Sunshine State of Mind

So on Wednesday, May 12, Colin and I ventured out on our first real vacation together to Cape Coral, Florida. His older cousin Sara was getting married on May 15 so the family took a mini-vacation and all flew down. He took care of all our travel arrangements so as a result, we had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta which got us into Fort Myers at 9pm. Colin’s mom had gone down the day before so she picked us up at the airport and got us to our wonderful vacation home less than a mile from the beach in Cape Coral. Thursday morning we woke up bright and early; like 7:15am. Colin was engrossed in a book he had bought for the flight so as he read by the pool I took pictures and explored the house some more and made breakfast. We went for a swim in the pool before taking the bikes down to the beach for 10am. This beach was very nice but it was in a bay so there were virtually no waves and as we got close, saw that the water was almost the color of blood. It was a very dark brown and as it got shallower it was a rusty color. We were repulsed by it but all the natives didn’t seem to mind. They were all swimming around like there was nothing wrong with swimming in infested-looking waters. C’mon. This is Florida! Where are the aqua blue waters and big waves?!
After a little over 2 hours there and apparently my body was trying to tell me we weren’t in Massachusetts anymore. We got up to talk to Colin’s cousin who had just gotten there with his three kids and within a few minutes I was seconds away from passing out. I ran to a bench to sit down before I did and embarrass myself. I must have been dehydrated. Colin’s terrible sunburn that showed up later that evening proved to us that being that far south, the sun and the heat are a LOT more powerful than up in New England!
That night was supposed to be a big bachelorette party for Sara, but instead she decided to have one giant party for everyone. The house we were staying at was the largest so all 40 or so guests came over to our abode where we had a big cookout. It was a lot of fun and great to see and meet more of Colin’s family plus all the other people from the groom’s side. We all clicked very well which is always a good thing.
The next day Colin and I went for a bike ride around the area to see the houses. We saw some pretty cool architecture and some pretty amazing mansions on the water. And to think that these houses are SO affordable considering where we live now…
After the bike ride we spent the day lounging by the pool and relaxing. It was in the 90s the entire time we were there, so there wasn’t much you could do outside before you were either feeling overwhelmed by the heat, or your skin was…
That night was the rehearsal dinner. There were about 50 people present at the dinner which was at the Olive Garden. Yum! Afterwards all the family from Colin’s side went out to a bar called the Paradise Tiki Bar. It was a massive tiki hut, open air bar with live entertainment. The guy singing noticed we were from Massachusetts so he started singing Sweet Caroline. That got us all riled up. He came over to our table and we all chimmed in with the “SWEEEEET CAROLIIIINE, BAA-BAA-BAAA”…. And the “SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD!”
The next day me, Colin, his mom and his brother all took a trip to Sanibel Island which is next to Fort Myers. It was nice to go to a real beach for once and go swimming in the Gulf of Mexico waters. The water was so warm! We stopped at DQ on the way home and then had to get ready for the wedding. The wedding took place at The Royal Palms Yacht Club in Fort Myers. It’s right next to the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison museums since this was where they vacationed back in the day. The ceremony was nice. It was on the 2nd floor of the building, overlooking the harbor. Sara had picked some fun music to play during the ceremony instead of the traditional processional songs. On top of that, the ceremony was also about 15 minutes. Short and sweet! So downstairs we go to get the party started!
The cocktail hour was fun. We watched the bridal party get their pictures taken outside while the greatest Emcee ever kept us entertained. They had a trivia contest too. They played a few clips from TV shows opening songs and people had to guess. My hand shot up for one of them; it was for Everybody Loves Raymond. But my scratch ticket, the prize they gave away, wasn’t a winning one. Bummer. Anyways, we danced the night away and it was a grand ol’ time.
The next day was Sunday and it was basically our last day there since our flight left at 8am on Monday morning. Again, another great job on Colin’s part for booking our vacation. This day, Colin’s mom took us to downtown Fort Myers. It was awesome. The streets reminded me of Universal Studios. We walked around for a while, went in almost every tourist/souvenir shop there, then had some lunch. Colin and his brother got fried alligator which I tried and it was delicious! Colin and I decided that we definitely wanted to come back to Fort Myers some day and rent a place with a bunch of people because that area is just so much fun! The beach was beautiful, there was plenty to see and do and the drinks were cheap! Not like up here in Boston!
That night we had one final family dinner with everyone. As Colin grew up they had weekly family dinners at his grandparent’s house in Norfolk. All the aunts, uncles and cousins got together so for them this was a real treat since it hasn’t happened in a long time. It was great all being together for one last time before we all departed. Most likely this was the last time his entire family on his mom’s side would all be together under the same roof for a long time, if ever at all. With half of them living in Florida it’s hard to get everyone together. Even for our wedding next year there might be some people missing…
Monday was a long say. We got up at 5:45 to catch our plane to Detroit where we had another 3 hour layover. Long story short though, our plane was delayed and we didn’t take off until 4pm to Providence. I guess it was good to be home but it sure made us promise each other to take many more vacations together. Hopefully as many as we can before we start having kids!

good news, bad news?

So a couple weeks ago on cinco de mayo I had an interesting day at work. It was a Wednesday which is somewhat of a slow day and my manager Kevin had called out. Anyways, sometime in the middle of the day the next level manager Scotty came to me and Andrea, (the other new Traffic girl who started a few weeks before me) and said there was a meeting and we were to attend. This was odd because we have set meetings every week that we go to. A meeting at a random, unscheduled time caught us off guard. Andrea joked asking if we were getting fired. And it got me thinking that perhaps that was the issue! I mean, I had been there for a few weeks now and was still completely lost with my work, so maybe they had picked up on it and were going to give us a stern talking to.

Well the meeting got even more serious when 10 minutes later, the founder/owner/CEO/whatever you want to call him comes in looking bleak. He opens by saying something along the lines of, “if you don’t do your work, you’re going to get fired”. I start freaking out, thinking of all the times I go on Facebook while I’m at work (hey, I’m still learning and if they don’t give me stuff to work on, what else am I supposed to do?). Then he says how three top-level managers had just been fired. BAM. Everyone was shocked. Three Senior Executives, or at least the equivalent of, were let go that day! The CEO, Brad, went on to say how we were in this room, finding out in person before anyone else in the company because we were “the A team”. Phew. They don’t know about my Facebook stalker habits! Yet…

Anyways, the meeting goes on to inform us on the changes now to come, blah blah blah. Then a few hours later Scotty comes back to our department and tells us we’re being taken out for ice cream. I’m not sure if it was to celebrate us being on “the A team” or if this was just one of the many field trips the department likes to take, but it was a welcomed leave of absence from the office for a while. We went to Coldstone and I got a raspberry sorbet with gummy bears.

That was Wednesday. By Friday I had learned that about a dozen or so more people had been let go because of poor work habits. Whether it be sales people never making advertising sales or what have you. That Friday was the last day for one of the Traffic girls (she is now at Staples Corporate, where I first accepted a job then changed my mind last minute to come here. Bold move. Bad mistake.) and she was saying how since she’s leaving and so many people have been let go, this almost solidifies us keeping our precious new jobs. I guess with this market I can’t complain. Even though I do. I guess I can’t help it! I may not be picky when it comes to food but apparently I’m very picky when it comes to a job…

A series of unfortunate events

So this past weekend (first weekend in May) began my series of unfortunate events...
1) Saturday was a beautiful summ- I mean spring day, so I went over Erin's house to lay out by her un-opened pool and pretend like it was June. We haven't seen each other since the engagement party so we had boat loads to catch up on. Literally from the minute we sat on lounge chairs we were chit-chatting non-stop about all sorts of topics. Long story short, I got so caught up in the conversations that I forgot to put my wonderful sunscreen on until it was too late... and I was burnt to a crisp. (except my face because that was the one place I did put it on). And also since we did a lot of face-to-face conversations, my entire right side got most of the color so I had very awkward burn lines on the right side of my body. So it's now Thursday and the burn is about 98% gone. Finally.
2) Sunday was a scorcher. Hot and humid, near 90 degrees by noon... pretty much undesirable weather according to my standards. Well it was the only day that weekend I had time to start getting all the errands done that I needed so after a nice run (and almost taking a free coffee table at a yard sale that I passed by) I headed out to open a bank account, find new pants for work, etc...
Well I go on the highway towards South Attleboro and I realize while I'm driving that in order to stay straight in the lane my wheel is ALMOST at a 45 degree angle. Obviously this is not right and very sudden so I'm wondering what the heck is going on with my wheels! But I didn't think it was anything serious, maybe just my alignment is off. So I pull into the shopping center and go to Bob's. Then in that same center is a Payless which is great because I also need new black shoes! So as I drive over I hear a loud sound that sounds like I have a flat tire. So when I parked in front of the store I get out and sure enough... the tire on the passenger front side is completely flat. WONDERFUL! I've seen a tire get changed once by my dad when I accidentally ran over a curb and slit his tire open when he was teaching me how to drive, which now that would be almost 8 years ago. So even if I could remember how to change the tire, it was WAY too hot for me to even attempt it, and a wasp was flying around. No thanks. So I call Allstate road assistance...
3) While I'm on the phone with them, my phone starts beeping that it's battery is dying. Stupid phone! So to cover all my bases, I send Colin a text to fill him in, even though he can't do much because he's down the Cape for drill, and the only other phone number I had was his step-mother's cell phone which she had just given to me the night before. But she's gone having a couple's massage with his dad and doesn't get the message I left. 1 hour later, Colin's dad calls me and says he's on his way, but just a few minutes before he gets there the tow truck finally makes it and changes my tire. But now the donut tire is like 25% flat too. So I drive Colin's dad's car back while he takes my car to a gas station to fill up the donut with air even though it will get more flat as I drive it. But when we got home he took it to the gas station to get a plug for it and then Monday he dropped it off to get a plug for the main tire.
4) Monday began a new work week and my first time taking the train into the city (at least for business this time, not pleasure). The train ride was fine. Jam-packed though so I had to stand. But the guy never came around to check the ticket so I got a free ride (well I actually didn't have a ticket I was just going to pay cash so it worked out well). But for those of you who didn't hear on the news, The Great Pipe Burst in Boston = no water for the entire city and surrounding towns. So not only did I have to buy a lot of bottled water, but every single coffee shop was closed because they couldn't serve coffee with the contaminated water. Booo...
The only good thing that happened this weekend was Sunday evening. I went over Colin's for dinner and while we were at Stop N Shop picking up the fixings for our Italiano dinner for 2 (Stouffer's lasagna and fresh garlic bread), Colin noticed that we parked next to a peculiar car. It was a silver 2010 Camero with Florida plates and tinted windows all around. This only means one thing in these parts; a PATS player. But which player?
As we shopped Colin saw a 6'3" big jacked black guy with dreads down his back, dressed in athletic gear. DING DING DING! We didn't want to be rude and stare so we didn't get a close look. Colin thought it might have been Brandon Spikes (a rookie line backer who is my age!). He was buying all sorts of feminine stuff and baby stuff. So most likely his wife/girlfriend sent him out to grab some essentials. Colin said he looked completely lost when he was staring at all the shampoos.
Run-ins with PATS players happen often enough for me to put it on my list of Reasons Why I Love Living In This Area. :)