Weeks 88-111: In Hot Water

We're in hot water. Or warm water. Or cool water. Our new outdoor solar shower gives us the choice of all three. With my encouragement, (okay...whining), M. agreed to finally hook up this bad boy pool-side for quick rinses. So far, it works great before our swims and after beach trips.

The relentless Florida sun heats up water directly from the hose and voila!A temperature control knob keeps things from getting too scorchy. Ouch!

With the beautiful outdoors beckoning, now it is REALLY hard to focus on indoor house projects. There is still painting, patching, woodwork, blah-dee-blah on our list, and yet the beach or pool keeps calling. It's going to be a looooong summer!

Summer Solstice 2010

Welcome back Summer!

We've missed you...

Your long days of sun and fun.

Guess M. couldn't wait to dive-in.

Here he is startling our local fish.

Destination Wedding: Montego Bay

On this long holiday weekend, we hopped down to a destination wedding for our good friends P. & N. The Ritz-Carlton in Montego Bay, Jamaica was wedding central. The happy couple chose the perfect setting -- sunset on the beach.

A beach wedding has the best views...

AND. Since it was our 1st time in Jamaica, we decided to make have a little fun in the sun:

with some beach volleyball (that's M. on the left tipping it over)...

and tandem ocean kayaking...

and sailing around on this cheery Hobie Cat...

Although our friends thanked us as their inspiration for having a Caribbean wedding, we were the ones who felt grateful for being part of their big day. And thankful they gave us an excuse to take an overdue vacation. Silly as it may seem, even Floridians sometimes need to "get away" to a beach destination. Finally, we had time for much-needed R & R:

by enjoying some slow and yummy meals...

and catching up on some reading...

kayak lesson: Double Branch Creek

Nestled in the Upper Tampa Bay Park, is a kayaking treasure: Double Branch Creek. We recently explored their 6.5 mile water trail spanning fresh, brackish and saltwater. By joining up with Osprey Bay Outdoors, a local kayak company, we were able to navigate deep into the mangrove trails with no worrys about getting lost. The Hillsborough County-run park even has a nature center adjacent to the kayak/canoe launch. Here we are at the launch entrance.

We were fortunate to have a friendly group of kayakers on the trip with us and a pair of knowledgable and goofy guides made it fun too...

Along the way, we spotted crabs, racoons, fish, many bird species, including the oh-so-tall Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) seen here:

KAYAK LESSON: invest in some kayaking gloves. It was the first 6.5 mile trail I completed and I earned the blisters on my hands to prove it. Ouch. One of the guides (thanks, Demetri!) graciously let me borrow his kayaking gloves for the return paddle. After all, there is no whining on the water :)

Happy Vernal Equinox '10

The first day of Spring 2010 lived up to its expectation - warm, sunny weather under a cloudless sky. It was too beautiful to stay inside. After a few hours of house-projects, we rewarded ourselves with a lil' boat ride to Old Tampa Bay. On the way, we met these two crazy characters...

One decided to grab food while we were watching. Gulp-gulp.



Turns out we have something in common with pelicans: we also like to have fish for lunch ;)

Hey, nice rack!

Life on the water means we have a never ending supply of wet swimsuits and soggy towels floating around. The greenest solution is a good old "air dry." But finicky Florida weather has too much surprise sprinkling (aka. monsoon-like rain that comes outta nowhere). We scratched our heads for a solution that would prevent endlessly running our dryer, while avoiding the not-so-elegant look of wet towels draped over furniture. Then we saw this beadboard drying rack at Ballard Designs and it was love at first sight. We placed it strategically below the fan in the guest bathroom to keep things humidity-free. Bonus: the installation only took M. a few minutes. Without further ado, we proudly present

a nice rack

Here's the easy-peazy install process...

*Yea, that's a Burber-kini in the pic...love that one.

[ALMOST] Yard Crashed!

We'd like to think we were THIS close to being on the TV show Yard Crashers that airs on DIY Network. Last week, the local paper announced a casting call for this amazing makeover show that gives homeowners a team of landscapers and a big budget. Even hardcore DIYers like us aren't usually at the hardware store by 8:30am. But this Sunday, we got up early, packed up the netbook with pics of our yard and headed to a local Lowes. While waiting in line for 3 hours, we made use of the time by chatting with other DIY-hopefuls and texting our loved ones. Finally, with a few digital pictures and a hand-made drawing, we gave a live pitch to Ahmed and a producer. He and his crew are even nicer in person! We got a lot of positive feedback and encouragement, so we kept our fingers crossed for a callback. Here's the gratuitous photo op:

(photo credit:show producer)

At one point, I walked past the "casting" table, while texting frantically. I was oblivious to the fact that Ahmed was actually cruising behind me in a rolling chair. About 15 seconds after this pic was taken, he "crashed" into a pile of buckets - startling me enough that I turned around and found myself facing him and the camera crew. Surprise! Oh yea, everyone in line was laughing at me. I love that this show has an awesome sense of humor.

(photo credit: TBO.com)

*Late Sunday night, we found out that we didn't get picked. BOO :( More info about the winners is here and here. The show airs in July and we will definately keep watching!

WEEKs 81-87: Hall & (c)oats

Another project about 97.2%(*) done! We painted, we improvised...oh, and we created an entry/hall closet where none existed. From start to finish, it took many steps:

• HVAC installed in the hall closet
• installed white bifold door to hide energy star air conditioning unit
• covered up the hole in the ceiling with a return register
• repaired and painted the broken trim
• installed/painted 3 solid core doors
• painted the walls in "Smooth Driftwood"; painted the moldings, trim, and baseboards in white; we even painted the cover of the electrical panel to lessen the eyesore-ness of it all.

PMH wasn't blessed with an entry closet. What appears to be one there on the left had been repurposed as the HVAC closet. So we scratched our heads for where to place our shoes and jackets that seemed to pile up everywhere. The solution came when we installed the IKEA TJUSIG in white up high and the IKEA LOGGA down low for shoes.


Here's a close-up of our shoe rack that we hacked by using what IKEA markets as a three-hook jacket hanger. By purchasing 2 of the hangers and mounting them side by side, we can easily hang a few pairs of shoes. By storing shoes vertically, we have recaptured valuable inches from our oh-so-narrow hallway. Tah-Dah!

(*) We say 97.2% done because we still need to paint the bi-fold door in high-gloss white and install some groovy hardware on it.

kayak lesson: Boca Ciega Bay

This past Sunday, with much of the dead fish washed away, we decided to venture into new waters. We purchased a new kayak saddle that mounts onto the bike rack, and up went Paxi & Inti to the roof for their first real car ride. Uff!
After about 35 minutes, we arrived at the small peninsular War Veteran's Memorial Park in St. Petersburg, FL. It boasts a small seashell crusted kayak/canoe launch that opens right up to the lovely-yet-shark-infested Boca Ciega Bay.

Maybe it should have been of significance that the park was practically deserted (clue #1) or that the wave swells were huge (clue #2). After a few minutes of paddling like usual, I began complaining that I wasn't moving forward; M. turned around and informed me that I was actually moving backwards (clue #3). When I realized that we had forgotten the tow rope, we re-docked, grabbed it, and ignoring M.'s protest (clue #4), launched again. This time, we paddled HARD and made it to the end of the peninsula. I wish I could say that at the moment, I stopped to appreciate the vast beauty, but actually I just stopped to catch my breath (clue #5). M. was only a kayak or two's length away, but he was yelling and I could barely hear him over the whooshing wind (clue #6). WIND?! The 15 - 20 mph gusts were not something we had had factored into our plans. We finally accepted what Mother Nature kept trying to tell us: come back another day. After quickly spinning the yaks, we rode in like bandits and arrived safely (and soaked) back to shore.Exhausted and exhilarated, we collapsed onto a bayside bench to enjoy a picnic of red gatorade (yum) & doritos (yummier). Gather 'round kids!
The lesson here: you can not beat Mother Nature. And you probably shouldn't challenge her too much either. But we'll be back...when the winds die down.