it begins

I'm actually doing it!  I was awake when it was still dark and made it to the beach in time to see the sun break the horizon!!  And I've so far resisted the overwhelming urge to get back in bed and sleep more.

The fact that it is the most beautiful day ever helps motivate me to keep going though.

Sunrise happened at 6:30 this morning so I stayed at the beach until 7:

Afterwards I required coffee.  Since Daniel RUDELY ditched me for our early morning coffee date I had to spend 8 all by myself:

After coffee I headed out for a run at 9:

Where I saw this:

And this:

10:00 got me as I was walking back home from my run:

And I had just enough time to shower and get myself together for Daniel to pick me up for coffee round two at 11:

By 12 we were ready to leave so I demanded a quick selfie:

And here we find ourselves.  At 12:30 and I am resisting the urge to take a nap.  The question is, do I go to the beach or do I go to the pride event that's happening downtown?

...or do I take a nap...

you have to look at the shadow

When my sister was here we went for a walk around my neighborhood and there was even an iguana sunning himself at the bridge.  It was an awkward time of day for me to try and take a picture so far away with my iphone but I tried anyways.  When I first looked at it later I figured there was no point in posting it.  Then I noticed the shadow.

It should give you a fair indication of his size actually.  I mean, you can even see his thorny dragon spiked back.  He was definitely the biggest I've seen since I've been down here.  The kind that could break your ankles with the whip of its tail.

I liked him.

I also like the name of this realtor who is trying to sell a townhome in my neighborhood.

She sounds like the kind of person who would keep a pet iguana.

this guy

I feel like I showed Kim a good time in Ft. Lauderdale, including a fair smattering of wildlife.

I'm sad she has to leave tomorrow but I'm glad that Jon is coming down.  So much excitement in the past few weeks.

a friend I made

I went on a whole new adventure with my run the other day and I ended up making a new friend, as seen above.  Well, you can see his tail anyways.  It was a giant bright green iguana!  He was nice and gave me a very suspicious look.

I reached a new milestone with my running that has led me to be able to change my route.  I now get to run directly along the beach!  I feel very Florida now.

Especially stumbling upon iguana's too, it's everything I'd hoped living in south florida would be.

I know why the caged palm sings

I had some errands to run in the neighborhood yesterday so I decided to do it NYC style and walk it.  I love how whenever I tell Heather that I'm going to walk somewhere she gives me the most horrified look like she can't even imagine.

What's the point of living in paradise if you aren't going to get out and enjoy it every once in a while?  Especially from behind the safety of metal bars.  I guess that's the theory at the budget inn anyways.

I don't know why but it cracked me up.  It reminded me of a prison yard or something.  Only a few of the palms are segregated inside the cage, while the others are allowed to sway freely in the breeze.  If those actually just grew around that thing then that's even more awesome.

I wasn't able to get a picture because he moved far too quickly for me but I also spotted a bright green iguana in the parking lot of the grocery store.  I was very excited, it made me feel like I really live somewhere exotic.

Then I get a text from Heather saying that a flamingo flew over her car!  So cool!!  What's even better is that she told me later that she was so excited when she saw the flamingo that she called me and a couple other people but none of us answered so then she sent us all texts.  She said that we all replied to the texts within a matter of minutes, meaning we were all by our phones and available, just ignoring her calls.  At this point, she said, all of her excitement from the flamingo had turned in to anger.

That's the best kind of story.

Heather spotting a flamingo reminds me of the flamingo tattoo that I've wanted to get for a long time.  Maybe it's a sign.

This is the one I think I want:

source

Thoughts?