Big Talbot, BBS, and Good Friends Part II

Okay, so I left off at the beach, where we spend some quality time with our buddies Ryan and Shannon on the beach, enjoying the sand between our toes and photo ops. After that, Daniel and I packed ourselves back into the car and headed back down south. (This means I drove down on a Thursday night. Daniel and I went to FAU Friday. Saturday morning, the two of us drove together to J-ville. Sunday we drove back Sunday-Halloween.) For Halloween we passed candy out and watched a scary movie. I then drove home Monday morning.

A couple weeks later, Daniel came to visit me. That Saturday he surprised me by taking me to Urban Outfitters and letting me pick out date outfits. Ahhh:) We then joined our friend Noah to go hike along the beach at Big Talbot Island State Park.

It was beautiful and very peaceful.

Thanks Noah for the pictures.

Lookin' good for date night. We ate dinner at Sliders and then went to see the movie Due Date which is hilarious.

Saying goodbye to Daniel was not fun (as usual) but then a couple of weeks later, I drove down to see him and so we could go to Buzz Bake Sale 15. It was sweet. Basically we were at the Cruzan Ampitheater for 10 hours running around to different stages to watch various bands do their thaaaang. If you click on the link for BBS, you can read about all the bands we saw. We definitely loved Chevelle and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones!  I took a really sweet picture of Daniel while we were waiting to go to our seats, but blogger is being slow about uploading pics... Anywho, Buzz Bake Sale was cool. The longest either of us had been at one music venue in a given time, seeing a slew of bands allllllll day long. Tiring, but very fun. :)

We are currently both in our jammies bloggin' and guitarin' enjoying our last day together in South Florida. We would be sad, but we're really not.... BECAUSE in 3 days, we will be making our way up to Snowshoe in WV to ski and snowboard with some friends! We are way stoked.... WAYYY! (S. Stowe that was for you if you're reading this).

Maybe I will be back shortly to talk about my stay down here:)

Til next time,

A

                                                  

  

Big Talbot, BBS, and Good Friends

So it's been some time since this blog has been updated. Sorry I never finished my countdown to see Daniel, school go the best of my time and that's also the reason for the long absence. Since that last post, Daniel and I have gotten to see each other three times! Exciting for us!

At the very end of October, I drove down to see Dan and take my nursing school entrance exam at Florida Atlantic University. He and I both drove up to Jacksonville to celebrate our friend Haley's big 2-1.

At the Players Grille for wings, beer, and FL/GA football! Haley is circled with a birthday tiara.

Later that night, tossing a beer behind the bar at Bahama Breeze.

A long night out makes for a really slow start the next day. We slept in and had lunch and walked on the beach with our best friends, Ryan and Shannon. 

Shannon's yummy chocolate shake at Johnny Angel's diner. (I had one too!)

Girly feet. :)

Macho guys. Posing for a photo means sticking your chest out and showing off those guns haha.

   

Props to Shannon for being able to capture sweet and fun moments.

Love. Need I say more...


Okay, so because this post has a lot of pictures to go with and I have much more to catch you up on...  this is it for now, BUT there WILL be a Part II. I just need to get some other things done at the moment.

-A

 

Eight!

Alright so I'm counting down to next Thursday October 28. It's my friend Haley's 21st birthday!!! and I get to see Daniel!!! So to countdown, each day I will post a song. My goal is to post artists who maybe aren't so well known...

I found today's artist on Pandora. I believe it was my Jack Johnson station, but I had it set to "Quick Mix" so I could be wrong.

I guess there no actual video for this song, but here it is:) Jaymay "Gray or Blue" (Give it a chance Daniel, I know its kind of girly)

And it goes a little somethin' like this...

What do we love? Music! I guess that's pretty obvious for Dan being the "guitarist" of this blog. Sorry we haven't been able to blog, we've both been pretty busy. But I just decided to ramble about some new artists that I'm falling in love with. Maybe they aren't completely new but they are new to me!

Dan and I were going to see these guys in ATL, but they're tickets sold fast! They are from the UK. Give it up for Mumford and Sons!

Who else? Um Foals!!! Dan introduced me to these British guys... Very cool sounds. Too bad I didn't know about them when I was taking a choreography class in high school... Would've have been awesome!

Last (for now) and certainly not least: Florence + the Machine. Florence Welch ( the solo vocalist) of the band has an amazing voice. While her band ("the Machine") has awesome instrumentals to compliment, Welch's voice is truly an instrument in itself. Can you guess where this band is from? UK! Do you see a trend here... Not saying we don't have amazing artists here in America, guess I've just been reaching out of my little bubble (kind of in the GB direction, but oh well). There song, "Dog Days are Over" is currently playing on my hometown's alternative radio station. You've also probably heard it on a few commercials. I should hopefully being putting a video of their's on my girly blog. I couldn't find a good picture of the whole band together but here we have left: the beautiful Florence Welch and right: I'm guessing Florence and the boys...

Music is wonderful...

-A

"Home is where ever we are if there's love there too."

This blog title is a line from the song "Home" by Jack Johnson. I love listening to this song when I start miss Daniel. My home is here right now in Jacksonville, but do love the warm-fuzzy comforting feeling I have when he and I are actually together in the same city. Whether we are all dressed up and going to dinner or just in t-shirts having a lazy day on the couch, I just enjoy being together.

Hmm the last exciting event I blogged about was John Mayer with Haley in Charlotte. Since then, there have been two more been concerts in Dan and mine's summer. Daniel turned 22 at the and of July! Haley and I drove down to Stuart on his birthday and spent the weekend there. Aside from Dan the Man turning another year older, we were there to celebrate someone else's amazing talent.... Dave Matthews! He came to the Cruzan Ampitheatre in West Palm Beach. I've heard that Dave Matthews concerts are generally the intro to a  crazy night.... that otherwise wouldn't be crazy had you made the choice to not go see Dave on that given night. Music was enjoyed, beverages were consumed, lessons were learned. It was an unforgettable night for sure! Below:  Left: Haley, Dan and I amongst the fellow lawn people. Right: Dave himself!

We spent the rest of the weekend having fun in the sun!

And having guitar lessons

All in all, pretty good weekend.

The next concert was at the end of August, which also means that it fell into my first week of school for the fall semester. I could not pass it up because it was MY favorite musical man, JACK HODY JOHNSON!  After my classes on Thursday, I hopped into my car and drove straight from school to West Palm. So worth the stress, so worth it! With just minutes to spare before the start of showtime, I met my sweet Daniel who was waiting for me with food (since I didn't have time to stop and eat on the way). We ate in amphitheater parking lot while it started to drizzle. The light precipitation was not a downer. It cooled us down and was definitely appropriate when watching and listening Jack play Banana Pancakes (a song about a rainy day). The audience was definitely a melting pot. There were couples, like me and Dan, young and old, families with younger children, groups of girls and women. Everyone looked very excited for Jack. He had a few special guest musicians come and play with him and his band. One was G. Love, his opener, who was awesome! If you want to more more about specific technical music details, I'm sure my own music man Dan can tell you. It was an incredible concert!!!! Below on the left: JACK! on the right: Daniel and myself (ignore the macho man look on his face. kthanks.)

 

So in between these two great shows, Dan made a trip up to see me. And since he usually is the one to treat me, I figured I could surprise him with a fun date, my treat! So I put him in the car and started driving to St. John's county. He eventually figured out that we were headed to my friend Sydney's house (because she's the only friend I have that lives in the direction we were headed.) Syd's family however was not there. (With Sydney's permission) I was going to take Daniel kayaking on the creek behind her house. He loved the surprise. It rained a little and I got eaten by bugs, but it was so much fun! I even took him to a jumping dock with a rope swing. It was a new adventure for us. After kayaking, I took him to get one of his fave's for dinner- The Loop n' Bleu Burger at The Loop Pizza Grill. It was a great date and fun surprising Dan :)

Below are pics from our trip to Pulp with Kari for some "fro-yo"

               

Now, I am back to the grind of classes and work. I'm applying to volunteer at Mayo, so let's see how that goes. And amongst everything else, I'm applying to nursing programs and signing up for entrance exams.... let me tell you, its so very fun fun fun. Haha.

-A

Pearls...

This is funny.

Daniel, you should use this.



-A

"Fold me up, take me out, I'm portable."

John Clayton Mayer. Live. Summertime. Verizon Amphitheater in Charlotte. All ingredients for an amazing concert, my first JM concert. Things that I knew... but now I know for sure after seeing him live:
1. Very talented musician.
2. Very funny.
3. Very very attractive.

And he did something very awesome and very thoughtful at this show. After the lights went down and he walked off the stage.... there was a very, unusually long moment before his encore. We (Haley, Hannah, Beth and I) were seated under the pavilion about 10 rows from the stage (it was awesome!). We realized why the wait for the encore was so long when we heard a roar of cheering from behind us. The special came on to reveal John and his acoustic standing on a platform in the midst of the lawn section. It was awesome, even to watch from behind. Of course we could see John's face and the lawn people (who all looked ready to pass out, so overwhelmed with joy) on the jumbo-screens. And he somehow safely made his way back through the crowd to the stage to finish. It was so cool! This a clip of the lawn bit I found. He's playing my favorite song!


Oh and I have to brag. He brought along his amazing Sax player, Bob Reynolds. I went to Douglas Anderson School of the Arts for high school. I wouldn't say that it is the most amazing arts high school ever (except we have been awarded cool things like National Grammy Signature School...) but every once in awhile I run across some one who has stuck to their arts concentration and has done really well.... one of which is Bob Reynolds! Very talented man! Beth, Haley's cousin who went to the concert with us graduated from a high school nearby DA and played in the same state band as Bob- she even went to lunch and hung out with him a few times in high school. That was about 12 years ago, but still cool none the less.

All in all, awesome weekend!

-A

JCM Baby!

I'm about to be on the road to Charlotte, NC with Halay and Hannah Jacobs to see JOHN MAYER in concert tomorrow night! Daniel, if John wants to give me a smooch, I just might have to let him. Love you...

Such a hunk....

-A

Many Firsts!

So what's new? Hmmmm. Well Friday I ventured to St. John's County to a friend of mine that I haven't seen in awhile- Sydney! We ate some delicious bbq chicken pizza from NYPD Pizzeria! I think the location we went to in Palencia in St. Augustine is new-ish. Sydney and I have never found it hard to entertain ourselves. Friday night we just caught up and laughed about anything and everything. I was introduced to Silly Bandz a couple of months ago... and the concept of them is silly. But I finally got my own from very sweet Syd. I have a cowboy boot and a jellyfish... haha.

Saturday, I met my bride-to-be cousin Ashley along with the other bridesmaids to pick out our bridesmaids dresses. I'm excited- its my first time being a bridesmaid. My dress is pretty... lets just hope I maintain this figure being that the wedding isn't until next May. I'm not too worried about that though.

I had a little bitty of an issue going on at work. Thankfully, this morning I found out that it was handled. Oh and my new favorite drink: Apple Chai Infusion with Caramel drizzle. So delicious!

Daniel has some exciting to news to share... so look for his next post! Oh and just for fun:

This was a present Daniel had waiting for me last time I went to visit- creepy I know, but it's very soft:)

Things to look forward to:

• I get to see John Mayer in concert for the first time ever in 5 days!
• Daniel turns 22 in 18 days!
• We get to see Dave Matthews in concert in 20 days (another first for me)

-A

Oysters and Battlefield

Graduating from college without immediately going to graduate school has left me with a lot of time on my hands (not to mention the less than favorable part time job market).  Thus, I have been utilizing my time by volunteering at Florida Oceanographic Society, where I participate in Oyster Reef Restoration research.  

We just recently begun our weekly assessment of a particular reef in the St. Lucie River near the Roosevelt Bridge in Stuart, FL.  If all goes well, our data will be used to better cailbrate the fresh water discharge from Lake Okechoobee into our beautiful Florida Rivers, thus making our rivers more habitable for native life.  The research is a lot of fun, I get to go out in the field every time I'm there so I can't complain, I know that a life of lab work is likely ahead of me once I start my graduate career into Molecular Biology studies, so being able to spend some time doing field based biology is a great experience.

Other than the research, my XBOX360 has been quite active (and apparently has a blog too).  Two games which are quite difficult for me to put down right now are Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Red Dead Redemption.  The latter of which had me quite depressed for a few days, yet I won't disclose any more on that specific plot (just play it!!!!)

Well that's it for now, until next time....

DC

Sweet tooth?

Does this work? I just might try it and see!

4th of July!

For the 4th of July weekend, I went down to South Florida to see Dan and his family. It was a very eventful weekend. Saturday, Dan went paint balling with some buddies of his and came home proudly showing of his battle wounds (nasty bruises!). While the boys shot each other on the crazy courses in the rain, my friend Shannon and I were nice while we marveled at all of the awesome furniture and decor inside the world of IKEA! Shannon's goal was to come home with a 3-drawer chest, a desk and a nightstand. But she's such an overachiever. She not only succeeded in finding and purchasing those 3 items, but she also came home with a cool thermos that matches one I got:)

We were were there for a good few hours... Warning: that place sucks you in!

The next day (Sunday) was the 4th! Happy Birthday USA... Time to have an adventure on the boat. We left the house very sweaty because haha, well it was very sunny outside. Yay! But of course, as soon as made it out of the inlet, in comes the storm!!!!! There was a pinch of thunder and a dash of lightning... no biggie. Except it was like a monsoon and we were cold, drenched and stinging from rain pelting our backs. The rain did pass, leaving us with a little bit of sandbar fun time! Dinner was great. Delicious ribs and all the fixin's to go with! Oh and Daniel would kill me if I didn't mention that we streamed Hot Tube Time Machine through the xbox. He could give you a much better review because he stayed awake for the whole thing. What I did see of it was pretty funny (slightly ridiculous) but funny. Oh and because of the rain, we weren't sure if the big fireworks show was going to go on... hence the staying home and watching a movie. We did hear them going off during the movie and ran outside just in time to watch the very loud and colorful finale. Great ending to a 4th of July we won't forget:)

Monday was full of excitement, right Dan? He had an even busier day than I did. He woke up early to surf. I slept in some and got some not-so-fun homework out of the way. Later on we went out on the boat (this time no rain... for awhile.) We found a reef (Dan what was the name of this place?) and did some snorkeling. Saw some great fish! That was first time I had snorkeled in three years... I forgot how exhausting it can be, especially when some swells are coming in. It was pretty cool though. On our way back Dan did some wake-boarding and I attempted to water-ski. Maybe next time I will stand up all the way haha. Very fun, but exhausting day, followed by a movie date to see Grown Ups. It wasn't as funny as I thought it was going to be, but it was cute and emphasized the importance of family. Daniel described it well... a feel-good comedy. Its worth seeing, so go see it!

This morning was not the most fun (me having to go back home), but the next time Daniel and I see each other in person for sure will be on his birthday!!!! Exciting! And for now we have this and other means of communication. I wish I had pictures to share, but I didn't take any all weekend....

Well I'm pooped. So goodnight!

This should be interesting...

Hello, this is Alex. I'm the barista. Daniel is the guitarist. We created this blog mostly to ramble about all of the random things we like. I have a feeling, I will be doing most of the postings because Dan would probably prefer to play a video game or play his guitar rather than making a blog post. We shall see.

I suppose I could tell you a little bit about who we are. Daniel is my boyfriend, I think he's pretty cool. We live approximately 3.5 hrs away from each other, which stinks sometimes, but it could be worse. I'm a junior at UNF majoring in nursing. Dan is a UNF GRADUATE! (Wooo! Go Dan!) He's a biologist and loves him some genetics!!! I guess you could say we met at school, but the credit actually goes to a mutual friend (thanks Grace!) As you probably assumed I'm a barista. A barista (Italian for "bartender") is the person who makes your girly espresso drinks in a coffee shop. My life is pretty simple and probably boring to most people. I go to school and go to work and when I'm not doing that, I'm running or doing something at the beach.

Daniel can tell you more about himself. All I will say is he's cool and will always love John Marston (to be explained later).

Well it's super late and Dan has a paint-balling party to go to tomorrow and I have a movie date. So goodnight.