This weekend at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, train enthusiasts of all ages will be able to visit the Great Train Expo - America’s coast to coast train show. You’ll find model railroads, toy trains, dealers and collectors at this huge show of exhibits and demonstrations.

The show will be going on this weekend (Saturday 12/30 and Sunday 12/31) from 10am til 4pm daily. Admission is $7 for adults and kids under 12 are free. Kids of all ages will love the model railroads on display (and operating!) and the hundreds of tables of trains and toys. If you’re looking to dispose of an old toy train, this is the perfect place. You can get appraisals and get offers from multiple dealers under one roof!

How about those crazy Christmas Day tornados? We didn’t even realize anything had happened until my mother in law called to ask us if we were ok. The worst damage was centered at SR 52 and I-75 in Pasco County, right around the Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club. Last I checked, 100 homes were damaged in that area.

The wind was so bad here on Christmas Eve that our lights were blown off the roof. Jim ended up going up there in the rain yesterday to take the rest down. Thankfully, only a few bulbs broke so we’ll be able to re-use those strands next year.

A recent article in the St. Pete Times pointed out the recent sale of Centro Ybor in Ybor City, FL. The article stated that Centro Ybor is debt-ridden and that some of the Centro Ybor movie theater may be turned into condos or office space.

I can’t even tell you how disappointed I am to hear that. I love going to Ybor City, from when I started at age 18 by hitting Traxx (or was it Trax? Or Tracks? I never paid attention!) on Thursday nights, to my days with my husband at Bar Tampa, to dinners at The Columbia with co-workers, and a night at The Cherokee with my sister. I love the varied options of clubs and shops and restaurants, and even though Centro Ybor was pretty commercialized and mainstream, it was getting a crowd that normally wouldn’t have considered coming to Ybor City. Seeing condos and offices in it’s place just won’t be the same. Aren’t there enough condos and offices already in Tampa?

It’s hard to feel Christmas-y with the warm weather we’ve got going on right now - not to mention all of the rain yesterday! Driving around looking at lights always puts me in the right frame of mind, so I wanted to share this video of a home in Largo, FL with lights and music synchronized together. Enjoy!

The Lightning made for a great show this week against the Ottawa Senators and it paid off with a win! Ruslan Fedotenko and Vincent Lecavalier were the stars of the show. My husband has tickets to the Lightning/Rangers game tomorrow night, but he’s got to work so we’re giving them to a neighbor.

One thing I miss about my old hometown of Tarpon Springs is the Christmas lights. Every year, the city put lights on all of the telephone poles running the length of Tarpon Avenue. From US 19 to the head of the bayou, every few feet would be a Christmas tree, or a cross, or some other symbol of the holiday. Once you arrived in downtown, the trees lining the antique shops would be strung with white lights. And when you reached the stop sign at the head of the bayou, you could look across the water to see a huge Christmas tree.

On Christmas Eve, luminaries would be placed along the entire bayou, and they would be lit at dusk. We always loved to see them on our drive home from Mass at St. Ignatius of Antioch.

I’m a little homesick for Tarpon Springs right now.

There was a time when I drove U.S. 19 almost daily. Since moving to the boonies, I’m a bit further from U.S. 19 and I’m not required to get on it much anymore, and my stress level is way down. I never realized how frustrating stop and go traffic was until it was removed from my life. In our new town, I can get to the grocery store by just going through one light. Other stores are just a few more lights away. I don’t miss the hustle and bustle of 19, nor do I miss the ugliness - billboards and strip malls and just an overall eyesore.

I can only hope my small town never grows up, or I’ll have to move again.

My husband went to Chicago this weekend with a friend, and his friend was able to score tickets to the Bears/Bucs games. I’m sure it was exciting to sit out on Soldier Field and see the game, despite the Bucs losing. Again. We had our moments, and a few touchdowns, but in the end, it wasn’t enough.

Technorati Tags: Chicago Bears, Tampa football, Tampa Bay, Buccaneers, NFL

This past October, I walked in the 3-Day in Philly. If you don’t know what the 3-Day is, it’s a 3-Day Walk of 60 miles (20 miles per day) to raise money for breast cancer research. Each participant this year had to collect $2200 donations (the amount raises each year usually) in order to participate in the walk. The event in Philadelphia raised over $6.5 million!

So you’re probably wondering, why did a girl from Tampa fly to Philly to walk in the cold and rain? Good question. I walked with my sister (also from Tampa) and friends from Michigan, Tampa, and Maryland. We decided that Philadelphia would be the best place that was central for all of us. I did inspire friends to walk in Tampa, and for the 2007 walk, I’ve decided to join them.

You can help me reach my goal of $2200 with a SMALL donation and in return, get some free advertising for your website or blog. If you donate $20 to my campaign, here’s what you get in return - I’ll thank you (and link to your blog or website) in a post on 3DayMom. You’ll also be linked in my sidebar for the next TWELVE months as a 3-Day sponsor. 3DayMom is a PR4 website, which means your blog or website will receive the benefit of being linked from a high pagerank and high traffic website. Try and get advertising like that for $20 elsewhere!

To donate, just visit my official 3-day website at: http://the3day.org/tampabay07/colleenc

Not to mention, you’ll have my gratitude, AND you’ll be helping to fund important breast cancer research and outreach programs.

If you are unable to donate online with a credit card or check, you can donate by Paypal by sending your contribution directly to me (colleen_ccATyahooDOTcom) and I will use my PayPal debit card to make the contribution in your name. Your donation will appear in the official tally just as if you had done it yourself.

Welcome to The Tampa Blog - an offshoot of The Florida Blog focusing specifically on the Tampa Bay area.

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