florida in illustrations

(2/28: happy birthday alexi!)

florida

Florida with Matthew, Alexi, Dave, Julia, and Lee. I want to go back.
We had a mix of weather, but of course the last day was perfectly sunny and warm. Clear and calm blue water, Pelicans flying overhead.. I'm ready to go back now.

a postcard of sorts

:) have a good weekend.

Melanie

following Mel home from the beach.
Amelia Island, Florida

in a kingdom by the sea

off the coast of Amelia Island, Florida.

And the winner of the Payton Woodcraft Jewelry Design giveaway is the 29th comment..  Dorothy!
Thank you to everyone who entered.

the walk to the beach

Mel and I walked to the beach almost everyday while we were visiting her parents in Florida. It's about a 10 minute walk from their front door under a canopy of live oaks and Spanish moss. We would stroll down to the water with our towels, sunglasses and books and read and walk around looking for shells. I usually can't go to the beach and just hang out.. I get bored, but this was different. Maybe because it was 70 degrees instead of 100 and there were tons of different kinds of birds to watch and photograph. We got to know the birds pretty well and we would go back to the house with descriptions of seagull-like birds for Mel's dad to identify for us.

I could definitely get used to life on Amelia Island. Now if I could just convince everyone I love to move there with me.. that would be perfect.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter

This might be slightly dramatic, but.. dreams really do come true!

Mel and I woke up at 5am on Sunday morning to head 3 hours down to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Our excitement far overshadowed the fact that the stars were still out and we only slept for a few hours. We chatted, sang and occasionally squealed (ok, fine- that was just me) the entire way down to Orlando.

The park was everything I'd hoped it would be. Both Mel and Matthew had voiced their concern that I might have had absurdly high expectations and were worried that I might be disappointed, but I was not. I mean. A theme park devoted to Harry Potter.. where's bad? How could I possibly be disappointed? I build up everything in my mind and am rarely ever disappointed. I don't allow it.

Once we made it into the park we hopped on a big green roller coaster to kick the day off and then found our way to Harry Potter. I still can't believe how detailed the park was. It felt like nothing was left out.. every corner of the place had some reference to the books and movies.

We had fish and chips in the Three Broomsticks along with a large glass of butterbeer (which was phenomenal, by the way.) We walked through Hogsmeade and shopped in little stores like Zonkos and Honeydukes. We road the dragon roller coaster and the half ride half virtual reality type thing in Hogwarts. I want to go back. Badly.

Mel was suuuuuch a good friend to make the trip with me. She really did it for me because she isn't the diehard Potter fan that I am. She did love it though, which is great. Plus, I went on not 1, but 2 roller coasters with her.. screaming before the cars even went over the first drop.. I'm so embarrassing.

to the beach

It's been a nice few days in sunny Florida. Oh, yes it has. I don't mind the 70 degree weather or the swaying palm trees, the balmy-sweet smelling air or the sand in my shoes. I don't even mind the slight sunburn I acquired yesterday afternoon.

I especially don't mind spending all this time with Mel and her family.

Florida has a very specific smell. It brings back memories of family vacations. Trips to Disney World and Epcot Center. Riding Space Mountain and crying on Splash Mountain. Watching the parades in Magic Kingdom and going to dinner at that restaurant that spins ever so slowly.

It's amazing how strongly a scent can recall a memory, isn't it?

Today

instagram: @alostfeather

How difficult is it to sit in the window seat of an airplane and not take an "out the airplane window" photo? It's pretty impossible.. for me, anyway. I took about 20 today. I mean, how often do you find yourself 30 thousand feet above the ground? Not all that often, right? Right. Photos must be taken.

Plus, instagram lets you save a photo with a filter even when you put your iPhone on airplane mode!

So good.

There were plenty of pretty things to photograph today in Florida, but I think I'll actually do that over the next few days. My favorite moment of the day was the one above.. Mel and Sonny saying "hello" after a long time apart. 

Places: Synonym for Vacation? Florida.

Well, for New Yorkers anyway! I would bet money on the fact that the majority of east coast residents have vacationed in Florida at some point in their lives. A trip to Florida makes me think of Disney World. When I was little I thought Disney World was Florida.. in other words, I would have believed you if you told me that Disney World was one of the 50 states. (This would be around the time in my life when I thought I could grow up to be a horse because everyone told me I could be anything I wanted when I grew up.)

Back to the point of this post. A couple of Septembers ago Alexi, Dave, Matt and I flew down to Hutchinson Island, FL for a long weekend. We stayed at Alexi's family's place in a lovely high rise condo. We didn't get to Disney World, but it was a fabulous vacation. The condo was right on the water so we just had to take an elevator down and we were on the beach (which we had completely to ourselves.)

We got in late on the first night so we just picked up the rental car and hung out in the condo. Our rental car (much to the dismay of the boys) was not very fun, gorgeous, or even spacious. It was ugly. Pretty hilarious actually. It gave me a good laugh, so I was ok with it. It gave me an even better laugh when I saw it the next morning in the day light.

All 4 of us were so excited to be in Florida (instead of work) that we hurried down to the beach without sunblock. A few hours later we all paid the price with bright red sunburns. I've been very good at making it a point to never get sunburned, (I'm 50% Irish and my skin is 100% Irish) but I guess accidents happen!

This photo (above) of Alexi always makes me giggle. It looks like Matt and Dave are the hired help in the background! That fruit bowl we made was so amazing. I wish I could eat that right this minute.

We went deep sea fishing one afternoon. I love fishing. Fishing was very much a part of my childhood since my family and I spent our summers out in Montauk, NY- a fishing town. That said, I did not catch a single fish. Not even a fish too small to keep. Nothing! Everyone else caught a fish or multiple fish. Oh well, we didn't need any more anyway. We had plenty to cook for dinner.

The people that took us out on the water also filleted the fish for us which was great because I, for one, know nothing about filleting fish.

I had the best time traveling with them- never a dull moment. This was a relatively relaxing kind of vacation for all of us. Dave and Alexi are extremely adventurous so their trips are full of outdoor activities. Matt's vacations usually have him out on the golf course for as many hours as there is daylight and I usually drive a few hundred miles every day (or at least every other.)

We still did a lot, but nothing strenuous.. it was a nice change of pace.

Eat..

• Jan's Place for breakfast- so good
• Go fishing, catch fish, make dinner 

Do:

• Deep Sea Fishing- So much fun and you can make dinner with whatever you catch! 
• Lay/walk/play on the beach (I'm not good at laying on the beach for longer then about 15 minutes)
• Play beer pong. Oh, was that just us?

I can't wait to go on another little trip with them this summer. Hopefully a camping, hiking, climbing trip.. yay!