Happy New Year!

I hope you all have fun plans for tonight. We will be here at my parent’s house. It’s kind of funny. Growing up, my dad was the least domestic person you could ever meet. My mom did all of the cooking and cleaning, etc. Now that he is older has more time for hobbies and other activities, he has turned into quite the gourmet chef. He loves to find the most wonderful recipes to cook, and the more difficult, the better. He has been cooking since yesterday for tonight’s celebration. There are 7 courses that he will be serving, and most of the dishes are things that I can’t pronounce. He has different wines for the different courses. He had me print up menu cards that show what he is going to serve. It will be quite fancy. Some good family friends will be coming, so we will have a full table. I hope everyone has a fun evening, and be safe out there!! See you in 2005!!!

So here's the plan...

Drum roll please… Chris and I finally know what we are going to do and where we are going to live. We have decided to start a business! Chris is going to do his animation and 3D modeling stuff on a freelance basis. (For those of you that don’t know…Chris is trained to do computer animation and 3D modeling. Originally, he was trying to get a job in the video game industry, but we like this idea better) Our business is called “Massive Mountain 3D” and he has started to put together a website at www.massivemountain3d.com. He plans to do 3D models of architect’s plans, animation for TV commercials, graphics for business presentations, and animation and graphics for law firms that use that stuff to do courtroom reenactments, timelines, etc. He will do the artwork and sales, and I will do financials, invoicing, etc on a part time basis. Part of what’s cool about this is that we get to choose where we would like to live. We are going to live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I lived here before we got married and loved it, and my parents and grandparents are here. I think Chris just wanted to come here for the mountain biking trails mostly, but that’s ok with me. I am going to find a job to support us while he gets this started. Once all of the craziness with Christmas and New Year’s is over I will start working on finding a job big time. We don’t want to live at my parents forever!!!

The Big Red Car

Wiggles cake with Wiggles characters

Sarah and Patrick

Patrick's Birthday

Today was my nephew Patrick's 2nd birthday. We just had a huge party with presents, a pinata, mexican food, and a cake that I made. The theme of the party was "The Wiggles," Patrick's favorite show. The Wiggles drive around in a big red car, so I made a cake in the shape of the big red car. He loved it. Since I am so happy with how it turned out, I thought I'd post a picture or two so you can see what it looks like. Patrick can say "Wiggles!" and "Cake!" and gets really excited, so it was so cute to see him enjoy his cake.

Back online again!

It has been a really long time since we last posted. I'm sorry. We are now in Colorado safe and sound. I hope everyone had a good Christmas. We sure did. We drove for 2 long days from Florida to Missouri. The first day went fine, but then the second day, we drove right through some of the worst parts of that terrible snow and ice storm. It was horrible. We went 20 miles per hour most of the day through it. Lots of people slid off the road, and were stranded. We were so lucky to make it. Chris did all of the driving and came though like a champ. I was digging my fingernails into the armrest the whole day, but he just chugged right along. We spend a few days with Chris's family, which was really nice. It was so good to see everyone. Then day before yesterday, we drove on to Colorado. We did Christmas with my family yesterday. Today we are celebrating my nephew Patrick's 2nd birthday. I can't believe how big he is getting. He talks a lot more, and as always, has TONS of energy. I know we will be exhausted by the time the week is over and it is time for him to go home. I hope everyone is doing well, and we should be doing regular posts now.

Goodbye for a few days

Today is our last day here in Florida. Chris and I are working hard getting the house cleaned and closed up, and getting packed and ready to go. We drive out tomorrow and will get to Kansas City sometime late Wednesday night. Obviously we will be offline during that time. I hope to continue posting once we get to Kansas City. I know we will be pretty busy though doing family things and last minute Christmas shopping, etc. So, if I don't get a chance to post before Saturday, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, and be sure to check back in here at our blog for more news on whats going on with us.

6 Years...

Guess what. The other night was Chris's and my 6 year anniversary. We have been together for 6 whole years. We both think that it is funny that before we met each other that we couldn't hardly date anyone for 6 months, let alone 6 years. And now here we are. We are going out tonight to celebrate. Special thanks to my friend Diana for setting us up on that blind date 6 years ago!

We are starting to wrap things up here. We took Maggie to the dog beach one last time, and then gave her a bath to wash all of the salt water/sand funk off. We brushed her out really well, and my does she look beautiful now. And smells even better which is a nice change! Tomorrow will be busy as we do all of the cleaning tasks, and getting packed. That's the hard part about coming here...opening and closing the house. There is so much to do. Oh, well. It's nice that there is two of us to work on it.

Lemony Snicket

Maybe we have been in Florida long enough. The neighbors are starting to ask us, “Are you ever going to go back to work?” We just laugh and say “Not if we can help it!” At first it was just one neighbor, and we brushed it off, but now more than just the one has asked us that. Uh, oh. We’ve been found out. Time to go.

We saw the new Lemony Snicket movie “The series of Unfortunate Events” yesterday. It was really good. I love the books. I read them a couple of years ago. They are better than the movie and go into greater detail, which usualy seems to be the case when a book is made into a movie. Chris hadn’t read them, and he loved the movie, so go see it if you want something fun to do.

Sarah and Chris Christmas 2003

5 Months of Fun

So part of the problem of traveling just the two of us is that there isn't a third person there that we can hand the camera to to take a picture of us together. I know I should just hand the camera to someone who walks by and ask them to take a picture of us, but I'm shy, which is silly, but whatever. So here's a picture of the two of us, but not from the beach. I have had such a wonderful time having all of this time off with Chris. It has now been 5 months since he was laid off, and it was a little weird at first having him home all the time, but now it is just so nice. We see matinee movies together, run errands together, go do fun things with Maggie together like the dog beach, go for a hike, go to the lake, we sleep late, we take long walks, and do lots and lots of talking. Once Christmas is over, this time will pretty much be over, and both of us are kind of sad about it. It will be good...a new phase in our lives together, but this time has really been fun. A nice preview of what we have to look forward to when we are old and gray and are retired together.

Maggie

Sarah

Chris

Some pictures for you...

We woke up this morining and the cold weatehr was gone. It is so beautiful today. Since we only have a few days left, we got cleaned up and went to the beach to take some pictures of us that I can put in the scrapbook. Most of the ones we have are of us half naked in our swimming suits, and lets face it, we don't really want to share those with the whole wide world! So above, here's a couple of pictures that we took. We're off into town today to run an errand or two, and to of course go make one last trip to Skyline Chili (REALLY good restaurant chain that is only located in Cincinnatti and here in Ft. Myers, Florida).

Sarah and Maggs playing tug-of-war on the beach.

Winter!!!

So we’ve just had a cold snap here in Florida, and let me tell you, everyone is freaking out!!! The temperatures last night were in the upper 30’s with a wind chill advisory of 30 degrees. Watch out everybody!!! Chris and I took Maggie for a walk last night and we were just fine wearing sweaters, with no jacket (Chris was still in his shorts) and it really wasn’t that bad. I think they are lying, because it didn’t feel that cold at all. Although it does get a little windy when you get closer to the water. Anyways, back up to 65 degrees today!

Shut Up and Enjoy Paradise!

I love being here, but I just have one gripe…which a few of you that have been here before will understand. We have 3 trash pick up days. Monday, they come get recycle stuff, Tuesday, they do regular trash, and Wednesday, they do yard waste. The island where the house is is so small – it consists of one main street that runs down the length of the island, and then several streets stem off of the main street where all of the houses are. The little streets are so narrow, and don’t connect to anything (they are all mostly dead end streets) the trash trucks usually just back down the streets, then drive back up, picking up trash along the way. When they back up, they beep really loudly. Here’s the problem…they come at 6am on the dot every morning. What the heck?! How does anyone sleep around here??? When we first got here, our next door neighbor Michael was talking to us about it. He tried to get the neighbors together to make a complaint about it to the trash company, and everyone told him to pretty much shut up and enjoy paradise. It made me laugh when he told me that. And as it turns out, they usually just send one guy in the truck to do the trash. This poor guy has to drive the tuck a little ways, get out and pick up the trash, then get back in the truck and drive some more. That’s nuts.

One more thing...

I forgot to mention that we now have it set up so you can make anonymous posts - you don't have to have a Blog account to make a comment. I have chosen to not put my email on here because I don't want to get spam, so if you need my email, make a post and I will pass it on to you.

Chris at the beach

Maggie and Sarah at Dog Beach

Florida

Ahhh, Florida in the wintertime! It is so gorgeous here. So far it has been in the 80’s and sunny every day. This week is a little cooler…in the 70’s. We have been here for a month and a half so far. This is going to be our last full week here. The following week, we have to pack it all up and head back to Kansas City for Christmas. It will be great to see everyone again, but I will miss being here. After Christmas, we will head out to Colorado to see my family, and have no plans as to what to do after that. We’ll figure that out later I guess. So more on Florida… Rosie, our cat, has learned how to climb trees and catch lizards. I feel like I hardly see her, she just wants to be outside all the time. And Maggie, our dog, has made friends with all the other dogs on the street. We also discovered (with the help of my brother) a dog beach area, where you can take your dog off their leash to let them swim and play with other dogs. We’ve been a couple of times, and she just loves it. I’ve been to the beach a bunch to walk or just sit and read my book. Chris has been a few times, but has mostly been glued to his computer working. But don’t feel too bad for him. He’s happy to be working on projects he enjoys…building his portfolio, and looking for jobs. Life is just so relaxing here. Ok…more tomorrow!

Cake I did for my Mom's birthday

Graduation cake I did for Chris's sister

Here's where we are now...

Some of you may not have any idea where we are and what we are doing right now since it has been a while since we’ve last caught up. Here’s the scoop:
We were living in a suburb of Kansas City called Lee’s Summit in a really cute little house…our first house we’ve ever bought. Up until last spring, I was working for a shelter for victims of domestic violence. I eventually decided that I’d had enough, and left that job. In the meantime, a friend of mine had convinced me to take a cake decorating class with her. She ended up not liking it very much and dropped out. I on the other hand LOVED it and found that I was pretty good at it. I have been making money on the side selling wedding cakes, birthday cakes, shower cakes, etc. It is a lot of fun and a cool way to make extra money just working out of my own kitchen. Everything was going pretty well last summer, until late July when Chris was laid off from his job at Sprint. Chris had been kind of getting clues from folks in his office that there was a pretty good chance that there would be layoffs, which gave us time to plan what we’d do if that happened. He is trained to do 3D computer animation and at Sprint, they had him doing anything but computer animation. Also, the corporate lifestyle just didn’t fit him at all. He really hoped to find a job in the video game industry, which is located mostly in California or New York. Since that was our goal, and unless he wants another corporate job, he won’t find work he’d enjoy in Kansas City, we decided to go ahead and sell our house. We sold it last October, and are now currently hanging out at my parent’s house in Florida. So there you have it… unemployed and homeless, but we’re having a great time. It has been awesome to have all of this time off together, and to get to spend it in Florida is so nice. We have been looking for jobs still while we are here. Chris has had a few leads but nothing has turned up yet. We are starting to look at other options. We have a few ideas swimming around in our heads, and I’m sure if you keep checking our site, you’ll get updates as we figure things out. In the meantime, we’ll have to tell you all about Florida. Check back tomorrow!

Maggie, looking for shells at the beach

Rosie in a stack of tires

Welcome to my blog!

Ok...I have been bugging Chris for months (possibly years!) to teach me how to do a website, so we can have a cool way to keep up with family and friends that are scattered all across the country. He still hasn't done it, and kind of between the two of us, we came up with this option, since all I plan on doing is posting text and pictures. We're just figuring out how it all works, so check back later, and we will probably have more posted.