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Confessions of a Misplaced Southern Belle

Not so misplaced anymore!

Wired for the Weekend

Yeah, I know, it’s Wednesday and I’m just now getting around to this post.  It’s the last day of school, so the last couple of days have been nuts of giving finals, grading finals and doing all the end of the year stuff that is part and parcel of being a teacher. I’m also moving rooms so that has been fun trying to figure our what to toss and what to take, and I still haven’t bought any boxes. I need to do that on the way home today.  Ok, so the weekend.  Most of you know that I am a volunteer photographer for Southeastern Guide Dogs and for the last four years I have been photographing both Guide Dog University (when the dogs return from their puppy raisers) and Puppy Raiser Day, when the dogs are matched with a handler and are graduating.  Plus, I also photograph Service Dog dinners/meet and greets and other things as needed, which means that my weekends are sometimes over run with obligations.  Earlier in the Spring I decided that I needed a break and took off from volunteering for the summer, beginning in May.  As of now, I plan on returning in August, but we’ll see how I feel then.  I didn’t realize how burned out I had gotten, even though I love doing that work.  So, last weekend was the first weekend that I didn’t have any obligations, and to give my hubby a break from us, Amanda and I headed over the Skyway to St. Pete to do a coffee run, because why not. It’s basically a twenty-ish minute drive, and for good coffee.. I’m there.  Our first stop..Intermezzo Coffee and Cocktails. This shop started off as a pop-up and is now a permanent fixture on Central Ave in the Edge District.  They have expanded their coffee menu to include cocktails after 5pm and have Empire Oyster setting up shop in the lot next door.  I have yet to try the cocktail or the oysters, but that is on my list for this summer.

Our favorite drink is the Iced Vanilla Latte I get mine with light ice.  Amanda is in heaven, can’t you tell?

The caffeine has kicked in.

The thing about Intermezzo is that it so set up for Instagram shots, and Amanda is taking advantage of that.

And my shot that I posted in my Instagram feed;

 

After Intermezzo, we did a little shopping at Plain Jane and Whim So Doodle Amanda and I both picked up a few things. At Plain Jane, I picked up a little cross body pouch and Amanda got a couple of super soft shirts.  Whim So Doodle is so dangerous to go in as I always find something fun for my art journal or craft room.

One of our favorite places to go is Swah-rey, St. Pete’s only dessert bar.

Leslie and her team have the most delicious cakes and minis, plus if you have some four legged furry friends at home, you can take home some Pup Cakes.  Amanda’s favorite of the moment is the cookie dough cake, but my favorite is a luscious, decadent, perfect strawberry shortcake.

This doesn’t in any way do this shortcake justice, but I was in too big of a hurry to dig in to take a proper photo, so this is what you get.  Sway-rey has a full menu of cakes and desserts and other treats as well as a beer and wine menu.  If you are in St. Pete, I highly recommend stopping in, but check the store hours as they are currently open Thursday- Saturday, but they are open late, so it’s never too late for dessert.  (Well, unless it’s 2am, then it probably is too late…lol)

One would think that after coffee, and then dessert, we’d be too wiped out for more. Nope…. enter Bandit Coffee Co.

 

When I first started going into St. Pete to explore their coffee shops, this was the first one that I visited and they have been improving every since.  Barely open a year, they are always busy when I stop in and it is such a relaxing place.  I confess that I feel like I’m twenty years too old for this place when I walk in, but the entire staff is friendly and knowledgeable and they brew a delicious bourbon vanilla latte. Amanda loves their bouquet latte that is infused with lavender.  On this day, I opted for a Earl Gray iced tea.

Waiting for the next order.

We didn’t stay to enjoy our drinks at Bandit, but took them to go as we needed to get back home.  It was a pretty quick visit, just a couple of hours, but we love spending time in St. Pete.  With the exception of Whim So Doodle, all of the places we visited are on Central Ave.  There are other coffee shops in St. Pete that we have yet to visit, but that’s on our list for the summer.  This weekend, I think Amanda and I are going to do a Coffee Crawl in Tampa.  Their coffee scene is booming and we’ve been wanting to try several of them for a while.  I’m sure we’ll be wired for the weekend.

Over the Sunshine Skyway on the way home.

And finally, a gorgeous if warm evening.  The view from my backyard.

Last bits of sunset.

Soul Food Love–A Review

 

I grew up in the south and anytime the word ‘southern’ or ‘soul food’ is mentioned in a cook book title, I am all over it, add to  it the bonus of a healthy twist on traditional recipes and I was so excited to get this book. Alice Randall has combined family history and tradition with a cadre of family recipes that she has adapted to suit a more healthy lifestyle. Soul Food Love has garnered rave review in the cookbook industry.  Blogging for Books sent me a review copy, so I set out to make a few recipes.    I really wanted to love this cookbook, but at the end of the day, I ended up not liking it as much as I thought I would.  What I liked. I loved the history and the stories woven through the book and the recipes.  I loved how the author drew us into the recipes by sharing the family history of each dish.  I did like the Fiery Green Beans and the brittle recipe.

What I was disappointed by. Surprisingly the lack of flavor in several of the recipes.  I always make the recipe as stated the first time around to get a feel for what the author is going for, then I will tweak and adjust to my taste. Unfortunately the recipe I was most looking forward to, Spicy, Pepper Chicken, was nearly inedible.  I’m willing to chalk it up to user error, but I double checked the recipe and it was just too spicy to eat, and I love spicy food. I also tried the chicken with grapes and this time I adjusted the seasoning.  I was completely shocked at how well grapes went with chicken. My husband was skeptical, but he agreed that it was good.   I think I will give some of the recipes a second chance, but at first pass, I was a little underwhelmed by the recipes, but LOVED the stories behind them.  I would give this book a solid 3.5 stars out of 5.

An Artsy Afternoon in St. Pete

Last week, my inlaws came into town from Atlanta and not wanting to sit around and stare at each other all day, we took a short, 25 minute trip over the Skyway into downtown St. Petersburg to the recently opened Chihuly Collection  on Central Avenue.

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I have loved the work of Chihuly for years and it is such a joy to be able to see some of his pieces up close.  The original Chihuly Collection was located a little farther south on Beach Drive, but October saw a new, dedicated building open.  The space is open and airy, and the rooms where the sculptures are located are kept dim with specialized lighting illuminating each piece.

 

This one is probably my two favorite shots of the day. (All of these photos were taken with my iPhone 7plus…I didn’t want to take my Canon 6d..fear of banging it into something…lol)

Joel said this one reminded him of a balloon animal!

After our trip through the Collection, we walked across the street to the Morean Arts Center Glass Studio and Hot Shop. Your ticket to the Chihuly Collection also includes the glass blowing demonstration at the Hot Shop. You MUST go. This is a wonderful 30 minutes demonstration where a piece of art glass is made from start to finish. The two gentlemen who gave the demonstration were so entertaining and spent time afterwards answering all of our questions. My husband enjoyed it so much that he wants to go and take one of the glassblowing classes. I took a ton of photos, so I put them in a couple of collages plus two of my favorites.

Paulie clearly loves what he does.

After the twirling, he ended up with this:

Tools of the trade.

And finally, after all that, we had lunch then headed back home, but first we had to stop at our favorite dessert bar, Swah-rey. Hands down, Swah-rey has the best cake, minis, tea, coffee and best of all…Pupcakes for the pooches.  We almost always make a stop on our way out of St. Pete, and as you can see, Swah-rey minis make Amanda a happy girl.

If you are in the St. Pete area, give these places a visit. Click the links for more info.

If you’d like to see more of my day to day photos, please follow me on Social Media. I’m fairly active on Instagram! You can click on the icons at the top of the page.

(Not a sponsored post, I just wanted to share things that I love.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

Last year, by word was Flourish, and I really took that to heart. This year, my word is FEARLESS. 

I want to think out of the box and do things that I wouldn’t normally think of doing.  Life it too short to sit home and be scared. 
Bring on 2017!

A conversation with my students. (NaBloPoMo Day 11)

This is how I explained to my students on why you should give any new president a chance to prove themselves, and to see what they can do. We were discussing how we might not like who was elected, but that we had to respect the office and why we should hope that whoever is in that office does a good job. (We had discussed Obama’s election too)
“Pretend that I have a stack of files, one for each of you. During the summer, I get a chance to read up on your schoolwork, your grades, your discipline records, and what your previous teachers have said about you. Now, I haven’t met you yet and I haven’t seen you, so this is all the information that i have. Some of you have been in trouble, some of you haven’t made the best grades, and some of you didn’t always get along with your teachers. Let’s now pretend that I have taken all that information and have already decided who is going to be the student who will give me trouble, and who will be the student who will get good grades…. all without having met you or given you a chance to prove yourself, and I treated you accordingly. Is that fair? Would you like me to treat you that way based on just the stuff that I have read and what other people say about you, or would you like me to give you a chance to get to know you, because maybe you have changed and maybe you have learned from your mistakes?”
My students , who are ESE (lower performing) and ESOL (English Speakers of other languages and immigrants) got it. Now why can’t adults?
And this is my last post on this election. It was an interesting conversation to have because of the makeup of my classes.