Category Archives: Family

I’m chomping at the bit to write about a couple of things today, but Fadra’s prompt is, “How do you feel about where you live?”, and I have opinions about this too, so here we go.

My family moved to Florida when I was four. Aside from a short stint, 18 months, in Las Vegas with my husband, I’ve lived here since then. There are a lot of things to love about Florida, the beautiful beaches, flip flops all year, we don’t have to shovel snow or scrape ice off our car windows. For me though, I’ve never gotten used to the humidity at the levels we have. I soooo dread the summers, this one more than others as we’ve had NO winter this year and we hit 86 today, UGH. When we lived in Vegas, even when it was in the 90′s I could handle it because of the low humidity levels, you could go into the shade to escape, you can’t here. There are some who love the warm, wet blanket that wraps their body as they step outside four to six months out of the year, not me.

A couple of years ago we were set on moving to Colorado, the mountains, we love mountains, mountain lakes, streams, etc. That didn’t work out, still here, we found a wonderful house in East Bradenton on seven acres. We’re surrounded by old Florida, lots of beautiful oak tress dripping with moss, they’re lovely when the sun shines through. It’s so quiet out here and our neighbors are organic dairy farmers/ranchers. Such a great addition to our already natural lifestyle. This is our compromise until it’s the right time to say goodbye to Florida.

Ultimately for me, home is where my husband, two children & our furry babies are, on the road, here, anywhere, as long as we’re together.

Times Up!
This has been my Sunday 5 minute Stream of Consciousness.

Want to try it? Here are the rules…

* Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
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The PFFamily in Key West - May 2011

I was up pretty late last night, four glasses of wine not settling well in my belly. I read, actually finished my current book, A Modern Witch, and then turned to my I-phone for a little research on a couple of things I wish to begin in the new year.

Last year around this time I posted about how I’m really not into making New Year’s Resolutions. I still refuse to put that much pressure on myself, but I do have a laundry list of things I’d like to do, change, see, stop doing, etc.

Before I begin my list for 2012, let’s see how I did in 2011.

Things I will be working on in 2011:

Family – Feel good about this. We moved to the country and began homeschooling, lot’s of family time.
Travel – Good here too. We began our yearly family trip overseas with Ireland in March, road trip over the summer along with nine days in N. California with PFMan celebrating an early 15 year anniversary. We took two cruises with a highlight on one out of San Juan, taking us to Curacao, Dominica & Aruba. To round it out, we also took a couple of much needed camping trips, one to North Georgia, one to Ginnie Springs in North Florida. Ahhhh….
Positive energy & intentions – This a failed miserably, well not entirely because I still have intent and know my triggers to self destruction.
Eating clean -Did well for a few months only. I did really well with giving up coffee and drinking more tea. Got to August then crashed. Have to reboot this one.
Organization – This will be a never ending battle, lol.

So what about 2012?

There are many personal accomplishments I would like to achieve this year. In the kitchen I want to learn how to make Thai and Indian food, get better at meal/menu planning and stocking the kitchen, learn to make bread, start canning regularly, shop at farmer’s markets and from local ranches and farms more often and consistently. This year is the year to get the chicken coop and run built, I’d like to have 3-5 egg layers:-). Also, get the hydroponic garden started and plant the Meyer lemon trees. We’re thinking things like, sweet potatoes, lettuce, strawberries, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs at least. Going along with natural/sustainable trend we need to get the compost reinstated too!

Other Personal plans: Begin yoga and stick with it, it WILL be tough for me but I must prevail. Part of the Self-help, positive energy & intentions theme. Thinking about Tai Chi as well. Michael and I will get bikes, the kids are just getting them on New Years Eve (we’re celebrating our family Christmas when we return from NY).

In the house we need to get the great room painted and focus on the meditation garden off the master bedroom and Asian decor in the master bedroom/bathroom. I need to get the studio organized too, both the Tails Collection shooting/office areas, as well as organizing the arts/crafts area for Addy and I. There is so much space to work with, so I will most certainly get a bit overwhelmed, ha.

Travel plans! To start off the year and celebrate my 40th b-day, I’m heading to Big Sur for three nights! Doing a hike-in and staying ALONE, to reflect and get centered, hopefully, ha:-). Then driving north to meet my girlfriends for some time in wine country. The kids and I have a 6-8 week road trip planned for the June/July. Heading back to Big Sur, taking 2ish weeks to get there, stopping in AL, LA, TX, AR, UT and CO. PFMan will meet us out west for a 10 day California Adventure, then the kids and I will head back. I CAN’T wait!! And cross our fingers for Vienna/Paris for the Holidays.

Now I realize this is super loaded, these are just top priorities, which change, we tend to be indecisive at best, or as I like to say, Perfectly Flawed. Some things may not happen, others may be added, but at the end of the day or year, it will all be another super adventure, surrounded by my PFFamily and that makes me smile.

Happy New Year everyone!
Buon Anno!
Ein glückliches neues Jahr!
Feliz año nuevo!
Bonne année!

As we get ready to leave this afternoon to spend the Christmas Holiday with my parents in Yonkers, NY, I sit here remembering last Christmas. We were sill in the St. Petersburg house and it was one of the very few years since the kids were born that we’d spent the Holiday’s at home. It was nice being home for the holiday’s, our kitties rummaging through all the ripped up paper and ribbon, Santa coming to our house, being able to decorate and enjoy it the whole season through.

This year, we are now in a new home in Bradenton, a beautiful new home in the country. We’ve decorated and so far the kitties haven’t taken to the tree, not even Harry, the new baby. We’ve booked the pet sitter and are flying into NY tonight, tomorrow we’ll be walking around NYC, high 50′s and sunny, should be very comfortable. Chance of snow this year is slim, rain is forecast instead, so now it’s all up to the temperatures. We get to visit my sister’s new house on top of a hill in New Jersey. She says they have deer in the yard almost daily:-). She’s in a serious relationship with a wonderful man from Norway, so a big Norwegian feast is to be had on Christmas Eve. Really looking forward to this! Love experiencing new cultures. Mema & Pop Pop get to spend time with the kiddo’s, and we get to see nana. There will be antipasti, a trip to Arthur Avenue for an Italian Dinner, Eggplant Parmigiana for Christmas dinner, Michael will make is yummy brie and prosciutto French toast, Christmas movies and….

For now, some images from Christmas 2010.

We’ve been here now exactly 19 days and it’s already been quite the adventure. We’re starting to make new friends, finding our farmers and markets, yep we have both close by. In fact, we recently learned that we can walk, yep, walk to The Dam Ranch (only .6mi from our house). They have fresh eggs, chickens, goats milk and cheese. We also visited the Miakka Farmers’s Market this past Saturday. It’s located at the Crowley Museum and Nature Center.

It’s so wonderfully peaceful out here, a little creepy too. We love to camp, primitively, so we’re not strangers to the dark, the crickets, critters moving in the trees, bugs, etc. But it’s something about having so much space, and it’s sooooo dark. I love it though, and I’m sure we’ll get used to this. We’re on a two-lane country road and our neighbors are only about 2ish acres away from us on two sides, a bit further to the rear of the house. It’s like we have our own nature park really. So many beautiful old Florida oak trees with hanging moss. The moss glows in the late afternoon as the sun shines through it, beautiful!

Then there’s the spiders. We have many banana spider friends, AKA Golden Orb Weavers. Yes, they do weave a golden orb, it shines in the light a glorious yellow hue. We had a Wolf Spider stop by the other evening. We, well PFMan, gently removed him from the house against his wishes. I’m usually the bug remover, but I’m trying to break PFMan in a bit. We had our friends over the other day and the kids found a Jumping Spider that had placed his web in a poor location, the walkway from the house to the walled garden. Just glad it didn’t jump on me while removing his web. I like spiders, but I don’t want them on me.

The Verizon man found a Gopher Tortoise in the yard behind the studio. Watching Lilith, our Corgi/Beagle mix, was loads of laughs as she saw the tortoise for the first time. She had no idea what she was looking at and really wanted to investigate. Poor little tortoise probably just wanted her to shut up. PFMan witnessed a family of opossums in the yard a couple of nights ago. Did I mention we pass soooo many moos and naaaas to and from our home. I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of seeing those cows grazing. Love seeing the mamas with the babies. I haven’t gotten my camera out yet to capture them or the horses yet, but you can bet I will soon! For now I’ve just taken tons around the house.

Our dog Bear is not the Country dog, having already sprained her ankle, gotten into a Spur field (covered!) and has gotten her neck stuck in the gate leading to the pasture. That was fun, NOT! Everyone is still alive!! We’ll continue our adventure, we still have many boxes to empty and have been selling and buying furniture as needed. So it’s coming along.

Peace & enjoy the images:-)!

Love road trips, but mostly when there is time to stop along the way and explore. Even when we drive home from the mountains in GA or TN we make time to stop in Peach County GA to visit Lane Southern Orchards. They have the best Peach ice cream and you can watch them package the peaches too!

The kids and I leave in the morning on our two-day road trip to NY. They are staying with the g-parents for a couple of weeks and PFMan and I are flying to N. CA next Thursday. On our road trip up to NY we will stop in Savannah, GA and Virginia Beach. I think it’s kinda absurd that I’ve been in FL most of my life and here in St. Pete for 11 years and I haven’t yet been to Savannah. It’s only 6 hours away!! I would love to stop at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House for lunch. They are only open M-F from 11-2, so the goal is to leave early enough to get there in time. Mrs. Wilkes is known for the best in Southern eats! They always have a super long line to get in, it’s served family style. Here’s the description from the website:

Inside Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room, four generations of the Wilkes family have worked the ground-floor, keeping the restaurant’s tables laden with platters of Mrs. Wilkes’ legendary fried chicken, beef stew and biscuits. Friends, family and fellow diners pass bowls brimming with her butter beans, collard greens, mashed sweet potatoes and banana pudding.

Hello!  I’m there!  I love to eat regional food while I’m traveling and the kiddos love to try new things too, yay!  I want to live like a local everywhere I go.  I mean really,  stop eating at the chains and seek out the local eats!! 

I haven’t figured out V Beach yet. Probably just tool around the boardwalk, head to the beach, Chesapeake Bay, etc. I’m actually more excited to cross the Bay Bridge-Tunnel, it’s known as one of the seven engineering wonders of the world.

Ciao!

Continuing our journey in Ireland, we spent a day driving through a portion of Connemara in West Ireland. I had been told it was possibly the most beautiful countryside in all of Ireland, and since I can’t compare it to any other Irish countryside, I whole-heartedly agree! We did half the loop, starting in Galway City, heading west towards and through the Eastern Boundary of Connemara, Maam Cross. Our first official stop, aside from the many ‘pull aside the road to photograph sheep’, was the little town of Roundstone. This is still the favorite town we visited on our trip. It was almost a ghost town this time of year, not many businesses opened yet for the Spring. We stopped into O’Dowds, on the pubs in town. It was cold, so I had an Irish Coffee, so cliche’, and we ordered chowder, which we had as often as possible, it was both necessary with the temperatures, and better than most in the States.

We chose to take the R340 south, then a coastal country road West to R341 south to Roundstone, this allowed us to witness so many adorable yet breathtaking coastal towns and lots of sheep!

1st Part of Drive

The lovely creatures on the way to Roundstone:-).

Next stop Kylemore Abbey.  We left Roundstone going north, then East through Clifden.  Oh, I wished we had had more time to explore Clifden, it was breathtaking coming up on the town.  Much larger than Roundstone, we only had time to drive through to make time for Kylemore Abbey and getting back to Galway City for dinner.

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Kylemore Abbey, the stunning structure rose up out of the ground, almost glowing.  It was overcast by the time we arrived and it began to rain before we walked over to the Abbey. Really, it was just magical in this weather, with the steam coming off the lake and the grayish sky.  Personally I was drawn to the Gothic Church on the property, being a fan of this style of Architecture.  If we’d had more time we would have also toured the Victorian Gardens as well.

On the way back to Galway City, we stopped briefly in Leenane, home of the only Fjord in Ireland. Amazing how the mountains drop down into the river like that.  I can only imagine what seeing them in places like Norway must be like.

The fjord in Leenane, Connemara.

We could have easily spent a week just exploring Connemara, beautiful countryside and quaint coastal villages, and have I mentioned the mountains.  I was really ignorant arriving in Ireland, I had no idea they had mountains the size we saw.  Snow-capped and beautiful!  All a part of the Connemara landscape, and I haven’t mentioned yet the warmth of the people.  We found that the Irish are born raconteurs, they love to tell a story.  If you ask an Irishman a question, ask knowing you may learn some history.  A very open, helpful people they are.  So much so that prior to our trip we had read to get lost, ask for directions, it’s a great way to meet and learn about the locals.

Cliffs of Mohar, The Burrens and Dublin still to come….

Note about the sheep: And in case you are wondering about the different colors sprayed on the sheep . . . this is a branding technique. When it come times to round up the sheep, their ownership can be sorted out by their colors. I dubbed them sherbet sheep:-)!

Galway City

The Luck of the Irish that is.  We just returned home from our family trip to Ireland, kinda piggy-backed on PFMan’s yearly trek out there to broadcast live for St. Patty’s Day.  This would have been his third year in a row and I was not letting him go without us this time!

We flew out several days prior to the broadcast, finding our way by car to Galway City where we called home for our first four nights.  We stayed at the Kilcullen House B&B which is about a 10 minute walk outside of the City Centre, close enough to enjoy the city, but a distance from the noise.  Many times while walking in Galway I felt as if I were a character in a Dickens novel or a miniature in a Christmas Village scene.  I love that, the old worldliness of it. 

Our favorite food in Galway was hands down found at Ard Bia in the Spanish Arch.  It’s located in the Arch which is very medieval in style, but once you walk inside, it’s the small, cozy and very eclectic eatery.  It was love at first site.  The menu is so creative, using local and sustainable produce and meat sources, which I love!  My favorite entree was the St. Tola goats cheese & pistachio cracked wheat cake with wilted greens, garlic yogurt & muhumara.  I will crave this until I return! Honestly we couldn’t decide what to order so we had them bring us the two most popular starters and mains.  We were NOT disappointed.

Other places we enjoyed eating: McDonagh’s, O’Grady’s on the Pier (actually in Barna on the coast near Galway), and Griffin’s Bakery! McDonagh’s is THE place to go for your required Fish n’ Chips, with many different fish types to choose from you can’t go wrong here. O’Grady’s was recommended to us by Emer and Russel, the Inn keepers at Kilcullen House. It’s located in the tiny coastal village named Barna, just outside of Galway. Located on the pier, great views and the BEST chowder I’ve ever had in my life, no kidding! Griffin’s Bakery, originally founded in 1876 also recommended by Emer & Russell. OMG, we each picked a pastry and thank goodness we got four, they were all DELICIOUS. Again, the BEST scone ever. I could have died happy.

I have to stop here, with the food, I haven’t yet mentioned the PUBS, or the Irish Countryside or our time in Dublin or…. So, you’ll have to stay tuned and for now, enjoy the pictures.

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We recently returned from our annual family cruise. This year we opted for an itinerary to the Southern Caribbean out of San Juan, PR.  The ports: Curacao, Aruba, Dominica & St. Thomas (USVI).  Going into this we were most looking forward to Dominica, loving islands rich in lush foliage & rain forests, it didn’t disappoint.  We took advice from dear friends of ours, who’ve spent some time on the island, and we grabbed a driver who took us to Trafalgar Falls.  Here we spent our day.  While other tourists only walked to the observation platform to take a picture of the falls, we grabbed a guide who hiked us further in to the falls where we basked in natural hot and cold springs.  Our PFson calls them nature’s hot tubs:-).  It was truly stunning, miraculous to see.  We also learned that Dominica has 365 rivers, one for every day of the year they like to say.

On the way back to the ship we stopped at the highly recommended River Rock Cafe’. Here we were introduced to Kubuli, the award winning beer of Dominica. It was GOOD!  We met the owner Dennis who whipped us up two amazing dishes of fish & shrimp.  I tried breadfruit for the first time, kinda dry and bland, but I tried it, the creole sauce was amazing!

There is so much more to explore on this island, the downside to it being a cruise port, not enough time. I guess we’ll have to add it to our ever growing list of travel destinations.

Ciao!
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we go on a cruise:-).  So we’ve been on this extreme lean protein/complex carbs (6X daily) diet since Sunday the 2nd, amazingly have been doing very well.  PFMan and I have both noticed that we’re never hungry and never too full, our digestion is great, no issues & we’re both down about 4-5 lbs.  I’ve been doing a little Pilate’s, Zumba, other cardio and strength training, not as much as I need to, but way more than I was.  Feeling pretty good, but this morning we leave for San Juan to board a cruise, whooo hoooo & Holy food!

Of course we’ve known about the cruise for months, so when we began eating differently we knew this would be a curve ball.  We aren’t typical American cruise goers, taking two plates or more at the buffet, ordering two entrees at dinner.  We’ve always had our normal fill, yes dessert.  This time I’m going to try to temper it a bit more.  White egg omelette with veggies and no bacon, oh please give me strength, instead of my usual regular omelette loaded with veggies, cheese and bacon. Yes, drinking will be had, I love Margaritas, Beer, Mojitos and Bellini’s while cruising!  This cruise I will search out more activities, I know they have boot camps, Pilate’s, the gym.  YES I WILL!  I of course will share with you how I did when we return. (snicker)

For now I leave you with a few pictures from our last family cruise.

Bon Voyage!!

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I find myself thinking of the mountains often. I love being outside amongst the trees, listening to them talk in the wind, seeing the flickering Aspens, looking up to see the glowing rays of the sun shining through the limbs. The Peace. This year our family has focused a bit more on getting into the mountains. Living in Florida, the mountains are something we experience rarely, and yet crave so often. At the beginning of summer we stayed in a primitive campground near the Ocoee River in Tennessee called Tumbling Creek. The campsites are right on the creek where the sounds of water running over the rocks are so soothing. Then getting up in the morning to splash your face with the stinging cool water is incredibly rejuvenating…it’s truly a spiritual experience!

We recently returned home from a weeks vacation in Colorado, a state we have wanted to visit for a long time. The mountains seen here are like I’ve never witnessed before. This must be where the term Majestic comes from. The air up there is cool and crisp with little to no humidity – you just feel Alive! We didn’t want to come home and are already planning our return. Last night I photographed an event for the Alpha House of Pinellas County where I bid and won a week stay at a lovely home in Murphy, NC. This is right outside where we stayed in Tennessee and I’m so excited to have this next trip to the mountains to look forward to.

I do see us living in the mountains someday, I don’t know when, just someday. And then, of course, I’ll crave the ocean, ha.

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