The End of an Era :-(

The day I've been dreading for the past 2 years is finally here. UGH! John is retiring. We're all very sad, but so happy for him. I'm gonna be permanently despondent! He is the best boss on the planet & an amazing mentor! I've learned so much from him over the past 5 years. There will be a lot of contemplating WWJD (What Would John Do) over the next few months.

I made a retirement survival kit to make his transition a little easier. All of John's favorite snacks are included ... Corn Nuts, Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownies, Black Twizzlers & Nature Valley Granola Thins. Maybe he'll come visit when he runs out of snacks!

Wow, he didn't waste any time ... John & Sherry are on the cover of Retirement for Dummies!

Is this card perfect, or what?!?

 Both happy ... both sad ... one happy, one sad ...

I wonder how long it'll take John to drive Sherry crazy, being home all of the time? Hopefully she'll send him back to the office!

Before John could retire ... he had to partake in one more office Halloween extravaganza! Jana greeted all of the kiddies as they arrived at our haunted office.

Some of the kids were so scared! One of them asked John if he was a real person.

Rob's costume never disappoints ... his Mad Hatter was amazing!

 His eyebrows were very creepy!

Jana & Mike

It appears John waited a tad too long to retire!

 

Chris & Carrie

After I shot our staff, Rob put together our annual office card.

John & Evanne shared a laugh in the parking lot while Rob adjusted his costume in the tinted window.

John made a video of his staff on their annual costumed walk to Publix.

They got lots of stares once they were inside the store.

While everybody waited in the express line, Rob displayed an Alice in Wonderland dvd with his twin brother Johnny Depp on the cover.

Just another day at the office ... but truly the end of an era!   :-(
I think I need to go fishing!!!

Golf on Dye's Valley

It was a beautiful day for the final round of the inaugural Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open presented by Planters at TPC Sawgrass.

Snowman's Retirement Party

After work we had a retirement party for John at Aqua Grill. Everyone had a great time.

Chris delivered an awesome speech on behalf of our department. It was determined that he might be the least likely to cry. It was touch-&-go there for a while, but he did a GREAT job!

Two of John's gifts were cameras. The underwater one has a snowman setting! How perfect is that?!?

He also got some golf clubs & a couple of Alphalams of him fishing.

"Big" Dog Stella

Stella's BFFs are all big dogs. Today she finally had a playdate where she was the "big" dog. We went to Julie's so she could romp with Lucy.

Stella is such a poser!

Should I Photoshop Julie's arm out? I think it's funnier with it in the picture. She's gonna have to practice her wrangling skills if we're gonna take pup photos!

The Tradition

After Stan finished shooting The Tradition trophy in the studio ...

John & I posed with it. 

10.10.10 Waffle Party

Whenever I take a shower, I have to set up a barricade to keep Stella out. She's obsessed with water. It doesn't matter if it's from a sprinkler, the shower, in her water bowl or raindrops ... she loves playing with it.

After Anna made some sausage, I saw Rob shooting a great grease photo with his iPhone. It looked so nice that I had to shoot it too.

When I looked at my counter, I saw my neighbors came prepared for breakfast!

Anna made a peace waffle. Stella seemed very interested since I usually shoot them on the floor.

Ilona made a pepperoni pizza waffle.

Matt's interpretation of "Saving America" ... a sinking ship with Palin, Obama & Pelosi. All I can say is that his design rivaled his pyramid & sphinx waffle from July 5, 2009.

Luke came over for a playdate after breakfast.

Nice pose!

Stella Goes Fishing

Stella's been to the beach before, but she's never gone fishing.

John planned to teach her the finer points of surfcasting.

Stella & I frolicked in the surf.

Easily bored with fishing, she decided to play instead.

John demonstrates the art of surfcasting.

First he catches a whiting, then he photographs it.

Rob

Stella & the fishermen.

Denim Fridays Month