antiquing isn't complete without a cupcake

I mentioned a few posts back that my dad built me a new desk for my room. Well, a desk isn't complete without a chair. I have been using a vintage milking stool that came with our house. Let's just say it isn't the best thing to sit at a desk on. It kind of lacks the back support that I would like to have, a.k.a. it has none to speak of!

The town I live in has bunches and bunches of wonderful antique stores. St. Augustine, FL, you may have heard of it. We're kind of famous and all, we are the nation's oldest city after all. You've at least seen the old fort on your fifth grade field trip, especially if you went to elementary school in Florida. Me and my wonderful mommy went out on a mission. Operation: find Savannah a desk chair. What do you know but the very first store we step into has the perfect chair! What a coinkydink! And what a price, no overpriced antiques here! And bonus, they had the cutest night stand you've ever seen in your life, guaranteed! Ch-ch-check 'em out!

And no antiquing mission is complete without a homemade cupcake!

second family

In my last post I mentioned my second mom Mari-jane. She is one of my mom's oldest friends from high school and I have known her my entire life. She is an amazing woman who does it all for everybody. She makes delicious meals, blogs, is a mother of three, who adopted her nephew's son and then took in her daughter's two children after she passed away. She will also take in any animal that needs help. She is superwoman!

On Christmas Eve we went over to her house and she made us a most scrumptious meal of cranberry- turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, cheesy rice and broccoli, and southern style green beans. I have loved her cooking my entire life. She makes a stellar green bean casserole and a to-die-for caesar salad. I always look forward to meals at her house, you will not be going home hungry!

I just had to share with you all who she is and what she does. She rarely gets the recognition she deserves.

The spread

Tristan, one of her daughter's two kids.

Alexa, her daughter's other child

Her son, Hunter

Her great dane, Calypso

Calypso's partner in crime, Callie-Hanna

Alexa doesn't appreciate the paprazzi

Since when....

did Christmas become a week long activity?!?! I guess it comes with age. But seriously, it lasted all week!! 


On Monday my Uncle and his girlfriend came to town to stay until Wednesday. On Tuesday I worked all day for my mom and did some Christmas shopping. Wednesday was spent between work and home. I went to work in the morning to get payroll out then ran back home to do Christmas with my Uncle and his girlfriend. I then ran back to work to finish before the office had the annual Christmas lunch. Back to work after lunch followed by more Christmas shopping. The relatives headed out Thursday, Christmas Eve, morning. We did our presents on Thursday morning because my dad had to work all day Christmas Day. 


Side note: my presents were probably the most amazing ever! Besides the lovely, wonderful, perfect trip to NYC, my parents also got me a new lens for my new baby (my camera), and a record player! I've been wanting one for a while and it was a complete surprise. I didn't realize that they took me seriously! They also got me the fully re-mastered Beatles album from the Cirque du Soleil show Love. Now I have to start collecting albums! 


Back to our regularly schedule programming...


On Christmas Eve afternoon we went over to the house of my mom's most amazing friend from way back when, Mari-jane. She made us Christmas lunch. And boy, does she ever make the most delicious food! I'm not joking, she is wonderful and should probably have her own show! Not to mention her kids are terrific and the cutest things ever! She is really like my second mom, I love her and love being around her. 


Christmas Day was spent with my mom at the movies. It was rainy all day and my dad was working so it was the perfect day to spend 6 hrs. at the movie theater. We did a double feature. Sherlock Holmes and It's Complicated. Who knew the movie theater would be so crowded on Christmas Day. It appeared that the entire town was at the movies. But it is St. Augustine, there isn't much else to do. It's either the movies or the bowling alley. 


It's Complicated was hilarious, I almost choked I was laughing so hard! Sherlock Holmes was great. Beisdes,  who doesn't want to stare at Jude Law for 2 hours? I know I didn't mind it! 


Back to real life after Christmas and the job hunt continues.....

the holidays

It's the eve of Christmas eve and I find myself not so excited about the holidays this year.

For one, my Dad has to work on Christmas Day. He is a firefighter/paramedic and he works 24 hrs. on and 48hrs. off. It just so happens that this year his 24 hrs. on is on Christmas. His schedule hasn't worked out like that in about 6 years, and I don't like it!

I remember Christmas morning when I was a kid. I would always wake up insanely early and wait for him to get home from his shift at the firehouse. He usually got home around 9am so my mom had to placate me with a gift to open. It was never a good one, or the really big one that I was dying to open, but it was something to keep me from bouncing off the walls. But this year we are doing Christmas on Christmas Eve morning....ugh! It's just not the same. I've never understood the why some people open all their presents on Christmas eve. What do you do on Christmas day?

Me and my mom have come up with a plan to spend the entirety of Christmas day at the movies. We're going to do a double, possibly a triple, feature. We want to see It's Complicated, the new one with Meryl Streep, and Sherlock Holmes, with Jude Law (yum!!). We might also see Up In The Air, it's gotten such amazing reviews, and who doesn't want to stare at George Clooney for 2 hours.

On a side note I am typing this while watching Footloose. And guess what! They are at the part where Kevin Bacon tries to teach his friend to dance.....the BEST part! Oh man was that kid rhythmically challenged! Let's hear it for the boy! Let's give the boy a hand! I digress...

On a second side note...I am sitting at my brand new homemade desk! When I moved back from school I really wanted a place to put my laptop. I had a desk in my room at school and I lack that piece of furniture in my room at home. I just recently re-designed my room and I was looking for just the perfect desk. Have you ever tried to find a cute, rather well priced, desk? If you have you know it's kind of a difficult job. They were all sooooo expensive! I blame it on my good taste. I always pick out the most expensive piece of jewelry in the store! My dad saw that I couldn't find what I wanted so he suggested he build me a desk. I wasn't sure that it would come out the way I wanted but he assured me that it would be perfect. We made the trek to Home Depot and got all the pieces and parts. It's really cute! All that is left to do is sand it an paint it. I'll post pictures as soon as it's done! I already love it!

last day in NYC

I haven't gotten to this sooner...I am a bad blogger. We got back on Friday afternoon and I was soooooo tired! And today was sooooooo busy!

Our last day in NYC took place in lower Manhattan, mostly.

Me and my dad got up early to find a bridge in Central Park. You want the story behind this don't you? I knew you would.  A little bit ago, when we booked our trip, I found this great picture of a bridge in Central Park and I put it as my desktop on my computer.

My dad was determined to find that bridge for me so that I could take pictures of it. So on Thursday we got up early and went to Central Park before humanity descended. He did some research the day before on his handy dandy iPhone and figured out it was called the Gapstow Bridge. Then he found a map of the park that had all the bridges on it. So he found the cross streets for it and we made a plan. We found the bridge, without snow :( and I got to take pictures with my oh-so-wonderful camera.

When we got back to the hotel we headed out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was absolutely freezing but a beautiful day for sightseeing. Not a cloud in the sky.

And, since we were already in Lower Manhattan, at Battery Park, we took advantage and visited Trinity Church and Ground Zero. I have never been inside Trinity Church, it was absolutely beautiful.

They have a new memorial museum at Ground Zero. It is very well done and heart breaking. The room that got me was the one filled with pictures of all those that lost their lives. Floor to ceiling, the walls were covered in their pictures. I couldn't stay in the room, I was about to start crying my eyes out.

On Friday we got up bright and early to fly out. I didn't want to go. Usually by the end of vacations I am ready to go home, no matter how great the city was. But not New York, I absolutely love NYC and could have stayed there the rest of my life. I can't wait to go back!

Imagine all the people...

Second day in NYC.....another great one. Although, no celebrities today.

We woke up and went straight to the Empire State Building. We went all the way to the 102nd floor! the view was absolutely amazing!!

After that we headed over to Central Park West and went to the Natural History Museum. Lions and tigers and bears oh my! And Dinosaurs too! And a life size blue whale too!!!

The Great Hall

For my kids...we did a two week unit on dinosaurs

A life size blue whale!!!

On our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art we walked through Central Park and paid a visit to Strawberry Fields.

The park was beautiful even though there were no leaves on the trees. We walked up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the amazingness that it is! I could have stayed in there for the rest of the day and been perfectly happy! They have everything....

Temples from Egypt

Period Rooms in the American Wing

And of course all the beautiful artwork you can handle!

My most favorite piece of artwork ever...Degas' Little Dancer of Fourteen

They had three rooms devoted to Degas...even some of his unfinished sketches!

Van Gogh

Monet - Parliament Buildings

I wandered around for a while looking at all the beautiful art but alas, it was time to go.

We took the subway down to Soho and stopped at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC. Tt was great! They gave you little audio guides that automatically play music depending on what you were looking at. Looking at Elvis' guitar, you heard Elvis. Looking at AC/DC school boy uniforms, you heard AC/DC. They had so many things, ranging from Buddy Holly to Grandmaster Flash!

They also had a great John Lennon exhibit. The exhibit was very well done and very personal. Many of the items in the exhibit were on loan from Yoko Ono. They had the iconic New York City t-shirt and his trademark army surplus jacket. They also had a section devoted to his fight against immigration, including his green card. They had videos playing that highlighted his relationship with Yoko and his son, their activist efforts, and their art films. They also had personal letters and hand written lyric sheets. The most moving part of the exhibit was a brown paper bag. In this bag, marked "patient's belongings", were the clothes that John Lennon was wearing the day he was shot. Yoko still owns them and has not taken them out of the bag. Yoko also still owns the bloody glasses John was wearing the day he was murdered. She has not cleaned them, 29 years later. Those glasses spent the days after his murder sitting on a table in their apartment at The Dakota. Yoko used a picture of them for an anti-gun poster.

The coolest thing in the exhibit was The Telephone for Peace. It was a white rotary telephone mounted to the wall. The sign next to the phone read, "When the phone rings, answer it. It is Yoko Ono. Yes, it really is Yoko." Yoko installed this modern art in the exhibit and she actually does call it. The employee there said that she calls once a week and she hasn't called yet this week. How awesome is that!!!

We were all tuckered out after all this sightseeing so we headed back to the hotel and their amazing beds, stopping for dinner at a local diner on the way.

Tomorrow I'm up bright and early so I can go up to Central Park and get pictures before the crowds descend. We also plan on seeing The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Ground Zero tomorrow. Good night all, sleep tight.

what more could a girl ask for?

This morning I woke up at the butt crack of dawn [3am!!!!] to get on a flight to got to NYC!!! The early morning can be forgiven because of the destination.

After a long morning of flying we finally arrived...picture happy Savannah at this point!!!

We got to our hotel, The Sofitel. It is probably the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in and we have our own little mini suite which is awesome. But the best thing about the room are these beds.

These are the most comfortable beds known to man. And I should know, I'm blogging from mine right now! As my cousin Jessica put it, its like sleeping on a marshmallow!

We ventured out for lunch and then headed over to Rockefeller Center. The tree was all lit up and it was gorgeous! I got to play with my new camera a bit and I fell even more in love with it!

We decided to go and take the NBC Studio Tour. My parents and I had taken it before but my cousin has never been to New York. It's really neat to see all the behind the scene things. But, just wait for this story! As the tour was winding down our tour guides said that there was an announcement to make. A college-aged girl comes into the room and asks us if we want to watch Jimmy Fallon practice his monologue for the show tonight. He would be basically testing jokes out on our group to see if people would like them. Of course we said yes!!!! So about 30 minutes of waiting later...we went into the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon studio!! And there he was...Jimmy Fallon himself! I am a huge fan and there he was, right in front of me! He talked to us for a little bit and tried about 25 jokes, which were all hilarious. It was such a great surprise! It made our whole day! Only in NYC can that happen to you!

After the studio tour we caught a quick bite and then hopped on a Holiday Lights Night Tour on one of those red double decker buses. The city is beautiful at night, especially at this time of year!

Time Warner Center...Columbus Circle

Christ Church on Park Ave.

Cartier....so cute!!!

Rockefeller Center

Empire State Building....all lit up for Hannukah

 The theme for Macy's windows this year is Miracle on 34th Street

So, what have we learned from this post: all a girl needs is a comfy bed, a beautiful city, and an amazing day to be on top of the world!!

catching up

Hello all you lovely people out there!

Sorry I have been gone, but I GRADUATED!!!! I am no longer a soon-to-be college graduate. But with that comes the realization that I can no longer write "student" as my employment. I now have to write "un-emplyed". What a rude awakening that is! I don't have the excuse for mooching off my parents!

We won't worry about that though, at least not now. On Friday my parents and I made the long drive to Tallahassee and met up with my grandmother, her partner, my mom's best friend (my second mom), and her sister. On Saturday I walked across the stage with a civic center full of my closest friends. I had no idea how boring a college graduation could be. The speaker was alright but my college was the second to last one to go on stage. The girl next to me read about half her book! But going across the stage was the best feeling ever!

[It was super rainy outside so we used the hotel lobby as our backdrop.]

[So ready to stop taking pictures!]

That night we had a great dinner at Marie Livingston's Steak House.  Chicken Fettucini Alfredo...yummm!!! At dinner my parents surprised me with this little beauty....I am of course in love with it!

It was a great weekend! Now, onto NYC on Tuesday!!!