For those who know me the closest, you know I have been dead locked in a struggle for the past two years with trying to find the right person to add to my team as an associate attorney and trying my best to find a larger office to either buy or rent...neither of these are easy things to do in a place like Vero Beach where most women my age don't even work, never mind are professionals!!! In addition there is a high factor here of generational wealth so male and female our age just plain are not doing the things Jon and I do on a day to day basis most of the time...ie they don't really need to work and don't really work at the pace we do. That makes it hard to hire anyone that is an actual asset to a law practice. Couple that with a WAY OUT THERE commercial real estate market and its just down right hard. I looked for over a year and decided to keep renting for another year or so to wait for the right property to come up for purchase. I still will buy a building but it needs to be right and there are oh so many factors here that I would not have to think about in Ohio...price for one and just dealing with a building here is a whole ball of wax if there is say a HURRICANE....so we decided don't force it and the right thing will come along at the right time...but I still was trapped by the lack of space to grow in my current space.
I have been talking to my landlord about this space office quagmire all year and he told me just hang on the people in the Raymond James office which is the second largest space in my building (which is a building I like and a location I've been in now for 8 years so there is value to not moving locations from my current building) may not renew their franchise and we should know by the end of the year...so I have been "hanging on" and just leased an executive suite on the second floor to move two part time support staf to create more office space and then literally one week later he emailed me and said the space is coming available will be available by AUgust 1. Holy batman!! I had just moved the two ladies to the second floor which was working but is not perfect, and then this space came available. I had also just interviewed a promising associate, Brittany, and the day after I got this email from my landlord she accepted my offer to come on board the end of July.
So...it seems while this will be stressful in the short run..maybe just maybe my silent prayers have been answered. I need someone to take some of the heat off of me and deflect some work to, never mind increase our production overall, I can only do so much as one person and producer, AND we got the office space we need. It is SUCH A NICE SPACE, at more than twice my current space size and the guy down there is off loading most of the furniture to me for only 2500!!! Score...triple score. I did my research and negotiated with the landlord to step up the rent over the first year basically I only have to pay 1000 more each month for the first twelve months to more than double my space for the first year then it goes up a bit more. He is willing to give me time to hire people and get going down there. I also negotiated all new carpet at his expense and painting and he will eat the rent the month of August giving me time to get back from my trip, get the carpet and paint swapped out and then we will move the last week of August ahead of labor day weekend and start working from the new beautiful space the Tuesday after labor day. We will be set up amazingly with two conference rooms, dedicated good reception area, just all the things we need and don't have right now to expand the firm. It will cost some money to get this right but I am really excited about the next step. My office upstairs is so beautiful and we have beautiful views but the space downstairs is such a wonderful opportunity and to gain that space and not have to move locations is really amazing. Here is to the next 8 years!!
Monday, June 24, 2019
Thursday, June 13, 2019
Goodbye to our sweet Ariel
***Scroll down and click to open older posts to see all of our activities in May and now June!
We returned from our vacation to find that our sweet kitty cat Ariel had not been eating much. Our master bath has been under construction so I at first thought all of the commotion in the house was bothering her coupled with us being gone. Unfortunately as I watched her the next day or two I realized she was breathing heavy and when she would not even eat deli turkey or wet cat food, I knew we were in trouble. Tuesday night when we got home from work I told Jon he had to take her to get her checked out, our vet is an animal hospital so they are open until 10pm. I called and got them an appt and he took her thinking she would likely need to get some meds and maybe an IV but would be coming home. Sadly I was wrong as when they did an x ray she was filled with fluid. The vet sent Jon on north to a pet ER in NOrth Melbourne, even they thought she could be saved but they did not have the equipment to remove the fluid. The er vet wanted over 7,000 dollars to try to save her and said though, it would be uncomfortable for her and even then, no guarantees so for the third time we made the hardest decision a pet parent ever has to make and she was put to sleep. We have all been so sad, it was such a shock as she had been eating and playing and acting normal before our trip. The er vet said they see this fairly often in cats her age (she was only about 6 and a half) and it is often just a bad heart and heart failure. If we had let it go she would have suffocated. We are sad and when you are used to having a pet it is odd I never realized how carefully I walked around the house so as not to have her jump out at me or step on her. Here is a picture I randomly took just a few weeks ago messing around with my old canon camera lens ahead of our upcoming trip out west. It came out amazing. We love you Ariel. RIP.
We returned from our vacation to find that our sweet kitty cat Ariel had not been eating much. Our master bath has been under construction so I at first thought all of the commotion in the house was bothering her coupled with us being gone. Unfortunately as I watched her the next day or two I realized she was breathing heavy and when she would not even eat deli turkey or wet cat food, I knew we were in trouble. Tuesday night when we got home from work I told Jon he had to take her to get her checked out, our vet is an animal hospital so they are open until 10pm. I called and got them an appt and he took her thinking she would likely need to get some meds and maybe an IV but would be coming home. Sadly I was wrong as when they did an x ray she was filled with fluid. The vet sent Jon on north to a pet ER in NOrth Melbourne, even they thought she could be saved but they did not have the equipment to remove the fluid. The er vet wanted over 7,000 dollars to try to save her and said though, it would be uncomfortable for her and even then, no guarantees so for the third time we made the hardest decision a pet parent ever has to make and she was put to sleep. We have all been so sad, it was such a shock as she had been eating and playing and acting normal before our trip. The er vet said they see this fairly often in cats her age (she was only about 6 and a half) and it is often just a bad heart and heart failure. If we had let it go she would have suffocated. We are sad and when you are used to having a pet it is odd I never realized how carefully I walked around the house so as not to have her jump out at me or step on her. Here is a picture I randomly took just a few weeks ago messing around with my old canon camera lens ahead of our upcoming trip out west. It came out amazing. We love you Ariel. RIP.
Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Summer 2019 Fun
***Scroll down to see about 8 other posts from May into June and hit "read older posts" when you get to the bottom***
School got out at noon on Friday May 31st and in our typical fashion we took advantage and went away the first week in June! This year we had decided rather last minute to take an Eastern Caribbean Cruise out of Miami. After an international flight and crazy airport customs situations in March we were done with that and the cruise was an easy breezy vacation for this Florida family!!! The boat was probably full of 40% of the passengers from Florida doing the same thing. None the less the kids made friends with kids from all over the country and even the world this past week. Jack was really in his element on this cruise and it was much the same for spring break as he would make a pack of friends and they are all old enough now to bum around together and enjoy a bit of freedom within the confines of the cruise ship. They all have phones and text check in rules and really had fun. This was also the first time he was old enough on a ship to self check in and out of kids club...we set some tight parameters and it was really fine. He had a great time hitting the water slides, the arcade, the mini golf and basketball court and getting snacks with his friends intermittently between activities and when we let him free roam with buddies he followed our communication rules perfectly. This tween age is an interesting and funny one!!! Sarabeth was our buddy and enjoyed her kids club and arts and crafts as well as just hitting the water slides and other activities with mom and dad at times. She also made a pack of girlfriends at the pool and splash park although no free roaming for her age. There have been times over the years when I felt like their three year age gap felt huge and then like nothing and now it is back to being huge again. One on one however Jack is such a great big brother and will still play and do whatever they want to do together at home so that is good.
On this cruise we were very active the first few days as we had a full day and a half at sea to get from Miami down to San Juan. We explored old San Juan for the first time when the ship docked in San Juan Tuesday afternoon. This was a Sunday to Sunday cruise so by Tuesday afternoon we were more than ready to hop off the ship for a few hours and explore outside of the boat!! Old San Juan was beautiful and was settled around the same time as St. Augustine by the Spanish and looked very similar it was just much more hot and humid being all the way down in Puerto Rico!! Sarabeth was so funny when we told her we were going to San Juan she said "oh that is where the chocolate restaurant is, everything is made with chocolate" apparently she watches a home school family on a you tube channel that visited there and sure enough we found it, and it was great!!! The next day we awoke in St. Thomas. We have been to St. Thomas many times, there are some gorgeous beaches but this time we booked a shore excursion to a very exclusive place, Trunk Bay on St. John. I have heard St. John is beautiful and it really was. Trunk Bay is rated one of the top ten beaches in the world. The water was absolutely turquoise and clear and we snorkeled and enjoyed the beach for not long enough! Sadly on all of these islands they are still really in recovery and none of the major resorts are back open yet...actually most are concrete block shells from IRMA and I am sure they are all in insurance litigation and will be for years before the land is eventually re-sold and new resorts get built so they are all relying heavily on cruise ship traffic to bring visitors to these beautiful islands. If you have not seen the US Virgin Islands then you need to go...if I go missing start looking here is all I can say. In our visit to St. John we were super excited to check off one of America's National Parks which is kind of the theme of our summer. Last Summer we visited our first national park way up in Michigan at the Sleeping Bear Dunes and this year we got to visit the National Park on St. John! Not many people get to see this one so that was another cool aspect of this day. Trunk Bay and St. John is worth the fairy ride from St. Thomas ABSOLUTELY.
The next day we went to another one of my favorite places, Tortola in the BVIs, British Virgin Islands. I will say again, if I go missing this is another good place to start looking. Tortola took a major hit from IRMA as well and is still also in recovery with no resorts yet open and lots of still visible devastating damage but the port was back open and we took a second trip over to the Baths to climb through the caves and swim in the waves at Virgin Gorda. We enjoyed the activity that this day brought and all took a good nap later that day after an early morning fairy ride to Virgin Gorda from Tortola.
After Tortola we had another sea day as we began to make our way back north towards the Bahamas and then Florida. We stopped the following day at the cruise line's private island in the Bahamas, Great Stirrup Cay, and then the following day it was time to head home back to Florida.
Overall had a great action packed week and excellent weather with super flat seas, you hardly noticed you were on a boat which is a big change from a spring time cruise when the seas are much rougher. Our room was a little tight and we decided if we do this again we are getting adjoining rooms on this cruise line, or a suite. We booked the cruise later than normal so we had to take what we could get and made the most of it none the less! Norwegian has good food and LOTS of activities for kids our kids ages and adults which is why we like it in the phases we are in right now but the rooms even balcony family "mini suites" like we had are like ikea sized...a little tight for a growing family of four. For the first time we had to rotate time to change etc. due to different levels needed for privacy etc. We are glad to be home and settling back in this week doing summer camps, catching up on work, and reading up for our next and our real summer trip which is our trip out west to the national parks we look forward to seeing in July! We leave June 30th for Montana where we will pick up our RV and head to Glacier, then Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Jackson Hole, and back to Yellowstone to see another part of it. We will be out there for two weeks and have been doing a lot of planning and organizing. Happy Summer all!!!
School got out at noon on Friday May 31st and in our typical fashion we took advantage and went away the first week in June! This year we had decided rather last minute to take an Eastern Caribbean Cruise out of Miami. After an international flight and crazy airport customs situations in March we were done with that and the cruise was an easy breezy vacation for this Florida family!!! The boat was probably full of 40% of the passengers from Florida doing the same thing. None the less the kids made friends with kids from all over the country and even the world this past week. Jack was really in his element on this cruise and it was much the same for spring break as he would make a pack of friends and they are all old enough now to bum around together and enjoy a bit of freedom within the confines of the cruise ship. They all have phones and text check in rules and really had fun. This was also the first time he was old enough on a ship to self check in and out of kids club...we set some tight parameters and it was really fine. He had a great time hitting the water slides, the arcade, the mini golf and basketball court and getting snacks with his friends intermittently between activities and when we let him free roam with buddies he followed our communication rules perfectly. This tween age is an interesting and funny one!!! Sarabeth was our buddy and enjoyed her kids club and arts and crafts as well as just hitting the water slides and other activities with mom and dad at times. She also made a pack of girlfriends at the pool and splash park although no free roaming for her age. There have been times over the years when I felt like their three year age gap felt huge and then like nothing and now it is back to being huge again. One on one however Jack is such a great big brother and will still play and do whatever they want to do together at home so that is good.
On this cruise we were very active the first few days as we had a full day and a half at sea to get from Miami down to San Juan. We explored old San Juan for the first time when the ship docked in San Juan Tuesday afternoon. This was a Sunday to Sunday cruise so by Tuesday afternoon we were more than ready to hop off the ship for a few hours and explore outside of the boat!! Old San Juan was beautiful and was settled around the same time as St. Augustine by the Spanish and looked very similar it was just much more hot and humid being all the way down in Puerto Rico!! Sarabeth was so funny when we told her we were going to San Juan she said "oh that is where the chocolate restaurant is, everything is made with chocolate" apparently she watches a home school family on a you tube channel that visited there and sure enough we found it, and it was great!!! The next day we awoke in St. Thomas. We have been to St. Thomas many times, there are some gorgeous beaches but this time we booked a shore excursion to a very exclusive place, Trunk Bay on St. John. I have heard St. John is beautiful and it really was. Trunk Bay is rated one of the top ten beaches in the world. The water was absolutely turquoise and clear and we snorkeled and enjoyed the beach for not long enough! Sadly on all of these islands they are still really in recovery and none of the major resorts are back open yet...actually most are concrete block shells from IRMA and I am sure they are all in insurance litigation and will be for years before the land is eventually re-sold and new resorts get built so they are all relying heavily on cruise ship traffic to bring visitors to these beautiful islands. If you have not seen the US Virgin Islands then you need to go...if I go missing start looking here is all I can say. In our visit to St. John we were super excited to check off one of America's National Parks which is kind of the theme of our summer. Last Summer we visited our first national park way up in Michigan at the Sleeping Bear Dunes and this year we got to visit the National Park on St. John! Not many people get to see this one so that was another cool aspect of this day. Trunk Bay and St. John is worth the fairy ride from St. Thomas ABSOLUTELY.
The next day we went to another one of my favorite places, Tortola in the BVIs, British Virgin Islands. I will say again, if I go missing this is another good place to start looking. Tortola took a major hit from IRMA as well and is still also in recovery with no resorts yet open and lots of still visible devastating damage but the port was back open and we took a second trip over to the Baths to climb through the caves and swim in the waves at Virgin Gorda. We enjoyed the activity that this day brought and all took a good nap later that day after an early morning fairy ride to Virgin Gorda from Tortola.
After Tortola we had another sea day as we began to make our way back north towards the Bahamas and then Florida. We stopped the following day at the cruise line's private island in the Bahamas, Great Stirrup Cay, and then the following day it was time to head home back to Florida.
Overall had a great action packed week and excellent weather with super flat seas, you hardly noticed you were on a boat which is a big change from a spring time cruise when the seas are much rougher. Our room was a little tight and we decided if we do this again we are getting adjoining rooms on this cruise line, or a suite. We booked the cruise later than normal so we had to take what we could get and made the most of it none the less! Norwegian has good food and LOTS of activities for kids our kids ages and adults which is why we like it in the phases we are in right now but the rooms even balcony family "mini suites" like we had are like ikea sized...a little tight for a growing family of four. For the first time we had to rotate time to change etc. due to different levels needed for privacy etc. We are glad to be home and settling back in this week doing summer camps, catching up on work, and reading up for our next and our real summer trip which is our trip out west to the national parks we look forward to seeing in July! We leave June 30th for Montana where we will pick up our RV and head to Glacier, then Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Jackson Hole, and back to Yellowstone to see another part of it. We will be out there for two weeks and have been doing a lot of planning and organizing. Happy Summer all!!!
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