Tampa/Clearwater/Rob Thomas

This past weekend we went to Tampa and Clearwater! The beach was amazing! It was our first time to the beach and we have been here for 2 months! Ryan was so excited! It was sunny and hot, perfect beach weather! I collected sea shells and was burnt after just 2 hours. We had soo much fun and can not wait to go back!! Clearwater is the farthest from us, so next time we will have to try out Cocoa or Daytona!



After spending the afternoon at the beach we went back to the hotel to get ready for the Rob Thomas concert! Carolina Liar and One Republic opened for him. Both bands were very good! Then of course Rob Thomas was awesome! I have never seen him in concert before and he was incredible! Did I mention we had 6th row??!!
















The nannying is going good and we are having a lot of fun together! Dustin got a job at a mini-golf course called Congo River Golf. He starts on Sunday and will hopefully be getting close to 30 hours or more! He is pretty excited about it! Ryan started a job at Two Men and a Truck, a moving company. So far he says it's decent just long hours and hot! Dustin is doing great in school as usual. He finally got to take apart a motorcycle and put it back together. He was stoked! No big plans for the weekend. We will all probably be wiped out from our busy weeks of working! yay:)

Nanny?

Hey Everyone! Sorry it has been way to long since I have updated! A lot has happened since the last blog! First off I no longer have a job at Michaels. When we first moved here I set up a profile on nannies4hire.com. Last week a family contacted me. I met with the father a week ago and got their story. They are originally from Iowa and very excited that I am also! They just moved to Kissimmee middle of August because their oldest boy is 5 and needed to start kindergarten. The youngest boy is 3 and stays at home. Mom still lives in Chicago finishing med school, will moving to Atlanta for residency in 3 weeks. Dad works at the ER in Celebration, FL and only 4 days a week. He hired me after talking for 20 minutes!!! I was soo excited! I will be watching the youngest 4 days a week and picking up the oldest from school and watching them both until dad gets home! Yesterday was my first day and everything went great! They have their own pool in the back yard and the school is only a couple miles away! It is pretty fun to just enjoy the weather in Florida instead of being stuck inside instead!

Dustin officially ended his Theory course! He got a 92% on his final exam and ended with a 97% total. Which means he is still getting a 4.0 and still on the directors list! Very proud of him:) He had a couple of job interviews today and I hope hear to some good news soon! Ryan is still searching for something! Sure hope that will change soon!

This weekend we are going to Tampa and meeting Tammy, Dustin's mom! Driving down Friday night and coming back Sunday early evening! All 4 of us are going to a Rob Thomas concert on Saturday night! We are all excited and it will be good to see Tammy! Should be a fun weekend to get Orlando and do something different!

My mom has decided to come down and visit me! She is coming end of October for 4 1/2 days! I am so excited! Dustin is probably annoyed because I mention it all the time! When she is here I think we are going to Sea World, shopping and maybe a museum. Will have to do some planning!

Have really started missing my family and friends! Didn't think it would be so hard without everyone! If you can visit we would love that! Miss you all and love you all:)

Sorry to all State fans out there! Don't worry we were tailgating done here! Rivalry going on between Dustin and I! haha Fun to be able to watch it down here! We have actually caught a couple Iowa football games on TV!

JOB!!!!

Great news everyone!! I got a job! Had an interview at Michaels on Friday afternoon and they called me back today offering me the job. It is only part time, so only 12-20 hours a week. They also offer part time benefits for employees. That is going to help a lot! I will be going in on Tuesday morning to fill out paperwork and most likely get my schedule. I will of course still look for another part time job or even keep applying for full time jobs. Other great news is that Ryan also found a job! It is at a telemarketing company and his hours will be from 3-9 pm. We are both pretty excited that we found jobs. If only Dustin could find a job now.

Good news about Dustin is he is doing so well in school! Overall he is getting a 98% and got another 100% on a test. Which means he is a 4.0 student! Kinda jealous that he found something he is so good at. Sarah and I were talking the other day wishing that we could find something we were instantly good at...and it can't be shopping ;)

We have been eating out a lot and realized that we have to stop doing that. It is a good excuse for us to get out the apartment. So now that we have jobs hopefully we can eat at home more. Groceries are more expensive here, but cheaper then eating out every night! Here is a little comparison to Iowa groceries and Florida groceries:
Milk-FL 3.99 IA 2.59
Cheese Singles-Fl 4.99 IA 2.50
1 lb. hambuger- FL 4.59 IA 3.20
Bottle of Wine(Barefoot)-FL 8.99 IA 4.99 (liter)
Mac & Cheese 4 pack- FL 8.40 IA 6.50
The place that I do the most grocery shopping is called Publix. If you shop right you can find a lot of good deals, such as, buy one get one free. I have also noticed that Dustin eats way more than I do, so I have to shop more often..haha!

Other thing that is hard for us to get used to is Florida drivers! I thought that Florida drivers would drive fast...not the case! They don't even go the speed limit, most of the time they are going 5 under. I feel like when I am driving 5 over I am going 90 miles an hour! Maybe most of the drivers are either old or tourist...what do you think??

I never realized how good we had it in Iowa. Prompt service everywhere we went back home. Here they take their time. Went to get my hair done yesterday. Had an appointmnet at 3:30, the gal didn't start working on hair until a little after 4:30! Although I was at the salon for 3 hours I have to admit it was the best cut and color I have ever gotten in my life! I now look like a blonde beach babe! :D

We have a had a pretty relaxing weekend. Dustin was gone all day yesterday and today. He had to take a motorcycle class to get his motorcycle license. It is a law that Florida has. He wasn't very happy about it, but is very anxious to ride his bike. So in the end I would say it is worth it! He is nervous to ride down here, considering the traffice isn't the greatest and not that many back roads to ride on. I have been cleaning and doing laundry all day today. And I am not sure what are plans are for tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn't rain and we can enjoy a nice day at the pool with some drinks! We had thought about going to the beach, but assumed it would be packed beacuse of the 3 day weekend!

Can't wait to blog more about my job! love you:)