{life} hashtag: i'm definitely not in madrid anymore

As I take the first sip of my iced coffee to go, I smile. I'm definitely not in Madrid anymore.

An unobstructed sunset glowing behind the tall, swaying palm trees. The quiet, empty streets of suburbia, broken up only by the laugh of a child or the low hum of a lawn mower. The pool in my backyard. I'm definitely not in Madrid anymore.

The conversations with friendly strangers. "How are you doing today?" "What are your weekend plans?" "This drink is free because it took way too long to come out." "Oh, excuse me. Sorry!" "You have a wonderful day, honey/sweetie/darling/my love!" I'm definitely not in Madrid anymore.

The five minute drive to the grocery store? A 20 minute walk. The twenty minute drive to a restaurant? A 60 minute walk. I'm definitely not in Madrid anymore.

The abundance of cultures and cuisines. A twenty mile radius on Yelp showing great Vietnamese! Korean! Colombian! Peruvian! Mexican! Lebanese! Italian! Cuban! and finally American! restaurants. I'm definitely not in Madrid anymore.

The hours spent sitting in a car. But on the other hand, that glorious, glorious one stop shopping. (Hello Target. Hello Publix.) I'm definitely not in Madrid anymore.

Slowing your car to allow a deer to cross the road. Waving hello to an alligator in the pond. Stopping and patiently waiting as an owl decides whether it wants to stay chilling in the middle of the road or fly away to the nearest tree. Seeing unidentifiable animal prints in the backyard. Was it a fox? Or a raccoon? I'm definitely not in Madrid anymore.

The extremely predictable afternoon thunderstorms and the extremely high humidity. Blegh. I'm definitely not in Madrid anymore.

It's the slight withdrawals from plaza life and 2 euro glasses of wine. From tapas and jamon, rooftop drinks just because, and the Spanish language. But making up for it with happy hours with friends and $5 craft beers (helllo my pretties). With delicious sub sandwiches and smoothies, rooftop drinks just because (somethings never change), and being asked on your first day back, "Hablas espanol?"

Here's to you, America. You're pretty darn cool.

xx, Jen

{travel} day 5 road trippin' USA... or at least the lowcountry

Today is a big deal. I am finally caught up on my road trip blog posts! Only a month and a half later.... oops! After this one I will finally get back to Spain postin'. Our final day of the trip was extremely busy. We started off the day by exploring St. Augustine, and then took to the road again to go see my favorite singer in concert in Orlando. We didn't feel like paying for any more hotels, so after the concert we drove back to Tampa. 207 miles plus lots of activities in one day? We were exhausted.

I have mixed feelings about St. Augustine. I used to love going as a kid because the old fort was exciting to explore, and it is on the water. It is certainly a beautiful and charming little town, and it used to feel like a step back in time in Spain. However, after living in Madrid for an entire year, "historical St. Augustine" just feels like a fraud! Although I will say that I have never been outside of the tourist quarter because I never have enough time to explore further. Is St. Augustine outside of the tourist quarter cool? Anyone?

Fun fact for the day: St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European established city in America. It was originally discovered in 1513 by Ponce de Leon, and founded in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles. The city actually still has ties with the Spanish government. We found out that the king and queen of Spain are set to come visit and give a speech from a balcony of the oldest hotel in the city in 2015.

{travel} day 4 road trippin' USA... or at least the lowcountry

My handsome guy is taking over my blog for the day to talk about his favorite day on our road trip. :) I've edited in the pictures and links, but the writing is all Alex. Say hi, everyone!

Hello all. My name is Alex. This is my first venture into the blogging universe. Jennifer asked if I would like to be a guest-writer. I am going to write about one of the days of the road-trip that she and I took last December.  Jennifer thought it would be interesting to get my perspective and point of view about the trip (between you and me, I think she is just too busy living big-city, fancy-girl, European life so she wanted me to take a little load off). Regardless, I am happy to do it and contribute to her great blog. So coming to you from my modest old Gainesville house is Day 4 of the road trip.