So I wanted to take the initiative for Susan to meet my grandma early,
because if I didnt organize some kind of meeting I was thinking that
she would never get to meet her before our wedding.



See my grandma lives all the way down in Naples Florida, and I know my
Grandma Renne cannot travel to come see our wedding this upcoming
February.



So I found some dirt cheap plane tickets and bought them.  As the trip
got closer and closer my parents had some heated discussions with me
about how I need to rent a car.  But the prices were more than my plane
ride and I refused to pay 450 dollars for a damn rental car.



So we flew out there with no rental, but I organized a nice car to pick us up.  It was 50 bucks to get to grandmas house.



I think once we got there, we immediately went to the beach and took
some of our first pictures.  I think Susan was already in love with
Florida. She had been down here in the past for spring break, but never
really had been in a nice city like Naples.  We also went on a walk in
the rich neighborhoods surrounding Vanderbilt Beach Drive.  I think we
relaxed and talked with my grandma that day.  I dont recall actually
doing a whole lot but relaxing.



The following day we took my grandma's Firebird to the Coconut Point
mall.  It is still right now under renovation, but I would highly
recommend it to anyone going to Naples.  It reminded me of when I was
in San Diego at the outdoor mall there.  We ate a really nice lunch at
this sandwich shop.  Unfortunately there were no local sandwich shop
guitarists there.



Susan did a bunch of shopping while I stayed in Borders.  Eventually we
left to meet up with Jeff and Sherri, my Cousin and Aunt to go to a
high class fast food restaraunt with my Aunt Sherri and my Cousin Jeff
called "Cheeburger Cheeburger".  It was the best.  A gigantic burger
and some fries.  Totally healthy.  Sherri was bitching for a while
because we were late, but then she forgot about it.  She bought the
meal when she didnt have to, that was nice of her.



On the next day, I had some business I had to take care of, so I
rollerbladed into town about 10 miles or so and even had lunch at a
very nice place.  It was frustrating because I was at one coffee shop
that was too expensive to work in, it was like 12 bucks for 2 hours of
internet.  So I rollerbladed to another place way down off of airport
road.  It was here that my laptop completely broke and the chord
couldnt charge my battery anymore.  So there goes my work for the
week.  Oh well.



I bladed back and called Susan and met up with her on her walk back
from the beach.  I dont recall what we had for dinner on that Thursday.



But I definitely can recall what we had for dinner on Friday with my
cousin Anthony.  We all went to the greatest Ribs place in all of
America.  Michelbob's ribs!  This was of course one of the tastiest
restaurants I know of!  Our plan after this, was to hit up the bars. 
So we drove way north to a Sushi place that converts into a bar and we
all had a really good time there.  But before that we went to one of
his friends house and it was one of the coolest bachelor pads I have
ever been to.  The guy was a perfectionists in his decorating. 
Everything was so modern and everything was so artsy, nice and
expensive.  Anthony was a blast that night, he really convinced us at
how nice life is in Florida.  When we got back to grandma's we raided
the pringles and the fridge and there was an accident.... a whole
bottle of V8 fell and spilled all over the place.  Talk about a
complete mess.  We had to move the fridge to clean it up.  We all
continued to drink and conversate on the lanai and on the dock
adjoining the ocean canals.  It was a very late night and we stayed up
until about 3:30 talking about Anthony and his recent breakup with his
English girlfriend as well as new potential flings where he debated how
he should persue the relationship.  I feel for the guy and wish him
good luck in his new relationships with the ladies.



After sleeping in on Saturday a bit, we eventually got up off our asses
and went to the Tin City mall.  It is such a unique mall.  Mostly with
stores that have junk, but it is something that I used to love as a kid
buying souvenirs of shells and other crap.  So I had to show Susan it.



We ended up eating a little food there as well as buying a Mango wine
from this shop.  I bought a couple of photo frames but that was about
it.  There was a really cool candle shop there and we both were tempted
on buying all sorts of different shaped candles of anything you can
think of.



On the way across the bridge Susan took a pic of me and I had sweat
stains under my armpits.  We always crack up looking at it.  So view
the memory media to check out the photos.



That night we went to see "Sugar" at the Naples Dinner theater.  We
took my grandmas car again.  Sugar, is the exact story from "Some Like
It Hot" (One of my favorite movies).  We arrived early and dug into the
best meal we had while we were down there.  The prime rib was one of
the juiciest and flavorful meat I have had in years.



These cute old couples took our picture for us and we took a picture of
them too.  Later, Susan noticed of the cutest ladies taking a ziplock
bag and sticking a bunch of the prime rib into it.  We cracked up so
much.  We were soo stuffed at this point.



We had much conversation on which state we want to live in once we are
married.  We have to pick one, so she can take the bar exam in that
particular state.  Then she or I suggested to live in Florida.  It
really made sense.  It was soo cool to make our first big decision.  We
pretty much feel it is the right thing.  We have so many friends and
family here.  We can have some fun in the sun.  We would probably
retire in this state.  Lawyers make a killing here and theres a lot of
work here.  And its the number one state to find a job.  Sure the
hurricanes are very scary, but thats not a reason to not move here.  So
we are going to do it!



The play was fantastic and we had a lot of fun.  We were excited about our new idea to move out of Michigan.



On Sunday, we organized and drove up to pick up a rental car that we could take to the airport at 5 in the morning the next day.



After that Susan and I took the new rental to the Navy Pier.  On the
way, we ate at a really nice place for lunch and sat outside.  We
discussed more about living in florida and every point we had was very
positive.  We're pretty stoked.  We didnt have a whole lot of time to
chill on the beach because we took some time walking down the whole
pier.  We saw a lot of people fishing and even some pelicans and
seagulls floating from the wind.



After laying down, we got back in the car and started driving to a mall
when my cousin Jeff called.  We decided to come to his apartment and we
picked up some snacks and tea drinks for him and I.  When we got there,
Jeff proceeded to tell us about how he was so tired and hungry that he
got a big glass of milk and fell asleep with it and it spilled all over
himself.  I think he was playing his guitar too.  I didnt understand...
but his problem for the day was that he needed money to dry and wash
his sheets and comforter.  He had fans going in there and all.  But
Jeff is a funny guy, as we were talking about our jobs and how much he
makes, he said how he makes XX amount a year more than me.  5 minutes
later he asked if he could borrow 5 dollars for a pack of cigarettes
and to do his laundry.  Now this isnt my high school cousin.  He is
like 40 years old.  Susan thought he was joking at first, but then when
she realized he was serious.... "I will send you a letter with the
money back" she almost couldnt hold in the laughter.  Ohhh Jeff... you
and your randomness.  We love you though.



We chilled at the pool where I proceeded to play lots of Marco Polo
with Elementary School kids.  It was fun.  After the pool, I loaned
Jeff 75 cents for the dryer because he didnt have any money.



That night after taking my grandma out to Outback Steakhouse and having
a spectacular meal, we went back to her house where I played a snoopy
boy and went into a bunch of her drawers and asked her about all the
random things she has in her drawers.  I didnt go through her underwear
drawer like a creep, my grandma loves to collect items and she had so
many strange and weird things and I was curious about all of them.  It
was a lot of fun.



So that was our trip to florida in a nut shell.  It was a wonderful
time and I am so excited about all of the life trips I will have with
that beautiful woman.  Shes the best anyone could ever have!  I am sure
she really appreciates my Christmas gift to her.