And Then We Went to Florida

The reason for my auntie first in this post is because we had been planning all year to visit our good friends and old neighbors, Matt and Jenn, in their new home in Sarasota, Florida! Jenn was turning 30 a few weeks ago so it was definitely reason to celebrate!

We're spoiled to have friends that live in such vacation-esque places. And spoiled to have such great friends. Our whole little group from West Chester was able to make it to FL for a fun little reunion weekend. Four days of friends, beach, sun and cocktails is always welcome in my book.

The boys went snorkeling, the girls had some much-needed girly time, Jenn threw one heck of a party (as always), we visited the aquraium and saw the biggest giant squid I've ever seen, got attacked by fish in the ocean, and laughed all weekend long.

We had so much fun, I'll leave the rest to the pictures (although they don't do the trip justice)...

The girls catching up while the boys are away

Coming in from a long day of snorkeling!
Guess who has burnt feet from walking on hot pavement...

How cute is he!!

Meliss!

I love how colorful this picture is!

The boys might have been forced into this one, but it turned out so good!

This took 6 tries, but turned out beautious!

And then there was a boat with speakers louder than my car. I kind of felt like we were partying with Jay-Z; except Jay-Z wasn't there...

They all left me to the man-eating fish!! I wish I was kidding, the fish in Florida I'm pretty sure are on crack; they jump out of the water at you and bite at your legs...It's so weird!

The girls ending the last day on a great note.

 

Adios, Florida!

NONNAROO 2012

Bonnaroo, as most of you know, is a crazy 3-day music festival held every year in Tennessee. Think Woodstock-ish.

Well I don't know if you're aware, but this girl's getting old and camping, drinking and baking in the sun for 4 days straight, sans shower (at the tune of $350+) is not so much my thing anymore.

Enter 'Non'naroo.

A genious idea our sweet friends Ryan and Mariah thought of to enjoy Bonnaroo from the comfort of their backyard with access to bathrooms, beds and showers. Since Bonnaroo is live-streamed on YouTube, our wonderful hosts set up a big projector screen in the backyard so we could watch like we were at the real thing.

So this past weekend Chubbs and I made the 8-hour trip down to Greensboro, NC for Nonnaroo 2012:

He LOVES the car, but after eight hours was about ready to get out...

Dispatch

Some of the group

The whole group watching the big screen.

Cute little family :)

You can't do this at Bonnaroo!

The wonderful hosts - getting married this time next year!

It's not a music festival without bandanas...

Birthday fireworks at midnight

And birthday cookies with a serenade of Happy Birthday

What a cutie.

And a 6-shot to wrap up the trip...

WEEKEND

The weekend; the much-needed weekend. But goodbyes are starting, and that's tough.

We had a wonderful birthday/goodbye dinner at Pietros on Friday night. Complete with a champgane toast...(I have some awesome friends in my life!)

The girls
(Melissa, Heather, and Tiff)

We had a sleepover after dinner because we were waking up bright and early for the 92.5 XTU Anniversary Show.

I was suuuuuuper excited about this. Probably a little too excited. It's just a big free concert that the local country station puts on every year, but you have to win tickets and I've never won. Luckily, my last year in philly, Melissa won four tickets and I got to go!! So we got there early, had time to tailgate and hangout, then enjoyed the live music. My personal favorite? Chris Young. Oh yeah, he's good. We left before Miranda (the headliner), but that was fine by me, I didn't want to ruin the Chris-Young-goodness that played in my head on the ride home.

The girls at our cute little tailgate spot.

Our friends, AJ and Benny.





In honor of my Austinites...live music and PBR...nothin' like it.

Sunday it was back to packing all day. Sad stuff after such a great weekend. But it's getting down to the wire and I have to finish! Nine days and counting :)

LATELY...(via iPhone)

The garden has been out of control. It's slowing down now that it's dropping to the 40's at night, but I successfully made it through the summer without having to buy tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos, green peppers or basil.

I got a new car!
The Ford is still slowly giving out on me, by giving out on me I mean blowing through catalytic converters like they're cheap or something. After the third catalytic converter in 18 months failed, I decided it's time to invest in a new every-day car. The MINI! It's wonderful, like a go-kart for adults, and oh-so-cute. The Ford is still around, but strictly for hauling and camping because it sadly can't handle too much more. 



Best part? Although he wasn't able to make it to the test drive, Chubbs still fits!

 

Mica, being Mica.

Night out in Philadelphia for Heather's birthday! We hardly ever make it all the way into the city anymore because West Chester has so much going on, so it's nice to have an excuse to go every once in a while.

A visit with the almost-two-year-old (woah!) Nephew, Ryan. He is so much fun; we had a blast going to the zoo, playing in the founatin, getting ice cream, going swimming and just being silly together. He's such a cutie. 

Remebering 9.11

Fall is (un)officially here (I think 3 more days and it'll be official...)! But more importantly this also means my favorite beer, Oktoberfest, is available in our local brewery. The weather was beautiful so Pete and I checked out the Restaurant Festival in town on Sunday; the crowds were suffocating so we escaped into Iron Hill Brewery for a pint of Oktoberfest and a seasonal Sampler. The perfect Fall-ish Sunday afternoon :)

QUICK TRIP TO AUSTIN

Me and Ms. Matthews

It was a short trip, and for work, but just long enough for a little drive around town, a satisfying fill of mexican food (I'm pretty sure I ate it for every single meal possible) and a friday happy hour with Allison, George and Lindsay just like old times. Yes, I did actually work too, but hey, work hard play hard, right??

YEAH MON, IRIE!

At the beginning of April just as the Winter cold was getting harder and harder to handle, I had the wonderful opportunity to watch my friends (and old neighbors), Matt & Jenn, tie the knot in JAMAICA!! I've never been there before let alone a hotel like the one we stayed in, so I was quite impressed to say the least.


Riding through town from the airport to the resort definitely brought back some pretty vivid memories of the DR. Seeing the young students walking home from school, I desperately wanted to hang out with them, but we made it to the hotel and with a full schedule (of snorkeling, kayaking and scuba) and wonderful company to hang out with, we enjoyed being around friends and didn't make it into town. Maybe next time! :)


The wedding was beautiful, Weather was beautiful and we learned our new favorite word, Irie!

As soon as we stepped off the plane...I can get used to that!

 

 The Groom!

And the beautiful Bride!

Happy couple

 Yours Truly :)

So sad to leave!

WOAH BABY

This little thing called LIFE has been keeping me quite busy; and just like that, before I know it - BOOM - it's almost March and warm outside! Yikes. Slow down life. You've been good to me, but you're moving a bit too fast.


Freinds, get ready for a Whirlwind of the past month and a half...


I survived THE CRUISE and it was amazing; I absolutely loved it...Music, Sun, Friends, Food and Icy Cold Beverages; what's not to love??

Sam Thacker

NEEDTOBREATHE

Top of the ship at night

Costa Maya, Mexico (and our ship in the background)

Kara x2 soaking up some mexican rays.

Philly friend,Todd on 'Glam Rock' night

New friends!

Philly friend Matt, playing the Serenity Deck at sunrise...I was unfortunately asleep for this. Me and staying up until sunrise don't mix well.

Green River Ordinance in the Candlelight Lounge

 Yes, on the ship!

Breakfast doesn't get much better than this!

After the cruise, January pretty much went by in a blur...Between work life, social life, family life, and dating life (that's right, I said dating life...!!!!...but don't get too excited, those details are strictly confidential) the days just flew by and clearly the good old blog here took a back seat.


After what felt like a bagillion days in a row of below freezing temperatures and snow that wouldn't stop falling and still refuses to melt, February finally came. And so far has been a great month. The cold is definitely getting old, but I'm keeping my spirits up with thoughts of warmth and some much-needed sweat sessions at the gym (very necessary when you're stuck indoors for months at a time!)


I was able to make a short trip to New Orleans in the beginning of the month. Although it was for work, we were excited to get out and explore the streets at night. I can't believe I've never been there before, the city has such a neat vibe. I was hoping for warm weather, but we didn't let the 30 degree temps phase us; we had a great time. And I got to do the one thing I was looking forward to the whole trip, walk in the streets with an open beer...where else can you order a beer to go?!

Don't mind the beads; I got them legitimately with jacket on and all :)

Second best part of the trip? The layover in Dallas when I had enough time for lunch at Pappasitos to satisfy my constant Mexican food craving.

And most recently, I got to spend a whole evening with the cutest niece ever. It's been a while since we had one-on-one time and as usual we had so much fun - We colored valentines, made mini pizzas together, Mac served me 'coffee' from her new Little Tykes Kitchen, SHE read ME all her books , she showed me how ahe knows all of her letters and numbers, played in the bubble bath and most importantly giggled ALOT at each other. The girl is just so funny, she makes me crack up! And everytime I laugh she starts laughing and tells me I'm silly: "Kia, you silly!"

Cheeeeeeese. (Froggy needed a tissue...)

There you have it...the time you've missed (as a blog reader) in a nutshell...the girl is back! Love you all. Thanks to everyone who's getting my butt into gear and back on the blog train (not to name any names ::cough cough:: Heather, ::cough cough:: The Mom, ::cough cough:: Shannon and Steph).