I have been driving more in the past week and will continue to drive more in the coming week than I have all summer. My poor poor mileage meter!

Tuesday I drove:

• from Eddyville to West Paducah (1 hour)
• from West Paducah to Lone Oak (15 mins)
• from Lone Oak to Paducah (15 mins)
• from Paducah to Lone Oak (15 mins)
• from Lone Oak to Franklin, KY (2 hours 30 mins)

Wednesday I drove:

• from Franklin to Bowling Green (to meet Mel! which I’ll blog about tomorrow most likely) (30 mins)
• from Bowling Green to Hopkinsville (1 hour 30 mins)
• from Hopkinsville to Bowling Green (1 hour 30 mins)
• from Bowling Green to Franklin (30 mins)

Thursday I drove:

• from Franklin to Glasgow (1 hour)
• from Glasgow to Bowling Green (30 mins)
• from Bowling Green to Franklin (30 mins)

Friday I drove:

• from Franklin to Hopkinsville (2 hours)
• from Hopkinsville to Eddyville (45 mins)
• from Eddyville to Murray (1 hour)
• from Murray to Eddyville (1 hour)

Today I was going to drive to Lone Oak for a swim date with Erin but found out Neil was coming home after lunch instead of after dinner so I decided to stay here and wait for him. I still got to spend a little time in the sun before he came home tho. More and more I am realizing purchasing that season pass to Venture River was a great idea!

Neil arrived home around 3 and for the past two hours we have been doing laundry and relaxing in each others’ company. Later we will have dinner at the marina and go on a early evening walk, just the two of us. I hate that he’s been away so much lately but at the same time it makes the time we do get to spend together that much better. I believe our relationship has grown more in the past 6 weeks than it has in the 3 years we’ve been married. It’s really amazing the feeling. Makes me really really excited for our future.

Ok, enough of the cheesiness…

This coming week will be spent half in Eddyville and half in Madisonville. Because Neil is done with his training in Franklin he won’t be going back for a while, at least not until the Madisonville store has been open for a few months. There was talk of him returning to the Franklin store every 3 or 4 months to kind of whip it back into shape. They surely benefited from his being there this past month and a half! Until the store opening on the 29th he will be training the Madisonville servers and teaching classes, etc. It was enlightening seeing him do his job SO WELL the past few days. I’m pretty sure Neil’s at least 5 years younger than everyone he was bossing around. To watch them obey him respectfully was impressive. Man, I’m so freakin’ proud of him. Oh, I said enough with the cheesiness didn’t I? Sorry. Moving on…

So yea, I’ll be in Madisonville some this week doing practically nothing during the day and hanging out with Neil, Megan and Bryan at night. Of course I’ll be doing responsible adult things while the day too, like web design and the like. So in the spirit of keeping me busy you should think about hiring me!

Staying in a condo while on a vacation sounds great doesn’t it? Sure beats staying in a hotel room. I’ll post pictures as soon as we get back home, internet connecting is too slow for uploading pictures, but in the mean time I can still talk about it. The condo, that is.

About 6 years ago my dad and two of his business partners/friends went in together and bought a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom condo in a condominium complex called Sterling Shores right on the beach in Destin, Florida. Since the condos in the complex are for rent and sale those that are owned can also be rented out. My dad and the two others pay a monthly mortgage and monthly HOA fees just like you would any other condo or home that your own. The only difference is that Sterling Shores can rent our condo out to people, just like they would rent out hotel rooms, for close to $3,000/week and the complex gets a small share while my dad and the others get money to help pay for the mortgage. I think they just recently paid off the mortgage but HOA fees alone are $600/month. Someone’s gotta pay for that.

That’s were the renters come in. People rent out the condo for a week or so at a time and pay that $2,800 something. The owners can stay for free as long as they want, Sterling Shores doesn’t care as long as the condo’s mortgage is paid. But because the HOA fees still have to be paid we only come and stay for one week a year, as do the other owners. Every once in a blue moon, though, our condo won’t br rented out for the upcoming week and we’ll have the chance to come and stay for free. Two summers ago my little brother John and his friends found out on a Thursday night that the condo was free for the next week and left two days later for a full week. I think he brought along 7 friends; that’s 8 boys to 1 king bed, 1 queen bed, 1 full bed and a pull out couch; 8 boys to two bathrooms and two bathroom vanities ! I guess boys don’t care too much about that sort of thing, though.

My dad gave Neil and I the option to come down a stay if the condo wasn’t rented some week this summer. We’ve already made a list of people we’re planning on asking if the opportunity arises and we’re able to go. Of course it would be nice for just the two of us to come down alone. Like a second honeymoon!

Pictures of the condo to come!