So not only did my husband and I go on a “date” finally but we had 2 date nights in a row!! OOOOOO. lol. We never go out anymore, never to the movies (we’d rather rent and eat in and watch it, cheaper and more comfy) and we never go out to eat at restaurants (too expensive and we’d rather just grab fast food and go home and watch the movies we rented lol). But the hubby had to take his car in to get fixed this weekend and they didn’t fix it right away so he had to go back Monday to pick it up. There’s a mall by the dealership so we were going to go there and just eat at the food court. BUT it wasn’t fixed… another story for another time… so I think he was really disappointed so he wanted to go out anyway but not to the mall since we had to go that way the next day. So, we decided to try this place that I’ve been wanting to go to since we moved here A Year Ago! Everyone raves about it, its right on the beach, it’s called Aruba. and you have a great view of the beach from inside. It was actually really good too! The bread is delicious! it has some honey glaze on it. yumyum. so anyway… it was really nice to get out and do something, especially on a work night! Then tonight we go to pick his car up because it’s finally done and we were going to just eat in the food court (totally not like us  to eat out so much btw!) but nothing looked good, so driving home we found this little pizza joint that we thought we’d try out. it was a cute little pizzeria and very yummy pizza and cheese bread! 2 thumbs up! and also 2 thumbs up to 2 date nights! Yea!

So my hubby is leaving for me a week… well almost a week. It’s a “guys trip.” Two of his friends just flew in today and they’re going to go to Key West. I’m kinda jealous cuz I really want to go there! I’ve only been to Key Largo, we didn’t go any further. Then they’re going to Orlando. I think they’re going to Adventure Island but not sure which park. Then on the way back as long as it isn’t stormy, which it might be, they will stop somewhere in between Orlando and here and go golfing. Sounds like a good time. But It’s going to be weird having the place to myself. Coming home from work to  a quiet house is the norm since I usually get home first, but then when it stays quiet… I’m going to go crazy. I’ll have to leave the tv on 24/7 for background noise or something haha. I have nothing planned out either, other than a lunch with a friend on Saturday. I need to find something to do… But I am pretty stoked about having the quiet time and time to relax. Even though I am somewhat relaxed still from my “girls trip” I just got back from on Sunday. We had the best time in Northern Michigan! AHHH HOME! I really felt like I was home when we were driving farther and farther north, even though I’ve never lived that far north. But it just has this calming effect and welcomes you in to the beauty of the nature and the land. Here are a pics of my trip!

Sunrise over lake Huron…

Overlook of the treetops…

During our Morning stroll on the beach…

The start of a trail we used to hike, had to do it one more time for good measure… (i can’t believe we actually found it again)

And the best for last… the true meaning of FRIENDSHIP

Writing exercise 6…

IF YOU MUST KNOW,

what I would love to do every weekend was sit on a beach. But it would have to be a private beach with private access. I hate crowds and I hate parking, hence the reason I don’t go to the beach every weekend. But when I do go, I love just sitting and staring out into the water. The water calms me. No matter the mood, everything just disappears when I look out into the water. If I lived on a beach, that would be the dream for me. Oh, and then my giraffe has somewhere to play too…

 

The inlaws left Saturday morning and headed for the west side of Florida to check that area out. They are thinking of moving from freezing Michigan to Sunny Florida, yes sometimes the kids get the good ideas first… They said a Definite NO to  this area, but love Naples very much. So much that they wanted us to come over there and check the area out, and of course spend more time with them before they head back to MI. Guess they didn’t get enough of us for the week they were here! so we went over there today, the boys went golfing and the girls went shopping! Then we met up at the end of the day to go to the beach. We just happened to get there at the very most perfect time ever and got to see the sun set over the ocean. My was it Gorgeous!! It was seriously breath-takenly beautiful. I’ve seen the sun set before, but never like this, in person, over the ocean, on a beach with the sand between my toes and the cool of the night wind blowing in my hair. It was the perfect end to the weekend, even though we had to drive home 1 1/2 hrs still… but it was still magnificent.

 

 

Wouldn’t that have been nice to be on that sailboat in the first picture?? And I love the bird I got in the second picture. And the 3rd showed the colors the best, and right as the sun was going down.

Pictures taken March 2, 2008 

First I’d like to say how I don’t like how this blog changes the date when you edit or update a previous blog, so the dates really suck and I’m going to have to type the day I took the picture. and because of that I knew it wouldn’t matter that I wrote this blog the day after I actually took the picture… hehe

Rules For The Beach (For the people who don’t have a clue):

1. Get off the Phone

The beach is supposed to be a nice, relaxing time. If I didn’t use my phone just to keep the time so my meter doesn’t expire I would say that they should be banned. But at least have the decency to not bother the people around you trying to enjoy themselves, and make them listen to your boring one way conversation.

2. Mind Others Personal Space

There are a million of miles of beach out there. Why do you have to sit Right next to another group of people? Move down a few feet.

3. No complaining about how hot it is!

Um HELLO It’s the beach! It’s 80 degrees. The sun is going to feel hot. If you don’t want to be out in the sun, put a little sunhat on, put some clothes on, and either go sit inside or go shopping or something. Are you really serious complaining about that??

4. Don’t walk so close to others when there is plenty of open beach space.

One, it kicks sand on someone. and Two refer back to #2 about personal space.

Okay, so now that we have the rules clear I can move on to my story. As you can see I didn’t have the most relaxing day at the beach… its obvious  how annoyed I was at the phone part… and it was not just one person. a couple were each on separate phones talking to people and then in the group of the next ppl over someone else was on the phone as well… I even had my ipod on and i could still hear them, I guess I should have just turned it up!

Then the personal space. First of all, I give ppl space and I want my own space, so when there was some room at the front of the beach in between two groups of ppl I decided to keep my distance a bit and stay back a few feet. I guess that was an open invitation for this group of 4 older pastey white (shouldn’t make fun of the pastey ppl cuz I live in FL and I’m very white, but its the Irish in me and I tend to burn easily… ) tourists to sit inbetween them, directly in front of me right in my line of view to the nice peaceful ocean I was staring out at. I should have said something but I’m not one to be rude, so I stopped staring at the Ocean, since I no longer could without staring at their big asses as they were setting up their stuff, and pulled out a book to read. So skipping to Number 4, I put the book down when I flipped to lay on my back. Then one of the stupid pastey tourists decides to come back from where ever it was that she went and walk directly next to me kicking sand on my stuff and looking down at the book I had laying there. What, do you want to read it? Why do you care what I’m reading?

And then my personal favorite. The couple that was complaining about how hot it was… I can’t even write about that anymore because really, that is too dumb to even talk further about… haha.

So I guess I just picked a bad day to go to the beach.  It was a Saturday and a really nice day. They even said on the news it was going to be a great beach day, so I should have taken that information and run the other way! It didn’t help that I didn’t get there until almost 11. The spot I found that I always go to when I’m by myself is rarely busy. Thats why I picked it! There were always a lot of open spots to park, its easy access to the beach- I dont have to walk far, and its by the hotels so there is a lot of open area since the hotels are all right next to each other, and the beach is never crowded. Maybe it’s just getting too close to the travel season or something I don’t know. But there was only one meter open and I had to parallel park! I was nervous cuz it has been a while since I had to do that, but I did fine! And if it weren’t for all the stupid people I would have had a nice relaxing time. But instead I was annoyed most of the time there.

But enough of complaining! It still was nice to have my feet in the sand and the sun beating down all warm. I love the sound of the waves crashing against the shore and the seagulls calling (which is one reason I didn’t have my music up too loud). All I can think of is my friends and family that are back home in Michigan freezing their butts off! They would probably give anything to be on the beach right now instead of in 5 degree weather with snow and ice. -Although no one has come to visit me yet, so shame on you all and you could be in this nice weather right now if you did haha. But in spite of all the complaining I really am happy to live so close the beach and I’m glad I had the chance to visit it on a nice day!

Here is a picture I took before the people ruined my nice view. Look at what they ruined for me, shame on them!

 Picture Taken Feb. 23rd 2008