Allez Pêcher

Last weekend was very relaxing... and yes, we finally went to the beach! I love spending time with my in-laws, but I feel really bad most of the time because mom always pampers us! She always spoils Rob and I whenever we go on vacations with them! She always makes us breakfast, lunch and dinner whenever we don't dine out and she doesn't want you to do ANYTHING! I always try to help out with the dishes, but she always says "I got it, dear!" (In her sweetest Southern-Belle accent)!

So, besides being catered to by mom, Rob and I had a wonderful time. At sunset, we sat on our rocking chairs in the back porch, just taking all the scenery in. We laid out on the beach (yes, that includes Rob too), but didn't get any darker thanks to SPF-50! Since we haven't been there in almost a year, we've noticed a lot of changes. For one, they're starting to clear out the main road and re-paving it (It was ruined by several hurricanes 2 years ago)... They're also building a hotel. Now, I don't know how well this will be accepted by the current home-owners, because Alligator Point has always been a private beach and that was part of its charm--an unchartered territory of unspoiled beauty on the Florida Gulf coast! (Please let's not make it into another Destin or something!) They also now have gated subdivisions and are starting to build state-of-the-art beach houses with elevators and all the modern amenities you could possibly think of! Some of the older houses, which were also ruined by the hurricanes, are being gutted out and demolished and taking their spots are multi-million dollar beach mansions! Thus, driving property value sky-high around the area. Two houses down from our beach house, there's a lot for sale, which is about half the size of ours, for a MERE (**sarcastically**) $500,000!!! Crazy... I know! I had to double-check, myself... thinking "Am I really in Alligator Point and not Saint-Tropez???" LOL...

Here are some of the neighbors' houses...

Anyways... Oh, I forgot to mention that we DID go fishing!!! As the French title says, literally translated as "To go fishing"... We had no luck though... It was as if the fish were hiding in the bottom, watching our bright-green bait float by, laughing at us, and uttering "Go Fish, dudes!", like the card game we loved to play in French Club back in high school :-) Well, we should've known better... We were only practicing in the backyard--where there's this narrow waterway, where we park the boats and jet skis... Also, dad wasn't there to teach us... he left early to play golf with his buddies, like he does every Sunday! And speaking of boats, dad's birthday is next Wednesday and mom's getting him a new boat!!!! His old one broke and had been sitting in the basement of the beach house. Of course, it's not a surprise, because the Walling men like picking out their presents, especially if it's a car, a boat, golf clubs, pistols, machine guns, etc... (Right, Rob???) LOL... So, the last time we spoke to mom, she said dad went to the boat shop to see what they have... I'm not sure if he got it yet. He might have to order from a catalog. But, case in point, Rob and I are so excited, because we can now go deep-sea fishing!!! Haha! Like we're pros or something! Or better yet, mom and I can lay out on the boat, in the middle of the gulf, as if we really ARE in Saint-Tropez! That would be really really neat!

By the way, here are pics from last weekend...

We went fishing in the backyard

Rob's scaring the fish away! haha!

Me and my fishing pole :-)

The weather was gorgeous!

Spencer was "comft'ly" fishing in the gazebo

Mom's pretty flowers :-)

More of mom's flowers

The back of the house... Yes, mom's lawn is perfect EVEN at the beach!!!

Nothing much has gone on this week... I'm actually doing taxes right now! I had to wait the last minute because we owe the IRS, but I found a smart way to avoid the same thing from happening next year... Ok, here's the tip I got from my financial adviser... Increase your monthly IRA Retirement Contribution because it's tax-sheltered, which then lowers your Annual Taxable Income, which lowers (or evens out) your taxes!!! Voila! Besides, increasing your tax contributions is not a smart thing, because you're letting the IRS hold your money (interest-free) instead of investing it on stocks or high-yielding-APR savings accounts that you could be making money on! If my calculations are right, this will definitely work out :-) OK, I'm starting to sound like a Wall Street guru, instead of a Software Engineer... HUH?

Well, this weekend, I was supposed to throw Cindy (my co-worker) a baby shower, but her sister's throwing her one on Saturday and we have another one at the office on Tuesday, so I'll be attending both instead... I had fun picking out stuff from their baby registry yesterday... Lots of pinks and browns--my favorite colors :-) I just love baby showers... More so than bridal showers!!! Can't wait to see all the stuff she gets!!! Bon weekend à tout le monde!!!