Adventures

Hurricane Irma and Packing the POD

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Hurricane Irma

Welp. We survived hurricane Irma here in lovely Tarpon Springs, Florida. She totally ruined what was supposed to be our ‘packing’ weekend. The grocery stores were wiped out, but we had gotten what we needed! The worst weather came last Sunday night. Lots of wind and rain. Mike was up and down all night going to check out noises. The chimney was clanging, the screen door was slamming and he heard a few trees snap. At one point he heard a woman’s voice. He assumed it was his aunt who was also staying at his parent’s house, but when he walked out… nothing. He turned around and headed back for our bedroom when he heard it again. At this point he was certain the house was haunted, but went to investigate further. Come to find out… it was Amazon Echo that had awakened with a power surge. LOL. As for me, well, I slept through the entire thing.

After the Storm

The following morning, we took a walk around the neighborhood to check out the damage. I KNOW. “Erin! You’re not supposed to do that! You could step on a power line or get hit by a falling branch!” To be honest, we were halfway around the neighborhood by the time I said that to Mike. I’ll chalk it up to not thinking clearly? His parent’s house, for the most part was seemingly untouched (with the exception of no power, tree limbs down, leaves all over the place and a few shingles missing). The neighbors got it worse. Multiple trees down, broken fences, and flooding. One house had a tennis court and a trampoline and a giant oak tree came down on both of them. We got back to the house to report the damage we saw when our neighbor from the apartment texted and said we HAVE power. That was such a wonderful thing to hear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Back to Normal… For 2 Days…

It seemed as though the power was out ALL around us. Blessed is the way that I felt as I carried my things through the door of our air conditioned 3rd floor apartment. Mike dropped me off so that I could get things back in order at home as he went back to his parents house to help with some yard debris. The gym that I work at didn’t open until Wednesday, due to the fact that they were also experiencing a power outage. Trying to get back into my normal routine was difficult, considering the fact that I had just gotten home from Alaska when all of this went down! It was nice to not live out of a suitcase for a few days. Why a few days, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you…

Phase 1: Packing the POD

This weekend was moving weekend! At least, the first phase of it. The POD arrived on Friday morning, yet we still had a lot of boxing up to do. One of my clients had told me about a great packing hack! If you have breakable plates, put a couple foam plates in between each one to give them some cushion. It worked GREAT!  I went to get us Publix subs for lunch, since it’ll probably be the last time! 🙁 Saturday, we had my parents come over to help us. Our friend that lives across the hall also came to help. We put a really good dent in it. We have to go back over today (Sunday) and finish taking a few things downstairs. Once everything is out I can clean it from top to bottom. I was cleaning out the freezer when I remembered I had saved the top of our wedding cake in the freezer. Unfortunately it didn’t fair well over the last 11 months, but the sugar flowers still looked AWESOME! We have to be officially out of the apartment by the 21st but Mike leaves for Iceland on the 22nd, so this was our last weekend to get things done! We’re living at his parents now, until he leaves on Friday, and then I’ll go to my parent’s house until we make our way out to Colorado! Needless to say, I had to put every non essential thing I own in the pod and am now living out of a suitcase… again!

 

 

 

 

Mike’s Icelandic Adventure!

I had my fun in Alaska, now it’s his turn! He’s going to meet up with one of his best friends, Joey! They had originally planned on meeting in Germany (that’s where Joey lives right now) but they decided since they’ve both seen Germany that they’d go somewhere completely new! I think it was a great idea. They’re going to do a camping adventure, all across the country! Once Mike comes back from Iceland, he’ll have somewhere between 8-12 hours before he has to get on a plane to Denver. It’s gonna be a crazy ride for him. I won’t see him for almost 18 days! 🙁

Final 2 Weeks in the “ZONE”

Tomorrow starts my last 2 weeks at my current gym. My last day will be on the 29th. We (my parents and I… and Scout) don’t start our 3 day drive to Colorado until Saturday, October 7th. I gave myself a final week to do whatever Florida has left to offer me! I’m not huge fan of the beach, could totally live without it, but I feel as though I need to go at least one more time. It’s just so gross outside, but I can’t show up to Colorado all ‘pale-as-a-ghost’. As of right now, we plan on stopping in Nashville one night, St. Louis the next, and then onward to Golden, Colorado! I’m so excited!

Until next time…

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I'm an NASM Certified Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist. I worked in a gym setting back in Florida for over 2 years, training one-on-one clients and leading group fitness classes. I absolutely loved it, but once we moved across the country to Colorado, I decided to take the opportunity to pursue a slightly different career! My obsession with exercise and love for writing collided, which is how I became a fitness lifestyle writer.

2 Comments

  1. Mike Miller

    September 17, 2017 at 12:02 pm

    Quit blogging and get back to packing!!!

    • Chinups_and_Cupcakes

      October 23, 2017 at 9:39 am

      … I just saw this -_-

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