Insomnia Strikes Again...

...Although I gave it every opportunity.

Since my boss gave me today AND tomorrow off (I fly out tomorrow afternoon), I slept in today until about 4pm before getting up and running a few errands.

Steph and I had breakfast/dinner at Denny's after I spent about 45 minutes at my optometrist's office getting my one remaining pair of glasses fixed.

Once my hunger was satiated, I went too a Bealls Outlet store (we don't have these in the northwest - it's a bit like a Ross, which we also have here) to score some jewelry to wear for the wedding I am in on Sunday, which is themed The 70's.

Since I came home I've been mostly vegging on the couch while sometimes processing laundry and packing my suitcase.

I couldn't find the cord to hook my ipod up to my laptop, so I took a quick trip to Walgreens and then Albertsons (both in vain) to try and find one. I may have to take a trip to Radio Shack in the morning, but if they are more than about $10 I'm not interested in spending the money on something we have four of somewhere in the house.

The animals all seem to be confused as to why I'm up at this hour, two of the cats are alternately sleeping on my laptop case and the dog is staying close - he is already missing Scott (who left for his business trip this morning).

I'm watching Iron Chef which is VERY interesting, probably the most interesting episode (to me) so far. The secret ingredient is melons, and they have to have the majority of the offerings have a frozen component.

There are several very interesting bits of technology: and "anti-griddle" which is a super-cold freeze plate, a "blast freezer", and of course, several ice-cream machines.

I will probably go to bed soon, even though I still have a lot to do - my brain and it's habit of wanting to be asleep at this hour are starting to kick in.

And on the 23rd Day, It Rained.

This Burger King must serve all eleventy-billion at this location alone. That's a lot of french-fries.

Maybe there is a conference room in the middle with a giant shake and twelve-thousand straws coming out.

I don't know. I just thought it was amusing.

ANYWAY...

Monday morning Mom woke me up and I drove her to the Miami airport in my pajamas. Her flight was scheduled to leave at 10:05am so she decided to be there by about 8:50am. I deposited her at the terminal with plenty of time to spare and went back to the motel and crawled back into bed.

At 10:15am she called to tell me that she was (obviously) not on the plane. Her flight was delayed three hours and would not be departing until 1pm. We all wished we had thought to check her flight when the alarm clock first went off, as she could have gotten more sleep and not been bored in the airport.

Jenny and I finally got up around 11am and checked out around noon. We went in search of the "Dolphin Mall" but found the Miami International Mall instead. I succeeded in purchasing three much-needed pairs of shorts and then we made our way to the food court.

After perusing the options we decided on a Mediterranean counter. For "Fast" Mediterranean, it was pretty good!

Jenny had a combo plate with Greek salad, falafel and hummus.

I had cucumber salad, roasted potatoes, hummus, two stuffed grape leaves, and we each finished with a piece of baklava.

Jenny had to be at work at 6pm, so around 2pm we hit the road.

Back in Key West I took a nap and then got up for a couple of hours to eat dinner and put away my purchases before going back to bed.

About an hour before I retired again for the night, it started raining VERY hard and there was strong wind.

Day XX (That's Twenty, Right?)

Friday morning we roused ourselves out of bed at about 9am, checked out of the motel and went back to The Falls mall.

Mom and I are rabid shoppers, and we cruised our way through several shops in the hour we had before we needed to hit the road back to Key West.

It was a beautiful day for the drive, and we had started our day with a very small breakfast at the motel (Mom had an orange, Jenny had a banana and I had a danish). By the time we reached Tavernier, we were hungry and needed to use a restroom.

We took a chance and pulled into the parking lot at Chad's Deli & Bakery. We were in a bit of a rush as Jenny had to be at work by 3pm, so we ordered sandwiches for Mom and I and a quesadilla for Jenny, used the restroom and hit the road.

Chad is the owner and proprieter and was working the register during our visit. He is a very jolly and friendly man, and assured us that once we tasted the food we would be back for SURE. As we opened our food once we were back in the car and began to eat it, we were quite impressed. All the bread is baked fresh at Chad's and is very tasty.

We arrived back in Key West with about 8 minutes to get Jenny to work, and she made it just a few minutes late.

Mom and I took naps until Scott got home from work and then Mom, Scott, Travis and I headed downtown to a little sightseeing and ultimately have dinner.

We started out parking near one end of the marina and walked along the waterfront to Greene Street, where we stopped at Kermit's Key West Key Lime Pie Shoppe.

When people come to visit we like to encourage them to compare the two main Key Lime Pie peddlers - Kermit's and the Blond Giraffe.

Kermit's has a beautiful Koi pond behind the building, with several small table and chair sets all around the pond and garden area. We purchased a piece of pie and a piece of chocolate dipped pie-on-a-stick. The four of us shared both pieces and determined (as usual) that the chocolate dipped is the preferred method of Key Lime Pie Goodness.


After finishing up our pie, we continued along the waterfront to Front Street and walked all the way up to Mallory Square to catch a little bit of the Sunset Celebration (held nightly).

As we walked into the area where all the performers are, we were greeted by the beautiful tones of a wood flute player playing hymns as the sun was setting. I enjoyed this very much, especially because the song he was playing as we arrived was "How Great Thou Art", probably my favorite hymn.

Clouds were covering most of the sunset, so we decided to progress on to our dinner destination, The Cafe. Once inside we sat in a new dining room addition that was just opened in March. The food was fantastic (as always) and it felt good to walk back to the car and work off a few of the calories we so enjoyed consuming.

Day 19, Slacker Season 2008

Hello! I'm back! Okay, I'm in Miami, but I'm back to taking care of my poor blog.

I learned today that one of my favorite people IN THE WORLD (Hi Lou!) reads my blog every day! That is so exciting. If I have any lurkers, show yourself sometime so I feel a little less like I'm typing just to hear myself think.

Jenny joined me on Thursday for our regular Girls Day Off and we enjoyed a manicure (me) and pedicure (Jenny) at Nadine's Salon and Day Spa and then went conveniently downstairs to the Square Grouper restaurant and had a lovely lunch. I had the black bean veggie burger again and Jenny had the Mediterranean Plate.

We shared a slice (or rather, a few bites of a slice) of Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie and then hit the road north.





I have driven the road from Miami to Key West several times, and had no idea there was an alternate to the "eighteen mile stretch". As I was about to take the left side of the road in Key Largo, Jenny informed me that there is a much more interesting route along Card Sound Road.

I agreed to try it out and stayed straight at the pertinent junction instead of veering to the left. The first portion follows along North Key Largo before there is a turn and the traveler is actually ON Card Sound Road. Both portions of the trip are quite lovely and the view on the bridge over Little Card Sound and Barnes Sound is fabulous as well.




We hit the Turnpike around 6pm and found our way to our hotel - a lovely Quality Inn in the Kendall area. After checking in and depositing our bags in the room, we checked out the pool and then drove a few blocks to a fabulous mall we had noticed en route to the motel.

The Falls is an outside mall that has waterfalls and pools throughout the center of the complex. It is quite beautiful and peaceful. We shopped until about 7:50pm and then took off heading for the airport, following signs that are supposed to lead us ultimately to the airport.

Mom's flight was supposed to land at 8pm, and by my estimation, I thought we were about 15 minutes away from the airport. The signs put us onto one parkway and then pointed to another exit, which we took. Then there were no more signs.


I really didn't want Mom to have to wait in the belly of the parking garage alone, so I was anxious to make it to the airport quickly. Every time we thought that we were maybe heading the wrong direction, we would see an airplane overhead heading in the same direction as we were, and getting closer to the ground!

Finally we saw the all-important sign again and within minutes we were at the airport and picked Mom up. We took her back to the motel to unload her stuff and then to a Benigans a few blocks away for a late dinner before going back to the motel and heading to bed for the night.

***(Yes, that gas price is $4.05 for regular. In Key West we pay $4.29)***

The Bellagio Tolls for Thee

DAY FOUR

Saturday morning we woke slowly and groggily, having been out on the town until rather late. We packed up and checked out of our rooms, leaving our bags with the baggage service outside the front of the hotel.

Carla set up a post at the pool and held all our miscellaneous stuff while the rest of us returned to the Miracle Mile to shop for about an hour. Gary also purchased Scott some clothes at Ben Sherman as a birthday present, while I hit a shoe store and a sale at the Gap.

We returned to the pool to collect Carla and then walked to the Bellagio to have lunch at Todd English's Olives. Our table was on the veranda overlooking the fountain, shaded by an umbrella with built-in misters. I ordered the Butternut Squash Tortelli, which turned out to be the favorite dish at our table. Just after our food arrived, the mister right above me started spitting great drips of water into my hair, my food, and my wine-glass. A quick-thinking busser wrapped a cloth napkin around the pole, covering the errant spout. We relaxed and enjoyed our lunch and several fountain shows, topped off with a bit of an impromptu family haiku battle.

Scott enjoyed a Chocolate Fallen Cake as a Birthday treat and then we were off to Bally's. By this time I was exhausted and I curled up on a bench in the lobby and took a short nap. We took refuge in Le Burger Brasserie and quenched our dehydrated throats, followed by seeing Gary and Carla off as they left for the airport.

Katie, Kevin and Scott took seats at tables in the Poker room and I made the most of the Tabasco and Wheel of Fortune slot machines nearby. Eventually it was time for Scott and I to head to the airport, so we said our goodbyes to Katie and Kevin and caught a cab.

Two Pianos, Aparte?

DAY TWO

We slept in until about 9am on Thursday, and would probably have slept longer if it wasn't for being woken by Scott's mom letting us know she was on her way to the pool. We managed to throw ourselves together and stumbled down to find deck chairs. In the water we were able to withstand the blistering heat, but only for about an hour and a half. Gary came down and took us to lunch at the poolside cafe around 11:30am.

After lunch we cleaned ourselves up and braved the strip long enough to cross the street and head into the Miracle Mile shops attached to Planet Hollywood (previously the Aladdin).

The ladies enjoyed the wonders of Sephora and then Scott whooped for joy when he saw the Ben Sherman store. I bought him two pairs of shorts and some shirts as an early birthday present, we then re-joined with Carla, Kevin and Katie and had a "snack" at P.F. Changs.

We napped for a bit and then headed downstairs to Napoleon's Dueling Piano bar. The ladies had drinks while the men had cigars and then we proceeded to a late night dinner at the Boulangerie/Patisserie nearby.

One Month

As of tomorrow morning, I will have been a resident of Florida for one month.

I've been working at a new job for about 3 weeks, and recently had some issues there that have inspired me to continue to keep my eyes open for another position elsewhere.

The dog and cats are getting comfortable with each other, even being willing to share space on the bed together. Chou has come down off the refrigerator, but it looks like he has taken to eating Buster's canned dog food and regurgitating it back up.

Our condo is shaping up nicely, we're adding furniture as we can and enjoying the four decks attached to our unit. I've also been enjoying the small pool located in the middle of our complex.

I do miss having certain things nearby; Old Spaghetti Factory's closest location is in Georgia, and Costco, Old Navy, WalMart and Target are all in Miami, but there are new fun local places too.

A Dream Come True...

You may think yesterday was Saturday, but it was Murphy-Day.

We attempted a purchase at K-Mart with a check from a brand-new local account. Apparently brand-new accounts limit the initial number of checks you can write, so the check was declined and we left the store without our silverware, curtain rods, spatulas and strainer.

Later I discovered the long-awaited debit card in the mail and went back to K-Mart with cash (just to be safe). I carefully re-selected all of our purchases and checked out.

As I was loading the new silverware into the dishwasher, I discovered that one box had 12 soup spoons and 8 knives instead of 4 sets of knife, big fork, little fork, big spoon, little spoon, and the OTHER box was short a big spoon.

We went back to K-Mart for the third time (a charm) and from the SINGLE last box of that style of silverware on the shelf, created two full boxes.

Meanwhile, back at Good-News Ranch, we bought a mattress and box springs which were delivered FREE the same afternoon.

I have now slept on a REAL bed and eaten my cereal with a REAL spoon. I can die a happy woman.