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!

Beach Snoballs

July 02, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun

Since putting "eat as many snow cones as possible" on my summer bucket list, I've managed to try several new snowcone/snoball stands over the past few weeks. It helps that my dad is borderline obsessed with the treats as well, so it's easy to convince him to tag along when trying out new places. This time around, we drove down to Treasure Island to test out Beach Snoballs. He had a cherry snoball and I went with the key lime flavor. They both were delicious and I loved the unexpected surprise of the spoons turning blue in reaction to the ice! It's the little things :) They had so many flavors and toppings to try, we'll probably be back soon for more. Considering the heat here has been almost unbearable on same days, I should make the most of it with another trip to the beach followed by a snoball or two!

The Rare Bird of Fashion

Tampa Theatre

July 01, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Fun

The new Iris Apfel documentary finally made its way into town and I jumped at the chance to go see it. The documentary was only playing for a few nights at the Tampa Theatre, so my mom and I made an evening of it. If you are unfamiliar with Iris Apfel, she is probably the coolest 90- something year old you may ever come across. She's known for her quirky and eccentric fashion choices; you would probably recognize her by her oversized rounded eyeglasses. The documentary focuses on Iris' love for fashion and her creative work within the industry, but what I loved the most was her outlook on life. She and her husband, Carl, have been married for more than 65 years and they truly believe that you have to make the most of this life while you can. Iris commented on how it's more important to be interesting rather than pretty, which I couldn't agree with more in today's society. She believes and preaches that curiosity and imagination are the keys to success in your personal and professional endeavors. Even if you're not one for fashion, this woman's life is incredibly interesting. One thing is certain, she and her sweet husband will inspire your love for life and your sense of adventure.

International Typewriter Day

Inkwood Book Store

June 25, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Fun

Did you know this past Tuesday, June 23rd, was International Typewriter Day? I visited the independent bookstore, Inkwood Books, on my way into work for a little typewriter enthusiast celebration. Inkwood Books hosted Tampa Type and The Paper Seahorse's typewriter bar where visitors could stop in and use any of the typewriters to type up a letter or vintage postcard. If you are unfamiliar, The Paper Seahorse is a paperie + makerie located off of South Howard Avenue in Tampa. The Paper Seahorse features a shop filled with stationery, letterpress goods, and paper crafts. Did you know they also host workshops and classes? I have yet to attend a class, but there are so many throughout the summer that there truly is something for everyone. The owner of The Paper Seahorse's husband runs Tampa Type. They have such a beautiful collection of typewriters that if I had enough money, I would purchase them all! If you are ever interested in learning more about how to use and care for a typewriter, Tampa Type also offers several classes and hosts various events. Several of their typewriters are listed for sale and you could even rent them for an upcoming event. Tampa Bay Times even did a short article and video overviewing the event if you care to see, here.

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!

About Town

June 01, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun

The best types of days are ones spent exploring your city, finding new gems that you never knew existed. I used to think that Tampa didn't really have much to offer growing up; I was so wrong. There are so many little places all over the city that I have been bookmarking left and right to test out. One of those places was Dairy Joy. People that live in south Tampa are probably losing their minds if they are reading this and know that I had never heard of it before. Sorry guys, I'm a born and raised Bo's gal ;) I loved the nostalgic look and walkup counter service. I went with a plain vanilla cake cone dipped in chocolate; you just can't go wrong with the classics.

Since I was in the area, I spent some time antiquing through a few of the shops on S. Manhattan. I found the little globe below hidden on the back patio of one of the shops. It was a great price and the perfect size to add to my growing globe collection.

I knew it was going to be an even better day when this little guy cruised right on by me in downtown Tampa. hello, friend!

I had to run an errand over near Ybor and I decided to park the car and walk down 7th Avenue in search of a quick lunch. I've passed New York, New York Pizza so many times, and each time I kick myself for either just having eaten elsewhere or I'm just not hungry. I could smell the fresh garlic when I walked by and it turned me around in my tracks. When I saw the pizzas in the window I thought now was the best time to try it out. I went with a slice of the Grandma pizza, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella with garlic and basil. I've eaten quite a bit of pizza in my day and there was something so incredibly amazing about this slice. The fresh garlic and mozzarella cheese sprinkled with just the right amount of basil leaves was a combination of perfection. New York, New York, I'll be back for more soon!

Ironically sharing my diet coke with my BFF...pizza.

When I saw on Instagram that Small Room Collective, a traveling airstream "road emporium," was stopping into Tampa for a few evenings to set up shop, I knew I had to stop by. Lauren and Travis Hardy, along with their sweet pup George, travel all over the US selling art, apparel, vinyl and other goods made by independent artists out of their 1963 Airstream Globetrotter, named Bob Mapplethorpe. They also sell a variety of vintage goods found from their travels along the way. What an amazing way to spend your time, am I right? Traveling the country, collecting vintage goods, and meeting tons of cool people that make amazing products; sign me up! Does anyone know of an airstream for sale (maybe a VW bus too?) I purchased the adventure and happy camper pennants I pinned up below. You can keep up with their travels to find out where they are headed next via their website and social media pages. If you live in a city they are stopping into for a day or two, take my advice and go!

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!

Ybor City

May 16, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun

Earlier this week, Ryan came into town to visit for the day. We spent the afternoon roaming up and down 7th Avenue, checking out some of the best restaurants and shops that Ybor City has to offer. With so many beautiful and historical buildings, plus the easy access via the trolley to downtown, it truly is the perfect area to spend a few hours on the weekend. Ybor hasn't always had the best reputation, but there are so many new and local businesses and restaurants opening in the area. It's equal parts cool and sketchy, with a lot of amazing history thrown into the mix. If it's been a while since you've made it over that way, you really should check it out!

If you've been downtown before, then you know this guy is just one of the unofficial mascots of Ybor City.

We didn't ride the trolley throughout Ybor, but it is certainly on my bucket list next time we adventure into downtown Tampa.

We first stopped into The Blind Tiger Cafe for a cappuccino and an earl grey lavender iced tea. They serve Buddy Brew Coffee and a selection of Tebella Tea, both local companies in town. They recently expanded their availability for seating, making it the perfect place to hangout and catch up with friends, study, or read a book.

Afterwards, we headed to T ampa Bay Brewing Co. for a beer and an order of their pretzels. Their handmade pretzels are my favorite in Tampa. TBBC has eight of their own core brews on tap year-round, with several other seasonal options changing every few months. I tried the Jack the Quaffer Porter which has undertones of coffee and chocolate.

Next up was La France. I would love to go down to La France and spend an entire afternoon patiently sifting through all of their clothing. They have racks of clothing from every decade, along with a large variety of antique and vintage jewelry. If you are ever attending a themed party or event, this is the place to go for an amazing outfit. This is also the best place to go if you're just looking for a unique piece of clothing for your personal collection. They have the best vintage coat collection I've seen anywhere in town.

Lastly, we had dinner at The Bricks, just in time to escape the downpour of rain that came out of nowhere. Ryan had the bird and pig sandwich with chicken, bacon, apples, brie, and agave on sweet bread. I had the cure sandwich with a fried egg, avocado, tomato and cheddar on a toasted kaiser bun.

Thankfully, the rain let up a bit just in time for us to head home.

One thing is certain, Ybor sure does make for a beautiful, yet dreary, scene.

Blueberry Picking

May 12, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Fun, Holiday

To celebrate mother's day, I took my mom blueberry picking Sunday morning. We drove down to Lyna Berry Farms in Lithia per a suggestion from a good family friend. They are open to the public through next Sunday, May 17th. I've never been fruit picking before and I absolutely loved it. We arrived early, right when the farm opened, and we basically had the blueberry fields to ourselves. It costs $15 for one 6lb. bucket of blueberries. If you go with multiple people and only want one full bucket, they let you combine your pickings. There was something overwhelmingly peaceful about being out there roaming through, row by row, picking out the best of the crop. Not to mention, spending time with my mom was worth it in and of itself.

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!

The Monday Blues

May 06, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun

When the Ridgeway family asked if I wanted to join them out on their boat Monday morning, I knew the week would be off to a great start. We headed out to Tarpon Springs to prep the boat for the day and then off we went to soak up 85 degrees and plenty of sunshine.

We first stopped to grab some lunch at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill on Clearwater Beach. A buffalo grouper sandwich was a must. The only thing that would have made lunch even better would have been a slice of key lime pie to top it all off ;)

After lunch, we hopped back on the boat and headed over to Caladesi Island. Mr. Ridgeway, aka Captain Paul, pointed out a cluster of trees covered in shells and sponges. People would paint the shells or write little notes of remembrance before stringing them and hanging them in the trees. I thought it was incredibly special and a such a sweet sentiment.

After cruising along the island, soaking up the sights, we turned around to head back to dock the boat for the day. It's been quite some time since I had been out on a boat and it makes you realize just how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place.

Thanks for such a wonderful day, Ridgeway family! I'll be free to join you on the boat anytime :)

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 :)

Sunny Life

April 16, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Fun, Food

Over the last few days, the weather in Tampa has been so wonderful, I could hear the beach calling my name. Last Thursday, when I saw the weather was going to be in the low 90s for the day, I threw on my swimsuit and packed up my beach chair to head to Clearwater Beach. I sprinted out the door rather early in the morning, hoping to beat the crowds...it seemed everyone else had the same idea that I did. When I saw that Clearwater Beach was already buzzing with tourists and locals, I headed through Clearwater and over the bridge to Sand Key Park. Sand Key Park is because there is the beach, as well as, a park with picnic and grilling areas, kayak and bicycle rentals, nature trails, and concessions. Parking is a $5 daily flat rate which is so much cheaper in comparison to finding a metered or two hour only parking spot on Clearwater Beach. I headed down near the water and set up my chair to spend the afternoon reading and soaking up some much needed vitamin D.

I picked up this radio last year with a gift card I had to Anthropologie. It's the best radio and MP3 player to take outdoors, and comes in several cool color combinations.

Although the crowds of tourists can be frustrating at times, the sight of hundreds of striped umbrellas sprinkled along the beach make me so happy.

One of these days I would love to rent a paddle board or kayak and spend the afternoon cruising all up the coastline.

I love combing along the beach for brightly colored and unique seashells to add to my collection.

These were a few of the shells that I picked up. The tiny little orange one was my favorite find of the day.

After a few hours in the sun, I decided it was time for lunch..and by lunch I mean tacos. I had read several great reviews about Pearly's Beach Eats and after looking over the menu online, I knew I needed to try it out. You order at the front window and pick a seat amongst the palm trees in their outdoor garden area. Pearly's serves a variety of foods from tacos and burritos to burgers and fish sandwiches. I placed an order for the blackened Cobia tacos with jicama coleslaw, mango salsa and shredded cheese. The woman at the counter informed me that the fish tacos are known as a local favorite, and after tasting a bite I knew exactly why. They were so good I ate them all before I could snap a picture. Why do tacos (or any food for that matter) taste so much better after a day at the beach?

I couldn't leave lunch without ordering one of their shakes or cold treats. After taking the recommendation from one of the servers, I went with a key lime pie bar. It was a slice of key lime pie dipped in dark chocolate and was served on a stick. I could have easily eaten an entire pie worth of slices. If you like key lime pie, definitely order a slice to go; I promise you won't regret it!

Easter Sunday

April 11, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Holiday, Fun

This past Easter weekend was one of my favorite Easters yet. It was a day spent surrounded by my family and friends celebrating our love for God and for each other. Our morning kicked off with a large breakfast and a trip to Brocante Market in St. Pete. Brocante is a vintage and antique market that is open the first Saturday and Sunday of each month. I was surprised they were open on Easter Sunday, but my mom and I used it to our advantage, hoping it would be a little less crowded on a holiday. Typically, Brocante is so packed with people it can be hard to take your time and really soak up each item in every booth. If you move too slowly, someone will step right in and snatch up whatever you're looking at. Thankfully, there were barely any other customers at the market and we were able to take our time searching for little treasures. The market staff also hid lots of Easter eggs filled with gift cards to redeem with your purchase that day; however, my mom and I looked high and low and never found one. The eggs must have been found pretty early in the morning, but we had fun looking regardless. I found just a few things that I decided I couldn't live without. One being the urgency clip holder on the top left; it will definitely come in handy when prioritizing my daily and weekly tasks ;) Below are a few other pieces and booths that caught my eye.

One of these days I am going to splurge and buy a vintage pulldown school map! I think it would be perfect for pinning flags onto each city and country that I've been to.

I also wish I had taken this yellow type writer home with me! I received my first typewriter for Christmas this past year and I would love to start a little collection. I think if it's still there next month it may just be a sign that I need it!

We also spent a good portion of our day cooking up a delicious Easter dinner; I was in charge of making the dessert! After dinner, we looted through our Easter baskets while the "Easter Bunny" set up for our annual Easter egg hunt. There were a total of 31 eggs this year, 32 including the infamous "golden egg." I ended up finding just a few more eggs than my brother and was also this year's winner of finding the golden egg!

In high school, one of my favorite traditions that we would do each Easter was the making of cascarones. Cascarones are hollowed out eggs filled with bird seeds, confetti, glitter, or small prizes. Once filled and decorated, you hide them around the yard and send all of your family and friends out to find them. Once found, you run around cracking the eggs on top of your family and friend's heads, revealing the prizes and confetti. It's mainly just fun to crack them open and it's an easy tradition to uphold each year. All you have to do is poke a hole with a thumb tack into the bottom and top of the egg. Poke a few holes into the top and peel away just a little bit of the shell. Flip the egg upside down and blow the egg white and yolk into a bowl or the kitchen sink. Once you repeat that and you have enough egg shells that you'll need, rinse them out with soap and water and set outside in the sun to dry out. As soon as the egg shells are dry, carefully fill them with any filling that you would like. I used bird seeds in all but one of the eggs. I filled the last egg with fruity pebbles and a little bit of gold glitter. We deem that last egg to be the golden cascarones, bringing a year of good luck to the person that has that egg cracked on his or her head. Last year, I was the recipient of the golden cascarones and I would say it was a pretty great year :) Make sure you cover the tops of the eggs with tissue paper so the golden cascarones will not be discovered until it's cracked open!

This year, my brother Michael was the lucky one to receive the golden cascarones. Can't you tell how excited he is? I'm certainly thankful for a family that plays along with my crazy holiday antics ;) I hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well!

happy saturday!

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.