360 days to 40

Do you remember Holidomes?  They were super Holiday Inn hotels that had a roof over them, so the pool and mini water park, put-put greens, office and everything were inside but it felt like you were outside. I think they were mainly in the north to combat cold weather for vacationers.

Back when I was little, I travelled with my Dad during the summer months.  At the time, it was before Stephanie came along and he was a single parent.  He travelled for his job... so I went along with him on his business trips.  We always had fun, Dad made sure of that.  And on a few occasions we got to stay at a Holidome.  And it was great!  For a kid is was like Mecca.  They had everything under one roof.  We would go to our room and first thing I would grab my bathing suit and hit the pool.  Sometimes we would play put-put golf or ping-pong.  And for some reason I remember loving the vending machines...odd memory. But they were so much fun.

What a great time in life... when an indoor pool and a Moon Pie from a vending machine was the perfect afternoon.

I don't know what happened to Holidomes.  Were they torn down?  Taken over my another hotel chain?  Or are they still in existence?  I can't remember when I saw one last...must be over 30 years.  They should bring them back.

See what I mean...awesome!  

These are pics I found on the web, not my pictures.  I don't think we took any pictures of a Holidome.

361 days to 40

I fly...a lot.  Some months, I fly every week.  Other months, about every other week.  My home airport is the Orlando International Airport, so obviously I go thru there often.  But, somehow I have missed a giant statue of a iguana dressed as a painter - Van Gogh, I think.  I estimate that I have walked by this iguana hundreds of time but I have somehow never noticed him before... and he is hard to miss.  The thing stands over 6 feet tall and is made of gold and very colorful mosaic tiles.  Just goes to show how on autopilot we can be as we go about our daily life.

This "project" of taking pictures everyday - which I have been doing but I haven't posted for 2 days (not a good start) - has really open my eyes to the wonders of every thing we come across daily.  I could have walked by the Van Gogh Iguana for another 5 years as I went thru my autopilot life...but, for now a least, I have my eyes open.

And I got my first grey hair, actually a hair in my eyebrows.  How's that for turning 39.

364 days to 40

So, yesterday was my birthday. Great day, just hung out with my wonderful Husband and dogs, we came back from Key Largo and them watched some Winter Olympics.

Anyhoo...officially on the road to 40, only 364 more days to go!  I remember back when me and my friend Amy were young, maybe 10 or 12 ish, we would figure out what year we would turn 21, 30, 40 etc...  And 40 seemed like such a loooong way away, so long away that I really never thought it would come.  But here I am staring down at 40.

Should be a fun year...at least I will make it fun!

Here I am at the World's Largest Lobster statue (at least I think it is) in Islamorada, FL