MIA

I have been MIA.

I have 8, eight!, unfinished posts saved. They are all half written and I seem to have no time to finish them. I hate that. I hate when life gets in the way of life.

One day, soon, I hope to finish them.

But it won't be tomorrow.

Tomorrow is date night! Jonathan's 27th birthday is tomorrow so I am helping him celebrate with a surprise date. I have wanted to go to [secret date spot] with him for years. I hope it is as fun as it is playing out in my head!

Stay tuned. I will reveal how our date went. And hopefully play blog catch up!

My scat don't stink

I have the most intelligent, adorable niece in the world. Tori, who is 10, just attended camp for a week. It was some outdoorsy/girl scout type camp where they learned about animals, etc.

Fast forward to the weekend. Tori and I are sitting in the living room and had a conversation that went something like this:

Tori: "Taylor, guess what I learned at camp this week?"

Me: "I don't know. What Tori?"

Tori: "I learned that animals that don't eat meat, their scat doesn't stink."

Me (trying not to laugh): "Really Tori? All vegetarian animals?"

Tori: "Yeah, all vegetarian animals."

Me: "Tori, I am not sure you understood that quite right. Maybe your counselor was talking about a certain kind of vegetarian animal? Maybe a lizard or a bird?"

Tori: "Nope. All vegetarian animals."

Me: "Tori, have you ever been to, or driven by a cow pasture?"

Tori: "Yes."

Me: "You know that horrible smell? Cows are vegetarians but their scat really smells."

Tori: "Well, maybe that smell is just their breath."

Me (Really, really trying not to laugh.): "No Tori. It is their scat for sure."

Tori: "Really? Cause I was thinking this would be a really good deal for you since you don't eat meat."

Me: No longer able to contain my laughter.

The green jacket

Have you ever seen the movie Under the Tuscan Sun?

You know the old man that walks down the street everyday with flowers? And every day Frances watches him, tries to wave and get him to acknowledge her?

Well I have my own old man with flowers. Only he is not really old, and he has no flowers.

There is a guy that walks down Lakewood, literally everyday. He wears navy blue bike shorts, a white t-shirt, and a green nylon jacket. (During the summer, he also carries a white towel.)

We moved into this house in Feb. of 2007. Since then I have never not seen him. He is literally ALWAYS walking, on the same side of the road, wearing the same outfit.

If I turn left to go out to MLK Blvd, I see him on that 2 mile trek. And if I turn right to S.R. 60, low and behold, he is near K-mart. It baffles me.

Jonathan and I have had many a conversation about green jacket man. We have run through dozens of scenarios about his life, and walking habits. But my favorite is this:

To me he looks like Muhamed Ali's long lost brother. I imagine that he was also an up-and-coming boxer when he suffered a career ending injury. But because his opponent was illegally using performance enhancing drugs, Ali Jr. got a huge settlement and no longer has to work.

But his dedication to fitness and meditation has never faded. So he uses his 'training' time to walk. He walks to think about life, and clear his head all at once. He walks to keep his physique and fill his free time. And he wears the same outfit for no other reason than, 'it's lucky.'

Well, yesterday I had a break-through. I had the luxury of sitting at the light at 60 and saw him walking up in my rear view mirror. He was on a different side of the road yesterday, which was oddly uncomforting. This guy is SO in a routine, why after all this time is it changing?

But then, as he was walking up to the cross walk, we made eye contact. Eye contact!

It wasn't the glorious, long-awaited wave from Under the Tuscan Sun. But it was my own little victory and insight into my old man with flowers.

If dogs could talk...

Jonathan and I were discussing tonight that we wish, for just a day, our dogs could talk.

I want to hear what they think of us. Learn what they do all day while we are gone. And what is it exactly about the 3 legged squirrel in the backyard that fascinates them.

I want to know what happened to Jake before we found him in the middle of the road. And if Reese really likes dock diving, or if she just humors me.

But really, I just want to hear their voice.

In my head, Jake's voice is very sophisticated. Like a Harvard professor with a gray beard, wire-rimmed glasses and a cigar.

Reese's voice is very different. It is high-pitched and airy. She would absolutely chew gum and twirl her hair while she talked. Much like the tri-Delt I sat next to in Economics 101.

Jonathan has a very male opinion. He thinks Jake would sound like Hugh Hefner and Reese a cheerleader.

(Ok, the cheerleader and tri-Delt aren't too far apart....)

Talent Tank

I heard a quote today that I hadn't heard in a long time:

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'

I really love the idea of a person striving to use up their limitless talents.

I mean, just imagine if we all tried to empty our 'talent tanks' each day...

Knocked my socks off, and washed them too.

Today we had Christmas in June. And I am sorry to tell you, cameras were not allowed at the celebration, so this will be a picture-free post. Keep reading though... it is worth it!

Last Christmas we gave my mother-in-law tickets to Disney's Keys to the Kingdom tour. Fast forward 6 months and we got to go!

We met up this morning at 7am for the hour and a half drive to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived, umbrellas in tow, for the 9am tour.

Jeff greeted us in typical Disney fashion-- over-the-top happiness and cheer. (My favorite part!) We quickly learned Jeff was a Disney nerd and is making a career out of the useless Disney facts he knows. Love it!

In a nutshell, the tour gave us a behind-the-scenes look at how they make Disney so magical. The 5+hour adventure spent about 3 hours "on stage" (or walking around along side all the other guests, but having Jeff show us the park through Walt's eyes) and then 2 hours "backstage" (or in the utilidors seeing how cast members make the magic happen).

Here are some of my favorite tidbits I learned along the way:

• Walt Disney wanted to create a place where children and adults could play together, thus Disney Land was created. But after it was built, Walt realized he wanted to have control over the whole Disney experience. He hated that from the roof of the Swiss Family Robinson tree in Disney Land you could see an IHOP. (In Disney World, you never see out, never see a car, are never taken out of the Magic.)
• The keys to the Kingdom are: safety, courtesy, efficiency and show.
  
• Your smile is part of your costume. And while on stage, you are always in costume and in character. (BTW, I really think this should be a general rule used in life!)
• At the end of main street, on the left hand side, there is a big board (called the Tip Board) with a cast member there at all times. This board is updated at least every 30 mins. with park information. A ride that says continuous shows, has no wait! If it has a wait time, or is shut down, that will also be indicated here.
  
• The new car used at the beginning of the afternoon parade was Tim Allen's Hot Rod in Home Improvement.
  
• Charters have a 40 / 20 rule. Characters that are standing in air conditioning will work for 40 minutes and have a 20 minute break. Characters that are standing in the heat will work for 20 minutes and have a 40 minute break.
• Cast members do not do one task for more than 45 minutes a day. Example, it would be hard to continuously smile and greet guests while pushing a button to start the ride all day long. But for 45 minutes, no problem!
  
• Approximately 98 hats a day are lost on the rides in the Magic Kingdom.
  
• Disney has a Christmas warehouse for all things holiday. We learned today that every ornament and decoration has a barcode. When you scan it, it tells you exactly what park, what location, what tree, and what level the ornament or decoration gets placed on.
• Costumes are treated similar to Christmas ornaments. (Uniforms are called costumes.) Cast members may go to the costume warehouse and check out up to 5 costumes at a time. Then they scan them out like a library book. Once worn, they return them (dirty) and pick up 5 new ones.
  
• And finally, probably the thing I will remember the most is the laundry. All those costumes have to be cleaned, and ironed. Apparently, if you do one load of laundry a day, everyday, for the next 44 years, you will still not do as much laundry as Disney does in 1 day. And yes, it is someones job to iron, all day. (YUCK!)

The tour ended with a very heartfelt speech from Jeff. He told us about how Roy is really the unsung Disney hero. Walt died before Disney World was a reality. Roy came out of retirement and for 5 years did nothing but make his brother dream come true. On the day of the grand opening, Roy, a very punctual man, couldn't be found. Turns out, he had taken his boat out into the lagoon with a close friend and was refusing to open the park without his brother.

But the good family friend knew the saying that: Walt was Mickey and Mickey was Walt. When animators were unsure how to have Mickey do a movement, they would have Walt do it. And when Walt was unsure about a decision, he would watch Mickey films.

About 30 minutes after the scheduled opening of the Walt Disney World Resort, Roy and Mickey opened the park. (Side note: Roy spent a ton of his own personal money to change the name of the Disney World Resort to the Walt Disney World Resort so that it truly honored his brother.)

I am a Disney nut. I truly believe it is the happiest place on earth. I have been to all the Orlando parks multiple times, I have done a Disney cruise, and been to Disney's island. I have seen every movie (at least twice) and am actively trying to go on a 'Disney Adventure'. And yet somehow, today, I just saw Disney for the first time.

Moot-Za-Rel-La

Make your own pizza night is one of my favorite nights. Normally, I dread making dinner. It is probably my least favorite part of the day. But on make your own pizza night it is F.U.N.

The whole family gathers in the kitchen.










We laugh as we mix the dough and decide on toppings. Jonathan went with a standard pepperoni. I got a bit more creative: minced garlic, onions, tomatoes and Italian spices. And of course, lots of Moot-Za-Rel-La (said in Jonathan's not so believable Italian accent) cheese on both!

Imagine a picture here where we are covered in pizza dough up to our elbows, and maybe a bit in our hair. (For obvious reasons, I didn't get the shot.)

Once we had everything in the oven we impatiently waited like little kids in line at Disney World. And by waited I mean we opened the oven, a lot.










Tasted the crust and toppings along the way.










And finally our golden brown creations were ready to be devoured.










And the best part of it all.... leftovers tomorrow!

The '0' Birthday

Last year my mother-in-law turned 50. To celebrate, we decided that just the girls would take a trip to Washington D.C. And so our '0' birthday tradition began... any year that one of us hits a 0 milestone, we will have a girls trip.

Well this year my niece Tori turned 10. She was quick to point out that since this was her first 0 birthday, she should get a trip.

Really, who can argue with that logic!

So all the girls jumped in the car for the 4 hour drive to St. Augustine.

We did a lot of walking, a lot of trolley riding and managed to learn about the oldest city in America at the same time.























We also got matching airbrush tats (Yes, that is my foot with the horrible flip-flop tan line.):















Tried on some clothes:













Saw some funny things:













And had a great time at the beach:

Next stop: LeShayne's 30th!
(Thanks for the group shot LeShayne.)

Dock Diving

When Jonathan and I were shopping for Reese, one of the questions we asked breeders was, "Do the parents like to swim?"

I had no idea the danger of this question. In my head I thought I was getting a puppy that would lollygag in the pool with me on a summer afternoon, or perhaps take the occasional beach trip.

In reality, this one, seemingly harmless question would mean I would never again be able to pull a towel out of the closet without at least 30 minutes of excited whimpering chasing me around the house.

Reese loves swimming; in fact there is nothing in the world Reese likes more than swimming. (I have tested it... she picks swimming over her favorite yellow ball, over a bowl of food, over a chance to chase ducks... and yes, even over me.)

Reese has loved swimming from day one. This is her first jump in the pool. She was about 4 months old and it was the first warm-enough-for-a-swim day of her life. My brother ran and jumped in the pool & Reese followed. No teaching, no bribing. Just jumping.



Reese will literally spend hours in the pool. She loves to jump and retrieve. But she will also float on rafts, pull you around when you hold her tail, and attempt to dive for sunken toys. But jumping is her favorite.



So a couple of weeks ago when I heard about the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge in St. Pete, FL, curiosity got the best of me. Among other things, they were going to have a dock diving competition. Reese, Grandma and I went to find out what it takes to be an Incredible dock diver.

Needless to say, Reese loved it. (Tried to jump in the pool with the dogs!) So I found a local pool and signed her up for class.

Mandatory class 1 is used to teach the dogs to jump off the dock. It is about 2.5 feet off the water, and apparently can be a challenge to get pups used to the height difference.

Reese didn't have that problem. Surprise, surprise, she jumped at the first opportunity.

So the teacher quickly had Reese begin focusing on the height of her jumps. (Eventually this will help her increase her distance.)

Her landings crack me up!

Reese loved every minute of class. She seems to thrive on being challenged. (And I thrived on the fact that she slept for 2 days straight when we got home!) We have been given some homework to practice before Reese's next class... with the advanced group!

...Who knows, maybe one day Reese will be the dog on ESPN as Purina's Incredible Dog.

I leave you with a jumping sequence, and a funny comment. About half way through Reese's class, the teacher said, "Wow, she doesn't do anything slow, does she?"

Bike Bodyguard

It was a big day for Jonathan. He has been working on a new product, The Bike Bodyguard, for nearly a year now. And today, I am excited to say, his website went live!

It is crazy to me to think that 10 or 15 years ago a website was a luxury. It was only for the biggest and most advanced companies. And even then, it was sort-of a gamble: Did consumers know how to find the site? Or care to? A lot of people didn't have internet access... and those that did probably were not going to waste their 100 minutes of AOL time on you. There was instant messaging to be done!

Fast forward to 2010, and the launch of your website is arguably your first day of business. Sure, Jonathan has had a name, drawings, a patent, logo and even a prototype long before now... but today, he had been announced to the world. Today, he is Googleable.

Go on, you know you want to look:
www.bikebodyguard.com

A kid in a candy store.

Three years ago when Jonathan and I got married we bought a house. It is a wonderful house, with a giant backyard.

However, after buying the house, we didn't have a ton of money for other necessities, like a lawn mower. Thankfully a family friend had a mower that we could 'purchase' for a case of beer. Now I am by no means complaining, but I think it will suffice to say a case of beer is not buying you a new, top of the line mower.

Jonathan has used that mower for 3 years now. Never once complained that you have to pull it 15 times to start it, or that you have to mow the same spot twice to get the grass short enough. The only thing he ever said was, 'I love our yard. Doesn't it look nice?"

And it does look nice.

But the other day Jonathan came in and said he had some bad news. Ole' jalopy had finally bit the dust. He named some fandangled part that had rusted and caused this other part to crack, etc. etc. "I'm sorry honey, I am going to have to get a new mower."

Secretly, I was so happy it broke. I know he has hated that thing from day 1. But being the practical, sensible man I love, he wouldn't spend the money on a new one until he had too.

Tonight a shiny, black craftsman platinum arrived to its new home; our home. Jonathan didn't wait a minute to start putting it together and test out his new toy.










And do you know what the best part of my day was? Catching my husband smiling while mowing the yard.

Welcome Summer.

This year has been the coldest winter of my life. (Literally, it broke all the records.)

There is one big problem with this: I don't do cold. I love Florida because it is hot. Often. But thankfully, winter seems to have slowly faded, and for the last 2 weeks the weather has been showing a glimmer of the glorious summer ahead.

So today, without a cloud in the sky, I headed to the beach with some friends to celebrate the end of winter.

So long winter.... hello toes in the sand!











(Linzy was so excited winter is gone, she did cartwheels!)










We wanted to kick-off our celebration with a toast... but Gulf-coast beaches have a law that it is illegal to have alcohol on the beach. So in our ever-so-brilliant state, Rebecca disguised the sangria in a Zephyrhills bottle. Totally can't tell, right?












The day was pretty much perfect. We read books and magazines. Watched dolphins do flips and attempted some skimboarding. And of course, built the customary sea turtle sand castle.



















Some of the scenery was just breath taking... and some not so much. But all in all, it was a great "Welcome Summer" kick-off party.

Fort

Reese is an architect. Yes, you read that correctly, an architect.

She builds forts. Remember the kind you made as a kid? We all did it... dragged every chair, blanket and pillow in the house to one location and precariously clothespinned the pieces together until it filled the living room. Then you had to climb inside, invite your imaginary friend over, and play for hours until exhaustion finally won and you would fall fast asleep in your new palace.

Those forts are Reese's specialty. She has made them for as long as I can remember. In fact, she was only 4 months old when she made this fort:
















As she has gotten older her dedication and skill set has grown considerably. We come home after every outing and find our bed pillows rearranged into some fort-like concoction. Sometimes her blueprints only require 1 or 2 pillows. Other times it is a quad-pillow design.















While pillows are without a doubt Reese's favorite building block, she is not opposed to other materials. On occasion, we have unknowingly pushed her to be extremely resourceful. Should Reese find that all the pillows are otherwise occupied, she can still continue on her lifelong mission of fort building.

A Perfect Football Date

The 2010 NFL draft began tonight. If you would have asked me 8 years ago about the draft, I would have laughed at you. I didn't grow up in a sports conscience home. Sure, we saw the headlines on the news. Even went to an occasional game. (After all, Bucs tickets were free if you spent $25 at Kash 'N Karry.) But we were not sports fanatics by any means.

Enter Jonathan, my sports loving, wildly addicted to ESPN, husband. Thanks to him, I have learned a lot about all professional teams over the last couple years. This may come as a shock to those of you that have known me for awhile, but I can name players. On lots of teams. For all kinds of sports.

It's impressive, I know.

So anyway, tonight was the draft and I had actually been looking forward to it all day. It is perfect "us" time for Jonathan and I.

We sat on the couch, got take-out Buffalo Wild Wings, the dogs gnawed on bones, and we talked. Jonathan looked up stats and talked strategy. I asked a lot of questions like: "Really, Tebow is still available?" "What is that guy wearing?" "Awww, he is crying; the Bucs picked a good one huh?"

It was about as perfect of a date as you can have.

It's a yellow ball day.

One of my favorite times of the day is the first 10 minutes after I get home from work.

For obvious reasons, yes. But also for these guys:

Meet Jake & Reese, my kids. Jake is a 5 year old lab basenji mix that we rescued from a busy interstate median. And Reese is a 2 year old chocolate lab that I found under the Christmas tree.

But I digress.

Everyday when I get home, the same thing happens. Jake & Reese meet me at the door. Jake tucks his ears back and jumps up to give me a hug. And Reese wags her tail so fast it shakes her entire body and she nearly falls over.

Then we go outside.

Reese picks her toy of choice, and Jake secures the perimeter.



And we play.

Reese will incessantly fetch whatever toy she has chosen, viewing each throw as a new invitation to frolic through the yard. Jake will sniff until he is sure we are intruder free, then join in the festivities.

And without fail, I laugh.

But today was particularly wonderful. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was a breezy 85 degrees. But it was also the first day in a week Jake was allowed to play. (He learned, the hard way, why eating a bottle of prescription medicine is a bad idea. It was a long week, but thankfully his shaved leg is the only lasting evidence.)

Today was a yellow ball day.