BYOC (Build Your Own Cricket)

I think it'd be dreamy to build one of these bad boys and get lost driving it around the good ol' USA. The inventor is a "space" architect and has worked on NASA's International Space Station's habitation module (aka where the astronauts live). His most recent venture is the Cricket, where mobile camper meets tent. They're customizable, lightweight, compact, can be pulled by any car and fit inside a garage. Sounds like a dream-wander-mobile, I'm ready to go!

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My Thoughts Exactly

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Shiny Happy People

One of the best lovelies I know, a one Miss Rachel Best, gave me the most astounding book for my birthday this past weekend.

The Shiny Happy People Book is a cookbook by Neil Roake cataloging exquisite dinner parties and beautiful homes curated by the people he admires best: his good friends. When I fist unwrapped the book, my first reaction was "How Beautiful! It reminds me of my blog roll!" But upon further inspection, I found that not only was I interested in these people, and the food and decors they had to share, but that the author and his friends-featured were all located in South Africa, which I visited this past April and fell hard, madly, deeply in love with. This weekend has been a whirlwind of birthday celebration-chaos (Cheers, 26!), but each night I've found myself getting ready for bed, slightly (or maybe more) tipsy, thumbing through this book, marveling at the beautiful pages inside, planning the perfect dinner party occasions where I shall unveil certain recipes (to everyone's surprise and delight!) and also, feeling a certain (severe) longing for South Africa growing in my heart. The places I saw there were off the beaten path and truly unreal (I am so lucky!)! This book is filling me with a rush to get back to the Garden Route with a moment's quickness, as soon as possible. Thank you, Rachel Best , you've stirred South Africa up inside of me.

Tiny House

I want to build a tiny house. I don't own any property or have anywhere to actually put a tiny house. But I want to at least know how to build one. Vermont Tiny Houses offers weekend workshops to teach you how to build your very own 300 sq. ft. or less space. In one weekend! Everything you need to know! Vermont isn't exactly down the street, but I think a long weekend road trip for a project like this would be worth going out of the way for. I've always wanted to see Vermont anyways.

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Outstanding In The Field

This is one of the best things I've seen in a long time. Outstanding In The Field is a roaming dinner experience, a restaurant on wheels.

They travel across the country setting up their long tables outside in the middle of fields, crops, mountainsides, and shorelines. The food they prepare is locally grown from the region they are in and often prepared by a local chef icon.

Once the meal is prepared, the dinner guests (local farmers, producers and members of the community) gather around the long tables to dine, drink and enjoy together.

The majority of their tour list takes place out west. Unfortunately, I see no dates in Florida and only one in Georgia. Nonetheless, I joined their mailing list, in the hopes that they notice at least one Floridian is interested! They also have plans for a European tour in 2011.

Boston

Two weeks ago, Hilary and I dashed off to Boston for a long weekend to visit our dear old friend, Allie. It was the perfect time of year for our first experiences in Beantown, as fall was in full swing, color explosion!

We hit up the grand Boston Public Library,

stumbled upon the Domino Book Release Party at Louis Boston,

took a moment inside the Old South Church of Boston,

and lounged in the Boston Public Garden, soaking up a true New England autumn.

TX to FL

We just returned from a nine day trip traveling from Austin, TX back to Jacksonville, FL. My man & I flew out to Austin to play for a few days before my sister & her man moved home & to help them with the drive. Our path of travels looked somewhat like this:

View Larger Map

Highlights of the trip included:

- The Taylor, Texas International Barbecue Festival

- Austin's Sixth Street on a Saturday night

- Tubing down the San Marcos River

- Texas Wine Country

- Shopping on South Congress Avenue

- The Hey Cupcake! Stand

- An afternoon at Barton Creek

- Watching the bats come out from under the South Congress Avenue Bridge

- Barton Springs Pool

- The beautiful San Antonio Riverwalk

- The Alamo

- Spending my birthday in New Orleans

Great Journeys

Penguin Books has an incredible series called 'Great Journeys', which features twenty real-life adventure stories written by history's greatest explorers. "Around the world in twenty books!" as their website puts it.
The series includes works by Sir Richard Burton, Herodotus, Anton Chekhov, James Cook, George Orwell, Marco Polo and Mark Twain, spanning the centuries from the ancient world of 4th century B.C. to the early 20th century.
The amazing cover artwork is done by David Pearson Design. I love how each cover has a simple color scheme & vintage feel. I think a poster of all the book covers would look amazing in a home office or studio space.

The Australian Penguin site gives the best descriptions of each book. I am setting a long-term goal to collect & read each work of literature in this series. I think it would be an amazing collection to own & one day pass down.

Also, check out the Great Loves and Great Ideas series.

Sun + Water

This past weekend was filled with non-stop playing in bodies of water. Ocean, river, pool - we hit up everything but the lake.

Friday I spent the day with my family at Jacksonville Beach:

{Image via Tawandaaa/Ricki}

Saturday a bunch of us went tubing at Ginnie Springs:

Sunday and Monday were filled with dips in our pool, which as of a week ago looks like this:

We made it out with only one broken knee, feeling a bit more than sunkissed and very Floridian.

St. Augustine

{St. Augustine}

This past weekend we ran off to St. Augustine for Sunday and Monday. We strolled, shopped and tourist-ed; we slept, ate and drank; we sprawled on the beach and celebrated Memorial Day, as well as 3 years together.

Treasures from Tampa

This past weekend in Tampa, all of us girls made some killer shopping finds. A few of my own favorites include {clockwise from top left}: Vintage Bird Cage Art found at secondhand store, Teal Vintage-Inspired Pumps from BITTEN by Sarah Jessica Parker {only $8.98!}, Summery Woven Purse from Bali Bay Trading Company, and Spoon Rest made in Spain also found at secondhand store.