Spring break in Florida

   I think everyone is pretty much caught up on my trip to Florida, but I can at least make a blog post for the pictures I took.... even if everything I say is repetitive.

   Dad and I spent Wednesday afternoon looking at lots of apartments. I chose a two-bedroom apartment at Timerlake Apartments. It is in a great location on University Pkwy, which is an up and coming part of town. Lots of new restaurants and shopping, including a brand new HUGE mall that is supposed to open this fall. The apartment is seven miles from my work and there the drive isn't bad at all. Here are some pictures I took of the place that aren't on it's website.

   I didn't get a chance to take photos of the model unit that I was shown, but I'll post pictures of my new place when I move in. I have furniture ordered and it will be delivered and set in my apartment the day before I'm moving in. Convenient! The complex has two pools, a hot tub, a sand volleyball court, a small exercise room, a clubhouse, and a "lake." My apartment is on the second story with a view of the lake and pool. Great location.
   While driving around, Dad and I drove past this restaurant. Two of my favorite foods! I will be trying this place out shortly after I move down, I'm sure.

   I saw online that there is a restaurant called "The Dry Dock." So I requested that Dad and I try it. But we didn't realize it is a fancier place than the website suggests, and without a reservation, it was an hour long wait for a table. We just went somewhere else to eat. But here is a picture of it. Maybe I'll go back a different time. There was actually a dry dock with a bunch of boats in storage right next to the restaurant.

   After Devin arrived and Dad left on Friday, Devin and I spent some time walking around St. Armand's Circle near our hotel. It is the same area I stayed when I had my interview in February.
   The next day, Devin and I went to breakfast at the hotel and then walked on the beach. Then we went to finish signing some papers at my apartment and eventually made it to a boat show at Marina Jacks.

   After the boat show we went to the beach. Devin and I are still NOT good at taking "selfies." And Devin is probably not excited about me putting these glamorous photos of him on here, but too bad. I don't look any better! But we eventually got a couple good photos.

   On Sunday morning, Devin and I had reservations to go paddleboarding at sunrise. Neither of us had ever tried it before, so we expected to have a lot of laughs. And we didn't expect to stay dry. We did very well, though! Neither of us fell in. We laughed because we figured "expert paddleboarders" who might be watching us probably saw our boards and knew that they were "beginner boards," and were maybe wondering if it is even POSSIBLE to tip one of them over if we tried. But we felt pretty cool! After getting the hang of it for the first few minutes, it was pretty easy to maneuver. I'm anxious to try it again!

    After paddleboarding, we walked to the Lido Beach main entrance. Our hotel was on Lido Beach, but we weren't at the main entrance, so we walked a couple blocks to find it. I'm glad we checked it out for our future reference. It has a bar and food, pool, showers, locker room, etc. We sat at a shaded picnic table and enjoyed some water and popsicles. This guy was hoping for some french fries, but we didn't have any. He got pretty close to make sure, though.

   I'm sure everyone heard I didn't have the best of luck on my flights home. I missed my second flight from Atlanta to Portland. But I'm not upset. I got to hang out with Devin for an extra hour. I got fixed up in a hotel suite with a jacuzzi, kitchen, and small dining room, and I got to watch all the TLC I wanted! And I didn't have to go to school on Monday! The airline gave me an "amenity bag" with all kinds of toiletries in it, including an XL t-shirt. It is the thinnest t-shirt ever. It looks like it would be a cotton shirt that my mom wore back in high school that has been washed a thousand times before handed down to me. So soft and light. Probably my new favorite pajamas. So I really don't mind at all that I missed my second flight in Atlanta. I'm sure I would feel differently if I was sitting in the airport for 24 hours, but the hotel made it all okay. 

   It's time to get ready for bed. I'll try to post again on Sunday and get back on track with my posts. But I'm not sure if I'll have much to talk about. This week doesn't look like it will be as eventful as my trip to Florida. Now that I have a place to live, I am so excited to move down. I know school and my final project is going to go by very quickly. I'll end this post with a quote that I feel I can relate to:

"Everything has been the same for so long I don't know anything else, and I don't know if that should scare me or excite me, because change is coming and it's gonna be a big one. I'm moving on to the next chapter of my life, but that means leaving behind the chapters I've already found and loved. The scary thing about flipping the page is that you don't know what you're going to find on the other side. I just hope it's all worth it, because the people I'm leaving behind are some damn fine ones. I hope growing up turns out to be as amazing as I always imagined it to be."