An Ode to Florida : Reflecting On Our Year in St. Pete

We bid adieu to St. Petersburg three weeks ago and I've been meaning to write some sort of reflective post for nearly as long. But how do I sum up our year in Florida? Trying to do so is a bit of an overwhelming task but ... here goes.

We had our highs and we had our lows, that's for sure. The move to St. Pete was not a smooth one, nor were G's first days and weeks at his new unit. (Similar to our current transition to Jersey.) And I wasn't sure I liked, or would grow to like, living in Florida. (Kinda how I'm feeling about Union City right now.) But once we made it through some serious financial drama (that happened through no fault of our own), unpacked and settled into our apartment, and survived the brutal summer humidity, the hubs and I began to enjoy our new life in the Sunshine State.

We celebrated our first married Thanksgiving and Christmas (with a visit to the Oakdale Christmas House!), and rang in the New Year—in our pajamas, no less.

While I didn't cross everything off my Florida fall and winter/spring bucket lists, G and I did go on many, many adventures. 

Together we...

Explored indie biz-focused fairs (Localicious and Localtopia), partook in boozy events (Oktoberfest Tampa, Guavaween in Ybor City, the Gasparilla pirate fest, the Tampa Bay Margarita Festival, and First Friday, with tubs of beer, in downtown St. Pete), shopped for fresh produce at the Saturday Morning Market (here and here, here) and picked up pre-loved wares at the Brocante Vintage Market.

Toured the Sunken Gardens, Great Explorations Children's Museum and The Florida Aquarium.

Fell in love with the Oxford Exchange and made multiple visits, for dinner, brunch and a book signing, and sometimes just for the delicious coffee.)

Walked around the gorgeous University of Tampa campus.

Viewed world-class art (and stunning architecture) at The Dali, the Chihuly Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts and the Mainsail Arts Festival.

Enjoyed beachy days in St. Pete (Treasure Island, Fort De Soto dog beach and the boardwalk at John's Pass Village), Clearwater, Dunedin, and a Miami Beach.

Attended games to watch local teams—the Buccaneers, Dolphins, Rays and Lightning—play G's favorite sports (football, baseball and hockey, respectively).

Sailed Tampa Bay at sunset.

Took a (BIG!) bite out of the Tampa Bay culinary scene, with visits to: 

Birch & Vine and The Canopy (day and night) at The Birchwood, 

Bella Brava (with the most enormous baked pasta dish you've ever seen), 

Cassis (for a light lunch and our one-year anniversary dinner), 

theAvenue (to cheer on the Chargers), Lucky Dill (for breakfast and lunch),

Annata, 400 Beach, Sea Salt, Rocco Steak, Ceviche,

Tryst, Red Mesa Cantina, Z Grille, Hook's, Cafe Del Mar, Engine No. 9,

Frenchy's Rockaway Grill, The Getaway, RumFish Grill, 

the restaurant at OE (for a gourmet brunch and dinner)

Anise Global Gastrobar, Taps, Hablo Taco, Bar Louie,

and even Bob Evans.

Sipped on... craft beers at dog-friendly Green Bench Brewing Co., 3 Daughters Brewing
and World of Beer (Pup Crawl! Football Sundays! The Jackass!),
various varietals of wine at Try Wine and the Locale Market bar,
classic cocktails and Moscow Mules at Mandarin Hide,
and some of the best java around at Kawha Coffee.

Our favorite "souvenir" from Florida has to be the one and only Jasper, the furbaby we welcomed into our family just months after arriving on the Gulf Coast. But the best thing about our time in St. Pete, and the reason it ended up being difficult to say goodbye, was the people. 

The friends we made in Tampa Bay 

are what made it feel like home. 

Without them, Florida would have been 

a beautiful but lonely place to be.

At the end of May, I organized a going-away pool party at our apartment complex so G and I could see everyone one more time before heading off to Jersey. It was a sun-soaked day full of good food, strong drinks, inappropriate card games and lots of laughs. The perfect way to wrap up our year in St. Pete.

Until next time, Florida! Thanks for the memories.

Hello, Clearwater : An Evening at Sugar Sand Beach

This past weekend we happily dog/house sat for a couple of friends. After all, they watched Cali for three weeks while we were in California! The least we could do was take care of their (big!) beloved goldendoodle Nelson for three days. But before dog duty began on Thursday, the hubs and I journeyed to Clearwater for a midweek date night that consisted of a quick calligraphy photo shoot on the beach, a low-key dinner at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill, a look at some amazing sand sculptures at the annual Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival, followed by a moonlit walk on the shore.

Grouper is a local favorite here in Florida and Frenchy's is known to have some of the best around. The popular eatery has several outposts in Clearwater but Rockaway Grill is the largest, and right on the beach. Even though it was a Wednesday evening, there was a 20-minute wait to get a table and while we didn't get a spot on the open-air, beachfront patio, we did get front-row seats to the night's live band. (It would have been wonderful to see the sun set over the Gulf, but perhaps it was best we weren't on the patio since, while we waited outside the restaurant for a table, a gull pooped on my arm! That's good luck, right? Fortunately, there was a beach shower right next to us. Phew.)

When eating at a restaurant for the first time, I like to try what the establishment is known for, the house specialties. Having done a little research beforehand, I knew exactly what to order at Frenchy's. The hubs and I split a half-order of the Garlic Crab Fries, since Alton Brown described the beer-battered fries—which are tossed in garlic butter and parsley and topped with garlic aioli, Old Bay and snow crab—as "food crack." For our entrees, the hubs had the grilled Mahi Mahi Sandwich while I had to have the fried Grouper Sandwich (hold the provolone). I washed it down with the dangerously delicious Rum Runner, a frozen crimson concoction made with Virgin Island Dark and 151 rums, banana liqueur, blackberry brandy and tropical fruit juices. It was good and strong. While G and I often dine out at high-end restaurants and we tend to cook gourmet fare at home, it was fun and kind of refreshing in a strange way to eat low-brow grub like fried fish sammies.

After dinner, we headed over to Pier 60 for the main event: the Sugar Sand Festival, named for Clearwater Beach's nickname. The sand there is so white and soft and really does look and feel like sugar! But what's more impressive is what master sand sculptors can do with it. This year's festival featured a fairytale theme. As G and I walked through the 21,000-square-foot exhibit tent, we were in awe at the size and great detail of the sand sculptures, created with more than one thousand tons of sand. And, having grown up on Disney and fairytales, I truly enjoyed the enchanting subject matter. Because we visited after sundown, changing colored lights helped illuminate the sandy scenes; not always great for photo-taking, but it did add to the festival's fantastical feel.

I couldn't let us leave the beach without a quick moonlit stroll along the shore. Clearwater Beach is truly beautiful and I can see why it is such a popular place to live and vacation. 

Hopefully we can make one more trip to Clearwater before we leave to explore more of what Sugar Sand Beach has to offer.