weekend skinny.

A weekend off with nothing to do? What's a girl... who does not have sitting still in her genetic make-up... to do?

How matchingly adorably cute are my roommates?!
Meg, Dave and I went for drinks Friday night at a saloon within walking distance from our house. Not expecting too much completely judging this waterhole by its outward appearance, you can imagine my delight when there was a {Scrabble!!} board on our booth's table!

Scrabble after Connect4 after Chutes & Ladder after Trouble! game later, RedDog is hands down my favourite bar in S. Tampa!

Saturday after a little thrifting and Chipolte with the roomz, I turned a lovely bunch of tuile in to an exciting gift for a sweet baby girl that will be arriving in August. Then I took a long hot bath, ate my weight in cookie dough and played Yahtzee via Skype with Kara in true wild-Saturday-night fashion!

Sunday...sweet Sunday... was my favourite day! Miss Kate and her lovely mama, Rhonda came down to the Lowry Park Zoo and we spent all afternoon catching up and giggling and looking at all the fantastic animals!

After the zoo, I sadly said good-bye and went for my long run Sunday. My mind has been running a mile a minute recently and my body felt the need to catch up with it last night! Coupled with my new Mizunos, Usher Pandora station and perfect, humidity-free weather at sunset I ran for forever and made a lot of little discoveries along the way...

Not just these awesome stingrays that followed me along the bayshore but I discovered the cure for my abhorrence to all things Manitoba and I am super excited to come home for an entire 10 days this summer! Let go, much? =)

cinco de drinko & leopard print.

Cinco de Drinko


MegDave live in a really awesome area filled with young professionals, Spanish culture and a lot of great bars/restaurants/happy hours! Last Thursday was Cinco de Mayo and since we both had the night off, Megan & I decided to channel our inner-Mexican and celebrated the 5th of May out in SoHo with the rest of the twenty-somethings of South Tampa!

The beginning of the night did not look promising as I used a beer and sauce-seege to extract the swelling from my eyes while getting ready & the bouncer of the first bar asking "Are you gonna be alright?" but I was surrounded by good company and when Whipped Cream Flavored Vodka + Red Bull just so happened to be the drink special at Cheap!... I grew wings alright & the night turned out to be fabulously fun... and apparently, my camera captured the festivities exactly like I remember? it! Ole!

something borrowed.

(these photos were taken on my phone)

Between weddings, working night shift, and me perpetually boarding a plane Megan & I have hardly had time to hang out in the three months I've lived with her in Tampa! A super short 3 weeks left, Meg & I are optimizing our last days as real roommates (although we'll always be roomies4life) by having little date nights just the two of us before I leave at the end of the month!

Last night, we went to the Cinebistro for drinks, unlimited popcorn & to see the girliest chick flick out right now: Something Borrowed. I read this book sophomore year of college and was a tad bit excited that they made it a movie!

The theatre was soo swirly with hardwood floors, leather chairs and a full bar/menu complete with wait staff to serve it to you! =) Watermelon mojito? Yes, please!

Something Borrowed was super cute and followed the book so well... I can't wait for Something Blue!

And if I made a playlist after watching this movie, it would include the entire soundtrack starting with 1. Natasha Beddingfield - A Little Too Much ... because everybody hurts a little too much when they love and risk it all but I'd rather love just a little too much than not at all! =)

nuts & bolts; mostly nuts.

Megan & I went to the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL playoff game tonight. We live an entire four miles from the St Pete Times Forum and tickets were only $20 so we would have been nuts if we didn't go! =) It was very exciting cheering on the Bolts (who are now 3-0 against the Washington Capitols in case anyone who reads my blog cares about hockey)... We made it in time to see the puck drop, I consumed churros & drank beer by the 24-ounces, no real fights broke out (thank goodness!), Megan ate pretzels & sipped cap'n + coke, AND the Bolts won... so we really couldn't ask for a better Tuesday night!

in case you were wondering where I have bean ...

This blogger has bean been on a fabulous vacation in the Windy City (have you bean been following the news?? Windy it was!) but I'm back (in Tennessee +) on my blog!!! =) It's 1:35 in the am and I've bean been singing Christmas carols for the last eight hours through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, snow, hail, icy roads, etc. I'm excited for all the fun pictures I took the last 7 days and the 5 (and counting!) favorite things I have to post but for now, I am going to sneak downstairs and get a snack (I thought I saw Christmas Crack on the counter!!) and then try (operative word: try!) to get some sleep... but here's a little preview of where I've bean been! (That will never get old to me!)  =)

***B.T.W. - Don't be deceived by the apparent blue skies and sunshine in these photogs ... it's about 10 degrees + I couldn't feel any of my phalanges at this point!... but they do make a pretty awesome backdrop!*** 

happy 25th, meggie weggie!!

Today is Meg's 25th Birthday and in three days I will get to celebrate with her in Gainesville! =)

One of my fondest memory with Meg was when Carly + I met her in Scottsdale for a fabulous spur-of-the-moment weekend trip! I never posted pictures from our night out together because I drank waaay too much Sangria before we even got to the bar + am super sweaty/double-chinned/bloodshot eyed in every picture.... not the most flattering pictures but so much fun!!!!

I'm assuming we'll take tons of photos just like these ones this weekend when the Hussies of 2708 (the very sweet nickname our college neighbors gave the four of us!) reunite in our old stomping grounds! =)

I just love David!!

I'm not sure if I have ever blogged about Megan and her boyfriend, David. They met around New Years senior year of college and just celebrated their two year anniversary! At the beginning of this year, they moved to St. Pete together; Megan furthering her career in the hotel industry with Hyatt. David just found out that he was accepted in to the University of South Florida's Master's Architecture Program and because anything important that happens in my life and the lives of the VIPS around me has to be blogmented.... congratulations, David!!! And... because I can't help myself from (usually unknowingly) declaring my love for David in any conversation he might be mentioned in, it has to be said that this is one more reason that "I just love David!"

megan, the intern.

On our way down through California, Grams and I stopped in San Francisco to visit Megan, who was finishing her final segment of her Event Management Major - an internship with Rita Bareles Production. She chose to intern in SanFran after vacationing there a couple of summers ago and completely falling in love with the city! She works in a sweet warehouse and was even given this awesome desk to organize her events at. She became quite the local, navigating the Barte with no apprehensions and joining a cheerleading team that introduced her to a network of people, ones I like to call "No on Prop8-ers". She planned several fabulous events including a 3/4 of a million dollar budget wedding in a vineyard in Napa Valley and a 60th birthday party in which all the attendants received a bobble head of the birthday boy! She finished up her last week and is now back in Florida where she graduates in December. Congratulations!! I'm so proud of you, Megan! 

ach liebe

Because I have been retired for almost a month and half now in a foreign country with limited access to communication, I am excited that my absence has inspired all the people (that I used to blog about) that I wish I could have had in my everday life for forever to start a blog of their own. Carly's been unloyally posting on her blog (carlyhallam.blogspot.com) since graduation but Megan has just relocated to San Francisco (pictured here with the man of every girls' dreams) and is documenting it all on Ach Liebe (meganduby.blogspot.com). I'm so proud of you, not just of your blog, but also of your amazing internship in Cali and for finding a way to be within driving hours of me, your eternal roommate.

Cosseted Critter Sitter

Over the weekend, "Aunt Duby" volunteered to pet sit for an eight-week-old chihuahua/cocker spaniel mix named Carmello. What I don't think "Aunt Duby" was prepared for (or at least I wasn't) was the 10 pound pee pad bag and 2 page letter (complete with diagram) that accompanied the pitiable puppy. Inside the sack was canine cologne, bad breath buster bones, 4 different outfits (including one unsightly sweater and a Desperado Halloween costume) and this schematic of exactly how Carmello likes his room to be laid out: bed - folded blanket - food - potty training. Astericked was the annotation that he likes to watch infomercials while he eats in bed, of course. For the game on Saturday (in which the Gators beat Kentucky!) "Aunt Duby" further extended Carmello's wardrobe by sewing him this little UF shirt so he wouldn't be naked (obviously a fur coat alone would not suffice for this cosseted critter).

Recipe for a Perfect Birthday!

One perfectly sewn dress + lots of perfect presents + one delicious sushi dinner + an 18-cupcake dress-shaped perfectly iced cake + perfect black and white "Young Frankenstein" party + one immaculate guest list = the recipe for the perfect birthday! Happy 22nd birthday, Meggie Weggie!!

Love & Be Loved

Megan, my roommate, spent the last two weeks with her boyfriend in Virginia where he is stationed in the Coastguard. She returned to Gainesville today with this momento on her foot... Love & Be Loved