Valentine's Day in Pensacola ...

Well here it is Valentine's Day again. It's so funny, I've never really gotten overly emotional about the day - whether I was in a relationship or not.

To me Valentine's Day is a day for chocolate. Just like one looks forward to their birthday in expectancy of cake and ice cream - Valentine's Day, for me, has always conjured up more images and expectancy of chocolate than outright romance (I never did mind a little jewelry either).

...Today, Valentine's Day 2012, i actually found myself quite happy that I had the day to my self. It felt nice to be outside of all of the hubub and hoopla that comes about with this day of love - girls freaking out and spending hours to get the perfect Valentine's Day look, guys freaking out over what kind of roses, gift or display of affection to dish out - so many decisions to make depending on what stage of relationship you happen to be in when the day of love arrives....

Guys are hoping for their own sorts of things i suppose, and girls are hoping, i guess, to get a rose, roses or some other outlandish display of affection, maybe an "i love you," - I've always been contended with CHOCOLATE!

So as it were this year, I found myself quite happily outside all of the concerns of the day, but I did decide ahead of time that I would celebrate in my own little way - I wore my favorite pink, corduroy pants in celebration of love, and..... of course, I made my own plans to head to the store for a special chocolate treat.

The day wore on quite quickly and I found myself preoccupied with rearranging my bedroom and office - Seemingly mundane activities, but I was actually enjoying myself quite well.

Not wanting to let the day slip away before celebrating with some sort of chocolate treat, I just now ran out to the local gas station - without even looking in the mirror....

There I am, alone on Valentine's Day evening, buying a Hershey's Dark Chocolate with Almonds candy bar, happy as can be - and blissfully unaware of the fact that in the process of cleaning, my eye makeup had smeared and apparantly run down my face.

I got home, looked in the mirror and exclaimed Omg! The eye makeup had run down my cheek in such a way that it looked like I had been crying quite hard. Omg! I exclaimed to my sister who I was on the phone with at the time...

I have to laugh thinking of it - here I was happier than I've ever been, even than on the V'ti days when I was with someone, but to the gas station clerk, I'm sure I appeared to be the stereotypical sad Valentine-less girl - alone, crying, eating a chocolate candy bar to console herself...

It's funny how looks can be deceiving - I look back at pictures of me when I was with various boyfriends - and in those pics I look so happy, but I remember how miserable I was inside.

This Valentine's Day, I am happy that I am really happy!

So here's to a celebrating Love and Chocolate - two of my favorite things in the world!!!

Happy Valentine's Day all!

There's always something going on down in the ....

...trailer-hood.

Well, folks, I don't actually live in a "trailer-hood," but I have moved across town.

I once wrote my pensive thoughts about Pensacola from a cozy room downtown - right in the heart of it all, but as fate would have it, I have finally realized my life long dream of living in a trailer home.

No joke. I have always wanted to live in a trailer - and now I do!

The last few nights have been that of wonder and exploration for me, discovering all of the quirks of trailer living - I practically froze the first night, having forgotten to get blankets and refusing to turn on the central heat....

Midway through the night, I broke down and turned the central heat up to around 80 degrees, wondering throughout the night why it wasn't warmer than it was. Come morning, I discovered I had the vents in my room closed. ....... hello?

Anyway, I also had a certain itching and puffiness that comes from a slight cat allergy that I never knew I had, but the one room smells as if there were cats or some kinds of pets in there before.

Last night I discovered that the shower water doesn't get too hot and that it doesn't last long, but I was still quite happy with my "first trailer shower." I feel like I'm living in a country song!

All in all, quirks and all, I am so very happy with my new abode - loving every minute of the new adventure! It's like when you are in love, you overlook all kinds of little things - well, I'm in love with my new home and these things that would normally be a hassle are just little quirks about the place that just make the whole thing feel like the adventure I thought it would be!

A drive to ...

When I started out and about this morning, I never would have guessed that I would have ended up in Fort Walton Beach, FL or Destin, FL.

It started out as a usual Saturday morning for me - not quite sure what I was going to get into today, but was quite sure about my usual Saturday morning Starbucks in Gulf Breeze.

The weather here was quite beautiful today - even at this time of year! Today, I was able to traipse around in just a light jacket. I even took my jacket off for the sunniest part of the day, cruising around town in a summer tank top.

Anyway, back to the point of the post - So after grabbing my Starbucks, I on a whim, headed out to Pensacola Beach for a little drive. It was not warm enough to actually frolick around at the beach, but I thought a change of scenery would be quite perfect for today - and it was!

As I pulled over the $1 toll bridge and onto the main beach drag, I fell in love with Pensacola all over again - Even on a day like today, when I couldn't really think of a thing to do, there's always a drive out to the beach!

Even though it was a little windy and chilly with the ocean air blowing off the Gulf of Mexico, it was incredibly invigorating to just feel the fresh energy of being so close to the water. The beach drag was quite deserted as compared to how packed it is during the summer, but there were a few other people who had the same idea as me and were just walking around by the beach taking in the scenery and the refreshing gusts of salty ocean wind.

One dad walked around with his children who were all running about -

"Generally, when you're trying to get sand off of you, you don't run into the sand," I heard him tell his one child who was splashing through the sand. .....

... After taking in the refreshing scenery at Pensacola Beach, I decided on a whim to head out to Navarre - I had only been through Navarre once before briefly, but remembered it a a calm, peaceful, beachy, yet not touristy, type place.

It is about 20 minutes further away from Pensacola Beach and I was on empty, but I was feeling adventurous and thought it worth chancing the drive.

As I drove, I was just raptured by the beauty of the endless miles of white sugar sand beaches. The closer I got to Navarre, the water seemed more of an aqua blue and the commercial feel of Pensacola Beach faded into a distant memory.

Navarre Beach is known to be one of Florida's best kept secrets because of it's incredible beauty, but mostly because it has managed to avoid getting cluttered with condos and touristy restaurants and shops, etc.

I truly enjoyed my time there, just soaked it all in. I can write a whole post about Navarre and probably will one day!

But on to how I ended up in Destin.... Once I was in Navarre, I just was not ready to go home - I just felt a longing to keep driving and exploring - and so I did.

I have often heard of Fort Walton Beach and Destin, but really didn't realize I was headed in that direction, until I saw the signs informing of miles till their upcoming. - Fort Walton Beach and Destin are two of the most popular tourist places around - People pay thousands of dollars for vacations there, and here I was about to enjoy these places in one Saturday drive.

So, yes, to my pleasant surprise I found myself in Fort Walton Beach. After coming upon the most quaint strip of shops in Fort Walton, I pulled the car over and got out to explore on foot. - That is when I found the most engaging Coke/Antique shop. The owner was so friendly and informative about the history of his products. I just had to get a picture by this huge Coke Bottle that you see above. It was quite cool!

Then - things got even better - there was some sort of dog festival going on right across the way, so I shocked myself, made a donation, and entered the dog care festival. (I don't even have pets, not really into treating pets like little humans, and if I had to choose a charity to donate to, most likely would choose something else over pet care) - but, here I was making a donation and walking around enjoying the festivities.

After Fort Walton, I still wasn't ready to head home and that's how I ended up in Destin - At least an hour's drive from my original starting point of Pensacola/Gulf Breeze.

The beauty and variety of novelties and things to do seemed endless. It was almost surreal to encounter so much "paradise" all in one day. I didn't stop to eat anywhere, but there looked to be quite a few good restaurants in both Fort Walton and Destin - and Destin even has a Starbucks ... hmm.. most definitely will be returning!

Anyway, will be posting a video blog about this soon! So check out my "...In Pensacola" Video Blog within the next couple of days for more pics!

job interview ... Oh Dear!

So, today I went on a job interview.... at a little cafe here in town that will be opening up soon.

My dreams of working at a diner-type establishment may finally come true - that is if the interview went well. At this point, I'm not sure.

I didn't think that I was nervous at all, until I went into the conference room and sat there before the two interviewers ....

I heard my voice shaking as I talked, I actually started feeling short of breath and dizzy...

Did I still pull it off? I'm not sure - they said they will be calling folks tomorrow.... we shall see!!

And, vlog!

Here's a link to my new vlog! Here! Click Here!

Love y'all! Thanks for reading!

Smiles, hugs and holiday greetings!

New Blog!!!

As you can probably see already - this blog has a new name!

I found that as much as I wanted to keep a simple blog comprised of 1 photo and a few sentences, per post - i found myself exceeding those parameters on a consistent basis.

So, here's the new concept! What was once "Pensacola in Pics - Why I love Pensacola in Pictures," is now "Pensacola in Waves - Catching the ups and downs of life in Pensacola - Mostly the Ups!"

Hope you enjoy!

Everyone needs a garden....

A simple Sunday morning shopping trip, down the road to the natural foods store.

A nice hot cup of organic coffee... A wander back into the store's herb garden....

Shoes off, I wander through the garden, stopping to take a whiff of the various herbs...echinacea, sage, lemongrass...

A long sit in the hot sun, just taking in the beauty of the garden - very good for the soul!