Contrary to Rumors - We're Still Alive and Kicking!!!

I guess I forgot over the past couple years how an office can turn into an all encompassing black hole and how work can become all consuming...the past six weeks have come as a rude reminder. Yes we are both back at work and that's why we haven't had time to blog - every time I thought about it (unfortunately which was usually at 3:00 am when I awoke in a cold panic regarding everything else I hadn't had time to do) I was too tired to think.....let alone start typing on a computer that has become all too much of an ever present appendage. Work for both of us has been absolutely off the wall crazy busy - guess that's what happens when you join start-ups or re-starts or whatever you want to call our respective companies. There always seems to be too much to do, not enough people to do it, and not enough money to do it with - ah the joys of a young company!! All that moaning aside - we're actually having a blast being back at work . Who said that??? - of course we'd rather still be cruising but once we made the decision to go back to work, at least we have wound up at very kewl companies!!! To offset the long hours and the stress are the intellectual challenges of being back running a business and making decisions that really matter - now I know what happy hour to hit or beer v wine are critical decisions but...... And to make things even better, in a week or two, my commute goes from 3 1/2 hours down to our office in Aventura to 10 minutes since my new office is located on the premises of the Kennedy Space Center - right next to the rocket garden!!! Sorry Doug - his commute remains at 45 minutes!

Just because we've been working our butts off doesn't mean we haven't had any fun though - and our cruising buddies are mostly to be thanked for that!! Tis the season for cruisers to migrate south - hurricane season is over (thank you Mother Nature for giving us such a benign one here in FL) and the butter is starting to harden up north so boats just seem to head the pointy end south to follow the warmth. First through town was September Song - Stephanie, Bob and the girls (Cassie and Godiva) who we traveled with for many months last year swung into our marina and stayed for about 10 days of fun and frivolity. We of course had to take them to all of our favorite places - the SandBar,

Lunch at the Sandbar

the Cocoa Beach Pier,

September Song and Gypsies in the Palace at the Cocoa Beach Pier

Beef O'Brady's and FishLips

FishLips for drinks and apps

for lots of cold drinks, good food and not so good music (have we mentioned we miss KW!)

Then Joe and Julia on Sea Pearl swung through and we had only a night with them but, although Doug had to fly to California for a few days, Bob, Stephanie and I made the most of it with dinner at the Roost!

Dinner with Joe and Julia from Sea Pearl

Back to the Pier with Bob and Stephanie

Back to the Cocoa Beach Pier

for some awesome people and surf watching as the waves were definitely kicking up - at the end of the pier you could feel it swaying as each wave hit!

Bob and I decided against heading out on our boogie boards given the size of the waves, the kickass undertow and let's be honest, the coldness of the water! Yes I know I used to swim in the waters of Maine in March, but I admit it, I am now a warm water wimp after several years in the aquamarine bath water of the Bahamas, the Keys and even FL in the summer!! Then it was on to provision - important things only like an Admiral Nelson run.
Finally it was time for dinner on Gypsies complete with a Bahamas key lime pie (here's your fork and pass it along - can you believe we ate the whole thing??),
squirt whip cream (Bob's favorite)
and cigars and rum on the flybridge!! Missed you Rena!
The next day was time for a final fling at FishLips over at the Canaveral Cruise Ship Basin under a gorgeous, warm FL sun where Bob a/k/a the hat man found a smashing bamboo hat to try on!!
It was so good to see you guys - we've missed you!! See you in Marathon next week!!

September Song Pulls out of the Marina

Next into town was Norm and Vicki on TideHiker and Todd and Brenda on Life's2Short - I had planned on getting back from Aventura in time for dinner with everyone, but....nope...work swallowed me! At least Doug got a chance to have pizza in Cocoa with everyone - and we got this great picture of everyone waving to me!!
Unfortunately I missed TideHiker (see you in Marathon this winter) but Life's2Short stayed in town long enough to spend a weekend with us. Back to FishLips,

FishLips with Todd and Brenda from Life's2Short

the Pier

Todd Tries to Escape from the Bar at the Cocoa Beach Pier

and Beef O'Bradys - beginning to see a trend....tons of fun hanging out with the Captain and the Admiral - thanks for hanging around long enough for me to see you guys...and thanks for the Eagles DVD Todd - it rocks!!! See you guys in St Pete this winter! (You may be catching on by now that all our cruising buddies have moved on to places warm for the winter - we plan on visiting all of them!!)

Before we knew it we were heading out to Sebring to spend Thanksgiving with our great friends from Kennebunkport, John and Francesca Spain. They have a wonderful house down here where they spend the winter which is only a couple hours from us here on Merritt Island. Not only was the food unbelievable (thanks Francesca)

John and Francesca, the Chefs

Doug Carves the Turkey While John and Francesca Continue Preparations

but we got to catch up, watch a great Pats game with fellow New England fans, hot tub and just spend time with great folks. Assuming we can get our heads out of our work butts long enough, we've got great plans to meet in Orlando for some park experiences and to head back to Sebring for golf weekends! Thanks for everything guys - can't wait to see you again!

So that about sums up life over the last month and a half - I can not even believe this week is December 1st!! Where did the Fall go I ask you - is it just me that missed it? Guess I shouldn't be too surprised since they've been playing Christmas carols in all the stores down here for the past 3 or 4 weeks - yikes! Time to decorate Gypsies....hope I do a better job than I did at decorating for Thanksgiving, or Halloween, etc.....which somehow never seemed to happen. As much as I'd love to decorate next weekend, we're off to Marathon - yeah Keys - to bring Bob and Stephanie's car to them so they have it for the winter. The fearsome foursome back together in the Keys - could get ugly folks so I won't promise pictures!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and keep smiling for the upcoming holiday season (no matter how annoying those Christmas carols become)!!