Night Moves

Another semester bites the dust (finally) & we're back to doing what we do best: adventuring. I'm not going to Hong Kong this year (miss ya, Dad) so I decided to drive down to Weston with Jake so that we could have a little week of adventures together. My dad was kind enough to buy me a Nikon D3200 for Christmas. I've been playing with it non-stop all weekend & it's finally making it's Stellar Piece debut. J keeps describing it's photo quality as "crispy" & I'd have to agree. I'm in love.

We've only been here a day & it's been amazing so far. We woke up at noon, had lunch with his family & made a trip to Sawgrass Mills Mall. I feel compelled to tell you guys that I finally bought a pair of suede J.Crew loafers that I've been drooling over for months. They were originally $98 & I got them for $44 (hell yes).

Later in the evening, J & I drove to Radioactive Records to do a little hunting. I've been searching high & low for the Pretty in Pink soundtrack on vinyl, but haven't found it yet. Jake is trying really hard to teach me how fun it can be to patiently dig through bins at record stores. It can be pretty hard for a girl who doesn't know the first thing about patience, but I'm learning. J bought a couple of 7"s & I bought some Thompson Twins & Dead or Alive LPs.

Afterwards, Jake took me to this neat little dive called Le Tub. The decor was ultra kitschy & cool. They had metal bathtubs & toilets everywhere and their walls were adorned with old photographs & license plates. I had a yummy hot dog while J downed a huge cheeseburger. We finished it all off with some homemade Key Lime pie. It's amazing how much better you feel after eating when you're starving.  J & I both turn into Betty White in that Snickers commercial if we wait to eat but luckily it only takes a few bites until we are back to our normal, silly selves. 

I thought that we were heading home for the night when Jake took an impromptu right turn & took me to the beach so that we could run around for a few minutes. As we were walking down the boardwalk, I expected the beach to be nice & calm (you know, rom-com style) but the gale force winds kind of ruined that dream for me. It was romantic in a different kind of way, though. J & I were just running around like crazies, getting our shoes all wet in the ocean, drawing 'J+A Forever' in the sand & climbing all over everything. That's our style & I wouldn't have it any other way.

Love,

A

Tampa FAM Weekend

Finals week has been killing the both of us. While cramming for multiple straight days of exams, A & I have been itching to get out of the house & have some fun.

But thankfully, the Skatepark of Tampa schedules their annual Tampa Am contest right around the same time as USF's finals week. We happily took the opportunity to call up our friends on Friday night, drop our responsibilities & head out to the Tampa premiere of Nike SB's new video, SB Chronicles Vol. 2 at the beautiful Tampa Theatre downtown. After slaving through a long semester, it was so fun to get silly with our Tampa family. 

I mean, look at that crew though. I'll take you from left to right. Steve Berens, Joanna Ritter, Toni Wieber, Andrea Landsdale, J & A, Josh Garno, David Kirk, Jack Ferreira, Hannah Milden, & BJ Townley. And what a handsome bunch at that.

The premiere kicked off one of the best nights of our lives. Aside from the video being insane, we all had fun stargazing at semi-famous skateboarders (especially Jack Ferreira) screaming out at the top of our lungs, & convincing almost-too-cool photographers to take a massive family photo of us. Plus, Kenny Anderson found a cozy seat directly in front of A during the video (sup Kenny!!!!).

Naturally, nearly two rows full of hyped college kids only meant the night was destined to continue. We all reconvened on campus for one of the deepest-crew late-night skate sessions in USF history. I mean, there were at least 11 of us terrorizing campus at 2 a.m. 

I'm obligated to mention that at one point, we cruised past the library to find four campus police officers trying to wake a sleeping, shirtless man, "Todd", from a deep snooze on a bench outside. Homeboy would not move. They had to carry the dude out to an ambulance & everything. Somebody was partying a little too hard during finals week! Hope you're good, Dead Todd!

Thank god Aisha came through, because we captured most of the night for my homie video I'm putting together. But of course, I'm too excited & we decided to share footage from the night below.

I'm so thankful for everyone in that first picture. Not only do I have the love of my life by my side, but I'm surrounded by some of my favorite people in the entire world. Thanks everybody for coming out & hanging, last Friday was a night I'll remember when I'm way too old to skate anymore.

Love you all,

J

Mima & Papa

Jake & I were invited to spend the weekend with his grandparents, Jim & Barbara Roosevelt who are lovingly known as Mima & Papa. They recently bought an A-class motor home, so we met up with them at Fort Wilderness campground in Orlando to help them break in their new RV. 

We arrived on Saturday, got to know the RV & caught up with Mima & Papa. When our tummies started rumbling, we went to lunch at Trail's End, a restaurant at Fort Wilderness that has been open since the 70s. Papa had rented a golf cart so that we could drive around the campground at ease. J & I got to sit on the back of it while we drove around the different loops. The loops at Fort Wilderness all have sweet little nature-themed names such as Cottontail Curl, Quail Trail, Possum Path & Jack Rabbit Run. We were staying at site 526, which was part of Buffalo Bend.

Later that day, Mima & Papa had a visit from their friends of over 50 years. Drew, (Twinkle Toes) Tommy & Mary Ann shared some old stories with us & we even learned about Tommy's past as a performer in the 70s. Turns out that J & I get along famously with older people because we are a couple of old souls ourselves. Our childish tendencies quickly kicked in & we started to crave a caramel apple. Papa drove us over to the bus stop & we headed to Downtown Disney so that we could pay a little visit to The Candy Cauldron.

After walking around Downtown Disney for a little bit, J & I headed back for dinner at the RV. Mima & Papa made us a delicious lasagna, garlic bread & salad, and I tried extra hard not to get any of it on their light upholstery. After dinner we watched the fireworks & boat parade while we reminisced about the classic Disney stories we've all accumulated. 

 The next day, we spent the morning exploring more of the campground loops & had a wonderful breakfast together. During breakfast, Papa said something that really stuck with Jake & I. He said, "There aren't many people who enjoy life more than the two of you". Hearing him say that made us so happy because it's nice to know that people appreciate my & J's sense of adventure, especially Mima & Papa. It also became clear to me just how lucky I am to have a partner-in-crime who's as cool as J. He's always got my back when the heat gets hot, he's always ready for another adventure with me & I just love him madly.
 
 J & I packed up our stuff & we all decided to head to Downtown Disney together as a last hurrah for the weekend. We leisurely wandered in & out of shops together. Mima convinced Jake to ride on a carousel with her. They were so cute & Mima dismounted ever so gracefully from the high horse she had chosen. We didn't want to say good-bye after having such a lovely weekend, but J & I are already planning our future adventures with them.

If there is one thing that I've learned over the weekend, it's that Mima & Papa have the very best stories. I could listen to them talk for days. They have been married for nearly 50 years, so they've been on tons of adventures, taken thousands of photographs & made millions of memories. J & I are forever inspired by the love that the two of them share for each other.

Love,

A

High Fidelity

Everybody's got a hobby. Sometimes hobbies can be even more fun when you begin to share them with someone you adore.

When I was in high school, I played in various punk & pop-punk bands. As any kid with a ton of music nerd friends would be, I was eventually lured into collecting vinyl. Over the years, I've seen my collection grow from a couple of PVC discs to a colorful archive of my musical personality. I've got some classics, & some embarrassing ones, too.

Over the summer, A & I were gifted a late-70s record player with accompanying speakers by her grandfather, "G-Dad Reynolds." While the player was worn-down and beyond repair, the speakers still worked like a champ. I was so in love, that I upgraded my old record player to one compatible with these beauties.

Since I met the gal, I've dragged A along with me on record store digs. From our earliest dates to Mojo Books & Music in Tampa to as recent as our roadtrip to Gainesville, my little #1 has stuck by my side as I picked through each & every record in every store we've gone to together. Just as my old Crosley player needed a new home, it seemed that she finally caught the itch.

As soon as A introduced my old record player to her loft bedroom, she started a collection of her own. What once started as a solo activity has seen our weekender luggage include a bag full of records. Not to mention, A's new obsession has led to some adorable fangirl moments (re: meeting Mish Way at Pre-Fest).

A's amazingly vast musical palate includes anything from quirky one-hit-wonders & 80s jams to contemporary classic punk rock (that's my girl). However, she often can walk out of a store with four records to my one. Some of her recent grabs include Styx, Ramones, Tone-Loc & Madonna.

It's so much more fun to walk into a record store with a pal who's just as excited to be there, to compare findings and to sit & listen to them together than it is to do it all on your own, especially when you already have for years.

But it's easy to share something you love so much with someone that you love even more.

Love,

J

**Above are some photos from our Veterans Day trip to Daddy Kool Records in St. Pete, one of our favorite places, & a small sampling of favorites from our collections.** 

Almost Roughing It

This past weekend, my family invited J & I along on a camping trip to Little Manatee River State Park. If you've read anything on Stellar Piece before, you can probably tell that neither J nor I are really into pulling up our bootstraps & roughing it. The closest that either of us have come to being 'one with nature' was our 4-day Bonnaroo adventure & by the end of that we had basically swore off camping all together.

But we agreed to go because there are three things that Jake & I will never turn down: family, food & adventures. We arrived at the campsite around 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon & met up with my mom, Aric & Bentley who had been there with the RV since Friday. Mom had prepared her world-famous sandwiches for us & that is when our eating frenzy began. We seriously didn't stop eating for two days straight. Who knew there were so many perks to camping?

The rest of our family met up with us later & we all worked on setting up our tent. We had what could be considered the mansion of all tents. Jake, Ashton, Skylar & I surprisingly got the thing up pretty quickly. J & I put our own aesthetic touches on it with a few strings of lights & a colorful duvet for our blow-up mattress. If we're going to sleep in a tent, we at least have to do it the J & A way.

Camping is not a place for make-up or playing dress-up. It was nice to not worry about what I was wearing but that also meant that no one was in the mood for an extensive photo-shoot, so most of our photos were gracefully taken from behind. 

I learned that J has something in common with all little boys: he is completely fascinated by fire. Watching his face (literally) light up while he was manically spraying lighter fluid everywhere & yielding a big metal stoker stick was surprisingly endearing. Some things are always going to be cool, especially fire.

While Jake was off being a pyromaniac, I was on S'more duty. I taught all the kids how to make perfect s'mores: two graham crackers, two pieces of Hershey chocolate & one perfectly toasted marshmallow. Mmmm.

It got pretty cold in the evening which was fine by me because J & I snuggled close like little bunnies all night. We woke up in the morning feeling surprisingly well-rested, although our tent was a little humid from the rain. Then my mom broke the news to us: we were all going to go on a two-and-a-half hour canoe trip. As a girl who has little-to-no upper body strength, I have to admit that I was not really excited to be stuck in a manually powered metal torpedo. There were times along the river when J & I didn't see eye-to-eye, it may or may not be when I was flying full speed into a thorny bush or when I was nearly decapitated by a log, but it ended up being a growing experience for the both of us. Thanks for not giving up on me, J.

I ended up having the best weekend by just letting go & doing all of the things that I said that I didn't want to do. Sometimes it can be tempting to be stubborn & difficult, but I always end up having more fun when I just chill out & go with the flow. I was with all of my favorite people on the planet. We all just ate, laughed, almost killed each other in canoes & enjoyed each others company. That's what it's all about because at the end of the day life is just an adventure.

Love,

A 

Watch a short film that we made using footage from our little trip below. A & I are extremely proud of how it turned out. :)