2026 - Home Improvements, Capybaras, and St. Augustine

Howdy fam,

As you know, my blogging cadence has significantly decreased, but I finally have some blog worthy stuff to share. You guys may have seen this stuff before but oh well. 

Here. we. GOOOOO!

First off, some random home improvements:

1. We had a barn door installed between our bedroom and bathroom to keep the cows and goats contained.

2. After I dislocated my shoulder, I was feeling rather useless, so I took on the project of updating our master bath. Over the course of several weeks, I stained the vanity to a dark brown, replaced the cabinet pulls with gold hardware, and got a new rug and mirror. We had a handyman come and take down a cabinet. two mirrors, outdated light fixtures, and then install the new mirror, paint the back wall white, and put in the new faucets. Here's the BEFORE pic (work in progress):

And AFTER:

We also replaced a giant old ceiling fan with this light fixture which I am in love with:

3. Also got some new bedding to further class the place up:

4. Outside, we got some new cushions for the chairs and a bunch of tropical plants.

5. And here's a shot of the living room, where the only addition is a cheap rug, bc Kiki ate a hole in our other cheap rug. We are hiding the holes in the couch in this pic, and the throw pillows are only displayed in photos because otherwise Kiki will eat those as well (she's destroyed 3 so far).

Ok - so I think that's it for the house stuff for now. We're having our guest bathroom redone and new hurricane proof windows put in over the summer as our latest projects, so stay tuned.

Just for fun, here is one of my favorite recent pics. 

Kiki - ""I'd like to speak with the manager, please. I placed my order 20 minutes ago . . ."

Next Up: Capybaras!

So Lisha invited Glenn and I to join her and Chad at the Capybara Cafe in St. Petersburg. Contrary to the name, they do not serve coffee or pastries there (much to our dismay) but we booked a private experience in the Capybara lounge where we fed Tator Tot (the smaller one) and Auggie (the bigger one) lettuce with tongs. There was also a Flemish rabbit in there but I forget it's name. He was very soft. 

Fun facts: Capybaras are the world's largest rodent and can get up to 130 lbs. They love to swim and have webbed feet. They are not smart. They never learn their names or any tricks or anything. They are very lazy. Tator Tot drooled green drool all over Glenn's pants. But still, we thought they were pretty cool. 

Glenn and Tator Tot took some selfies together:

On to St. Augustine!

Glenn was summoned by work to attend the Players Golf Championship at TPC Sawgrass near St. Augustine (in hopes of schmoozing some high-end donors). He invited me to go along, so after 5 attempts to find a dog boarder that would take the pups (Spring Break, ugh), we were able to go.

We went up on Friday, March 13 and stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites at Vilano Beach. Had dinner at a marina-side restaurant called Beaches. On Saturday, Glenn went to the Players Tournament and I drove into town to a gluten free bakery for breakfast, and then bought myself a ticket for the Old Town Trolley tour. Glenn and I had taken the tour on a previous visit, but we didn't ride the entire loop. It's a cool narrated tour and was a pleasant way to just sit and ride around the city - it was a beautiful day.

That afternoon, Glenn came back and we walked the beach together, and then on Sunday, we walked around town and shopped a bit and had lunch before the 4-hour drive home. 

The Trolley starts off from Gator Bobs and the Old Jail.

This is where St. Augustine was founded in 1565 and the Catholic Mission established.

This is the Old Senator which you can read about in the next pic. You'll have to zoom in.

This is a famous lane on the way to the Fountain of Youth - widely photographed and featured in Nat Geo.

Ok, I'm not going to identify and give you the history of all the places we drove or walked by (Sorry, Sir!), but here's a bunch of places - the big one you'll see the most is Flagler College.

This is the ceiling in the lobby of the college:

This is the Litchner Museum - which used to be Flagler's luxury hotel.

I should mention that on Saturday, when I was riding the trolley around, St. Augustine was having their St. Patrick's Day parade. So I met a couple of characters.

Batman gave me a high five!

Us on Vilano beach

The puppies say Hello!

 Ok guys, that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed this long-overdue blog! Love you!