The Bee's Knees: Adventures in Fun. Fashion. Fitness. Food. Frolicking.: Guess who's back…back again...

Oh Hello!!!!!!

Wait, who am I you ask? I'm the one that used to write this blog before I had to be a grown up, get up at 5, and work all day to make that cheese.

But guess who closes today and thus doesn't work until 2PM!?!

That's right, me.

I think I'm going to like closing. Although I don't like the fact that I have to be at work at 4AM tomorrow.

See why I haven't been blogging?!

Teasing…it's only been two and a half weeks people, get off mah nutssss!!!!

:) Kidding again…kind of…

Anyway. Let's backtrack a bit.

1.) I went to my first Gasparilla!!!!

I learned my lesson on Flutag, and started with a hearty breakfast.

We started the day with mimosas over at Allie and Trav's at 8:30, then headed to Bayshore to see what it was all about!!

This is pretty much what it was all about.

And this.

We spent the day cheering and catching beads and hydrating. Not much else to it. But it is certainly entertaining. Nevermind that I had a girl right next to me almost puke on my hand, guess the bad comes with the good.

Bayshore was followed by debauchery at Pete's Place, the cheapest dive bar in Tampa, except for maybe Barefoot Billy's which serves on beer, wine, and homemade Jello shots by the two toothless bartenders. Not to mention the stripper pole and pregnant dog named Cheyenne.

You think I'm kidding.

I'm serious as a heart attack.

Love at Pete's Place.

Affection.

Getting serious with someone else. Offended.

2.) Ok, so that was pretty much Gasparilla. It's a bit hazy. Fast forward to Sunday.

We had a puppy interview!!!!!!!

AHHHHH!!!!

We're getting a puppy!!! Shwhat?!?!?!?!?

And our breeder sells to interview approved homes only!!! Annnnndddd we passed!!!! Annnnnddddd our pup is being born today!!!

We get him April and I CANNOT wait to meet him!!!!!!

Dude, I think I just…

Yep, I think I just tinkled a bit.

Aww crap.

Anyway, here are some pictures of ja baby's lineage.

That's right, we have the whole lineage covered in pictures from the 90's.

Here's the fam our pup comes from

Ummm…love.

This is our baby's mom preggers! She goes into labor today!

Kiwi's (our pup's mom) last litter...

Kiwi's brothers and sisters.

Holy hula.

How can you resist that sleepy puppy face.

Holy moly.

And here they are!!!!!! Our bundle of joy was born February 9, 2012. The day that will forever change our lives :)

Oops, I wrote the wrong date, they were actually born February 9th… I'm a bad mother already. Dang it. Fail.

Here they are at 8 days old…

They have fur on their paws and noses now!! How exciting!

There's mama tending to her little ones!

Give him a good ole' fashioned cleaning Mom!

Osh. My goodness, look at those full bellies. So cozy.

We're the four best friends that anyone could have!!! I bet ours is the loner in the back :)

Ok, to be honest, I could go on about our future puppy forever and ever, but you're probably not quite as excited about it as I am, so I try to save most of my ooey gooey gushing over Finley until April when we can bring him home!!!!

3.) I started my job… it's been going really well so far. The first few days were spent in "business college" as Target calls it with other new ETL hires going over all the basic information about the company, our roles, and HR necessities.

I then went to my store and followed around the ETL-Logistics and the STL (store team leader) for a few days, there were lots of early mornings, lots and lots of LEARNING! I swear there is no way I can ever learn all there is to know about this company. It's never ending. It's exciting though to be a part of something and have a real life job to go to every day.

The next week, I got to meet my specific trainer who has the job I'll be doing. She's Puerto Rican, fiery, hilarious, and I love her! She's so smart, knows everything about the company and most importantly, she's kind.

She has been more than patient with me as she answers my 2 billion questions about planograms, processes, reading reports, visual adjacencies, coaching team leaders, leadership, balanace, and other endless topics…

I also had my two week "Leadership Status" with my boss and her boss. It was soooo scary to go into a review so early, but they were very complimentary, said I was doing a great job, and of course gave me some constructive feedback to work on in the next few weeks.

There are oodles of computer modules to do, and I'm excited to get out from behind the computer and out on the floor to have more interaction with the team! My eyeballs are starting to fall out of my head I think. It is really nice to know that you're getting paid to learn though :) Feels a lot different than paying to learn like I have been.

Here's what my days have looked like…

Lot's of reading, lots of quizzes, and lot of Starbucks. Recipe for success. At least I get a discount on S-bucks :) This could be dangerous.

4.) Last Friday was Miss Orange County/Miss Orlando where I gave up my title! :( So sad, but so excited for the new Miss Orange County, miss Sara York and Miss Orlando, Amanda Harris.

I competed with both of these girls at Miss Florida last year and loved them both! I am so excited for them, and could not have picked two better girls to take my place as Miss OC.

Also, congrats to Samantha Janolo, our new teen. She was first runner-up to Elizabeth last year, and her sister, Kristina Janolo, you may know as Miss Florida 2011 :)

Here are some pics!

Awesome girls!

5.) I just got back yesterday from Turks and Caicos with my family!

It was a lot of sunning, drinking Pina Coladas, eating at buffets, and playing cards. I don't think we stopped laughing the entire trip…I love my fam :)

This is the first thing you need to know about T and K….. We had butlers.

No this is not normal for us, but since there was six of us, it was cheaper to get a butler suite than 3 rooms….so butlers it is!

Randy and Emile became our best friends quickly.

And this is why…

They did things like this. Every night. If you want to know the way to my heart. It's chocolate covered anything and monkeys. Done and done. Marry me Randy!!!!!

Valentine's day :) :) :)

And things like this every day…

Ummm…I guess there is only one Adam…… I love natives :)

This is the cabana we set up in pretty much every day.

So sweet!

They brought us snacks everyday by the pool. Soooo spoiled!!!!

Oops, how did that get in there…?!?! DAD!!!!!!!!!

Here's some of the resort….

Restaurant we ate at the first night….barefoot in the sand :)

Pool tables…..ha!

Swim up bar…or jump off bar…whichever you prefer.

Some of the food….

Blackened mahi was ta DIE foa.

Cesar salad in a tomato bowl, so creative!

Chicken Marsala, sooooo delish!

And finally people…they make all the difference...

Me and J at dinner…

You must know that although I didn't go scuba diving (waters were too choppy), we did take a snorkeling excursion to Iguana Island and back… and it was B-E-A-UTIFUL!!!!

Commence family photo shoot...

We got to sit on these netted areas on the boat, which enabled us to watch the water below while we drove!!! Note: This is also the net through which I dropped my vaseline, back up chapstick, and ALMOST my camera!!!!

I'm not good with nets.

Sailing. Solid.

Blow job!!!

Getting ready to "run and jump in"…or for me and Kara, stand there for five minutes, hold hands, and squeal while the captain had to come over and coax us into the 8 foot jump into the reef!

Aaron's lactating.

Iguanas on iguana island!

This may or may not be my favorite pic of the entire trip….

Let's try that again...

Pop!

Pop and the boys!

Action shot!

This is my fav.

Money shot.

His poor arms were shaking at this point…guess I better lay off those buffets...

Ummm……blue 42!!! Hut hut hike!!!!

Love and butts :)

Shtop looking at me shwan.

PHEW! That felt good to get that all out!

Today was a whole lot of getting my life back together, including a trip over to the new house, dishes, laundry, health insurance stuff, Boot Camp with Captain Dipshit, grocery, eyebrow wax, unpacking, and this delicious bowl of noodles, green beans, turkey meatballs, and marinara sauce!