Quiet your brain woman!

I was gifted with a massage gift card for my birthday and I redeemed it this week.
IT was glorious. The young lady had magic hands and I enjoyed it a LOT.
At this particular spa (new to me) they have you fill out a questionnaire first giving you choices to particular items:
Choose your music type with examples of ocean sounds, nature, etc...
Then choose your conversation type: NO conversation, lots of conversation or conversation ONLY if initiated by me.
I chose the latter and my awesome masseuse (Tatyana) followed my limited conversation desire.
Oh, how I wish there was a choice for me to choose to STOP my brain from running endlessly for the entire duration of my massage.
How does one do that? I've tried meditation practices before, but it does not seem to work for me.
Suz: Ok brain, stop. We're gonna really relax this time.
Brain: Did you water the trees this morning? 
I can't remember if I paid the insurance bills. 
When will we have a visit to Lolo on the calendar? 
What should I make for dinner? Gosh. some days I wish I didn't need to eat. 
Did the Coach say he has softball tonight or was that for tomorrow? 
Ohhh...wow. She's working my calves and they're tender. Why does Jon insist on me doing calve exercises, when I keep telling me that my calves are DONE. 
Lawd, I hope I remembered to shave my legs this week. 
I wonder if my electrician will show up and help a sister out with her lighting issues this weekend. 
I can see how someone with tinnitus could lose their freaking minds.  
I should probably contact my pressure washing guy soon about the driveway. 
How are my peeps in the Bahamas getting along? 
Oh, all the puppies and cats; so many homeless animals. And people. It breaks my heart thinking of all they are enduring. I bet they'd really enjoy a massage right now. 
Does Callie seem sad? I wonder if she actually misses Max. 


I can't even really take myself away from the brain noise for one hour, much less one minute.
But, I'll try again...hopefully soon. ;)

And, the answer was NO, I didn't shave my legs this week. Poor Tatyana!


{If only I could chill as well as Callie}

Have a great weekend!

Bee good.
Bee quiet.
Bee in the moment.  (I wish!)


XoXo

Where the weekend went {mostly to the trees}

 We're still watering trees. Our irrigation guys arrived and worked all day Friday and were able to put 'bubblers' on most of the big oaks, but we're still hand watering several oaks and 8 big palms.


This is in front of my office/craft room. I'll be loving this view.

We've been needing to do a deep clean on the lanai for quite a while, which is really hard to do when you're never home. So, on Sunday the Coach fired up the pressure washer and we got to work on the dirty pavers. "You dirty pavers, cleanse thyself!"

{My lanai milkweed farm}

I did a deep clean and 'clean out' of the outdoor kitchen area and the sundeck behind the pool. I had accumulated a lot of gardening stuff. I'm not exactly sure who's been leaving stuff here, but they need to stop.

 Everything looks fresh and clean....now we just wait for Fall to arrive so we can enjoy more outside time. 

*Looks at the calendar and checks the forecast* It should be here in mid-December. Damn you Florida!

We came home from Nashville last week to 8 deluxe palms lining the driveway. 

Me to Coach: "Honey, those look really rich and you've just upped the value of our home; people will think we're loaded. Can you please get the shotgun out from under the bed and have it ready for a home invasion?"

{they'll be untied in a few weeks}

Coach also put up our new flagpole. A few months ago we had one of those weird Florida afternoon storms that came out of nowhere and knocked over our pole. Well, it didn't come out of nowhere, most likely it came from the Everglades, but I wasn't expecting it.

I don't know about you, but I LOVE a super productive weekend attending to overdue chores.
I repotted a lot of plants, cleaned up my desk and checked off some other miscellaneous items off my list.
One thing that I didn't do? I didn't make our bed for 3 days. THREE DAYS! And guess what....nothing bad happened. I know. I was shocked as well. But today, I'm not taking annnnyyy chances.

Happy Monday!!

A quick little getaway to Nashville to see some awesome people. #Hope4Hopetown

A few days after hurricane Dorain hit the small Abacos islands of the Bahamas our friend Patrick Davis was working on fundraising. These small islands get very little support from the Bahamian government. I HOPE I'm not going to shock anyone, but the government is crooked.
Yes, I'm speaking of ALL government, but today we're focusing on the Bahamas.
FYI: The Hope 4 Hopetown fundraiser is 100% legit; I can vouch for Patrick Davis and the Coach is also on the board. Ain't no one less crooked than these guys.


Anyhoo a minute after the fundraiser was in motion Patrick threw together a 'once in a lifetime' music event at the Ryman Auditorium.
He had a sold-out show booked, advertised and sold out in 10 days at the beloved Ryman.

I have some great videos and photos of the amazing artists; Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Lee Brice, Kristian Bush (Sugarland), Charles Kelly (Lady Antebellum), LoCash, Florida/Georgia Line, James Otto and many more.
It was perhaps the most amazing night ever. Sorry Coach, our honeymoon was so long ago.
*snicker snicker*
I had sad tears.
I had happy tears.
Much like my high school days.

Hey, I recognize that guy.

Jamey Johnson and Randy Houser

 Dierks Bentley

 Charles Kelly from Lady Antebellum. At one point he motioned for one of the back up singers to come and do a duet with him. It was great. At the afterparty I spoke to the young lady and told her how great she did and she said: "I can't believe I was up on stage with all of these amazing artists, I was freaking out inside!"

 Florida Georgia Line-Not my favorite band, but they were great to be there supporting.

 Our sweet friend Wyatt Durette singing Toes in the Sand that he wrote with Zac Brown.

Did anyone watch the show Nashville? I keep meaning to...anyhoo this is Charles Esten of that show who also sings. 

Have you heard of Hootie and the Blowfish? ;) Here is Darius Rucker and Mark Bryan. They just finished their American tour last week and are heading to Europe for another tour. Our friend Patrick Davis is opening up for them for a few shows. The Coach asked if I wanted to go. 

Umm. No. Can we please stay home for a while? 

If you've ever listened to country music, you've heard this amazing song. Perhaps my most favorite country song ever. 

We've heard James Otto (he wrote the song about his Grandfather) sing the song many times, but this was our first time seeing Jamey Johnson (who cut the song recording) sing it. They were amazing together. 

 And how about these rock stars??

It was such a fantastic weekend, but man, when we arrived home on Tuesday night, we were done. Done like dinner. We met some amazing people who are like-minded doing a lot of good stuff for our Bahamian friends. Made some more connections. The Coach and I have a big surprise arriving in a few weeks....you'll never guess what it is. 

This weekend has been us catching up on all the stuff we've been needing to do for the last month. 

Wishing all my peeps a great day and weekend. 

XOXO

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 52.

Just kidding.
I DID turn 52 this week, but I'm not feeling any different physically.
Mentally? Well, that's a possible sh*t show.
Not all the time, but I have my *duhhh* moments.

For example: We've had some major work done on our property starting about 3 weeks ago.

We've removed 15 cabbage palms (they've been donated for reuse) and are adding in 14 oak trees and then 8 'special' palm trees to line our driveway. There is a major reason for the oaks, I'll share the details later.
The oaks require 100 gallons of water each daily. Our irrigation system bit the dust on the first day of digging, major arteries were cut....such is our life. It's a lot of fun dragging a hose around 300 feet for a few hours daily in 97* heat; the water comes straight from our well.  I've been setting my timer to remind me to move the hose. One day this week I had finished watering all the trees, then I had to fill the pool with some hose water as we've not had any rain. Again, I set my timer to help me remember to turn it off cause I'm so easily distracted by my next thing.

Later on, I looked at my phone and saw that my timer was running.
Suz: Wait a minute. I finished all my watering. Didn't I? 
I ran around checking the hoses. Twice. 
I could NOT for the life of me remember why I had a timer set. I wandered around the house looking for clues for a solid 10 minutes.
Then it dawned on me.
I had my teeth bleaching tray in my mouth and didn't want to leave it in longer than needed.
Yep. You can't get anything past me these days.
Too much on my mind.

Flip flop tan from all the yard time. 

We (Coach, Suz and our East coast peeps) were so busy this week with Hope Town stuff. Coordinating purchases and shipping of items to our beloved Bahamians. It's been a busy, busy week.

Suz at Home Depot on her birthday asking any man she could find. 

What is 2 stroke oil? Where is hydraulic fluid? Is THIS fly tape? What is bar chain oil? 

I've learned a lot and it didn't even hurt. 

I actually had the easier list. Some other items were free-standing freezers, generators, a/c window units, batteries for golf carts, a battery for a fire truck, plus lots of food and beverages.

I had gobs of charging banks to actually charge and I was able to fulfill the rosemary (for the chef) order right from my garden. No, that's not weed if you were concerned.

And work boots. And work gloves. And socks. The list felt endless, but today the rest of it is leaving for the east coast and after the weather settles, a friends 52 foot boat will be in Hope Town. 

Earlier this week we caught a glimpse of the first container heading over-such a beautiful sight. This barge was making stops at several small islands including our lovely Hope town. (see it on the bottom left?) Filled my heart!!

And in other heart filling news, the iconic Hope Town light house was finally lit yesterday.

I'll share more pics and details on the new trees and our 'not so nice future neighbor' in another post. Starting to feel like we can breath for a minute, but as the Coach told me last night. "We'll be doing this again next week once we receive an updated list of needs". 

I hope all my blog peeps are doing well. Happy Friday the 13th!

XO

New homeowners, dog visitors & taking care of our Bahamian friends.

So a few weeks ago Lolo and Nathan purchased a home together.
Yep, she bought a house, then moved out of state to attend Grad school. Sometimes things happen out  of order.

 Nathan signing the papers in person, lolo did it via Fed ex.

We're so very happy for them both. Nathan will be living there and when Lolo graduates, they'll decide what to do. Will they move elsewhere for her career? Maybe.
Will they sell the house or rent it? Maybe.
Will they settle there if she has a good career opportunity and live there forever? Maybe.


***

While waiting to see what Hurricane Dorian had in mind for Florida, my inlaws came over for a few days just in case. With them came Toby the 120lb lab (the HAIR!) and their newest girl Kelsea the tiny brown lab. Callie was in heaven with all the playing.

Max however was in dog hell. He doesn't care for other dogs in general. Callie doesn't bother him because she doesn't pay any attention to him. The other two couldn't leave him alone because they thought he might be a normal dog who likes to play. 

Are you comfortable Max? 

***

We had a houseful of people assisting with the prepping, cooking, wrapping, freezing of food for our Bahamian friends. Loads of drop off's of battery banks (for cell phones) and gel/freezer packs to transport the food.
It's been a good and busy weekend.

I could actually do with an uneventful week. But I'm NOT complaining. I'm counting my blessings.

Bee responsible. Bee a player. Bee a giver.
XO

The last time I checked in everything was just hunky dory.

We thought hurricane Doian could possibly be a problem for us in SW Florida, but it wasn't.

However, it was a HUGE problem for our beloved Abaco Islands, Elbow Cay,  Hopetown where we love to go in February for the annual weeklong Songwriters in Paradise event. 
Ya'll, they took a direct hit from a category 5 hurricane. I know you've seen the news.
Devastating. That little island was not built with current hurricane standards; they were so vulnerable.

Our friend Patrick who founded the event was on the phone to the coach even before the storm hit hoping to start coordinating help for the wonderful people there.
It's been a busy week trying to get things together. What do they need? How can we get it there? 
It looks like the group can get items to the island this Sunday.....finally.
The Coach and friends are smoking 1,000 lbs of meat Today for a Saturday delivery across the state with a Sunday delivery directly to the Abaco Islands. It's been some work trying to coordinate getting the food and then finding large freezers and then transporting the next morning. It takes a village.

{The worker bees were in our driveway at 6:15 this morning}

Also sending vegetables and power banks to charge cell phones.
One of my dear longtime friends is donating $1,500.00 worth of solar power banks for people to charge cell phones. Imagine not being able to connect with your family and friends for a week or so? 
Anyhoo....were praying for all of these people. Many lives were lost on the nearby island of Marsh Harbour. Devastation.
In five days Patrick's Hope4Hopetown website has collected over 290K. People do care.

{A shining light in all this is that the beloved Hope Town lighthouse is still standing proudly} 

Hopetown and all the the Bahamian islands will never be the same, but from what I've seen/read they are resilient and working on getting their lives and islands back in order. 

Praying that Dorian is kinder to those now in her path.

Wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable weekend doing something kind for someone else.
XOXO