SUN-day

We spent our Sunday like you would expect to spend a sunny summer day in Florida: at the beach. My sister and my nephew called me on Saturday to ask if we would like to go to the beach on Sunday. They picked us up at noon and we went to Sunset Beach. It is about 30 minutes from our place to the beach. Last time that we went to Sunset beach it was in October and we saw a shark. Yesterday we didn't have many exciting things happening at the beach. It was a perfect day without a cloud in the sky. I got a little sunburned in my back probably from the walk. The walks on the beach are always interesting. I love people-watch and this is the perfect place to see many different people.

Stingrays??? never seen one here - just sharks!

talking a walk - always see interesting "speedos" in Florida

This is the beach where we went. I used the google maps from my iphone

Sunset Sunday

St Pete Beach is probably my favorite beach in the Tampa Bay area. I always go to Sunset Beach which is north of St Pete Beach because it is easier to find parking. When my sister was visiting last March, she stayed at a hotel in St Pete Beach. These pictures were taken on a week day when we drove after work to have dinner with her.

The landmark of the area is the Don Cesar Hotel. Treasure Island and Madeira Beach are north of St Pete Beach. Sometimes because of the limited parking you can end up in another Beach without even noticing. If you missed the other post and pictures from Sunset Beach you can see them here, here, and here.

St. Pete Beach

Tarpon Springs, FL

Because of the wedding and honeymoon, I have no vacation time for the rest of the year. I will be spending a lot of time in Florida. As I was thinking of activities to do on the weekends, I came up with a few things that could be useful for someone visiting the Tampa Bay area (or like me can't take any vacation time).

One of my favorite beaches is Tarpon Springs. Tarpon springs is a small beach town located north of Tampa in Pinellas County. The town which I call the Greektown is a small area with lots of great greek restaurants and natural sponge shops. The beach that I always visit is the Fred Howard Park. Before getting to the beach there are grills, picnic shelters, and public bathrooms. There is no charge for parking like most of the area beaches. There is another beach close to Tarpon Springs called Sunset Beach but I have never been there. I will have to go this summer. Below are some of the pictures that I took a few years ago.

A street in the Greektown

Natural Sponges

 

My nephew ready for the beach (2006)

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.