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Celebrate Earth Day in the Florida Panhandle

Alfred B. McClay State Park - Tallahassee, Florida
Alfred B. McClay State Park - Tallahassee, Florida

The Panhandle of Florida is an outdoors-man’s paradise. Over two hundred miles of beaches and more than a million acres of forests, wetlands and natural springs offer adventures for every earth-loving family. If you’re looking for fun ways to celebrate Earth Day here are 4 Great Ways to Celebrate Earth Day in the Florida Panhandle. All of these activities take place in some of the Panhandle’s beautiful state parks!

Do you “celebrate” Earth Day? If so, what’s your favorite activity?

Photo Credit: Karen Bristow

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Facebook as Connection Tool

There are plenty of reasons to maintain a healthy annoyance at Facebook. Things like, your privacy settings getting reset every time they change something you just got used to. Definitely a good reason to stay annoyed.

But there’s a really neat reason not to drop Facebook like a container of wriggling spiders.

Reconnecting and staying connected.

In my case, I’ve reconnected with family.

My parents moved us away from Rhode Island just before my 16th birthday. Which, for the record, was … a long time ago. Some of my cousins weren’t even born when we moved and I’ve maybe seen them once in all this time.

Thanks to Facebook though, we’ve managed to connect (and in some cases, reconnect) and I’m getting to know these really cool people. All without the awkward silences that come from say, family reunions, where relatives introduce you to someone you once met when you were an infant.

“Honey, you remember your cousin Karen, right? You were four months old the last time you saw her. She wrestles cheetahs or something now.”

Facebook lets you avoid the nervous smile and wave that usually accompanies that kind of re-introduction. (And I wrestle with a Cheetos addiction… not with actual cheetahs.)

One of the neatest parts is getting to live and travel vicariously through my family members as they post pictures of their time in places like New Zealand or Italy. And I’m learning that majoring in medicine is not for the faint of heart or weak of mind.

By extension, I’ve reconnected with their parents as well. And my aunts and uncles, I do remember. And miss. Yes, there are phone calls, emails, and letters. But Facebook is so immediate. On busy days, when life has me by the throat and is shaking me like a gator with prey, I can keep up with my family in real-time, with a glance at my phone.

Facebook may have its quirks when it comes to privacy and user experience (Timeline, anyone?), but with keeping you connected, it’s pretty awesome.

Now I’m curious about how to use this connection epiphany for business as well as personal. How can I use this real-time interaction with people to expand a business?

How have you used Facebook to a business advantage? And has Facebook helped you reconnect and stay connected to family or friends that you haven’t seen in years?

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Gluten Free Globe Trotting – Three Lessons Learned

My “Food” posts usually appear on Fridays. Since that got Kiboshed this past Friday, I’m sharing it today. Hopefully, I’ll be back on my normal schedule by this Friday.

Big Ben - Copyright Karen Bristow
Big Ben

While I love to travel, I haven’t had occasion in my life to actually be much of a traveler.

Then I married a British man and a month later, we’re spending the Christmas holidays in England with his family.

It was great. Beautiful. Fun. And most impressive, tasty. The British have it down pat when it comes to gluten free goodies. I enjoyed some actual dessert for the first time since October while visiting my extended family.

Now, if only I’d planned ahead a bit for the trip itself, I could have enjoyed getting there and back almost as much. We did the right thing in alerting the airline of my dietary restrictions, but I totally dropped the ball on keeping myself fed on the journey to the airport.

In an effort to spare other Gluten Free Globe Trotting Newbies, here are three of the lessons I learned.

Snack Up!

We had a four hour drive from our home to the airport (and then another 4 hour wait once we got to the airport). I discovered that there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to find suitable snacks en-route. I didn’t think about packing my own until we were barreling down Interstate 10.

We stopped at rest stations but I wasn’t able to reach in (obviously) and read the ingredients before purchasing. Gas stations weren’t much better though I did find some “Apple Chips” and a banana.

Also, even if you alert the airline, there’s no guarantee that your gluten free meal is … good. You could end up with anything from half cooked rice and a stale rice cake to a totally delectable Indian Curry. It just depends on the caterer that flight is using.

So, Lesson 1 is: Pack your snacks. Make sure you’re prepared for your road trip and any waiting you may do. Thanks to my mother-in-law, I had plenty of gluten free snacks to get me through the journey home.

Restaurant Reconn

You’re in a foreign city and you’re itchin’ to act like a total tourist. You grab your camera, your money, your kids and run out the door to spend the morning doing touristy stuff.

Then it’s time for lunch. Where are you going to eat?

If I were stateside, I could whip out my phone and look up area restaurant gluten free menus while I stood on a street corner. Unfortunately, the cell phone didn’t work over there (unless I happened to hitch an Internet ride on Starbuck’s free wireless).

Lesson 2 is: Don’t leave home (or hotel) without hitting Google first. Do a search for gluten free friendly restaurants and check out their menus before you do the tourist thing. Have a list of suitable restaurants with you as you tour.

X Marks the Spot

Take lesson 2 one step further and know exactly where those restaurants are located. Or at least have a general idea. There’s nothing like coming out of the Tower of London, starving, and not knowing quite where your gluten safe eating place is.

Lesson 3 is: If you know what attractions you’ll be touring that day, take a moment to scope out the area on Google and note the address(es) on your restaurant list.

A few extra minutes of preparation could have prevented a few hungry moments on my part. Live, learn and share those lessons!

I’d love to hear from other savvy (or even not so savvy) travelers. Whether gluten free or not, what kind of tips do you have to share with us globe trotting newbies?

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New Goals for the New Year

Okay, so my New Year’s resolution post is a few days late. But since I just got back from a two week trip to England, I’ll give myself a pass. Just this once.

Before I dive into my list though, I have to issue a small disclaimer.

I don’t make actual resolutions anymore. My ability to keep them goes beyond sucktastic. I set goals instead. I find goals easier to meet.

Now, without further ado, I present:

My Goals for 2012!

Become More Fearless with My Writing

I’ve been a writing wimp until recently. Too timid to share my scribblings. Too scared to try new forms of writing. That’s not very smart for someone who’s dreamed of making a living via the written word. I’ve read, studied and even practiced many forms of writing. It’s time to buckle down now and put aside my worry of not being good enough. The more you write, the better you get.

Starting this blog back in November was Step One toward fearlessness. When my harsh critic of an inner editor said “See. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” I found myself encouraged and eager to try other, new forms of writing.

So, out with my old writing fears for 2012.

Health and Fitness

I believe I’ve mentioned a few times that, due to health reasons, I’ve recently switched to a gluten free diet. Well, it’s time for me to quit thinking of it as a “diet change” and start thinking of it in terms of a “lifestyle change”. I don’t do diets well. Mostly because I start to think about all of the stuff I can no longer have and depress myself. And then go off the diet.

While I haven’t blown my diet (on purpose) in the past two months, I need to refocus. I don’t want to just replace the gluteny junk I used to eat with its gluten free counterpart (which, in some cases, is even more unhealthy).

So, I’m re-thinking my food habits entirely and find myself excited by the prospect of trying to incorporate more whole, unprocessed foods and lean proteins rather than just substituting rice bread for wheat bread. (However, all bets are off if someone finally starts making a tasty gluten free Pop-Tart… What? We’ve all got our vices.)

It’s also time to reboot my fitness program again. Part of a healthy lifestyle is movement, right? While I’ve had to cancel my gym membership (see goal “Pay off Debt“), I still have my awesome P90x and my running shoes. Both of which are getting dusted off and used. It’s time to get, and stay, healthy.

Family Time

When they were younger, the kiddos and I used to pop in a movie or go out for dinner every other Friday night. It was great, though I did sit through many a snoozer of a kid’s movie. But as they got older they started getting involved with school activities, activities with friends, and so on and the every other Friday night Family Night fell by the wayside.

One of my goals this year is to bring that back. At least once a month. I know that teenagers have friends they want to see on Friday nights and they see me every night. But one Friday a month, we’re getting some quality time in whether it’s watching a movie, going out, or letting my kids laugh their backsides off as they school me and the Hubs on some first person shooter X-Box game.

Expand My Brain

I love learning. I could easily be a professional student for the rest of my life. This year there are a few things I plan on cracking open some books on.

  • Continue to study the craft of writing (that sort of goes without saying, but I felt like saying it anyway)
  • PHP
  • HTML5
  • CSS3

The HTML and CSS are two things that I want to improve my skills in. The PHP is a brand new language for me. I’m excited and can’t wait to get my hands on some books.

Pay off Debt

For the longest time, I was completely debt-free (except my mortgage). And that, my friends is a beautiful feeling. But, good or bad, nothing lasts forever and I had a few emergencies come up. Like my 15 year old air conditioner dying in the middle of a Florida Summer. Car engines going kerplunk.

While my debt isn’t atrocious by any standard, it still sucks and it’s my goal this year to take a huge chunk out of it. In order to make this happen, I’ve had to cut some fat out of my budget, like my gym membership. But I’m looking forward to the day when I can give myself the money I’m giving to some corporation every month.

Create a Fulfilling Life

In essence, that’s exactly what the goals above are working toward. Creating a balanced and fulfilling life for myself and my family. I want us to enjoy every minute we have with each other. I think that, right there, is the most important goal of all.

So there you have it. My short list of goals for 2012. What goals to you have? Feel free to share them with me in the comments.

And have a safe and happy 2012!

Be on the look out. I’ll be posting pictures of the family trip overseas soon!

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Christmas Memories

My favorite part of Christmas has always been family gatherings. The bigger the gathering, the better in my book. I think this stems from the fact that Christmas was a huge affair when I was little.

We spent Christmas with my dad’s family. He’s one of five children, so holidays at my grandmother’s house were loud; full of love, laughter and food. (And I’ll never figure out how she managed to cook all of that food in her tiny kitchen.)

Our Christmas celebrations started on Christmas Eve. After a delicious fish dinner prepared by my grandmother, the whole family piled into the living-room to exchange gifts. (My gifts usually involved the two most important “B’s” in my little girl life: Barbies and Books.) Then we’d head home where my parents probably had a heck of a time getting my sister and I tucked into bed.

Christmas day brought gifts from Santa (and occasionally, Rudolph) and a morning of church. Then, back to grandma’s for what can only be described as a feast: Soups, salads, pasta, meat, veggies, cookies, pies and cool whip.

Then the family spent the rest of the day there playing, napping, eating again, watching t.v. and just enjoying being together.

When I think of Christmas, these memories of family gatherings are what come to mind first. When I first moved away from Rhode Island, I missed those gatherings terribly. But I started creating other, new memories in my new home. And now that I have kids, I get to help them create great memories of Family and Christmas.

Feel free to share your favorite Christmas (or the holiday of your religion) memories!