summer wrap-up

Wow, Liza.  Good job on the whole "I'm gonna blog at least once a week ALL SUMMER LONG," thing.
 
I really knocked that one out of the park, didn't I?

But, in my defense, this summer felt like it was about two weeks long - amiright?  June was just like any other June except that I got my uterus issues ironed out (not with an actual iron) and our house nearly flooded (nearly).  July was a blur of hot weather and summer food and going for walks in the evening even though it was way too hot to be going for walks in the evening.  Then, August saw a trip to the mountains where it was just as hot and humid as it was in Florida, the welcoming of not one, but TWO new jobs, and ended with a hurricane that left us without power for four days. 

Whew.  Now that that's out of the way and we're firmly rooted in September, here's a little look back at what you might have missed if you don't know me well or don't follow me on Instagram.

1. I did a lot of reading.

 

2.  I wore a lot of seasonally-inappropriate hats.

3.  I frequently wore ballgowns for no good reason.

4. I did a lot of painting.

5.  I swam in every body of water I could find.

6. I went on a road trip with my mama and hit up every antique store, cold stream, and scenic overlook in North Georgia and the southern part of North Carolina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.  I ate a lot of good food, met interesting people, bought too many hats, and managed to scrape by with only one sunburn.  All in all, a good summer.

Happy September!  

Maybe I'll actually blog once a week this fall.

(but I probably won't)

xoxo,

Eliza

bald point

I'm almost certain that most of life's small annoyances and even some of life's great tragedies can be remedied with a trip to the beach.  Now I'm not sure that there's a scientific reason for this phenomenon, but I chalk it up to the combination of cold salt water, warm breezes, and the sweet sound of waves crashing against the shore and birds calling out to each other.

I'm sure a case can be made for every beach in North America, but you haven't truly experienced the beach until you've been to Bald Point, right here in Florida.  There's really something magical about a pristine white beach, free from the high rises and beer pong tournaments one usually finds in this part of Florida.  The hour long drive from Tallahassee takes you past all the sights that make this state such an oxymoron - first you pass government buildings and law offices, then Walmarts, Dollar Stores, and Piggly Wigglys, then onto long stretches of road with an over-abundance of bail bonds offices and tattoo shops and oyster bars streaking past the car windows.  An endless parade of fire stations, and Ace Hardware stores, and gas stations, until finally, nature takes control of the environment and for several miles its nothing but pine trees and palm trees and scrubby oak trees mixed in with open Savannahs of tall grass and alligators, as far as the eye can see.  Then a bridge, and a small marked road, and a ten minute drive past rental houses and fishing boats and boiled peanut stands, until finally, the State Park sign appears in the distance.  The beach itself is relatively small, but littered with ancient palmettos, and great masses of exposed pine tree roots, and enormous sand dunes, and wild, untouched beauty.

So I say it again - if you haven't been to Bald Point, you haven't truly experienced the beach as it was meant to be experienced.  But enough of my ramblings!

My sweet mama and I got up late this morning and decided there was no time like the present to pack a lunch and head down to the coast.  One hour later we staked out our spot, dove into our lunch (three bean salad, potato salad, deviled eggs, green olives, watermelon, and baby Cokes), and spent a glorious afternoon exploring our surroundings.

 

            

 

 

There really is something magical about the beach.

xoxo,
Eliza

springtime in the south

Everyone has that one outfit that feels fresh and interesting every time they slip into it.  For me, that outfit is a beautiful gray 1950s dress printed with small white petals and an outrageously large floral hat from the early 1950s.  The hat I picked up in an antique store in Hiawassee, Georgia, eight years ago - I had seen it the previous year, but it was out of my price range.  But as luck (and the Vintage Gods) would have it, when I went back a year later, there it was!  In the same store, in the same place, with a much lower price on the tag.  The dress was picked up from Dalena Vintage and is now a staple in my wardrobe.  Worn separately, both pieces are beautiful.  But worn together, they look as though they were never meant to be worn apart.

 

 

 It was very windy today at the Springtime Tallahassee celebrations, and I stupidly left home without a hatpin, so my arms got lots of unnecessary exercise.  After shopping the vendors, listening to music, and eating our weight in kettle corn, my beautiful mama and I took a tour of the Old Capitol Museum, where we found an exhibit about historic Florida State Parks.  It couldn't have been a more perfect day (although I could have done without the thick layer of soggy oak pollen that carpeted every surface...but that's life in the south). 

 Happy Spring!

xoxo,

Eliza

a day at the museum

I find it fitting that my first post of this new year is all about my first trip to the Tallahassee Museum of 2016.  If you've never been to the museum, take this as an omen/sign from the universe/kick in the ass/etc, etc, that it's time to visit.  Now that we've cleared up what you're going to do on your next day off, let me tell you a little bit about the Tallahassee Museum.

Built partly in the swamp, ancient cypress trees jut out of the water with a blanket of Spanish moss dripping from every branch.  Beautiful winding trails take you through the sandy Florida wilderness, past a plantation house, school house, historic church, inactive sinkhole, and a fully functioning farm.

 

Part living history museum, part wild animal sanctuary, and absolute heaven for the children of North Florida. 

 

 

It's safe to say that I spent most of my childhood at the museum, either running around the playground and playing in the sink hole, or volunteering with the mom and sister at the farm house.  Most of my early memories are planting onions in the museum's garden, collecting acorns, visiting the owls, the panthers, and the otters, standing by the wood burning stove in the winter, and collecting cold water from the pump in the summertime.

 

 

 

Thank you for the memories, Tallahassee Museum.  I know we'll make lots more.

xoxo,

Eliza

~ sur la plage ~

November in Florida is like playing the weather lottery machine.  Take, for example, last November the 15th - it was COLD, with highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s.  This November is having none of that. Today was 70 degrees, a few days ago I wore shorts, and a few days before that we had the AC on.  But despite the unreliable temperature, there is something you can always rely on.  It will always be breathtakingly beautiful.

After a good lunch, a breezy walk on the beach, and a tour of the Crooked River Lighthouse, we got back home in time for dinner.  A perfect day.

xoxo,

Eliza

~ summertime ~

As the days grow shorter and summertime draws to a close, the Florida weather is creeping closer to 90 degrees/farther from 100, the air is slowly dehumidifying, and the beach trips are becoming fewer and farther between.  But as any true Floridian knows, summertime is not officially over until Halloween, even though last minute costume changes might be necessary due to overnight temperature plunges.  To celebrate my return to the U.S., the beautiful weather, and my total lack of coursework for this semester, a beach trip was most definitely in order.

I wore a vintage two-tone bathing suit that I picked up from a little shop in the UK.

It was a beautifully clear day, with only a few clouds in the sky and only a few people on the beach.  We ate quinoa salad and potato chips, read, took naps, and then headed over to Apalachicola to snoop in the shops and meet friendly people.  It was a perfect day and a even more perfect way to postpone fall as long as possible.

I'm ready to do it all again.

xoxo,

Eliza

~ the stray ~

Ever since I was little and read books like Alice in Wonderland, Linnea in Monet's Garden, and Anne of Green Gables, I've had dreams of running through the tall green grass in a vast meadow on a warm day.

Thanks to beautiful weather and a perfectly-placed flat, I lived out that dream.

And it was just as heavenly as I always imagined it would be.

{Photos by my sweet friend Sarah, who put up with my micromanaging beautifully}

It was a warm evening with a nice breeze (which gave a gaggle of university boys a nice look at my undies), so I whipped out my new (to me) 1980s-does-1950s dress which I picked up in Manchester, and paired it with my favorite bakelite bangles and hoops.

I'd be happy to do nothing but frolick in the Stray for the rest of my days.

xoxo,

Eliza