No one thinks Joe looks 40 - I firmly believe it’s because he’s accompanied by a 29  year old (10790 days) spunky, often mistaken for teenager – life partner.   (He’s rolling his eyes reading this I’m sure!).   I ordered BBQ from a local restaurant for the entire houseful of people and even the young kid delivering the food commented that  “he would never have thought Joe could be turning 40 when he saw him.”  I told him if he wanted a tip then he should run away quickly before I choked him.

The entire family came  out for the occasion  – mom mom from Philidelphia; Robert, Tina, Blake and Brent from Bedias (It’s famous for it’s overflowing green pastures and one very well maintained stop sign. ), Amy and Ashlynn from Panama City Beach; Heather, Tony and Barney from Baker, Florida; Christiaan and Tony from Niceville; our favorite young cousin – Michael and his hilarious friends from Atlanta, Georgia and all of our other friends.   (No offense  if you’re not  specifically mentioned but listing guests is somewhat boring for those  who don’t know the quirky personalities of each and every one of you.)

We stayed in a fabulous Seagrove Beach rental courtesy of Sandcastle Escapes/BeachSeekers.  The owners, Justin  and  Taylor are just an amazing partnership that truly create a Vacation Rental management company worthy of note.  With personal service – and a sense of humor throughout everything…. those boys are a delight to work with.

The house was called Seahorse XXI – a 5 bedroom/4 bathroom home with a private pool, sand volleyball court, fabulous Gulf Views from all three levels and plenty of parking for all the friends and family.  We hosted Joe’s entire party inside because the weather was awful all weekend but on our last day (of course)  the sun came out and the family and kids went across the street to the beach.   It was absolutely the perfect location – offset from 30A Highway enough to avoid the road noise, but convenient enough to take a very short walk across the beach to  the public beach access.

So even though Joe has crossed a milestone as far as society goes – you really can’t tell.  He’s looks great and has the demeanor of a big goof – he’s constantly playing tricks on me and the kids and has an active spirit.  When I turn 30 this year I’m hoping I do 30 as much justice as he’s done for 40.

The Home Fire

The cold weather is back again and we’ve switched our shorts for heavy jeans, sweaters, socks and scarfs. This year has had some extremely odd weather – one day hot, next day freezing, then cool, then hot, then freezing, then warm. So hard to dress in the morning! Our closets are too small to deal with this weather calamity!

So I named this post Forecast: Lazy, because when it is this cold we want to do nothing other than light a blazing fire and curl up on the couch with Tyrone, Moses or the Marlboro Man. No, we don’t smoke or have two new roommates – I just happen to name the blankets! I name everything actually, kitchen appliances, the cars, blankets, etc. It must be the marketer in me – always branding everything!

So while I’m slaving away writing this blog, Joe has sauntered to the bedroom to take a nice nap. He has a rough life… ahem, really…. I’m not laughing. Last night when we were driving home from cleaning out Old Time Pottery of their remaining Christmas decorations he mentioned that he didn’t think he could ever retire and stop working…. and I coily replied that I figure he was as retired as he’d ever get…. I muffled my laugh as you could imagine.

Speaking of Christmas decorations – while we were rifling around in the very stocked holiday aisles there was a man in the next section that very loudly said, “Honey, do you know why this crap is still here? Because it’s the Holiday junk no one else wanted!” I started laughing so loud that I snorted and had to walk away. Our cart was full of “the junk that no one else wanted and it will look fantastic in our new home!” If Adam thought Christmas vommited on our house this year, just wait – we’ve tripled our santa inventory.

I’ve also been harrassing Joe to do some more family photography and now I need some portraits for professional reasons and I’m petrified. You know how in the Dentist’s office you have to fill out this little card where you check off boxes and one of the questions is – are you afraid of going to the Dentist? Well if there was a box marked HELL YES – then I’d use a Sharpie to fill it in. Unfortunately, I don’t feel much different about getting my photo taken – ironic I know considering that my other half has photography equipment that is more valuable and costly than our new car. So I wonder if Joe should send all of his beach photography clients a survey that says, “are you generally uncomfortable getting your photo taken?” If they check yes, there could be an additional fill in the blank question asking them their liquor or alcoholic beverage of choice. Talk about service – Joe could dazzle them with his amazing photography skills and make them smile with a shot or two of their favorite “calmer downer”!

Until then, it’s time for another pot of coffee and I’m out of my favorite brew – so I’m heading to SAMS for a huge, industrial bag of KONA whole bean java. Even though there is other coffee in the freezer it is like filling your car up with regular unleaded when your user manual clearly states that your engine should only operate on premium.