the first Thanksgiving

No, I'm not referring to the pilgrims, Squanto, or any other historical figure. This year I hosted my Thanksgiving for the first time. It was delicious even though I wasn't able to prepare too much ahead of time. My new fridge wasn't delivered until Wednesday afternoon, so we grocery shopped for the event the night before. Mom and I made a delicious spread that is featured below. I hope that you all had a lovely Thanksgiving full of friends, family and fabulous food as well!The buffet line to grab dinner (and my cute kitchen). We ate meal our outside on the balcony.

The little stove that could. Can you believe we cooked a whole Thanksgiving meal on this thing?
The finished product. Mmmn. We were thankful indeed.

the greatest parents on the face of the earth...

Some may argue with my assertion that I have the greatest parents EVER, but if they had seen my parents this past week they would gladly hand them this most coveted title. Seriously my parents are amazing!
Let me give you a little context, last week my parents drove from Michigan to my new tropical home here in Lake Worth, FL. As if it wasn't enough just to see them, they brought all my stuff in a rental trailer.
We (actually they) moved my stuff into the new place on Tuesday afternoon. By the time I came home from work the only thing that wasn't in my apartment was the couch which my father wisely decided not to carry up my stairs on his back. Sidebar, my dad is indeed a one man moving company. Later my mom told me that every time she turned around my dad had managed to carry some large piece of furniture, such as my dresser, in on HIS BACK. I believe I may receive a chiropractor bill in the mail as this cannot have been good for him.



In any case, my parents are now back in Michigan and glad to be home again. However, my mom did mention how cold it is back home. It was so wonderful to have them as my first house guests. Hopefully many more will follow (hint, hint...that means you)!

No new people???

Many of you know about the "no new people" discussion that seems to never have an end. Just when we drop the subject we are once again reminded of this ultimate truth. As you can imagine, I didn't anticipate running into this problem in Florida at least not so soon. However, it appears that my "everyone's new" honeymoon is now officially over.

Get this, an old co-worker from Michigan contacted me last week because she lives in Palm Beach Gardens. In the course of our conversation I learned that she attends the church that I've been checking out."No big deal," you say. Well wait. I filled out an information card at church and received a phone call a few days ago. The woman that I spoke with was very excited to hear that I work at the West Palm Beach Public Library. Apparently, my co-worker Judy is her mentor. I know 35 people in the entire state of Florida and met someone who knows one of them well.

Further, now I'm staying with Jody, my old co-worker, until the 19th when I move into my new place. No Karin and I didn't have a falling out--in fact I missed her last night. We generally watch the Office together on Thursday nights and just hang out, and it wasn't the same without her. Anyhow, Karin is in Michigan with friends and family and the people she rents from are staying at the condo while she's away. So back to the purpose of this story: my new housing. The people I'm staying with are good friends with my co-worker Judy's daughter. In fact she'll be coming over for a dinner party on Sunday.

Go ahead, I know you want to sing It's a Small World After All.

sing it loud

Today, I read up on the town I will soon call home and found that Lake Worth has an anthem. When you come to visit I expect to be serenaded with the following song:

The nation's eye is on thy sands
Florida, O Florida!
Thy lovely shores and fertile lands,
Florida, O Florida!
The future whispers in thy pines,
It beckons in thy "white coal" mines,
The pioneer to thee inclines
Florida, O Florida!
Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!

Lake Worth's the place for you, to go,
Florida, O Florida!
They'll put you up a bungalow
Florida, O Florida!
The interest takes not a cent,
You pay the cost instead of rent.
What better plan could man invent?
Florida, O Florida!
Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!

Adieu to bleak and frozen lands,
Florida, O Florida!
Adieu to wastes and desert sands,
Florida, O Florida!
In Florida I'll make my home,
Nor want the placer sands of Nome;
Her gold is in her fertile loam;
Florida, O Florida!
Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!

Lake Worth will greet you with a smile,
Florida, O Florida!
She'll fix you up in bully style,
Florida, O Florida!
Beneath the kindly southern sun,
She'll see your fortune well begun;
You'd better be upon the run.
(To) Florida, O Florida!
Oh, my Lake Worth, Florida

The Lake Worth Herald helps along,
Florida, O Florida!
It's editor is R. E. Strong.
Florida, O Florida!
he keeps things moving in the way
Of doing something day by day,
And renders service as he may
(For) Florida, O Florida!
Oh, my Lake Worth, Florida!

Our Governor reflects the hour,
Florida, O Florida!
He stands for Okeechobee's pow'r
Florida, O Florida!
Great Edison is with us, too,
And Bryan is of that great crew
That makes the prospect good to view,
(In) Florida, O Florida!
Oh, my Lake Worth, Florida!

Why falter, then? There's no excuse,
Florida, O Florida!
The "Wizard" will turn on the "juice".
Florida, O Florida!
The light and pow'r are on the way,
And when they come they'll come to stay,
To user in a brighter day,
(For) Florida, O Florida!
Oh, my Lake Worth Florida!

The "Commoner's" not here for fun,
Florida, O Florida!
He sees the chance-- sixteen to one ---
(In) Florida, O Florida!
With Trammal, Bryan and the rest
Lake Worth shall flower with the best -
Lake Worth, In Florida, the blest --
Florida, O Florida!
Oh, my Lake Worth, Florida!

the place

I'm about to live in a pink house; can you believe it?



The stairs on the left lead to my apartment; no shared walls a fun balcony, and great windows.



The courtyard area. Isn't it cute?

a long silence

I'm sorry that it's been so long since I last posted. Do you remember how I wrote about the day that went on forever? Well, it seems that I've had to pay for all that weekend lesiure time during the past week. In addition, the internet service at Karin's has been down for the past few days. I came into work a few minutes early this morning just so I'd have time to write you all.

It's been an exciting week; I signed a lease on Wednesday. I'm now the proud renter of a cute little upper apartment in Lake Worth. I have pitures of the exterior, but the wood floors are in the middle of being refinished, so I didn't take pictures of the actual rooms yet. I just wanted to keep you all wanting more. I'll create a photo tour soon, as I move in a week from monday (november 19th).

a perfect day...

Oh daylight savings time, how I love you. Seriously, I've never loved the day after the "fall back" too much before as I generally squander my extra hour and still wake up tired the next day. But not so this year. After posting yesterday I went to bed and woke up around 9 a.m. After sitting on the balcony and catching up with a friend who is living overseas I went for a walk on the beach. I couldn't have asked for a better day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky: the ocean and inner coastal were full of boaters enjoying the calm after the tropical storm.
Once I got back to the condo, Karin and I had to decide how to spend such a lovely day. While we tossed around ideas of painting pottery and starting our Christmas shopping, we landed on going to eat lunch on the beach and laying out with a good book. Every so often Karin and I looked at one another and said "I can't believe it's only (fill in time here)." It was the day that never ended, but in the best of ways.
This evening I attended Christ Fellowship again; tonight they recorded a live worship CD. I'm still getting used to it, but it was a good service. In other news, I signed up to get together with a group of ladies that meets on Tuesday nights.
I think that about covers it. I love you all and miss you very much.

are you my new home?

Today I drove around the city of Lake Worth and looked at more apartments and condos. I LOVE Lake Worth and found a cute little upstairs apartment within easy walking distance of the inner coastal and the city's downtown area. It's really cute, so we'll see what happens.

As I looked all over the city I met quite a few interesting characters. One property manager spoke with me on the phone for about a half an hour. He told me about his sick dog, Snow, who needs pills and eye drops 4 times a day. He is also told me that he was a national champion water skier in 1978 and 1982. Our conversation ended with him asking me to call him Wayne-0. I love the way some people just embrace a goofy nickname.

Many of the places I looked at today were under construction (walls in the midst of being painted, floors redone, etc.). In one such building the property manager told me, "it's pretty much going to be what you see here except I'm putting brand new vinyl on all the floors. And it's thick vinyl. Look at these keys; the floor'll be as thick as these 2 keys on top of each other." Needless to say that building isn't the charming one that I refer to at the beginning of this post.

While exploring Lake Worth, I met a native Floridian who warned me "It'll be cold tonight." COLD?!?!?! It's been beautiful out today- I actually got a bit of sun on my shoulders and am a little pink. It was a perfect Florida day and now, at midnight, it's in the upper 60's. The low tonight is going to be 65 degrees. Lovely.

florida traffic slow downs

the other day I was worried that I wouldn't make to work on time because I was stuck not at a train crossing but rather at the foot of a bridge that was up. There was a huge line of cars that backed up waiting for a yacht to cross. I sat there watching the boat sail by and thinking "wow, I can't believe that I live in a place like this." It's pretty amazing here.