Yuck

Battled with some epic food poisoning today, all day, and it was brutal. Pictured is the variety of liquids assembled for me by my Love (not pictured is a hot cup of tea). My favorite part, the part that makes me teary with love for this man and amazement that he loves me just as much, is the mug with spoon sticking out of it. It holds no liquids but he brought it in for me to use as a bell to summon him for anything I might need or want. I'm super weak and when he heard that, he invented the cutest bell EVER. How lucky I feel that he is the man who loves me.

Epic Thursday

Killed it today. Totally nailed it. Slept in, drank lotsa hot tea, had tacos for lunch, banked it up, window shopped, grocery shopped, bought New Years Eve prosecco, went to farmers market, got lattes, did many loads of laundry, cleaned and remade bed, cleaned house, mopped, saw Django Unchained, walked dog, relaxed. Long vacations I LOVE you!

Christmas and Home

Christmas eve we left Jacksonville and headed home. We had a minor delay in Atlanta wherein we were on the plane and buckled and ready to go, and then told to deplane. Luckily the short time between getting of the plane and boarding a new one gave us time to get another coffee and a bagel. We got into Memphis a mere half hour after our planned arrival! We headed to Jackson.Mississippi for a day with my in-laws and my Loves large family. We napped, ate, unwrapped ridiculously generous presents, and had a wonderful time. Returning home at a little past midnight on Christmas morning was glorious and so exciting. Sleeping in our own bed! Seeing our cats! My insanely wonderful parents left an early present of a GIANT pointsettia to brighten up our living room and provide some cheer. It was so fun waking in to our house and seeing this enormous bright red plant.

Christmas morning we had permission to sleep in (yay) but the promise of homemade beignets, coffee, and bacon, was too much of a draw. We lounged and ate and unwrapped amazingly thoughtful and special gifts. Things chosen with such care and such generosity that it almost broke my heart. We napped, ate essentially all day, and just hung out. It was wonderful. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful family who is so fun and loving.

Christmas-ing like a BOSS

This morning my dearheart gave me an early Christmas happy that he even wrapped and bowed himself! It was so sweet and made our 6 am flight a lot more palatable.

Last night I tried Pinnacle cake flavored vodka. Never again. NEVER AGAIN! No. Never again. Dont do it.

Boca Raton

The rats mouth. So strong. We ate some food, saw some sights, dipped our toes in the ocean.

Pictured:
-the greatest bedroom set of my life and it was for SALE! Who would ever let that baby go? I felt like Marie Antoinette crossed with Liberace.
-delicious Italian bakery goodies. We walked in and I simply said "I'm home!"
-the ocean. The dipping of the toes.

Key West to Boca Raton

Stop at the Key Lime Store. It's near the end of the keys and seems super tacky. It is. But the cookies are delicious and the food shack outside is out of control. The tartar sauce was the best ever, the fish made us both sound like idiots because we just looked at each other and kept saying "Ohmigosh! Right?! I know! Ohmigosh! Right?!?" and the homemade fries were insane. When my mom was rescuing a whale last winter there (true story) all the locals recommended it. Go, please.

Wedding

Before the the Hemingway House (a bust) we went in search of breakfast and I had a badass Cuban breakfast sandwich and mimosa at Harpoon Harry's. Terrible name, delicious breakfast. Post Hemingways, when our souls were a bit crushed, we headed in search of a libation or a snack. I wanted to take my love to get a croissant at the French bakery I had found the day before. It was just as good and the croissant was improved vastly by the puppies frolicking next door. Post puppies and croissants we walked the pier and ended up at Schooners Wharf where we had Schooner punches, a lethal combination of juice and rum. Incredibly relaxed we headed home to throw on fancy clothes to head to the subset wedding. It. Was. Awesome. That is all I have to say about that. Hammocks, the beach, great friends, and the Waldorf Astoria. Winning. On our way back to the hotel we stopped for Cubans. Perfect end to a perfect day.

Cats

We went on a lot of vacations to the Keys growing up. I have great memories from all of them, but curiously couldn't recall a single thing about the Hemingway House. This is extra strange because my father always read odd books to us in the evenings (Hiroshima, The Old Man and the Sea, Moby Dick to name a few), our family loves cats, and museums are our jam! To quote my mother "we never went because it was too expensive and we are cheap". After touring it we realized that the whole house is a SHAM so she was super pleased that we hadn't missed any culture or anything. The house is interesting structurally, but not anything special. The majority of the wall art has been "donated by the artist" which means its bullshit. Our new goal is to get something accepted into a fancy tour house or museum. I think it's possible, and I am excited to see what happens. The highlight, for me, was the cat interaction. I love cats man. These cats are spoiled and pandered to, and as a result they are even more ridiculous than cats normally are.

Verdict: no matter how much you miss your cat it's not worth paying $13 a person to get ignored by famous ones.

Key West yo

Friday Highlights:

-achieving the rare and admirable Vacation holy grail of the Trip-Nap wherein you nap THREE times in one day!
- making it through Miami and to Key West in one piece.
-making a new best friend who was a part of the wedding party.
-doing supremely admirably on the bar crawl. For real. Like a freaking boss.
-being purchased a shot "from a secret admirer" which was simultaneously so charming in a rom-com kinda way, and super creepy.
-a quiet and celebratory beer on our private second floor deck complete with hammock and fuschia bougainvillea vine
-seeing Key West Christmas lights (so wrong yet so right).
-a drag show featuring Disney showtunes that I was utterly entranced by. My dear friend K managed to perfectly capture the awe in the photo below
-zucchini pizza. Blew. My. Mind.
-making friends with the pub crawl guide----big ups to Brian! Your nicknames were charming and hilarious, your conch-blowing skills off the chain, and your demeanor delightful in every way, AND we exchanged cookie recipes.

St. Augustine

On our way from Jacksonville to Orlando we stopped for a few hours in St. Augustine. Last time we were there was in 2008 and it has changed so much since then. It was incredibly touristy and rather disappointing. On the plus side, we managed to find the cutest and most wee coffee house and had a good time in an old map store before hitting the road. On our way out of town we stopped at a food truck outside a surf shop and had some badass fish tacos.

When we arrived in Orlando it was dinner time and we ate at 4 Rivers Smokehouse with my aunt and uncle for dinner. I didn't enjoy it, but I could understand its appeal. Fast, large menu, relatively inexpensive, and freaking killing it. That place was packed for the entire time we were there. After dinner we went to my other uncles house and hung out until the wee hours drinking Yuengling and catching up.

Travel day

Painted my nails and realized the color was called "carry on" and that fact made me smile. I ate some overpriced but acceptable apples and cheese for breakfast. Upon arrival I grabbed the rental car and went in search of more sustenance. It being Florida there are Starbucks on Starbucks on Starbucks and the need for caffeination and the lure of a cake pop (so trendoid, yet is also delicious, I succumbed, obvs) beckoned. Found a red hat! Yay for vacation!

Gingerbread

Before we left for our magical mystery tour of Florida, I had to work. But, awesomely, there was a staff breakfast and a gingerbread house village. Charming as hell it was! The best one was title "Christmas on the Bayou" and featured mossy trees, raccoons pilfering from Santas bag, and half submerged 'gators.

In Florida!

Weather is crappy and cold (WTF FL) but I'm cozy in a sweatshirt and tights. Let the adventures begin!

Wearing 3.1 Philip Lim gold brogues I am
OBSESSED with (and have never gotten more compliments on a shoe in my life! Seriously!), assets tights, skirt and sweatshirt (I am theme dressing with mickey mouse. My hope is its more charming than annoying.....) from forever 21, and Marc Jacobs bag.

So far behind...

Last weekend was Christmas-palooza! On Friday we went and drank prosecco and pinot noir and ate steaks and popovers with a friend. It was a magical evening that we cannot wait to recreate in a few weeks. Saturday we slept in, I took the dog for a walk, and then we went to the square for fancy coffee and some paperbacks. Ran into many friends in town for a wedding and caught up on their awesome and totally exciting lives. Not to sound all Pollyana-ish but friends are the best! After gabbing, caffinating, and purchasing a fatass book on Coco Chanel, we headed over to my parents house. The dudes began their yearly pilgrimage into the woods to find and cut down the family Christmas tree, and my mother and I baked cookies! Yummy! After returning (successful!) we had dinner and set to work decorating the tree. We hung out for a while and headed home late in the evening and went straight to bed. Oh! And laundry! We did like four loads of laundry! Multi-takers we are!

Sunday we woke up at the crack of dawn as my love had to get ready for California. I was headed to Memphis with my mom to finish last-minute Christmas needs. We had a blast chatting over breakfast at Bottletree Bakery and then headed to the big city! We sort of ate our way across the mall (have you any idea how long it has been since I've been in a mall? It was strange, and more enjoyable than I anticipated). We had a strawberry Julius, pretzel, coca cola, and chocolates! After exhausting all options in the mall (both edible and shopping wise) we headed out. Dinner was at the Melting Pot. My parents use to go on dates there in the early days of their courtship and it now holds a special place in my heart because of eating there after Christmas shopping for the past few years. Melted cheese and chocolate is the shit. Eventually we drive home and I went straight to bed to prep for a super busy and insanely fun week!

December, I love you and all the traditions you bring.

Crawl

So next week we fly to Jacksonville Florida (possible slogan: We have cheap airfare and rental cars because no one wants to stay here!) and begin a nearly two week long vacation across the state to visit six separate families/individuals (all of whom we are related to) and attend a wedding in Key West! I. Am. So. Excited!!!!! On the to do list thus far:

-eat as many cuban sandwiches as possible
-drink many delicious beverages
-have the best time visiting with people we adore but rarely get to see
-go to the beach
-watch at least one sunset
-visit the Hemingway House
-buy a bag of assorted citrus to snack upon while driving every which way across the state
-don't get sunburned
-have an alcoholic beverage together somewhere while looking at the ocean
-eat loads of delicious seafood
-pat a many-toed Hemingway and pretend it wants to be my best friend
-drink cafe con leche as much as possible
-find a sharks tooth
-relish getting to spend every moment of every day together for days on end (my Bunny travels so much for work that we really have this "absence makes the heart grow fonder" thing freaking MASTERED and we love getting to putter around together doing nothing and just enjoying each others company as it happens not nearly as much as we would like)
-find a sea critter (crab, snail, starfish, whatever, I just love seeing them!)
-go to either the botanical gardens or some museum or old fort in Jacksonville

Also: don't die on Pub/Bar crawl. For part of the bachelorette party (the part I will have arrived in time to attend) there is a pub crawl. I'm sort of a lightweight and I am for sure super lame because after two drinks (no matter the time frame of consumption) I just want to go to bed. Additionally, I fear there may be fake male parts involved somehow and that is NOT my jam. We won't get into it, but I just don't jive like that. So, if you're in Key West next Friday, and you're enjoying a libation or two, and you see a group of ladies walk in festooned with penises followed shortly thereafter by a girl in glasses yawning and looking uncomfortable  . . . that will be me! Please wipe the drool off of my chin if I fall asleep on a barstool.
The picture below is exactly how I hope I do not end up next Friday night.

My Latte Has A Face

Secret Santa

I'm spearheading some dang holiday cheer over here at work and my secret Santa pretty much killed it today. Cheese and crackers, tea, and fresh raspberries! ALL of my favorite snacks! (Well, add some wine and that would be everything.) So thoughtful and lovely! It made my day. I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings....

Sometimes

Even after a delicious sushi dinner, you just need some pie.

Today I made a friend

And silly though it sounds it meant the world to me. Making friends as you get older can be oddly difficult. Given that I am a creature of habit (and boring habits at that) and a homebody, it means that I'm pretty much bound to never meet anyone new. That all changed today! Woooo! A yoga instructor (how first world-ly) introduced us and we had dinner andi t was magical and amazing and made me SO happy!

Lest you think I have no friends, that's not completely true. I DO have friends. And you can even see them! It's just that they have all moved away or live in Maine or something. To have a girlfriend here in Oxford is the ultimate treat! I have girlfriends in Oxford (not a total pariah) but Not enough! However, that is changing! Finally!

Pictured is a miniature violet which was a gift from my mother. I put it by my morning coffee spot and stared at it while drinking and it made me absurdly happy today.

Also? Totally a mini thunderstorm today. And rainbow. In DECEMBER! What the what?

And finally, yoga kicked my butt today and I was sweating. I'm not proud of this but one of the reasons I so love yoga is that I rarely sweat hike doing it (perhaps because my favorite poses involve lying on my back and pretending I'm dead?). Not so today. A sweat was broken. And my ass was whupped. Yoga, wtf. Why you gotta be like that?