really? is this real? dreamland. 

food truck expo

i just got to hang out with my friend nicole. it had been a while since i saw her. we went to the office and got a drink and tried the "grown up" tator tots. they were pretty delicious. then we had a beer at the blue anchor... since, y'know, i live right down the street. she told me about this expo tomorrow that i am now dying to go to... who doesn't want to try like... a bunch of street vendor food all at once?



who wants to go? grilled cheese? umm i hope there's a falafel truck.

ohh, i'm having late nite food issues.

gorgeous!!!

 

blue 

cat with permanent top hat

(stumbleupon, from buzz feed)

a little of this and a little of that

yesterday i was going through my wallet so that i could empty out what i didn't really need anymore. you know, before i left florida to move to europe, i had taken all the things i had collected over the years(business cards and whatnot) out and just left my little lucky shell my brother iam gave me and my little lucky elephant charm that matt's mom gave me. now my wallet is empty of all the czech coins, all the restaurants cards i loved, TWO health insurance cards... just stuff that was taking up room and now needed to be replaced with green money and deposit slips, my business cards(and maybe an orange leaf customer card)i started crying a bit when i realized how surreal it feels now that we were even in prague. it doesn't seem real anymore. i can't believe i was once there walking around the most magnificent streets with the most gorgeous architecture i've ever seen in my enitre life. now i live the florida life, in this amazingly cozy tiny apartment that doesn't even feel like florida even though it has "florida charm and style". i had julia and michelle over lastnite and jules mentioned she felt like she was in my old baltimore apartment. that's kinda true. i don't feel like i'm in florida when i'm at home... that is until i look out the window and see the palm trees. anyway, point is... i feel like that part of my life is now gone. and i need to really do something with all of what i've collected and saved during the time i spent in europe. i am going to make some sort of "scrap" book i guess... posting things inside and just writing down what i remember about it. i'm also working on gathering all of my favorite photos on my computer into a folder so that i can have them printed out. it's going to take some time, but that's my new project that i am looking forward to creating.

now the weekend is kind of over. i just massaged 3 people and walked home under an umbrella in the pouring rain. i need to get my act together. i feel kinda trapped sometimes since i don't have a car. i don't even know if i'm going to get a car cause we don't know how long we'll be in florida for. it's really confusing. i just don't know... and i need to somehow use the memories i have of prague in a better light, because lately it's just been slightly painful thinking about it. i didn't think it would be this hard. but atleast i know how lucky i am... atleast i'm not blinded....

the entrance to our apartment. (photo credit goes to sierra mcgill)

a full fridge makes me happy

by the entrance

little flowers i keep picking.

amazing smelling candle from my mom

sierra came over for dinner the other nite and we recreated a salad i had in paris. amazing.

i made this salad and cilantro dressing lastnite for the girls.

can't even stand it.

i
am
so
lucky
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to
have
you.

(we are so lucky to have eachother.)

our neighborhood

matt and i spent the day inside, as i said before, just working on our apartment, trying to get it more organized. all our boxes are unpacked now... but whatever we don't know what to do with is sitting in our storage closet, hidden away :) just how i like it. no visible mess. that's me; i like going to sleep knowing everythings in its place and waking up seeing that everythings in its place.

the chicken stock made the whole house smell amazing. we don't know exactly what to use it for, so i put it in the freezer for now. we got a little stir crazy and decided to go out and have matt teach me how to drive stick in his golf. we went to a big open parking lot and i tried it out. it was kinda nerve wrecking cause there's so much you've got to pay attention to, and it only lasted a whole 20 minutes of lapping the parking lot before my left leg was giving out and i stalled the car like 5x. oops. well, i'll keep practicing with him. it's kinda thrilling.

afterward we went to doc's and got a rootbeer float. it had been yearssss since i did that. so delicious. then we took a walk around our neighborhood to scope it out and see what's around. took a few photos. it's so beautiful around here. i love how close we are to the intracoastal. water always makes me feel at peace.

this little worm fell on matt's neck. hope it's not poisonous.

such a nice yard.

this is right behind our street. all the yachts are so nice.

my handsome man.

now we're home prepping for dinner(sauteed tofu with garlic sesame seeds and broccoli rabe). we're having an appetizer of drunken goat cheese on ricecakes. (might've splurged at whole foods yesterday)

bare bare bare essentials

i walk by this cute house in our neighborhood all the time.

yesterday was SUCH a long day. i woke up at 7:45 from a call from work saying that the spa would be closed again due to repairs not being done yet. then the cable guy called at 8 and said he'd be here in 15 minutes... even though he was scheduled to come between 9-11.... anyway. two men were here for 2 1/2 hours setting up uverse and now we have cable and internet. it's been so long since i've watched cable... really watched. i'm still really ADD when it comes to tv. as i sit here writing the price is right is on and i can't believe my eyes. drew carey lost so much weight. it's insane.

anyway, after the cable guy left matt and i went out to do errands for like 6 hours. first we went to bedner's farmers market. then we picked up an old vintage stool we found on craigslist. then we dropped off the groceries. after that we had to go get matt's paycheck from work, go to the bank, then drive all the way to coral springs to pick up a bookshelf we found on craigslist. then we went shopping at whole foods. then we went to try and find someone's storage unit to pick up a kitchen wine/storage rack but the guy who was supposed to meet us never met us... so we drove home. we got back around 7 and started making dinner...shrimp tacos. mmm mmm. they were good. matt's mom came over for like 3 hours. we enjoyed some beers together and tried to rearrange some things in the apartment but there's some work to be done today. we have to put our books away. most of them are still in boxes. we need to find some patio furniture and plants for our little deck. it's so bare.

i'm attempting to make some chicken stock today. it'll be my first time... so we'll see how it turns out.

the start

the process

we decided to use this ladder bookshelf we got as our tv stand.

shrimp tacos

princess

the stool we bought

matt's mom got us basil :) 

our empty deck

comparisons and kitchen photos

these are my [early] morning contemplations while drinking coffee. 

i love that i don't have to use an adapter with everything that i need to plug in.

i love shower heads that are attached to the wall. an actual shower. it is incredible. no more crouching.

dryers. they dry your clothes. prague doesn't understand. they'll get there.

air conditioning. well, i'm in florida... and to be honest... it is really necessary. but it's gross sometimes. i can't stand the drastic change from 90 degrees outside with 70% humidity and then walking inside to the cold a/c . i have to bring a sweater everywhere i go just in case. and an umbrella for the torrential downpours that occur for approximately 5 minutes about 10x a week.

just walking around grocery stores... knowing which cheese is which cheese... and not just sniffing it to see if it might taste good.

proper door handles... that don't fall off everytime you close your bedroom door.

i didn't mind flushing from the top. the side is ok... i choose european flushers. they keep things more exciting after the deed is done.

the oven doesn't have pictures... they actually say what you're doing so you're not blindly cooking. is the top hot, or the bottom? both? is it on broil? i could never tell in prague.

i'm lucky that where i live is within walking/biking distance to stores, the beach, and work... but i can't stand the fact that there aren't trams on every corner to pick me up. i also hate not having a car in florida. how long is this going to last? hmph.

----
on the agenda today? the spa is closed for repairs... so maybe i'll enjoy giving my hands a rest(i need a massage)... go walk to the beach...browse craigslist for furniture... and then see my momma.

 kitchen photos...

the counter space is minimal.

we're going to put an island cart next to the stove for more counter space

i love that there's a window in the kitchen. it makes it more open. and thank you anne for my cheese board <3

florida life in comparison slash father's day thoughts

first and foremost lemme mention how happy i am to have kisa back in my life. she's still getting used to the new apartment(as are we), but i know she'll adjust. she's so adorable... even though she sometimes hisses when we give her too much attention. i love when she crawls out from under the bed(her favorite sleeping spot) and jumps up onto our bed at 4am to get some love. it's quite annoying, but so special. :) welcome home lil girl. i love you!

it's so different living back in florida. i constantly miss prague and think about waiting for trams and eating pickled cheese. i really miss the few friends i made and my young students kissing me all over my arms. little julius. dammit. and ferdo. fando. frantyskoo. among other nicknames. (czech nicknames are so friggen weird.)

yesterday i gave 5 massages. it proved to be tough for me, but i pulled through. my wrists are a little sore. sometimes i wonder if my hands are growing cause they look so big. if i had health insurance i'd go get xrays... but alas, my health insurance lives in prague. that's pretty messed up that i had insurance in a foreign country rather than the country i am from.

i slept in this morning. i could tell that i needed it. now i am enjoying a big cup of french press kenyan coffee from starbucks that erick so graciously handed over to matty and i. i can tell this bag will not last long. i have to work today... i am not a happy sunday worker, but before that happens i am going to enjoy this morning sitting in my little cozy living room.

so, it's fathers day and it's been haunting me for days. i haven't really been on a talking/seeing basis with my dad. i saw him the day after we got back from prague(just over 3 weeks ago), and then spoke to him once on the phone a week after that. i'm not a big fan at the moment. drama drama drama. it doesn't feel good. at all. i don't really want to go into it, but one thing i can say is.... he never contacted me for my birthday nor christmas while i was in prague.... no cards, nothing. and while i was abroad, he emailed my brother and mentioned randomly "i am not going to support your sister while she's on vacation." that's what he thinks of me. no support, and i'm not even talking about money. and that kind of sucks. but anyway, that's that. hopefully time will heal all wounds. i just sometimes wish for someone that was better.

it's strange how i didn't really expound upon why florida life is different in comparison to prague. oh well... some other time.

some things i am excited about that are completely and utterly up in the air:

-trip to the keys with matt's family
-trip to see my sister in colorado at the end of the summer or early fall
-trip with my mom to baltimore in july to honor my grandmother after 6 months passing

a data learn the language

we went to the beach today with christalyn. it had been about a year since the last time... and it felt great! as soon as we got there we saw a shark in the water. it was small, but it freaked me out and of course i just stood on the shore and watched. i didn't want to go in after seeing that shark... at all.

things are going well. i love our apartment more and more everyday. we are going to have to wait on getting some random things (such as bookshelves) a little bit longer, though. some spaces are a bit empty, but it will do for now. catie and erick moved into the neighborhood yesterday. they are so excited, and it is so cute.

work has been slow this week. i was on call 2 days in a row with no clients and today is my day off... so 3 days off... but i think this weekend will be busy at the spa and hopefully will make up for my slow days.

here are pictures of our apartment so far.. nothing is final yet since it's only been  a week...

this is our spare bedroom. matt is going to make music in here and we're going to add some more seating and make it cute and cozy.

this is our bedroom. it's a really nice size. we only have dresser and bed so far

this is where we eat. and the built in bookshelf is our favorite.

our living room. best slanted ceilings ever. so cozy. it's like that in the bathroom too!

the cabinet space in that bathroom is adorable.

view from our kitchen window. actual kitchen pictures to come.

fantastic video with two lovely songs

"Way Back Home is the incredible new riding clip from Danny MacAskill, it follows him on a journey from Edinburgh back to his hometown Dunvegan, in the Isle of Skye."



this is incredible. he makes it seem so effortless. (thanks for sharing christalyn!)

shock me like an electric eel

the apartment is filled now with now with all of our things. boxes are everywhere. and i still haven't unpacked any of my three suitcases from prague. there's a lot to be done, but i'm looking forward to decorating. we made our first dinner here lastnite and it felt great. :) i can't wait to keep on doing that and have people over! oh and so far our neighbors seem pretty cool. so that's a plus!

unfortunately not a lot will get done in the apartment because of the upcoming weekend festivities. matt leaves this evening for erick's bachelor party in the keys for the weekend and tomorrow is the start of catie's bachelorette party weekend by the beach! i'm really excited. i've been here now for almost 2 weeks and have yet to go to the beach. i need some color.

i've been doing some massages on my own and also at the spa. i'm still not used to it...my wrists need some lovin'. and my body is a bit achey from all the moving.

i should probably stop the blogging now and unpack some more.  what to do.... shoes... bathroom... kitchen... i'll probably just end up pacing. haha.

can't wait for a month from now when everyone is visiting for erick and catie's wedding! what fun that will be.

anyway, it's been a strange past 2 weeks. it feels like we've been here longer. i really miss prague... the weather here is so hot. i walk outside and within seconds i feel sweat dripping down my forehead. gross.

apartment hunt is over

so, we've found an apartment. it's right next to downtown atlantic avenue. it'll take me 5 minutes to walk to work. great, right? well, i'll get this little annoyance out of the way...  the "winner" apartment we first saw was sadly taken away from us. we went and saw it on tuesday and really wanted it, but before we were going to say yes we needed to look at some others. we saw about 5 places and none of them were what we wanted. on friday we had planned to go see the "winner" but found out that someone had jumped on it before we could tell the landlord we wanted it. sucked, man! we told the landlord to keep us updated before she handed it over to a realtor. well, whatever. that's done and over with. there was another apartment in the same complex that we liked and grabbed up right away so we wouldn't lose out. so now it's ours. we got the keys today. we started moving some stuff in and i'm getting really excited. it's an old old old place. a/c window units, wood floors, wood paneled walls, everythings painted white... the 2nd bedroom is super small(that will become "that" room...) and a decent sized master bedroom. the kitchen is small, but do-able. i can't wait to decorate and get the bed together... hopefully by wednesday we'll be sleeping there! oh and by the way- the greatest part about the place is our friends catie and erick(who told us about the apartment) are moving in shortly and we'll have them as neighbors! i can't wait.

work is going well. sometimes busy. saturday i had 4 clients... a nice 200 dollar day. it felt awesome to make some money and to make people feel awesome. my whole body ached the next day, though. as if i worked out! i'm not quite used to it yet, but hopefully i'll ease into it and my hands won't go back to the way they used to be.

it's been 3 weeks since we've cooked. it doesn't feel good, but we have had no desire to bother. i can't wait to get all unpacked and have our space and kitchen to cook and make comfy.  :)

anyway, that's my update for now. my computer is fixed now and i'm glad it charges again. whew.

time to settle in to this florida life[again].