Happy Birthday, Amy!

A birthday celebration in Maggie Valley, North Carolina

 We just got back from a fun and relaxing weekend in North Carolina with Mike and Amy. We planned this trip as a birthday celebration for Amy but the timing could not have worked out better considering their recent news. Since learning about Mike's acceptance to a school that will require him to be in Colorado for the next two years we were grateful for the time spent with them before they leave. The weekend was filled with fall activities to match the gorgeous fall weather. Although I would have been perfectly happy eating smores by the fireplace the entire weekend, my mother-in-law gave us great recommendations, including Barber's Orchard where we got the most delicious apple cider and apples. I even got to try apple cider doughnuts for the first time. Yum! Shopping on main street was hands down Charlie's favorite part of the trip because she got to pick out some treats from the dog bakery. Another first for me was our trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I was hoping to see more fall color in the trees than was present but still beautiful nonetheless. I was so excited to get to watch some elk grazing in the fields for awhile. I searched my hardest for a black bear but was unsuccessful. We ended our trip to the park with a fabulous sunset ; ) Most of all I am grateful for a great time with some of our best friends.

Mike and Amy we will miss you terribly but are very excited for you to go on this adventure. Happy birthday, Amy!

Keep you posted,

<3 L

Back to Bradenton

A Different Kind of Adventure

Up until now this blog has held the purpose of capturing and sharing the adventures Justin, Charlie, and I take to different places. I am thrilled that now begins a new purpose for this blog, capturing the adventures of becoming home owners! After years of promising Charlie we would get her a yard the time has finally come. We bought a house and are moving back to Bradenton-ish. I say ish because technically our address will be Parrish and technically we aren't moving for awhile. As of right now all we have is our lot, which Charlie has already marked as hers : )

 

 



I am so excited to share this news with you all and to begin this next chapter in our lives. As always I will keep you updated on the progress of the house and our adventures along the way.

Keep you posted,

<3 L

A Birthday Celebration in New York

New York City

 This Labor Day weekend I was in New York City for a girls trip to celebrate my moms birthday! Olivia, Aunt Annie, my mom, and I always have a great time traveling together and this was no different. It was my moms first trip to the city so I was excited to show her around. It was my first time in the city in warm weather, which I have to say is much more enjoyable than a January or February visit. Our hotel was perfectly located in Times Square which allowed for minimal stinky subway trips. We hit all the hot spots and managed to fit in some shopping as well : ) I think we ALL would agree that seeing Lion King was a highlight event. I actually just recently saw this show with Justin in January but I could see it a thousand times and never get tired of it. It was so incredible! Little Simba and Nala are so cute!! I am not sure that I could pick a favorite meal because they all were amazing. In New York that is pretty easy to do. We made sure to fit in Chinatown, pizza, and cheesecake from Juniors of course. I had such a great time with my family!

 

Happy birthday, mommy!

Keep you posted,

<3 L

Happy Birthday Charlie Travels

 Exactly one year from today I started this blog. My first post was about moving to California and I cannot believe everything that has happened since then! I started scrolling through all my old blog titles and thinking about the places Justin and I got to explore. We are so incredibly blessed to have experienced all that we did this past year. I honestly believe that if we had not traveled last year we would have never taken the time to do it. The adventures we had and the memories we made are irreplaceable. We saw some amazing places and met some great friends along the way. While we were away we definitely caught the travel bug and now that we are back to our "normal" lives it is harder to get away. I look forward to seeing what another year brings us and I know we will fit some travel in there somewhere :)

 

Keep you posted,

 

<3 L 

Back to School

Adventures of 2nd Grade!

 The past few weeks I have been working like crazy to get my classroom ready and am so appreciative that my mom and Justin helped me get it done. (You guys are the best!) Yesterday was orientation and I got to meet my students and families. Everyone seemed to share the same level of enthusiasm as I do about starting school on Monday which was great to hear. I missed teaching every single day last year and am so blessed to be back in the classroom. This year I am teaching second grade which is new for me. Teaching a new grade level means expanding my horizon, getting creative, learning from my students, and more. All are challenges I look forward to. Below are pictures from my beach themed classroom! My favorite part of my classroom this year has got to be the chalkboard table Justin made for me. : )

 

  

I wish all my fellow teachers a great year!

 

Keep you posted,

 

<3 L 

St. Augustine

A trip to Shane and Lindsey's

 After exploring many new places over the past year I realized that there are many places in Florida that I have never been. Key West was one of them, which we covered for our anniversary trip, and St. Augustine was another. We have been trying to find a time to visit Shane and Lindsey since we moved back to Florida and we finally got the chance to go last weekend. They were wonderful tour guides and showed us all the hot spots in town.

 Since St. Augustine is the oldest city in America mostly everything we saw was appropriately old as well. The first stop we made was to Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest fort in America. Following the fort was the oldest drug store and oldest (wooden) school house. Lindsey and I climbed the 219 steps all the way to the top of the light house for a gorgeous view of the water. We could also watch Justin and Shane playing ultimate disc from their too! Later that night Shane gave us his walking tour pub crawl of his favorite bars. It was a great time and thank you Shane and Lindsey for having us <3

 

 

 

Meanwhile, this weekend I started working on setting up my classroom for next year. I picked a beach theme and am please with how it is coming along so far. I will post before and after pictures as soon as I am finished!

 

Keep you posted,

 

<3 L 

 



Key West

One Year Anniversary

  I am not sure where this last year went but it has come and gone. Justin and I are officially not newlyweds anymore and hit our first milestone of one year of marriage!  We picked Key West as our destination to celebrate.  It was my first time but Justin has been before (including his stag party last year).  We stayed in a typical Key West style B&B called Azul.  Unfortunately for us we did not get the best weather while we were there, but fortunately for us we both love the rain and didn't mind.  After two cancelled snorkeling trips due to weather we finally got to go.  I think I have more pictures of the two of us under the water than I do coral and fish.. haha.  Oops!  Besides our snorkeling trip we did the usual Key West activities like the Hemingway House, Mallory Square Sunset Celebration, etc.  My favorite part of the trip, however had nothing to do with Key West activities.

 














At our wedding last year we placed letters written to each other in a wine box to be opened on our first anniversary.  Reading the letters was my favorite part of the trip.  We have been through so much since those first letters were written and it was amazing to re-read those thoughts we had just days before we said " I do".  We wrote new letters to be opened next year and this tradition is one that I am loving!  It will be nice to have these years down the road as they collect and we grow together. 

 

  Speaking of traditions, typically we would have eaten the top tier of our wedding cake that we had in the freezer since our wedding day.  With us traveling this past year (and the less than appetizing feelings I get when thinking about that tradition) we did not end up saving our wedding cake.  Instead we had the baker that made our wedding re-create the top tier of our cake to take with us on the trip.  In my opinion we made the right choice here.  Yum! Besides the little piece of cake that we feed each other on our wedding day we never sat down and ate our cake, so it was nice to be able to enjoy a fresh version of it on our trip.

It was a fantastic trip and I am looking forward to what this next year will bring us.

Keep you posted,

<3 L

Deep Sea Fishing

Port Canaveral

 Shane and Lindsey invited us to go deep sea fishing with some our friends this weekend in Port Canaveral.  It was a first for both Justin and I so we weren't sure what to expect.  The one thing I did not expect was to get sea sick. I never have problems on boats or flying but I did on Saturday.  Live and learn I guess! It was my intention to take lots of pictures but that did not happen.  I pretty much stayed in one spot all day and tried to pretend like I was just on a relaxing water bed. Luckily Justin took a few candids which is all we have from the trip. We were warned before getting on the boat at 8am that the day before had been the slowest day they ever had fishing wise. Our boat traveled 25 miles off shore before getting to our first stop.  It was here that Nick Bradley caught a shark! A little baby less than a year old who will never live a full life :( Justin also caught a Sea Bass but we had to through it back. I think that was all fish wise for our group. The crew was hilarious (including ones eight year old son who had a crush on Lindsey) and the guys liked the all you can drink beer too. After a full day of fishing we checked into our hotel that was right on the beach and headed back out for a night in Cocoa Beach. Thank you Shane and Lindsey for inviting us! Good friends, good memories <3

Our next adventure will be in Key West at the end of June!

Keep you posted,

<3 L

Home Sweet Home

Florida

 Seems crazy that my last post was about signs of Spring. When we left Connecticut about a month ago and it was still snowing! It feels SO GOOD to be back home in Florida and I am having no problem finding signs of Spring. We missed this place, our friends, and family tremendously. This past month has certainly been a busy one. Visiting with our friends and family was top priority when we got here, although we still have not seen everyone yet :( Justin, Charlie, and I have all turned another year older and had fun celebrating our May birthdays. We also have been working hard helping Matt and Steph move into their amazing new home!

 We took advantage of the long weekend from Memorial Day and headed north for a trip to Maggie Valley, North Carolina. My mother-in-law just bought a house up there and the view is spectacular. It was an adventure filled trip with white water rafting (pictures coming soon), hiking, and a trip to the Biltmore. If bets were placed prior to us going rafting, my money would be placed on me falling out of the boat. After watching the safety video (which scares you to death) I knew I would be the one to fall out. I was wrong! We all safely conquered the Nantahala River and had a blast doing it. I would say Charlie had the most fun hiking and loved playing in the water. Walking the gardens was my favorite part of our visit to the Biltmore. I can only imagine how gorgeous they decorate it at Christmas time.

I will be spending my summer getting ready for the upcoming school year. I am thrilled to finally be going back into the classroom! I am also on my last few classes for my masters degree which will be my focus as well. I might fit a few beach days in here and there too :)

Keep you posted,

<3 L

Cherry Blossoms & Signs of Spring

Cherry Blossom Festival

  This week Justin and I went to Washington D.C. in hopes of seeing signs of Spring in their famous Cherry Blossom Festival.  The blossoms were a gift from the Japanese and line the entire tidal basin.  I had been so looking forward to this (especially after our trip to Niagara Falls was unexpectedly cancelled) and could picture in my mind how gorgeous they would look reflecting on the water.  When we got there it was a little disappointing to see that because of the unusually cold winter only a few of the trees actually blossomed.  Gorgeous they were, but the dramatic effect of seeing them surrounding the entire tidal basin was absent. 

  The rest of our time there was anything but disappointing.  I LOVED D.C.!  I had been once before on a school field trip but never appreciated all the history and beauty it has to offer.  We made all the usual stops a tourist does including Arlington cemetery, the monuments, museums, and Georgetown Cupcakes.  We did not have one bad meal while we were there and got a few signs of spring after all.

 

 

We won't have a hard time finding signs of Spring for much longer because we leave for Florida on Saturday!  Both of us are looking forward to coming home, we miss you all dearly.

Keep you posted,

<3 L

Sandy Hook Run for the Families

Hartford, CT

  Saturday morning Justin and I got up bright and early to be at the Sandy Hook 5K in Hartford.  The race did not start until 10:30 that morning but we got there at 7 to get ahead of the line for bib pick up.  They had to change the location of the event three times in order to accommodate the large amount of people that wanted to participate.  They closed downtown Hartford for the race and had to close registration after 15,000 people signed up, with 100% of the profits going to the families.  It was incredible to be apart of and very emotional.  The Sandy Hook children's choir was there singing songs for their friends that passed.  I just kept thinking how incredible the turn out must have made the families of Sandy Hook feel to know the community around them is there for support.  Not only were people from Connecticut there but people came from states all over as well.  It was freezing outside and snowing throughout the entire race and to see people still sharing words of encouragement was amazing.  I was so proud to be apart of this day!

  

We also went to Boston this weekend to visit with my bestie Cara who goes to law school there. I love Boston but definitely prefer to visit when it is warmer outside.  The weekend was spent with good conversation and great food!

 

Keep you posted,

<3 L

Fantasyland

  After an extremely long trip to get back to CT, due to bad weather in Atlanta, I can share with you some pictures from my trip to Florida.

   I finally made it to see Disney's new Fantasyland during a girls trip for my aunt Annie's birthday!  We had the best time and as expected they did a fantastic job with the area.  This added part of Magic Kingdom is not done yet but I have been waiting so long to see what they have created so far.  We got extremely lucky to eat at the new Be Our Guest restaurant in Belle's castle.  They have three different rooms to eat in and one snows!  The food is of course french since so is Belle and was delicious.  My favorite part was the dessert.  Yum!

  During this girls trip we also saw Les Miserables and did a 5K to benefit ovarian cancer.  I have so missed the Florida weather and beaches terribly and loved spending some time enjoying it with my family!  Now when can I go back?

Keep you posted,

<3 L  

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Springfield, MA

  Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite authors of all time and I normally dedicate at least a week in my classroom to celebrating his birthday.  Since I am not teaching this year, Justin and I spent his birthday in his hometown of Springfield, MA.  His step-daughter created a memorial park with sculptures of some of his work and lucky for us it was close by.  Happy birthday Dr. Seuss!

 

 

"Today you are You, that is truer than true.
There is no one alive that is Youer than You."
Dr. Seuss

Keep you posted,

<3 L

Valentine's Day in Essex

  If you asked me what the best small town in America was, I would say Alpena, MI. This is because of the memories I have there, though, not because of its charm. Essex, CT was named the best small town in America for various reasons but charm is at the top of the list. This town was established in the 1600's and while today it is a sleepy seaport town, it has a history filled past. Essex is one of the few towns in America that has been attacked by another country. During the war of 1812 the British took over to famous Griswold Inn. The "Gris" restaurant is what brought us to the town and is the oldest running tavern in America. In its history it has only been owned by six different families. Crazy!! Before stopping to eat lunch there we strolled the charming main street spending our time browsing in and out of their unique shops. You could easily see the towns love for water by the nautical decor on the houses and in the shops.

                    

 Keep you posted,

Extra <3 L

Winter Storm Nemo

Nemo.. what a terrible name for a blizzard!  Well Justin and I survived it regardless.  Almost 24 hours of straight snowfall later we are officially snowed in.  Our car has about 10 feet of snow surrounding it as well as everyone else who lives here.  Despite our neighbors' best efforts of digging their cars out with shovels, dust pans, and anything else they could find we are all still here.  The kids here are making great progress on making an igloo!  The snow plow was supposed to have it cleared by noon but no one expected CT to get as much snow as we did.  The snow passed Charlie hours ago and is now up to Justin's waist.  That is saying a lot for a 6'4'' man.  With over 600,000 people without power we are very lucky to still have ours.  Several games of Monopoly, cups of coffee and tea later we have the memories of "The Blizzard of 2013".  We now know exactly what it is like living inside a snow globe.   

 

Keep you posted,

<3 L