Tuesday Blues

Last night was the end of the first long weekend of the year. Actually, if we count January 1st this was the second holiday of the year. I woke up wishing that it was still a holiday instead of having to get back to work. Every morning, as soon as I wake up I check my email and Facebook. This morning I had the nicest surprise. My friend and talented photographer/blogger Kyle wrote about me on her blog. I couldn't believe what she wrote. I was expecting a preview of the boudoir pictures that she did for me a few months ago, but she actually wrote about this blog and some of her favorite blogs. I was surprised because Kyle is my most loyal reader, but I thought she only read my blog to be nice to me not because she really liked it. Thank you Kyle, you made my day. You are an inspiration for my blog. I love the way that you write and your pictures are so good that I don't get tired of looking at them. I am SO glad that we met through Andi and that we are nerds that can become good friends on the internet.

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Since I requested 17 working days for the wedding and honeymoon, I will be Florida bound for the months before and after the wedding. I know that it will be worth it, but I get bored if I don't take a break from Tampa. I can't complain because I was out of town all of the weekends in May. Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend which is the first Monday off that we get in the year!! We have the Disney's Florida resident annual pass. We bought it in April because we knew that I can't take any more days of from work this year. So far, we have used it twice. We went to Epcot to the Garden Festival in April, and last Sunday to visit Animal Kingdom. This was my first time in the park and I was very impressed by it. I was never interested in visiting the theme park because we have Busch Gardens in Tampa, and I thought it would be almost the same. I was wrong. I love Busch Gardens and now I also love Animal Kingdom. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the day.

My favorite ride of the theme park: Expedition Everest

The tree of life - Animal Kingdom's symbol

For Lion King lovers: Simba means lion. I had no idea :) 

The safari was great!! worth the 80 minute line

My sister scared of Everest

The Galapagos's tortoise

picture with Mickey Mouse

My nephew and sister with Minnie Mouse

Sunset Sunday

In Florida, signs that say "beware of alligator" are every where. I have lived here for 11 years and I still do not accept the fact that you could have an alligator living in your backyard. It has nothing to do with the sunset post but I had to share this. Am I the only one that thinks this is not OK? 

A typical lake at an apartment community

Don't go for a swim here

I was out of town every weekend during May. I got to spend a lot of time in the car as a passenger and I took several pictures. Only a few came out decent. We might have killed thousands of love bugs.

Sunset over I-75

windshield after a roundtrip to Miami

Wedding Updates - 2 months to go

Today, we received our wedding invitations in the mail. They came out prettier than I imagined. I have to get the addressing ready this week to mail them out ASAP. I need to know who is coming to the wedding and if they are not coming I could invite other people that I couldn't tell before. Our venue is for 90 people if we want to have the party/dinner in the house, or for 120 if we want to be in the patio. The patio is nice, but I don't want to be worried about rain. Besides, all the girls would have trouble walking because it is all in stones. The place that we picked has everything: chapel or gazebo for the ceremony, they do the catering, the flowers, and also my bouquet. We only need to worry about the cake.

 

I got lots of red flip flops @old navy for the party

I need to make the entrance sign like this one

chapel - for 60 people

tables in the patio

These are the typical food appetizers for the cocktail hour

tables inside

This is the gazebo where we could also have the ceremony

I love these lounge areas but I might not have enough space

also need to do the table cards - i like origami



**Some of the pictures in this post were taken by other people. I started getting ideas and I can't remember the exact websites where I got them.

Life's a Beach @ SOBE

We spent our past Saturday and Sunday in South Beach, Miami. I had a ticket to go to a Luis Miguel's concert but we made it a short break from the routine staying at the Gansevoort in South Beach. I was a little dissapointed with our room, but the hotel was incredible. I fell in love with their pool and the lobby. We spent Saturday afternoon at the "family" friendly pool since the rooftop pool had a pool party going on. I like parties but those parties let so many people in that you can barely get in the pool. We wanted to relax this weekend and that is what we did. 

Gansevoort South Beach

The tables at the pool

Miami beach - from the pool 

Beautiful Day in Miami

The W was next door. I want to stay here next time

The pool @ the Gansevoort

The pool @ the Gansevoort

The pool @ the Gansevoort

The pool @ the Gansevoort - not the famous rooftop pool

The concert was incredible and I was so glad to be there that I didn't care about being alone. There was another Colombian girl next to me alone so we kept each other's company. I was proud to go by myself and do what I want even if it felt weird.

The reason for the trip

Luis Miguel's concert

The lobby @ the Gansevoort

On Sunday, we went to Nikki Beach which is one of my favorite places in Miami. Parking was very hard to find and we gave up and paid $20 at a lot a few blocks away from the beach. We had brunch, a few mimosas, and the best mojitos in Miami. I had the drinks because my boyfriend was hangover. The brunch was incredible! probably the best brunch I've ever had. 

No visit to Miami is complete without a Mojito

Nikki Beach

We drove back to Tampa in the late afternoon. This is the 4th weekend in a row that I was out of town. Next weekend we have Monday off work and we will be spending Saturday night in Orlando to visit Disney's theme parks. We have the Florida resident pass and what better way to spend the holiday weekend than to visit Mickey Mouse.

I love that building with the Britto figure

Love bugs every where! It is officially summer