Our Tiny House

 For our brief time back in Tampa for doctor appointments and to switch out clothes, we rented a tiny house in Zephyrhills. It's 360 square feet. It was great! I think I could live in a tiny house if I was a bit more organized. I did with for a little more space as we were unpacking and repacking all our bags. Also - the queen bed was pushed all the way to the wall so it's impossible to get up without waking up the other person. 

I worked all day every day during out stay. I did get one dinner out to Zephyrhills Brewery. It was great. The beers were very good. I loved the community vibe. Wednesday night is bingo night and they had a smoked wings food truck. 

I felt like I was sprinting every day trying to finalize all the details for Japan, but we got it all done and off we go tomorrow. 

July weekends in Tampa

My friend Amy came to visit. We had a great time lounging by the pool, attempting an escape room, and meeting up with her friend Beth at Oxford Exchange. 

The weekend of the 21st, we went to Hop Gun Beer Fest at Tampa Theater and spent the night downtown at our favorite hotel: Le Meridian. 

3.19.16 - 3.22.16 My parents come to visit

My parents came to visit after spending some time with friends who winter near Naples. It was fun to have them here. We were a little low energy because we both caught some type of weird virus during our travels to Mexico. We still managed to have a good time.

Saturday, we had a low key day by the pool.

Sunday, we headed to the casino and enjoyed dinner at Marc Murphy's new restaurant Salt. It was very good. The slots were not kind to me. :(

Monday, both Glenn and I worked and my parents explored on their own. Monday night we enjoyed hanging out here at home with some great take out sushi.

2.20.16 Cattle Baron Ball

Glenn and I attended the Cattle Baron Ball - a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. It was so much fun. First, we had to go to the western store to get outfitted with hats and boots. The event was fantastic - a live band, amazing food stations, and great auction items. We bid on and won two tickets to the Big Brother finale!! My sister and I have watched every season on Big Brother so this is an ultimate bucket list item. I can't wait.

Jon and Jackie visit Florida

We love visitors!! Jon and Jackie flew down for a quick one night only trip, but we fit a lot in! After breakfast at Castile where the food was good and the service was slooooowwww..... We headed to downtown Tampa for the Bourbon and Beer Fest. It was so fun to surprise Jon and Jackie with two of their favorite things in a downtown park on a beautiful sunny day.

After the beer fest, we headed to our favorite brewery - Rapp Brewing  - and then home for dinner. 

Sunday we went to lunch at Ulele. The food was great. Jon took one for the team when the server spilled a beer on him. We all got a free round of drinks. 

We stopped at Chart House for one last view of the Bay and a spot of sunshine! 

Kicking off December by Kicking Butt

Glenn and I love the amazing race so we signed up for Funk~N~Impossible Mission - a mix between a scavenger hunt and the amazing race. We had a blast! We got clues via Facebook and then had to figure out the clue and then race to the location outlined in the clue. We could complete missions like pretending to run into an invisible wall or starting a flash mob or doing a Michael Jackson dance to get time off the clock. We did all the missions and ran a pretty good time - so much so we got SECOND PLACE!! 

After the race, we went to Cassis in downtown St Pete for Lunch. 

The food and service was fantastic. Then we went to Rapp Brewing - a brewery we have been wanting to try. 

We were so impressed! 

Sunday, we work on things around the house and watched football. Overall - a great weekend. 

November: The Pre-Holiday Highlights

November was a lot of fun. Both Glenn's brother and sister were in Orlando in the first part of the month so we got the chance to drive over and share a meal with them. 

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Of course, anytime we go to Orlando - we usually stop at Two Henrys Brewery on the way home. 

We spent one Saturday at the India Festival in Tampa. Glenn spent 6 weeks in India in 2010 for work so it was fun for him to see a little bit of that culture. Plus the food was really really good. 

Most of our Sundays were spent on the couch watching football. 

We got up bright and early one Saturday to run/walk the Busch Gardens 5K. It was a great race! Lots of animals along the route plus a flamingo at the finish line. We ran intervals so I really pushed myself. 

July 26th: Robots!

This Saturday, my friend Laurel and I headed over to the local Science museum and took a training course on a 3D printer. It was really interesting. The entire time I referenced the Grey's Anatomy episodes and how hard it must be to 3D print a liver. I didn't have the best 3D designing skills so my design didn't print. 

On Sunday, Glenn and I headed to the historic Tampa Theatre to watch Blazing Saddles. I had never seen it. A USF professor gave a brief talk after ward about all the classic Western films that the film references. 

We are so lucky to have such a great historic theater nearby. 

July 12th - 13th: Brews and the Bells family

We decided to do a staycation this weekend. We had tickets to an event at the Tampa Theater called Beer and Loathing in Las Vegas so we booked a hotel downtown and decided to enjoy the Tampa downtown. 

The hotel is awesome. It's Le Meridian Tampa. They took a historic courthouse and turned it into a hotel. 

We loved it. We checked in and then hit the town. We saw an exhibit of young Chinese artists at the Tampa Art Museum. 

Then we stopped by a Gastropub I had heard a lot about: Anise. It has a great menu and the cocktails were very good. 

Then we did some "horsing" around at the Tampa History Center. I was very impressed by an exhibit on the Highway Men - a group of African American artists who sold art door to door during segregation. This picked up the theme from the morning's Chinese exhibit of artists who take incredible risks just to produce and share their works. 

Then it was time for the big event. We tried to dress like the movie. 

The event was so much fun. They showed Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on the big screen and then had restaurants and breweries set up all over the lobby, in the aisles, and up in the balcony. The food and the beer was the best we've had. Our favorite food was the lamb meatball from the Birchwood Hotel in St Pete. We were really impressed by the beers from Coopertail - especially the Triple - and Two Henrys Brewing. 

On Sunday, we headed over to Orlando to meet up with the Bell family. They were staying at Fantasy World so they secured us day passes and a cabana rental to enjoy the pool, slides, and lazy river. We had a fantastic time! 

Overall, an incredible weekend! 

March 28th - March 30th Friends, Fun and a Drink Contest

This past weekend was so much fun! On Thursday, a good friend and her 3 year old son flew in to stay with us. It was wonderful to see her and get to hang out with her son. Having breakfast with a 3 year old each morning really brought a lot of joy to our days. And having the evenings to catch up was a good reminder that Facebook is not enough!! 

Saturday we had plans to participate in our community yard sale, but the rain kept us home. Sunday, we went to the Spring Fling Music Festival at Curtis Hixon Park. We had VIP tickets so we got a great umbrella table in the shade and got to listen to the bands. The weather was beautiful. 

 The big excitement of the weekend was at our friends' Vodka party. They had a brilliant idea to have a flavored Vodka party. It included a very serious drink making competition with judge, score sheets and a very serious trophy. Glenn decided on a whim to enter a Caramel Apple "Money Shot" - the garnish was a dollar bill!! It was the winner!!! He was so excited and surprised!

March 20 - March 23rd: Angie's Parents come to visit

We were very excited to welcome my parents the weekend of March 20th. They joined our trivia team on Thursday night. We placed SECOND! Our first placing in a long time. It was very exciting. 

Friday, we headed over to the casino. Glenn turned heads with his dessert waffle at the buffet. 

We had the best time! At one point, Glenn, my mom and I were sitting a bank of machines and hitting all the bonuses. It was so much fun! 

On Saturday, we hung out at home by the pool playing games. We used the occasion of their visit to taste some of the wines we'd been storing. 

Overall, a wonderful weekend. 

Glenn's Bucket List": Seeing Joan Rivers Live March 14, 2014

Glenn has very few things on his bucket list so I am so excited when we can cross one off. Joan Rivers came to town. 

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Funny Side Story: We went to the wrong theater and stumbled upon the L. Ron Hubbard Birthday Party - a huge gathering of Scientology. We knew we were in the wrong place when we saw the fancy outfits, the red carpets and the security men in suits. 

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Back to Joan -  After Glenn and I crammed ourselves into the teeny tiny seats of the mezzaine - Joan's opening act came out it. It was a live singer backed by a 5 piece band. He sang old favorites, jumped into the audience and kissed the hands of the lovely ladies. Both Glenn and I remarked that this must be what old Vegas was like. 

Then Joan came out and she was fabulous! We had to laugh a little that before the show, the stage hands came out and taped huge pieces of paper down with very large writing with her act outline on them. She told some old jokes in new ways. Overall it was a fantastic show! I am so glad we went. 

2.22.14 Weekend: Movies and an early St Patty's Day

We love the AMC Best Picture Showcase - the weekends prior to the Oscars, AMC theaters show them all in a two day movie marathon. It's so much fun.