I’m thrilled to have Lindsey of Waking up Williams post on my blog! Lindsey blogs about her life in Florida and her adorable baby girl, Ryann, and her husband is a graphic/web designer and specializes in getting bloggers online with Wordpress. They are my kind of fun and geeky couple, and maybe one day we’ll meet up since we both live here in the Sunshine State! :) I asked Lindsey to write a bit about living here in Florida since she’s not a native like I am, and I really enjoyed her perspective. Make sure you visit her site, too!

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I didn’t grow up in Florida, in fact I never thought I’d live in Florida, but here I am living here, raising a family here (for now) and definitely soaking up the sunshine and warm temperatures, while my family and northern friends are still shoveling snow well into March and when September rolls around their packing away summer clothes to make room for winter. So what brought me 1,300 miles away from family, snow and shovels?  Well college and then a man and now a family….

Here are the top five reasons I moved here and why I’m also looking forward to heading north again (sooner than later, fingers and toes crossed, prayers said and stars aligning)

5. Flee from family and enjoy the freedom.  And then I left and NOW I want Ryann to share clothes with her two girl cousins and let my parents spoil her like grandparents are supposed to do.

4. Beach days starting in February and lasting well into October.  But NOW it’s just too hot, and too much work to take Ryann to the beach as much as I used to go, so really who needs 8 months of beach weather when the baby doesn’t cooperate?!

3. Flip flops YEAR ROUND!!!  I love not worrying about what shoes to wear, flip flops are a staple in a Floridians life, but NOW I miss my other shoes and wearing my dress boots and heels and cute snowbunny boots.

2. The weather, it’s gorgeous UNTIL the oppressive summer heat and humidity roll in.  Blech!!  I want my northern summers back, where a heatwave only lasts a few days and you don’t need air conditioning to breathe.

1. Shoveling snow and wearing 3 layers just to go outside for 2 minutes and then proceed to melt in the stores with all of the layers on.  OK, let’s be real no one wants to shovel snow, but I want Ryann to make snowpeople and sled and eat snow (even though we tell her not to) and whine when we need to spend 30 minutes bundling up for 5 minutes of playtime outside. I miss it!

I miss my Massachusetts drivers license, the Bahstin accent and when asked where I’m from I can proudly say HERE!  Instead of, I’m from Boston, but live in Florida.  Because I’m not a southerner, and I miss the grass, the accent and my family.

I am happy to announce that I actually had a pretty amazing time at my 10th high school reunion. I know these things are usually pretty crazy (from what I’ve heard) but everyone I’ve spoken to from my class has said what a blast they had, and I feel the same way. It was so good to see all of my friends and everyone really looked amazing, just a little more mature, and mostly the same. I reconnected with a few people who I’m really looking forward to seeing again very soon, too. And I’m hoping that I can keep in better touch with some of the people that I saw… especially since I was told by a whooooole bunch of people that I would be getting called about shooting their wedding just as soon as they became engaged! ;)

I really had a great time in high school, considering I transfered to the school I graduated from in the middle of 10th grade, and everyone else already knew each other already… It wasn’t always easy in the very beginning, but I liked my classes and I was welcomed by a sweet group of students who really made me feel like I was a part of the school. After a few months, JP Taravella High School was definitely “my” school, and I even decided to serve on my prom committee senior year!

Here’s me with my husband (first pic – top left) and a whole bunch of people who made my time at JPT great:

I have to say that I’m really looking forward to our next get together, hopefully it’ll be more like a 15 year meetup rather than 20 years! waiting another 10 years is too long!

happy Valentine’s from our family to yours! today Zachary and I spent the afternoon with Aunt Amy, window shopping at the Promenade in Coconut Creek, playing with some Thomas trains at a toy store (baby boy cried because he didn’t want to leave!!), giving little Z his first taste of ice cream (he loved it!) and enjoying the cool weather.

we came home to hugs and kisses from daddy, Zachary’s favorites for dinner, play time with his books, toys, and his fun airplane which he loves to push around his room, and lots of laughs and sweet, funny faces for mommy. he is just a sweet, loving little boy and I am glad to have been able to spend the day with him.

tomorrow starts the work week again as Adrian and I prepare for the WPPI (wedding & portrait photographers international) trade show, the biggest tradeshow each year in the photography industry, where we have a booth for our studio management software, Táve. it is going to be a great time, but we are spread thin right now getting everything ready!

hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s… here is a little card to brighten your day!

it is with a heavy heart that I write this post.

My friend Samantha and I are members of an online group for moms called The Bump. we don’t know each other very well and have actually only met each other a couple times. but all the ladies on The Bump have a great friendship and connection to each other – whether we’ve met each other or not, we are a tight knit group.

this morning I learned that Samantha’s husband Gary passed away. this past year, Gary had battled lymphoma and had finally beaten cancer, only to get sick on Christmas day and ultimately pass away this morning on New Years morning. He leaves behind a beautiful wife and a very sweet and adorable 2 year old baby boy.

you can read about everything Samantha has endured with Gary and his journey at her blog here. just a word of warning, you will probably cry. :(

a less sad new years post from me will be coming soon, hopefully. until then, hold your loved ones tight and give your babies an extra kiss. and if you wouldn’t mind, keep my friend and her little boy and their family in your thoughts. :(

So today marks Adrian’s 30th birthday. To celebrate, we’re going to see the new Star Trek movie on its premier night with our good friends Jason & Luciana.

Over the weekend, I decided to throw Adrian a birthday party. It was just a small gathering with family and good friends. Zachary slept through most of it. :) Here are some of the photos that we took:

The yummy cake was half chocolate, half vanilla, with strawberry filling and buttercream frosting. I got the icing in Gators colors since we’re Gator fans.

I love this little montage of each of us with our best friends: me with Amy, and Adrian with Jason.

Happy birthday, Adrian!!  Zachary & I love you very much!!!

Earth Hour is underway in many parts of the world, and in a couple of hours, it will be Earth Hour time here in South Florida.

My friend Steven Frischling, a corporate/editorial photographer and travel strategist, is currently in Amsterdam on business. Of course, he posted some photographs that he took at the Amsterdam airport when Earth Hour started. As Steven describes, an airport cannot completely shut off all of its lights for obvious reasons, but it’s neat to see the “secondary lights” turned off for this special event.

Moments after AMS Airport switched off the lights - Image by Steven Frischling

Please check out all the photos that Steven posted, and also be sure to add his blog to your RSS reader. He gives tons of awesome tips for traveling, no matter what your profession is!

This past Saturday night, Adrian and I went to Forte Palm Beach to have dinner with my good friend Melissa and her family to celebrate her engagement and birthday. The food was incredible and we had a great time catching up. I can’t believe Melissa and I have been friends for 15 years!

Melissa & Mike:

Melissa & her two sisters Tiffany & Cassie

Me and Melissa

Congrats to you guys! I can’t wait for your wedding next year!!

I had brunch with Nicole and Brandon today at Bernie’s Bagels. It was fun. :)

I’m trying to take photos every day and force myself to see something beautiful everywhere.

Last weekend, Adrian and I visited the Ft. Myers area for a great destination wedding on Gasparilla Island. We took Alligator Alley across Florida to the west side of the state, which is the quickest route.

However, always being up for seeing something new, we decided to take a different route home, which would avoid the interstate highway and take about twice as long.

Along the way, we saw some cute small towns and were able to stop and see Lake Okeechobee, the huge lake in the southern central part of the state which is our major water supply. It is surprisingly not too far away, but neither of us had reason to see the area before, and it was fun to see something new on our way home.

Here are some photos:

As you can see, the lake isn’t really much to look at from where we were able to stop for an overlook, but it was still fun to say we’ve been there.

Also, on another fun note, while we were in Ft. Myers, Adrian and I were able to have lunch with Marisa, my college roommate. Marisa & I hadn’t seen each other in about six years since I moved away from the Orlando area, and it was fun to see each other and catch up!

I meant to post this a couple of days ago, but have been super busy with work and forgot.

My good friend, Adam Cohen, asked me to write a guest post on his blog while he and his lovely wife, Sarah, were away in the mountains of northern Georgia for their wedding anniversary. I went back and forth over and over about what to write, and finally, when I sat down to my computer to write my post for my assigned day with 30 minutes to spare, I decided to tell the story about how I met Adam and how we became friends.

You can read it here.