Friday Fun...

So I decided to head down to Tampa on Friday. My friend Joni asked me to do a photo shoot of her girls and invited my neighbors from our old 'hood to gather for a good ole fashioned Mommy Happy Hour at her house afterward.
For the most part, I am a home-body. If I leave the house it's to drive the kids to school or activities, go to the gym or for a photoshoot. Yep, I opt to email my grocery and Wal-Mart lists to my husband rather than hit the road-and tempt myself in the mall! (We can talk about my endless car accidents later-let's just say my 13-yr old prefers the backseat where she can't see if the wreck is coming our way! Only one of those accidents was my fault.)
Well, the ONE and ONLY day I'm not home, and am happily on my way to Tampa, AND my husband happened to be in Ocala - the phone rings! It's the school calling me to tell me that Kolby's teacher has sent him to the clinic and I need to pick him up. I literally was about an hour and a half away from the house when I get this call. Trying to maneuver my car in the driving rain, while merging onto I-75 while dialing 16,000 telephone numbers to see who can pick my son up from school is a challenge that I don't suggest to anyone! Luckily, my friend Kim came to the rescue and was able to pick him up. Go figure, he had no temperature, was just coughing. FCATS---I hate state standardized testing!---and she thought he was contagious I guess?
So, I arrive in Tampa and meet up with a classmate from Germany, Brandy, whom I hadn't seen in 20 years. Crazy, we meet at the bar in Ybor City where I was 'banned for life' in my crazy wild youth days---The Green Iguana.  Kind of funny. Won't go into the story but after over a decade, I guess it's safe for me to go there now :)
I really love Ybor City! Awesome, Cuban-influence. Very eclectic with too many great locales for shooting than I can count! I so wished it wasn't raining! I would've loved to just walk the streets, reminisce about Heidelberg with my friend and take a ton of snaps but it wasn't meant to be this rainy Friday.  But here is a photo of 7th Avenue I snapped mid-windshield wiper swipes.

Now it was time to leave and head over to Joni's. I knew that we weren't going to be able to get the shots she and her daughters wanted. It was too wet and rainy to head outside. Oh! And I had been stuck in that crazy Friday night rush hour in the pouring rain. Ugh! I hate driving in rush hour!

When I finally arrived at Joni's, it was moments before our old neighbors (no we're not old, I didn't mean it like THAT!) arrived and it was time to play "remember when" and catch up with today's news.  We had a great and fun group in our Pebble Creek neighborhood. I miss those friendships and the cameraderie and those Friday night happy hours. Of course, now we're all busy as our kids are older and I'm surprised all of us were able to clear that night to hang out! I was so excited to see everyone and enjoy a moment sans kinder with my girls from the 'hood.  Here's a photo of Joni and Melinda that I snapped early enough in the evening that it's not blurry.

I look forward to my next visit and actually having the opportunity to get some photo shoots done but, in the meantime...great fun with great girlfriends!