Viewing the Manatees

Brian & I decided to take a 5-minute drive this afternoon to see the manatees at the Teco Manatee Viewing Center. This was our first visit, so we were surprised at how many manatees were actually visible in the canal! The manatees were simply adorable. Their slow and gentle movements intrigued us. They are quite the sight! It's terrible how many manatees die because of boaters. These poor mammals had so many scars on their bodies...I took over 100 pictures for the 30 minutes we were there. We'll have to make this a routine visit. It was just so relaxing to watch the manatees glide along the water. We can't wait to bring Brian's family when they visit soon...

Time to celebrate! "Roll the Dough"

Brian celebrated his 32nd birthday on Thursday. On Saturday, we held a small gathering to celebrate. We enjoyed some yummy BBQ from First Choice, watched funny clips of Rob & Big, played Texas Hold'em, and watched the (very late) UFC fight... It was great to have his closest friends over. We had such a great time!

How I Love Thee

Brian ~

After a hellacious weekend of sweating out the flu... I just have to thank you for being so attentive, caring, and worried (did I mention bossy?). This was the first time in our five-year relationship that I've had a fever for four days straight. Regardless of what I did or didn't do - my fever wouldn't go away...Initially, you called my doctor & she actually called you back even though it was after 6pm on Valentine's Day. Then you called my mom, your mom, your dad... Gave me ice packs for my scalding hot head, tylenol, told me to keep sleeping, brought me tissues, water, took my temperature every hour or so. You didn't know what else to do to make my fever go away. On V-Day, you got me Spanish Bean Soup from Ybor Grille to make me feel better. While annoyed at the time, I am thankful that you made me drink TONS of water (after giving me a lecture about dehydration, of course). I LOVE you so much for being such a wonderful man and a loving husband. I couldn't have made it through this weekend without you taking care of me. I love you more and more every day.

XOXO,
Jolee

Settling In

We hope each of you had a great holiday. With the move, we didn't have time (or the energy) to put up a tree or decorate. But, we had a fabulous dinner with my mom and Mike. My mom brought over all the Cuban food she made (yummy!). Mike enjoyed his time on the back patio. It's very relaxing back there (until it gets dark and the mosquitoes get hungry).


I can't believe we've been in the house for 10 days now. And what an exciting (yet exhausting) 10 days it has been! We have unpacked 95% of the boxes. Fans, light fixtures, garage door opener, and alarm have all been installed. Brian's office desk will be delivered on Wednesday, so once it arrives he'll be able to get his office together. I'll upload pictures next weekend of our progress.


On Friday, we went to Orlando to have dinner with Greg, Liz, Mark, and Renee. It was great to hear more Greg, Mark & Brian stories from UF. The stories are always so comical! Greg & Liz are moving back to Estes Park, Colorado tomorrow. Estes Park is very beautiful. It is where Greg & Liz met and were married. We wish them all the best and hope to visit there soon.

Brian used his new grill for the first time on Saturday. We had our neighbors over for the UFC fight. Patrick was uber-excited that Chuck Lidell won his fight. Patrick wanted to run down the block screaming, but we talked him out of it. After a night of drinking beer and taking shots ... Patrick and Amber walked home safely. We'll have to do this again in January for the next UFC fight with BJ Penn (my favorite UFC fighter).



The Mirasolas came by today to see the house. It was great to have them over and to see little JC. He's absolutely the cutest, happiest little boy! I just love watching him roam around, exploring all that is around him.

Mark & Renee are coming to town tomorrow to celebrate New Year's Eve with us. Brian will get to grill again, so he's excited. We wish all of you a happy, prosperous and safe new year!

36 hours to go!

So, I guess I jinxed myself when I mentioned Verizon on a former post. See, Verizon decided to disconnect our DSL 10 days prior to our "transfer" date to Fios at the new house. They did this even after we called twice to confirm the 20th as the day DSL would be disconnected and Fios connected. Noone ever told us it took them 10 days to transfer an account. Two calls later - we're still without internet connection. I'm down to "borrowing" internet connection from someone in the apartment complex. Gotta love unsecured networks... if it wasn't for this - I couldn't publish this post. Nevertheless...

Brian and I are still preparing for our move into the new house. We have so much left to pack! Tonight, we moved another dozen boxes to our storage unit in Ruskin. We have plenty more to box up! We're so excited, but completely exhausted. We haven't had much sleep lately and we're constantly on the go. We're going to stay up as long we need to tomorrow to get everything ready for Thursday. We just have to be at the house Thursday at 8:30am for our final walk-through with our contractor. Closing is at 10am. Afterwards, Brian and I will spend the day moving boxes from storage to our house - until Verizon arrives for installation. We were told the arrival window is 1-3pm and that it will take 4-6 hours for the installation. Guess I'd better prepare dinner for the three of us...

19 days till closing!

Closing is fast approaching ... we have so much to do and to schedule. Thankfully, I've put a schedule together for the first few days to make sure we know when things are being delivered and installed. We'll be adding more to it soon. It'll be hectic the first few days, but it'll all be worth it. We hope Verizon doesn't give us as much trouble with the installation as Brighthouse has given our neighbors, Patrick and Amber. BH keeps changing the installation date, which in turn effects other things.

We went by the house last night. They installed window screens and blinds, and have started cleaning up the house. It looks great! Our contractor will do his own walk-through early next week to make sure they take care/fix items before our walk-through on the 11th.

Brian