Beach Bums....

Based on the email I just got from Lynette, Lili, and a few others, there is a bit of curiosity around the new house. I promise I will post pics soon on it. I just haven’t gotten around to uploading them yet. I’ve been way too busy having fun with a visitor in town, picking out paint colors, and trying to remember what we actually own that we will see again in a month!

Until then, I’m also cherishing our last few weeks in the condo. I don’t know how many opportunities we will get again in our working life to live this good. I guess ‘good’ is relative. Yes, we are in tight quarters. Yes, Kyle is absolutely ready to not ever have to walk Sam again. And Sam, is more than ready to have a backyard to run around in. The long hallway from our condo to the elevator only gets him so far. He does get some pretty good speed going when we let him off the leash, and as a result, he has a tendency to sound like a horse stampeding! Luckily, we live in ‘hurricane’ country and the building is pretty solid and sound-proof! And, although I feel like we are in a bit of ‘urban-ness’, the conveniences associated with it are not really there. You can’t really walk to a market for groceries or a restaurant for dinner. The dry cleaners in the building cost a large fortune. So…..we drive everywhere to get ‘stuff’ done. And, as mentioned before, the traffic and the drivers are horrible.

But, believe me….there is plenty of good right now!....So, I’ll illustrate with pictures.

This is the view off the left side of our balcony of the intercoastal. This is looking towards the infamous South Beach.

The whole back side of the condo is windows. This right here, my friends, is our view. Everyday. Would you want to leave? There is an island of uber-mansions. Beyond that...downtown Miami.

This is the view off the right side of our balcony. It's actually looking towards the front side of the condo and the Atlantic Ocean as we have a corner unit. The pool in this picture also changes colors at night (purple, blue, green, ect), so it's kind of fun to watch.

This is Kyle's favorite part of the day. Dog walking. We do rock/paper/scissors occassionally. Never fail, I lose. Olivia somehow thinks it's 'fun' to carry the 'doggy bag'. Oh, poor child. Someday, she'll learn. (And, no, her hand is not in a dirty bag...still clean!)

Is this the dog's life or what?? Sunbathing on your bed with a bone an toys.

I will absolutely miss this view. It is a glorious site in the morning, the afternoon and the evening. Storms are amazing to watch from here. Olivia is learning her numbers and letters (L for Lobby, G for Garage) via the elevator we go on a million times a day. It’s a great teaching tool. I get greeted by extremely happy people every morning as I get my car out of valet to go to work. ‘Alfredo’ is my favorite. He is the nicest, little Latin man. And, he lets me practice my Spanish with him. We can go to the beach every day. Every.Day. We don’t. But, we go a lot. Kyle and I are still a little freaked out by the ‘shark’ thing. The water’s warm here. Isn’t that when they come around?? Doesn’t someone always get attacked by a shark in Florida? Olivia has a lot of questions about sharks. She asked me the other day where the sun goes when it goes to bed. We were driving along the ocean, so I answered with the first thought that popped into my head – ‘the ocean!’. The sun goes to sleep in the ocean. Sounds good, right? The first thing after that from Olivia – ‘But, Mom, he’ll get eaten by the sharks’. Smart kid. Scared Mom.

The absolute best part…..last Sunday morning, we saw two dolphins swimming in the intercoastal off our balcony!! It was beautiful. Allison was here. We all ran to the balcony and Kyle and I each grabbed our camera. I need to get the ones off his camera, as he had the zoom lens on his. They were swimming side by side. Just like at SeaWorld!! :) Now, I can feel good about leaving.

Next blog….Allison’s visit. Lots of fun having a friend in town!

Visitor's Welcome.......Yes, You Read That Correctly!!!

You Guessed It!!!! WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!! For real. No shit. I'm not kidding. No joking around. Not pulling your leg.......I.Am.Serious.

If I knew how to actually place a YouTube clip in my blog, I would've put one regarding 'Celebration, by Kool and the Gang' or someone doing the Happy Dance or some kind of seriously funny touchdown dance. But, I can't. So, just imagine it.


We did our first 'unofficial' house trip in February. We did our first 'official' trip in early March. That essentially makes it 6-7 months, somewhere in the ballpark of 100 houses looked at and 4 offers later.....we have somewhere to unload our stuff that has mysteriously been in storage somewhere for the past 2 months. We have a backyard for Sam to run around in and a swing for Olivia to swing on! And a pool. No pond (insert Caddyshack joke here if you know it).

Yes folks. The Lane's can entertain once again. Buy the plane tickets now. We have plenty of room. Secretly, I'm just relieved that the Thanksgiving festivities can now go on. We are hosting the Dickinson side of the family post-Disneyworld trip and until today, I had no idea where it was going to take place. Now, no worries.

Just for kicks, this appraisal actually came in $8k HIGHER than our offer. Never thought that would happen. EVER. Woo Hoo!! Our latest close date is Sept 11th. However, the couple owning the house right now are extremely accomodating and are trying to let us close next week! What?!$? It took us this long to find a house, a dozen extremely crabby, broke realtors and upside-down homeowners and now we have nice people! Our luck is turning around. Vacation - here we come!!

Best of all......it's a great house!! We didn't have to settle. We just had to stand strong in the waiting game. Whew! Now, I'm tired. And, I'm having a much deserved glass of wine tonight on our glorious balcony tonight (because I secretly could stay in our condo forever....shhh).

More later. Off to get things ready for tomorrow when our first (kind of 2nd) visitor comes!! Allison lands at 6pm and I'm ecstatic!! 4 nights. Can't wait to see her. Lucky me too - she offered to come back and 'organize' me when we move in. She's the best. She really should go into some professional business of the sort. She's that good.

Still in shock.....

Pause in the Fun....to blog about 'Your-ami'!

It looks like we are finally settled into life as we now know it! Miami, Florida......if you had ever asked me if I thought this would be 'home', I would've said you were crazy!! But, you know what?? It's really kind of fun. Shhh......don't tell anyone. Don't get me wrong. There are PLENTY of things to get used to - the rudest people ever at the nearby grocery store, Publix; the insane traffic here; the worst drivers I have ever seen...people going 30 mph and 90mph on the same highway; the lack of the English language spoken at very 'American' spots; and most of all....the worst housing market ever imagined.

Outside of that I feel very fortunate to be experiencing something 'new'. Don't get me wrong, I miss my family and my friends. And, I don't think it's been long enough to realize we won't be back near 1304 Crowley anytime soon....

But, on the flip side, I've always wanted to live somewhere else. Growing up as a kid of an air force pilot, I was always up for an adventure. I liked the thought of seeing new places and meeting new people. And, keeping in touch with friends and family despite the distance didn't seem that hard. In fact, it was part of the fun. We were always going to visit people or our house was always filled with visitors. I've managed to stay in touch with my first friend in Arizona whom I met when I was 5. 31 years later, she's now in NJ with her family and we've met up a few times in NY. My godmother was my parents first neighbor in AZ when my sister was born. She still comes to visit every year. I met Christy, my first TX friend, about 4 hours after we moved into our house in TX. Until about 4 weeks ago, she lived 30 min from us in Arlington. Before that, she lived in upstate NY and I was able to go visit her on a few business trips. And, not too long ago, my parents went to the wedding of a girl I played with in Deleware when I was 3, or something like that. Too young to remember much beyond stories, but our parents remained friends....the point is, I kind of like having all these different people from different places in my life.

And I'm excited to be able to offer that to Olivia now. She's at a great age to move. And, she seems to have that same sense of adventure. Maybe even more so. This kid is happiest when stuff is going on. Give her a hotel and an airplane and she lights up like a Christmas tree. And, the weird part is, she appreciates all of it. I can't wait to look back 30 years from now and see who her friends are from Miami that she's still in touch with. (Of course, assuming that we are NOT still here). And, I can't wait to have visitors here and look back someday on the fun we had showing them around south Florida. (We have our first one too!! Yipee!! Allison is coming in two weeks and I'm already quite excited!....officially, my Mom was our first visitor, but as she helped move us in, I don't think she had that much sight-seeing going on!)

So, for now, I'm excited about the move. House or no house. Because, I also know that someday we will have a house in a neighborhood, Olivia will be in school and Sam will have a backyard again. Until then, my secret inner 'urban' person is coming out and loving the condo living on the beach in downtown Miami Beach. Our condo is on the intercoastal side. We get to watch amazing sunsets every night and in the morning we get to watch all the people 'crewing' (is that right?). We saw a huge stingray the other morning swimming by a boat and Rachel (the condo owner and my sister's friend) says you can see dolphins swimming by from time to time. Beach access is right across the street, there's a great new kids park about a block away and we're all getting plenty of exercise taking Sam on about a million walks a day!! Although Sam is adjusting to life in the condo, that has been the biggest adjustment for us - you have to plan for a lot of extra time in the day for dog walks. And, about an hour after we moved in and I took Sam for a walk, I had a panic attack.....I suddenly remembered that I would be traveling. And, what in the world do you do when you have a 3 yr old asleep at 8pm and a dog that has to go 'potty' right before bedtime a few hours later, and there's only one adult at home??? Never thought about that....hmmm. Kyle and I tossed out many creative concepts. Fortunately for us, (or rather Olivia) we don't have to try any of them out....we found a dog walker. Another great thing about urban life. So, this week I'm gone a few nights and she'll come by every night after Olivia goes to sleep and take Sam out.

So, life is good. We're off in a bit for our first 'playdate' for Olivia. A guy on my team has a 4yr old daughter and a kids waterpark across the street from their condo. K yle and I are just excited for adult interaction and a cold cervesa! Adios compadres! Here are some pictures to let you all know that we really are here...and we really are ok!! :) Come visit!!!

I love this picture. I took it a few weeks ago on Olivia's first trip to Miami. It was taken on the balcony of our hotel after her bath from swimming at the beach.

Our child is now old enough to take pictures of us!! Thank goodness for digital. Makes it almost fool-proof! I think she did a pretty good job...don't you?

We took Olivia out for a 'fancy' dinner that night. She ate at a pretty Miami steakhouse and had a ball!! The waiter ate her up...gave her lots of extra cherries with her Shirley Temple! And even more Andes mints with the check! Can you say 'sugar-high'??

We took Olivia and Sam down to the beach one night after dinner for a walk. Guess who ended up in the water despite a sundress and no towel....or bathing suit? Part of the fun of being a kid..

Many Moons Ago.....

Here is our LAST weekend in Texas. It already feels like a long time ago....I can't tell if we feel like we're on a never-ending vacation or if we just can't admit we're not coming back anytime soon. So. Sad.


The weekend was filled with LOTS of activity. All including friends and family. Kyle and I went out with Allison and Jay to get some Tex-Mex at our favorite place, Manny's, one last time. It was a beautiful night to sit outside and have a margarita! Funny part...we got there a bit early to let Gogi (Olivia's name for Kyle's mom) enjoy her last night with Olivia by herself. We walked in, put our name on the list, went over to the bar, and right behind us - the Castro's!!! So, Julie and Gabe got to meet Jay, I got to entertain Ella so Julie and Gabe could actually enjoy a meal, and Charlie slept the whole time!! We had a great time with everyone and even got to see Allison look adorable in her helmet as she rode off on the motorcycle with Jay!!



The next day was a first - Olivia and the American Girl store!! It was not as painful as I expected and she was pretty cute running around the store trying to pick out 'the one'!! After much deliberation, 'Julie' was picked and $20 later her hair was braided (the biggest scam ever!!). That night, we got together for our millionth 'going away' party with friends. At Moni's. Our favorite hole-in-the-wall Italian place by our old house. Lots of memories at that place. So, fitting that it all ended there. Then, on Sunday, my sister and her kids made it up for one last short trip! Olivia was very excited to have her cousins around. We swam all day at Kenneth and Lili's and then they all got to stay in a hotel with DeeDee.



No surprise....I took lots and lots of pictures!! Had to make sure we got them all to take with us for our new 'insert-word-for-home-here'.







Olivia and 'Mama'...the owner of Moni's (Moni's wife). Ever since Olivia was an infant, Mama grabs Olivia the minute she comes in and takes her around while we eat. They have a great bond! Do we look like we're in Venice??
The Lane boys being ornery as ever!!

Olivia and her boyfriend of the night - Nolan!
Chris, Al, Kyle and Ron.....the golfing foursome!



Baba and Olivia (and Chris)....too cute!
Sara trying to steal the newborn (Rylan). Give Sara a baby and she's the happiest girl in the world! She spotted him a mile away. :) Me and the girls...Allison, Amy, Jannea and Frogge (Jennifer). 5 of the 10 dinner club girls!!


Keith...Mr 'Chief of Police' Lane!! We are SO proud. Keith is the just-announced Chief of Police for Haltom City!! Doesn't he look mean?




Me and the nephews....such handsome boys! I will miss them. Can't wait for them to make their way to visit.


I have a few fun videos of the cousins swimming that I will post later. Must get to work!

For the Love of Shopping......

I bet you guys thought I was going to blog about moving....or getting settled into our fabulous beach condo that makes me feel like I'm on vacation every morning so far....or the blog I still need to post from our last weekend in TX and all the great pics I have of our friends....or the fact that we almost put our 4th offer down on a house, but now have cold feet??



Nope....I need an escape from all that right now. So, if you're a guy reading this, you might want to just hit the 'x' in the top right corner. I'm going to talk about my big dilemma with shopping. Now that I'm in Miami I just can't figure out what to do. This all started as I perused my beloved Anniversary Sale at Nordstrom. It ends tomorrow. It's the one sale I look forward to every year....and my favorite store. It's brilliant if you ask me from a marketing perspective. They put wonderful fall things on sale right about the same time that you're getting ready for summer to end, school to start, and fall to peek around the corner. So, despite the fact that it's still 100f (and if you're honest with yourself.....it still will be for many, many more weeks), you somehow get romanced into buying sweaters, and boots and all kinds of things that will sit in your closet. But, you get them at a great deal!! Right??



So, despite the fact that it's warmer in Dallas right now than Miami, I at least knew that fall would come and if we were lucky, even a few months of winter. But, what the hell happens here?? One real estate lady (of the first house we made an offer on) was from NY and was so excited when she moved here that it was 79f on Christmas morning every year. Are you really supposed to be excited about that? I'm sure you would be if it were 20f where you were and you were vacationing at the beach for a few days. But I happen to like seasons. I like to dress up more in the fall/winter, bring out the boots and jackets and change up the style a bit.



How do you dress here in Miami for the fall? Do you become one of those crazy types that wears turtleneck sweaters and tall boots just because it's November....even if it's 75 outside? Or, do you still wear your spring/summer clothes and feel slightly out of style, but are comfortable with the temperature? The people here are already...ummm....'resort attire' as it is. What happens when they have to cover up a bit? Maybe a bit of 'coverage' is good for the people in S. Florida!! :)



Well....that's it for now. Complete diversion from reality. Back to searching on Nordstrom.com and dreaming of the days of fall. Or trips up north that will at least allow me to unpack my 'winter' attire for a few days out of the year! Looking forward already for the Christmas trip to TX and some cold weather!! For those of you that will need a break from the cold and enjoy a few days of warmth,......come visit the Lane's!!

Farewell Texas....

We are down to the final countdown......48 hours left in TX. For me and Olivia actually. For Kyle and Sam, the last 24. They are heading out in the car, along with the small Uhaul tomorrow. Olivia and I are flying out Wednesday afternoon. My mom is flying from San Antonio and laying over in DFW to connect on the same flight. She's staying for a few days to help out as we get settled into our new, albeit temporarily-permanent setting.

So, where are we going you ask??? Last weekend we had yet another fun filled, but unproductive weekend in Miami. Olivia survived her first house hunting trip. Funny enough, the first house we went to had a 'renter' family in it that happened to be home. (mom, newborn and 4yr old girl were home). Olivia made immediate friends with the 4yr old girl, and I immediately made friends with the mom. Turns out they just moved here from Tallahassee and the little girl goes to the same pre-school we are signing Olivia up for this fall. It was even the kid's birthday that weekend and the mom invited us back to meet other families/kids from the preschool. We were seeing houses during that time, so didn't make it, but am excited that we met someone already. We found a few houses we liked (again) and made yet another offer. Our 3rd to be exact.......Can anyone guess what the outcome might be at this point?? (I wouldn't know as no one leaves comments!! :) )

Well.......the process is at least getting expedited by this point. It only took 36 hours this time to find out they didn't accept our offer. We even got a 'pencil' appraisal to make sure we were in line. Turns out these people ALSO refinanced in 2006 and are now gloriously upside down on their house!!!! WTF!!!

Here's the good news.,,,my brilliant sister remembered that her college roommate actually owns a vacation condo on Miami Beach and has offered it to DeeDee from time to time to vacation. She called Rachel. Rachel agreed to let us rent it somewhat indefinitely. Lane's now soon to be living on the beach. We haven't even seen it. But, she's a cardiologist and he's a plastic surgeon in West Palm, so it can't be all that bad, right? It's 1600 sq ft, 2 bed/2 bath, all hardwood floors with balconies overlooking the intercoastal. And, they will allow Sam. She's meeting us there Thursday with the keys. It's furnished, it's affordable and for the time being, we have a place to forward our mail. Life is good!! I cannot tell you how excited I am to get 'settled'. There are many, many worse things that could've happened to someone in need of temporary housing. Thank you DeeDee and thank you Rachel. All those weekends of coming to Texas Lutheran and 'studying' really are paying off!!

So, that's where we'll be. Come visit.

I have more to update about our last weekend here. It was a lot of fun. And, sad. I don't really know how to tell friends 'good-bye'. I'm awful at it. But, more on that later.

Pictures coming from last weekend as well.

Adios Texas......

The Work Stuff.....

Don’t worry…..I have updates too on the housing crisis!! Isn’t that what it’s still called these days? And, although it still applies to us, the ‘crisis’ is slowly becoming and ‘adventure’ and I’m pretty damn excited about it!! More on that later…..

First, my apologies to Mom & Dad, because they will be learning this first in the blog and not by me in a phone call. I just forgot Mom when I talked to you last night – honestly. I get to go to a certain country that resides in between Florida and the Bahamas. Don’t want to say the name because of the whole ‘Big Brother’ thing. The whole publicness of blogging still weirds me out. If that doesn’t give it away, it’s a country that many Americans don’t visit on a usual basis (mom – it’s not Haiti – don’t worry!). As a matter of fact, I’m writing this blog as I head back from the Bahamas and I think I’m flying over it right now!! Just looked out the window – pretty funny. Again for my parents – I will be going in a completely compliant nature and following ALL necessary protocol. And, it’s not until September. I’ll make sure to post pictures after that crazy adventure. Can you tell yet that as a 36 yr old woman, I still have parents that care deeply about me and sometimes forget that they raised me well and I’ll be ok – really!?! :)

So, in between all the craziness of dealing with the move, I’ve had a few good travels lately. I feel like I can’t even remember it all since I haven’t posted about ‘the job’ in awhile. Here are the countries I’ve been to so far – Dominican Republic (3 times now in Santo Domingo), St Thomas, St Kitts, San Juan, Bermuda, Bahamas and the Grand Caymans. In the next month I get to go to Punta Cana (DR), Jamaica, Trinidad, Panama and possibly Belize. Of the ones I’ve been to, I’d recommend St Thomas, Bermuda and the Grand Caymans. The other ones (Santo Domingo excluded as it’s a major city, not ‘beach’ area), just ‘ok’ for different reasons. I’ve heard amazing things about Punta Cana, so I’m really anxious to see that one. Think a golf vacation might be in the future with that one! My biggest disappointment was with Bermuda. Not in the island, but in the trip. When I first heard this was the territory for ‘the job’, I was most excited about Bermuda. I’ve always wanted to go and have just heard amazing things about it. Well, guess what. They got 6 inches of rain in the 36 hour period I was there. 6 inches!!! It was nuts. So, another trip has to be in the works to get the full affect of the island. Here’s the funny part about the Bermudas though – they really do wear ‘Bermuda’ shorts! As business attire. Not the women, just the men. Our customer picked us up in royal blue shorts, a yellow short sleeved shirt, tie, yellow knee high socks and dress shoes. Completely normal. I had never met him before, so when he first walked up, I thought he was the valet guy or something. Then, we went to the financial district and it’s everywhere!! Sometimes, they even add a suit jacket with it. It’s really cool to see. And, very colorful. Not NYC black/dark attire.

This past week, I also had a milestone. I gave my first presentation/speech in Spanish. I’m starting to dust up on it a bit. The only country I have that speaks Spanish is the Dominican…..oh yeah – and Miami!! It’s slowly coming back. I really need to get the Rosetta Stone to expedite the process (ahem...Drew??....if you're reading this??). We had an awards dinner for one of our customers. Everyone, and I mean everyone (including our team of 6 from the states), spoke Spanish. Since I was in their country, I felt like out of respect, I needed to make the attempt. I was able to pull off some of it by memory and read my notes for the rest of it. They didn’t care – it was the effort that mattered, so I felt good about it.

Here are some pictures from the past few trips. As soon as I hit 'publish' on this blob, I'm off to the airport for my LAST trip to Dallas. I know I will be back many, many times.....just don't know when. Very surreal. I will post soon with the details of the move next week and of Olivia's 1st trip to Miami last weekend. It was a hoot!! I absolutely love my kid's sense of adventure!!

The view from my room last night in the Bahamas. We got in really late Tues night and when I woke up Wednesday morning, this HUGE cruise ship was coming right by. It looked much bigger....I swear.

Another view from the top of the hotel. It was the only beach resort I've ever seen where there is not a SOLE at the beach or the pool. I really don't know where the people where....the place seem occupied!!

It wasn't until I went onto the balcony that I realized you could see The Atlantis from our hotel. The monster that it is....and the rudest service.....EVER!!

Despite the rude serive, a few people in our group had never been there, so of course, we had to go check it out. It's pretty amazing even if the service stinks!! These pictures below are from the aquarium there. Apparently the Gianormous fish below (not the creepy eels) live to be beyond 100 years.

Might be hard to tell...but these kids are all playing with drums. It was pretty neat. They were all in the middle of this street/shopping center.

This above and below...Bermuda...and the rain!! See?? Not an ounce of sun in sight.....for miles! Above is the 'owner's qtr's of the hotel we stayed at. Doesn't that look like a great place to live??

Harry - our customer. I didn't want him to know I was taking a picture of his 'outfit'. Isn't it cute and funny at the same time? Can you even remotely going to work like this? Would those socks even be comfortable by the day's end??

I don't know this man's name. He's a 'live' folklore on Bermuda. Apprently he retired over 10 years ago. Ever since, he decided to stand on the corner of the main 'roundabout' and wave to every car as it passes by. He stands there Mon-Fri, rain or shine (obviously!), from 6-9am or something like that. He even has a bronze statue made of him on the island and you can buy a keepsake figurine of him. Doesn't this usually happen after your dead? Very cheerful mate, I must say!! God Bless 'em!