I think she's trying to tell us something...

I went to find the cat today...and I found her in the second bedroom.
Do you think she's trying to tell us she's cold?

And now for something completely different!

I couldn't really think of a title for this post since it's going to be completely random! My aunt came and stayed with us last week to help with organizing and the all important scrapbook store search. We went to IKEA (again!) as it was my aunt's first IKEA experience and we wanted to get the glass to protect Darren's desk. After about 3 days in our apartment, it had a fair number of scratches. However. The glass didn't exactly fit in my car...and there were 3 of us. We ended up taking the glass out of the cardboard packaging because it added a couple of inches to the glass that wasn't helping anything. Determined not to make another trip, Darren squeezed into the backseat with the glass. We got several looks as we drove out of the parking lot. My aunt could hardly take the picture from laughing so hard.
We had also purchased some storage for our bathroom the week before. (Thank goodness- can you imagine what the car would have looked like with the glass AND this storage unit?) My aunt helped to put it together while Darren was at USF completing some paperwork.

We decided randomly one night that we would like to paint the bathroom. Right now- it's completely white. White walls, white tile on the floor, white countertops, etc. We thought we would like a brown or a tan since it matches our towels. Ok, so I wanted to match the towels. We went to Lowe's and bought those 8 oz. cans that let you test colors so we could decide what color we liked. And everyone has joked that my cat matches the colors we chose for our bathroom/bedroom, etc, so we had to get a picture of her next to the two choices!
The day before Aunt Carol got here, Darren and I went to get our Florida Drivers License. A process that took 2 and a half hours. While my aunt was here, we went to register my car in Florida only to find out that Florida doesn't know how to read Tennessee forms. Ok, that might be a bit harsh, but seriously- it should not be this hard to change states. The tax collector's office made me fill out a form, fax it to my parents and have them MAIL it back to me to say that they gifted the car to me. In TN, the form says that a parent gave the car to their child. But it's on a yellow piece of paper- maybe that's what confused Florida (their form is white). Either way, I got the form in the MAIL yesterday and went to register my car. 2 hours later (because the fees DOUBLE after September 1st, every one and their brother was there yesterday), I have new car tags. Woo. I opted for the sea turtle license plate.

And last on the update list, Darren started graduate school yesterday at USF. Every year that I can remember, Mom would take my picture on the front porch with my new backpack, new dress, and new lunchbox. So of course, I had to continue on the tradition. Only....we don't have a front porch and it was too early to take the picture outside anyways. So we improvised and took it inside with a bunch of lights on. Then Darren prepared to brave the rumored horrible Tampa traffic. He doesn't know if yesterday (and today) were just unusually light days or what, but traffic was in no way worse than Nashville. Putting that up here...I've probably just jinxed him.

Beach Bums

After a week of organizing and unpacking, we decided to drop everything and head to the beach. We chose to visit Fort DeSoto beach, which is about an hour away. To get there, we had to travel on the 'Sunshine Skyway.'


After hiking to the beach and reserving chairs and an umbrella, we sat and read for hours.


While we read, we heard this rustling sound and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Then, we noticed the people in front of us had left their lunch in a plastic bag and had gone out to the ocean. While they were gone, a seagull had found the bag, poked a hole through the plastic and was now eating Cheetos. I took a picture before Darren went to chase the bird away...only the bird kept coming back! We finally had to hide the bag under their towels and he still poked around for 5-1o minutes looking for the food!
Around 1, the wind started to pick up and we saw some clouds rolling in.
We packed up and made it to the car before the first drop of rain hit! Perfect timing!

Just as a note, there are two tropical storms in the Atlantic right now- Tropical Storm Ana and Tropical Storm Bill. According to the "Spaghetti String Theory", Bill is supposed to go up the East coast and Ana is going over the Caribbean. Bill might become a hurricane, but Ana is not expected to. Either way, all the Tampa weather forecasters are expecting is a bit more rain. Which, it has stormed every day we've been here. Neither storm is supposed to be anywhere near Florida until next Friday- imagine if the forecasters in Middle TN had a week to discuss the possibility of a tornado.

My aunt comes on Tuesday to help us organize some more. We also need to get Florida licenses and all that other fun legal stuff. :) Miss you guys!

The Grand Tour

*knock knock*

Hello? Oh, it's you! We've been waiting for you all day! Come in, come in. *holds out tray* Hungry? I've baked gingersnaps, just for you.



Here's the living room. Notice the pillows made from our high school marching uniforms. Fortunately, they have been washed before being made into pillows. I have informed Mary that the love seat next to the window is never to be given away - that is my official napping spot.

Did I mention that that Mary and I, as of last February, have been taking care of our baby?




We keep her in the living room, tucked in comfortably against the wall. She is my pride and joy, and I make sure to spend time with her every day.

Here's the dining room. It's really just a corner in our living room, but we are calling it the dining room to sound fancy. We recently discovered that one of the decorative cups on the table was full of salt from the move. And whoever installed that chandelier must be really skilled and good looking (hint: it's me).

This will be the only time in the next 9 months that you will see this desk unattended. I am savoring as much no-school time as I can before I begin at USF on the 24th. We got this desk at Ikea, which, if you've never been, is an amazing and dangerous experience. I would own a full house of Swedish-named furniture if left there unattended.





You have to admit, this kitchen is pretty rad. Mary has kept Disney in business with the kitchen gadgetry. But I saved the best part for last:


I hate a kitchen where you have to pull everything out of the cabinet to get what you need. Our solution: put in a gigantic shelving unit in the storage space next to the kitchen, and - VOILA - easy access to all the stuff you only use occasionally. I know all of these tidbits are immensely exciting to everyone (cough), but a well organized kitchen is the bee's knees.


And this is where you will be staying, in our guest bedroom. It looked really small before we added anything to it, but it ended up being a pretty good size. Just don't open the closet, or else everything will fall out of it like in cartoons.

The final room of our tour is just down the hall, so...... uh oh. I forgot. We need to ask permission first.



This is the cat's room. Access is normally restricted, but since I have a special pass, a.k.a. feeding her every day, I can get us in.





The bedroom is pretty sweet too. Who installed that sweet ceiling fan, did I hear you ask?

...you didn't ask? Well let me tell you anyways. My Dad and I installed that sweet ceiling fan, and I gotta say, it really BLOWS.

...sorry, I had to do it.

Well, that just about wraps up our little tour. The apartment couldn't have turned out any better for us. If any of you need a little beach vacation, know that you're always welcome here. Also, thanks to all the family for helping us get this place set up!

First Things First...

Darren and I decided we wanted to start a blog to keep everyone informed of our exciting life here in the Tampa area. After trying to come up with a catchy name the entire drive down here, we finally settled on one the first night in the new place. We wanted something that would reflect both of us- Sails refers to Darren's desire to own a sailboat and fairy tales refers to my love for Disney!

My parents and I arrived in Brandon on Monday about 1:00 and unloaded our two cars. Most of our stuff was in the U-Haul with Darren and Steve, who were about an hour behind us. I'm not going to lie- I was disappointed. I was exhausted from traveling for two days with my cat drugged in the backseat and from saying goodbye to all my family and friends. I really wasn't looking forward to unpacking all those boxes, and so when I opened the front door and it wasn't our old apartment in TN- I wanted to cry.

Now- 3 days later when we have all our stuff organized and clean...I'm much happier. The apartment doesn't smell funny to me anymore- it smells like our air freshener. We have cable and internet and phone- so I don't feel disconnected anymore. My cat is waltzing around the place like she owns it already- when at our old apartment, she hid under the bed for the first two weeks!

Steve flew home yesterday and my parents just left to drive back today. Darren is at orientation for his school today- which he isn't that excited for. See, his orientation is at the main Tampa campus, and he will spend most of his time at the St. Petersburg campus. So basically, he is getting to know his way around a campus he will never be on! I am hoping to have a pretty easy day unpacking the few boxes we have left and taking pictures to show everyone what our place looks like! This weekend, Darren and I are dropping everything and taking a trip to the beach- which is like 30-45 minutes away. :-) Next week...I'll be heading to Disney to see if they have any jobs available...fingers crossed!