Weekend on Little Gasparilla Island

Ahhhh! After this past week at work, this weekend getaway Matt & I just enjoyed was exactly what the doctor ordered. We joined some friends at a beach house on Little Gasparilla Island, Florida, for a long weekend of fun and sun.

It was fantastic! Matt and I spent some quality time playing in the water. I don't think I could possibly have enjoyed body surfing waves more as a kid than I did with Matt. Check out these photos of my darling husband riding the waves!




I had a blast playing in the water, and it was enormously entertaining to watch my husband find his inner child while splashing about. We both emerged from the ocean salty, slightly sunburned, and renewed.

While on this getaway, we also managed to squeeze in a little fishing...Ok, so it was mostly our companions that fished (as in, at ALL hours of the day!), but Matt & I both gave it a try. To my great surprise and after quite a few false alarms (fish seemed to be able to eat my bait without my being aware), I managed to snag a fish!


And, of course, Matt has stories about his "one that got away...."



This weekend was simply fantastic. I felt like I really had the opportunity to get to know some of Matt's friends a little better. He and I managed to sneak off alone a couple of times and find little romantic moments in which to indulge. Oh, and another thing that was wonderful about this weekend is that I saw sooooo many dolphins!

Perhaps most native Floridians are rather used to seeing dolphins out and about, but this Tennessee native has only seen them in aquariums. I was so enthralled by seeing them that I didn't manage to get any good photos. They swim pretty quickly. The fact that they practically swam up to the boat (not quite, but very close to it), was incredibly thrilling. We must have seen nearly twenty dolphins this weekend! Perhaps next time, we can catch some fish to feed to them....

Matt and I had such a great time, we are considering going back next weekend. Our efforts to play hard have us pretty worn out tonight, but I think the fact that we took a break from working on the house this weekend and simply had fun will leave us refreshed and ready to take on anything we encounter this week. You never know, maybe next weekend we'll end up playing at the beach again!

Monday, Monday...

The weekend was just too short. It was a challenge to propel myself forward through the morning to get to work. Once there, however, the hours flew by for me.

All last week my boss was out of town, leaving me (unofficially) in charge of the Y. It was fine. I managed to not burn down the place or do anything royally stupid while she was gone, and I tried to keep as much of her work done as I could while she was away. Contrary to what one might think, a boss on vacation for me = lots more work and stress, not an excuse to cut out early and slack off.

Gotta say I'm glad boss-lady is back. It turns out that I had a lot of great ideas while she was gone, and she seemed enthusiastic about me going forward with them when I told her about it.

I would continue to write about what I plan to accomplish in my job, but I have to give a presentation tomorrow at a fundraising event, so I've got to put my nose back to the old grindstone....

I love a good project!

Feelin' Chatty

Last night, I had the opportunity to talk. A lot. It was fantastic, and it was recorded. My goodness, I LOVE my husband's radio project!

We have our friend Jason over this weekend. He is a great guest for a number of reasons. He provides much-needed assistance with our home improvement projects (Ok, I'll admit it...he is actually the one doing the work.) Additionally, he is funny and a good conversationalist.

Inevitably, our entertaining takes us to the MattRadio.com studio. We always end up in there, listening to music and talking about everything under the sun. Last night, Matt introduced a topic of conversation that led to a heated debate between Jason and myself. Matt loves to do this, and (I think) plans to spark controversy in the hopes of generating material for his show. I love it, because I am addicted to the thought of hearing my opinions broadcast across the globe. I can't wait until he edits the things we recorded and streams it on his radio website. The MattRadio.com site is in the process of being revamped, and we are really excited about all of the things that we have coming up in the future. As we progress, I will keep you posted. In case you haven't been to MattRadio.com yet, please do so. It will look like it does now for just a short while longer. It will soon be redesigned and be even better than ever!

I LOVE MY JOB!!!

Today, I stayed very busy at work. I am finally getting the hang of my job! I love the fact that at any given moment, I have about seven things to do. I have deadlines approaching, small fires to put out, and lots of planning to do! It is fast-paced and exciting. Granted, the to-do list I constructed this morning ended up being only half-way completed...but, I relish the fact that I know exactly how my day will begin tomorrow. The first week or two I worked at the Y, I didn't know how the computer system worked, or what the policies were...I felt pretty useless. Now, I am staying on top of personnel training logs, invoices to be paid, departmental budgeting, etc, etc. The part of my job that I am really excited to sink my teeth into is our special events planning. I have about two weeks to finalize the events for the remainder of the month, and to begin implementing the plans for the rest of the summer. I am also going to be working on some huge projects like our 5k and our upcoming Biggest Loser contest. The rest of the summer is going to fly by as I am undertaking all of these things! Please don't think that I am saying that I will do all of these things alone. Far from it! I am working with such motivated people, who really have a vision for the things we can accomplish together. I LOVE MY JOB!!!!

Breaking Out of Our Routine

Well, I have dawdled a bit on posting another blog entry. I guess I have just been caught up in the day to day routines that Matt and I share. We have been engrossed in watching television shows on DVD, eating quiet dinners together, and just enjoying one another. Until this weekend, that is. I don't mean that we're not enjoying each other's company, far from it. But, this weekend, we broke from the routine.

Our house is currently resembling a demolition site. Our good friend, Jason, offered to help us work on the bathroom that we are going to remodel. The toilet, vanity, and sink had previously been taken down in preparation for our remodel. Yesterday, we went to Home Depot to purchase tiles for the walls and floor. We also picked up a new shower head, some paint for the kitchen cabinets, etc. I picked out the kitchen counter tops I want us to install. Much fun was had at the Home Depot.

The three of us headed back to the house, and Jason commenced his destruction of the bathroom. He was tearing down tiles like none other! A plume of dust billowed from the bathroom and has settled on every surface of the house that was not in a room with a door to shut. While Jason was swinging the tile-smashing hammer, Matt transferred all of his music files to Jason's newly purchased external hard drive. Jason is excited to have his own personal access to the Matt Radio music library, and Matt is excited to have a backup of said library in case of some freak disastrous crash of his computer. After all of the tiles came down, we sat around for a bit and then we all turned in for the night.

This morning, Matt was lay leader at church, but Jason and I stuck around the house and began to clean up the mess in the bathroom. We bagged up broken tiles and debris for a good while. When Matt arrived home from church, he pitched in and we quickly finished Phase 1 of the bathroom demolition. The many bags of broken tile are piled out by the street for tomorrow's garbage pickup. The trash men are going to HATE us. Jason, apparently, hadn't worked quite enough, so he grabbed our lawnmower and tackled the backyard, despite our protests. Matt grabbed the trimmer and went to work on the brush around the fence line. I stayed indoors and did my part to ensure Matt and I have clean laundry. Finally, the boys came inside and we ate a bite for lunch. Jason departed not too long afterwards. We still have more to do, but that must wait for next weekend, as we are spent!

As for the rest of the afternoon, Matt and I have decided that we will take it easy. I read on the back porch for a bit, but am now happily curled up in my husband's studio while he sits a few feet away from me, contentedly converting audio files for his Matt Radio airplay. Most likely, we will spend our evening doing this, with a break for dinner and perhaps a movie. After all of the work we have done this weekend, especially today, I know we will sleep soundly tonight.

Finally!

I am finally going to post some of the photos from our reception in Tennessee! To view the entire gallery, please visit my husband's website, MattRadio.com!