TALLAHASSEE -- She's the first lady most Floridians never see.

Nine months after Carole Rome married Gov. Charlie Crist before hundreds of guests in downtown St. Petersburg, the woman once so visible in the Hamptons now cautiously tiptoes around the limelight. Former first ladies Columba Bush and Rhea Chiles championed the arts or the well-being of children, but Mrs. Crist has yet to embrace a popular cause to improve life in Florida.

``This is all so new for me -- the political, public life,'' Mrs. Crist said Saturday, holding hands with her husband in the lobby of a Gainesville hotel, before heading to the UF-Tennessee football game. ``So I just wanted to be sure to take it slow and be sure that before I take on too much, that whatever I do that I can be effective and feel good about it.''

Her infrequent appearances as first lady include attending a holiday party for foster children and a Menorah lighting at the Governor's Mansion less than two weeks after the December 2008 wedding; welcoming the king and queen of Spain in an official visit to Pensacola in February, watching Gov. Crist give his State of the State speech to the Legislature in March; and joining him at a Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce event in May.

She has joined the Republican governor at several fundraisers for his U.S. Senate campaign, including Friday at the Gainesville home of Democratic lawyer Danny Ponce, whom Crist appointed to the UF board of trustees. But she has not hosted a state event since April, when she and the governor invited foster children to the mansion for an annual Easter egg hunt.

Gov. and Mrs. Crist say they divide their time between his rented condo in downtown St. Petersburg, her home on tony Fisher Island in Miami and the Governor's Mansion in Tallahassee, where he typically lives during the week. It's unclear how much of that time is spent together.

Last week, after the Herald/Times started asking about her public schedule, Mrs. Crist unexpectedly accompanied the governor to a school visit in Miami's Little Haiti. She was asked if she would do more as first lady in the future.

``I hope to, yes. I do the best I can. I try,'' said Mrs. Crist, 39.

A Georgetown University graduate and longtime New York businesswoman, Mrs. Crist has skipped high-profile annual events that traditionally were the province of former first ladies.

NOTABLE ABSENCES

When Gov. Crist, 53, inducted three new members into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame in March, an event that drew some 300 guests to Tallahassee, Mrs. Crist was not there. Last Monday, in the courtyard outside the Capitol building, Gov. Crist attended the annual Missing Children's Day ceremony, handing a yellow rose to each family member of a missing or murdered child. His wife was not there.

The governor's official website features a page titled ``Meet the First Lady,'' which details her New York upbringing and her successful education and business career. It notes that ``as Florida's First Lady, Carole will focus on the state's most critical issues, as well as continuing her philanthropic work.''

But so far, that philanthropy has been mostly elsewhere.

In New York, Mrs. Crist has been active in raising money for foster children through events like ``ARTrageous,'' a celebrity auction she and Gov. Crist attended in May 2008 to benefit the Edwin Gould Services for Children and Families in New York.

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