Merry Christmas

We got this sweet photo of MacKenzie wishing us a Merry Christmas. We love that little girl. We had breakfast at the hotel with Grams- we snuck her in! HA! And then spent most of the afternoon cooking a turkey dinner at her place. We were able to sneak away from the kitchen for a walk around Lake Okeechobee. Not all of the lake, of course, but some of it. :)

We did some swimming this afternoon at Grams' place- I loved it. We were listening to Christmas tunes and swimming in the hot sun. Lovely. Grams napped in the sun- she obviously needed some sun time, too! It was nice to get to spend Christmas with Grams again. She always made them so special for my sister and me growing up.

We left Grams' and headed for Port St. Lucie for the evening. We walked to dinner at TGI Fridays, the only restaurant open, and had a lovely dinner. We did some more swimming and spent some time in the hot tub, too. We've gotten so used to the warmth that we are already fearing the cold in Indiana tomorrow! EEK! :)

Christmas Eve

We spent the morning of Christmas Eve at the beach, of course. It was lovely. I assumed the beach would be more crowded since it was a gorgeous Saturday morning, but it was like our own place. Awesome.
In the afternoon we headed to Tropical Smoothie for lunch. Wow. I love that place. Seriously I could live off smoothies alone.
We headed to Okeechobee to see Grams after our quick lunch (did I mention that I love Tropical Smoothie?!). We have a running joke in our family about not speeding through Indiantown (a little, tiny town that is between West Palm and Okee) because Grandpa ALWAYS chanted it to anyone who visited: "DO NOT SPEED THROUGH INDIANTOWN!" Anyway, as we got to Indiantown I had this conversation with my Mom via text (Jackson typed since I took Oprah's pledge not to text and drive):

Me: Currently NOT speeding through Indiantown

Mom: Good thing! You should NEVER speed through Indiantown! So we have been warned many times...

Me: *sends photo above to guy pulled over by 2 cops* Apparently no one told this guy

Mom: Oops! Not a nice Christmas gift! He must have never met Gramps!!!

I laughed and laughed. Oh man. :)

We got checked into our hotel, washed off the sand and went to get Grams for dinner. We took her to Cowboys- a BBQ place in Okee. They have corn nuggets. Yum. I also made her pose with their sign and she was mortified. She was so afraid I'd post her photo to Facebook. Seriously? Mark Zuckerberg (I just finished reading a book about him- fascinating) could never have imagined a little Grandma fearing her photo being on FB. Jackson quickly stole my phone and posted her photo. Hilarious.
Jackson got his photo taken, too, but was able to avoid a Facebook blast. Grams called me no fun for not getting my photo taken- ha. She doesn't know that the blogger never gets featured. ;) We went back for a little Christmas Eve swim- outside- and then retired for the night. Santa was not able to find us at the hotel- boo hoo. ;):)

Another beach day...

First, a look at what MacKenzie did today: She "helped" Monty and Gracie wrap some presents. I miss that little dog!
We decided to spend the whole day at the beach today. I read another whole book. It was lovely. I put on too much sunscreen and got hardly any color. Siiiigh. A girl cannot win. Either I'm burnt to a crisp or white as a ghost- getting older sucks.
Tonight we did another 5k training walk. We went to the beach- I love going at night- again just to soak it in. Lovely.
Royal Palm Way is one of my favorite roads ever and I really love it at Christmastime when it is all lit up and even more gorgeous than usual. I love it here. Do we have to go home?! ;):)

Little Drummer Boy

Kathi, Grace and Susie delivered our present to Alex (and Kylie & Nick) for us tonight- thanks ladies! They also took some videos and photos so that we didn't miss out on the fun. I love his little up-to-no-good face.
Oh some sweaters...how practical.
Let's get to the fun stuff....

This made my Christmas for two reasons: 1. Alex seemed to really enjoy his new drum- we loved watching him go to town pounding on it 2. My sister's response of "thanks Aunt Ninny this is exactly what Alex needed" MUAH HA HA HA HA I told her it was payback for years of calling me fat ;):)

MERRY CHRISTMAS! :)

Beachin' it

I have a confession to make: I usually hate the beach. There. I said it. I feel better now. I just think the ocean is creepy (sharks! and here in Palm Beach this time of year jellyfish!) and sand just gets everywhere, but today I loved the beach. I am loving life with my new Kindle and was able to just relax while Jackson played in the jellyfish infested water. I finished a whole book on the beach today. It is so nice not to worry about keeping a page, marking my place or getting the right light. I am a Kindle convert. I also love that I am reading library books on my Kindle so they're FREE (I know I pay property taxes that pay for the library, but I like to think I'm being thrifty with my new reading habit). It was a gorgeous sunny 82 degree day and I even remembered to put on sunscreen so I only have minor redness. WOOT! :)
The sky and the water were so blue today. It was just a gorgeous day! We also mapped our walk this morning and did a quick 5k training walk. I'm planning to jalk (jog/walk) the mini-marathon in Indy this year so I have start somewhere...it might as be Palm Beach! ;)

"She rules"

MacKenzie is with her Grammy for Christmas since we're in Florida. Part of our deal with Susie watching MacK is that she sends us photo updates of our little lady. Today we got this photo and the conversation that followed went like this:

Susie: "Lazy afternoon for Grace and MacK. Certainly not the beach!"

Me: "Hahaha! Isn't that a little backwards?" (You know...the kid on the floor....the dog on the couch)

Susie: "Yes, but she rules"

I died. That little dog has her Grammy wrapped around her...uh...paw! :)

Thinking of others

I thought this was a cute photo of a little doggie asking Santa for a home. I was reminded today of how Christmas has gotten so skewed and turned into nothing but gifts for people who do not need anything. There are children that need help both here and in foreign lands, there are pets who needs love and there are people in ours lives that are hurting and need love. I challenge you (and me) to take time out of this busy season (for all of you...I'm "retired" and have done nothing but sit on the beach, take walks and read for a couple of days- HA!) to think of others. Figure out a need and help fill it- that is what Christmas is all about, I think.

WPB

Yesterday morning we got up at 4:00 am to get ready and catch our 6:25 am flight. I thought to myself, "this is going to be a loooooong day." I hate having connecting flights and it really seems like Indianapolis does not have direct flights anywhere anymore. We first flew to Detroit and from there hopped a flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Jackson- ever the salesman- was able to get us seated together on our second flight (we'd been separated for some reason when booking) and we were upgraded to the row behind first class (he's not THAT good- LOL) which meant a lot of extra leg room and a quick exit off the plane. We loved it. We left the airport and headed right to one of our favorite restaurants, Sonny's BBQ, for lunch. YUM! It is just that good. We then headed to Boca Raton to check-in to our hotel. Yeah...it was gross. Our good friends at tripadvisor.com lead us astray. That rarely ever happens. We checked out of that rap-trap and headed for West Palm Beach. We were able to get a room for 4 days for a great deal right downtown WPB which is where we decided we wanted to spend our time. The hotel here is so nice and we are able to walk to City Place (my favorite place ever). I love the walking lifestyle when the weather is so nice. I read a whole book yesterday during our travels which always makes me happy. We had a nice dinner at City Place last night and then went for a long walk along the intercoastal. Ahh...vacation...I love it! :) My long day turned out to be a really good one.

Pacers v Bulls

I was able to get some pre-season tickets for $12.50 to the Pacers vs. Bulls game on Friday night. We had club level seats which was awesome. I wish Michael Jordan still played- that would have made it more enjoyable- but that's OK. HA :)
The NBA is not nearly as exciting as college ball- the fans just are not as into it.
Jackson looking cute at the game. :)
I really enjoyed the antics of Boomer- their mascot.
And my favorite part was the drumline. Seriously awesome. We met up with some of Jackson's friends afterwards for dinner at my favorite Mexican place downtown. It was a lot of fun!

Chicago at Christmas

I'd been missing Christmas in a big city so Jackson and I headed up to Chicago for the weekend. It was a lot of fun. For some reason they have a gigantic Marilyn Monroe statue up that people were standing under to look up her skirt. Hilarious.
We went to a sports bar to catch to IU vs. Kentucky game that the HOOSIERS WON! It was an awesome atmosphere to watch the game in- I think only being in Bloomington could have been better. There were quite a few other IU fans at the bar and one little old lady got a vigorous hug from Jackson after the last second shot won the game. SO funny.

Our room was on the 28th floor and had an incredible view of the city. I loved it.
That is the most wonderful Crate & Barrel on the planet all lit up. We spent some time (but no money- shockingly) shopping its 4 glorious floors.
I was obsessed with the view. It was so fun to be among the masses in a big city again. We watched the game, went to a movie and met up with my roomie from IU, Jenna Hess. She was hilarious, as always, and we really enjoyed our visit with her. We've been really impressed by Chicago the two times we have been there now and intend to make some more visits this summer.

Ball State

After a lot of thought and consideration I decided to resign my position with Deloitte and leave the world of public accounting. I did not think my exit would come so soon, but I found a job that is exactly that I wanted so I had to jump at the opportunity. I will be working less hours (yay!!) and making more money (triple yay!!!), but my commute will be a bit longer. I'm OK with that. I will be the Tax Manager for Ball State University which means I will review and sign off on all tax filings for the school. I'm pretty excited about it.

P.S. Before you ask, I will not abandon my alliance to the Indiana University Hoosiers. :) :)

Celebrate

We took Susie out for her big birthday.
They brought her out these weird cookies that she claimed were good, but I was not buying it.
We had a really nice dinner and enjoyed celebrating her big day with Susie.

Happy birthday, Susie

MacKenzie, Jackson and I would like to wish Ms. Susie Petefish a very happy birthday today! We look forward to taking you to dinner tonight to celebrate. (MacKenzie was shocked to learn how old her Grammy would be in dog years. HA! :)) We hope it is a great day!

Crybaby

Madison is known for "talking" to you about what she wants, but MacKenzie is not. It seems that has changed. Uh oh. This is not good. ;) P.S. I know that my voice is super annoying, but that is how MacKenzie and I speak to each other. HA! :)

Madison comes to Fishers

Friday morning my Mom brought Madison by to keep me company while I worked from home.
MacKenzie was not so sure about this visitor... ;)
I have been working from my bed this week because I've been really sore. Madison pushed MacKenzie out of the way and sat next to me. MacK was not pleased.
They finally started getting along and found that they could be next to each other in peace.
Madison gave MacKenzie this cage 5 years ago, but was pretty miffed to see it in our bedroom. She let herself in and cleaned house. It made me laugh.
Madison is a little more demanding about getting pets. She is such a good girl. :)
MacKenzie showed Madison her "magic door" which was quite a hit. Madison wouldn't have much to bark at up in God's country so the magic door is not needed there.
Madison even left us a poo-poo present upstairs. Whoops. MacKenzie had a nice time with Madison on her visit and was exhausted the rest of the day.