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.

Pretending to be a Journalist

     As you've probably seen, UNF is hosting the Florida Republican Presidential Debate tonight. I, as a concerned citizen, decided it was my duty to act like a total tourist and take pictures as I walked back from my class, which was sadly not canceled. I'll admit I never even saw a single famous person and I could be there right now but would rather stay home with Pip, but still... don't burst my excited-about-UNF bubble. Swoop!

CNN sign on our Student Union, where they were doing interviews and (as I heard on CNN) the candidates makeup.

Press area, and behind this sign was the security and metal detectors. As Taylor and I walked away we heard two officers discussing protesters and students, saying they needed to keep everything tightly under control because there were already groups of both forming.

News news news!

Being a goober and getting my face in the picture. You've gotta have some proof right? I wanted to see the big CNN bus, but we had to get home to let out Miss Pippa.

Fourth floor view of the press vans and the Boathouse, where they're doing more interviews.

Well, back to watching the debate on TV, doing homework, and cuddling with my puppy. Please, no commenting about politics- I'd rather talk about tea and cookies and what you're doing this weekend. XO.

Week Three of the "52 Dates of 2012"

Find a pretty park in the city.

Friendship Park, Jacksonville, FL. The colorful pipes are what run the fountain, which was among the largest and tallest fountains in the world when it was built in 1965.

      I woke up this morning, so comfortable in my bed, to Taylor telling me how beautiful a day it was. A beautiful day for the park, he told me, sunny and warm. Our third date was an easy one. Find a park, go to it, enjoy. To my great surprise, he had already picked out a park by the time I awoke (and also fed the puppy and took her out, how lucky am I?). After a delicious sausage pinwheel breakfast, we headed out to the downtown area. The fountain has recently been redone, and is known for its amazing light show at night. It was extremely blustery and had gotten cloudy by the time we arrived, but was wonderful nonetheless. 

Juan Ponce De Leon, looking quite regal.

Making wishes in the fountain. Yeah... that's my wishing face.

I think these signs are absolutely brilliant. I've always wanted to visit every single one on a coastal road trip one day. (Also, Jacksonville was called Cowford?! Haha.)

This dress is perfect, except when you're down by the river and it's windier than the Hundred Acre Woods and there are other people around... This, my dears, is the reason I always wear cute underwear.

     We ended our date with a trip to Whole Foods and my-oh-my is ours massive. It's the biggest one I've ever been to at least, and even Taylor admitted he liked it. Taylor and I had tuna Greek salads for dinner and I bought blood oranges for dessert. I've never had them, but they just look so thrilling. He's downstairs watching the Giants game right now, so I've got to go either congratulate or console him with blood oranges and leftover cupcakes. We'll choose our next weeks date later tonight. 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.

Sweet Nothings: All Shook Up

And not just of the Elvis variety.. har har har. Har. Har?
Alright, lame joke, but for real. My life is so topsy-turvy right now, my clothes are still not unpacked, I'm trying to organize and organize and get everything well, organized. From school to money to vacations to the house, I've been thinking a lot and worrying a lot and doing a lot. And you see.. it's a lot. So I'm finally updating ya'll real fast with a couple little pictures. My Sweet Nothings for the week:

This is our room right after I moved all of my whatnots into it. If you can believe it, there's even more on the other side of the room. Eek! Most is unpacked and put away, but there's still a lot left to accomplish before it's up to my standards.

And our room after! Much better with the super industrial bookshelf that my parents got me. I can fit all of my books on just two shelves now with room to spare for knickknacks. Sorry about the ridiculously bad photo quality, I thought of this post last minute and our lighting in the room is less than stellar. You know you're a college kid when the main lighting in your room comes from upcycled Christmas lights!

I'm trying real hard to maintain a sense of girly and Viking balance in our room. My flowery pink quilt takes up quite a bit of the visual space, but his posters take up the majority of the wall space, so we're fairly even. One thing that won't be even? Our closet space. While his clothes fit on a few hangers and one hanging shelf and a small dresser, mine are currently taking up two thirds of the closet! I need to have a clothing intervention soon I suspect..

I've had a lot of free time here with no job yet and Taylor working and in class so much (added to my clothing purge procrastination), so I've been making friendship bracelets to keep my hands busy. They're so terribly easy once you figure the knots out. I love the tutorial on PurlBee for making them! Her's are so beautiful and such an inspiration.

Something else keeping me super busy around the internet? Pinterest! Such an amazing photo site, I love it for making boards and as a lovely idea keeper. Follow me and I'll return the favor!

I drove home over the weekend and encountered this massive storm. The power of nature constantly amazes me. (The weird reflections in the corner are my Ariel and duckie dashboard friends!)

I had such a wonderful time back in my home town. My parents and brother and I did so much and unfortunately I didn't take many pictures of my own. Thursday was Pat's Place Tuna Greek Salads (the best you'll ever have!) and lots of shopping, followed by homemade pizza with my dad's family. Friday was a long day with dentists and visits with old friends, then dinner at Skewers, a scrumptious Mediterranean restaurant beachside. Saturday we celebrated my Granma's 70th birthday at the Kiwi Tennis Club, complete with a delicious meal and good company and followed by a hilarious trip to Wendy's for Frosties and a ride on my dad's new Harley motorcycle! And now I'm back in my new home sweet Jacksonville apartment, staying up way too late writing this! I miss my cute little home on the internet, and really hope I'll get to write write write some more in these next few busy albeit exciting weeks.
XOXO.