Lauren and Chandler's Wedding!

 

It happened!  Lauren and Chandler got married and it was BEAUTIFUL!!  I can't wait to see all the shots Megan Saul captured from the event because, naturally, I had such a great time reuniting with friends and enjoying myself that I forgot to take photos.  Ah well...better to live in the moment, right!

1-2. Lauren and me
3. All the bridesmaids!  Lisa, Lauren, Cynthia, and me
4-5. Lauren and Chandler in the "Secret Stairwell" at the Trolley Barn
6. Alex and me.  We snuck down to the bridal hangout area to take a full-length photo :) (we probably could've just asked somebody to take one...)
7. Richy and me.  I've known Richy since the good ol' college days.  Fun fact: It was through Richy that Lauren and I met!  :)
7. Lauren's gorgeous bouquet (assembled with love by her Dad)
8. Alex's pretty latte.  It wouldn't have been a L+C event without coffee, right?!

The Most Colorful Street in St. Pete

...technically it's an alleyway but still - it's the prettiest alleyway in St. Petersburg, FL.



Our alley adventure started with this mural:



We kept passing it on the one-way to the highway and then we slowly started to notice more.  One day, the old man kept the car running while I ran from piece to piece down the alley as I discovered more and more pieces hidden - if you're not looking!

One of my favorite sections was this lovely collection:





Upon further investigation, I link-hopped from here to here and started uncovering some of the artists behind the wonderful pieces of work.  Recognize Twiggy from my Instagram?  Her portrait and the Sun Face piece (my favorite!) were done by the folks at the design studio Bluelucy.

So many great finds are tucked away in the alley north of Central Avenue between Sixth and Seventh streets.  If you're in St. Petersburg, I highly recommend you check it out before it gets painted over - that's if it gets painted over - which I hope it doesn't!  I made the mistake of missing out on the Clever Girl piece that I saw on San Smith's Instagram.  She was lurking at the Krog Street tunnel, which changes so much.  I snoozed and lost.  Oh well...

Check out more of my photos of the St. Pete mural alleyway in this set!

Here are the artists that I know of that contributed to this great little alley:  
Bluelucy
Pale Horse x Tes One collab
Pale Horse x BASK collab
Derek Donnelly of Saint Paint Arts and Apparel
Alex Gluek
Christian Thomas

*If I left anybody off, please let me know in the comments! :)

Hope you're having an awesome Thursday!

Adventures at The Old Tampa Bay Hotel

When the old man first suggested the Tampa / St. Pete area of Florida for our vacation, I was all, "Tampa?  What the heck is in Tampa?!"  Turns out, there's some pretty neat architecture, including the hidden gem of the Old Tampa Bay Hotel.  In the spirit of the Ponce de Leon Hotel-turned-into-Flager College in St. Augustine (where the old man and I visited in 2011), the Tampa Bay Hotel is now part of the University of Tampa.

I first saw this place featured on Southern Spirit Guide when I searched the Florida Ghosts tag for any interesting places to keep an eye out for.  I'm so glad I checked it out because this place blew us away!

We toured the museum, romped around the main student lobby and walked through most of the (accessible) first floor and imagined what it must've been like when it was a grand hotel.  I wasn't sure if I could take photos on the tour with my Nikon, so I kept it small and sweet with my iPhone.  I wanted to experiment with the Hongdae HipstaPak as my "Florida Pack".  I try to give each place I visit its own Hipstamatic lens/film combo when I take photos.  I don't know why but I think after we went to St. Augustine, I started designating lens/film combos to certain places to sort of give them the same "feel".

Anyways - this place is amazing!  We learned so much and got to see what kind of grand things outfitted the hotel.  It was such a wonderful experience with a fun, informative tour and there were so many beautiful things to see.  When I was younger, I wasn't really a fan of all that Victorian opulence but I love it now!  I think it's so interesting to see how much our tastes have changed and I'm amazed at how we evolve with each generation.

I'm hoping to upload my Nikon photos from the entire trip, so keep an eye out on my Flickr and this set for more to come!

Hope you're having a great week!



1-3: Exterior shots of the Old Tampa Bay Hotel
4: An inkwell and pen at one (of several) writing desks in the Writing and Reading Room
5-6: A couple of gorgeous mirrors in the hallway
7: A bust
8: I thought the spelling of "Porto Rican" was interesting for this book.  The book was published in 1898!  I wonder how old this copy is...
9-10: A room showcasing various womens' hobbies
11: A page from the hotel guest registry.  The different handwriting was beautiful!
12: An old projector piece
13: One of the restored bedrooms
14: The music room
15: One of many statues.  I liked the silhouette (and she also looks like she's all "Shawty, that's my jam!")
16. An old camera and photo

Universal Adventures!

Sadly, it's almost the end of our Florida adventure but I wanted to share with you the most magical place: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! (and also Universal Studios)

I can honestly say that I had never been to Universal Studios until Monday but I've been wanting to go ever since the Harry Potter park opened up.  I always thought of Universal as the "Theme Park for Grown Ups" since Disney is such the go-to for kids, what with the princesses and all.  I'm not hating on Disney, in fact, I wish we could've made it to Babycakes at Downtown Disney but oh well.  Maybe next time...I really wanted to see how much Downtown Disney had changed since the last time I was there (1998).

Anyways - the view of Hogwarts was amazing and inside was even better!  I had so much fun riding the Dragon Challenge (we were the Chinese Fireball), which, I have NO idea how I was okay with it since roller coasters scare me now more than ever.  To be honest, what was scarier was leaving my purse in a locker that had a time limit and could be opened with my fingerprint.  That was definitely new to me and it made me a little uneasy the first few times but once I got the hang of it, it was quite convenient.  The only downside was that I was phone-less during our indoor excursion into Hogwarts to experience The Forbidden Journey and while checking out other places around the park.



Universal is FULL of simulators and I loved it!  I was able to experience the same stomach-flipping sensations of a roller coaster without actually being on one!  So much fun for a wuss like me!  I really enjoyed the Terminator 2 theater experience for 2 reasons: 1) Live-action, 3D fun theatrics and 2) Actors miming video of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Eddie Furlong!!  I was so not ready for video footage of my sweet, sweet 90s teen dream Eddie Furlong!  It was so much fun, I was front and center in the second row!  NERD ALERT.  For those of you who don't know, one of my all time favorite movies, besides Jurassic Park and Top Gun, is, you guessed it, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.  I don't know why but I love it.  Okay, I do know why but I'll spare you.



The walk to Springfield was AWESOME!  I felt like I was in The Simpsons game app!  Silly, I know, but it was so much fun seeing things I've been dying to see in real life since my childhood!  We stood outside of Moe's Tavern, Krusty Burger, Lard Lads and the Kwik-E-Mart!  It was amazing!  While standing in line for the Krustyland ride, we saw the Simpson's iconic living room+couch set up as a photo booth!  Too bad we forgot to take a photo there.  Oops!  But there was SO MUCH to see and do!

By far, one of my most favorite attractions was the Disaster Ride.  It was a hilarious interactive ride that cast audience members for a Disaster Movie that they played back for you on the subway car ride portion.  It was such a great experience because I was thinking of all the kids who had experienced it and thought to themselves that they want to make movies when they grow up.  Imagine that!

I hope everyone is having an awesome Thursday!

Florida Adventure!

Hello from sunny Florida!  The old man and I are taking a much-needed vacation to undo a lot of the stress we've encountered lately and so far, I think I need to try and relax a little harder...I may or may not have gotten wound up about the seagull in photo #4.  Why?  Because I thought: "Hey, why not stop at the ol' Whole Foods, get some lunch items and have a picnic on the beach?"  Okay, so far so good.  I got a delicious sandwich from the best Whole Foods since the one in Philly and we were on our merry way to the lovely Clearwater Beach.  Once there, we made camp and started our picnic when some uninvited friends came.  I would've fed them some of my bread but I know if I fed one, I'd have to feed them all.  I also ended up eating the entire sandwich instead of half, like I originally planned.  These seagulls would've totally pecked through our stuff to get to that sandwich!
I was able to calm down a little, though.  I guess I just need to remind myself that it's okay to relax!  :)

1.  Instax Mini from the GA/FL state line
2. This church is beautiful and I love the stained glass.  We have dubbed this church "Heavy Metal Church" and/or "Rock n' Roll Church" (but you have to sing it like an 80's Glam Metal singer when you say it!)
3. We found this former hermit crab home on the beach yesterday
4. This little seagull (and five more of his friends later on) was trying to get some of my sandwich!
5. The view from Pier 60 in Clearwater, FL
6. A boarded up house in St. Petersburg
7. I LOVE the "Greetings from" post cards and I'm so happy that I've been seeing that design as art around here!  Greetings from Pier 60!

Has your weekend started?  Do you have any fun plans?