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.

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.

The 52 Dates of 2012

Once upon a time, there lived a girl (me) and a boy (Taylor). They did a lot together, were rarely separated really, and liked spending time with each other, but they began making the same date night choices every week. Let's go to [insert restaurant we've been to a hundred times here], watch some TV, and then go to bed. Sounds good? Alright.

Two thousand & Twelve is going to be a year of magic, of love and newness, and of changing my ways to better myself. I want to relish in the delight that a new year brings, look at things from a different view, change my habits up and discover wonder around every corner. And because I'm selfish and need someone to hold my hand along the way and because I really love Taylor, I've involved him in some of this.

Introducing: The 52 Dates of 2012

The idea came to me from a few places. Firstly, I've been doing my own goal-like lists the last few years, and Taylor has loved helping me cross of 21 Before 21 items. Secondly, I was super inspired by Elsie at A Beautiful Mess and her 12 Dates of Christmas. I love the idea of pre-planned dates and the excitement of randomly selecting one. I tweaked it a bit so it would last all year, one date a week. Some of them are silly and simple (Write letters to our future selves), some of them are a little more involved (Order the fanciest drinks off the menu at dinner), and still some are things that we would normally do but are simply making them special (Go to the beach and take Pippa).

Taylor came up with 26 and I came up with 26, and I typed them up, cut them out, and placed them in a leftover mason jar I had from Christmas crafting. Every Sunday night, we're going to choose one date to have over the week. We've also made rules, like if it's expensive and we're broke or if we can't do it that week for some reason, we can put it back and choose again. The point isn't to be strict about it, it's to explore our town and our hobbies in a new and invigorating way that keeps us in love and keeps us from saying "I'm bored, what should we do?"
For our first weeks pick (!) I let Taylor do the jar pulling, since I had just finished cutting (and let me tell you, cutting out 52 little strips of paper is a lot more time consuming than you would think). The winner for this week is:

Build a fort and read stories with a flashlight! Ding ding ding! 
I'm really enthusiastic about this little project right now and hope that I can blog about quite a few of them. I've got class in a little bit and need to tire out Miss Pippa, so until next time my loves, XO.

The Many Sleeping Positions of Philippa Rose

While it sounds like a lovely book title filled with romance, intrigue, and a little danger, it is actually just the fact about our little fluff-ball of joy we brought home on New Year's Day. Miss Philippa Rose aka Pippa aka Pipsqueak aka Pip, Pippy, Pipppppaaaa, rat chaser, Princess, pretty girl etc. loves to sleep. Most puppies do, but Pippa is different. She loves to sleep in the weirdest positions. Want some proof?

Everywhere we bring her, someone exclaims "Ohhhmygoshshe'ssocuteeeee!" usually in a baby voice, high-pitched and giggly. We took her to Petsmart the other evening and had to stop almost every aisle so someone could see her. They ask "What is she? She's just adorable, where did you get her? Is she going to stay that little!?"

Last night we headed to a friend's for a bonfire and made our way to an amazing restaurant that's open until 3am, Miss Pippa in tow. She was such a sweetie! We sat outside to eat and she sat in my lap the entire time, snoozing like no other. The people at the table next to us piped into our conversations over and over and eventually realized we had her. Guy-in-the-girl's-jacket, Girl-with-more-layers-on-than-necessary, and Klepto-stealing-things-from-the-restaurant-bathroom cooed and oohed and aahed over Pippa for probably 15 minutes, even telling me that they would love to steal her and take her home. Eventually, our waiter even noticed Pippa and laughed because we had been there almost an hour and he hadn't noticed her in the slightest.

Taylor and I are loving her immensely and are so happy to have her here with us. We started class last Wednesday and hated leaving her home alone even for just a couple hours. This week we'll have even more classes and less time with her, which may possibly make me cry. I know she's fine and well-taken care of, but I wish I could just keep her in my pocket everywhere I go. Yeah... I love this little furball that much.

Now to work on homework and whatnots for class, putting my little nose back to the grindstone. XO.

Just Like New

So this is the new blog layout...

I'm liking the simplicity and I think I'll really enjoy having more space to write and post photos, especially with my new-to-me fancy camera and soon-to-be-mine (8MP !!) iPhone camera. I'm really looking forward to having a really good camera, attached to my phone, that can be with me in my bag all the time. Miss iPhone and my Canon cannot wait to be brought on my New York trip with me.

This is all besides the point though, the point being that I like my new layout and header and want to share where I found them/how I made them.

The layout is called "Strawberry Shortcake" and comes from Pugly Pixels. This site is fabulous and has tons of cute free things along with their items for sale. Loads of downloads and tutorials to go with them, it's enough to make even me feel inspired about changing things up a bit. I love the velvet bows, and the How to Spot One of Those Darn Bloggers post is so good! Taylor is always getting on to me when we go out to eat. "Wait! Don't touch it! Let me take a picture first!" has been heard many a time at our table. Go look and enjoy!

The new header was made all by me, thanks to Picnik.com. I splurged a little (honestly, what I would normally spend on a cup of coffee) and paid for the Premium membership this month, and so far it's been worth it. It's nice to be able to access the entire site, especially some of the Holiday editing. The background  flowery stuff came from a picture of this dress:

Edited with Pixlr.

My face is SO goofy. I was trying to figure out my camera's timer settings and didn't realize it was taking a million pictures one after the other, so as I was fake smiling and posing I began to laugh as I leaned in to turn the camera off and this is what it caught. I ended up kind of liking the spontaneity of it though. Anyway.. the header image is of that dress and the font is Love Ya Like a Sister, a cute one that Picnik has.

Just wanted to let you all know a little bit about what when on behind the scenes here. I'm in Melbourne until Wednesday, when I leave for my grand ol' New York trip. I have my laptop with me now but may or may not take it up on the flight with me, so this may be the last post for a bit. Merry Christmas! Happy Hannukah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy Yule! Happy New Year! and any other major holiday I have forgotten!

XO.

In the Christmas Spirit

In between packing for New York (yay 21 Before 21 list item!), getting our apartment puppy ready, and finishing last minute Christmas shopping and decorating, I've barely had time to think straight. I have, however, had just a few moments to throw together some songs for you. These are the songs I've been humming to get me through the Fall Semester stresses and ready for Holiday happiness! I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. Now back to wrapping I go- there is SO much love going into these gifts this year.

Also, enjoy this picture of the newest member of my family, already being enhanced to show her future love for the holiday season! Meet Miss Philippa Rose:

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!

Boo from Me to You!

   The boyfriend and I are headed out this evening to Melbourne and I wanted to wish you a very Happy Halloween Weekend! Eat lots of candy and dress cutely for me! Taylor is being an Irish rugby player and I'm going to be his leprechaun, we're dressing up for our downtown street party. Pinky promise I'll post pictures as soon as I get a chance.
   I've already decorated most of the house (I can't even imagine how ridiculous it shall get for Christmas!) and the little banner above is one of my favorites. It was super cheap at Target, I want to say only few dollars, and it looks so sweet at the top of our stairs. I've also decorated the entire front window and have a pumpkin full of candy ready and waiting for precious little vampires and princesses on Monday. This big kid decorating and candy-giving is much more fun than I could have imagined.

   And this is my pride and joy! The wall that had been decorated for Taylor's birthday is now decorated as a Halloween wonderland! Sometimes I just like to decorate things for the crafting of it, and this is no exception. I took down the balloons and the walls looked so bare- I was practically forced redecorate.
   Finally my dear buttercups, I'll leave you with a little freebie that I made this year. It's made to fit my computer screen settings, but it shouldn't be too terrible looking if it's on your screen.

Just click and "Set as desktop background!

Be super spooky and I hope you get the good candy! XOXO.

A Pretty Closet makes a Better Day

   Or well... some sort of saying like that. I was told by Taylor that I simply had to organize our closet. And soon. When our roommate moved in I had to take all of my extra clothing out of her closet and back into ours, and since then it has looked like a volcano erupted and left behind a trail of destruction. I am going to indulge you and show you a photograph, but just know that it embarrasses me so:

Before

   So yes. This was Before. The terrible, no good, horrendous Before. Taylor went out of town last weekend and thus, I tackled the Before. It took many hours of music, many hours of purging things that I didn't need, and quite a few hours where I forgot to eat and take breaks. It was well worth it in the end, as here's the final product:

After- The lighting makes it look sort of like a haunted house!

   Tada! I have an entire large box of donation things and everything is super organized in the After. There are still too many clothes in there, but it's going to take another couple of purge sessions to set it straight. Plus, I'm going to have to get onto Taylor for keeping shirts that a) don't fit or b) are yucky. We also need to learn to control our laundry monsters a little better. But on the bright side, the most difficult part is finished!
   I've even made the wall above our desk (the wall next to our closet) more organized, and much more adorable. I put up our second section of twinkly lights, moved around my bulletin/inspiration board, and made the best banner ever. The banner is my favorite part and it was ridiculously easy!

Wall above Taylor's desk and my banner!

 The Cutest Banner You'll Ever Make Instructions:

1. Go to the craft store of your choice. Purchase three sheets of different color coordinating scrapbook paper. I chose one patterned one and two plain ones, but you could do lots of patterns, more than three papers, only plain colors- whatever your little heart desires really!
2. Hopefully you already own a needle (Sadly I didn't so I had to buy a sewing kit- life of a college kid, right?), so just purchase some color of embroidery thread that matches all three of your paper choices. Embroidery thread worked well for me because it's thin enough to go through the paper but thick enough to see on the wall.
3. Cut triangles out of your scrapbook paper. I did five from my patterned paper and four from each of my plain papers, but again you could do whatever works for you. I also found a good picture of triangles for a banner on Pinterest, which helped to keep mine all the same size and shape. Lay your triangles out on a flat surface in the pattern you'd like when you're finished cutting.
4. Thread your needle and cut the piece of embroidery thread so that it is at least an extra foot longer than your row of triangle papers. Make sure the triangles are all facing the right direction and that the correct side of the paper is facing up! Even my plain colored paper had a textured side and a smooth side, so be careful which one you're using as the top.
5. Tie a knot in the end of your thread, leaving about five inches so you can use that to hang the banner. Start weaving the needle and thread through the flat top part of the triangle. You should have two holes in each triangle. Look at the little tutorial I drew y'all!
6. Weave and weave until you get to the end of your triangles, and then tie a knot.
7. Spread the triangles out evenly on the thread. Hang up your ends on the wall, either tying them or using pushpins. I used pushpins but then still had wiggle room, so I tied bows in the end! You could also tie them across a table or between two trees or above a doorway! The possibilities are kind of endless.
8. Admire your super delightful new decoration!

   And that is it my loves! Easy-peasy and it really helped make that corner of our room feel complete. I will definitely be making holiday themed banners, birthday banners, everyday-of-the-week banners! I've got a bit more of the closet to work on, just bought matching hangers and a few more organizing tidbits today, so au revoir until later dears! XO.