Vote Early and Often!

Haha!  That's the old joke: Vote Early and Often.  Well, the Florida primary election is next week.  Mark and I can't go vote because we will be in downtown Orlando, over an hour north of our polling place, at the National NARFE Convention.  Instead, we will go today to vote early (but not often) at the Haines City Public Library.  I am glad we are doing this because I don't think we've ever missed voting in either a primary or a general election.  Now we have to do some research on the candidates before we go!

I have spent two days eating all my meals at home and not snacking.  What a difference!  Without even trying hard, I have lost two pounds in two days, down to 259 this morning.  Hm....all meals are inside today and tomorrow, but lunch and dinner will both be out on Friday.  Then next week all meals will be out starting Sunday lunch through Friday dinner when we get home from the convention.  We will be at the Rosen Center in Orlando, which has a lot of restaurant choices, but restaurants are always higher in sodium and fat and calories than food prepared at home.  Also, I often make bad choices.  Sitting in a convention seat all day is also not very conducive to burning off the calories.  They  have a MAGNIFICENT pool, so I'm hoping to catch some time poolside and maybe do some laps or water aerobics while we are there. 

Oh, I don't think I mentioned this yet, but I was asked to sing THREE songs at this National Convention!  I am opening the convention Sunday afternoon with "The Star-Spangled Banner" a cappella and then later in the program I'm singing "Golden Dreams" (the music from the American Adventure in Epcot) with a karaoke accompaniment.  I will also close the convention Thursday night after the big banquet with "God Bless America."  I sang the first and last songs at the Florida state NARFE Convention in May, and some of the same people are in charge of organizing the National convention.  I am SO HONORED to do this!  I think there will be about 2,000 or more people in attendance.  I have NEVER sung in front of that many people before.  Now I'm also praying I stay healthy and in good voice.  Mark came down with a cold on Sunday and has been sneezing, blowing his nose, and coughing for three straight days.  All I can do is try hard not to breathe in any germs.  LOL!

Another fun thing for the month of September is that in addition to that cheap five day/four night cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy out of Miami to Key West and Cozumel that we booked because it was just too damn cheap to pass up, we also realized that we have booked a day to attend every major theme park in our area in the same month.  That has never happened.  Gatorland has a $10 admission for Florida residents through the end of September.  Legoland has a Living Social deal too cheap to pass up.  We have Annual Passes to Seaworld, Universal, and WDW.  We actually booked Seaworld first because we hadn't gone since the day we got the pass.  Universal has now announced early morning hours for Annual Passholders to go to Diagon Alley and the new Hogwarts Express ride.  So now our calendar looks like this:
Sept. 7  Tampa Bay Rays v. Orioles in St. Pete with our friends Bob and Jane
Sept. 8-12  Carnival Ecstasy Cruise
Sept. 12  Disney's Hollywood Studios Scavenger Hunt with Solivita Disney Fan Club (after cruise)
Sept. 14  Magic Kingdom to catch the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride
Sept. 15  Seaworld
Sept. 18 Gatorland
Sept. 21  Epcot for first time at Food and Wine Festival this year, Jo Dee Messina in concert
Sept. 22 Universal CityWalk or mini-golf with our friends Barb and Al
Sept. 28 Downtown Disney for a movie, then Animal Kingdom, just to be sure we really are hitting ALL the parks in one month
Sept. 29 Universal Studios early morning hours for Diagon Alley, which when we ride the Hogwarts Express will take us into Universal's Islands of Adventure, too.
Sept. 30  Legoland

I'm pretty sure this is NEVER going to happen again, so I'm very excited for September this year.

And Rosh Hashana and two SOJC choir rehearsals are in this month, too.  BUSY MONTH!  I love Florida retirement living!