It's all about The U

I finally made it to a UM Football game- I had forgotten how much fun college football is!!  My friend, Peter, had an extra ticket to the UM vs. Ohio State game, so I got to watch the Hurricanes beat 17th ranked Ohio State 24 to 6!  I realize that it's possible that my allegiance should go to Ohio State since I was born in Ohio and all, but I figured that since UM pays my paycheck right now I should show them some support!

(All photos courtesy of Heather Gilbert)

Ian and I show off our teamwork skills

 The game was a lot of fun and the experience of it was amazing!  They play at Dolphin Stadium and it was packed!  Lots of good UM energy!

It's all about the "U"!!

My new home....again!

As much as I say that I hate to move, I've done it again!!  I moved into a 1 bedroom/1.5 bath apartment on beautiful Key Biscayne.  It's on the penthouse floor (actually it's on the 3rd floor of a three story building) and my screened in porch has a wonderful view of the pool.  The best part is that I'm only 1 block from the beach where I have private access!!
Here's some pictures:

Living Room

Living room

Dining Area

Kitchen- small but functional

Guest Bath

My bath

Bedroom

Bedroom

Screened balcony

Labor Day 2011

I headed to one of my favorite vacation spots, Chateaux Brown-Hansen, for Labor Day weekend!  Always the gracious hosts, Claus and Michelle helped satisfy my craving for steak by joining me in a feast of Filets with a mushroom Madeira sauce, thyme potatoes and a spinach, beet and goat cheese salad finished off with a lovely Coppola pinot noir......one of the best meals I've ever had!!

Thanks for the great weekend!!

Crazy month of July!

It's been super busy over the past month!  Field work is really picking up for the summer and now that I'm back to diving, I'm spending quite a bit of time in the water.  The nurseries are doing well and we hope that the corals in our one nursery may actually spawn this year.  We are allowing our newest nursery to grow over the summer (pending they survive any storms that come our way this year) and then will put most of those corals out on the reefs during our restoration activities this fall.  I've also been helping out with seagrass monitoring (not my favorite....), but the weather has been pretty rough this year so far and it's nice to help out others every once in a while!
The biggest news is that I moved out to Key Biscayne!  I've got a one bedroom apartment half a block from the beach (the main reason I moved there) and it's also close to work.  I'll be able to ride my beach cruiser into work sometime soon!  The moved went well thanks to everyone who came to help!  I'm still working on unpacking everything and figuring out where stuff should go.  I'll post pictures of the new place as soon as I can get the rooms looking presentable! 
Trouble is adjusting to her new place and likes the fact that she's always within one or two rooms of me now (as opposed to one to two floors away in the other place!).

Lobster!

First lobster dinner of the season!

Rolo and I braved the craziness of mini-season and went lobster hunting under the bridge at Bear Cut.  Mini-season is 48 hours where recreational divers can go and catch lobsters prior to the open of the commercial season.  Every year, a bunch of crazy people go out in search of the first lobsters of the season.  Rolo and I landed 8 lobsters in one dive!  They were deliciously prepared on the grill with butter, lime juice, garlic and cayenne pepper.  Served with fresh grilled corn and asparagus! 

More bowling?

Now, I know this is going to seem like all we do is go bowling....well we have been going frequently lately....but it always ends up being such a good time!

This time we went because we originally had plans to go watch jai alai, but unbeknownst to us, they don't play night games anymore, so we were forced to find other sources of entertainment!

This time it was Ian, Heather, Austin, Viktor, Roxy, Mark, Paul and Rolo! 

Our glow in the dark bowling shoes! 

Paul has his game face on! 

Me and Rolo....again! 

As you can see from the score board....I blew the competition away with a huge score of 128!!! 

Posing with the pins!

Now I know that the video is sideways (my apologies), but it was just too funny to not post!!!  Here's Mark doing his version of disco bowling!!!

Strikers Football

Got a group together to watch a football (that's actually soccer) match between the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and the Puerto Rico Islanders. (photos courtesy of Michelle!!!)

Even though there is a large latin culture here in South Florida, there isn't a large football following and there isn't even an MLS team here.  But, there is a NASL that plays up in Ft. Lauderdale. 

Paul and Lisa do a little tailgating before the game. 

Michelle and Claus joined in the fun...Claus introduced me to the football club last year. 

As always, we can't seem to take serious photos! 

Poor Rolo was outnumbered....too many Americans and not enough Puerto Ricans.... 

Paul and I got our hair decorated to show our team spirit!  Strikers win!!!