The Best Day // In Photos

10 am // Making dough for homemade cinnamon rolls

11 am // Packing for our anniversary trip to the Vinoy

12 pm // Finally wrapping Mister's gifts for our anniversary

1 pm // The cinnamon rolls I worked so hard for!

2 pm // Headed to downtown St. Pete

3 pm // Wandering around the city, waiting for our hotel room

4 pm // Finally getting to the hotel

5 pm // Enjoying the garden while we wait for our room

6 pm // They upgraded us to a room with a huge hot tub for free because it was our anniversary ♥

7 pm // We ate at an adorable outdoor italian café

8 pm // Snuggling in the comfiest bed

To say that Monday was the best day ever is the ultimate understatement. No matter how I try to put it into words or into photos, there's no way I could possibly explain how wonderful the day was. I meant to make a cute little video of the day (like Elizabeth from Stoic & Pariah made) but I was so excited and overwhelmed by everything that I sort of forgot. 

I almost cried when it was time to pack up and go home, and now I'm already planning an even bigger anniversary trip for next year! Sometimes I get really frustrated + stressed + cranky between school and work, and more often than not I take it out on Garrett when he doesn't deserve it. Being on this trip with him just reiterated how important it is that I treat him right. He's so good to me, and if I stop stressing out and brush off all of the ridiculous little things that get me so worked up, I always have the most fantastic time with this sweet guy of mine! 

A little too excited

     So Garrett and I will be celebrating our fourth anniversary this Monday. We started dating when we were only 15 years old, and now here we are four years later still going strong. Originally we had planned on eating at some fancy restaurant, but somehow the plans turned into us staying in a ritzy hotel in my favorite city in Florida. We'll be staying at the Vinoy hotel in St. Petersburg!!

      These are just some quick (not so hot) photos I snapped my senior year of high school on a field trip in downtown St. Pete. The hotel is gorgeous (and a little tacky at the same time.) It was built in the 20s and is decked out in total Mediterranean Revival style. Pink stucco, tile roof, etc. On the inside of the hotel there is a large ballroom, and in the center of the room is this massive white & gold Chihuly chandelier:

     I'm a little art nerd, so this trip will probably consist of lots of museum hopping. The Dali, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Chihuly are all within walking distance of each other!

     I'm so fortunate to have a guy like Garrett who will go on ridiculous trips like this, go to museums (which he hates), and deal with all of my crazy emotions. He's pretty fantastic.

Beach + Bike

{Excuse the crappy iphone photos today!}

     The day started with a trip to the beach... A very windy beach with no more than a dozen people. 15 minutes into the trip, we gave up, came home, and I went for the longest bike ride of my life. It was a good day.

Makeshift // Garden

     My intention was to go out and take lots of photos of my dad and my little makeshift garden that we've started in our backyard. We don't have a whole lot planted right now, and we're planning on converting a huge section of our backyard into a garden late this summer, but for now we have just a few teeny pots of different plants. I managed to take some photos before this monster started attacking me. By attacking, I mean repeatedly nudging me and throwing that metal bowl at me. He's lucky he's cute.

     So far we have quite a few tomatoes growing, but our plant is dying because of the heat, and then we have three different pepper plants: habanero, chili peppers (I think), and banana peppers. We also have some different herbs growing, and I have two cute succulent plants (not pictured here). It isn't much, but it's exciting to see some greenery in the backyard! By the sounds of it, the garden my dad and I are going to build is going to be all for me. I'll have to take care of them for the most part, which is fine by me! I haven't done too much research yet, but I would love to grow some carrots and potatoes, sweet potatoes, too! I've always been finicky about the veggies I eat, but I'm trying to convince myself that if I can grow them, I should eat them. I'm hoping to try my hand at spinach or lettuce and maybe radishes or beets. Strawberries will be a must, of course!

     Do you grow any of your own produce? Any tips for a beginner gardener?

Baking // honey cookies

     I don't usually post many of my baking endeavors here on Hopeless Notebook, and for good reason. 4 out of 5 times my cooking ends up tasting gross and the kitchen mess is catastrophic. Yesterday, though, yesterday was a good day. On Thursday I bought lots of fresh fruits to make Garrett and myself smoothies, and somehow I messed that up.... Yesterday I decided to try my hand at these yummy honey cookies, and they actually turned out perfect! (Actually only the first batch did. I burnt the second batch, but whatever.)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup of oil

1 cup of sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup of local honey

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

     Let me just take a second to stress how you should be using local honey and not the crap you would buy from the grocery store or drugstore! Most of the cheap honey you're buying at the supermarket is stripped of its pollen, is from some sketchy bee farm in China, and most likely has gobs of high fructose corn syrup in it rather than actual honey. Just... use local honey, ok?

     Mix all of your ingredients together in a big bowl, adding the flour in last, and you should get a big glob like this. I should probably tell you not to eat this dough raw because there is raw egg in here, but it tastes pretty awesome, so live your life.

Option topping:

You can coat the dough balls in anything you like. I used a mix of cinnamon and regular sugar.

     Bake these babies for 10-12 minutes at 375 F, and you're good to go! They should come out looking crispy and golden. Watch them, though, because I burnt my second batch of these, and they were only in the oven for 10 minutes!