N is for Nest

Finding a place that isn't the size of a shoebox in New York can be difficult & finding one that you actually like while on a budget is nearly impossible. Since my decision to stay kind of materialized at the end of the summer, I basically had a week to find something. So it was some kind of amazing miracle that I stumbled upon this little Brooklyn gem because I'm head over heels in love with it.

While I was back in Tampa, I gathered some of my favorite records, books & movies to help make my new nest a little bit nestier. It's crazy how much these simple things helped turn this new place into a home for me. Some of my newest additions are an amazing Tahla quilt from Anthropologie, Crosley record player & sweet little flags from Austen of Keep Calm and Chiffon. And my room wouldn't be complete without art from the incomparable, Gabbie Amontree. Eventually, I'd like to get some vintage pieces in here & more art on the walls but for now, it's perfect. 

It's been such a whirlwind couple of weeks & now that I'm finally settled, the pressure is on to find my dream job. In between editing my resume, I've been popping out of the apartment to explore Brooklyn a little bit. I learned that there's a Target here...it's in a mall & easily the most hectic place I've ever been to in my life. But I love the architecture, all of the trees & the weather has been absolutely spectacular. 

Here's to new nests.

Love,

A

 

I'd Do Anything

This past week was my & J's first week back to USF. While we are excited to get this semester underway, we are both a little nervous because we've both taken on a lot more this spring. I'll be writing for CollegeFashionista again, interning with the Dean's Office and taking an accelerated class schedule so that I can graduate in May and J just accepted an internship with Clear Channel, is still doing NO WAVES RADIO every Wednesday night & scored position as an entertainment writer for our school paper, The Oracle.  

In case you missed it, let me just repeat that this is my LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE. I know, I'm breaking into a cold sweat just typing this...

Anyways, we thought that having a good, old-fashioned adventure weekend was just what we needed to prepare us for the impending doom of this semester. On Friday night, J took me to the Fun-Lan drive-in to see Anchorman 2. The drive-in is one of our favorite places to go because we bring a huge blanket, snacks & can talk as loudly as we want during the film. We even brought our pal, Bentley, along.

Saturday was one of the best days I've had in a while. J came over around noon to take me to AMC Veterans so that we could watch the  new Spike Jonze film, Her. I love seeing artsy movies like that with J because we get all weird & nerdy and start pulling out all the lingo we learned in the film classes we took together. 

And I mean, how #punk do we look dressed up in all black accidentally? Sometimes, it's tough to hide just how funky the two of us are. So simpatico.

Then we drove over to Seminole Heights so that we could eat at a pizza place that we've been absolutely dying to try called Cappy's. We popped into Microgroove Records beforehand to check out some vinyl. J walked away empty handed as usual but I found a few gems that I was pretty excited about. 

One of the things that bring J & I together is our mutual adoration of the band, Simple Plan. They were my favorite band as a pre-teen(...and teen and also as an adult, if you could even classify me as one of those yet). I literally had a Simple Plan birthday cake when I turned 12. That's true dedication. So you can imagine my excitement when I walked into the store & saw their first album "No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls" sitting right on top of the CDs. It was only .99¢. That is a steal, people. I also snagged two 7"s: Electric Avenue by Eddie Grant & Take On Me by a-ha. I know, I'm weird.

Cappy's was brilliant. Their kitschy, 80s-esque decor was right up my & J's alley. They had little dated trivia cards that we played with until our food came, which could have been exciting if either of us had actually been alive in the 70s. We split a Diet Coke and ordered cheese bread with marinara sauce & a pepperoni and sausage pizza which suddenly seems ridiculously redundant to me because isn't cheese bread with marinara sauce basically just pizza...? Yup. It was all so delicious though & they played classic 80s hits the entire time. I was living in a dream world of carbs & dated pop music.

Afterwards, J took me to St. Pete so that we could check out this zine fest that he heard about. If you don't know what a zine is, they are just little paper books that people put together full of cool stuff. They can be filled with anything from poetry to art to photography. We got there & immediately felt like we were the weird ones because of how normal we were compared to everyone else. It was cool to check out a scene that we aren't really familiar with but the over-powering smell of patchouli oil made it absolutely necessary for us to leave after about 20 minutes. 

To make the best out of our trip, J & I looked up a little dessert shop called Everything Dolce. We split the most delicious tiramisu and a cafe con leche & read some of the little zines that we picked up. On the drive home, we blasted the Simple Plan CD. We both know every single word of it. It's moments like these, when I'm screaming lyrics full of teen-angst in unison with J, that I feel so lucky to have someone who just gets me. He accepts me for all of my weirdness. He lets me listen to Electric Avenue while I'm getting ready, no questions asked. He picks out lame 7"s from the 80s that he knows that I'll like to show me if he's looking through bins that I missed. He takes me to the drive-in. He makes these little detailed mental notes about what makes me happy & then does those things every day. He gives me room to grow but gives me unending support. That is love & I am just so lucky to experience it in this way, with this wonderful person.

I am simply mad about you, J.

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.**