Week Seven of the "52 Dates of 2012"

Walk around San Marco in the daytime and get ice cream.

He called me a "Hipster" for taking a picture of my feet like this...

     Taylor and I went after my Friday morning class to eat at Black Bean and get ice cream at Peterbrooke in San Marco. It's the cutest part of town, with shops and yummy food in the middle of pretty historic houses (I promised we would live somewhere equally adorable one day). To Taylor's complete dismay, Black Bean had closed down, so we ate at The Loop instead. Delicious, but not really the Cuban flavors we craved. Despite our little misfortune, we had such a nice date. I uncovered my amazing book find at the San Marco Bookstore. We shared Taylor's terrific banana pudding ice cream and I bought myself a White Chocolate Mocha at Starbuck's because I was frigid after walking around for so long. I didn't take many pictures, but we vowed to go back on a less rainy and chilly day and explore some more.

Sad. You can even see Taylor in all of his dismay in the reflection.

See this post for more flowers and book love!

I really like brick walls. There's just something so romantic about them.

     Actually, I didn't take any real pictures at all of Mr. Taylor... oops! Ah well, another day. This one is short and sweet, as I'm not feeling great this morning and we have a million and one errands to get done. I'm trying to get better at blogging on a schedule, so hopefully if all goes well you shall have a few more posts to enjoy this week. Have a practically perfect Sunday! XO.

Week Two of the "52 Dates of 2012"

Build a fort and read stories with a flashlight. 

Cuddling and reading Child of Faerie, Child of Earth

     Our second weekend of Twenty-Twelve and our first date jar pick was a success! We had some tea for breakfast, looked at English Major Armadillo memes, and then commenced the fort building. We read poems and a story and just cuddled for a little bit. A very nice Sunday morning, if I do say so myself.
     Pippa even joined us and cuddled, then proceeded to eat our Date Jar after we had picked out next weeks date.

Date jar and Miss Pippa

Next week!

     Next week (Week Three): Find a pretty park in the city. We may use our astronomy assignment/date on Saturday as this one, since we'll be going out to the middle of nowhere for a dark sky observation. We haven't decided yet, but I'm excited either way.
     Also, slightly unrelated, we made an ah-may-zing meal last night. Pesto pasta with fresh baguette and lemon parsley tilapia. It was... so good, I can't even describe how good it was in words. Maybe just "mmmmm" and "yummmm" and "Oh my gosh I'm so full but I want more!" Definitely something we're going to put on our menu again and again.

So delicious!

     I (only sort of) apologize for making you drool. I can't top it tonight, so we may just be eating soup and cereal and normal college kid food tonight. We're also going to go out and see Beauty and the Beast 3D in theaters tonight (!) and I cannot wait. I've been singing all day today. That's after watching football though, which is coming on in a bit. All in all, it's a really good Sunday, and we have tomorrow off, too! XO.

Happy Finals Week! (& Happy 2nd Birthday Blog!)

Playing my ukulele. Practice makes perfect, right?

Just a few little updates because I have some cute pictures to share! It's finals week here at UNF, so I've been swamped with studying and essay writing (and of course procrastinating!). Two weekends ago was Thanksgiving. Meaning!! It's kind of like.. the bloggy's Second Birthday! EEK! I've had it for two years now and well, fifty three posts later I couldn't be more proud. 6,000+ page views still blows my mind, so thank you very much to anyone who has taken the time to read and enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it! I adore you all!

Now onto some more pictures to tide you over until I get the chance to post what I'm really excited about- Christmas decorations and my Book Mine finds! But alas! those are for another day...

We decorated our family Christmas tree in Melbourne. All of the personal ornaments are my favorite. Look at this one of little me! Too cute, right?

Mmmmm. Taylor took me on a retro date to Johhny Angel's, a Fifties themed delicious restaurant here in Jacksonville. I was SO full after my burger, chili cheese fries, and chocolate milkshake, but I cannot wait to go back. YUM.

And finally, me nerding out in my Sailor Moon shirt, in the biggest book store I've ever set foot in. Chamblin's Book Mine is well, a MINE of BOOKS. Over 2million at the location we were at!! I unearthed some truly amazing items which I'll share in my next post. Hint: They're both over 100 years old!

Now back to ukulele playing.. I mean studying. One final down as of this morning. One and a half papers and one final to go! Good luck to anyone else cramming and Happy It's-Okay-To-Be-Excited-About-Christmastime-Now-Time! XO, Skye.

21 Before 21 Update!

There are 102 days until my 21st birthday! I've been patiently awaiting it and slowwwwly marking off items on my 21 Before 21 list. Even Taylor is getting excited, as he's been helping me with almost every one. I thought I'd give you guys a quick update about the few I've accomplished so far/the few I'm working on...

Buy and play an ukulele: It's in the mail! It's in the mail! It's in the mail! And I'm so excited I can barely type it! I ordered it the other evening, it's a Lanikai LU-11 I purchased through Amazon after much research. It should be arriving any minute, so if I quit typing and put up a half written blog, you'll know why!

She's here! Now what to name her.. and how to play?

Have a picnic: Taylor had the idea for us to accomplish this the other day! It was my reward for getting our room cleaned, so after a long weekend indoors we trekked to UNF. Our campus is wonderful as it has a 300+ acre wildlife sanctuary and tons of walking trails, it's really beautiful. We just so happened to go during a Sunday LARPing meeting, and much giggling ensued about their costumes and fake weapons. Taylor's a big nerd and does some LARPing of his own, but apparently his is "cooler" than theirs. I suppose there are rules to these things that I don't know... We munched on sandwiches of chicken salad and yummy crackers, an apple and a pear, and cookies for dessert! Taylor drank tea and I drank lemonade. It was a lovely day.

Making chicken salad sandwiches.

Giggling over various funny things.

Go to NYC: Our tickets are purchased and we're on our way the 21st of December! I am so enamored with everything NYC right now, just the sight of the Big Apple makes me swell with glee. I've been planning every little detail, down to what I will pack and how I will dress and where we will go. Winter Break cannot come soon enough.

Unrelated, I know. This is actually us at Taylor's grandfathers wedding, but it was too cute not to add!

Perfect one dinner recipe: Well, I've cheated a little on this one. I haven't "perfected" anything really fancy, but I've worked really hard on learning to master my basic culinary skills and can sure make good sandwiches and cookies! I've also got chili down and I'm pretty good at tilapia.

These were the BEST sandwiches I've ever made. It was just a grilled ham and cheese, but oh were they good.

Eat a yummy banana split: Ohh this was one of the most delicious! Taylor and I went to Friendly's and had the cutest waiter ever. We discussed life and our "old age" and watched young high school kids get excited in the booth next to us. Wonderful date that I can't wait to do again.

Mmmm yummy!

And that is all my loves! I still have quite a few to go, but the pleasure I've gotten in achieving these few is absolutely amazing. My ukulele JUST arrived so I'll be off teaching myself how to play. XO!