Downtown Sarasota

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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

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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

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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

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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. 

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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

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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. 

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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

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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. 

Up, Up and Away!

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Two Christmases ago, my parents gifted my brother and I with a certificate good for one hot air balloon ride. It has been on my bucket list for several years now and I was so excited when I saw a miniature hot air balloon, that my mom so sweetly crafted, floating under our Christmas tree. My brother and I attempted to redeem our certificates back in November; however, our trip was cancelled due to inclement weather and fog. We finally booked another date a few weekends ago and I was so thankful when the weather turned out to be absolutely perfect- our trip was a go! We met up with our ballooning group around 6:30am and headed out to our "launch" site for setup and takeoff. We flew with the company Big Red Balloon and I absolutely loved their crew members and pilot. Their crew really encouraged everyone in our group to pitch in a hand while unloading the basket and blowing up the balloon. For me, it enhanced the experience and I should probably now own a hot air balloon of my own...maybe one day! There were eight of us total and I had never seen a basket big enough to hold more than three to four people at a time. There were four tiny compartments on the inside of the balloon, large enough to hold two people each. 

Once inflated, we loaded into the basket and prepared for takeoff. Dave, our pilot, fired up the balloon and off we went! At first, it was a little surreal and nerving knowing that you are floating hundreds of feet above the ground with only a basket and a balloon carrying you to your next destination. After a few minutes of air time, I got used to the feeling and felt more comfortable moving around our compartment. We took off shortly after sunrise and the view was one of the most amazing I have ever seen. There were three other balloons that were flying near us as well. Our balloon was double the size of all the others, so we moved just a bit slower than the rest.  

It was incredibly exciting to see people standing out on their back porches and in their front yards yelling and waving, "good morning!" to all of the balloons. There were a few kids outside riding their bikes that would look up in awe and shout for their parents to come outside and look as well. In the first house I grew up in, we use to have balloons fly over our house several times a month. I would always run outside and shout to the balloonists. They would happily greet us with a wave and often times would yell, "what's for breakfast?" Those were some of my favorite mornings. Below is a picture of a few tennis players gearing up for a match. Little ants! 

Dave was explaining to us how, often times, it can be incredibly difficult for balloonists to find an acceptable landing location. In larger cities, even in the more rural areas, balloonists are not welcome to land in certain residential areas. There are balloon chasing crews that follow each balloon and keep in touch with the pilots via radios. The chase crews have to keep close tabs on following the pilots movements as they prospect various landing locations ahead. It's important for pilots to find a landing location that has access to roadways so the chase crew can easily bring their trailers in to assist with the landing and deflation process. Dave mentioned that balloonists sometimes are forced to land in obscure areas. A few of the balloons ahead of us were already beginning to descend. The navy balloon below ended up landing in a family's backyard. Personally, if I woke up to a hot air balloon landing in my backyard, I would think it was the best day ever ;) 

Luckily, we were able to land in a large open field that was an abandoned golf course. We managed to have an incredibly smooth landing (thank you, Dave!) Post landing, we all hopped out to help out with the deflation and pack up so that we could head home.  After this flight, I've officially added the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta to my bucket list. It's a week long festival where over 500 balloons takeoff and fly together several times a day! Many of the crew members from Big Red Balloon have been and say it's one of the most amazing sights they have ever experienced. My brother and I had the best time on our trip. I highly recommend booking a flight if it's something you've been thinking about doing! There are several ballooning companies in Tampa, Big Red Balloon being one of the best! 

An Evening at Zoominations

Lowry Park Zoo
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Last week, my mom and I took a little trip over to Lowry Park Zoo to see their newest temporary exhibit, Zoominations. It's a traditional Chinese lantern festival containing giant animal sculptures, millions of LED lights, and hundreds of beautiful hanging lanterns. Zoominations is currently on display now through the end of May and definitely should not be missed! You can purchase tickets individually for the Zoominations nightly exhibit or you can purchase a package deal for tickets to the zoo during the day with entrance to Zoominations at night. We bypassed the zoo during the day and just did tickets for the evening exhibit. The animals are not out to see during the nightly exhibit so I would highly recommend doing the package deal if you have never been to the zoo before. Zoominations was absolutely stunning and was such a fun way to spend a Wednesday evening! Below are a few of my favorite displays...