Living la vida Boca

So long and farewell

Tonya — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:52:56 +0000

Our time in Boca Raton, Florida is nearing its end. Yes, it is time to bid a fond farewell as we plan a move to Louisiana since my husband has taken a job there. It’s been an interesting experience - in so many ways – living here in sunny South Florida.

Least favorite things about living in Boca Raton:

1. Being so far from family and friends. No place is a short drive from South Florida except for other parts of South Florida.

2. Reptiles – snakes, iguanas (not as many now as in previous years), and lizards

3. The housing market. We bought a home a year after we moved here. Now we have it on the market. Enough said.

4. I almost forgot – hurricane season, although we’ve only had to experience tropical storms (knock on wood!).

5. Sonic! I know that sounds crazy but there’s not one in Boca and I miss their ice.

Here are my Top 5 favorite things related to Boca Raton:

1. The beaches.

2. Warm winters (with the exception of Christmas which I prefer to be cold)

3. New friends

4. Quick trips to Key West and Naples

5. The sky. No kidding – the sky here is beautiful.

So, with these thoughts, I bid you a fond farewell Boca. It’s been nice getting to know you.

2010 in review

Tonya — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 20:10:15 +0000

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 41,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 5 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 4 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 228 posts. There were 21 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 9mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was September 22nd with 470 views. The most popular post that day was Some eerie similarities.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were blogher.com, search.aol.com, image-swirl.googlelabs.com, google.com, and mahalo.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for shania twain, fireworks, edamame, flautas, and javier bardem.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Some eerie similarities April 2008
2 comments

Mistaken identity? February 2008
14 comments

Around the neighborhood August 2007
3 comments

Good Tex-Mex food! November 2007
1 comment

Grilled Jalapeno Poppers July 2007
6 comments

Bright idea

Tonya — Sat, 08 May 2010 21:06:41 +0000

Who needs to shower after the pool when you can just bring the shampoo to the pool?

Now that’s good thinking!

Eco-friendly Target

Tonya — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:53:04 +0000

It’s true. I am just beside myself with excitement! Target has just announced all sorts of recycling initiatives – all of which, I plan to take full advantage.

Target Recycling

Go ahead and gather up those numerous plastic Target bags you have sitting in your garage, pantry, or wherever and put them in your car. The next time you visit a Target store, look for the recycling bins – and in the bags go. Not only will you be able to drop off plastic shopping bags but what about this? You can also drop off empty bottles and cans (rather than placing them in the trash cans outside the store), cell phones, ink cartridges, and MP3 players!

I swear I feel like cheering! I shop weekly (and truth be told, sometimes several times a week!) at Target so I am just thrilled they have taken on such a wonderful and easy-to-access approach to recycling. On the website, you will find information about how to get a $1 return on 5 of your plastic bags. I just had a brilliant idea — my 11-year-old daughter is always wanting to earn money. Well, this is a win-win situation for her…and me…and the environment. Picture this…me doing a happy dance. OK. That’s long enough. Now gather up your recycling and get to Target!

Mizner Park Art Festival

Tonya — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:10:37 +0000

The kids and I checked out the Art Festival at Mizner Park on Super Bowl Sunday. It was a beautiful day here in Boca and we just wanted to get outdoors and enjoy it. The Art Festival was really nice. In talking to one of the exhibitors, he indicated the show is juried, meaning that no exhibitor gets “in” unless he/she is judged to be good enough for the show. I don’t know who the judges are but they did a really nice job. There was a wide variety of artists – something for everyone. I believe this was the 24th year for the Art Festival. It reminded me of the Fort Worth Art Festival - which also attracted a nice group of artists. I highly recommend you visit the festival next year!

In case you are wondering, the festival doesn’t need security, in my opinion. However, there was a security guard at one exhibit – the one with life-sized, “wax-museum” type people. Well, I’m sure you’ve figured it out already but the guard is no man…he’s art. It was fascinating. I had to look at him several times before deciding he was art rather than someone dressed as a security guard but acting like a mannequin. As I said, the variety of art was great. Everything from wax-museum people (that was definitely the oddest exhibit IMO) to metal art, glass art, wooden spoons, water fountains, fantastic photography and paintings…and yes, the wildlife art. Look closely in the picture of the zebra and you can see details like carvings. (Sorry for the photo quality – wish you could’ve been there to enjoy yourself).