A Year at the Beach

The last few weeks have been a bit rough around here. Getting ready to move and everything that comes with it is stressful enough but we have had some hiccups that have made this time around (it's only our 10th move in 12 years) a bit harder than usual. Thankfully today, it has all been ironed out and in 10 days we will be Texas bound.

So, as our year at the beach is coming to a close, we have spent some time reflecting on what a wonderful adventure it's been. We are both so grateful to live a lifestyle where we have been able to experience so many wonderful things together. Life is short and unpredictable but the heart of life is good and man, has it been fun!

Here are some of my favorite things about this past year we have spent living it up on the beach:


*Watching two bald eagles build their nest on the cell tower across the street from our house. Then watching their babies grow, test out their wings, learn how to fly and leave the nest.

*Watching a mourning dove build her stick nest in our garage, laying two eggs, hatching them, and watching the babies grow.

*Walks along the beach, hunting for shells and other treasures.

*Amassing a collection of shells so big it caused me to use 3 rolls of packing paper to wrap them up for the move

*Snorkeling in the ocean and watching a sweet little seahorse bobbing around attached to a piece of seaweed.

*Snorkeling out to a sandbar 50 yards in the ocean and being surrounded by dozens of starfish

*Taking a ride on Loop Road, a 25 mile long dirt road in the Everglades, and observing hundreds of alligators in their natural habitat, less than 30 feet away from us.

* Visting Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, watching the famous Mermaid show and seeing a mama manatee and her baby up close in the Springs.

*Going with friends to Crystal River and Three Sisters Springs to snorkel with the manatees. Rubbing a manatees back and having him roll over so I could scratch.

*Swimming in the ocean while manatees passed right by, close enough to touch.

*Countless dolphin sightings

*Going to see the Christmas Lights at the Tampa Bay Zoo

*Walking down the beach to the beach cafe to have Thanksgiving Day dinner in the sand.

*Spending Christmas on the beach with my family

*Finding a Great White Shark fossilized tooth during one of my shell hunts

*A Motorcyle ride along the coast and catching an amazing sunrise

*Watching the sunset from the beach or our deck

*Hearing great live music from the bar across the street while relaxing on our deck

*Stand up paddle boarding

*Kayaking

*Hiking Robinsons Preserve

*Seeing Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks and Sandhill Cranes

*Seeing Bon Jovi and Stevie Knicks in concert

*Going to see a preseason baseball game for the Pittsburgh Pirates

*Dressing up as a Mermaid and a Pirate and coming in second in a costume contest

*Riding my bike to get groceries

*Getting the BEST sandwiches from a great local deli

*Ordering sandwiches from a different great local deli and having them delivered to us right on the beach

*Amazing visits and adventures with our friends and family who came to visit

*Seeing stingrays

*Experiencing a Hurricane and floating in the street on my blow up raft in my swimsuit

*Saturday morning walks to the City Pier and stopping for breakfast along the way

*Mini-golf (which I NEVER won)

*Getting to see Snooty the oldest living manatee

*Doing a 5k on Siesta Key for sea turtle conservationan

*Doing a 5K Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot over the John Ringling Bridge in Sarasota

*Being surrounded by Monk Parakeets and feeling like you live in a Tarzan movie

*Going to the local fish markets where the fisherman unload their catch right off the boat

*Learning how to grill different types of fish

*Double rainbows

*Key Lime Coconut Cake from Hometown Desserts, a local island bakery

*Tuna sandwiches from our favorite little dive/bait shop, New Pass Grille

As I write this list, I am sure there are so many things that I am missing. Suffice it to say that we have had one hell of a ride this year. Here's to many more adventures to come in Texas...or wherever the Gypsy Caravan may roam :)

Disconnect to reconnect

I love Facebook! Everyone who knows me knows that I love to post and that I love to see other people posts. It's a fun way to interact with others and especially since my friends and family are spread out all over the world, it's an easy and fun way to keep in touch with everyone.

The problem is, it's a time suck...especially for me since I work at home. It's accessible all the time, on my laptop, on my phone and on my iPad. It's always there lurking in the background saying "Becky, look at me. Scroll through. Give a thumbs up. Like me!" It can also be full of so much negativity...more than ever for some reason and often times I let it affect me and bring me down.

It's been a stressful week around here, continuing to try and get things in order for our move. Some things are not going the way I want them to and some things have thrown me for a complete loop, like my stupid haircut, but I digress...

I decided to take some time away from Facebook this weekend cold turkey to try and refocus and refresh.  To be honest, I am kind of sad about it. I miss seeing my friends and what they are up to and I miss sharing with y'all as well. But taking this time away, even though it was a short period of time, has taught me a couple of things that I am going to implement going forward.

First, I spend WAY too much time scrolling through and posting on Facebook. I need to make designated times of my day for FB instead of mindlessly checking it. And that's what it is...completely mindless, a force of habit. I don't need to check it. My life will not end if I don't check it. I won't miss any life changing news. It has shown me that I need to be more present in my own life and that Facebook is something fun and entertaining to do when I have a spare minute. Not when I am enjoying a nice leisurely drive with my husband or out to eat with friends. I need to focus on what is actually happening in my life at any given moment and give my whole self to that moment. I don't want to miss out on things because I wasn't really paying attention and I was too busy documenting it for FB. Let's be honest, a lot of us do this. Our noses are buried in our phones way too much. That's just how life is now. We are expected to be accessible to everyone 24-7. Again, don't get me wrong, I love Facebook. I love sharing photos. I like the idea of being able to be connected to friends, family and the community. I just need to find a more balanced way to do it.

Secondly, by keeping my distance this weekend it made me reevaluate what I want to see on FB. I want to read positive stuff, funny stuff, happy stuff. I don't want to read about people correcting others grammar or people forcing their opinions and viewpoints on others. The beauty of Facebook is that you should be able to post what you want because it's your page but you should also be able to hide, unfriend, unfollow people whose viewpoints or negativity you don't want to see without it seeming like the sky is falling! More importantly, it made me rethink WHO I want seeing what I post on my page. The person that I have no idea who they are and have never met but are friends with people I do know? I don't need to feel obligated to accept their friend request. The person that all I have in common with or know about them is that we went to the same high school? Again, I shouldn't feel like I have to welcome you into my world. That may sound to some people like I am being curmudgeonly. I'm really not trying to be, but I want to surround myself and connect with the people I really care about. People who share my same values. People who bring light, laughter and love into my life. If I allow everybody to be my friend then I spend so much time scrolling through the bullshit I don't really care about and I miss the stuff from my friends that I really want to see. Besides, it's my personal life and not everyone is invited to see everything I share. So, I unfriended some people...and it really hurt my heart to do it because I don't like to hurt peoples feelings but if I don't know you, if we have never met, if we are not currently part of one another lives, then I am really really sorry, but you had to go. I don't like unfriending people so much that a good friend of mine recently had a dream where I faked my own death so I could start over with a new FB page instead of unfriending people and hurting their feelings! HA!

Third, I don't need Facebook for validation. My self esteem is crap, it's something I struggle with and work to overcome every single day. But I cannot rely on other people to fix it for me. I have got to learn to love and accept myself for exactly who I am. My heart and who I am on the inside needs to be the focus of my self worth. My husband thinks I am beautiful, that's the only opinion that matters. And again, he thinks I am beautiful because of who I am as a human being, not what I look like. I am my own worst critic and you would think that after 12+ years of working on self love that I wouldn't struggle anymore...but I do, everyday...and I will beat this demon. Key word being I...I will beat this demon though and it won't be because someone liked my photo on Facebook. (Although I do like when people like my photos lol, be honest, we all do!)

So my friends, back to Facebook I go but in a more mindful manner.  I want to read more books, do more yoga, take more walks with my husband, laugh with my sister, and just be present in my daily life. It's fun to see and share in others lives online but it's way more fun to share in each others lives in person!