Orlando and Winter Park

August 03, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

Recently, Rifle Paper Co. hosted The Hyppo and Mama's Sauce for yet another awesome sidewalk sale. Once I found out Hyppo would be there, I planned a little overnight trip to meet Ryan in the Orlando/Winter Park area before the sale the next day. I ended up finding the cutest tiny modern house that was for rent on Airbnb and I knew it was perfect! We dropped our bags off at the house and headed out for a progressive dinner around town. First stop was The Strand for a beer and an order of the house made pretzels. They came out fresh from the oven with a side of a homemade pimento cheese that was delicious. Following pretzels, we went to Propagation coffee for a cappuccino and iced coffee with tonic water. Next up, we went to Winter Park Fish Co. for a lobster roll...only to find out it had been taken off of the menu! We chose the shrimp tacos and a crab roll instead, which wasn't quite the same, but it was still pretty delicious. Our last stop for dessert was Kelly's homemade ice cream, where Ryan had the Mexican hot chocolate and I had the cake batter with sprinkles. That evening, we were welcomed back to the house by the owners, Alex and Rosa. They were overwhelmingly kind and generous and we couldn't recommend their tiny house enough!

The next morning, we woke up, packed our bags, and headed straight for Rifle Paper Co. We were greeted with popsicles, the best way to start the morning, and I jumped straight into stocking up on all the stationery and prints my little hands could hold. I was so excited to see she was offering her new planners at the sale as well, so I had to pick one up!

After Rifle Paper, we were offered the chance to stop over into Mama's Sauce's studio for a little tour. It was so cool to see all of their amazing presses; to say Ryan was in heaven would be an understatement. Thanks Mama's Sauce!

Lastly, we had lunch at Black Bean Deli. I think Ryan and I would both agree that this was our favorite restaurant of the trip. Not only was the interior beautiful, the atmosphere was bustling with a large lunch crowd, but the food was so much better than I could have hoped for. Ryan had a cuban and I had the vegetarian plate with plantains, a salad, cuban bread, and black beans with rice. It was heaven washed down with a Mexican Coke.

We seriously had the best time exploring Orlando and Winter Park for twenty four hours. We scratched off a few places on our little adventure list, but with that, added several new places we want to try in the future as well. We will definitely be back to stay in that tiny house, and cannot wait to see when the owners finish their latest project: an airstream Airbnb!

St. Augustine

August 02, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

About two weeks ago, I headed back to St. Augustine for a couple of days to visit. Below are a few of the photos of some things we were up to while I was there. One day, we took a trip up to Jacksonville for the morning to eat at a few new restaurants and to shop at the town center. My favorite place we stopped into was Community Loaves. Disclaimer: their ice cream sandwiches and egg and cheese bagels were out of this world delicious.

The rest of the trip we just spent time relaxing and printing a few new pieces of stationery for myself a la M.C. Pressure. I'll post a photo of the completed projects as soon as I'm done lining all of my new envelopes! We had breakfast at our usual, Blue Hen, and spotted the cutest mint VW bus on our drive home. Later that evening, we whipped up a dinner that included fresh pasta tossed with tomatoes, fresh basil, and olive oil. For dessert, Ryan and I bought a miniature (six inch) cast iron skillet and filled the bottom with chocolate chips. Next, Ryan chopped the marshmallows in half and placed them on top and put it into the oven at 350 degrees. We baked it just until the marshmallows were golden brown and served it with graham cracker pieces for dipping. It was the simple, delicious, and I was left wanting s'more ;) Another summer bucket list item completed!

Webster

webster flea market

July 27, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Fun, Travel

No. 19 on my summer bucket list was to go to an antique fair or flea market. Last Monday, we set our alarms for 5:30am, picked up a dozen donuts and coffee, and headed north on 75 to visit Webster Flea Market. Open each Monday throughout the year, rain or shine, my mom used to bring me here every few months growing up. She would give me a few dollars each trip so that I could purchase "treasure" of my own...and by treasures it was probably some old McDonald's Disney toy. My mom and I went a few months back when the weather was cooler and the fields were packed with vendors. Unfortunately, this time, there weren't too many vendors there to look through. We spent a couple of hours sifting through every booth along each aisle. We each found a few trinkets to bring home, of course I found the most; no surprise there. It was a fun day spent with my mom and Ryan. We've already marked it on our calendars to head back in the fall when it's much cooler and the vendors are aplenty.

Santa Rosa Beach Part II

July 15, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

A few more photos as I headed out to the beach for an hour or so on my last day on 30A. Dark clouds were beginning to roll in so I shopped around my favorite book and record stores, Sundog Books and Central Square Records. A trip over to the airstream food trucks was also mandatory. I had a grilled cheese from Meltdown on 30A and a pineapple shaved ice with condensed milk on top from Frost Bites. Just as I got my shaved ice it began to rain so I headed to the car to get back on the road. The 30A area will forever be one of my favorite places to visit and I hope it's not too long before I get another chance to visit!

Santa Rosa Beach Part I

July 07, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Fun, Travel, Food

After stopping in Tallahassee for an evening, I continued my road trip up to Santa Rosa Beach to see Kelsey. After a few long hours of driving through terrible rain, I had finally made it! Hip Hip Hooray! We celebrated Kelsey's last day at work with dinner and drinks at La Playa. That's Kelsey there with the salad she ordered + my asian shrimp tacos.

The next morning we woke up to run to The Donut Hole, but the line was out the door and into the parking lot (cries silent tears.) We treaded on in search of a new breakfast venue and ended up at one of my old favorites, Another Broken Egg. After filling our bellies up with eggs and pancakes, we went home to hangout for a bit before going to lunch and to the beach. Lunch that day was at Pizza by the Sea. Kelsey and I shared a pineapple pizza and split a chocolate chip cookie while Sara had a salad and a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. I had never tried their cookies before and they were to die for. Soft and tasted like they were fresh out of the oven. Dear Pizza by the Sea, can you ship me some ASAP?

Post pizza, we packed up our beach chairs and coolers and set out for the beach. Thankfully, it rained as soon as we left the beach for the afternoon. The good news was as we walked into dinner, we spotted a rainbow just as the rain clouds started to disappear for the evening.

Tallahassee Part I

July 03, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

Last weekend I decided to take a little road trip up to visit my friend Kelsey in Santa Rosa Beach. She's moving home to Tampa this weekend (YAY!) and I wanted to take a few days to visit one last time before she moved. The drive from Tampa to Santa Rosa is just over six hours long. To break up the trip, I always stop in Tallahassee to visit with my friend Aaren before continuing the rest of the drive the next day. It turns out Aaren is moving this weekend as well, to Atlanta, so it worked out perfectly that I got to spend some extra time with her before leaving.

As soon as I arrived into town, we headed to have sushi followed by ice cream for dinner from Lofty Pursuits. I tried a scoop of the elephant ears ice cream, huge chunks of peanut butter and chocolate with vanilla ice cream, and I added the banana. Aaren had the English toffee with hot chocolate ganache on top. One of my favorite things about Aaren is that she has also been my go-to foodie when we were in college. We used to live together and we probably embraced our love for sweets a little too often. Like there really is such a thing ;)

The next morning Aaren headed off to work and I went to make a quick round about some of my favorite places in Tallahassee before leaving town. I had breakfast and coffee at Craig's Killer Coffee, a new to me coffee shop. My favorite coffee shop recently closed so I figured it could be good to try a new place. I had an Americano and a blueberry muffin that was probably the size of a football (the picture certainly does not do it justice.)

After breakfast, I wanted to shop around a few of the local vintage and antique stores to see if they would have anything that caught my eye. I found several items that I loved; including, a jewelry case, handkerchief, a dress, a scarf for my mom, a pair of replica staffordshire dogs, and a Girl Scout's sash from the '50's that had the coolest patches on it. Some of the best vintage and antique stores I've found have been Avant Garb, Curio, The Other Side Vintage, Good Finds, and Killearn Antiques. If you're in the area and into those types of places, check them out to see what you can find. I love a good treasure hunt and each place specializes in carrying different items from home decor to clothing and jewelry.

It had been a while since i had been over into Railroad Square, so I decided to drive down through the loop to check out any new stores. Not only did I find Curio, they had the best vintage clothing, I stumbled upon this letterpress studio and couldn't believe my eyes. The owner, Mika, was extremely generous and allowed me to take a look around his studio. We started chatting about odds and ends and he used to live in Tampa where he had a photography studio above the Italian club on 7th Avenue in Ybor City. Coincidentally, he also lived in St. Augustine for a substantial period of time and agrees with me on saying it's such a special place. Mika had been working with letterpresses in various capacities since the early 70's. He owned several presses in his studio, all which had their own unique and exciting stories to tell...one used to print parking tickets in New Port Richie, while another came from up north. I purchased a few of his products and he gave me a free print to send over to Ryan. He was excited I was familiar with the letterpress process and couldn't believe I knew someone in St. Augustine that had a letterpress business. I passed one of Ryan's business cards along to him and he loved the card and punny M.C. Pressure name so much he put Ryan's business card up on his inspiration board.

By that time, I had worked up an appetite and knew only one place would satisfy my lunch cravings, Mr. Roboto. The smell upon walking into the restaurant made me nostalgic for freshman year where my roommate Laura and I would eat here at least once...maybe twice a week. I ordered the vegetable hibachi and fried rice and naturally picked up extra, extra, extra miso sauce. I don't understand why they don't sell it by the bottle yet! I was in such a food coma by the time I left, it was pure bliss. Mr. Roboto, I have missed you so!

Because dessert is always a requirement after any meal, Lucy and Leo's was a must. This was another place I absolutely loved to go to when I was in college. I think I've tried all of their flavors and my favorite being the kitchen sink cupcake, hummingbird, or the classic red velvet. I picked up a pack of four cupcakes to take to Kelsey's. Key lime, lemon blueberry, peanut butter chocolate, and cookies and cream were the four I picked. It was hard not to dive into them before I arrived at the beach!

Summer Bucket List // Week Two Recap

June 11, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

Between starting two new jobs in the past couple of weeks, things have been extra busy these days. I had the day off on Sunday, so Saturday evening after work I drove straight up to St. Augustine. I had to be at work early Monday morning and could only spend a little less than 24 hours in town, but it was so worth it.

Upon my arrival, we jetted into downtown to pick up a to-go order of shrimp tacos from Catch 27. We took them back to Ryan's so we could have a taco picnic in the fort tent he made for us. A few of the pictures may be blurry, but I still love them. Summer bucket list activity number eight: check!

Sunday morning, we decided to walk over the Bridge of Lions into downtown for coffee and breakfast. We first made a coffee run into The Kookaburra for two iced cortados. Afterwards, we strolled to breakfast at The Blue Hen. One two egg special and chicken biscuits galore. It's been forever since I've picked up a copy of the Sunday funnies. I'll always love the Peanuts strip, and you can't go wrong with the few cheesy jokes at the end of the section. This week's joke was, "Why should you knock before opening the fridge?" Why you ask? "In case there's AnItalian dressing!" So cheesy, so silly, I love it and I hope it makes you laugh as well :)

The Hyppo celebrated it's fifth birthday this weekend! Happy Birthday Hyppo, I'm so glad you were born!! We joined in on the festivities with a cucumber lemon mint pop and a pineapple ginger pop.

Once we walked back home we watched a little Netflix and then headed out to adventure on the bikes. We cruised through the neighborhood and out to A1A in search of an afternoon snack. We ended up down the street to test out Nalu's Tropical Take-Out and Miss Mary's shaved ice. Ryan had a baja shrimp taco and I chose the St. Augustine pier right fish taco. They were both absolutely delicious and you could tell the fish and shrimp were freshly caught. I loved my fish taco, but I think Ryan's shrimp taco won for the better of the two.

I believe that it is safe to say that we may have found one of our new favorite places in St. Augustine. Miss Mary's shaved ice, I love you. Not only was Miss Mary incredibly entertaining, her snow cones were just as delicious as I could have imagined. With hundreds of different flavor and topping combinations, it was so difficult to choose! I tried the mango and Ryan had a pineapple shaved ice; we each tried the marshmallow fluff on top. Once again, Ryan's was probably the better of the two, but they definitely hit the spot. The start of crossing off summer bucket list activity number six: check!

And another St. Augustine trip in the books! Here's to many more summer days filled with bike rides, fort tents, tacos, and snow cones a plenty!

Summer Bucket List 2015

May 25, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Family, Fun, Travel

Each season, I find myself making sporadic notes in my phone, on my laptop, and even in my planner of little activities I want to experience. Sometimes, when I don't collectively put them in one place, it's hard for me to actually accomplish all that I was looking forward to. I dogsit and babysit quite often, especially over the summer when kids are out of school and families are traveling themselves. It's easy to get caught up in day to day life and those activities end up getting pushed aside. Before you know it, summer is over and it's the middle of October. In order to get the most out of my summer, I really wanted to combine all of my lists together to create one on here, where I can document and share my activities as I do them. Some are silly, some are small, and others are a bit bigger...like road trips I am planning to the Seaside area and Fort Lauderdale to visit friends. So, here's to another fun summer spent with family and friends and lots of little fun adventures in between.

trips to the beach
ride the carousel in St. Augustine
make s'mores
fly a kite
go to a fair
eat lots of snow cones
see an outdoor movie
camp indoors (fort tent!)
camp outdoors
paddle board or kayak
go to a concert
make breakfast for my grandparents each Sunday morning
picnic as often as possible
go to the zoo
find a photo booth
ride bicycles
take a road trip
mini vacation with my family
go to an antique fair or flea market
ride the trolley in downtown tampa

Do you have any summer plans that you're looking forward to? I would love to know!

Disney World!

May 20, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Family, Food, Fun, Travel

What's the best way to spend a Tuesday afternoon, you ask? By acting like a big kid at heart at Disney World, of course! It was time for our family to renew our annual passes, so my mom, dad, and I drove over to Orlando for a few hours (we missed you while you were at work, Michael!). We rode the monorail to Magic Kingdom and proceeded to go straight to a few of the rides and eat some delicious treats while everyone crowded around Main Street to watch the electrical parade.

All aboard the Magic Kingdom Railway! Next stop, Frontierland and Adventureland in search of Dole pineapple whipped ice cream. I wish they sold it by the gallon and that I had a miniature freezer to bring it home with me! Ps- how cool is the train station for guests to sit down in while waiting for the next train? Amtrak, take note...

The park was overwhelmingly crowded, so many school groups!!, the only ride we made it onto was the Haunted Mansion. It's always been one of my favorite rides; there's always just so much to see. I am always keeping my eyes peeled for any new updates or additions to the ride.

The above statue was a tomb marker for a "deceased" ship captain. The marker said he ironically drowned in his bathtub. The best detail is that every few minutes bubbles floated out from his statute. If you look closely you can see one little bubble left. Oh Disney, so silly with details, I love it.

The cutest and least crowded little corner of the park. It was down an alley off of Main Street and it seemed like no one really knew it even existed. Shhh, don't tell anyone, we'll keep it our little secret ;)

I've never noticed the below letter boxes posted all up and down Main Street and close to the entrance of the park. The park staff collects letters and postcards each day and mail them from a local Orlando post office. The mail might take slightly longer to reach its recipients, but I loved the vintage post boxes so much I had to mail out a few cliche postcards.

After the park, we had dinner at the Yacht Club Resort. We ate lobster rolls at the Crew's Cup Lounge and had ice cream cookie sandwiches down by the pool at Beaches and Cream Soda Shop. Can I have these cute ice cream tables and colorful chairs for my kitchen?

The Weekend // 5.15.15

May 19, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

I had a weekend free of dogsitting and babysitting this past weekend, so I hopped into the car and headed up to St. Augustine for a couple of days. I arrived late Thursday evening, so come Friday morning, Ryan and I woke up early to head out and cross some activities off of our "favorites" list. First up, we drove down U.S. 1 to Out There Antiques and Graybeards Antiques. It took a while to sift through everything, and we ended up leaving with a few treasures. I found a few little antique glass bottles for little bouquets of flowers and a vintage Tampa postcard. Ryan found a variety of items from comic books to letterpress drawers and printing blocks. He ended up purchasing an old safety razor, so we each had a successful trip!

It's been several months since we have eaten at The Floridian. Our go-to is the fried green tomato hoagie...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it now. We've made our own version at home before, which was delicious, but there's just something you can't quite duplicate about The Floridan's. I've tried a few other menu items before, such as the veggie burger, and everything I have had is just as delectable.

Post hoagies, we learned that it was National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. I have a bit of a sweet tooth and could easily eat an entire tray, or seven, of chocolate chip cookies. They are my absolute favorites, as are most cookies, and I've kept note of the best ones I've ever had. Note to self- Levain Bakery in NYC still has the best chocolate chip cookie, hands down. One of my top favorites was the cookie that they used to bake and serve at The Hyppo Cafe. They recently did away with them a few months ago (why Hyppo, why?!?!) and St. Augustine will never be the same without them...RIP. Since The Hyppo no longer makes them, I figured the next best thing would be a cookie dough milkshake from Cousteau's.

Later that evening, we stopped by the opening reception for the Flagler Art & Design Alumni Exhibit. Ryan had a piece of work that was chosen for the exhibit and it was so exciting to see his work on display. I'm proud of you Ryan! Now if only I could draw a decent stick figure...

Saturday was another early morning as we wanted to beat the breakfast crowd at The Blue Hen. Corned beef hash and scrambled eggs for Ryan, two eggs and sweet potato home fries for myself. Let me just stop and make a special note about their biscuits as well. I have no clue what they do to make them so addicting, but I am convinced it's magic. Plus, I need the recipe for their peach butter asap. I find myself craving it in Tampa all. the. time.

The cute little guy below is one of my favorite houses in St. Augustine. He reminds me of the house from UP. Just add a few thousand balloons and I'll be sailing away to Paradise Falls. I'll send you a postcard when I get there!

We strolled around downtown a bit more stopping into some of the antique shops and galleries at The Lightner Museum. Of course, we had more popsicles at The Hyppo, raspberry and blueberry rose, before heading home to whip up some frozen pierogies we had picked up at Gaufre's and Goods.

I had planned to stay until Tuesday morning, but Saturday night I was in a fender bender on the way to pick up dinner. It ended up cutting the trip short, and I had to bring my car back to Tampa Sunday afternoon. My little bug and I are okay; he's at the shop being fixed as we speak. Although the weekend ended abruptly, and not on the best of notes, we made the most of the weekend and the situation at hand!

Thanks for having me and for more little fun adventures, Ryan!

Mother's Day Sidewalk Sale

May 08, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

Anyone that might be a lover of snail mail, and that lives in driving distance of Winter Park, would be crazy to not try and attend one of Rifle Paper Co's Sidewalk Sales. In honor of Mother's Day weekend, Rifle Paper was offering up to 75% off samples and 15% off new products. Greeting cards, small and large art prints, notebooks, wrapping paper, phone cases, etc. You name it, they have it...and at an amazing price. Greeting cards are only $1 each; yes, you read that correctly. It's difficult to refrain from buying one of everything! If you ever have the chance to go right when they open, on the first day of the sale, do it. The retail and studio space are both incredibly beautiful, but difficult to maneuver once it starts to gets busy. There are so many products to look through, take your time and don't rush. I dare you to leave without purchasing at least one thing...I'm convinced it's impossible ;)

To sweeten the deal, Rifle Paper always hosts local businesses to come set up a pop up shop for customers as well. In the past, I've been there when Rifle has hosted Mama's Sauce, Lineage Coffee Roasters, and Wondermade Marshmallows. This Sidewalk Sale, Porch Therapy was the featured shop. Located in the East End Market, Porch Therapy creates the most beautiful floral arrangements and plantings. I knew I couldn't leave without purchasing one of those awesome dinosaur succulents and a floral arrangement for my mom.

After collecting up all of my newly purchased paper goods, I headed around the corner to try out PR's Taco Palace. I've passed this place several times before, it's hard to miss a neon yellow taco joint in downtown Winter Park. The decor inside threw me for a loop. There is writing all over the walls and barstools, random pinatas and bunting hanging from the ceiling, and local regulars dining solo, yet chatting back and forth from two tables away. I ordered the blackened mahi-mahi tacos with rice and beans. I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious they were and I would definitely make a stop in again if I am over that way. It's a casual and no-frill environment that would be a great place to go to with a big group of friends.

Lastly, I made a special trip over to P is for Pie to purchase a few treats for my mom. Not far from downtown, they make every style and size pie you could possibly want to try. I picked out one s'mores, one peanut butter chocolate, and two key lime mini pies to go. For myself, I tried the Stumptown Cold Brew Coffee. I'm fairly certain I'm now addicted to it and need to find and stock up on a few more bottles of the cold brew asap!

Here's to wishing you the kick-off to a great weekend! Hopefully you will be spending it celebrating with your wonderful moms!

Dunedin Farmer's Market

April 30, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

Each Friday and Saturday, Downtown Dunedin hosts a relatively large farmer's market filled with fruit and vegetable vendors, bakers, chefs, jewelry makers, and other local artisans. The weather has been picture perfect here lately so I knew I wanted to take advantage of the sunny day and partake in an activity outdoors. There are several restaurants and antique stores surrounding the downtown market area, so it's perfect to visit the market and to shop and support the local businesses as well

If you like to shop for antiques and vintage fare, you should definitely check out Patina Vintage and Modern. They have an amazing selection of housewares, purses and accessories, as well as clothing and jewelry. The owner of Patina has several vendors she purchases from and she shops for products at local and sate wide estate sales and auctions. She always has incredibly interesting stories about where each item comes from. I left with a brass dial calendar that shows the day and month. If you're down there this month, they are offering 50% off specials for hundreds of their products.

We stopped and purchased several little afternoon snacks from some of the local vendors. We tried a watermelon lemonade and mango dream mixed juice from Sereniteas and Soothers. It was so delicious and was the perfect drink for a hot afternoon.

We also bought several bags of these flavored marshmallows sold by a woman who splits her time between Florida and Rhode Island. She owns a homemade ice cream shop in Rhode Island and when the shop is closed during the winter months, she travels to Florida and sells her marshmallows at several farmer's markets in town. This was her last market in Florida before heading back to Rhode Island for the season. I knew after trying samples of all the marshmallow flavors, I had to leave with a bag or two. I bought one bag of the toasted coconut and one bag of the espresso marshmallows. I can't wait to use them in s'mores or homemade rice krispie treats this summer!

Local artist, Anna Hamilton, painted the below mural as a charity event to raise money for the Dunedin Doggie Rescue. Fun fact, Anna is also the owner of Patina! People in the community could pay between $25-200 dollars to have a portrait of their pup painted on the Dogedin mural. Each dog is labeled with their name and it's fun to stop and spend some time going through them all.

Post market, we went to Lobster Haven for a late lunch. Aside from the restaurant, Lobster Haven is a market where you can call in advance and purchase large quantities of fresh Maine lobster, shrimp, oysters, crab, and fish. They also have a smaller variety of seafood available to purchase in-store. One of the chefs brought out a new dish for us to try, smoked salmon with a key lime and stone ground mustard sauce. It was so delicious we had to order an appetizer portion to split. For our entree, my mom and I split a Maine lobster roll. I'm so happy it's the kick-off for lobster roll season. There's nothing better than enjoying a lobster roll and cape cod chips after a day spent outdoors.

Downtown Sarasota

April 29, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

One of my good friends, Katie, lives just a quick 45 minutes south of Tampa in Bradenton. Last week, she invited me to come spend the day with her exploring the downtown Sarasota area. We spent the afternoon lunching and shopping around at several of the local stores. It's such a cute area and I need to make it down there more often! We stopped into State Street for lunch, and I am so happy that we did! Upon walking in, I instantly fell in love with the look and feel of the restaurant. The interior provided an industrial feel with exposed brick, rafters and beautiful steel light fixtures. Now, onto the food, my favorite part! Katie tried the grilled reuben with onion rings and I had the chickpea and yellow zucchini burger with fries. My veggie burger was fantastic and those onion rings were the best I have tried in a while! I would love to go back for dinner and try one of their handcrafted cocktails from their bar menu.

We hopped around to several of the boutiques along the main street downtown. My favorite store we stopped into was, of course, an antique and used bookstore. Katie found a few Ernest Hemingway books for her husband while I looked through the Florida history books and fiction and literature sections for older copies of Pride and Prejudice. I could have spent all afternoon in there if she would have let me!

The temperatures were easily in the mid-80s making for an incredibly warm afternoon walking around town. We saw a snowball shop called Baltimore Snowball Factory and immediately ran in for dessert. The owner was telling us how he is a Baltimore native and had never been to Sarasota until he moved down here to open up the snowball shop. Sarasota is the home of the Orioles for spring training, so he knew it must be a beautiful place. I think he picked well ;) although I wish his shop was in Tampa! There are several snowball sizes and hundreds of different flavor combinations to choose from. You can even add marshmallow fluff and chocolate syrup to the tops of your snowball. I had the mango snowball which was incredibly refreshing and just what I needed on a typical Florida afternoon.

Pizza, Pierogies, and Preacher Lawson

April 21, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

I spent a few more days last week cruising around St. Augustine with Ryan. We spent time stopping into our favorite local spots and adventured out to a few new places as well. On my first day in town, we hopped on Ryan's new (but vintage) bikes and rode up to one of the antique shops, Anastasia Antique Center. After, we headed into downtown for dinner and dessert before the monthly comedy night at the Corazon Cinema. All of the comedians were really funny and it made for such an entertaining night. My favorite was Preacher Lawson, definitely check out his YouTube videos! It's been one week since we saw his act and I am still laughing over his jokes.

On our bike ride home we ran into this little guy. I really have a love for all types of VWs, especially buses...as you can see here.

Ryan and I have been attempting to go to Gaufre's and Goods for about a month and a half now. Each time we try and go it's always closed. This trip, we made sure it was on our "must" list and we headed there for lunch one afternoon. They have a variety of Greek and Polish dishes that all looked, and smelled, amazing. We ordered three of each type of pierogi: spinach, potato and cheese, sauerkraut and mushroom, and meat...extra sautéed onions too, of course. Ryan had never tried pierogis before and I think it's now safe to say he loves them almost as much as I do.

We ventured up to the Jacksonville Farmer's Market to pick up a few different fruits and vegetables for dinner that evening. Everything looked amazing and if you know the vendors, they will make you a great deal if you are purchasing a few different items.

We tried the cocos frios, which I had never had before!

After drinking all of the coconut water, they split the coconut open and sprinkle chili powder on top to scoop and eat.

My pineapple before.

My pineapple after.

Raspberry lemonade & rosy pear pops from The Hyppo before heading into the studio so Ryan could work on printing business cards all afternoon.

My last night in town happened to fall on a Thursday, so bingo at the Elk's Lodge was a must. Ryan's friends Nick and Mary Kate joined us. It was both of their first times playing in St. Augustine and Mary Kate was definitely struck with beginners luck; she won the $250 coverall game! Right before Mary Kate won the coverall game, I won one of the $50 games! I couldn't believe we had both won back to back. We all were in shock and couldn't stop laughing. Needless to say, I think they'll come play bingo with us more often! I ended up "donating" the $50 dollars to our "little fun adventure" jar that we just started. Maybe if we play and win enough bingo games, it'll eventually pay for a trip to Europe :)

St. Augustine Days

April 10, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

I took a few days last week to head back to St. Augustine and wanted to share a few photos of some things Ryan and I were up to. On my first night in town, we drove up to Jacksonville to have dinner at Whataburger. Ryan had been telling me about a secret menu item called the, "brown burger," that replaces a regular burger patty with hash browns. Funny enough, when I ordered so called, "brown burger," the manager looked horrified because had no clue what I was talking about. After explaining it a bit more, he graciously said he would try making it for me anyways. I was beginning to believe this was a trick Ryan had played on me to order an item that has never existed, however, according to the internet (my incredibly valuable resource) the brown burger does exist! The very sweet manager did a wonderful job making it for me and I will definitely be back to order another one next time we drive up there.

The next day, Ryan and I spent the morning running a few errands before meeting up to hang out with our new friend, Calli. We ate waffles at Cousteau's, popsicles at Hyppo, shopped around Uptown and stopped into Ice Plant for pretzels and cocktails before calling it an early evening. Calli snapped a few photos of Ryan and I at Cousteau's; we're pretty silly.

We stopped into Jenna Alexander's shop to check out some of her work. I am so in love with her Stripes and Buns collection (on the right) and wanted to take the entire gallery wall home with me.

Declaration also recently reopened their new space called Declaration & Co: The Market Place. My best friend, Britni, used to intern for them when we were in college. It's been a lot of fun to see just how much they have grown over the past five years. On one side of the shop they sell a variety of home goods, gifts, clothing and their own line of stationery and textiles. On the other side of the shop is Mr. George's Candy Corner which pays homage to the building's original use as a candy and tobacco shop.

We quickly popped into the Yield shop and studio so Calli could take a look around and see where Ryan keeps his letterpress for M.C. Pressure.

More Hyppo pops were consumed...I can't stop and won't stop until I try all 450 flavors. This time, we had pistachio coconut and papaya pineapple.

Treasure hunting at its finest.

And of course, no trip to St. Augustine would be complete without an order of shrimp tacos from Catch 27. If given the chance, I'm fairly certain I would eat them every single day.

See you again soon, St. Augustine!

Birthday Happenings

April 05, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Fun, Food, Travel

A few weeks ago I celebrated my 25th birthday with family, wonderful friends, little adventures, and lots of delicious food. On the morning of my birthday, I packed up the car and headed to meet Ryan in Gainesville to test out Satchel's Pizza. Neither of us had ever been before, but after discovering this eclectic pizza joint via social media, I knew we had to go. We arrived at lunch time and we were seated inside the restaurant's vintage blue VW bus (I think I died and went to Heaven.) We ordered a large cheese and pineapple pizza annnd it was so delicious I think we could have ordered another one!! Post pizza, we made our way downtown to visit one of Gainesville's Hyppo Pop locations. We met up with one of Ryan's friends and enjoyed our pops while walking through the downtown area.

Mid-afternoon, we headed back to St. Augustine and made a pit stop at a little antique store called Finders Keepers in Palatka. They had lots of unique little treasures such as old type writers, sewing machines, and eclectic kitchen accessories. The only thing that I purchased was a tiny binocular brooch that reminded me of Suzy from Moonrise Kingdom. It was a dollar and I would have been silly to not pick it up!

One of the activities on our St. Augustine bucket list has been to go play bingo at the Elks Lodge in town. Since my birthday fell on a Thursday, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to test it out. Little did we know just how intense bingo could actually be! We walked in and were a little overwhelmed at the site we saw: lots of cute elderly people, piles of good luck trinkets and too many bingo cards to even wrap my head around. Each game was color coded and played by a different set of rules. Thankfully, the two ladies next to us were gracious enough to explain all of the bingo terms such as small kite, X, T, four corners, stamps, and so many more. They filled us in on all of the "official and unofficial rules." Unofficial meaning that there were several social rules set in place by avid bingo goers. If you broke those rules, you instantly received dirty looks and silent head shakes of disapproval. Despite bringing my good luck penguin and miniature VW bus, neither of us won, Ryan was pretty close several times though! Although we walked away with empty holes in our pockets, we had the best time and will definitely be back!

Later that weekend, I headed back to Tampa to partake in a few more festivities with my family. Saturday, Michael and I took our hot air balloon ride that I posted about earlier this week. Sunday afternoon, my mom and I went to Oxford Exchange for a cup of tea before a matinee movie. Tampa Theatre is currently running a family fun series which plays a different movie each Sunday for the next month and a half. The opener for the family series was Matilda, one of my personal favorites! Tampa Theatre is one of the most special places in town and if you've never been, add it to your list immediately! The theatre is incredibly beautiful and has even been listed as one of the top fifteen most spectacular movie theaters in the world. If you go, make sure you arrive early to experience the pre-show organ concert. Also, if you attend one of the family fun movies, keep your ticket stub and take it to Duckweed Urban Market, post show, for a free Whatever Pop popsicle! That evening, we met up with my grandparents at Cappy's Pizza in Seminole Heights for dinner. In my opinion, they have the best pizza and greek salad in town. Plus, they have the sweetest workers you'll ever come across!

We headed back to our house after dinner to cap off the weekend with several XL slices of birthday cake. The entire weekend was such a wonderful way to kick off the start of my 25th year. More so than all of the fun activities, I feel incredibly thankful to be surrounded by such magnificent people in my life. It's my family, friends, and the memories that we create together that make the passing of each year that much more special. I am the luckiest.