I may be a gator but...

...I attended Florida State University. It is true. Not to this day does anyone ever understand why I chose a school based on the academic program and not the football program. I only ever went to two FSU football games while I was in school - one as a confused freshman where I wore "fall colors" and the second and last as senior...and I wore orange and blue and got many a snide remark and roll of the eyes.

All this to say - I still love Florida State. I do think it has a more beautiful campus than the other school. I was expressing this to David this morning, as I often do, on the phone and told him he could disown me if he'd like but I would always feel this way. Part of the new {thoughtful} construction, revitalization, and restoring of FSU's historic buildings is due in part to Past President T.K. Wetherell in conjunction with FSU's own Master Craftsmen Studios. There are no words to describe this program the justice and beauty it deserves. It is not only a working artists' studio but a degree program creating some of the finest commissioned work you may ever see. Almost all the statuary, benches, and stained glass on FSU's campus is done by the students of the MCS. Click on the link above for more info. It's a phenomenal program that is unlike any other.

Today I had the pleasure of touring their facility {which they are currently fundraising for a major addition to the facility}. I loved everything about it. The director personally gave me a tour and explained many of their processes and finished work. They also do a lot of pieces for the Ringling Museum down in Sarasota and private commissioned work. I told the staff and students how much I loved being in the midst of the paint and plaster mess and creativity and they said I was always welcome to come back!

Now, if this post seems to have no clear subject here is where my story comes full circle. I may be a gator but...I am thrilled to have just been hired {well, my design firm...but basically moi} to re-design Coach Jimbo Fisher's office - the new head football coach!! You may have heard about Bobby B. leaving. Anywho, this is a BIG deal and I am beyond thrilled. I'm trying to compare it to if I, the gator fan, was just hired to design Urban Meyer's office. We're competing against the likes of Nick Saban, etc. people, but in the high-end office design field. And part of our project includes the talent and skill of the Master Craftsmen Studios - hence why I was there today. See, I told you, full circle.

More on Coach's project to come. We have a major deadline to meet...and no it's not the fall. Unfortunately, it's way before that. I have a feeling this is how I could earn the respect of my college friends who will never understand my college football issues. Or maybe earn the respect of my brother-in-law who still just doesn't get it. If not, perhaps I will pay them to understand - signed memorabilia anyone??

I just hope none of the head honchos at FSU don't get word of my little secret ;)

hotel, motel, ver-anda inn

This past weekend David and I traveled to the small beach town of Englewood, FL to celebrate the marriage our dear friends Dan and Kristen! It was a fabulous pink and green Florida motif kind of party and we had a grande time! This was the first wedding I have attended with a photo booth and it was the hit of the reception. There was even a costume closet to play in before your photo shoot. The 6+ hour long drive was well worth witnessing the wedding, and the outlet malls to and fro weren't so bad either. Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Olson!!

the vintage cake topper dan's grandparents used adorned the delicious yummy lemon cake

all of kristen's details were so fun and cheerful!

bridesmaids' bouquets

introducing mr. and mrs. dan olson...

me and the beautiful bride

first dance

my favorite detail: a variety of coasters hand made by dan and kristen for party favors

Meanwhile, back in Ocala.....

Mom and Dad hosted a dog birthday party for Roxie's birthday! This was their best shot of Fern, Roxie, and Lila in their party hats. I hear Fern left her hat on the longest - that's my girl! hilarious.

jlt - 50 years

This weekend we also celebrated the Junior League of Tallahassee's 50 year of service. The event was at the newly opened Hotel Duval in downtown Tallahassee. It's a swanky hotel and is a great venue for a medium sized event. The best news is that all the amenities and banquet accessories we have to work with is very current and quite stylish. I was graciously asked to provide some floral arrangements and was honored to do so. At the event, we also celebrated the end of our year and also voting in the 2009-2010 class {moi included} - they voted yes! It was a fabulous time with a great jazz band, tasty hors d'oeuvres and champagne.

Cheers to the past and the next 50 years of the League!

centerpieces

bar arrangement #1

bar arrangement #2

got a chance to use my new mercury glass votives!

a whale of a time

A whale of a time was had by all this weekend as we celebrated the 1st birthday of the critters...also known as Reese, Carson and Hadley - triplets :)

It was a fabulous party if I do say so myself! Think: whales a la Vineyard Vines - preppy pink and green!.

Let's see who was there to celebrate and all the snazzy decor....

this little guy greeted us {made by jen from sugar!}

proud parents and hosts - chris and rian

food table: three adorable whales made by grandma barbara

all first birthday parties need an arrangement like this...by moi of course!

a nautical-esque food spread...whale {chicken} salad puffs, shrimp cocktail, and "fruit" of the sea to name a few

mom made her famous sugar cookies...whale shaped {well they were more so before she baked them!}

party hats by moi

outside arrangements in mason jars

rian went around telling everyone to tell me their number because I counted each whale...ha!

outside fun

mc and rian

reese tickled to see sally kate...

sk going in for the kiss!

m & d were there!

katie and sweet campell

sk discovered the slide and loooved it

avery saying "you're crazy mary"

best buds

I understand carson

I think this picture is so sweet of rian and reese...you should've seen the smile on his face talking to his mommy

dig in!

brother decided it was easier to just bite into the cake {a special thank you to brother for wearing your party hat the whole time!}

the aftermath

chris had his blog turned into a book for the critters' first year...we were asked to leave a note. might be the coolest thing ever.


Happy First Birthday to YOU my sweet little babies!
xoxo, aunt sister

please don't tell

Yes, it's true...I was off galavanting in New York City last weekend and I had a fabulous time! It was time for a vacation. This is David and I ready to depart from the ever popular Tallahassee airport. Our driver, Lane, and her little travel buddy Camp took us to the airport Thursday morning - thank you! Please take this moment to look at the minimal luggage we carried on. I do believe I deserve a gold star. After a short layover and flight delay in Atlanta {thanks for not letting me down Hartsfield International Airport...you were all that I expected and more} we safely arrived at LaGuardia and hailed a cab towards the city.

Everyone needs an obligatory self-picture in a taxi cab. We early evening in Greenwich Village where we were staying with our wonderful hosts Danny and Cristi. Of course the fabulously chic flower boutique {think La Fleur in Memphis} next door to their apartment caught my eye and it was downhill from there for poor David. It was only the start. I think if I point out or mention one more peony he might disown me. Sweet little moi?

These giant cupcakes were waiting for us when we arrived. We were able to immediately check this bakery off our itinerary since they were so graciously waiting for us. And boy were they good. I know Magnolia Bakery might be the posh {quasi-touristy} place to go but the cupcakes from Crumbs are all that and a bag of chips. We dropped off our luggage and out the door we went...and we went, and we went, and we went...until Sunday when we could literally walk no more {more on that later...}.

We walked around and got acquainted with The Village, had a cocktail at a swanky bar called Lillies, and then dinner at one of Mario Batali's restaurants Otto.

Please meet our hosts Danny and Cristi. They are both from Tallahassee and then went to UF with David. Perhaps you know them?

We had a delicious meal. We started with a prosciutto plate, olive medley, and bread. The olives were my favorite. Until I had my Caprese salad pictured above. It was stewed tomatoes {I believe} served cold with mozz and a basil pesto. David is still talking about this salad. yum. The pizza I had was mushroom and teleggio cheese...and I hate to admit it but it wasn't my favorite. Too much fungi.

David and I had a very intense itinerary for the trip so we could accomplish everything we wanted to see and do. Luckily, we both had been to the city before so it was all fun stuff. We gave Danny and Cristi the task of choosing the nightlife plans. They did not disappoint. On Thursday night we went to P.D.T. which stands for Please Don't Tell. It's a hidden bar in the East Village that David had heard about through some friends. We had to make a reservation for a table the day of and hope they would accept us. Friends, this place was so cool. It's a tiny, dimly lit, bar with exposed brick walls and an exotic array of drinks. Best part is - it's located through a telephone booth in a gourmet hot dog joint. I don't even eat hot dogs and I thought they smelled good. When our table was ready we filed one-by-one in the telephone booth through the hidden door on the other side. PDT not only had some interested concoctions {i.e. a bacon infused bourbon old fashioned} but a few rules to follow as well. For example, our favorite and most humorous was "No PDA at PDT - keep your hands on the table and your tongue in your mouth!" Good times.

Here we are early Friday morning in bustling Grand Central Terminal. In the 1960s, Jackie O. led a successful public information campaign to save Grand Central. It more recently went through a 12-year extensive restoration and is truly a remarkable site. We took our first and last crowded subway trip with Danny on his way to work and got off on this stop which put us out on 42nd Street {sister, get your tap shoes Frances!}. We headed for a bagel and coffee at Ess-a Bagel and it was ess-a good. Apparently, they are offended by people who ask for their bagel toasted because they are literally all served warm and fresh. I had a delicious sundried tomato shmear {only chance I may have to use that word} on a toasted bagel...guess I didn't get the memo!

From 42nd Street, our walking extravaganza began! We had gorgeous weather on Friday and really all weekend. Our first stop was Rockefeller Center to tour the Top of the Rock observatory and to purchase tickets for the NBC Studio Tour, which we ended up having to do Saturday morning. While we were there we stumbled upon some Late Night with Jimmy Fallon standby tickets for that evening's live taping. I love Top of the Rock. The first picture in the above series shows the gorgeous Swarovski crystal chandelier at the entrance. It is actually an inverted model of the GE Building and this whole new attraction was in several design magazines when it first opened. However, it's still on the new-ish side and way cooler than the Empire State Building. It offers an astounding 360 panoramic view of the city and its surrounding boroughs. I also love the history of the GE Building and the Art Deco architecture. I think my favorite is the Art Deco detail you get to see so up close and is only a sheet of plexiglass away!

Then, we had a wonderful prix fixe lunch at Tao in the Upper East Side. This is a hip sort of scene and definitely a place to see and be seen at night. The food was delicious but dessert was my favorite. I had the banana bread pudding with a fried banana slice on top and David had a refreshing sorbet served with fruit.

We took a detour through The Plaza on our way to Central Park. I had been wanting to see their redecorated tea room in person and although David wouldn't have tea with me on this trip {he said that's a girls' weekend activity...any takers??} he obliged and let me wonder through in amazement. Visiting NYC in May is peak on Spring blooms and decent temperatures. I loved the hydrangeas along the exterior of The Plaza and the massive arrangement of peonies on the entry table. We continued our marathon walk along the west side of Central Park and at that time got a flurry of text messages informing us of the Times Square Evacuation. Total freak-out...but not melt-down. Luckily, they cleared the area and the poor cooler of water bottles had its 5 minutes of fame.

After a leisurely walk in the park, we hopped a cab to take us back to Rockefeller Center. It was time to try to get in to see Jimmy Fallon. Long story short is we didn't make it for the actual show but we were asked to come here his opening monologue rehearsal!! It was such a fun thing to do. We got to see "Jimmy Fallon everybody!" and sit in his studio.

We continued our walk from 43rd south to approx. 14th Street in the lovely neighborhood of Chelsea. We went to the Chelsea Market which is a inside venue filled with artisan vendors such as a cheese shop, flower shop, and David's favorite - the Italian Market. We filled up on local goodies to share with our hosts and continued home.

For dinner we ate at The Mercer Kitchen in SoHo and it was fabulous! This time I had a black truffle and fontina cheese pizza and it was to die for. Are you beginning to see a dinner trend? Nightlife on night #2 entailed another secret bar called The Backroom in the Lower East Side. All I will say is they served their cocktails in tea cups :)

Saturday morning was by far the highlight of the trip for me. After another early morning wake up to stiff legs and almost the inability to walk, we were off to the Flower District!! It's located on several blocks along West 28th. I was in heaven. I don't even think there are words to describe how beautiful and how abundant everything was. I made several connections with the store owners and have actually already made a purchase from one of the shops since I've been home. This is where I think David drew the peony line.

We continued our walk towards Times Square to purchase tickets to the recently opened revival of Promises, Promises starring none other than Kristen Chenoweth and Sean Hayes!! Ticket tip: The theatre box office is a great place to purchase tickets and the only place they offer a student rate for shows. As sister would say "I will never stop learning," so we took this motto and used an old student ID in which you can purchase two tickets with. They had two tickets for the 8pm show and I was pleased as punch.

It rained early Saturday morning but luckily we were inside at our NBC Studio Tour. This is a very informative and neat behind-the-scenes tour if you're into that kind of thing. We walked through Fallon's Studio, Brian Williams's studio {where we heard the breaking news of the Staten Island Ferry crash}, and last but not least...the Saturday Night Live studio where we saw them constructing sets for that night's show. Everyone we came across that day who worked at NBC was just giddy about Saturday's SNL show. Very cool to play witness to.

Ah, Oriental Gardens. We took a cab to China Town to experience an authentic DimSum restaurant. You know, those steamed dumplings passed around on a little cart. We only went here by recommendation and it was actually very good. This is one thing David really wanted to do and I'm up for trying almost anything once. It was definitely an experience. We were seated at a table with two other Asian families and it was difficult to communicate to those who wanted to communicate with us {which was no one}.

We quickly headed out of China Town {it's way overcrowded and smells a little bit} and headed to my favorite ethnic region - Little Italy. We went to Ferarra Bakery and had a mid-afternoon pick me up. David's great-grandparents came over to Ellis Island from Italy and they would go to this bakery. It was not only beautiful inside but very, very tasty.

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping in SoHo and enjoying our time together. We also went to the Young Designers Market and that is a fun must-see if you're in the market for unique jewelry, etc. from up and coming designers.

Saturday night we were off to the theatre! We had a pre-theatre drink and snack at McGee's Pub located a few blocks north of the theatre. This bar was the inspiration for McLaren's bar in one of our favorite tv shows, How I Met Your Mother.

Promises, Promises was amazing!! It was in a beautiful theatre and on the large size based on NYC theatres. Kristen was all I expected and more and Sean Hayes in his Broadway debut was comical and witty and had great comedic timing overall. I was so happy that seeing this show worked out. It was late when we got out but we still needed dinner. Saturday night on the itinerary was real NY Pizza. Because of the time and the sheer fact that we were exhausted we skipped Lombardi's and went to Patsy's down the street from where we were staying. It was delicious!!! And that makes it 3-0 for pizza for dinner :) When David brought this up, I kindly reminded him he also had pizza for dinner 2 of the three nights we were there!

Sunday was our last day in the city but we had plenty to do and plenty of time to do it as our flight was not until 6:00pm. Overnight it had turned bitterly cold and so we bundled up in the warmest clothes we brought.

We met up with Lauren for brunch at The Smith and it was quite tasty and I loved the decor. We spent the rest of the afternoon in SoHo again and each took a moment to call our moms on Mother's Day. At this point we were delirious and flat.worn. out. And When I called my mother from the happy birthday card aisle at Kate's Paperie I exclaimed a joyful "Happy Birthday" instead of "Happy Mother's Day!" oops.

Before taking our cab back to the airport we said our good-byes and thanked our hosts for a wonderful place to stay and stopped by Katz's Deli {of the infamous When Harry Met Sally scene} and took to-go a famous pastrami sandwich {for David}, some half-sours, and a potato knish for me. It was off to the airport and good-bye to our fabulous vacation in the big city. We slept the entire way home and landed late Sunday night back in Tallahassee.

Monday was my true vacation as I purposely took this day off too. It's was nice to catch up on some much needed sleep, rest my legs, and re-group.

If you've read up until now, I congratulate you. I also give you a gold star {just like mine for packing a carry on bag}! I'm always amazed by the length of some of my posts and am waiting for the day when a blogger window pops up on my screen and says "too long"

Until next time...

The End.