The Yacht Club Adventure

Well hello everyone! I hope everyone is having a fabulous Thursday and its almost the weekend! (for most people, not me). I wanted to share whats been going on the past couple of days. One, I wanted to share my dinner the other night. You might need to sit down, because this is such a shocker. I fixed yellow pepper, red pepper, orange pepper, onion, squash, and zucchini all together in my skillet and ate it over noodles! It was so good too and I felt so healthy! So, yes I am widening my horizons for dinner because I don't think Tyler would like mac and cheese with chicken nuggets every night for dinner. Here is a picture of it all cooking.... Wednesday was such a fun day too because I had lunch at the Marathon Yacht Club! I felt so sophisticated eating there. It was just like a country club, but I was by far the youngest person in the entire building! haha...I went there because Phyllis who is in my old lady bible study, takes the entire bible study out to lunch on her last week with us. Most of the ladies in the bible study are only here from about December or January until now. Last week was a lot of them's last week which was sad, but it was so nice to go to lunch with them! Here are a couple pictures from the exciting event :)

These are the wonderful ladies at my table. From left to right its Barbra, Me, Cindy, Linda, and Peggy. Barbra has a granddaughter who wants to be a dolphin trainer, so I always try to give her advice on what to do. Cindy is the sweetest lady! She and her husband have a trailer here in Marathon and stay here part of the year and then go back up north for the other part of the year. The house Tyler and I are looking at is right across the street from them. They would be such fun neighbors! Linda is hilarious! On my first week at bible study I met her and then after bible study we ran into each other at the bank. We talked for a long time and she just makes me laugh every time I see her. Finally Peggy is the pastor at Marathon United Methodist Church. She is amazing and so inspirational.

This is me and Phyllis, who took us all to lunch that day! She is so sweet, and has a granddaughter getting married a month before me.

This is me and Margo. Margo is the one who got me to come to bible study. She is our "leader" even though she doesn't like to be called that. She also teaches exercise classes!

Here is Cindy, Me, Linda, and Barbra again :)

This is me and Lee. Lee is so great too. She got us all matching T-shirts this year!

So, that is only a few of my adopted moms and grandmas! They all have been so great in helping me and love to hear about me and my life and my wedding! They all are such blessings to me.

I saw this the other day when I was going into my bathroom and thought, "only someone who lives in the keys and works by the ocean's door looks like this." Since I have to wear a bathing suite every day to work, this is what my door looks like going into my bathroom. I just thought it was funny. My uniforms....

BEAR UPDATE: Bear has been so great lately. He has been getting better about not waking up so early and keeping me awake with his toys. He actually lets me sleep longer now....that or I'm getting used to him playing and now I can sleep through it. If that's the case, good thing Tyler and I don't want kids for a while...we would end up sleeping right through them crying or tearing apart the house! Anyways, I took this video because he does this to me all the time. Mom says its because I taste like fish, but I have no clue why he does it. Every time I try to pet him, he tries to eat my hand!

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about my past couple of days. We have been so busy at work which is awesome! I also got to get in the water today with Theresa who is almost 60! She was so sweet and gentle, just like an old lady would be! By the way, I promise I hang out with other people other than old ladies! haha...It just seems like that in this post! Have a wonderful weekend!

Something that made me smile today...

So we watched this video at work today, and I think it is so cute! It just made me smile and I hope it makes your day a little better :)

Funny Bear Videos

Tuesday :)

I had a wonderful Tuesday! First, I went to bible study and it was great! I am getting sad because everyone is leaving soon to go back home for the summer. There are a few of us that stay here year round, but the majority of the ladies are only here from Jan. until now. One of the ladies, Donna, printed us all a copy of our group photo!! It is so cute, so once I figure out a scanner, I'll upload it on here. Also at bible study I was talking to one of the sweetest ladies there, Cindy Ash, and she was telling me about a house for rent across the street from her. The rent is affordable and I drove past it today and it was so cute!!! It was this tiny little green house, with a pretty good size yard, and a good size backyard. There is a shed out back too. Next Tuesday or Wednesday I am going to go look at it and maybe that could be where Tyler and I live eventually :) It's a 2 bedroom, 1 bath...but still anything is better than the shoebox. After I got done with bible study, I decided to go to the beach for a while. I wore one of my new strapless bathing suite tops my mom mailed me, because I am trying to get rid of tan lines for Amy's wedding and then my own...we'll see how that goes. While I was laying out, I got a text message from Dave. Dave is Sarah's boyfriend and the two of them are great friends of Tyler and I. They also happen to live right next door to me. Dave asked me if I wanted to go out on the boat with him. I am also up for a nice boat ride, so I said yes and headed on over. Here are some pictures from the boat...








This is called boot key, and it is where everyone who lives on a boat docks or anchor's their boat. They all have little dingies (sp?) that they take over to the dock to get to and from land. I think it is so cool, but you couldn't pay me to live on one of these boats! I really don't see how people do it.








Now if I were going to live on a boat, here is what I could handle! This was parked outside of the boat gas station called Berdine's. Crazy big!








Here is Dave driving the boat with his orange fanta! We also met a great Dane named ceaser! He was so awesome and of course, Dave fell in love with him and wants him to be Sadie's (Sarah and Dave's 8 month great Dane) date! He was pretty awesome though!

So after the boat ride I came home and just hung out. I made chocolate chip pancakes for dinner! So good!

BEAR UPDATE: so I have a pretty good update for Bear today. When I come home for my own wedding in July, I am flying home....and Bear is flying with me! He counts as one of my carry on bags. So in order for this to happen, I had to have a travel bag he could fit in and that fit the correct measurements. I was lucky enough that someone from work had one and has let me borrow it! Now, the adventure begins of trying to get him used to getting in and out of the bag. I know I am a dolphin trainer, but training a cat is difficult! I didn't even know what to give him as a reward! But we did make progress! Here are a couple of pictures of him in his new "house" as we are calling it.

This one is so funny! I had put some treats in the bag so he associated it with good things, and he was licking his lips when I took the picture...haha he looks so funny though.



And lastly to top things off, I finally got to talk to T tonight! :) Him and Kelsey are doing great and I can't wait until they can come visit! Ok everyone, that was my Tuesday! I hope you all had just as good of a day as I did!

It's been a while....

Well hi everyone! I apologize for it being so long since I last updated the blog! First, let me fill you in on whats been going on at work...

Last Sunday I worked all day and Loriel (one of my bosses who has been out on maternity leave) is back to work part time. She was able to come around with me all day and watch me with my whistle. She decided to practice some public programs, so I was able to start learning how to do "meet programs" and "paint programs." I am also starting to learn how to "slap." This means during a swim, I stand at another dock and when people get to do their dorsal tows, the dolphin brings the guest from their dock, over to me. I reward the dolphin and set the people back up to go back to their own dock. This is something that is always needed but always hard to find trainers for because we have been so busy. It is so nice to be able to finally help out now.

Today was by far my busiest day yet! I did a meet program with 18 guests!! Normally there are only 6 or 7, but it has been so busy, they needed to sell more. Not only did I have that many people, I had 3 dolphins! Pandora, Luna, and Calusa were all great though and really helped me out! It was still pretty chaotic. My biggest thing I am struggling with right now is 1. feeling rushed, and 2. organization on the dock. I always feel like I'm bouncing back and forth not knowing where to have guest stand, where to have the photographer stand, and where I should stand. I have been checked off on using my whistle now, and Linda and Loriel will still observe me while I start doing more programs. My narrations are also going well. I have been doing enrichment narrations, baby training, and playtime! I'm hoping I will be checked off to do those on my own soon as well. I could not be happier with where I am now and what I am doing. I feel like I am finally getting into a steady routine, and really being able to step up when I need to at work.

Work at the hotel is going well too. It is crazy down here right now!! All these people on spring break! All 3 hotels have been sold out for the past 2 weeks! I had the funniest thing happen to me today at the hotel. This guy who I gave directions to earlier came in and was thanking me for helping him get here. I told him it was no problem at all and I hoped he enjoyed his visit. I thought that was all and he left and went back to his room. About 15 min. later, he comes walking in with a bottle of wine!! He told me it was his gift to me for being so nice! hahahaha....I told him thank you and took it even though I never drink wine! It still makes for a great story!

I had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day with everyone from DRC. We all went out to Cabana Breezes and had a great night! Here are the wonderful girls I went with: on the back row there is Sam P., Sam E, Jen, and then me, and then infront there is Kara and Sarah. These girls are great and so much fun!

Everything else has been going great for me. Working by the salt water all day has been difficult for my hair to accept, but I think it is finally giving in. I bought this new hair gel with avocado oil in and it has been working great!

I have also been trying to eat better...so here is a picture of my dinner the other night....A pound of asparagus, a box of mac and cheese, and a glass of milk...haha ok, so its only semi-healthy, but it still is better than none at all. I also have been taking my vitamins and eating a nutri-grain bar each morning for breakfast (Thanks so Kara, Amy, and Paige who love those things, and showed me I do too)

I am doing really well with my money and being able to survive on my own....Tyler and I have decided to stay in the efficiency that I am in now once we get married. We will just take out the twin bed and futon and do some rearranging and add a full size bed. This way we know we will be able to afford the rent, Jeff is so nice and so helpful, and he will allow us to bring Trigger down!!! I think it will all work out just fine and I am so excited about it!

Speaking of my wonderful fiance, he is coming to visit again!! He booked his plane ticket last week and will be here from May 2 until May 11! A nice long visit! Only 41 more days! haha...people ask me if I have a countdown until the wedding and the answer is no....I have a countdown until the next time I see him :)

Bear update: Bear is doing just great! I've been leaving the music channel on for him when I leave to go to work and I think he likes it. He seems calmer when I come home. That or hes just getting lazy. He has been extra snuggley lately too...he curls up with me when I go to bed or take a nap. I know I shouldn't be sharing this, but he loves to jump into your lap while you are on the toilet. He'll sit on your knees and let you hug all over him, but as soon as you go to flush, he bolts! haha...Here he is all curled up in my arms :)

I promise to post again sooner next time! I love you all and miss NC! Have fun watching the basketball games too!

Spring Break 2011! (even though I technically don't have a spring break)

Well this has been one of the best couple of days I've had since moving here!! Amy, Kara, and Paige all came to visit to me for their spring break! We had such a blast! They got here on Sunday night and then we hung out until Thursday morning when they had to leave. Sunday night we just hung out and talked! It was so wonderful to see them and hear everything that has been going on! Monday, they all came and visited me while I was at work! I was kind of worried that they wouldn't have fun because they aren't big animal folks, but they ended up having a blast! Kara even did a handshake with Talon!! SHOCKING! :) They took this picture of me on the microphone....





I look so official :) It was really just great to show them around and teach them about DRC. This is such a huge passion of mine and I love it so much so it was nice to be able to explain to them why I love it here. I told them, "Now do you understand why I left you guys to move here???" haha. It meant a lot to me that they could see how much I love what I do. It's hard to explain it to people sometimes, so to have them here and be able to show them what I do all day was great. We then went to the gift shop and they bought all matching shirts from DRC! They bought one I already had so we could all match! Here we are by the waterfall...

Then on Tuesday morning, we work up early and cooked whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes! They were so gooooodd!! Then we headed out for our snorkeling adventure! Our boat left at 9, but we had to check in by 8:30 am. We thought we could stick it out in just our bathing suites but when we got there, the nice lady from Spirit Snorkeling told us we could wear wet suits!! We felt so legit in them :)

We had such a great time snorkeling! We got to see so many awesome fish and I was especially excited for Amy because she had never gone before! We also had a nice 45 min. boat ride out to the reef and got awesome views of the 7 mile bridge! After we got back, we went to Sombrero Beach and laid out the rest of the day. This was an adventure because the beach was packed and full of crazy spring breakers, as we named them! It was pretty funny just sitting back and people watching...

That night I took them to Keys Fisheries! I got the crab cakes, and they were so good! All the other girls got fish sandwichs. Here is us before we went out :)

I also took them to Sunset Park where Tyler proposed to me! Again...people clapped after the sunset. It is so crazy to think that the sun sets everywhere in the whole world, but where do people take the time to sit and watch it and clap at the end? Crazy! Here we are on the dock...

Finally, on Wed. we went to Key West for the day. We stopped at No Name Pub on the way down for lunch and then headed down to Crazy Town....It was fun walking around, but we were all happy we didn't stay their the entire trip....its just so many people there and they are all crazies! :) That night Jeff, my landlord (adopted dad) cooked us all dinner. He fixed grilled shrimp, steak, asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, rice, and bread! It was awesome, as usual when he cooks. Then we all watched American Idol together. It was nice that they were able to meet Jeff and see how great he is. It really is nice to feel so comfortable and have someone to look after you when your down here. Anyways, here we are in Mallory Square...

The best part of the trip was just getting to spend quality time with my best friends! I miss them so much and it was so nice to have them around again....It felt like a year had passed since the last time I saw them, but then once we got together, it was like no time had gone by at all...We just had so much fun and I can't wait until I come home in June for AMY'S WEDDING!!!! Its so crazy she is getting married so soon and then I am a month later! Wow, time flies when you live in the keys :)

Oh yeah, I forgot I put this picture in here....hahahha, it just makes me laugh looking at it. We all bought these ridiculous shirts while in Key West because they were selling them all over the place and we finally gave in and bought them! We were laughing so hard because they are so silly, but they will remind us of what a wonderful trip we had :)

Ok, Ok, you're probably wondering about a Bear update....well since Amy is allergic to cats, Bear had a vacation himself! He stayed at Sarah's house while the girls were in town. Sarah has 2 great Danes, Bali and Sadie, and 2 other cats, Milo and Lucy. I wasn't too worried about him because Bear lived at my house in NC, and well if you know our house, you know Sarah's crew is nothing. I took him over Sunday night and picked him back up Thursday afternoon. I was so happy to hear from Sarah that Bear and Milo became really good friends! I asked Sarah to text me a picture of Milo so everyone could see Bear's new BFF...

Isn't he cute?! haha....But Bear had a wonderful vacation! Here is the picture of Bear I got from Sarah one morning saying "Hi Mom!" haha...I did miss him a lot though.

The best part of the whole thing was Sarah told me that after I left on Thursday with Bear, Sadie (one of the great Danes) was walking around the house crying and looking for Bear! haha...I guess I'll have to bring him over for more play dates soon :)

Well, now I am back to working both jobs and trying to keep up to date with these online classes. It will be nice to save some money again, seeing I spend so much more money when people are visiting! I hope you all enjoyed the pictures and hearing about my visitors! Hope you all have a wonderful night :)

Days off....finally!

This past week I have working my butt off! Besides working at DRC everyday, I also had to work at the hotel Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights! So when yesterday came...a day off from both jobs...I was so excited! I got a lot done too! I went to bible study in the morning and then headed to the beach for about an hour. I was able to talk to Kara most of that time and catch up with her! I tell ya...nothing beats laying out on the beach while talking to your best friend! After that I got my eye browls waxed, went grocery shopping, and stopped by the bank and Walgreen's! When I got home I did laundry, and watched the bachelor (by the way...I want Emily to win so bad but I still don't know if she will or not...we'll see in 2 weeks!). I felt so productive because I got so much done that needed to be done, I just haven't had the time to do it! I also was able to talk to Ma and Pa on the phone and catch up with them. I miss them so much. I was thinking about them because at the grocery store I was craving our famous beach snack, "chicken in a biskit" crackers and "squirt cheese" This was a snack we used to only eat while at the beach each summer. I used to look forward to it so much and since I went to the beach yesterday, I thought I could treat myself to something special. I wanted to call Ma and Pa and tell them they had passed on their traditional beach snack!

I paid March rent yesterday too. Even thought it sucks to give Jeff a check each month, it kind of makes me feel proud because I am able to pay my own rent and be on my own! He also fixed my sink which is a great thing also. After he was done he asked if I wanted to have dinner upstairs with him and his daughter. He said he knew I had been working hard and thought I would enjoy a home cooked meal....he is really just so nice! But that was nice and we ended up watching American Idol after dinner. He fixed chicken Alfredo and broccoli and I want everyone to note...I ATE BROCCOLI!! I had about 4 trees with the stems and then about 5 stems by themselves. I know its not a lot...but for me, this is a huge milestone! I feel healthier already :)

BEAR UPDATE: haha...ok for the Bear update I have a whole story to tell and I took pictures to go a long. I was up this morning cleaning and I opened up this wicker chest that I use a coffee table because I wanted to see what all was in there. It ended up just being a bunch of old bedding, but Bear loved it!! He jumped right in and started sniffing and rolling around....

Then he figured out how fun it would be to bury himself under all the sheets and blankets! Here he is beginning his journey to the bottom...

He continued to dig and pull sheets out of this chest and dump them on the floor....

He is finally making some progress here....all you can see is his tail! haha

At last...success! He made it all the way to the bottom and he curled up and went to sleep!

So I let him sleep in there for a while and about 20 min. later he comes climbing out. So I folded all the blankets and sheets and put them away. Well then, once I closed the chest....he started scratching at it and trying to open it back up! haha....

Oh what a strange little cat! Now he has decided he'll just sleep on the futon next me while I type this blog post....

Alright, well that has been my week, just working and enjoying my days off! I am so so excited that Kara, Amy and Paige all come on Sunday!!! Only 3 and a half more days!! Were going to have so much fun! :) I know there will be pictures from that visit so don't worry! I am going to eat some lunch before going into work. Happy Wednesday everyone!