Digital Domain Florida Closes It’s Doors

When everyone at Digital Domain in Florida got the news on Friday morning that the studio was shutting down and we were all being laid off, it came as a total shock. Though there were some worrying stories in the press about DDMG’s low-performing stock and our CEO John Textor, we were assured in an all-hands meeting on Tuesday that everything was fine and we had nothing to worry about, our jobs were secure. Then Friday came and they dropped the bombshell, we were all out of jobs and we had a few hours to clean out our desks and vacate the building.


As I’m putting my resume and reel out there to other studios, I’m still kind of in shock. It’s really scary when this kind of thing happens and it makes you realize that no job is ever really secure, no matter how comfortable you get. The silver lining in all of this is the amazing support everyone in the Port Saint Lucie community has been offering and the support of my former co-workers. In a weird way, being laid off has brought us all closer together.

As for me and Brian, we’re really hoping that we will be back in California before the end of the year. We’ve spent two years here in Florida and though it’s been an amazing experience, we have both been homesick for California for a while now.

Turtles in Action

A little follow up post to yesterday, baby sea turtles in action!

Something Truly Incredible

This Sunday I woke up before dawn to drive down to Palm Beach with my friends Chris and Brooke. What was our reason for getting up at this ungodly hour? To protect the local sea turtles.
It’s the time of year now when the eggs are starting to hatch and these little guys need all the help they can get to survive the long scuttle down to the sea. Brooke works for the local sea turtle conservation group and she’s out on the beach early in the morning every Sunday to gather data about the turtles. When she finds some new hatchlings like we did last weekend, she makes sure that they make it safely from the nest to the ocean.
For me, the experience was just incredible. Knowing I’ve helped an endangered species get a leg up in the world gave me a feeling that I’ve never had before, like what I was doing actually mattered on a scale larger than myself. I came to a realization that if you want to do something truly incredible, you’ve got to get up early in the morning, by which I mean that everything good happens outside of your comfort zone.

Florida Weather

The weather has really started to get interesting here lately, crazy cloud formations, beautiful sunsets and huge thunderstorms have all been happening in the last month. I have a file full of weather photos on my computer now. Here are the coolest ones!

Disney World Hollywood Studios

Last weekend Brian and I went to Disney World to the Hollywood Studios Park (which neither of us had been to before). It was HOT outside!! We totally melted! Brian bought one of those spray bottles that has the little fan attached he was so desperate. We didn’t end up staying long due to the heat, but we still had a lot of fun!

My two favorite things were Star Tours in 3D and the Lights Motors Action Car show (it was incredible!). Both Brian and I agree though that we love the original Magic Kingdom park the best out of all the different Disney World parks we’ve gone to so far.

Whenever we go to Disney World, we pick up a little something to bring home for Louis. This time we looked and looked and didn’t see anything we liked until we were walking out of the park and I spotted this Storm Trooper toy.

He loves it! :)

Fishing Trip

Sunday morning we woke up earrrrly to drive down to Stuart for a fishing trip to celebrate a friend’s birthday. We caught a ton of fish, but most of them were too small to keep so we had to throw them back. Only a few people in our group caught fish that they got to take home and eat. Still, it was nice to be out on the water. I love being on boats.

Kelly (second in from the right) took some cool fishy photos with his Lytro camera while we were on the boat. They can be found here.

Go Fly a Kite

Brian and I have really gotten into flying kites lately; it’s something we do almost every day (weather permitting) during our breaks at work. I just got a kite of my own that’s shaped like a parrot and last Sunday we took it out for a spin! We brought Louis along too and let him run around as much as he wanted.
 
I really want to figure out a way to attach a camera to one of our kites so we can take some video from a birds eye view!

The Plumeria Tree

When Brian and I went on a trip to the island of Kauai last year for New Years, we came back with a cutting from a Plumeria plant that we bought at the Allerton Garden gift shop. We followed the directions that came with it and for a long time we didn’t think that it was going to grow. It just looked like a dead stick. I’ve had some experience with growing succulents from cuttings and I know it takes a lot of patience, but it didn’t look very promising for a long time. We placed it in water and kept it inside, and for about two months nothing happened. Then suddenly out of nowhere, we saw one little white root sticking out of the bottom of the stump! We planted it in a pot and then it really started to take off. On the instructions that came with the cutting, it says that the tree may take up to three years to produce flowers, but after only a year our tree is flowering!

The first bloom!
I think it really likes the Florida weather. We only bring it inside when it gets too close to freezing (which didn’t happen at all this winter) or too close to 100 degrees in the summer. We love watching our tree grow! The entire experience has been very satisfying so far.

Lunch Break: Cheesesteak Factory

Most days, Brian and I go home for lunch since we only live about five minutes from work. About once a week or so (usually around Friday) we go out to lunch. Cheesesteak Factory is a local joint here in Port Saint Lucie owned by some guy who either was in a band or still is in a band (I’m not clear on the details, I’ve never asked) and you can tell by the décor inside.

I know from the name that I should order a cheesesteak sandwich, but I actually really love their burgers here. You can order it with any toppings you want, if you just order a cheeseburger you get meat on a bun with cheese, so you have to be specific about what you want when you order. The fries here aren’t bad either.

We don’t go here very often because of the huge number of calories we consume when we’re here, but it’s one of my favorite local places.

Easter Weekend Part 2

For the last day of our three day Easter weekend we went to the beach.
Me with my Sophie Kinsella beach read.
The weather was gorgeous! When we got there it was even a little cold when the sun went behind a cloud and the wind was blowing, but after an hour the sun came out for good and it was just so perfect! After we got back from the beach I baked a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies while Brian played Skyrim on the Playstation 3. This was really a fun, relaxing weekend for both of us!
 

Easter Weekend Part 1

We had a three day weekend last week because of the Easter holiday and we had one of the nicest weekends since we moved to Florida. The weather was perfect, there was no stress over wedding planning, we just did what we wanted to do. On Friday we went thrifting in Vero Beach. We were looking for some furniture for our house (a desk for my studio and a chair for Brian’s music room) and we ended up with some funky old knickknacks instead. Brian bought a giant tungsten bulb for a dollar and turned it into a little sculpture piece, like the ones Anthropologie sold a few years ago, by attaching it to a small wooden base.

Inspiration                                                                         Brian’s $12 version

I bought a set of four silver colored tumblers that I used as containers for herbs.
 
We’ve got thyme, sage, chives and lavender on our kitchen windowsill now. Brian also bought an old metronome that reminded him of his music teacher from high school. He bought it to use when he practices guitar, but after we got it home we found out that it doesn’t keep steady time. I think with a little oil on the gears here and there it should work fine again.

On Saturday we just stayed in and relaxed. I wrote 20 thank you notes for each of the wonderful women who attended my bridal shower two weeks ago and Brian baked a loaf of homemade French bread to go with dinner.