Holiday Happenings.

A few days before Christmas, Paul and I ventured up to St. Augustine to grab coffee from our favorite little place-- Crucial Coffee Cafe. It was decorated very sweetly, with lots of white lights and hanging ornaments. I was too busy trying to juggle two drinks and keep warm to take a photo of the outside, unfortunately. It was beautiful! As a consolation, below is a photo of Crucial Coffee I took on a warmer day.
It began as a blacksmith's shop hundreds of years ago, or so I've been told by the employees. Either way, it's lovely.
The following evening, we finally made it to Palm Coast's Fantasy Lights, out at the Town Center. It was freezing and windy, but we had a good time strolling around the pond and checking out the lights with our coffees to keep our hands warm. Most of the lights were moving, and so Paul came up with what he thought was a hilarious photo op-- him getting kicked by the donkey. :P
I wanted to note that this was our first holiday season not working in retail, and it was glorious. I'm very glad to be out of that world, and actually have time off. I get to be there for precious moments with my family, and it's the best feeling ever.
It was a lovely holiday season!

Merry Christmas from Palm Coast!

Merry (belated) Christmas!





We had a lovely, low-key Christmas in Palm Coast. We opened presents in the morning with my family, then waited until Elizabeth and Peter arrived from Tallahassee for a Christmas brunch, complete with mimosas. We relaxed together for the afternoon, until they had to leave (boo) and Uncle Brett arrived (yay!). We had dinner and then Paul got the most exciting gift from Uncle Brett:

A Fez!!

Thanksgiving 2012.

Christmas is nearly over, so I figured I should probably get the Thanksgiving post out of the way, finally.
We had a lovely spread, all cooked by our amazing dad. He even made some vegetarian dishes, including a veggie shepherd's pie. It was perfect!
I'll just end here, with a photo of Paul immediately after dinner...

Halloween 2012: Doctor Who!

Late, but this year Paul and I decided to dress up as characters from Doctor Who for Halloween. Paul was the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith), and I was a Weeping Angel. A lot of people don't know what the Weeping Angels are, so here's a video:




My costume took a lot of work, but wasn't too expensive. I bought a blue-grey bedsheet from Goodwill for the dress, which I cut, gathered, sewed, and spray painted with two shades of grey. I bought the wings cheaply on Amazon, spray painting them to look more like stone. Picked up the body paint and hair color spray from the Halloween shop in town. It looked good, but was a PAIN to get off!

Paul's costume was a mishmash. He already had the shirt, pants, shoes, and bowtie. We bought the jacket from Goodwill, the suspenders from Walmart, and the Sonic Screwdriver from Books-a-Million. He looked adorable! ♥

We went to a Halloween Party at the local comic book shop, Nerdz. Afterward, we met Paul's brother and sister at Steak & Shake! They'd just gotten into town for the weekend, and I've got another post coming up to cover that! :)

Happy Birthday!

Sunday was Paul's birthday. His brother and sister drove down from Tallahassee and it was wonderful!





He's so silly about posing.






We walked around the European Village for a while. We got some gelato (amaretto for me),
went to Shakespeare's Elizabethan Tea Room, and just wandered.




Afterward, we came home for cake and presents. My mom and I got Paul a blueberry cake, but disguised it as a carrot cake after Paul's many mentions of hating it. His face when he saw the little carrot decorations was priceless.



We had an awesome weekend.

(all non-instagram photos I borrowed from Liz! thanks!)

Palm Coast, and a Goodbye.

I'm sure that most of you know this already, but on March 14, we lost Paul's father. He was an amazing man that made me feel right at home in his family. I included the above photo because it was the most recent photo I'd taken of him, and it summed him up perfectly. He was surrounded by his family, eating good food, and acting silly! He was such a positive and funny person, and we all miss him terribly.


Paul has been here somewhat sporadically, but he's spending very valuable time with his brother and sister. I miss him, but I know they need him right now.
While he's been here, Paul and I have been exploring Palm Coast. It's a nice suburban town, with a little bit of beachy tossed in. We keep saying that it feels like we're on vacation! The ocean breeze is such a change from Tallahassee's stagnant humidity.
Shockingly, Paul got all of his hair cut off! It was even longer than mine, but his new job requires short hair, so he took the plunge and had it chopped off. I loved his long hair to pieces, but he looks very handsome in this new style.



Recently, I interviewed for a library position in the St. Johns County Library System. I'm waiting to hear back, and I'm so excited! Besides that, it's been quiet. I'm spending a lot of time with my Mama and Paul, reading, and just enjoying the time off. Oh, and finishing up my second semester of grad school. Yay!

Actual Birthday.

I already posted about going to Universal the day after my birthday with the boyfriend. However, the actual day of my 21st was spent traveling from Tallahassee to Palm Coast to be with my family.























































































♥