windy & rainy with a chance of boobs & books

At least it's a warm rain.

That's what I keep telling myself, anyway. The Tampa Bay got inundated with a wall of rain today, and we're under a tornado watch until 11pm. The Sector cut everyone loose a little early so we could avoid traffic and give ourselves extra time to get home safely, so Tony and I went to see the Veronica Mars movie. I really enjoyed it, and as a non-fan of the show he thought it was okay. We both thought it was like watching one really long tv show, but it reminded me why I liked the show in the first place. If the only thing I associated with KickStarter was Veronica Mars and Cards Against Humanity, I'd still give it two thumbs up.

Yesterday we had an interesting day at Fort Desoto beach. The sun was out and it was just warm enough - but the wind in advance of today's storm was a nightmare! I tried to hit a volleyball with Tony's brother and niece, but that lasted about 2.7 seconds when the wind swiftly carried the ball halfway down the beach. Those who went in the water reported it was very cold, so I avoided it altogether, and I managed to get my sun fix in the grass out of the wind instead of the constant windstorm of the beach proper. We (and by "we" I mean Tony and Phil, not me) grilled burgers and brats and asparagus, and I ate some tremendously delicious pineapple as well. I love Florida produce!! Apparently you can by them on the side of the road (or at a produce market, same thing probably) for 2/$5. We skipped the fort, but one day I'd like to head back and check it out.

In a complete change of topic, I would like to say one perk of gaining weight is the boobage. The downside, however, is forking up funds to holster said boobage. Bras are expensive! But it's so much better to wear the correct size instead of waiting for the weight-loss related shrinkage to kick back in. Anyway. I really needed to go there, but I probably should have put up a TMI disclaimer first. Oh well. Tony's watching Monday Night Raw and I'm about to settle back in to my book. It's morbidly fascinating, or fascinatingly morbid. The book is called "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach and I have no recollection as to why or how exactly it ended up on my reading list, but I'm so glad it did. She has a great sense of humor. And Tony said he loves watching me read it because apparently I make some very strange facial expressions. On that note, I'm off to go exercise my muscles by flinching, grimacing, wrinkling my nose, and maybe even laughing.

Friday findings

Ah, the joys of finishing up on a Friday knowing your week's obligations are done. Has anybody else read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"? There's a passage where Francie talks about her mother, a janitor, throwing her cleaning bucket in the corner with a special panache indicating she's done for the week. If I had a cleaning pail, I would throw it in the corner with as much flair as I could muster! Read the book.

This morning I finished my container inspection course; I passed. This doesn't mean I'm qualified to conduct inspections though. I still have to complete a bunch of practical tasks under the supervision of a qualified person. Maybe I will get the opportunity to continue working on it next week. If not, I will be focusing on my pollution response qualification. I'm in the sad position of waiting for 1) orders to a class and 2) hoping for a pollution event so I can finish up. Not that I WANT anyone to pollute the lovely waters if the greater Tampa Bay Area, but I need to work one or two more actual cases to finish up my practical tasks. And school, well, I'm not holding my breath for that to happen any time soon. Cross your fingers for me!

It has been a good week, and a busy one. We had dinner at Tony's dad's house one day, and all of the siblings showed up. It was a good crowd, and we played some more Cards Against Humanity. Always a good time, folks. The ribs were delicious, too! Oh and I got a cooking lesson from Tony's sister Amber; she made her infamous white chicken chili. Yum!

Tony got fitted for his tux this week, and picked out his shoes and tie and studs. He's going to look pretty handsome, if I do say so myself. I talked to the venue manager for our wedding, and we are close to finalizing all those details. In the next couple of days we will be all set with the timeline, meal, officiant, and dj. There's not too much else to report. This weekend I have to do some admin things, and we are going to be part of a moving crew, so I'll get a good workout loading the UHaul! Hopefully the weather stays nice; I've been enjoying the sunshine quite a bit.

Whirlwind

The two of us had another great day at Universal last week; we went a little later and stayed almost until closing and enjoyed the park. It wasn't rainy, so the lines were a bit longer, but once again we took advantage of the single rider line again. Saturday we poked around a bit and then moseyed over to Crystal River to visit with Tony's mom and fiancé at their lake house. It was idyllic and peaceful, which may be redundant but I don't care! We spent time sitting on the dock soaking in the breeze and sunshine, watching Canadian ducks eat, and sipping tea and coffee. I was also lucky enough to get a lasagna-cooking lesson from Tony's mom. Plus, she sent us down to St. Pete with leftovers!

We got to the hotel early yesterday evening, and there was a hiccup with lodging, of course. Thankfully I got it sorted out pretty quickly, and it worked out for the best. I can even see the bay from the porch, whoo! Tony's dad is movin next weekend and had a few boxes of Tony's pre-Army stuff in the garage. It looked like a fun trip down memory lane for Tony, and I had fun observing it. Which reminds me, I should probably crawl around in my own dad's attic to make sure I don't have any stuff up there!

Work started up again for me today. I'm in the CITAT course, learning about container inspections. Today was a little dry, going through the regs and nomenclature and stuff. Hopefully it'll get a little better, and Thursday in the field should be fun. While I'm working tomorrow, Tony is going to get his tux! Less than three weeks until the wedding! After class today we took a walk down the Courtney Campbell Causeway (yay, alliteration!) along the beach, and had a fantastic seafood dinner at the restaurant in the Westin down the street. Oh! I also had my very first mint julep! It was a hundred times better than a mojito! In theory, I should love mojitos. I love all the components, but am not a fan of the drink. But a mint julep? Yum yum yum!

Happy Alarm

All of our travels yesterday went smoothly, which I credit to Tony. He is now in charge of all of our travel, because when I fly things tend to go poorly. Luggage goes missing, planes break in the air, we dash across airports only to have gates close in our faces, etc. Yesterday all of our flights were smooth and on-time-ish, our bags popped of the conveyor one right after the other, and we got a free upgrade on the rental vehicle. To top it off, we barely got caught in any of the Tampa/Orlando traffic, and made it to the military ticket counter to purchase our 3-day passes about 5 minutes before closing. Whew! Our hotel was easy to find, even though it was dark by the time we rolled in. I could tell it's a huge property, but seeing it in the daylight today proves it's much larger and prettier than I expected. And our room is fantastic! It's basically a suite - kitchen, dining, living room all separated from a master bedroom, giant two-person jacuzzi, and bathroom. Last night we walked across the street to a grill and had red meat, even though it was Ash Wednesday. I think after so much traveling we were iron-depleted. Yeah, that's it, it had nothing to do with the amazing smell of steak and prime rib. Iron deficiency all the way.

Today we woke up around 0730 (that's Eastern time, so 0430 PST, after getting up at 0300 the day before, just to point that out) and took our time getting ready to go out, then stopped at Panera for breakfast, and still made it into Islands of Adventure before 0915. Due to the rain, it wasn't very crowded at Universal and lines were pretty short. We zoomed by a bunch of people by going into the single rider line wherever we could, which didn't bother us as we generally wound up on the same roller coaster each time anyway. Tony even looped back around to catch some rides twice, but I didn't want to push the motion sickness too much. By far my favorite ride was the Harry Potter Forbidden Journey, which simulates riding on a broomstick with the whole gang, along with dragons and hippogriffs and all sorts of cool stuff! And the butterbeer was just as delicious as I hoped; we tried the regular and the frozen, and both preferred the regular. Imagine cream soda with a caramel/butterscotch/maple flavored whip cream on top. Mmm, yummy.

Because of the rain, we popped into the movie theater to watch Frozen. I find it ironic we went to Universal and wound up watching a Disney movie, and it was really fun. I had no idea Kristen Bell could sing, but I thought she held her own pretty well against Idina Menzel. Or Adele Dazeem, as John Travolta would say. Anyway, very cute movie, and the animators once again nailed it with the horse and reindeer characters.

Tomorrow we'll head to the other side of the park and see what it has to offer. The rain has eased off a bit, but it was pretty annoying most of the day. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow, but even if it's not, I'm sure we'll still have a fantastic time.

Trivia - Guess who said what in the following exchange:

1) "I have the hiccups."

2) "Oh, I thought your happy alarm was going off."

Bye, house!

I had my last massage at Hand & Stone this evening while Tony stayed behind and did laundry at the hotel. Something is either very wrong or very wonderful about this picture! But now I am relaxed and ready to hit the road early tomorrow morning. Our flight is at 0630, so we will be up and about at the crack of dawn. Actually we'll probably be checked in at the airport before the sun even thinks about appearing.

We also made one last pass by the house today. The mailbox is empty, I collected my flowerpot from the backyard, and everything is locked up for the next owners. Whoever they may be, I hope they show up soon! After that, we swung by the realtor's office to drop off keys, and donated a few more things to the local Goodwill. The attendant commented about the flowerpot being wet...hello, it's been raining for the last four days! To be fair, it's probably more because I rinsed it out with a hose before putting it in the rental car, but I did attempt to dry it off first.

It really hit home that this is really good-bye. We had lunch with some friends today, and Jamba Juice with another friend later this afternoon. It's not good-bye forever though, just for now! I'm sure our paths will cross again, and I hope this isn't the last I see of Washington. I can't say I'll miss the weather, but it's been a fun ride. I caught my first salmon here (on a fly rod! Thanks, Shane!), and made an awful lot of life changes in this neck of the woods. This is no time to be scmoopy though...as I always say, I'm trying not to be sad that it's over; I'm trying to be happy that it happened. Now, on to the next adventure!

I like how he rolled his cuffs.

Bye, house! I will miss you!

Internet Woes

School has been kicking my butt this term, mostly through my own poor time management. However, when you're taking a distance-learning class pretty much the only requirement is internet access. And that has been a big part of the problem. You know, what with 4,000-mile road trips and living out of a suitcase and the rather anti-climatic death of a modem. I'm not a crier, truly, but I have cried more over school this term than probably anything else over the last three years. All that to say, I have less than one week left and I won't fail! Yay!! I may even scrape an A in one of my classes. Now that we are out of the house and in a hotel, I have internet for the next couple of days, and I won't have to worry about it until the next term starts on March 17th. For my own sanity, I'm only taking one class next term, but it's a doozie: the dreaded Government Finance course (insert menacing hisses and boos here). I'm hoping it won't be so bad, since I'll be very much in a transient status at LEAST through April. Who knows how long it will take us to find a home in Italy and get set-up with internet. And television, of course. I'll need to figure out how to watch things like True Blood, Game of Thrones, and Duck Dynasty in Europe. Speaking of tv, does anyone have any recommendations for old shows? I have a feeling we'll be watching more tv than movies overseas, and it'd be nice to find some completed series online to occupy our time when we're not gallivanting through the Tuscan countryside and having grand adventures on the Grand Canal.

Empty Nest

Tony hired a lady named Dolores, from Tijuana, to clean our house. Mulva - I mean Dolores - and her team did a fantastic job; they cleaned the window tracks and folded the toilet paper like you see in hotels! I did that in the guest bathroom once when we had guests over, but they never mentioned it so I guess my attention to detail was lost on them, the humorless jerks.

Side note: the garage is now cleaner than ever before.

An empty house is quite echo-y, by the way. I miss the Turkish-style carpets. Also, it's much harder to play hide-and-seek there now. We turned the lights off and locked the door behind us, and are now happily settled in a hotel on base. Or on post, as I should probably learn to say. Of course, we still have to go back to check the mail and dispose of a flowerpot I accidentally left in the backyard, so it's not really good-bye yet. Hey, who wants to make bets on the delay in forwarding mail to our new address in Italy (wherever/whatever that may be)? Anyway, the hotel is comfy, I'm watching Disney cartoons on TV right now, and I have the last of my jambalaya chilling in the fridge until it's time for dinner. (Ha, see what I did there? Chilling in the fridge?)

My first post is dedicated to Dolores, who probably spent more time cleaning today than I have since I moved in. If anyone local wants her business information, let me know! I highly recommend her, and the rest of her team.