New chairs...I sure will miss my vintage lovelies though :(

End of an era :(

I used to have 6 of these beauties but over the last few years 2 of them died, and these remaining ones were dying.  

I saw these advertised on facebook locals that a now closed restaurant in Key West was getting rid of them. Can you identify the restaurant? Answer at the end of this post.

They originally had 100 or so I guess and I think were selling them for $10/20 apiece - and I certainly was tempted.  But when I saw the last 10 or so offered for free I texted Patrick straight away.

He was interested! But our jeep was in for repairs. What to do??

He jumped on his bike and moved them 2 at a time over to my work until we had a vehicle back.

I liked them immediately when we got them home! They are fun!

But not so much with our yellow table.

Doesn't it all look more cohesive now that I painted the table legs green??

I have ordered some chair cushions too.

My vintage chairs went out on the curb for free and were picked up quickly by some lucky person, sniffle.

As for the restaurant? 

Clues:

A burger place

A chain

A famous pop singer turned famous actor

Answer: Wahlburgers.

Edit!!!

See photos below!

After a few fits and starts, I think I eventually got there on colour!

- The table legs were originally yellow. I painted them green (why???). And then a pale colour matching the top.

- I have the chair pads on order, arriving from Ikea on Friday.

Pretty happy now, I have to say 😀

Edit. 

The chair pads arrived.

Final pic:

 

Tomahawk steak!

Last week we arranged to call to our friend's Bill and Feliz's house.  We had been trying to arrange a get together for a while - specifically one where we would barbeque at the beach beside their house.

We suggested we would bring the food for grilling (we had always talked in the realm of hamburgers and hot dogs etc) but said no, he had it all taken care of. 

Imagine my surprise when I saw these bad boys!!! This picture does not show scale at all - I think the next pic does if you look for the meat thermometer in the top right hand corner of the photo.

Tomahawk steaks!

Look at the size!

Incredibly delicious.  Moist, tender, juicy.  With red wine, oh my gosh, to die for!  What an amazing evening with amazing friends.

Work out wear

The peloton journey continues! We have it about two weeks or so and every day either one or both of us have used it for a class.  I searched "Elvis" yesterday and had a great class to the music of the King.  Patrick did a U2 one.  Dare I say it, this is kind of fun exercise??

I decided to take myself off to TJ Maxx to buy some new workout wear.  This was not on a whim, I literally need new stuff.  Have I mentioned before that "everything breaks in Key West", well the elastic in my gym gear (admittedly 5 year old stuff brought over from Ireland) is all completely gone. Gone, along with my modesty while spinning with my leggings falling down off of me.

I bought three sets all the same brand - New Balance.  $60 in total.  Pretty good I think you will agree.

 

Key West Seafood Festival

Surely, one of the best little festivals of Key West - The Seafood Festival!

$10 entry gets you a wristband good for Saturday and Sunday.  Here is what we ate.  (Sharing plates throughout the weekend).

Saturday afternoon:

Split a lobster bisque (no photo, sadly)

Half a lobster and fish combo dinner.  Served with warm butter, coleslaw, yellow rice and beans.

Sunday (Lunch):

Split another lobster bisque (still no photo, sadly)

Key West Pinks - Peel and Eat shrimp

Sunday afternoon:

Fried Fish

Conch Fritters

My tips for getting over the "January Blues"

 1. Take down your Christmas decorations in phases i.e. not one big bang.  I started the day after Stephen's day (Dec 26th) and first put all my Christmas crockery away.  Then, day by day, little by little just started packing stuff away as it caught my eye (little stuff on shelves etc).  

2. Going along with the above, take your tree ornaments down and leave a bare tree, just lights for a couple of days

3. Finally, your bare tree is the last thing to come down on Jan 2nd.  

By doing the above you will avoid that Nought to One Hundred feel, of one day your house being lovely and Christmas decorated and the next, nothing but plain old ordinariness.

4. Little treats:  Keep doing nice things/eating nice food for as long as you can:  Eats

This year I kind of viewed the week of Jan 2-8 as "still Christmas" and while I did watch what I was eating during that week, my new year diet has just started in earnest today.

5. Start planning or thinking about nice things you have coming up in the next few months to create a little smile on your face/nice thoughts in your head.

6. Exercise! Good for the mind, soul and body. Just get out for a walk every day at least.

7. Meet a friend for coffee!

8. Avoid alcohol/drinking too much: hangovers are doubly bad in January in my experience

Anyone else got some other suggestions to keep those blues at bay?!

Edith's Clam Bake in Half Shell Raw Bar

Sunday night before the working week (well, I don't work Mondays lol!)  we treated ourselves to a little outing to Half Shell Raw Bar.  We got a nice table with a nice view of the water and the boats so it couldn't have been any better.

Edith's Clam Bake arrives in a silver tin with aluminium foil on it, topped with garlic bread and coleslaw

Clams, mussels, shrimp, potato, andouille sausage and corn in a lovely buttery garlic and chili oil.

It was a small bit "cold" (by Key West standards!) yesterday so it was the perfect sociable sharing dish for the day that was in it.

Peleton update!

Our peleton arrived and so far, we are killing it! Arrived last Wednesday and by Sunday both of us had done 3 classes/sessions each.  I did my 4th session this morning and Patrick will do one after work today.  I plan on doing one before work tomorrow (around 7.45am).  I think I will do best doing it in the morning, rather than leaving it until the evening, then making an excuse not to do it, and then feeling guilty all evening.  Very, very excited by this big change for going forward and really looking forward (and feeling strong) about being consistent with it going forward.