Today's Gratitude

I've been waiting for the go ahead to post this for like a week now because of some exciting news I include. It's been a good couple of weeks in the world of Abby. Here are some of the things I'm grateful for lately.

Going to my first Reggae Sunday in St. Augustine with Dana, Martin, Will, and Milton. What a place for people watching... Old man with crazy, salsa-like dance moves all around the dock and funky smelling tent, old lady with crazy bejeweled hair net and... chest squares? It looked like she used the jewels preteens use to bedazzle their cell phones for a chest decoration. We said these two probably "came to Reggae Sunday 20 years ago and never left."

We're such "consistent smilers."

Will and I had a Cute Niece Contest. Adaleigh won with a forfeit after one video of the precious angel baby's smiles.

A surprise birthday dinner to celebrate Mr. Chad Baker. I've been back in Jax for like 10 months now and had probs only seen the kid for like 10 minutes. I had the most expensive but best dinner at new favorite restaurant, Black Sheep. Great boiled grapefruit calamari appetizer, best salmon I've ever had, perfectly sweet Riesling, and deliciously unique chai creme brûlée. I had written them a review before even leaving the restaurant. We continued celebrations with some drinks at O'Brothers. It was a great night with some awesome people.

A Suns baseball game with Dana and Martin, that included a meet and greet with a player. Several dates have followed and he's been racking up the points ever since. A gentleman even the Salt Life waitresses and roommate are impressed with. (Roommate is probably more telling with his big brother-style protection). Glad we relocated to the seats near the relief pitchers...

Paddle boarding adventures with Dana and Martin (lots of good times with these two lately) complete with yoga, dolphin sightings, headstands, cannonballs, racing, conquering shark fears, relaxing, and chicken fights. I expected it to be pretty cool, but it seriously surpassed my expectations.

A delicious and special dinner shared with Brother Matt. We enjoyed the rooftop of Black Sheep overlooking the hip old Riverside area, (two weekends in a row), rocking shrimp and grits and a burger, and excitement over his proposal plans the following day. Grateful to have had this night with him. Crazy these happen so few and far between being in the same city!

A successful proposal for those two love birds, giving me another amazing sister-in-law-to-be. My brothers pick some good ones. Matt's engaged! Welcome to the family, Rachel!

Comments

2023 in Review (Plus 2020-2022, oops)

I am super bummed to realize that I haven't done a yearly review/highlights since 2019! That's FOUR YEARS ago! Pre covid, pre Oregon, pre master's degree, pre return to Florida, pre a million babies being born... So much has changed! It's always to nice to sit back and look at all that happens in a year too. It's now February. I started this post in December and was about to go and try to edit and make it all fancy with links to other posts and all kinds of cool things.... I'm sure there are some mistakes even with the years, things left out... but progress over perfection right? We're just going posting it in 3...2...1... Have fun! 2023 1. Bike bike biking everywhere. To the Grom for tasty lunch treats, Indian almost every week, grocery shopping, to the gym, just to bike around in the sun. It's been great! 2. All the babies came: Lowey-Balls, Krupkas, Bakers, neighbor friends x2, Sarkissians, and even more to come! 3. Finally got the best job wit...

Things I Learned This Weekend

1. Throwing away pictures quickly turns into hours of laughing at old selves and bringing back so many memories. High school friends and I have often wondered what we did in high school since we weren't the typical partying teens. After this picture raid, I realized... we took pictures. In dressing rooms, walmart, cars, kitchen islands... 2. My parents are awesome. I didn't learn this this weekend but it was definitely reinforced. They are just such dedicated, good people. We're also surrounded by some amazingly supportive friends. 3. My dad is so cool. I mean really... Cool guy on the right... Can he get any more awesome? Not to mention that crazy guy on the left, aka Uncle Dennis. I never did get a straight answer about whether he dressed like that on the reg or not. So was that a regular occurrence, Dennis?! ;) 4. Sleepy babies are one of the sweetest things to see. 5. Having adult conversations with toddlers is so amusing to me. Brooks and I d...

Opposite Ends (Atlantic to Pacific)

It's been over a year since being back in Florida. I started thinking of some of these comparisons shortly after returning, but now I have even more to add. And it's more comparing the Oregon Coast to this area, of course. If you're new here, we were in Pacific City, OR a little old town of ~1000 people. Now we're in Atlantic Beach, FL. 1. The amount of laundry. I'd say 3 shirts a day in the summer is typical for this Florida heat and humidity. Go for a morning walk, change shirts... Plant some flowers. Gotta change... Workout, definitely change. Shower, dog walk-- one more change before the night's done. 2. The bank and post office are open on Saturdays here! And restaurants don't close for the winter. 3. Florida neighborhood strolls: Seeing 10+ humans on every walk compared to often only 0. I love the community here! Lovely neighbors, gym rats, baristas. Even my parents! The Padres moved 40 minutes away vs 2.5! Yahoo! Pacific City was just so empty. On...

Where's Abby (+ Dylan and dogs)

Search This Blog