Catching up with Us...

These past few weeks have felt like a whirlwind for me between trips and everywhere we have traveled to the last few weeks. I love taking trips and getting out of this BUSY city, but it's also nice to get back into my daily routine. Jeff and I traveled up to Kentucky last Thursday to see my little brother, Jack, play football and head home for a weekend. Jack is a sophomore in highschool this year and it's so hard for me to believe that. Which inherently means, I'm getting OLDER!!!

Jack played a great game and we really enjoyed tailgating before the game and being back in Kentucky- small town life. Everyone knows everyone in a small town and I often forget how life is so different in a small town versus life in a big city. You don't have to estimate the time it will take you to get from Point A to Point B nor do you deal with an excessive amount of TRAFFIC. I love Atlanta, but sometimes I wish it was a city where you could get on mass transit instead of driving everywhere. It would be nice if we had a subway like New York.

Anyway, we took Lady, Dixie and Dryfuss along with us as well and the canines had an absolute blast. We came back in late Sunday night since none of my girlfriends were checking on my girls (Lily & Daisy) since it's a holiday weekend. Jeff and I went out for Mexican and stayed in to catch up on Big Brother. When I first started watching the show, I thought it was ridiculous but now I am completely hooked! Yesterday, we headed up to Rome, GA to watch Maggie's collegiate soccer team play. They were playing Savannah College of Art and Design and they crushed the team. Maggie didn't get to play since she's a freshman but they were beating the team so badly that I really thought they would put her in. Maggie's team is full of Europeans and it was great to hear all the accents when they were spoken.

On another note, I have been battling with Cobb County Animal Control for about the last two weeks and last night was a nice refreshing drink for me hopefully! The history on this it that one of Jeff's neighbors has a sweet female boxer confined in his backyard that I found crying one Sunday morning when I was walking our canines because she was so hungry and alone. I did not even know that anyone actually lived in this house since it seems to be abandoned and is in deplorable conditions. I called Animal Control immediately and was outraged with their response to say the least. I won't even get into that story. Needless to say they've failed to remove this boxer from her neglectful owner and I decided to begin writing letters and attaching the pictures of her to the Board of Directors of the Humane Society.

The best part is that I mailed the letters out Thursday morning and last night I got a call from the President and his wife who had come to Jeff's house to check out the situation themselves. I was so happy that they could see the situation themselves, but disappointed when they told me that the best option might be just going to the owner and trying to get him to give the dog to us. Animal Control's job is to protect these animals (which is not happening) and remove these animals. I would not have nice things to say to this individual and I certainly do NOT wanting him adopting any more animals to put back in the same situation.

As I've gotten older, I've learned several things about the human nature. First, that people are so selfish and most are only worried about themselves with no regard or care about others. The lines of what's right and wrong seem to blur for many people, and most can simply go along without caring what happens to others or this female boxer specifically. I'm hoping Animal Control will step up but I'm thinking I may end up trying to speak with the owner to get this female boxer. It breaks my heart for her and in the end I really just want to adopt her out so that I can find her a home. I'm hoping for the best and that this idiot is prosecuted to the fullest.



Here are some pictures of her that I took the first day I saw her. It breaks my heart to see animals in these conditions. How can people do this?



I just keep praying that animal control will come to seize her since this guy is violating several codes of some section of the Animal Cruelty clause. Keep her in your prayers!

Great time in the Keys

Last Thursday morning Jeff and I flew out of Atlanta into Ft. Lauderdale for our trip to the Keys and we had the BEST time ever. I don't know that I have ever been on a better vacation!! We left Atlanta very early and landed in Ft. Lauderdale around 10:30am so we were able to stop by Jeff's brother's (Scott) house in Ft. Lauderdale to see his nephew, Hunter, and their golden retriver, Meg. Hunter hadn't started school yet, so Jeff wanted to stop in and say hello since it was on our way. One of the things I like about Florida is the design of the houses because they are so neat and unique-- they have so much character. I like seeing how very different they are from what I am accustomed to.

After we left Ft. Lauderdale, we headed on down to Islamorada which was about an hour and half away. Not bad at all! After we hit Publix, we ventured on to the condo and immediately got our bathing suits on. I was in heaven and so was Jeff! We ventured around the property and Jeff was in love with the dock. You could dock your boats and there was also an entire ecosystem underneath the dock. Over span of the week we were there, we saw sand sharks, sea turtles, lobsters, crabs, and all kinds of other fish. Not to mention the birds, seagulls, and pelicans that would land on the dock. The seagulls got in fights over the bread the entire time, and one even pushed the other off the dock. It was hilarious!!

The first night we stayed outside in the pool for a very long time and got a late dinner at a place Dad loves called, Lorelei. It was a restaurant on the water but more like a bar and it was very good. We ate lots of great seafood every night and we both were stuffed each day. I think I gained about 5 pounds on the trip between huge dinners and snacking throughout the day. Lots of great martinis & daquiries as well!

Jeff, who is from Miami originally, reminds me so much of my Aunt Karen (who is a marine biologist) also is an avid snorkeler & diver, so I snorkeled for the first time ever. It was so much fun once I got my breathing right! That took a couple minutes but once I had mastered it, I was fine. So we ended up snorkeling half the time and we were in the water I would say 95% of the trip. Jeff's brother, Scott and his wife Kim, came in from Ft. Lauderdale to stay Saturday night with us to celebrate both Scott & Jeff's birthday. It was nice getting to know them even better!

We headed down to Key West as well and it was twenty degrees hotter than Islamorada. The Keys were HOT and not what I'm used to in Florida. So needless to say I pulled my hair back in a ponytail and put light shorts & a sleeveless top for the day we went to the Keys, but I was still sweating to death. One of the things I made Jeff travel to in Key West was the Hemmingway house where Ernest Hemmingway lived because his descendants are his six-toed felines who still live on the property but after we walked several miles in the scorching heat, we walked up to the place and it was closed. My mouth dropped open when we got to the closed sign!

Not only was it very HOT in the keys but there were tons of island cats around everywhere so I was in heaven. Most of them were feral but some would venture close and they were just too cute. We also saw a show in Key West that the Crazy Cat Man does with his eight cats. These cats were so intelligent- jumping through hoops and doing all kinds of different things. Jeff said that he has been doing the show since he was a kid, so I HAD to see that.

Overall we had a great vacation, and I got a great blue/green dress at a place called Robbie's. Jeff and I had a blast and I think he really enjoyed spending his birthday down there. We cannot wait to plan our next trip! I placed a couple pictures on here, but the rest I placed the link to my Facebook page because I took so many pictures. Click here to see the album.



Three of the pelicans that were waiting on fish from us. They kept looking at Jeff and I like where's your fish? We were obviously not the fisherman they were used to. They would wait on us for about an hour and they fly off.



This little guy was so beautiful that I kept taking pictures of him. He was also looking for fish and was NOT interested in the bread. The first day we were out on the dock he came in for a landing and it was hilarious because he threw both feet out to land and the poor guy was super wobbly. He was always "waiting on a fish."



This was the view from Dad's condo and it was fabulous. Hardly anyone was there because it was the off season except the little old ladies who lived there. They would do their water aerobics ever morning- what a life!! Jeff and I and another family from Tampa were the only people there.