Beach Day!!

Now that temps are dipping down to the 50's at night, the water is way to cold for surfing. So, we decided to drive down south and visit a beach that is well-known as a beach-combers hot spot for huge shells and lots of shark teeth.

South Ponte Vedra Beach

The beach is made up almost entirely of shells.

So excited about all of the great stuff we were finding!!

This crane played around in the waves right in front of us for quite a while :) I loved it!!

Nick found all of these!!!

I don't have the patience to dig through all those shells, but he did great!!! This conch was pretty easy to spot though...

New Addition

Our new apartment was feeling a little too empty...

This is our new kitty, Rue, and she is a spitfire!!! She has endless amounts of energy and is always down to wrestle with CeeCee, but she's so dang cute when she crashes...

She loves to watch the water drain out of the bath tub? Weirdo.

Of course, our firstborn CeeCee loves playing with Rue, and I think she is happy to finally have an ally and friend to keep her company

We wake up around 6 a.m. most morning to the sounds of claws in the carpet and our cats racing each other around our apartment. They make us laugh and keep us distracted from our normal lives probably way too much, but it's so worth it :)

Lazy Mondays are my FAVORITE

Why? Cause unlike the rest of you working people, I work my butt off all weekend at Stonewood throwing steaks and fish at people, and Monday is my day to unwind. And by unwind, I mean clean the apartment and cook :) but I actually do love that Nick only has school from 7-8:30ish and we can spend all day together, go to Costco and WalMart and all that stuff that sounds boring but we actually look forward to all weekend. So today we did just that, and now my favorite dinner is in the oven (cheesy chicken and mashed potatoes, recipe from my Mommy). Nick just got back from hunting in St. Augustine all weekend, and while he was gone I got some much needed girl time with some of my favorite ladies. Nick didn't get anything out hunting this time, except a million mosquito bites and an encounter with Poison Sumac, but he's a wilderness boy at heart, so it was a good trip anyways. I am really starting to miss Montana and sooooooo looking forward to Christmas in Kalispell. Counting the days!!

In honor of our trip to Wal-Mart today, I found this at peopleofwalmart.com... If you haven't spent time looking through the pictures on this website, you're missing out.

The caption said: Hey there little lady, self wedgie all you want but these hawk-like eyes can still pick out that poo stain from a mile away!

Cheers!!

Happy Friday!!! 

I just realized that last Monday marked a year and a half for Nick and Nikki!!

Here's to the last year and a half and everything ahead of us!! :)

Occupy Wall Street

I generally don't like to get into politics, but what's going on in NY (besides the Yankees kicking butt) is so huge. I just wanted to share a couple pictures I have come across that really inspire me and bring home what a big deal this all could be. The photos aren't public domain so I posted the links below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/live-updates-occupy-wall-street_n_996655.html#s381039&title=Occupy_Wall_Street

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/live-updates-occupy-wall-street_n_996655.html#s384680

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/live-updates-occupy-wall-street_n_996655.html#s381050&title=Occupy_Wall_Street

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/live-updates-occupy-wall-street_n_996655.html#s381049&title=Occupy_Wall_Street

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/live-updates-occupy-wall-street_n_996655.html#s382918&title=Day_14_Occupy

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is never a shortage of food in our house. Nick loves to cook, and he is absolutely awesome at it. Grilling is his specialty, but he can literally make ANYTHING. A few days ago, he made some delish spaghetti sauce that we are still munching on. I'm a lucky girl. I am not too good at cooking, but I love to bake, and today I tried out a new recipe that turned out better than I could have hoped. I love to share my concoctions with friends, so I dropped a few off at some friend's houses, and got positive feed back from all of them. I highly recommend you try the recipe if you have a craving for cookies.

Makes about 16 cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
½ cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. On medium speed, cream together the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat to combine. On low speed, gradually add the flour until just combined. Stir in the oats, and then the chocolate chips.

4. Use a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons) and drop dough onto prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden. Cool completely on the baking sheet and then store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Martini Night... maybe

My girlfriends and I all had last night off (a VERY rare occasion) so we decided to take advantage of our free time and have a girls night, complete with martinis and our favorite show, Friends. Kristen even got me this awesome gift to celebrate the night...

Our favorite ex-bartender, Kristen, mixed Stacy, Fjola and I some awesome strawberry martinis, but we were so distracted by something else, that we barely got through the first round of drinks...

Two days ago, Kristen found a couple of kittens at her friends apartment who appeared to be homeless. She picked them up, brought them home, and while she attempted to find someone to adopt them, she became a mom :) So, instead of drinking martinis, we played with the 8 week old kittens alllllll night. One is a girl, Mila, and the other is a boy, Paxton. Not bad for a girl who thinks she hates cats.

Nick got a chance to meet them too. They really make us want another one :)

Halloween Plans?

I have never been much for Halloween, Halloween parties or dressing up and trick or treating... BUT living so close to Universal in Orlando, I see plenty of advertisements and hear from all the locals that Universal's Halloween Horror Nights is what everyone does to celebrate the holiday. The whole park is transformed into haunted houses and the rides lose their typical comic book themes for a much more edgy and scary experience. From what I have heard, this place goes all out and makes the whole month of October an unforgettable experience. I would really REALLY love to make it out there for a night!

Spotted...

As you all know, going to the beach and getting our surf board wet is one of our favorite past times. However, surfing isn't the only way to have fun at the beach. I love to collect shells, boogie board, swim and play in the waves. It can sure turn into quite the cardio work out if there is a heavy rip current, too. Any time we are about to head to the beach, we check a local Jacksonville Beach website to see what kind of waves we will encounter, where the tide is, how many people will be there, water temperature, etc. Today, we got quite a surprise...

This little guy (6-7ft) was spotted at the Pier during a surf contest this week. It's a bull shark and he was spotted in as little as two feet of water, riding a wave along with a surfer. We always keep a sharp eye out when in the water, and 90% of the time, a fin in the distance means playful dolphins looking for lunch. This is just one day we were glad to be stuck at home :)

Jacksonville Ski Club?

Yep, there is such a thing! Last week we went to the first meeting of the season for the Jacksonville Ski Club and it was AWESOME. It was the first time since moving to Florida that people actually had heard of my home town, and many had actually been there to ski!! We weren't really sure what to expect at the meeting, and quickly found out that these people are for real!! Each year, the club plans six ski trips and the members choose which ones to go on. This year, they are headed to places like Vail, Big Sky, The Canyons and Jackson Hole. Since each trip is over $1000, we probably won't be joining them, but it was fun to exchange stories and chat with people who love the snow as much as we do. Hard to come by down here!

All The Small Things

One of the reasons I started this blog was so I could try to keep in touch with every one a little better. Being so far away from family and friends gets difficult at times, but I'm pretty excited about all the opportunities we have had since moving to Florida. One of my favorite things we've been able to experience is live music! On Saturday we got to see one of our favorite bands in Tampa... Can you tell who it is? :)

Yeah we were pretty far up there, AND forgot a camera, so this is the only photo documentation we have of our trip to see BLINK 182!! It was a blast. With beer in hand and loud music in our ears, we enjoyed from the nose bleed section. It was my birthday gift to Nick this year!!

Some of the other bands we have gotten to see since moving here are Yellowcard, Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance and Toby Keith!! Always looking forward to the next one :)

Trip to Savannah Georgia

One of my favorite parts of living in Florida is exploring the surrounding areas; all places I never thought I would be lucky enough to see. Last month, we took a trip up to Savannah with our friends, Loni and Tyler (miss you guys!) We walked the intricate streets, sampled local flavor and explored everything we could in our short time there. My favorite was our lunch at The Lady and Sons Restaurant, started by Paula Dean. We had to wait in line for reservations at the major attraction, but all the buttery, deep fried goodness was well worth it. Savannah was such a beautiful, quaint place that reminded me a lot of Whitefish, MT, minus the extreme heat and Paula Dean's. 

Always looking for a photo op, I had to get some pictures of this stairway right on the river.

We shopped and shopped, and I could have spent hours in this cute kitchen boutique.

Same with this store, filled with random toys from our past like old school Nintendo, action figures, and of course, snap bracelets. Loni and I thought we'd try out a new look.

Our New Apartment!

After living inland for a few months, we decided to pick up and move ourselves across the intercoastal waterway to Ponte Vedra Beach. Now we have the luxury of spending our down time in a place we truly love with the Atlantic Ocean and sandy beaches just blocks away. Nick loves that he can surf before AND after class any day he wants, and I have been having a blast decorating and organizing our new (and much bigger) apartment. Although we are further from work and school, our new surroundings are definitely worth it. 

 My first real fire place!!! I lived in cold climates most of my life and always

wanted one. Now I'm living in hot, sunny, humid Florida and can probably use it

one month out of the year. I'm still super excited to light up a fire 

when the temperature dips down to 40 :)

 Screened in porch to keep the bugs out and CeeCee in :)

Nick's office/toy room