I love exploring new areas - and one of my first times out in South Florida I met a brew master from a brewery in Miami, Florida. I have never been to Miami, but I was immediately enticed by both the idea of a local brewery and the photos of the beautiful graffiti all over this part of town, called Wynwood. I decided to venture down for some beer and a good meal - and I seriously cannot wait to go back. I loved the area - good food at Kush and good beer at Wynwood brewing- along with photo locations that do all the work for me.

top :: anthropologie // dress as skirt :: urban outfitters // belt :: target

flats :: target // bag :: valhalla brooklyn // sunnies : ray ban // ring :: c/o born pretty

As a kid, I always looked forward to summer. I have loved shorts and dresses for as long as I can remember - my family will usually tell stories of having to ban me from wearing shorts under a certain temperature. It's not a surprise that I eventually stopped wear pants as an adult - I've never been one for dress pants (I have not done a single job interview in my entire career in anything but an above knee-length skirt or dress) and was always the one wearing skirts over jeans even back in high school. It's incredibly nice to be able to wear all of my dresses without layers on weekends because when I am indoors in Florida, I am SO COLD. I'm wearing as much clothing as I was in winter! But on weekends, I spend a lot more time outside, like in this little park. I ended up finding a slightly cuter, secluded area here, but what I thought was going to be more of a cutesy park ended up being like baseball fields and a huge playground. Oops!

dress :: a'gaci // belt :: anthropologie (similar) // flats :: jessica simpson via zappos

bag :: c/o fossil // sunnies :: ray ban // headband :: anthropologie // ring :: kiel mead // necklace :: crave jewelry design

Downtown areas in south Florida are so drastically different than in the north east and even mid-west. I think not being wrecked with salt and snow every winter maybe keeps things a little nicer. That, or I've got my rose-colored glasses on. These photos are from downtown Boca Raton (again) and also a place in downtown Fort Lauderdale right before we went to the airport on Sunday. It's so easy to get around this area - just thinking that the drive between these two places is less than my commute from Lancaster to Harrisburg really messes with me. In the best of ways. All the amazing food in such close proximity has got to make me the most happy person. See below photo. That's how happy I was with a cocktail I hated (it's pretty, yes, but it was an awful mix of flavors).

I had to eat at the most amazingly named place - YOLO. Again, like everything here, amazing atmosphere, but not like everything else, OK food. Amazing dessert though - which we devoured so quickly I didn't photograph.

dress :: anthropologie // belt :: anthroplogie // cardigan :: j crew factory, diy-ed
bag :: sass & peril // sandals :: seychelles // ring :: kiel mead // necklace :: boutique in baltimore

These cookies have a really long name for what really should be called 'soft, tastes like graham cracker cookie.' I had been wanting someone like a maple cookie and experimented with a new recipe I made up from combining 3 recipes together for similar styles of cookies with my idea for maple.

What You'll Need

1 Stick Butter, Browned.2 cups flour // 2 tsp baking soda // 1 TSP cinnamon 

½ TSP salt // ½ Cup Brown Sugar // ½ Cup + 2 TBSP Maple Syrup // 1 large egg

Combine all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl (except the sugar).

Brown the butter over medium heat. Allow to cool for about an hour until beginning to make the dough.

Combine the butter, sugar, egg, and maple syrup in your mixer. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. When well mixed, let the dough cool in the refrigerator for 1-24 hours.

Preheat your oven to 375 Degrees. Roll the dough into small balls and place on a slightly greased cookie sheet.

Press the cookies down either in a cross hatch pattern with the back of a fork (as seen here) or with the bottom of a glass. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow to cool on a rack.

Serve with milk or nutella!

I am always amazed at the vast differences in the personalities of my dogs. I am always amazed at my animals - how well they adjust to new environments, the ever change of people in and out of their homes, and even just the little things, like a new collar or the recent usage of rain jackets once again.

Despite where we go, Raynor always keeps a pretty accurate schedule of retiring to bed at 9PM. I come up to bed every night to a dog in the center of the bed, usually, somehow, under the covers. This has been happening for years.

Teemo has also really been takin' it easy as of lately. With the longer walks due to warmer weather, he spends most of his time flopped out on the carpet or tile where it's cooler.

I have a love / hate relationship with beaches. I feel like most people love being on the beach, in the sand, in a swimsuit, and in the sun. I really am not a fan of sand - walking around in it is okay, but sitting in it is still a no go for me. For reference, my favorite beach was a beach that had no sand, but ROCKS in France. I thought that was the best. But I also love the beach. I love it from a bit of a distance. I love walking on the boardwalk besides Deerfield Beach. I love restaurants and towns by the beach, like Kona in Hawaii. I love the sounds, I love the breeze. It's for this reason I found Honolulu to be the best city in the world - good shopping, good breeze, peaceful, and lots of greenery. The beach itself, while we did a good job of photographing here, was overflowing with people tanning and hammering umbrellas into the sound. In fact, the short time we were on the beach was the opposite of peaceful, where as being nearby is just perfect for me. That being said, I'll do just about anything for a good photo, including dragging my husband out to beach in our full-on clothing while everyone else is in swim suits :D

dress :: beach bums via bettie page // sandals :: miss trish // sunnies :: ray ban

bag:: modcloth // necklace :: target // ring :: c/o modcloth