February 22, 2011 by Leanne
Sorry northern friends…
but this weekend I put away my winter clothes. I folded all the turtlenecks and moved all the heavy sweaters into the spare bedroom closet.
I moved the thermostat notch from “heat” to “cool”.
I changed out the bedding from the heavy comforter to the lightweight bedspread.
And I even put on my bathing suit and laid out by the pool for a little while.
The calendar may say it’s still winter but it’s spring in Florida.
Category Daily Life, Featured | Tags: Florida,spring,winter | 4 Comments
January 10, 2010 by Leanne
Temperatures in the 20′s this morning across Central Florida. This has been a cold weather record-breaking week in the Sunshine state. And in my life-long Florida resident memory, I don’t recall as long a stretch of cold weather as we’ve had so far in 2010! Whodathunk I would actually need my near-floor length, quilted long coat that I bought for my trip to snowy Paris 3 years ago. It sure came in handy these last few mornings.
Ice droplets formed on my trees and bushes Sunday morning. I woke up at 2:00am remembering I forgot to turn off the sprinkler system which runs every Sunday morning at 4:00am.
I am actually very “ok” with this palm tree biting the dust. I’ve wanted to get rid of it for years because it grows faster than weeds and takes over the yard. Maybe, hopefully, the freeze got to most of it and I can finally yank it out of the ground.
Category Daily Life | Tags: Cold,Florida,Freeze,home,Ice | 2 Comments
September 19, 2009 by Leanne
The kids continue their daily love fest. And I seriously mean, daily!
And this is how the day ends.
Category Dogs: Mikita & Jefferson | Tags: dogs,Florida,Jefferson,Mikita | 3 Comments
September 7, 2009 by Leanne
I have an unofficial tradition I impose on myself every birthday weekend. It’s been more of a tradition in the past decade or so, but I honor it nonetheless and it involves self indulgence and total “me” time. I shop. I shop all day. I go to stores I may not visit for another year and just have a dang good time browsing, trying on clothes, shoes, looking at curtains, dreaming of what could be, and just absolutely having a blast – by myself. This kind of shopping is not something I can do successfully with anyone else. Guys will get frustrated with all the girly stores and frankly, I don’t want the peer pressure of someone else (male or female) making me feel guilty if I really want to buy something I absolutely don’t need.
So, today was that shopping day. I hit DSW Shoes, Off Broadway Shoes, Stein Mart, Ikea, Petco, and Marshalls.
The coolest thing I got and probably the most fiscally responsible (read cheapest) was this napkin holder. I know! A napkin holder! But just look at how cool it is. It’s from Ikea. The napkins (also from Ikea) lay on top of a black plate and there’s a weighted arm that holds them in place. I love it! (P.S. Hey, did you notice the awesome photo in the background?)
The biggest purchase of the day was my 4 new pairs of shoes. Yes – 4 pairs! For you shoe-nistas I am so going to disappoint you. I buy frugally and purchase based on 1) comfort 2) usability 3) need and lastly 4) fashion. Don’t come here expecting to see me in Jimmy Choos – it ain’t gonna happen.
But I am excited about these pretty shoes:
The photo doesn’t do them justice. They’re really dark black suede pumps and look amazing on my feet. I got some really fun shoes today between DSW and Off Broadway.
Back to cool stuff – I also got a pretty new duvet from Ikea. It’s really lovely in person.
One last note, nothing to do with shopping. The other exciting thing that happened this weekend was Mikita jumping into the pool all by herself, no pushing by me or Mike. Last year she learned to swim.. this year she’s learning to jump in alone. Yea for Mikita!
Category Daily Life | Tags: Florida,home,Mikita,personal,shopping | 7 Comments
September 6, 2009 by Leanne
I wanted a dinette set for my breakfast nook in the kitchen. I kinda knew what I wanted – a tall-boy set with comfortable chairs. For weeks I had been scouring the circular ads in the paper hoping something would catch my eye and also give me an idea of what items like that are costing these days.
About two weeks ago I started the search in the stores. And lo and behold, I found “exactly” what I wanted at badcock Furniture, the first store I went to. The sales lady told me I was “in luck” because the 5-piece set was on sale for $659 marked down from $800. Eeeek.. it was a little more than I had expected but it was so exactly what I wanted. What to do? Thankfully, the smart economical side of me took over and I walked out knowing I needed to check out more stores for other deals. But – it was just what I was looking for!
Over the next few days I hit more stores like Pier 1, Rooms To Go, American Signature and even tried Bed Bath and Beyond. None of them had anything close to the perfect set I saw at Badcock. Ugh - I so didn’t want to spend that much money.
On a whim, I stopped at one more store to see if there was anything else that would work. I visited Kanes Furniture. The salesman, Guido, led me around the store showing me all their dinette sets. They also had one that was really pretty but too big for the nook area. As we went upstairs to see the final sets he said, “I’ve only got one more to show you.” And wouldn’t you know – it was the identical set that was selling at Badcock. Same manufacturer, same name. Only $160 cheaper for all 5 pieces! How about that!! I found my perfect set at another store at a much better price.
Ok, it actually doesn’t “pay” but it definitely saved me some dollars to shop around.
Category Daily Life | Tags: Florida,home,personal,shopping | 2 Comments
May 26, 2009 by Leanne
Photo from: Florida Southwest River Water Management District
Tonight on the news was a story about 2 people struck by lightning – while sitting outside on metal chairs watching the afternoon thunderstorms pass by. (story from Local 6 here) The fact that they were “SITTING OUTSIDE IN METAL CHAIRS” just floored me. Florida has long been nicknamed the lightning capital of the United States. On average, 7 – 9 people per year are killed by lightning in the state.
Being a native Floridian, and Orlandoan, I have grown up in the Lightning State, er – I mean Sunshine State. I’m very afraid of lightning. I take it very seriously. I’m scared to death at the end of the work day having to walk the long distance outside to the parking lot holding a metal umbrella while dodging lightning bolts all over the place. Lightning is dangerous. The biggest rule to remember is seek shelter indoors when you see or hear lightning and thunder nearby. It’s that simple. Don’t think you can beat the odds because you’re special. And most of all, don’t sit outside watching the storms pass in a metal chair!
NASA Lightning Map (2001)
The maps show that Florida, for example, is one place where the rate of strikes is unusually high. Dennis Boccippio, an atmospheric scientist with the NSSTC lightning team, explains why: “Florida experiences two sea breezes: one from the east coast and one from the west coast.” The “push” between these two breezes forces ground air upward and triggers thunderstorms.
Hong Kong Lightning by David Roark
Category Florida Life | Tags: Florida,Lightning,News | 1 Comment
Hello and welcome to Leanne's Life! Before anything else - please know that this is my own personal blog and is in no way affiliated with my employer or any other company.
Now a little bit about me: I'm a native of Central Florida and work at Walt Disney World Resort. (And yes, it's a dream job!) Prior to my magical days at Disney I spent nearly 10 years at WFTV Ch-9 in Orlando. I'm a graduate of Rollins College. I love animals so you'll probably see quite a few stories here about my babies, Mikita and Jefferson.
I hope you'll enjoy my posts. Topics will be wide ranging from amusing stories about daily life to the excitement about something that happened at work, or maybe just my random (and sometimes silly) thoughts on something. Who knows!?
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