Guadalajara Baby!

This week we are in Guadalajara, Mexico and really like the feel of this city!  The hotel that all the players are at this week is brand-new so its fun to christen the place.  As I write this there is a mariachi band playing outside down below and it makes it feel very authentic!  Let's just say there is a man in a full-on purple suit with bedazzlements all down the leg playing the guitar...

Things to know and love:
1) A purple or orange house in most parts of the US = pretty tacky... A red, royal blue and purple house or building here = cool, charming and really pleasing to the eye (I kid you not, looking out at the city and seeing blue and pink and purple and yellow splashed all around makes if feel like Mexico to me, and I love it!)
2) Driving lanes in roads are more like unfollowed suggestions and less like guidelines that are to be adhered to (Example: 3 lanes and 5 cars wide driving down the road = no problem to our drivers here) Ryan says I no longer have any right to say anything about his driving... EVER.
3) While Guadalajara is lower in elevation than Mexico City, we are still as high up as Denver, so I am super thankful for Burt's Bees and lotion
4) It is spring here!!  I know some friends are still in the cold and dealing with snow, but there are all these trees here with neon lilac flowers budding all over the golf course and it is so pretty!  You can sort of see one in the picture.

I'm off to fill out my bracket for March Maddness since Ryan gets giddy like a little kid with an ice cream cone this time of year!  Go Duke!

Bienvenidos!

Hola from Mexico City, Mexico!  Ryan and I are here for the week for his first event on the PGA LatinoAmérica Tour.  If you are interested in following his scores, use this link:

PGA LatinoAmérica Tour 2013

The tournament starts Thursday and the Blaums tee off at 12:35pm local time (mostly Ryan alone will tee off, I would hate to have our future riding on me playing golf, but I'll be, you know, there too.)  I'm officially his caddy for the year, which will include some sweet tan lines, as much bottled water as I can consume and some more rad stamps in my passport... Hey, as wierdy as the tan lines get, this girl ain't complaining!

Some Randoms:
We have been doing P90X for a little over a week now and we are pretty much in beast mode... Ha! Only kidding but we really like it, but are doing a few modifications, since Ryan sorta really needs his body for his job.

We really like the food here so far!  We did have some mystery meet last night, but we seem to be in the clear!  Plus, the guacamole and cactus salad were delightful!

I have been looking at tons of blogs lately and want to have ours be redesigned and awesome, so hope for that to come soon!!  Also, I have noticed that I really only like blogs that post pictures with their writing, so I'm semi-annoyed right now that I don't have cool pics to share!  Sorry!

"Bienvenidos!"  Is my new favorite word and I say it to Ryan when he hits a good shot or putt, which in case you did not know, is not an appropriate way to use this word... like. at. all.

Also, Ryan says that his random, fun fact is that his hair is really long and it makes him want to surf!  Best of luck, Mr. Golfer!  But, I do love your long locks...

Let us know if there is anything that we need to try or do or see while we are here!

PGA Latin America 2013

Last week I successfully earned full exempt status on the PGA Latin America Tour!  It was my first event in a couple months, so there was some evident rust, but I had the help of my pro caddy, Ashley!!

The Tour is one season split in spring and fall.  The first 8 events run from March-early June, and include countries like Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.  The next 7 events are run from October-December and are played mostly in South America. The top-5 on the money list at the end of the season earn status on the PGA Web.com Tour for 2014.

I will update the schedule accordingly.

Right now we are in Hilton Head, SC for an Egolf Tour event.  I'm currently in 8th after rounds of 71-71-70, with the final round tomorrow.

We Got It Too

Whatever cold/flu has been going around, we got it too.  It started last Friday afternoon where I started to feel bad.  It progressively got worse until Monday was my low point and I've been on a steady, albeit slow incline, since.  I love surprising my wife with gifts.....unfortunately, this was a gift I wasn't trying to give her.  Monday afternoon is when she started to feel lousy.  I think she's getting better too though. Hopefully, we'll be up and running in no time.

Back At It

After three weeks completely off due receiving injections in my shoulder and trap muscle, I will be starting to get back in shape this week.  I'm looking forward to 2013!  I will start by strengthening my shoulder with rehab-type exercises and gradually get back into a full workout routine.  Golf-wise, things start from the ground up -- putting and short game for a week and as my body gets stronger, back into full swings.  Hopefully I'm back at it in 3 weeks!!

More Iowa in December

Also got to do a little sitting in a tree stand! It's so serene sitting quietly while the forest comes to life as the sun rises. #favorite

Iowa in December

At a wedding for Ashley's cousin, Jenny, in Decorah, Iowa. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!

Fun to see family!

Oh Happy Day...

Yesterday, Sunday, July 15th, two lovely ladies had birthdays! Ryan's cousin Jaime (and hubs Craig and big brother Charlie) welcomed Beverly "Paige" into the world! Happy Birth Day sweet baby girl! Momma and baby are doing well!

And my Grandma Nora (yes, my British grandmother!) celebrated her 75th Birthday!!  This is one impressive lady... She gets up everyday and walks 5 miles with their Huskie, does her daily devotional and has a cup of tea before most people have even woken up!  She taught me to knit, to love English Breakfast  tea (she only has it like four times a day...) and she is funny and loving to no end!  Though we say "tomato" and "schedule" and "banana" (to name a few) differently, I could not love her more!

We love yall!

Hawkeye State

We are in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Ash's parents live, for a little while. I didn't go low enough in the qualifier for the John Deere this past Monday, so we have had a week off of just chilling...surrounded by corn fields.

Next weekend I'm playing in the Waterloo Open, which is only about an hour away.

Hot Iowa!

This past Thursday I shot 69 in the PGA John Deere pre-qualifier, which successfully got through to the Monday qualifier.  The John Deere is in the "quad cities" region on the Iowa/Illinois border.  After Thursday's round, we drove a couple hours to Ash's parents' place in Cedar Rapids, which is where we are now.  Then we go back for the qualifier on Monday.

It's SOOO HOT! It's been about 100 degrees every day that we've been here!!

Action Packed Couple Weeks

In the last two weeks, we have done quite a bit.  I flew home from Iowa thinking we were going to pack our things in a PODS for storage for a couple months while our new place was getting ready.  So, we started packing our things.  Then we received word that the place would be ready a couple days later, which would be the day before we were supposed to leave for West Virginia.  In a matter of 3 days, we packed up all our things, did the necessary paperwork, and then in one afternoon did the actual move.  

After getting about 5 hours of sleep per night for about 5 days, we hit the road to West Virginia for a PGA Tour event qualifier.... The Greenbrier Classic.  We arrived on Wednesday, and due to fatigue for obvious reasons, I decided to practice instead of play a practice round.  The next day was the pre-qualifier (qualifying takes two parts), and my easy going 72 was easily good enough to advance.  The next couple days we were planning on resting with maybe a fun day of white water rafting or zip-lining.  Unfortunately, two things happened... 1) Ash got sick, presumably from the lack of rest over the previous week; and 2) a freak storm came through West Virginia and knocked the power out in approximately 80% of the state.  The people in the state were so ill-prepared for anything like this, that over the next 26 hours, we never were able to eat, spent 2.5 hours in line to get the rationed 9 gallons of gas, checked out of our hotel, and drove 2 hours to Virginia where there was power and food.  Maybe it's because I grew up in Miami where we are always "hurricane-ready" and people own a back-up generator for their home, but it was hard to believe that no one within an hour (talking gas stations, hotels, and restaurants) had a back-up power source except for the state-owned travel plaza off the interstate.  

When Monday came for the qualifier, we woke up at 5 am to leave at 5:20 for our 2-hour drive to the course.  Ash was a trooper as she drove the whole way to allow me to close my eyes so I could be ready to play.  I played very well, shooting 66, which was tied for the low round of the day.  Unfortunately, there were 6 of us at that number and only 4 qualifiers.  We went into a playoff that lasted 3 holes.  It became 4-for-3 after the first hole because of a birdie and a bogey.  We all parred the 2nd playoff hole.  The 3rd playoff hole, I hit great shots, but misjudged my adrenaline and sailed a 9-iron 165 yards (usually hit it 148) right over the flag, over the green, in a tough spot.  I was unable to get it up-and-down and was thus eliminated.  Tough to swallow. 

So, we got the in car and drove about 4 hours to Lexington, KY, where today we are concluding our drive to Moline, IL... about 8.5 hours.  

The Smith Wedding!

Ash and I got to be a part of our friends Josh and Margaret's wedding!  Ash did Margaret's hair and makeup!

The day of the wedding, I got to hang out some with Josh, but while Ash was doing this....

....... I was doing this.....

It was a beautiful ceremony on the beach in Hilton Head, and a really fun reception!

CONGRATS to the Smiths!!!

Moving Day

We are packing up our things in our town home, getting ready to do an entire move in one day, this Monday!!  We are moving into a different town home, in the same community, only a few blocks away, but the scheduling is only going to allow us a day to move before we hit the road Tuesday!  It will be pretty crazy, but we are really excited!

There have been some changes to the schedule.... it's updated!!

In Lexington, KY this week. Played with a 100 yr old man today in the Pro-Am. What an experience! It was so impressive to see a guy play 18 holes at that age! He also dropped a 40 ft putt on one hole!

I'm off at 1:33 tomorrow.

Road Trip

Long day on the road: Orlando to Lexington, KY with a dinner stop at The Stallings residence in Knoxville. Thanks Scott and Jen!

First of 7 weeks on the road. Ash joins me Saturday for good!

Piracy

A routine night out with the guys in Champions Gate/Celebration, FL....

Back At It

Last week was my 2nd week of playing and I finally started to feel comfortable with the game and competing.  I figured it would probably take one "warmup" tournament to do it, and it did.  I had a solid week that was played in windy and cold conditions, finishing 13th in the NGA Tour event in Windsor, NC.  The reason for playing well was probably because Ash was able to come up for most of the event!

This week I'm in the the southeastern part of NC, playing an eGolf Tour event that starts tomorrow.  I'm at 8:40am.

Day One

During the last week, I have seen some great progression in the healing of my finger.  So, today I went to the range and finally hit a few balls.  I've been able to chip and putt recently, but today was the first time taking full swings.  All I did was hit some wedges, but after 8 weeks off, it felt so great to be out there!  I only hit 27 balls today, but hopefully I can increase a little each day.

Ash had her first week of work this week!  She is the pastoral assistant at our church, Celebration Community Church.  If you are ever in Orlando, I encourage you come to a service on Sunday.  You will hear truth!!  The job as proved to be Ashley's cup-of-tea.....she did administrative work while on staff for a Congressman in Washington, DC.  Her job hear is a lot of administrative work AND it's a "field" that is a passion of hers = CHURCH!  

We are so grateful for the friends we have made at CCC, and now being able to plug in the church and be a part of the growth is so fun!  

Let the Healing Begin

The stitches are out in the leg! I'm hoping to run tomorrow.

The finger/knuckle is starting to feel better.  I'm going to try to practice short game today with my fingers taped together.

Therapy on the neck/shoulder is going well, but it's also going slow.  It has been tough to assess the progress because I haven't been able to swing (which might have been a good thing) due to my finger.

All in all, things are getting better, but it doesn't look like I'll be ready for Tallahassee....hoping for Ocala.

Injury Update

#1:  As in the last post, I'm starting Physical Therapy on my neck and shoulder, so hopefully the healing is starting strong.  The next 3 weeks will be a lot of time spent with my PT, Alex.

#2:  Got the MRI results back on my hand today.  Basically a strained tendon and sprained ligament.  But, no placement damage or straight tears.  That's good news!  The recovery time should be short!

#3:  The stitches in my left leg should come out in a week!