NEW FLORIDA RESIDENT BLOG

Welcome to Paradise! The first home I ever built for myself was in New England and was a Salt Box Reproduction with onion lights, service stairs and a brick foundation.  It looked great and fit in amazingly well plus, I only had one obnoxious neighbor.  I mean I liked the guy and spent a little time with him but, he commuted to work via a Sea Stallion Helicopter and his security guys NEVER knew who I was.  So obnoxious. However, looking back I realize that the house only looked good in that neighborhood.  It had low ceilings to conserve heat, a hilly yard and a quasi-private road that was impossible to ascend when it snowed (six months per year). That place would be D*U*M*B in Florida. We like high ceilings, lots of light colors and some cool hidden nooks for reading or what not.  Plus we spend 12 months per year outside having fun so, a yard that's not good for activities probably wouldn't work here.  And, although there are many, many Spanish Revival home...

Welcome to Paradise. When you (finally) make the decision to move to Florida, chances are that every one of your friends and family may not be able to make the move with you.  What do you do?  I moved to Florida 20 years ago this December and didn't know another person in my town when I got here. Not a big deal, between working and meeting clients I got to know a ton of people and made some good friends.  In fact, I thought it would be interesting to see how my son made friends as he started elementary school.  Up until now, we picked his friends but, wondered what would happen when mom and dad were left out of that loop. Honestly, I thought it would be pretty easy for him to make friends, he's kind to other kids and has a million interests, so we weren't very surprised when our son made a bunch of friends in first grade that were quality kids.  He has his skateboard friends and his wakeboard friends plus school and church - excellent kiddos all the way around....

 Welcome to paradise. Where I grew up winter storms would lock us indoors for days.  When we finally managed to make it outside we did all kinds of things that we hadn’t been allowed to do indoors. My best friend and I would wait for the warmest part of the day and then walk across the lakes that were slowly thawing in the early spring sunshine. It was pretty scary hearing the ice crack under our feet but, exciting too and no one was around to suggest otherwise.  Parents I know today spend an awful lot of time making sure their kids don’t ever do anything dangerous and then complain when they sit inside and play on computers...........   If we are awake and not at work or school you can probably locate every member of our family outdoors. Except our dog, he loves the AC.  Our parenting plan includes allowing our son to do dangerous things carefully so that we are sure we are raising a critical thinker that knows how to evaluate and adjust for risk. This phi...

 Welcome to paradise.  I worked in restaurants when I was in junior high school and high school. Mostly in the summer on cape cod, and I can only remember one time when I took care of a famous musician and his model wife. They were pretty nice but I recall that her hat seemed to belong at the Kentucky Derby, and thinking she was just desperate for attention.  It strikes me now that if people have real money and/or power they tend to not be focused on getting attention. I had Christmas dinner with a former President of the United States and spent the night hanging out with his wife because I thought he was an embarrassment (side bar it’s not who you think).   So, when all is said and done, I am kind of over restaurants. Of course, we have a rising second grader in the house and don’t want him to be a kid that does not know how to conduct himself in a public setting having a meal.  There’s a cool pizza restaurant near our house that we go to on a regular basis and...

Welcome to Paradise! I should have saved this blog for the winter but, I'm sitting an open house right now and I had a family from Colorado ask me if it ever snowed here.  The truth is that it snowed (a dusting) the year before I moved here - on Christmas Eve.  That sounds like an urban legend, however;  I assure you I have researched it and it checks out!  So there. The challenge of course is making sure your kids have some snow experience at some point.  Because even dustings are rare.  So, what most of us do is book a trip to Dade City.  I was hoping for a trip closer to the reenactment dates but this worked out well for all of us.    Fun times in the snow! Homes in Sarasota

Welcome to Paradise. I was once driving my convertible well over 90MPH on Alligator Alley, when I realized there were two State Police cruisers coming up behind me.  I knew I was in for a giant fine and thought that there was a pretty good chance they would impound my car and detain me for some period of time.  It was really dumb for a bunch of reasons and as I was working on my apology which I intended to give the officers - both cruisers flew past me like I was at a stop sign. That's the vibe.  It's kind of a 'live and let live' or 'speed and let speed' vibe.  Hard to explain.  But we are all this way!  Recently, I was pulling my son behind our boat on his wakeboard in the bay and we got into heavy traffic.  I'm a weekend boater and focus on safety almost exclusively, however; somehow I got us between a sailing squadron of some sort and a jet skier.  There was too much boat traffic and if our son fell it would be tricky to u-turn and get him in ...

 Welcome to paradise. The answer is, kinda..... See for yourself