Florida Fun!

What a fab week in Florida!  It's nice to be home, in that homebody way of filling the fridge with groceries, snuggling up against your favourite pillow and not living out of a suitcase - BUT.. what a great week it was.  The weather was lovely - so hot and humid that first night we got there I wondered if I might melt into a Kristyn puddle after the coldest winter in the history of eternity.  But I adapted in no time.. putting on sandals was the dream, realized.

My friend Catherine's house in Tampa is essentially a palace - the screened in pool/hot tub area where I ate breakfast and drank tea each morning was delightful and we had our own WING in the house!!  It was so nice catching up with an old friend (the saying is true - the old ones are gold :)) and getting to know her lovely hubs a bit better too.  We had a blast at the Tampa Bay Lightning/Toronto Maple Leafs game on the Tuesday night of our visit, though I was confused about an arena that offers no concessions stand selling candy (Patrick and I walked essentially around the ENTIRE place before finding my beloved cotton candy), but has a BBQ concession in every section, offering a selection of BBQ meats featuring turkey legs.  Patrick summarized: "welcome to Florida". It was weird enough being at a game in sandals and a tank top, so I decided to skip the leg.

The shopping in the states is so good that even though the dollar is currently garbage we bought so much stuff we could hardly back it back in our suitcases.  The prices at their Premium Outlets are simply insane.  I bought several pairs of high heels, convinced that because the shoes are so pretty I'll become someone who doesn't default to Birkenstocks at every turn... we'll see ;)

I caught a cold on Thursday which was a bummer, and as my face exploded all the way down to the Everglades on Friday I just kept determinedly blowing my nose, wiping my eyes and stating: "I want to see pink birds!".

Roseate Spoonbill

When I finally did see this amazing pink bird Jeff took a picture of me jumping up and down celebrating, but my puffy face was actually too scary to post to facebook/this blog - and anyone who knows me knows I'm not vain so it had to be pretty bad ;)  It's funny what you can power through when you're sick.  When there were waterbirds, mangroves and alligators at stake, I was game!  But I still am fighting the same cold and have to go wandering around a residually snowy forest and skating around on an icy pond for fieldwork on Wednesday and I'm contemplating if I can "call in sick"!  Oh Ontario April.. you have nothing on Florida in terms of biodiversity! Also, it seems cruel to be working in snow when I'm covered in itchy mosquito bites. ALSO, I'd just like to note that calling in sick is not an option when you are the only staff person in your subregion - you will only end up screwing yourself!  Stupid responsibility!!!

So: you might think our Leafs adventure turned into a misadventure after the Leafs clinched themselves OUT of a playoff spot in Tampa on Thursday night.  But no - Jeff and I were mostly resigned to our fate after the Saturday game the night before we left and were understandably sad then.  By Tuesday, we were just happy to cheer for our guys - sit in great seats (equivalent to reds at the ACC for a fraction of the cost) and by Thursday we were so excited to see them even closer (equivalent to golds/platinums at the ACC!) that we just made the most of it.  It was great being right up next to the glass for warm-up and having a chance to show James Reimer, via some enthusiastic thumbs up, that Jeff and I think he's a fantastic goaltender even if Randy Carlyle may not agree.

Our boy, Reimer, who we've cheered for since he was a mere Marlie!

Our favourite part of Thursday's game was the loser sitting in front of us who saw a deflected puck flying towards us... in the END ZONE, where you sit behind a ton of netting.... who covered his head with his hands and ducked.  We couldn't stop imitating him for the rest of the night when he wasn't looking, or randomly throughout the rest of the trip!

The hijincks were at an alltime low, so I don't really have any hilarious/ridiculous stories to share (that are blog appropriate anyways... let's just say Florida plumbing leaves something to be desired) - it was basically just an easy breezy trip filled with good friends, good food, booze, shopping, beaching, nature, nature, nature, more nature and HOCKEY.  I wish every week could be like last week.  What's a girl gotta do to win the lottery!!!  Also, what's a girl gotta do to get over a cold?  Enough already!!!

Thanks to our great hosts Cath and Pat - I enjoyed Pat's commentary on his countrymen ("river folk" from his hometown on the Mississippi, and "swamp hillbillies" from Florida) and his random accents and just enjoyed catching up with Catherine and getting to enjoy the spoils of her gorgeous new home.  Jeff paid our guest dues by putting together chairs, fixing major appliances and installing lighting fixtures but it still didn't feel like quite enough in exchange for 800 thread count sheets (which are now making my 500's feel scratchy.. dammit Kitz! FIRST WORLD PROBS!) and breakfast overlooking that beautiful back view every morning!! :)

My favourite quote of the week was Catherine's musing that you can make hell out of heaven, or heaven out of hell - sort of the idea that it's up to you how you react to any situation.  For some reason I always have one small meltdown on a vacation but I used that mantra when my stupid inflamed achilles tendon started aching over a mile away from our car - I thought.. I'm in the Everglades... don't cry.. don't freak out.. don't make hell out of heaven.  And it passed.  It's a nice thought for everyone to reflect on - are you appreciating the "heaven" you have in your own life or turning it into hell by focusing on/creating negatives?  And are you able to overcome adversity by finding the humour in it, looking for silver linings and reflecting on the big picture?  It's in the string of philosophies I enjoy that centre around what's essentially at the heart of YOLO (though I try not to use yolo too much day to day lol). Food for thought, as usual.

Ohhhhhh Canada... my home and snowy land.....
Night :)