Confessions of a Misplaced Southern Belle

Not so misplaced anymore!

st petersburg

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.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten Things I Did Over The Weekend {Ten on Tuesday}

Lately, my weekends seem to be as busy as my regular work week. One would think that once you have an empty nest, things seem to slow down. Mine actually went in reverse! After my daughter went to college, I started really working with my photography and have a part time business. This has kept my Saturdays busy for many weekends and this weekend was no exception.   So, without further ado, here are my Ten Things that I did this weekend.

Friday

  1. Photosession with this sweet girl. Tucker is going in for training at Southeastern Guide Dogs next month and her raiser wanted a photo session.
  2. Met up with a few Area Coordinators for SEGD that were in town for their annual conference. I’m friends with a lot of them on Facebook but don’t get to see them in real like that often.2.
  3. Picked up Chinese food for dinner. It was after seven when I finally finished up with the session and coordinators, and I wasn’t in the mood to cook.
  4. Watched Insurgent (again). It’s mindless.

Saturday

5. Went Purple Martin bird watching and bought some housing for purple martins. Beautiful birds they are, for sure.

6. Photoshoot with Carol’s sweet babies, Curry and Zoe, plus Cashew, who was sponsored by Publix.

7. Edited a newborn/family session that I had two weeks ago. (I really need to get that one finished up, but school stuff has been busy) This photo is from that same afternoon but at a birthday party. This little guy is three.

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8.Contemplated working on lesson plans, and then decided that they could wait and I cleaned up a little instead. I used a great new cleaner I ordered from https://www.odorklenz.com/.

Sunday.

9. Church (Joel teaches Sunday School.) This is Lucy, a guide dog in training from Southeastern Guide Dogs. She is staying with us until Thursday.

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10. Went to the movies to see The Martian. We went to the see it at the IMAX, in 3D and in the D-Box Theater where the seats move with the action of the movie. That was my first time in that type of theater and I thought for sure that it would make me motion sick,  but it didn’t! The movie was really good and I found it a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday.

The Sundial in St. Petersburg. 

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Bonus:

11. Picked up dinner at Locale Market to take home. Sauasage lasagna, foccacia bread and mac and cheese. So yummy.

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12. Worked on the day’s events in my traveler’s notebook. I’m trying to get on top of journaling.

Hope you had a great weekend and for more Ten On Tuesdays, hop on over HERE.