"Good luck has its storms." ~ George Lucas

In my previous post, I mentioned how powerful storms roll in off of the ocean very unexpectedly - the picture below, taken with my phone, is one such storm. It hit while we were in a kitchen and bathroom store yesterday. It honestly looked like something on the Weather Channel!

Then today, for the first time since we have been here - blue skies and sunshine!

Each day we find  we are closer to completing all of our renovation choices. I am going to hold off showing you some of our decisions. Instead, below you will see some shots of our kitchen as it stands right now.

A wall - which we plan to remove - with the hole that Bruce made to make sure that there is nothing inside that would prevent us from doing that!

Bruce found this magnet behind the refrigerator, which leads us to believe that our condo choice was pre-ordained!

All of the cabinets have pulls smack-dab in the middle of the doors. I can tell you that it makes them all but impossible to open. Not sure who thought this up as a design style, but we have seen them in other kitchens in our complex, so it must have been "in" once upon a time!

Lastly, here are some photos of one of the millions of geckos that inhabit Florida. These shots are out of our living-room window. Bruce says if we let him in, he will try to sell us insurance.....

"True life is lived when tiny changes occur." ~ Leo Tolstoy

Our first renovation! (and I do mean the doormat!)

We have been in Florida for about a week now, and what a busy week it has been! We have looked at cabinets; tiles; countertops; refrigerators, etc. for our recently purchased condo. Different brands, different stores - all expensive! Yikes! Our dreams have been tempered by our realities, and we have some decisions to make. Make no mistake however, we know that we are very fortunate to be faced with such a dilemma!

In the meantime, we are getting to know the area a little better, and enjoying it even more! The weather has been quite turbulent - blue skies one moment and thunder and lightning the next. It seems that this will be the case for the remainder of the time we are here (another week maybe?). Summer storms roll in off of the ocean so quickly that we are easily caught off guard. They are quite spectacular!

I hope that by Saturday's post I will have something more concrete to share in terms of renovation plans - in the meantime, the doormat will have to suffice!

"What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive." Barbara Kingsolver

We arrived in Florida safely last night, with no real travel interference from weather at all. It seems that Arthur was heading north as we headed south, intersecting only for occasional downpours. We are happy to be back - unpacking some of the things that we brought down this go-round. How wonderful to be able to have our own things - and leave them! We have walked 'round the condo many times (not a large loop, to be sure) brainstorming wish-lists vs. budget. It's exciting at this point - check back with me later!

In the meantime, we have no internet, and with the holiday weekend, probably won' have it for several more days. Thank goodness for Wi-Fi access at coffee shops! I expect that in any case, my posts will be brief - we are here on a mission! Enjoy the article below (blue link) that I ran across recently!

http://english.cntv.cn/2014/06/30/VIDE1404058919456356.shtml

 The extravaganza of gorgeous headwear in the Australian desert city of Alice Springs is attracting entries from as far away as Germany, Japan and the United States.