Florida Photo Fest 2008

So, I’m pretty sure no one is actually reading this at the moment, especially given that my parents and Terry are actually here with me, but for the benefit of anyone who is, hi! Please keep reading, and maybe even leave me a comment, because I am all about the attention. And just for you, here are some moments from our trip so far…

Yesterday morning we woke up to this sight at the back of the house:

Balloons

It was kind of a shame we didn’t (and by "we" I mean "I") wake up to the fact that my camera was on the wrong setting until much later, but hey, them’s the breaks, and actually, I didn’t have my contact lenses in (it was about 7.30am and I’d just had a night of practically no sleep, with the small snatches of sleep I DID manage to grab marred by dreams in which I was made to blog about the shoes of every single person on our flight before they’d let me off the thing), so this is more or less "through the eyes of Amber". There were about four of these balloons surrounding our house, which gave a nicely surreal touch to the morning.

When we’d picked up our rental car the night before, they’d given us a car with two flat tyres (nice) which they replaced with a Jeep. We weren’t too sold on the Jeep, so we decided to take it back to the airport and swap it out for the car we’d originally paid for. This would’ve been a bit of a drag, but hey, lookit what I picked up on the way back:

Sephora

I’m guessing I should probably be embarrassed by the fact that I hadn’t even been in the States for 24 hours before spending too much money at Sephora, but, oh, Sephora, how I missed you! And how I wish I hadn’t bought the Philosophy ‘The Present’ "clear" makeup because that stuff truly is the Emperor’s new clothes of cosmetics. Just in case you were wondering.

Oh! I also went to Target to faithfully buy the Jergen’s Natural Glow some of you recommended last week, but I’m afraid to say I was seduced by something that seemed like an even better idea at the time (and please remember I was probably still a little jet-lagged here) – it is sunblock THAT IS ALSO A GRADUAL TANNER, and that is why I now have orange palms and ankles. Oh yes.

Anyway, all of this frantic consumerism basically knackered us out so blah blah pool, blah sun, blah Cracker Barrel for dinner:

Cracker_barrel

Blah blah wine by the pool, blah blah waking up in the middle of the night feeling sick after the huge amount of food I had managed to consume that day, and finally, today, in which we decided to take a trip to Tarpon Springs, which is a little community on the Gulf Coast which is basically like a little Greece with Greek restaurants, Greek shops, Greek music and… just Greek stuff. Because that’s totally why we came to Florida, you know?

I jest, of course… The folks and I had been to Tarpon Springs years ago, but we decided to bring Terry to see it, partly because it held particular interest for him (Terry’s family are Greek), and partly because you can take a little cruise out into the Gulf from there to spot dolphins, and all I can say about that is that if you’re ever in Tarpon Springs, TAKE THE CRUISE. It cost $13 each, and we totally thought there was no way we would ever actually see dolphins, but they took us out to this little island and lo and behold! Dolphins! That were jumping out of the water and rolling over on their bellies, and then following the boat like they do in the movies and stuff. Naturally I didn’t manage to capture this on film AT ALL other than in this one crappy picture:

Dolphin

But trust me: dolphins!

Then we ate Greek food, got back in the car and drove home via St Petersburg. Which was totally not on the way home, but still…

Anyway we’re back home now and I’m thinking I may go and sit in the jacuzzi for a while, but what I will probably actually do is drink wine. I leave you with this picture of my breakfast this morning:

Marshmallow_fluff

Coffee and marshmallow fluff. Why don’t we have this stuff in the UK?*

(*Note: We do have coffee, obviously. We’re not THAT backward…)

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books by Amber Eve
COMMENTS
  • I’m reading! I can’t believe you like marshmallow fluff. And strawberry flavored? That made my stomach turn.

    If you’re even in Chicago, there is a bar here that has that on the dessert menu.

    June 5, 2008
  • Kristabella – I can’t quite believe it either! One of my favourite writers is Bill Bryson, and a few years ago he wrote a column about returning to America from the UK, where he’d been living for the past twenty years, and being amazed by the vast array of foods that don’t occur in nature – which he then made it his mission to eat. Since then I have made it MY mission to do likewise, so marshmallow fluff had to be tried. It’s just a shame the spray-on cheese would probably give me migraines 🙂

    June 5, 2008
  • Amber is in the states!!! Yes! (I thought I smelled the fake tan smell in the air yesterday…)

    June 5, 2008
  • wendy

    REPLY

    Glad you are already having a lovely time.

    Jergens is a brand name used by J&J in the US so it’s probably the same tanning moisturiser they sell under the parent company brand in the UK.

    I won’t be too far away from you by Saturday afternoon – Cuba – so today I’m going for my annual oranging, the spray version!

    Wendy

    June 5, 2008
  • Ha, FLUFF. I'm going to have SO many things to look forward to in the USA!

    June 5, 2008
  • I'm reading and you are gorgeous. So there.

    June 5, 2008
  • I'm here!
    I love Bill Bryson's books too, especially Notes from a Big Country. So funny.
    Glad you're having a good time, I'm hoping to book a holiday this week but I'm a bit poor now following the Wii purchase for the young man's birthday yesterday. Oh well.

    June 5, 2008
  • Anne-Marie

    REPLY

    Still reading! Loving the holiday blogging. Slightly scared of the Fluff……..

    June 5, 2008
  • *waves*

    I'm still reading, I have you on my RSS feeds. Your holiday sounds amazing!

    June 5, 2008
  • Hi,

    I have just found your blog and think that it is great? I wish I was in Florida, I love it there (Cracker Barrel is the best). Are you originally from the states?

    June 5, 2008
  • emmao414

    REPLY

    i'm still reading too 🙂

    v jealous that you got to see dolphins, i'd make that top of my list and forget the Fluff haha

    June 5, 2008
  • great to hear all your news, rubin is glued to the computer screen reading all the gossip…He was asking where his brush his cause he needs to look his best for all the females…you wouldnt happen to know its whereabouts would you…he is getting kind of worried about it now…
    you seem to have done so much in your first few days…keep having fun

    June 5, 2008
  • That 'fluff' stuff looks awful! Yay about the dolphins! Also, you don't look orange at all, or (in my eyes anyway) tanned at all. Maybe it's just the light.
    Keep having fun…..

    June 6, 2008
  • Steph

    REPLY

    I love fluff- my husband got me hooked on peanut butter & fluff sandwiches. But I have never seen strawberry fluff!

    June 6, 2008
  • Danielle

    REPLY

    I've never tried Fluff and I live in the States! I would never want to eat it, though, it looks like the artificial flavors would make me sick.

    June 7, 2008
  • #######
    Terry enters the blog
    #######

    Even though I am here with you I am still reading! Lila, his brush is upstairs in the pine wooden box beside the window, or on the windowsill in the office 😛 He is far too hard ass to want brushed anyway, didn't he tell you that?

    A lot has happened since those first pictures, especially spending lots of cash on "stuff", not fluff! Although I have promised to buy Amber some before we come home, why? I don't know. I even gave in to buying chocolate coated toffee fudge pop tarts, dear god, once you pop you most certainly can stop…

    I have some great video footage of the dolphins "ohh" and "ahh" jumping out of the water right in front of us. That was ace!

    Universal studies beacons tomorrow, can't wait!

    #######
    Terry exits the blog
    #######

    June 7, 2008
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