One of the ways I get to work involves taking 595 west to I75 south. There is construction on the southbound ramp until May 2009! One lane is closed and traffic backs up to SW 136th Ave. If you want to avoid the ramp, take these alternates:

If you are going to Weston:

Exit at SW 136th Ave and continue east on State Road 84 to Weston Road.

Exit at Flamingo Road and go south to Griffin Road. Take Griffin west to Weston Road or Bonaventure Blvd.

Exit at Flamingo road, go south to Griffin Road. Hop over to Orange Drive. Orange Drive turns into Shotgun Road. Make a left at SW 14th Street. SW 14th Street is called Indian Trace after you cross the Davie/Weston border.

If you are heading south on I75:

Exit at SW 136th Ave and continue east on State Road 84 to Weston Road. Take the I75 Southbound ramp at the intersection of Royal Palm Bvld and Weston Road.

Exit at Flamingo Road, go south to Griffin Road west to I75 (there is some construction here too, but it’s nowhere near as bad).

Take Flamingo Road to go south instead.

View more photos on our Flickr Photostream.

Looking Back at 2007

We’re fashionably late again! Many bloggers have their compulsory “Year in Review” posts prepared ahead of time. The time stamp feature allowed them to nurse hangovers while myriad “Year in Review” posts magically appear on January 1st.

We registered the domain a while back, but didn’t start posting content until October. There was much discussion about what to do with this domain. We considered a variety of topics, and the topic of parenting spawned two separate blogs. Renee and Elliott remains the playground of the “monkey mind,” swinging from tree to tree in the forest of thoughts.

Our blogging adventure started in October. We’re still newbies, but newbies eager to learn and grow. Renee and Elliott are still finding their way in the blogosphere right along side Twilli’s first tentative steps of her human experience, and Austin’s adolescence.

Some of the most pivotal events in our lives occured in 2007. The events are definitely worth exploring further and extracting the life lessons we need for 2008.

February 2007 – The White Stick Speaks The Truth. 13 Going on 30.

In December 0f 2006, we traveled to Tennessee to be with Renee’s family for Christmas. Shortly after our return, Renee started feeling sick. She dismissed it as a consequence of traveling. February also saw the continuation of “weirdness.” The facts started pointing to the uterus. The urine stream was pointed at the little white stick. We didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl, but we knew it was a positive.

We quietly spread the news to friends and family after confirming it with medical professionals. Our friend Shantelle‘s immediate response to our preface was, “you’re pregnant!” To which we nodded in confirmation. Her jaw drops as she says, “I was kidding!”

Austin celebrated his 13th birthday on the 6th. Dave and Buster’s was a gracious host. Actually, no formal party room was reserved. We just crashed the place and invited a bunch of his friends to hang out. This new phase in his life greeted him with acne, heightened interest in girls, and hair in places he didn’t have it before. The most cherished greeting came in the form of a slim white box next to the TV. Wii would like to play. But dammit, he still can’t get a job! One more year to go, buddy… oh yeah, and you gotta keep the grades up if you want to get a job.

March 2007 – Italia! Andiamo!

A view from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Austin’s art teacher arranged a trip to Italy through an educational tour group. We couldn’t pass it up for the price. This was a low-risk and low-cost way to experience travel abroad. In an ideal world, we would’ve started studying Italian months prior to the trip. Instead, Elliott rushed out to the store to get the Berlitz Rush Hour Italian Express the day before our flight.

Perhaps we would have been more diligent with our Italian studies had we decided to visit Italy autonomously. The tour group gave us a linguistic shelter from which we could gawk at the splendor of Rome and Florence. Despite the limitations, it was thrill to be in Italy.

Elliott quickly grew bored of the “prove we were there” photos. He shifted his attention to fellow tourists, everyday people, and anything but the typical vacation shots.

Two tourists stop to snap a photo

Gladiators enjoy modern conveniences like cell phones

A couple lost in conversation at the Piazza d’Espagna

June 2007 – Farewell to a Good Friend. Celebration of New Life.

We mourned the passing of a friend, but we also celebrated the impending arrival of new life. Sandy finally lost her battle with cancer on June 6th. Our friend Shantelle still organized an amazing baby shower. Just as it was at Sandy’s funeral, people we hadn’t seen in a while re-emerged. Instead of bearing condolences, they came with congratulations and gifts galore.

Renee and Elliott do things their way. With a mind toward inclusion, it was a co-ed baby shower. Imagine that. Men attending a baby shower! Our friends Eric and Debbie were kind enough to host the baby shower at their home. We could not have accommodated the turnout in our little townhouse.

We received so many of the necessities and some “nice to have” items too. We were overwhelmed and we’re grateful to all who attended or sent gifts. Renee put together a great gift registry at Target. She worked the Freesource boards and craigslist throughout the pregnancy to obtain tons of clothes, a changing table, bassinet, and crib. We spent very little money preparing for Ariana’s arrival.

July 2007 – Pregnancy Sucks. Austin’s Summer Gig.

Hot weather is not friendly to pregnant women so Renee commandeered the thermostat in the house and the car. Elliott ensured that Renee always had easy access to bottled water and made sure she drank plenty of it. This may seem cruel, but it mitigated the effects of the weather and ensured that Ariana would be a healthy baby. The final stretch is always the toughest, but Renee carried herself with aplomb.

Austin has been itching to work. Well more accurately, itching to have access to money. Our friend Thom had a temporary job as the manager of a little beach motel in Flagler Beach, and he hooked Austin up with a job. Austin worked hard and was paid well. He earned a little spending money for an anime convention, and learned some valuable lessons about the working world.

August 2007 – Happy Birthday Ariana!

We always look forward to the new year with optimism. We didn’t know that 2007 would bring the ultimate joy to our lives. Ariana Leigh was born on August 7th 2007. We knew it would change our lives forever. Some of the changes were expected, and others were not. She continues to fascinate and enrapture us daily.

Renee’s mother stayed with us for two weeks just after Ariana was born. The in-law horror stories were just stories. We had a wonderful time and she helped out tremendously.

October 2007 – Welcome to the Blogosphere

We finally installed WordPress on ReneeAndElliott.com and started writing content. The desire to blog about fatherhood spawned 21st Century Dad. Renee’s exploration of attachment parenting, baby wearing, and breastfeeding was the catalyst for 21st Century Parenting. ReneeAndElliott.com became a venue for us to blog about our diverse interests, and a way to keep our friends and family up to date on our lives.

ReneeAndElliott.com has become more popular than we imagined. 21st Century Parenting and 21st Century Dad are picking up momentum. Elliott has found his calling as a blogger. It’s well suited to his temperament and skill set. It allows him to write, apply his technical skills at a comfortable level, take plenty of photographs, and lead a fulfilling life.

December 2007 – Happy Holidays

Since we both work from home right now, there were no office parties to attend. We enjoyed the company of old friends and new faces at the Toastmasters holiday party. Money is a little tight, but we couldn’t forsake Christmas. We spent wisely and it was still a great Christmas for Austin.

Art Basel 2007

We returned to Renee’s old stomping ground, the Miami Design District for Art Basel. This year’s Art Basel did not have an officially sanctioned street party, but there were still galleries and showrooms to visit. We got to catch up with Renee’s old colleagues at the Glottman showroom.

Renee and Twilli enjoy both love contemporary European furniture

Some new things at Glottman since Renee’s tenure

This is the expensive stuff that Ikea is imitating

Austin used to fall asleep in this chair when Renee would bring him to work

Leave it to Renee to take babywearing to the next level by using sexy fabric

Visiting the showrooms and galleries at Art Basel confirmed it for us. There is a market for art we enjoy looking at and the kind of art we are both capable of creating. The time is now right for us to pursue our artistic endeavors.

Merry Christmas!

The real fun was in the subterfuge and obfuscation we engaged in surrounding the gifts exchanged. Since Austin knows Santa’s true identity, we have to find other ways to surprise him. He had some clue that Guitar Hero III would be sent by his grandparents. The guitar amp was a total surprise.

Our friends Eric and Debbie opened their homes once again on New Year’s Eve. They are always gracious hosts, and the company can’t be beat.

Looking Forward to 2008

Just like any year, we had our ups and downs. Austin reached a significant milestone in his life. The physical and emotional development is a pleasure to watch. We are both amazed at how many positive changes he is making, both consciously and unconsciously. The arrival of a new baby has also resulted in a rebirth for both Renee and Elliott.

We laid the groundwork back in 2006 and got our first taste of the world of self-employment. We learned a lot about how to run a business, how not to run a business, and started our journey in the blogosphere. Nobody ever has an easy time of it in the entrepreneurial world. However, we wouldn’t trade it for a job, no matter how cushy it is.

Cheers!

~renee and elliott

This theme features an options page which lets you choose from one of 8 headers, or create your own. All themes are customizable if you know CSS, PHP, HTML and have graphic design skills. I have the raw skills to learn all of the above, but I’d rather spend my time writing better content and marketing our blogs. Some customization is within my immediate reach; as you can see, I made a custom header image. Using WordPress makes my brain hurt less.

Our attention is of course, focused on Twilli (Ariana’s new nickname), and our two other blogs. 21st Century Dad got a design makeover, and some new content was written. Renee’s efforts have been divided between driving traffic to 21st Century Parenting, and doing some work for clients.

As much as you enjoy reading ReneeAndElliott.com, there’s no central theme, except us. It’s the “monkey mind” swinging from tree to tree in the forest of thoughts. Elliott shares some photos while Renee lets you take a peek inside her mind.

The 21st Century blogs are clearly focused on parenting. Some posts related to parenting made their way on to ReneeAndElliott.com in the early days, but the need for a parenting related site became obvious very soon after we launched this site. We want to share our successes (and our failures) as parents. ReneeAndElliott.com remains the playground for us to share our lives, our images, our words.

This past March, we took a trip to Italy. Austin’s art teacher did all the legwork to arrange it with EF Tours. The price was incredible so we could not pass it up. Renee and Austin had never been out of the U.S. (unless you count their time living in Miami-Dade County). Italy is on our long list of places to visit.

Italy is fascinating to Americans because so much of who we are as Americans has its roots in ancient Rome. This influence runs through our government, our culture, and our language. I recently attended a hockey game, and could not help but notice the parallels between our modern game of hockey and the gladiators. Sports arenas also share similar design concepts with this storied edifice.

I looked for the tightest composition I could without making the building unidentifiable. The mid-afternoon sun on a clear day cast defined shadows and brought out the texture in the stone. I used a circular polarizing filter to increase contrast and saturation.

If you enjoy looking at my photos or find my photo tips helpful, please consider making a donation.