Look Who's Back

Forgive me for the lapse on this blog. Between the holidays, some minor medical setbacks, and preparing to move abroad, I’ve been pre-occupied to say the least! If you are following my adventures on this blog, you most likely already know that I have made the move to Australia, am nearly one week in to my adventure, and life is good. More on all of that to come...

Let me quickly fill in the gaps for you. In November, I turned the big 3-0, and celebrated by throwing myself a boat party in Austin. My attitude is that if you don’t celebrate yourself, who else is going to do it for you? So, I assembled a crew of fun friends and we hit the waters of Lake Austin, decked out in our finest Florida themed attire. Being a Florida native, I’ve been teased by my friends in Austin for the last eight-ish years. And rightfully so...Florida is the birthplace of most of the ridiculous news stories you hear in the US. I challenge you to start paying attention to the most insane stories you read on cnn.com or any news site, and odds are 95% of them originated in the Sunshine State. From people smuggling monkeys on airlines in their ponytails, to people forcing their grandmothers to smoke crack, Florida continues to outdo itself. So, with this in mind, I asked everyone to dress as their interpretation of Florida, and I was NOT disappointed.

After the birthday festivities, it was just a short time until my family flew in for Thanksgiving at my place. This was a real treat as I am usually the one who travels for all holidays, but I was able to leverage my impending move to get them out to Austin. We ate, drank, went to the zoo, watched football and celebrated for five great days!

I then traveled to Florida for Christmas, where I got a chance to catch up with friends and family for just under two weeks. It was relaxing and very enjoyable. Of course, a major highlight was spending time with my niece, who is turning into a very entertaining and enjoyable little lady. By the time I see her again, I swear she’ll be driving! Oh wait, from the looks of things, she already is...

My last two weeks in Austin were jam packed with packing my house, moving everything into storage, organizing all of the details for my move overseas and saying too many goodbyes. My friends put together a going away gathering for me, and we were joined by our good friend Roger Clemens. But more importantly, everyone came out to say goodbye (for now) and wish me luck, and it was a very special night. Why am I leaving these great friends again??

So farewell temporarily to Austin...I’ll see you soon and hope everyone remembers and keeps a spot warm for me there!