When you need it bad, we've got it good! Florida!

Remember the old Florida tourism commercial?

When I started this blog, I was living in New Jersey. Over the years, I got sick of jobs that didn't pay very well, real estate prices that started at $350,000, yearly homeowner taxes in the double digits and living 90 minutes away from a beach. I had been laid off for like the third time in three years and my husband was facing an impending layoff after ten years with his company. We finally realized we needed to make a big change. 

We gave away or sold everything we owned, filled our two Hondas with whatever was left and moved to Florida. In February, we celebrated one year in The Sunshine State and have never been happier. We're closing on our first home in less than a week (fingers crossed) and have wonderful   jobs earning decent salaries. We paid off a nice chunk of New Jersey credit card debt and still managed to save enough dough to put toward a house. 

I know this blog is about the past and fun memories, so in an effort to stick to my subject matter ... Here's where I'm going with this post ... This morning, I was in the kitchen fixing us fried egg whites, coffee and toast, when the lyrics to an old TV commercial filled my head. I couldn't quite figure out if I had made this ad up, or if it was real. 

"When you need it bad, we've got it good, when you need it bad, come to Florida! 'Cuz we've got it good here." I asked hubs about the jingle. He's a few years younger than me ... and had no recollection of it.

Well, I Googled it of course and it's real! It's a tourism TV ad that ran in the late 1980s and early 1980s to promote tourism in Florida. The ad, created by Mike Sloan Advertising agency in Miami, aired heavily in Northern and Midwestern states. With it's catchy jingle and winter stock imagery, the campaign was crazy successful in recruiting visitors to the state. 

I knew I wasn't dreaming. It's funny because although we're not tourists escaping the winter cold, the slogan kinda rings true for us ... We needed a change bad and now we've got it pretty good. 

Check out the Florida commercial. If you grew up in the Northeast or Midwest in the late '70s and '80s, it should look familiar to you.