A New Beginning...

I know that many of you have thought that blogging and I had parted ways. For a while, I thought I'd never get back into the swing of things. However, I am slowly getting my bearings and think it's time to get back to some of what I consider normalcy. I miss writing, venting, and having a chronicle of my life.

The move to Florida had pretty much put my life into a tailspin. It's a complete culture shock out here. The whole stereotype about old people moving slowly, yada, yada, yada... It's not just the old people! No one seems to feel like they need to be anywhere at any time. They just mill about, creep on the roadways, and walk slower than my osteoperosis-ridden grandmother... and these are people in their early 20's!! WTF?!?! Boyfriend and I attribute it to the "beach bum mentality." Makes sense that a place known for beaches would draw people with laid-back lifestyles unlike Houston who tends to draw doctors, engineers, and career-driven individuals since it is the mecca of the energy and medical industries. Huge difference, huh?

Have I become such a city dweller yuppie that I'm now that high-maintenance bitch that goes to smaller cities and wonders how people function??? I always knew Houston was a big city, but when people think Tampa is so big and feel swallowed up by its fast pace, I feel like chucking them out of a window. Sadly, my office is only one-story, so they would just hit the pavement on the other side of the pane...so the effect wouldn't have much gusto as I would like to imagine it. To give you an idea, Houston was last said to have about 2.2 million people while Tampa has approximately less than 400, 000. Not that everyone and everything has been awful, but life in Tampa is definitely...different.

Regardless, I work for a company that I really like. Ok... let me rephrase that. I really like where it's going. Just to give you insight, it is a travel company very similar to Expedia, Travelocity, and Hotels.com that is based out of Europe. They've been successful on that side of the pond since 2002 and have decided to open a US office in Tampa. Right now I am still learning the company and all its procedures...which keep changing constantly because we continually have to rewrite the policies to fit the US Market instead of a European one. It's a pain to not be working at a company that's already well-establish like my former companies, but this one definitely has a lot of growth potential once they get everything in order.

Currently, we have an ongoing battle with a useless Marketing Company that we've hired. We've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing and have not really seen any sales increase from our target market - we're focusing on the Tampa/Orlando market first with some feelers in the northeast before we start approaching markets across the nation. We're looking at hiring a new marketing company based out of New York who happens to have a great resume having worked with the likes of Fuji, Apple, and other large recognizable clients. Cross your fingers!!

A few things have happened since I've lasted talked to most of you. When I moved here, the Tampa baseball team (Tampa Rays) went to the World Series. Boyfriend and I spent my first month here going to playoff games and the WS. Fun times even though the Rays didn't win it all. We've also been going to virtually all the Univeristy of Florida football games seeing as Boyfriend is a die-hard alumni fan. Now that the team is headed for the championship game in Miami, we're working on securing tickets for that, too. I've been quite the supportive sports fan for Boyfriend. He got lucky that he landed a girl who actually likes this stuff...haha!

And most importantly, we've added a new addition to our household. As some of you recall, all my friends were having baby fever and got puppies or cats. I was having puppy fever and thought I may have to get a fish. Luckily, we finally got the "baby" I've been wanting for quite sometime. His name is Otis (as I had already chosen the name as some of you readers may recall) and he's a damn good-looking Boston Terrier. Partial? Of course. We got him when he was about 10 weeks old and he is now about 15 weeks. He's quite the character. He has about 30 minutes of devil dog high-energy craziness and then 4 hours of nap time. Boyfriend an I have become one of those couples that are all about their dog...lol. But seriously, how can you not want to just love on this puppy face!

So that is it for now. Wow, this is a long-ass post! I plan to update this blog as much as I can. I haven't had much time to reformat a new look to it, so I'm using one of blogger's basic templates. Nice, but...eh. I'll find time work on it eventually.