyce are totally into themes (which is great because i'm not so great at themes, except when it comes to kamp, and it made the day a lot of fun). so we were definitely casino dealers, and the gambling theme was money-chaching!

when we finally got to meet together in dallas for the presentation, we spent plenty of time setting up and getting things as ready as they could be, and in the process, we were provided with great hospitality from michele, and lori (the food was great, from the salads to the pizzas...thanks to the chefs! #furie sorry we were delayed...) 

full room, fully or fairly engaged

our amazing pki team

getting to know the east sales team after hours

someone (lori) knows how to start the day right! #achilles

the team was available on tuesday to help think through things, make copies, ask clarifying questions and ultimately give insights on what had worked in the previous session. and then wednesday, it was off to the races, and went more smoothly than expected. following that session, we also helped with some follow-up on content areas, and with brain breaks and such. sigh of relief when all was said and done that we didn't screw anything up or leave anyone with crazy misconceptions!! smiles. while it was enlightening to do something new and different, and meet/interact with our sales crew, it was also good to head home! #relief

i learned so much!

all fun and games (and nerves and anxiety and hyperventilation)... #cantwaittodoitagain
julie

may we go back to may? part 1

okay, so may was a very full month, although you wouldn't know it by my posts.

the month started out with one of the adventures that i'd been wanting to knock off of the 'things-to-do-list'. i'd purchased a groupon to go snorkel with the manatee awhile back, and i knew it was to expire at the end of may (and with so much going on at the end of may, it was wise to go early on). so we went on may 5th..also known as cinco de mayo, celebrated oh-so-incorrectly as mexican independence day, which it is NOT.

i booked this particular adventure for 8:00 a.m. it was a 2 hr 15 min drive north, and they wanted us there about 45 minutes prior. so i woke up SUPER early and picked up my explorer-in-crime, shea, and we made a pit stop at starbucks when it was finally open! we arrived prior to the 45 minute time-window, but they'd already started the intro video (which was required, to make sure one knows how to treat the manatee, as they are definitely protected [ahem, *cough,cough, alicia]). 

after viewing the video, i managed to put the wetsuit on backward...brilliant. try again. then they sent us off to find the landing where the captain would be waiting for us with his pontoon. after we parked the car, found the office to pay, i had to go back to the car to place the parking stub...all the while, there were 4 other girls on the boat waiting. the captain just didn't seem super nice, but he wasn't my type anyway! once we got out to the springs, we made our way around looking for sightings, when he noticed a dog on a dock barking, and that was our cue to slip into the water and make our way over. there was a large sea cow, and we were all pretty excited. the algae floating at the top was rather distracting, and out of nowhere this dad and his obnoxious little child came splashing across the surface making so much noise that i'm pretty sure made the manatee 'run' to hide (in a swimingly way) ..and i'm sure if the sea grass could've uprooted itself, it would've run too! it's not that i don't like children, i do, but it's more that they were children of someone i don't know which made them annoying. (hey, you either understand or you don't, and either way, it's no skin wetsuit off my back!).

while i was fumbling around trying to make my phone-camera work, inside the plastic water-proof cover, i missed some great shots! (this was when i officially decided that it would benefit me to get a go-pro using points from a travel program) but fortunately shea had her go-pro and got some great shots and video! we moved from that location into another inlet, and there were 3 more in there! of course, who was in the same area as if we were playing cat and mouse, but the other guide with the family of kids...whatever, we did see three more manatee there, and it felt like being jacques cousteau. as the manatee came out of nowhere and swam right beneath me, i was legally able to touch his back (almost couldn't help it, he was so close!). 

we made one more stop at the first spring, and being the first one in, the captain pointed me off toward the spring...unfortunately once i was off, i couldn't hear a thing, and apparently there were a couple more manatee in the opposite direction-which i missed. sad day.

it was good timing, as all of the gentle giants we saw seemed to be on their way back out to the gulf, now that the waters are warming and they can tolerate the temps. i would love to go again in november or december when they huddle in the larger masses. it was certainly a memorable adventure!

from there, we headed back, and stopped in st. pete's on the way home. it was an early lunch because we'd had such an early start. we tried a new spot across from the beach, which had an amazing view...and great food-plus, it may have been the only way to park for 'free'. we had to pay $20 for parking around back, but then you turn around and use the ticket for $20 in food, so it's a wash...BUT because we were on the rooftop, and it was a breezy day, i had pulled my ticket out and it slipped away! i'm pretty sure it was a bit comical as people were watching me chase after what seemed to be an invisible something or other! fortunately i was able to pounce on it (quite literally, it seemed like i was frog-chasing or something-not that i have ever), and the discount was ON!

when we got back into town, we thought we'd hit up the downtown bradenton 'festival', thinking there would be food trucks. there were not. but they did create a guiness world book record for nachos...we did not partake. instead, we went to a mexican restaurant in palmetto that i'd read about in a review, and it was decent.

shea making friends with the table art

and that wrapped up a day of adventure...up next: collaborating for mock training, and when friends come to visit.

(and once again, i've fallen behind- i meant to get this out last month!)

julie

moving...simply moving! (and a little more, but don't hold your breath-very little)

too busy, too lazy, or too distracted? or all three? well, let's take a moment to get caught up.

since february, i've been keeping up with product knowledge and personal professional development webinars. then in march there was a quick trip to /////

DISCLAIMER: i had this page all done and ready to go-except photos, and it all got erased. so if i am missing some details as re-do, apologies. i'm not super happy about it either.

as i was saying, i was in dallas for a quick cohort/team meeting and gathering of minds (notice i didn't say what kind of minds, suffice it to say, all those minds were sound...unless of course they were psychopathic...at that point, it's so well hidden, not being a clinician, i wouldn't be able to separate the wheat from the chaff). ←wait, what??? anyhoo. we had a great group and a great session. there was much information, and a lot of valuable collaboration. i really do appreciate the work that went into it, because i know it isn't always easy to put something together, and there is always that desire to put something together that is valuable to the participants, so KUDOS to lori, suzanne and sabrina! thank you!

we had a great time of fellowship both evenings- first at lori's and then at our coo's. beautiful homes with comfortable atmospheres! 

my flight home? well that did not go as planned. but i made it, and in the end that's what matters!

almost immediately after i returned, it was kicked into high gear to move. i moved on april first, after EASTER service. shea and george, her 'uncle' were a great help putting everything in the uhaul, and then we used that as an excuse to go to the swordfish (which, in all honesty, never needs an excuse). when i got home, i put the lock on the uhaul, and wouldn't ya know it, it was too small. a locker lock. the kind you move a dial to open...but it was so tight that i couldn't double click the top part to get it cleared to open it. so, who do you think went to walmart for a cheap bolt-cutter (which i might add i will probably never use again)...that's right, it was me. when i returned, it took me no less than 30 minutes of struggle (wwe smackdown-ish) to finally get through the lock. then to my dismay, i still couldn't get it off, and had to hammer the lock around to the other side to cut through that part! UF. i may frame the metal cutters, because i threw away the lock. 

the next morning, shea and i got up early and took wembley to the sunrise service on the bay, because he really needed to hear the gospel and worship. it was a nice service, mostly music (which i get because they were having services back at the church normal time), but note to self: next year, please bring blanket, as it is chilly on the water!

shea came over and helped me unload everything into the apt and garage area, before taking off for a previously planned engagement adventure. it was a day or two before i was ready to bring the boys over. once we got here, bruno had some issues in the evening, and once again we visited the emergency clinic. it ended up being a bunch of poop. he just had to get a little enema (why does that always make me think of jack nicholson as the joker-thanks, 80s). poor guy, but it did help immensely.

then the furniture came. it's been a long year living on other people's furniture (the rental house was furnished- i stored their beds, because i brought my own, but other than that, it was all theirs). i LOVE my couch and breakfast nook (perfect size for the apt!) fortunately mom and dad were able to make the journey down to visit mid april. we still had some cleaning, nail-hole-spackling, painting, and furniture re-arrangement to do, plus we took out dead bushes and planted new ones and flowers. i probably did..no, i KNOW i did more than i needed to, but i always learned you leave things better than you found them!

i finally turned in the keys and wiped my hands of that place! so happy to be in the apt...and the boys seem to like the cozy comfort as well! i dropped from a 3 bed to a 2 bed/2ba, and we won't have wasted space...i was considering a 3 bedroom apt, one of the rooms for a study, but it wasn't necessary, and there weren't any available on the first floor, with an attached garage-which was a must.

we like the layout better than the house too,  and the laminate-wood floor better than the porcelain tile...

the good thing is that it's in the same area, just a couple minutes closer to the beach for walking!

alright, that's it for the move...i will probably post tomorrow-just a picture journal to catch us up!
goodnight! julie

peachy-bakers, cache-takers, training-trends and miami-friends!

what's been up these days? glad you asked!

since the last time i posted, there may or may not have been a donut-truck incident...thanks to shea's suggestion...yes, i will partake. i mean, who wouldn't want to check out peachey's at 8:00 a.m. (not early for me, but early for some). there were to gals in front of us, and the one who looked middle-school-ish, said i had to try the pretzel, so of course, it ended up being a donut and a pretzel to get the full experience! glad i did, because both items lived up to expectations!!

dripping with sweetness!

yes, please, i will partake! the salt after the sweet #allaboutbalance

this cute little outfit began as a family farm business, and they took their shop on the road- it used to be amish something or other, and they made a wise decision to change their name, as food truck drawn by a horse might not go over as well...check them out on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAmishBakingCompany/

that was friday the 2nd. the next day we went to sarasota to pick up shea's running packet because she was brave enough-or got fanagled into doing a half-marathon; funny how that all panned out...so after we picked up those packets, we stopped in sarasota, since we were down there anyhoo. there were about 3-5 caches in the area, so we walked around town, saw one of the parks, and walked the marina area, finding some neat little hides. it felt like we walked 7 miles, but all said and done it was only like 5. ugh, amazing how walking, standing and searching can be so exhausting!

check out these cool historical buildings/houses! cool little finds in sarasota!

i'd live here for a minute!

at the marina on a beautiful day

iconic

at some point during last week, i got some items in the mail: oriental trading pins (the cheapest and cutest i could find)! these will be amazing little trinkets to put in caches far and wide! my e-trex gps also arrived! thank you southwest points!! so it will be fun trying to figure out how to get my maps to download and get things going with that! (i find myself running my battery down on the phone). 

southwest-the gift that keeps on giving!

the flamingos are adorbs, the pineapples are welcoming, and the flowers...well, they're flowers!

friday i got on a flight to miami, where i was meeting jane to then drive down to marathon, in the keys. the flight there was uneventful. i despise the miami airport with every fiber of my being. i stopped to grab a cuban sandwich while i waited, but it was nasty. not all cuban sandwiches are made the same (i loved the panini one we had in key west). then i made my way to the baggage claim, and then on to the rental car pick-up. once jane arrived, we made our way down to the keys. we stopped at lazy days on the way down, and had some sea food stuffs. i'm such a sucker for a good ocean view with a slight breeze!! in fact, it was so breezy that it blew a couple slices of baguette off the crab-dip plate as the server was bringing it to us...only he didn't notice it had happened. so we ended up having to pile it on to get the correct disbursement.

unbeatable dinner view!

the airbnb guy, robert, called and we gave him our ETA, so that his dad could meet us at the place and show us the ropes. we arrived a bit earlier than expected- probably because i have a lead foot, and it was hard not to drive the dodge 300 like a boss. it was dark by the time we arrived, and then siri told us one thing, but there was no place to park, and the house numbers weren't matching up. we must have driven up and down the little street three times before we finally called robert to get specifics. there was indeed an rv in the driveway, as they were renting that space to someone to park. his dad arrived a few minutes later, and finally we were able to get in and it took longer than necessary to walk us through the basics-he just wanted to be a host and took his responsibilities seriously! #proudpapa

unfortunately we only had a few hours there, once we arrived we worked a little to talk things through, and come up with a final plan, and woke up early enough to hit mcdonald's on the way to training. we had to go around twice. the first round we got my meal and all of our drinks, but they failed to order up correctly, and we were missing 1 hot cakes plate, so we made a second trip around the drive through! uf.

the training went off without a hitch! we had another great group-two of the ladies from last time returned, and even though it was basically the same training, they said they got even more out of it, and were now looking at how to apply what we were going over. i love repeaters, because they were serious! everyone else was new, but they were all tuned in, except that one. at least that 'one' wasn't rude, just there for the stipend, i'm sure.

just a little balanced literacy and istation!

we got out around one and stopped at a cute little lunch place on the way back to miami. the staff were super sweet and the inside was adorably decorated. we were able to make it to our hotel by the airport around 5:15 pm. got checked in, and i made a quick change and headed over to hellen's to have dinner with her and jacy. we had comida tipica- i should've gotten a picture, because hellen fixed up the table to be so cute!! from the table cloth, to the souvenirs, to the food! best beans-baleadas, pupusas and taquitos...yea! we sat around chatting, mixed with some laughter, and then hellen pulled out the videos from senior year! ha!!! good times! a little reminiscing goes a long way! can't wait until we can pull together a little class reunion in miami with more classmates when they happen to be up visiting!

ah, these two! familiarity is comfort!

the next morning came early! jane and i got to the airport and took off in good time.

alright, those of you in relationships, enjoy valentine's day! for the rest of us...pizza and netflix! then off to the candy sales aisle before they start putting out the halloween candy!

julie