Because My Photographer Quit Without Even A Two Week Notice...

In November the Murph got a new job and we packed up two homes and three cats and moved down to the Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida area to begin our new lives. I was very excited and love it down here and everything so don't get me wrong.  I guess I didn't realize that with his new job keeping him busy, the Murph wouldn't have time to do his old job anymore.

 Old job = being my Chief Fashion Photographer/Athletic Supporter/Nutrition Consultant.

With no photographer, I am having trouble doing my Fashion Friday blog posts or any other fashion related blog posts that may require a picture of me in some fashionable or not so fashionable outfit. I've made some sad but serious attempts at selfies, but the photos turned out like this....

and these... not much better photos....

How can a person who generally has trouble with picture taking be coordinated enough to take selfies?

The Murph did agree to take this photo, but I never managed to do a fashion post on it.  It was a cute dress though. I wore this one to see Wynton Marsalis in Sarasota play a fun Christmas jazz concert.

Please excuse the photo bombing cat! He is seriously attached to me in a weird way. I always believed he was taken from his mom at too early an age. Bless his heart!

Dress: Mark & James by Badgley Mischka;

Shoes: Nine West

These days most of my pictures are of the cats so if you love cats you're in luck! If you love fashion, well, I'm sorry but until I can come up with a better plan, there just might be a bunch of cat pictures on my blog again.

Also, with no Athletic Supporter, my triathlon endeavors are nonexistent, but I have hopes for the spring and summer. If I can still swim and ride a bike without training wheels that is.

With no Nutrition Consultant, I've been sneaking to McDonalds to get sausage biscuits and hash browns several mornings and I'm lucky to get in one green smoothie per week. Not good for the detoxing, but I do get an occasional salad passed on from the Murph when he doesn't want to eat his lunches.

I'm still thinking I should become a vegan, but I've tried that before. It was the toughest 2 hours of my life!

Don't worry about me though. I'm tough! I'll figure it all out and be back to normal in no time. Hopefully, I will be better than normal because my normal could use some improvement. (or so I've been told)

In the meantime, here's some cute kitty pictures and some random home interior pictures because those I can manage to take all by myself.

Enjoy....

Stop taking pictures and give us the food!

Phantom 

Ed- The Good Kitty

Reminds me of Cadence and Phantom only they wouldn't be rubbing on each other like this.

Deluded Disillusioned sperm painting.

Cool Jazz Paintings.

Cadence showing his flexibility.

Also, I have job openings available for fashion photographer, athletic supporter (aka cheer leader) and nutrition consultant (aka food nazi).  Please apply here if interested.

Happy New Year!

I usually don't do new years resolutions and I'm not going to now.  I always try to stay fit, eat healthy,  and all those other things people resolve to do better in the new year.

I will try to blog more since I seem to have gotten a little negligent lately.

Anyway, Happy New Year to all of you who still pop in occasionally and haven't totally given up on me.

And a huge thank you too!

Merry Christmas!

image from fellowshipofthemind.com

Wishing everyone a very, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

And may the year ahead for all you crazy triathletes be filled with swim, bike and run.

For all you non-triathletes, pick a sport and go for it! Just maybe not all three at the same time.

Image from zazzle.com

This Is What Christmas Is All About

Merry Christmas Eve!

Just a reminder as you are enjoying all your Christmas festivities tonight and tomorrow, please don't forget what Christmas is really all about.

Everything That Kills Me Makes Me Feel Alive....

I love this song, "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic.

What's your addiction?

It's Just A Little Bitty Statue... Okay, maybe it is 6ft Tall, But I REALLY REALLY Want It

Below is the email exchange between me and The Murph regarding the fine statue above....

-----Original Message-----
From: Kristy  <konabarbie@gmail.com>

          To: The Murph

Sent: Thu, Dec 12, 2013 10:48 am
Subject: Check out what I found on eBay!

Hi! I found this on eBay and thought you might like it! Check it out now!  ST.20MICHAEL20ARCHANGEL20COLLECTORS20620FOOT20COLD20CAST20BRONZE20INDOOR20OUTDOOR20STATUE http://r.ebay.com/dEqUPF

I like this. Can we get it?

xoxo

          Love,

          Your wife

     Sent from my iPhone

     On Dec 12, 2013, at 11:05 AM, The Murph wrote:

Umm no

From: Kristy  <konabarbie@gmail.com>

          To: The Murph

Subject: Check out what I found on eBay!

            Please!  Pretty please.

"Umm no" is the best I could get from The Murph.

 Subject dropped!

I really don't think that he really understands why we need this statue. Archangel Michael is a very powerful angel and I would really feel much safer having him around. It's not like I don't communicate with him everyday and ask for his protection. (Ms. Mary taught me this. She has a direct line to all the Archangels).

A statue of the Archangel would be nice to have around too. We could put him in the Florida room or even in the bedroom to watch over us as we sleep. This would probably keep the cats out of the bedroom too, so we would all sleep better.

Maybe I should just ask for a cool sword like Archangel Michael's sword.

I'm sure The Murph wouldn't mind if I had one of those....

And it doesn't take up as much space as a 6ft tall statue.

I could slay serpent with it out in the backyard cause lord knows we have plenty of those around here in the tropics.

(and I haven't given up on the statue either...)

Wedding Shadow Box

We ordered this right after the wedding over a year ago and our florist shipped my wedding bouquet and the Murph's boutonniere to a company called Freeze frame/bloombeads.  Freeze Frame preserves flowers from weddings or memorials and makes custom shadow boxes or jewelry with them. It took a long time for us to get the finished product because they were backed up with orders.

As you can see, it was worth the wait.

It is a true work of art. They helped me pick the frame and background color that worked best with the flowers and the invitation. There were hundreds of different options.

Currently, we have the box hanging next to an arrangement of our wedding pictures. That other picture on the ground with the brown frame has been moved to another spot. We have no place to put it for now, at least not in this house. Maybe our next house.

Green Smoothies with Aloe Juice, Weird Fruit Things and Christmas Trees

We have finally unpacked everything that we were planning on unpacking at our new place and are slowly getting acclimated. One side of the garage is packed to the ceiling with the other stuff that we aren't going to unpack, but there's plenty of space for one of the cars on the other side of the garage. That's "Little Red's" spot when we bring him down after Christmas.

I have found a new hair place, new nail place, two new vets for Phantom (one is a cancer specialist), new places to shop, etc. There's an overabundance of grocery stores and pharmacies in the area in all directions around us. Take your pick. We also found a farmer's market that is very, very close. The produce is AMAZING! My green smoothies have never tasted better.

While at the farmer's market we discovered this Aloe juice drink. It comes in different fruity flavors that are all good, but I really like the pineapple flavor the best. We have been adding this to the green smoothies. The Murph takes his produce and protein powder to work and makes his smoothie for lunch sometimes.

I really love this New Zealand whey protein powder made from grass fed cows. I feel healthier just reading the label!

We decided to try these for the first time. They are like grapefruits, only sweeter and were very good, but I have no idea what they are called. Pommelo or something... maybe.... ??

Yes, Pomelo. (I had to google it) They are the grandparents of the grapefruit. (that's what google said)

I still add cilantro and kale and a few different fruits, usually a banana and pear or strawberries. I add the cilantro because it helps remove toxins, such as mercury, from the body and I had high levels when I tested two or three years ago. I haven't retested yet to see if the mercury levels have gone down, but hopefully they have.

 It doesn't hurt continuing to eat the cilantro and I still have one silver filling left in my tooth so until I get it out, I will assume I am still getting mercury leaching out of it. I can't wait to have NO silver fillings left in my mouth. I had no idea the dangers of them when I had them put in.

Finding a local dentist is another thing on my list!

The cats have settled in somewhat. Phantom is okay wherever we are. Ed is pretty cool and laid back too.

 Cadence - not so much! He disappears up under the box springs during nap time and we don't see him for awhile. He feels safer there.

I put two Christmas trees up over Thanksgiving weekend. These are the only two trees I moved down here. All the others were given to charity. I really miss my big, gynormous tree, but it was too heavy to move and was over 10 years old anyway. Time to buy another big tree when we purchase our own house down here. After this move, I'm all for getting rid of everything rather than moving it. Packing, moving it, then unpacking it....

Next time I think I'll just get rid of everything, move with nothing and start over with all new stuff!

Yeah!