Happy Christmas!

We spent Christmas with Jim's family in Western North Carolina.  We woke up to snow falling Christmas morning :o) and it just kept coming.  It made for a very special day.  We enjoyed spending
 time with family and making new memories.  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

All Things Archaeology

It has been awhile since our last post.  I have been without a day off since Thanksgiving and just returned from Perdido Key near Pensacola.  I LOVE my new job and still can't believe that I am a working archaeologist!  I have been performing shovel tests every 25m along beaches that were effected by the Deep Horizon Oil Spill and have known cultural sites.  My day involves hanging out on a beautiful beach, digging holes that look like this:

BIG news!

Yesterday, I received a job offer (out of the blue) from a company called Southeastern Archaeological Research, Inc.  They offered me the position of Project Archaeologist and I accepted!  I started my training today :o)  It is a happy day at the Keith hacienda!

An Eternity Together...

Soul mates FOREVER!

Happy Halloween!

Jim and I ran the Tricker Trek 10k this morning.  We had a great time!  I ran in costume(and won the costume contest)...

We both set PR's!

AND we both won 4th place in our age groups!

Hope everyone has a Happy and safe Halloween!

Something Smells Fishy...

It's been awhile since we've updated the blog.  We went to Mullet Festival in Niceville this weekend...it was a blast, as always.  Jim and I have been catching a LOT of crabs off of the back dock in our crab traps.  We have been steaming them and picking them over.  Jim even made seafood jumbo with some fresh crab meat...YUM!  We have toned back our running schedule since both of us have injuries :o(.  We are hoping to do the Tricker Trek 10k on October 30.  It should be fun, as you run in your Halloween costumes!  We finally rode the Ferris wheel at Pier Park.  We have been eyeing it since we moved to Panama City.  On our impromptu date night we got snowballs and took a ride!  The city lights at twilight over the beach was a terrific and romantic sight!  I have been volunteering with the Environmental office on the Navy base.  We are doing a shoreline restoration project to protect some valuable archaeological sites from damage due to erosion.  It's been fun and I've met some really nice people.  We have had some really wonderful fall weather lately, but we're not looking forward to the cold winter.

Sublime Key Lime!

One word...YUM!

Getting into the Spirit!

I know that it's not even October yet, but I love Halloween so much that I thought I'd get a jump on decorating the house. Plus, it gave me something to fill my days while Jim is away on travel.

It's been awhile since I've updated the blog, so I'll try to do a bit of a brain dump.

Jim and I have started our training for the Run for the Redfish 1/2 marathon on December 4th. So far, so good. I love getting out there and running everyday. This will be the furthest distance either of us has done. 2 weeks down...10 to go!

Two weekends ago, we added another 10' section to our dock out back. Since then, Jim has been fishing (what seems like) non-stop! He's now able to cast further out and catch more than catfish!

We also boated up the intercostal for the first time since moving in. We saw some neat stuff and had a great time.

This past weekend, Jim's parents came for a visit. We had a wonderful time showing them our favorites haunts in PCB and just spending some quality time with them! We took them out for a boat ride (of course) on Saturday morning. We rescued a crow on our way to Crooked Creek and found a cold spring to swim in. We sure enjoyed having them and wish that they would have been able to stay a bit longer!

What a Weekend!

Labor Day weekend was a busy one for us. We went to Gainesville/Cedar Key to visit friends

and pick up our canoe.

We had a GREAT time! We went out to a few of our favorite restaurants and saw some great people. I went to the Gator game on Saturday,

while Jim spent time with his little brother Britian. We then headed west to Cedar Key with Nick and Max. The wild flowers in the front yard were gorgeous

and the weather was amazing! We packed up our stuff and headed back to the panhandle on Sunday. On Monday morning, we loaded the boat and were off to go scalloping in Port St. Joe. It was the last weekend of the scalloping season and we thought we would have a tough time finding any...but boy were we wrong! We were picking them up 7-8 at a time and they were MONSTERS!

We cleaned them when we got home that evening and used the refuse to bait our crab trap. When I awoke this morning, this guy was in our trap.

Our first crab!!!Besides getting a little sun burnt...we couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

Wishing you a SUNNY day!

We are having a BEAUTIFUL day in PCB! Finally a day without rain! How could it not be an amazing day when it started like this...

We had a pretty productive but drab weekend. We were hoping to go to Port St. Joe on Saturday to collect some scallops, but the weather had other plans.

So, instead we added another section to our dock out back. This will give us an advantage over the catfish ;o)

While driving to the lumber yard, my jeep (Helga) hit 100k miles!

This weekend we are driving to Gainesville/Cedar Key. We cannot wait to see our friends and eat all of the delicious food that we took for granted while living in Gainesville. Stops include: Mi apa, La tienda, Gyros plus, and Caribbean Spice. We might hit up Dragonfly too...if we're lucky!

Making progress...

The dining room is finished!!!

Before:

After:

Light up my Life!

With Jim gone all week, I spent most of my days painting. I finally finished the living room. With the walls being so much lighter, it really brightens up the room. See for your self!

Before:

After:

Paneling no more

I've been trying to "modernize" our new home over the past week. I've decided to paint over the wood paneling that currently covers every wall in the house. I am happy to say, that after 3 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint, I finally won the battle in the kitchen!!! Below are before and after pictures. Next challenge: the living & dining room!

Out with the old, in with the new!

We got a NEW car!!! It's a 2010 Suzuki Sx4! So cute!!!

Updates!

With Jim gone during the days, and me stuck at home without a car...for the time being, I've been acting like a 1950's housewife. I've been baking up a storm :o) In the past 2 weeks I've made 2 batches of cashew baklava, chocolate chip cookies, and a gooseberry pie! Jim and I need to hit the gym before we start packing on the pounds.

PCB Baby!

Jim and I are officially residents of Panama City Beach! Jim started his new job today and I worked on unpacking and settling into our new home...which is AMAZING! It is right on West Bay and we couldn't be happier. The cats and chickens have made themselves comfortable and we are trying to do the same. We have been spending most of our time outdoors on the boat or in the yard instead of unpacking :o( because it's much more fun to play outside. Here are a few pictures...enjoy!

An Ode to You: Gudren, Josaphine and Maude!

Today, we found out that our 2 favorite hens and rambunctious rooster would be making the move with us to our new home in Panama City. We were worried that the home owner and city ordinances would prevent our sweet chickens from coming along, but alas, we were wrong! Here's to you Gudrun, Josaphine and Maude!

Road Warriors

Wow! It has been an incredibly busy week/weekend. I feel like Jim and I have driven every stretch of highway in Florida over the last 4 days. On Thursday, we made our way down to Bradenton to see some of my amazing friends. I am so happy that I keep in touch with these guys, they are all wonderful!

We spent also some time on the beach at White Ave. while we were there and I am happy to report that bp hasn't spoiled the pristine waters there...yet. We saw this cute little Gopher.

We unfortunatly had to leave Thursday evening to be at work nice and early Friday morning.

But that wasn't the end of our adventure, after work on Friday, we hopped back in the jeep and cruised down to Orlando to see Screeching Weasel. They are one of my favorite bands. Jim got tickets for us as an early birthday present for me. They were AMAZING! Best birthday present EVER!!!

On Saturday morning, we started off for Panama City to look at a few potential houses to rent for our BIG move. We found one that we like! It right on the water in West Bay! Jim is excited about being so close to the intercostal water way. We move in on July 9th!

After signing our lease paperwork, we went west to Niceville for Jim's 10 year highschool reunion. We got to see some of his friends and catch up. On Sunday, we went to Marianna for the 1st day of camp, before heading back to Gainesville.

Whew...what a full weekend!