I need this

source

This would make writing blog posts so much easier!

I don't really see why this is a Regretsy pick though.  It's really more genius than anything else.

the wedding

In case you can't tell it was really beautiful.  There were parasols!!

And I cried a could times.  Thankfully the ceremony was short and sweet so we could spend the rest of the night drinking and dancing.  There were reality show style photographers all over the place so I didn't take many pictures, figuring theirs will be much better.  I can't wait until they get posted so we can see them.

I did take a picture of my place setting though, I couldn't resist.

So many beverages.

We're heading to brunch this morning and then sadly I have to make my way back to sunshine state.  It's been an amazing weekend and I am really honored to have been included.

Elliot and the great glass mix up

This was how we spent the better part of today.  Getting the placement juuuuuuust right.

And let me tell you, once all the glasses were arranged perfectly, it was like a stampede of customers.  They literally tore the store to pieces with their excitement for how good the glasses looked on our front table.

It was a great day.

a cinco de mayo miracle

I woke up yesterday at like 6:00am feeling terrible for some reason.  Perhaps it was all the almonds.  I was not looking forward to squandering my morning as I waited for my 1:00pm shift at work.  That's when the first of my cinco de mayo miracles happened.

Elliot texted me asking me to come in early.  Apparently he saw me like something on facebook so he knew I was awake.  It was definitely exactly what I wanted, a quiet morning at work and getting out while it was still daylight.

Then the second cinco de mayo miracle, Joel texted me saying he was at the mall and needed to do some shopping.  I got to help him pick out some nice new things and then I met him for my post work (his pre-work) margarita.  It was really great to see him, I feel like we haven't done anything in forever.

I'm also glad he picked the restaurant he picked as it was also being patronized by this handsome guy:

He was wiggling so much that my camera wouldn't auto focus making the picture taking very hard.  I tried to put my hand out to pet him and steady him and he just opened his giant mouth and my hand went right in.  It was faintly terrifying, he could have easily chomped it right off.  Thankfully he was way too nice to do anything like that.

Now that I have an SUV I could get a nice doggy like this!  Hmmmm, maybe I'll just take a look at the adoption sites for down here.  

there actually was severe weather

Though yesterday started out beautiful, the dark clouds began to gather as the afternoon wore on.  I thought I had brought everything I would need for a day out of the house but I was not prepared for the weather to turn so quickly.

I ended up back home by like 6 with the intention of changing out of my swimsuit and heading back down south but then the skies opened up.  Within minutes the water on our street was up to my bumper.  I decided to try and wait out the storm with Heather.

Once we opened the wine though, there was really no turning back.  It was so good too!  This was the bottle that Heather brought back for me from Sonoma a few weeks ago.  Hand selected just for me.  I commented that it was totally worth the waking up at 5 in the morning to take her to the airport and then having to stay up until 1 in the morning to pick her up again a week later.  She looked at me with a blank face for a moment and then said, "it was actually for you cleaning up Paris poop all week, I guess I should have brought back two bottles".

It's ok Heather, you shared your white with me when we made the salmon salad so it's all good.  And you let me beat you at scrabble by more than 100 points, you didn't have to be so generous, but thanks!

It's not storming anymore but it is grey and rainy still here in south florida.  A good day for chores, and hopefully and evening of debauchery.  We'll see.

the only thing I miss

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Haha, "she went to virginia tech" 

JFK twice in a day

For my birthday Jon agreed to help me move my junk from my old apt down to the sunshine state.  I've been stalling for far too long so today was finally the day.

I woke up at 4 this morning to begin my journey that I have been dreading for a while.  The above picture was from around 9 when Jon and I met at JFK.  As you can see he was already belligerent at this point.

We decided it was best to ride the wave of sleepless delirium and go straight to the apt to deal with the closet that time forgot.

Ahh the old stomping grounds.  I have to say, between the bitter cold and the endless ever changing 2nd Avenue maze I was reminded of why I left this desolate wasteland.

But then I stepped in to the old apt and came face to face with this guy:

awwwwwwwwww.  And just like that I was missing life in nyc.

I just had to remind myself that for every picture perfect innocent doe eyed looking cat there lurked a vengeful gargoyle-esque demon bubbling right below the surface.

He's nice.  But sadly, I had to leave him behind, as I did with new york.  But not before having brunch at the old barking dog, and beginning the process of trying to soothe Jon's rage with booze.

I'm not sure why our drinks are bathed in a heavenly glow but it is appropriate as they were quite delicious.  The blinding white light emanating off the whip cream is actually keeping you from seeing Nathanael who is in the shadows just on the other side of the Nathanael.  In case you're wondering he of course roofied our drinks.

After lunch Jon and I headed back to JFK for round two.  Unfortunately the afternoon flight did not go as smoothly as it had earlier this morning.  Due to circumstances beyond our control we were stuck at the airport for several hours, which meant there was only one thing I could do to satiate Jon.

There were a lot of pictures taken over the course of the next several hours.  We've had several fights about what is and is not allowed to be posted on the internet.  The compromise that we reached was that I can post this picture:

Which Jon actually posed for, that wasn't like a candid shot while he was in the middle of talking, that was a face he was making at me to show his disinterest in something I was saying.  Anyways, I was allowed to post that picture but then I had to also post this picture:

In case it isn't obvious the drinking has continued throughout the day.

And believe it or not I'm back home and everything is as it should be.

I wish the photo weren't so blurry but I could not stop laughing to save my life.  But it's time for the laughter to end as I tend to the chore of unpacking all this junk I just moved down here.

The worst part is that I only emptied like half of the closet.  So you can expect a "JFK twice in a day round two"

these guys

Last night I got to hang out with my neighbor Heather which was super fun.  At one point we were talking and I realized that she is the first neighbor I have ever known/been friends with.  She seemed shocked about this until I reminded her that I was living in NYC where your neighbors either don't speak english or are harvesting organs from their apt.  True story, Susanna's neighbors actually were harvesting organs.

Anyways I had a really nice time hanging out with Heather but by about 9 she was ready to decorate her christmas tree and so we parted ways.  I was on the fence about wether I should go out or not but once I saw these nice nice doggies I realized I had made the right choice by venturing out for a drink.

They were just all snuffles and grunts and adorableness.  I don't know what they were doing at the bar but I don't have a problem with it.

I want a nice doggy that I can take to bars with me.

It is almost my birthday...hint hint...hint hint...

it was only a matter of time

I knew I'd find Nathanael on erotic photo hunt eventually, I just wasn't prepared to be so dazzled by his beauty.  He's a delicate tropical bloom.

It was terribly overcast yesterday morning so Jon and I holed ourselves in the bar and played video games for most of the afternoon.  Joel met us before he had to go to work, which reminded me of the amazing dumplings they have at his restaurant so Jon and I ended up following him there where we spent several hours eating lots and lots of food.

You would have too if you'd been there with us, good food and good surroundings are hard to say no to.

We had grand plans of doing something exciting today, we even discussed flying to San Juan, but judging by our slow start I think we will probably just end up at the beach here.  It's beautiful outside now so I don't have a problem with it.  Maybe I can convince Jon to go with me down to south beach, maybe.

Either way, I'm enjoying my time off of work.

view from lunch

My world certainly felt like it came to an end this weekend, so Scott helped me celebrate the only way appropriate to celebrate; eating and drinking.

Saturday we spent the afternoon here at the Salty Dog Cafe of off St. Armands.  Not having Dan with us limited our choices (no nirvana this time), but we still ordered a plethora of food and drink, the likes of which I was unprepared for.

Followed by Sunday, in celebration of finding ourselves unraptured, we went to Libby's in downtown sarasota where it was happy hour at the bar.  I think my mistake here was ordering the second corn dog.  But it was oh so good!!!!

I'm not one to engage in online debate, especially in forums with strangers, but I did feel compelled to post on reddit the other day when a foreigner posed the question "do american's really eat corndogs?" to which I replied, "YES"

So here we find ourselves now on Monday.  Back to life, back to reality I suppose.  I know my week is looking different than I had imagined it before the world ended.

another one down

Actually I had two different beers but the other one was a draft so I didn't feel obligated to take a picture of it.

I don't know about this delirium nocturnum.  It tasted ok, not the greatest tasting beer I've ever had, and I guess it got me a little more loopy than your average beer, but that also could have been a placebo affect.  I mean, I could get hammered off non alcoholic beer if I didn't realize that it was non alcoholic.

The other beer I got was a special draft, the anderson valley summer ale.  I think that's what it was called.  I know I kept thinking it was the john anderson summer ale for a long time because I was thinking about our highschool ballroom dance instructor.  Of course thinking about him always makes me think of Ms. Slowinski who was way more fantastic than any of us gave her credit for at the time.

So here's to you Ms. Slowinski, every time I hear, "chain of fools" I think of you.

Anyways, the summer ale was actually really delicious.  It tasted like cream soda!  I highly recommend if you find yourself at a bar that serves it.

Hmm I feel like I should have a sign off for these posts.

So until next time, happy drinking.

cinco de mayo?

This is the only picture I took yesterday to prove that I did anything for cinco de mayo.  And this was already after our first corona stop where halfway through I realized I'd forgotten to take a picture of our cinco de mayo coronas.

At some point during this walk to the mexican restaurant where we were having lunch I went on a long rant about how I feel like I take pictures of EVERYTHING and how I don't even remember life before my blog when I would just go through my day without trying to figure out whether or not things were remarkable.

Of course I continued to forget and ended up getting home and only having this picture to show for our entire days adventure.

The closest mexican restaurant to us is in downtown Sarasota which is a decent but doable walk away.  We decided to stop at a bar on our way there to have a corona, which I think started me down the path of destruction.  Anybody who's ever had a drink with me knows that I tend to be a lightweight.

So yes, we celebrated cinco de mayo, no I don't have anything to show for it besides a hangover and some extra padding on my love handles.  I am anxious to do some yoga but I have to wait for Molly from verizon to call me at 9:30 to discuss all the ways my phone sucked this week.

Fun!

haven't done one of these in a while

I feel like there are some clear themes on my blog, topics I seem to come back to again and again.  In some ways I like this, in other ways I worry that I'll run out of things to say.

But then again, it seems I never get tired of seeing the sunset, and maybe I don't have to say anything more than that.

Except one more thing.

I was thinking about what the top 5 topics actually are that I talk about on my blog the most.  I'm sure there is some way that I can look it up, but I'd rather just try to guess.  I'd go with, the detective, other nice guys, sunsets, drinking, and britney spears.  When I look back at my most recent posts that's all they've been about, and sadly when I look through the pictures I have for my next few posts, that's all they are about too.

So I hope you like all of those things as much as I do.

virgin and not

Coconut, mango, pineapple, and banana.

I think my favorite part about mix n' match tervis tumblers is matching the cup to the beverage inside.

And as the thermostat climbs, the amount of drinks being made increases.  Tropical fruity wonders in the morning, transitioning into frosty boozy concoctions for the afternoon.  Speaking of which, I've got a jug of sangria brewing in the fridge as we speak...type...as I type and you read...  Whatever.

I bought triple sec for the sangria and had some left over so I used it to make this cocktail:

orange and grapefruit juice with vodka and triple sec.  Quite refreshing, and I think the color compliments the hibiscus nicely.  

Gotta get my fill of delicious high quality beverages before I head to the desert and the land of cheap drinks.  

want to throw up

Just thinking about this story I found on Reddit.  Don't worry, it's fine for work, it's just disgusting and hilarious at the same time.

I mean, haven't we all been there?

too soon

It's only presidents day weekend but it feels like memorial weekend already.  This morning I woke up super early, had coffee, did yoga, and was already lounging by the pool by 10:00am.  Scott was still on coffee so I decided, it being a holday weekend and all, that I could have another cup with a little irish in it.  And what goes perfectly with irish coffee on a sunday morning?  Cinnamon toast.

So it's 11:23 and i've got my holiday buzz going.  Next on the agenda will be bloody marys.  Updates to follow assuming I can peel myself off the pool floatie.

happy groundhog day

Look at him!  He's happy!!  : )

What are you supposed to do to celebrate?  It's overcast here, so no shadow gazing.  I guess I could just do the same thing over and over again.

But what to do?  Drinking?  Perhaps.  I'd surely get to the point of memory loss.  But I don't want to drink the day away.  I do want to go take a spinning class but I don't think I could do that over and over again.

Maybe I could bake something.  That's kind of repetitive, making the dough and then putting batches in the oven and whatnot.  I think that's what I'll do.  Any good websites to get baked goods recipes?