Tuesday, April 5, 2011

I've got friends in low places...

A big shout out to Ryan for picking great friends. :)

Meet Katie:
and Aubie. :)

Katie is one of Ryan's friends from Auburn, but I have stolen her. ;) I got the opportunity to get to know Katie because she and Ryan went through architecture school at Auburn, and then ended up working at HKS Architects after graduation.
She motivated me to run the ING 1/2 marathon last year!


She just recently moved from Atlanta to St. Rosa Beach to pursue a career with TS Adams Studio, and I took her up on a visit! Yay for Spring Break!

As soon as I arrived, I was met by five of these sweet faces.
 They have a thing for Dotson's.

First thing Saturday morning, we headed to an animal shelter near and dear to her heart: Alaqua Animal Refuge. Every weekend she volunteers to walk the dogs, so she wanted me to see what this place was all about. It really was amazing. They basically house every animal you can think of that they find doesn't have a home until someone wants to adopt him/her.


This picture reminds me of Charlotte's Web... where all the animals get along and are talking to one another. :)


  

And this is the coolest cat house you'll ever see. There were ramps, clawing posts, toys, ... I could go on and on. This place takes such good care of the animals. It doesn't stink because they clean their cages/houses daily, each animal gets a bath weekly, and they get food, water, and a walk TWICE a day. Bailey would be jealous! :)

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Ahhh... and the one I fell in love with... Joe. A ten year old cocker spaniel mix. Get it? Joe Cocker? How could someone not want this sweet thing?!

After the love fest, we headed to the beach... where we baked until 5:00.

After showering and aloeing up, we headed to Seaside, which was about a 15 min. drive, to see a local musician, Kyle LaMonica.


You can barely see him here... near the blue umbrella to the right.

He was excellent... we stayed until he finished, grabbed some frozen yogurt, and then headed home for some zzz's.

Sunday, we took about a 7 mile-trail run/walk. I almost made it to the end without busting it... almost. :) Then showered, and headed to Fire Restaurant for brunch. Katie's parents have taken up Venician plastering, and her dad is doing a wall for them at a new location they will be moving to in a couple of weeks.
Here he is hard at work. And did I mention that he did an 18 mile run on Sunday? Yeah... that's right. 18 miles.

 Ok, back to brunch. I got the mushroom omelet and roasted potatoes. YUM.



Lunch was followed by outlet shopping, and a quick dog walk to the beach to catch sunset.



Perfect timing.


The next morning I had to say goodbye to Katie, her sweet family, and of course the clan. :)

(Aubie, Chico, Oscar, Emmy, and Baby)
Katie's mom even gave Bailey a new watering hole. :)


So bye, bye beautiful beach home! 







However the beach needed an encore. I headed for the beach one last time...
I stayed from 8-1...this may have been a mistake. I am currently putting on aloe every hour. ouch.

Thanks Katie, for a WONDERFUL weekend with an even more wonderful friend!

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