St. Augustine, Florida Part 2

One of the things St. Augustine is most famous for is their ghost tours.

They've been featured in several ghost centered TV shows (sorry don't watch them so I have no idea what they are called).  

They seriously have like 10 different places that you can take ghost tours and all over the place they have places where you can buy tickets to said ghost tours.

Now Suzanne and Amber had already taken a ghost tour.  Actually Suz had been on two up to this point and she had great things to say about both of them.  She said that on one of them, she was so scared that she got chills AND even got teary eyed.  So naturally I was willing to talk her word on which tour to take. 

So we stroll up to one of the many stations that you can buy tickets and have a chat with the lady behind the counter.  We ultimately ended up going on a tour that Suzanne had already been on, but again said was good.  

Here is what we were expecting the tour to be like:

(YES, you get to watch a video!) 

So yeah, that is what we were expecting.  Basically to be super scared and to see some ghosts. Because hello, we were on a ghost tour! 

(this is Amber and Suz before the tour, they were pretending to see a ghost)

Fast forward 90 minutes......

WORST GHOST TOUR IN THE HISTORY OF GHOST TOURS!

The entire tour was basically a history lesson of St. Augustine with one or two stories of people who are said to be seen either walking along the sea wall or in the fort.  

The kicker was when we were stopped in front of this house and our guide said we would be going into the house.  We expected to be able to wander around the house and look for ghostly things.  Nope.

Didn't happen.  We stood in a dark house while this lady (who looked exactly like Bellatrix Lestrange) babbled on and on and made jokes about "partying like a rock star," "dropping it like its hot," and "being saved by the bell."

Only pretty neat thing that happened was that in a couple (and by couple I mean 2) of my pictures those orb things showed up.  

Can you see them?  They are supposed to be ghosts. 

Anyway the whole tour was a complete waste of time.  

We had fun laughing about it later though! 

In fact we took a post tour video:

(I would post the video we took of what I thought, but Suz didn't take the videoing seriously and she pretty much just taped my body, not my face. FAIL.)

Moral of the story? Don't go on the ghost tour of St. Augustine that takes you through the Spanish military hospital and then for a special "ghostly encounter."  It's lame and totally not worth.

On the bright side we came away with some great stories and a good laugh.  And of course we all go to hang out!  

The next day was spent at the beach, but since I don't take pictures of myself in swimsuits (you're welcome) I don't have many pictures to share.  But I do have these:

We had breakfast at a diner that was right in front of our hotel.  It was adorable.

We had dinner at a place in the downtown area. We sat outside and there was this fun little band playing.

And ok, I lied, I did take a picture of myself at the beach.  But please note the one I took is from the chest up (again you're welcome, I didn't want to startle you guys.)

Over all we had a fantastic time eating, laughing, not being scared on ghost tours, and eating some more 

in St. Augustine.  

Best part?  I get to go back again in less than a week! :)

St. Augustine, Florida Part 1

Tuesday and Wednesday I found me, Suzanne, and our friend Amber taking a day trip to St.

Augustine, Florida.

St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US, founded in 1565 by the Spanish.  So the history nerd/teacher in me was super excited.

The city has the most adorable downtown area I think I've ever seen. There are nifty little shops and restaurants and of course historical sites.

We stayed in a hotel right in downtown. (thank you expedia.com)

According to the internet it was supposed to be one of their haunted hotels.  But when we asked the

front desk guy about it.  He just laughed and said, "Nope it's not haunted.  But I can come knock on your door in the middle of the night and then run away."

Yum, yeah no thanks. 

This was an old fashion tavern.  Exactly like what you would have seen when the town was first founded.  We had some yummy Sangria and played some old social drinking game (we just played for fun though).

  

This was the inside of the tavern. The bartender was dressed in old 16th century clothing and he had a piece of burlap covering the cash register.  Above the register was a sign that read:

"Tickets of credit excepted include"

Talk about authentic! :)

This was a vintage boutique with the neatest old Irish woman running it.

She told us stories about her 93 year old mother, showed us how to wear hats from different decades, and shared some other amazing stories about St. Augustine with us.  

The city also has an old Spanish Fort that still has portions of it standing today.  

We didn't go inside the fort but we did browse around the outside.

Entrance to the fort.

See those super thin windows?  Well we were told that at one time a group of Native Americans, 

(what their tribe was called I have no idea. fail.) were being held prisoner in the fort.

They starved themselves for months until they were just thin enough to fit through these windows.

These holes?  They're actually marks from a gun shot.  Several different areas around the fort were used as execution walls.  There were walls with hundreds of holes just like this.  

So after touring the cute little downtown area and before walking around the fort we realized we were starving.  We found a restaurant right next to our hotel and guess what kind of food they had?! 

I'll give you a hint:

That's right MEXICAN food!  I haven't had good Mexican food since I left Texas, and let me tell you,

I sure have missed it! 

Well I think that is where I'm gonna leave you.  Looking at pictures of that food has made this girl hungry!

But stay tuned for Part 2 because I have to tell y'all all about our ghost tour and trust me you don't want to miss that! 

:)

Seats to the Greatest Show on Earth

My camera decided to be awesome while we were at the beach on Saturday.

I was able to capture some AMAZING pictures of the ocean, the beach, and the sunset. 

Yes, all of those things together! 

Suzanne and I decided to have special album on Facebook that has nothing but pictures of the sunsets we watch when we go to the beach.

So here are the ones we took at Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island on the Gulf Coast:

It's ok to be jealous.  

I would be too! :)  

Harry Potter and a Beach Day..wait what?

The last couple of days have been some of the most fun days EVER.

No really, I've done so many fun things, I'm having trouble believing that this is my life now.

Thursday night was the midnight showing of the last and final Harry Potter film.

(Yeah, the one I used two how posts to gush over)

And y'all, it did not disappoint!

I loved it! I really just loved it!

 There were a few parts that I thought well that could have been done a tad better.

But I think this was the best of the series.  

I laughed, I got startled, and yes I cried (A LOT).

I even went and saw it again on Friday night. It was just as good, if not better the second time around! 

And now....

PICTURE TIME:

I was ready with my Harry Potter 3D glasses and my Muggle shirt! 

It was a great final HP midnight show!

Now for Part Two.

On Saturday Suzanne, our friend Sara, some of Sara's peeps, and I went to the beach.

Suzanne and I had this plan to just fill up the car with a full tank of gas and then just explore the Gulf Coast.  We had no set plans whatsoever. We did however, have some criteria.  

Where ever we ended up we wanted it to be historic, have adorable little beach shops, and of course the beach itself.

So we hit the road with nothing but a full tank of gas and a map of Florida.  

NOT a GSP, just a regular, old-fashion map.

We hit the jackpot when we found Anna Maria Island.  YES, I said ISLAND!

It was absolutely PERFECT!

We laid on the beach, we browsed some adorable little beach shops, we had a wonderful seafood dinner, and we watched a magnificent Gulf Coast sunset.  

Anna Maria Island and Holmes Beach were our destination.

YAY for sunshine and the deep blue sea.

Yummy ice cream cones!

There were Sea Turtle nests EVERYWHERE! 

If only they had hatched that night.  Looks like we're just gonna have to go back.

Shucks.

Beach Adventures are my new favorite,

Kathleen

It All Ends Tonight

Y'all all know about my obsession with Harry Potter via my last post.

So I'm sure it is no surprise that I will be attending one of the hundreds of midnight showings of

the last and final film tonight.

I'm heading to the theatre at 9:00pm (yes 3 hours before the movie starts) so we can get good seats for the show.

Earlier today, Ashley (my bff from my previous post) and I, each went to the Hot Topic in our respective  states (she in NM and I in FL) and picked out a shirt that we could wear to the show tonight. 

Unfortunately we couldn't find the exact same on, but we both got Muggle shirts and will wear them tonight!

We may not be together in person but we will def be together in spirit.

Ashley took this picture at the Barnes and Noble in Las Cruces and I love it:

So true and something EVERYONE should remember!

It all ends tonight and it is going to be one of the saddest and most exciting nights EVER!

Pictures of tonights shenanigans will be posted soon! :) 

Oh and if you're going to an HP midnight showing.......I hope you have a blast! :)

I'm really in the mood to blog.   But in all honestly I have no idea what to blog about at the moment.

Haven't done anything super exciting except work the last couple days.  So I'm just gonna give a random assortment of things that have happened/what I'm excited about happening!

- I "Earned my Ears!"  I know, you're thinking, "What the heck does that mean?"

Well that means that I passed all my training for Guest Relations! Go ME! 

But it also means that I am totally on my own now.  Kinda scary.  Everyone is very helpful though and I have no problem asking anyone a question when I have one.

Here is a picture of a few of my EC Guest Relations peeps:

  

(Sorry I'm too lazy right now to jazz this pic up)

-  My best friend Ashley finally booked her flight to come and see me!! 

She'll be here the first week of August and we have some super fun stuff planned.

We're going to St. Augustine, we're doing Disney World (obvi), and we're going to 

THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER!!

See I've been to Orlando twice since that magical place opened and I've resisted going because Ashley and I promised each other that our first time there would be together.  Because no one really understands our obsession with Harry Potter like we do.  

Harry Potter is what first bonded Ashley and me.  Seriously, that might sound totally and completely dorking but it is 100% true.  

Allow me to demonstrate:

 YES....this is us at the book 7 midnight release party at Barnes and Noble (my favorite store in the world)

YES....we had a party to celebrate beforehand at Ashely's house where we decorated with HP party decorations, made chocolate frogs, butterbear, acid pops, and pumpkin pasties,  and decorated the fireplace with all of Ashley's Harry Potter merchandise.  (She has enough HP stuff to fill up her own store)

YES....we wore matching S.P.E.W shirts.

and

YES.....we took a picture with a cardboard cutout of Harry Potter.  But that is nothing, at the midnight release party for book 5, they had a cut out where you could put your face next to Harry's.  Sorry no picture for that.

Anyway,

I'm telling you we are OBSESSED and I LOVE it!

(Yeah I was that excited.  My smile is huge.)

- Speaking of Harry Potter, in two days (49 hours and 39 minutes to be exact) I will be sitting in a theatre waiting to watch the final Harry Potter movie.  I am too excited for words.  I literally do not know to accurately put my excitement into words.  

Therefore I will hold off until I can post pictures from that night to show my excitement. 

Ok now that I have just given y'all the most random post ever (that actually turned into a let me show you how obsessed I am with Harry Potter post) .

Until next time! :) 

Success at Last!

Thanks to one of my very best friends: Monica (you can check out her fun blog here)

I figured out how to salvage our canvases.  

So when Monica and I lived together our sophomore year of college

(that was 3 years ago...scary)

She came up with a super cute way decorate our walls.  

It is like the easiest craft project anyone could do...EVER.

All you have to do is buy fabric and hot glue them to canvases.

Easy as 1...2...3

We went to Joanne's Fabrics and bought some fun fabric that went with the colors in our pillows and slapped those babies on the canvases!  

We now have a lovely wall decor.

I think I've decided that simple is best in the crafting department. 

For me anyway. : )