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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Back from The Florida Keys


So, Ben and I are back from the Florida Keys. We had a great time relaxing and spending time together. Below is a photo journal of our trip South.









We woke up at 5:30 a.m. and started driving. Ben is a student and I work from home...We don't wake up at 5:30...ever.

Old, retired men who live in south Florida stereotypically love their pastel linen shirts. Ben decided this would be a perfect opportunity to pull out his own pastel linen shirt, a.k.a. "cruise wear." What constitutes "cruise wear" you ask? Three things: linen, short sleeves and pastel in color.

Ben loves when the commercial for "The Villages" comes on television. The Villages is an upscale retirement community in Florida where they golf, do yoga and paint ceramics. Ben would have fit in perfectly had he shown up in his cruise shirt. We passed the exit for The Villages on the way to The Keys and Ben started singing "The Villaaggeeesss!!" I think the third person back looks like Ben in 40 years.

This was our room. It was very "Golden Girl"-esque which made me extremely happy.

The sunsets were beautiful off our dock. Everyone at the lodge would bring their wine and sit off the water and watch the sunset.

Since we stayed in Key Largo, we made a trip down to Key West which was really fun. Of course, we ate Key Lime Pie...

and Key Lime Pie on a stick dipped in chocolate.

We also visited Earnest Hemingway's house where his famous 6-toed cats roamed the property (40+ cats). People were going crazy over these 6-toed cats, saying they had never heard of anything so cool. Below is our beloved 6-toed cat, Fitzgerald....

and this is Hemingway's 6-toed cat, Princess Six-Toes.

Here we are at the Southern Most Point of the United States. Just 90 miles from Cuba.

You are probably asking "But Holly, how did ya'll get around Key West so effeciently to see all of these great site?" Well, we biked it.

That's right, two baskets...

On our way back to Key Largo, I noticed I had broken out in a gnarly rash which is honestly not that unusual for me.

Ben smoking...something....(Don't freak, it's a cigar)

We were so relaxed and chilled, Ben decided to take this opportunity to sport a molester-ish sized mustache.
It's funny that I recently posted on celebrity twins because this issue came up in Key Largo. I met this 60 year old Greek woman from Boston whose name is Soupy. She and her husband were down for a two week vacation and she and I were a lot alike (basically, we both talk a lot to people we don't know). Our lodge had a heated pool so I was in the pool and Ben was sitting on the side when Soupy came in to the pool area. After we talked for awhile, she says (In a very thick Northern accent) "Oh my gawd, I just figured out who Ben looks like!! He looks like a young Tom Cruise!"

Young Tom Cruise
Ben

She then says to me, "And you look just like Paul McCartney's one-legged ex, Heather Mills!"

One-legged Heather Mills

Two-Legged Holly Grant

I don't know, Corky maybe but Heather Mills? I just don't see it. I think Ben is a great looking guy and Tom Cruise, to me, is creepy so I don't see the Tom thing either. It's ok though, I told her she looks like the mom in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding..."

It was really cool because the squirrels would come up and eat out of your hand. This is a video of a squirrel eating a chocolate chip cookie from my hand.
Fact: Squirrels do not eat Goldfish crackers.
Fact: Squirrels love cookies
Fact: Holly loves feeding squirrels




Sunday, March 23, 2008

Family Tribute Series: Taylor Tidmore

This is my brother-in-law. Today is his birthday.
Taylor thinks he's real smart because he's a doctor.
He likes to say he's as smart as this guy:
Doogie Howser, M.D.

However, we think he's more comparable to this little fella:

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew

Taylor sure does love cupcakes...


And he sweats in the most inconvenient places.


He is a great husband to my sister, Heather and a great father to our niece and nephew, Anna and Mason.


Ben and I enjoy Taylor so much. He is one of the funniest people we know and we love spending time with him. Taylor is one of "those people" who can successfully juggle family, work, church, friends and time for himself. I am so glad he has been part of my family for the last 10 years and we look forward to the time when we are all back in Texas and can see each other more often.

My mom used to always call Taylor the "Cream of the Crop;" a nickname he has always bragged about and cherished. However, upon being caught cheating in a heated game of Skip-Bo, my mom took away this status and has since given it to Ben. Taylor, you'll always be "Cream of the Crop" in our eyes. We love you and hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Who's Your Celebrity Twin?

It can be exciting when someone notices your "celebrity potential." You know what I'm talking about; someone comes up and says to you, "Hey, has anyone ever told you that you look like fill in the blank with attractive celebrity?" Our outward response is always a shocked, "No!! But thaaank you!" while on the inside we're thinking "Finally someone else noticed it..." Ok, not really but it is a nice compliment when someone realizes you have the look of a famous person...Right? So, the other day Ben and I were looking through old baby pictures and, besides noticing what a smiley baby Ben was, we both noticed striking resemblances between our baby pictures and certain "celebrities." Below are childhood pictures of Ben and myself and our respective celebrity twins. I think Baby Ben looks like the handsome and irreplacable actor/comedian Patton Oswalt of "King of Queens" fame.

Ben
Patton Oswalt

Ben thinks I have uncanny similarities with that "special" actor/humanitarian/80's icon Chris Burke a.k.a Corky from "Life Goes On."


Holly


Corky


So, it's not quite the same as "Hey, has anyone ever told you that you look like Heidi Klum/George Clooney" but...they are celebrities, so we'll take it.

Friday, March 7, 2008

All I got for Christmas was a plasma car...


One of our cute little nephews, Mitchell, received a plasma car from my mom and dad for Christmas 2 years ago. It was apparently "Toy of the Year" and it looked like it had some potential. Mitchell didn't seem very excited because he said he didn't think it would work very well. So, Ben set out to prove him wrong. Do you think Ben's attempt was a success?

Notice towards the end of the video when Mitchell's friend comes speeding up on his new shiny bike, I think you can see Mitchell wiping away a tear because he got a plasma car...


Saturday, March 1, 2008

Key Largo, Montego, Baby Why Don't We Go...

Since we are living three hours from Florida, we decided we need to take advantage of this. Ben has Spring Break mid-March and so we have booked a trip to....KEY LARGO!!! Some might say, "Hmmm, Key Largo. Why Key Largo instead of the more popular and sexy Key West?" Well, we looked into going to Key West but alas, Key West is the official site of "Gay Spring Break 2008." Now let me say I have no problem with my readers out there who might want to venture down to the Keys for Gay Spring Break but we saw pictures from "Gay Spring Break 2007" on the internet so trust me when I say; disgusting. The last time we were anywhere tropical was on our wonderful honeymoon so I have attached some pictures from this trip so you can enjoy a preview of what our Key Largo trip just might look like.

Our previous tropical vacation included:


Wearing our helmets crooked


Drinking Margaritas


Perfecting our tan


Ziplining through the rainforest


Boating


Enjoying our time together
And now I'll leave you with a tale of danger, bravery and adventure.

Ben and I went swimming with the stingrays in Grand Caymen. We were really excited and had been told by several people how cool it was. We didn't know how big they were or even what to expect so when our boat pulled up to the location, I had immediate reservations. The guide told us the stingrays like to play with people and will swim up to you and bump your leg. They also said to shuffle your feet because they like to bury themselves under the sand and if stepped on, they could sting. When I saw these things swim up to our boat, I freaked out! They were huge and scary and it was all I could do to just get off the boat. I stood in one place and would turn my head left, right, back and then forward just watching for one. Ben was off touching them and doing his thing when all of a sudden I see a huge stingray coming right for me. Well, when I saw this stingray coming, I screamed at the top of my lungs and grabbed this unfortunate 12 year old girl by the shoulders and threw her in front of me. From a distance, Ben hears some crazy person screaming and immediately looks up and sees it's me and, now, this 12 year old! I mustered up enough nerve to touch one in order to get a picture and I'm glad I did. It was a cool experience.


This video shows the ferocity of the stingray as he messes with some kid who is trying to climb his dad like a tree! I was laughing at him but, let's face it, I had tried to climb some pre-teen just minutes earlier!