Tennis Lessons

from FitnessandTennis.com

Happy Thursday! 

Since yesterday I gave you a progress report about how life in FL is going thus far, I wanted to tell you about another "new" thing in my life down here.

As you know, I work from home, so it's very easy to get in a zone of working and planning and writing and before I know it, it's been 3 hours and I haven't once gotten up from my desk. I had been wanting to do some sort of exercise but I'm not really the exercise class kind of person. (Sweating in front of lots of people? No thanks - pass.)

In my neighborhood we have a golf and country club, and one of the activities we have on site is tennis. My aunt's dad and stepmom play a lot of tennis, and after talking with her I decided to give it a try.

So Dee set it up, and ever since she and I have been doing weekly lessons with Carolyn, one of the tennis pros here. A few weeks ago, we also started adding in a Wednesday time where we'd use the ball machine in order to practice further.

And I gotta say - I REALLY like it. Believe me, no one is more surprised about that than I am. I've had a tenuous relationship with organized sports, since like, my entire life, so I went into it cautious but excited to learn something new. I'd played tennis a bit in high school but nothing organized and so we started from Square One with the different strokes, areas of the court, rules, etc.

Also, guess what? I am having a LOT of fun. It's great to get out a few times a week and be active and outside, plus I've met a few nice ladies who live in my neighborhood. 

I've still been using one of the club rackets and haven't made the plunge to buying my own, but I plan to do that soon. I would also like to get to the point where I play a game or two a week with the people here; nothing crazy, but just enough times a week to where I am using my newfound skill set and practicing after lessons are over.

Do you play a sport for fun? Do you have pick up games with your neighbors and friends? I'd be interested to hear what you do to stay active and have fun.

Have a great day!

How's Florida? A progress report of sorts.

My puppy on our lanai - watching over the neighborhood.

Good morning everyone. It's Day 1 of my 30 day writing challenge so I thought it'd be fun to update you on how life is going down here in Southwest Florida.

The short answer is ~ it's wonderful. Just wonderful.

My mom and I drove down over 4th of July weekend, and got settled. She stayed for about a week after, which was great. We got the minutiae of moving done; arranging things where I wanted them, going to Target and Bed Bath and Beyond and Publix again and again for things like soap dispensers, trash cans, etc - all that glamorous stuff.

When you move (or at least, when I moved), you tend to think about the big stuff. What do I want to take with me? What do I want to sell, or donate? (There is no better time to purge than when you're moving.) Let me schedule this for the move, that for the move. The big items get done because those are super necessary for the move itself. But what about the days and weeks AFTER? What about the small stuff?

What do I mean by "small stuff"? Things like:

* Where do I shop for groceries? Where is my nearest/best Target? What speciality shops have the best meat / fruit / seafood, etc?

* A vet for the dog.

* A hairdresser for me (ladies, you know this is IMPORTANT.)

* Healthcare providers like a doctor, dentist, etc.

And so on, and so forth. I found that at least in my case, I didn't necessarily give a lot of thought to those items. When you live in a place for years and years (like I did back in Iowa), you tend not to think about those people and practitioners you use because you've probably seen them for a long time. Heck, your parents and sibling and cousins ALSO probably see them.

I am still working on some of those starred items. Namely, my hair is a MESS and I need a trim, like, a week ago. And, my dog is due for his yearly check up in October so I need to get on finding him a vet, too.

I've also taken the time to explore a bit more of my surroundings. As you might know, I work from home, so it's very easy to stay in my house and in my neighborhood all week and not really venture out much. But as I my sister and I are doing with beaches (you can read about that on the Marco Island post), I am taking evenings and weekend days to drive around and get my bearings. I have started to get a little brave and try alternate routes, so I can possibly avoid heavy traffic when Season kicks me and snowbirds start arriving.

So that's the state of things. There have been many more things I've done, places I've seen, but I need to fill up blog posts for the next month so I am not going to tell you all about that now. ;)

Now I'm off to finish breakfast, drink another cup of coffee, and get ready for my tennis lessons. I will tell you about THAT tomorrow!

Thanks for reading, take care and have a great Wednesday!

30 Days of Writing

So here is the thing.

I would love to write a book someday. I have a few ideas (and I've started one) but I would love to write a book by the end of 2017. Fingers crossed.

But, in order to do that...I have to get REAL disciplined about my writing. The only way you get better is through practice and this deal where I write 2-3 blogs posts a month is not going to cut it.

One of my brothers is writing every day as well, and he inspired me to do the same.

So here is my promise to you. Starting tomorrow, August 24th I will post a blog EVERY SINGLE DAY for the next 30 days. Until September 23rd, I will do a blog post about something.

It could be big stuff, or small stuff. I could give you my thoughts about world-changing, important issues....or why I think Teresa needs to be gone on the Real Housewives of New Jersey. (To be honest, probably a lot more towards the latter.) It might be paragraphs, it might be ten really horrible sentences about nothing.

Oh and I am actually going to write for 30 days. I am not going to "cheat", sit down one night and write fifteen blog posts and schedule them for the next few weeks. I am going to sit down every night or every morning and write. That is my promise to you.

I would be happy if you followed along! I am going to need the largest cheering section I can muster. I also need people holding me accountable, so there's that.

If you see on the top right of the blog, there's an empty field that says "Be A Pal and Subscribe." If you put in your email address there, you'll get a message every time I post. Don't worry, I won't spam you or sell your email addresses to a king in Nigeria who wants to leave you his vast fortune.

Thanks again for reading; have a great day!

A Day at Marco Island

Hope you all had a great weekend and were not too sad about the conclusion of the Olympics. I only teared up four times during the closing broadcast, so I considered that a win.

(And can we talk about Tokyo for 2020!? They dropped the mic HARD in Rio last night. Goodness. Cannot wait for those games!)

I've been living here in Southwest Florida for about a month and a half now, and am just now considering myself "settled in". I have my routine and am getting a much better handle on this area where I now live.

Every weekend, my sister and I try to visit a new beach in the area. This is partly because we want to find the ones we like the best, but also because we want to take advantage of what is literally in our back yard.

When you live in a place that's a vacation destination, you tend to NOT see and do those things that people come to see, because you can do those anytime, right? There's no pressure to see and do, because you can theoretically go out any old time you'd like. But of course what ends up happening is that you see and do NOTHING, so we are aiming to correct that wrong.

The next beach on our list was in Marco Island, Florida. My sister had friends in town, so we decided this would be a perfect time to try it out.

And you guys - it did NOT disappoint.

After meeting her friends at their condo and caravanning down to the beach, we arrived around 11:30.  The drive into Marco Island is GORGEOUS, as you cross one large bridge and a smaller one and both are just gorgeous. I, of course, fired up my Realtor.com app more than once to see what it would cost to live in this paradise. Just incredible. We made our way to our destination, Tigertail Beach.

My sister has a sticker where she can get beach access at no cost (she works for Collier County) and so we drove right in with no problems. If you don't have a sticker, it costs you $8 per day (or $1.50 per hour) which is totally do-able for a day's worth of fun. We parked and loaded up our beach cart and arms and it basically looked like we were moving in. (When you plan to be at the beach all day, you must take provisions! And lots of umbrellas. And more food.)

We knew going in that it would be a bit of a trek to the beach. From the parking lot to the beach itself, it's about a 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile walk. There is an option to wade through some water to get there faster, but as we had lots of stuff (and also, because ANIMALS IN THE WATER and who knows how deep it is at parts), we decided to hoof it to the beach.

There are restrooms by the parking lot, as well as a little place that sells basic food and beverages. It would be a bit of a hassle to walk back and forth to the restrooms all day but if you weren't carrying all your beach gear, the walk wouldn't be so bad.

It was an amazing walk because the sand was SO far back. With most of the beaches down here, the condos and hotels are a mere steps from the water but down by Tigertail, it's at least a football field's length from the shore to the hotels, maybe more. I need to research how often the tide gets THAT far up the beach, it was pretty neat.

We set up the umbrellas, chairs and coolers and pretty much settled in for a day at the beach. It was INCREDIBLE. Probably the best beach I've been to thus far. It was nearly deserted; probably because most schools are in session now and most vacations are over, but we also wondered if it's because it's a bit of a trek to get to this beach and people don't want to do that. That all worked out in our favor, because even though there was activity at the beach people were not on top of or crowding us. It was perfect.

The weather could not have been better. The forecast was clear; in our last hour we heard some thunder rumbling and looked at the radar and it was about 15 miles away but never came towards us. Since it rains pretty much every day in the summer, this was a win.

I only took these three pictures because they are essentially all the same (gorgeous water and scenery)  but believe me when I tell you - it was paradise. Incredibly gorgeous. The water was a tad warm (as it' s been in the high 90s for months now) but it was still perfect. My sister and her friend, as well as their son, spent a lot of time in the water.  The friend's wife and I had a nice chat under the umbrellas that they were so good to bring. That is the key to beach longevity - umbrellas. As long as you can be in the shade, you can spend all day there.

After about 5 hours, we loaded up our gear and made the trek back to the cars. It was a HOT day and we were all sandy, sweaty and hot but so worth it. What a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

My sister and I both agreed that this would not be a beach where we'd go for a quick hour or two; you really want to make the drive and walking there worth it, so it's really a day beach. However, it is somewhere I will take out-of-town guests and also suggest to clients and vacationers who are coming to Southwest Florida.

I will keep you posted on other beaches and places we're exploring down here.

Have a great day!

Rio 2016 - Let's Do This

Today is my JAM, people. My favorite time, every two years. It's Olympics time, baby.

I am a bone-fide Olympics junkie. I love the opening ceremonies (yes, all 56 hours of it. Or at least it seems that long). I watch as many events as I can; I gobble up all the feel-good Bob Costas-narrated stories I can about the athletes and their journey to the games. I LIVE for the moments where they cut to the parents of the athlete, and the looks on their faces as their kid sprints towards a gold medal? I could watch that all day long.

Sure, the Olympics has its problems, too. The IOC (The International Olympics Committee) has a fair share of corruption. I don't like seeing host countries spend millions and millions of dollars when they could instead be spending that money on their citizens and the issues facing their countries. I don't like hearing the stories that we see out of Rio where the crime is rampant, the water unsafe. That facilities and dorms for the athletes are still being finished as we speak and that conditions in certain areas of the city are deplorable.

I'm not at all minimizing those issues or saying they don't deserve our attention. They do. But I still can't quit you, Olympics. Because where else can I see soccer and gymnastics and swimming and track and field and diving and (my new personal favorite) Olympic trampoline-ing?!

(I'm sure that's what it's legitimately called.)

So I will be glued to the TV for the next few weeks, starting tonight with the opening ceremonies. Be sure to follow along on my Facebook and Twitter accounts for my delightful thoughts about all this Olympics.

And let's go USA!

What I'm Wearing - August 1st edition

Hey there everyone! I hope you all had a nice weekend.

And can we just have a moment of silence - today is AUGUST. Holy smokes. I say it all the time, but the year is truly flying by.

And I'm seeing on Facebook today that some of your babies are going back to school already and that just seems so so early; I don't think we went back until mid-late August, at the earliest. Is that a Southern thing? Moms and Dads of kids in school, leave me comments and let me know because it just seems so stinking early to me.

But I digress.

Here's another edition of what I'm wearing. I love reading other people's blogs where they highlight the books they're reading, shows they're watching, cute earrings they've bought, etc and so these posts are my homage to that. I hope you find some winners - let me know! I'd love to hear if you ended up loving something, too.

So without further ado, here we go.

* Leaf Drop Earrings - Target $7.99

Yes, that is not a typo. These earrings are under $8 and are SO CUTE. They're a nice long length, and very very light so they won't weigh down your ear lobes.

HERE is the link if you want to purchase them for yourself. Target also has that wonderful option where you can purchase them online and then just go pick up at the customer service counter, so you won't have to wander around looking for them.

And really, that option is a cost savings too because then you don't wander around Target and spend $100 before you even know it. Not that anything like that has ever happened to me. Ahem.

* Melissa McCarthy Seven7 "Art of Denim" Skinny Jean - HSN $118.00

I posted these jeans on the Facebook group last week but they deserve a mention here, as well. I have been wanting to try Melissa's line at HSN and so I took the plunge and ordered these lovelies.

The reviews of her jeans have been VERY good and since I have a long-standing beef with the makers of most plus-sized clothing (as in, I am convinced those who make them don't actually wear those sizes), I wanted to give these a try and see if they really are that good.

Oh man ALIVE - folks, these are the real deal. The paint splatters are so fun and the distressing is the best kind - enough that they look cute, but not so much that you are afraid to wash them for fear they will break apart.

I do not plan on wearing mine with black pumps but think they will be just darling with some cute wedge sandals.

At $118 they are not cheap, but good denim is hard to find, y'all. And when I find good jeans, they're worth the money to me. (HSN also has a deal on these jeans where you can do monthly payments; they will mail them to you now, but charge you in installments monthly with no interest.)

* Fontaine Layering Necklace - Stella and Dot, $89

Now to be clear - I don't have this necklace *yet* but I know it's going to be a favorite. As I've mentioned before, I love Stella and Dot's jewelry. Gorgeous pieces that are durable and fun and trendy and also classic.

I love a long necklace and especially anything that I can layer with itself, or also break into different pieces.

AND since you are actually getting three separate necklaces here, each necklace is really under $30, which is a super deal. (That, my friends, is called Girl Math.)

To order this and other Stella pieces, get in touch with Friend of the Blog Gina at http://www.stelladot.com/sites/ginaschmitt/profile/?lc=en_us.

So share with the class, in the comments below: what are you loving to wear?

Have a great day!

Dear Dani - I'm that woman in your picture.

Dear Dani,

As I was perusing Facebook the other night, I saw the story of your gross and vile SnapChat being posted and shared and was both shocked and heartbroken, as so many were.

You see, I'm that woman in the picture. No, not that specific woman, but I am her. And thousands of other women in this country are as well.

I am plus sized; I wish I wasn't, but I am. I already heap enough harsh words and thoughts on myself based on the way I look; I don't need your voice added to the mix.

Do you know how difficult it ALREADY is to go to a place like a gym? Nearly everyone in the gym is already fit, lean. I am neither. I don't go as often as I should because I'm already nervous about going into a place full of the "beautiful people."  I worry that other gym members will be judging me, talking about me - or even, as you did, taking a picture and texting it to their friends. Or in your case, your whole SnapChat followers list.

You have no idea about that woman's story. Maybe she is at the gym because it's the one place she has "me time" away from her family and responsibilities. Maybe she gained weight after having a baby, or after a surgery, or after taking a medication, and is trying to lose it. Maybe she has been overweight most of her life, and nervous for years to go to a gym, but finally talked herself into going and was finally starting to feel good about herself.

I cannot imagine the pain she is going through now, seeing herself in your photo. I bet you have no idea how demoralizing it is to start on the road to feeling good about yourself, only to be knocked down a few pegs by someone like you.

I wish I knew who she was - not so that she could be further victimized, but so I could give her a hug, squeeze her hand and say, I am so sorry.

And as long as we're talking about sorry, let's talk about your "apology", shall we? You appear to not have given many apologies in your life so I'll give you some pointers, just in case you have to give one in the future. Saying, in essence, that you only meant to send that to one friend and not your whole list IS NOT AN APOLOGY. You had a golden opportunity to truly say you were sorry, and to try and make amends to this poor woman and other women like her, who are in gyms everyday around this country, who already feel as though people look down on them. But instead you tried to pass off your SnapChat as no big deal, which further shows your true character (or lack thereof).

The poet Maya Angelou once said, "When people show you who they are, believe them." Dani, you've shown us exactly who you are, and even though your exterior is pretty, your insides are ugly. And every day of the week and twice on Sundays, I would choose being that woman in your photo instead of you.