One two three...go!

  To dream, there must be a vision. A long time ago, when moving to Florida was still just an idea, I could see images in my head. Images of our Florida home. I could see a beautiful swimming pool,  surrounded by plants 🪴 that I love so much. I could see Crazy Bird hanging out with us on his own deluxe jungle gym. A  cozy exotic lounge area with lightweight curtains that add some elegance, overlooking the inviting pool. Our pool. I could feel a breeze and the humidity in the air and feeling so happy that we are surrounded by all of this.  Joe and I and our animals.   H O M E. Let me tell you,  the road to get to this place has been windy. There were detours.  More than we anticipated.   So here we are and we figure it would be fun to tour some Open Houses. Those and model homes are just so much fun to look at. Regardless of whether we actually want to purchase a house or not. I remember throughout the years,  especially in the cold...

The moment you were longing for. You knew it existed but the longer time went by, the more unreachable it seemed to get.  Have you ever felt it? Joe and I felt stuck in that place, going on 8 years.  You're probably perplexed now? Wait, they packed up their things, followed there dream of traveling and living in Florida.  They did it! And you're right. Absolutely.   What you don't know is that while all of this was achievable and wonderful,  Joe's search for a fulfilling job has been a long journey.  A journey full of writing resumes over and over again. Nothing. Disappointment. Every time someone had an input of what he should change his resume to, he took their advice.  It never seemed to make a difference though.  It felt like his immense success in his 28 years of Airforce life didn't seem to matter to anyone but Joe.  Was he over-qualified? Was he too old? We had endless  conversations about the "why's",...

As we are approaching the sizzling Florida summer season, I realize this is our second summer here already.  I remember visiting my girlfriend in Tampa years ago and going for a morning walk. I remember looking over at her, walking leisurely next to me. Her face is  glistening. I said: "Are you wearing a shiny lotion or are you sweating"?  She replied with: "I am sweating". It's what you do here.  Surprised I said that I assumed one would get used to this climate after some time. When it's hot and humid you kinda melt.  Welcome to SOUTHERN FLORIDA.   Our apartment has become our home. This city has become OUR city. We are constantly exploring and expanding our knowledge of what Saint Petersburg is all about.  Our place is only a 15 minute bike ride to the popular St. Pete Pier. Located downtown its one of the many happening places.  Outdoorsy tan people in shorts, on scooters you can rent at eve...

  About a year ago I was sitting on a plane as well.  I was writing ✍️ a blog while on my ✈️ to California.   Today I am happily anticipating finishing the last leg of my flight from Tampa to Manhattan,  Kansas.  Let me tell you one thing: Long distance ANYTHING is NOT fun. In this case the distance between me and my children.  One in Kansas, one in Colorado.  Now if I had $$ coming out of my rear end, I'd be seeing them all the time. The bitter reality speaks its own volume.  We rely on video calls instead.   Do you ever make a decision, think it's the best,  the wisest and then figure out just how dumb your great decision really was? Look no farther.  Joe and I had the conversation that ended up being the typical "we should have…." monolog. Frustrated,  we came to realize that our super wise decision is now costing us a whole lot of money we don't really have. This is the consequence of our a...

               C HA N G E  Well good day, fellow humans. The day we have been anxiously working towards has come and gone already.  On December 14th 2021 we officially became apartment inhabitants. The time we've spent being vagabonds was a learning process. Challenging, rewarding and an experience we will always treasure.   But our hearts weren't in it anymore and we were so ready to become permanent residents of Saint Petersburg, Florida.   And with many things in life if things are too easy how would you appreciate the end result? Right? Finding a place to live with 4 pets was quite an uphill battle. There are size restrictions, breed restrictions, quantity restrictions. There are pet deposits, pet rent. You name it, they are tagged on.  But after endless phone calls, text messages, clicks on various websites and making Google my number ONE "go to" every day, we finally found THE place! In the middle of the h...

 My suggestion is: If you don't love water,  don't come here! This beautiful park is mostly used by locals.  So consider yourself lucky that I am sharing the top notch goods with you. Just kidding. http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/camping.htm   This affordable jungle-like campground is literally surrounded by water on all sides. It has approximately 236 sites and books often months in advance. There are many water sites to choose from, many of them very spacious.  You'll be by mangroves on some sites.  This is literally a Florida experience at its best.  There are separate sections of the park:  1. If you own or don't mind being around people with pets. The pet section.  2. You guessed it:  Non-pet section for rigs of all sizes and tents.  3. Tent sites that can only fit tents or very small trailers. No pets here.  There is no lighting at night except for the entrance to the park and bath houses. Speaking of bath houses. Ther...