Adventures Galore...

Mr. Smith and I spent our formative years as a newly-married couple in Sarasota, Fla. After meeting and graduating at UTK, he became a student at the Ringling School of Art and Design and I vividly recall meeting Nancy the Ringling mental health counselor at his Freshman Welcome Picnic and her finding out that we had just gotten married two weeks before, I had no job, and he was about to embark on four more years of school. She insisted I call her for counseling the second we hit the first bump in the road, because she was worried about our well-being since most married couples never made it out alive. Although I waited tables for a few months upon our arrival at Ringling, I eventually got a job at Ringling and worked there until we moved out of town; ultimately working closely with Nancy. She was one of our biggest cheerleaders the day he graduated *a tear! thanks nancy!*

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm all about Knoxville and it was a reeeaaaall hard transition for me to leave here and agree to live for years in a town I'd not spent much time in without any guarantee I'd ever move back home. I had my ups and downs, but within a few months, I was head-over-heels in love with my new life in Sarasota. Tommy and I forged a new life for ourselves there and I no joke right now have a big lump in my throat thinking about all the friends we left there. We lived in a picturesque rental in downtown, could walk anywhere from the dry cleaners to the movie theater, had a beach within a 15 minute drive, amazing weather, fabulous colleagues and pals to share our time with... it really was the best way to start our marriage. It still is our second home and if Ringling called me with a fabulous-beyond-fabulous dream job I'd have to consider it over tears, bottles of wine and weeks before making any decision.

All that to say - we don't often have opportunity to visit. Last December my Pretty Princess Rachel Ann Landry (of the Knoxville Half and Disney Full Marathon Fame) convinced me to participate with her in the Sarasota Half Marathon!

I. Am. THERE.

Adventure #1: I hate flying. And when the pilot introduces himself to the flight passengers on the tarmac with the warning that it's going to be a bumpy flight, you know it's gonna be rough. Fortunately, they don't let you off the plane half-way through and we all made it in one piece.

Adventure #2: Mr. Josh Jacobs kindly picks me up and since Miss Pretty Princess is still working, he drops me off at Ringling for a few hours until she's free. I haunt offices and to my delight run into many of my former colleagues from back in the day. It was FUN to visit!!

here's where my higher-ed administrator magic all started... i was an administrative assistant for continuing and professional education department. our office was in here, and my desk was in a hallway.

mr. rick tubbs! he is chief of security and is kind enough to give me a quick tour of campus.

He also showed me this:

an incident report form i allegedly prepared for him that security at ringling employs to this day! my legacy...

Oh and here is me being silly back in the day:

i am wearing the top of a bubble gum dispenser and pretending to be an astronaut

Imagine my slight horror when I find this in the new student life center:

yeeeeaahhh... that's the same bubble gum machine my head was in...

But while we're on funny photos from back in the day:

this is a food drive barrel from thanksgiving one year. people kept mistaking it for a trash can and throwing in crap so i volunteered to hide in it and yell/throw garbage back out when the wrong stuff got thrown in. it was 'other duties as may apply.'

I started in Continuing and Professional Ed and moved on to Student Affairs. Please meet the second generation of my supervisors in my professional career:

nancee clark, director of cpe; and diane zorn, assistant director. i was hired and worked under two other women so they inherited me, and they dealt well with their predecessor's lack of judgement (kidding, sandy and rita!). both women were incredibly supportive of me personally and professionally and i was so happy to get the chance to visit with them again!

Another Ringling friend picked me up and took me for a trip down memory lane (you're totes indulgent, Ronny Boy!)

but you should have warned me that i was kickin' nellie olsen curls a la little house on the prairie

Memory Lane, cont:

my home. 1637 oak street...

apartment #8

No, I am NOT a stalker!

Moving on! Josh and Rachel show up to take me home!

they are my host and hostess/running buddy for the weekend

They are too kind. Now I bet you think they shoved me in some lame-O second bedroom, or (horrors) sofa bed in the living room. WRONG.

Adventure #3:I had MY. OWN. HOUSE. Inside a gated community.

my house (sans first, last and damage deposits). i had my own key and everything!

These kids know how to make a girl feel at home. Please check out the reading material made available:

rock elephant by sam venable, illustrated by tommy smith. nice touch.

The next morning, Rachel and I go for a run. We are HARD CORE about our half marathon and log three miles in the pouring rain.

glub, glub, glub...

It is a testament to the graciousness of the Landry/Jacob clan: When I got back to my lair after this soggy run I realized I neglected to pack a razor. I called Rachel's phone and Josh answered. I voiced my request. He relayed it to Rachel who asked me to towel up and please drive through the doggy door in the house. I did.

adventure #4: can you super-size that, please?

Food break! Num-nums from the Bistro du Monde:

eggplant sandwich

fancy pants salad

croissant thingie

heinz ketchup served in an odd itty bitty crock

Me having lunch with the fabulous and effervescent Kate Donahue:

you are the proverbial bee's knees

The aforementioned Nancee, Diane, Ron and Rachel were present too but I neglected to get a photo of us all (I'm a jerk). By the by (adventure #5), it was only when my strapless dress slid unbeknownst to me to my waist and I was like "Hey guys! Lookit! My dress fell down!" that everyone laughed and acknowledged that nothing had changed about me. What does that say? I dunno, but I like it. There, I said it and I'm not taking it back!

More food!

i loves me some crab legs

Next: sights and sounds from the trip!

first morning and no one is awake in the big house so i am bored. i take a self-photo and think if i were blue i would totes look like an avatar.

ron and megan make sweet, sweet music a la zamfir-style

i ride a turtle! sidesaddle, like a lady.

rach makes the observation that i've taken a wrong turn from new orleans... and stayed right there instead of coming to sarasota

she doesn't argue too much about the accommodation when she gets a surface-of-the-sun hot cocoa for free from the establishment.

i catch a few rays

Sidebar! Anyone who knows knows the first pretty day in spring that falls on a spring break weekend is going to be parking lot bingo if you venture out to the beaches. We knew. But because I was in town, we were willing to play. Because I wanted to go to the beach. (I know. I'm exhausting.) We left the public lot after a quick run-through and passed two public parking accesses until the third yielded quite easily a parking space. We thought we were the fortunate ones... until we discovered this:

adventure #6: it no joke took us about fifteen minutes to slog through this smelly germ-water to get to the gulf. i laughed the whole way and kept shouting "ahoy!"

and take a photo of the creepiest/biggest jellyfish ever to wash up (it was huge)

here's another

and another! and people still ask why i am afraid to swim in the ocean?

adventure #7: i go on a double date - there is mine on the far right

he takes me for a milkshake and i get a free glass from sonic for being from knoxville, tenn.

adventure #8: rachel takes me on a motorcycle ride!

she tells me i look like the cop from terminator so i do an impression....

i make supper!

One afternoon Josh picks us up downtown and we run out with him for a business meeting. Instead of heading home on the highway, Rachel insists on Adventure #9 and we head down the private drive off... Jacobs Lane!

josh jacobs and megan enjoy adventure on jacobs lane!

i tried to take a crazy photo with rachel, but she insisted that with two boys in the house *ALL* photos were crazy photos

so i behaved

here is josh and rachel's dog, jake!

adventure #10: he eats my shoe

but then we make friends

see?

Sunday morning: ADVENTURE #11: MARATHON TIME! (aside: marathon crack of dawn is not enhanced by lack of sleep due to sunburn, indigestion, and daylight savings time. Just a thought.)

here we are: rear elevation

and front elevation. please excuse my gut.

here we are smiling proudly with our medals! in the back... behind us... the ringling sculpture garden... with michelangelo's david...

so i CRUSH him!!

What a good time. I had so much fun I don't think I can stand it. Thank you to my Ringling kinsmen and women, esp. Ronny Boy for being my tour guide. Thank you to the Jacobs/Landry contingency for their hospitality. I miss my home in Sarasota and hope I get to visit again soon!