Packing And Moving, Moving And Packing And Then Unpacking And Stuff

 Hello again blog readers. I hope there are some left of you after my little blog hiatus. I temporarily had to abandon my blog because I've been packing, moving, more packing, a little home remodeling, long vet visits with Phantom, the BIG move followed by unpacking, dealing with setting up new Internet, new direct TV, etc. You get the picture?

We were without Internet for almost a week until they got here to install it. Then they were so motivated to set us up that they tried to do a new install not once, but three times on two different days! Now we Really need three Internets set up here! NOT!

Last time I was on this blog we were enjoying October on the beach in Pensacola Beach. That seems like a zillion years ago. I was really dreading leaving Pensacola Beach because we love it there, but I was excited about moving to the St. Petersburg area too. At least we are still in a beach community even if it's not Pensacola Beach.

We packed all our stuff up and loaded up the cats and left Pensacola Beach to head back to Birmingham to get our house there ready to list with a Realtor. Trying to sell it ourselves while we were hanging out on the beach in Pensacola didn't work so good. We spent a week in Birmingham picking out granite for the bathroom counters, hiring a painter, picking out new carpet, packing, etc. We left before we even got to see the final results, but the house is in good hands and will go back on the market this week.

Moving day was long. The movers couldn't get everything on the truck so they had to store it until they could find a truck heading to Tampa.  I don't really know why they even sent a guy out to look at what we had to move and then give us an estimate and not even send a big enough truck out. We are imagining that they are having a huge yard sale with whatever was left in Birmingham. Thank God the Babysitter was over saying good bye to us when the movers told me that they weren't going to be able to fit one of my triathlon bikes in the truck.

The Babysitter looked at me and said you need to get that bike in your car somehow if they can't get it on the truck. My car was packed full and I already had two other bikes on the bike rack, so I told the movers that the bike HAD to go in the truck. No exception. Now I'm thinking that if I didn't get it on the moving van when I did, then I wouldn't ever see it again. When we FINALLY get the rest of our stuff we are going through every box to make sure we aren't missing anything.

Mr. Frosty better be there among my Christmas stuff too! I just KNOW those movers had their eye on him!

And all my Christmas ornaments and my trees because I only kept two of them. The other three or four are history so those two better show up.

And my entire "Little House On the Prairie" series from when I was in elementary school. I am positive he movers are just wanting to get their hands on those books!

The Boy's collection of beanie babies all made it safe and sound. One of the movers did notice them and asked me how old the Boy was. When I told him that he was 21, he laughed and said, "well tell him we really appreciate moving all his beanie babies." Secretly, I'm probably more attached to the beanie babies than the Boy is.

Ok, I admit, the Boy doesn't even know I still have the beanie babies!

We left Birmingham a day sooner than planned because of the movers. They came and took our stuff on Thursday ( well they took 3/4 of our stuff) so we decided to head back to Pensacola Beach for the night since we had furniture there and it would break up the long drive and be easier on the cats.

Easier... HA!!

Soooo after a long day dealing with movers, we drove 4 hours to Pensacola, spent the night and then on Friday afternoon drove 7 more hours to St. Pete arriving at a dark, empty house around midnight that we had only seen one time before. We were very happy to finally arrive, especially the cats who were a little tired of car riding despite the cool jazz I had on the radio.

The air mattress we had to sleep on was awful, but we survived. The next morning I went to find coffee first thing. Then the movers showed up to unload in the rain. This time we had some better unloaders than loaders. The loaders were not so good. Otherwise we'd have all our stuff, not just 3/4 of it.

It took a week to get Internet, but we finally have everything set up. We love it here! The house is perfect. We are renting for at least a year so we can get use to the area better before we purchase anything. Everything is super tropical and it is over 70 degrees F here as I type. I hear Birmingham got down to 20 something degrees F last week while our "cold snap" was in the upper 50's. I think I can handle that!

There is a screened-in, kitteh approved porch/room at the new place so the cats are happy and loving the new place. Especially when the movers left.

There's also lizards running around all over the place. This drives the cats nuts!

Also, we have beaches EVERYWHERE here! All roads west lead to a beach... from St. Pete Beach up to Clearwater Beach and all the cool beaches in between.

Triathlete heaven.

Professional beach bum approved!

October On The Beach

October is my favorite month of all, but it is specially nice on the beach here in Pensacola Beach during  October. The kiddos are back in school, the crowds disappear and it cools off a little bit. October is perfect!

October also has a little of everything as far as sports go. There's plenty of football, baseball and even hockey to watch at our favorite sports bar. This makes the Murph happy!

I like it too! This is my Sangria to sip on while I watch.

October is also the perfect time for a beach wedding, unless a tropical storm or hurricane comes through. That didn't happen this past weekend though and we had three different sunset weddings right here on the beach, one on Friday, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. The lucky brides and grooms had absolutely gorgeous weather for their weddings. 

I got pictures of the beach setup for the Sunday wedding. Pretty!

Last Tuesday we drove back down to St. Petersburg, Florida, the Murph, Phantom and I, to look for a place to rent when we move down at the end of the month. Wednesday and Thursday were non-stop, 9am till 6pm, searching and looking at houses and condos in the area from Palm Harbor down to St. Pete Beach and all places in between. 

We narrowed it down to three places, but still haven't decided. Then a new rental came on the market when we got back home that I really like so it will be up to our realtor to take a look at it for us since we aren't there. I'm a little nervous that we didn't lock down anything and decent rentals go fast around there. I've also just discovered the abundance of sinkholes around the area of Pinellas county. I thought sink holes were further inland. I didn't realize there could be some so close to the ocean. 

Another thing we discovered is Treasure Island beach. Treasure Island is the beach just north of St. Pete Beach and south of Clearwater Beach. We found a rental a couple of blocks from the beach and told our realtor about it. She asked us if we had actually seen the beach at Treasure Island. We said we hadn't but assumed it was similar to St. Pete Beach since it was so close. Our realtor told us we needed to walk out on the beach and check it out. It wasn't exactly like the other beaches. She said the water was a LONG, LONG way away from the parking lot. She said she hated that beach because you had to walk forever in the hot sun and the hot sand just to get to the water.

The Murph and I both assumed that she just didn't exercise or like to walk far.  Many people don't. We knew the beaches down there were huge compared to what we were use to in Pensacola Beach. We smugly thought she was just being a complainer who didn't want to have to walk anywhere. We decided to check it out for ourselves after we left her. I mean how far could the water be? How much bigger could a beach be than what we had seen in St. Pete Beach in front of the Tradewinds Resort?

Well let's just say we owe the realtor a huge apology! We walked through the entry to the beach and all we could see was sand. And sand dunes. And way, way, way, WAY down toward the horizon, a little sliver of water. I'm pretty sure that was the ocean, but after we walked what seemed like half a mile, we turned around and headed back to the car. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of it. I wish I did because it was amazing. Here's a picture I found online. See the wide sandy area? It looks much bigger in person!

All I could think was, "Honey, we're not in Pensacola Beach anymore!"

This is Pensacola Beach
See the water
See how close

One more thing...

We learned that tourist season in Clearwater Beach/St. Pete Beach is November through April. This is opposite what we are use to in Pensacola Beach. Tourist season here is during the summer months - Memorial Day through Labor Day. It's actually pretty chilly in Pensacola during January, just like Birmingham. But windier!

Sorry To Neglect You Konabarbie Blog!

Today when I got on this blog I realized I haven't done a blog post since Tuesday. Apparently my half ironman training isn't the only thing getting neglected around here!

What can I say except it's been a really busy summer. I don't know exactly why it's been so busy, but it has been and it's flown by so fast. Tomorrow will be September already! Maybe I'll even do a new September yoga kitty pose blog post because it seems that I missed Ms. August's pose entirely.

I think.

Friday was yesterday so there's no fashion Friday this week. I totally missed it again! This is as much fashion as I can handle these days. As I was washing clothes the other day it seemed like everything was either work out wear or lounge wear, not really pj's, but close. Nothing I would wear in a public setting.

Thursday we went out to meet some friends who drove over from Daphne for dinner. I wore this Free People maxi dress that I love. I don't know how long it will last before either I wear it to threads or my cat, Cadence does a number to it with his paws. He is very talented at pulling threads with those sharp talons of his.

Dress:  Free People;  Purse: Coach; Necklace: purchased at an art show several years ago; Bracelet: old

It was a very pleasant evening. I tried a new drink similar to an Orange Julius. It was a delicious frozen concoction that tasted just like those orange and white dreamsicles. So delicious that I didn't even have time to get a picture before it disappeared. It was so rich and delectable that I decided I better not get sa second one so I chose the Chipotle Pineapple Mojoto.

Pineapple with a little bite and almost gone before I remembered to get a photo.

I also got a Strawberry Mango Mojito, but no photos because our friends had arrived and I don't know if they would understand the weirdness of taking food and drink photos that we bloggers tend to do. It was bad enough they had to suffer through cat stories. Luckily, they are cat people too and have four of their own so they understand. They even had their own cat stories. We shared photos of our four legged babies. Well at least I did. She had left her phone in the car so no photos.

I also didn't get a photo of the food, but I got the shrimp and grits and they got grouper sandwiches. The Murph chose very ice cold beer and lots of it! He got take out later at his favorite sports bar down the road.

Our view from the restaurant...

Phantom is doing good with all the chemo and holistic things he's on. He even has his own blog now. He just begged me for one so how could I resist? Click Here for his latest post about the Boy's visit.

We had to come to Birmingham this weekend and of course Phantom has to come too. He LOVES it because he is the "only"cat while we are here for the weekend and he gets ALL the attention. He's at my feet right this very minute as I'm typing this post listening to the jazz CD that the Murph has playing. Somebody named Paul Desmond who played with Dave Brubeck in "Take Five". Something I'm suppose to remember because I've heard it before, but I don't. The Murph rolls his eyes and says my cat has better taste in music than I do. I'm sure I would remember it if I heard it again. I hear jazz every single night so it's no wonder I'm confused about which CD is "Take Five".

The one we are listening to now is a very nice CD. Phantom loves the saxophone. Now if we could just get him to eat! He only eats when the other cats are around so they can't get any.

Memorial Day Weekend In Pensacola Beach

During Memorial Day weekend the usually fairly conservative, family friendly Pensacola Beach turns into one big wild party for the LGBT community. This year is the first time I've ever been down there to experience it in person and I have to say I was very surprised at the sheer number of people as well as the adult only atmosphere. Literally, Thursday morning there were still families with young children at the pool and on the beach, but by Thursday evening the families disappeared and everything went adult only, almost anything goes.

The Murph and I were suddenly in the minority and I really don't know where the other condo residents disappeared too. Tents were set up for miles on the fairly private beach area to the east of the island. Cars lined the streets and the pool was so full that it was shoulder to shoulder standing room only. It was an experience watching it all.

To top it off, we had a drunk guy that got lost on the elevator and the way to his condo and ended up knocking on our door. When the Murph opened the door the guy started heading inside thinking it was his condo and the Murph had to push him back out and close the door with the startled guy being very apologetic from the other side of the closed door.

Saturday we had to leave all the festivities behind (we'd had enough anyway) and headed back to Birmingham to get more stuff and to show the house. The Boy and Phantom came with us this trip.

Here's some photos of the crowds at the pool Friday evening. I'm sure Saturday was even more crowded at the pool and on the beach. I've never seen so many people and so much traffic as we were heading out Saturday morning.

There was a full moon as we were walking back to the condo from the pool area.

And that wasn't the only "full moon" I saw that evening at the pool!!

It should be back to family friendly normal down there by the time we get back.

Racing And Eating - My Kind Of Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving Day.  Mine has been great!  It started off with a 5k race in Pensacola Beach this morning and ended tonight with a very delicious meal cooked mostly by the Murph.  He cooked turkey, his grandma's famous stuffing and I made a green bean casserole.  We kept it simple this year since it's just the three of us.  We picked up The Boy from college yesterday.

Check out the turkey below if you can see it under the overflowing stuffing.  The Murph went a little out of control with the stuffing.

Phantom came with us and is a surprisingly good traveler.  He was in the carrier for about 6 hours with no complaints.  Here he is on his back doing his dead bug pose and chilling in the back seat of the car.

I registered for the race last minute this morning about 10 minutes before the race start and they were out of t shirts already.  Disappointing, but then I placed first in my age group and got this medal so I was very happy.  A t shirt would have been nice though.  I am collecting all my race t shirts from the past 14 years of racing and plan on getting a quilt made with some of my favorites one day.

There were several turkey trot races today.  Hope everyone got a chance to do one before the big feast.

What The F#@K! Or The Boy's Fav New Word...

Last week we headed south to Pensacola Beach to spend a few days since the condo wasn't rented.  The Boy doesn't have classes on Fridays, so I went over and picked him up from his apartment on Thursday and brought him back to Pensacola Beach.  I didn't realize how long it's been since The Boy's been to the beach.  The first thing he said as we we crossed the bridge coming onto the island is "What the F@#K!  There's a FERRIS wheel here now??  What the F#@K is that thing doing here??"

Yes, he's learned some new words in college.  Okay, he already knew that word, but it didn't come out of his mouth in every sentence pre-college.   Don't worry though.  I quickly pointed out that it was NOT a "ferris" wheel, but an "observation" wheel.

The difference?  I'm not so sure, except maybe it has something to do with the temperature controlled, enclosed compartments instead of dangling your feet in the open air several stories high.

No, we didn't take a ride on it, but we did eat huge burgers at McGuire's Irish Pub before we crossed the bridges and then whipped into Starbucks for a vanilla bean frappuccino (The Boy) and a caramel apple spice (Me).

It's all good!

Sunset over Mobile Bay

Triathlon Race Photos And The Beach Trip

Last Saturday The Murph and I drove over to Orange Beach, Alabama from Pensacola Beach, Florida so I could do the Alabama Coastal Triathlon.  We got up at 4:30 am to make the hour and 1/2 drive.  It doesn't seem like it would be that far, but we had to go up and over and stop and go through some small towns to get there.

There were two distances offered.  One was a full Olympic distance and the other was a very short sprint distance.  I did the very short sprint since I haven't been bike and swim training very much this year.

Okay, I confess!  I have done zero swim training since Ironman Canada 2010 and most of the biking I've been doing has been on the exercise bike at the gym instead of my road bike.  The Murph is my true, very loyal athletic supporter!

This is us right before the race start.  You can see from the waves behind us that the ocean was not very calm that day.  I was a little worried, but I have had to swim in much rougher water and this was a very, very short 300 yd swim.  No Ironman distance swim here!  Thank God!

It was cloudy in the beginning, but by the time I crossed the finish line the sun was out and it was clearing up.  Also, it was getting hot.  I was glad to be finished in less than an hour.  I love short triathlons right now.

This is me coming out of transition after getting off the bike.  Now it was time to do the run which was very, very short.   Only two miles.  That's it!

I'm thinking that my butt looks fat here in these shorts.  I doubt I will wear them again.  I may need to cut back on all those cookies I've been eating too.

Despite the lack of swim training and the big butt, I place third in the masters category and was the 10th overall woman.  I was very happy with that!

The night before the race, The Murph and I went to eat dinner at Jackson's in Pensacola, Florida.  I ate tons of bread with fresh butter and the most delicious steak and crab cake ever.  

This probably contributed to the bigness of my butt the next morning....

Oh well, it was worth it!

This is The Murph about to go in the water the other day.  He didn't know I was taking pictures of him.

I added our baby pictures to our wedding website last night.  This is The Murph's baby picture.   He's such a cutie!

I tried to scan this picture in and post it on his birthday post in July, but I couldn't get the scanner to work.  I have been trying to scan things and print for two months now and couldn't get the dang printer to work.  Then right out of the blue it just decided to start working last night.

Go figure!