If there’s just one piece of advice I can give you, it’s this

When there’s something you really want, fight for it, don’t give up no matter how hopeless it seems. And when you’ve lost hope, ask yourself if 10 years from now, you’re gonna wish you gave it just one more shot.Because the best things in life, they don’t come free.

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10 ideas that changed the marketing world

seester

due to popular demand (aka persistence from my sister) I have finally put some silly pictures of the two of us from way back when to recently.  Here you go Kree :-)

i miss this place.

Me and Grams at the Crown Plaza 

I can't count how many times I would walk over to this dock and watch sunsets over the river with my family.

finally arrived.. this is like coming home.  This is the beach that I spent so many Easter Breaks on.  Every Easter we used to go to sunrise service mass on the beach.  The altar was a surf board.  No Easter Mass will EVER beat this.

last time I was at the beach, I was with Pa.

Heaven.

Sunset at the pier.  Complete with dolphins swimming by and all.

Sunset on the river <3  

and you've got yourself a gator

On our way over to Melbourne, we stopped at Camp Holly for a gator ride.  I remember going on these rides with my family over ten years ago, but it was nothing like I thought it was going to be.  The place has really changed, and for the better.  When I was a kid, the people who were in charge had no teeth and a huge beer gut.  Since then, the owners changed and boy was this place different.  This time around the place was so much nicer, the boats were new, the prices were reasonable, our driver had teeth, but the people behind the counter didn't.  Pretty much an upgrade.  15 minutes after we pulled in, we were on a boat ready for take off.

Gators were everywhere.  Literally all over the place, we probably saw 20 or 30 in the 35-40 minutes we were on the ride.  We saw about 10-15 up close, close enough to see their eyes.  It was so cool! As a nature person, I was in my glory.

The coolest things about air-boats are their ability to go on 30 feet of water, half an inch of water, and dry strips of land.

relaxing day

today Mar and I walked the Pinellas Trail into Dunedin to grab lunch, do a little shopping and to get out of the condo. It was just what we needed.  The trail is very similar to the bike path back at home... only better.  It is a totaly of 34 miles starting at Taylor Park in Largo and ending at Seminole Park in Seminole.  You walk right though people's back yards -- most have them fenced off so you can't get into their property, while others have no fences and just an extended backyard.  

This is one of our favorite yards, which had a tiki bar.  

We walked almost 4 miles to the town had lunch, watched BYU beat Florida and the end of the Robert Morris game..then headed into these crazy shops where we found these HILARIOUS glasses...

crab claws & champagne glasses

shamrock glasses

and my favorite.... ELVIS GLASSES!!

and finally, I took a walk down the trail I normally run here and snapped some sunset pictures...

not a bad place to run huh? the beach is literally 15 feet away <3  

Sox fan for a day

Mar and I are just now getting back from the baseball game... the Red Sox vs Tampa Bay Rays.  mar was TOTALLY in here element, me..not so much.  I haven't been to a game since our band trip years ago when we watched the Pittsburgh Pirates.  We had a ball!  We got there extra early (primarily because we had no idea where to go/how long it was going to take us/and we were without a gps) and we were able to watch the Sox warm up.  We were literally 25 feet away from the players.  Even as someone who doesn't watch baseball, I was pretty excited too.  My camera died on the way there so I had to resort to my phone for pictures... sorry about the quality!

first class nuisance

Today was beach day!! We headed the short 2 miles down to Honeymoon Island and spent the day on the beach and hiking.  We laid out for a bit and I fell asleep.  There is just something about the sound of waves that puts me out like a light.  It was pretty windy, so when we couldn't bare the wind anymore we decided to go for a hike on the nature trail.

I remember going on this trail with my dad a couple of times when I was younger but wasn't expecting much.  Most times the things you remember as a kid and remember all those years aren't as thrilling when you are an adult... so I didn't have high expectations.  We followed Osprey Trail and found the following...

first up, a bald eagle's nest!!!!  complete with a momma eagle and a baby eagle in it.  The state had put a fence around the nest so we couldn't get too close to it :-(  This isn't the greatest photo, but it's the best one I had.  I really need to invest in a hubungo lens.

we saw lots of Osprey and Osprey nests.  No joke, at least 15 nests... these are typically pretty rare and they were all over this island.. there must be something special about it.

Osprey building a new nest

a raccoon!! this little feller was definitely out of place

armadillo!!! these little guys let me get so close to him and he hardly noticed.  I got a snapshot of his face, but didn't have the setting on my camera right so it didn't turn out. buzzkill.

beautiful view, i could have stayed here all day

we were walking along the trail and another photographer called us over to show us an owl that had just picked up a snake for lunch.  If you look closely, you can see the owl eating the snake.  

here's a different shot of the same owl, shortly after he flew away with the snake dangling in his claws

tomorrow, brings the sun and a road trip to a Red Sox training game

tarpon springs

today mar and I went into tarpon springs for what we thought was going to be a quick in and out shopping day, however in the first shop we went in mar and I got separated and when I found her, some women was talking to her about a boat excursion.  For $20 we could go on a two hour boat tour that we just couldn't pass up.

 First thing we saw, DOLPHINS.  Like 5 of them...swimming around out boat and a few of them were feeding.  At least that's what the tour guide said, and you pretty much have to believe everything they say, so fishing they were!

Shortly after, we docked on a tiny island, hardly bigger than a sand bar.  We spent half an hour walking around, taking pictures and hunting for shells.. the following is what we came up with..

Mar grabbed ahold of the camera and took some pictures of me.  

Boy am I not used to being on this side of the camera.

After the boat tour, we went to my favorite fudge shop ever!!!

and watched them make rocky road.. YUMMMM